Chapter 14: Unsolved Mysteries.
Alseace stood up and looked at his body, which had been fully healed and his limbs grew back. He looked at his status screen and it was still the same as the last time he saw it. He was sure he was dead back there, but for some unknown reason, he was unscratched.
"An Achievement? Rebirth?" Alseace looked at the notification and checked what the Achievement gave him.
[Rebirth: An Achievement for Candidate who came back to life by God's will. The Candidate is given All Status Points by 20 by God's kindness]
[Be grateful...]
"I'm grateful," Alseace said sarcastically.
Alseace realized that he indeed died back then, but he was curious about who brought him back to life. He thought that Arzhela could be the one who resurrected him, but after remembering that Arisma was the one who killed him, he didn't think Arzhela did it.
He brushed it off and decided to think about it later. He focused on the reward panel in front of him.
"A package reward?" Alseace asked as he looked at the notification in front of him. "Mythical Equipment Package... even if I want to, I can't use them to their fullest potential," Alseace looked at the information on the package.
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[Mythical Equipment Box]
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[Random Legendary/Mythical Weapon]
[Random Legendary/Mythical Armor Set]
[Random Legendary/Mythical Accessory]
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There were 2 conditions that needed to be met when using power equipment. The first one was Candidate's level and the second one was Candidate's status. If the Candidate didn't meet the level requirement, the skill or effect of the equipment would be locked. If the Candidate didn't meet the status requirement, a penalty would apply to the Candidate when equipped. But it was different when it came to Legendary or Mythical equipment. Both Candidate's level and status need to be met the requirement to be able to equip it.
"Since it's mythical equipment, then that means I won't be able to use it at all since both level and status matter," Alseace thought as he walked in the direction where the portal he came from. "The second one is Skill and Status Points Package..." Alseace hummed as he crossed his arm and looked at the details of the package.
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[Growth Box]
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[A random Legendary/Mythical Skill Scroll]
[+100 Status Points of one selected Status]
[A random Achievement]
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"This would be the safest and the best reward for me, but what about this Blessed Box?" Alseace raised his right eyebrow and looked at the last option.
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[Blessed Box]
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[A box that contained a powerful and yet evil power. God has purified the power and is now safe to be bestowed upon their faithful Candidate. There are only 1,000 [Blessed Box] that exist in the whole universe. The power itself is not easily tamed, and the Candidate has to prove their worth for the power that is contained inside the box]
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"I don't know what that means, I guess I should go back first and ask Miss Sierra about these rewards and which is the best for me," Alseace looked at the vortex in front of him. "It's time to go back home," Alseace sighed in relief as he entered the vortex.
As soon as Alseace came out of the vortex, his forehead bumped into something. He was surprised to see Sierra's hand on his forehead and she was showing a huge grin at him.
"Good work!" Sierra grabbed Alseace's shoulders and shook them gently. "I can see that you have experienced something amazing," Sierra giggled as she stared into his eyes.
"There are so many things that I want to tell you, but can we go home first?" Alseace asked, and his stomach was grumbling.
Sierra smiled gently and nodded her head.
Elenoir and the others couldn't believe it when they saw Alseace walking out of the vortex. The vortex disappeared not long after he came out. They were curious about what he experienced inside, but Sierra stopped them from bothering him.
Although Alseace wanted to go back home, he still had to go to Emissary's headquarters first to report everything. He was given a snack on his way there and it was enough to stop his stomach from grumbling.
"The Saint and the Saintess. They have at least 300,000 armies that are equal to an S-Rank candidate and even above..." Katya summarized the story that Alseace told them. "I can't believe you managed to stop the war," Katya looked at Alseace with her arms crossed as she stood beside the higher-ups.
"I didn't actually stop them, I warned them about the catastrophe that would hit them if they kept spilling blood," Alseace didn't know exactly why Vicar and Arzhela stopped the war and left.
"This unknown force that Alseace mentioned, do you know anything about it, Miss Red? Even a Saint and a Saintess had to think twice about continuing the war," Katya looked at Sierra, who had been staring at Alseace.
"It could be anything, monsters, demons, or even a calamity itself. But, if it's attracted to a bloodbath then the highest probability would be demons," Sierra answered as she rested her cheek on her right fist. She then looked at the higher-ups with her eyebrows raised, "If there's nothing else. Can I bring him home? He's exhausted and starving."
They all nodded their heads and let Alseace leave after a long meeting.
Alseace was sitting at the bar counter and enjoyed a hot cup of tea to increase his appetite. "Miss Sierra, I haven't picked my rewards, and there's one reward that I'm curious about," He said as he looked at Sierra cleaning the table's counter while waiting for the pasta to boil.
"Spill it," Sierra said.
"Blessed Box," Alseace sipped his tea and waited for her reaction.
Sierra suddenly stopped her hands from cleaning the table and glanced at him with her eyebrows raised, "Blessed Box... how lucky, but that's something you shouldn't touch." "It's a power that belongs to either calamity beasts or Archdemons. There are only 1,000 Blessed Boxes out there, and even though they have been purified, the power itself is something that only people who're desperate enough to ask power from it," Sierra explained as she continued cleaning the table.
"Ask? Is it like a wish?" Alseace furrowed his eyebrows with the cup of tea in front of his lips.
"Yes. To put it simply, you're making a deal with the devil without the consequence. It's on par or even stronger than Mythical skills," Sierra nodded her head. "Your pasta is ready, hold on..." Sierra went into the kitchen to get the pasta.
Alseace looked at the reward screen that had been bugging him and thought really hard about it. He then decided to pick the [Blessed Box] since he didn't really need extra status points. He could get skills by learning a lot from Sierra, and random Achievement didn't sound good since Achievement could be attained.
Although it said box, the [Blessed Box] was more like a rubik's cube that floated above his hand. It moved on its own and changed its color randomly. It was really interesting and mesmerizing to look at.
"I just left for a few minutes and you already chose something that you shouldn't have," Sierra sighed as she put a bowl of pasta in front of Alseace. "I should have known," Sierra sat down and looked at the [Blessed Box] above Alseace's hand.
"They killed me back there. I was cornered and couldn't do anything," Alseace said as he stared blankly at the rubik's cube.
"Eat first, we can talk after," Sierra said with her eyes closed.
It was just silence in the pub as Alseace focused on the bowl in front of him. Sierra didn't move a muscle and kept her eyes closed as if she was thinking about something.
"There's more if you want to refill," Sierra leaned her back against the counter with her elbows resting on it.
"I'm stuffed," Alseace replied and drank his tea that had turned lukewarm.
"Tell me everything," Sierra gave a cold stare at Alseace.
Alseace spilled all the beans on Sierra from the moment he entered the vortex until he woke up from his death. Sierra listened to him and didn't interrupt him at all. She understood the situation and found it odd for them to kill him, and the most bizarre one was him getting resurrected.
"Saintess Arzhela from the Sikar Clan and Saint Vicar from the Cresta Clan. I have never heard about them before, and killing you out of nowhere is really suspicious," Sierra said as she crossed her arms and legs.
"Could it be that they could see that something was off about me with my level and my status?" Alseace asked.
"Seeing someone else's status is impossible because God themselves protects it from being exposed. Unless they themselves told the others about their status," Sierra explained. "Skill, name, Karma, and level are possible with a skill called the Eye of Truth. It also can tell truth from lies, and see things that normal eyes can't see like information on the Dimensional portals, vortexes, and cracks. That's something that I have here," Sierra pointed at her right eye.
"Can I have that skill as well?" Alseace asked.
"It's a gift by God once you survive the Fifth Ring of Redemption. It can't be attained through training or skill scroll," Sierra shook her head. "Anyway, there are two unsolved mysteries in what happened in there. Your death and your resurrection. It's something that I can't solve," Sierra continued and stretched her arms.
"Can a Saint or Saintess bring back someone to life? I heard a rumor that Saintess Arzhela could resurrect a person," Alseace pointed out.
"With an exception, it's possible. It also depends if someone could be brought back to life or not by God's will. It's not a Saint or even a Messiah who can decide even if they want to," Sierra explained and drank her tea. "I believe it wasn't her or Vicar that resurrected you, but it was someone else," Sierra continued.
Alseace was too exhausted that he couldn't think clearly and decided to postpone those mysteries for later.
"Can you share your status points, Al?" Sierra looked at him with curiosity.
Alseace grabbed his phone and wrote his status screen into a note. He then showed it to Sierra, who was eager to see his growth. The moment she saw his growth, her smile disappeared. She was speechless and looked at him with a shocked expression.
Sierra grabbed him on the collar with both hands and hit her forehead on his; "Don't joke around! Those status points are far superior to mine!"
"I'm not joking. I'm still in disbelief with the growth I got from the Scavenger sub-skill, and I want you to teach me a lot of stuff that I saw in there, Miss Sierra," Alseace answered as he shook his head with a smile on his face.
"Leave it to me. I'll teach you everything you want to know. Let's start training tomorrow," Sierra said in excitement.