34) Lunar Peak (I)

"Would you look at that, Golak this might be the most beautiful one yet" -said Ryker as he was observing the new weapon Golak had brought out for him. It was not something he was used to but when he imagined himself using it he could not help but tremble in excitement.

"I didn't know if it would suit you Ry, it is a hard weapon to use but with enough practice, it is one of the most powerful ones." -answered Golak in a somewhat melancholic tone as he remembered the forging process of this one of a kind weapon.

"So you would be taking the… what did you call them again? Misery Blades?"

"Well, I just thought they deserved a good name" -said Ryker feeling kind of embarrassed for naming the flying knives when they were not even his yet. Fortunately, Golak didn't seem to mind.

"I totally agree with you Ry, so the "Misery Blades", you will also be taking "Pendulum", the "Blackout Boots", and one "speed enhancing earring". Alright well, that would be a total of 1300 gold coins but with your friendly discount it will be 1000 gold coins." -he said the last part with a grin that showed his yellow teeth.

"Oh my god! thank you so much Golak, you are the best! I have a few friends who might also need new equipment so I will send have to trouble you with helping them in the future. I will also come back so you can show me how to make my own weapons." -Ryker was truly grateful. He had spent the entire night chatting and getting to know Golak and he really liked the guy. He was sincere and had a funny clumsiness one would not expect in a master forger.

When the sun came up, Ryker was already admiring his new equipment. He had obtained two weapons, an accessory, and a piece of clothing. He was going for the white and black vibe so far; with the exception of his brown dagger. His two new weapons were black and gold, and he was still dressed in all white. He was still in the city. That is why he also chose the Blackout Boots. Their name was not derived from their color but from their ability to absorb the light and sound surrounding Ryker. He looked more like an assassin as days passed.

'Oh sh*t! I forgot to ask him about the spell crystals! I am so f*cking dumb' -he thought to himself as he made his way to the adventurers guild for today's mission. Right now he was armed to the teeth, he had basically everything covered. From defense to offense to short and long-ranged attacks. That is why he decided to buy the speed earring as he was lacking a bit in that department compared to the other ones.

And so he approached the holographic screen and selected the quest he had eyed since the last time he was here. It would be his first quest that was to eliminate a certain threat. This threat was based in one of the mountain peaks surrounding the valley where ZIlco City was located. It was the Lunar Peak.

The Lunar Peak got its name because, for some reason, almost all of the creatures residing near it had a cosmic ability. Their spells were mainly focused on the power of the moon. There were Crescent Wolfs, Blood Moon Owls, Lunar Bat, just to name a few. However, the real aim of the quest was something else.

[Quest! Tanzanite level

Kill all the Souleaters scouts

Reward: 100 gold coins]

Usually, that would be the end of it, but Ryker felt very confident in himself. Maybe it was his desperation to level up or he had learned nothing from his past experiences in the game but he had also picked up another two quests related to the Souleaters.

[Quest! Tanzanite level

Kill all the Souleaters

Reward: 200 gold coins]

[Quest! Tanzanite level

Kill the Souleater chief

Reward: 500 gold coins]

What was supposed to be a mission for three different parties, was picked up by a teenage boy with an inflated ego, in other words, a recipe for disaster was taking place.

And so he embarked on a mission to wipe out the Souleaters tribe that was living at Lunar Peak. These tribes usually had one chief, which was in charge, a shaman, which would usually advise the chief on what to do, three champions, who were the strongest warriors of the tribe, scouts, and around 20 Souleaters.

Fortunately enough, Ryker was not a complete idiot, so this time around he could be found in the library, which was basically an online cafe, looking up information on the Souleaters. He found that their levels were not that high, around the 30s, but they were physically weak. They excelled at Phantom magic, which was another word for Undead.

They also had a trait or what some people believed to be an Esper ability called [Putrefaction]. From what Ryker understood, it was a spell that slowly corroded the target. It would essentially decompose the body leaving only the soul behind, that is how they would get the soul and then eat it. They did not really eat it, just assimilated the soul energy into their own bodies by unknown means to make themselves more powerful. The more souls they consumed, the more unstoppable they became.

He also investigated the beasts living on the Lunar Peak. He wanted to be ready as he was going to face high-leveled opponents. He even considered asking Holden and the girls for help but his pride did not allow him to. He convinced himself that if he did when he reached level 40 the quest would not be considered as completed because he had help but that was only to ignore the fact that he felt embarrassed to ask for help.

By noon, he had already left the city behind and was walking north towards his destination. Lunar Peak was very easy to distinguish because of its greyish color. Everything around it was grey. From the grass to the trees to even the soil. All different tones of grey. It was also the perfect environment for the Souleaters to live in because they also had slightly pale grey skin.

There was a trail at the base of the mountain that led up. He knew that the village of the Souleaters was somewhere inside the mountain and that he would only be able to access it by the main entrance. He put his game face on and started to hunt.