Chapter 48: Hidden Quest and Comrades - Part 1
In the [Ancient Chapel of Paxus], an NPC nun is kneeling down and it seems like she is devoting herself to the good-looking god in front of him.
Even though the roof and the whole chapel are a mess, she is still praying for him.
She stood up and then, immediately noticed us.
"Oh? Are you also here for the god of peace?" She asked as her eyes closed and then continued, "If not, may I ask what you want?"
"But first, can we know who you are?" I asked but I already know who is she.
She is sister Clarissa, the ancient devotee of the god of peace for millions of centuries. She is an angel who is fallen to this world and then when the [God of Peace], Arron helped her to become a new person as a human, she became a loyal follower of that god until he descended.
She introduced herself exactly as I expected. And then I introduced myself, "I am Theo, an adventurer..."
She opened her eyes to look at my face then suddenly, her expression froze.
It is different from what I've expected.
"I--see then 'that' thing will soon be revealed, huh?" She smiled as her tears flowed down her cheeks.
"U-um, may I ask if you know the seventh user of this sword?" I asked as I showed her the sword from my inventory and then she said, "Yeah, I know who it is... "
"It is one of 'that' person's loyal followers... Cryzza, the [Ice Witch of the Paxus]" I don't know what to say.
Last time, she didn't say the name of Cryzza but the [Ice Witch of the Paxus] only.
[You completed the first phase of the quest!]
'What the--'
"Oh, then t-thanks!" I smiled widely as she muttered with a low voice, "It is my pleasure, Your Excellency"
I heard that because my senses are probably enhanced by my awareness but I asked her, "What is it?"
I am clueless about what she is saying. She called me [Your Excellency] and her personality in the previous time I completed this quest.
'Weird...'
***
We moved on to the second place where it is the largest ancient auction house in the [Ancient Kingdom of Paxus]
There is no one here and I know what to find. There are twenty-five masks here with the symbol of their elements carved in the forehead of the masks.
It is a secret passageway that only I know...
The 1st two-column of the masks are the ten basic elements and I only have to take the mask with the water symbol on it and wear it. The other symbols are quite vague to see what are the symbols of the rest of the 15 elements.
The first element that I notice besides the 10 basic elements is the symbol of the scale.
'Is that the law element?' I asked myself as I took the mask from the bottom right corner with the water symbol carved on the forehead and wear it.
After wearing it, the door behind the wall of the masks opened.
'Yes! I can find my sub-weapon here!' I said excitedly as we immediately ran inside.
Inside the secret passage, there are a lot of booby traps but I know all of them. And even if I am going to fall into the traps, it can't do much to me...
Then when we reached the end, we saw two large doors.
'After booby traps, there is the [Dark Lich], an elemental boss that is not weak to light but plant element! If Fiona is here, we can defeat this easily. I can also use plant element but it is hard to manipulate if I don't know the [Heart of Element]!'
[Heart of Element] is the reason why did they exist, where did they come from, when did they appear and how have they become an element. I know why, where, and when but how did they become an element? That is what I am always thinking about all this time.
I remembered that Fiona said something about the plant element but I can't remember!
Then Julius said, "Is something bothering you?"
"N-none, I am just thinking of something..." I said as I immediately regained my composure and then opened the door.
[Dark Lich Lv.850
Description: A wizard that died miserably and his hatred created him again, becoming a Lich.
Nature: Chaotic Evil
Trait: Immune to the nine basic elements with the exception of the earth element.
Weakness: Plant Element]
'Then, I can use time on him, huh? I can slow him down!' I immediately rushed towards the [Lich] and it roared.
"Who do you think you are!"
"I am..." I touched his body and immediately slowed his body's time.
"The person who can stop you..." I smiled as I started to sit down and remember what Fiona said a long time ago...
'Plant element is... ergh, plant...' I continued muttering to myself as I stared at the Lich and notice that his voice also slowed down.
'It seems like I didn't slow his movement but it's...'
I stood up and then immediately remembered what Fiona said.
"Plant elements are alive with their will, just like other elements. It is an independent and lawful good element. Do you know why they became an element? It is obviously because of the earth element. The earth element gave them life and then created a new subsidiary power that lets you manipulate plants..." I can't remember what she said next but I finally understood what she meant.
Elements are all essence of the universe! Including the magic itself! It is a simple answer that I had a hard time questioning myself...
'Why didn't think of that?' I asked myself as the notification ringed.
[Congratulations! You achieved the secret behind the elements! All affinity +50% proficiency and the chance of unlocking all elements increased by +20%]
[[Mystic Manipulation Lv. EX] evolved into [Essence Manipulation Lv. EX]]
-- --
Essence Manipulation Lv. EX
-The blessing of the universe to you that you can control the skills freely without restriction now that you have achieved the secret of the elements. You can now create any active skills, passive skills, new magic, or even a new element. The universe is watching you.
Mana: None
Cooldown: None
Note: All elemental attacks will merge into the skill.
-- --
[The Gods are proud...]
[The Gods are impressed...]
[The Elemental God said that it is very hard to get the universe's attention]
"Not just gods but now the universe? Just what is going on?" I muttered as my face darkens and tried to control all elements I know.
"Let's try [Time Element] if what is the limit I can do... Should I go and try using this magic to force the body of Lich to go back in his human form?" I asked myself and then I remembered that the gods are all watching me.
[The God of Time said it is impossible in your current state. You can only see an hour in the future or see their past. You can also slow your enemies and fasten your allies significantly if you evolved thrice from your current form]
"I can still evolve?" I asked.
[The God of Transformation said that you can still indeed evolve]
[The God of Space said that once the time comes]
[The God of Heaven and Lightning said that it is all you have to know]
"I see..." I said as I gave up manipulating time on my current state.
I started to feel all energies surrounding me including space.
I gathered the space element and reinforced it into my hand. I can touch the space itself now...
[Congratulations! You created a Celestial Skill! Name the skill of your choice!]
"A skill? To touch the space? Hmmm..."
[Spatial Touch]
[The universe resonates with the skill]
[Congratulations! You created your own Celestial Skill [Spatial Touch]!]
[Note: It will merge into the [Essence Manipulation]]
[Note: You can reinforce the magic on a paper to become a [Magic Scroll] using the [All-round Genius]]
"Amazing!" I said to myself excitedly as I immediately saw the name of the skill below the [Essence Manipulation], it is on the list of the skills I created.
-- --
Spatial Touch (Celestial)
-Ability to sense and touch the space itself.
Restriction: Strength must be 5,000+, Magic-type classes
-- --
"It is kind of useless... Hmmm..." I used my hand again and used [Spatial Touch]
I can touch the space itself, that probably means...
I immediately used all of my strength and then space fluctuates.
Space ripped and then I immediately noticed that I can control the ripped space. I molded it into a sharp object and then I threw it to the wall. The wall got destroyed without any trace of debris...
[[Spatial Touch Lv. EX] evolved into [Unknown]]
[Congratulations! You created an evolution branch of the [Spatial Touch]! Name the skill of your choice!]
[Dimensional Slash]
[The universe resonates with your skill]
[Congratulations! You created an Unranked Skill [Dimensional Slash]]
-- --
Dimensional Slash (Unranked)
-Ability to use the space like a blade and destroy everything it touches.
Restriction: [Spatial Touch]
-- --
"Amazing! I can create more later but for now, let me kill this [Elemental Boss] and finish this quest!" I raised my hand as I remembered the skill that Fiona used to let us kill the [Dark Lich] easier.
It is magic that lets the area filled with plants and became your domain.
[Forest Creation]
It is probably similar to the [Forest Guardian's Forest Scenery] but the [Forest Creation] has a permanent effect.
Plants grew from everywhere that instantly made the [Dark Lich] panic.
"Wha-what is this?!" He said as he avoided plants.
"That is why you are here on this place, you can't go out because you will get damage on every plant that you will get in contact with... Am I correct?" I said coldly as I remembered how Fiona said those words in a similar way.
The whole place became full of plants and then,
[Essence Manipulation: Plant Essence]
It is a skill that suddenly appeared in my mind. it is a skill that changed the property of the essence or mana in the area into a plant element.
"Ahhh!" The [Dark Lich] roars as his body started to dissipate and eventually, it disappeared.
The place is now a forest, not a room.
I immediately went to the place where the [Dark Lich] guy died and it dropped three things.
[Congratulations! You defeated the [Dark Lich]! You received 900,000,000 EXP]
[Notice: x17 will be added to the total amount of EXP]
[You cleared the vicinity, granting you another x10 amount of EXP for defeating the enemy within a short period of time]
[Level: 1,250 -> 1,261 (0%)]
[Sword of Hatred], [Cold Crown] and then [The Diary of the Fallen Wizard]
[You completed the second phase of the quest!]