Rewards

Chapter 9 - Rewards

In the graveyard floor, four acolytes were standing in a circle.

Among them, there stood Diana Blackhope, the new leader of the Black Widow Brotherhood.

Elegant and frightening, the old witch was smiling like a devil. After all, in front of her, Arthur was standing in his armour. Sturdy, muscular yet agile, Arthur was the new blood of the criminal organization which was feared throughout the Ivory Tower. In fact, most believed it to have been completely annihilated. Only a handful of acolytes knew that they were still active and growing their forces.

"With this, you are now one of them", Diana spoke with clear excitement in her voice.

Behind her, an eerie ghost was jubilating. After close observation, Arthur realized that the ghost was rather friendly towards him and the other acolytes from the Black Widow Brotherhood.

[Ariana Blackhope - Level 7 Ghost Maiden]

Arthur then remembered a rumour he had heard from William when he had sold some beast corpse to the witch in the past. The rumour basically told the story of an acolyte who had turned her own daughter into a ghost maiden to save her life. Little did he know, the story was true, with the witch being the crazy acolyte who completed a forbidden ritual to turn a human into a ghost maiden.

Most likely, the witch was seeking to turn her back into a human, but since the story was decades old, she most likely found no clue as to how to do so.

Still, Ariana had preserved her memories and kept her life. Unfortunately, she could not communicate other than with her hands. Worst still, she had to be fed souls in order to keep her sanity. Doing so required countless sacrifices. Fortunately, the Black Widow Brotherhood was no stranger to killing.

A few days had passed already since he had completed the mission. He had already received his rewards and consumed the volcano potion. Actually, he planned to join the brotherhood right after receiving the rewards, but after drinking the potion, the secondary effects were so strong that he collapsed on his bed for three days straight, unable to move.

A simple movement like walking still made him groan in pain, but the gains were worth the pain.

[Name – Arthur Landragon

Class – Level 5 [Beginner Rank] Acolyte (0 / 1 200 EXP)

HP – 50 / 50 | Mana: 30 / 50

→ Experience Stored: 645

Attributes:

Strength – 7 | Agility – 3 | Vitality – 5 | Magic Power – 5

Skills: Basic Swordsmanship (42), Magical Knowledge (28), Ice Magical Knowledge (20), Spell Reading (16), Scroll Copying (15), Archery (15), Deceiving (10), Acting (4), Trading (4), Information gathering (4), Eloquence (2)

Knight Technique: Heavy Vertical Strike (12)

Spell: Freezing Touch [Low Grade – Rank 0] (16)]

He had gained an entire point of vitality, permanently. With his current physical attributes, he was no inferior to knights who had trained for a lifetime, surviving ordeals of war. Actually, Arthur had a lot of memories about knights, since he came from a knight Household. His father, the illustrious Baron Landragon, was known to be a monstrous human being in a battlefield.

In less than a week, Arthur had earned nearly 600 EXP, more than what he would have earned in a whole year if he relied solely on meditation. Darius alone had given him 160 EXP. For some reason, it seemed like the higher the level of the individual, the more EXP he gained. In fact, humans also seemed to grant him more EXP than beasts, since a swamp wolf only granted him 15 EXP.

After all, the magical artefact (his ring) turned the soul of the deceased in to EXP, a new resource. And acolytes' souls were naturally stronger than that of beasts due to them studying and experimenting all day long.

A disgusting man tapped Arthur's back: "A body refinement acolyte, huh? You gorillas might not be very smart, but you are sturdy indeed"

Arthur restrained himself. Body refinement acolytes did possess a bad reputation. After all, most of those who chose this path did it because they were not smart enough to become an elemental acolyte. The life of a body refinement acolyte was indeed lacking a lot. Though they were very strong in close combat, they lacked versatility. Worse still, any injury to their body was a huge setback since they would be unable to continue training.

Training a body past its genetic limits was very costly as well, for toxins could only be brewed by skilled alchemists. It required time, patience, and a lot of pain tolerance. Only a few would survive the training, too. After all, if you took too much toxins, you risked dying. But if you took too little, then the effects would not be enough to stress the body.

Hence, few walked this path, and those who did, usually died before reaching Arthur's level.

The disgusting man was none other than Allan, a man who had turned himself into a zombie, trading his ability to walk under the sun and his appearance against higher vitality and extraordinary stamina. Though it was an attractive prospective, keeping one's sanity when turned undead was no small task. It required countless mental exercises and an impressive will.

[Allan - Level 6 Zombie]

[Billy - Level 5 Acolyte]

Besides Allan, the old witch and the ghost, there was also Billy, a man who had merged with an insect queen. In exchange, his skin was turned into an exoskeleton.

Such weird individuals were not exceptions in the tower. Actually, the stronger the acolytes were, the less human they became. Arthur was no exception, with his muscles becoming unnaturally developped.

Putting the Black Widow Brotherhood Token in his pouch, Arthur smiled: "I am afraid I have a meeting with Dorian Sylvester. Though I am now one of yours, I still intend to keep befriending his circle. As the leader of the law enforcement unit, he receives quite a bit of authority from Magus Rutherford"

Allan spat green saliva on the ground: "Dorian Sylvester, huh...This piece of shit is not half bad. Our organization does not bind you. So you can act freely. But remember where your true allegeance belongs when the time comes..."

Arthur nodded: "From what I understood, we are unlikely to start another faction war with our small numbers. Then, I shall increase my strength for the time being. Dorian Sylvester is just a tool I am using to grow faster"

The Old Witch grinned upon hearing this train of thoughts: "I told you he was trustworthy. Actually, your life will not change much"

The Old Witch then threw a scroll to Arthur.

[Black Widow Meditation Technique - High-grade (Incomplete)

This is the high-grade meditation technique belonging to the Black Widow Brotherhood. However, a portion of it was erased, and poorly completed, reducing its effectiveness by 47%]

Arthur's eyes shined brightly upon realizing what he had been given. Even Dorian had not shared his high-grade meditation technique with him, in spite of their friendly relationship.

Still, Arthur squinted his eyes.

"Do you need me to do something in exchange?", Arthur asked, quite dubious about the Old Witch's intentions.

Diana had a terrifying smile: "Seems like you get things quickly. However, this task won't be very dangerous or time-consuming. Since you are a trusted friend of Dorian Sylvester, try to collect as much information about the tower as you can. I know you two are already friends. Become his equal"

Arthur nodded. He already expected that. Actually, part of the reason why Diana went to such extent to recruit him probably lied in his relationship with Dorian.

"Are you looking for a specific information, or are you merely looking to be updated on the latest news and murders in the tower?", Arthur asked

"Both...The specific information being about the Arcane Faction movements. These bastards almost wiped us all last time, and I look forward to give them a taste of their own medicine. Still, I am interested in all the dangers and opportunities that might affect the organization. So it will benefit you as well"

Arthur nodded and smiled.

This was a good deal indeed.