‘He thinks I would let him escape after what he had done to me? Seal it.’
‘I have used my seal power. This energy is absorbing mine. I can only seal it for 1 more minute.’
Ibro smiled. 1 minute was more than enough for him. He then held one big rune. It was the only rune he made using his Mega Omega energy. He then neared that suspended energy in the air under the sealing effect and ordered Dronil:
‘use your upgradeability on this rune now.’
At once this rune glowed with a shiny color. It was augmented already three times under the effect of his passive skill.
Now, this was the fourth upgrade. Dronil’s ability was higher than the skill effect of Ibro. It treated the three additions as part of the rune effect and it upgraded it.
This made the rune shine from the high energy in it. Ibro didn’t hesitate to throw this rune towards that suspended cloud of yellowish greenish particles of energy that looked like dust.
That rune exploded and generated a huge energy pulse that caused massive vibrations to this energy.
‘Dronil sensed the disappearance of life signs from this foreign object. Dronil sensed the remnant energy. Dronil can absorb this energy. This energy is taking the route of self-destruction. Dronil asks for your permission to absorb this energy.’
Ibro wasn’t a stranger to Dronil’s absorption of a huge appetite. Last time Dronil upgraded itself it gave Ibro the upgradeability function. Although Ibro felt excited, he didn’t rush to agree as he asked in a serious tone:
‘Is there any risk or danger on you?’
‘Don’t worry; there is no risk at all. I sensed the escape of that controller on this energy form. This energy now is ownerless. I can absorb it as much as I like.’
‘Then go ahead and suck it dry.’
Dronil started to issue repeated dull alerts about his progress in absorption energy.
Ibro just stood in his place motionless. He was trying to guess the true identity of this culprit which escaped from his hands. Ibro felt this time was not the end of the matter, but it was only the beginning.
He felt the urge to raise his powers more rapidly. When he came back he needed to fasten everything again. While Dronil kept absorbing energy, Ibro started to collect the trophies he got from this big battle.
Although this game was very stingy in the concept of drops, there were really 10 different trophies out there. Each monster den had a strange wooden chest near it.
Ibro had seen many treasure chests before, but this was his first time seeing something like this. Each treasure chest was larger than a normal chest.
It was nearly over 20 meters long and 10 meters wide. Ibro went to the first treasure chest. He moved directly towards the wooden chest and opened its cover.
Once he touched that cover it was smashed and disappeared into tiny thousands of wooden pieces. Ibro didn’t bother about that as he was concerned by the contents of this wooden chest.
This chest was obviously a game setting reward. The items inside this chest were neatly organized. They started with a section full of gold coins. It was really the biggest section here.
Next to it was a section full of scrolls. Next to it was a section full of weapons. This section was the second-largest section here. After that, there was a section full of strange flasks, different shaped ores, some high-level scrolls, and many small rounded items.
He didn’t try to put them separately at his Inventory as he admired this neat organization of his trophies. So he put the whole chest into his Inventory for future check.
He didn’t stop and continued to the other nine places. Each had the same arrangement of the items inside the chests. Ibro collected all these chests and he felt very happy about it.
After he finished that he found a free space at his Inventory. He wasn’t polite as he collected these monsters’ bodies inside his Inventory. What was strange for him was that his adventure level didn’t increase one level after this huge battle.
That was really weird. Just as he was thinking about the strange upgrade system in this game, he heard the final notice of Dronil as he managed to absorb the final piece of this energy.
‘Hurry and collect that suspended gem. I feel it’s very important to you.’
Ibro had already noticed this gem. It was really eye-catching with its shiny surface.
Ibro moved rapidly to this location and held this gem in his hands just in time. It was a warm fiery red gem that was nearly fist size. When Ibro held it he heard a sudden voice saying:
“Congratulations to the player for his success in overcoming this purgatory grade underground test. Player has managed to pass the test in a short time and made a new record.
As a reward, the player got the heart of this underground area. Now your territory expanded by another layer. The more layers your territory has, the more powerful it is.
You can now link your territory together. You got another two chances to draw two more unique features of your territory. You got the hidden building: purgatory warriors. Your adventure level has raised 5 levels. Your protection period will end in 3 days.”
Ibro was frozen suddenly in his place. Why did his protection period get suspended? That was weird and very dangerous. He was about to ask Dronil about this but he suddenly heard a few footsteps rushing to him.
He looked back to see that Mony was running in extreme obvious worry on her face. She was accompanied by Megedy and Aras with some new strange guys he didn’t know.
It seemed that she managed to find some new helpers. When she arrived near him she knelt at once followed by the others while she said in a hurry:
“I’m very glad with your success in eliminating these monsters, my lord.”
Ibro knew the story but he asked none the less:
“Why are you here?”
“Megedy had crossed the river by swimming and went to me directly.
He told me about what happened. I felt extremely worried so I rushed up building the port. I even built two ports, one on the river and the other on the ocean.
When we had one boat, I immediately moved to here to find you.”
Ibro didn’t feel impressed as his trust in them was in question. He said without interest:
“You are an elegant female Mony. War isn’t suitable for you. You need to return and manage my village properly. I’m strong enough to face these small obstacles.”
Mony kept her knees on the ground and her head rose slightly to look at him. She then said:
“I know that you, my lord, had guessed our true identity. Let me explain everything to you.”
Ibro didn’t expect her to talk about this hidden matter. He smiled and said with slight interest:
“Ok, go on and tell me everything you know.”
“I will tell my lord everything I’m authorized to say. We are not digital projections from the game. We are real people. Even the monsters in this game are real monsters.
When my lord entered the game as a lord, we received the announcement of this. Before we could work in any game world as NPCs. But now we had a whole new opportunity. This opportunity made us compete to work under you, my lord.”
Ibro felt weird. Although he suspected something was wrong about these monsters, he didn’t suspect they were real monsters. Real monsters with high intelligence that used tactics in battles, were really weird.
If they were real monsters, which meant these monsters had civilizations too. If this was real then that meant he was like a frog in the bottom of the well.
“In fact, there was an old version of the lord system. It was a much neglected weak system that depended on the unity of the players in the game. Each alliance had the ability to make villages.
But the new system was really different. It gave us the opportunity to work for you, my lord.”
“What is this opportunity that you kept mentioning?”
“We are the descendants of losers. You can say we live as slaves. We have no right, no power and we can’t even decide our own fates. When the new model appeared, we had a rare opportunity to redeem our freedom.
The only condition is to help you reach higher levels and raise your village to be in the ranks of cities. When Hepatia village reaches this degree, we and you can regain their freedom and can compete for hegemony.”
