MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

Chapter 1584: A Brief Detour

”...So, why’d we have to leave the dungeon?”

Exiting the entrance to the Realm of New Horizons once more, Ataraxia went ahead and made his way to Pavilion Draconica’s representative, exchanging the five Greater Horizon sets his group had obtained from the dungeon for Deltas.

After confirming that 200,000 Deltas were added to his account, he then made his way to where his group were waiting, only for Thomas to ask him that question.

”Considering our experience with the dungeon and the group’s overall condition, we could’ve cleared up to the 80th layer before calling it quits,” said Thomas, to which some of the members in the group nodded in agreement.

”With that said, why’d we leave the dungeon just as we cleared the 60th layer?”

”...” In response to his friend’s question, Ataraxia remained silent for a bit, his gaze sweeping over everyone in his group.

”Well...” Letting out a faint sigh once he was done, the young man looked at his group with a slightly bitter smile as he replied, ”You’ll find out once we go on our next run.”

”Next run?” Hearing those words, Meria raised her eyebrow in curiosity as she glanced at the others for a bit. ”Do we have enough time for another run?”

”...We probably won’t make it in time,” said Lucques after giving it a bit of thought, responding to his sister’s question with a shake of his head.

”Even if we go all out in clearing the Realm of New Horizons, we’d still miss out on exchanging one last batch of the Greater Horizon sets with Pavilion Draconica. The eight other guilds haven’t gotten out of the dungeon yet, after all.”

”Wait...” As he listened to the conversation Meria and Lucques were having, Ataraxia gradually realized that the two might have misunderstood his earlier response. ”Are you guys... thinking I had us leave the dungeon early to earn more of the Deltas with another run?”

Alisa and the others faintly nodded in response. ”Is that not why you had us leave?”

”Not even one bit.” The young man profusely shook his head. ”Plus, with how much Deltas we’ve earned from the sets we exchanged, there really isn’t any point to us getting more Greater Horizon sets before the request is complete.”

”If it’s not to earn more Deltas... what’s the real reason for us leaving the dungeon early, then?” asked Thomas after that.

”As I’ve said before...” Hearing those words, Ataraxia could only let out yet another sigh. ”You’ll find out once we go on our next run.”

”But...”

”No buts,” said the young man in response, his expression stern as he looked at the group. ”You’ll understand once we enter the dungeon again.”

Although everyone still wondered why their leader did what he did during the previous run, the group still made their way to the dungeon once more after sensing the faint yet overbearing aura Ataraxia directed at them.

...

With how the Azure Coalition group had been consistently grinding the Realm of New Horizons for the past few days, it was no surprise that the group sped through the early layers of the dungeon with great ease.

In just a couple hours, the group was able to push past the 30th layer, only to then arrive beyond the 40th layer just an hour later.

By the time they reached the 50th layer, only four hours had passed since they entered the Realm of New Horizons once again, giving everyone in the group the feeling that they’d go beyond the 60th layer in record time.

However, just a few layers before the second major threshold of the dungeon, Ataraxia had the entire group stop after killing all of the monsters that roamed the 58th layer.

”...Are you finally going to show us why you had us leave the dungeon early in the previous run?” Knowing that the young man wouldn’t have them stop making progress in the dungeon for no reason, it did not take long for Thomas to recall the conversation they had before their current run.

In response, Ataraxia nodded, taking out the mysterious black key he’d gotten from the chimera out of his spatial bracelet. ”Remember this from the previous run?”

”Yeah?” As the group took a look at the key he held up, almost everyone nodded at him in affirmation as Thomas voiced out everyone’s thoughts. ”It’s a drop from the chimera. What about it?”

Seeing how clueless everyone was towards the key, Ataraxia could not help but let out a chuckle in amusement. ”...What if I told you that this drop actually gives us access to a different part of the dungeon?”

”But didn’t you say early on that the Realm of New Horizons didn’t have any branching paths?” Listening to the young man’s words, Alisa could not help but bring up the conversation they had during their first attempt. ”Why are you telling us there’s a different part of the dungeon now?”

”If we’re talking about the dungeon aspect of the entire thing, then yes. The Realm of New Horizons doesn’t have any branching paths,” replied Ataraxia, nodding at the woman’s words.

After that, he smiled. ”But what if the different part of the dungeon I was talking about was not another dungeon...”

”...But an inheritance instead?”

Step. Step. Step.

While everyone in the group was still in the midst of processing the words that Ataraxia uttered, the young man in question searched through the entirety of the 58th layer, eventually finding an opening in the wall that looked oddly similar to a keyhole.

Click.

Inserting the key into it, he then took in a deep breath as he slowly turned the key clockwise.

Pop.

As if his actions had removed a lock of some sort, an oddly-shaped stone soon fell near where the opening was. Picking it up, he then began to look around the area for yet another opening, recalling that the final step was to insert the stone that fell into a same-shaped opening.

Just as he was looking around for the opening that had a same shape as the stone, everyone else gradually snapped back to reality, giving Ataraxia a look of understanding as they now knew he was giving them an opportunity.

Noting that everyone in the group was finally on the same page as him, the young man decided to enlist everyone’s help to search for the hole he’d been looking around for quite some time.

Giving everyone a copy of the stone’s shape through their group chat, Ataraxia had everyone search the 58th layer for the hole whilst he continued to also look for the hole himself.

Fortunately, after asking for everyone’s help on the task, it did not take long for the hole he was looking for to reveal himself, being situated just a few meters away from the boundary that led to the 59th layer.