Second World

”This is… It increased my attributes by percentage. For one with high attributes, this elevates them even further. The active skill is also badass, it even lasts so long for three minutes,” Jack commented.

”Normal bloodline only provided a passive boost. Your bloodline is not only high-grade, it is the bloodline of a true dragon. You will get another active skill every three levels increase of the bloodline, totaling four active skills at its maximum level 10,” Peniel informed.

”How do I increase my bloodline level? Will it absorb my exp like the Lightning God Blessing?” Jack asked.

”No. Do you see the draconic essence it indicated under the bloodlineʼs description there?”

”Yes. Do I need to collect 1000 of this draconic essence? How do I do that?”

”By killing draconic type monster and absorb their essences. A bloodline always corresponds to one type of monster. Getting a draconic bloodline is both a boon and a curse. Although a Draconic bloodline is the best amongst other bloodline types, collecting the required essences is also the hardest. Draconic monsters are rare and most of them are very strong. So, it will be very difficult for you to upgrade this bloodline. But worry not, I know of a place where you can find a decent number of level 40 draconic monsters. You should be able to handle them at your level.”

”Great! Letʼs go there once we are out of here. We will slaughter the draconic monste…,” Jack stopped abruptly as he realized that he was in the presence of a draconic being. Speaking about slaughtering her type in front of her might not bode well.

He turned to Syndrillis and gave her a wry smile. ”That was just a joke,” he said to her with a laugh. ”I will treat all draconic beings with respect.”

Syndrillis harrumphed, ”I care not what you do to those low lineage creatures. You can kill them all for all I care. On the other hand, if you try to take on a true dragon. Well, itʼs your own funeral. So, you are free to do as you wish.”

Jack heaved a relief after hearing that.

”Shall we go now?” Wilted Tree asked.

”Wait! You still have another powerful item that can aid you in a fight,” Peniel said.

”Oh? Whatʼs that?” Jack asked.

”Sinfulʼs Amulet of Summoning,” Peniel reminded.

”Right! It will be great if I can summon that ugly frog thing,” Jack said and took out the amulet and Inspect it.

Amulet of Summoning (unique necklace)

All elemental resistances +20

All status effect resistances +10%

Calming wave (Active effect): All monsters of special elite grade and below, and of a maximum of ten levels above the user, will not turn hostile (will not affect monsters that are already in combat status). Duration: 5 minutes. Cooldown: 6 hours

[empty] - Insert a summoning orb to activate summoning capability

”My first unique equipment!” Jack exclaimed but then asked after reading the description, ”Summoning orb?”

”You need to have a summoning orb in conjunction with that amulet before you can summon something,” Wilted Tree explained. ”The type and grade of the monster will depend on the orb. While for the summoned creatureʼs level, it will scale with the amulet userʼs level.”

”Where will I find a summoning orb? So, I canʼt use its summoning ability at this moment?”

”You already have one,” Peniel said.

”I have?” Jack asked in confusion. He didnʼt remember he had anything that is called summoning orb.

”Do you remember the yellow-colored rock you got after vanquishing the Small Rock Golem?”

”Small Rock Golem…?” Jack tried to remember. The memory came to him, it seemed a long time ago. He took out the small yellow rock from his bag. ”This Heart of Rock? This is a summoning orb? But it is described as rare material.”

When Jack was depositing all the unusual materials in his stock into the guildʼs warehouse, he had originally wanted to put this rock in as well, because he thought this was a blacksmithing material, but Peniel had prevented him to do so.

”This is rare material for blacksmithing and alchemy, but this can also serve as a summoning orb. Some items have multi-function uses like that,” Peniel explained. ”Now, touch the rock to the amulet. Something should happen.”

Jack did so. An interface appeared, indicating a summoning orb had been detected. It asked Jack if he wanted to merge the Heart of Rock to the amulet. Jack proceeded to do so. Once he did, the fourth ability of the Amulet of Summoning had changed.

Summon Rock Golem (Elite monster)

Cost: 10 mana cores

Duration: 30 minutes

Cooldown: 6 hours

”Only elite?” Jack said with a hint of disappointment.

”What do you expect? That small rock golem you got it from was only of elite grade. At least its level is scaled with yours. So it should be much stronger than the one you fought.”

”It said cost ten mana cores. So, I need to pay mana cores every time I do a summoning?” Jack then remembered Sinful also did the same when he summoned the ugly rock monsters.

”Yes,” Peniel answered. ”If you replaced the orb with a higher grade summoning orb, the mana core cost should go up.”

Ten mana cores are cheap, Jack had 388 mana cores with him, so this cost shouldnʼt be a problem. Then he remembered another thing. ”Hey, I remember this rock golem is strong against physical but weak against magic. Master is primarily magic-based. So, this monster is useless against him.”

”Er… Well, I guess so…”

”Bloody hell! All right, we have wasted enough time. Letʼs head up, we might miss the five hours mark,” Jack said to Wilted Tree.

”What five hours mark?” Wilted Tree asked.

”The cooldown for the divine treasure skills. Master had two of them, he had used them when he caught me. We will be at a disadvantage if he can use them again, especially against that immobilizing earth skill. Oh, wait! You said Master has three…”

”The third one didnʼt provide active battle skill, donʼt worry about it. But we need to kill them first,” Wilted Tree reminded Jack of the five bound players. ”I cannot leave my Orb of Concealment here, they will be able to send messages to Master once I take it away.”

”Okay,” Jack pulled out his sword. ”They will be in limbo for half an hour after death. We will have carried out our plan by then.”

”Hold!” Jack heard Syndrillis call. ”Toss them to me. I have promised them I will destroy them. I intend to keep my promise.”

Jack sheathed his sword. While grinning, he grabbed the closest one, took out the cloth in his mouth, and then tossed him like a ragdoll towards the dragon. The dragon opened her maw wide. The guy was screaming in the air as he saw himself heading into the large mouth full of sharp teeth.

Syndrillis clamped her mouth hard. The playerʼs HP zeroed at once with his body torn to pieces from that one bite. Pieces of his hands and feet fell on the floor below the dragon.

”Uh… That was gory,” Jack said. He looked at the remaining four. he saw the terror in their eyes. He did not pity them. He proceeded to toss them one by one at the dragon. It was like playing fetch. Except instead of throwing a ball, it was throwing a player. And instead of playing with a dog, it was with a dragon.

Finished with playing fetch, Jack said to the dragon in a respectful bow, ”We will take our leave first. Please give us fifteen minutes before you do anything, and thanks again for your bloodline!”

The dragon simply huffed for a reply.

Jack and Wilted Tree went up the winding stairs to Masterʼs quarter and continued to the place before the door that led to the balcony outside.

”Letʼs hide here first,” Wilted Tree said. ”The stair outside is a linear path. There was nowhere to hide.”

Jack complied. They hid inside a small storage room where they could see the door to the balcony from its doorless opening. Wilted Tree activated her concealing device again, so ones with God-eye monocle wonʼt know that they are inside the room. They now waited for Syndrillis to create the commotion.

While waiting, Wilted Tree suddenly jolted.

”Whatʼs wrong?” Jack asked.

”Motherboard escaped!” She answered.

”What?! Then doesnʼt that mean you will get discovered?”

”I donʼt know… My friends told me she escaped by killing herself. She had somehow freed her binding and managed to inflict enough damage to herself.”

”She should have worn Amulet of Rebirth before killing herself.”

”Naturally. But she never knows that I am impersonating her. We kept her in the dark after capturing her. She should revive at a safe zone, before teleporting here. The teleportation chamber was some floors below. She had just escaped, we are ahead of her. We should be able to see her if she was going up.”

”But if she sends a message to Master telling him that she had been captured all this time, Master will know you are fake. Or can you still hijack her messaging system?”

”No, I lost connection with her messaging system already once she left our facility. There is indeed a chance she would contact Master immediately... We should just gamble on it. Hopefully, she just decided to come here and report personally rather than send a message.”

At that time, the tower shook heavily followed by the sound of an explosion. It sounded like a portion of the tower had been demolished. A massive roar soon echoed throughout the place.

”It has begun.”

😉