When Liam and his friends appeared in Duabalis, they immediately attracted a lot of attention. Well, rather Lewriova who came with them did. But the gorgeous nephilim ignored everyone else, signalling the party to follow her. Together they rushed along the main road and soon entered the magical winged mountain, which was only accessible to the nephilim. They continued for a bit until they stopped in front of a large building.
"Adventurers I trust you won't speak about what you have just witnessed. But you have heard Golden Tiger's words. The order faction is preparing to strike at the void, and I am confident you adventurers can play a big part. Of course, your contributions will be noted and turned into rewards. Now, I hope you will diligently prove your worth. Show me that I was not mistaken. For your first quest you can visit Trooclei, the Dark Arcanist. He works in this building."
"Ah, sure…"
The friends were still somewhat overwhelmed by the entire development. They couldn't even answer before Lewriova turned into particles of light and disappeared.
"So… what happened? I wanted to ask more about this event things…", said Balm with a puzzled expression.
"Didn't C say to look into our journal? Let's do that."
"Oh, right!"
Thanks to Silver Blade's suggestion everyone overcame their confusion. They swiftly found the relevant information in their journal.
[Large-scale event: War on the void]
[The order faction has decided to strike at the void lingering in hell and you as adventurers have been enlisted to assist in the preparation. Your efforts have a chance of shaping the story of Crunaboul. Complete quests to gather preparation points. After the limit of points has been reached, the event will begin. Of course you will be handsomely rewarded for the points you gathered.]
[Rewarded 50 points for being the first to discover the large-scale event.]
[Rewarded 30 points for completing major quest: The mysterious compass.]
[Your points: 80]
[Preparation points: 800/10.000.000]
[Possible quests:
1. Gather materials for Sehelo (Duabalis) (minor)
2. Help Master Orunai's research (Duabalis) (intermediate)
3. Kill pests for Bentaria (Gen'is Island) (major)
… ]
"Ten million?! How are we supposed to do that? That's like… so many quests!"
Cyclone exclaimed in shock after reading through the information, immediately earning her strange glances from her friends. Her thoughts moved and she smiled in embarrassment.
"It's not only us who can contribute to those points, is it?"
"Of course not.", explained Liam kindly. "Everyone who reaches level 50 will see a short version of the scene we just saw and will get the same information. Only the quests we can take differ from race to race now."
"And what about this tag that says major?"
"The quests have varying difficulties and thus give more points. Our compass quest counted as a major quest, rewarding 30 points. And the quest Lewriova recommended to us is another major one. That's a hidden benefit for discovering the event."
"Ohh, great! Wait, but… if the quests can only be taken by those from the same race doesn't this mean you can't participate, Radiant Shield and Bloody Edge?"
Cyclone felt it was unfair on the behalf of her two holy nephilim friends. But looking around she realized that the two men weren't with them. The others also only noticed it now. They realized that their friends had been teleported to the territory of the holy nephilim, praising Lewriova's thoughtfulness.
At that moment the two young men had also sorted through the information, contacting their friends through the chat. Liam explained everything in the chat, clearing the doubts of his friends. A few minutes later everyone was fired up and ready to go.
"Ok, ok. We wasted some time now. If I had known this, I wouldn't have relaxed the last two days. Let's go, guys!"
Cyclone was urging her friends, approach the door.
"Don't worry. This will be a marathon not a sprint. As long as we can snatch some major quests, we are good.", laughed Liam as he followed his friends. Next to him, Silver Blade nodded her head. After some thought she came to the same conclusion.
Overall, how many players could reach level 50 in time? Perhaps 20.000? And only half of them belonged to the order faction. This meant each player had to gather 1000 points on average. This equates to 33 major quests. If there were no other sources of points they would take at least two weeks to complete this many quests. Considering the time the other players needed to catch up, it was more realistic to plan with three to four weeks.
Silver Blade's calculation was not wrong but there was a small detail she didn't know about. For the duration of the event the EXP rewards for all quests were increased which made it easier for others to reach level 50. Still, Hotpot being the first granted them a solid advantage.
The friends stepped through the door and entered the building before them. Immediately they were hit with a freezing cold. It came from a sphere of dark magic floating on a pedestal in the centre of the room. However, the players could tell that this wasn't some simple magic. They had felt something similar before. Such pure magic could only come from a devil.
The devilish magic was surrounded by a few floating magic scrolls. The patterns on them revolved, trying to suppress the magic. The rest of the room was filled with bookshelves and materials to create magic scrolls. To the side was a large desk, its wooden surface permeated with cracks despite its lustrous and healthy glow.
"Ah, you must be the adventurers Lewriova mentioned!"
The players were taken aback as a man suddenly appeared before them. He had curly, grey hair and a long beard. His body, clad in a sloppy white shirt and grey pants was rather short, his back lightly bent. But the eyes staring at the players brimmed with life, propound intelligence, and kindness.
"Are you Trooclei, the Dark Arcanist?", asked Silver Blade probingly.
"Ahh, young one, no need for titles. You can just call me Grandpa Troo."
"Ok… So, what can we do for you?"
"This means you are really here to help me? Haa, I don't know about that. It's dangerous, so dangerous…"
"Don't worry about us, Grandpa! We can fight! We are level 50!", said Cyclone. The friends had realised that level 50 seemed to be a watershed, at least in the eyes of the NPCs. But her reminder didn't quite get the reaction she hoped for.
"Level? 50? What is a level? Is it something you adventurers use to gauge you power? Hmm. Interesting, very interesting. Should we implement such a system as well? But it doesn't seem all that reliable. What if a level one being wields a legendary weapon? Are they still level one?"
Cyclone only blinked her eyes watching as the old man mumbled to himself. Eventually she couldn't help but cough lightly.
"Oh, my apologies. Haha, I can't get rid of this bad habit of mine. When I come across some interesting topic I have to ponder over it. Here, why don't you take this as an apology?"
As he said this, Grandpa Troo suddenly produced a wand out of nowhere and held it towards Cyclone. The young woman was perplexed. However, her hand moved instinctively, snatching the wand before the old man could change his mind.
"Ah, good kid. Hmm but now this seems somewhat unfair to your friends. Here, let me gift you these. Take is a gift upon our first meeting."
Immediately a suitable weapon appeared in front of everyone. They were all confused, glancing towards Liam. Seeing him nonchalantly accept the gift they all followed his example. However, there was not much joy on their faces as they read the information on the weapons as it were only level 50 common items without any special effects.
Meanwhile Cyclone was scratching her chin. She addressed the old nephilim, asking with a cheeky smile:
"Grandpa Troo, have you heard of something called the internet?"
"Hm? No, never heard of it."
Cyclone's smile grew bigger. She explained in a few sentences, trying to rouse the old man's interest. And it worked indeed. Grandpa Troo began to mumble again. Cyclone waited eagerly, finally interrupting him. She opened her hand and waited for another gift. Disappointingly, it never came as Grandpa Troo changed the topic:
"Look at me, I'm doing it again. I'm wasting your precious time. No, this can't go on. Let's talk about what I need your help with. Here, look at this."
Grandpa Troo pointed at the sphere of devil magic in the centre and explained:
"This is magic tainted by a devil. A devil called Souravnimn to be exact. I am currently working on ways to defend against this devil's influence. However, what I have here is only some residue. It is not comprehensive enough. I need something which is deeply connected to the devil. But such an item is not easy to find..."