Starting from Zero Book 3 - Chapter 9 – Quest of the Cave (Part 5)

Book 3, Chapter 9
Quest of the Cave (Part 5)
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I tried [Capture] more than 300 times before I finally turned Phiona into an egg. Now my throat hurts! (You need to say the skill name to cast it)
With a blood drop, she reappeared.
And wow you really shouldn't judge people, I mean birds, by the looks!
Phiona looked pretty innocent back there, but she is actually a level 999 boss, the Inferno Phoenix. And she got some serious properties.
Current level: 0
Attack 100-180,
Defense 100,
Speed 230,
HP 800,
MP 1500,
75% chance to ignore defense,
Attacks will carry Pyro Poison damage (20),
Able to use all Fire spells,
Invulnerable to magic,
Special skill [Reincarnation]: Revives after 10 seconds of death (only once per day).
And those are the attributes at level 0! What will they look like when she levels up?
My status window popped up on its own. This usually happens when I level up.
I saw that "reincarnation" property displayed along my own attributes! Then I found out all of my Companions can revive once in every day too. However only Phiona is a "complete revive". The rest of us can only regain 10% of our HP. But this is good enough! A double safe!
"Hey Phiona. So where is your friend?"
Am I appearing too greedy on the looks?
Phiona performed a shiny dance move, turned into a pure white, long tailed cockatoo parrot, and landed on me.
"This way!"
"So you can transform into a little white beauty? Then why did you appear all blackish?"
Now the Phiona on my shoulder is truly a gorgeous creation of the nature.
"This shape looks nice but I can't fight in it! When I go into combat I'll return to my original black phoenix appearance. I can only do this when resting. I heard this is what my grandfather looked like, so I suppose this is the body of an Aurora Heaven Bird? Since I'm with you now I don't need to be in my battle form all the time! Oh and, we arrived!"
"Already?"
Phiona flew ahead and disappeared. This seems the other end of the cave, and full of trees too. Looks like a forest stands over this side of the cave.
But why is every forest so dark??
When I'm looking around, Phiona came back, followed by a...um...
A unicorn? But that's not really accurate.
From all kinds of stories I heard that unicorns are supposed to be creatures of pureness and kindness, usually have white body, and a beautiful horn. (*) But this thing...is pitch black from top to bottom. The only thing that aren't black are its blood-red eyes, which only made it look even more horrible. And that horn...is long, sharp, sharper than any spikes or drills I've ever seen, with a tint of metallic shimmering on it. The only thing I can use to describe this creature is "deadly".
"Greetings. I'm the guardian of this forest, Fallen Unicorn."
It got some manners! Then it should be easier than talking to Phiona.
"Hello, I am--"
"There's no need. I've known everything. Make it quick."
...The cool and non-talktive type?
Since he asked, I'll just start to do the job as quick as I can. He turned out to be even more of a trouble than Phiona, though. 500 attempts this time. My arms almost gave out! Is the system trying to help me train my skill or something??
The good thing is this guy's powers are quite good. He is a level 800 Boss too.
(Nightmare)
Current level: 0
Attack 50-60,
Defense 40,
Speed 300,
HP 600,
MP 600,
Attacks will sleep the target (20% chance),
Invulnerable to Dark, Light and Lightning spells,
Able to use all Lightning spells.
Talent spell: [Thunder of Punishment], base damage 70, paralyze target.
Attack is quite low but that speed is over the board! Being able to sleep and paralyze target is OP too. I tried it on a random monster, his attack successfully put it into sleep and it won't wake up as long as it doesn't receive any attacks.
So this is what a Nightmare looks like!
He can be a real nice mount, the problem is he need to reach level 150 before I can ride on him. Plus, I don't have [Ride] skill. I can sit on him without the skill alright, but that will cost tons of Stamina and I won't enjoy any mount bonuses. I have pretty long stamina bar and insane Attack though, so there's no need to worry about it too soon.
Then I remembered I'm a permanent red name now. How the heck do I go to the guild and learn that skill?!
Forget it. Wasting brain on it won't help anyway.
After I finished my thoughts, that toad showed up. "Master!! Awesome, you tamed the black phoenix?"
"Not really, I was just lucky!"
Phiona is still on my shoulder now and I surely don't want to say anything that would annoy her.
"Phiona, remove the curse would you?"
"Alrighty."
She called Night Shade (Nightmare's name): "Night Shade, use [Thunder of Punishment]!"
A ball lightning appeared in the sky and landed on the toad, turning him into a roasted toad. Then his charred black shell shattered open, a handsome young man fell out.
"Done!" Phiona fluttered back to me.
"Wait what? That's how you get rid of the curse?"
Good thing I wasn't the one with the curse!
Domergor suddenly appeared beside me. "Oi little brother! "
"Hey bro. Why are you here? Did I finish the quest?"
"That's right! Mission accomplished!" But he seems a bit unhappy, "Why can't you take a bit longer?"
"...Why would I do that?" I looked at him with an innocent face. "So you don't want me to make it quick?"
"No I don't! I was confessing my love to the Iceberg Goddess. I was about to give her the ring when the system told me you finished the job and dragged me back! You could either finish it sooner, or later, but you did it at the perfect point and ruined my entire plan!"
"Huh? Oh I'm so sorry! If I knew you were busy with your 'business', I'd just live here for a week or two!" I flattered.
"Forget it! I missed it anyway. You just come quickly and go to the next quest, so I can go explain to the goddess!"
"At once! Good luck with it brother!"
He didn't explain anything this time, just teleported me into the a huge hall, with doors all around it. Shoot, a maze again?
"This is your last quest."
"So which door is a correct one this time?"
He glanced at me. "There are a total of one thousand doors here, each with a Boss and a group of minions in it. You need to try them out one by one. Your final goal is the ultimate beast, five-clawed golden dragon. (**) Defeat or capture is your own choice. He will tell you how to get out."
Domergor already summoned a portal and prepared to leave. I quickly grasped him. "Wait! Um, what happens if I enter the wrong door?"
"In that case you will have to clear all the monsters in it, after which that room will disappear and you will be teleported back to this hall. By the way, apart from your goal, all other Bosses and monsters will not give you any EXP or items."
My mouth dropped open. No EXP, and no items??
When he finished he turned to leave. I dragged him back again.
"What now??"
"Oh uh, you didn't give me my reward for last stage!"
"Oh. I forgot. Here!" He threw out a pair of legguards, a tasset and a heavy armor. "Come here." He put his hand on me. After a white flash all my equipments recovered full Durability.
"Ok now, work hard! I'm off to my business!"
I made sure he's gone before I complained: "Yeah right. With a woman, he forgot how to treat his brother."
Still, I got work to do. I checked my reward first.
[Protection of the Dark Dragon Lord] (Artifact), Heavy Armor
Durability 1000/1000,
Growth equipment,
*Defense 1500,
15% damage absorb,
+10% max HP,
Resistant to piercing damage,
Ignores freeze effect,
Passive [Impact Aura]: Damage attackers, damage level dependent on wearer's level.
[Cover of the Dark Dragon Lord] (Artifact), Tasset
Durability 1000/1000,
Growth equipment,
*Defense 700,
+50% max Weight Load,
20% Fire absorb,
Skill [Dark Realm]: Creates a 20-yard wide dark area, enemies inside the area will lose 80% Accuracy.
[Swiftness of the Dark Dragon Lord] (Artifact), Leg Guards
Durability 1000/1000,
Growth equipment,
*Defense 750,
*Movement Speed +50%,
50% chance to perform a second attack, (***)
+20% Evasion.
(Attributes with "*" will grow with wearer's level)
Another three Artifacts! Artifacts are the top-tier gear you could hope for in this game. Those off-scale numbers definitely proved that. And every part of the set follows the same style--showy to the eyes!
I still lack several parts, but at least I don't look like a joke now. Better than that underpants+cape combination anyway.
...Underpants and cape? Sounds like Superman.
Just looking at the one thousand doors makes me feel faint. I'll log off for now.
"Wayne?"
No answer. Maybe still in the game.
Sigh. Gotta look for something to eat. I'm starving.
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(*) In some folklores, unicorns are just as wild and cruel as other beasts, who won't hesitate to kill people, with the exception of a virgin.
(**) Here it goes again, the difference between a western and eastern dragon. I won't call it "lung" or "loong" or whatever cause it doesn't sound right.
(***) The author didn't make it clear what this means. But again, don't have to take it serious.