Chapter 408: Saddle up

There were two ways in which players could lose their items. The first and the most despised as it would lead to the greatest loss. If someone actually took the time to rob your body and then revived you. In this case, the items would not turn into particles and never find their way back to you. 

However, in this case, it was not possible to use the items either. At least not fully. Sure you could wear them and swing them (if a weapon), however, all that you would gain would be the base armor and damage stats. The item's abilities will be locked due to being bound to the original owner. 

This was discovered when a few players tried to loot others, rival guilds in the empires where things were still very relaxed but starting to heat up. 

The other chance of losing an item was that it would simply not return to your inventory. In this case, normally your bond with the item was destroyed during death. This however, has only been reported twice, thus players remain unsure what really happened. 

As is typical of the devs, they refused to explain what had happened to those few unlucky players and for now, the other players didn't care as the posts had gotten drowned by hotter topics. 

Eldrian only knew of the first method as he had read one of the posts where someone complained about what had happened to him. While it was terrible, there were no rules from the developers to stop this. Though most players were heavily against it as it was not just unethical, it was also detrimental to the entire goal of the game. 

After thinking of this and not believing that anyone would try to steal their equipment, and normal grade items not being worth much, Eldrian felt that the quest was truly too good to pass. As he was about to leave, Katania stopped him. 

"You also requested to be taught divine magic."

Eldrian nodded, his growing hopes quickly dashed. 

"No, I don't have time to teach you." She clarified seeing him glowing up, "However, someone from the fort has agreed to help you. He is only a Tier 4 but he volunteered and seemed to know you."

"Oh?" Eldrian couldn't think of someone he knew from the fort.

"He will arrive at the end of the day. We are also not planning on trying another assault until tomorrow. We already cleared all the trees between us and the current corruption. Thus the spread should stop, or slow at the very least."

"Assault?"

"We can't wait on you Chosen. We will also be going out to clear the forest, however, we will be moving slowly and carefully."

'Which means my guess was wrong. They aren't hoping we would clear it, and it makes sense. There is no way we could.'

As Katania was about to leave Eldrian called out to her, "Wait, one more thing. Would it be possible to organize some horses or something so we can move faster? It will certainly help a great deal in clearing the forest."

"Of course, I will inform the northern gate. The horses should be there in an hour."

With that, the two finally separated, Eldrian heading to Phoenix's tent and sending a message to Elizabeth for so long. They were currently out on a mission and couldn't just drop it or they would lower their trust and competency rating.

Not bothered, Eldrian took the time to practice with a few spells and also meditate for an hour. Three hours later the group returned, covered in unhealed cuts but no one seriously wounded. At least not anymore. 

"What were you up to?" Eldrian asked upon seeing their sorry state. 

"Clearing one of the smaller caves. Undead aren't the only things inside the forest." Elizabeth replied, "You said you had a quest we won't be able to refuse."

Taking the page Eldrian offered, she quickly sent a screenshot to everyone. All of them were shocked speechless after reading through it. 

"Are you kidding?" They asked, but the system notification answered that for them. Leaving them without words for another minute. 

"The rewards are so good since the danger is that great. Also, the soldiers are going to start clearing the forest themselves from tomorrow. Meaning that what we can make will be determined by our speed."

Everyone nodded and wanted to set out right away, and Eldrian agreed. "We will just do a short raid today, remember we still have our tournament match tomorrow morning."

Hearing this the group instantly lost a great deal of their excitement. "Are you sure we can do this?" Nikki asked as they started setting out. The rewards had at first blinded them, now that they had calmed down they finally read the difficulty and the danger suddenly became worrying. 

"Yes, part 1 should not be too hard. I also organized some horses for us." Upon saying this Eldrian realized he hadn't said how many they would be. Their group was currently fourteen. His worries however were not necessary as at the gate there was a makeshift stable with over fifty Agimii (eight-legged horses that have incredible stamina and speed).

Upon seeing the group approaching the stable, one of the stablehands, a middle-aged man with a rough look of a farmer quickly moved out to greet them. "I received word that you would require horses but not how many. I see I brought enough." The man said with a big smile.

"Wait, we have no idea how to ride," Therdul said, shaking when he saw the height of the horses which looked all the more imposing to his dwarven frame. Recalling the nightmare that had been the ride to Herglem.

"No worries, the Agimii are trained for battle. They will not spook."

Eldrian smiled as he saw everyone looking at the horses with a hint of fear. Recalling his first experience with Sesha, his smile grew while he wondered what had ever happened to her. 

Warily, the group approached the horses who lowered themselves to allow the players to climb on them with ease. Eldrian jumped on one with ease, while it had been some time, Sesha's rough ride had thought him how to cope with a magical horse. 

The further week of riding to Kynigo from Duron had allowed him to learn how to become comfortable on a horse. He was by no means a good rider, but the Agima easily understood where he wanted to go. 

Taking the lead, Eldrian started hearing out. He knew if he had to fight from atop the horse he would be hopeless, luckily, spells did not require him to balance himself and fight. Before heading into the corruption the group first rode back and forth before the camp to get used to being atop their majestic steed. 

Eldrian also took that time to practice using Efthygram and found it to be amazingly useful. After just ten minutes he was galloping before the camp and even weaving between the trees with ease. Letting his steed lead the way as he had done with Sesha. 

"How does he do it?" One of the players asked and the others shrugged as they felt they had found another area in which Eldrian seemed to be insanely talented. They could only join him at a trot after half an hour. By which time Eldrian had even started practicing with Aoidos atop the Agima.