Chapter 23

Hiro has decided to complete today’s adventure with Liberty and Jacob.

Liberty looked very disappointed but Hiro had to do it to focus on completing a quest that had been waiting for him since last night.

They were again separated in Beginner Town.

And Hiro was once again, alone.

He then reopened the description of the non-fungible quest that he had received from the previous dungeon. It was stored in his inventory this whole time.

The first step written in the quest was, Hiro had to go see an NPC Fortune Teller who lived in a cottage house in the woods, in the northern area of ??Beginner Town.

He ran quickly to the coordinates of the location where the Fortune Teller NPC was.

Entering the woods, he had seen tall trees in every direction creating an open canopy in that area.

And not long after, Hiro managed to find a small cottage shaped like a cylinder in the woods. Completely made of high quality wooden board, free from termites.

Hiro knocked on the door of the cottage and an old woman in her 70s opened the door for him. The woman almost bent 45 degrees and she stood with the help of a wooden stick with a human skull on the tip of it.

Hiro read the name of the NPC written above her head.

[NPC Rosemary]

“What do you want, Wanderer?” her voice was hoarse and unfriendly.

“Non-fungible quest, cursed underworld.”

The woman named Rosemary invited Hiro into her cottage house after hearing Hiro’s words. That sentence sounded like a keyword to gain access to the quest.

Hiro walked into the house.

And a very strong aroma of wood filled the air of the small room inside the cottage house. The room was fully decorated by many types of mystical objects.

Hiro could see several glass cups containing preserved pieces of human bodies, then some carpets made of monster pelt, and what caught his attention the most was a crystal ball emitting white mist inside.

He immediately walked towards the crystal ball and he couldn’t help but touch it.

And when the tip of Hiro’s index finger landed on the surface of the crystal ball, the white mist inside the ball turned red and evaporated out.

“What happened?” Hiro asked frantically, immediately pulling his body away, distancing himself from the crystal ball.

“I knew it! No wonder today the crystal ball emitted the white mist without me doing something on it. And when a wanderer came and touched it, the white mist turned to the blood mist.”

“You! The child in the ancient prophecy 316 years ago is you! No doubt.”

“You came just like the prophecy said. You are the one who has been prepared for His downfall!”

NPC Rosemary’s eyes suddenly widened upon staring at Hiro’s. This look of hers made Hiro feel awkward.

He realized that the reaction of the NPC was already programmed by the system as a part of the storyline in the quest. But still, the graphics of the game made him think it was real for a second.

As the storyline had just begun, Hiro was listening to the story told by the NPC with a serious expression. This is the way he chose so that he could enjoy the game like Liberty or Jacob did.

“316 years ago, the 7 strongest high priests in this world succeeded to weaken the strongest evil spirit, absolute demon, the fallen angel.”

“This demon was very ambitious to become God himself. During his glory time, the demon managed to gather followers in this world. Human beings were forced to worship him and when they refused, he slaughtered them.”

“But it did not last long. The 7 strongest high priests captured him, weakened him, then sealed him in the underworld.”

“However, the seal they created was not that strong. It was predicted to be broken after 316 years had passed and a hero rose in that year to finish the fallen angel.”

“All right, Granny. quite entertaining fairy tales.” Hiro muttered in response.

NPC Rosemary of course ignored Hiro’s complaints and continued the story that had been programmed into his AI brain.

After hearing the story about the 7 high priests who had saved the world, Hiro was finally sent to the underground floor just below the room.

Hiro walked down the weathered wooden stairs very carefully, heading underground. He was surprised to see a long dark passage under the cottage. However, he remained silent while following NPC Rosemary’s steps until at the end of the passage.

Once again, Hiro found something very pleasing to the eye.

A giant bubble-shaped warp that kept moving slowly as if the bubble was alive. The warp had a colorful reflection of light like a rainbow, as the torch carried by the NPC was brought closer to it.

“When you enter this warp, you will be transported back to 316 years ago when the fallen angel was just weakened and sealed for the first time. He’s still very weak.”

“You must defeat that demon and return safely.”

“All connection to the present will be cut off while you are in there.”

“Are you willing to take on the task of the hero and leave now?”

“Of course, Granny.”

Hiro was really tired of waiting. He had been looking for the story mode skip icon so he could immediately run his quest and defeat the monster called the fallen angel.

However, he didn’t find an icon that worked to skip story mode on his HUD system.

NPC Rosemary again warned that behind the warp it would be very dangerous and Hiro could be killed in it. If Hiro gets killed, the quest will automatically fail and will never be reproduced in the game because it was a non-fungible quest like an NFT which only has one original product.

In the end, Hiro walked through the bubble warp confidently.

But before he touched the bubble, NPC Rosemary stopped him.

“Take this!”

Ding!

[You received Blessed Greatsword (Level 1) – Tier A]

[Damage 102; Accuracy 25; Aspd 15; Crit 5]

[Refine stats: Damage increase 12% (Level Max)]

[Enchantment: Attack converted to holy attribute damage]

[Unique Skill: None]

[Can be used for all job classes.]

[Note: Special weapon for quest only]

The metal two-handed sword that Hiro was activating was instantly replaced by a new sword that the NPC Rosemary had just given him.

The Blessed Greatsword was much lighter than Hiro’s original sword, the blade was shiny silver and when Hiro touched the surface of the blade, his hand burned and he reflexively pulled his hand away.

“This holy attribute is really annoying. I have to be careful to not kill myself by accident.” He muttered to himself.

Hiro then continued to walk toward the bubble warp. He could feel a sudden cold sensation touch his skin until the pores on his skin were forced to shrink.

Ding!

[You will be teleported to 316 Years of Underworld]

“Oh, no. not teleportation again.”

The sensation of being pulled and stuffed into a narrow pipe again made Hiro nauseous and uncomfortable. He still couldn’t accept that one thing. One very excruciating second.

Until finally, his feet were back on the ground. Hiro checked around.

Very dark. He was in the middle of a forest where the trees had died. There were no leaves, the trunks of the trees were blackened as if they had been cursed or scorched by a big fire.

Not far from where he was currently standing, there was a large stone altar circled by seven stone statues 3 meters high in the form of humans wearing the uniform of [Roman Cassock Coat]. The seven statues faced towards the stone altar with different hand positions.

Hiro immediately realized that it was the high priests that NPC Rosemary spoke of. They turned into stone statues.

He ran to the stone altar and jumped on it. In the center of the stone altar was a large stone lever that could be moved like a giant compass.

There were 7 long lines leading to the 7 statues of the high priest, but the lines deviated slightly to the side. It was not in the correct line to signify to each of the stone statues.

He then swept away the thick dust of the soil covering the lines to check for details that might be hidden.

And he found it.

Each of the lines had writing that seemed to consist of only one word.

However, Hiro didn’t know what word it was and what letter he was looking at right now.

He indeed never learned that language before.

Did that language even exist in the real world?

“Riddle, huh? Interesting. It’s been awhile since the last time I solved a riddle.”