Chapter 81 - The temple of the Twelve

In the twenty minutes, he had been out of the game, all 12 of his team managed to successfully get into the city. By this time, the sky in the game also darkened. It had become night-time and exploration during night was very difficult.

This time was mostly used by most of the players to get out of the game and do their daily activities. Many also used this time to do follow up on their trade professions and increase their proficiency. Quests that are close to the village, town or city were also doable.

Balthazar could also go and use the forging association to make more weapons. Moreover, at the Forging Association, he could also exchange his forging design now that he had already managed to reach the city before others. Doing this would provide him contribution points from the association which he could use to get better designs.

But he didn't want to get hold of the designs right now. He had remembered a lot of things from his past life, but it turned out that most of them were things that changed over time. He couldn't completely believe anything he read in forums either. Those players were bound to hide the truth or would have told partial truths just like he did.

With him reaching the White Heart City, which was the capital of the White Heart Kingdom, he had access to a lot of teleportation points within the kingdom. He also has about 100 White Heart Kingdom reputation and would be considered a citizen throughout the kingdom. It was best that he uses this time to check on the other cities/towns and the resources available at these places. Based on these observations, he could get the appropriate designs from the forging association which would be most useful.

The beginner towns were mostly small ones which had smaller areas and even the corresponding regions were smaller. These were also ones that were situated away from other kingdoms and empire and had smaller amount of resources.

If he wants to establish a strong base in the kingdom, renting a few lands would be quite useful. He was a second-class citizen of the kingdom with 100 reputation points which he got on completion of the special quest. He could use it to rent a couple of plots anywhere in the kingdom.

He also had 90 white heart city reputation, which he could use for renting a plot in the city. Renting land was like mortgaging their reputation. If one failed to provide rent to the system in time, it would simply reduce the reputation points. Buying land was also similar. If one failed to provide tax in time, their reputation would fall down.

This was the best time for him to rent out places in both the White Heart City and other places. He already had rented out a place from the Blackrock Town. But for this, he needed money above all else and selling weapons and the weapon designs felt like the best plan right now.

He quickly contacted Rudra and asked him about the trade profession players he employed at his shop and the various products that they created. The reply was less than satisfactory. The cooks managed to produce a decent amount of food and there were other armaments and potions too, but they were too little to be enough for the player's needs.

"What happened to the designs which I gave to you?" asked Shadow unable to do anything else. He needs money to rent lends. He had to find some source of money. The shop was the only thing, he could think of.

"I gave a few of them to trade profession players who joined us. They already have signed a contract to work for us. But only one of them is successful in creating them, the others haven't even managed to make it once. Trade professions are a lot harder in this game. It requires a lot of practice, even when using intermediate forging rooms," replied Rudra.

"Yes, trade professions are a lot harder in this game. I think professions like cook which most people do in daily life are the only ones that can be learned quickly," said Shadow agreeing with him.

"Yes, the restaurant part is well and also a few equipment and potions were produced. But higher-level ones are increasing harder than we expected. We can open up the shop saying that it is an early peak due to us managing to reach the city," added Rudra.

"Yes, that would be advisable. I can also make a few of those spears and place them in the store to be sold. Having level 10 equipment in the shop would show the players that we can mass produce such equipment and also improve our popularity."

"Not a bad idea. We can have a small auction of sorts at the shop. But I think it would be better to auction these equipment at the auction house rather than at the shop. There are no high-level equipment at the auction house right now. I was thinking of putting up the halberd for the auction too. I already got a heavy sword which deals better damage," said Rudra.

"We can do both. Give an hour or two. Maybe put in the halberd at the shop rather than the auction house," said Balthazar as he went to the teleportation point to get back to the Blackrock Town.

Once he reached the Blackrock Town, he disguised himself, got a few materials from the bank and went back to the forging association. He decided to visit Kade before he booked a forging room. As usual he went to the receptionist and requested to meet the association head. Having the title of Kade's apprentice, he was easily given access to go to the association head.

As he reached the office of the head, he saw that the nameplate changed. Instead of Kade, there was another name on it. It read "Forging association, Blackrock Town branch head, George Questor".

"The branch head changed again," thought Balthazar. "Then again, Kade did say that he was trying to get out of the Blackrock village and back to the White Heart city. NPCs would probably be able to travel once someone finishes the quest of clearing path to the city."

Sitting in the office on a seat by the table was another man. He was a fat, chubby looking old man with grey hair. He wore spectacles and was perusing some books. He had the loop of a typical old head of a government organization.

"Ah! Adventurer Shadow. Welcome. I heard that Master Kade had taken in an apprentice. You are also a member of forging association and were responsible for clearing the path to the White Heart City. What can I do for you?" said George. Even the way he talked was like that of a typical authoritative figure in an agency.

After he reached level 10, he became a proper member of the forging association and he also had his own contribution points. He had originally come to exchange his design for contribution points. So, he immediately pulled it out and handed it over to George.

"I have created a new kind of weapon and this is the design. The materials required for it are also easily available around the town. I want to contribute this design to the forging association," said Shadow.

"Yes, I heard of this. It is being used by the White Bane Corps at the barracks at the back of the town. The association could be put to good use. And as you said the required materials are easily procured. I am willing to provide you 200 contribution points for this design," said George as he observed the design. He quickly called for someone and handed over the design as an announcement popped up.

"Forging Association Contribution points +200"

With that done, he went out and rented an intermediate forging room. He already had the materials from the bank which were stored by Rudra and his friend in the bank. He continued to craft more spears and halberds in the forging room. It was night-time in the game which would last for 18 hours in game time. It was the best time to spend forging weapons. He continued to create spears and halberds for 5 hours.

He managed to create enough equipment to earn half the amount required for level 13 by this time. Though these provided less experience due to them him being at level 12, the experience he gained from the quest along with the coupled with the crafting weapons for 5 hours finally make him level up.

He had created 15 halberds and 20 spears in these five hours. He put 5 of the spears and 5 halberds in the auction house to be sold one after the other for 5 hours. Though level 10 equipment are rare, if he put them all at once, they would lose their value.

Doing it in this manner would also increase fame of the weapons and would also gain the interest of guilds. If such weapons are repeatedly put in auction most guilds would realize that these weapons could be produced repeatedly. At such a time, putting a design of the spear would be quite profitable.

He gave the rest of them in the bank, so that Rudra could put them up in the shop when it opens. During this time, other players have tried to complete the quest of reaching the city, but the darkness of the night make it very easy for monsters to ambush the players. So, many guilds were still searching for stronger weapons at this time. Selling level 10 weapons when hardly anyone reached that level would entice many players to the shop.

Without any other new designs corresponding to his level, continuing to forge equipment would be a waste of his efforts. He could go and get a few designs from the forging association using contribution points, but to get resources he needed to explore the areas outside the city which is extremely dangerous at night.

He also had another quest he could initiate at the White Heart City. The deacon at the town temple had told him to go to the temple of the twelve in the White Heart City to meet the great priest, Luciophel. It was regarding the mask of the shadows, his unique equipment. He quickly teleported back to the White Heart City.

The temple of the twelve was located in the outer region. It was known for its large size and architecture. It occupied a large area and unlike the one in the city, its garden had twelve different statues one for each of the twelve lords.

The entire shrine was made of marble and had a sculptures of the twelve lords on it. The statues in the garden each were about 30 feet tall and gave a very life like feeling. The twelve gods each corresponded to the twelve occupations of the players.

These twelve idols also moved continuously posing or sometimes giving advice or commenting on the players who came to visit. Most of them just made actions with their weapons, but some like the lord of shadows kept using various disguises and the chimera king (druid) kept changing from one beast to other.

All twelve of the lords were mixed breeds between various races. They were never considered the leader of races but according to the lore of the game were responsible for achieving peace in the land. The temple advocates peace between all the races of the light and neutral factions which were native to the land.

The land in which they resided in the game was named Viridi Lovi. All the allied races of the light faction and the neutral races were original inhabitants of the plane of existence. The dark races invaded the land from another plane of existence called Rudrum orbis. They invaded this land under the leadership of thirteen generals called Abyss Warlords.

When the attack of the dark races occurred an unlikely group of thirteen outcasts joined hands to get rid of the forces of the dark races. The war resulted in the death of one of these outcasts who managed to kill all the Abyss Warlords. The remaining outcasts came to be known as the twelve lords who brought peace to the land. This was the main background of story of the game.

His unique mask had a requirement that the user must be an assassin or swordsman. With each of the lords corresponding to one of the occupations, the mask must have corresponded to the lords corresponding to the assassin or swordsman. The lord of shadows and the sword monarch were the only ones that it could have belonged to. The lords weren't even known to any one by their names only their titles.

He made his way into the temple. There were portraits of the lords and idol of all the twelve lords together at the far end of the shrine along an altar. The interior of the temple also had a lot of marble furniture. He went towards the altar where there were a few priests.

As he reached the altar, a deacon came to greet him. He was wearing a veil and a long flowing robe covering him from top of his head to his feet. One would hardly able to guess his race, color or even gender from looking at the deacon.

"Greeting adventurer," said the deacon as he approached him. "We could use your help for a lot of things in the city," he continued ready to give a quest to Shadow Tyrant.

Shadow immediately pulled out the letter of introduction given to him by the deacon. "I was asked by the deacon of the Blackrock town to meet the great priest, Luciophel. Could you please take me to him."

"Priest Luciophel is currently in prayer please wait for a few minutes, while I go inform him," said the deacon as he went back to the altar. A few minutes later, he came back and took towards the altar. There was another priest waiting at the altar. The new priest was a bit larger than Shadow and dressed just like the other deacon except for a few patterns on his garb and he bore a scepter.

"Adventurer, I hear that you have been looking for me. What can I do for you?" asked Luciophel as he took the letter from Shadow Tyrant. As soon as the NPC asked, he noticed that Mask of Shadows. It was having a reaction with the altar in the temple similar to what happened in the Blackrock Town.

Without even opening the letter, he realized why Shadow was sent to him. "Ah! The Mask of Shadows. You gained its recognition. I suppose you came here to understand what it is?" asked Luciophel.

"Yes. That is the reason I have come to the temple in the White Heart City. The deacon at the temple of Blackrock Town suggested that you might be able to help me," replied Shadow.