Cosmic Peak

Chapter 3 - Quest

<Congratulations, You've acquired Cursed Ability <Painful Glory>, Skill book <Haste> & Cursed Item [Cursed Shofar]>

<Painful Glory>

-Cost: 10% HP and 2% HP per second to maintain the state of this ability.

-Effect: all your attacks deal 30% more damage & 10% life steal.

-Cursed trait: When attacking enemies using <Painful Glory>, The pain felt by your opponent will also be felt by you, but in your case, the pain will magnify by ten times.

Reading the cursed ability <Painful Glory>, Aren could not help but frown; The cost is already insane considering that we can die for real in this world, and on top of it, the cursed trait is like rubbing salt in the wound....quite literally.

And the life steal is not bad, but 10% is not that useful unless my damage is high, and high damage comes with high pain...Aren cursed in this head, ' damn, such a vicious cursed ability, looks like I can only use it on special circumstances.'

After that, Aren looked at <Haste>.

<Haste>

-Skill Level: 1 (MAX: 5)

-Skill Rank: C

-Cost: 30 Spirit Energy.

-Duration: 1 minute.

-Effect: Increases movement speed and attack speed by 30%.

-Note: Skill points can increase skill Rank & Skill Level can be increased by using the skill constantly.

"This skill is somewhat normal, and it seems to have room for progression," Aren nodded, reading the description of the skill, <Haste>.

After reading this skill, He moved on to another cursed item which he got from the pandora's box, [Cursed Shofar].

[Cursed Shofar]

-Requirement: Soul Energy.

-Blow the shofar to stun everyone in a 100-meter radius, including the user, for 3 seconds.

-Deals 30 soul damage to everyone in a 100-meter radius, though the user will not take any soul damage.

-Beings who have Soul Energy can use it to recover from the stun effect faster by expanding soul energy.

Aren was speechless seeing this item, ' So the only thing I can use right now is The skill <Haste>, It looks like I have to find a weapon to use since I didn't get it from the box. '

After sighing, he learned the skill <Haste>.

Right as he used the skill book, an intense headache greeted him in the head, along with some information.

He got information on how <Haste> works.

After some time, the headache subsided as Aren gained clarity.

'So that's how it is, By expending a certain amount of Spirit Energy and then guiding it along these paths inside my body will increase my hands and legs speed, but there seems to be some limitation...hmm I should not move spirit energy inside my body too recklessly lest some mishap happens.'

After thinking about it for some time, he concluded, "So If I still have the so-called spirit energy after I return to earth, then I can use <Haste> without much difficulty."

Aren then used <Haste> according to the information. Since the guiding path to activate <Haste> was already inside his head, it took 2 seconds to accomplish it.

He then started running towards the exit of the town, his speed visibly increased, and he could feel the spirit energy inside the guided path slowly decreasing. After a minute, the spirit energy disappeared along with his increased speed.

Aren stood at the corner of the exit gate and murmured, " It's just like how fuel is to the vehicle. After guiding the spirit energy from my energy pool to those paths, it will increase my movement speed until my body uses it up."

<Do you wish to set Activation of Skills to Auto or Manual?>

Aren pondered for a moment before replying in his head, 'Manual.'

The reason being that he wanted to be proficient in the use of Spirit Energy.

Aren then checked his status.

-Name: Aren Azrael

-Level: 1

-Health: 150/150

-Soul: 100/100

-Life Stage: Mortal-1

-Spirit Energy Pool: 70/100

-Soul Energy: [Locked]

-Mystic Field: 0/50 points

-[Stats]

<Strenght: 4>

<Constitution: 3>

<Agility: 4>

<Soul> [Locked]

<Meridians: 0.2%>

-Stat points: 0

-Abilities: Painful Glory[cursed].

-Skills: Haste.

Aren looked at the new stat meridian, ' looks like those paths inside my body are meridians and 0.2% is the path which unlocked after I learned <Haste> and manually used it...interesting. '

Aren then used <Haste> again, but this time he took a bit less than 2 seconds to guide spirit energy through meridians.

' First, I need to look for a blacksmith as I don't have a proper weapon, hopeful I can get some quest from the blacksmith, ' Aren thought as he started looking for a blacksmith in the town.

The town was not that big but not small either, and it had many streets and a big town square too.

After a while, he found the blacksmith in one of the streets, He wanted to ask the address of the blacksmith from the natives of this town, but he refrained from it and used <haste> repeatedly a few times and started searching in every street until he found him.

While searching for the blacksmith, he calculated that it takes roughly 10 minutes to recover 30 Spirit Energy, And by now, it takes him 1 second to activate <Haste> Manually.

Aren currently stood outside the Blacksmith's place. There was a board outside which was written in a language he could not understand at first, but after a while, the strange voice appeared and asked him if he wanted to learn the native language, and he said yes. Quite convenient, although he had to suffer another headache.

[The Fergon's Smithy]

Aren then went inside the smithy.

*clang*

*clang*

He could see a man hammering a sword on the anvil, so absorbed that he did not notice Aren coming in.

"Wait for a while. I will be done in a few minutes."

Aren was startled. He thought the man did not notice him.

He then watched the blacksmith at work while waiting.

*clang*

*clang*

....

*ssssss.....*

after finishing quenching the sword in water, the blacksmith turned around and spoke, "So what business do you have with me?"

Aren was quite embarrassed because he was penniless, and he was here to get a quest, not for business.

"This...I am not here for business, but I would like to provide my help if you need it. I can do something for you while you give me an appropriate reward," Aren carefully spoke after thinking for a bit, as they are not NPCs but real people.

The Blacksmith frowned for a few seconds, and then his face changed as it seemed like he remembered something before saying, "There is something you can do for me " nodding the blacksmith continued while pointing at a corner, "Take that pickaxe and bring me a piece of red ore, You can find it in the east after exiting the town, Just head straight to the east for a while, and you will be able to recognize the place where you dig out the red ore."

Pausing here, the blacksmith spoke after taking a breath, "As for the reward, you can choose any one of the weapons in this place, and if you can bring me another piece of red ore, then I will show my better-forged weapons in another room, and you can select a weapon from there, BUT It will be hard to acquire 2nd piece of red ore without sufficient strength, don't forget this warning."

Aren was silent for a while before asking, "What will happen if I try to acquire 2nd piece of red ore?"

Blacksmith Fergon spoke with a rather heavy voice, "The red ore is not naturally made. The iron ore deposit at that place was mutated by the blood of some powerful beast and turned into red ore, and my father has made an agreement with a being who owns the lands around that place that we can take a piece of red ore from there every month, and if I want one more piece then I have to pass that being's test, each additional piece increases the difficulty of the next test."

Aren nodded while thinking, 'Like hell, I can pass a test when I just arrived in this world.' He then asked a crucial question, " since it's an agreement between you and him, how will that person recognize that you were the one who sent me?"

Blacksmith Fergon smiled and said, " That pickaxe is what that person recognized, so you don't need to worry, "

Aren then said, "Alright, I accept this quest, but don't expect me to bring 2nd piece of red ore. "

Blacksmith nodded with a plain face, "No problem, just bring me one piece, and you can pick any of the weapons in this room."

<Quest Accepted: Mining Red Ore>

-Bring a piece of red ore to Fergon's smithy.

-Rewards: 100 EXP and a Bronze Tier weapon of your choice from Fergon.

-Additional rewards: Each additional piece of red ore will increase exp two times the previous amount ( limit: 5 pieces ), and a Silver Tier weapon of your choice from Fergon.

Looking at the quest panel in front of him, Aren was startled, ' indeed, just like an MMO game, it appeared. '

He then left the smithy after picking up the pickaxe. After that, he once again used <haste> and started running.

This time he reached the gate in one use of <Haste>.

In front of him were a few paths, and he chose the path which went towards the east and started his journey.

....

....

*huff, huff*

After traveling for 30 minutes, Aren's legs were starting to ache, and his breathing was also heavy as he extended quite a bit of stamina. Even after using up <haste>, he continued running with average speed.

"How good would it be if I could see my stamina bar just like my spirit energy pool bar," Aren murmured as he finally stopped to take some rest near a big tree.

"The environment here is excellent, greenery is everywhere, and the air is also pure. I feel invigorated each time I breathe in the air."

After taking a rest for some time and recovering 60 Spirit Energy, He used <Haste> and started running.

But just after he used <haste>, a surprising thing occurred.

<Due to repeatedly using <haste> in manual mode, the efficiency of <Haste> is increased, thus bringing the skill to level 2.>

<Haste>

-Skill Level: 2

-Skill Rank: C

-Cost: 30 Energy.

-Duration: 1 minute and 30 seconds.

-Effect: Increases movement speed and attack speed by 40%.

"Not bad considering that increasing the level of the skill cost nothing except some spirit energy." Aren mused, reading the increased effects of the skill.

He then continued on his way towards the east. On the way, He felt some difficulty in using the skill because it seems that he required better control of spirit energy to use the skill.

'It looks like increasing the level of the skill increases its difficulty to use in manual mode. Maye that's why the skill cost remains the same. Hmm...So it's about control and efficiency of using spirit energy.'

...

...

...

After traveling to the east for 40 minutes more, he finally arrived at the place.