Phoenix Phire

Chapter 62 - Black Quartz

Pon was frowning at the Inferno guild leader. Mostly because he was angry with himself for not thinking outside the box. "You had the weaponsmith upgrade the cannons on the Phoenix?"

Nix nodded, "Lena is making us a figurehead for the ship, I'm hoping to add more enhancements before I bring it to the shipyard."

"Nansu has been asking about Fajii." Chael didn't mention how shocked he had been to find out the Aquarion and Nix were very close.

Wind and Pon smiled at each other knowingly. Pon's old face wrinkled up in his version of a smile, "She's pushing you to find out the scoop right?"

Chael sighed and nodded, "Nansu thought she was Fajii's best friend among the humans.

Wind laughed at the comment, "apparently not."

"Fajii and I are friends." Nix couldn't hide the smile from forming on his lips. The Aquarion alchemist was someone he liked being around.

Pon made a face at him, "I'm surprised Shae hasn't scorched you."

"Hmm? Why would she do that?"

Pon shook his head in defeat. "You don't know women Nix."

"Probably not," Nix admitted.

Chael glanced over his shoulder to where Captain Delphi was standing, deliberately he lowered his voice. "So... Sharl and Ronnie?"

Nix didn't answer. "You guys ask a lot of questions."

Chael shook his head, "you should settle down with one person."

Nix nodded in agreement. "Who says I won't?"

Wind was leaning against the rail, listening to the conversation. "Just haven't found the right person?"

NIx laughed at his serious expression, "maybe I have and haven't realized it yet."

Chael ran a hand through his blonde hair, when he had met Nansu, he had realized right away. "I've been researching the Onion Quest. Do you know that no one has made it past the first leg of that quest?"

Pon laughed, "that damned Kraken probably is the reason."

Wind nodded, "it seems like a high tier quest. First a legendary beast and then a major invasion force. We should strengthen ourselves before we attempt the next part."

/Guildchat: Jun Li: Let us know if you need help with that Quarry quest Nix.

/Guildchat: Semmi: I'm interested in seeing what sort of quest it is, considering it was part of a reward.

/Guildchat: Ronnie: I miss Wilo Nix!

/Guildchat: Nix: Few days and she'll be back.

Pon was staring at the armor that Nix had received from Shae. "Is that growth armor Nix?"

Nix nodded, "yep. + 10 to all stats and mana boosts"

"I thought so, that's the Temple Lord armor." Pon understood more about the topic than anyone else. "She named you Temple Lord Champion right? Do you understand the significance?"

Wind was listening to the two fire mages talk, everyone knew that Nix was the strongest noob around. "Let's see the stats Nix, we won't tell anyone."

Chael nodded in agreement, "yep, I want to see them too. Show us the boss stats!"

When Pon looked at him expectantly Nix only shrugged. "Fine, it's not a secret or anything."

Nix

Level 50 [Locked: Actual Level 84]

Strength 80

Endurance 78

Intelligence 40

Dexterity 40

Perception 40

Mana 12000/12000

Cold Resistance 115 [Ice Blessing]

Fire Resistance 115 [Burning Aura]

Emerald Flame Strands 75 [Flame Snare] [Fire Root]

Fire Seed [Emerald]

Weapon Skills:

Primary: Path of Fire [Salamander]

Support Skills:

N/A

Primary Path Skills

Balefire

Meteor Storm

Combustion

Comet Strike

[Spirit Animal 3/4]

1: Soup [Royal Sea Turtle]

2: Ducky [Siren]

3: Fey [Fire Drake]

Skills:

Hunter 100

Leather Making 100

Tailor 100

"The f*ck is that?" Pon looked like he wanted to cry.

Wind stared at the stats, "you need to train a secondary path Nix. With that strength, you should take up a martial path also."

"Your strength is 80? That's stronger than Aquarions." Chael had seen Fajii strength stat once, hers was at 55."

"Some of it is from the Beast Slayer title and the armor." Nix hadn't looked at his stats lately, he decided he was going to start looking for a good support skill.

"The significance of being Temple Lord is that you will defend the Palace in the event of a challenge." Pon old face looked worried, "That means if Shae chose not to step in, you could be taking on a Lord level elemental."

"I'm not worried." Nix closed his stat screen.

Wind had noticed the locked level. "How did your locked get so high?"

"It went up 15 levels with the death of the Kraken." Nix noticed the Phoenix was slowing."

"We'll anchor here Nix, you can take the Utility boat to the shore." Delphi had marked the island that the Quarry quest was on. It was one of the larger islands in the archipelago."

"This is Tsani Island?" Nix shook his head at Delphi, "we'll take mounts in, keep the boat on deck."

"Yes sir. " Delphi watched as the team summoned their mounts.

"Feel free to target any non-Sea Farer ships while we are gone." Nix climbed up on Fey and a moment later was airborne.

"About time you let me fly!" Fey stretched her wings and easily pulled away from the Mantas.

"Right... you just sit around all day soaking in Shae's ponds." Nix patted the scales on her neck. "Are your wounds healed?"

"Yes."

"I wonder if you can wear armor. We could shore up your underside a bit so we don't have to worry about range damage." Nix hadn't known before the last fight that most of the drakes protection was on the top, her underside was very vulnerable.

"I'm not a dragon Nix. Weigh me down with armor and I probably won't be able to fly at all."

"Hmm... I'll look into it. Just keep an open mind." Nix spotted the Quarry in the middle of the island and banked Fey toward it.

"Keep the mounts out?" Wind always liked to plan an exit strategy.

"Sure, won't hurt to be ready." Nix walked toward the only building on the site. It was a small one-roomed hut.

A tall thin man wearing a black mohawk exited the building when they approached. "Hello, friends. Welcome to the Phelinomia Quarry. I'm Foreman Lionel."

Nix glanced at his companions, none of them seemed to know how they should progress. "We were sent here by Lohai city to help you out."

"Help me?" Lionel shook his head, "I don't see how you can help me unless you can make seven trillion tons of quartz disappear."

"Seven trillion tons?" Nix looked at Pon, the old mage was deliberately avoiding eye contact. "This is a rock quarry right?"

Lionel shook his head, "No, it's a black marble quarry. Somehow we've run into a large strain of black quartz. We have to get rid of it since it's useless to us."

Guildchat: Nix: What do we do with seven trillion tons of black quartz?

Guildchat: Semmi: There's no market for quartz. Why do you have seven trillion tons of it?

Guildchat: Nansu: It can be crushed and used to make roads. Does that help?

"We can take the quartz off your hands. Is there a reward?" Nix knew the island was still kinda small, the need for roads was minimal.

Lionel nodded, "of course. The reward is seven trillion tons of black quartz."

Colonial System Message: You have successfully completed the Quarry quest.

"...." Nix.

"...." Pon.

"Wow... that was easy." Wind kept the smile off his face, but it took effort. This quest had turned into a duck.

/Guildchat: Jun Li: Um... You guys finished the quest right?"

/Guildchat: Nix: Yep. How'd you know.

/Guildchat: Jun Li: The entire eastern part of Glory is now buried in black rock.

*******************

An hour later the group had returned to Glory island. Like everyone else they went to look at the mountain of black quartz. Jun Li and Semmi were already there.

Nix sighed when he saw the size of it. "Somehow it was a lot smaller in my head."

"I've been checking the possible uses of quartz. This pile isn't going anywhere." Semmi picked up a piece and tossed it to Nix.

Jun Li brought her map up, "I'm more worried about the space it is taking up. This could seriously hamper our development."

Nix caught the quartz in his hand and immediately the guild menu on his hud came up.

[Suitable expansion material acquired. Seven trillion tons of Black Quartz.]

[Do you wish to expand Glory island?]

"Yes." The hud map came up. Nix was suddenly grinning from ear to ear. He moved the highlighted area on the map to the eastern shoreline.

Instantly the mountain of quartz disappeared, it could be seen shimmering above the water just off of the eastern shoreline.

[Glory Expansion in progress 6 hours]

"What the hell just happened Nix?" Jun Li was staring at the empty spot where the quartz had been.

"The quartz is filler for island expansion. Looks like we'll gain quite a bit." Nix couldn't tell from his map how big the island would grow, but he estimated it at close to double.

Semmi was clapping her hands. "This is awesome Nix! I thought it was odd that the reward on such an important quest would be a complete dud."

/Inferno: Filamina: Nix! Look to the North!

/Inferno: Wylie: ALERT! All Knights establish defensive positions on the North Shore!

"The f*ck is going on?" Nix turned toward the north. There were hundreds of Manta coming toward them. They were still several hundred meters away.

/Inferno: Filamina: I count at least five Matriarchs Nix! They have a Water Lord with them!

/Inferno: Nix: Water Creatures invading a Fire Island? Ballsy... All available hands deploy the dock area.

/Guildchat: Nix: Noncombat Personnel evacuate to the Sea World Immediately.

/Glory Island General chat: Nix: All guest please evacuate to the Fire Palace Immediately. An Aquarion invasion force is heading our way.

/Inferno: Shae: I'll get rid of the Water Lord Nix.

/Inferno: Nix: No. Leave it to me.