A heavy black door swung wide open, revealing the room behind it. A mix of smells immediately wafted out. The boiling of liquids could be heard. The friends swept their eyes over the room, finding it in a mess. An alchemy table on one side, dried herbs and strange solutions. On the other side a desk was burdened by piles of thick books. On the little space that was left there were stacks of paper showing experimental magic circles.
"If I didn't know better, I would say this has room has been visited by my dad."
Radiant Shield made a joke, drawing chuckles from his friends. The others knew that Radiant Shield's father was a researcher specialized in ancient technology, still rather young but with great potential. However, according to Radiant Shield his father was notorious for being messy, even able to misplace documents he saved digitally.
"Hmm, perhaps Canter isn't too different from your dad.", surmised Silver Blade. Balm nodded, understanding what her friend was hinting at.
"Right. Didn't Therim say that back then Canter had more merit than him? It might be because Canter is a researcher, inventing new spells and potions and such."
The friends enjoyed theorizing as they entered the room and looked around some more. They were hoping to find any sort of evidence of Canter's plans in the Southern Light Kingdom. Right now, their quest displayed a completion of fifty percent. It was enough to return to Therim, but if they wanted to achieve a higher evaluation, more evidence had to be found.
Thus, the friends rummaged through the room, somewhat in a hurry. They directly pocketed various potions and scrolls.
"A treasure chest!"
Balm exclaimed excitedly, squatting next to the desk. There, almost hidden from view was a small, intricate golden chest. Balm looked at her friends, asking for permission with her eyes. As everyone nodded, she didn't hesitate to reach out with her hands.
Suddenly, excited shouts could be heard from outside.
"Look! There is another building here! Tugged away in the corner!"
"Do you think they are here?"
"If they aren't, we can be sure that they managed to escape."
Liam and his friends looked at each other strangely. Why did those voices sound so familiar? Footsteps rang through the corridor. A moment later two figures appeared in the door. Immediately a joyful shout followed.
"Haha! Found them! Found them! Here!"
Balm's mouth gaped open in surprise.
"Cyclone? Fortune?! What are you doing here?"
"What do you think? We came to save you, of course!"
"To save us?", asked Silver Blade, her emotions a mix of amusement and feeling touched. Cyclone grinned at her, raising her fist.
"Yes! Those pictures of you guys getting arrested immediately went viral. How could we accept this? Everyone knows that even if you committed a crime in the city, you wouldn't be stupid enough to get caught. So obviously something fishy was going on. A bunch of corrupt guards, they dare to lay hands on us?! Did they ask if Hotpot, if Dream Avenue agreed?!"
Cyclone's voice was fast, her excitement almost overboiling. Fortune next to her chuckled and added to the explanation:
"When we heard of your arrest, we stopped our arena fights and discussed what to do. At first, we decided to sneak in, mainly relying on Bloody Edge and Silent Acacia. However, we suddenly received a lot of indignant messages from our guild members, clamouring to free you guys. So, we decided to go with a frontal assault. Actually, the result doesn't really matter that much. We know that you're going through a quest. But everything bringing the guild members together is a win."
"Hehe, you should have seen us!", continued Cyclone. "Hundreds of players arrived together, ready to storm the noble's manor. And then other players, realising what we're about to do, also joined in. This guild called The Big Circle helped us a lot, but also fans of the guild. All in all, we were probably a thousand people. The guards stood no chance."
Listening to Cyclone and Fortune, Silver Blade felt like she suddenly understood something, saying:
"So that's were all the guards went! Did you kill them all? And what about Canter?"
"Yeah, the guards are dead. I guess they will respawn in an hour. And I don't know who Canter is. However, there is one part of the manor where the players never returned after going there. There are some insanely strong guards over there. I guess they protect the manor's master."
Silver Blade nodded. It seemed Canter was not so easily overcome. But with such a commotion, perhaps it was better to leave soon.
"There you are!"
"Hi, guys!"
"Missed us?"
Joyful voices came from behind Cyclone. The latter had called the rest of the group over. Hotpot have been reunited!
After a brief greeting Quickstep arrived next to Silver Blade, curiously asking what the group was doing. The tank didn't hesitate to invite everyone into the party and shared the quest. However, without the full story the others still found it quite difficult to know what exactly they were searching for. Thus, the main work would rely on the original group of four.
Meanwhile Cyclone stood next to Balm, with a meaningful smile on her face. Knowing that she came late, the mage didn't make any demands. But with the way she was behaving everyone could read her thoughts. Balm shook her head with a smile, generously inviting her friend:
"Cyclone, good that you came. We found a golden treasure chest. Do you want to open it?"
"Hehe, that's why you're the best!"
Cyclone gave Balm a brief hug before squatting down and rubbing her hands. It was totally worth coming here! Unable to suppress her anticipation any longer Cyclone finally touched the treasure chest.
Immediately a blinding golden light erupted. Gasps could be heard as some players had followed the group here, spectating from outside the room. Cyclone didn't care, her entire attention focused on the loot about to land in her hand. Finally, the light condensed, shooting into Cyclone's palm, transforming into an item.
"Wow…"
"Awesome!"
Cyclone and Balm both exclaimed as they stared at the item which had appeared. It was a small earring, a translucent bead hanging from a silver hook, seemingly capturing a black hole inside. The endlessly swirling black mass emitted an awe-inspiring aura as if everything would be sucked in if it weren't for the thin bead holding it back. Cyclone instantly had to check the description.
[Canter's Black Hole
Category: Unique
Level requirement: 65
Physical Defence: 3
Magical Defence: 11
Strength: +7
Intelligence: +4
Effect 1: The black hole emits a strong devouring force. All hostile magical damage is reduced by 3% in a range of 15 meters around you.
Effect 2: Unleash the devoured energy in a burst of terrifying magic, pushing everyone around you back. The distance depends on the energy devoured since the last use of this ability. Activating this effect disables effect 1 for a duration of 300 seconds.
Effect 3: For every 10.000 points of damage devoured by the black hole, you gain one chance to project a miniature black hole which blocks all magical attacks in its vicinity. Miniature black holes last for 5 seconds. You can stack up to three charges of miniature black holes.
Restriction: Bound upon wearing, STR above 175 points, INT above 40
One of Canter Jourtale's proudest creations. Created after observing a certain magical anomaly for an entire year. Crafted in cooperation with the renowned elven blacksmith Nepuniohl. The creation of these earrings allowed Canter's reputation to soar, earning him enough merit to overtake his rival Therim Riverbell.]
Cyclone lovingly caressed these earrings. She shared the description with Balm, and the latter was just as amazed. Unfortunately, this item was not destined to be theirs. Cyclone sighed deeply and approached Silver Blade, placing her palm in front of the tank's eyes with the earring quietly lying on top.
"Thanks."
Silver Blade took the item and equipped it, her attention elsewhere. Cyclone blinked her eyes, thinking Silver Blade wasn't granting this amazing item the reverence it deserved, immediately turning back to browse through one of the bookshelves.
"You know, if you don't want it…"
"No, no. Of course I want it."
Silver Blade waved her hand absentmindedly. She was focused on the quest, fearing that Canter might appear at any moment, cutting their search short. Cyclone sulked. Just as she thought about how to get the earring back, Silver Blade let out a shout.
"Here, I found something!"
"Really? Let's take a look!"
"Good job, Silver!"
The friends came over, gathering around Silver Blade. Cyclone put the matter of the earring away and craned her neck, looking at the thick book Silver Blade retrieved from the bookshelf. Surprisingly below the leather cover there was no real book. Instead, there were multiple letters stacked together. As Silver Blade took them out, there was a light thud. A strange, small stone plate fell out of the letters. Silver Blade grabbed it, momentarily unable to deduce its purpose, and decided to read the letters first.