[Minor Plane Albion, Phuinem Kingdom, Pyrke Mine]
The [Pyrke mine] laid before Greem in all of its beauty. Wooden structures supporting the weight of the mountains multiplying in the distance, the repetitive sounds of pickaxes crashing onto the raw stones and crystals in the mine, and a fog of dirt limiting the vision to a couple hundreds of meters at best.
Belonging to the [Magical Court], the Pyrke mine was exploited by slaves. Barbarians, mainly, who had been defeated and turned into working forces. Their stronger bodies allowed for more efficient work too, as they were often able to extract twice the amount of ores compared to regular imperial humans. With no salary, this made the exploitation of the Pyrke mine extremely profitable. After all, once refined, fire stones could be sold between two and three magic crystals.
However, such wealth did not go unnoticed.
Ill-intentioned people eyed such resources.
A group of acolytes were whipping barbarians.
"Faster!", a redhead acolyte shouted, "If you want a meal tonight, you need to fill up twelve more carts!"
*SPLASH*
Feeling the impact of the whip, the barbarian muffled a groan. As for the other slaves, they all felt it too. All of them were in terrible conditions. Intense work and constant physical abuse had multiplied the scars on their body.
[Dark Illusion]
As the redhead acolyte raised his arm for a second whipping punishment, his vision was soon filled with darkness.
"Huh?", he muttered, "Did someone unlighted the torches?"
The female acolyte with dark hair and serious facial expressions frowned: "What do you mean? They are lit-"
*SWOOSH*
Before she could finish her sentence, a bolt reached her heart. It was a clean, powerful shot from a high-quality crossbow. The redhead acolyte felt that something was wrong and instantly cast a defensive spell
[Ice Shield]
However, the ice shield without seeing enemies was useless. Three acolytes appeared from the shadows and continued their attack. Greem, holding his crossbow and having cast the dark illusion spell, started to reload.
His ally, Vanessa, unsheathed her cross sword and moved forward. Deflecting the iceshield, one thrust was all it took to kill the redhead acolyte.
Meanwhile, the third dark path acolyte Willem laughed like a maniac as he summoned skeletons from the ground. They rushed towards the rest of the acolytes.
[Fireball]
[Ice arrow]
The rest of the arcane faction acolytes attempted to destroy the skeletons, but the more they struggled, the more skeletons appeared. Necromancers, when given access to corpses, were terrifying opponents.
Seeing that there remained just one opponent, he cast one last spell, finishing him off.
[Shadow Hand]
A hand grew out of nowhere, strangling the acolyte who was attempting to use a complex defensive array, a mechanism made of runes capable of protecting high-rank attacks and alarm the rest of the arcane faction acolytes stationed in the Pyrke mine.
Unfortunately, the hand was filled with shadow elemental particles, and besides the strangulation, it also voided the acolyte of all of his strength and stamina. Seconds later, he fell onto the ground, lifeless.
The barbarians took cover, and though they were scared, none of them talked or attempted to defend the arcane faction acolytes. After all, they were all tormented by them. In a way, the dark path acolytes had saved them.
Cleaning the blood from her cross sword, Vanessa grinned: "Well, we are getting better at this"
"Don't get complacent", Willem spoke, "We were lucky that the Pyrke mine was filled with skeletons. Otherwise, we would have never been able to target such a large group of Arcane faction scums. Any good findings, Greem?"
Greem, loyal to his character, had already started looting the acolytes.
"In one word, dirt poor. Thankfully, what we are seeking lies in the ores processed in the center of the mine. And they happen to have the key"
A few minutes later, the group of dark acolytes arrived at the small wooden building. There, a couple of knights were defending the outpost, but fell like flies under the ambush. As the acolytes opened the chest within, they were satisfied. Hundreds of fire stones lied in the chest.
Vanessa exclaimed: "This got to be one of the largest haul in the [Fiends Brotherhood]'s history. Who gave you the tip, anyway?"
Greem, however, stayed silent.
Unknown to his allies, he had grown stronger from this ordeal, again.
[Greem Southport - Lv. 7 Beginner Rank Acolyte (30 / 800 EXP)
Strength - 3 | Agility - 2 | Vitality - 4 | Magic Power - 7
Perks: Grade I Shadow Elemental Affinity
Spells: Dark Illusion (80), Shadow Hand (63), Ombre Curse (25)
Skills: Accounting (60), Eloquence (35), Charm (25), Swordsmanship (15)
Magical Artefact: Soul Ring [SSS]]
Greem possessed an artefact, allowing him to see the world through a gamified lense. It was a heirloom of his family, long forgotten.
[Logs - 8 new entries
[You have successfully killed [Lv. 4 Beginner Rank Acolyte]. You have earned 40 EXP]
[You have successfully killed [Lv. 6 Beginner Rank Acolyte]. You have earned 80 EXP]
[You have successfully killed [Lv. 3 Beginner Rank Acolyte]. You have earned 20 EXP]
[Recent use of Dark Illusion spell increased proficiency in the spell by 2 points]
[Recent use of Shadow Hand spell increased proficiency in the spell by 3 points]
[You have levelled up. Requirements to become an intermediate rank acolyte: Lv. 7 / 8]
[You have earned 1 point of Magic Power]
[Yellow-rank Mission [Pyrke Mine Raid] has been updated. Return the crates of fire stones to the Fiends Brotherhood Leader to claim rewards]