Livinius brought his swords together, forming a shield.
A sharp hiss filled the air.
As the vile purplish liquid dripped down the swords, acidic fumes rose from the spots it touched.
Two vultures charged toward the entrance with fury.
Livinius' swords spun in a circular orbit, slicing through the front vulture's chest.
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When the vulture's filthy, black blood splattered against the sooty walls of the narrow entrance, it immediately blended in. Fragments of broken and severed ribs fell to the ground through the torn skin.
The vulture let out a deafening screech and attempted to flap its wings, but this only caused a few debris to fall from the entrance walls.
Livinius, affected by the scream, staggered back a few steps and felt his consciousness waver.
For a brief moment, he completely lost control over his swords.
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Mental Attack? Livinius ignored the discomfort caused by the tingling sensation on his scalp and refocused all his attention on his swords.
The two swords lunged toward the vulture's neck.
The vulture caught one with its talon, but the other sword slashed across the upper part of its neck. Simultaneously, Livinius plunged his third sword into the open wound on the vulture's chest, pushing it deep.
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As the vulture's severed neck leaked the disgusting purplish liquid, it let out a muffled hiss and slammed its head against the two walls of the entrance. With its wings pressed tightly against its body, it passed through the threshold and charged directly at Livinius.
Livinius crossed his swords to block the vulture's charge, but as the pressure on his will suddenly became overwhelming, he couldn't maintain the steadiness of his swords.
The hideous vulture thrust its head forward, aiming to crush his skull.
Livinius lowered his head and dodged the attack while raising his swords to oppose a potential second strike.
As the vulture's sharp beak hammered down on the blades, each blow echoed through the corridor with a thunderous thud.
Livinius glanced behind him and realized he was nearing the end of the narrow passage. If he kept retreating, he'd enter a wider area—where he'd be forced to fight multiple enemies simultaneously.
As he sent his two swords toward its head, he caught the third one and took a risky step forward, closing the distance between himself and the vulture. His blade flashed twice, severing the vulture's talon at the root.
As the vulture lost its balance and collapsed toward the wall, it let out a terrible screech that rippled through the air like a partial shockwave.
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Livinius' vision darkened temporarily due to the close-range mental assault. He could barely maintain the thinnest thread of focus on his swords as he stumbled backward.
Meanwhile, as the other vultures struggled to push forward from the rear, they shattered a support beam in the ceiling above the narrow entrance.
A sharp cracking sound was followed by a violent tremor— and the entryway collapsed with a thunderous crash.
At the last moment, Livinius shielded his head with his swords, preventing several large chunks of stone from smashing his skull. The already labored breathing he endured grew worse as a thick cloud of dust rose from the ground.
[You've slain a Sarian Vulture! You've gained 10 EXP!]
[You've slain a Sarian Vulture! You've gained 10 EXP!]
[You've slain a Sarian Vulture! You've gained 10 EXP!]
With the entrance collapsed, the surroundings dimmed—lit only by the faint glow still rising from the smoldering fragments of furniture and scattered papers.
Livinius coughed and pulled a piece of cloth from his Storage Ring, wrapping it around his mouth and nose.
Trying to calm himself, he scanned his surroundings. It looked like he was inside some kind of hideout. The fire must have broken out a few hours earlier.
He took out a [Lantern] from his ring and began inspecting his surroundings more closely.
He was inside a circular underground structure. Judging by the marks on the floor and walls, he concluded that the fire had been caused by an explosion.
Did some Alchemy experiment go wrong? Livinius scratched his chin.
He stood before a completely burned, yet still upright, bookshelf. As he touched it lightly, its entire structure gave way and collapsed into a heap of ash.
In the middle of the room stood a large workbench carved from a single block of stone. The various tools and instruments on it were either entirely or partially melted.
When the light of the lantern in his hand fell to the left, he spotted charred body parts.
Is that... a key? Livinius picked up the key beside the still faintly smoking ribs.
There had to be something that opened.
There was no door in sight. However, given that this hideout was built into the woods, he could expect it to have hidden doors. He began scrutinizing the walls. Before long, he discovered a small keyhole in the wall.
He pushed the burned and charred wooden pile below the door with his foot before inserting the key. As soon as he turned the key, the stone wall protruded slightly, and the sounds of a moving mechanism echoed from within.
The door opened, revealing a small room.
At the center of the room stood a miniature marble pedestal. The only other thing he could make out was the oval stone door directly across from him.
He stepped up to the pedestal, his gaze wandering across a large book bound in animal hide, a map marked with five distinct points, and a journal roughly the size of a man's hand.
Oh, it's heavy! Livinius frowned as he picked up the book. When he opened it, a blinding incandescent light burst from its pages, and the crimson flames that flared from the book turned into a swirling vortex of sparks that flowed directly into his mind.
[Do you accept the assimilation of the Codex of the Twelve Stars?]
Confirm!
[You have acquired a new Profession: Runecraft I]
A sudden surge of information flooded into his brain. A basic understanding of Runes and Rune Inscriptions took shape in his consciousness.
His expression grew thoughtful.
Runecraft was an art that used mysterious energy patterns known as Runes to alter the core properties of items, imbue them with magical effects, and create arcane sequences that could be triggered under specific conditions.
Back when Livinius was an online player, he faced numerous hardships in the later stages of the game due to a lack of resources. Since he was destined to protect Alkhen Castle— a focal point that the vast majority sought only to conquer—advancing in both Potioncraft and Runecraft felt less like a choice and more like a necessity.
However, the road ahead would be anything but easy. Potiocrafting, with its vast scope, demanded a great deal of resources and knowledge. Every herb, organ, and fragment of a soul he could find would need to be deeply studied and analyzed—because that was the only path to true progress. The same applied to Runecraft; he would have to gather as many Runes as possible and research every source he could get his hands on.
With a troubled mind, Livinius checked his Attributes.
Both Potioncraft and Runecraft made use of high levels of Wisdom, as it was directly tied to situational awareness, decision-making, and mana regeneration—making it indispensable.
Besides, considering the mental resilience required for the work he would undertake in both disciplines, high Willpower also had to be part of the equation.
All of this would make it harder for him to find items with the exact stat distribution he needed in the future. People sought items that granted stats aligned with their Class and Profession, but few found what they hoped for. The number of people using items with inconvenient or mismatched stats—simply because they had no better options—was significant.
He sighed and shook his head, then picked up the map from the pedestal and studied it. The map displayed five marked points across the three major nations of the central continent: the Nylian Kingdom, the Rhevalis Kingdom, and the Republic of Narethorn.
Could it be showing the locations of hideouts like this place? Livinius curled his lower lip before sending it into his Storage Ring.
Lastly, he picked up the pocket-sized journal from the pedestal. Its pages were filled with crude, unintelligible script.
A constructed language? Or some form of cipher? Livinius raised his eyebrows.
If he could find someone in the future who could read what was written in this journal, he might uncover who the unfortunate soul turned to charcoal by the fire had been—and what exactly they were doing in such a secret location.
After checking one last time to make sure he hadn't missed anything, he walked over to the oval stone door, inserted the key, and unlocked it. As the stone door groaned open, the unsettling stench of rot from the woods rushed in.