MMORPG : Ancient WORLD

It had been around ten hours since Alex and the team left the city premises and went to check the four loot sites marked on the map, and by sheer luck, three hours in and having cleared the first site, they lucked out on the location that could very well hold the core.

But what they discovered was a sealed chamber that required very specific ingredients from three rare mythical creatures to unlock it, and logically, it made sense to place the core in a secure place, but it didn't sit well with Alex because if the core was behind a wall that screamed out special, it should have been found long ago.

While Alex knew that no three decades had passed, and Zero could just make up the whole story for the event, he knew that even in that scenario, every minor to the major character had a story, a life of logic.

So Alex scanned the area using the "information extractor" gold grade service ones more, but to his surprise, he found not even a single clue, as the system only shared that array to scan the ingredient was live, and they needed the specifically required ingredient to open the chamber.

Alex was surprised as the whole situation made no sense because he was almost certain that collecting the ingredient was a false errand and just a way to disrespect the Seraphian clan.

While standing in the jungle surrounded by corpses of tens of creatures, Alex thought maybe he didn't get lucky, and no matter which loot site they visited, it would have a similar place, so without wasting a moment, he left toward the closest loot site to confirm his thinking.

As Alex expected, he was right, as the very next loot site also had a similar chamber built inside a cave, with giant stone bowls at its door base, and right above them were carvings describing the required ingredients from very rare creatures of a formidable caliber.

By that time, Nereus and the Monk had also cleared their first loot site and shared that they also found a hidden chamber.

But instead of requiring magical beast body parts to open the chamber, they needed to solve a riddle that was about the life of 'Ilyemos Gaon' The Dreamweaver, and they were given a map with multiple marked locations to find clues about the answer to the riddle.

Alex used the "information extractor" service once more and told the other team to do the same, just so they didn't miss any clue before he moved ahead to the third and fourth and repeated the same thing.

Alex had also thought maybe there was a connection between all the seven loot sites, and the answer to the three riddles could be found in the creature whose organs were required to open the sealed chamber he had found, but there was no such thing.

'It's time for you to rest,' Alex thought as he executed a precise swipe, cleanly severing the head of the towering Naga King.

"A similar chamber is present here as well, and the ingredients are worse than any of the other three chambers,"

"Eyes of the Queen Medusa, Core of the Null Cerebres, and Heart of the Eclipsian Ogre, each of these creatures should be a pseudo beast King if not a true beast King," "If we start searching now, I don't think in just a little over two days we will be able to even open three chambers, let alone all seven, and even if we assume that we found this quest too late, even then, collecting the required ingredient would be near impossible unless they are just stashed somewhere waiting to be found," Lady Rosalba said, as she translated the engraving on the ground.

"Zero would not create a quest that couldn't be completed," Alex said, what Lady Rosalba was indirectly trying to say.

"We didn't find any clue, nor did Nereus and Gregnor find any, so I hate to say it, but I think we are at a dead end," Lady Rosalba said, knowing that they had no lead to follow beside the sealed chambers.

However, Alex didn't want to give up so easily when he had already invested a full day and knew that locating the core could very well be their only chance of saving the city.

The others also knew that Zero wouldn't give a quest that could not be completed in time, but with only two days left in the stage end and because they had already wasted a day with no solid leads, they didn't want to risk wasting any more time on a goose chase.

If Alex didn't know the wild reward of saving the city, he would also be rushing out to earn event points, but he knew that the final ranking would be decided based on which team saved their city and which didn't.

Alex had searched his memory, but he had watched little of Sky City, as even though it had two of the top teams defending it, nothing exciting happened, so not much screen time was given to it, and what he had seen of it in his previous life was mostly a blur as it was nothing major.

'There has to be a clue,' The words kept repeating in Alex's mind as he scanned every loot site he had visited, searching for something common besides the chambers that could stand out.

'The Dreamweaver,'

'Yes, The Dreamweaver. All four chambers had this title carved on them,' Alex thought, a smile spreading across his face as he swiftly opened the event shop, went to the information section, and searched for the title.

Alex needed to spend 80K points to get the information, but already having spent 1 million points, he didn't hesitate to waste some more and got all the details of 'Ilyemos Gaon' The Dreamweaver.

'An Elemental Ruler who lost to an unknown man and became a cripple, and while he never revealed who made him crippled, his hate for the Seraphian clan was second only to his pride, so most believed it was someone from the clan responsible for his downfall,'

'A man who at his peak could use Illusion Magic, manipulate dreams, influence people's Subconscious, making them his puppets, and he could also manipulate memories,' 'A man living his last days but still wielding enough strength to make sure no Elementalist could touch him if he did not allow them, so why would he confront a Seraphian clan young mater, and cripple his mind, knowing well it would only bring him trouble,' Alex thought after he read all the available information.

'He was certainly playing to steal the center for a long time, so trying to locate it by his given clues will be impossible,' Alex thought, knowing he was on the right track and was just a step away from locating the true location of the stolen core.

"Sir Ruler, I think our best move will be to clear as many booty sites as possible in the next thirty-four hours and return to the city with our haul and take a last stand." Lady Rosalba said but got no response from Alex, who stood lost in thought.

'Why did Ilyemos want to go into the dungeon? It couldn't be because he needed to get closer to someone who could infiltrate the Seraphian clan, so the only logical answer is he wanted to come into the limelight,'

'What is the possibility that the Dungeon Guard did not steal the center but instead was Ilyemos himself disguised as the guard?'

'If it was Ilyemos himself, then it makes sense how a common guard, who should not be able to get anywhere near the guarded armory located in the clan palace, was able to enter and steal one of the most valuable, if not the most prized possession of the clan,' Alex thought, his mind racing to connect the dots and unconsciously a wide smile spreading underneath his dark, faceless mask.

"Sir Ruler, Sir Ruler," Lady Rosalba said multiple times as she shook him after receiving no response, making Alex break his chain of thought.

"Please, give me some time to think," Alex said, swiftly continuing his chain of thoughts, questioning every possibility, trying to reach an endpoint.

'What is the best spot to hide something?' 'The spot no one going to find, and the best place no one can find is that no one suspects,'

'It could be a shot in the dark, but maybe the center never left the treasury, and its location was just changed or maybe hidden using illusion,'

'Illusion so strong that using it with his crimpled law body, Ilyemos died just days after doing so and took his last breath watching the Seraphian clan run like headless chickens trying to locate their prized possession,' Alex believed the whole scenario playing in his head and the more he thought about it, the stronger his belief got that he was right.

While Alex had found the right path, it was going to be anything but as easy as just going to the Seraphian clan and telling those prideful bunch that what they couldn't find in thirty years was hiding in their armory.