Liam stared blankly wondering what the hell was happening. The most foolish mistake one can do was to unnecessarily provoke a friendly character, especially considering that the three-headed raven was the boss of this dungeon domain.
So he immediately stopped his actions and changed his attitude.
"I'm sorry it took me so long?" He ruffled his hair, while at the same time scrambling to recall if he heard anything similar in his previous life in relation to the beginner's dungeon.
The huge raven looked amused at his behavior and the bird flapped its wings while shrieking loudly, well from one of its three heads.
Before Liam could try and figure out what was happening, the bird's other head reacted and its corresponding beak started moving. "Shut up, Runara. I am talking aren't I?"
The first head of the bird that was loudly screeching immediately quieted down as if it was an obedient child. The second head then cleared its throat and continued talking.
"Human, in the last hundred decades, you are the first person to successfully challenge and pass this trial. It is a great honor to meet you, oh valiant warrior!"
Liam nodded silently, allowing the bird to talk more. At the same time, he noticed something weird about this raven.
Its first head was screeching like a bird but its second, middle head spoke to him with a seductive female voice. Even current top singers in the world would kill to have a pure yet alluring voice like this.
As if the bird felt Liam's invasive gaze on it, the second head hurriedly continued. "Here is your reward human. Take it and use it well."
A map appeared in front of Liam and disappeared into his inventory when he grabbed it.
"There are several riches, gems, and treasures waiting for you. Good luck!"
"I am very grateful for the reward." Liam nodded. His face only had a curt polite expression, bordering on indifference.
The several pairs of crimson eyes on the raven scanned him from top to bottom for a while and then the bird began flapping its wings, its huge body lifting off from the mound.
"Farewell human. I wish you good luck in your endeavors."
"Ahem. Since you seem to be a very capable young man, let me give you another piece of advice. Make sure to visit the treasure trove as soon as you can."
"Otherwise, there might be other hidden dangers."
After leaving this cryptic message, the bird flapped its wings and flew into the vast blue sky until it became a small black dot and eventually fully disappearing.
Liam stared at the distance where the bird had disappeared with a pensive look on his face. His eyes then returned to the mound and he noticed a shining object that the raven had left behind.
It looked like a gem shard similar to the one he had obtained from the dragon's lair nearby. He out the other shard as well and examined both closely when the two shards unexpectedly started glowing.
The two pieces simultaneously left his grasp and stuck to each other like a pair of strong magnets. Liam tried to move them apart again but he wasn't successful.
They were tightly stuck together or rather the two shards had now combined into a single bigger shard. The gem still looked incomplete. However, it now had a more brilliant violet sheen to it.
"Hmm… So there was a clue in this dungeon after all." Liam put the gem shard back into his inventory and took out the map to examine it more closely.
"Huh? Isn't this just the general map of the world?" He flipped it to see all the continents and then in the corner of a remote kingdom named Buizar, there was a small red cross mark.
Liam stared at the red mark for a couple of seconds before putting the map as well back into the inventory. Perhaps he should be more excited by this completely unexpected discovery, but he had an unsettling feeling at the back of his mind.
Mainly because he had not even heard a single word about this entire quest chain along with the three unique drops from the dragon's lair.
"If I remember it correctly, this Buizar Kingdom should be one of the elven kingdoms. It is a high level area and there is no way I can get there now. So I will worry about this map when I reach level 50."
He let out a deep breath and then took one more look at the empty forest before heading out. He walked out of the portal, directly reaching the entrance of the dungeon.
"Did they already kill Niria?" Liam wondered, as his level was now enough to defeat that field boss. Before he left this spot, why not finish everything in the area?
However, before he could finish the thought, a fist came flying at him as soon as he stepped out of the portal. "You bastard!"