〈System Alert: You have entered a Level One «Gravity Pocket».〉
'A level one gravity pocket? Strange, my body feels heavier than usual here.'
Izroth furrowed his brows when he received the system alert. This was something he had no prior knowledge about; he'd never heard of a gravity pocket within RML. Though from the effects alone, it was easy enough to come up with a conclusion of what purpose it served.
Izroth felt as if he was carrying another person around due to the increased gravity. It would be difficult for players to adapt to the sudden shift in gravity. However, thanks to Izroth's Heavenly Golden Body, the transition only provided him with mild discomfort.
When he took his first step forward, he received yet another system alert. After reading over the alert, Izroth finally grasped what was behind this level one gravity pocket.
〈System Alert: You have received a quest!〉
〈System Alert: Since you are not in a party, the quest rank has been increased! Do you wish to accept the quest?〉
Quest Name: Gem of The Sea
Recommended Level: 21
Recommended Party Size: 3-4
Quest Rank: B
Quest Objective: Venture into Nerita's Cavern to retrieve one of «Nerita's Scale» located near the deepest part of the cavern, past the «Gravity Pocket» caused by a mysterious gemstone. Once you've obtained a «Nerita's Scale», you must place it inside of the «Dreaming Wave Pond» to purify the corruption devouring the scale's essence.
Time Limit: None
0/1 Retrieve one of «Nerita's Scale» located past the «Gravity Pocket».
0/1 Take one «Nerita's Scale» and place it inside of the «Dreaming Wave Pond».
Reward:
-x10 silver coins
-«Aquamarine Gem»
-5,000 EXP
'It's the last gem that I need in order to enter into a deeper level of the Underwater World. Although the EXP is not all that great, it's not too bad for something that was originally a C-ranked quest. Given the rank of the quest, it should not be too difficult to retrieve the scale and obtain the Aquamarine Gem.'
As Izroth took in his surroundings, he noticed three separate paths. There was one path directly in front of him, one path to his left side, and the last path was located on his right side. Above the paths were different numbers carved onto some type of metallic alloy plate.
The plate on the left side had the number one written on it. The plate straight ahead of Izroth had the number five written on it, and the last plate to the right had the number three written on it.
Izroth did not have any clue as to what these numbers meant until he approached a nearby sign with writing on it. It gave a description of what a player would go through depending on which of the paths they decided to take.
The path located on Izroth's left side was the easiest path, however, it was also the longest path. Players traveling through that path would only have to deal with the increased gravity, but according to the sign, it would take at least one hour to arrive at the next location!
There was also some powerful restriction magic in place on the pathway that prevented players from moving above a certain speed. That meant players who decided to venture down that path could only move slower than they were used to, not faster.
Izroth immediately dismissed this option, after all, why would he want to waste an hour walking down a path? This path was probably for players that could not make it through the other two paths.
'I wonder what path those players from Cross Haven chose.'
Izroth then examined the second listed pathway which was the one positioned closest to his right side. This path was perfect for most players to take as long as there was a person within the party capable of being agile and resourceful enough to reach the end.
The right path was filled with various traps and there were certain parts of the pathway that made it difficult for someone to maintain a proper footing. If one made too many mistakes, then they could end up dying and having to respawn all the way at back to the beginning of the dungeon.
However, the best thing about this path was that only one player within the party had to successfully reach the other side. As long as that player was successful in reaching the other side then the path would open up for the rest of their party members to cross unhindered.
'This path doesn't sound all that bad. I wonder if the traps are similar to the ones I encountered at Goblin's Paradise.'
Izroth was confident that with Flickering Steps and Shadow Movement active, it would be as easy as breathing going down that path. However, the path that caught his attention the most was the one located just ahead of him.
'Interesting...'
The center path would be the fastest way to arrive at the other side, however, there was just one problem. While it did not have any traps, it was safe to say that players with weak willpower would want to stay far away from it.
According to the sign, the center path was a level two gravity pocket. From the level one gravity pocket alone, Izroth already felt as if his body weight had double.
A level two gravity pocket may not be as simple as tripling his body weight, however, he understood that the system would not create something that was impossible for players to do.
'Although the level two gravity pocket will be a bit troublesome, I believe that it will not cause any major issues. However, isn't it still a bit unreasonable to create a path like this?'
What grabbed Izroth's attention were the words Siren Call. It did not give too many details about the Siren Call, however, it did mention that players would have to go through a constant willpower check. If it were only the Siren Call then there was not anything to worry about, but Izroth did not have the proper skills in his arsenal required to deal with the creatures lurking in there.
Located along the center pathway were creatures known as Spectral Jellyfish. They resembled the ghost-like jellyfish creature Izroth had observed when he was shown the throne room, Trestix. However, they were much smaller in comparison and did seem as powerful. The creatures were completely immune to all normal physical attacks and could only be damaged by magical or energy based attacks.
The only energy based attack Izroth had in his arsenal at the moment was the skill Second Baneful Sword: Kill. Although the Second Baneful Sword: Kill was a powerful energy based attack, the cooldown time on it was too long. Even if the cooldown time was reduced by 50% after killing a target it would not suffice. Furthermore, there was not a 100% chance of the skill cooldown resetting.
Izroth also had the lightning damage from his Lightning Field skill, however, that skill only lasted for ten seconds. Who knew how many Spectral Jellyfish were lurking on the pathway? Of course, he could always just use Scagmag's Whale Song, but would it be worth it?
'The center path is the quickest way, but if that's all there was to it then I would be better off choosing the right path as it compliments my current skillset. However, I can't ignore the last sentence on that sign.'
The last sentence for the center path made Izroth curious. Written on the sign was <Those who pass this trial are granted a special gift.>. It was vague and did not say what the gift was, but Izroth knew that the gift rewarded would be equal to the given task.
'I'll try the center path. If things get a bit complicated then I'll just use Scagmag's Whale Song as a last resort.'
Izroth decided, he would journey down the center path and take the risk for a potential reward. Besides, he was far from worried about a test of willpower. His mind, body, and soul were all strengthed to a ridiculous level, especially when compared to the average person.
He highly doubted the system took into account someone with his level of willpower. After all, compared to the arduous path of cultivation, this could be considered as child's play in comparison.
Izroth walked towards the center path and when his foot stepped onto the pathway, he immediately felt a crushing weight pushing down on his entire body. As he predicted, this was much more than a simple tripling of body weight. He felt as though the gravity had increased tenfold compared to the time before he entered the level one gravity pocket.
〈System Alert: You have entered a Level Two «Gravity Pocket».〉
'Even though the level of the gravity pocket only increased by one, it's around five times greater than the level one gravity pocket. It feels as if an invisible force is trying to crush me. I wonder, what level do gravity pockets go up to?'
Izroth was calmly walking step by step down the center pathway. Each step left a deep footprint in the ground beneath his feet. From the outside, it looked as though Izroth was just casually going for stroll, however, the truth was that he was currently traveling at his top speed without the use of any movement skills.
His current agility stat was at 300 after he reached the second stage of the Heavenly Golden Body and invested 7 of the 18 stat points he earned from leveling up into his agility stat. He also put 7 of the stat points into his attack stat and the last 4 into his HP stat.
The system was more unreasonable than Izroth originally thought. To ask players to withstand such pressure while going through constant willpower checks from the Siren Call, and deal with the Spectral Jellyfish that were immune to physical attacks was far from easy.
Though that was a good thing for Izroth as the harder the challenge, the larger the reward for completing it.
After walking through around a third of the pathway, Izroth suddenly heard a soft singing voice. It was alluring and seemed to call out to him. When he ignored the call, it began to turn into a loud high-pitched scream with a frequency high enough to shatter glass. It was the Siren Call that he'd read about on the sign outside the pathway.
〈System Alert: You have successfully passed a «Willpower» check!〉
The further into the pathway Izroth traveled, the more intense the Siren Call became. That was not all that changed, when he reached the halfway mark he could see a spectral being with the head of a jellyfish rise up from underneath the ground.
Oooeeekkkk!
Izroth narrowed his eyes as he observed the creature that appeared before him. It was the Spectral Jellyfish that he was warned about.
Name: Spectral Jellyfish(Elite)
Level: 22
HP: 9,450 (100%)
'It has more HP than expected.'
Izroth figured that the monster would be like the Inglipsm Crystal Walkers that he fought not too long ago and have low HP because of its normal physical attack immunity. However, its HP was almost comparable to the Yellow-Razored Kryrco Sharks swimming around Calder's Reef.
Not too long after the first Spectral Jellyfish appeared, another one phased through from the ceiling. It did not stop there and two more phased in from the side walls. In just a few seconds, Izroth was being approached by four Spectral Jellyfish.
While they were numerous and had high HP, their agility was not impressive at all. They were only moving slightly faster than Izroth who was being weighed down by the level two gravity pocket. Since they were spectral beings, Izroth knew that it was unlikely that the monsters would be affected by the gravity pocket the same way he was.
Therefore, their agility stat had to be somewhere between 35-50. If not for the gravity pocket, these Spectral Jellyfish would not be a threat to almost any player with above-average agility.
Izroth activated his Flickering Steps as the Spectral Jellyfish were hovering closer and his agility instantly shot up to 1,200. Though while inside of this gravity pocket it felt more like 120 agility. However, that was still more than twice as fast as the Spectral Jellyfish.
〈System Alert: You have successfully passed a «Willpower» check!〉
The screeching Siren Call grew even louder than before as Izroth was growing closer to the exit of the pathway. The number of Spectral Jellyfish also began to grow with at least one spawning with every step Izroth took.
The twenty seconds on Izroth's Flickering Steps skill did not last that long, but he managed to cover a good amount of distance. There was just one small issue, there were over fifty Spectral Jellyfish following closely behind him and the number was only increasing every second that ticked by.
'Will I have to use Scagmag's Whale Song after all?'
Just as Izroth was getting ready to use his last resort skill, he saw a bright light slowly forming up ahead.
As Izroth closed the distance to the bright light, the sound generated by the Siren Call became so loud that it started to create sound waves which attempted to push Izroth back and away from the bright light. However, it was not enough to make him falter.
Izroth passed the final willpower check and just as the Spectral Jellyfish were about to reach him, he managed to safely arrive at the location that was emitting the bright light. When he stepped into the bright light, the Spectral Jellyfish vanished as if they were never there to begin with. The Siren Call had ended as well and that high-pitched screeching noise slowly faded out.
〈System Alert: You are no longer within a «Gravity Pocket».〉
The pressure pushing down against Izroth eased up once he left the pathway and arrived inside of a small room. The first thing Izroth noticed was a gorgeous pink scale resting upon a bed of lovely pure white pearls, but there was something unusual about the scale.
There was a dark corrupted aura being emitted from it that felt incredibly familiar to Izroth.
Izroth frowned when he felt the familiar sinister aura.
'This aura... Doesn't it belong to the Shadahi? Why is it being released by a scale located so far away from the Shadahi Realm?'