CHAPTER 307: SPECIAL REWARD

The moment that woman said that, Darian’s mind connected the dots.

"Your father... he’s the first disciple of—"

Her eyes widened. "You! How do you know that?!"

Darian swallowed hard. That explained why she was so terrifying. Her father was a pure Chromaraic, and her mother a Demoness. Both were people really close to the current Will of the Heavens... and, according to history, that couple had several kids.

Darian sighed: "People sometimes call me a missionary of the Will of the Heavens... a title he once had in the past."

She abruptly stood up, her face twisted.

Darian stepped back, watching an aura full of hatred spill out from the woman. His curse triggered automatically, and her black karma started swirling around her ominously, giving her a sinister look.

"Fuck... HOW LONG HAVE I BEEN TRAPPED?!"

Darian snorted: "No idea. I just got here, saw the special mission saying to search the sea. Found you on a ship and brought you out."

She clenched her fists and stayed quiet, searching her mind through messy memories. Seconds later, her blue eyes shifted into the void. Darian noticed she was looking at a green screen, invisible to others.

She sighed, then turned back to Darian.

"I can’t stay here, the system will pull me back in three minutes."

"You’re inside that system? Why?" Darian quickly asked.

She snorted: "Let’s just say I... did something really bad... maybe more than once... I was the youngest daughter, and my dad was really disappointed. So he sealed all my power and threw me in this place as punishment. He told me I had to complete the trial, only then he’d take me back."

"But... I got captured... so you came to save me, which means I already failed and needed help." She took a deep breath, calming herself. Then she looked at Darian seriously. "Well, I can still finish it; so it’ll be like a second chance. My name’s Remira... thanks."

"I’m Darian, no problem." He nodded, then quickly asked another question, trying to get as much info as possible in those minutes: "Why do you have to go back?"

"I was already at the last stage, in the central region. There’s a rule: when you leave a stage, you can’t go back and mess with people who are weaker. Those bastards must’ve plotted against me, preparing for a long time... anyway, now that I’ve recovered, the system will send me back."

Darian nodded. She’d been punished and lost her raw power, but as the daughter of immortals with immense power sealed away, she was still exceptional and basically immortal. That’s why she had to be locked up like that.

"You’re a missionary, so you’ll eventually reach the central region." Remira said, making a gesture with her hand. A small bluish stone floated over to Darian.

"I don’t know how things are there now, but before, it was pure chaos and danger. When you get there, show this to any humanoid. I was pretty famous, the main disciple of the humanoid sect. They’ll know you’re with me and bring you to me."

"Sect?"

She nodded: "Yeah. In each stage of the trial, the average time to pass is 200 to 400 years. That’s if someone even manages to advance — less than 5% do. Luckily, this world makes it easy for people to live 500 years, if they don’t advance. Every time you advance, you can live twice as long. So, in every stage, there are sects, cities, and villages to live with at least some comfort. Anyway, the central region is where everything is tougher and more intense. People of the same race, or close ones, group together to survive and teach others to fight better, forming sects."

Her eyes shifted to the void again — her time was almost up.

Behind that beautiful woman, the majestic full moon hung in the night sky, lighting her up along with the desert landscape. She stared at Darian, her hair dancing in the breeze, showing an intense rainbow of colors.

"I’m only halfway to advancing for the third time. If you’re fast, we can meet again. If you’re slow, I’ll finish this trial and pull you out as thanks. For now, goodbye."

Remira spoke with a piercing look and a faint smile. Darian nodded. She now looked like she’d stepped out of a painting. Then he let out a heavy sigh...

... truth was, he’d just saved a terrifying rival. It was like calling a pro player into a match he needed to win. Now, he had to complete this trial as fast as possible.

That second, a spatial distortion appeared around her. The next moment, she vanished as if she’d stepped into the void.

He still had a lot of questions, but she couldn’t stay for long. At least he had finished the special mission.

Without delay, Darian spread his senses around and moved to a safer spot.

He sat down and thought about the system. The green screen popped up again.

[Special Reward Received]

[Skill: Essence Absorption] [Daily Uses: 01]

[Read description?] [Yes / No]

"Yeah."

[When a Demonic Shadow or Celestial Shadow is defeated, you have ten seconds to use the skill Essence Absorption. With it, you get the chance to absorb the power that existed in the shadow’s body when it was alive.]

"What? Demonic Shadow or Celestial Shadow?"

Darian had no idea what that meant. Since arriving in this place, he had barely moved until now. He only went straight to finish the special mission. He really didn’t know much about this world.

He then thought about the quests.

[Select Quest Type:]

[Hunt Quest] – [Upon confirmation, a quest will be given] [+25 Primordial Points]

[Search Quest] – [Upon confirmation, a quest will be given] [+25 Primordial Points]

[Group Quest] – [Upon confirmation, a quest will be given] [+25 Primordial Points]

[Special Quest] – [Defeat the millennial Abscess] [+System Upgrade]

A new special quest appeared, and along with it another term he didn’t know. It seemed way simpler: just figure out what those Abscess were and destroy them. But... if it was something special, it would be anything but easy.

"Since I’ll have to look for information anyway, I better grab a quest while I’m at it..."

He thought for a moment. Group Quest was out of the question: he was alone and didn’t want to risk going with others. Hunting without any intel was reckless. Search quests looked safer; and since he had to gather info anyway, he could use the time to look for the target.

[Search Quest accepted]

[Find 10,000 medium-grade Primordial Crystals]

[Note: 500 low-grade Primordial Crystals count as 1 medium-grade. 1 high-grade Primordial Crystal counts as 1,000 medium-grade.]

Darian read everything carefully. The name ’Primordial Crystal’ itself was already a good clue. He knew that in magical places with a high buildup of power, the land could concentrate energy and form crystals.

In this world filled with primordial Yin and Yang, the ground could probably generate crystals containing a bit of those energies. The problem was figuring out where to look to have better chances of finding them.

From what Remira had said, nobody took less than two hundred years to advance a single stage. Meaning, all quests were designed to demand a lot of time, and completing them only gave 25 points. Finding those crystals wasn’t going to be simple at all. He needed to figure out the right places to search, or else he’d just be wasting effort.

Darian took a deep breath, thinking. The night was still halfway through.

"This moon heals people in every way. So, everyone in the Trial must be trying to stay in safe places at night, to rest and nourish their bodies fully. Nighttime should be the safest period, with fewer people moving around."

He then turned toward the desert and started walking in a random direction.

...

Darian had been moving forward for two hours, completely focused. He was sure he’d be able to sense anyone within a dozen kilometers around him. But...

All of a sudden, he stopped, startled.