As Fennelis returned to human form, she looked at Runeth warily and asked, "A-are you an Incarnation?"
Meanwhile, the mysterious man named Runeth raised his eyebrows and nodded.
"It seems you aren't from a common background. Yes, I'm indeed an incarnation of the Ancient Mage Runeth. But fret not; I'm more powerful than any Legendary Mage living in this Easica Plane and can assure your safety in this pocket dimension."
While speaking, he shifted his gaze towards Abium and gave him a meaningful smile!
'What the hell? Did he read my mind? No, the soldiers must have followed after us and tried to enter the Mysterious Maze.' He quickly calmed down his thumping heart and asked politely.
"Can you tell us more about this dimension, sir? Can it help us improve our strength?"
Upon hearing his words, Runeth folded his arms and answered.
"I created this pocket dimension to test mortals and select a candidate to complete a dangerous job. You can think of it as a trial. I'll test your strength, knowledge, cooperation, and almost everything during the next few months and check whether you guys are suitable for the job. You have to complete 25 missions like the earlier one and later will be reviewed to do the dangerous job."
"There are 25 more missions?" Fennelis asked in shock.
"Yes, each of the missions will be more difficult than the previous mission, Beastkin. But as long as you utilize these opportunities properly, your strength will soar exponentially." Runeth's words tempted everyone in the chamber.
"Can we quit halfway?" Abium asked, recalling the words of failure on the blue screen.
"Yes. You will get opportunities to quit during the 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th levels."
At that moment, Nicolaus also sat up stiffly and asked.
"If these missions are trials, what about the final mission?"
Runeth smiled mysteriously and spoke.
"It's a mission to destroy a Magic Tower located in a foreign world. My main body built a Magic Tower long ago for interdimensional travel purposes but left to search for the Eternal River of Life to bring back someone. Many things happened during this time, and now chaos is looming in that plane and waiting to destroy everything. There isn't much treasure left in the tower, but I did leave some details about the pocket dimension, coordinates, and Easica World. So, if those details end up in Chaos Beings' hands, they might invade this place sooner. If my real body had returned from his journey, I wouldn't have any need to create these missions. Unfortunately, my main body still hasn't returned yet, and I need to take things on my own."
"A Foreign Plane?" Abium wore a shocked look and soon shook his head.
'Impossible. When the final seal gets broken, it would be impossible to return to the Easica Plane. While I still have over a year until that happens, I cannot be careless and end up stuck on a foreign plane. First, I should focus on completing these twenty-five missions and getting some rewards.' He nodded inwardly and opened his mouth.
"We'll think about it later." Just as Abium spoke, Nicolaus couldn't stand steadily due to the blood loss and slowly fell.
Thankfully, a strange invisible power appeared out of nowhere and helped him land smoothly.
"Good decision. First, use your reward points and buy a healing potion for your friend." Runeth said before waving his hand.
A second later, a familiar blue screen appeared in front of them.
[Total number of kills: 200
50 Skeleton Soldiers: 50 Reward Points.
100 Elite Skeletons: 200 Reward Points
40 Skeleton Assassins: 200 Reward Points
8 Death Knights: 200 Reward Points
1 Necromancer: 500 Reward Points
1 Phantom Killer: 1000 Reward Points
Total number of Reward Points: 2150]
As Abium read the content on the blue screen, he couldn't help but ask.
"How to use these reward points?"
"Look around. All these items are for your use only. Each item has a price, and you can buy them using reward points." Runeth paused as he moved towards the left side wall, pointed his finger at a black dagger sealed in a glass box, and continued.
"Take this dagger as an example. This weapon is called 'Anger's Tear.' It was made of an ancient Dawn Goblin's tooth and later soaked with the blood of an ancient Human King to quench its thirst. Although it may look like a common dagger, its rank should be above Legendary Grade. It has the power of Madness, Corruption, and Wrath hidden in it. In truth, simply touching the dagger could even kill a Third Tier Mage in mere seconds. This dagger is 1000 times more durable than your' Sword of Wrath. But to use this dagger, you have to be above Third-Tier Mage. As for its price, it's only 149,999 reward points!"
'Only 149,999 reward points?' Abium cursed silently and clicked his tongue.
Meanwhile, Fennel also shook her head in disbelief and muttered.
"Why do I feel like we are talking to a merchant?"
Abium nodded his head in approval and was about to ask about healing potions, but another blue screen suddenly replaced the previous one.
"I was giving an example. You can see the rest in the blue box." Runeth added.
…
[Potions:
Healing potion (Low) -100
Poison resistance potion- 100
Vial of lust -200
Paralysis potion - 250
Explosion potion - 400
Healing potion (Mid)-2,100
Healing potion (High) -33,000
Vial of Nature Elixir -130,000
Bloodline Strengthening potion (Low Rank)- 10,000
Bloodline Strengthening potion (Mid Rank)- 100,000
Bezoar potion - 40,000,etc.…]
'Wow, too expensive!'
"Can a mid-tier Healing Potion reattach his severed wrist?" Abium asked as he observed the blue screen.
"Your friend is just a mortal, young man." Runeth calmly continued, "The Low-Rank Healing Potion can regrow a mortal's severed hand, much less attach the severed part."
'Oh? Can the Healing Potion even regrow his wrist? Interesting. It's not some random potion.' He muttered inwardly and decided to purchase one 'Low-Tier Healing Potion.'
A second later, a bluish vial appeared before his face and soon landed on his hand.
He then moved towards Nicolaus, squatted down while opening the lid, and poured the potion into his mouth.
A miraculous thing happened in front of everyone's eyes the next instant.
Suddenly, flesh, blood vessels, tendons, and bone grew at a visible rate from the sliced area and soon formed a brand new hand!
"Don't get too shocked. If Nicolaus were an Official Mage or Second-Tier Mage, the 'Low-Tier Potion' wouldn't have worked. Once your body and soul break the realm of Mortals, it will cause a change in your body and increase your lifespan. That will make it difficult for the potion to heal the body." Runeth answered as he noticed the shock on their faces.
"But he is a warrior, though." Abium stood up from the squatted position and asked in puzzlement.
"Warriors? You are talking about the body-strengthening practitioners, right? Although it's a good method to tone one's body, it has too many flaws and dangers. Using the Warrior technique also harms his soul and makes it difficult for it to enter the reincarnation cycle. As a result, practicing body strengthening techniques won't allow him to become a mage again. Even if he manages to break the strengthening imprint and starts walking on the path of mages, he won't break past the Apprentice Mage Rank."
Runeth's words stunned Abium and others.
Even Nicolaus' face turned pale as he stood up and asked in shock.
"Does that mean we harm our souls by practicing warrior technique? Is there a way to remove these side effects?"
Meanwhile, Runeth shook his head and responded.
"It's almost impossible to heal the harmed soul using magic spells, young man. I don't know who taught you this forbidden technique, but you better stop using it and think of an alternative way to strengthen your body and soul."
'The Warrior Techniques are indeed flawed, as I suspected.'
Abium suddenly thought of another method to become a Mage and asked.
"What about the Warlock Path?"
"Yes. By becoming a Warlock, he can re-strengthen his soul and Rank-Up further in the future. Unlike Mages, Warlocks mostly gain power from the ancestral bloodline, so it's an easy way to improve and heal one's soul." Runeth paused for a moment before adding with a sigh.
"Unfortunately, I don't have any Warlock Bloodline essences."
Meanwhile, Abium nodded his understanding and spoke.
"We'll think of a way to get it later, sir. Before that, can you tell us more about the next mission?"
"Oh, I almost forgot. You guys have 33 hours of free time. Use the time wisely and rest. Also, buy some good weapons and gear yourself. This time, you will face an army of Goblins."
Another blue screen appeared in front of everyone's eyes as Runeth spoke.
[Boots of lightning - 1000 Points
Soher's Net -100,000
Shadow staff -500
Fruit of vitality -300
Phizorr's Boot - 3000
Eye of destruction -150,000
Ring of frost – 50,000
Shadow Boots- 35,000
Hero's Fruit- 13,900
Ring of Shapeshifting- 350,000
Mystery Hand- 95,000
Hand of Lightning- 102,000
Cloak of Destiny- 203,000
Ring of Corruption- 50,000
Nightmare Touch- 530,000
Hand of Midas- 245,000
Risra's advanced mana technique -240,000 points
Sword of Deception -100,000 Points, etc.]
'What the hell? Another round of expensive items?' Abium quietly observed the blue screen and soon realized that many High-Grade or even Legend Grade artifacts were available on the list.
In truth, he had only one High-Tier Sword called 'Untamed Blade' in his possession at the end of the chaos era and knew how significant these weapons were!
Although the silver bracelet might be considered a Legend Ranking item, he didn't realize its worth in the past and always relied on his High-Tier Sword.
'But the problem is all of these weapons are pretty expensive!' Even if he and others managed to complete all the 25 missions, it wouldn't be easy to earn hundreds of thousand reward points to buy artifacts!
It's best to split the reward points into four and use them wisely.' He muttered inwardly and thought about what artifact he needed from the list.
'I already have a High-Tier sword in my possession, so I don't think it's a good idea to waste thousands of reward points on a sword. My next option would be. Cloak of Destiny? Nah, I don't need it once the Chaos Era starts. Maybe the Ring of Shape-shifting?' He marked it in his mind and shifted his attention toward the other screen.
A single potion name caught his attention as he skimmed through the list.
'Hmm? Affinity strengthening potions? Is it possible to increase one's affinity?' He muttered inwardly and continued to check other things.
After a while, Abium and others discussed what to do with the current reward points and decided to buy one Low-Grade sword and a Low-Grade armor for Fennelis and Nicolaus.
At that moment, Umi also woke up from her unconscious state and showed some improvement in her physical status. Her physical strength improved considerably, and she even unlocked one Zero-Tier bloodline spell called 'Ice Needle!'
They rested in the chamber for the next 30+ hours and finally teleported out of the core chamber.