Monster Soul Online

Varee was frowning in the Skills Training Ground. In fact, she didn’t blatantly show her irritated expression since she was in front of other people. However, Sila could tell from the look in her eyes that her mood had gone bad. He wondered why. He honestly thought she should have been happy since the Skills Training Ground was a suitable place for an aggressive girl like her.

Varee had been wondering for a while what kind of place Sila would bring her to. It turned out that it was another training location. Additionally, Sila previously told her that this place suited her, meaning he thought of her as a fighting-maniac just like himself. It was natural that she was unhappy about it.

Meanwhile, the 99th squad members were gossiping among themselves, wondering about the reason why their leader brought the Goddess of Purified Water to the Colossia City’s underground—the place where they presumed it as their squad’s secret base. It wasn’t like they minded about it being revealed though.

Sila brought Varee to his teammates, introducing her. “Hello, everyone. This person is Varee, though I guess you must have already known about her. Varee, these people are the members of the 99th squad. Miki. Alpha. Isaac.” He stopped, looking around. “Where is Midnight?”

“Midnight entered the training ground and never left since then. He mentioned having little time,” Isaac answered Sila’s question. He kept glancing at Varee from time to time, feeling rather shy. Varee was a beauty to be reckoned with. He never expected he would have a chance to be this close to her.

White fog lingered and grouped up, turning into Fowl. “The one you people call Midnight is trying to fulfill the conditions for entering the Decagate World. He is very diligent.”

Fowl was aware that Midnight’s actual name was Zero, but she saw no point in revealing it. She also called Sila Nero in front of others.

“Oh. A new customer. You have to pay up if you want to use my facilities,” Fowl said to Varee.

Sila’s group could use Fowl’s services for free, so it yielded her no profit regardless of how frequently they came here. She had been persuading them to invite more players to the place.

At first, Sila and his teammates wanted to keep the secret to themselves. However, thinking about it again, Sila personally thought that elevating players’ strength would make the game more enjoyable overall. The main cities being unsealed so soon caused many players to obtain many powerful abilities, yet their foundations were lacking. The Skills Training Ground was a suitable place to fix this problem.

“What is the Decagate World?” asked Varee.

Isaac was quick to reply. “The Decagate World is the world where... there are... erm... ten gates, perhaps? Ouch!”

Miki withdrew her fist from Isaac’s head. “Just stay silent if you don’t know. Don’t try to act smart to show off.”

Fowl shot a cold glare at Isaac, making the man avert his gaze.

She explained. “The Decagate World is the world that exists between the New World—where you are currently living—and the Monster Realm. It’s a suitable world for polishing your skills in order to venture into the Monster Realm. Some famous figures such as Ten Heroes were born in that world.”

Aside from Sila, it was the first time everyone here got to hear the term ‘Ten Heroes’. Thus, they didn’t show any noteworthy reaction upon hearing it. Such a dull response irritated Fowl.

“How strong are the Ten Heroes?” Sila asked to lessen the pressure he felt from Fowl’s Mental Oppression. She emitted it subtly, so the others were unaware. Only Sila, who had been polishing his Moon Reflecting Mirror during his stay in the Skills Training Ground, possessed the sense sharp enough to pick it up.

“A good question.” Fowl smiled merrily. “Judging by their power level alone, probably only four of them are above the Monster Realm’s standard. However, in regard to their techniques, they are unparalleled.”

Only a few players had a chance to encounter Emperor Rank monsters. Even if someone told them the Ten Heroes are as strong as those monsters, it was still beyond their scope of comprehension how strong that was. For Isaac, even a Marquis Rank monster was already problematic if it was a monster that his fighting style was disadvantageous against. Upon hearing the term strong, what came to his mind was dragons.

“Do you mean they are as strong as dragons?” He asked.

“Among the Ten Heroes, one of them is actually a member of the dragon race. Her rank is equal to Infernee, but she is far stronger.”

“Even stronger than Infernee?” In his mind, Sila thought Infernee was already very formidable.

“Let me put it this way. It doesn’t have to be that particular hero. Every single one among the Ten Heroes is capable of slaying Infernee, the so-called Immortal Dragon,” Fowl replied cautiously.

Isaac raised his arm to ask. “About the mentioned Infernee... between Solaria and it, if they were to fight, which one of them is going to win?”

Sila made a big frown under his mask. In his mind, Solaria couldn’t hold a candle to Infernee at all. They were not in the same class.

Unbeknownst to him, information about dragons was quite exclusive. Only a handful of people knew about the Dragon Empress, who spent all her time in the Dragon Kingdom. On the other hand, Solaria was more well-known since it had a definite spawning spot.

Fowl explained to Isaac, “You have already learned about energy cancelation using magic power from me, right? To put it simply, if Solaria converted all of its magic power into an attack, Infernee would possess enough magic power to completely cancel out that attack at least ten times. Well, Solaria is better at delivering damage than Infernee, who excels at supporting spells, so I can’t say who will win between the two. However, Infernee won’t die. That’s for sure. Not by direct attacks.”

One of the portals on the Skills Training Ground glowed. Midnight walked out from it. Everyone suddenly became silent as they kept staring at the man’s forehead.

Varee, in particular, was curious why people in the room were that interested in Midnight’s forehead.

“It’s 100 already!” Alpha exclaimed.

“Amazing! I have been training my hardest, but my score is still at 32.” Isaac pointed at his head.

Varee saw no number whatsoever, so she didn’t understand what they were talking about. She looked up, yet saw nothing on her head.

It was because she was yet to become a member of the Colossia Club. The score was normally visible to every member. Though there was a trivial service to hide the number from others, with some non-trivial cost, of course. Sila and his team could use every service of this place for free, so they had set it that the numbers of their members were only visible to their squad.

“Hi, Leader.” Midnight nodded at Sila.

“I thought I’ve been training very hard myself, but my score is still at 69, far lower than you,” Sila said to the man.

Fowl opened her system window. “You have many difficult skills, so your score progresses slowly. On the contrary, Midnight has always been proficient at using his skills. Now that he focuses on a few magic skills he has, the score goes up fast.”

To keep players’ personal information a secret, Fowl didn’t reveal the fact that Zero’s score regarding qi-type skills had always been the best among all players. What pulled his overall score down were Eroding Nightmare Magical Qi and dark-element spells. Thus, it took him only a short time to polish the score of his qi-type skills to 100. The magical qi required more time, but doable. As for the magic skills, his mastery was originally even worse than Sila’s. Still, while he had many low-tier spells, they were easy to practice. He kept gradually mastering one spell after another. About mid-tier and high-tier spells, it was fortunate that he had learned less than ten of such spells. Zero ultimately decided not to learn more spells, just practicing what he already had.

While Sila was busy with the Sword-Crowning Ceremony, Zero had managed to master all of his skills.

Fowl took out an item from her system window and gave it to Zero.

“Congratulations. You’re eligible to acquire the Monster Stamp from me.”

Zero took the stamp. Checking it out, Sila felt the stamp looked similar to the one Altia gave to Lomyok. The material for making them seemed different though. Altia’s stamp was gold while Fowl’s was bronze. The engraved pictures on the stamps were different as well. Altia’s was a nine-pointed star while Fowl’s was the vial with a skull symbol.

“As long as you have this Monster Stamp in your possession, you can travel between the New World and the Decagate World at any destined location. Be warned that only you, the stamp’s rightful owner, can use it. One of the locations is this place. Try activating it.”

Just thinking about using it, a bronze gate emerged in front of Zero. Sila found the gate familiar yet again. It reminded him of Altia’s gate, though it was gold back then.

“Are they different?” Sila asked unintentionally. “The golden gate can be used to directly go to the Monster Realm. It also poses some limitations on the player, like they have to visit the Hall of Omniscience first.”

Fowl understood what Sila meant. “You must have seen Altia’s gate. I heard he has given Monster Stamps to a couple of players. You are not one of them though.”

“I happened to witness the incident. My acquaintance got the golden stamp.”

“Mn. Actually, the ten gates of the Decagate World are divided into four tiers. Mine is among the beginner-tier. The lesser three gates have easy conditions to fulfill, mostly required dedication and time. They can be used to travel between the New World and the Decagate World. The middle-tier refers to the three middle gates with harder conditions, requiring some luck. You can travel between the Decagate World and the Monster Realm with them. What you have seen is among the high-tier. The three final gates have difficult conditions, requiring both strength and luck. They can be used to open a portal between the New World and the Monster Realm. Finally, the tenth gate is white, the very special one—required luck, skills, and timing, all of them. With its stamp, you can freely open a portal between any three worlds regardless of place and time. You may do it even if you are not at the destined location.”

Information about the Decagate World was still new to most players, so only Sila and Zero were paying attention. Considering that Zero was the first player getting her stamp, Fowl planned to provide the man special privileges as she had the right to do so.

“It will be the realm of personal secrets from here on out. Midnight and Nero, I want to talk to the two of you in private.”

It was a common manner among gamers that they shouldn’t probe in-game personal secrets, so the rest of the players moved away. Meanwhile, Fowl pulled Zero and Sila into one of the training portals.

“You are the first player to get my stamp, so I will bestow upon you a special reward. It will be helpful to you in the future.”

Sila lightly scratched his head, confused. “If that is the case, why do you bring me here?”

“It’s because what I want to give him is with you. Take your Royal Record out.”

Fowl was a psychic-type expert. It seemed she knew he possessed the Royal Record from her skills. Still, the Royal Record—also went by the name Slime Record—was an item that belonged to him. He didn’t know it could be useful to Zero, though he took it out nevertheless.

The Slime Record was a thick brown book with golden edges. The cover showed the picture of two identical slimes with their cheeks sticking to each other. Sila got it from the Sacred Temple at the time he raided the Dragon Kingdom to proceed with his racial master quest.

Fowl held Sila’s Slime Record with her left hand. She opened her right palm and imbued it with her psychic power. Then, another identical book appeared on her previously empty right palm. It was an item-copying skill that Sila had witnessed Mamon use before, so he knew this skill had a limitation that it couldn’t be used on the same item.

She returned the Slime Record back to Sila. “Thank you. The Royal Record is very rare. Even I don’t have a single one of them. Now, each of you has one.”

Fowl handed the book to Zero. The book’s cover soon changed into the picture of a black horse running on clouds. The body of the horse was semi-transparent as if it was a soul. It seemed the cover would change according to the race of the holder.

“I got an additional racial ability,” Zero said aloud once he got his hand on it.

Fowl opened her system window and checked some contents.

“For you, Sila, I don’t want to owe you. Since you don’t know how to properly use the Royal Record, I will tell you about it in return for letting me give one to Zero. Deal?”

Sila was fine with it. Actually, he found it strange that Fowl only asked his opinion after she had given the book to Zero. “Sure, I have no problems.”

“Do you remember the white gate that I have mentioned—the tenth gate?” Fowl asked. “This information is actually confidential. Fortunately, both of you have some clues such as the Royal Record on you, so I am allowed to tell you about it.

“Each of us, the Ten Heroes, has invented at least one very unique art. Some are related to weapons while some are about skills. As for the tenth gate, it is the Art of Adventures—about the traveling abilities—invented by Nautilus, the Adventurer’s Descendant.”

This hero’s name reminded Sila of the brand selling canned tuna in Thailand. He thought it was such an uncool name.

“Nautilus’s power doesn’t focus on combat but surviving abilities. He created ‘Royal Records’ and left them in various places, letting them wait for adventurers to come across. Each record contains a different ceremony, to which the holder will get a special benefit once they complete it and have the record in their possession. The ones in your hands are ‘Ceremony No.17: Caravan of A Hundred Monsters.’ With it, you will obtain special racial abilities according to your race.”

Sila and Zero opened their books, yet they couldn’t find any details that Fowl had told them.

“That’s why I told you that you didn’t know how to properly use the Royal Record. It is not an ordinary item as it appears to be. Zero, take out the Monster Stamp that you just got from me.”

Zero took out the stamp. As soon as it was outside his system window, the Royal Record in his hand floated up, flipping itself to the middle of the book. His Monster Stamp disintegrated, turning to numerous letters. They flew toward the opened empty pages. Illustrations and sentences were engraved on the pages. The biggest illustration was the wide-open gate with the triangle-shaped bottle inside it. On the bottle was the picture of the golden skull, representing that the bottle might contain poison.

The sentences floated up from the pages. Zero read them aloud.

“...Hello, Player Zero. Now that this book is in your hand, it means you are about to take a step toward a great adventure. I do hope that my record will be more or less helpful to you. I wish you good fortune... From Nautilus, the Adventurer’s Descendant.”

“The Royal Record helps you access information regarding your potential hidden behind each gate. The Decagate World is the world of wisdom. My gate is the Art of Alchemy that focuses on drawing energy from ingredients and mixing powers. It is an important first gate.”

“Unlike me, Nautilus is a broad-minded person. If you happen to meet another holder of the Royal Record, you are free to share intel for acquiring different ceremonies. Upon sharing, each of you will get to know how to initiate those ceremonies and have the right to perform them. The tenth gate is unlike the others. The key component is ‘Sequence’. Even if you perform a ceremony correctly, it will be pointless if you do it in the wrong order. That’s why I told you the gate requires luck, skills, and timing. Furthermore, you have to get your hand on the Royal Record. Mind you, the book can be stolen unless you stamped your Monster Stamp on it.”

“So mine can be stolen, isn’t it?” Sila held his book.

“Yes, so long as you don’t stamp at least one Monster Stamp on it,” Fowl replied. “Come to think of it, you possess one though.”

Sila was bewildered. “Eh? I don’t think I do.”

Fowl flicked her hand, sending strange liquid into Sila’s mouth by surprise. He suddenly felt nauseated as if something flared up from his stomach and clogged his throat.

“So you have it but you don’t realize you have one. I guess it’s not that strange. The names of the Ten Heroes are not that well-known in the New World. Even then, your case is quite special since the hero himself has forgotten the fact that he is among the Ten Heroes.”

Sila vomited a golden orb. It was a part of Lucifer’s Essence that he had swallowed before. The orb broke apart and turned into a silver Monster Stamp, engraved with the glowing star with wings.

“This hero is Helel, the Miracle Star, though you probably know him as the Evil God Lucifer,” said Fowl.

There was a particular skill that stood alone, independent from the rest of the skill hierarchy. Its name was ‘Omniscient Evil God Qi’.

“Detailed descriptions of these skills can only be read in the Royal Record. By the way, Zero, you plan to go to the Decagate World, right?”

“Yes,” Zero replied. “As soon as possible.”

“In that case, I will tell you two things. First, you will normally get Lordship once you reach Lord Rank. However, Lordship can only be obtained in the New World. There is no place that will give you one in the two other worlds.”

Upon listening, Zero nodded. If he reached Lord Rank, he might return to the New World in order to get his Lordship.

“Secondly, through the gate from this Colossia City, you will come out in the place that is like the Decagate World’s Town of Beginnings. That place is quite safe since it is supervised by a certain hero. You don’t have to try finding him though. His personality is a bit eccentric. He will find you himself if he finds you interesting. His gate doesn’t really suit your fighting style either way. I suggest you stay in the town for a while, studying monsters around the place. Relatively speaking, your strength will be like that of a newbie compared to that world’s population. Over there, monsters have a high degree of originality. Their level may be lower or comparable to yours, but not a single one of them has a straightforward combat style. It will take time before you get used to this fact.”

“Thank you, Miss Fowl.”

“While you’re adapting to the world, you should try gathering data. If it’s possible, try searching for a place called ‘Wulin Limbo’. That place is very suitable for you.” Fowl gave out her last suggestion before turning to Sila. “I heard you plan to go to Siaferia City, huh?”

“Ah. Yes. I will probably depart tomorrow morning,” replied Sila.

“Which path do you plan to take?”

“Are there many paths?”

“There are. Mainly, there is a long path that is convenient but takes several days, and a shortcut via the Misty Valley.”

“Oh. I remember it. I’m short on time, so I will probably take the Misty Valley route. Only a single day may be enough to arrive there.” Sila had traveled from Colossia City to Grea City a long time ago. That time he went with Sangdao and Lookhin. They also chose the shortcut through the Misty Valley.

“Members of the spider race lives there. Aramut is the mist race’s good fellowship. If you happen to meet him, help me give this thing to him. He will tell you what to do after that.” Fowl gave Sila an empty vial.

Sila stared at it, but nothing seemed to be inside the vial. Nevertheless, Fowl firmly insisted that he must open the cap only in front of Aramut.

Sila eventually kept it in his system window. Fowl urged them to leave. “We’re done here. You should leave, or your companions will wait too long.”

Zero and Sila left the teleportation circle, returning to the hall. With new destinations in their minds, they said words of farewell to their friends.

The rest of the team felt shocked to know that both Nero and Midnight intended to leave the squad. Their time together might be short, but memorable. Still, the two had made their decisions. As their teammates, they should support the two rather than insist them to stay.

It seemed Nero planned to go to Siaferia City in order to make a name of himself in the war that was about to happen. The other 99th squad members didn’t particularly like the idea. Instead, they wanted to pay the Decagate World a visit. Well, they had to fulfill the conditions Fowl had set first.

Anyway, they planned to follow Midnight to the brand-new world soon. They also urged Sila to follow them.

Similar to human life, friendship may be short-lived but it can be beautiful like a firework. While it exists for only a moment, it can eternally last in people’s memories.

Their paths might branch out separately for now as people went different ways. But who knows? Their paths might cross again in the future, or at least that was what they believed it to be.