Chapter 6: Hidden Away
[ Congratulations! You are the first player to have discovered 'The Caverns of Altric' ]
[ You have received area discovery buffs! - Experience gained within will be increased by 50%. - Drop Rates from monsters within are doubled. ]
[ The area discovery rewards will last for 7 days before expiring! ]
"...!"
Shinto checked his notifications with a shocked expression, though not to the discovery buff given to him for discovering the area, he was no stranger to it. But it was the name of the area that made him shocked, 'The Caverns of Altric'.
"The Caverns of Altric...?" His eyes widen in astonishment, quickly he tried to recall in his memories where he had heard the familiar words before.
"Ah...!"
Lightning struck his mind as he finally remembered why it was so familiar, the ruins of Altric, said to have been built long ago within the mountains.
"The ruins of Altric... Hah... This is unbelievable." Shinto sucked in a deep breath at the thought of this discovery, "Altric... If I recall, it's the one with the artifacts of truth..."
Shinto quickly looked over to his surrounding area, looking at the thorny trees.
"So... The reason why no one found it was because it was well hidden?" He guessed, "No no, that's not it. There's a big lake here..." he continued to ponder on the idea as he finally came to a conclusion "A barrier that makes this entire place invisible, maybe?"
Shinto's eyes grew with excitement as he hurriedly walked closer to the entrance, taking a look at the ancient site. The obelisk stained with black and mosses and a stone pillar or some sort at the middle of it, that seemed to be giving an ambience of a cold blue hue around it.
Curious, Shinto walked up towards the stone pillar, a monolith. Quickly after approaching it as he observed it.
Besides the ambient of a cold gleam around it, the monolith had some writings on it,
{ To The 'Overseer', }
{ Gl gsb lu xlnv rmgl gsv kzgsh lu Zogirx. Dv dvoxlnv blf, levihvvi, uli blf, droo yv trevm z girzo. Z girzo lu dligsrmvhh rm liwvi gl urmw gsv nvzmrmt lu 'Gifgs' Ziv blf zyov gl wl rg? Dv droo hvv levihvvi, dv droo hvv. }
{ 'Shift' to the end to find 'meaning' }
"...'Shift' to the end to find the 'meaning'?" Shinto repeated to himself as he analyzed the words, trying to make up the connotations behind the gibberish he sees on the monolith.
"Shift... Shift..." He repeated the words over and over to see if he could find the intention behind it. "What does it mean?"
Still thinking hard on how to crack the code, he turned his head over to the right side of the monolith, glancing over at the two mossed black obelisk.
"Maybe, the obelisks will have more hints?"
Moving away from the monolith, Shinto walked over to one of the two obelisks, putting his hand on it as he brushes away the moss.
There he sees a mural on it depicting that of what seemed to be a swordsman enshrouded with many colours representing many elements.
There are many elements within Spiritual Warriors, although there are many, there are only seven core elements within the game, fire, water, earth, wind, thunder, light and dark. These seven core elements are then split into many sub-categories, sound, life, death and the like.
"An Elementalist swordsman...?" Shinto raised his brow, as he suddenly received a notification,
[ You have analyzed 1 out of the 10 obelisks of '???'! ]
"...?" Shinto looked at his notification with a confused expression.
'Obelisks of what?'
Raising his brows, he looked over to the other obelisk as he headed over there, just like the first obelisk, it was another mural however this time it was depicting that of a magician, wielding a book as a blue pillar shone around him. The book unleashed many sorts of cantations as it moves around around the figure within the mural.
"...This time a magician?"
Glancing over towards his system log to see it being updated to 2/10, he quickly averted his gaze away from it as he looked over the other two obelisks on the other side, he walked over to them quickly looking at the murals of them.
The third obelisk was a mural was depicting that of a person, divided within light and darkness as shadows clashes within the divine light shone within the picture. The person stood in between as if he's holding on onto a single rope.
The fourth obelisk was a mural that showed a huntress shooting countless arrows onto her enemies, with what seemed to be high efficiency in her shots, she hits the enemy without effort.
Looking at the fourth and last obelisk, Shinto suddenly received a notification different from the last three.
[ Notification has been updated! ]
[ You have analyzed 4 out of the 10 obelisks of 'Gifgs'! ]
"What...? So instead of the question marks, it is now that bizarre words?"
"Just what could it mean?"
Shinto was deep in thought, still unable to uncover the meaning behind the gibberish on the monolith.
"..."
Looking up, he moved his head over towards the entrance of the cavern.
"Maybe the answers will be found there."
Shinto took a step forward as he headed over to the entrance quickly he looked into the cavern's entrance, seeing that it was dark, incredibly dark. The light from the outside seemed to not be seeping into the cavern, not one bit.
"Tsk... I don't have any light sources on me..." Shinto clicked his tongue as he looked at his inventory.
"Should have prepared it had I known I was going to explore a cavern..."
"Though, it is quite weird that no light is seeping... Could it be a force that prevents it?"
Shinto stared into the cavern as he took a deep breath, calming his mind.
"Well then... Whatever it may be," Shinto smirked, "Let's head in!"
Impatiently and excitedly, Shinto walked into the cavern. Stepping foot into the cave, a loud bang was heard behind him.
"...!"
Quickly looking back, he sees the entrance to the cavern, blocked off by what seems to be a stone gate and just as swiftly as the entrance closed, he received a system notification.
[ You have entered the instance dungeon 'Caverns of Altric', all outside communication is blocked. ]
[ You may not leave until the instance is done or you die in the dungeon. ]
"Hoh?"