Azimuth: The Elden Throne (New Version)

.

.

-----------

Everyone was stunned, with the exception of the Rotting Undead Knight, that immediately bolted forward, trying to bite Dale.

/SMASH!/

To that, Dale swung his fist backward, smashing the head of the monster in a single punch and without any difficulty, blowing pieces of its skull all around!

Albeit, for the warriors around, it felt so... Underwhelming.

"Ah… What happened?" Asked the archer girl as she scratched the top of her head with one of her arrows

'Hum... Ah! It's… It's the hottie!' She thought to herself quickly as her eyes fell on Dale

"L-Lord Dale, what brings you here?" Rodi said in a low tone as he quickly recognized his figure

"Apologies for disrupting your activities, but I came here to discuss something important to you all." Dale said as he opened a small pouch on his waist

He was direct and his words were very clear, no beating around the bush this time... Or ever.

'It's hard to keep up the act...'

"Last time, you all gave me an unusual stone, and I simply paid you all with money… Well, it just so happened that it was really valuable."

"Thanks to our alchemist, we turned into something useful, and this is a small part of it." He said as he grabbed the vial

"A... Potion Vial?" Rodi asked as he looked at Dale's hand

'Something... Experiment?...'

Everyone checked the item's description and they became shocked.

"Heat it up and drink it with a little bit of water, it can increase your immune system's power and resistance… And also, this bit of money." He said as he gave them 30 Iron Zulls, he believed it to be a nice reward and it wasn't anything from a Quest, it was simply him handing them money

So it came from his own pocket.

"I'll continue to pay you handsomely for things like this, especially if you find any unusual item, so keep up with the good work."

'And with this... The Quest is done.'

All of the players immediately received a notification of Quest completed, even though they didn't have it…

A lot of money, a decent chunk of XP, so much so one of them Leveled up, a Skill potion, and even, a +2 Reputation!

"Thank you!" Rodi said with a bow

'To think that simple shinning rock was so valuable...'

'It must've been a very very rare drop item, and we almost threw it away.'

'I even recorded it, in the future, once its value was known, it would be something that would haunt my dreams...'

'I'll just grab everything from now on and check their value later, that seems safer.'

They were all thinking similar things.

"No… I should be the one to thank you." Dale said with a sly smile

'I already got the best part, you can have the crumbs, make sure to bring more items to me...'

He turned around and waved:

"Good luck, I'll take my leave for now."

/FWOOSH!/

Out of nowhere, an arrow pierced through the air, exactly where Dale had been before, dipping into the ground like a knife into butter.

"!!"

Everyone turned their heads to the side…

They saw an Undead Knight holding a bow, but his armor seemed much more intact, and his bow seemed to be of some decent quality…

It also looked less rotting than the other Knight, as if its body had just decomposed slightly, most of its skin was still intact, with only a few sections of it falling off...

[Rotting Undead Archer

Challenge Level: 60-70

*Elite Variant*

]

"Oh?" Dale blurted out, surprised

'Another Elite... It's also a Variant.'

'It's been a while since I've faced one, though I didn't focus much on farm recently.'

'Interesting... Its armor is in a better state than the others, is that the condition for a stronger Undead to be made?'

'Hum... No, I don't think so, the armor on most of these undead are decorative and made for ritualistic purposes, only their weapons are made fully of metal and usable for war.'

'Then, this knight might've been stronger when he was alive?...'

There were simply too many variables for him to account for, so Dale just focused on the matter at hand and stopped overthinking.

'It's actually really similar to the Devouring Menace I saw…'

'From what I learned, the Elite modifier increases many of its stats, but the basis is an increase of 10 Levels.'

'As for a Variant, it makes the monster different from its counterparts, and an Elite Variant is the strongest combination out of the normal modifiers, and together, the minimum increase in difficulty should be of about 15 Levels.'

'But even so…'

/FWOOSH!/

The undead creature let its arrow pierce forward, but Dale simply grabbed it in the air.

Of course, not without some consequences…

/Drip.../

'My hand is a bit hurt. These arrows are sharper than they look…' Dale thought to himself as let go of the arrow

The palm of his hands was bleeding slightly, but he didn't let that bother him.

Dale's expression did not change, he took a step forward and went to confront the archer.

"He's so cool…" Said the archer girl on the side

/Fwosh fwosh!/

Dale effortlessly evaded the arrows with simple footwork, a technique he learned from Testros…

He approached the knight raising his fist without saying much.

/CRACK!/

He punched, his fist glowing blue, smashing the skull of the Skeleton into smithers.

"I've killed stronger Devils barehanded." He said as he dusted his hands

'Urg... Why did I say that?... Phew... I'm too into character...'

Hiding his face from the others, he looked at the knight's body on the ground, ignoring the notifications.

"Let's see… The bow looks usable… Alright."

He looked at the players and said:

"I'll pay you, can you…"

"I'll do it! For free even." Rodi replied with a dark expression

"Huh?" Exclaimed the archer girl, clearly upset

'I don't mind doing it for free... But I'm sure that guy is saying this for another reason...'

"No matter what, If you weren't here, we would've died, so thank you for saving our asses." Rodi said deeply with a bow

'Two High-Level Mobs together with one Elite... Yeah, that wouldn't have been pretty.'

"..."

Dale let out a sigh, this guy was really good at bullshitting and he was getting better at acting…

But it was effective enough.

'Tche, fine, take your +1 Reputation and leave me alone.'

While Rodi smiled, Dale left the dark hallway.

"... That was pretty cool." Said the archer girl as she looked at him leave

'As always… The hot guys aren't real…'

/Thud/

"Did you see how he smashed the head of that monster with one punch?" Asked the tanker as he rested his Greatshield on the ground

"What Level do you think he is?"

But Rodi shook his head.

"Does it matter? Unless you want to fight him yourself…"

"Besides, I'm sure there will be one idiot out there that will try to fight him out one day in the future, at that time, you'll have your answer."

"If the previous fight he had wasn't enough, then I recommend you cool off..." Rodi finished saying as he crouched down collected the loot on the ground

"Uh... But by that time I'll lose all of my excitement…" The tanker replied with a frown

'I just asked a question sheesh, I have no intention of fighting that monster.'

"Then use that extra energy to farm, we have some work to do." Replied the girl with glasses as she scouted around

…

/Around 10 minutes later…/

"My… You sure have the energy, to be here already." Tina said as she looked at Dale enter her home

"I'm old you know? I need my rest as well, I just took my own shower."

"You know how it is, I may be resting, but I can't keep myself in place."

Tina let out a sigh.

"Young people should take their time with things, there is no need to rush it." She replied with a chuckle

"In any case, I imagine you have a few questions, I wasn't exactly kind to you, nor talkative about my goals."

"Please." Dale said with a bow

"Oh boy, you're so behaved, but make sure to stuff out your chest from time to time, you have the looks for that, otherwise they'll be wasted." She said as she shook her head

"... I'll try…"

'Even if I were to do it here, wouldn't you just call it cute? She may look young now, but she's still a grandma.'

Tina pointed towards a chair, asking Dale to sit on it.

"Let's start small shall we, show me your hand."

Dale did as he was required, and showed her his right hand… But she became shocked.

"The Mark… Is it disappearing this time as well? Even after..."

'Did it fail? No, I can feel it, I saw it... So it can only mean one thing.'

'Indeed, he was the deal…'

She became pensive for a few moments before saying:

"What you were supposed to have in your hand is the Tripodial Mark."

"But since it disappeared, it means that it has perfectly fused with your body."

"At this rate, all discomfort should be gone within a day or two."

"Don't worry as it's not bad in any way shape or form, on the contrary, it only benefits you, as long were the times when people thought of this as a curse or something similar." Tina said as she shook her head

"Besides, even if people did think of it like that, it would matter little to you as the mark has fused with you."

She raised her right arm, it didn't look special, but as red energy condensed within it, a multitude of Marks appeared on it, none of which he recognized...

"In my case, I received many Marks as I completed my training, some of which I etched myself."

"My body isn't like yours, so I didn't fuse completely with them, but as I grew proficient, I learned how to hide them."

"..."

'Etched herself?... She carved her own flesh?... She's really tough.'

"You don't have to worry much as I won't be filling your body with these, the Tripodial Mark is everything you need... For now."

"What is this mark?" Dale asked, serious

"Going to the core of it?... Not wasting time I see, good, I prefer it that way."

With her raised arm, she started to draw things in the air with her right index finger, creating an image made of reddish light.

It was the Tripodal Mark, an upside-down triangle.

"This Mark is the child of many years of research, one of the few known ways in the world that can directly influence the Prime Source, strengthen it, and improve it."

"To awaken it on you, I had to first carve a special conductor on your hand and power it with a special concoction… You'll have my apologies for that as I had not expected your body to be so strong, requiring us to re-do the process every day…"

Her expression changed to one of guilt as she said:

"I find no pleasure in hurting you child, but I took it as necessary since stopping midway would do you more harm than good."

"Once the process started, if we did not give your body a way to unclog the building powers within, you would only end up bursting or suffering great injuries."

"I don't mind the pain, I just want to understand." Dale replied as he shook his head

'I'll not grieve over something as little as this, I don't have time for that, but I need answers.'

Tina smiled.

"Then let's continue."

"Normally, this entire process would be conducted after many years of research so both the Etcher, me, and the Receiver, you, would be in synch during the process."

"But we didn't have the time for that, and I choose to believe you were capable enough to complete the process... And I was right."

"..."

'Everyone seems to be jumping stages with me, I feel honored to be valued so highly, but I feel like they'll one day do something crazy and I'll disappoint them...'

'And that may cost my life.'

'Though... I'm already fighting for it every day, as time is ticking constantly.'

"In any case, just the Conductor fully powered up isn't enough to awaken it, that was just the gateway, we needed something to start the process."

"You can think of the Conductor as a spark, but that alone isn't enough to start a fire, we need fuel, something to keep the fire burning."

"And that was…"

"Me killing those Lesser Devils?" Dale said as he interrupted her

'Every time I ripped their hearts out, I felt a hot feeling in my hand, it was strange, but it was getting stronger with each one.'

"Yes Dale, as expected, you're always quick to catch." She said with a smile

/Snap!/

She snapped her fingers, and from seemingly nowhere, dark red smoke started to form and surround her hand.

"This is Prime Source, and our final goal."

"To awaken the Prime Source, after everything I said… Can be complicated."

"The way I used for you was to have you hunt down 10 Lesser Devils… Barehanded, while having you be as close to your natural body as you could."

"It wasn't because I wanted you to challenge yourself, not to humiliate you, but also because..."

"The act of giving in to your Primal Strength, and to hunt something you weren't supposed to, against your rational mind… That in itself is a great stimulant."

"I just didn't expect it to happen so soon."

'I was believing it would take at least half a year, but it took a week… No more than 10 Devils, I myself hunted hundreds during the time the Corps was still around.'

'As expected of someone like Dale.'

Her expression grew a bit melancholic...

'Sigh, time sure flies...'

"That was why you had me go naked? To have me... Connect with my Primal self?"

"That's a good way of putting it." Tina said with a nod

"Not only that, Devils possess a lot of Primal power, that under the guidance of the Conductor, was absorbed and used to stimulate yours."

"Don't misunderstand, we didn't add their Primal Source into yours, we don't want to corrupt it, that would be counter-productive, we instead, simply stimulated it without that risk."

"And this resulted in your awakening of the Primal Source…"

"Okay, I got all of that, but what is Primal Source, and what is your goal in teaching it to me, or should I say, awakening it in the first place?"

"Simple dear, Primal Source is the basis of Human life as different from Mana, Humans are born with it and grow with it."

"Mana is an external power that was made ours through many generations through thick and thin, but it can never compare to what was there from the very start, can it?"

"Everyone is born with the same amount of Prime source and no amount of ordinary training can increase it, just make it burn stronger, and in most cases, that doesn't mean quicker."

"As you grow older, it burns stronger and stronger, until it starts to weaken in old age…"

"By recovering your youth, you're doing nothing but relighting the fire, but even that has limits, were no Phoenixes that can do this Cycle whenever they wish and forever."

"We need to make the impossible possible." She said with a sly smile

"What I gave you was a tool that can allow you to tap into your inner body, strengthen it, and in short, give you a wealthier and longer life."

"But that was just the start, the real training starts now."

/Fwoosh…/

Tina vanished into smoke, reappearing behind Dale as she patted his head.

"I'll teach you how to make use of it, and together with Mana, you'll become a great warrior no?"

…

.

.

.

Notes