The Arcane Emperor Chapter 138: Collecting

Chapter 138: Collecting

After checking the messages and seeing there were no specific instructions on how to earn points, Rainer immediately spread out [Soul Detection] and, confirming he was alone, tried to reach his other party members. His [Soul-Mark]s seemed to be blocked by an invisible force. System-based. It wasn’t something he could even push through. It was as if the connection was simply not there.

It was the same problem he had when he tried to reach people taking their Trials. There simply wasn’t a force to fight against and therefore he was clueless as to how to get past it.

The system blocked his connections—apart from the one with Luna—so totally that there wasn’t anything to push against. It became clear that meeting up with one’s teammates wasn’t an easy task by any measure. The only saving grace was that he had Luna with him. If he had to deal with her being alone out there, he’d probably go insane.

Starting with a Void-travel, Rainer searched and paid little attention to scenery or any foreign Souls he sensed along the way, just trying to find his party. But the only thing the Void-travel made clear was just how ma.s.sive this place was. He certainly couldn’t reach one end of this plane in any number of Void-travels.

“Rainer should calm down,” the Fairy said from his head, awake and aware since entering the Dungeon.

Rainer took a deep breath, noting his frantic searching had started to be influenced by the Arcane in his body. Panicking or getting angry wouldn’t help anyone. If the system wanted to block his attempts at reaching his party members, then he simply had to save them a different way. He’d kill his enemies as fast as possible.

“It’s time to hunt.”

“Let’s go get points!” Luna said cheerfully.

Realizing that taking too long could mean the death of his party, Rainer started rapidly [Void-Traveling] again, this time with a far different goal in mind.

It took only a few jumps before he found his first target. Rainer only gave the 5-eyed humanoid the slightest of glances before he descended in a gravity-a.s.sisted charge, an [Arcane Blade] flaring from the hilt in his hand.

The ‘Mage’ had only the slightest time to react as the [Arcane Blade] went through his set-up barrier. But his attempt at moving away was met by an invisible force holding him down. He could only watch with five wide eyes as a blade of violet ended his life.

Rainer’s bones cracked as he landed harshly. “Luna, heal me and burn away his body,” he said as he prepared to Void-travel yet again. He found he could use [Void Sense] with it to sense wherever he tried to go, giving him a quick preview in form of an impression on the Void. It wasn’t anywhere near as detailed as [Void Seer] but it did have a range as large as Void-travel itself.

However, he suddenly froze as he realized killing this man hadn’t gained him any points.

What was going on?

He stared for a long-time using [Soul Detection], before he jumped elsewhere, using a similar tactic to instantly kill another person. The result was the same. No points.

Rainer grimaced, realizing that the Dungeon certainly hinted at killing being the way to gather points but never said it outright. Now using [Arcane Revelation] as he Void-traveled, he looked for anything of note. It took only moment before he found a small flower alight with magic within this jungle.

He glanced around, seeing he wasn’t the only one who came here.

“Friend, how about we settle this peacefully.”

“And how do you suggest that?” Rainer asked.

“We-” his voice vanished as his head suddenly vanished in a spiral of void.

Rainer shook his head as he walked forward - as if such a simple magical sneak attack would work on him - plucking the flower and going over to search the body, something he was too frantic to do the first few times.

[Four-Fire Severance Flower collected. 1 Point for [Luna’s Party] gained. Total Points: 7]

Rainer smiled for a brief moment at Luna’s chosen name for their party before refocusing. At least he wasn’t the only one rus.h.i.+ng forward.

Even without Luna’s Fire, the body vanished unexpectedly after a few moments, taking away anything of value. Rainer guessed that, even if he was quick enough, the things would still vanish. However, of more importance was what didn’t vanish: a strange, s.h.i.+ning rock and another flower similar to the one he had just taken.

Picking both up, he received a similar message for each.

[Four-Fire Severance Flower collected. 1 Point for [Luna’s Party] gained. Total Points: 8]

[Rainbow s.h.i.+ning Ore collected. 1 Point for [Luna’s Party] gained. Total Points: 9]

He stared at the two objects. His knowledge of rare materials and alchemical processes involved in making potions and other such things was extremely limited. As it turned out, his family was no different, none of them being specialized in such things. He now wondered if collecting these materials would be part of the reward or if they were just pretty trinkets.

There were numerous Dungeons out there that were used to farm materials and meat, so it wouldn’t be strange if these were truly valuable things.

He went onwards, looking for anything of interest.

As Rainer searched through the endless plane with [Arcane Revelation], he partially focused on his Avatars. One, as usual, stayed within the enchanted metal tower in the center courtyard of the Enchanter’s Guild, guarding the Mana-Well. Through this first Avatar, Rainer focused on simple enchantments - something it could do automatically at level 7 [Avatar Control]. The enchantments he produced automatically were a bit more complex than usual due to the usage of [Blood Manipulation] and [Bone Manipulation] alongside [Flesh Manipulation] in the creation of this Avatar.

The second walked around the Guild and acted as a guard alongside Amer’s newly created second Avatar. Theodore’s Soul enhancement skill had finally allowed the Devil to push his Soul to a new point and create his second Avatar. The first being his ‘familiar’ for the Dungeon.

Unlike Rainer, the Devil had a ‘second brain’ for his Avatars, which meant it didn’t require any conscious control at all. The Guild was safely in the Devil’s hands even if Rainer happened to be too busy to properly control his Avatars.

Rainer smiled at a pa.s.sing apprentice who looked at him with a mixture of fear and reverence before blus.h.i.+ng and rus.h.i.+ng off. He rubbed his face, wondering if the young man was into men or if his Charisma had simply pushed the boundary. In fairness, he had questioned his own s.e.xuality a few times when hanging around the Fae.

He entered the newly built library of the Guild soon after. The knowledge collected went beyond just enchantments, as they accepted anything they lacked. Which included spells, many of which Rainer had stocked it with. Of course, he kept back any truly important spells for now. The progress of enchanting, not magic, was the current goal.

In order to obtain time with the Mana-stations that lead to the source of stored ‘Mana Crystals’, one needed Contribution Points towards the Guild. Those could be earned either through a donation of knowledge, a donation of teaching, or a donation of enchanted items. If the knowledge was significant enough, it would grant a permanent monthly stipend. Given that Rainer had an unlimited number of ‘Mana Crystals’, he certainly had little issue with being seen as generous.

And any apprentices currently being taught by the Guild, under stricter conditions, had free access so long as any creations were given away afterwards.

Many masters of the art were more than willing to join the Guild on a permanent basis to gain more access to the free Mana, some of the greater enchanting minds, and the library.

It was a paradise to any truly interested in the art. And that the [Archon] himself freely gave away the knowledge for how he created the small Spatial Rings didn’t hurt. Even more appealing, the connection to the powerful [Archon] meant they couldn’t be bullied into making things as many of them had been in the past. It had always been a turn-off for the art that they often had to sacrifice some strength to train in, and that meant less personal freedom for Magi that would otherwise be standing at the top.

The [Archon]’s temper was well-known and the fates of a.s.sa.s.sins and spies sent chills down the spines of many. Even without considering his raw power and that of the Mages alongside him, crossing the Enchanter’s Guild seemed far too suicidal for most to attempt. Many of the Enchanter’s Guild waited with bated breath to see what the Guild eventually did with information they had to have extracted from those captured. Many expected a spectacular show.

Rainer sent his second Avatar on autopilot, intent on glancing through all the newly added tomes. And seeing if he could find anything related to the things he collected. Perhaps he’d go find their resident magic blacksmith and see if he knew anything.

Moments later Rainer snapped his focus back to the Dungeon. He found a gathering of 21 people standing in front of a statue of a Dragon that glowed with an obscene amount of magic. The only thing he saw glowing so strong through his [Arcane Revelation] before was the Mana-Well itself. Though that little black cube was in its own category.

“So what are we waiting for,” Rainer asked as he appeared next to one of the men standing around it.

The Orc jumped and gave a high-pitched scream that surprised the rest of them far more than Rainer’s appearance.

All of them had their attention on the newcomer before looking back towards the pillar. It was the common a.s.sumption he was skilled in stealth techniques. No one here a.s.sumed he could have quietly teleported instead. That would be absurd.

“Revered Arcanist, we are waiting to see the next to attempt this mystery,” a cloaked woman, showing nothing but darkness under her hood, spoke up.

[Phantous, Female, Umbralist of the Deep(2nd) lvl 24, Shadow-Sent(2nd) lvl 21]

Rainer raised an eyebrow at her way of addressing him before moving forward. Now that he had calmed himself down enough, he realized the huge potential of this Dungeon that clearly existed in other worlds. These were not people from the same planet as him. He was quite sure his world didn’t even have anywhere near 100 total parties at this level, let alone enough to hold a compet.i.tion involving a top 100. What if he could [Soul-Mark] people and follow them home?

His excitement grew and grew, knowing that could be by far the largest reward gained from the Dungeon. He only gave a momentary thought to how they could all understand each other. Something like that was well within the system’s power.

The same woman from before continued speaking, “We only know that it attacks whoever approaches with extreme strength. As far as this lowly one can tell, there should be something of great value in there. However, it has killed the two who attempted it before. I imagine there is some sort of mechanism to solve involving the patterned tiles around it.”

Seeing how respectful the powerful Magus was, the rest of the people in the surroundings readjusted their a.s.sessment of the newly arrived man.

“Thank you.”

“It is my pleasure, Revered Arcanist.”

“I suppose the next one is me then,” he said as he walked forward. [Arcane Awakening] flared to maximum as he supercharged a [Spear of Arcane] in his hand. The Arcanium descended, causing the magic on the pillar to buckle and lash out at him. He blocked the whip of raw Mana with [Arcanum s.h.i.+eld] before attacking with his spear. The Magic started quickly collapsing under the Arcane a.s.sault as Rainer launched spell after spell, and in moments the enchanted pillar collapsed, revealing what was inside.

Rainer grabbed the small, wooden box that was revealed and shoved it in his Spatial Ring. The looks he received made it clear what everyone planned, even if his little show made them hesitate.

[Concentrated Essence of Fire Dragon collected. 10 Points for [Luna’s Party] gained. Total Points: 19]

Before anyone could react he vanished in a Void-walk, appearing next to the Phantous, and taking her with him as he Void-traveled away.