CHAPTER 316: VERY PROFITABLE

Underground in the desert, there was a big hidden area. In the past, that place had been the ruins of a low-level dungeon. But nowadays, everything had been remodeled—lots of rooms built so a few dozen people could live there.

This kind of dungeon barely existed anymore, since they’d all already been conquered. With almost no dangers left and all the treasures taken, what remained was just an empty shell. Many assassins used these ruins as bases, since over time their locations would get lost.

All across the desert, there were countless ruins of all kinds of levels. The really high-level ones, when discovered, would quickly be taken over by some race, which would then build cities around them to monopolize them. That was because once you entered those ruins, the system activated and gave out rewards for something inside. People called that Secret Quests.

Of course, you could only get a secret quest once from any specific dungeon. But the rewards you could find inside were so valuable that people tried to monopolize them anyway.

Awel explained all of this to Darian before they moved. He nodded, and then they went forward.

Tir was going to be the key to everything. He barely had any energy left, but he still had one use of the Earth Law given by the system. Since he was born from that element, when he received earth runes he could use them dozens of times better than anyone else—kind of like Darian.

The three youngsters followed that same logic. They were at level 2 and had over 400 primordial points. They’d upgraded the Law corresponding to their powers, raising them to enhancement level 3.

According to them, with each level they gained one extra daily use, so now they had four per day. On top of that, the power of the runes provided by the system, compared to previous levels, was massive.

Normally, they fought using their own internal elemental energy. The system’s power was their secret card, giving them a huge boost in combat.

When they got close to the entrance, Tir followed Darian’s instructions; the void opened, and the system handed him earth runes.

Darian tested him, giving very specific commands. Tir focused, and soon it was clear: for him, using that element was like moving an arm or a leg. No matter what Darian asked—if he had enough energy and it was possible—he could do it easily.

Quickly, the four were wrapped in a yellowish aura. Tir made that power perfectly match the fluctuations of the ground around them. Then they started sinking smoothly into the earth, without causing any noticeable disturbance.

Darian sensed the whole structure of the place. It wasn’t that big: just two underground floors and a single entrance to the surface.

The first floor was where thirty Chromaraics were hiding and living. Underground was safe—shadows or any other problems would rarely find them. The second floor seemed to be a storage area, where they piled up everything they’d managed to gather.

Tir completely sealed off the surface entrance. At that moment, they all slipped into an empty room on the first floor and...

"LET’S GO!!!"

Before Darian could say anything, Eleri couldn’t hold back. She dashed forward, throwing the door open, excited.

"What!?"

Cries echoed from the Chromaraics as they saw her. Right after, an intense blue light exploded.

Awel, riding on Darian’s back, sighed. "Sis is a little... impulsive..."

"It’s fine," Darian said calmly. He already had plenty of experience with impulsive people who didn’t think much. Being free and acting how you wanted wasn’t bad—it was a kind of purity he could only admire. He felt it was his duty to think for them and protect that.

"Tir, go help her. We’ll head downstairs." Darian said, and the boy nodded, moving quickly.

Darian didn’t need to worry about the two of them. Those Chromaraics had extremely weak, fragile bodies, while the offensive power of Eleri and Tir could wipe them out easily in a closed space.

He walked lightly out of the room and into a tunnel leading down to the lower floor. Awel, still on his back, kept her eyes wide open, eager to see what was inside.

When they arrived, Darian took a deep breath... there were all kinds of different things piled up.

"What’s a primordial crystal?" he asked Awel, since he’d never seen one before.

She glanced around and pointed toward a huge pile in the back. Darian went closer and then thought about the system.

[Search Quest Completed]

In an instant, a third of those crystals in front of him simply vanished.

[+25 Primordial Points acquired]

[Primordial Points for next realm: 25/1000]

"What quest did you three take from the system?" Darian asked.

"Hmm? It’s only possible to take the Search Quest... Ah! Brother Darian is new here and doesn’t know." Awel answered, nodding. "Anyone who takes a Group Quest or a Hunt Quest gets the same thing... a suicide mission that’s impossible to clear."

Darian narrowed his eyes. "What mission is that?"

"Brother Eldu told me it wasn’t always like this... but ever since he was born, it’s been this way," Awel explained seriously.

"Those who take a group mission are always forced to face a group of shadows controlled by the Abscess. And the Hunt Quest is exactly about hunting down a high-level shadow controlled by the Abscess... no matter who it was, everyone who tried either of those two quests throughout history died, adding even more power to the Abscess. Sadly, there are always clueless people who make the wrong choice, and the Abscess just keeps getting stronger. That’s why, nowadays, everyone is forced to take only the Search Quests... which makes rare resources even more disputed... and also drastically increases the number of thieves and assassins."

Darian nodded. It was probably the same ancient Abscess he was searching for — that was his target to complete the special mission. From the description, that thing never stopped growing and had been doing so for a long time... making it almost impossible for anyone to defeat it in this desert. But that was something he’d have to evaluate and study more deeply.

Darian left that matter for later and focused on the present: "What’s your goal, and the other two’s?"

"Mine is Yin steel ores... those right there!" she said and pointed excitedly, "Tir and Eleri need... corrupted desert herbs... those ones right over in the corner!"

Darian nodded, satisfied. Robbing people like them was always very profitable. Then, he thought about the system.

[New Search Quest accepted]

[Find any 5 Yang ores]

"I need Yang ores... are those rare?" he muttered.

"Yes, things coming from the Yang side of the desert are really hard to find. People have to risk it and cross to the other side, but competitors go crazy to kill someone like that and steal what they brought from the Yin side. Still, there must be some kind of hidden trade between certain people..."

Awel answered, and Darian didn’t even need her to point it out — there were very few Yang things in this place, but it still had what he needed.

[+25 Primordial Points acquired]

He took another quest...

[+25 Primordial Points acquired]

[Primordial Points for next realm: 75/1000]

After completing the third quest in a row, the system finally gave him something that didn’t exist in this place.

Without hesitation, Darian started storing everything in his inventory until he found a closed chest and opened it.

Inside, he saw three rolled-up paper scrolls. He grabbed one and noticed a strange map showing their current location. All of them were similar, with several "X" marks and very specific coordinates. At the corner of each mark, there was also someone’s name written, along with: Occupied Dungeon.

"This... is the location of the nearby secret spots used by thieves and assassins?" Darian’s eyes lit up.

He had just found a good method to gain points. It seemed like the thieves and assassins had some kind of organization among them, with each group having their own well-marked territory, so they wouldn’t clash.

And better yet, if they valued information as much as it seemed... then he could get knowledge about everything worth having in this desert.