Second World-Novel

Jack spent the night in Heavenly Citadel. He had informed Jeanny that he was good to dive into the legacy dungeon tomorrow morning. Jeanny said that she would prepare the manpower for tomorrow.

Before going to rest, Jack also sent another message to one other person on his Friend List.

"Yo, Haon, how are you doing? You are not getting captured again, are you?" Jack said in his message.

"What do you want?" Leavemealone asked back.

"So cold! And here I thought we have bonded enough after what we went through together. Well, anyway. I called you to ask if you know about the World Tournament?"

"What World Tournament?"

"Heh. I figure a hermit like you will have no idea. Go to the nearest main city and ask the country officials about it. They should post a request looking for outworlders to participate in a World Tournament. You can try to offer yourself as a champion for the Sangrod Empire."

"Is that so…?"

"There will be lots of strong people participating. Aren't you on your way to competing in the world championship before the world turned? This is your chance to continue what you are meant to do."

"… I will think about it."

"Don't think too long, the tournament happened less than three weeks from now," Jack said.

He didn't receive any reply from Haon anymore.

"Damn! Talk about being rude," Jack said to himself.

*

The next morning, Jack went to the place that housed the Legacy structure. It was an open plaza with a large horseshoe-shaped sculpture at its center. This sculpture was where they activated the gate for the legacy dungeon.

Jack had learned that this legacy dungeon have a cooldown after activation. Unlike the natural dungeon where people can continue entering without limitation. The different difficulties were calculated differently. The Easy difficulty had a six-hour cooldown. Once a team entered, another can only enter six hours later. The medium difficulty had a one-day cooldown. While the Hard difficulty had a three-day cooldown.

The maximum number of people that could enter at a time was the same as the natural dungeon, ten players. When Jack arrived there, the other nine people had been waiting. They were Jeanny, John, Fierce Flame, Giant Steve, Viral Cora, Star Bowler, Balo, Jason Wu, and Olddemon.

"My gramps is not joining?" Jack asked.

"He was helping The Man and his team on a guild quest," Jeanny replied.

"Yeah, instead of an expert, we are stuck with this one instead," John said as he pointed to Bowler.

"A word of warning. You can go ahead and heal yourself inside. Don't expect me to cast any heal on you," Bowler threatened.

"As if anything can touch me," John said.

"You are joining? I thought you are too lazy for this kind of shit? You are not waiting for everyone to study and get accustomed to this dungeon first before joining the raid yourself?" Jack asked John.

"Well, I suppose I can join for fun once in a while," John answered.

"All right! Everyone ready?" Jeanny asked. She had activated the interface on the sculpture while everyone was talking. A silvery gateway now appeared before the structure.

"Do we really have to try the Medium difficulty?" Bowler asked. "The Easy one is already rather difficult. Why take the risk? We should give it a try later after we level up further."

"See what I mean?" John ridiculed Bowler's words.

"If it's difficult, just take it as a challenge. If it's an easy win, then be grateful," Jack said to Bowler.

"That's a pretty laid-back way of looking at a situation," Viral commented.

Jack shrugged, "It's practical."

"We have to try it to know how far we are from conquering this difficulty," Jeanny said to Bowler. "The last time the scout team consisted of only average players. Now we are trying it with our best members. Considering the rare timing when Jack is here, we should give it a try."

"Why does it sound like it's my fault?" Jack asked.

"I have to correct you about this team being our best members, considering… you know," John again pointed at Bowler, which retorted with a glare.

"Enough with the bullshit! Let's go!" Jeanny announced. She then stepped into the portal.

"Okay, the second leader is entering next!" Jack said as he walked to the portal.

"You are right! The second leader is entering," John exclaimed as he ran past Jack and dove into the portal.

"So childish," Jack said and entered next.

The others followed in after.

*

They came out into an ice world. The sky above was filled with aurora while the ground was solid ice. Around them were trees that had been frozen solid.

The silvery portal was behind them. As with most natural dungeons, they could opt to retreat from this portal if they thought they couldn't successfully raid this dungeon.

"It's colder than the Easy difficulty," Viral remarked.

"Everyone, gather here, please," Jeanny said as she took out a magic scroll. "This is the scroll that contained Resist Ice spell. It will increase everyone's ice resistance in the next fifteen minutes."

"Cool. Where did you get that scroll?" Jack asked.

"Our advanced expert Scrollmaker made it for us, the native that joined us after we completed Dylan's quest. He made this scroll with the help of Trinity's spell. This Resist Ice spell was originally hers," Jeanny answered.

"Oh, that one," Jack remembered. It was the quest that Dylan had asked for his help but he redirected it to the guild. "So, why did Trinity not join this raid? We don't need a scroll if she joined. Was she busy as well?"

"Her ability is not suited for this dungeon. Most of her spells are ice-based. The monsters here have very high ice resistance," Jeanny explained.

Once everyone gathered, Jeanny activated the scroll. A soft blue light shrouded them. The cold that they felt was lessened. Jack checked his status window and found out his Ice resistance had gone up 30 points to 80. He already had a very high ice resistance prior, contributed by his Ice Swift ring, chest armor, amulet, and Archmage's inherent skill.

"I have more of these scrolls. I will cast it every fifteen minutes as long as we are still in here," Jeanny informed.

Everyone nodded. Everyone then got ready and started advancing slowly with Jeanny and Giant Steve taking the vanguard position. The frozen woods around them were eerily silent.

"It was also empty of hostiles around the starting position in the Easy difficulty. We should meet with enemies once we proceed deeper," Jeanny explained.

The Savage Wind Wolf was beside Flame. Flame had summoned it from the start since a pet had no duration limit, she only needed to take care that the pet didn't die while it was out. One thing about that pet surprised Jack, it was wearing some sort of armor in the shape of dog clothing.

"Is your wolf wearing armor?" Jack asked.

"Not only armor, see her feet?" Flame answered. Jack noticed after Flame said it, the wolve's paws were also wearing some sort of metallic claws.

"They can wear equipment?" Jack was astonished.

"They can," it was Peniel who answered. "It can only be made in a special shop, though. I didn't see any in the cities we have visited. Where did you make the armor for your pet?"

"Mine was made by a native hermit who dwells inside a forest near the edge of this country. I stumbled upon her by chance. She gave me a quest and we became friends after. She rewarded me by crafting the equipment for my wolf. I still have to pay her with coins and materials, though. I can take you to meet her if you want, but I can't guarantee she will craft the equipment for your pet," Flame answered.

"Yes, please bring me there," Jack said with excitement.

"I haven't seen your pet by the way. Why not summon it yet?" Flame asked.

"Well, my pet's level is still below average. I'm just afraid this place's monsters will be too strong," Jack said. But after giving it a thought, considering his pet was a rare elite and his Tame Pet skill that boosted the pet's HP was at maximum. The players here would most likely get killed first before his pet did, so he summoned it.

The Therras Beast appeared beside him majestically. The players nearby needed to move aside to avoid bumping into the beast. Flame's Savage Wind Wolf felt intimidated by Therras' presence and moved away. Therras was now level 36, Jack had continued feeding it with the expensive pet food.

Jack had made a detour to the magic association shop to buy the pet food when he visited Commander Quintus' tower yesterday. He had spent another 108 gold coins for another two months supply. He planned to keep on feeding Therras until his pet caught up with the mainstream level. He was probably the most luxurious player in growing his pet.

"That is an unusual beast," Flame commented.

"Unusual in a good way, right?" Jack said proudly.

"I think so. Its aura is really strong," Flame said. The others also felt that way. Most of them already had the basics in mana sense, so they could tell.

"Hehe, I do believe that it…" Jack stopped when he noticed movements on his radar.

John caught the same thing in his.. "Incoming!" He warned everyone and started casting a spell.