Chapter 85 Back to our roots

Dave gazed numbly at the contribution point panel. He had 1,532,000 CP, a mind-boggling amount.

This is...a LOT of points.

Dave made a beeline to the merchant's shop.

The Zombie merchant's eyes gleamed when Dave walked in the door.

"What can I do for my favorite customer!"

Uh huh, like your ONLY customer.

"Show me a list of your wares," said Dave.

"Most certainly, my dear sir! Here ye go!" The zombie merchant smiled widely showing far too many broken decaying teeth.

Dave skimmed through, consumables: potions, rations, and crafting materials. He moved on to the weapons. It would be nice to get an upgrade for his sword, or at least a good backup weapon, but nothing really caught his eye.

"Do you have any higher-grade weapons?" asked Dave

"Those are the standard military weapons for Undead-Captain classes. If you want access to better you have to rank up to Death-Knight," shrugged the merchant.

"I see. Then I will take 50 healing pots, fifty sets of the Fallen Knight order's armor, thirty archer's sets with the enhanced-composite bows, and twenty caster's robes and staves."

"Ahhh, excellent! But what ye be doing with all these?" asked the vendor.

"No questions. Just hurry up with my order!" Dave said impatiently.

"Of course sir, of course."

Dave received the items and transferred 648,000 CP to the merchant,leaving with only 882,000 CP to his name.

System Debuff! You have exceeded your carry limit!

Remove items from your person until the debuff gone and you are able to walk freely

You are 500kg over your weight threshold!

100/600KGS

"Ah, the 100kg weight limit. I totally forgot about that."

Dave tried to walk but couldn't move at all.

He summoned his undead into the store and one by one gave each of them a set of armor and equipment.

They stood motionless around Dave, holding the armor and weapons he'd passed to each of them. One hundred pairs of eerie Undead eyes locked on him.

Dave was starting to get creeped out, "What is wrong with you guys? Equip your stuff."

From behind him came an answer, in a broken, hoarse, hissing voice. It was a voice not meant for words at all, "nO...oNE...giVeSssss...tHinGsss...foR...uSsss...evEr…"

Dave shuddered and turned to look at who was, sort of, speaking.

It was a ghoul, two-meters tall, looking back at him.

"Bud! You can talk...?" asked Dave

"Yesss."

So they become smarter as they rank up.

"I didn't know you could actually talk. That's great, buddy!"

No response from the ghoul.

"Uh yeah. Okay, you can go back to whatever you were doing before, Bud. Good talk, buddy."

Bud moved to stand a few meters behind Dave and did...nothing.

Well this isn't working. I need to start taking a more active role as a leader and delegate more responsibilities to the Boyz. I'll figure it all out later on.

"That was a good chunk of CP, but I think it's gonna be worth it."

Dave turned and addressed the merchant, "Where can I find Andre the smith?"

"Andre the smith? He works in the Death Knight area, unless you are a Death Knight you won't be able enter the area he works in…but for some CP, I can set up a meeting with him." The Vendor had a greedy grin on his face.

Dave swore under his breath.

'Damn this greedy bastard.'

"How much?" asked Dave

"10,000 CP to set up the meeting."

The amount would have been absurd and impossible to Dave just a few hours ago. Now, he had CP to burn, but he wasn't going to pay the first asking price like some chump.

Dave gave the merchant a hard look, "10,000? That's crazy, it's way too much."

"Alright, since yer a pal I kin discount it fer yers: 9,999 CP"

Dave brows furrowed. He waited, thinking the guy was joking. But the zombie merchant didn't crack a smile.

In the end, the merchant wouldn't budge and Dave paid the 'friendly' discount price.

A notification popped up

Andre the Smith is waiting for you inside the temple of the First Raid Zone. You have 10 minutes before Andre leaves the temple.

Dave turned and rushed to the temple area. He saw a burly-armed, grizzled old Undead standing in the middle of the temple, and next to him was a woman...

Delvina!

"So this is the lad that's been shaking things up a bit, it's good to see the new blood doing meritorious deeds for the Legion" said the man.

"Hello, you must be Andre. But, how are you here Delvina? I thought you were…"

"As long as the Death Heart remains, we do not die the True Death," the Death Knight answered with a smirk

Dave didn't know what the Death Heart was, but he remembered the King stabbing the heart he'd torn out of his own daughter with an eerie dagger.

Could the daughter's desecrated heart be what Death is looking for?

Dave removed the broken helmet from his inventory and held it out to the smith.

"I'm here to find out what you know about this."

Andre the heavy item and examined it, turning it to look at it from all angles.

"I see. Boyo, this helmet is damaged, unusable. I can fix it for you when you get the rest of the set and the materials I will need for the job."

Main Questline (Difficulty: SSS)

Andre the smith has offered to fix the armor of the Undead King if you to find rest of the pieces in the set and bring the following materials for the repair work:

Bones of a King (must be killed by you)

5 x Unicorn's Horn

100 x Adamantine filaments

Ramsha's Blood (10 liters)

100 x Silver Hydra's Scales

1 x Black Dragon's Heart

Dave's eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw the list. Finding the rest of the armor was going to be bad enough.

"That is ridiculous!"

"Boyo, that armor set is one of the best forged in this world, it was made for a great king. I am the only one who can repair that armor 'cause I am the one who made it. And I can only fix it up for you if I have the items on that list."

Dave sighed. Another quest he was too low level to do yet.

Dave could get Lone to buy the adamantine filament and unicorn horn from the Auction house for him. But he knew the prices were going to be exorbitant.

As for a king's bones, that would be difficult. Not to mention the hydra's scales or the black dragon heart. Those creatures hadn't even been discovered conquest yet, let alone hunted and harvested.

But the thing that depressed Dave the most was the Blood. Ramsha's blood, who is the guardian of the underworld.

"That's the list boyo, get that for me and i can help you forge it anew. Now if you excuse me there are matters I must attend to." The smith then turned and left.

Delvina looked amused at Dave's quandaries.

"Don't worry about the armor right now. You are still young and have time to achieve your goal. You should concentrate on making yourself stronger and growing your skills. I remind you,Undead-Captains have access to more missions to increase their power and status."

Dave thanked Delvina for her wise words, then turned and headed back to where his retinue of undead minions waited.

Seeing an icon flashing, Dave clicked it open.

Dungeon Defense Missions

Take up the duties of

a Dungeon Boss OR mini-Boss.

Missions available at the following locations:

Dungeon of the Skeletal-Soul Bat (Boss)

Ice Palace Dungeon (Boss)

Mustakrakish's Desert Palace (Mini-Boss)

Desolate Temple (Boss)

The dungeons were all places Dave had been to before. But what caught his eye was the last option.

"That's the dungeon that led me to the Dead-Realm. It's the dungeon where this all started."

For Dave, seeing that dungeon's name was nostalgic, even though it had only been two weeks of playtime for Dave, it felt like a fond, distant memory.

Dave selected the Desolate temple and was directed to another panel.

You have chosen to be summoned as a dungeon Boss in the

Desolate Temple Dungeon.

Your mission is to safeguard the dungeon for

24 hours, (Game time).

Your stats will be temporarily modified to correspond to the dungeon level.

Do you accept?

Y/N

"Why the hell not. Make me a Boss!"

Dave pressed 'Y' and disappeared from the Raid-Zone.