Alioth took the monster core crystal and immediately used it. Unfortunately, this crystal had no special added effects; it only increased his Mana capacity by a significant amount. Even so, Alioth remained grateful.
The young man looked at the eagle's body, and somehow a feeling of guilt arose. He then said, "Forgive me, you did your duty well."
Before he cut open the eagle monster's stomach, he stroked its neck three times.
As in the game, the key was indeed stored inside the eagle's stomach. Alioth had to chop up its stomach and intestines to find the key.
As soon as he got it, he approached the chest ahead and immediately inserted the key into the keyhole. A clicking sound was heard, coinciding with the chest lid opening slightly.
Slowly, Alioth lifted the chest lid, revealing a sword complete with its sheath. The sword had a white blade with a bluish glow and a golden-yellow guard. The grip of the sword itself was jet black, as was its sheath.
Alioth lifted the sword using two hands; this was like a sacred ceremony where the sword must be treated like a king. He gazed at the sword's body from one end to the other, and the sense of awe in his eyes could not be concealed.
"Nice sword...," he muttered.
He turned it over and over, and it was still great. After all, this was a Grade B sword; while not the most powerful, it was more than enough for novice players.
"Coincidentally, my sword is broken." He removed the old sword sheath and threw it away, then placed the new sword in its sheath to be hung on his belt. "What is this sword's name, anyway? Hmm... if I'm not mistaken, is it Demon Slayer?"
Instantly, the young man's face brightened even more. "It's perfect for the second main quest. This will make things much easier for me."
After admiring the sword for so long, his eyes accidentally fixed on a place located on a hill slightly away from Lark Village. It was a fairly wide open space with gravestones stuck in the ground.
It was a graveyard, the graveyard of adventurers, the graveyard of the surrounding villagers.
The graveyard was quite large, and it looked like some had stone houses; perhaps they were important people in life, like the village chief or something similar. There were also those that only had ordinary large and small gravestones.
The graveyard was not very well maintained; the gravestones there were greenish, a sign of thick moss. Wild grass was piled up, no less tall than the grandest gravestone.
Alioth's eyes remained fixed there because he knew that was where the second main quest would take place tomorrow night.
Then, he became thoughtful, only just realizing that the ground he was standing on was the top of a sheer, high cliff. Alioth scratched the back of his head, thinking about how he would safely climb down.
***
He did manage to climb down, but his heart pounded tremendously, like having a conversation alone with the one he loved. Alioth looked up while clutching his chest, still unable to believe what he had just dared to do.
The process of descending turned out to be more terrifying. This activity forced Alioth to constantly look down to find footholds. Without willpower, he would surely have resigned himself to the situation and tried the sensation of freely floating.
"At least I'm safe now." It was already afternoon then; he hadn't realized that the process of climbing up, fighting, and descending back had taken that long. "I have to perfect the Triple Stabs move."
Indeed, Alioth's mastery of the move was still very superficial, only the surface. He had not yet been able to bring out the core of the move, so the hidden potential of Triple Stabs was not yet visible. Understandably, with only a day's time, he couldn't expect much.
That night, he practiced in the backyard of the inn until almost morning. From this practice, Alioth understood that his Mana supply was more than enough to use the Triple Stabs move repeatedly, but the problem was his stamina and muscles.
Mana was different from stamina. If a close-combat weapon user like Alioth had any amount of Mana, it would be useless without stamina because if his stamina ran out, he could no longer swing his sword.
It was different for a mage, whose fighting style involved moving less but attacking from afar with powerful magic, so he didn't require much stamina for movement.
If someone ran out of Mana, he might feel weak, but that didn't mean he couldn't swing a sword. However, if someone ran out of stamina, how would he swing a sword and channel Mana at the same time? He would naturally become more exhausted.
"Maybe I'm not muscular enough?" Alioth patted his own stomach, which felt less firm. "It looks like after the second main quest, I have to train this body relentlessly."
He then went into the inn to rest.
***
The light of the sunset shone from the western horizon, and in the distant sky, it created a beautiful and lovely purple color.
The chirping sounds of birds returned to their nests to welcome the night. They began to embrace their children and wives in warmth and comfort.
The residents of Lark Village returning from the fields, those who traded were preparing to close, and those who hunted in the forest rushed home carrying their game.
However, while most people returned to their respective homes, three mysterious people in black hooded cloaks did not. Instead of walking home or to a warm place to stay, they walked toward a tomb located on a hill.
"Safe?" asked the person in front; her voice was a woman's.
A tall man behind her replied with a heavy voice. "Safe, Mistress, I have personally ensured it."
Then the Mistress asked again. "What about that kid?"
Now the other man, the younger one, answered. "I have made sure he is not around here, Mistress. He is currently not staking out, whether from exhaustion or what, but I saw him on the other side of the village this afternoon."
"That was this afternoon, and now?"
"Now the situation around here is safe; I have checked repeatedly."
"Have you spread your threads?"
The young man glanced left and right to see the flash of golden threads here and there. He nodded. "Yes, Mistress. If anyone comes here, that person will surely be caught by the threads, and I will know immediately."
The Mistress nodded, looking satisfied. "Also place threads on this path after we get to the top."
"Yes, Mistress."
As her Mistress commanded, after they arrived at the top of the hill in the graveyard area, the young man cast a magic that could spread golden threads. The threads wrapped around the tree trunks there and closed off the path the three of them had just passed.
The thread was so thin that if an intruder came and broke it, the intruder would not feel anything.
The black-cloaked Mistress stood in the center of the graveyard; there stood a rectangular stone pillar whose purpose for being erected in the graveyard was unknown. The Mistress ignored it; she scratched her fingertip with a knife and then drew magical symbols on the rectangular pillar.
The tall man stood ready with his sword, while the young man stood ready with a pair of knives.
"Finished," the Mistress said after drawing the magical symbols on all four sides of the pillar.
She then stepped slightly away from the pillar and took out a small magic staff, half an arm long, tipped with a dark red crystal. The Mistress raised the staff high and muttered a spell. Slowly but surely, the wind moved gently, and the crystal at the tip of the staff became brighter until the place glowed reddish.
Coinciding with that, the young man's shoulder twitched.
"What is it?" asked the older man.
The young man gnashed his teeth. "Someone is coming. My threads were broken."
"Don't tell me it's that kid?!"
Immediately after, a shout was heard from the entrance to the graveyard.
"I won't allow it!"
Fire was seen blazing, a fire that was almost white, and it shot toward the three people.
"Protect the Mistress!" shouted the older man.
That person moved forward, his sword covered with a reddish Mana, which he then slashed to counter the wave of fire. Likewise, the young man, whose pair of knives were thrown forward to form a powerful vortex.
The long-range fire attack wave dispersed to the left and right after creating a huge explosion that destroyed several gravestones nearby.
"That brat!" growled the two men, staring at the young man with the large sword there.