"Oy, wake up and regenerate yourself," I muttered, poking the boar's body with my sword.

"..."

"Why isn't it waking up?" I whined. "Nyx's diary clearly mentioned that the beasts inside the gate regenerate themselves infinitely. Ughh, I won't be able to reach the Transcendent Realm like this."

When the boar didn't move even after waiting for five minutes, I shrugged my shoulders and moved forward.

"Vivi, what's the grade of these crystals?" I asked, touching a wall of crystal.

"Analysing the crystal's grade..."

"Analysis completed!"

"The crystal is formed of High-tier Grade 3 Soul Stones."

"Hahaha, as I thought. It's a jackpot!" I laughed wildly.

As I moved deeper, my heartbeat, driven by Bloodline Resonance, became more intense, and the energy radiation from so many High-tier crystals was making my head dizzy.

"This... must be... the location of the essence..." I murmured, breathing heavily as I reached the end of the wall where I felt the peak resonance.

The Lightning Slash which had struck the wall left only a faint mark on the crystal.

"Not even the Sword Aura could break these crystals?" I gasped, touching the crystal.

Clutching my hand into a fist, I hurtled the glowing fist forward.

"Lightning Bolt!"

Sparks of lightning occurred from the point of contact, yet again, the crystal remained unfazed and unmarked.

I had this thought that if Nyx couldn't kill the boar, then why didn't she just tie the beast and claim these crystals. But now, after striking the crystal wall multiple times, I realised that it wasn't that she didn't claim them—she just couldn't because of the absolute thickness of these crystals.

"Ughh... what should I do?" I mumbled, holding my heart that was going wild due to resonance.

I was about to turn, but then I saw something strange at the top of the crystal wall. From a small part of the wall at the top, the blue light radiated even more brightly than the rest of the hall.

I tried to jump, but the wall was too high for me to reach with just physical strength.

"Should I try that?"

Taking a deep breath to calm my mind, I channelled the Soulforce into both of my legs until several electric pulses began flickering around my skin.

"Blink!"

I bolted forward, and as I reached the wall, I stepped on it to move upward—but the speed at which I moved was so blindingly fast that I couldn't change my momentum from horizontal to vertical and slammed straight into the wall.

"Aghh!! I broke my nose!" I growled, holding my bleeding nose.

"Let me try again," I murmured, wiping the blood off my nose.

Bam!

Crash!

Thud!

.

.

.

"I-I won't... give up," I whispered, my eyes completely locked onto the wall ahead.

"This isn't a wall. It's just a regular road!"

I surged forward, and as the wall came closer, I instantly raised my feet, pushing off the crystal wall behind me and surging upward, reaching the desired location.

"As I thought!" I declared with a smirk, finding a small human-sized gap in the wall of crystals.

Without thinking much, I went straight inside and fell on the ground on the inner side.

"Ughh, why is it so hot here!" I murmured, rising to my feet.

In front of me was a lotus-shaped crystal that radiated waves of mind-boggling energy outward. The radiation was so intense that I was barely able to keep myself conscious. Beneath the crystal, a blue flame danced gracefully as if it were cooking something inside the crystal.

"So... this is where those El Dorado got that blue flame?" I huffed, moving forward.

"The crystal is incredible, but it's not what I came for."

I raised my heel and peeked over the petals of the lotus. At its centre, a semi-translucent shard floated, rippling with wild vibrations and a hum that even caused reality to bend around it.

The sheer instincts of my body whispered to me that this thing had always belonged to me and urged me to take it back this instant.

I raised my arm and extended my hand forward to grab the shard, but suddenly the hum from the shard turned into a wild scream, and an invisible force pushed my hand back.

Ding...

"The broken shard did not recognise the Host as its owner. Provide proof of your identity to the shard if you want to claim it."

"Proof of my identity?" I murmured, confused.

"Will this work?"

I pulled the sword from my inventory and sliced my palm with a shallow mark deep enough to draw some blood.

The moment the drops of my blood fell on the shard, the wild energy it radiated calmed down, and the essence fell on the lotus like a lifeless body.

When I was about to take the stone this time—

"Warning! The broken shard is unstable due to the absence of its other three fragments. It is only being temporarily stabilised by the Eternal Flame. If the shard is removed from the Lotus Crystal, it will detonate, causing unimaginable destruction."

I instantly moved several feet back and shouted, "Idiot, tell me these kinds of things earlier!"

"..."

"Oh fuck! I was only moments away from destroying the whole city."

"The Host is incorrect. The detonation would be enough to destroy the whole Abandoned Land!"

Another loud gasp left my mouth as Vivi's message almost killed me from sheer shock.

"Fuck the quest! I'm not touching this thing," I blurted, moving back.

"The Host may put the other broken shards inside this Lotus Crystal, and the shards will fix themselves. The Host can complete the quest that way."

"Hmmm, that's a nice idea. I already have one shard, so the remaining two must be below Hollowreach and Ashenfall."

On my first attempt, I climbed the wall again and left the uncomfortable hall.

When I stepped outside, the gate automatically closed and, following a cracking sound, the key materialised in the hole again.

I pulled the key out, and just as I turned, Ume stood right in front of my face.

"Oh God! You scared the shit out of me!" I screamed, holding my chest and falling on the ground.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.