Soul Bound Online

[ERode]

Sooner or later, the magic gunner managed to trigger something that wasn't a trap, revealing a trap door that lead downwards. While she offered to scout ahead, Tsukikage followed behind anyways, taking pains to move stealthily. The passageway was unlit, but Sora emitted a magical light, making it fairly easy for the white-haired girl to trail her. The end of the staircase led to an ugly mess of a room that was, sadly, devoid of any sort of treasure. How upsetting.

With a sigh at the answers that she really didn't care about, she walked around, spending a few minutes to explore the room. All things considered, it was just filled with rubbish, bones, and scraps of cloth. A battered locket was part of the remains, and after some examination, the white-haired girl picked it up, pocketing it. A key item, perhaps, for a hidden quest. Further down the hallway was a mess of bones and a button that triggered a thunk up above them. Curious, definitely. Perhaps that was the 'key' they needed in order to open the door by the entrance? Leading the way out, Tsukikage emerged from the staircase. She turned around, confirmed that there were no changes within the room that they were currently in, and said, "A button was pressed, and something happened. Let's check out that door we couldn't open before."

Without waiting for any sort of consent or agreement, she took off, guiding Sora through the singular path and the mess of pitfalls. The metal door was now slightly ajar, and, taking a torch in her hand, Tsukikage tossed it in, lighting up the interior. Once again, there were a disappointing lack of shiny shit, but at the back end, another metal door blocked their way. Great. So fucking great. Doors galore. Narrowing her eyes, she placed her hands on the door and pushed with all her might, slowly inching it open. Assistance from others eventually opened it half way, and, wiping her hands on her cloak, Tsukikage walked in.

"Do the thing, Sora," she gestured. Keter was missing out on some SP now, huh? Sucks to suck.

As Sora groped random objects once more, Tsukikage took stock of the room itself. Tables, chairs, shelves, all of them devoid of items. A rather dreary room, all things considered. God knows why any player would confine themselves to such an unstimulating space. Approaching the metal door, she tried the golden key on it, but this time, it was unresponsive. Sora's key, on the other hand, had a much better response, popping it open and revealing yet another exit to the dungeon.

Curious.

The rest of her search turns up a small hidden compartment beneath one of the shelves. Somehow, a small bag managed to contain 300k Essence, which was split evenly amongst the six remaining players within the dungeon. It was fair, all things considered. Looked like Sora was, at the very least, an outwardly good person. A brass key too, was handed over to Tsukikage, followed by a very interesting suggestion.

The two exits lead to different places, and perhaps those places lead to a reward chest. Thus, they should go through both exits, with Shiro and Lady Luck taking one, while Tsukikage, Rumeus, A, and Soren took the other. It made sense, all things considered, but…

"We should split our respective parties in half," the white-haired girl said, "And have the halves go into different exits. We're splitting up the loot between all of us, so it makes sense for members of both our parties to be present when opening up the reward chests."

 

[Illin]

[fieldbox= Rumeus, olive, solid]

It was curious to see no response from Sagittarius, since he was usually prompt with Tsukikage's messages. Giving up on waiting, Rumeus gathered up the items and Essence left behind by Ova, since nobody showed an interest in it. Tsukikage had gathered up the Essence and potions of Keter, but ignored Ova for some reason. In any case, he was thankful that Keter showed him that sack and knapsack trick; he still had the default sack given at the start of the game. By tying it to the knapsack, it was possible to get a total of 15 slots.

Before taking Ova's Essence, he made note of how much he had. In addition, he took the Bronze Rune Ring, Bronze Caestus, and Light Leather Jerkin; all items that belonged to Keter. For Ova, he took his Ether Stone and the blessing phial. Though Rumeus had space for one more, he thought it may be wise to leave one slot open for possible treasures in the dungeon.

Unlike Tsukikage who immediately followed after Sora, Rumeus decided to wait before following them in. Instead of being proactive, Rumeus let Sora and Tsukikage do most of the work. Along with other events, a bag containing 300k Essence was distributed to the remaining players. Tsukikage spoke up and suggested something strange. It wasn't his first thought, but it did make sense.

"So who should I go with? I'm holding onto Keter and Ova's stuff because Sagittarius hasn't responded, so I only have one inventory spot left."[/fieldbox]

 

[Omnial]

"A gun that heals? Now isn't that a funny object. Reminds me of the idea of a healing staff that requires hitting the person to heal them. A great way to get out violence, yet still be deemed socially acceptable." Soren mumbled to himself. He was curious at first to see if it was going to turn into another battle, this time of greed and for loot. Sadly though, it seemed that would not be the case at this point in time. Maybe at later, and more valuable time. Or was this kindness simply due to them realizing that they had done goofed and burst into their fight, and taken items which would have likely ended up being their loot, and more than likely taking a share of the xp, which again, should of just been theirs. Soren was at a loss for words, holding himself back so as to not comment, and simply observing everyone else work.

Before he knew it, Rumeus had taken the items left behind by members whom had left their party, and there was only a few of them still standing there. "I like our merry band of misfits more so then people we just met. We all got stabbed together." Soren crossed his arms and nodded, "Also, I have space to carry things, so if we both go together, I can also be your backpack if the goods are worth it to you."

 

[Renose]

The matters concerning the wolves were soon concluded, and the two exits out of the Dungeon were taken. Both Gold and Bronze Keys were used to open the two other chests in each of the two different reward rooms. There were indeed different reward rooms in the two different exits, the party effectively having been split in half to investigate the two reward rooms since, according to Shiroi Sora, once you enter a reward room there is no turning back to the actual dungeon, so you can't go back and get what you missed once you enter the reward room.

According to Sora, the two Gold Keys aren't actually indicating 1000, but rather are special keys called Dungeon Master Keys. You get them if you manage to defeat the Player(s) controlling a Dungeon if they are in control of it and they will give you special rewards related to that Dungeon Master's abilities. So they can either be powerful Items for a person to use, or rare things to sell for a good chunk of cash.

So the party halves would soon have collected all of the loot, that they would later split, and when they would exit into that white light they would be back in the Forest of Souls. However, before them were Sagitarius and Grimrock, but they were different obviously. Sagitarius was tending to a few wounds that Grimrock had on him, before he looks up as he sees all five party members appear outside of the dungeon entrance. As they appeared, their sacks where their Soul Runes were kept would all glow for a moment, a notification appearing before each of them.

The experience of the dungeon has tempered your Soul Rune through your Soul. Your Soul Rune is ready to be engraved.

"Oh, you've all retur--" he began to say, but suddenly stopped as the Dungeon Entrance behind them seemed to be reacting. The mist, the same mist they saw in the Forest of Souls Dungeon, would begin to cover the cavern dungeon entrance, a chill settling over the area as the entrance suddenly began to transform, soon enough becoming a cavern that seemed to lead visibly underground, the same cold mist pouring from the cavern's maw and covering the ground around it.

"That's... a Labyrinth Gate... here? In the Forest of Souls" muttered Grimrock, who both looked and sounded rather surprised, which was a change from their usual calm countenance.

According to Sagitarius and Grimrock, a Labyrinth Gate is something that leads to the Spirit's Labyrinth, the largest Dungeon in the game that goes beneath the entire game world and is thus a dungeon that is as big as the over world itself. It is also SBO's end goal, as making it to the final area and clearing it will unlock the next stage in the game, or perhaps even beat it, no one knows for sure, but everyone knows that something incredible awaits whoever clears it. There are even rumors that the company will give a huge prize to whoever manages to clear the Labyrinth.

Sometimes when some Dungeons are cleared it opens up a Labyrinth Gate, which can either lead to a shortcut to a place already explored or even a brand new place in the labyrinth. However, Sagitarius and Grimrock both recommend that the players shouldn't enter the Labyrinth until they are much, much stronger, as it is immensely dangerous.

While the group didn't manage to capture the ones responsible, the group of three still dealt with the wolves. Of course, Sora and Lady Luck also had their own Quest, that being returning the stolen Item to the smithy's assistant.

The group of three would be rewarded 120,000 Essence, so that is 40,000 Essence for each of them. Plus those that lost their Revival Shards would receive another one from Sagitarius. All six of them would also be on friendlier terms with those in the town, which could definitely prove useful in the future as well. Could potentially lead to favors or other such things from the townsfolk or player shopkeepers.

For Sora and Lady Luck they would receive 50,000 Essence apiece. In addition, Gemkil would give them a 10% discount on future orders and the like, which is very nice.

In addition there was also the loot from the Dungeon. 500,000 Essence in total. Enough for each of them to get 100,000 apiece. There were also 10 Potions in total. Five Endurance and five Soul Potions. There seemed to be two Reinforced Leather Jerkins, which were Rank 9 Light Armor that only had 2 Armor Penalty, but gave 8 AR. Overall, very nice armor. Furthermore, if further enhanced, that Armor Penalty could be removed completely and its Armor Rating boosted even further.

There was also a Piercing Steel Dagger, which had a bit of penetrating power to get through Armor if a Full or Devastating Hit is dealt. There was also a Composite Oak Shortbow Bow +1, which was better than the bow she currently had as it did more Damage and allowed a bit of STR to be applied to the Damage Mod, but it would take more STR to wield. Still, a good bow for her to have until she could use Kali's Bow, which was successfully unbounded from Kali and now Lady Luck's Bow for real.

There was also a Healing Green Ether Stone, which actually made Soren's Healing Abilities cost a small bit more, but made his Healing Abilities heal a good bit more. Ultimately better than the current stone, which according to Sagitarius could be used to help enhance his new one if he wanted. For Rumeus, a Striking Earth Stone, which also made the cost of his Earth Abilities rise, but if they dealt damage they would deal a bit more. Ultimately better, and his current stone could be used to help enhance his new one since his current stone too is +1. (I forgot to put that)

Finally the DM Items. The ones that were more representing Kali was something called the 'Fire Glove'. By chanting 'Igni' whenever you make an attack, it would alight your Weapon with fire to add a fire based attack and the True Shot Ring, which raised Ranged Attack Accuracy by 10.

The ones that represented the Devil were the Magi Rod, a Rod that amplifies the power of a Magic Stone, the Magic Deflection Necklace which gives 5 Magic Deflection, and the Shield Ring, which grants 5 Barrier Rating, which according to Grimrock is a special form of Armor Rating that deflects all Damage. It is better than Mystic Armor Rating (yes that is getting updated to where Mystic Armor Rating gives full for Mystical, but half for Physical. Barrier Rating gives full for both). It would be up to the players to decide who would get what, but the Magi Rod is something Sora would contend with, since the others would have no use for it.

Once the Items were all split up, the group now could play and grind freely and do more of what they wanted to, especially since they had alot more money to use since there was also the Essence and Potions from the Dungeon to split up as well. Sora did add the group to her Friends' List and said to PM her if they ever needed anything or wanted to party up.

The Tournament is in a week, the Tournament for the Game's 1 year anniversary. The rookie players of Lady Luck, Tsukikage, Rumeus, and Soren could either prepare for this tournament, or try and do something else. Either way, a week of playtime and grinding was now there's. They could focus on Quests, just try to grind their abilities, try to find Dungeons, or just try to fight Monsters to get more EXP. Either way, the world was now their oyster and they could explore it better now, especially since they now could get their Soul Runes engraved and their Anti-Shadow Items would now be completed as well, making these players even stronger.

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