Chapter 608: The Beacon’s Reward |
For a while, everything went still. The ocean fell quiet. The sand that had been blasted into the water slowly drifted back down, settling once more on the seafloor. Half of the enormous creature’s body remained exposed above the sand, and a moment later Luke dragged himself out of it while his shark tried to swim forward, pulling him loose.
His Spectral Beast was nearly destroyed. It had little more than a fin left and could barely swim straight anymore. Luke dismissed the creature back into its core, then dropped onto the dune at the bottom of the ocean and lay there staring upward, all the way toward the distant moon.
The notifications were still hovering in his vision.
[Challenge completed!]
[You completed the Phase 1 Beacon Dungeon!]
[The exit is now available!]
[Your reward is available in the chest!]
“It’s over...”
Luke felt like something inside him had cracked. He was injured.
[Calculating your reward...]
[Event Point System awakened!]
A new screen appeared.
Event Point System
By clearing a Beacon, you have made one thing clear: you do not intend to remain just another random person thrown into this world. You want to be a player. As a reward, you have awakened the Event Point System. Every action you perform grants points, and those points may be exchanged for something special at the end of the Event.
“Oh, this bullshit again.”
[Calculating actions performed...]
[Receiving uncounted points...]
Luke ignored the rising numbers on his screen, each one tied to a creature he had killed since being teleported into the desert on the first day of Stage 2.
[Beacons Completed: 1/6]
He shoved the interface aside and looked back at the creature’s corpse.
“Now you’re going to help me get stronger.”
His shark had been incredibly useful. But what he really wanted was the Sea Guardian as his beast. Luke spent some time trying to pull the creature free from the sand, then finally stopped.
“Damn it...”
“What?” Artemis asked.
“I doubt I could beat this thing inside my soul at my current level of power.”
Not without the Spectral Beast helping him, and the beast would not be present during a soul battle. Worse than that, the Sea Guardian would know every part of Luke’s fighting style.
I’d probably lose.
Even so, he kept cutting into the monster, searching for a core.
“Now you’re the one opening up the facehugger to shove eggs inside,” Artemis commented.
It took a while. Luke found nothing in the larger section of the body, so he moved down toward the tail and started cutting there instead.
“What are you doing, Luke Moon?” Cadmus asked.
“Looking for the heart. There’s a chance the mana core is there.”
“Hmm,” Cadmus said. “As I explained before, a Sea Guardian is composed almost entirely of muscle. It does not have a heart.”
“What?”
If beasts only rarely left a core behind, then that meant...
“There won’t be a core in the Sea Guardian...”
“Correct,” Cadmus said. “Perhaps in much older Sea Guardians, when their biology changes to support their greater size.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“Older?”
“Yes. This one is still quite juvenile.”
“Juvenile?” Artemis said. “That thing is already a giant man-eating facehugger. Is it seriously going to grow into some even bigger super-xenomorph?”
“I lack the reference needed to understand that statement,” Cadmus replied.
Luke swam upward, leaving the Sea Guardian’s body behind. When he broke the surface, he saw that a small island had appeared. Floating above it was a cube larger than he was. The moment he sat down on the island, he pulled a healing potion from his pocket dimension and drank it. Then Luke lay back again.
“What a day... first the shark, now this.”
But he had cleared a Beacon. His healing potions were gone. He only had one emergency potion left.
[Verdant Vitality Potion (Rare)]: A healing potion empowered by the stimulating essence of the Energizing Luminous Mushroom, allowing its energy to activate and accelerate bodily tissues. This stimulation reinforces recovery and enhances the body’s natural regenerative processes, even assisting with minor regrowth of limbs, bones, or damaged tissues, similar to how plants recover. With tissues accelerated and revitalized, the body regains vitality, endurance, and prolonged physical capacity. Restores 1550 HP and, due to intense bodily activation, may cause a slight increase in libido.
“I seriously need to start making potions. If I use this one, that’s it for me.”
He decided not to drink it and let his HP recover on its own. At least the other potion had already fixed his broken bones.
“Cadmus.”
“Yes, Luke Moon?”
“How many Sea Guardians are there around here, in the part of Sunken Realms where I am?”
“Hmm...” the robot murmured.
“I’m guessing that information is classified. Fine. Then tell me this, what are the chances I run into another one of those while I’m swimming around? One was hard enough. If I stumble into two... or five... I’m dead.”
“Do not worry about that. There is not a single free-roaming Sea Guardian,” Cadmus said.
“Seriously?”
“Yes. They are all sealed away, contained, like the one you fought. I do not know the exact number, but it is possible they are each imprisoned inside a Beacon.”
“Interesting.”
“If the system had left them loose, all of you would have been thrown into certain death. Of course, some might still have escaped, found a way to survive. After all, the simplest way to get rid of a Sea Guardian is to leave its territory. Even so, it would have been a massacre.”
“That makes sense.”
“But... that does not mean there are no other creatures out there just as dangerous, or even more dangerous. Still, because of how aggressive Sea Guardians are by nature, you could say the Beacons are where they’re contained.”
Luke got to his feet and walked over to the chest. When he opened it, he found an item.
[Sea Guardian Chestplate (Rare)]
A lightweight chestplate crafted from the muscular fibers of a powerful Sea Guardian. Highly resistant to impact and exceptionally durable. When struck repeatedly, the chestplate hardens, as if flooded with adrenaline, much like the creature it came from. A marvel of nature... or an abomination.
Enchantments: [Auto Repair (Rare)], [Adrenaline Fury (Epic)]
Information:
Rarity: Rare
Rank: D
Type: Equipment
Bonus: +250 Strength, +200 Agility, +200 Toughness, +100 Vitality
Requirement: Lvl 80+ in any Assassin Class.
“Holy shit. A Rank D piece of gear.”
The rarity was only [Rare], but the item’s rank was far above something merely Epic and Rank E. He put the chest piece on immediately. It looked like a shirt at first, but the moment he slipped it over his head, it began to expand and mold itself to Luke’s body until it settled into the shape of a fitted breastplate. The color was a muted gray, and the texture resembled the Sea Guardian’s hide. Even the design echoed the creature’s body.
“Clearing Beacons can be a real challenge,” Cadmus said, “but the rewards are often worth it.”
“Not worth it, Luke. Find an island and spend the next few months relaxing,” Artemis said.
Luke stepped closer to the cube. A new interface appeared in front of it.
Beacon 1 Completion Panel
Congratulations on clearing a Beacon. In addition to the chest reward, you have also received other bonuses that may prove useful.
Three options appeared before Luke.
[Exit Dungeon]: Returns you to the exact location outside the dungeon where you were standing when you entered.
[Teleport to the Sky]: A Beacon is not always located in an easy place, and unpleasant surprises may be waiting outside. This option teleports you into the sky above the Beacon. After all, what is the point of clearing a Beacon if you die the moment you step back outside?
That one was interesting. It would also let him see what the area around the Beacon looked like.
So that means future Beacons might be in places where this option could literally save my life.
And then there was the third choice.
[Locate a Person]: Allows you to track one participant in the event, but only someone you have already interacted with in your life. Useful for finding friends... or enemies.
Luke froze. His finger moved to that option instantly.
“No way.”
“Yes! Finally, we can find Charlie and Angie. I like you, Luke, preferably naked, but I also enjoy looking at beautiful women,” Artemis said.
Luke ignored her. Not the way he usually ignored some of her comments. This was different. Anxiety had already sunk its claws into him.
A list of names began loading.
[Charlotte Vespertilio] [Angie] [Eleanor Kennedy]
And more names kept appearing.
[Erza Grimhart] [Anne Grimhart]
Still more names. Not alphabetical. Some random order. It did not matter. Because there was only one name he wanted.
[Elizabeth Moon]
And his finger went straight to his mother’s name.
[Do you wish to track Elizabeth Moon?]
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