Chapter 24: Philosopher's Stone
"A body without mana will explode if you try to use a healing potion."
David gulped. He knew that technology that could utilise mana would be developed in the future. Still, David couldn't lose his mother in the mass extinction event again. He knew he had to cure her and help her level up. He knew that due to the large machine attached to her heart, she couldn't be put into the VR machine. Memories flashed across his mind, where he had to sit and look at his mother's depleting health, where he could do nothing. And one day, the extinction event occurred, where she was wiped from existence.
"Is there no other way?" David asked in a grim tone. He knew that in the world of Orion, NPCs were used to the concept of players and how they could enter the world and exit by their own wishes. David even suspected that they already knew about the 'merging' but were supposed to shut their mouth, probably due to the rules set by the moderator.
"After all, the 'merging' on earth was special. Not every planet had to play this VR game. But Seraphina must have decided this was the easiest way to slowly integrate our planet into a higher plane. She is intelligent", he thought.
James was silent for some time before he stood up and walked towards one of the shelves. He took out an old dusty book and flipped a few pages before finding what he was searching for.
"Here", he said, handing the book to David.
"The Philosopher Stone was one of a mage's strongest items to be crafted. It was created from the purest form of mana and could change the form of anything it touched. It could make gold from rock or even change its shape to whatever its wielder wanted.", James said. "I believe that if this stone is consumed by the human, it can slowly change the composition of mana and utilise it to heal the human body."
"The Philosophers Stone? I thought it was a myth.", David muttered. He hadn't seen anyone in the years before the 'merging' to find the stone.
"Obviously. It doesn't exist, but that doesn't mean you cannot make a new one", James said, and suddenly, David's system rang, giving him a quest he had never expected to receive.
==========
Name: Quest to Philosopher's Stone (Mythical)
Objective: ???
Reward: Philosopher's Stone
==========
"seems like you got a quest?" James smiled.
"Yeah, but so what! It's a shit ton of question marks. How am I supposed to even begin?" David grunted and looked at James. "But at least now you know it's possible", James said.
"That's true..." David thought.
James sat next to David as he gently patted his shoulders, "Don't worry. Once you enter the kingdom, go to the Mage's Association. The wizards there might be of help to you."
"Yeah, I understand." David sighed and stood up. "Thanks, James, for your help, " he muttered, logging out from the game right before James.
David took off the machine and noticed it was still some till morning, and Tom was still playing. He took off, going back to his home. This time, instead of running, he strolled towards his home, observing the night sky.
"Can I save everyone?" he muttered. He had suffered the loss of a lot of people close to him, and a few had died right in front of him. The question Seraphina asked just before she died still lingered in his mind. "Why didn't I ascend? "
He didn't think of anything else on his way home. He decided that he would save everyone he could and help them become strong enough so that they could protect themselves. "The guild will have to be formed earlier than before", he thought, smiling, as he entered his home.
He found that his mother was still sleeping soundly, and the bowl of pasta was finished clean.
"Good girl", he smiled, patting his mother's head.
"I will kill the angels if I have to for the damn stone. Dont worry"
David returned to his room and checked his blog posts to see if he had made any money from them. He opened the website and reloaded his profile to see the changes. "Income.... one thousand dollars! "he jumped from his seat. He quickly checked the blog post and realised that many players had bought it and were thankful for the suggestions. He, one by one, read through the comments.
"Thank you, David, you saved my balls. -BallsCollector"
"Healers can beat a swordsman's ass? You better be careful, David; the Protagonist Guild will be coming after your ass. -ProtagNo5"
"ew", David muttered. "But if you are into that, then you are into that."
He quickly scrolled through to see the negative comments, "kekekeke, where are you? My offended nerds. Come at me."
"Found it!" he grinned as he found a flurry of comments left by a single person.
"Mages are the reason spells and skills exist."
"Mages can whoop anyone and be too fast for anyone to realise."
"You think you are a better mage? Well, guess what? You are wrong."
"I can assure you I have better stat distribution than you."
"MageGod20. You are my first golden hen," he smiled as he replied to his comments, "Cry about it."
"hehhehhehehe . Toxicity is the best." David spent another hour replying to all the salty comments.
He decided that this time, he would leave a strategy to complete the 'Fang Caverns' dungeon for all difficulties and the ideal parties.
"Greetings, players. Today, I will guide you on how to clear the dungeon called' Fang Caverns. ' I am David, the person who got the first clear achievement for Nightmare difficulty. So you can trust my opinions", he started nicely.
"If you are on Easy mode, you don't need tips or tricks. If you have trouble clearing it on easy mode, you might as well quit the game and start studying for your exams because you ain't a gamer."
"For Medium and Hard mode, remember to take a long-range damage dealer. The archers can be good enough if the mages have too much ego. You know what, even a healer will do more damage than those pesky little rats."
"For Nightmare difficulty, The best composition is one healer, one Rogue, one Mage and two Melee. You would need a specialised tank for the final boss, and be careful of the random buff. The buff will differ every run and can be the game changer. A guy named Jason lost to me because he couldn't clear it quicker than I could. You guys should have seen it; he punched the ground like a baby.
He once again set the price to 5 dollars and uploaded it.
"Now we wait", he grinned.
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