Temporal Pearls

What remained of the NPC were the original residents of Red Valley and as for the players, those that remained were sacrificed to the Red Valley.

One by one, the leftover Players too stopped coming, due to the creepiness of the town and valley. only Dave remained.

Dave presumed the players weren't logging back. That was true for some but after a shocking discovery, he found out that most players were actually used by some cult members in the town as a sacrifice to the Trees they worship.

And what was worse was that, after one of them died, they died in the real world. This was what shocked Dave and decided to not log in again. However, whenever he logged out, he forgot that part of the story until he logged in.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Seth exclaimed.

"I'm telling you the truth. I have a quest to help free those that were still alive but I couldn't do it alone. So, I challenge the chief to a duel with a condition that if I last ten mini he will help me. Guess what, even with the mighty chief with me, we barely escaped from the terrifying power of the Cult."

Dave examined further that the Red Valley was so damn bizarre that some people won't even know they were part of the cult until the cult leader calls upon them. It happened many times when a person was working with zeal against the cult but suddenly they will change and remember their allegiance.

In the end, Dave found out that the cult protects the village in their perverse way and rules half of it. He himself, there was a distant memory he kept recalling that showed him that he made a deal with some people to help him go out of the Valley.

Later on, he realized it was the cult that manipulated him in that situation and he joined them. Due to that, the moment he starts working against them, something will pop into his head and he just felt loyalty to them.

Ding!

[Quest]

[Dave Linus Known as Fratile Redone in Red Valley was Enthralled by a powerful Red Shaman]

~Secretly help him find a cure!

[Reward]

~Residency in Red Valley

[Penalty]

~Red Shaman will have his curses on you!

_____

'Okay!'

"I told you all this because I want to help you avoid the shaman. And I want something from you!" Dave said.

"What?"

"Attract the attention of the Chief. Over the past, I learned that only the chief was immune to the Cult. And only if he moved personally can all his subordinates marked by the cult will they be protected! My Quest was to free the prisoners, the chief knew but I don't trust anyone except you that I know for sure is free. For now.

Besides whenever I tried to enthral you I felt like something was hammering in my head. I know for sure you will stay safe for some time!"

"How will I attract his attention and what will happen after that?" Seth asked.

"The only way you can attract him is by power. Knowing you are powerful I can convince him to attack the cult again."

"What is it in me?"

"I will guide you to learn the secret of your Red Valley Name!"

Ding!

[Quest]

[Red Valley names have purpose and meaning. By learning some part of the meaning of Fratile Redone, Dave Linus was able to cast Enthrall on you]

~Attract Red Valley Chief's Attention and help Dave Linus have his goal of persuading the Chief

[Reward]

~Meaning of Sascile Redone

[Penalty]

~Red Shaman will put a mark on you

______

"Okay! But I need more information to prepare!" Seth said.

For the better of the day, Dave explained a lot of things and Seth asked many questions to clarify his doubt. Around the afternoon,  the two only players in Red Valley returned to the town.

"I forgot to ask something. Tempo…!"

"Sheesh!" Dave quickly closes Seth's mouth. "That taboo word here. I will explain to you tomorrow after we are out!"

Coming back to town, Dave handed Seth back to Redop. Seth was taken to a guest house that has small gardens with flowers, a room, a parlour and a toilet. The place was reinforced with inscriptions all over the place.

"As you already know, nights here are scary. So, guests stay inside the house before the night came. And don't make noise at all." Redop said.

"I understand!"

"Here." He gave Seth a bag of stones, "use them to fuel the protection seal when it was weakened!"

Checking, Seth found the red stones he picked for Redop outside im the Deadlands. But now without Aura Sight, they are red and he can carry them by hand without being affected.

"I have encountered a lot of this on my way here!" Seth said.

"I know. It took 10 of the black ones and I made 1 red. That is my gift, use them sparingly!" Redop said.

"If you can guide me back I will spend a whole day gathering thousands of them if you want!" Seth declared. He wanted to see if they were important enough to do out of town.

Redop was silent for some time before he sighed and said, "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes. Let me show!" Seth brought out about a hundred pieces of black stone that he picked on his way to just observe. The thing was, he still couldn't touch them directly.

"Hmm. We will discuss this later!" Redop said and left.

Seth on the other hand entered the new room. There was food placed and a bed to sleep in. He then picked a single Red Stone and placed it at the door and picked one and placed it at the window.

The Red Stone then glowed and made the inscription on the window and door glow. He was now safe from any intrusion because any attack will activate the protection and even if it was exhausted, the red stone will enhance them. He learned this from Dave

Ding!

[You are free to log out!]

Instead of lying on the bed, Seth expanded his staff thickness to 2m and then lay on it. Knowing that its durability will reduce but it was better to lie on a bed he didn't trust.

Sling!

Expecting to meet his sister's worried face, Seth is surprised to find her sleeping. He checked the time and found he added only about 5hrs above the normal 6 hrs.

"How is that possible? I spent almost 2 days there?"

"What is impossible?" Anna asked as she woke up. He explained to her. She had no explanation but when Raaz came, he said it was normal. Some were already experiencing time dilation and he was even surprised that Seth was experiencing it now, he expected it to happen to him earlier.

After the clarification and Anna confirming that nothing bad will happen to Seth, they began to talk about returning home. That day, they concluded that they will go back after four days. By then Seth has fully recovered.

Seth increased the time that he inhaled the coloured ball so that by the end of the day, he will be able to sense all the 25 balls.

But then he realized he will be overloading his mind because any time he smell one, his mind enter into a state that reject all scents for some time before he recovered and not to mention a period of epiphany he entered. Nonetheless, he slowed down to have better comprehension, he speculated that Manuella won't be harsh on them.

Sling!

"Temporal Warrior is a strange class that took me time to understand and to even use. But even now I still haven't wrapped my head around it."

Dave explained to Seth after they came out of the town again.

"So what does it do!"

"Well, it makes someone invincible for a very short time. I was able to match and escape a dragon attack for just five seconds. There was also a time when everything seemed to freeze when a cave was collapsing and I escaped. But after those uses, the game system indicated that I unlocked the right to choose a skill suited for the Warrior."

Dave explained that he was then given a quest that caused his life many times before he was able to unlock a permanent skill. However, he wasn't able to use the skill until he obtained a special Artifact.

And without the artefact, he will not be able to create a dome where he can reverse events! And he did obtain the artefact after great hurdles.

"This is dope. You are really invincible." Seth exclaimed. "You said you match a dragon, fuck how did you fucking survive standing before one. As whenever they were dancing kilometres in the air, I always felt their pressure. Imagine when they were close!" Seth added.