THE SEARCH FOR THE ALCHEMYOUDO DRIVE

DISCLAIMER: The events herein are NOT of my own design, but rather adopted from the D rank Job titled "Aegiranger Saga: Enter Guy Stratus". So the credit for this lies goes to the originla creator of that job.


It had been a while since Zhāng had received his first ever mage class upgrade from D to C. Since then, he had gone through a fair few experiences which had helped him grow as a mage. The most recent of these were the excitement he had thoroughly enjoyed at the Fall Festival where he had to make his way through a maze set in a different dimension and the even more thrilling Halloween Pumpkin Hunt where he had faced off against the likes of angry, territorial crows, an undead crow beast, an animated scarecrow, and worst of all their leader, The Pumpkin King itself. Thankfully, he had endured those trials and even though he faced some difficulties in completing them, in the end, he had come through to the other side, victorious albeit somewhat dishevelled and worse for wear. Unfortunately, his tribulations were not yet over for soon after he got back from his excursions, he realized that the alter ego that had been slumbering inside him all this while thanks to the suppression device he had implanted in his chest so long ago had started to break free of its shackles, aka the suppressive control exerted on it by the aforementioned magic device in his chest.

Since he feared the prospect of his body being taken over by his alter ego, known to the world as Stein, Zhāng had started to search for a way to either repair the magic device or some alternative form of trying to suppress his alter ego once more. The search was long and difficult, but finally, he had managed to find a clue as to how he could force Stein back to the depths of his subconscious once more. However, the problem was that the locale where the solution to his conundrum lay was not normally accessible to the members of the public like him. Thus, he was stuck biding his time and looking out for some chance, some excuse that he could use to gain access to the location of the solution he was seeking, aka an area of Fiore which was called The Ancient Ruins. Fortunately for him, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting around, his chance finally came knocking on his door, so to speak. Recently, his progress as a mage had been recognized by the powers which ruled from on high and they had decided that it was time for him to receive his next mage class upgrade, only now it was from C to B.

However, before they could reward him with his mage class upgrade, they had wanted to see just what he was made of as a mage. So they had challenged him to demonstrate his proficiency with his chosen field of magic as well as his personal more mundane aptitudes such as intellect, insight, strategic acumen, and so on. Naturally, he had accepted the challenge since he knew this was his big chance to finally gain access to that one locale within the Ancient Ruins area. He had laid out his plan and gotten permission to enter the area in order to undertake an exploratory mission deep into the heart of the Ancient Ruins where his goal lay, waiting for him. That brings the story to the present time.

“Okay, I have got everything I need now, so it’s finally time to set out. O ye Three Fates, I humbly beseech thee, please watch over me as I undertake this endeavor.”

With that little monologue and short prayer murmured, Zhāng finally set off for the Ancient Ruins with all the equipment he needed in tow. It took a while, but he finally arrived in one piece, although somewhat tired from his efforts due to not having had time to indulge in his usual MMA exercise routine lately. Once there, he set about finding the locale he was after, namely the lost, legendary tomb which was alleged to be the resting place of Meisei  Guolao, an ancient and powerful practitioner of the obscure branch of magic known as alchemyoudo arts. Guolao’s magnum opus, a certain unique magical item known simply as the “Alchemyoudo Drive” that he had apparently invented during his glory days in the ancient past was rumored to be resting somewhere deep in this tomb, waiting for any who were bold and skilled enough to make their way to it in order to claim it for themselves.

It took a while to locate due to the area having been overrun by nature over the many centuries that had gone by till present day, but finally, Zhāng managed to uncover the entrance to the burial site referred to in the ancient documents in his possession as the Tomb of Guolao. It was located at the base of a certain mountain in the Ancient Ruins area. However, much to his dismay, he found there was a megaton boulder blocking his path further inside.

Curses…why must my luck be so dismal? Oh well…I guess this is only to be expected…after all, if I were to be laid to eternal rest, I wouldn’t want anyone bothering me either…

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OOC:

italics are character's thoughts

bolded stuff is speech

With that thought in mind, he sighed as he realized how troublesome it was truly going to be to move the boulder aside to reveal the path further inside. However, he couldn’t afford to give up now since his future sanity was depending on his success here, as was his mage class upgrade. So he took a few steps back and tried to come up with a plan to move the boulder and then put it into action. Sadly, no matter how hard he tried to exert his physical strength, he couldn’t even budge it by a few millimeters. Realizing that brute force was not going to get him his results, he stopped and composed himself in order to try again. This time, he examined the boulder and its immediate surroundings for some sort of hidden switch or some other mechanism which was presumably the means by which those who wished for entry inside could move the boulder out of their way. After a couple of hours, he noticed that the boulder face indeed had some sort of ancient script etched into it as well as what looked like a movable stone plate puzzle above said lines of ancient script.

Those who wish to enter must prove their worth…by presenting the fruit of eternal life at this sacred altar.

As he deciphered the ancient script, it revealed to him this challenge, which of course gave him pause since his thoughts began to race as his mind tried to figure out the meaning of the somewhat cryptic phrase. As he let his mind go into overdrive trying to figure out a solution to the puzzle before him, his keen eyes picked up on something else too. There were actually two medium sized, box shaped recesses set into the boulder face right below the lines of ancient script. They seemed to have evidence of what looked like soot and even faint traces of candle wax which suggested that he wasn’t the first to try to get inside the tomb.

I see, so then the words “sacred altar” must be referring to these two recesses, considering that I can see soot from something being burnt and candle wax traces on the walls of these two recesses…but what’s this “fruit of eternal life” the script mentions?…

He wondered thus, but then he remembered some interesting facts he had come across while doing doing research on the legendary alchemyouji, Meisei Guolao. Apparently, one of the several mystic powers that he had allowed him to imbue his favorite fruit, aka peaches, with the boon of immortality so that when they were consumed, they would grant the eater both eternal youth and immortality.

“Okay, so I need to light a pair of candles in these two recesses and the fruit of eternal life the script mentions presumably refers to the peaches of immortality that Master Guolao was known for, which means…”

He trailed off in his monologue to take a closer look at the stone plate puzzle to see if his suspicions were correct and sure enough, the drawings etched onto each of the stone plates seemed to depict parts of a peach. So, having figured out the puzzle, he wasted no time in lighting the two candles in the recesses and to his delight, he could move the stone plates around now and that’s exactly what he did, rearranging them to form the figure of a complete peach by moving all the parts into their proper place. For a few moments, nothing seemed to happen and he was beginning to wonder what was wrong when with a thunderous rumbling noise which caused him to jump backward several paces, the boulder rolled aside to reveal the path that led further inside the tomb.

“Splendid…my answer to the puzzle was correct and I have cleared the first hurdle. That…was marginally amusing, I wonder what other kinds of challenges I will face as I make my way inside…”

While wondering aloud in this manner, he stepped into the seemingly long passageway which was lit by magical flames at certain intervals which, in turn, cast long ominous shadows onto the walls of the passageway, but he didn’t let them deter him. He made his way inside while being vigilant and on guard for anything that looked like it could be trouble, but luckily nothing came to impede his progress for quite a while. After what seemed like several hours of rather monotonous, ceaseless walking, he finally managed to reach the entryway to some sort of giant room. In fact, the walls and ceiling of said room seemed as though they towered over his head by several meters at the very least. They seemed to be made entirely of alabaster and at certain areas along the roof and walls, he noticed some gaps each of which were several centimeters wide and many more length wise.

If all my years of watching movies and reading comics about explorers having adventures in ancient, lost tombs has taught me anything…it’s that those slits along the ceiling and walls always prove to be problematic in one way or another to any who come across them…how troublesome, indeed…

As such thoughts rose to the forefront of his mind, his thin lips slowly dipped downward into a frown while his forehead creased and his brows came together, all of which indicated his currently disgruntled feeling. Still, he couldn’t waste time on a pity party for himself since he had a definite goal in mind and a finite time limit in which to reach it. So, he shook himself out of his stupor and focused his attention back on the room and glanced about some more. Upon doing so, he noticed something else about the room, and that was the presence of several multi colored tiles on the room’s floor. More specifically, most of the central part of the floor was covered by red and black tiles while the rest of the central part had blue and yellow tiles. Strangely enough, the red and black tiles far outnumbered the blue and yellow tiles, a fact that stymied him until he noticed a rather faded etching on the wall directly behind him. As he studied it, he realized it was not something left by Master Guolao, but rather someone else.

“Red…and black…deadly jack…”

That was all he could read thus far since the flickering light of the torches that lit the room were not enough to let him read further. So, he paused and brought out a small, portable magic lamp that he had brought with him and once he turned it on, he could see the rest of the hurriedly done etching

“…blue…and yellow…friendly fellow…”

After reading that, he pondered the phrase and what it could possibly mean, but the solution didn’t immediately strike him. So, he read it over again and this time, the colors of the tiles set into the floor came to mind since those were the same colors mentioned in the phrase.

I guess this must mean…that I have to watch out for the red and black tiles since they are most likely dangerous…and somehow only step on the blue and/or the yellow ones…what a drag…

Since he didn’t want to make any foolish mistakes here due to the chance that he could end up dead, he took a few steps back and threw two of the pens in his pocket onto the floor, one onto the red tile and the other onto the black tile, both of which were closest to his position.

A few split seconds later, the pen that fell onto the red tile was somehow lifted up by some mysterious force that was as yet unknown to him and imploded on itself, leaving no trace of any kind left over. Meanwhile, the pen that fell onto the black tile bounced back up again…only to be sliced to bits by a storm of miniature razor discs which suddenly flew out of the slits in the walls on either side of the floor before getting stuck in wall directly opposite their respective firing mechanisms. Taken aback by what he just witnessed, he stepped back a few pace, albeit involuntarily with his mouth slightly open as he stared at the scene before him

“Good grief, I made the right choice in testing this area first and not just charging in…I would have met my maker today if those things had hit me even a little…”

Murmuring thus, he let out a sigh of relief that he didn’t realize he had been holding in and sank to the floor, the safe part of it, that is. That was when he noticed something intriguing on the wall at the far end of the room. So, he brought out his magic enhanced high power binoculars and took a look, trying to see what was that something on the far wall at the other end of the room. Now that he could see better, he noticed that it looked somewhat like a bronze cast of a hand print. It reminded him of those biometrics mechanisms which were quite ubiquitous in his old world, the one from which he had reincarnated into Earthland from so long ago. That led him to believe that perhaps it was connected to the defense mechanism of this room he was in at present.

So, he decided to take the risk and try to reach said mechanism by using one of his spells. He focused his mana into his right upper limb while murmuring the name of the spell he had in mind

“Here goes something, I guess…Hyper-elastic Body.”

A split second after he activated the spell, his right upper limb began to stretch downward and after a few more seconds, piled up on the floor besides him with his right hand laying atop the pile of arm coils. Then, he focused his mana some more which sent his tremendously elongated right upper limb flying all the way across the room and at the end, he was able to make contact with the bronze hand print cast long enough to activate it. The hand print glowed green for a few moments and soon after, in rapid succession, all the red and black tiles began to flip over to reveal blue and yellow tiles instead, meaning that now, he could walk over to the other side of the room without worrying about activating the room’s defense system. Therefore, he cancelled his spell and waited patiently for the floor to become safe. Once it had, he began to stroll across to the other side, visibly relaxed but yet keeping a watchful eye on the slits built into the walls on either side of him. Thankfully, nothing else eventful happened and soon, he feet carried him over to the row of tiles which were just a few paces away from the bronze hand print.

Good…with this, the second hurdle will also…

He wasn’t able to finish that though because again, his misfortune struck when he least expected it, for just as his feet landed on those aforementioned tiles, the bronze hand print began to glow red, and without warning, the floor gave way beneath him which, of course, caused him to start to fall rapidly. Naturally, even his usually calm demeanor couldn’t hold in such a situation and if anyone had been watching, they would have seen the shocked expression on his face. However, luckily for him, he was too prideful a man to let something like this beat him. With that in mind, he brought his focus back online with superhuman effort of will and glanced downward just enough to notice a spike chasm, this one so stereotypical that it had long, wickedly sharp looking spikes made of bamboo littered all over within visual range. Letting out a sigh at seeing such an irksome cliché, he turned his attention back to the ledge above and activated his body part elongation spell again which let him shoot his arms upward and grab onto the ledge just in time, for when he broke his fall, he narrowly missed getting impaled by one of the bamboo spikes, though the surrounding ones did graze enough to give him several minor bleeding wounds on the way down.

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OOC:

Zhāng’s Spells Used: Hyper-elastic Body (Signature Spell)

Status Effects in Play: HP Drain to Zhāng from D rank Bamboo Spike Trap (Bleeding Type, 5% HP drained/post)

Zhāng’s HP Left: 285/300

Zhāng’s MP Left: 300/300 (due to his spell being a signature spell which costs 0 MP)

So, he was left on a rather literal cliffhanger as he dangled from the ledge which was now looming several feet above his head. Letting out a sigh of relief at having narrowly avoided what would have been a painful death otherwise, he began to slowly reel himself back up while being careful to avoid any of the bamboo spikes as well as he could. Sadly, though he managed to avoid the worst of them, the rest still managed to graze his body again on his way back up, leading to him having several shallow bleeding cuts all over his exposed parts. That said, he did manage to make it all the way back up onto the ledge at which point, he wasted no time in climbing the stairs so he could take himself as far away from the chasm as possible. Once he made it to the next landing, he finally relaxed his guard and took a few deep breaths to calm his currently adrenaline charged body down to its normal parameters again. After that, he channelled his mana into the wounds all over his exposed body parts and then murmured the words

“Superhuman Immune Response”

With that, his chosen unique ability activated and in response, his bleeding wounds began to close one after another in rapid succession until finally he was as good as new, for all intents and purposes. After the ability deactivated, he waited for a few more moments till his body was stable again and afterwards, he got up to take a look around his new environment. Again, it was a seemingly harmless room from what he could see at a cursory glance. It was big to say the least, like the last room he was in, and although there were no strange tiles of boulder gates to worry about this time, the walls did have thick, giant pillars jutting out of them which in turn had giant stone statues standing in large recessed cavities, each standing upon the large stone plinth built into its respective recessed cavity. These ran all the way from one end of the room to the other and were positioned at equal intervals and numbered ten in total, five on each side. As he started to make his way across the room, his eyes were transfixed by the level of workmanship he saw everywhere.

“Holy Heisenberg, this room is a veritable treasure trove of superlative architecture and sculptures…It surpasses anything else I have seen on my travels thus far…Wow…”

He murmured, awestruck and lost in wonderment as his eyes took in the tremendous amount of detail all around him.

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OOC:

Zhāng’s UA Used: Superhuman Immune Response (UA for Zhāng’s Bioalchemical Arts Magic)

Status Effects Removed: HP Drain to Zhāng from D rank Bamboo Spike Trap (Bleeding Type, 5% HP drained/post)

Zhāng’s HP Left: 285/300

Zhāng’s MP Left: 280/300 (due to Superhuman Immune Response UA being used)

However, alas, it was short lived since before too long, he noticed something strange about this room as well. The line of pillars on either side of him started to glow with a blinding golden white light and moments after that, the stone statues had started to do that too. Then, they started to vibrate visibly and with thunderous footsteps that made the floor shake as though the room was experiencing a Richter 7 earthquake, the stone statues came to life and stepped off their stone plinths and onto the floor. In mere moments, they finished getting into their battle formation, standing to shoulder to shoulder in two lines, each of which was composed of five golems, leaving with no apparent way past them.

Curses…for once why can’t I simply explore and marvel at something in peace? My luck really IS the worst…

Thus, he lamented his misfortune while letting his eyes rove over the ten giant stone statues which had him trapped between them at present. However, even in the midst of his plight, his keen eyes didn’t stop taking in the details and his brain recorded all of it using his innately eidetic memory. After several moments, he was able to focus once more and noticed that the statues were actually giant stone golems each of which was armed with a giant stone war hammer the size of which was around a quarter of their height. Each golem also had what seemed to be strange runes carved into the palm of its free hand. Lastly, the golems had the signature script spelling the word “EMETH” on their foreheads.

“My my, how very entertaining…I think I will haul off some of these golems to my lab to use as guinea pigs in some of my future research…I would love to take them apart so very much…studying them would surely expand the section of my library of information which concerns ancient advanced golem manufacturing processes greatly…”

Thus, he began to get lost in his thoughts as he considered all the various, exciting investigative studies he could conduct once he had the golems in his possession. As a result, unbeknownst to him, his body started to lean toward the golems while his normally bored looking eyes now gained a predatory gaze and a unnervingly bright gleam and his hands moved forward, as if possessed of their own mind towards the golems and his fingers started to wiggle in a disconcerting manner. As if this weren’t enough, he even started to utter a disturbingly maniacal cackle like some stereotypical mad scientist. Strangely enough, this made the giant stone golems apparently unnerved and disconcerted enough to step backward a few paces. That gave him momentary pause since, normally, golems were not meant to be capable of showing responses besides whatever protocols that were programmed into them by their maker and this made him brought him back to reality. Even stranger than that, they were showing what clearly seemed to be an emotional response to his actions, a fact that intrigued him even more than he already was by them.

Well now…that’s interesting…I didn’t think mere golems could do that…This may turn out to be more fun than I first imagined, after all…

With that thought in mind, he refocused his attention on the impending battle with the golems, all the while keeping his goal of taking at least one of each type of golem back with him to his lab to use in his research. The golems which had recovered from the effects of his strange behavior from earlier now made the first move. The ones with the giant war hammers rushed at him while swinging at him with said hammers with the intent to crushing him completely. Luckily, he managed to evade four of them, but the last one ended up in his blind spot and thus succeeded in striking at him successfully. This sent him flying through the air and he was slammed against the wall directly behind him which caused him to cough up some blood and cringe visibly due to the pain from the attack as he lay in the large crater which had formed in said wall due to the impact force. Unfortunately, he wasn’t built to take attacks too well due to his overly lean physique, so despite his best mental efforts to conceal the fact he was in pain, it showed clearly on his face. In response, the golems spoke, or rather played a message that was presumably already recorded in their memory banks.

“Now that you have seen our might, you would do well to leave, intruder! If you value your life and limb, leave this place at once and never return here again!”

He grimaced while trying to fight through the pain from the damage he had taken from the attack and leaped down as gently as he could from the wall to the floor once again and upon landing, he braced himself against the wall while wiping off the stream of blood that was trickling from his mouth. Then, he looked at the golems, spat out the blood that had been collecting in his mouth, and then retorted exasperatedly, albeit not fluently due to the pain from his injuries still affecting him

“Oh p-please…this ancient tomb of Master G-Guolao…is a verit..able…treasure trove of riches…every…where I look, there are a gre…at many things which I would love to take back to…my lab to dissect, dismantle, and perform other investiga…tive experiments on in the near fut…ture to fill my mental library with…even more knowledge that it alre…ady has…so, you can…forget about trying to make me leave this gold mine!! Besi…des…I have powerful incen…tive that spurs me to push on…ward…and because of that, I won’t…let you lot…or any…thing else in this tomb stop me!!”

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OOC:

Golem Attack: C rank melee damage with giant war hammers (60 HP damage dealt to Zhāng)

Golem HP Left: 100 HP

Zhāng’s HP Left: 225/300 (due to golem’s attack)

Zhāng’s MP Left: 280/300

Upon hearing this, what seemed like derisive laughter or rather, a recording of such issue from what was presumably the mouths of the golems. Frowning as he heard this, he wiped off the blood that was trickling from one corner of his mouth and then prepared to launch his counter attack by focusing his mana into his all four of his limbs while murmuring the name of the spell he intended to use

“You all are within my range…and you can’t escape me now…so here comes…Claw & Talon Close Combat.”

In response, his forearms and hands as well as his legs and feet began to bubble and within mere moments, they morphed into ones that resembled the fore and hind limbs of a dragon with long, thick, razor sharp claws and talons on his hands and feet, respectively. His forearms and legs were now much thicker and looked much more durable as well due to the effects of the spell. With that done, he took his battle stance and then rushed at the golems, aiming a series of melee strikes at them using a combination of motions from his arms and legs. Thanks to his keen eyes, he managed to land all ten hits on the golem squadron and thus caused moderate amount of damage to them. However, he didn’t stop there, he had more in store for the offending golems. So, he moved onto the next step in his plan and focused his mana once more while murmuring

“And now, witness if you will…Needle Hair Cocoon.”

This caused his hair to experience an explosive increase in volume, length, and durability and then, as the golems watched, it spread out all around him and then was transmuted into the shape of a large translucent white dome made entirely of hair which then surrounded him completely. This dome had several large, conical sharp spikes all over it which were also made of his hair. After he set up this barrier to ward off further attacks from the golems, he proceeded onto the next part of his plan to take out the golem defense squad and focused his mana again, this time into his head while murmuring

“Next up, let me present…Head of Ankhseram and last but not least…Evil Inferno.”

This resulted in the entirety of his head bubbling and within a few seconds, it morphed into that of much older man, one who seemed to have dark skin and waist length jet black hair. Then, he inhaled deeply, causing his thorax to swell up as the surrounding air entered it. A split second afterwards, he exhaled forcefully, unleash a conical blast of hell fire at the golems which were still reeling in shock from his previous assault on them. Thus, they were caught in the giant area wide conflagration made of hell fire that was the aftermath of his “Evil Inferno” spell and suffered even more damage. After that, he powered down and waited for his flames to do their damage while also staying on full alert for whatever counterstrike the golems may have for him.

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OOC:

Zhāng’s Spells Used:
- Claw & Talon Close Combat (Normal Spell, C rank, 34 MP due to being Lost Magic, 1/7 posts used)

- Needle Hair Cocoon (Advanced Spell, C+ rank, 51 MP due to being Lost Magic, 1/8 posts used)

- Head of Ankhseram w/ Evil Inferno (Normal Spell, C rank, 30 MP Partial Take Over, 1/5 posts used)

Zhāng’s HP Left: 225/300

Zhāng’s MP Left: 165/300

Zhāng’s Barrier: 85 HP left (1/8 posts used)

Golem HP Left: 35 HP ( due to 60 HP from basic damage + 5% HP drain/post from burn effect)

Status Effects In Play:
- On Golems (DoT worth 15 HP/post + Drain, Burn Type dealing 5% HP of total HP/post)

In this manner, the battle raged on and this round, in a desperate, last ditch attempt to overpower him, the rear guard of the golems unleashed a spell to try to immobilize him.

“Activating Immobilization Protocol: Grasping Vines.”

This caused the runes on their palms to glow a golden white color and then, the vines growing on the surrounding stonework came alive and snaked towards Zhāng at relatively high speeds and pinned him against one of the room’s walls. Thus, they had him ensnared in mere moments, not because he couldn’t dodge them, but only since he didn’t bother evading due to his desire to see what the rear guard golems had up their sleeves, so to speak. He chuckled when he saw this happen and with his usual calm demeanor now regained, he didn’t panic, but rather just settled for observing what else the rearguard golems could do while also analysing the vines which now had him ensnared in their verdant embrace.

I see, perhaps this was some obscure ancient form of the more modern wood make magic…how very delightful…I can’t wait to study this some more back at my lab…maybe I can even replicate it and add it to my magic repertoire somehow…

After finishing his brief attempt at a cursory analysis of the golem’s spell, he directed his keen gaze back at the golems with the ghost of a condescending smirk now playing upon his lips and tried to taunt them to see how they would react to his stimulus.

“You really think these pathetic spells of yours can keep me down?…Why not try something else too? Go on, I will wait…so, show me your best efforts at struggling in vain against me…let’s see if you lot can entertain me even a little with these parlor tricks of yours…”

Once again, the golems reacted in a way which surprised him, for their response clearly demonstrated what seemed like a tone of indignation or so he thought when he heard them

“You will regret those insolent words, intruder!! Very well then, we will show you more of our might! Say your prayers and prepare to meet your maker!!”

This made him break out into his stereotypical mad scientist’s cackle once again since he knew he could overpower them easily due to the fact that they had presumably played every card they had in their hands at this point. However, he didn’t make his move just yet, but instead just waited to see what the golems would do next. Sure enough, the golems rushed at him again, aiming their war hammers at him with the intent to crush him. However, unfortunately for them, his barrier stopped them dead in their tracks since it was more than durable enough to take their strikes and remain standing afterwards. Then, the barrier reacted to their presence by auto firing the spikes on its surface at them in a sort of hailstorm. This counterstrike succeeded in taking out the limbs of the golems and destroying their war hammers as well. After that, the flames from his hell fire attack from the last round finally delivered the coup de grace which reduced the golems to dust, since they burned off the “E” part of the word “EMETH”, converting it to the word “METH” which was a fatal weakness of any golem.

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OOC:

Zhāng’s Spells In Play:
- Claw & Talon Close Combat (Normal Spell, C rank, 34 MP due to being Lost Magic, 2/7 posts used)

- Needle Hair Cocoon (Advanced Spell, C+ rank, 51 MP due to being Lost Magic, 2/8 posts used)

- Head of Ankhseram w/ Evil Inferno (Normal Spell, C rank, 30 MP Partial Take Over, 2/5 posts used)

Zhāng’s HP Left: 225/300

Zhāng’s MP Left: 165/300

Zhāng’s Barrier: 25/85 HP left ( from golem’s war hammer strike worth 60 HP damage, 2/8 posts used)

Golem HP Left: 0/100 (from hell fire attack’s DoT worth 15 HP + barrier’s counterstrike spike storm worth 26 HP damage)

As the golems turned to dust, their immobilization spell wore off too, freeing Zhāng from the vines which had him pinned against the wall behind him. He jumped down to the floor, cancelled all his active spells, and then walked up to the golem cores which were now laying strewn about on the floor all around him and smirked while shaking his head in disappointment

“Too bad…you were doing so well too…oh well, looks like I was too much for you to handle, after all. Now, your cores are all mine to do with as I wish.”

He said, even though he knew they couldn’t hear him any more in their present state. Then, he collected some of the cores, put them away in his backpack, and then proceeded into the next hallway which he hoped would lead him to the prize he was seeking from this tomb. However, when he arrived at the next stage, his hopes were dashed once again for this time, there was just another giant room standing before him. However, unlike the last one, this one had what looked like faded bloodstains spattered on some areas of its walls. Intrigued by this, he decided to do a preliminary examination of the room before entering. To that end, he took out some chemical light sticks which he had brought with him, activated them, and then threw them into the room in such a way that they lit it up enough for him to see his surrounding clearly.

Then, he proceeded with his examination of the room, during which he noticed several ancient looking skeletons lying about which were swaddled in what looked like standard modern Fiorean attire, albeit almost totally shredded to ribbons. The other objects that were scattered about, some in the hands of the skeletons while the rest were distributed randomly on the floor around the skeletons. These looked somewhat like modern Fiorean style archaeological equipment, which made him wonder

Could these be Fiorean archaeologists who came here before me at some point?…Poor saps…looks like they entered this tomb in search for knowledge about its origins only to have it become their own final resting place…

Then, he clasped his hands together and while kneeling in front of the skeletons; he lit a small oil lamp, laid a few flowers down at their feet, and murmured a brief prayer to them even though he knew it wouldn’t really make any practical difference for them at this point

“O great seniors of mine, you have my sincerest condolences...I shall carry your torch of knowledge onward henceforth…so may your souls rest in peace for all eternity…”

After that, he arose once more and refocused his attention onto the room that lay before him as he surmised it was the final challenge blocking his path to the prize that he sought from this lost tomb, aka the unique magical item which was said to have been crafted by Meisei Guolao himself…a device known in his legends as the “Alchemyoudo Drive”. As his keen blue gaze swept across the room, he tried to look for any signs which could help him determine the identity of the instrument(s) of the untimely demise of the archaeological team the remains of which he had found several moments earlier. After several moments, he noticed what looked like around 10 or so coffins laying in a sort of semi circle at the foot of a giant stone statue. So he threw some more of his activated chemical light sticks in that direction so that he could have just a bit more light to study the statue and the coffins clearly. The coffins looked to be Midian in origin and the statue was revealed upon close inspection to be that of Meisei Guolao, the legendary alchemist who was presumably laid to rest in the part of the tomb that lay beyond the room he was in now.

Hmm…so since there is nothing else apparent in this room…could whatever is it that killed all those archaeologists be contained in those coffins?…If so, I better be careful in my approach lest the same sordid fate befall me…

He wondered as he walked slowly towards the coffins, making sure to keep his senses on full alert for any signs of trouble. Sure enough, once he got within a couple meters of the coffins, the lids opened up and somehow were made to stand erect. After that, the lids of the 10 coffins swung open to reveal what seemed like a squadron of mummified Midian samurai and ninja. Zhāng stood spellbound, as he watched the scene unfold before him, but managed to snap out of his awestruck stupor before too long. Then, he tried to approach the mummies slowly, but before he could achieve that end, steam started to come out of the coffins and the mummies therein. So, he stepped back and readied himself for the impending confrontation after which he observed the mummies closely in an attempt to glean whatever information he could before heading into battle against them. As he watched, the mummies seemed to regain their former color, albeit with a greyish tint to it now. They also regained some degree of the definition which their bodies presumably had whilst they were alive so long ago. Finally, each unit in the squad opened their eyes, revealing black sclerae and bright golden yellow, round shaped pupils.

Each unit was armed to the teeth with what looked like ancient Midian weaponry and armor and small wisps of what looked like purple and emerald green smoke was issuing from their mouths, only to dissipate shortly afterwards. The 10 undead warriors then stepped out of their coffins and started to amble towards him at a snail’s pace, with their arms and hands held outward and with ominous groans issuing from their slightly open mouths. As he looked closer at the weapons the warriors held in their hands, Zhāng noticed faded bloodstains on them as well, thus confirming his suspicions about what had killed off those archaeologists so long ago.

“Looks like my theory was correct, but what a royal pain these will be…still, according to the map, this should be the final challenge in my path, so if I can get through this, I will have reached my goal in coming here. Maybe I should save a couple of these warriors from my onslaught and then capture them in order to take them back to my lab for analysis…they might give me some clues about the legendary form of necromancy which Master Guolao was said to wield as part of his magical repertoire…”

Murmuring thus, with a smug smirk playing on his thin lips, he waited to see what the undead warriors would do once they got within range of his position. After what seemed like a couple of hours, the undead warriors at the front of the pack rushed at him, each preparing its katana to attack him. Their attack came in the form of a flurry of slashes but before they could reach him, he managed to activate his barrier spell by murmuring its name

“Here goes…Needle Hair Cocoon.”

Luckily for him, these undead warriors seemed to be set to the same difficulty level as the golems he had faced earlier, or so he thought since his barrier managed to stop their attack completely and was still standing afterwards, albeit with several cracks now apparent in its surface.

Okay good, so far I seem to be doing fine against them…now for the counterstrike…

As if on cue, the barrier then began firing the spikes on its surface in a hailstorm towards the undead warriors in the enemy’s vanguard. Thanks to the slow movement and reflexes of the warriors, the spikes hit their mark successfully, causing major damage to most, and even destroying some others outright.

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OOC:
Zhāng’s HP: 225/300

Zhāng’s MP: 165/300

Zhāng’s Spells In Play:
- Needle Hair Cocoon ( Advanced Spell, C+ rank, 51 MP due to being Lost Magic, 1/8 posts used

Zhāng’s Barrier: 25/85 HP left (from mummy warrior sword slashes worth 60 HP damage, 1/8 posts used)

Mummy Warrior Squad HP Left: 74/100 (from Zhāng’s barrier’s counterstrike spike storm worth 26 HP damage)

Zhāng’s HP: 225/300 (due to failure of mummy warrior attack since barrier blocked their strikes)

Zhāng’s MP: 114/300 (from using the Needle Hair Cocoon barrier spell worth 51 MP, advanced type, Lost Magic)

He waited for the dust to settle and after it had, only a couple of the enemy vanguard were left while the entire enemy rearguard was still standing intact since the vanguard had shielded them from harm. These rearguard undead were what he was most concerned about since they were the ones with the ominous looking greenish purple smoke issuing from their rotten mouths.

That doesn’t look too safe…I had better keep my distance from these rearguard mummies…

As he watched and made a mental note of the ominous looking smoke from their mouths, the undead warriors marched forth and once they were within range, without any preamble, they spewed forth a giant cloud of that same greenish purple smoke towards him. The smoke cloud was surprisingly quick in moving towards and engulfing him and so, he got caught in it, much to his chagrin. Although he didn’t know what the smoke did exactly, he had a suspicion that it wasn’t something to be taken lightly and that led him to try holding his breath for as long as was possible. Sadly, his powers were not developed enough to let him succeed since eventually his respiratory drive kicked in and he was forced to take a breath again whilst still in the smoke cloud. Immediately, he started coughing rather violently and patches of greenish purple discoloration started to appear on his otherwise pale skin. At this point, since his suspicions about the smoke were confirmed, he attempted to jump back as far as possible and somehow managed to land safely with several meters of distance between him and the undead warriors.

As soon as he did though, he collapsed onto all fours and then started to cough up blood and his whole body started to have painful aches.

I see..damn, I didn’t think something as dangerous as this would be down here…but I suppose with ancient tombs, this is..always to be expected…must maintain a grip…on my conscious mind…

He lamented his fate thus, and tried his best to maintain his consciousness by keeping his mental gears whirring, but unfortunately, the strain caused by the smoke was beginning to take its toll on his body and especially his mind. However, he didn’t want to fall unconscious since that would leave him vulnerable to whatever other tricks the undead warriors had in their repertoire. That said, his stamina was being drained slowly but surely, leaving him unable to sit up by himself. So, he braced himself against the wall behind him and tried to marshal his resources to activate his UA from earlier. Alas, the effort was too much and it made him cough up even more blood and led to the appearance of even more patch of greenish purple discoloration on other parts of his skin. At least his barrier didn’t break down yet so, he was thankful for that ray of hope amidst the otherwise grim looking situation, especially since another spike storm reduced the mummy warriors health some more while he was recovering from their poison gas.

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OOC:
Zhāng’s Spells In Play:
- Needle Hair Cocoon (Advanced Spell, C+ rank, 51 MP due to being Lost Magic, 2/8 posts used

Zhāng’s Barrier: 25/85 HP left (2/8 turns used)

Mummy Warrior’s Special Skill: Poison Gas Stream (5% of enemy HP & MP drained/post, 1/3 posts used)

Zhāng’s HP: 214/300 (due to Mummy Warrior Squad’s Poison Gas Stream Skill)

Zhāng’s MP: 109/300 (due to Mummy Warrior Squad’s Poison Gas Stream Skill)

Mummy Warrior Squad HP Left: 48/100 (from Zhāng’s barrier’s counterstrike spike storm worth 26 HP damage)

Thankfully, the mummy warriors seemed to go on some sort of short cooldown after they used that poison gas of theirs, so for the time being at least, he seemed to be safe. So, after resting up a bit, he decided to once again try his luck at activating his UA.

“…Okay, come on…focus…Superhuman…Immune…Response…”

This time, he was successful and his immune system boosting UA did activate, and once it did, his body went to work, purging itself of the toxins which had been building up in it till now. Sadly this UA of his didn’t have any actual healing ability, so he couldn’t repair the damage that had been done to his internal organs and other body structures in the earlier skirmish with the mummies.

I really should…invest in creating some actual…healing spells henceforth…it would make this kind of venture much easier to deal with…oh well…can’t do…anything about that now, I guess…

He mused, but then since he still had to resolve the situation at hand, aka the problem posed by the mummy warriors, he forced his mind back under his control with another superhuman effort of will, even though this exertion of mental energy caused him a splitting headache. Now that his presence of mind was back somewhat, his barrier spell made its counterstrike against the mummies once again, causing a hailstorm of spikes from its surface to rain down upon the mummy warriors. This time, it took out a few more of the mummies, thus making his job a bit easier to do, but in the process, it left quite a few miniature craters in the roof, floor, and walls of the room. However, he set aside that issue for now and refocused his attention on making a plan to finally get rid of the mummies which were blocking the path to his prize.

Let’s see…I could start out with my Claw & Talon spell…that should at least shake them up a bit, and then to finish up I could go with my Take Over…yeah, that will work just fine…

With that plan in mind, he rose to his feet while fighting through the pain he was experiencing from his injuries and then cancelled his barrier spell. Then, he channelled his mana into his limbs once more while murmuring

“First comes…Claw and Talon Close Combat.”

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OOC:
Status Effects Removed: Mummy Warrior’s Poison Gas Stream

Zhāng’s HP: 214/300

Zhāng’s Spells In Play:
- Claw & Talon Close Combat (Normal Spell, C rank, 34 MP due to being Lost Magic, 1/7 posts used)

Zhāng’s MP: 45/300 (due to his Superhuman Immune Response UA & his Claw & Talon Close Combat spell)

Mummy Warrior Squad HP Left: 22/100 (from Zhāng’s barrier’s counterstrike spike storm worth 26 HP damage)

This caused all four of his limbs to undergo the same rather grotesque transmutation as they had before, ending with large, thick, and razor sharp dragon claws being formed from his finger and toenails. Then, he rushed at the mummy warriors, attacking them with a series of melee strikes such as jabs, axe kicks, knife hand attacks, and spinning kicks. Thanks to the high speed of his attack combined with the slow reflexes of the mummy warriors, most of his strikes against them landed successfully, destroying most of them completely. There were a few stragglers of the squad remaining, so he went on to the next part of his plan to get rid of them. He refocused his mana into his head while murmuring the name of the next spell

“Finally, here comes…Head of Ankhseram..and then, Evil Inferno.”

Once again, as before his head morphed into that of the Underworld King, Ankhseram and again, as before, he aimed his Evil Inferno at the mummy warriors who were left. The stream of hell-fire that issue from his mouth enveloped the mummy warriors in a massive conflagration which started to burn them alive. After setting this up, he laid back down against the wall and started to watch the scene unfold, letting his magic do the rest of the work for him. The scorching flames made quick work of the remaining mummies and before long, all that was left was just one of the mummies while the rest had been turned to smoking piles of ash. This remaining one he captured in a special sealing orb he had brought with him and then, he put it away in his backpack, intending to take it back with him to his lab.

At last, it’s over…my prize awaits…

Excited by this thought, he made his way to the hallway leading out of the room and onto the innermost sanctum of the tomb. There, he found the object of his trip sitting atop an alabaster pedestal, a sight that brought a smirk to his face. However, before he could proceed, a blinding white light shone upon him and soon, the light took the shape of an ethereal looking entity, which had the likeness of Meisei Guolao himself. He congratulated Zhāng for making it successfully to the tomb’s innermost sanctum, and then questioned him regarding his intentions in coming and taking on the trials the tomb had within it.

I commend you for your bravery, knowledge, and magical prowess which have allowed you to make it this far into my tomb…now tell me, why have you come here, young one?


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OOC:
Zhāng’s Spells Used:
- Claw & Talon Close Combat (Normal Spell, C rank, 34 MP due to being Lost Magic, 2/7 posts used)

- Head of Ankhseram w/ Evil Inferno (Normal Spell, C rank, 30 MP Partial Take Over, 1/5 posts used)

Mummy Warrior Squad’s HP Left: 0/100 (due to Claw & Talon spell + Evil Inferno)

Zhāng’s HP Left: 214/300

Zhāng’s MP Left: 15/300 (due to Head of Ankhseram Partial Takeover being used)

To that, Zhāng replied while kneeling down before the spirit of his role model and idol

“Master Guolao, thank you for your praise, I am Zhāng Faustein, and I have come here seeking your magnum opus, the Alchemyoudo Drive, for in it lies my salvation. Please, I beseech you, grant unto me this gift and I shall be eternally grateful to you. I also promise to carry your work forward and build upon it as best I can with every talent that I have at my disposal.”

After that, he fell silent, wondering what Master Guolao’s response would be, and fortunately, he acquiesced to Zhāng’s request and handed the magic item he wished for to him. Then, he sent him on his way after gifting him with a scroll containing the secrets of both the Alchemyoudo Drive and his special Requip magic as well in recognition of his efforts in clearing the challenges of the tomb. On his way back, tired though he was from all the intense mental, physical, and magical exertion he had to do till now to clear the tomb challenges, he couldn’t help but marvel at the ingenuity of the legendary alchemist Meisei Guolao

“That was quite the difficult, but yet rewarding challenge, I must say…I wish I could stay and study the architecture and other secrets this tomb has to offer, they really are superlative in every regard…."

However, he had to return and report to his superiors about his adventures in the tomb so that he could receive his mage class upgrade, so with a dejected sigh, he made his way out of the tomb, though he walked slowly all the way to the entrance because he didn’t want to exacerbate the severity of his injuries any more. Once out, he made his way out of the Ancient Ruins area and somehow managed to eventually make it all the way back to Magnolia without collapsing again despite his injuries. After returning, he headed to his abode, refreshed himself with a nice hot bath and a hearty meal as well as a nice cold drink, and then got some much needed rest. After waking up, he prepared his lab, performed the implantation procedure for the Alchemyoudo Drive which led to it resting in the center of his chest and once again bringing his alter ego back under some semblance of control. Once this was done, he exited his abode once more, and headed off to report to his superiors, expecting that he would get the class up from C to B since it took nearly all he had to clear the challenges of the Master Meisei Guolao’s lost, ancient tomb.