Chương 186: Chapter 180

'This doesn't make sense,' Sam thought with a frown on his face as he read and reread the text on the screen that popped up in front of them. Naturally, he didn't say it, but he clearly 'knew' how this Valley of Distortion would go. This one, as the first one, was pretty well documented and studied by the scholars of the game. Thus, the other Sam also had access to the stories and information about it. Three layers.

First four fractures, then six, and finally twelve in the third, with a thirteenth one containing the final boss. Though, he should have expected this because nobody had said anything about the void-like person-thing who gave them the quest to go through all the fractures. Still, it was mighty suspicious that there were only four of them. The theme was pretty on the nose, but just to make sure, he quickly jogged over to the others to take a peek at their screen, too.

The rest of the team followed him, silent and confused. From the east, he went to the south portal. [One last summer burn] [The summer burns hot, yet warmth permeates everything with leisure and serenity. It's time to shed our feathers and grow new ones.] Then another quick hop and skip and they were at the west one. [The herald of fall] [Darkness stalks dusk, hiding behind clouds and storms. Let the song of the raindrops wash away your troubles!] And finally, to the north one, with the team following him like confused ducklings. [Patience of winter] [Snow provides comfort and chilling danger, but as long as you are patient and careful, only joy and merry will your life be!] He stopped and took in all the screens together, then turned to the others.

"We'll start with this one," he declared, to the surprise of the others.

"But…why?" Isabella asked, her wood spirit perched on her shoulder, cutely observing everything around them. Sam blinked in surprise, then looked at the others.

"You don't know?" Dan looked back and shook his head.

"Obviously we're missing something…" Clarissa also did this, but Katie was smiling.

"I know! I know!" she exclaimed as she weaved her hand in the air like an overexcited schoolgirl.

"Yes?"

"The four animals, right?"

"Exactly! The four cardinal animals. North, turtle, and water," he began explaining pointing at the nearby portal. Then continued by pointing at each corresponding portal.

"West, tiger, and metal. South, bird or phoenix, and fire. Finally, in the east, we have the dragon and wood element."

"Oh…"

"So, four bosses…" Sam took a thoughtful look at the portal, then shook his head a little.

"I think it's a little more complicated than that. But I can't tell more without going in…"

"Turtle seems a good starting point…" The fracture was pretty simple. A snow-covered mountain ridge made up of seven mountains, with a small flat valley in the middle. The only thing that was moving in the entire area was a river flowing down from one of the mountains ending in a waterfall that terminated in a medium-sized lake with a small pile of rocks in the middle of it. Nothing moved, not even the wind blew through the valley.

Sam mimed silence and began slowly tracking down the small path that appeared in front of them. It took them around half an hour to clamber down the side of the mountain and reach the lake. By the time they reached it, it turned out the pile of rocks they saw was actually the shell of a giant black turtle. The mythical beast was the size of a small car, but nothing that would seem threatening.

Before they could even think about what to do with the sleeping beast, the turtle shook itself, and they found themselves in the focus of two small black eyes. Then the eyes turned to a rainbow color, which within moments spread to the entire body until it covered everything.

"Get back!" Sam yelled while jumping back as the turtle began to grow big enough that the small lake it called its home looked more like a puddle that one wouldn't even notice. In the end, Sam looked up at a giant black turtle the size of a small commercial building with malevolent rainbow eyes, and couldn't help but curse.

'Ugh, I bet this is the system's doing…' he grumbled to himself, then he spoke to his team, his eyes not leaving the beast that seemed to be familiarizing itself with its new size.

"Go for the soft parts. Try not to hit the shell. With our luck, it reflects attacks." Katie slowly lowered her greatsword with a sheepish look on her face. Sam gave her a nod, glad she was finally learning to hold in her impulsiveness. Then the black turtle roared, and they were washed away by a tidal wave. Sam moved his wet hair out of his face, breathing heavily as he watched the damned turtle finally flop to the ground and let out a final breath.

Clarissa was behind him, on her back, lying on the muddy ground, the pristine snow nowhere to be seen, uncaring of the dirtiness. Her eyes were closed and the soft movement of her chest was the only indication that she was still alive. Lucky was doing his best to shake off the mud, splattering all of them with great enthusiasm. Dan was currently trying to climb out from under a pile of rocks as poor Hawky tried to help him rather ineffectively.

Isabella and Katie were helping each other up from the ground, with Melody landing elegantly on the corpse and letting out a triumphant honk. Naturally, Puffball was lazily sunbathing on a flat rock, illuminated by a very visible sunray. Sable simply returned to her original form and was patiently waiting behind her mistress. It was a very muddy fight. Thankfully, in the end, they managed to bring down the monster.

His mana was almost empty, all of his Mana Shield layers destroyed, and honestly, he was feeling like someone wrung him out like an old dishrag. The defenses of this mythical beast were beyond anything that they so far had fought.

'Still…the level-ups will be pretty nice…' he mused as he began slowly shambling toward the corpse of the beast while hitting himself and the others with his Clean spell. Gathered before the corpse, they watched in silence, licking their wounds as it shone with dull rainbow light and deflated to its original size, though luckily still dead.

"Wonder what it will drop…" Dan muttered as he brushed even more dust off his clothing. The turtle chose this moment to turn into a transparent ghost of itself, gave the team a long look, and then flew away into the sky. They stared after the ghost for a moment, then back at the ground where several items were shining. The first one was a small necklace with a turtle made from obsidian on it. [Obsidian turtle necklace: An obsidian necklace made in the shape of the Turtle of the North. Grants its wearer 0, 5% extra defense per their actual level. Has additional effects.] It went to Katie, who was always in the middle of the biggest fights. Over a long time, this would make her ability to survive much stronger. The second was a skillbook. It had a black cover with a bronze turtle emblazoned on it. [Turtle Shell Shield: Level 0/25 (0%) (Active) While casting it you are immobilized, but for five seconds you are surrounded by an extremely strong shell of magic in the shape of a turtle shell. Duration increases by 0, 2 seconds for each skill level.] After a rough series of rock-paper-scissors, it went to Clarissa to improve her survivability. The last item was a small obsidian container, the material so thin that it was see-through. Inside, they could see some kind of liquid sloshing around. [Drops of the Winter Dew: A water containing the longevity of the Turtle of North. If used to water plants, it would increase their vitality and endurance.]"A little on the nose…"

Sam mused out loud as he tossed the small bottle to Clarissa.

"Make sure the tree gets this…" The healer cradled the probably invaluable liquid in her hands while Melody stood next to her with a puffed-up chest, looking around and acting like a bodyguard. Sam knew that it could be used for hundreds of different things, or simply sold to the highest bidder, but he knew a hint when he saw one. They had already collected so much loot that it will make several guilds insanely jealous. It was probably the system's gentle way of telling them that there was a line.

If they wouldn't heed the hint, then probably a lost dove would swoop down and knock the bottle out of their hands or something equally silly would happen. Upon their exit from the first of the four fractures, they immediately noticed a change in the tree. It grew enormously, the trunk widening and the crown growing big enough that its shadow covered some of their tents. And on one of its branches was one faceted fruit the color of the blackest night.

After a quick celebration of the first fruit, then they went to their tents to properly clean their armor, as even with Sam's overpowered Clean spell, they needed to change some pieces.

"What's the next one?"

"Well, we did the water-slash-winter one, so how about the summer one?"

"Makes as much sense as anything in this cursed place…" They entered the south portal, only to be met by the heat of a late summer afternoon. The sun was blasting them with life-giving rays, immediately causing perspiration to appear on their skin. Another valley stretched before them, but instead of silent winter snow, it was full of green and the sounds of a lively forest plus a chorus of cicadas were also somewhere, singing their oft-irritating song.

They found their target on a cliff jutting out from one of the mountainsides. On the tip was a vermillion phoenix perching on a small tree and watching over the valley, much like a lord would look over his subjects. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. The moment they stepped forward, even from a distance, they could see the phoenix look up and focus on them.

It raised its head and let out a haunting cry and the world quieted – except for the cicadas – and the heat grew from a pleasant experience to feeling like standing on bare concrete in the middle of the day. Grumbling about the heat and needling Dan about finding weather-controlling magic, they began their short trek into the valley. Only for the phoenix to let out another cry, grow to a gigantic size just like the turtle, and shoot off toward them, vermillion fire trailing behind it.

"It burned my hair off!"

"There are hair growth potions…"

"It ruined my hair! My hair!"

"I'll pay for an appointment at the salon for you…" Sam muttered as he tried to motivate Isabella to stand up after she fell dramatically to the ground to mourn her precious hair. Sable, the loyal familiar, was next to her and patting Isabella on the shoulder. Sam ignored her for a moment and took a long look around the valley. The silence permeating the area was only broken by the slight sizzling, as the phoenix had burned everything to ashes. Or Dan… It was hard to differentiate.

Lucky and Melody were next to the bladedancer, whining and mournfully honking as they inspected their fur and feathers after the fight. Hawky was currently eating a mouthful of vermillion fire that was still burning on a stump. Puffball was playing with a ball of yarn that somehow wasn't catching on fire. Dan was reading over several system screens, as he was once again called upon to match the enemy's fire with his own. No doubt, he gained a lot thanks to the fight.

Clarissa and Katie were simply sitting next to each other, supporting each other from falling over. Even the usually hyper girl was tired out by the boss fight. Sam walked forward to the pile of ash that the phoenix turned into, but before he could start collecting it for future use, the ash turned into a red light, which in turn transformed into the shape of the phoenix that they had just fought. Instead of a haunting cry, it let out a trill of joy, and vanished into the sky, leaving behind the loot.

He reached down and picked up a small necklace in the shape of the beast. [Ruby phoenix necklace: A ruby necklace made in the shape of the Phoenix of the South. Grants its wearer a 0, 5% increase in magical fire damage per their actual level. Has additional effects.] Without even thinking he threw the necklace at Dan, who fumbled a little, but soon was jumping around in joy. The next item was another skillbook. [Dance of the Vermillion Summer: Level 0/25 (0%) (Active) The dance of rest and relaxation. The dance of heat and sweltering summer. When using this skill, your allies gain health and stamina regeneration and whilst the health and stamina regeneration of your enemies decreases.] The book went to Isabella, who, upon reading the title, suddenly forgot about her missing hair and instantly learned the skill and went to brag to Katie about it. The last item was a small satchel filled with ashes. [Ashes of the Summer Harvest: Ashes containing the life and vitality of summer harvests. Mixing with the soil around a plant would increase its growth rate and decrease the chance of disease.]'Well that makes it a pattern…' Sam mused as he began herding his team toward the exit portal.

'One skill and item for everybody, and something that would make the Tree of Rewards better…' The tree had grown even more, the crown resplendent with thousands upon thousands of crystalline leaves, and one freshly grown blood-red fruit. Sam spent a little time with Clarissa mixing the ash into the soil around the tree's roots, and by the time he turned back to the camp, Isabella was back with her hair long again.

"You had a hair growth potion with you, huh?" he asked with a chuckle as he took a seat near the girl.

"Of course! Never go anywhere without it! What if I want to change my style? What if I'm invited to a deathmatch and I want to look fabulous?" Sometimes, Sam forgot that Isabella was almost as weird as Katie. He chatted with them for a few minutes, but soon it was time to log off. He made sure to give some reward snacks to Lucky and returned to his own tent.

In the real world, he made sure to exercise, spend some time keeping his home clean and orderly, or at least not looking like a cloth bomb had exploded, did a little grocery shopping, and spent some time with things that weren't related to the game. Mostly making sure he was up to date with his bills and that his taxes were properly paid. He did not want to give his enemies a chance to go after him.

Then a quick jaunt through the Shadowland, answering messages, dispensing nuggets of information, and collecting information about what people were looking for. It was mostly about the Valley of Distortions. Though, as usual, there were requests for cheap gold, easy gold-making opportunities, and all sorts of random questions.

'Why the hell do they need to know where to get troll lingerie?' Sam stared aghast at the question, then with a trembling, but definitely curious, hand he moved his mouse over it and clicked on the question. He needed to know… They returned to the game refreshed and raring to go. They had two more fractures to do and all of them were kinda over it, so they wanted to finish it fast. Sam approached the west portal, glanced at his friends, who nodded at him, then stepped forward into the swirling chaos.

Once again, they appeared in a valley. It was filled to the brim with tall trees, all of their crowns colored yellow, orange, red, and brown, with a few green spots here and there. The underbrush was also similarly colored, casting the entire valley in fall colors. The environment was also filled with the sounds of animals doing animal things as they lived their life.

"This is the tiger, right?" Katie asked as they overlooked the valley.

"The White Tiger of the West, yes," Sam answered.

"Cool. Where is it?"

"Probably in the forest, hunting…" They watched as a few birds flew up in a group, letting out distressed calls in a distant spot.

"Well, we have a starting point…" As it turned out, they didn't need to look far for the white tiger, as it found them first. It leaped at them from up high, trying to crush them with its wicked claws and powerful muscles. Surprisingly, this mythical beast didn't grow gigantic. Instead, when its eyes began to glow with rainbow color its speed rose, becoming nothing more than a blur. Still, its white and black striped body was still visible long enough that they could admire its majestic form.

CLANG Katie was thrown away as she managed to block a claw attack with her greatsword. CRASH She flew through a tree, breaking it into splinters, and landed on the ground, rolling a few times. The berserker instantly jumped, yellow sparks flying off her, seemingly in synchrony with her excitement.

"Hell yeah! Let's do thiiiiiiiis!" she exclaimed as she charged forward, her sword raised high.

"Maaan, we really need to stop destroying the local environment…" Sam groaned as he looked around at the devastation they created during the fight. Almost half of the forest was demolished during the high-speed chase that the fight turned into halfway through as the mythical tiger realized it had a very low chance of winning. Still, now the monster's corpse lay before them, as they tried to pick out leaves and sticks from their hair.

As with the other ones, the corpse glowed for a second then transformed into a white ghost that vanished with extreme speed. Collecting the loot after that was just a simple formality. [Jade tiger necklace: A jade necklace made in the shape of the Tiger of the West. Grants its wearer a 0, 5% increase in attack speed per their actual level. Has additional effects.] After a brief discussion, the necklace went to Isabella as Sam felt it would be better for her build.

He was already fast enough with the help of wind magic. Then came the skillbook. [Claw of the Tiger: Level 0/25 (0%) (Active) A strike in the style of a tiger. Strong, fast, and comes out of nowhere. Counts as a surprise attack. Can be performed with any weapon. Upon activation of the skill, it grants the user 5 seconds of stealth, which is canceled when the user attacks. Duration increases by 0, 2 seconds for each skill level.] The skill was handed over to a basically vibrating Katie, who instantly learned it and began practicing it on the poor surviving trees. The last item was another plant supplement. [Mulch of Falls of Past: Mulch made from carefully selected leaves, only containing the first leaves that fell from a tree. Grants increased weather resistance to any plant it is used on.] Not very interesting, but he knew that even if the description sounded simple, it was an incredibly potent material.

Sadly, it would be used on the Tree of Rewards. The Tree of Rewards didn't grow much, but there was another new fruit, this time a white one. They spent a little time doing maintenance on their equipment and simply resting.

"The dragon is the last one, right?" Clarissa asked as she did her usual gardening, making sure her plant experiments were doing okay – and not trying to start a revolution – while also adding the new material to their crystalline tree.

"Maybe…" Sam answered leisurely, eyes closed, facing the sun.

"The four cardinal beasts are usually grouped with a fifth beast. The yellow dragon."

"Two dragons? How redundant…"

"They do like their dragons, don't they…" The last valley was filled with spring flowers, creating a picturesque view from where they arrived. And on the other side of the valley, in an exquisitely built pagoda, was the curled form of a long dragon. The horn on its head was visible from afar, as it was seemingly made of blue sapphire.

"Let's go bonk that dragon and go home… I've had enough of these fractures…" Clarissa declared as she strode forward, her staff held aloft. The rest shared a look and followed the irate healer. The dragon, naturally, noticed their presence and lazily unfurled from its sleeping position, revealing its impressive length and causing Sam to hold back several inappropriate jokes. Though, as he glanced at Dan, he wasn't alone.

A gentle spring breeze flew through the valley, bringing with it the smell of thousands of flowers in bloom. For a long moment, nothing was happening. They stood there, in formation, staring at the hovering azure dragon with the sapphire horns. Then a flash of lightning, followed by a bang and Sam had to react fast to raise a wall of earth between them and the dragon that just fired a beam of pure electricity at them.

"I'll handle the magic! You guys take it down!" he yelled as he readied his own magic, ready to redirect or protect against further strikes. Thankfully, after the first lightning strike, the dragon mostly used earth and wood-type attacks. It hurled rocks and the ground at them, leaving holes in the previously pristine field. It even used the petals from all the destroyed flowers as projectiles to pelt the team with. However, it turned the petals with magic into a hardened substance similar to throwing stars.

He countered that with his own wind magic, either redirecting projectiles or cutting them into small enough pieces that they could ignore them or use shields to absorb them. But finally, they brought it down.

'Pity it'll vanish… that sapphire horn would look good on the wall…' Sam thought as he watched the heavily damaged corpse of the mythical beast transform into an azure-colored spirit that flew away after letting out an echoing roar. And in the dust, as expected, was the loot. One sapphire necklace, a skillbook, and one scale, presumably from the dragon. [Sapphire dragon necklace: A sapphire necklace made in the shape of the Dragon of the East. Grants its wearer a 0, 5% increase in buff effect per their actual level. Has additional effects.] Without a question, it went to Clarissa, who immediately put it on and began dragging Katie away for a little testing. The skill book was pretty interesting. [Dragonfire: Level 0/25 (0%) (Active) Conjure fire strong enough that dragons wouldn't laugh at you.] It went to Dan, who learned it with gusto, vowing to research every little detail of the spell. The last item was the scale.

Sam picked it up and turned it over in his hand. It was azure with a metallic tint and practically sang to his mana senses it was so full of mana. Mana that reminded him of the dragon they had just fought. [Juvenile Dragon Reverse Scale: The reverse scale of a young dragon. They often keep them, and then feed it to their young to jumpstart the growth of new and stronger scales. Can be absorbed by anyone with dragon-level mana control.] Sam raised an eyebrow, but instead of saying anything, simply held the scale, closed his eyes, and began channeling mana toward the small scale. He surrounded the small piece of material, probing it from every side until he found purchase and broke the 'shell' of the scale. Instantly, mana surged forth from the scale, straight through the connection he had established with his own mana.

He was surprised for a second, but then he took control of himself and began circulating the new mana through his body using his old and trusty method. Soon the mana coming from the scale exhausted itself, and he was left holding nothing but blue dust that was soon blown away by the spring breeze that had slowly returned to the valley. He opened his eyes to see the rest of the team sitting around him, chatting, clearly waiting for him to finish.

Before he could declare it a success, he had to check his notifications. He ignored the level-ups and everything else and went for only the latest one. [Congratulations! You successfully absorbed the Juvenile Dragon Reverse Scale!] [The Juvenile Dragon Reverse Scale was found to be compatible with your Mana Shield skill!] [Mana Shield has transformed into Mana Scales!] [Mana Scales: Level 100 (1%) (Active/Passive) Using mana, you can form a shell around yourself, made up of tiny scales. This increases your defenses and decreases the damage you take. Damage decrease depends on the amount of mana invested. For every unit of Mana invested in the spell, the shield will protect you from 0, 2 damage per level (Current amount: 20). Grants a slight passive increase of defenses.] With a laugh, he quickly sent the skill description to the others and began an awkward but energetic dance to celebrate the new skill. Soon, the others joined him and laughter filled the valley.

They left the last fractal in a great mood and eagerly looking forward to their rewards. The tree that had painstakingly grown and been fed an unspeakable amount of precious ingredients was sporting an azure-colored fruit, and with that, the set was complete. Carefully approaching the tree, they looked up, wondering what the next step would be. But before that, they turned around for a last time and watched as the last remnants of the dimensional energies swirled around and rose into the sky, vanishing in seconds.

[You completed the quest: Volatile Valley!] With the valley free from the dimensional energies, they returned – for the final time – their attention to the tree. Only to see the void-like being that had greeted them upon arrival. It was leaning at the tree and softly clapping.

"Good job! You didn't die," it said in a deadpan manner.

"Thank you," replied Sam calmly. The being's head turned to the tree and back at them.

"I believe a reward is in order." Then it knocked into the tree with its elbow, or rather the elbow-shaped void which caused the tree to shake a little. Then, before their eyes, a fifth fruit was formed alongside the rest of the colorful bunch.

"There, that should suffice. Now excuse me, I have better things to do. See you never." Then it vanished just as mysteriously as it appeared leaving them with the tree and its fruits. Sam stepped forward and placed his hand on the tree and channeled a little mana into it. The fruits shook and then fell to the ground one by one, leaving the tree bereft of any produce. Which, in turn, started a chain reaction.

First, the leaves started to curl up, then the branches began to turn into smoke, until the entire tree vanished into the air from the top to bottom, leaving them with a hole in the ground and five fruits radiating mystery.