Seri Pahang Heart (Enchantment Item)
The heart of Seri Pahang has been preserved via powerful occult rituals. The heart can be utilized in magical rituals and to empower enchantments related to the creatures nature.
That was it. Not a lot of information at all, no indication of cost or price or anything else. It drove him nuts, and Arthur knew there was nothing to be done till he managed to make it to an Administrative center and have them make use of it. He might, perhaps, be able to buy something to store it away but chances were, he would be better off getting the damn Tower to build him something with it.
Of course, it would help if he could recall more details about Seri Pahang. He knew it was a sea creature, Malaysia's version of the loch ness monster. Which, if he really thought of it, would be a rather sad thing. Also, incongruous since there were no large lakes around here, but again.
Magical Tower.
More importantly, he could not recall any of its special abilities. Some control of water, of course, large size. Ability to breathe underwater maybe? Not particularly useful abilities, though... well. Playing Giant Man might be fun. As they said, size had a quality of its own.
In the meantime, as he mused about the potential new magical equipment he might have, Arthur had his backpack on as he traversed the inside of the pyramid. Rather than going around and tripping even more monsters, he figured he might as well go in the direction he knew. More importantly, it gave him a chance to double-check the altar and surroundings for any additional magical or enchanted equipment.
To little surprise, there was nothing. Not at all unusual considering this was still a Beginner Tower. Finding even this heart was a stroke of pure luck, considering he would never found this location if he hadn't been struck off the trail by the babi ngepit. He'd have to thank the creature if he saw it again, preferably with the pointed end of his spear. Repeatedly and vigorously.
Exiting the other end of the pyramid, Arthur scanned the surroundings. The sun had nearly fully set by now, leaving him to stare at a gloomy, shadowed set of ruins. A sudden ill feeling poured through him, causing the hairs at the back of his neck to stand up and he realised he had no desire to journey through the ruins in the dark.
On the other hand, as the sun set, the bats within the pyramid were waking and he had no desire to deal with them either.
"There..." No sooner had he spotted it that he jogged over, scanning the surroundings for trouble. Nothing attacked him before he reached the sloped edge, half-tumbled down building. The roof had come down at an angle leaving him with cover on three sides and a sloped roof, though nothing to block entry.
Nothing for it.
He slipped within, pulled off his pack once he was certain nothing was coming and set-up some simple rope traps to warn him of approaching problems right inside his current lair. Then, creeping all the way to back, bag propped against the side, he waited for the coming of the night.
Keeping an eye out and a hand on his spear, he began the process of cultivating. Pulling in energy to refill his empty stores of basic energy. He would have preferred to do some core cultivation - he had quite the collection by now - but that took more concentration than he cared to devote.
Not right now, not when every nocturnal creature was waking up.
Not when he was still shivering a little at the cold, the sense that something out here was not to be trifled with. Not at night at least.
Hours passed, and outside of one rather curious four-legged creature that ran off after a jab with his spear, Arthur was not disturbed. Yet the sense of being watched, of something lurking only increased.
The first sign his concerns were not the workings of an overtired, paranoid mind was the drop in temperature. Sufficiently so that Arthur’s breath puffed outwards as he exhaled through his mouth. His eyes widened a little, having only ever seen this happen one lucky day at Genting Highlands. A bachelor party for a schoolmate, one last hurrah that involved more gambling and drinking than strippers. A waste of funds in Arthur’s view, but he could not say no to his Senior, not even if the entire trip had taken a week of hard work to save up for. And then another two weeks to pay off everything they spent.
Still, the memory of stumbling out of the casino, holding his friend as they wandered down to the rental apartment and watching their breaths plume in the cold night air was worthwhile. It had only ever been something he had seen in TV shows. And then, he had experienced it.
And here it was again.
Next, were lights. Pale, ghostly lights forming along the edges of the wall, passing through them. Making him realise that whatever was coming cared not for the physical.
Not a good thing, not for him.
He ran through his options. Refined Energy Dart might kill a few. He knew those attacks were partly energy based. Usable against ghosts and wisps and things somewhat insubstantial. Most elemental attacks had the benefit of offering that kind of advantage.
He had meant to get more techniques like that, especially when he exited the Tower. The thing was, you weren’t meant to face pure elemental or spiritual creatures now, not ghosts or spirit or their like. Not till later. That was an Advanced Tower challenge, not meant to be dealt with here. At least, that was the theory. Even when there were spirits and ghosts, you were supposed to be able to handle them.
Except the Tower didn’t always play fair. Sometimes, things went bad, and if you weren’t on the easiest path, these things could happen. Monsters that you weren’t meant to handle, and all you could do was figure out how to deal with them.
The Refined Energy Darts – Exploding or not – couldn’t take out so many of these ghosts. They weren’t even that strong, he assumed. Just a lot of them. He didn’t think he would have enough energy to kill them all and if he did, it’d be a waste anyway.
No. These creatures, they were so numerous he was better off utilizing something like his aura. Question was, if they were ghosts, would a Yin Aura kill them or make them stronger?
One of the lights drifted over, touched his shoulder before he could shift away in time. The skin and muscle around the part touched froze over, numbing. He shuddered a little, but the good news was that the light flickered and died.
He started counting inside his head, waiting for his body to warm up and heal. He paid more attention, trying to edge away from the lights, curious if he could just tank it over. By the time he hit thirty, the number of drifting lights - tiny wil-o-wisp ghosts had more than doubled. With so little space to move in, another had landed on his leg, numbing his calf area.
Still, he counted, taking another on his left hand. It froze it over, made his fingers spasm a little though he still had a numbed, clumsy control over it. Not great, but viable. Out of curiosity, as one drifted near his face, he swung the same hand through it again. Felt the rush of cold wash over his limb, his hand spasming shut and gripping tight as tendons and muscles cramped.
He let out a little cry, nerves and muscles wide awake like plunging a hand into a bucket of ice. He couldn't even move the fingers anymore and only a hasty shove of it into his other armpit, a bit off curse word, kept him from worrying about things like frostbite.
How insane would it be, to get frostbite and lose digits in Malaysia? He might even get on the local Guinness World Record book.
Not the way he wanted to get famous.
Not that he ever wanted fame.
Cursing, he made note not to get hit in the same spot twice. It was painful, dangerous even. A push on his energy helped him begin the healing the process, electric shock and tingles rushing into his limb. Painful enough that he wanted to cry.
Seventy eight seconds, and his shoulder felt back to normal. His calf was halfway there, but he had a feeling he had slowed the entire process down by getting hit more. All the while, he was shifting and twisting, trying to dodge the ghost. It wouldn't work, not forever.
Making a decision, he pulled at his Yin Aura. He had been running it, prepping it to start all this time and now he let it coat his other foot, push it out just a little further from his body there. It was a weird, uncomfortable bulge, but when the next ghost flowed through it, he'd know.