The college hours had ended and Sera packed her bag but this time she didn't just leave. She approached Hiirochi. "Hey, do you have time?" Sera asked nonchalantly as if they were close friends

.

Hiirochi nodded. He was a bit interested because Sera had approached him. He knew she wouldn't approach him for something trivial.

"Do you play Dryaid Reign?" She softly asked so she wasn't audible to everyone.

"Have you heard 'THE' Dream Raider not playing an MMORPG? Naturally, I play it and I am at level 2" He tried to flex, being proud in his level.

"Level 2? That's perfect. Which Kingdom did you start at?"

"Franius Kingdom, you?"

"Same, that makes it easier then. Which town?"

"Black-ridge."

The moment he mentioned Black-ridge, Sera's expression brightened up. It was as if everything was already set for her!

"Let's meet at 6pm at Black-ridge Adventurer Guild main hall," Sera suggested.

Hiirochi agreed. "Hope 'THE' Dream Raider is not for just show." Sera said with an evil grin on her face.

She had heard Dream Raider fighting again 10 tier 4 when he was a tier 4 and coming out victorious. Although Shoku had never seen him in action, the rumours made him sound like a really strong player and a talented fighter with combat standards.

Combat standards were something by which experts were defined.

To be precise, these had been divided in different realms.

Realm of Body Refinement which consisted of two phases. First was Bone-refinement where the person could use their body to its full advantage. Second was water-flowing. The second phase was all about refining the body movements to be much more natural. 

The second Realm was, Realm of Void. This realm was also divided in two phases. First phase of this realm is Null Movement, This phase rather focused on utilising your body senses in a much more efficient way, The second phase was Void Movement, Void Movement was something which was very hard to attain. Those in the Void Movement can utilise their environment, their senses and their smooth movements to predict their opponents movement. 

The third realm was something Shoku had achieved in future. The Realm of Domination. Realms of Domination was a suitable title for this realm. Anyone who had achieved this realm could easily dominate their opponent.

If a tier 6 Player achieved a standard of Realm of Domination, they could flip a First-tier guild with ease. Super first-rate guilds will get a headache to deal with these experts, suffering millions of casualties and suffering an astronomical loss. Realm of Domination consisted of three phases. The Truth Realm was the first phase. If Void Movement could help you to predict a step ahead of your enemy, The Truth Realm would help you to predict five steps in advance. Prediction was something anyone could do, but the accuracy increased with Realms.

The second phase was Domain Realm, This was a mini realm inside the Major Realm. A Domain of a Martial Artist was a rather complex thing. Even Shoku hadn't achieved a Domain. Most likely it was something beyond human limits.

Third phase was Recreation, Not much was known to Shoku about it.

 With Sera's standards, she was a half-step Bone-refinement. However, she wasn't any ordinary Half-step Bone-refinement, Shoku who had control over her body was a Tyrannical Monster in human skin waiting to be unleashed. Even knowing the concepts of Realms of Truth made a whole lot of difference in the fight. Even with her qualification, she could stand toe-to-toe with a null movement expert.

But, making it to the Bone-refinement signified that the individual was capable. Many people make breakthroughs during life and death fights. When they have a lot on line, could be anything. Life, Reputation, Love ones. Could be anything you cherish. 

Realm of Refinements and Realm of Voids was something people got to know when it had been 2 - 3 months of Dryaid Reign's official release. The Realm of Truth however was something they only discovered after 3 years of the game's official release.

Sera then left the classroom and headed straight to her apartment. The distance between Blue Moon Town and Black-ridge town was quite considerable. Since mounts are not available to players at current level, they had to travel by foot. And thanks to the game's realistic environment, they had to travel on foot which took quite some time. There were teleportation Arrays but those were unlocked after they got access to the first NPC city of the game for Franius Kingdom, Grecenski city. which could be activated when a player reached level 12. It was roughly 2 hours of travel-time

She then got home and immediately opened her fridge, sipped the A-rank liquid which she opened earlier and drank about another one-fourth of liquid, emptying half of the bottle. She then placed it back and dived back in Dryaid Reign.

It was currently 4:13 pm when she dived in. She appeared at the spot she logged out and immediately departed for Black-ridge town. The Blue Moon Town and Black-ridge town was separated by 6 maps. 2 of them were towns and 4 were grinding spots.

Roonimon Town and Clariemore Town were the towns. Between them, Sera had to pass through the Willden Mountains, a level 7 location and Warimont Plateau, which was a level 8 location. The other two locations were the Rasu Plains and the Grimostic Forest. First she arrived at the Rasu Plains which was a map just adjacent to Blue Moon Town. It took roughly ten minutes for her to enter the Willden Mountains. Willden Mountains was a very high mountain where landslides occurred a lot. Not a very safe place for grinding. But it did hide some secrets. Walking on the roads of the mountain she looked at the deep empty space surrounded by the mountains. As much as she wanted to shout so that she could hear her voice echo, it wasn't something very 'safe' to do. Noise will attract monsters.

After venturing through the mountains she finally arrived at the first NPC Town, Roonimon. She didn't stay there, as soon as she reached, she departed for the next location. She was already low on time. It was around 5pm already. The next location was Warimont Plateau. This was a safe leveling spot but only if she had time. She kept on advancing, another twenty minutes passed by and she arrived at the next Town, Clariemore, again she advanced further, this time she knew she was getting late so she activated Windblade.

[Skill: Windblade] (Active)

Cooldown: 1 Minute 30 Seconds

Tier 0, Level 1

Skill Description: Increases movement speed of the user by 100%

Her speed became twice as fast. And within another half an hour, she was in Black-ridge. It was 6:08 pm but it was only an eight minute delay.

Before going to Adventurer Guild, she went to a shop and purchased two scrolls, worth 2 silvers total.

She then rushed into the Adventurer Guild main hall. Looking around she discovered the man. His In-game name is Dream Raider. The most intriguing thing was 'Dream Raider' was a rather famous name. Anyone would want to steal it. How could he still keep his name Dream Raider, or no one ever tried to steal his name? But this didn't make sense at all.

Sera approached Dream Raider. "Yahallo." She said, smiling at him.

"Hello." He replied with an indifferent voice but he was flustered a bit which could be seen on his face.

"No need to be stiff, Now let's depart." Sera suggested at once. She didn't want to waste anymore time. 

Dream Raider sighed before asking, "What do you want me for?"

"Help with a certain quest. Remuneration is 1 silver. Are you in?"

This rendered Dream Raider Speechless. 1 silver was a LOT. He agreed at once not wanting to miss the opportunity to earn money. Sera then led him to a desolate forest which was a bit far from Dark-ridge. It felt as if the land was cursed. No leaves on trees, No monsters, Totally Devoid of life.

"What are we doing here?" He asked out of curiosity. He raised his eyebrows slightly after inspecting the area. He was quite confused about what Sera needed help with. But soon enough he quietly followed her. He was getting the money so he shouldn't ask too many questions.

They then appeared in front of a huge structure. 

"What are you two here for? This land has been cursed by the Demonic Witch. You shouldn't be here." An NPC who came out of a small hut which was beside the huge structure told as he walked towards them.

The man in front of them was one of the famed Master Forgers in Dryaid Reign. Rumours said he was in possession of the Unique Item, "Forger's Book" and one of the Grandmaster Forger's had obtained this book in the later stages of the game as they accidentally discovered this place giving them a massive boost in success rate.

Luckily, the Grandmaster had leaked about the quest details and how he triggered it. He did say the risks involved were huge but didn't mention the 'risk'.

Unique items were usually User Restricted Items. Meaning, No other 'player' could use it other than the Registered Player. It won't drop after dying. It can't be destroyed.

"Lord Grimson, I have heard a lot about your Forging skills. I wish to learn Forging." Sera said as she bowed down in front of him.

"Oh, is that so? I will gladly teach you"

[Congratulations! Player has triggered Hidden Quest: Basics of Forging]

[Quest: Basics of Forging] (Hidden Quest)

Quest Details: Required to kill:-

30 Quartzia Francus

30 Gnome Warrior

30 Gnome Minions

Reward: Forging Talent

"As much as I appreciate it, I have some additional information you would be interested in!" Sera Exclaimed, Overjoyed to receive a Forging Talent.

Forging Talent was like a big Opportunity. There were different types of Forging Talents. The part which overjoyed Sera was there was no type mentioned. It just said "Forging Talent"

There were 4 types of Forging Talents:

Basic Forging Talent

Advanced Forging Talent

Epic Forging Talent

Legendary Forging Talent

"And might you tell me about this "Information" you speak of?" 

Grimson asked with a curious look on his face.

"I know about the whereabouts of Draconic Heart!"

The moment Grimson heard about Draconic Heart, his skin went white. 

"Are you Serious?!"

"Yes, Lord Grimson."

Draconic Heart, An item quite useless to a player. However, to blacksmith npcs, it was beyond rare. It could actually promote a Master forger into Grandmaster forger! The Forger's Book can achieve the same feat but Grimson's Wisdom wasn't high enough to use it at his full potential.

"Good, Very Good! Adventurer, I may have to trouble you to recover the Draconic Heart. If you bring it to me. This will be yours." Grimson said, withdrawing a book from his space ring. 

Forger's Book!