71 GoldenBoy
All throughout Horus, players were shocked at the server announcements!
Apophis already had some notoriety, but this major event was still out of the ordinary. Some saw Apophis as the new golden boy of the MMORPG world, someone who was rising from obscurity to become Horus's 8th legendary player of the MMORPG world!
All the media began talking about the Eclipse guild—which, of course, nobody knew anything about. Many players immediately applied to join it, wanting to get into the guild in its earliest stages.
Ceasar, who was about to do a Dungeon in Nightmare mode, also received the double notification. He couldn't believe it! Nightmare mode was already incredibly difficult, even for him!
And yet Apophis had just beaten IronMan mode, one that must be even harder, and with the potential penalty of losing all game progress! This was an incredible feat in the MMORPG world, and Ceasar was totally disgusted that he hadn't been the first one to achieve it. He wanted to try the IronMan mode himself, but his guild leader formally forbade him.
"We can't allow you to risk all the guild's progress," said the leader. "Even a one percent chance of failure would be too much of a risk. However… We do have another mission for you. Since you've proven your ability over and over, the guild council has elected to send you on a mission to assassinate Apophis and claim the bounty on his head for Renovatio Imperii."
Ceasar had agreed to this mission, but he was aware that he wasn't the only one pursuing this. All the big guilds, bounty hunters, and even just greedy players were setting out at once to hunt down Apophis, who now had a bounty of 15,000,000 GC on his head!
10,000,000 GC had been offered by the game, of course, and 5,000,000 GC from the collective players who saw Apophis as a traitor. In real money, that was worth about 40,000,000 credits, a vast sum for almost everyone living on Earth!
Of course, for many, the money was nothing compared to the glory of killing the most famous and hated player in all of Horus.
The media added a lot of fuel to the fire, declaring Apophis to be "Master of Horus." There was a lot of mindless talk about how the 7 Gods had peaked and were no longer relevant. This sparked countless debates on the forums, and player engagement showed no signs of slowing down.
***
At the end of the Dungeon, Apophis and his group were busy distributing the final boss's loot while everyone outside argued on the forums. The loot was amazing, of course.
╔═══════════════╕
╟─╼ITEM
║ ╰╼[Name] : Staff of the Prophetess
║ ╰╼[Esper/Hunter]
║ ╰╼[Legendary]
╟─╼[Summary] : It emits the faintest sound of celestial music.
╟─╼[Effect (1)] : Doubles all damage
╟─╼[Effect (1)] : Activate to summon a shield of light that absorbs 90% of all damage for 20 seconds.
╟─╼[Equip Requirement] : Alignment above 1000.
╚═══════════════╛
Well, that certainly disqualified Apophis, but it was very good news for White! As a Huntress, she was the only one in the group who could use it correctly.
The rest of the loot was also impressive. There were several Epic pieces of armor and Rare weapons and potions, which were distributed equally among the group.
While everyone was discussing loot, an eye emerged from a black puddle on the ground: Enclabossa in his physical form. "Thanks to you all, I have recovered one tenth of my soul. I am deeply grateful to you for everything!" His voice hissed through the empty temple like a haunting wind.
Server: Step one of your quest "Resurrection of Enclabossa" completed. Reward: 100 Skill Points + 1 Legendary Skill for your class + 1,000,000 GC.
While everyone else was raving and spending their Skill Points, Apophis received his Legendary Skill and studied it carefully, thinking about how he could use it strategically in the future.
╔══════════════╕
╟─╼ [Skill] ~Demonic Wing~
║ ╰╼[Dark]
║ ╰╼[Legendary]
╟─╼[Summary] : Demonic wings sprout from your back, revealing your inner darkness!
╟─╼[Effect (1)] : All creatures of negative alignment gain respect for you.
╟─╼[Effect (2)] : Gain a damage reduction bonus by folding your wings (scales with STR).
╟─╼[Effect (2)] : Gain a flying speed in both atmosphere and vacuum (scales with AGI).
╟─╼[Effect (3)] : Can be used as melee weapons (damage scales with STR).
╟─╼[Upgrade Cost] : 1000 Skill Points
╚═══════════════╛
The next moment, a special notification appeared!
System: Rank B- achieved.
