Silver Bde’s face ainted in shock, her body freezing.

  Liam noticed that something was wrong.

  “SILVER!”

  The young woman woke up, but it was already too te. A onball aimed right for her chest.

  [-1000!]

  Without any suspehe tank lost all her HP, dropping dead on the ground.

  “What happened?”

  “Silver Bde?”

  Cye looked at the corpse of her bestest friend in disbelief.

  Although Liam was surprised as well, he khat now was not the time to get distracted.

  “Keep your eyes open, guys! Only one sed.”

  The pirate ship aimed again, this time fog on Silent Acacia. But the agile thief evaded swiftly.

  “You WILL pay for this!”

  A rage-filled roar echoed over the o as Osick’s HP ran out. The party sighed in relief when Cye suddenly excimed indignantly:

  “Stop! You thief! Don’t drive away with our loot!”

  Everyone looked towards the o, their mouths opening involuntarily as the pirate ship opes majestic sails, leaving the isnd.

  “Noo! My beautiful ship!”, shouted Quickstep sadly.

  A quick [I] revealed that Osick was forcefully kept alive with 1HP. Most of the party members could guess that the pirate captain would reappear iure.

  [gratutions oing the lord enemy ‘Pirate Captain Osick’!]

  [Received 500EXP]

  [EXP: 67/1400]

  Notifications arrived, firming that the fight was over. They came with a huge amount of EXP, pushing the whole party to level up.

  Even Silver Bde still received half the EXP, allowio reach level 5.

  For a moment the ptform fell silent as everyohe messages.

  [gratutions, you have reached level 5.]

  [Please remember to distribute your attribute points.]

  [gratutions, you have learned [bat Instinct]!]

  Liam nodded his head as he read the information about his new skill.

  [bat Instinct (rank 1)

  Cost: 10 Fury

  Effect: Sharpen your instincts, increasing your damage, defense and stance by 15% for five seds.

  Cooldown: 30 seds]

  Every css received a simir skill at level five, allowing them to enter an enhanced mode for a short moment.

  One by ohe party members grew active again.

  “I reached level five!”

  “Our party emerges victorious after a thrilling fight.”

  Silent Acacia gri Radiant Shield:

  “This was indeed not bad.”

  “We couldn’t have do without severing the e to the trident.”

  “You’re right, the expert’s preparation was vital.”

  At this moment, Silver Bde returned from the graveyard, her lifeless body standing up in a fsh.

  Cye immediately looked at her with apparent worry.

  “Silver! What’s going on? Why didn’t you dodge?”

  “Yeah, you were like… frozen.”

  “Please share with your panions if something weighs you down, maiden.”

  Silver Bde looked at the many ed faces, her thoughts in a mess.

  “I… I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

  Ultimately, she didn’t know the present people well enough, deg to keep the matter private.

  Liam frowned as he looked at the tank.

  “If you want to bee a great pyer, you mustn’t get distracted. During any other time the team might’ve gotten wiped.”

  Cye was taken aback, feeling that Liam was unfair to her friend.

  “Hey, expert! Don’t you see that she is clearly distressed?!”

  “No.”, sighed Silver Bde. “He is right. I ’t let such mistakes happen. I’m sorry everyone.”

  Cye pouted in disagreement. The rest of the party had mixed opinions, with the professional pyers leaning towards Liam’s side, and the others towards Cye’s.

  But as Silver Bde stayed silent, there wasn’t much else to discuss. Cye unhappily ged the topic.

  “Great! Now our loot has driven away on a boat! Did we fight for nothing?”

  Liam was fronted with mixed emotions, his petitive spirit g with his wish to make friends.

  Thus, the veteran decided to cheer up Cye by telling her how to proceed.

  Usually, pyers had to go on a short treasure hunt after defeating Osick to get their rewards, but it was a lot easier if you already knew where to find the treasure.

  “Cye?”

  “What?!”

  “ you attack this spot?”

  Liam poi a few thin-looking pnks below Osick’s throne. Eyeing the expert strangely, Cye plied, heless.

  A small magic attack left her wand, striking the pnks.

  The thin wood broke at the slightest touch. With a loud rumble the throne crashed through the ptform, shattering against the rocks below.

  A rge hole was suddenly revealed within the cliff face, opened by the throne.

  “Look! What’s this?”

  “A pirate’s treasure cave?”

  “So, this is the real loot?”

  Everyone wore sparkling eyes, staring at the hole in the ground. Cye’s mood improved immediately, waving at everyone:

  “e! Treasure awaits us!”

  “But how do we get down there?”, asked Balm.

  The party members looked around. Fortunately, thick wooden beams could be seen at the edge of the ptform. Their job was to stabilize the ptform, massive robes vely hanging from them.

  Quickstep expertly tied a strong knot before throwing the other end of the rope down.

  “Easy! Let’s go!”

  Everyone was eager to loot the treasure. Cye took the lead, desding the rope like a monkey.

  The others quickly followed. But suddenly Liam grabbed Silver Bde’s shoulder, holding her back.

  Radiant Shield looked at Bleary Mirage strangely but decided not to intervene. Apparently, the expert wao have a serious talk with the main tank.

  Silver Bde braced herself, having simir thoughts as she watched the rest of the party leave.

  For a sed the young woman fidgeted awkwardly in pce, before taking a deep breath and stealing her mind. As someone fighting for the succession in her family, she couldn’t show weakness in important situations.

  If Liam knew her thoughts he would’ve ughed loudly. Silver Bde was overthinking it, something she realized as well as Liam began talking:

  “Everyone is in a hurry, missing the biggest treasure.”

  Silver Bde was dazed, staring at Liam with big greehe young man had already turned around but as he didn’t receive an answer, he looked back over his shoulder.

  Two pairs of eyes met. It was silent for a moment before Liam questioned:

  “What’s going on?”

  Silver Bde stayed posed but couldn’t suppress the embarrassed smile on her face.

  “I thought you were going to se.”

  “Scold you? Why? For someone who has never pyed games you show unbelievable talent.

  Oh doesn’t mean anything. Don’t take it to heart but learn from it.”

  The smile on Silver Bde face turned from embarrassment to relief, a hint of warmth spreading in her chest.

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t mention it. You still o lead the party to success! Here, catch!”

  With those words Liam reached for the chest not far from Osick’s throne and fished out one of the blue crystals. With a reassuring gaze he threw it at Silver Bde.

  The young woman caught the crystal smoothly, surprised by the cold it emitted.

  [Mysterious Blue CrystalCategory: Unon, Quest

  Effect: Allows to tap into the power of the Blue Blood Trident.

  Restris: only be used by the holder of the quest ‘Retrieve the Blue Blood Trident’.

  A mysterious crystal brimming with water attributed mana. What could be its source?]

  Silver Bde frowned. She looked at Liam, who acted all i. But the young woman uood that Bleary Mirage had a purpose in givihis crystal.

  “Say, are you testing me? Or training?”

  “her. I just feel it’s more iing.”

  “So, you admit that you know what to do with this crystal?”

  “Who knows?”

  Silver Bde watched as Liam followed the others into the treasure cave. She felt fused, not able to figure Liam out anymore.

  The level of detail of his knowledge was hard to expin just with information from a ruins.

  Silver Bde’s family had some of this information as well, thus she had a certain parison.

  Let’s not get caught up if we ’t figure it out…

  Silver Bde shook her head, puttitention ba the crystal, activating it with a thought.

  Suddenly the waterfall tht steered as a mysterious trident appeared, shimmering geously with the aura of the king of the sea.

  It glided towards the ptform, obediently nding in Silver Bde’s hand.

  [Blue Blood Trident

  [SEALED]

  Temporary effect: The holder of the mysterious blue crystal wield the trident to call the tides.

  A mighty on fed by the merfolk traitor Hyoral, an heirloom to ehe prote of her bloodline. only be wielded by the designated heir.]

  Silver Bde studied the on’s description with a frown. From everything she knew Hyoral should be old man Blunnriel’s aor.

  But she couldn’t figure out yet what Liam’s purpose was iing her trol the trident.

  Keeping the doubts in her mind, she finally desded into the treasure cave.

  The trident couldn’t be kept in one’s iory, thus the party stared in amazement as Silver Bde appeared with the ethereal on.

  “Wow, did you loot this? Why haven’t I thought of it?!”

  Cye looked at the on with envy, causing chuckles among the group.

  “It’s just a quest item. Don’t think too much.”

  “Right, we were so preoccupied with looting that we almost fot the quest.”

  “Greed blinded our eyes!”, excimed Radiant Shield dramatically.

  Sun’s Knight could only roll his eyes.

  “Drama queen!”