MMORPG : Ancient WORLD

After a few moments of excitement, Alex regained his composure, and the first thing he did was to hand over all the stolen items to Lady Margaret to check for any kind of location magic while he quickly went to the game forums to check for any news about Opulencia City.

Alex quickly found posts of players discussing the sudden appearance of the massive cube of swirling grey mist in the city's heart, theorizing how someone had attacked the Aureate Merchect Group main branch.

Alex instantly felt relieved knowing he got away with the theft in the nick of time, saving the city and its people from untimely destruction.

"Interesting." Lady Margaret, voice filled with intrigue.

"Domain Ruler, This magic grimoire carries a hidden message," Lady Margaret said, handing Alex the Ethereal Compendium.

"Just hold the grimoire, and you will know what I mean," Lady Margaret said, seeing Alex's confused look.

Alex did as he was told, and as he held the grimoire Lady Margaret touched it, and instantly, his vision turned dark, and the next instant, he found himself standing in a white room before an old, wise-looking individual whose presence seemed ethereal as if he was an illusion.

"I am Astovias Gold, and whoever you might be, listen well because I am going to tell you about the biggest opportunity of your life," The old man spoke with a tone that held authority.

Alex didn't care much about the opportunity, but his interest was piqued instantly after hearing the old man's surname.

"Long ago, I had the chance to venture into a magical dimension accessible through a hidden portal beneath the Royal Palace of the Gold Kingdom."

"It is a realm filled with treasures beyond your imagination, a place guarded by powerful creatures and sorcery and known only to a select few among the kingdom's Royalty."

"The portal to the mysterious real opens only once after a century, and only two individuals can enter before it closes, and this is a map that has the location of an ancient treasure within that realm," Astovias said, as the space beside him twisted.

The space took the form of a 3D map floating mid-air, covered in detailed terrains with a marked location of the towering mountain that looked like a giant dragon roaring into the sky.

"The treasure is of the fabled element of Time itself, promising its wielder the power to manipulate time, temporal manipulation, age control, and temporal visions."

"You might not believe me, But it doesn't matter because if you desire the power to rule not just the small Human continent but the world beyond it, then you will do your absolute best to find and take that treasure,"

"I entered the mysterious realm in the year 11165 of the Ancient calendar," Astovias said, his face caring a creepy evil smile.

Alex's vision turned dark again, and he returned to reality, standing beside Lady Margaret, holding the Ethereal Compendium in his hands while his heart raced with excitement and wonder at the vision he had just witnessed.

'If I have to guess, that old man was the ancestor of the Morgan, which also explains why he resents the gold kingdom and wants to destroy them because without doing so, he can't even hope to enter that mysterious realm,'

'As for the mysterious realm, it should be the Ancestral blood ground that Queen Bellatrix told me about as the portal for it will be opening in less than two years,' Alex said, connecting the dots to paint a proper picture.

"The mysterious realm described in the illusion is the Ancestral blood ground which I believe you already know about,"

"If you try to remember the map shown in the illusion, you wouldn't be able to because of the restrictions, but those restrictions don't work on me, so this is the map which you can use once you visit the Ancestral land," Lady Margaret said, handing Alex a golden scroll.

'This explains why Morgan got angry when I picked the Ethereal Compendium,' Alex thought as he accepted the golden scroll.

Alex asked Lady Margaret to remove the hidden message from the grimoire as he would give the complete grimoire to Darius Gold in a few hours, and he didn't want him to know about the treasure.

Alex asked his guardians if they knew anything about the time-related treasure mentioned by the old man, but they knew nothing about it.

After checking the progress of Ricin's cocoon, Alex left the hotel to complete the final preparations needed to complete Prince Darius and Forge King Thogrim's quest.

Alex first went to the Alchemist guild buying a large amount of mana essence crystals before renting a secured chamber, knowing that combining the three grimoires into their true form would create quite a phenomenon.

After just a few minutes, Alex stood solemnly in the secured chamber's tranquil atmosphere, knowing that the moment before him was one of great significance.

'Let's start with completing the Archmage Goldfridus legacy grimoire,' Alex thought, taking a few deep breaths to calm his excitement.

Alex reached into his inventory and retrieved the first grimoire – the Whispering Codex. Its cover felt cold to the touch, adorned with intricate silver engravings that seemed to whisper ancient secrets.

Next came the Sage's Tome, a weighty book that exuded an aura of profound wisdom bund in an emerald green cover adorned with faded golden words signifying its old age.

Finally, Alex took out the last grimoire, the Ethereal Compendium, its cover being a mesmerizing blend of ever-shifting colors, which appeared as if it were woven from threads of pure magic, and It shimmered like the veils of a mirage sparkling with star-like specks.

Alex placed the three grimoires side by side, their covers almost touching, and slowly they started to get covered in ambient mana.

Alex stepped back, seeing the mana wove its way through the grimoires, and in mere moments a soft glow enveloped them, and runes started to fill their surface while the very space around him buzzed with energy, and a hushed silence filled the secured chamber.

Time seemed to stand still as the three grimoires resonated in harmony, slowly glowing brighter, their energies intertwining like magical ribbons drawn together like the pieces of a long-forgotten puzzle.

A brief silence followed, and then a brilliant surge of light burst forth from the merging grimoires, filling the chamber with a dazzling radiance that swirled together into a mesmerizing display, an iridescent tapestry of magical power.

As the radiance subsided, a new grimoire lay before Alex, now united in its true form of such exquisite and transcendent beauty that it left him awestruck.

Its cover was a symphony of colors, a magnificent blend of crimson, emerald, and ethereal hues, that shone with an otherworldly luster, shifting and shimmering like an aurora in the night sky.

The intricate golden filigree from the Whispering Codex, the profound green from the Sage's Tome, and the shifting mist-like patterns from the Ethereal Compendium melded together in a mesmerizing design.

Alex picked up the newly forged grimoire, feeling the lingering arcane magic around it, and after admiring its beauty, he checked its information just to confirm it held the Archmage Goldfridus's legacy.

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Name: Ataraxia [Legacy Item]

Equipment Type: Grimoire

Quality: [Legendary / ???] [???]

Rank: (SSS) Rank Legacy Item

①-Effects: LOCKED

?②-Effects: LOCKED

?③-Effects: LOCKED

?④-Effects: LOCKED

?⑤-Effects: LOCKED

Conditions: Only a descendant of Archmage Goldfridus, who holds his legacy, could wield this Magic Grimoire.

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[??? Quest line] (??/??) [LOCKED]

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Description: (???) (???) (???)

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'A valuable item and a great legacy, but sadly, I can't have it, but on the bright side, I will be gaining a vast amount of benefits in exchange for this from the Gold Clan Royalty,' Alex thought, with a smile as he placed the grimoire into his inventory.

'Let's create the Mystium Ore,' Alex thought as they poured a large amount of refined Etherealite Shards and more than twice the amount of mana essence crystals on the floor.

Alex then used the selective refinement skill to purify the pile of mana essence crystals, and after a few minutes, the small crystals that had a light blue glow now appeared more transparent and were illuminated in a clear glow while pulsing with pure mana.

'I could make a ludicrous amount of money by refining low-quality materials and selling them,' Alex thought, seeing the results.

Alex knew about the capabilities of the Red Gem, but the more he used it, the more he realized how truly broken the ancient artifact was.

"Elder Margaret, Can you please help me with these materials," Alex said as he stepped back after creating a single pile of both materials.

The heap of materials was instantly covered in a blanket of crimson flame that slowly took the shape of a burning cocoon, releasing intense heat that Alex could feel even from tens of feet away.

The small dark crystals melted into a dark liquid, while the intense heat caused the mana essence crystals to evaporate, leaving behind only a misty white liquid.

The crimson flames danced and swirled around the molten dark liquid as slowly the two liquid materials fused, taking the form of something new, something much greater.

As the flames subsided, the molten liquid began to cool, solidifying into a smearing gray metal with a size of three feet in length and one foot in height.

The surface of the metal had a pearlescent sheen that shifted between iridescent shades of silver and a brilliant, ethereal gray, adorned with intricate patterns of glowing, light blue veins that pulse with pure mana.

'Now, let's go and meet with Prince Darius,' Alex thought as he used apparel on the Mystium Ore before placing it into his inventory and leaving the secured chamber.