[SP][F17] <<Challenge of Olympus>>

[Grimm Reaper 0]

Ozwald was in his shop, attending to the daily grind that owning the building required, cleaning, stocking goods, and identifying unidentified items to be used by the people on the frontlines and the lower floors too. After taking a short pause from scrubbing his floors Ozwald heard a system notification pop up on his HUD. Opening the HUD Ozwald saw a message saying that a rare quest was available on the seventeenth floor. Ozwald decided that anything beat cleaning his shop, so he decided that he would go and see what this quest entailed. 

Ozwald's shop could be found hidden under a mausoleum in the first floor's very own town of beginnings. Walking along the streets Ozwald wondered how dangerous this quest was going to be, it was on the seventeenth floor, which was by far the farthest he will have ever travelled in Aincrad. Ozwald made his way to the teleport platform on the first floor.

Spoiler

Name: Grimm Reaper
Level: 17
HP: 340/340
EN: 34/34

Stats:
Damage: 10
Mitigation: 5
Evasion: 1
Accuracy: 3
REC:2

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Soul Devourer(tier 1/Perfect/Hand Wraps)[DAM 3]
Armor: Death's Shroud(Tier 1/Perfect/Light Armor)[EVA 1][REC 2]
Misc: Damned Souls(Tier 1/perfect/trinket)[ACC 3]

Skills:
Martial Arts [Rank 4]
Light Armor [Rank 1]

Battle Ready Inventory:
Starter Healing Potions(+50 hp)*3
[T1]Health potions(rare)(+40 HP)*5
[T1]Damage potion(uncommon)(+1 DAM)*1

Guild Hall Buffs:
Lucrative: Reduce LD needed for Salvage by 5 (10+ for Alchemist crystals, 6+ for everything else). +2 EXP per craft. Rank 9 crafters receive +1 crafting attempt per day. Rank 10 crafters receive +2 crafting attempts per day.
Col Deposit: +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.
 

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Grimm Reaper

[Grimm Reaper 0]

Ozwald stood in the center of the four pillars that designated the teleport gate on the first floor's main settlement calling out the name of the main settlement on the seventeenth floor "Athenaia". Moments after he had called out the name of the settlement, the small man was engulfed by a large blue light before finding himself standing in a city made of marble. The only word Ozwald could describe the city with was dazzling. Every single building that Ozwald could see was made of a beautiful polished white stone, the sun that was above him bounced off of the amazing white stone shining light on every single part of the city, it was stunning. Ozwald was in a stupor at the sight of the buildings that he found around him. Twice now Ozwald had found himself being completely surprised by how beautiful it could be in this death game, not including when he met Valentine. Ozwald was only knocked out of his stupor by the gasping of every NPC around him.

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Ozwald snapped his head in the direction that all of the town's NPCs were looking, snapped out of his thoughts of this town by the loud gasp that echoed through the marble structures. Standing in the center of the court yard was a fairly dark skinned man, he was short but that wasn't what made him odd. Instead of normal human legs the Man's lower half resembled that of the back legs of a goat and on his head were a pair of short knobbly horns. Of course Ozwald knew of the creature, it was a satyr, which wasn't surprising on the greek themed floor, but the gasp of the NPCs made Ozwald Hesitate. "Ozwald Grimm," The satyr's voice was not loud, but it could be heard throughout the plaza, and had a sort of musical tone to it "I am Appallin a courier for the gods, and your presence has been requested by Hermes, the emissary of the gods, on Mt. Olympia,"

Edited October 22, 2020 by Grimm Reaper

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Whispering had ensued at the mention of the names of the gods, the whispering was fairly loud as the NPCs all gossiped and conversed about why Ozwald would be being summoned to Mt. Olympia. Ozwald didn't exactly know what to say, he had never been summoned by the gods before, was there a process to everything here? Ozwald opted for a simple acceptance of the summons "I accept the god's summon." Ozwald spoke to the satyr, Appallin, in front of him.

A bright white flash enveloped Ozwald and the Satyr before Ozwald could tell what was happening. The bustling of Athenaia's main plaza, and the bright marble buildings were replaced by a cloudy white substance that Ozwald was standing on, and a large mountain, with golden steps leading to the summit, presumably where the god's resided. "Hermes the messenger god, is waiting for you atop these stairs." Appallin stated before he himself flashed in a bright white light, leaving Ozwald all alone.

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Ozwald was now completely alone standing on what seemed to be a massive cloud with a mountain settled on top. Looking at the golden steps in front of him Ozwald sighed, there couldn't be less than 100 stories on this mountain and the steps reflected that. Ozwald couldn't see the top of the steps in front of him, or the summit of the mountain for it was completely covered by clouds that circled the mountain top. Steeling his resolve Ozwald placed his foot on the very first step of the more than a thousand step stairwell laying before him. Ozwald climbed steadily, but it wasn't a fast process, it felt as though Ozwald was walking up the entire empire state building over and over again. By the time Ozwald managed to reach the top of the stairs he could barely feel his legs, and he was more exhausted than he had ever been.

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"Ah you have finally made it." Ozwald heard a voice come from right next to him that he swore was not there when he had first managed to climb the stairs. Ozwald raised his head and before him stood a man whose beauty could rival even Valentine's. The man before him, presumably Hermes, was a man who had perfect skin, a perfect smile, and eyes that could met the sun. Standing a head taller than Ozwald the man was wearing a white toga the was cut off on his mid thigh cinched by a gold cloth around his waist, On his golden brown hair rested a golden leaflet crown that made him seem almost angelic. "I am Hermes, the god of travellers and merchants. I have had my eye on you, and would like to challenge you to a, well challenge of sorts if you will accept." Ozwald couldn't not accept the stunning man's proposal after having walked what must have been a hundred stories worth of stairs. "I accept your challenge." Ozwald stated simply again.

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Ozwald was once again enveloped by the disorienting, bright, white light that was known to teleport players around Mt. Olympia. When the white light faded Ozwald was standing in a small rectangular room with a set of scales standing in the middle of that room, and two counters with everything a merchant would need to identify different kinds of gear. Ozwald figured that this would be a contest based on how capable they were to identify the gear that was placed in front of them. "The challenge is simple. There will be five rounds, each with a different gear to identify. in each round we will have five minutes to identify the item that is placed in front of us. After the five minutes are up we will place our items upon the scale, and it will tip in the favor of who was the most accurate, whoever wins the most rounds wins the challenge."

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Ozwald nodded, the challenge was simple enough he only needed to accurately identify some equipment, and with the way the contest would work, it would be whoever got three more accurate first which gave him a little wiggle room to fail. Walking over to one of the counters Ozwald waited to see exactly how the challenge would start. Ozwald heard a loud gong sound go off once his rival god was standing behind his counter opposite him. At the same time as the Gong rang out a straight sword appeared on the table in front of him. Picking it up Ozwald began examining it all the way from blade to hilt, any weapon could have some sort o secret writing on it that gave it hidden power. Finding nothing of the sort on the blade Ozwald began testing it with various tools that could be found on the counter. All to soon ozwald heard another gong sound ring out signalling the end of the first round. 

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As soon as the sound of the gong rang out in the room the blades vanished out of both participants hands appearing on the scale that lay in between the two appraisal counters. Ozwald watched in anticipation as the scales tipped back and forth weighing the two sword's identifications through magic that was unknown to Ozwald. The scales finally came to rest and it fell towards Hermes side signalling that he had won the challenge. Ozwald wasn't very disappointed that he had lost, after all he was facing off against the god of merchants of course he would be good at his craft. Ozwald resolved that he would win the next round, and eventually he would beat Hermes. Ozwald was prepared completely for the next challenge, and was ready to do whatever it took, which was albeit not much. The sound of another gong rang out and in front of Ozwald appeared a set of heavy plate armor.

Edited October 22, 2020 by Grimm Reaper

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Ozwald lifted the plate mail off of the counter that was his workspace for this challenge, carrying it over to an armor stand that would let him more properly look over the equipment. Using much the same process that he had used with the sword that had came before the set of armor Ozwald examined the set of armor, looking for any writing, or runes, or even special materials that might change the armor's abilities. Ozwald looked over the entirety of the exterior of the armor, finding a small set of three red gems at the back of the plate mail. Looking intently at the gems set into the metal Ozwald could tell that they would cause fire to engulf anyone that hit the target who was wearing the armor. Ozwald only had a few mere moments left before he finalized his identification, the gong ringing out again in the rectangular room. The armor disappeared from the stand that it was placed on appearing on the scale set in between the two merchants.

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Ozwald's freshly identified set of armor was now laying on the scales, being pushed up and down, the scales weighing out which set of identifications was the more accurate. Ozwald felt his heart thumping more and more as the moments passed, the scales not fully selecting either set of the identical armor sets. After almost a minute the scales finally tipped for the last time, to Ozwald's relief it was tipping in favor of the set of the armor that Ozwald had identified. The sets of armor disappeared off of the scale in the center of the room, leveling the scale back to a flat state that wasn't leaning in anyone's favor. The score for the contest was now a draw one point to one point Ozwald had to only win two more rounds before he would claim the victory from the god opposite him. Ozwald had faith in his abilities, but he was up against a god so nothing was for certain.

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In front of both of the competitors that were competing in this contest appeared a simple iron shield with an image of a dragon on it. The gong rang out as this new piece of equipment appeared before them signalling the beginning of the third round of the competition. Lifting the shield as soon as the gong rang out Ozwald used various different instruments on the surface of the shield to test both its durability, and its ability to help the user of the shield in combat. Ozwald noted that the shield was very durable for how simple it was, it probably had some sort of defensive enchantment attached to it. Ozwald also noted the cool air that came off of the shield while being near it. despite having a dragon on it, the shield seemed to have an enhancement that gave the shield th ability to radiate cold. Ozwald finished his evaluation with almost 30 seconds left, confident that he had won this round, for the fact that the god had seemingly not noticed the slight cold that radiated from the shield.

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The gong rang out before the merchant god, Hermes had managed to finish his identification, the shield disappearing both from the gods hands and from Ozwald's counter, once again appearing on the golden scales in the center of the room. not tipping in the favor of either participant for what was too many moments for Ozwald, he had faith that he had on this round, but he wouldn't know until the scales tipped in his favor. Ozwald watched as the scales finally tipped towards him, showing that he had also won this round of the competition. Ozwald's heart grew light, he had won two of the three rounds that he needed to win before he would be the victor of this little contest. Both shields disappeared from the centralized scale, and Ozwald readied himself for whatever item would appear next on the counter in front of him. The gong rang out signalling the beginning of the fourth and maybe final round. 

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Turning back to look at his counter Ozwald noticed a small vial of liquid. Ozwald picked up the vial groaning inside, consumables were the one thing that Ozwald had never identified before, so he had absolutely no idea where to begin with the identification. Ozwald spent all five minutes of the round trying to figure out exactly how to identify the consumable, not paying attention to the god across from him who seemed to know exactly what he was supposed to do in order to figure out what the vial was capable of. Ozwald emotions were much different from the last round, where he knew that he had won for sure, where now he knew that he had failed. Ozwald was worried, with him not winning this round it meant that whoever won the next round would be the winner of the contest overall. The gong finally rang out for the end of the fourth round.

[Grimm Reaper 0]

The two small vials, that had teleported out of the competitors hands onto the scale, seemed almost comically small. the scale was rather large probably about the size of a pizza pan, whereas the vials were only about the size of one of Ozwald's fingers. The red liquid inside of the vials sloshed around as the scales tipped back and forth making the wait for the winner to be decided almost unbearable. Ozwald already knew that he had lost so why did the scales have to take so long to come to the same conclusion? Finally the scales tipped towards Hermes declaring that he was the winner of the fourth round. Ozwald was beginning to sweat, the score was now two to two which meant that if he lost the next challenge he would lost the contest as a whole. Ozwald didn't know why it was so important to him that he won the contest, but it was nonetheless.

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Ozwald was incredibly nervous, it was the very last round and if Ozwald didn't when this one than he would lose the challenge. Ozwald was relying completely on his ability to perform well under pressure, and it was starting to affect him, he wasn't even sure if he could win at this rate. A loud gong rang out and echoed down the rectangular room letting both participants know that the fifth and final round was starting at this moment. At the sound of the gong, a small necklace appeared on Ozwald's counter, and presumably Hermes' as well. Ozwald used all of the knowledge that he had in order to determine what could possibly make the small golden cross on a gold chain so special. After the five minutes Ozwald had identified three special characteristics of the necklace. Nervous that those three would not be enough to win him the final round.

[Grimm Reaper 0]

Ozwald could feel his heart beating in the back of his throat. This was the first time in this challenge that he had ever been really this nervous, everything rode on whether Ozwald won this round of the competition. Much like the vials of red liquid from the previous round, the two necklaces on the scale were very small, and the gold blended almost completely in with the golden scales in the center of the room. Ozwald watched as the scales tipped back and forth, the anticipation almost completely killing him. Finally after what seemed like hours to Ozwald, but was merely a few moments, the scales tipped and chose the victor of the final, and most important round of the contest. The scales had finally tipped, and they revealed that Ozwald had won the final round, which gave him the complete and total win for the contest. A weight almost seemed to be lifted off of Ozwald's shoulders, he didn't have to stress about winning the contest anymore because he had already won.

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"Good job young merchant." Hermes called out walking up to the mortal that was in the room with him. "You beat me fair and square. Your abilities are far greater than even I suspected. Here take this as a prize for winning the contest." Ozwald graciously accepted the gif t that Hermes had presented him, it was a smaller version of the golden scales that could be found in the center of the challenge room. Ozwald placed his prize for winning into his inventory, the item said that it would give him bonuses to his identifications. "Now I will return you to the 17th floor." Hermes told Ozwald before he erupted in a blinding white flash once again. 

Once Ozwald could see again he realized that he was once again back on the awe inspiring and beautiful town of Athenaia on the 17th floor, the sun still bouncing off of the beautiful marble structures that were in this town. Ozwald decided he would head back to his shop.

[Grimm Reaper 0]

calling out the name of the town of beginnings Ozwald found himself surrounded for the fifth time that day a bright light that transported himself to another part of Aincrad. the blue light that appeared around Ozwald dissipated leaving Ozwald standing on the platform to the teleport gate that could be found on the first floor. Ozwald made his way through the bustling streets of the first floor walking leisurely back to the shop that he called his own. Finding himself at the edge of the shopping district Ozwald walked towards the center of the district, where his shop could be found. Ozwald took the few steps into the familiar mausoleum that acted as the antechamber to his shop, walking down the spiral staircase made out of black stones Ozwald found himself in the warm comforting shop underneath. "Hello," Ozwald called out to the seemingly empty shop, but the shop wasn't really empty as a small chicken like creature ran up to Ozwald like a dog would. 

Edited October 23, 2020 by Grimm Reaper

[Grimm Reaper 0]

Ozwald crouched down in the doorway to his shop, scratching Ryotos head "Did you miss me buddy?" Ozwald asked in a sweet voice picking the cockatrice up and placing him on his shoulder. Ozwald had a lot to think about, he had just met a god and beat him in a contest to prove his abilities. Walking to his perch behind the counter of his shop Ryoto jumped off of Ozwald's shoulder  curling himself up on his dog bed that was placed there. Ozwald was surprised at the turn of events this morning, He never would have expected that he would be meeting a god, whether or not they were just a character in a game it was still awe inducing. Ozwald couldn't stop thinking about sharing the experience with the man he was quickly falling in love with, Valentine. Ozwald couldn't wait for the next time he got to see the man whose beauty was comparable to the gods.

Spoiler

Thread rewards:

• Hermes' Scale (+1 CD tool)
• 3 SP (1 quest, 1 event, 1 page)
• 400 Col (1 page)