MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

Li Yi had already predicted this outcome, but not the exact ending…

With Holy Spear sticking out of his body, Li Yi did not have the option of releasing his soul. He blacked out. Once he came to, he found himself imprisoned in the Church of Light’s underground basement.

He lost some EXP from the death of his character. He was lucky he had not dropped any equipment. Opening his Status Panel, Li Yi started to make sense of the situation.

He had already resurrected. He was currently held in custody by Karlinthor for being a Pagan. The countdown on his panel indicated that he was to be locked up for three days.

If he were to stick around for those three days, he would never be able to complete Augustus’ quest.

He could not use a Return City Stone. Return Scrolls were ineffective as well. Li Yi tried every way he could think of to leave this place but the results were fruitless.

Of course, the only benefit of being locked up was the slight decrease of Aggro between Church of Light and him.

Li Yi was feeling depressed and wanted to just log off and be done with it but on the other hand, there was still the fact that he could not leave the place even if he wanted to.

He could still use his skills. Li Yi still had ideas he could try. He stood at the side of the underground doorway and kicked at the door a few times. He then Camouflaged to conceal himself.

His plan was simple. He would trick the NPCs into opening the door and then make his escape…

However, it was a shame that his plan ended before it truly began. No matter how much noise he made, the NPCs patrolling about did not even glance at him.

“F*ck you, intelligent NPCs my foot! Swine!” cursed Li Yi.

There went a precious Hall of Fame quest. Li Yi could not be any more dejected.

…

“Bang—”

About five or six hours later, just when Li Yi was utterly dispirited and contemplating whether to log off or not, the door to the basement suddenly swung open. Karlinthor entered with a remorseful look on his face.

“Young man, please forgive my impudence.” Karlinthor bowed deeply at Li Yi. Then came a cheerful notification from the System.

[Karlinthor’s apology raised your Reputation Value at the Church of Light to Neutral.]

The -3,000 Reputation Value loss was wiped clean. This unexpected turn of events had Li Yi lost for words.

“I have received an answer from my teacher earlier. You’re indeed a messenger sent by Lord Augustus. Because of my recklessness, the situation at the Abyssal Crevice has grown catastrophic. As a result, my teacher has severely admonished me. I hope that when you see Lord Augustus, you don’t have to… bring up this matter.” Karlinthor was feeling awkward.

One look at Karlinthor’s face and Li Yi’s eyes gleamed with opportunity.

Augustus’ character was set up to be wild and intractable. Amongst the King of Pantheon, there were few NPCs that dared challenge him. This Karlinthor fella was most fearful of Augustus. Back in their younger days, he had been humbled quite a few times by Augustus.

Li Yi sighed. “I’ve been locked up for far too long. Even if I make haste to return now, I will not be able to accomplish my quest.”

“Not to worry.” Without hesitation, Karlinthor’s hands shimmered and glowed and he opened up a Space Portal.

Karlinthor haughtily remarked, “This Space Portal can teleport you back to the base of Blade Peak in the Eastern Continent.”

As the Wizard class progressed, players could activate many fixed teleportation doors but their function were similar to the Return City Stones. They shared a common limitation — they were set to fixed locations and could not be used in foreign lands.

Only those Great Sorcerer Mentors that had completed Epic-level quests in the later stages of the game could open up a teleportation door in foreign territory.

If a Wizard class were to witness Karlinthor’s power, he would be envious, even for months on end. However, it was a common sight for Li Yi so he was not the least bit surprised. He shook his head.

“Young man, why aren’t you leaving?”

Li Yi could only shake his head. No matter what Karlinthor said, he did not respond.

“I can only hold the teleportation door open for five minutes. I’ll have to wait three days before I can attempt it again. Young man, you…”

Karlinthor was so anxious that his forehead was drenched with sweat. Although he was only an NPC, his current actions were no different from a desperado.

Seeing how Karlinthor could not yet figure out the situation, Li Yi practically had to hold his hand and explain. “You killed me once, shouldn’t you offer me some sort of compensation?”

Li Yi could care less about restoring his reputation with the Church of Light.

“Compensation?” Karlinthor was dumbstruck. There was no reaction whatsoever.

Darn it… A failed extortion attempt.

Li Yi grouchily walked towards the teleportation door.

“Young man, this is a gift from my teacher. Please take it as a compensation.”

Li Yi had barely stepped through the door when he heard those words. He immediately stepped back and snatched the item out of Karlinthor’s hands. He then stepped into the teleportation door and disappeared.

“Youngsters nowadays…”

…

“Not bad.”

Li Yi stood by Blade Peak and gasped in admiration.

The whole journey there took so long but with just one portal, he had returned. Originally, he did not have sufficient time to return but now, he had all the time in the world.

Li Yi rode on Ice Toad King and started those thrilling long leaps over Blade Peak.

Despite the fact Li Yi did this quite a number of times, he dared not get complacent y in leaping to the top. The reason was simple. There were air currents in the surrounding skies. If he did not account for that during the leap, no matter how accurately he had calculated, it would result in a fall to his death.

Karlinthor had gifted him an exquisite little wooden box. Li Yi had not brought himself to check what was inside yet. With his trash hand, he would get nothing even from looting a purple boss. However, when Lady Luck was with him, even a white monster would drop a gold-colored equipment once in a while. The two fortunes were at such extreme ends of the spectrum that Li Yi would have to take extreme caution in proceeding in such situations.

“Good job, you have returned quickly.”

A B-class quest was turned in. Augustus was satisfied with Li Yi. Three reward options appeared before Li Yi — Equipment, Reputation Value, and Official Position.

“What type of reward would you like? Please answer me posthaste.” A countdown appeared on top of Augustus’ head. With 20 seconds on the clock, if Li Yi did not make a selection by then, he would receive a random selection.

“I choose Official Position!”

Li Yi chose the third choice without hesitation.

At his current level, even if he was given purple-colored equipment, it would be useless to him Legendary purple-colored equipment such as Ring of Windstorms was rare, after all. He did not need Reputation Value as he could obtain that by achieving first kills on bosses. It was only gaining official position points that were a pain in Li Yi’s butt.

A shimmering Soldier’s Honorary Gift Pack was gifted to Li Yi. It immediately lifted his spirits.

A gold-colored Soldier’s Honorary Gift Pack. It was absolutely impossible to obtain it from running regular official position quests. It provided 5,000 – 50,000 Official Position Points at random. Its rarity was comparable to even epic-level equipment.

Augustus resumed his looking-in-the-distance position and left Li Yi alone.

25 Hall of Fame records was meaningless to Augustus now. If Li Yi wished to receive a new quest, he had to achieve more Hall of Fame records.

Li Yi returned to his home in Shattered Frost City. He opened the Soldier’s Honorary Gift Pack to the tune of Princess Sif ‘s sorrowful flute melody.

A lively notification was heard coming from the System: [Congratulations, you have obtained 25,000 Official Position Points!]

Although it was not a total home run, Li Yi was content. If he were to rely solely on official position quests, it would be at least two or three months before he could achieve 25,000 Official Position Points.

Li Yi then opened up the little wooden box from Karlinthor. In it, was three Holy Light Protection scrolls. This was a creation of Karlinthor’s teacher, Holy Light Envoy.

[Holy Light Protection Scroll (Special item, scroll type)]

[Usage will result in the resurrection on the spot, 100% HP recovery and a Holy Light Protection buff. HP and mana recovery per second depends on WIL. Immune to all abnormal statuses. The effect will last for one hour or when the character experiences another death.]

This item was more advanced than Karone’s amulet.

Although he has died once, this compensation of three on-the-spot resurrections was acceptable.

Li Yi rushed to the Castellan’s residence to report to the Castellan.

His Official Position Points now far exceeded that of a Soldier Captain so Soldier Captain NPCs of the same rank were unable to promote him. Only the Lord Castellan could now raise his rank.

The Castellan NPC of Shattered Frost City was the saddest character amongst the ten castellans of human major cities.

Among the ten castellans of the human major cities, this person was a force to be reckoned with. If they were to challenge him, even five castellans teaming up would not guarantee a win. The powerful Wind Capital Castellan Leghar once issued a challenge to Shattered Frost City’s Castellan when they were young. Shattered Frost City’s Castellan took him down with one move. From there, one could tell how ferocious Shattered Frost City’s Castellan was.

But that was all in the past. This was the introduction behind the Castellan’s background story in King of Pantheon’s Official website. What players saw was a Lord Castellan inflicted with a peculiar disease. He did not even have the strength to stand nor walk. He was as weak as a baby.

He was the poster child of the bullied victim. Nobody feared him. Even Pinewood Brigands outside of Shattered Frost City regularly invaded his home to abduct his wife once a month. She would be sent back to him seven days later. If the players’ did not interfere in this event, it would just repeat itself over and over.

Li Yi ran straight for the inner chambers. Regular players were unable to meet Shattered Frost City Castellan, Archiemonde. Only players that had achieved certain Official Position Points could meet him face to face to receive quests.

Archiemonde lay in bed, looking as pale as a sheet. Seeing Li Yi enter, he remained motionless.

It was not that he was acting arrogant, but his wife had just been abducted by Pinewood Brigands. If this were to happen to anyone, they would be devastated, even if he were just an NPC…

“Soldier Captain Dark Wing, reporting to Lord Castellan!” Li Yi yelled out loud.

“Oh…” Archiemonde’s eyes flicked toward Li Yi.