Pandora Unchained - a Cultivation Progression Fantasy

Sorin opened his eyes to find himself on a much larger landmass floating many times farther out in space than the basic dungeon they’d just cleared. His companions were seated by his side, and their expressions were a mixture of thoughtfulness, excitement, and confusion.

Not wanting to interrupt their digestion of the Dao Vision, Sorin inspected the large stele erected at the entrance of the realm. The description was much briefer and more open-ended than the one they’d found in the harpy dungeon.

This mysterious unnamed landmass, herein known as the Life and Death Dungeon, contains powerful remnants from the Era of the Gods. With no believers to act as guideposts, claiming this advanced dungeon is not a straightforward endeavor. What’s more, there’s competition. Can you handle the heat?

Main Objective(s):

Exploration: Explore the ruins scattered across the realm and collect fragments of history and divinity (7/50)

Seek and Destroy: Find and kill enemy flamekin soldiers, captains, and generals. Destroy their advance base to prevent the arrival of reinforcements (68 hours remaining).

Investigate the anomaly at the center of the landmass.

Note: Rewards are to be allocated according to contributions.

“It looks like the exploration is already well underway,” said Stephan, the first to awaken from his Dao-Vision-induced stupor. “Get anything good?”

“An offensive skill,” said Sorin. “You?”

“Half defense, half offense,” said Stephan. He groaned as he worked his way down the objective list. “I hate open-ended quests. The Seek and Destroy portion is nice, but there’s no telling what the exploration and investigation portions will lead to.”

“Statistically speaking, exploration and investigation missions have higher rewards than normal conquest dungeons,” said Astley, who’d awoken around the same time as Stephan. “What’s more, this further validates my insistence on joining as an adventurer. I’ll be getting an insurmountable head start on my competitors.”

The rest of their party took ten minutes to fully awaken. After reviewing the mission requirements, they proceeded to a small outpost located a few hundred feet away from the stele.

Temporary buildings had been erected. The various guilds and organizations headquartered in Olympia proudly displayed their signs and hawked their wares. Most clans were unrepresented, but some mercantile clans like Daphne’s White Tower Group were both selling necessities and buying up any loot adventurers managed to scrounge up. The Kepler Clan had even erected a field hospital to treat injuries and save any young heroes who overextended.

“Why don’t we split up for an hour or so before re-convening?” Gareth suggested. “I need to go visit the Nighthawk station to purchase some items.”

“I’m going to go ahead and have a cup of coffee,” said Lawrence. “To destress before heading off to war.”

Everyone had things to do, including Stephan, who needed to mend his armor. Sorin’s armor had also suffered heavy damage during the final battle against the harpy guardian, so he headed towards a familiar sign in a small corner of the outpost: Sanderson’s Leather Outfitting.

A potent smell of leather and treatment chemicals assaulted Sorin’s nose as he stepped inside the temporary shop. The place looked less fashionable than the two previous iterations Sorin had been to, largely due to the dozens of freshly scraped skins that had been stretched out to dry under the floating realm’s scorching hot sun.

“Mr. Sanderson’s Leather Outfitting, how can I help you?” said a gruff voice. A muscular man who looked 90 percent identical to the two Mr. Sandersons he’d seen before stepped out from behind the counter and greeted him.

“A patch job and a consult,” said Sorin, retrieving his two-star hero medal and the voucher he’d been awarded by the Council of Elders. “I don’t suppose Sanderson Senior came to this remote outpost?”

“My grandfather typically doesn’t come out to this sort of thing, no,” said Mr. Sanderson, accepting the voucher. He whistled as he looked through the contents. “An unlimited crafting opportunity with priority. Pricey. Has your clan mentioned what type of material is available for this crafting opportunity?”

Sorin shrugged. “They said the request was unlimited as long as it was a single piece of equipment.”

Mr. Sanderson snorted. “Typically. Nothing is ever unlimited, Mr. Kepler, even for a pretty face like you. They’ll supply anything they can reasonably obtain, which means above-average materials at best. Now come on over and tell me how you managed to survive whatever caused that horrendous hole in your beautiful armor.

Sorin proceeded to recount his encounter with the harpy guardian with some omissions. “My armor is blood-bound and typically regenerates within a few hours if not a few minutes. This time, however, I can’t see any signs of regeneration. The tissue seems to be contaminated by foreign divinity.”

“Your guess is spot-on,” said Mr. Sanderson, dragging Sorin over to a workbench where he pulled out a set of black needles filled with corruption. “Don’t worry about the corruption. I’ll limit its area of effect to where most of the divinity is located.”

The leatherworker moved quickly but methodically, gradually purging unwanted energies from the unliving materials until, finally, it began to squirm and reform. “You’re lucky your armor’s base grade is so high. If it were slightly weaker, it would be impossible to salvage. Ultimately, this happened because it was never properly upgraded. This patchwork solution to bring it up to B-grade is admirable but lacking.”

“It’s difficult finding suitable materials,” said Sorin, relieved at seeing the hole visibly shrink. “What do I owe you for the repairs?”

“Maintenance like this is included with your purchase,” said Mr. Sanderson. “I typically only repair items purchased at our shop, but higher-quality items from our sister shops are also accepted. Now, back to your crafting opportunity. I suggest you don’t take it at face value. While Sanderson’s Leather Outfitting can procure high-quality leather and supporting materials, it’s usually up to the customer to supply top-tier materials.

“Your clan’s promise of an unlimited crafting opportunity is an empty gesture. They’ll likely make excuses stating lack of availability and pressure you to accept a lower quality product unless you’ve got a lot of political pull, extremely deep pockets, or are willing to wait a decade.”

Sorin pursed his lips. “Figures. What’s your suggestion?”

“The real value of this opportunity isn’t actually the material component but the opportunity,” explained Mr. Sanderson. “My grandfather rarely works on any pieces anymore, and this voucher is one of the few things that can convince him.

“My suggestion is to rely on your clan for supporting materials. Gather the main materials yourself. Preferably a high-quality snakeskin or something of lizard origins.

“As for the material supply part, we’ll fudge the paperwork and spec out your armor for an above-average set. We’ll then reimburse you for those materials. Sound reasonable?”

Sorin sighed inwardly but had expected no better. Of course, his clan’s gift had strings attached. It was probably why such a great reward had been assigned in the first place.

“I have another item I’ve been wondering about,” said Sorin. “My wraith-snake boots. They seem to be a little slow for a teleporting item. Worse than advertised.”

“That’s only natural,” said Mr. Sanderson. “You’re a God Seed, aren’t you? What are you doing using trashy B-grade equipment? These boots are on their last legs largely because they can’t handle your mana flow. It’s like trying to force 8 inches worth of flow through a half-inch water pipe. Do it long enough, and the pipe will blow.”

“Would it be possible to upgrade them to S-Tier along with upgrading my armor?” asked Sorin.

“This…” Mr. Sanderson hesitated. “I’m afraid the voucher is only good for one crafting opportunity. I can put you on the waiting list if you want, but you heard what I said earlier.”

Sorin was disappointed by the news but helpless to do anything about it. Sanderson’s Leather Outfitting was the best, and it was like Mr. Sanderson said — lower-tier equipment couldn’t withstand his mana, and this would only get worse.

“There is a way around this, though,” said Mr. Sanderson. “If you can supply two compatible top-quality materials with the properties you wish, we can potentially create a set. Essentially, the boots would join your blood-bound armor and become a single item. We would need one additional ingredient, however.”

“Which ingredient,” asked Sorin.

“Something powerful that shares an origin with this armor,” answered Mr. Sanderson. “We need it as a mediating agent to make sure the armor doesn’t collapse under the strain.”

This was theoretically possible with enough contribution points, so it was worth considering. “Are there any downsides to this approach?”

“Aside from the expense and high requirements on materials? No,” said Mr. Sanderson. “It all comes down to your current situation and how urgently you need this piece of equipment upgraded. From what I can tell, your armor’s capacity is absurdly high despite the shoddy job my cousin did upgrading it. It would be a waste to upgrade it to anything less than S-Tier.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” said Sorin. “And thanks for the advice.”

“It’s my pleasure,” said Mr. Sanderson. “Don’t be a stranger!”

Having sorted out the issue of his armor and seeing that he had half an hour remaining, Sorin decided to visit the Kepler Clan clinic. There were only three patients being looked after, two of whom were suffering from severe corruption.

Sorin made his way past the lack of security with his family’s status plaque and inspected the patients one by one. One sported a gruesome injury that had brought him to the precipice of death. Gabriella was currently treating the man by injecting his vitals with potent life-aligned divinity. Wherever the divinity passed, death was not only extracted but converted to vitality that was reinfused into his flesh to accelerate the healing process.

The temporary hospital was well-built despite being made of cloth. Powerful runes of purification shielded the inside from the wild forces of the outside world, which was likely the only reason the man was still alive.

“You’re doing an amazing job at keeping the patient alive given his condition, but ultimately, your approach is flawed,” said Sorin, walking up to the man’s blood-stained bed. “His body isn’t strong enough to resist the shard of corruption embedded in his spine.”

Gabriella did not look up as she replied to Sorin’s comments. “The ‘shard of corruption’ you speak of has been identified as equivalent to a Blood Dominating Thorn. While its corrupt properties are elevated due to its exposure to the local atmosphere, its properties remain the same.”

“True,” said Sorin, inspecting the man with his aura. “But not true at the same time. You’ve weakened the thorn using a mixture of Nightshade Ambrosia Extract and Realm-Eroding Sunflower Oil, but it’s far from enough to account for the variability present in the unaligned corruption.”

“Your solution?” asked Gabriella.

“Excision,” answered Sorin. “The thorn must be removed. Any poison strong enough to neutralize it will kill the patient.”

“Excision could well kill the patient,” replied Gabriella.

“But hesitating at this stage will certainly kill him,” said Sorin.