Chapter 83: Stories Told at the Hotel

The inn was situated slightly to the south on the map, about two days’ journey from the palace, and served as a major crossroads for the entire region. Heading east from the inn led to the mines and the blacksmith’s forge; to the west were the farms and beast dens; to the north, the barracks and stables. In essence, it was the key node of the whole area.

Usually, it was heavily guarded, and players often used it as a gathering point for trade and interaction. This was Liu Zong’s first time at the inn. Initially, he had imagined it to be a modest two-story building, but upon arriving, he realized he had vastly underestimated its scale.

The inn before him was truly enormous—a cube-shaped skyscraper, each side a hundred meters in length, width, and height. Across its outer wall, a massive character for “Wine” was emblazoned, though on closer inspection, it was not painted but rather assembled from countless bottles of various shapes and sizes, each still containing some kind of liquid.

At the base of the building, each side boasted forty grand doors. No matter which entrance one chose, it led into a colossal plaza spanning ten thousand square meters. At the plaza’s center was a staircase leading upward, and beside it stood a three-meter-tall notice board. On it was a profusion of tasks and quests, with fist-sized Adara insectoids occasionally fluttering up to add new assignments.

Beneath the board stood more than a dozen Adara insectoids, each holding items aloft and shouting explanations. Clearly, they belonged to the auction house: all a player had to do was hand over their goods, set a minimum price, and the rest would be taken care of.

Moreover, the hall allowed anyone to set up a stall at will; a simple cloth was enough to display wares for sale. The staircases served as passageways both up and down—above were guest rooms and lounges, below were the true bar and kitchen. It was rumored that the uppermost levels offered special services, while the lowest floors of the basement concealed a black market and similar shady venues.

As soon as Liu Zong entered, an Adara insectoid approached and handed him a card emblazoned with the number 796.

Perplexed, Liu Zong inquired about it. The insectoid looked momentarily surprised, then replied, “It’s your first time here, isn’t it, sir? Space is limited; we can only accommodate a thousand guests at once, so there are certain rules. Each person may remain inside for one day only. Once your time is up, you must leave and re-enter. If there are no vacancies upon your return, you’ll have to wait outside until someone leaves. This number simply records your entry time. We’ll remind you when your time is nearly up—please don’t miss it.”

With that, the insectoid turned and left without another word.

Faced with this, Liu Zong was a little at a loss. He couldn’t understand why the Adara insectoids were so brusque, showing no intention of introducing him to the inn’s features. Still, with his number card in hand, he was free to wander. He asked a few players and learned that in the inn’s underground bar, some bards and storytellers recounted the history of the Adara insectoid race—perhaps they would know something useful.

Upon hearing this, Liu Zong made his way to the bar, though no one had mentioned there were over seventy bars in the inn. Even moving quickly, it took him half a day to find a few storytellers, one of whom seemed to know something.

However, this particular storyteller was clearly quite drunk and demanded Liu Zong buy him the finest wine before he would speak. With no other choice, Liu Zong ordered the most expensive drink and set it before the storyteller.

The man took the glass, sighed, and finally spoke: “You’re carrying a piece of amber, aren’t you? Show it to me.”

Liu Zong set the amber on the table. The storyteller didn’t inspect it closely but simply stroked it with his hand, then sighed again. “This truly is one of the soul-absorbing stones from that era,” he said.

With that, the storyteller began to recount the tale of the Adara insectoids.

Long ago, the Adara insectoids split apart over whether or not to use the amber to resurrect dead heroes. This particular group was against resurrection; upon arriving in this region, they resolved not to revive any of their fallen heroes.

In the beginning, the Adara insectoids had revived their own heroes not to grant them immortality, but to face various crises. Without resurrected heroes, each one became all the more precious. Yet, newly arrived in this perilous land, the Adara insectoids could not guarantee the survival of every hero.

So, they devised another method: storing the power of their fallen heroes in amber, to be kept in a certain place. Any Adara insectoid could resonate with the amber to draw on a hero’s power. In total, twelve heroes agreed to seal away their strength, and each Adara insectoid could attune to three powers at once. These were categorized as Adara Reinforcement, Adara Enhancement, and Adara Resonance.

Adara Reinforcement augmented the attuner’s offensive abilities, comprising four types: Retaliatory Plunder, which unleashed a counterattack after dodging ten times; Death Angel, summoning a hero’s spirit for a devastating attack; Blood Rain, which imbued attacks with poison; and Corpse Explosion, causing slain enemies to explode.

Adara Enhancement fortified survivability, also with four varieties: Hymn of Life, which healed after defeating foes; Stalwart Shield, which automatically conjured a barrier at half health; Siphon, which absorbed life and mana from enemies; and, as Liu Zong had recently experienced, Gate of Life, which teleported the user to safety when struck by a fatal blow.

Adara Resonance was the most unique of the three, not empowering individuals but entire legions: Swarm March increased a legion’s movement and attack speed; Bloodthirsty Swarm drove soldiers into a frenzy; Heroic Spirits transformed fallen soldiers into blood mist to empower survivors; and Devouring Swarm, which consumed enemy corpses to restore health and bolster fighting strength.

Finishing his tale, the storyteller set down his empty glass and looked at Liu Zong. “But all this happened ages ago. Back then, the Karia demons were still mighty. Thanks to the resonance of our twelve heroes, we nearly exterminated them. In the end, they created twelve great demons, and through their power, destroyed our resonance amber. No one knows where the amber ended up after that. The piece in your hand may have been overlooked by chance.”