The entire town was a rather beautiful place, it was built around the Ancient Valley that connected to many more cities. Therefore, a lot of people from all these other cities constantly visited this area. There were many ingredients and ancient materials we've never seen before in the modern Arcadia. Materials and ingredients lost in time, which we sadly couldn't get to modern times, as it was all just part of the dungeon's entire scenario.
But it was indeed a rather beautiful place, full of life and vibrant atmosphere. Young divine dragons, ancient elves, and majin played around. Street vendors constantly offered us their goods, and even if they weren't real, we still checked the items to find information through their descriptions and the like.
However, as the minutes passed, I kept looking around. I knew there were clues hidden somewhere, things we needed to look for. The rest of my part was mostly relaxing, and I didn't fault them for that, the first scenario was already very difficult, but I was the one constantly expanding my Spiritual Senses, looking for something.
And I found it. Traces of darkness, of miasma, nether, and even demonic energy mixed together. One, two, three, many of them. I quickly felt like something was wrong here. Someone or something was lurking, waiting for an opportunity to strike. And it was chasing us somehow, yet the same time, it was in several places at the same time.
And then…
Ding!
[An Auxiliary Mini Quest has been triggered automatically]: [Find The Traces Of Darkness!]
[While everyone is busy admiring the beauty of a town of ancient times, you have kept your senses on high alert, and you've detected something, or someone.]
[An evil entity, a darkness is lurking around. Masses of negative energy are gathering in several spots around town. And you suspect there's something dark brewing in the background.]
[Find the Traces of Darkness and obtain a clue for the next Scenario.]
[Quest Conditions]: [Find the Ten Traces of Darkness: 0/10]
[Completion Rewards]: [Large Quantity of Score Points.]
[Time Limit]: [Same Time Limit as the Break Time Limit.]
I quickly decided to explain my friends about this, while some of my party members kept the four researchers busy giving them small talk. Brisingra in specific was happy to talk and chat with her mother about whatever. Elisa talked with Elbedo about gold dragons (she was one), and then Angelina's party kept Hermes and Cecilia busy by talking about many things.
"So there are ten traces of darkness, I didn't even feel them before." Mark was surprised. "Where can we find them?"
"I don't know, but I feel them. I think I could easily find them using my Spirit Senses by looking for traces." I said. "I could call my spirits, but I feel like it won't work, this dungeon makes them feel a bit dizzy and disoriented, maybe because it is like a dream too."
"So we have to just search them with our senses, gotcha." Rita nodded.
"I think I can feel a few." My mother said.
"Me too! I can feel all ten!" Monica said happily. "Let me guide you!"
"You can?" I wondered.
"M-Maybe because of my connection to darkness? I am a ghost after all." She said.
"How come I can't feel them then?!" Rita complained.
"Maybe because you're not a ghost like her! Ghosts probably have expanded and stronger senses." I explained. "Anyways, Monica, can you tell us where you can sense them? Here. I've made a basic map of our surroundings using the information I gained from my senses."
"Y-Yes, here… and here, and here… and there too!" Monica quickly pointed all the areas with a pen I gave to her. With that done, I took a photo of it through the system's chat function and sent it to the chat of all my friends and my daughter.
With the information shared, we started to quickly search for the ten traces as quickly as possible. I ran to the south, where I saw a trace of darkness hiding behind a barrel. It contained strange, assembling dark runes. Was it some sort of pillar for a domain, or a bomb?
"For now, just store them inside your inventory! They can be easily handled with a barrier of spirit magic." I explained my party.
And we did just that, the masses of darkness didn't attack or anything, meaning that whoever left them there was not considering if someone would ever find them. At less than five minutes, we found them all, stored inside of our inventories inside of bottles. Everyone handled them to me, and as the party leader, the Mini Quest was completed.
Ding!
[You have Completed the Auxiliary Mini Quest]: [Find The Traces Of Darkness!]
[You have finally found the strange ten traces of darkness, congratulations! However, there's now a question lingering inside of your mind. What are these for?]
[Although you didn't seem to notice at first hand, once you look back at the map you made, you realize they were all placed in a strange, recognizable position.]
[A demonic pentagram.]
[Quest Conditions]: [Find the Ten Traces of Darkness: 10/10: Complete]
[Completion Rewards]: [+100.000 Score Points.]
[Current Score]: [700.000]
"Wait, it's true! It is a pentagram." I looked back at the map. "So they placed these as nodes for a formation, a demonic formation!"
"Wait, what? But when?" Mark wondered. "This is… So there's indeed someone trying to do something fishy."
"Not just fishy Mark, something really bad. Isn't this similar to what's going on in Luminous? They're trying to summon something…" Rita said.
"I guess so… Well, let's return with the rest." I nodded. "Our score rose to seven hundred thousand. I am guessing we should aim for as much as we can. Try to look for clues or weird things, that might trigger a new Mini Quest."
"Gotcha." My daughter said. "Let's go now!"
We regrouped with Cecilia's group, and as we made our way back home, we explained them what we found. They were slightly shocked they were unable to find the traces themselves.
"Traces of Darkness?! That's… And you say they were arranged like this?" Mercedes muttered in disbelief.
"T-That's really bad." Hermes said.
"So there's really someone trying to summon something!" Cecilia said.
"But who?" Elbedo wondered.
"That's something we'll have to find out."
