The adventurers entered a massive, ornate grand dining hall. The hall's height exceeded twenty-five metres. Massive chandeliers, crafted from gleaming gold and adorned with intricate details, hung gracefully from the high ceilings. The chandeliers numbered more than five, and they cast a brilliant, ethereal light into the expansive room.
The adventurers stared with awe at the massive chandeliers, wondering what exactly the source of light on the chandelier was. At a mere glance, the sources of light seemed to be candles, but upon meticulous inspection, they appeared to be luminous golden orbs.
Other striking highlights of the grand dining hall were the murals, of a unique and disturbing art style, hanging on both sides of the hall. The drawings depicted the epic story of a swirling mass of crimson and darkness dominating a foreign race of humanoid beings who rose up to fight against the swirling mass. Apparently, this foreign race of humanoid beings had previously exterminated another race of creatures due to their insatiable greed for resources which the vanquished possessed in their lands. The story culminated with the foreign race re-emerging after death as undead skeletons, and the swirling mass hung menacingly over and behind them, watching them with an intimidating slit eye that manifested in the centre of its form.
The mural was terrifying. The adventurers dared not comment on what they thought about the murals. They were yet to see the Lords of the realm; hence, they were afraid of making any comments that would anger their benefactor.
The third highlight was the imposing armoured knights that stood guard at uniform intervals at various points around the hall. Their armour was designed with a skeletal flair, accompanied by intricate golden designs. This made the knights appear striking, yet terrifying. To the adventurers' perception, it felt as if hollow knight armours stood around them; however, they couldn't shake off the harrowing feeling that the armours were under the control of a phantom residing within them.
The adventurers casually strode towards the humongous dining table in the centre of the massive hall. The dining table was an extremely long, rectangular table that had numerous seats on both long sides, with a single seat placed at each end. The table was of a golden palette, its top bearing exquisitely carved intricate royal designs. The seats around the table bore similarly intricate royal designs.
The adventurers settled into seats on both sides of the table.
Except for Ivan, the adventurers all looked at Wanyama, seemingly expecting a word of encouragement. Wanyama shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, not knowing what to say to them. They all turned their gazes to Ivan. He wasn't impressed with his teammates' actions. He spared them a quick glance before looking away.
He quietly placed his weapon to rest beside his seat before he stood up. He said at the top of his voice, "Good day, Your Majesties; we are glad to be invited into this grand residence."
"The hell! Does this guy want to kill us?" Am_I_Me exclaimed frightfully, trying to hide under the table.
"The Lords take pleasure in inviting friendly life into their residence," a shrill, raspy voice spoke from directly behind Ivan.
Ivan's heart skipped a few beats, startled to hear a voice so close behind him. The other adventurers seated beside Ivan fled from their seats upon hearing the voice. The others on the opposite side of the table also fled upon hearing the voice and witnessing the sudden appearance of an armoured knight behind Ivan.
Ivan's heart raced with fright. He reined in his fear and bravely turned around to see who had spoken to him. He saw a terrifying armoured knight facing him. He had a strong feeling that the armour before him was empty, but the faint glimpse of a flaming yellow iris behind the knight's helmet's visor suggested otherwise.
"That's good to know. Please, extend our greetings to your lords," Ivan said calmly, but his fidgeting legs subtly betrayed his inner trepidation.
The knight simply nodded and walked away, disappearing from the hall into an unknown area.
The adventurers settled back in their seats. No one said a word, but they gave Ivan a praising nod.
Minutes later, five knights entered the hall with rolling carts of dishes filled with various delicacies. The knights served the food on the table. The dishes were all covered, but the adventurers could perceive the rich aroma of the food. The knights then uncovered a number of the dishes, and the full, enticing aroma of the dishes assaulted the adventurers' olfactory nerves.
They couldn't control themselves; they ravenously wolfed down the meal before them. There was fried chicken, jollof rice, crab soup, prawn soup, dumplings, and a host of other dishes to choose from. The adventurers indiscriminately ate from almost all the dishes.
>>>>
Strength Attribute point gained.
Info: You have ingested nutrient-rich food at the residence of the Vate Realm's Lord. Your muscles have rapidly assimilated necessary nutrition to improve your strength that you have worked hard to build.
Description: You have gained 0.1 points in strength; hence, you have +1x power. You are now 2x stronger than a regular human being.
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Agility attribute point gained.
Info: You have ingested nutrient-rich food at the residence of the Vate Realm's Lord. Your muscles, bones, and nervous system have rapidly assimilated necessary nutrition to improve your agility that you have worked hard to build.
Description: You have gained 0.1 points in your agility attribute. You have become +1x more agile than a regular human being.
Ivan also received improvement notifications for his speed attribute, stamina attribute, and intelligence attribute.
He smiled to himself, pleased with the considerable progress he was making. The other adventurers also gained from this meal. Attributes that they had heavily invested in also grew in strength. For people like Wanyama and SheCyclones, their intelligence stat significantly increased.
SheCyclones was ravenously wolfing down a very large turkey. Am_I_Me desired to have the turkey to herself. She picked up a fork and imbued it with the power of Deceit.
"Hey, look at this fork. Isn't it beautiful?" Am_I_Me attracted SheCyclones' attention to the fork in her hand.
The fork entranced SheCyclones, making her lose focus on the turkey. Am_I_Me subtly moved the turkey to her side and greedily bit into the mass of meat. The deceit and theft happened under Onelight's notice. She was a mix of amused and disgusted by what had transpired. Suddenly, she noticed an eerie aura emanate from SheCyclones. Onelight looked around to see if anyone else around her had noticed this, but the other adventurers were too preoccupied with eating, meaning they did not notice the change.
The ominous aura she sensed was that of dark energy. Onelight was a healer mage whose powers were tied to light energy; hence, she could sense a bit of dark energy whenever it manifested. To her, it felt like she was encountering a natural enemy.
Meanwhile, SheCyclones' consciousness had been violently transported to another realm: the Abyss of Devils. The dark energy that enveloped her body was partly responsible for this. The Devils' Abyss environment was even more hellish than the Vate Realm. The temperature far exceeded that of the Vate Realm, and the almost ubiquitous pits of lava, sulphur, and corrosive acid burnt with vigorous luminous intensity and searing fury.
The Lords of the Vate Realm weren't responsible for this development. If Onelight had the means to see what was happening with SheCyclones, she would undoubtedly accuse Am_I_Me for SheCyclones' current predicament.
"Where am I?" SheCyclones fidgeted in profound fright. She was still dressed in her silver-purple gradient-coloured dress.
The endless cries of tormented souls from the burning pits and the ever-present terrifying flying demons who menacingly glared at her deeply unsettled her.
"Welcome, adventurer, to your doom."