Chapter 3

The city of Rhodium was often lined with artists trying to sell their works. However many of them were not adventurers and it was well-known that the city had little money. Therefore, it was rare to see a merchant stall set up in the courtyard.

“You name it we have it! Discount prices right here!” shouted Sen from the side of an overflowing merchant stall.

Still wearing the starter’s clothing, she bellowed out her advertisements. A large and burly looking man approached her after picking up something off of the counter.

“You call this sale-worthy?” he said in a baritone voice, waving a paint brush in her face.

Sen turned to face the man now talking to her and put on the best professional smile she could give.

“Is there some kind of problem sir?”

“Problem? Don’t act like you don’t know you criminal! I ought to report you to the guards!”

Sen could feel the irritation building beneath the surface but maintained a smile.

Why do these types always show up when I’m around?

Before Sen could interject with a response, a familiar voice cut in. It was Lance.

“Are you accusing us of something?” said Lance, his eyes narrowing.

The burly man now focused his wrath towards Lance. He walked right up to his face and spoke quietly.

“That’s right. I say it’s impossible for you to have such low prices, unless you’re getting your wares using underhanded methods.”

Lance smiled and gave a response. “So they’re stolen you say? Then what about that item in your hand? Surely you were going to pay for that.”

The man was startled at the sudden accusation. He looked at the paint brush then back to Lance.

“I’m not buying anything!” said the man, rage now reddening his face.

“Oh? so you’re admitting to stealing it then?” Suddenly Lance’s voice got louder. The increase in volume grabbed the attention of nearby people. Sen took this opportunity to hide behind the stall to avoid further involvement.

“What? A thief?”

“Stealing in broad daylight? Of course you’d get caught.”

As people chimed in with comments the man seemed to back down a little bit, realizing his fading position.

“What?.... No, I wasn’t stealing-“ Lance cut him off before he could finish.

“If you aren’t stealing then you must be willing to pay the full price of three gold right?”

“What are you talking about? This is listed as ten silver…”

Lance got closer and whispered into the man’s ear. “But don’t you remember sir? We have to charge extra because it’s supposedly stolen.” A grin spread across Lance’s face. To the onlookers it simply looked like a business man’s professional smile. But to the burly man standing in front of him, it seemed like the smile of a devil.

“Why y-you!” The man nearly became consumed with rage, but held himself back in front of the judgmental gaze of those watching. He breathed out a deep breath and threw three gold coins into the chest of Lance.

“This isn’t the last you’ve seen of me.” Said the man as he brushed by Lance and elbowed the crowd out of his way. After a bit the commotion died down and the crowd of onlookers dispersed. Sen made her way towards Lance who was picking the gold coins off the ground.

“You’re evil you know that?”

Lance popped up off the ground and smiled at his friend “it’s called business and you’re just soft. Haylen Quake’s guide to business states-”

“yes yes, Haylen Quake this, Haylen Quake that, you’ve told me a million times already.”

Lance gave a frustrated look and flipped a gold coin towards her. “here, it’s your share.”

“I don’t want your dirty money.” Sen smiled while catching the coin in mid-air.

“You know perfectly well my wares are legitimate.”

It’s true, If she hadn’t witnessed it with her own eyes she might not believe it herself. A month ago they had stumbled into the library and Lance claimed to have found an amazing book. She never would have guessed what he had in mind. Haylen Quake’s Guide to Bussiness it was titled. After reading it Lance had come up with the idea to sell the same wares as the NPC’s except at a lower price. He figured out a way to get starting players to make items from scratch in a cheap and efficient method.

Truthfully it was beneficial for everyone involved, except the NPC’s of course. Many of them were being put out of business. He had enlisted Sen’s help so that she could sell his wares while he was busy obtaining more inventory or finding more customers. The naïve boy she had met on the stairs to the library had somehow turned into a cutthroat business man.

But, he was only ruthless when it came to business. Outside of that he was fairly harmless in her eyes. She often found him to be more girly than her. Sen let out a sigh and pocketed the coin.

“yea I know…so am I good to leave now?”

“Running back to the library? Don’t you get tired of that place?” as Lance said this he was replacing some of the items on display with more expensive looking ones.

“Maybe…I’m running out of stuff to read, all that’s left is that section on math and a couple others.”

“What about a class? Have you chosen one yet? You can leave the city to go on hunts now you know…”

“Eh….I haven’t really found anything that interests me.”

Lance stopped what he was doing to gather his thoughts. He spoke after considering for a few moments.

“You’re not really interested in the crafting classes otherwise you would have chosen one by now. What do you say to accompanying me outside the walls to the hunting grounds? You might get a look at some combat classes that way.”

“I guess….wait, you’ve offered this to me before haven’t you?” Sen questioned.

“I swear you’re always in your own little world. Yes I have. I can go outside to collect raw materials now. I’m going later today as well. I’ll message you when I’m leaving.”

As lance turned around to help a customer, Sen took that as her cue to leave before he asked her to stick around and help. She was heading to the library of course. Whenever she logged on to Royal Road she was doing one of two things. Either helping Lance with his stall, or reading books in the library. As she made her way up the stairs she decided to check her progress.

“Stats window”

Avatar: Sen Type: Neutral

Level : 3 Class: None

Title: None Fame: 0

Health: 130 Mana: 210

STR: 10 AGI: 10

VIT: 15 WIS: 25

INT: 29 Leadership: 0

Luck: 0 Offense: 0

Defense: 0 Resistance to Magic: None

Sen had leveled up twice in the month since she started and distributed the points into vitality and intelligence. The first level up had been in the quest with Lily. The second came after she did a few quests for the other NPC’s in the library. In the process she learned that she could use the Identify skill she had gotten to determine what untitled books were about, or if they had hidden properties. Since it was the only skill she knew currently, she used it on practically anything she could find. Lance often laughed at her saying it was useless, but simply doing that had allowed her to raise it to Beginner’s level 3.

She had also realized recently that her stats were unnatural when compared to other players. Reading books had boosted her intelligence and wisdom stats, which had given her more mana. It was one of the reasons why Sen was obsessed with the library. Initially it was because the books she was reading contained stories she had never even heard of before. She genuinely enjoyed reading about fantastical tales of adventure that were apparently historical records.

She had been reading a particularly interesting book about a battle against vampires. When she finished the last page a message window popped into her view notifying her of stat increases. After some trial and error she had discovered that simply reading books for a general amount of time led to some minimal stat increases. The problem was that you had to read a book in its entirety for it to count. Simply flipping through the pages led to nothing, you had to retain the information.

However, the stat increases weren’t nearly optimized due to her having to log off for work and school. It was still enough to make an impact and the more important factor was that it reminded her that she was indeed in a game world. Once that registered into her brain, she kicked into gaming mode.

These stats might come in handy later.

Although she hadn’t played very many RPG’s she was reminded of memorizing combos in a fighting game. You need to know what the combo is before you can execute it and so that’s what she equated the stat increases to.

Sen walked through the double door entrance of the library like she had many times throughout the past month. She was greeted by the girl behind the counter, Lily.

“Ah, welcome back miss Sen.” She said with a smile on her face.

Even though Sen knew Lily was an NPC, she couldn’t help but act normally around her. She had been kind enough to allow her to build what essentially amounted to a fort of books in the sitting area and she even had given her a skill book.

“Hey Lily, don’t mind me. I’ll be in the usual spot.” Sen waved and briskly moved past the counter towards the sitting area on the first floor.

“Wait miss Sen!”

Lily tried getting her attention but Sen didn’t hear her.

“I guess everything will be ok….”

As she got closer to her fort, someone she didn’t recognize was already occupying it. An old man with stark white hair and a long flowing beard was reading the book she was looking forward to reading. He was wearing dark blue robes and when she got close enough she could see he was human. The old man looked up from the book and, seeing Sen approaching him, hopped down from the chair.

Sen was surprised because he really did hop from the chair. When he landed he was barely 5ft tall and his beard swished against his waist.

“Hello my dear, you must be miss Sen correct?” he outstretched his hand offering a handshake.

Normally Sen would have accepted him with ease, but she was currently a little irritated at the fact that he had gotten to read that book before her. In addition to that he already seemed to know who she was, and she had no clue as to who he was. She had already had to deal with the man back at the market earlier, so she decided to vent her frustration at him.

“Who are you and what do you want?” she crossed her arms and assumed a defensive stance.

The man looked back at her in surprise. A moment passed before he burst into laughter leaving Sen the one surprised.

“Hahahaha…well aren’t you an interesting one!” he said while retracting his hands into his sleeves.

The man contemplated for a moment before responding to her question.

“Hmm…yes, my name is Reginald and I was told you might be able to help me.”

He put a smile on his face and waited for Sen’s answer.

“Reginald…could I just call you Reggie? It’s easier….”

The man once again burst into laughter before responding.

“hahaha….you can call me whatever you’d like provided you help me with my problem dear.”

Sen eased her defense a bit and said “What problem would that be?”

“I’d like you to help me find a book.”

Sen was curious now, but stubbornly decided to keep being angry.

“Why me? Couldn’t you just get the head librarian to help? I’m sure she knows this place better than me.”

The smile faded from Reggie’s face and he shouted “NO! I won’t have anything to do with her!...I hate that wretched women.”

Sen was taken aback by the sudden anger. It’s true that she didn’t particularly like the head librarian because she wouldn’t allow her to go up to the third floor, but this man seemed to have a personal vendetta against her. Reggie regained his composure and continued.

“I asked the young lady at the front desk and she said that she had no knowledge of the books I’m looking for. When I asked if there was anyone else who might know, she mentioned you. She said I could meet you if I stuck around here for a while, which I have.”

Sen’s curiosity was definitely piqued now. Even though he only seemed to know her thanks to Lily, he had still sat around for who knows how long just to see if she could find a book. She really wondered what kind of book he could be searching for. Forgetting about her anger she couldn’t help but ask.

“What kind of book is it?”

“Ah, I misspoke earlier, I’m actually looking for a series of books. Tell me, have you heard of Haylen Quake?”

Sen was surprised to hear that name again. Lance hadn’t been able to shut up about the guy for the past month.

“I know the name….a friend of mine found a book he wrote about business. Unfortunately I don’t know anything more than that.”

“Oh yes, he was particularly well known for his ruthless business practices. However he was a much bigger figure than that. Many consider him one of the most influential men to walk the continent, outside of Von Arpen of course.”

Sen had spent the better part of a month in-game reading about Von Arpen and the history of the continent. So she knew that for this man to mention those two in the same sentence was a big deal.

“So he wrote more than just books about business then?” she asked now sitting down to give her full attention.

“Yes, he wrote many books about many things. But, the books that I’m looking for are special even amongst everything he wrote.”

Suddenly Reggie produced a book seemingly from out of nowhere. He placed it on the table in front of her after clearing a space. It was a brown hardcover book with gold trimming around the edges and fancy gold lettering. It was entitled The Five Fingers of Quake Volume: Index.

“Volume…Index?” Sen said in confusion.

“I said they were special. Go ahead, take a look inside.” Reggie said with a grin on his face. Since she was given permission there was no hesitation as she flipped open the cover and read the first few sentences. This only made her more confused.

“W-what the heck is this?” Sen asked.

What she had read was complete gibberish. It was like someone had hit the randomize feature on all the words in the book. There was not even any sentence structure let alone a concept of chapters or table of contents. Nothing!

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“You think that’s something? Apparently there’s three more volumes just like it.”

Sen truly didn’t know what to think. Even as an avid reader and huge fan of books she still couldn’t figure out why anyone would keep or even write a book like this.

“…and you want to find them I’m guessing?”

“Of course! I mean, isn’t it interesting?” Reggie said with a spark of life flickering into his eyes.

“Here’s one of the richest and most powerful men on the continent. Not only was he the main perpetrator behind the founding of this city and very library we stand in, but he was also considered one of the greatest mages of his time. Then, right before his death, he writes this series of books that seem to have come straight out of the mind of an insane person. Who wouldn’t be interested!?”

Reggie’s curiosity and enthusiasm only served to boost her own. After hearing a story like that she couldn’t help but be interested in the mystery behind them. Reggie seemed to sense her growing curiosity and posed the question again.

“So will you help me? I’m not asking you to find all of them but depending on how well you do I might be inclined to increase your reward.” After he said this Sen realized what would come next.

Qwerky Quake

A mysterious old man has approached you in search of an odd series of books written by a man named Haylen Quake. He has promised a reward depending on how many of the books you can find.

Difficulty Level: E

Quest Requirements

Must have completed the Sniffling Secret quest.

Must have spent a minimum of 200 hours in the library.

Sen was shocked by the requirements. She knew she had spent a lot of time in the library but to have it quantified like that put it more into perspective.

It makes sense though, I lose track of time so easily in here.

“I don’t know how many I can find but I’ll definitely help you with your search.”

You have accepted the quest

This was one of the easiest decisions she made in a while. She got up from her seat while Reggie spoke.

“Wonderful! I’ll stay here with the book should you want to look it over.”

“Wait a second…you’re not going to help me? Where’s all that enthusiasm from before?”

“Now now, do you really think an old man like me can search up and down a library like this for any period of time?”

Sen tried persisting but Reggie wouldn’t budge on the matter. She finally gave up and decided to look over the book more thoroughly in order to get some clues. The sections in the library were divided into themes and genres. Although she didn’t expect a crazy book such as this to have any of those, it still might hint at where the others could be.

The first thing she did was use her Identify Item skill, but the only thing that popped up was more gibberish. She turned the book over and back but still found nothing. But when she flipped through its pages, suddenly a flash of color went by. She turned back the pages slowly until a purple bookmark was revealed.

“Ah, I had forgotten that was in there.” Said Reggie.

True to her habits she used her identify skill on the bookmark.

“Identify!”

*Tting*

Magic Bookmark

This magic bookmark will automatically return to the last saved page in a book, provided it has been used in that book once before. Simply state the title of the book to initiate the process. If nothing happens, the bookmark has not been used in that book, the book doesn’t exist, or it is not in range to be affected by this magic.

Sen was surprised something actually turned up. She looked back to Reggie while holding up the bookmark.

“Did you know this was magical?” she asked.

“No actually, I just assumed it was a regular bookmark…”

“This changes everything! Don’t you see how easy it’d be to find the other books with this?”

“Well I suppose, but there’s one problem with your theory.”

“What’s that?” Sen asked, beginning to lose patience with this old man.

“Even if I did know the names of the other books, which I don’t, there’s no guarantee that the bookmark was saved in any of them.”

“Well isn’t that great, how did you even expect to find them then?”

Reggie laughed hesitantly in response. “I’m sorry, it took a lot of digging just to even find out that they were stored in this library, all I really had to go on was that book I already have.”

Sen slumped back into her chair. If only she could get a hint at something, anything! Her eyes followed the table and came to rest on the gold trimmed book. While staring at it she read the title again and suddenly shot upright in her seat.

“no…it couldn’t be that easy….could it?”

Reggie looked at her in confusion. She took the bookmark and held it in front of her face.

“The Five Fingers of Quake Volume: Middle”

“Now there’s no way that would-“ Reggie was cut off mid-sentence when the bookmark suddenly zoomed out of Sen’s hand and headed up the nearest staircase.

“You were saying?” Sen smiled then quickly ran after the bookmark that was zipping through the bookcases. After a few minutes, she came running back with a book in her hand and out of breath.

“*Huff* Got it! *Huff*”

She placed a blue book of similar size to the brown one on the table. After flipping through the pages it was exactly the same as the other book.

“They all really are like this.” She said now catching her breath.

Using the same method she had for the first book she found the other two which had the same title except for the volume, which were Ring and then Pinky for the last one. As she brought back the final book she wanted to address something that had been nagging her.

“Reggie you said there was only four books right?”

“Yes, to my knowledge there are only four volumes.”

“Then why does it say the Five Fingers of Quake?” she asked inquisitively.

“We’re talking about these books and you want to question something like that?” said Reggie defensively.

She knew it was silly but she decided to try anyway.

“The Five Fingers of Quake Volume: Thumb”

Sen had guessed correctly. Suddenly the bookmark shot out of her hand. She quickly followed after it, darting up the staircase to the second level. The other books had all been located on the first or second level but this time the bookmark zipped right over the rope blocking the staircase leading up to the third floor. Sen didn’t have time to think and hurdled over the rope so as not to lose the bookmark.

She had always been bothered by the fact that she wasn’t allowed on the third floor. Lily had told her that it was where all the rarest and most expensive books were located. However, as she ran through the bookcases after the bookmark, nothing seemed to stick out to her.

I don’t see what’s so special about this place.

At that moment the bookmark shot towards the ground. As she approached it, thinking something had happened, it wiggled its way between the wooden floorboards before she could grab it. She knocked on the wood to test it out and it made a hollow sound. She worked for a few minutes before finally prying up a small section. Inside the hidden compartment was a small leather bound notebook, with a purple bookmark now nestled inside it.

Sen picked it up and flipped through the pages. This time there wasn’t any words, only numbers.

“What the heck…” her comment was interrupted by Reggie who revealed himself from behind a bookcase.

“So it really was like that..” he said in wonder.

“Like what?”

“Tell me, what do you think that book is?”

Isn’t it just a crazy person’s notebook?

Sen took another look at the pages and suddenly realized something.

“It’s a cypher!”

Reggie smiled “That’s correct, that book is most likely a cypher for the others.”

It then dawned on Sen what Reggie had said before.

“You knew about this?”

“It was only a theory. My father insisted that Haylen was nothing but a crazy person. But I tracked down these books and you’ve found that cypher. This must mean something. Haylen quake must have had a message that he wanted to give.”

Sen now grew suspicious.

“Hey…who are you really?

“Aha, you’re only curious about this now? Well I suppose there is no reason to hide it any longer. My full name is Reginald Quake, the last living descendant of Haylen Quake, and resident court mage of Rhodium.” He smiled and kept quiet to let her take everything in.

Sen was awestruck. She had been referring to him like he was just some old man and now he tells her this? Before she could speak up he spoke first.

“Don’t worry too much, I’m not really one for formalities. And although it sounds grand, court mage isn't that high of a position.”

“if you say so…” Sen said hesitantly

“It’s fine, I assure you. Now bring that book here so I can get a better look at it.”

Sen handed the book over and watched him flip through the pages after a few moments he spoke out.

“Well the good news is that I’ll definitely be able to cypher a message using this. The bad news is that I think it should take me about a month.”

Sen was worried that she might not get to hear what the message was, so she decided to ask.

“If it’s not too much trouble, would you mind telling me the message when you figure it out? I’m awfully curious as to what it is now…”

“Of course! Did you think I would just leave you high and dry after you’ve helped me so much? Ah! That reminds me, your reward.”

Suddenly he produced a book from thin air. It was a golden glowing book, much like the green one she had seen before.

“This is one of two books that have been passed down in my family. It’s supposed to teach some skill but nobody in my family could even open it. I don’t really have a use for it but perhaps it could help you.”

Sen reached for the book only to have it wrenched away.

“Wait a second. I’m fairly sure that only a wizard can learn this skill. I’ll only give it to you should you decide to pursue the magical arts.”

*Tting*

Class: Wizard

If you accept it, you can use exclusive skills related to the nature of the class. Do you want to convert now?

Sen had been thinking about which class to pick for a while now. If she ever wanted to do some hunting she figured her best bet was to be a Wizard since she had no experience with fighting in hand to hand combat. She also knew that her stats favored using mana. Although it was a tough decision she didn’t know whether she would get another chance to get a skill like this, so she accepted.

Avatar: Sen Type: Neutral

Level : 3 Class: Wizard

Title: None Fame: 0

Health: 130 Mana: 210+100

STR: 10 AGI: 10

VIT: 15 WIS: 25+10

INT: 29 +10 Leadership: 0

Luck: 0 Offense: 0

Defense: 0 Resistance to Magic: None

+100 mana

+10 to Int and Wis stats

+Reduces mana cost for spells

+Increases attack power of spells

+Enables you to equip certain items specialized for the class

“Perfect, then I’ll meet you back here in about a month. I suggest you use that time to train, there’s no telling what kind of adventure might be awaiting us.”

Quest updated

The man who asked you to search for the books turned out to be none other than Reginald Quake, that last descendant of Haylen Quake. After much trouble you have found a hidden volume that seems to be a cypher for the other books. Reginald has said he will decode the message but that it will take a month. Meet him back at the library during the agreed time to find out what the message of the books is.

You have leveled up!

You have leveled up!

After receiving the book and saying goodbye to Reggie, Sen sat down to examine it. She tried to use her identify skill but it seemed like her skill was too low. Instead of fretting she tried to just simply open the book like she had before. To her surprise it worked.

Skill: you acquired a new skill, Spitfire

“Spitfire Window!”

Spitfire

DMG: 1-2 fire dmg/s (+39 dmg/s)

Mana Consumption: 2/s (+39/s)

Range: 30ft maximum

**NOTE**

Damage and Mana Consumption gain +1 for every Intelligence stat.

Caster can scale Damage and Mana Consumption as they wish.

Sen was shocked at the mana consumption. Even after distributing her stats and gaining the bonus from her class change and level up, she would still not be able to use it at full power for more than a few seconds. As she was lost in thought about her new skill, a voice called out to her.

“Hey Sen you there?” It was Lance. Sen looked around before realizing he was somewhere else.

“I’m going out to collect some materials now. If you’re interested in joining me come to the gates in about ten minutes.”

It’s that late already!?

Sen had lost track of time. However, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to see how good this new skill was. She hopped up from her seat and dashed out towards the gates to meet Lance.