Odin bent down over the corpse of the Cleric. Just like the Witch, he had only dropped a dozen Copper Coins. The Spellblade had been the one holding the most Loot: a Silver Mane Wolf's Pelt, 20 Copper Coins and a "Binding Thorns" Skill Book. Jake had actually been quite lucky in obtaining the Pelt and the Skill Book.
They were a Common Monster's Loot, which meant that for 5 min after being picked up, it had a 100% chance of being dropped upon the Player's death. Of course, the higher a Monster's Grade was, the longer its Loot could be dropped. This system was put in place to increase the difficulty of stealing Monster Loot. And in this case, the party of three was unlucky and fell to Odin.
Still, Jake found it weird that the "Binding Thorns" Skill Book had not been given to the Witch. After all, it was a Skill Book reserved for Mages, Wizards and Witches. Something was not right about this situation. Maybe they had been some kind of Random Party, where the Spellblade was some kind of leader for the three and had decided to keep the Skill Book for himself. He could have planned to sell or exchange the Skill Book for a Spellblade Skill Book.
Or they were a part of a Guild party. While the Guild system would not be unlocked for some time, Guilds formed in previous games had ties in everyday life. And more often than not, Guildmates would form Parties together early on to get a leg up on other Players and Guilds.
If it had really bee a Guild Party, things could get troublesome for Jake. Smaller Guilds would not have the manpower to deploy to hunt down a single Player on Zones as large as the Caeldra Plains and the Caeldra Forest. But Large Guilds could do that. And some had done it in previous games.
Jake shrugged. No point in twisting his brain over it. First of all, he was going to sell everything to an NPC Merchant and that would be the end of it. He would just have to settle for being paid less.
Secondly, the very reason he was doing the Beggar's Quest was to obtain the [Black Cape] and hide his Information from the soon-to-be acquired Identification Skills. When he obtained it, he would be able to evade any manhunt and melt away in the sea of Players.
And finally, did large Guild really have the time and energy to spend to hunt one single Player in the beginning of a game? The answer was no. They were too busy competing with each other, trying their best to grow powerful as fast as they could.
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Jake's hunch was right. The Party of Players he had encountered were members of a large-sized Guild named "Rising Lion". Some of the executives of the Guild had participated in the Beta of Arcadia, and smelling an opportunity, the Guild moved over to Arcadia as soon as it released.
The Party Jake met was only one of many, sent out to hunt Monsters and obtain Equipment, Coins and Skill Books. And while a small occurrence, like a Party wipeout, would normally not incur anyone's wrath except for the victims', the Skill Book dropped by the Spellblade had been promised to the Vice Guild Leader of "Rising Lion", a Wizard named Amaryllis.
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Seething, but acknowledging that finding the culprit would be hard, he had decided on using Arcadia's official forum. He had created a post about him needing the Skill "Binding Thorns" and promising a fair exchange for the Skill Book. His hope was that the culprit would try to resell it and would find his post on the forum. And if they made contact, then he could crush them with a few Parties and force them to cough up the Skill Book.
In the meantime, the Guild had other concerns: nighttime was approaching and plans had yet to be finalized.
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Jake looked up at the sky. The few clouds decorating its otherwise monotone blue had barely moved. The clock now showed 16: 45: 31, and Odin's Name was finally squeaky clean. He glanced at the flashing green Quest Prompt in satisfaction:
[The Beggar's Quest:]
Slay 10 Mana-blessed individuals (10/10)
Rewards: Black Cape, Dark-attributed Sword, 1500 XP
(Hint: NPCs and other Players are considered as Mana-blessed)
He had finished about half an hour ago, after running into 2 other parties of 3 Players and one last lonely Swordsman. He had gained a Level up from the PK as well as a grand total of 124 Copper Coins and two other Silver Mane Wolf Pelts. He then ran around the Caeldra Forest looking for Silver Mane Wolves to hunt in order to get rid of his Red Name.
Surprisingly, it had "only" taken two Wolves to wash his Name. He grimaced as he glanced at his HP. 7/40. He had cut it close. One more Basic Attack and he would have been done for. It would take another 10 min to recover 4 HP. It was not a disaster, but it was by no means optimal.
And all he had gotten from those Wolves was two other Wolf Pelts, 40 Coppers, and 1000 XP. No Skill Book. No Equipment. If he had not completed his Quest, he would have been fuming.
His [Leather Shirt]'s Durability had bottomed, rendering it useless unless he somehow repaired it, while the [Coarse Sword] only had 2/10 Durability left. Maybe he should have put some APs in LCK.
However, he had dumped the 5 APs he received from Leveling up in his AGI, which brought his Speed Stat to 1%. He was now 1% faster, and while some might say it was a meaningless boost, he disagreed. He did not have enough trained reflexes, nor did he have great reaction time. Being faster compensated for those shortcomings. And while the boost might still be negligible, what about when his Stat reached 10% Speed? Or 50%?
Everything had to start somewhere. But this would all come later. For now, it was time to cash in on the Beggar's Quest.