“I am warning you. Don’t take a step closer!” Weed warned the trio.
“Or what?” asked Joe.
“Or this!” Weed was quick to react. “Snappy, meaty treat!”
“Woof” –‘Where?’
Weed grabbed a handful of meat treat and flung them at the direction of the trio.
‘Little squirrel you threw too many!! Nobody step on the meaty treat!’
The trio watched as a handful of meaty doggie biscuits hit their face. “You were kidding right?” asked Mark. “Doggie food to our faces? What’s that even going to do? Is the mutt going to bite us?” The trio weren’t buying Weed’s bluff anymore, they drew out their swords once more. Mark took his first step ….and stepped on the meaty treaty that lay on the floor.
Snappy who had just been holding himself back, lost his cool and started growling ferociously at the trio. The trio stopped Weed three times from continuing their journey. Snappy was tired and he really wanted to sleep. To add to it, they just called him a mutt. Snappy hated the word dog, mutt, doggie….to add insult to injury, the trio didn’t listen to him and stepped on his meaty treat. Weed watched as the trio broke the three cardinal rules. He could only hope that Snappy’s bite was worse than his bark.
“WOOOF!”
That was the last thing every player in the central town square remembered. The trio flew back on impact of the bark. Most players got a message saying:
You have been confused. You are now disoriented and are unable to maintain body balance.
(Some beginners even got the message: You were hit by strong shock waves. -5HP.)
‘I’d like to see you call me a mutt again.’
Weed didn’t lose time and began pushing the wheel barrow into the eastern entrance. “Come on Snappy lets go” as Snappy quickly devoured the treat on the ground.
By time the confusion symptoms elevated, the trio could no longer see Weed.
“What was that?” asked Mark.
“Was it a wild beast?”
The leader remained quiet. He had never read anything about a dog being capable of such an attack on any forum. “Mark , Joe, forget the dog. I don’t think it’s a pet. Focus on the elf, he had a bag of gold. I think he’s trying to weasel his way out of town. We’ll catch him at the eastern gate. I’ll head up and provide support. Might even sneak up on him.” Announced the leader of the Trio. The other two nodded, “Got it Jeff” and ran into the Eastern entrance.
The leader gazed up at the nearest building and jumped. In a single jump, he went as high as 3 stories and landed on the roof top of the nearest building. Most players and NPCs watched in awe. Jeff smiled, he totally planned to draw their attention. He stood like a super hero on the roof top and spoke, “Do not fear player, the three blades of winds, will catch the culprit and serve justice.”
The NPCs clapped away…and cheered him. The players weren’t really moved by such antics, they just ignored him.
Weed hadn’t got very far, when Joe & Mark spotted him. However, the sight of Snappy alongside Weed had them worried.
“Joe, that dogs bark sent us flying.”
“I know Mark, but I think the elf caught us off guard. We are the three winds of blade. Are we not?”
The two charged towards Snappy…only to be blown away by his bark and left in a daze. The alleys were narrow here and the only way to reach Weed was through Snappy. This happened two or three times when the two decided to give up. They stopped chasing Weed and decided to return back to the central square, given Weeds slow pace they were sure they could circle around the town and meet back at the Eastern Gate.
“Jeff the darn dog keeps blowing us away when we approach from behind.” Joe whispered.
“Did you use the elements?” came back a reply.
“Yeah we tried but before we could even be in range, the dog’s bark would just blow us away. I think the dog is special. I don’t think the three of us would be able to hold it back.”
“It’s alright. Join me at the Eastern Gate. Given how slow the newbie walks, I think we should conclude he’s been playing for only a day. Maybe he is level 1 or 2. His stamina and strength seem to be really low. We don’t have to worry about him reaching here anytime soon. I’ll talk to the head of the city and see if he can release some soldiers for this job. Mark, get posters out on to every notice board of the street, cautioning the new players about the dog.”
“Ok! See you at the Eastern Gate soon!”
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
They should have called you Barky. I thought you would have at least bit one of them. I guess all you can do is bark.’ Weed smiled while looking at Snappy, the dog wasn’t really all that bad. To be able to take care of level F’s strongest with just a bark was ridiculous. ‘At least one of them were useful’ Alak had not returned since she had disappeared. Weed was very worried in case he had to return the fairy and couldn’t. He didn’t want to imagine what would happen. He would call out the fairy’s name, asking it to appear, but it just wouldn’t. In the end Weed gave up, he wrote Alak off as a stubborn, evil fairy of absolute no use.
“Finally, it took a little over three days, but we cross the town, from one corner to the other, Snappy wants a treat?”
It took Weed a little over two days to reach the Eastern Gate.
Snappy looked exhausted. He had barely slept for the last 80 hours. ‘How do you do it squirrel? Do squirrels not require any sleep?’ Weed was determined, he wanted to make the impossible possible. If a another person were to play from Weeds position, they might have given up after the first 12 hours. Pushing a wheel barrow at such an incredibly slow pace while doing nothing else required tenacity and patience. The rewards also weren’t also that great of a motivator. The quest difficulty level was E. There was no possibility of the reward being a game changer. Even the original Weed had to take on an unknown level difficulty which rewarded him the Legendary Moon Light Sculptor. Thus, one could safely conclude, that the element of reward of this quest did not appear to play a role in Weed’s dedication to succeeding in this quest. People would have to acknowledge had they known Weed and his quest that he was either simply a fool or too passionate about the game. Some would claim, Weed was gambling on it being a serial quest and greater rewards later. Maybe that was the case or maybe it wasn’t. There was no reason to believe this was a serial quest or a quest that very few knew off. Whatever people would think it was given nobody would consider that Weed had both virtues; tenacity and patience.
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Weed was plain excited; he was so close to completing his first quest. His outlook was simple, he was two months behind most players, still level FF/000 and had accidently chosen the terrible conflicting combination of Elf and Neutral. If that weren’t enough, he risked starting in Lavias, where the Wind Temple had no training for Neutral player and the only way to go forward was to learn a profession taught at the school like all other players. Although a small reward, Weed was happy to know he would get a chance to learn a special sword profession. This simple of a reward was enough to keep Weed who had nothing motivated.
Weed had assumed that the trio would be waiting at the Eastern Gate, but to his surprise there was no one there. He was happy that the trio had given up on chasing him. He was also a bit surprised how lax the security was at the gate. There were no guards. Usually, each of the four the gates had at least four guards. Snappy on the other hand was growling he could smell the scent of death. With no Alak to translate for him, Weed just coaxed Snappy to follow on. It was indeed suspicious, but Weed had sworn to never trust his overly imaginative mind again. Weed took his first steps outside the city wall.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Two days ago. The three blades of wind gathered with a hundred soldiers at the eastern gate. They waited and waited for Weed. The Eastern side of the city had one entrance and one exit, but in between it would branch into thousands of alleys. After having lost track of Weed, they could only expect him to come out of either entrance or exit. When he didn’t come out of the exit, they stationed some soldiers at the entrance. In the end, Weed didn’t come out the entire day. The soldiers were loaned and had to be returned. The trio were bitter that they couldn’t get Weed but decided to stay and watch the gate. They were on a quest to return stolen items, so it was not like they had anything better to do. However, on the start of the second day, they received news that some other players who had also accepted the quest found the thief. Cursing their luck, they reached the conclusion that Weed was case of mistaken identity. They also realized that although an elf betrayed them, they should not be wary and distrusting of elves. Generalizing all elves as bad cause of one incident was silly. In the end, they decided to leave and find another quest.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
A few hours after the trio left and before Weed arrived. A hooded figure approached the Eastern Gate.
“Excuse me gentlemen. Have you seen an elf go through here pushing a wheel barrow? He might have been accompanied with a dog?”
“No Sir we haven’t. Nobody has crossed the gate with the description you gave. Though you are not the first to be looking for him”
“I hear he was caught.” Added another soldier.
“Is that so?” asked Shadow. “Who else is looking for him? And who caught him?”
The soldiers stayed silent. They didn’t exactly trust a random stranger who wore a hood and refused to reveal his face. For all they knew, this could be the thief’s accomplice.
“I see. The silent treatment is it? Maybe I can get you to talk.”
Sparks flew as swords clashed and in a flash three dead soldiers lay on the ground and their body turned grey and dissolved into thin air.
“So will you be the lucky soldier, who will live and tell me who else is searching for the elven boy?”
The soldier scared to death only just barely managed to mumble, “The magistrates office. Three blades of Wind….”
At the end of this sentence, his head flew off. Shadow’s sword once again disappeared into nothingness.
“Much too troublesome to barge into the Magistrates office unwelcomed. I guess you got lucky this time boy.” Saying that much the hooded figure left by the Eastern Gate.
Moments later, Weed reached the Eastern Gate.
“Finally, it took a little over three days, but we cross the town, from one corner to the other, Snappy wants a treat?” he said as he pushed his wheel barrow, completely unaware of the events that had transpired just moments ago.
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Authors Note:
1. Will be edited soon!
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Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?YesNo
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