*Back in chapter 2 I said that Valhalla was a queendom. This was a mistake on my part. It used to be a queendom, it is now a kingdom.

*Also I said that Valhalla is the biggest, but just because it’s the biggest, it does not mean it is strongest.

________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 5: Quest completion, Profits, and Alice.

Without stopping to hunt for monsters on the way to Dragus town from the Fire Bat Cave, it tooked the party 2 days to reach the town.

The first thing the trio did upon reaching the town was visit the library and turn in their quest to Roxanne.

Roxanne: “Oh, welcome back guys, how was your trip to the Fire Bat Cave?”

Lisa: “It was tiring” she said sitting down on a chair.

Eons: “Aye, you should’ve warned us about the final trap in the Fire Bat Cave.”

Roxanne: “What trap?”

Eons: “Once you reach the end of the cave the exit gets blocked by hundreds of fire bats led by the Fire Bat King.”

Roxanne: “Hmm, I’ve never heard of a Fire Bat King before. Anyway, moving on, can I see the Cave Flower now?”

Rory: “Umm, Sure” She said taking the flower out of her inventory.

Roxanne: “Wow. This is a very beautiful flower. Have I told you the story of how this flower was found?”

Eons: “No you haven’t”

Roxanne (with a look of nostalgia and sadness): “Long ago, there was a beautiful young woman that was exploring to the northeast of the Pine Forest where she found a cave. While exploring this cave she ran into an adventurer that had also found the cave. For days the two started exploring the cave together while watching each other’s back when fighting Fire Bats. Finally after a week of fighting bats, they reached the end of the cave. They were quiet surprise when they saw the big opening they saw at the end, especially when they saw the flower and the herbs surrounding it. The closer they got to the flower, the more mesmerized they were by its beauty. They were so mesmerized that they didn’t notice the fire bats gathering behind them. By the time they saw them, it was too late.”

At this point a tear came down Roxanne’s face.

Roxanne: “When they turned around they saw that there were about 3 dozens fire bats. The young lady became very scared when she saw all of the fire bats crowded together. What the young girl didn’t know was that over the past week, the adventurer fell in love with her. Noticing how scared the young lady was, the adventurer told her

‘don’t worry, everything will be ok. Ill attack them and draw their attention, you take the first opening you see and run out of the cave.’

The young lady tried to protest, but the adventurer would not yield. To get her to leave, he went ahead and drew her in for a hug surprising her. Before she regained herself from her surprise, he went ahead and kiss her, then told her:

‘Please, take the chance that I will provide you with and get away. I wouldn’t be able to rest in peace if you died here with me. Please, escape and live life for the both of us. And if I can ask for a favor, I would ask of you to look over my sister, she’s 5 years old, and aside from me she does not have any other relatives left.’

Being unable to refuse the young men, she agreed with his plan. At the first opening that she saw she tooked her chance to run out of the exit, and leave the cave. When she arrived back to Dragus, the first thing she did was searched for the adventurer’s sister. When she found his sister, she tooked her in and raised her as her own sister. Although it’s been 20 years since she met that adventurer, she has never forgotten what happened that day. She thought that if she finally saw that flower again, she would be able to get closure on what happened.”

Eons (with a coarse voice): “…So did she get closure?”

Roxanne: “Yes she did. Anyway, give me the herbs so I can go make you your first reward. We will discuss the second one after we eat.”

Receiving the herbs from the crying Rory, Roxanne left to go to the kitchen with the excuse to start cooking in order to hide her crying. When Roxanne left the group, they received a popup message.

{{{Quest Completed.

Upon giving the flower to Roxanne, you heard why she wanted the flower. When she was a younger girl, while she was exploring the fire bat cave, she ran into a young explorer, and the two fell in love. When they arrived at the end of the cave, they ran straight into trap that is set there. In order to allow Roxanne to escape, the young explorer sacrificed his life, but before he died, he confessed his love to her and asked her to look after his baby sister. Upon returning to Dragus, Roxanne searched for his sister, and adapted her as her own sister. In order to get some closure, Roxanne asked you to retrieve the flower from the Fire Bat Cave. For going into the cave and completing the quest, you have made Roxanne eternally grateful for two reasons. One was because you gave her closure by bringing her the flower. And the other reason was because you avenged the young explorer. It is more than likely that the Fire Bat King was born from the fire bat that killed the young explorer.

Rewards:

Fame+500

Reputation +100

Intimacy with Roxanne maxed.

Level +2

Home cooked meal by Roxanne using the caves herbs.

See Roxanne for additional reward.}}}

Two hours later, Roxanne returned with the food.

{{{Fire Cave Herbs Food

A delicious dish created by Roxanne utilizing the Herbs the grow around the Cave Flower.

1 Time permanent Effect: MP +100, hp & mp regan +5/s.}}}

Upon checking the Rabbit King Quest, the trio found that the herbs were something that they needed for the quest. It was why the quest said animals/things instead of just animals.

After finishing the food, Roxanne proceeded to talk about their last reward.

Roxanne: “Ok, so lets talk about your additional reward. Well, aside from being a reward it is also a favor for me. I have a younger sister, and she recently made the rank of Captain in the Valhalla military. I am sure you know what this means, right Eons?”

Eons: “…Yes I do.”

Roxanne: “Ok, your reward/favor for me is to become my sister’s officers in the Valhalla military.”

{{{Quest: Meet with Roxanne’s Sister

As a reward for bringing back the Cave Flower, Roxanne has offered you officer positions in the prestigious Valhalla military. Roxanne has also asked you to look after her younger sister in the military. Meet with Roxanne’s sister and discuss becoming her officer.

Difficulty: F}}}

After seeing Lisa and Rory nod their heads towards him, Eons responded.

Eons: “Yes, we accept becoming your sisters officers.”

Roxanne (with a happy expression): “Thank you very much. If you go to the barracks, you should find my sister pretty easily, she should be the only female captain there.”

Eons: “No problem. It’s supposed to be a great honor to become an officer in the legendary Valhalla military.”

Having finished their business with Roxanne, the trio started leaving the library.

Lisa (with a somewhat sad voice, she was still thinking about Roxanne’s story): “After that story, I think we all need a break. Let’s call it a day here, get a good night sleep, and get back online tomorrow morning. Eons when we come back, tell me more about the Valhalla army, based on how Roxanne said it, there’s something special about her sister becoming a captain.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Coming out of his capsule, Manuel (Eons Real name) steps foot into his game (?) room. The room was large, dark, and cold. Aside from the capsule for Valkyrie, there were only a few furniture in the room, and they were all cover in a white tablecloth. It looked like before Manuel put the capsule in this room, the room was not in use.

Leaving the room, Manuel walked down a dark hallway and tooked a right to enter his bedroom. Just like the game room, his bedroom was dark and cold, but unlike it, the furniture in this room did not have white tablecloth covering it. However, it did have all of the pictures that were on top of the dressers placed face down.

After Manuel came into the room, he got undress and headed towards the bathroom to take a bath. An hour later after relaxation, he got out of the bath. After getting dressed again he went down to the kitchen to get something to eat. After eating something he returned to his room and went to bed.

______________________________________________________________________________

After logging back into the game, Eons waited for 5 minutes while Lisa and Rory came online.

Lisa: “Hey, you wait long?”

Eons: “Nah, not really.”

Lisa: “Alright, so tell us a bit about the Valhalla military, and why there’s something behind Roxanne’s sister becoming a captain.”

Eons: “Where to begin…Ok, the Valhalla military is considered to be the seventh strongest in the entire world of Valkyrie and is the most prestigious out of all of them. Prior to travelers (players) coming to this world, the Valhalla military was the third strongest in the world; however since they came they dropped to third. The reason for this is the way that the Valhalla military is set up. The Valhalla military is set up in such a way that there are only four ranks- General, Captain, Officer, and Soldier. To become a captain that has the potential to become a general you have to pass a certain number of tests set up by your town. These tests are considered extremely hard to pass, and due to the pre-requisite of having been born in Valhalla to become a captain, no traveler can ever become a captain that has the potential to become a general. This is the reason why Valhalla fell behind in military might. Now, there’s something I have to elaborate on, it’s one of the more complicated parts of the Valhalla military. In the Valhalla military there are 2 different types of captains. There are captains that have the potential to become a general; those are the captains that have to pass the test. And then there are the captains that are under a general; these captains were formally the officers of the general back when he was a captain, and these positions can be filled by travelers.”

Stopping for a moment to let Lisa and Rory absorb what he had said, Eons continued explaining how the Valhalla military works.

Eons: “Ok, now let’s talk about the type of captain that can become a general. When these captains are appointed, they have to pick 3 officers that will serve under them. Each officer controls a grand total of 5 troops in the beginning. As the army under this captain completes more or harder missions, the amount of troops under the officer increases. When the amount of troops under each officer becomes a thousand, the captain is then promoted. He/she is promoted to a general, while the officers are promoted to becoming the general’s captains. The next mile stone that this type of captain reaches is when each captain then controls 5000 troops each. All though there is no title for this, a general that controls a total of 15,000 troops is considered a grand-general. In Valhalla there are only 3 grand-masters. From those 3, 1 of them rose in the last 10 years. Of the other two, the female grand-master is the oldest and her army is considered the strongest of the three. Now I don’t know if this is true, but Roxanne told me that the newest grand-general is nothing but a puppet for his three captains that are travelers. Any questions so far?”

Lisa: “Yes, 2. so if I understand what you said about the ranking system correctly, then a newly appointed captain does not have the same level of authority as a captain that is on the verge of becoming a general, correct? Or using different example, a captain that just became a general, is at the very bottom of all generals correct? Now my last question is, which is higher, a captain under a general or a captain that has the potential to become a general?”

Eons: “Yes, your understanding of the ranking system is correct. A newly appointed captain is a lower rank than a captain that controls more troops. Now for your question about which is higher, a normal captain or a captain that is under a general, the answer is neither. Neither one is allowed to give orders to the other. Though Roxanne told me that captains under a general tend to be more arrogant towards a normal captain because they feel they are superior since they serve a general and they think they are better captains. Ah, before I forget, in Valhalla, aside from the 3 grand-generals, there are 100 generals, and 3000 captains. Also, captains/generals that achieve a certain amount of accomplishment and reputation are allowed to rule a city, and these special captains/generals are different from other captains/generals. I’ll explain everything later on if we ever reach that point.”

Lisa: “Got it. No more questions from me. Now explain why Roxanne sister become a captain is special.”

Eons: “The answer is simple. In this country, females in the military tend to be discriminated against. About 95% of all leaders in the military are male. Whenever a female becomes a captain, they are often time given the worst missions available with the worst conditions. They often time die. Roxanne once told me that 90% of females that become normal captains die during the first year. When they are first appointed, besides the 3 officers she chooses, each of the 5 soldiers giving to each officer is often time below level 5, while for a male captain the average level of the soldier given is 25. Now although females are discriminated like this, they are often time rewarded for the appropriate risk of the mission and raise up the ranks a bit faster than men. It’s a very weird system like that.”

Lisa: “So that’s why Roxanne asked us to become her sister’s officers. She wants us to keep her alive and remove part of her burden.”

Rory: “Unum, I don’t understand. Earlier you said that the leader of the strongest army in the Valhalla military is a female. But why are females discriminated if the strongest army is run by a female? Shouldn’t this prove the abilities of females in the military?”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Eons: “I have no idea either. When I had the same question, I asked Roxanne and she told me that she didn’t know either, but she gave me an old book to read to see if I could figure out anything from it. Now, when I say old, I mean old. This book is oldest book in the library. It is several centuries old, but unfortunately it did not answer the main question, rather it rose more. According to that book, when Valhalla was first started 5000 years ago, it was a queendom.”

Lisa: “Wait a minute. If Valhalla was a queendom, then why are females discriminated in the military, and why is it a kingdom now?”

Eons: “Let me finish. Now where was I… Oh yes… Valhalla was founded 5000 years ago by an ancient order. This order was the Vakyria Knights. The Valkyria Knights are considered to be strongest force to ever exist in Valkyrie. The Valkyria Knights were led by the strongest knight to ever live. When Valhalla was first founded, this knight became the new ruler. Now all of the history books say that this knight was a male. According to that book that Roxanne gave me, this knight was a female. Now don’t ask me her name, I don’t know it, the book did not say what it was. Now as the ruler of the queendom of Valhalla, she set the foundation to proper Valhalla to become the strongest nation for the next 4000 years. That book said that everything changed 1000 years ago. Something happened, I do not know what, but after that event Valhalla became a kingdom instead of a queendom, and females in the military started being discriminated against.”

Lisa: “I smell a quest there.”

Eons: “Most likely there is. However it wasn’t triggered when I read that from the old book. Theres probably another component that we are missing. Now let me finish the crash course on Valhalla’s history. After whatever happened happened, Valhalla started going on the decline, and its power ranking in the world fell from 1st to 20th. Valhalla wasn’t restored to being a world power till 300 years ago when the current family that rules this country came into power. Under their leadership, Valhalla rose to becoming the 8th strongest nation in this world. It wasn’t until that female grand-master that I mentioned earlier rose to power 20 years ago that Valhalla became the 3rd strongest nation in this world. However since the arrivals of the travelers, Valhalla fell to 7th. And that ends this history lesson.”

______________________________________________________________________________

Lisa: “Well that was an interesting history lesson. Now before we go to meet Roxanne’s sister, lets sell all of the loot that we gathered.”

Over the past month of hunting, the trio had collected a lot of root. They had collected a 100 pelts from the rabbits, hundreds upon hundreds of wolf pelts, and many, many bat wings and teeth. Not to mention the meat they got from the black rabbit king, metal boar, and bat king that would sell for a lot of money.

The first thing that the group sold was the easiest thing; the fire bat wings and teeth. They took these drops to the local alchemy shop. With the amount of wings and teeth that they gather, they were able to obtain 350 gold and a great deal of intimacy with the shop owner. The gold was split 30% each to Rory and Lisa, and 40% to Eons. Eons got 40% because thanks to his Mana’s Blessing skill a lot more loot than what would’ve fell normally fell. From the loot, Eons ended up getting 140 gold.

To sell the pelts and meat they broke up into 2 groups. Lisa sold the pelts and Eons & Rory sold the meat.

During the nights of their month on travel, Lisa tooked her time to tailor the rabbit and wolfs pelt into armor so that they would be able to sell them for a higher price.

The 100 rabbit furs were tailored into armors ranging from level 8-12, and were sold to players for an average of 50 silver a piece. From the sale of rabbit armor, the trio made 50 gold.

Out of all of the wolf pelts they had, Lisa was only able to make 250 armor pieces before she got tired of making them. The other 850 pieces were sold off to the local tailor for 850 gold and an increase in intimacy with the store owner. The 250 wolf pelt pieces were forged into armor ranging from level 20-35 and were sold to players for an average of 8 gold pieces. A total of 2000 gold was made from this sell.

From the sale of all animal pelt armor sold, a total of 2900 gold was made. 30% was split each to Eons & Rory and 40% to Lisa. Lisa got 40% because she was the one that tailored the animal pelt into armor. From this sale, Eons got 870 gold.

From all 3 things that they sold, the sale of the meat brought them by far the most money.

Using her cooking skill, Rory cooked the Rabbit King meat, the metal boar meat, and the bat king meat into delicious meat to sell to players. There was enough rabbit king meat to sell to 500 players, enough metal boar meat for 800 players, and enough bat king meat for 100 players. The rabbit king meat was sold for 1 gold, the boar meat for 3 gold, and the bat king meat for an outstanding 15 gold. The bat king meat was the most expensive because it was the only one that gave a permanent boost to fire resistant, and attaining resistance to any type of magic in this game in extraordinarily hard.

At first, players were against buying the food at such high prices, but when they found out that they permanently rose stats, they started swarming around Eons & Rory, and all of the meat was sold in an hour.

A grand total of 4400 gold was raised from the sell of the rare animal meat. The gold was divided 30% to each Eons & Lisa, and 40% to Rory. Rory got 40% because she was the one that cooked all of the meat. From the sale of the rare animal meat, Eons got a total of 1320 gold.

When you combine how much money the group made during that month of hunting and grinding, the grand total came out to 7650 gold. Of those 7650 gold, Eons walked away with 2330 gold. An amount that can be considered a fortune for anyone that has only played the game for 2 in game months.

______________________________________________________________________________

After selling all of their loot, the trio had an hour long break before heading off to find Roxanne’s sister at the barracks.

After reaching the barracks, they searched for half an hour before they found the only female captain there. She had short, neck long red hair, a slim body, had armor on the top part of her body, a long skirt on, and a great sword on her back. She looked a bit like a less voluptuous, but younger Roxanne. Walking up to her, the trio started talking to her.

Lisa: “Hello, I’m Lisa.”

Rory:” I’m Rory.”

Eons: “And I’m Eons.”

???: “Can I help you with anything?”

Lisa: “Are you Roxanne’s sister?”

??? (With a curious voice): “Yes, do you have any business with me?”

Lisa: “Yes, your sister told us that you recently became a captain and was looking for new officers. She gave us a letter of introduction to give to you.”

Taking the letter from them, ??? started reading the letter that Roxanne wrote for her. As she read further on, a smile grew.

??? (with a pleasant voice): “I see, my sister said that you guys were very trustworthy, and you guys look the part. Good. Very Good. I was a bit troubled over finding trust worthy officers. But my sister seems to have deep trust in you, and she said you are strong. Now the only problem that I have is that you guys are travelers. Whenever a traveler enters the military, they typically tend to make the captain their puppets. I have no intention of becoming your puppet.”

Eons: “No need to worry. We have no intention of using you as a puppet. Roxanne is a dear friend. If we we’re to use you as a puppet she’d kill us.”

???: “True enough. My sister wouldn’t have sent travelers to be my officers if she wasn’t sure that they’d use me as a puppet. I’ve decided. From now on, you guys are my officers. My name is Alice, a pleasure to meet you. Here, these rings will show that you are my officer. You guys will receive a monthly wage of 50 gold for being my officers. You have the rest of the day free. Meet me tomorrow morning so that I can introduce you to your new troops and so that we can head off to do our first mission. Unfortunately all of the troops I’ve been given are inexperienced and are only level 3. To prepare for our first mission, you guys should head on over to the alchemy and buy any potions you may need. Looking forward to working with you.”

{{{Quest: Meet with Roxanne’s Sister Complete.

After finding Roxanne’s sister, Alice, at the barracks, she has agreed to make you her officers.

Reward: Become Alice’s officer.}}}

{{{Alices Officer ring. Level 1

A ring given by Alice to her officers. As Alice’s army completes mission, the ring will grow in level and start gaining special effects.

Requirement: Be Alice’s Officer

Effects: None}}}

_____________________________________________________________________________

After separating from Alice, the trio headed towards the alchemy shop.

Lisa: “Hey Eons, you’ll be buying the potions for us.”

Eons: “Hmm, why?”

Lisa: “Because Rory and me already spent all of our money. Think of the potions as my payment for making you some new gear- both armor and weapon.”

Eons: “Fair enough. For my weapon, make me dual swords.”

Lisa: “Why change your weapon? Won’t it affect you katana mastery?”

Eons: “Not really. I have a special weapon mastery skill. To advance this weapon mastery further, I have to use different weapons.”

After finishing their discussion. They entered the alchemy shop. The NPC that ran the alchemy shop was an old and nice women.

Old Women: “Welcome, welcome. Thank you very much for the alchemy ingrients that you brought earlier, they are really helping me.”

Eons: “No problem at all. Can I get 10 small health potions, 18 medium health potions, and 18 medium mana potions?”

Old Women: “No problem. Here you go. The total comes to 41 gold pieces.”

Rory: “Um, is it possible for you to teach me alchemy?”

Looking at Rory for a bit, the old women responded.

Old Women: “I would love to. You appear to have a gift for alchemy. Though I do have 1 condition. You occasionally would have to bring me rare alchemy ingredients, like the fire bat wings and teeth you brought me earlier.”

Lisa: “No problem at all.”

Having everyone had agreed. The old women brought everyone to the back of the store and started teaching Rory alchemy. After the old women said that Rory had finished learning the alchemy skill, a puzzled look appeared on Rory’s face.

Eons: “Something wrong Rory?”

Rory: “I just got a message that tells me that a Goddess named Mana has taken a liking to me and has blessed me with the option to get the hidden class alchemic witch. But I’ve never heard of this class before.”

Old Women: “D-did you just said a-a-alchemic witch?”

Rory: “Do you know the class?”

Old Women: “Of course I do. Every alchemist knows about the mythical alchemic witch.”

Rory: “C-can you tell me a bit more about the class?”

Old Women: “Ok. The alchemic witch is a special class where the person pursues both the study of alchemy and magic in tandem. The class can learn all alchemy skills to master level and can learn all types of magic. Unfortunately all though it can learn all types of magic, the powers of a spell are restricted to 80% power. That is unless you use an alchemic item as a catalyst. If you use a catalyst, you will be able to use the spell at a higher power output. Though how high depends on the synchrony between the alchemic item and the spell. For example the fire bat wings you handed to me earlier will allow you to use a fire spell for 115% of its damage, but a water spell for only 85%. Keep in mind though that I used those numbers as an illustration to prove a point. I don’t know the exact amount that fire spells will be increase by, but I do know that the rarer the item, the higher the quality, and the higher the level, the better effect it will have. Does the class interest you?”

Rory: “Y-yes, I choose to become an alchemic witch.” She said accepting the job change.

Old Women: “Excellent, I’ve always wanted to meet and alchemic witch, and now I finally meet one. If its ok with you, I would like to take you in as an apprentice and teach you everything I know about alchemy.”

Rory: “I-I-I would love too, b-b-but I am an officer in Alice’s a-army, and we leave for our first m-mission t-tomorrow.”

Old Women: “Hmm, truly a shame then. When you come back from your mission, come to me, and I’ll teach you. In the mean time I have a book that can teach you the basics while you do your mission.”

Rory: “T-thank you very much.”

Saying that, she gratefully accepted the book from the old women.

After saying goodbye and thanking the old women one last time the trio left the alchemy shop.

Lisa: “Well that was unexpected. I have heard that some god do give hidden classes to players that catches their interest, but this is the first time I heard of a goddess given a hidden class outside of her temple or without any quest.”

Eons: “Maybe she met the requirements needed for the class.”

Lisa: “Maybe. Wonder what they were. Anyway, let’s call it a day here and meet up tomorrow morning at the barracks. I’ll craft our new gear tonight and hand them out when we meet up tomorrow.”

Rory: “I’ll start working on my alchemy then. It will save us a lot of money on potions and other stuff.”

Eons: “Then I’ll go and collect some alchemic ingredients for you. I’ll to find you some rare stuff.”

Rory (with a bright smile): “Thank you.”

Having decided on a course of action, the trio split up to go ahead and do what they had said they will do and wait for morning to go and meet up with Alice and meet their new subordinates.