The flame died down in front of Liam, revealing the few lifeless wolves. Their corpses didn’t show any injuries. Clearly the game wasn’t that cruel to the players.
Immediately Liam flashed. He touched the wolves quickly before anyone could think about robbing him.
[Received 16 copper]
[Received ‘Wolf meat’ x3]
[Received ‘Wolf fur’ x2]
Liam wasn’t impressed by his loot. While a few of the arriving players congratulated him and a few wore sour faces, the veteran disappeared into the forest.
He did his best to look natural while his eyes scanned the ground. A moment later a grin formed on his face.
Great, no one noticed it.
Liam reached out with his hand, pulling a sword out from under a tree trunk.
[Rech’s Iron Sword
Category: Common
Level requirement: 1
Attack Damage: 6-7
Attack Speed: 0,7
Rech doesn’t like waste, reusing even scrap metal. However, the result isn’t much better than scrap.]
Liam was surprised. This sword certainly didn’t drop from the monsters. Apparently, the blond man solved a quest in the town.
But now this reward had changed hands. Liam didn’t think much about it as he equipped this sword instead of his Basic Iron Sword.
At low levels even one point of damage shouldn’t be looked down upon.
A short while later the party gathered again around old man Meyhran.
Silver Blade spoke to the man:
“Sir, the wolves have been taken care of.”
“Great, thank you, well done! Finally, I can continue on my way. You, young adventurer will be a great hero one day! I can already see it.”
Even knowing that the old man was an NPC Silver Blade felt flustered from the praise.
“Ah, don’t, don’t. I just wanted to do a good deed.”
“You are right. And no good deed should be without reward.
Here, each of you can take one item from my bag.”
[Cyclone: That bag again! Didn’t the old man say he doesn’t have anything on him?]
The party members chuckled while Meyhran put his leather bag on the floor, opened it wide, revealing a black hole.
“I would say Silver Blade should have the honor of the first draw.”
Silver Blade smiled shyly as everyone agreed with Liam’s suggestion. But when she stepped forward, Meyhran spoke up again:
“You can draw two items.”
Liam stared at the old man in disbelief. Where did the Meyhran he knew go; the old man famous for his stinginess?
But the others didn’t think too much, staring at Silver Blade’s hand in anticipation.
“Go, go!”, cheered Cyclone happily.
[Search in progress: 5s]
A progress bar filled in front of Silver Blade. After five seconds she drew her hand back.
A dagger appeared, glinting in the sunlight. While Silver Blade looked somewhat disappointed, the two brothers had shining eyes.
“A level five dagger…”
Everyone could hear the disinterest in Silver Blade’s voice. Talin immediately perked up:
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“If you don’t need it, you can sell it to me at any time! Just name a price!”
“S…”
Silver Blade was just about to accept when a message appeared before her eyes.
[Bleary Mirage: If you want to make the most of it, don’t accept yet. Wait until players have some money.]
Silver Blade read Bleary Mirage’s message, obvious struggle on her face.
“Didn’t you say your brother was a thief?”, asked Liam leisurely.
But ultimately Silver Blade didn’t feel comfortable with tricking people. She answered somewhat guiltily.
“No, no. You must have misheard.
Talin, I can sell you the dagger. What about fifteen copper?”
Malin had a jealous look, realizing that he was too slow as his brother hastily opened the trade window, placing 15 copper.
Talin and Silver Blade accepted, and the dagger changed owners. With a smug smile the thief played with the dagger in his hand.
Liam could only shake his head, knowing that Silver Blade made a loss.
But the woman didn’t care that much, reaching for Meyhran’s bag again.
After five seconds a pair of earrings appeared in her hand, dreamy turquoise stone expertly inlaid in a golden foundation.
Cyclone looked at them with big eyes.
“So beautiful.”
Liam had a similar reaction as he inwardly praised Silver Blade’s luck. But maybe it was also because this was the first unique quest, granting generous rewards.
Anyways, Silver Blade was satisfied as she put the earrings on, their colors giving her fair face a gentle aura.
“My earrings increase magical defense! They’re perfect!”, explained the woman with a happy smile.
Cyclone almost couldn’t hold herself back.
“Now me, me!”
Stepping forward she quickly put her hand in the bag.
As the loading bar appeared, the woman closed her eyes, her lips moving silently, praying for luck.
Pulling her hand, a small inconspicuous tome appeared in her hand, green light playing around it.
Liam’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“How could you draw a green-magic item?!”
Cyclone grinned at the tome in her hand, but hearing Liam’s question she straightened her face, appearing nonchalant.
“What’s so special about a magic item?”
“You…”
Silver Blade chuckled as even Liam didn’t know what to say.
The two thief brothers couldn’t stop their jealousy from showing on their faces. Growing impatient, they stepped forth and reached for the bag.
Cyclone looked at them in displeasure, deciding to only show her tome to Silver Blade and Bleary Mirage.
[Small Basic Tome of Magic
Category: Magic
Level requirement: 1
Magical Damage +7
Effect: Whenever you deal magical damage, you have a 2% chance to strike critically.
A small tome lost by a magical initiate of the Academy of Svebrial. Let’s hope they didn’t get into too much trouble.]
Cyclone was a bit uncertain as two percent sounded rather low. But looking at Liam’s appreciative face she grew confident.
“Hehe, is it very good?”
“Quite impressive. Don’t look down on the critical chance, such an effect is pretty rare.”
“Congratulations, Cyclone.”, spoke Silver Blade with a genuine smile.
“Hehehe.”
As Cyclone equipped her tome in her off-hand, Liam looked over at the two thieves. He was a bit late, only noticing them pocketing a weapon and a piece of paper, their faces not showing much joy.
Finally, it was Liam’s turn.
He stepped forth, inwardly pleading Meyhran to prepare something good for him.
Five seconds passed quickly. A small white book appeared in Liam’s hand. He felt his heart skip a beat, instantly letting it disappear in his inventory.
The others couldn’t even look fast enough. Cyclone asked with a puzzled expression:
“What did you get?”
“Tzz. That old man kept the worst for last! I got a lore book. What a waste!”
“Lore book? What’s that?”
“A book writing about some of the history of Crunaboul. If you read it attentively it can help in quests and grant some EXP.”
“But this doesn’t sound so bad.”
“The problem is there are thousands of such books scattered everywhere. Who knows which book can be useful for which quest.”
The others showed understanding expression. No one noticed the amused glint in Meyhran’s eyes as he retrieved his bag.
With a grunt the old man slung it over his shoulders, the bag obviously not a bit less heavy then at the beginning.
Liam looked in the understanding faces of his party members, feigning annoyance. But at this point quite a few players had already gathered, and he didn’t want those to know what he really got.
[Cross Slash
Category: Basic Skillbook
Effect: Slash a cross with your weapons, dealing 150% physical damage and reduce your opponent’s armor by 0,5% for three seconds.
Requirement: 20 STR or 20 AGI; two weapons]
Silver Blade felt uncomfortable by the curious gazes as well, urging her group on.
“We should be done here, right? Can we leave?”
At this moment Meyhran addressed the young woman:
“Adventurer, I hope you are satisfied with your reward. This old man will continue his journey now. Let’s meet again if fate wills it!”
[
[Evaluation: A]
[Receive 75 EXP]
[Reward: One chance to draw from Meyhran’s bag.]
[“Let’s meet again if fate wills it!”]
“Oh. Of course, old man! Good luck!”
“Good luck ono your journey.”
“’till next time, old man.”, murmured Liam.
Silver Blade showed a bright smile, feeling an exhilarating feeling after completing her first quest.
Is this why my brother likes games so much? I have to admit this feeling isn’t bad.
But the surprises for the young woman didn’t end here as a notification suddenly appeared in front of the party’s eyes.
[Congratulations on being the first to solve a
[Your accomplishment is worthy of being remembered.]
[You can choose to name your team or stay anonymous.]
Various emotions hit everyone. While his team members were mostly pleasantly surprised, Liam couldn’t help but smile wryly.
Even if I don’t try, I still gather achievements. I guess it’s only natural with the current information gap. Maybe it will change in the future.
Silver Blade knew that C was waiting for her, asking the others for opinions:
“Guys, what should I do?”
Liam pondered for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. Although he wasn’t interested in fame, he also didn’t fear it, leaving the choice to his teammates.
After a short discussion in was Cyclone’s suggestion which was accepted by everyone:
“Since this was a team effort, let’s the first letters of our names: Team TMMBC.”