“Ha!”
On a vast sandy terrain, hundreds of seventeen-years-old boys were training hard with the sword. Their movement and actions were synchronized, as they tirelessly slashed in front of them.
Reaching the military training ground, Shesmu couldn’t help but suck in a cold breath. The fighting spirit emanating from the hundreds of recruit made him wish to return to the battlefield. Crushing the longing in his heart, Shesmu started looking for the captain responsible for the recruits.
To activate the unique quest, Shesmu had to have a degree of reputation in this military branch. Shesmu knew of few ways to get the required amount of reputation quickly. However, he didn’t use them because the penalty of failure meant that it would be hard to activate the unique quest later. To gain reputation one could do quests or use the way of diplomacy. The latter was multiple times more potent than the last, but it’s a shame that Shesmu wasn’t good at it. He may make a good motivational speech here and there, or manipulate people to do his biddings, but he wasn’t consistently good at it. For this reason, Shesmu decided to use the normal way of gaining reputation.
Finally finding the captain, Shesmu gave him a military salute before saying.
“Sir, I’m a young adventurer who heard that our great army was in need of manpower and rushed to give my measly aid. Please, let this one be of help.”
The captain looked at Shesmu for a second with a cold, uninterested look before his expression suddenly turned into one of surprise.
“Such a strong young man, your future is surely great. Indeed, we are in lack of manpower. The goblin village to the south has been getting more and more bolder. They have been ambushing our fellow comrades and citizens without a care or fear of consequence. We need to send them a message, that we’re not some weaklings who they can trifle with.”
Hunt the Goblins I Description Kill 100 goblins Rewards +1000 reputation with Pliyx Stal Capital City’s army.
+10 silver
+2000 Exp
Looking at the quest, Shesmu was surprised for a moment. The difficulty of the quest was much higher than a normal first reputation grinding mission. 1000 reputation was quite a lot as normal grinding missions only gave around 100. However, he quickly regained his wits as he understood the concept behind it. A captain in a beginner town was only at around level 7 to 8, while a lieutenant was at around level 10 to 11. For the captain in front of him, Shesmu was basically as strong if not stronger than his superior. One can only imagine that this variable sent the captain’s mind in turmoil to try and think up of a reputation quest worthy of such a character. As for how the captain knew of Shesmu’s level. Well, Shesmu didn’t really have any item or buff that hid his attributes, and every little child and his granny had the Identify skill, it was only dumb Shesmu that forgot about such an essential skill throughout his whole leveling session.
Before heading to the goblin village, Shesmu went around town to look for certain quests. There was a certain skill he wanted but was only unlockable through a certain hidden quest.
Entering a small alleyway, Shesmu found sitting on the street a row of homeless people.
“Please, some money!”
“Food, please, I want food!”
The wails and cries of despair didn’t faze Shesmu in the slightest. The only expression he had was one of annoyance at the fact that he needs to search through this sea of people to find the quest NPC.
Suddenly, an idea came up in his mind and he smiled slightly. He took out a pouch from the menu filled with copper coins and threw it behind him.
At this sight, the homeless people weren’t able to respond immediately. However, a fraction of a second later, they all run with renewed vigor towards the littered copper coins.
Shesmu just kept going past the people bumping into him trying to make a fortune. He just kept walking until the sea of homeless people finally dried out. On the other end of the alleyway, a middle-aged man was sitting in serenity, as if all the chaos around the world does not affect him.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Shesmu sat down next to the man and said.
“Albert, I’m here to do your bidding. You know what I want, just tell me what you want.”
To what Shesmu said, the middle-aged man appeared to be indifferent. However, three seconds later, Albert let out a small laughter.
“Hahaha”
This originally faint laugh slowly transformed into a maniacal wild laughter filled with wickedness and frustration. The spirit of a man who suffered terrible injustices and the unfair tribulations of the heaven was contained in this sound, making all the homeless people who were still trying to catch some coins turn around in panic.
Shesmu didn’t mind the intimidation. The man in front of him was one who possessed everything in this small beginner town but got stripped of all of it. It was only natural that he would be unwilling.
Albert finally stopped laughing and said.
“If you came couple months earlier your head wouldn’t be between your shoulders right now. However, time can change a man. I can give you what you want, but do you think you’re able to give me what I want?”
Shesmu looked at Albert’s eyes for a couple of seconds. It was like staring at the beast in the eyes, a lion wild and unchained, and filled with incredible vigor and majesty.
“State your terms, and I’ll accept.”
Hearing the confident reply, Albert gave a faint chuckle before saying
“What I want is Adrian’s head? Can you give it to me.”
Hearing Albert’s reply, Shesmu took a breath of cold air. Adrian was the Commander in Chief of this town’s army, but this wasn’t what shocked Shesmu. The killing intent coming from Albert’s voice is what surprised him. The human mind has an uncanny ability for survival, and through our genes, we can notice a situation that endangers us rapidly. The intonation and intent behind Albert’s words spelled a word that loomed over Shesmu’s mind: Death.
However, his surprise aside, Shesmu calmly replied.
“Consider it done.”
Revenge of the Fallen (Hidden Unique Quest) Description Kill the Commander In Chief of the town’s army. Rewards Unknown.
Looking at the quest notification Shesmu was surprised. He already knew that he had to kill Adrian. This guy was very interesting in the sense that many people wanted his head, some even issuing a quest for it. In fact, there was another unique quest whose description was to kill him. This was because Adrian was, in fact, half a demon who had many deals with the underworld. Albert, the person in front of him and former Commander in Chief, also had a quest issued to kill Adrian. This, Shesmu already knew. However, what Shesmu didn’t know was the fact that the quest was unique too. In his past life, Shesmu didn’t know that it was a unique quest. The person who shared it didn’t mention this detail so Shesmu had no way to know. Surprisingly, two unique quests were made to kill one person, Shesmu wasn’t sure what to think of Adrian anymore, his status became basically that of a celebrity.
However, before thinking of how to kill Adrian, Shesmu had to finish the reputation quest he had in hand. Shesmu had no idea when or where Adrian will be, and even if he did, how was he even supposed to do to approach him. The Commander on Chief was level 25, and while Shesmu could probably one shot him, he will need to kill many innocent soldiers as a side effect. The fact that he killed a demon might give him some merit, but if Shesmu had no reputation within the military they might make his life harder through a number of ways.
Shesmu didn’t want to deal with all those headache-inducing problems, so he chose the safer way which was to work his way through reputation ranks before being able to meet the Commander in Chief personally.
With his over 300 points agility stat, Shesmu was able to cross the 45 kilometers distance between the town and the goblin village in around 5 minutes. On the outskirt of the village, Shesmu found multiple goblins hunting in a pack. Their formation was composed of 4 goblin warriors and 2 goblin mages, each of which had a level ranging from 11 to 13.
Shesmu didn’t have to break a sweat against these kinds of opponents. With his new sword, Shesmu didn’t need to fear it breaking with every twitch and turn, he could finally use his ki, albeit to a limited extent. One ki surge from his blade and the whole goblin group is dead.
As Shesmu continued on his path of carnage, he fell deep in thought. In his past life, no one reached this part of the map until much later in the game when everyone was around level 40. At that time, no one was really interested in goblins as they provided very minimal experience. However, these lands still saw terrible wars and destructive battles filled with blood and gore, between players and monsters. The reason was the Goblin village. Contrary to human villages and cities, monster and outlaw villages were a free for all buffet to guilds. Especially this low-level goblin village, guilds rushed from everywhere to conquer it. The blood spilled on the battlefield wasn’t a result of a battle between players and monsters, but huge guild wars that engulfed tens of thousands of players.
Shesmu wished he could conquer this village here and now, however, conquering a village, a town or a city was, unfortunately, a feature available only for guilds. If Shesmu wanted to make this dream a reality, he needed to start a guild. The good news was that one could start a guild even in beginner town. However, they couldn’t obtain their guild residence until they reach a main city, which made joining guilds in beginner towns a little bit pointless. However, for Shesmu, starting a guild was now a priority.
“Shunk!”
With one final stab, Shesmu killed his one-hundredth goblin before looking at the village in the distance and returning to town.