I tried very hard not to panic when my friend Severus vanished right in front of me, leaving me to fend for myself against level fifteen monsters. I did not succeed.

A noise came from the bushes further up the trail. Without waiting to see what it was, I turned and ran in the opposite direction. Blindly terrified, I had no idea which direction to go to get away from the danger of the goblin lair, or back to the safety of the city. I just ran, following the path that we had been on and hoping that it would join up with a road, or that I would find some other adventurers that I could possibly pay to escort me home.

I ran into the goblins first. They must have heard me coming, because one jumped out from the bushes to ambush me, and just as I was turning to run the other direction, another one popped up behind me. I had run right into their trap and, seeing that I was trapped, I determined to at least not go down without a fight. So I drew my sword and charged the one that had blocked my path.

Goblins are not smart or strong creatures. But the difference between a level fifteen goblin and a level one child is essentially insurmountable. A fact I discovered when the goblin met my attack with his club and punched me in the face, cutting off my battle-cry.

Condition:

Stunned (10s)

Health:

8/90

My status flashed in the corner of my screen, superfluous because I already realized how much trouble I was in. That fist hurt, and one more attack like that and I’d be dead. Rather than finishing me off, however, the goblins pounced on me and began tying me up with rags and scraps of rope. The scrap of cloth that they gagged me with was filthy and tasted disgusting, and I questioned what it had been used for previously. Worse, they claimed my weapons from me.

I was completely helpless as they dragged me away from the sight of the ambush. Even after my condition wore off, I could only grunt and scream into my gag as my captors brought me deeper further towards the goblin lair.

~~~~~~~~~

It took me a while, but I figured out why the goblins hadn’t killed me. They were planning on cooking me alive. Or at least that’s what I gleamed from the fire they were building and the spit they were preparing. I kicked and struggled, but even if I had gotten free of my bindings I was still surrounded by an encampment of goblins that were stronger and faster than me. The only thing I did manage to do was cast [Cure Minor Injury] on myself a few times to restore my health to full. I even got a point in the spell, which makes sense because casting spells under duress increases their levels faster than casting them when everything is going fine.

Unfortunately, I doubted that I would be able to out heal the fire for very long before the goblins cooked me to death.

I was trying not to cry while saying prayers to Thedum for a miraculous rescue. For the first time in my life, my prayers were answered promptly. A burly man in heavy armor jumped out of the sky into the middle of the gathered goblins, all twenty of them, and began insulting their mothers. He glowed in a faint golden light that told me there was a cleric or priest nearby who had cast a protective spell upon him, although I couldn’t tell exactly what it was.

Arrows began raining down upon the goblins as they grouped up to face the burly man’s assault, picking them off one by one, and three goblins were suddenly polymorphed into frogs, followed immediately by chain lightning running through the survivors.

Between the warrior, the archer, and the elementalist, the party of adventurers quickly cleared out the encampment, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I was saved! I began struggling again, shouting into my gag to get their attention. It was the warrior who noticed me first.

“Hey, Thena. You ever heard anything about a rescue quest with these goblins? Because it looks like we might have just spawned one,” the warrior said, turning to me as he cleaned his axe with a cloth from his belt.

“There was no mention of a hidden quest in the guides that I read about this lair,” one of the other party members said. A priest, judging by her white robes. She began typing on an invisible keyboard. “Just a second, I’m going to ask in guildchat and check the forums.”

“Why are we just sitting here? Someone untie him,” the elementalist said, her blue robes somewhat frizzy from the electricity she had been throwing around.

“Just hold off a minute,” the archer said, “Untying him might spawn waves of reinforcement or something.”

“We can handle them,” the warrior said. “And I’m ready for a challenge. These goblins have been boring since Larissa unlocked her chain lightning spell. She’s killing them too fast.”

“Moar deeps is never a bad thing,” the elementalist chided back. “The problem is that we need a new grinding zone. We’ve out leveled this lair.”

“We’re getting good Ex Pee per hour,” the archer argued. “They’re giving us less than last level, but we’re killing them faster so it balances out to about the same. It’s worth sticking it out for the rest of this level at least, and then reevaluating. Maybe we can come back for whatever this quest is after that.”

I started shaking my head, terrified that they’d actually leave me behind. Desperation filled me, but there wasn’t much I could do.

“I can’t find anything about an escort or rescue quest related to this lair,” the priest, Thena, said after a few moments of the others bickering about what to do. “Which means that either we did something unique to unlock it, or it’s such a waste of time that nobody who’s completed it has ever documented it.”

“That’s bullshit,” Larissa the elementalist challenged. “Maybe out in the frontier there are undocumented quests like this, but this close to one of the major starting hubs? Something weird is going on. It’s been more than a year since launch, and that’s plenty of time for the completionists to have covered every inch of this lair and triggered every spawn event.”

“Whatever, there’s no point just standing around. Who knows, maybe we’ll get a first time completion bonus for saving this kid,” the warrior said as he took a knife from his belt and came to cut me loose. As soon as my hands were free, I pulled the dirty rag out of my mouth and spat the foul taste into the dirt.

“Thank you, strangers, for rescuing me. I was abandoned nearby by someone I thought was my friend, and then the goblins captured me. If you hadn’t rescued me, I’m quite certain they would have cooked me alive!”

“Yeah, that’s what it looks like they were gearing up for,” the warrior agreed. “Don’t worry kid, you’re safe with us. Where are we supposed to escort you to?”

I frowned, considering. I didn’t really want to return to the castle without gaining a single level, and I was fairly certain that after today I would once again be under closer surveillance, so future excursions might be curtailed. “Is it actually okay if I just stick with you guys for a while? I don’t want to go home yet, I’m just going to get yelled at when I do.”

The warrior chuckled at that, and then his eyes began scrolling as he was reading invisible quest text. “You guys get that quest too, or do I need to share it?” he asked.

“We got it,” Larissa confirmed. “Looks like it’s open ended, which is weird. It just says ‘Allow Hail to accompany you until you return to the nearest safe zone.’ And for rewards, it just says ‘Variable,’ and ‘Reputation.’ I’m guessing Hail is the kid here, but the quest doesn’t say who the reputation is for.”

“I’d give you some coin, too,” I said, “But Severus took almost everything I have. I only have a few silver left over. I think maybe he wasn’t such a good friend to have after all.”

“So you got robbed and dumped in the middle of a lair. Yeah, kid, that’s a rough break,” the warrior commented. “What do you think guys?”

“There might be some hidden event around here that the kid is related to,” The archer commented. “We should accept and escort him through the entire lair if we can.”

“Well, I’m just here for the experience bus,” the warrior admitted. “That and killing goblins is fun. I love the sounds they make when they die.”

“Do you mind if I help fight, too?” I asked nervously. “I’d like to gain some levels before I go home.”

The party blinked. The archer was the first one to speak. “Huh, the quest just updated. Get Hail to level five. Rewards; variable and reputation, just like before.”

“If the quest is to get him to level five, what level is he right now?” the priest asked.

“I’m level one,” I admitted. “Severus was supposed to get me to level ten. You don’t have to help me if you don’t want, I --”

“I say we accept. It sounds like a unique experience,” the priest said. “The devs probably just patched it in and we’re the first ones to stumble across it. I’m starting to document it so that we can post it on the forums, it might make our guild famous.”

“Alright kid, boss lady says it’s a go,” the warrior said with a grin. “Welcome to the party.”

Except, unlike Severus, this group didn’t actually send me a party invite. I thought it was strange, but I didn’t know how to bring it up without sounding helpless. So instead I gathered my bow and my short sword from the goblins who had captured me and otherwise straightened myself out, then followed along with them as we went hunting goblins.

~~~~~~~~

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Our Ex-Pee per hour has dropped to a trickle,” Laurant, the archer, complained. “And the kid is only level three now.”

“Sorry,” I muttered, letting another arrow fly to tag one of the goblins attacking Phil, the warrior. A swipe of his axe after my arrow had connected put the target’s injury from minor to severe, and a follow-up swing a second later finished it off for good. I tagged another, and a combination of lightning and arrows from Llarissa and Laurant put that one down as well.

“It’s fine, kid. If you were a player, this would be a terrible grinding spot for you at your level. The game penalizes you for getting carried, it would have been much faster for a level one player to start fighting level one through five monsters by himself, or with a few friends,” Thena explained. “Anyway, our own experience isn’t completely stopped.”

I frowned. That was the exact opposite of what Severus had told me, but between him and my new friends, I believed my new friends. I just didn’t understand why Severus would have told me the wrong thing on purpose, brought me to a terrible place for me to level, and leftme alone in danger.

I felt a little bad about slowing my new friends down, but at least I was making progress. The basic strategy of having Phil ‘tank’ the goblins until I had ‘tapped’ them with my arrows was providing me with a slow but steady trickle of experience, but compared to the slaughter that Laurant, Larissa, and Phill could carry out on their own, it was a crawl.

I kept watching them as they fought, and I found myself growing envious of their abilities. Especially Larissa and Laurant, and I only slowed things down further as I paused to examine their skills.

I wished that I could learn to fight like that. Shooting arrows so fast that my hands blurred in the motions, and casting lightning bolts which fried the goblins from the inside out. It was incredible.

As I watched Larissa casting lightning bolt for what might have been the hundredth time, I began whispering the incantation along with her. And, to my surprise, I began to feel crackling between my fingers. Realizing what was happening just in time, I dropped my bow and finished the incantation, pointing at the goblin I had been about to shoot with my palm instead.

The [Lightning Bolt] was a pale imitation compared to Larissa’s but there was a pause in the combat as everyone turned to look at me. It was enough of a distraction that the goblins that we were fighting managed to land a few hits on Phil, although he recovered a second later and Thena had him glowing golden with a healing spell a few seconds after that. Once we finished that pack of goblins, the party rounded on me.

“Since when could you cast lightning, Hail?” Larissa inquired, not sounding too confrontational about it.

“Um, about two minutes ago?” I said nervously. “I was just feeling kind of jealous so I tried copying you. I didn’t think it would work. It wasn’t very powerful though, was it?”

“It was fine for a level three caster and a skill level of one. And you don’t have any gear boosting your intelligence or spell power either. Even so, I bet it did three or four times your piddly little arrows,” she explained. “How much of your mana did it burn?”

“I think I can cast it about five or six times before running out,” I admitted. “Although I don’t get my mana back very fast.”

“Mana efficiency gets better at higher skill levels, and your regen goes up if you get points of wisdom and intelligence,” she explained. “You shouldn’t have been able to learn that spell just by copying me though. Not unless you have a mage class. Can we see your status screen?”

“Display status, public,” I said immediately. It was a little embarrassing to show it in front of my new friends, but they’d been trustworthy so far. And anyway, nobody really cares about hiding your stats until you’re a grownup anyway.

Name

Hail

Level

3

Health

300/300

Strength

10

Mana

317/390

Dexterity

11

Experience

27/300

Vitality

10

Age

10

Endurance

11

Race

Human (blood of the travelers)

Intelligence

13

Class

Child

Wisdom

10

Job

Bastard of Yuikon

Charisma

16

Skills

Short Swords (7)

Spells

Cure Minor Injury (8)

Archery (5)

Detect Poison (12)

Short Spears (5)

Spark (6)

Animal Handling (4)

Analyze (3)

Balance and Conditioning (5)

Storage (5)

Traits

High Aptitude

Mark of Karma (special)

Quick Learner

Lightning bolt (1)

Royal Blood (+5 charisma, bonus to relations with factions loyal to Yuikon)

Blessing of Thedum

(hidden)

(hidden)

My friends gathered around and scrutinized my numbers and abilities, making me want to blush.

“[Mark of Karma]? What the hell is that? I’ve never heard of that spell before,” Phil commented.

“That’s what you’re focusing on? Not the fact that he’s a royal bastard?” Laurant demanded. “And the system is even hiding some of his traits from us. What the hell, I think we stumbled into a much larger event than I originally thought.”

“It’s probably his [Quick Learner] trait that allowed him to learn [Lightning Bolt],” Larissa commented. “I wonder what else we could teach him?”

“Nobody else is focused on the fact that he’s got royal blood?” Laurant repeated.

“You know, I actually remember him now,” Thena said softly. “Right after launch, on the first kill of any of the [Worldboss] dragons, the leader of the guild that took it down managed to somehow marry the princess of Yuikon. The wedding was canon, as was the fact that they were having a child. But then I never heard anything more about it until now.”

She pulled up her holographic keyboard and began typing quickly.

“Hail, when did you cast [Mark of Karma] on me? Did you cast it on all of us? Guys, check your status, we have a debuff that I can’t dispell.”

“I’ve never used that ability before,” I protested. “It showed up on my status a few years ago but every time I’ve tried to use it nothing has happened. When I focus on it, it just says ‘the laws of the universe demand balance.’ I stopped worrying about it a long time ago.”

“Until now,” Larissa commented. “I have it too.”

“Oh shit, I bet it’s like an aura ability that’s always on. It must infect any player who interacts with him. But it doesn’t look like it’s a bad thing. Mine says it’s giving plus five percent experience right now, so I’m not complaining,” Phil said, his eyes looking vacantly at his status screen. “I mean, it’s not enough to make up for slowing down to power level him, but if we got him up to our level that little bit could actually add up to quite a lot in the long run.”

“Found it!” Thena exclaimed. “There’s been a bit of gossip in the royal court about the second princess. She married her savior eleven years ago in game, one Gideon Lachlann, one of the leaders of The Endolphins, as part of a roleplay event, and they had a son. According to the gossip, they split two years ago. I bet Hail was part of an ongoing roleplay event, but Gideon got bored with it because it wasn’t endgame. But now for some reason the Devs are trying to write his son back into the game anyway.”

“Stop talking about me like I’m not here!” I protested. This earned me a look from all of my friends, who frowned.

“If Hail’s a special NPC, we really ought to be treating him better,” Laurant said. “After all, Karma goes both ways. We’re getting a bonus right now, but I bet the [Mark of Karma] offers a flip side too. Good and bad karma, it works both ways. Sorry, Hail. We’re just trying to figure things out. Wandering NPC’s like you are pretty uncommon in the game, and it’s really exciting that we’re the first to discover you.”

“What does En Pee Cee mean?” I asked, uncertain whether to be offended or not.

“Non-player character,” Thena explained, still typing away on her invisible keyboard. “I believe you would say that it’s another term for the natives of this world. You see, this world, to all of us ‘Travelers,’ it’s a video game, and we’re Players. Some people use NPC as an insult, but that’s not how we meant it. I mean, you are a Native, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” I admitted.

“Then it’s not an insult, anymore than calling you a Native is an insult. It’s just another term that means the same thing,” she continued. “I can barely find anything on the forums about you though. It’s extremely exciting and frustrating at the same time.”

“You think this is actually a unique event?” Laurant asked. “Should we get the rest of the guild in on it too?”

“It’s too early for that,” Thena argued. “Let’s finish getting him to level five and see what happens.”

“You’re right. Suddenly I don’t care too much about our exp per hour as much as his.” Laurant bit his lip for a second, then looked at me curiously. “Hey, Hail, how does that [Quick Learner] ability work? Does it work on anything?”

“I don’t know. It’s a passive. But I’ve always been able to learn new skills quickly. And [High Aptitude] allows me to increase their ranks faster and further as well.”

“I’m going to demonstrate a skill for you. It’s called [Quickshot]. I want you to just keep practicing it with me until you learn it, okay?”

Ten minutes later, we were on the move again, and this time, I was pulling and peppering everything with [Quickshot] and [Lightning Bolt]while the others finished them off. It only took two hours after that for me to hit level 5.