Cole got another notification. He checked his quest log and the Blacksmith quest was highlighted while the others were gray. He tried to bypass it but soon gave up. He finally activated the quest and followed the path to the Blacksmith. His shop was larger than most of the other buildings in the village. Cole could still smell the freshly lain bricks and so concluded that it was recently expanded. An attempt to forge more weapons of course.
Cole saw two boys working feverishly in the back. He rang for their attention but neither came to him. Instead, a different man appeared with an odd symbol over his head. It was a hollowed-out circle with a thick bright blue rim.
“Hi, how can I help?”
“The chief sent me for a sword.”
“We don’t have any blades ready. The thieves stole our resources. We’re quite low and would need more to fashion a sword for you. Thing is, we’re kind of low on free hands.”
Cole raised an eyebrow. “Is this another quest or am I running errands?”
The Blacksmith laughed. “Of course it’s a quest.” To Cole's surprise, he opened up a control panel and was quickly tapping through it. “This is what I need. You can— “
“Wait,” Cole stopped him. “You’re a player?”
“Don’t you see the indicator?” He pointed at the hollow blue circle. “But I understand why you’re confused. Only an NPC would be in this backwater village.”
“So why are you here?”
“The same as you,” he said. “I’m on a quest. Shouldn’t be long before I’m done. Just have to make a few more blades to arm the villagers and then I’m gone.”
“How’s that possible?”
“What’s your name?” He asked.
“Cold Fate. But you can call me Cole.”
“Look, Cole, do yourself a favor and go over the online help files once you log out,” he said. “I’ve seen too many newbs get trashed because they just dove in. No offense. At first, Fate Maker started as just a regular MMORPG. But after the upgrade, it became a Dynamic MMORPG. It gave the players a lot more freedom, more complex storylines, and a wider range of class systems. Quests are no longer rigid and scripted. Heck, I could offer you a quest to bring me a rock for 10000 coins and I’d have to pay up once you complete it. But don’t try it, I won’t approve.”
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“But is that logical? I mean any player could easily level up with someone granting blank quests.”
“That’s true,” he said. “That’s exactly what happened when the upgrade first came around. Guys went from level 10 to level 40 in under a week. It wasn’t perfect. They fixed it, though, and those guys were rolled back. It’s a good system, better now, but it’s still just a system. And like any other system, it can be hacked. Only takes a keen eye.”
“Well since you’re a player, can you help me get whatever it is that you want?”
“Do you buy a burger and then go into the kitchen to make it yourself?”
“Ummm… no.”
“Exactly.” He closed the panel and a prompt popped up for Cole. “Accept the quest. Get the resources and then I’ll make your blade so you do more quests.” Cole accepted and then reviewed the list of resources. “I don’t usually give that last one out, but you seem like you could use the boost. The location of the resources should be highlighted on your map. Good luck.”
“Duranki,” Cole said.
“What? Oh, you don’t have to do that. It’s mainly for verbal contracts. It’s pretty clunky so I don’t use it. I stick to written ones.”
Cole decided he would read the online help files. The blacksmith gave him a basket that he could use to store the resources. It was at that moment Cole realized he spawned in this game with only a reed skirt. No weapons, items, storage, or even skills. This was drastically different from the RPGs he was used to. It felt less like he had logged into a game and more like he was a newborn in this strange world. He wondered if he had accidentally skipped a montage of his childhood.
The resources were spread out in different places across the terrain. Most of it was basic material for forging steel but only two were unusual. One of them was a magical mineral called Ashanite and the other was a fully prepared broth Cole was intended to pick up at the Blacksmith’s house. He was running errands after all.
Cole’s sack was brimming with raw material on his way back to the village. He decided that he would pick up the broth on his way to the smithy and carry it in his hands. The map highlighted the blacksmith’s house on the map and it wasn’t too far from the village border. But Cole would never make it to the broth. Smoke rose from the village and blackened the sky. Soon Cole saw the flames.
With the basket still strapped to his back, Cole sprinted into the village. It was in complete chaos. Men and women ran to and fro as they yanked their children behind them. Their screams and shouts filled the air. Not all the buildings were on fire but most had huge holes in them or were flattened to the ground.
Cole’s first thought was that the bandits returned and the villagers decided to fight them off. Cole could imagine the thieves setting fire to the buildings. But he couldn’t imagine they were able to crush the buildings to rubble. A mage perhaps, or the closest thing to it in Sonner. The chief didn’t even mention anything like that. But soon Cole realized it was neither bandits nor mages. They would have been better.
Cole froze in fright and only his eyes moved as they tracked the monster before him. It leaped from left to right, snapped up a few men in its jaws, and then ripped through them. A notification popped up.
[The shaman’s ‘cat’ has taken its true form since it missed its regular treatment. Defeat the beast to save your village.]
The new quest puzzled Cole. No one mentioned that the cat was a monster. How could he even defeat it without a weapon? Cole wanted to fight but his body refused to move. The logical part of his brain must be the reason. It deduced that Cole wouldn’t stand a chance against the monster without a blade. So instead of moving toward the monster, Cole raced to the blacksmith.
The monster's roar barely faded even though Cole had put distance between it and himself. When he arrived at the smithy, it was knocked down. The blacksmith lay dead in front of it. Cole tried to revive the player by shaking him but that did nothing. He thought he could revive him since the body was still there, but it seemed that wouldn’t work.
The beast's growl grew louder as it raced to Cole. He stood to face it. He would fight it with his bare hands if he must. He just didn’t want the monster to do any more damage because of him. But the monster was fast. Faster than Cole’s reaction. It slammed him into the ground and bit into his shoulder. Cole’s eyes widened from the pain. He tried to punch the animal but it caught his arm and bit it off. The monster slurped the limb into its mouth like noodles. It then tore into his body little by little until his health was zero. The world turned black.