A hidden quest are considered really rare and it only takes a few people to trigger it. In my case, this quest should be considered as one of the quest with high rewards. The higher the difficulty, the better the rewards and this is one of those quest. Hidden quests have their rewards hidden. Depending on your choices, the reward may differ.
After triggering the hidden quest, I read at the letter that Almira have given to me. I discovered immediately that this is not a letter that is written by Almira. I am aware on Almira's handwriting as it was really clean and can be understood immediately unlike the letter I am reading right now. Sorry for whoever have written this but the handwriting is quite sloppy and not easily understandable. Instead of calling it handwriting, it should be called scribbles. A human child scribbles are much more understandable than this.
It took me quite some time before I finally decoded whatever was written on the letter. I even asked for a spare quail feather, ink and paper to transfer what I have decoded. No wonder the quest's difficulty is very hard, the scribblings are very hard to decode. The letter goes like this:
"Dear Almira,
I might be not home for quite a while. I have been trying to keep myself alive on Death Desert as many monsters have been trying to kill me and eat me. However, here I am, sending you a letter to notify that I am still alive. I might be home for two to three years though that is not a sure timespan and that is still a tentative date. I hope you are still fine. Hope you a happy birthday today. I will be personally bringing my gift to you. That, I promise you.
Love, Dad."
No wonder that the handwriting is almost hard to understand. It was from Almira's Dad. And from the location that her father has written, it was from the Death Desert which is a Level 45 hostile area. It was hard to survive especially if you are not a strong person. I need to ask information from Almira. I have no idea how to start the quest at all. Even though I have read the letter, the quest did not get updated.
"Hey, Almira-san. What should I do with this letter? This letter is not for me," I said to her.
Almira's eyes seems surprised.
"You managed to read the letter? I can't even read a single word on it and you managed to decode it?" Almira seems full of admiration to what I have managed to do.
"Uh, yeah, here is what I have managed to decode!" I hand her the paper where the decoded letter is written.
"As expected! You are capable! Unlike of whoever, sent that letter," Almira snorted.
"..." I was speechless, she was mocking her father's writing. She might get speechless if she have known that the letter is from her father.
And as expected, her face slowly turned red. She is mocking her father about her sloppy and scribble like handwriting. From what I know, Almira was already an orphan and she didn't know what is the fate of her father who disappeared. I never expected that this letter is a letter that his father have sent. Almira loved her father and if she mocked her father she might get stunned on the revelation since she was also not able to read the letter.
"Why you didn't say so earlier?!" Almira fumed as her face flushed red.
I grinned. Hahahaha, the expression of these NPCs are too priceless. You rarely see their faces to perform this.
"What are you grinning at? I will break your face!" Almira frowned.
Of course, I straightened my face. I don't want to get beaten up by a blacksmith who are really proficient in hammering iron. Tasting that would be horrible to my handsome face.
"Uh, I will pass on that," I shook my head.
Almira sighed and stayed silent before she looked at me with a distant feel.
"This letter is sent to me 10 years ago, during my birthday. It was repeated to me for quite a while in the past until 10 years ago. That was the last time I got a letter. Though I usually ignore these letters due to the hard to understand writings, now that I found out that father is the one doin it, I have to find out what happened to my father. He also said he promised me a gift, I want you to obtain it or bring my father back. I beg you," Almira seems sad now.
An update on the quest appeared.
"Almira's Request: A father's Promise"
Description:
Find clues on Almira's Father in Death Desert.
"I know that you are not strong enough to go to the Death Desert but I hope you will help me on this one. Don't worry, I know that it is a selfish request but I will reward you."Almira looks down.
Of course, I have no intention on declining this. Even if I have no reward, raising my relationship with Almira will be beneficial to me. I might be able to get an apprenticeship with her on blacksmithing and I might get a discount in repair fees and future businesses I will have with her.
"Rest assured, I will fulfill your request. However, I need time. Is it alright if it is delayed?" I asked her. I need confirmation that this quest has no time limit. Most of the hidden quest I encountered in the past has a time limit which is rather frustrating especially if you failed to do the task within the time.
"No, I am not in a hurry, though I want you to go there as soon as possible after you reached the appropriate level to go to the Death Desert. I can't let anyone die just for the sake of getting a random clue that we have no idea if it exist," Almira said.
Quite logical indeed. After securing the quest, I bid goodbye to Almira and headed out to grind. It is not for the reason that I want to complete the hidden quest of Almira but I also need to prepare for the last boss that was entrusted to me. Also, players are slowly gaining the chance to catch up to me. Trying to steal my throne? Nope, can't do. In this lifetime, I cannot let them do so.
Since I am level 21, I am now strong enough to go to the hostile zone, Scorched Village. which needed players to be level 25 or above. I might be lower level than the required one but that only applies to players with only specific classes. Who do you think I am? I am a Versatile, no matter how difficult it is, I can do this without help.
The town is busy now, with players and NPCs walking around the streets, it can be said that it was really similar to the market that exist in medieval and fantasy times. Players slowly reached Level 10, and beat up the Gate Guardian and gained access to the Holy Capital. Since that is the case now, I no longer need to hide much though my face and name still needed to be hidden. That can still cause trouble to me.
Good thing though that players did not even bother looking at me, they are busy in their own business. Well, that is good, then.
With my Silent Sprint, I was able to reach the Scorched Village. According to the lore of the game, the village was once a prosperous one until a sorcerer arrived in the village. After finding a conflict with the villagers, he cursed the entire village and burned it. To avoid it from rising again, he cast a black magic to give life to creatures in the dark realm. Causing it to be no longer unhabitable by the villagers who survived. Due to that, the village was immediately declared as a monster and danger infested place.
What makes this place unique is the amount of experience a player can earn. For some reason, mana was quite dense in this area and the experiences gained here are too good for players level 20 to level 30. Players in the past usually occupied this place for grinding session. Now that they have not discovered this place, its my turn to play here and grind.
In the distance, a group of monsters on level 23 are walking on the area like they are patrolling. These monster are weak and easy to kill.
"Scorched Zombie"
Level 23
HP: 1,000/ 1,000
Attribute: Flame, Undead
They can't be considered strong but they cannot be considered weak either. Just like zombies in movies, their weakness is hitting the head, severing it from its neck or crush the skull down. They can be considered as Exp mine.
As they still have not seen me, I first made my versatile weapon into a double pistol. There is no other weapon better to swiftly kill them other than the guns. With a sprint, I closed the distance of myself and the monsters. My sudden appearance challenged the monsters so I did not allow them to work like that, I opened fire against the dead. I am not an accurate shooter but I can still kill enemies without problem using guns. I once played FPS games though I am not really strong, I can be considered decent.
"Kill!" I grit my teeth and pulled the trigger as I point the muzzle to their foreheads.
"BANG!"
"BANG!"
"BANG!"
"BANG!"
Repeated gunshots made the enemies fall one by one. All of the enemies are all killed using the guns. Like a real zombie in apocalypse movies, the zombies did not struggle any further as they got shot in their respective heads.
With the effects of Memento Mori, the experience filled my Exp bar in a fast rate, much more, due to the way my level is lower than them. I really love the Reality system of this game, it makes leveling easier if you know what is the weakness of an enemy. Even the strongest enemies, with the right weakness is just a sitting duck on knowledgeable players. Of course, I am one of them.
Aside from the reason that I want to get stronger, killing the boss that escaped the Lesser Purgatory, the other reason is that I suspect that the quest that Almira have issued to me is that I might be facing a boss. One of the hidden boss, Death Worm which can be considered as a level 150 Hell Mode Boss with an HP of 5,000,000, no known weakness and needed to be beaten in 5 minutes, solo.