Chapter 7: Light Stone
Next morning, Liam woke up earlier than he had expected. He set an alarm at 8AM but when he looked at his bedside table the clock was only displaying 7:18AM.
Liam still remembered the fight and felt invigorated. He stood up and arranged his bed. He looked at the capsule near his bed and approached it.
If one saw how radiant Liam's expression was, you would tell that he saw his lover's happy expression. Liam touched gently the outer surface of the capsule.
He still couldn't believe that an exciting adventure happened yesterday. 8 hours of playing brought a whole day of playing inside the game. He was once again amazed by the advancement of the technology.
Liam removed his gaze on the capsule and decided to take a bath first before eating. He took a bath quickly that didn't take 15 minutes. When he opened the door of the bathroom what greeted him was of course his mother and sister busy eating and preparing for food.
With his absentmindedness he forgot to greet his mother and his big sister before he took a bath.
"Good morning, ladies."
"Good morning, hon, did you have a nice sleep?"
"Yes, how about you? Where's father?"
"He went at work early. He haven't finished his report that was due this week before the vacation."
"I see. How about you my dear sister?"
"Same old. Did you read the note I left behind?
"Yes. And thanks for your concern, but I'm fine. I don't have much time to need a strenuous exercise to pass my time like before. I'll be doing basic exercise before I log in to the game."
"Then, it's all good. Left the bill to me, and just enjoy the game. And don't forget to report if the pain relapse."
"Hmm."
After their brief conversation, they happily ate the food that their mother prepared. Not long before they finished eating, his mother and sister bade him farewell.
Liam cleaned up before doing some basic exercise like stretching his arms and legs. He needed to maintain a good exercise everyday so that he would be fit not because he needed to but he wanted to.
He didn't need to be weak looking because he had an injury. Besides, he couldn't help himself if his sister needed him to stray away annoying people.
Liam decided to log in from the game and it was exactly 8:23AM but before he could open the capsule he saw that it was emitting a red signal. It means the game was down for a moment.
Forceful log in may incur error or a permanent deletion of your character. It was on the clause of the agreement when buying a capsule. Liam decided to pay a visit to the official website through his phone and saw that they decided to do an hour update. The server time on Philippines was 8AM so he only needed to wait for a while before he could log in.
He opened his laptop and browse about the news of recent achievements of players on Advent of Heroes. He also saw the trailer brought by the company. It was only a short clip but it could be seen that it was truly a grand update. The characters with the story was in line with the Advent of Heroes.
Advent of Heroes: The Rise of Divine Angels was the name of the first arc of the game. It could also mean that there were upcoming different arcs of the game which also showed that this was really a big project.
The 50 countries that first accepted to support the game was delighted to saw a huge amount of resources that was given away by free from the company. It was used to train their military or other users under the government.
It could also be viewed as a bribe or payment to let the company open its branches under the government protection of each country.
The company didn't betrayed their initial impression. The company's execution of advertisement and promotion from 50 different countries garnered a lot of attention and was the most high paying game for those seeking jobs.
Farming gold was considered the most high paying because the demand for gold on the start of the game was the highest like any other game. But the thing was, the company seemed to have no plan to release a money to gold conversion like other games. It was all needed to be earned through the game.
The second high paying job on the game was gatherer. Gathering rare materials were a must inside the game.
The third one would be the most high paying of all but difficult to get was a Guild Emblem. It was needed for a guild to be truly accepted as a guild inside the game.
The last one was recruiting outstanding players to their guild or being an elite player inside a guild. The pay might be good enough if you were on the top guild but rumor has it that with only a half year of playing, the demand on gold and materials were rather high paying than being on the elite team of a guild.
All in all, guilds were established one by one and players joined or created one, Liam wasn't an exception to that. He wanted to join a guild which weren't demanding but a laid back one. He wanted to be free but also have the sense of belonging.
Thus, with the go signal of every country, the game issued a pro league for those who wanted to build their reputation and fame.
Liam saw a post about how to trigger a quest and exploit it. It gave him a new idea on tackling his newest quest. The post itself was pinned to the top because the post was legit and garnered a lot of likes and comments. It also involved a lot of computation on the side of the poster.
Liam, after reading and browsing, saw that it was time to log in. Liam opened the capsule and it automatically close after he lied down. He closed his eyes and heard the starting of the game.
When Liam opened his eyes once more, he was inside the game lying on the bed. He stood up and left the inn. The morning air was still fresh inside the village. One by one, lights descended near him but the looks on the villager never had any trace of incredulity like it was a normal occurrence.
Liam didn't pay any more attention to the bustling NPC and players. He opened up his quest checking if he missed something.
[Hidden Main Quest Part 2A]
You have garnered ???'s interest. He wanted to keep testing you if you were the one he was looking for.
Mission: Find the truth about the Light stone.
Reward: ???'s affection +5, Light stone, HQ Part 3
Failure: ???'s affection -100, End of Quest
And now he totally forgot to pick up the supposed 'Light Stone'. Liam scratched his head due to his embarrassment. He did a rookie mistake. A day had passed since then so he might not find the stone where it was before. The blessing also expired due to his 8 hour break from playing which is equivalent to a day inside a game.
Liam saw that the road was still full of beginner players and the incessant laughter and mocking of players. Liam passed them and saw that when he passed a tree every player, monsters, and sound was non existent within his surroundings.
Liam's vigilance was at its highest but he couldn't detect any malicious intent towards him. He then proceeded to walk carefully towards the stone.
When he saw the stone was still there. He finally breathe a sigh of relief and believed that the stone itself was a quest item. He proceeded to pick it up and examined it.
Item: ??? Light Stone
Description: Light Stone from the Heavenly City. The energy inside the stone was concentrated to its highest level.
He checked it again but the quest wasn't cleared. So, it might needed a more probing than it should have. Liam tried to store the stone but failed. It was another moment of unknown for him but the thing was it was also exciting at the same time.
Liam totally forgot the essence of the quest and brought it back to the village.
What he never thought was, like before, a robed man was eyeing him not far from him.