Eara finished her final wood carvings and wanted to report to the npc, however he still haven't came out of his room. After a few minutes of knocking at the door and waiting, the old man still haven't showed himself. Athough it seemed rude, Eara decided to enter the door which is surprisingly unlocked, it led to a room lit by candles, in the corner she found a staircase leading downstairs.
Eara slowly walked down the stairs only lit by candles, after walking down a few flights of stairs she finds herself inside of an unlit room.
Eara squinted her eyes and began to touch the walls slowly making her way around the room, the wall felt cold and smooth to the touch, as if it was carved from stone.
Eara finally reached a wooden door frame, grasping and reaching around until her tiny hands hits a metal doorknob.
She tried to twist and pull but to no avail, then she tried to twist and push and still, nothing.
She was just about to give up but when she pulled her hands downwards in the motion of pulling away, the door moved a little.
Eara tilted her head and once again grasped the doorknob and pulled the door sideways. The door moved so smoothly and without any bumps.
Revealing a bright light that blinded Eara for a moment. Inside the room is a magnificently carved stone walls, it had shelves carved directly from the walls containing figurines made out of either crystals, gems, and exquisite looking materials of many different shapes sizes and colours.
Under each and every figurines made out of crystals is a source of bright light which reflected light and made each figurines extremely shiny.
The room was lit by a glowing stone carved into the floor and the ceiling.
Looking closely, all the figurines were humanoids, elves, humans, dwarves, nagas, mermaids, demons, kobold, orcs, pigmen, trolls, cyclops, ogres, goblins, murlocs, and many more.
Eara was stunned for a moment, looking around she saw a large wood like double door, the wood felt different as if the carvings felt real to the touch, the grass carved below the door felt like grass and so is the clouds above that Eara unfortunately cannot touch and could only gaze at from below.
Eara who looked up to gaze at the clouds carved in the door saw something that stunned her once again. The ceiling was carved with beautiful female angels, all of them were holding instruments and their gazes felt real, the silky like clothes that waved from the flapping of their wings. Their beauty looked unmatched.
Eara finally snapped out of her mesmerised state, she was now extremely curious at what's behind the door. She slowly twisted the knob of one of the doors and slowly stepped inside a large room, much larger than the previous one and she couldn't believe at what she's seeing.
A large dragon, baring it's fangs towards the door, Eara jumped and remembered her training that she received from her sister and rolled sideways only to hit a robed man who was standing just beside the door.
"Carving has been one of my hobbies since i was a child until i became a shrivelled old man, i didn't expect such reaction from someone who saw my dragon. They say that realism to the point of extreme is something that an artist must be cautious with, since his creations may devour him one day." The old man spoke while caressing his white beard.
Eara was confused for a moment and couldn't speak.
"ah i apologize for startling you, that dragon there is one of my masterpiece that im quite proud of, i had to sla- erhem i had to ask multiple powerful people who have slayed a dragon and multiple painters who have painted one and even got myself a dragon scale just to make it."
A moment of awkward silence started before Eara managed to blurt out a few words.
"i.... i finished the wood carvings that you have asked....." Eara looked down, embarrassed of her previous actions.
"it seems so" The old man chuckled. "i didn't expect for you to finish it so quickly." inspecting her works before placing it in one of the tables. "do you wish to have a tour of my humble workshop?" the old man said while admiring his dragon masterpiece.
Eara was hesitant but eventually agreed, the pair went from room to room. They first entered a room filled with powerful and expensive looking armor that has several carvings as its designs, next they entered another room filled with statues of erotic looking elves, angels, humans, harpies, beast womans, mermaids, succubus and many more which made Eara red. The old man didn't care and proudly presented to her one of his master piece, a thicc and bursty half elf, who was blushing while trying to hide her privates with a towel.
They moved on to multiple rooms and after a few hours the pair returned upstairs.
[Contesia Kingdom system announcement, Congratulations to Raella for the first player to encounter a master craftsman, rewards (x100 gold coins) (x1 title) (bonus subclass points)]
Eara was floored as her jaw dropped down and hanging.
[Received title, Learned from a Master, Grants bonus proficiency and experience gains fron crafting.]
[Received x100 gold coins]
[Received x10 bonus subclass points]
Eara was about to faint, suprises after suprises almost caused her mouth to foam.
A faint ping noise from inside her head awakened her, a chain of messages from her sister started popping up on her message board.
Black Lotus: Sis?.....
Black Lotus: what have you done?
Black Lotus: where are you?
Black Lotus: meet me at the singing moon restaurant.
Black Lotus: but first finish all the quest given to you.
Black Lotus: Don't panic, don't cancel any quests given.
Black Lotus: im running at the restaurant.
Eara just read the strings of messages before replying.
Raella: ok.....
Yulis was extremely antsy, she just received a weird quest from a random guy and then suddenly the system announced that her sister is the first one to find a master craftsman.
Yulis knew of the locations of multiple master craftsmans in the kingdom but no one was close enough to visit, and yet now the system is telling her that her sister just found one! In this town that she's now aware of!
She decided to order some food to calm her nerves.
Eara on the other hand didn't receive any quest other than receiving a generous reward.
"young lass, you have given me inspiration for my next artwork, unfortunately, i don't have anything appropriate to give to you, return to me after a week, then i should have something ready, for now take this, a token of appreciation from an old man like me. " The man then took out a simple looking badge then gave it to her.
Eara looked at the badge but couldn't find anything special from it.
After awhile the two met at the restaurant, the surroundings were very lively as multiple players began talking about Raella, the mysterious player who just met a master for the very first time.
Eara who was their target of conversation couldn't help but shiver every time she hears her in game name being talked about nearby, she was completely scared and couldn't imagine what would happen if her name would suddenly pop out just above her head.
Fortunately such mechanics didn't exist in game and unless someone sends a friend request and she accepts it or use a high level identification spell, no one would be able to identify her.
Yulis was a little spooked and couldn't stop munching on her food to try and calm herself down. It took a moment before Yulis finally spoke.
"What's his name?" Yulis who was still licking her fingers spoke.
"oh? uhm.... actually he never told me..." Eara was just reminded of the fact that she didn't knew the name of the master craftman npc, she sucked on the straw of her drink while looking disappointed at herself.
"it's okay, most high level npc wouldn't just casually tell us their names, we are probably ants on their perspective." Yulis then wiped her mouth before continuing, "what did he looked like?"
Eara perked up a bit before answering, "he had a long white hair and beard, he was quite old and had a wrinkly face, he was wearing a white robe and... thats all i could remember...." Eara tried hard to squeeze her head but to no avail.
"What kind of craftsman is he? "
"He was a sculptor"
"are you sure?"
"yeah, he had a large underground network of rooms filled with carved and sculpted figures, he even sculpted a dragon that he claimed as one of his masterpieces." Eara confidently answered.
Yulis tried to narrow down all master sculpture in the kingdom and none of them fits the description, she even recalled all the master sculpture in the neighbouring kingdoms and still couldn't find a match.
Yulis wanted to peek at the npc but she also have her own quest. For safety reasons, Yulis handed all of her possessions to Eara, the remaining 500 plus gold all the items that she brought and all her existing equipment except for some basic clothes.
She was extremely wary of the npc who suddenly gave her a huge amount of gold without warning. This caused Eara to panic but after Yulis reassured her that she wasn't quitting and finally the time has come to meet the mysterious npc.
"Oh yeah he also gave me this!" Eara pulled out a plain looking badge which caused Yulis to stare at it in shock.
"hide it quick!" Yulis quickly pressed both of her hands down trying to cover the badge.
"w-what is it?" Eara asked confused.
"It's a blank class promotion badge!"
"a wut?"
"it's used to help promote your class! as long as your below the senior class, you could equip that badge and it will help you gather a set amount of experience and proficiency!"
Eara had small beady eyes while smiling and nodding, she obviously didn't know how valuable said badge is but Yulis didn't care.
" each subclass has their own promotion badge but a blank badge means that you could definitely use it in any fields! "
Eara nodded while listening to her sister, Yulis simply stared at her before face-palming. After an in game hour had passed the pair returned to do their tasks
Eara returned to level up her subclass and also craft the blueprints that her sister gave.
Yulis on the other hand was fully prepared to lose her account, there were many instances of players losing their account because of a powerful npc or a failed quest crippled or outright destroying their account. It was not a common but not a rare occurrence either.
She walked up to the second floor and was called towards a table at a very dark corner.
[Quest completed, receiving x1000 gold coins]
"You have my gratitude for coming here" The girl who seemed like their boss spoke first.
The table was surrounded by several more tables filled with robed npcs, probably her guards. Yulis replied, "no problem, so why did you called me here?"
"unfortunately this is not the appropriate location to talk, please wear this robe."
[Received, shadow cloak]
The shadow cloak is one of the middle leveled identity hiding equipments, its not rare in fact it'll be quite common in the later stages of tier 0.
Yulis donned the cloak before following the small group to a quiet street and entering a parked carriage, the two was quiet for awhile, the girl didn't speak and yulis simply kept her mouth shut, it took several minutes of waiting before someone knocked gently on the carriage door.
The robed girl led the way towards a large manor at the very edge of the town. Yulis hesitated for a moment before stepping in.
A butler led Yulis into a large room where she sat there while maids were serving her with a cup of tea and some snacks.
The robed girl finally removed her cloak which caused Yulis to almost spit her tea out.
The girl wasn't a famous or infamous npc, she wasn't a powerful one or anyone with great authority, she's instead someone she instantly recognised.
She was her, more like she looked like Yulis herself, there were only a few differences that she could see, her hair was blonde while Yulis's hair was black, her eyes were blue while Yulis's eyes were black, her facial expression looked elegant and superior while yulis had a cool and aloof expression.
Other than those the two almost looked like twins, though the npc was somewhat taller.
Yulis was in deep shock, instances of several players who have the same appearance isn't rare, thats because they designed their avatar based on their favourite characters, or characters from another platforms.
Having an npc with the same appearance with a player isn't unheard of, she did saw a couple of videos of players showcasing their find but that's pretty much it.
When Yulis designed her character avatar, she didn't copy her old one but decided to make a new one instead. Other than her eyes and hair the rest are modified to look different than her appearance with a few recognisable features that only her sister could find.
Yet now, an npc suddenly appeared before her that looked exactly like her, she paused for moment. This day is too much for her to bear, first the 1k gold and the unexpected quest, next her sister meeting a master craftsman, then now she meets an npc that looked exactly like her!
What is this?! some sort of fantasy novel or something how the hell does an npc have the same appearances as me! Yulis exclaimed in her head.
She managed to say a word that popped out of her head. "a mimicry item?"
The girl closed her eyes and shaked her head, "items like that are a thing of legends"
"T-then an illusion magic?" Yulis still couldn't accept the fact that an npc looked exactly like her.
"why would we waste a fifth tier magic scroll simply to put a show for you?" The girl then opened her eyes.
"T-then...."
"yes, i was surprised too when my aide told me about your existence."
"so, what do you want from me...." Yulis finally recovered her senses.
"simple, we want you to be my body double." The girl calmly said while drinking tea.
Yulis somewhat already expected it, from her appearance, she looked like a noble with high standings.
"M-may i know the name of my employer?" Yulis asked being careful not to disrespect her new boss.
"Ah, forgive me i still haven't introduced myself. " placing her hand in her chest before speaking. "My name is Lisvian Askart Vi Verdesia, i hope that the two of us will get along now."
Yulis was about faint, "Y-y-yes i..... H-her Imperial Princess Lisvian Askarte Vi Verdesia" Her world was spinning as her head was almost smoking from overheating.
The girl chuckled and said with a calm tone, "Just call me Lisvian, i don't care about any formalities."
The Verdesian Empire, the second most powerful country in the continent, located at the far east of the continent, they boast the most powerful airfleet in the continent. Their sky knights are famous for defeating wyverns and drakes, and using gryphons and tamed wyverns as their noble stead. they are allied with the the elves from across the seas, and are also a member of the Ancients Council.
They are also, in the future will be one of the founding members of the World Nations Alliance. An alliance formed in order to contain the players who are rapidly growing stronger each day, due to their undying nature players have slowly climbed up alerting the npc nations of their possible dangers.
Yet she didn't recognise anyone within the Empire that had the same name or appearance as her, although Yulis was quite suspicious of her, she didn't say anything and waited until the quest progressed. For all she know she might be a hidden character or something similar.
Yulis didn't know if she got the jackpot or was cursed, quest that comes from a powerful npc will almost always be near impossible to complete and the backlash of failure would definitely cripple her account.
She do know that an Imperial Princess would have plenty of enemies inside the empire amd outside asweel, and a body double would obviously be necessary, be it for public appearance, negotiations with neighbouring county, or simply using her as bait to lure out enemies.
"The missions that im giving you won't be easy nor be simple, that said, the rewards will obviously be in line with the perilous missions." Pausing before closing her eyes and taking a sip of her tea before continuing.
"Don't be discouraged, so long as you come out alive, riches and power will naturally be awarded to you."
Yulis nodded, completely forgetting about her tea, before picking up a line from the Princess.
As long as i don't die? what a weird phrasing..... oh! oh shxt! i forgot to tell her that im an immortal! but wait.... wouldn't that simply increase my rewards? as long as they don't see me die, i'll just rake in a huge amount of money! ehehehehe....
Since the first appearance of the immortals or the undying as the npc called them, they haven't been able to reach any conclusion on how to react to them. These immortal are indeed undying, yet they were too weak to be of use and after a few light testing here and there, most of the immortals were found unreliable.
Thus the reason why the immortals were not regarded highly and was quickly forgotten and was simply added as another race.
Yulis who was laughing inside of her head was completely oblivious to the Princess who was watching her. Fortunately for yulis she didn't show any weird movements and was simply staring at her tea.
"alright then i accept."
"of course, you never had a choice to begin with."
"eh?"