Authors note( Please I ask that you give the book a fighting chance till at least chapter 30.
It only gets better from here on.
thank you for hanging this far).
Turning around with a frown not too excited about having to go back to where he had just left minutes ago. He began his journey back to the town square. The whole events taking place today weren't just favoring him.
"Why didn't this darn system give me the quest when I was at the town's square not long ago"? Rodney thought to himself as he could see the town square up ahead.
"Urgh...what does fighting beasts and levelling up have to do with a preacher anyway ..what? he is going to teach me how to talk to the beast nicely?"...Rodney said as he began laughing to his own jokes internally.
—————
"You may not make it out of here alive, you will all perish in this world, your fate has been decided immediately you entered the game. I am no God but I say this people, you may ignore me....." A black man said walking in the market dressed in a black shirt and black trousers with a brown leather jacket. With the skin on his head quite visible as he had all the hair shaved off. His eyes matched the colour of his skin as they were like midnight black eyes, this was the preacher.
"Huh... So I'm supposed to talk to crazy over there?" Rodney asked with no reply as he was clearly talking to himself again. This again was another habit of his picked up as a result of pretty much being alone most of the time.
" I know right...he's been going at it since you left...by the way, its not nice to walk out on people the way you did you know?... This might not be the world we all grew up in but everything here feels real..including embarrassments and I.." Pink rose was about to say before Rodney interrupted to say.
"Uhm.. excuse me...I gotta go see that guy.."
Pink rose stood shocked at his behaviour. His actions came off as quite rude and even he couldn't deny it. But nonetheless, it didn't matter if he lost another potential friend. His goal at the moment wasn't to make friends but find a way out of the situation he found himself.
"Excuse me" Rodney said tapping the man who was yelling at clearly no one as not many paid attention to what he said anymore. To them, his message was merely ramblings of a madman that shouldn't be taken seriously. Seeing them act oblivious to him should have made him stop but that didn't hurt his feelings, as his purpose was not to reach out to all of them in the first place.
"I've been expecting you shadow knight" he replied without looking back at who he was talking to. Rodney looked at the man with a questioning look, if he ever had doubts about the man's mental status, he was definitely no longer confused. This was a mad man.
"Uhm...actually I'm..." Rodney wanted to say but was interrupted before he could correct the man who mistook his name or so he though. " I know who you are "... the preacher said, turning around and staring at Rodney for a while without saying anything then...
"You look confused" he said with a smile. By now Rodney had to fake a smile as well. The man was definitely making him uncomfortable but what could he do if this was the quest assigned to him?.
"Follow me"...the preacher said briefly.
And then, he began to walk away and Rodney looked lost but decided to follow him . He felt the man had to have been a flaw as well. Now that he was realizing, maybe him being here was also due to a wrong program. But what kind of program would suck people into a game? He asked himself as even him doubted the sense behind what he had just said.
"Whats with this guy?, hey..wait up". Rodney shouted as he ran behind the preacher.
"Oh now I'm interested, let's see what he is up to." pink rose said as she saw Rodney run after the preacher. Not wasting time, she joined in the pursuit as well. Although She made sure to follow behind Rodney but not too close that she'd be noticed.
They arrived at an alley and the preacher continued walking and made a turn and as Rodney followed, the preacher was nowhere to be seen just black walls around and a flame painting on one side of the wall.
"What the...I lost him?" Rodney said as he looked confused and lost on where to look for the preacher.
" Well, don't just stand there, come in" the preacher's voice was heard.
"Wait, did i just hear a painting talk?.. Rodney said out loud.
"I don't have much time left" the voice of the preacher was heard again.
"Yeah, it definitely came from the painting.. Let's see if this is true" he said, then ran towards the flame painting and as he got closer, it just lit up red and a spacing in the wall appeared. He hesitated for a moment but when he heard the voice beckoning him to come over he gave in and hopped into the painting, passing right through it.
"Huh...I could have sworn i saw him turning here ...where did he go? Pink rose asked as she was sure she kept a good distance between them both that shouldn't have allowed her to be spotted, yet be just right enough for her to keep pace with Rodney.
Looking around to see if anybody was hiding she found nothing but plain walls on both sides. She gave up and decided to head back to the town square to pick a quest that she would embark on and hopefully it doesn't get taken again.
"OK...that was pretty crazy" Rodney said after passing through the painted wall.
"It's called enchantment... You have the capacity to do more than this shadow Knight" the preacher replied Rodney.
"Right about that, why do you keep calling me...the shadow knight?" Rodney asked as he looked around the room they were currently in.The room was decorated with candles, flame painting as the wallpaper, shelves with large books that were only about 3, another shelf with potions and all sort of items laying around.
"I know you have a lot of questions you want to ask me. Like what is this place?, How did I get here?, why am I here?.. Well I can't answer all this questions now..but I urge you to get stronger as your life will depend on it" ..the preacher stopped almost half expecting that Rodney had something to ask from all he had said so far...
"My life...what happens if I die here, ain't i meant to respawn?.And hey, you still haven't told me why you call me the shadow knight" Rodney spoke in quick succession.
" Your soul, body and mind have been absorbed into the game, if you die here ....you die for good" the preacher said.
Hearing this left Rodney with a huge shock on his face as he couldn't quite believe what he just heard the preacher said.
" But what if ....no wait....wait what's happening?..Rodney asked in panic as he could see the preacher's body begin to produce a red and blue flame and his eyes turned pure white then slowly his body was turning into particles and fading.
"I'll be there to guide you...when you do need me". The preacher said.
"How do I locate you?"Rodney asked.
"I'll locate you " and as the preacher finished his sentence, Rodney found himself standing at the town square where he met the preacher.
"What the....." He said with a confused look on his face as he scratched his head wondering what just happened, how he got outside.
[Quest completed]
[Reward:30 exp]
[20 gold coins]
[New quest received:Reach level 10]
"I can't die here, she would kill me if I did"Rodney thought to himself.
And as he viewed the pop up he knew exactly what needed to be done.
"I'll have to go out to hunt...I have to grow stronger"...
*********