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"This must be it."
Dale looked at the 3 stories tall building. Unlike the others, it wasn't suspended by wooden and stone beams, showing it was from a time before the village was built.
Because of this, Dale managed to see the outline of something on the walls.
"These marks?... Water? Are you telling me it rains so heavily in this place that the entire village gets submerged in water?"
It explains why most of the village houses are built over those beams but...
"It doesn't make sense… Some of the houses are built with those but the older ones aren't?"
Dale looked at the wooden board hanging on the wall and thought:
'I still can't read their language…"
"I like how the developers made it this way for immersion, but still… At least HardCore players still have access to the translation feature, otherwise, it would be a pain in the ass…'
/Creak…/
Dale opened the doors to the Guild and he saw a rather dark main hall.
It had that classic adventurer guild vibe, with many chairs, and tables, surrounding a large circular reception table.
At the far end of the hall was a bar that would've probably served food and drinks for the mercenaries passing through this area.
"Hello?"
/Clack!/
Dale heard the sound of wood cracking somewhere on the second floor of the Guild.
"Who is it? I told you all this place isn't somewhere you can come to hang out! GET OUT AND GO BACK TO… Who are you?"
Dale looked at the bald old man with a thick beard and thick shoulders.
He had a large scar on his right arm, and even a short sword on his waist, he looked quite scary and ready to fight.
Noticing he was thinking too much, Dale quickly said:
"Ah yes, sorry for being rude, I was told by Miss Eino to come here and…"
His eyes opened slightly when he heard that name.
"Eino? That old lady?... Is that why you have that half-eaten Iron Apple in your hand?" He said with half a smile as he interrupted Dale
"Yes mr…"
/BAM!/
The old man jumped from the second floor into the first floor and walked to Dale, grabbing his shoulders and saying:
"Call me Guild Head, you are not yet fit to call me anything else, got that?" He said as he looked straight at his eyes
He was a bit taller than Dale, being over 195 Cm tall, he looked a bit intimidating.
"Yes Sir Guild Head."
He did not say anything as he turned around and sat in a chair.
"Let's cut all of the unnecessary talks and go straight to what matters."
/FWOOSH!/
"?!"
/Grab!/
Misgurd suddenly threw a knife at Dale, but he grabbed the knife in the air right in front of his face.
He was sweating a little as he looked at Misgurd with a confused and pale face.
'I only have one life… Be a bit more careful please…'
"Alright, decent reflexes. And if you can eat an Iron Apple. Your body must be above average since you are still standing like that."
Misgurd looked at Dale for a few more seconds before he said:
"Why are you here?"
"..."
"There is something I want to find out… So I need to get stronger, that is all."
"... So you seek strength not for the sake of it, but for the sake of your objective?"
Dale nodded and said sarcastically:
"Getting stronger is also not bad…"
Misgurd smiled.
"What about money and glory?"
Dale replied once again with a bit of sarcasm:
"I like money, I can't fight without good and well-maintained gear, and glory is just meh, but if it gives me a few free drinks in a bar then I'm all in."
Misgurd smile was so wide that it seemed as if he was about to open his mouth and laugh, but he stopped smiling and said in a deep tone:
"You have a good mentality. I don't care why you came this down South, so I will just say, welcome."
[Your quest has been updated]
[Pass the Mercenary Guild's test 1/1]
"However, this doesn't mean you are a mercenary yet, this branch may be falling into pieces but this doesn't mean I will be making things any easier for you."
He got up and went to the main counter.
"I am not that sort of person, and even if I am the sole mercenary in this forsaken place, old and alone, I know very well the extent of my abilities. So be prepared."
"..."
'He sure sounds bored...'
"In the past, this place used to be packed full of people… But now… No matter."
"If you wish to become a Mercenary, then you need to show me you have what it takes, it doesn't matter how strong you are, only how capable you are."
He smiled and said:
"If you turn around and go around this branch, you'll see a large training ground, I need you to grab the spear in that training ground and bring it to me… That will be your test."
Turning around and walking towards the stairs to the second floor, he said once more:
"This will be your test."
[Your quest has been updated]
[Welcome to Resko!
Pass the Mercenary Guild's test 1/1
Become a Mercenary 0/1
-Pass Misgurd's personal test 0/1
Talk with Testros 0/1
]
"The training ground? Is that the place where Testros trains?" Asked Dale
"..."
But Misgurd did not reply as he walked towards the second floor.
"..."
'Fine, by the rate things are going, I will get a 'nice' meeting with this guy called Testros…'
Dale turned around and followed the instructions.
…
He went around the Guild branch and he immediately spotted the large open field.
It was rather destroyed and run down, but from the stone foundation, this was once a rather decent training ground… Now reduced to rubble after many years.
There wasn't much apart from that and a single straw scarecrow in the middle of the training grounds.
And close to it was a spear stuck on the ground... A rather big spear, a bit too thick to be used properly as a spear though...
"That must be it…"
'I'm ready! Where is the trap?!'
Dale slowly approached the spear and grabbed it, pulling it from the ground…
"Hum?! It's much heavier than I thought… Damn… What is this made of?"
Dale grabbed the spear with his two hands, it was so heavy that his knees bent. It was important to remember that Dale's stats had greatly increased since he started the game and even before that, he was already incredibly strong.
It wouldn't be hard for him to lift a ton, but here it is, this spear was so heavy that the ground beneath him started to give way and break.
"Huff!"
'At least I am used to carrying weights so I have some training…'
One step at a time, Dale made his way back to the Guild.
He did not notice, but behind him was another old man, looking at him with sharp eyes. He just stared at him while he carried the spear back.
…
"H-Hello?! I'm back!"
"Already? Kid, don't tell me you gave up?"
But when Misgurd saw the spear on his back, he was stunned for a few seconds.
Once he realized his own mistake, he brushed it off with a dry cough and said:
"Good work kid, now, bring it back to the training grounds and come back once you are done."
[Your quest has been updated]
[Welcome to Resko
Pass the Mercenary Guild's test 1/1
Become a Mercenary 0/1
-Pass Misgurd's personal test 1/1
Talk with Testros 0/1
]
But Dale just looked at him with a black face.
"..."
"What? Are you displeased?"
"No, in fact, I wanted to ask, what is this shit made off?"
Misgurd smiled.
"We can talk about it later, now, get to work. If you are already tired with just this then I bet this is it for you."
But Dale just shook his head and turned around, thinking:
"..."
'Without a doubt now, it's clear to me now.'
'These missions are meant for high-Level players, they may be disguised as Low-level miscellaneous quests, but no one would be capable enough to do these like me… Unless they had help or thought outside of the box...'
…
Dale slowly walked back and dropped the lance back in its rightful place.
"Phew… Really, what is this?"
'It's not an item, else I would be able to see its item info… Even if the item is too high Level, it always shows a system panel even if no information is shown…'
'At least from what I learned so far, it isn't unheard of in games for items to have hidden information that can't be accessed until a certain condition is achieved.'
"This isn't a spear kid, it's a flag holder."
"?!"
Dale turned around frantically and looked at the person behind him.
It was an old man without a shirt. He was a bit sweaty, showing he was working hard not so long ago.
He had white spiked hair and a sharp beard.
He had a few scars on his body and a powerful 6-pack, this was one hell of an old man.
Dale looked at the old man and asked:
"Are you Mr. Testros?"
The old man dropped the spear he was holding on the ground and dried his face with a towel he was carrying on his shoulder.
"Depends on who is asking, who are you?"
"Me? I just arrived, I am a traveler… Dale Houston at your service."
The old man stopped and said in a low tone:
"Service…"
"..."
'Does this old man has PTSD?'
Testros closed his eyes for a moment and asked:
"Did that guy send you here? Almost no one in the village comes here anymore, even the few warriors we have, they normally train somewhere else."
Dale replied:
"If you are talking about the Guild's head, then yes, he asked me to bring him that spear, and now he asked me to bring it back here… So here I am."
Testros nodded and asked:
"But who told you to meet him? Normally, you wouldn't even be able to enter the village…"
"It's quite a long story, I first met with Miss Eino and she took me in before she told me to meet the Guild head, and now here I am…"
"Miss Eino… I see… It's rare to see youngsters like you being able to carry this flag, you seem to be below 20, did you receive training?"
Dale had to think for a moment before he replied:
"Not exactly… I did train my body, but that was mostly by myself. If you are talking about a master, then I didn't have one, but I did have some help…"
'If the AI's from the games I played counted for everything, I did try to join a spear Class during the last year, but I quickly found out it was useless since I could get everything for free and better inside virtual reality.'
Testros shook his head, disagreeing with Dale's words.
"Be it small or big, training is training… Seeing the spear on your back, how long have you been training in it?"
"Huh… Around 1-2 years of non-stop training, if we count other years… than probably around 4-5 years."
'Spear was always my main weapon of choice, be it in an RPG or some other game scenario... I always played with it in VR… Apart from a few times, like when I did a Mage build and I ended up using my staff as a spear from time to time.'
'In the past year of training, I didn't remain in VR 24/7, I still had to go to University and train my own body, but thanks to time dilation, I still managed to train for around one and a half years in it. And with all of my previous training…'
'It's incomparable to some people, even now, VR competitions are endless, including things like fights to the death since you can't really die in VR.'
'This allowed people to return to the root of such combat techniques... Deadliness and precision... To kill.'
'And there are people who remain almost 24/7 in VR training themselves… For decades. How can I compare?'
Testors thought for a moment and replied:
"5 years... Not small, not big…"
He turned around and said:
"It was nice meeting you young man, now, go back before that old head starts screaming in anger, he hates when people take longer than he expected."
[DING]
[Your quest has been updated]
[Talk with Testros 1/1]
Dale nodded and left, and when he was considerably far away, Testros said to himself with a serious face:
"Is this your doing?... Am I that pitiful in your eyes?..."
"So be it, I will give it a try… But I cannot guarantee anything…"
He continued to walk and said in a sad tone:
"This may be my final chance to do my duty… I hope the kid delivers…"
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Notes