Looking at the Dagger and the new quest that he just got Alex just smiles coldly at this. His plans are moving along smoothly until now.
He takes the dagger in his hand and looks at it, and even though he doesn't have an appraise skill. He knows so much about these daggers that it isn't even needed. He then decides to put this dangerous dagger under his pants, to hide it.
He changed his race into a vampire too early in the game, he won't make the same mistake again. Though the Vampire Race is way better than human, especially for a Blood Mage, it will definitely multiply the strength of a Blood Type Class.
'But it will be very detrimental to become one so soon. Plus even if I become a Legendary Vampire, the sunlight won't kill me, but it will still massively impact me.' Thinks Alex while analyzing his future plans, he knows dozens of ways on how to change his race to a Vampire, but only one will have the best benefits for Alex.
'Better not rush this then.'
….
And just like that, Alex gets some books on different subjects. He also got a skill that he absolutely wanted.
——————————
Blood Mage Meditation (Rank 2) Lvl 0/10
[+5 MP every Level]
——————————
Seeing that skill on his game interface, made Alex smile. It is, after all, one of the best meditation techniques. It also is easier to train, and instead of using the Mana in the air, it uses blood to raise its level and give the user a permanent mana increase. So no need to waste EXP on this one...
After that, Alex goes and gathers a couple of books, putting them in a sack and taking them away, together with his new 400 Gold Coins.
….
After a while, he finally finishes all of his preparations. That is when he decides to go outside of the hidden base. He also sees that the sky is almost dark, and it is time to return.
He hears the entrance slowly close itself behind him by the bricks pulling themselves back together, returning the wall to being just your everyday wall.
…
It took Alex thirty minutes to travel back to the mansion. During this, a lot of different thoughts are running through his head. 'Killing isn't that hard once you get over the initial shock.'
He looks at an average-looking middle-aged man that was walking with a sack full of fruits on his back.
'I could kill him without a second thought. But that doesn't give me any benefits so that will be useless. Only animals kill needlessly, and if you act like a mad dog… you will be put down like one.' Contemplates Alex, his mind going through dozens of scenarios that can play through.
After all, unlike some 'homeless old man' dying, a civilian dying will inevitably be investigated. So no benefits and a lot of troubles… so obviously with no benefits involved he will never do something so stupid.
When the mansion guards see him, they say. "Kid, it is almost dinner time. We were about to send a search party after you."
Alex just scratches the back of his head and laughs nervously. "Hahahaha.. sorry about that. I was just excited about seeing a big city like this and forgot the time. It won't happen again."
The other guard just sighs at this. "Well, we can't stop you from going out. The Magic Academy values exploration and a willingness to take chances. Talent is only secondary in that place, the people who die most in there are arrogant talented people…"
The guard is about to say some more, but his partner nudges him.
"C'mon now, don't say stuff like that. He is just a kid." Says the other guard.
"Kids die in Magic Academy too. I am sick and tired of seeing kids die. The Headmistress is as cruel as they com-"
But before the guard could continue anymore saying anymore...
*pow*
He is punched in the stomach by his partner, and even though he wore steel armor. The armor is dented by his fist, as it moves at speeds that Alex can barely follow.
As the guard is knocked out. His partner turns towards Alex and says. "Sorry about that… it seems like he had too much to drink today. I will let you keep the Magic Academy badge for your stay in here if you forget about what my partner just said."
Alex just nods at this, not wanting to create trouble for himself or get into the guards' bad side.
'Did I just see someone have a mental breakdown?' Thinks Alex, knowing how harsh the Magic Academy environment can be too good people.
'Hmmm… I wonder if he will be killed. After all, there is ZERO tolerance for speaking against the Headmistress.' Analyses Alex, as he tries to come to a straight conclusion on this thing. 'If his partner rats him out he will definitely 'have an accident'... well this is no trouble for me anyway, why should I care.'
Alex just shrugs at this and goes back towards the mansion. Tomorrow he will start searching for the future hero, that is currently in this city
….
Tomorrow comes fast for Alex as he is sleeping on his bed, with different types of blood magic-related books all around him. He has spent a lot of time learning the theory behind blood magic by using the books.
He wakes up as some light shines into his eyes. After that, Alex just changes his clothes and puts his books back where they belong. In a backpack filled with Blood Snakes.
He leaves it behind and a trigger for the snakes to simply self destruct, in case of an intruder into my room.
….
After that he goes outside and sees that today there are two different guards at the gates… and these one don't stop him.
'It seems like the previous guards both got killed. One because he said something that he shouldn't have and the other because he probably tried to cover up for his friend.' Thinks Alex as he analyses the facts. He doesn't have any opinion on the matter, after all, even though Magic Academy pays ten times others would pay for a job. It is still VERY dangerous to work as a staff for them.
Alex knows that everyone knows that the Headmistress is a cruel woman, but NO ONE is supposed to loudly say that.
The new guards don't stop Alex at all as he walks out of the mansion. And as it is morning, not a lot of people are amongst the streets like during midday.
But Alex still goes towards the slums of the city, in there he tries to look for any child around… and he finds a group of children, they seem like normal children… but...
When Alex saw those children he noticed something strange. They seemed like the normal street kids that were seen around the game. You could usually get them to show you around the shadier parts of the city. Alex just looks at them again… they are all wearing rags… normal for the child of the slums who hasn't been kidnapped yet… but the rags are also clean.
'Something is fishy in there, it was well known that even as a young girl she was a true hero and she used to free slaves. She was always someone kind… this could be connected to her.' Thought Alex, as he stealthily started following the group of children.
His intelligence stat really made a real difference here. He knows that he never would have usually picked up a clue like that just by looking at rags like that.
'It's no wonder that players used to get wrecked and easily manipulated by those ancient wise and smart monsters at the Legendary Rank… truly scary stuff.' Even while Alex was contemplating this, he wasn't necessarily nervous even when he would meet those types of beings.
Even though this was a one life only game... Players also had the advantage of the Chat where they could write their findings and such. Some players did this as a living by making MeTube videos. Alex used to watch a lot of those, they always had some hidden information that some player found or something.
Alex just stayed hidden in another alley keeping an eye on the kids and planning to follow them to the hideout. If he can get the Hero and influence her to come to his side that would be extremely beneficial to him.
….
He just acts like he doesn't see the kids and wanders around without any of them noticing him. But suddenly a notification came from the system. He opened it up and a template appeared in front of him...
_____________________
You have triggered a Mission
[Suspicious Street Rat]
Mission Introduction: You have noticed something strange about the children wandering the streets, they seem to be wearing clean clothes and their bodies don't seem malnourished.
Mission Requirements: Find out what is happening to the children.
Failure Condition(s): Failure to finish the objective within 2 years, death.
Reward: 1,000 Exp, +??? Relationship.
_____________________
Seeing that this was his second quest that Alex had gotten in this world he was overjoyed after all Quests are the primary way to get a huge chunk of Experience. He remembers that back in his first world, huge guilds were managing the best Exp areas, so the normal players were left with only normal goblins, and other mobs that give low Experience. But thankfully he won't have that problem in this world.
….
After a while, the kids finally decided to move away from this. Alex stealthily followed them, with his six-year-old body it would have been difficult to follow them since they are quite agile kids, but with his physical stats, which are about the same as your average adult, he can follow them quite easily.
He jumps above some crates and below some
food stalls, he walks along the city, which has a lot of brick buildings and the streets are also clean, Gungai city has a reputation to keep up, it is one of the best cities on the Human Continent. Though the kids have used these alleys for a long time, Alex used to do a lot of businesses in this city, so he too felt like a fish in the water as he easily kept up with the children.
But he makes sure he always stays twenty meters away from them, just so they don't notice him. He knows that they are kids and the oldest seems to be around ten but, he is also not going to get outsmarted by some kid just because of his arrogance. In this game he could name dozens of old monsters who act and transform into kids, just because they are immortal and have lived too long, so to quench their boredom, they have weird or eccentric hobbies.
...
Finally, after some time he followed them to the slums around the outskirts of the town. Then they all stop in a dark alley and enter the alley. The alley was covered in shadows, didn't have a lot of space and because of that it was dark, and almost no sunlight could get inside the darkened alley. As the kids went into the dark alley, Alex just spies on them from far away.
He narrows his eyes, trying to look at what is in the alley. But to his eyes, the kids just walk forward and disappear into the darkness…
Alex can't help but smile a little.
'Well, would you look at that…' Thinks Alex, a little amused by the situation in front of him.
...
AUTHOR NOTE:
As we can see here. The Headmistress of Magic Academy is one of the monsters that Alex is afraid of. She has influence and a spy network that even if someone badmouths her on the other side of the continent… she will know…