We just need to get the spell book and club, then we can leave, we won't even receive a reward, so there's no need to complete the task" Alex whispered.
"Wow...you sound just like a villain..." Max muttered.
"Are you supposed to be a hero, this is a game where you have to struggle to survive, and an NPC is telling us to kill a bunch of goblins for nothing"
"Let's collect the spell book first then we scram" Gabriel whispered.
The old man looked at the three of them before speaking, "Thank you for coming to our aid, please help us defeat the goblins or we are going to die of starvation"
"Don't worry, we are refined warriors and we would return with the heads of goblins" Gabriel said in a loud voice.
"We wish you success," the old man said.
"Follow me, I would take you to the spell book," the first NPC said and walked towards another house.
He opened the door and a few seconds later he came out with a black book covered in dust and handed it over to them.
Gabriel stretched his hands and collected the book from the NPC, his system interface came up with a message.
[Do you want to learn Fireball spell for 2Sp]
[Yes] or [No]
Gabriel quickly answered yes and immediately his eyes shut themselves and knowledge of how to cast the spell was poured into his head.
[Fireball successfully learned]
[-2 Sp]
Gabriel smiled brightly as he saw the message, he finally had one spell and that was enough for now, he also collected the club from the NPC before they proceeded into the forest.
"The experience was thrilling, it was like something was fixed into my brain, the magic circle to cast the spell is simple" Gabriel explained as they walked through the forest.
"So you need to draw a magic circle before you can cast the spell?" Alex asked.
"No, you just picture the image in your head, that's all"
"We just need to keep going straight, then we're going to hit an advance village in no time," Max said.
"You know we all have newbie protection, we should hunt a little before entering the village," Alex said.
"Over here, I heard a sound," a voice said from afar and the three of them immediately hid behind trees.
"There's nothing here, where would we find those stupid goblins" another voice shouted.
'Goblins, they are also looking for goblins, wait maybe they were given the same task as us' Alex said inwardly.
Max peeked and saw three players looking around, two male and one female player.
Max raised three of his fingers and informed Alex that they were three in number and Alex told him to show himself.
Max refused but before they could complain to each other, Gabriel came out from hiding.
"Stop" one of the players quickly said.
"I'm not your enemy, I overheard you talking about looking for goblins isn't that right"
"Yes, have you seen any goblins in this forest?" one of the players asked.
"No we haven't, we just wanted to ask if you were given the task by an NPC at Vina settlement"
"Yes, a man give us the task there...wait you said we, how many of you are here" the player shouted and looked around.
Max stepped out from hiding and the three players looked at them with suspicious eyes.
"So you were planning to ambush us right"
"What...no, we were given the same task as you and we also haven't seen a single goblin, maybe we can work together on this mission" Gabriel suggested.
"Okay, but where are we going to see the stupid goblins, even though there's no reward, killing goblins will surely give lots of XP," the female among them said.
Alex who was still hiding was already at the tree behind the three players but then Gabriel offered to work together and they agreed, there was no need to kill them.
"This quest is really strange, from my data if a quest is given to you, you can use the map to trace your target, but the goblins aren't showing on the map" Max shrugged as he looked at the map.
"We should move further right, we haven't searched there yet," one of the players said.
"I wonder where Alex went, Max do you know where Alex...oh there he is," Gabriel said as he saw Alex.
"Is he part of you?" the female asked.
"Yes..." Gabriel replied.
The girl looked at Alex and was surprised, she hasn't seen someone as handsome as him but then again this is just a game.
The group was now six in number, they were walking further right into the forest, Max and Gabriel were in front while Alex was at the back.
The female among them slowed down and eventually stopped and pretended to be looking around till Alex walked past her.
"Hey, did you do something to your skin?" the girl whispered to Alex.
"I don't understand...this is how I look normally," Alex told her.
"Really...what's your name?" the girl asked Alex with a smile.
"Reaper..." Alex answered without sparing a glance at her.
"No, I meant your name, like your real name"
"Oh that, I can't tell you," Alex said.
"I won't tell anyone, I'm Alice"
"This is a game, telling someone your real name is not a good idea, so try not to tell anyone" Alex shrugged and walked forward.
"Just because he's handsome, I would have slashed his neck off, I wish I could see him in real life..."
The group heard a sound and stopped in their tracks, there were trees around so they all hid behind the trees.
"There are plenty of trees, why did you choose this one" Alex complained.
"How would I know this is the one you were planning to choose..." Alice said with a smile, she peeked from the other side and they were slowly going to check what made the sound.
"They are moving forward, we should..." Alice turn around but Alex wasn't there.
'How did he move so silently, I didn't hear a single sound'