"Ho! Who do we have here?" Thompson spoke as his deep black eyes reached me. His white hair complemented his aged look, but that white beard that looked like it had been a few months since he trimmed them made him look a bit like a hobo.
If not for the silver glasses he wore and that neatly placed a white coat over his grey sweater, it would have been hard to say if he was the elder or just another servant in the house.
He held a green book "Wisdom of Lost Paths," in his hands, which he soon placed in Teira's hands and stepped closer to me. His eyes observed me carefully as a bright smile formed on his face as he spoke,
"You must be the adventurer, Ezekiel. Come in. Ortis has already informed me about you."
Holding me by my hand, he brought me into the house under the smiling gaze of Tiere. She giggled as she saw me getting dragged into the house while she skillfully placed that Green book in my other hand. Then she bid farewell and moved the other way.
"Thank you," I spoke out a little loud before I got into the house. I think I saw her turning and smiling towards her before she vanished from my vision.
Inside of the house was a bit lavish to say the least. The well furnished floor on which the red carpet was placed and the green textured walls filled with paintings of various kinds.
Thompson took me to the room on the other side of the house. Reaching there as soon as the door opened, a smell of old books and lavender tea greeted me.
"Welcome to my humble abode," spoke Thompson as he hurried into the room.
Moving inside the room, I could see there were bookshelves on one side reaching the ceiling, and a fireplace near the closed window on the other.
On the table at the centre too, a dozen books were placed as Thompson hurriedly cleared the table while I helped him a little too.
"I apologise for the untidiness," he spoke as he then moved to the corner shelf and took out a bag from there and placed it on the table,"these are your things."
One by one he started taking it out, placing it in front of me.
[+100 Bronze Coins]
[+Basic Sword]
[+Basic Grimoire]
[+Basic Armour]
[+Adventurer's Diary]
[+A rough map to the main City]
The items slowly vanished from there as they entered my [Item] list. Currently, I could only store 5 items at best, so my entire inventory was filled with these items.
"So, what is an adventurer like you doing in the middle of nowhere here in Inara Village?" he asked with curiosity. It was a sort of chain quest to let the people get their class quest. If I had chosen a class, the dialogues would have varied and I would have been tasked to do my class related quests.
"Just came here on a random basis. Didn't really think much about it. Can you tell me if there is anything special about this place?" I asked carefully, choosing my words. If I had talked about monsters, he would have given me a monster related quest. If I had been talked about something menial, I would have given a task accordingly. But if I let the Elder guide me somewhere, there is a 50% chance I might stumble upon a [Rare Quest!]
"Nothing special about these old woods except some of the undead becoming more prominent in the North. And also…"he looked at me carefully for a few seconds before continuing,
"...There is a rumour that the Widow of the Night is back."
[Weeping widow of the Night (Basic Quest) (Chain Quest)!]
[Description: The Forest of Inara is a vast treasure of nature holding thousands of monster types and special vegetation. While there are many legends this forest holds, one of the Legends, about a Weeping Widow who can control the undead, a Darkness witch to be precise roams at certain times of the year.
Quest type: Information Gathering!
Task: Find out more about the Widow of the Night!
Time limit: None
Rewards: Next part of the Quest!]
'Ah! A chain Quest related to the settlement!' I smiled a little as I saw Thompson. While it is a bit longer and a little more difficult than [Rare quests], the rewards are equally lucrative and worth the effort. And since it is a chain quest related to the settlement as small as this, maybe I might end up gaining the maximum favorability from this village?
Maximum favorability has many benefits. From the point of having most of the things sold at half price within the settlement, you can later buy houses, shops and constructible lands with money, which would later generate more income for you.
Another benefit is that your popularity will slightly rise overall in the Human Kingdom of the Frey Country in which I am right now. While by itself it doesn't hold much value, when added together, it becomes quite something else. A 'small' example would be to have your own personal guards or to call a small battalion of soldiers from the kingdom.
[You have accepted a basic quest(Weeping Widow of the Night)!]
"I wonder if that topic interests you?" Thompson asked with a slight smile. My eyes gazed at his fidgeting hands that gave away the tension he was hiding behind that smile, and I nodded,
"I have heard in bits about the Weeping Widow. Supposedly, she is a queen of undead or something and has the power to control darkness itself?"
"Yeah. A quite powerful one at that. She is a level 10 Boss Monster whose hunting ground is deep into the North, however since the past few weeks, the Undead are sighted nearer the settlement more and more. This is quite an anomaly, to be honest,"he spoke with his face drooping downwards. His eyes a bit sullen, he gazed at his reflection from the lemon tea he was holding in his white cup.
"Is there any way I can help?" I asked directly as this was a kind of going nowhere and he made a shocked expression.
"Are you sure? It's quite dangerous for you to fight the undead. They aren't really strong but not too weak either," spoke Thompson with a worry-stuck face.
[Quest!]
[Kill the Undead!(Common)]
[Description: The Sighting of the Undead has increased quite a lot in the past few weeks. Kill 10 Undeads to reduce the pressure on the Village Head
Task: Kill the Undead(0/10)
Time Limit: 3 Weeks
Rewards: +100 Exp; +30 Bronze Coins; +5 Favourablity to Inara Village]
"I am sure. Since I have been staying here, let me be of some help,"I spoke like a dignified soldier. Made Thompson smile a little as he spoke,
"Okay, then I won't stop you. I have heard that there were some Undead sighted about 500 metres North from here. If you can kill them, it would take quite a burden from us."
[You have accepted the Quest(Kill the Undead)!]
After that, I stood up and thanked the old man again before bidding him farewell and getting out of the house. Since I already got 2 quests, I think I should start hunting in the forest and increase the [Favourabilty] a little before looking for more quests in the settlement.
Outside the Elder's House, I was greeted with the same lush meadow green, with two paths in front of me. One taking me back to the Inn where I started and another to the North of the Settlement, deeper into the forest.
'I thought there would be at least 1 more player, but to think there is none. I wonder if I am lucky or unlucky?' I observed around for any signs of the player, finding none as of now.
This was most probably because most players started from a bigger village or bigger settlements which were closer to town. Something like Liwa Village. This gives them an edge on the items available in the market and faster growth with better equipment. Still, there are some players bound to choose a random starting mark for the thrill of it and end up starting somewhere in a desolate Village settlement like this one.
Not caring much about it, I moved to the path on the left, which took me to the North. While I could buy some potions, for now I don't think I need any based on my personal skills. While skills like [Dash], [Pierce], etc are good, I probably won't be needing them.
The path was dark and gloomy, with the only source of light being the piercing sunrays that somehow managed to get through the huge canopy of trees. The path turned more and more bushy with herbs taking over the road and it was getting difficult to travel through the forest the deeper I walked in.
After another 30 minutes of travel, I reached the location of the Quest and found exactly 10 Undead standing there monotonously. Looking carefully at one of them
[Zombie(Mob)]
[Level: 3
Attack:11 || Defence:13
Agility:8 || Vitality:12
Intelligence: 3 || Endurance:12
Stamina: 60/60
Health: 60/60
Remarks: He died when he was killed. He didn't like it, so he came back]
Ignoring the Description, I checked my own stats and compared them. I guess the [Prayer] I did today actually gave me quite a good bonus.
Moving closer to that zombie, I first hit him with a pebble, then lured him away from the rest of the crowd. Because of the bush, there was a limit to how much I could have lured him, so I had to stop after 25 metres.
-Rwar!
He moved closer to me and swiftly dodging him
[You have learnt a new Skill]
[Side Step(Skill) Acquired!]
[-2 Stamina]
'Thought so,' I thought as I slashed the spine of the zombie at its neck level.
[Critical Hit!]
[-1 Durability]
[-19 HP]
'Tch!' The zombie fell to the ground, but he did not die yet.
[Critical Hit!]
[-1 Durability]
[-19 HP]
[Critical Hit!]
[-1 Durability]
[-19 HP]
And then I used all my strength and kicked the Zombie exactly where I had stabbed him
[-3HP]
[You have killed a Zombie(Mob)(Level 3)]
[+Zombie Bone(Material)]
[+Zombie Skin(Material)]
[+5 Bronze Coins]
[Level Suppression Difference = 2]
[+10 Exp gained] x 2
[You have levelled up!]
[You have gained +2 Free attribute Points]
[Name: Ezekiel
Race: Human
Title: None
Class: None
Subclass: None
Blessings: God of Time's Blessing(All attack 1.2x times)[Temporary]
Level: 2 (10/25 Exp)
Health Points: 50/50
Mana Points: 50/50
Stamina Points: 18/20
Attributes:
Attack : 10
Defence : 10
Endurance : 10
Vitality : 10
Agility : 10
Intelligence : 10
Free Attribute points: 5
Skills: [Side Step]
Quests: 2
Equipments: [Basic Armour] [Basic Sword]
Currency Balance: 105
Items in Slot: 4/5]