~BOOM!
[+37 exp]
[Level up!]
"That's another one down."
[Name: Jasper Bishop
Class: Archer
Level: 17
Energy: 50/50
HP: 140
MP: 10/10
STR: 30
AGI: 40
STA: 50
Top 50 ranking: 31]
"We could just farm these things for exp and forget about the mission haha! What do you think Felix?" Jasper added.
"That sounds like a good plan for you, but I'm already too high up in rank to get good exp from these things," Felix sat on a nearby rock. "I'll rather not slow down my ranking up. Remember we have a bigger mission to accomplish."
[Name: Felix McAllister
Class: Demonic Swordsman
Level: 32
Energy: 50/50
HP: 210/210
MP: -/-
STR: 70
AGI: 90
STA: 50
Top 50 ranking: 17]
"It seems again I've forgotten about your lack of a sense of humor. You're so pitiful." Jasper shook his head.
Felix pulled out a map from his dimensional storage ring and replied to Jasper while still looking at it, "Unlike you, I know my priorities. That's why I'm higher ranked than you."
"Are you still going to bring that up here?" Jasper said with a raised brow.
"It's simply a fact."
"How about we just concentrate on the more important things?"
"Way ahead of you," Felix returned the map to the ring and stood up before pointing to his left, "The village is that way."
Jasper watched as Felix walked past him in the direction he had just pointed out. With a sigh of frustration, Jasper followed behind him.
It had only been a week since they arrived here in Beltimus online and yet the man in front of him had already crossed level thirty!
When Jasper met Felix, it truly surprised him. Unlike him who took a while to get accustomed to this new world, Felix had tossed caution out the window and began to do what he knew how to do best; leveling up.
Jasper has known Felix since high school. The day Beltimus Online came out, they had both bought the game together. He could still remember Felix picking out the more dangerous missions over the ones that fit their skill level because they gave better rewards.
He had blindly followed Felix's crazy method of gaming because surprisingly, in all the times he had teamed up with Felix, he had never lost a single battle.
After high school, they both followed the path of gaming and became professionals. Jasper had created his own guild while Felix had initially been a vice guild leader in one of the top guilds, he had left them not even a year later.
They still kept in touch, but they only met during tournaments or unexpected team-ups when they bumped into each other in dungeons or towns.
Years of grinding had brought Jasper to the position of one of the top 50 players in Beltimus online.
If there was one memory that was forever etched into Jasper's memory was that very day; his name was number fifty on the leaderboard and at number one was this man... The number one demonic swordsman, Felix McAllister!
How he had dropped to the 17th rank was something that Jasper didn't know about. He had been too caught up in trying to catch up to him that he did not realize his descent on the leaderboard.
As someone who had been opportune to see this man in action multiple times, Jasper knew that only absolute monsters could come above him.
"I'm going to brush you up on the plan again In case you've forgotten," Felix said.
Jasper scoffed, "Forget? Do I look like a child? I hate how much you belittle me."
"Fine."
The rest of the walk to the village was mostly silent except for when a monster would show up. But they were quickly taken care of.
Hours later, they arrived at their destination. They stood atop a cliff and looked down at the large village surrounded by highlands.
"What's the name of this village again?" Jasper asked. The village's name was just at the tip of his tongue.
"Doesn't matter, we'll be out of here the moment we slay the monster, there's no time to waste."
Their mission here was to slay a creature that was silently affecting the village with death energy. About 500 people had already lost their lives and if the creature wasn't killed quickly, everyone in the village would die.
The mission stated that the beast was seen on the outskirts of the village hibernating in a cave. The exact location wasn't given so they would have to search for it.
Although the option of entering the village and talking with the head who knew what was going on and asking him to guide them to the beast's lair was an option, Felix would rather not interact with the villagers.
Unlike how it was in-game, where you just had to press the action key to start a conversation with NPCs, just a single word could make you lose your head!
Felix had to find out the hard way so he would rather limit interactions with NPCs as much as possible.
As he and Jasper walked on the high ground around the village, Felix couldn't help but think about how prone this village was to attack.
Yes, this village was part of the Beltimian empire, but its distance from the nearest city stronghold made it practically impossible for help to arrive in time in case of an attack before most of the village would be gone.
This was how it was in the Beltimian Empire. This was the reality of how it treated its citizens.
Aside from the city strongholds, no other town or village outside had a barrier to protect them from the skeletons which could appear practically anywhere as long as enough death energy gathered in that place.
The barrier stopped the death energy from gathering inside the city and also stopped the skeletons from making their way inside.
However, as far as Felix knew, villages like this were later turned into strongholds as long as they survive long enough to be turned into one. Humans who were also in villages before it was turned into a stronghold were given noble titles and had their lives and that of those that will come after them changed for eternity.
In summary, it was high risk, high reward. Not a lot of people were willing to move out of strongholds to these villages, but there would always be people desperate enough to want something more in life.
"Felix," Jasper's voice interrupted Felix's train of thought, "It's here."
Jasper pointed forward into a part of the high ground that had trees growing. It seemed like the creature was somewhere in that region.
"That was fast, good job," Felix commented.
Although Jasper wasn't a mage, he was able to sense death energy because if two reasons; he had activated his MP stat and he had given himself the required training to do so.
Felix's MP stat was still zero because his fighting style didn't need it. The stat points would better be used for something more important like his speed and stamina.
It was because of this very reason that he still stuck with Jasper although not truly needing him. Jasper couldn't tell the exact position, but he could give a rough location which was more than enough.
"Let's go in and—"
"No," Jasper interrupted and a bow with a metallic shine and an empty quiver appeared on his back.
Felix watched as Jasper held the bow and an arrow appeared in the quiver which he then took and armed his bow with while aiming at the forest area.
Just as Felix was about to ask what was going on, he heard a loud thud. He turned to face the forest area and he could see the trees shaking and swerving as if something was moving through them!
"It's coming to us," Jasper said with a serious expression.