He came out of the last room, looking victorious, with a sense of fulfillment. Lavinia's worried expression turned into a smile when she saw him.
"I knew I could count on you, sweetheart," she said, relieved. "As a reward for your hard work, here are 20 quills. Don't tell Arabella."
Saad smiled at Lavinia and pocketed the quills. But he didn't stay long, as there was one more place he had to visit - the Seraphia Adventurer Association.
Saad made his way to the Seraphia Adventurer Association, a building adorned with majestic banner that had serpent carved out on the borders. The streets were quieter now as most players and NPCs had retired for the night, leaving only a few wandering souls. As he entered the association, he was greeted by the receptionist, Irene, with a warm smile.
"Welcome back, Kael! How can I assist you today?" Irene asked cheerfully.
"Irene, good to see you again. I've just completed a quest to clear out some Shadowweb Arachnids, and now I got a quest about an infestation happening in the city. Is that true?" Saad inquired.
Irene nodded, "Yes, it's true. We've been receiving reports of an unusual increase in the number of Shadowweb Arachnids in various parts of Seraphia. There are increasing numbers of Shadowweb Arachnids. We suspect there might be a nest somewhere in the city causing this infestation. We need more adventurers to investigate and take care of the problem. To be honestly, most of them are just after the easy experience points, since shadowweb arachnid is easy kill."
As Saad was about to respond, an NPC approached them. It was Leland, a strikingly handsome NPC with deep green hair and green eyes, but he was a lot manlier and had defined muscles. Saad was completely unaware of just who he was but Irene seemed to clearly have a crush on the NPC and Saad felt uncomfortable. She was clearly blushing and staring at him so obviously.
"Are you talking about the cobweb situation?" Leland asked, flashing a charismatic smile. Saad curiously looked at Leland and Irene quickly spoke, "Kael, Mr. Leland here has been investigating the issue since yesterday. He is also an adventurer." Saad raised his eyebrow.
"Yes," Irene was now talking to Leland "he has just arrived inquiring about them. So I handed him over the quest."
While they were chatting, Saad decided to check Leland's character description. He had his own hidden and this seemed a personal thing but-
[Your level is lower than target. A portion of information will be hidden.]
Character Window - ID: S10089
Name: Leland Carmichael
Age: 33
Race: Human
Class: Warrior
Job: Adventurer B rank
Titles: Battle Veteran, ???, Charmer and 3 more
Level: 60 (49150/88500)
HP: 640/640 (+???)
Attributes:
Stamina: 135 (+???)
Strength: 155 (+???)
Agility: 100 (+???)
Intelligence: 40 (+???)
Charm: 70 (+???)
Dexterity: 100 (+???)
Vitality: 140 (???)
Fame: 2500
Additional States: ???
Potential: The character has average potential in swordsmanship.
Skills:
Sword Mastery
Battle Cry
???
???
???
+2 more
Saad could only gulp dryly as he saw the incredible stats. The extra stats were hidden but to think that Leland was fairly strong, made strong impression on Saad. And what about that extra stat? Vitality? How come he didn't have that stat? Or was it an additional stat?
Leland turned to Saad and extended a hand, "Well, it's nice to meet you, young adventurer. Aren't you Mr. Luxon Emberflame's son? You might not know me so I'll introduce myself. My name is Leland. You can always come to me if you need any help with the investigation of the arachnid infestation?" Leland actually seemed a rather decent guy.
[Your familiarity with Leland has increased.]
Saad was pleasantly surprised by the familiarity increase with Leland. He shook his hand firmly, returning the smile, "Thank you, Leland. I'm eager to find the clues to the infestation."
"Excellent! You won't regret it," Irene said, her enthusiasm contagious, perhaps a thanks to Leland being here. "You're the first to arrive, so the quest is officially yours. Here are the details."
[The Web of Arachnous -1]
Unravel the threads of clues, gather insights from the townsfolk, and venture into the heart of darkness to uncover the source of this webbed enigma.
- Quest Details -
Gather Clues: 0/5
Difficulty: D
Rewards:
Quills: +30
Fame: +15
Experience points: +50
Saad accepted the quest and the quest details appeared in his quest log. He soon realized that the quest he got separately was different. This Quest needed him to find the hints and source of cobwebs while the sudden quest he got earlier was about Arachnids.
"Good luck! I have faith in your abilities," Irene said, giving him her best smile. And Saad could only sigh because seriously, why was she roleplaying- He shook it off his mind since, he was also doing the same but still, it made him feel weirded out when Irene did it.
"Thank you, Irene, Leland. I will be on my way then." Saad replied, feeling more motivated than ever.
As he stepped out of the Adventurer Association, the city was even quieter now. The moonlight bathed the streets in a gentle glow. The first order of business was to find clues about the arachnid infestation. Saad decided to venture into the heart of the city, where most of the reports had originated.
His keen eyes scanned the surroundings, looking for anything out of the ordinary. As he moved through the city, he noticed traces of cobwebs in various corners and alleys. Following the trail of webs, Saad hoped to find clues that would lead him to the source of the infestation.
It didn't take long before he stumbled upon a group of NPCs gathered around, looking distressed. As he approached, he overheard their conversation.
"...and then, out of nowhere, the arachnids just appeared! They keep multiplying, and we don't know why. It's becoming a real problem," one of the NPCs said.
"It's as if they're coming from a hidden nest somewhere," another NPC added.
Saad interrupted, "Excuse me, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. I'm an adventurer, and I'm here to investigate the arachnid infestation. Do you have any clues that could help me?"
The NPCs looked at him with a mixture of relief and hope. They eagerly shared what they knew, describing places where they had seen a higher concentration of arachnids and the direction the cobwebs seemed to be leading.
Armed with this information, Saad followed the trail of cobwebs through the city, careful not to disturb the arachnids as he collected more clues.
He had also realized an important detail that even though he had two similar quests but rewards were different. One quest was something that he had gotten due to circumstances and the other was a quest officially made at Guild. It was also clear that his adventure card only had 2 quests on it. That meant that to increase his adventurer level he needed to complete a lot of guild quests or else, he will be stuck doing low level quests. But then another thought occurred to him as he stopped to take a look at the cobweb. If he encounters a higher level quest, he can do it on his own but he can't get a higher level quest from the guild until he raises his rank. And it was important because it gave him those important quills that usual quests didn't give in most cases or only gave a little bit. He had unconsciously touched the cobweb and felt slight numbness on his finger tips and soon a message window popped up.
[A mysterious and ominous fate is at play.]
[You have been affected by the low level venom. You have fallen into negative status 'paralyses'. Your body is paralyzed for 30 seconds.]
Saad almost cursed but then just took a deep breath to inhale the cold air in. This fate thing really was making sure that he wouldn't forget that he was cursed.
But the next moment he suddenly felt a strange shiver up his spine and looked to his side and his soul almost left his body because something was staring at him and he could hear something strange. An uncomfortable skittering sound-
Fear engulfed him but he couldn't move and the sound came closer. Why did he get paralyses now? Why? His skin was crawling as he saw those hairy, shadowy legs moving in shadows.
[You have discovered your first clue.]
[You have caught sight of the rumored strange figure seen moving in the shadows during the night. The figure has a dark silhouette with glowing red eyes, closely followed by swarms of Arachnids.]
For whatever reason though, those glowing eyes disappeared out of blue, leaving Saad shocked. It was a horrific experience, especially since he was paralyzed. His heart was still beating loudly as he stared in disbelief of what he had seen.