( The Silverpine mine dungeon, Unnamed group of players )
"Watch out! That rat's tail hurts like a whip" shouted a female player as she warned her friend to dodge the rat's tail, but despite her warning, her friend was unable to dodge and was slapped by the rat tail right in her face.
*Skadaadh*
The poor girl was hit hard across her face by the rat tail which left a deep laceration mark across her chin and prompted her to break down into tears instantly.
*Sob*
*Sob*
Her friend rushed to hug and console her, while the rest of the party tried to combat the massive horse sized rat that was living inside a secret tunnel of the mine.
After stabbing it using the beginner common sword and slowly injuring it to death by attacking from all sides, the group finally managed to clear the dungeon.
Apparently, the rat had been scared away by the wolves for the past few months, however, upon their death it returned.
The group of players who were given the quest to clear the dungeon by Leo accidentally discovered a small entrance to its tunnel which was coincidentally the hidden dungeon which Leo did not clear.
It took the players roughly 10 hours of hard work and a very tough boss-fight against the level 7 rat to clear the dungeon upon which they received a special reward.
[ You have received:-
1x Combat Skill Scroll ( Rare )
1x Combat Skill Scroll ( Common )
1x Old Map ( ??? )
5x Gold Coins
120x Silver Coins ]
The party of 20 received a lot of rewards, however, split between so many people it wasn't much.
"We can evenly distribute the money, but we can't distribute the two skill scrolls and the map" One of the party members said as he pointed out the problem with the loot distribution.
"We are supposed to hand over all the loot to the soldier anyways, but I highly suspect that he might only be after the old map" Another adventurer said as an internal strife soon broke out.
Some party members did not wish to hand over the loot while some party members wished to do so.
"This is not a system given quest, we might hand him the loot and get nothing, I say we give him nothing, that soldier has a lot of attitude for his own good anyways.
This map…. Let's use it ourselves and find out what it leads to! If it's so important for that soldier it's bound to be something good" One of the party members suggested, however, his view was immediately opposed.
"This is where you people don't understand MMORPG games…. Fucking noobs" The shortest and nerdiest looking guy in the group said as he flicked his hair and garnered all the attention upon himself.
"I've played all the popular MMORPG games since I was a small kid and this type of situation where you don't get a system quest but rather a verbal test are the missions that are the most important in the game.
These kinds of missions are usually chain quests and bringing the loot to the NPC usually prompts them to give us a linked second quest.
Yes, in the short-term we may have to suffer losses, but in the long term it will pay out to be something legendary!" He said as his simple speech convinced everyone in the room that if they contained their greed for a bit longer they will be able to earn much more.
Although there was still some opposition, the group eventually democratically decided to hand over all the loot in its entirety to the Virex soldier, not even taking out the gold for themselves, fearing that if they did not give him all the rewards maybe the next quest would not be triggered.
*******
( Leo's POV )
Leo was not sure whether he wanted to laugh or cry of laughter at the situation at hand.
He had 0 expectations of the adventurers actually clearing the dungeon and bringing him back the loot as the words that he had spoken to them were said only to look cool and he had no real expectation of his bait actually working.
Yet here they were presenting him with all the loot including the gold they obtained from the dungeon and Leo could barely hold in his laughter.
He was getting ready to move out of Silverpine Village and begin his journey as a true player when suddenly this group of adventurers arrived at his tavern and presented him with the loot.
From their greedy eyes and mannerisms, Leo could see that they were eagerly waiting for some more rewards to be issued for a job well done, however, Leo was not an NPC and did not have any obligations to pay them.
"Sir Soldier, as per your guidance we have completed the mission, we hope that through our measly efforts, we were able to assist a great being such as yourself" The nerdy player said as he kowtowed before Leo making the entire adventurer group behind him feel awkward.
"Yes you lot did a good job…" Leo said as he moved all the presented loot to his inventory before standing up and looking at all the adventurers in their eyes.
Everyone, especially the nerdy leader whose idea it was to present all the loot to Leo looked at him with anticipatory eyes, however, Leo said nothing and presented them with nothing before moving out of the tavern as if they did not even exist.
"Hey- Sir Soldier, please wait….. where is our reward for helping you?" One of them who was against giving the loot to Leo in the first place said as he chased after Leo outside the tavern, however, Leo just looked at him and said "Reward? When did I promise any of that?"
Saying so, he kept walking as at that moment the group of players realized that they had been scammed!
Many of them chased after Leo, demanding that he return their loot, while most others beat the crap out of the nerd whose idea it was to present the loot to Leo.
However, despite their pressure Leo did not crumple and acted like he did not even hear them as he kept walking straight out of town.
Those idiots had provided him with the loot of their own volition….. it wasn't his problem that they were scammed.
Internally he felt extremely giddy, but to not ruin his image he did not laugh till he was well away from Silverpine Village's boundaries and was sure that there were no more players chasing him.
Then and only then did he burst out laughing as he rolled around in the fresh snow and made snow angels.
"HAHAHAHA….. FUCKING IDIOTS" he said as he let out all his excitement by playing in the snow, not able to believe his good-luck in how easily he had scammed people to work for him.
Naturally, while he enjoyed in the snow, the players ranted on global chat about the NPC scam, however, Leo did not give a shit.
They could curse NPC all they wanted, Leo wasn't one anyways.