After the flash of white Crow was back in the cave.
Cold sweat trickled down his forehead as a sense of wonder and fear lingered in his eyes from the jaw-dropping scenery laid before him only moments ago.
'I felt like I was peering into the secrets of the Universe.' he inwardly murmured as he grasped at his head.
He was still in his cross-legged position yet as he gained a bearing on his surroundings he noticed that orb of light was still in front of him, yet now it gave off a frosty aura, "You have no idea the repercussions of your actions!"
Crow raised an eyebrow at this threat, 'Well if she wanted to kill me she would have done it already.'
Yet what happened next would change the trajectory of his and every other player's life forever.
[LOCAL MISSION STATED]
[KILL DANGEROUS NAMED NPC- CROW]
All over the beginner village prompts appeared in front of players, alerting them to increased rewards of the quest for the named NPC, Crow.
All the while Crow, sat up slack-jawed at the prompt right in front of his very eyes:
LOCAL BOUNTY ISSUED:
TASK: Capture Named NPC Crow
Reward: 2 Realms & Goddess' Blessing
Note: Target is Currently in Beginner Grasslands.
The boy's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull as he processed the information in front of him.
A soft chuckle escaped his lips as he rose to his feet, "I'm tempted to off myself for those rewards alone."
Yet the ball of light remained still only letting off a few words, "You will regret not taking your own life, at least you would have died painlessly on your own terms."
Then the ball of light vanished as if it were never there.
The shadows crept back into the cave, bathing it in darkness, and left the boy alone with his own thoughts.
'What's going on? And why am I so special to have such a bounty placed on me?'
Crow opened his Status panel and his eyes widened at the sight, 'Oh.'
[Crow]
[Race: ❏❐▊❑]
[Occupation/ Class: ◤⫸△▆ ]
[Realm: 1]
[Stage: 0]
[Source: Dream]
.
.
.
Yet across the land of the beginner town, a shift was occurring.
Many players had already been hunting the NPC named Crow, yet had higher priority quests in mind or considered searching the grasslands as shifting through a haystack for a needle yet, now...
Not only was the prospect of 2 whole Realms promising but the concept of the blessing of a Goddess was especially enticing.
Many players had yet to even cross the threshold of leaving Realm 1, but now that they were given the opportunity to skip 2 and gain added rewards, who could resist the allure?
.
.
.
That night, the multicolored orbs hung in the night sky and coated the green grass in rays of soft light.
As Crow exited the cave, soft gleams of light spilled onto him with the aroma of earthy soil and sweat entering his nostrils.
His eyes peeled as he mumbled, 'Where do I go now? What does 'Dreams mean? I need to progress quick-"
Yes, he quickly leaned back as a flash of grey flew narrowly overhead.
SHIIIING!
An arrow zoomed past him, clanking off the cave walls and clattering on the stone cave floor.
Crow didn't mind the arrow and looked on ahead, he breathed through his nostrils and honed his ears onto the rustling grass around him.
'A group?' a smile arose on the boy's lips as he rushed forward, causing a small gust of wind to stir behind him.
Panic sounded out within the tall grass, yet Crow acted without hesitation stabbing forward with his dagger and feeling a solid connection- CHUUUNK!
The sensation of warm moisture pooled over his hands, but he paid no mind, quickly pulling the blade out as he turned to see a group of 3 armed players facing him.
2 men and 1 woman, all were wearing what looked to be leather armor and held a single sword in their hand.
The woman was a beastkin with and had the face of a tiger with orange fur, and the other 2 looked to have two wolf-heads with red, and blue fur respectively.
Crow narrowed his eyes at that, 'Quite the unbalanced team.'
Typically teams would try to go for a balanced approach with warriors, tanks, healers, mages, etc, yet this team only had a single archer that was now dispatched and 3 warriors left Crow with his eyebrows raised.
Yet, slowly he noticed as the woman stayed in the middle while the other 2 began to slowly circle around to his sides.
A small smirk arose on Crow's lips, 'Trying to ensnare me, eh?'
He quickly took a tipped arrow from his latest victim who was already consumed by his little black boxes before pulling up his new threat's stats.
[Player 1]
[Race: Beastkin]
[Occupation/ Class: Warrior]
[Realm: 1]
[Stage: 7]
[Source: None]
--
[Player 2]
[Race: Beastkin]
[Occupation/ Class: Knight]
[Realm: 1]
[Stage: 6]
[Source: None]
--
[Player 3]
[Race: Beastkin]
[Occupation/ Class: Knight]
[Realm: 1]
[Stage: 7]
[Source: None]
.
.
.
Sweat slipped down Crow's forehead as he took a second to think, sliding the arrow into his pants 'Fuk!'
WHOOOOOSH!
He rushed forward, blood-dripped dagger in hand, surprising the 2 at the flank!
The female player's eyes widened as she stumbled back slightly, "Wuh-"
She was barely able to let out before Crow was already up on her, clashing his dagger against her sword and then following up stomping down onto her foot with as much force as he could muster causing her to let out a pained shriek.
Following up he used his left hand to punch her in the face causing her to tumble back a few steps, using this opportunity he threw his dagger at her neck causing shouts of anger to ring out to his sides.
'Fuk, they're gaining on me!'
As the female beastkin began to fall, gasping for air he took her sword from her already weak grasp and rushed to his left.
The Blue-furred beastkin's eyes widened, before a grin rose on his face, "That bounty is ours you fuk-"
Yet, before he could even finish a flash of silver soared through the air, "GAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Crow had thrown the sword, lodging itself into the beastkin's left shoulder, and while the Player was distracted with that Crow quickly approached and stabbed the beastkin in the neck with the arrowhead he had taken from the Player's ally.
The anger in the player's eyes transformed into shock before they began to droop and blood foamed out of his mouth like a soap dispenser.
Yet a peaceful death would not greet him, "AAAAAAAAAAAAH!
He let out as he didn't have the luxury of dying quickly like his teammates, the little black boxes began to feast on his flesh.
Yet, Crow was unable to relish the sight as the sound of quickly approaching footsteps alerted him, causing him to duck to the side once more, narrowly avoiding a horizontal sword slash.
Now the red-furred beastkin stared at him with bloodshot eyes and a beastly snarl.
'I wonder if he's happy.' Crow exhaustedly joked to himself.
The beastkin was right next to his teammate's body, and Crow was unarmed against a higher-level player who would be on the lookout for the same trick twice.
'Fuk! A source would be handy right about now!' The boy thought back to seeing his blacksmithing mentor crushing miscreant customers with the power of Fire.
Though he had seen a few Named NPC's with different elemental Sources, he had never heard of Dreams as a source.
Yet, the boy would have no time to ponder that as his thoughts were awoken by the beastkin's deathly howl as he rushed forward.
Crow got into a fighting stance as he backed away.
Yet, the beastkin was at him with a bloodthirsty glare in his eyes, "You're dead, you Stupid NPC!"
Finally, Crow turned and ran, alerting the beastkin who gave chase.
After about 12 seconds the beastkin realized they were going in a circle and his target had found himself back at his gear and was now armed with a sword and dagger.
A thought surfaced through this beastkin's mind, 'What kind of NPC is this?'
That was the last thought he would have before he was rushed by Crow and promptly killed.
Huff...
Huff...
Crow now stood alone in the Grasslands with his hands on his knees, the multi-colored orbs above no longer gave off a warm pleasing light, but felt as if the eyes of unfathomable entities were gazing down upon him.
Huff...
Huff...
CRUNCH...
CRUNCH...
The sound of footsteps alerted Crow as he looked up, the sight making his eyes widen, there before him were about 20 players, all dawning weapons and armor, many even holding torches.
He then looked down at his own hand; he held a chipped sword and a dull dagger.
The boy gazed at his Status.
[Crow]
[Race: ❏❐▊❑]
[Occupation/ Class: ◤⫸△▆ ]
[Realm: 1]
[Stage: 2]
[Source: Dream]
'I either die today while running or fighting, seems like this is the end of the road for me, unless...'
The boy took another look at his Status, taking a good look at his source Dream.
'He had seen 1st hand the power of Source his blacksmithing mentor, who could do nearly anything he wished as long as it was within his Realm of power.
From making fireballs to fire hammers, what would Crow as only Realm 1 possibly create with the Source: Dream?
As the Players slowly approached, Crow spread out his arms and closed his eyes.
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!
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