"My name is Aris, and I'm a member of the silver-skin, I've been attacked by these damn goblins, then poisoned by a few poison snakes…" the girl spoke, trying her hardest to let out intelligible words, "The goblins have an antidote to this poison, but its hidden at the very end of their area, guarded by their king."
You could already see where this was going.
Aris was a level 30 silver-skin mage, and she was actually the strongest member of her tribe.
The reason why she allowed Alex and not Alice to approach her was simply because of the [Reputation] system.
You precisely needed 75 or above reputation to be able to trigger this quest, any less could result in Aris rejecting you, and if you insist, she will gladly attack you even while wounded, since taking care of players at such a low level was a piece of cake for her.
"Here," she put her hand in her pockets then pulled out a small coin with a goblin head on it.
[Secret Goblin Area Token]
[Teleports you to the secret goblin area, a level 10-20 area.]
"Bring me that antidote and I'll reward you generously, I don't think I have more than two days before dying, so please… be quick."
[You have triggered the S-Level novice village quest: The Greatest Silver-Skin Mage. Complete the secret goblin area and bring back the antidote for massive rewards, as well as increasing your reputation with the silver-skin to 100!]
[Warning: do not attempt to kill Aris, she WILL kill you.]
This was the famous S-level quest that you could only unlock after achieving 75 reputation and finding this secret entrance.
"Did you get something cool?" Alice cutely peeked from Alex's shoulder, noticing the small token in his palm.
"Yeah, we're going on a new adventure," he smirked at the girl, and she nodded in excitement.
They soon left the cabin, leaving the silver-skin girl behind as she held on to dear life.
"That's sad, we should definitely help!" Alice nodded.
"…" but for the first time, Alex didn't say anything or smile, he only looked up at the cabin with eyes full of hatred, "…Right."
He had absolutely no plan to save that silver-skin.
…
At this point, Alice and Alex were able to easily defeat level 8 and above monsters, even managing to take down a level 10 [Earth Fox].
Fireball! Boom!
-196! -20! -20!
These [Earth Foxes] were supposed to be one of the strongest monster in the forest, but Alex was easily killing them with a single fireball each, his mastery of his spells becoming much better.
The reason he dealt so much damage though was different: fire was the earth foxes' weakness.
[Weakness found: dealing 200% of damage and inflicting burn effect!]
With their 250 health points, these things stood no chance, plus Alex easily avoided their attacks.
Ding!
After fighting 8 of these things, he had managed to get two extraction prompts!
[Fox Ears (common cosmetic, increases charm)
'Rock Throw' skill (novice-spell)
'Earth Shield' skill (novice-spell)]
"…!" Alex was flabbergasted: these things had two skills to give out!
And so he selected both of them without hesitation.
Ding! Ding!
[You have gained the 'Rock Throw' skill!]
[Rock Throw Level 1; create a small ball of rock that you can throw at enemies, damage depends on spirit, chance of stunning; consumes 20 mana; 3-second cooldown]
[You have gained the 'Earth Shield' skill!]
[Earth Shield Level 1; create an earth shield that can block up to 300 damage at once; costs 50 mana; one-minute cooldown.]
'Again?!' Alice noticed Alex crouching as he laughed by himself: this was a sign he got something from the monsters.
Not only was Alex's spell mastery incredible, allowing him to take care of most of the monsters by himself, but he was also getting so many items that even she was confused!
[Killed level 10 earth fox, gained 17 experience points.]
[Killed level 10 earth fox, gained 17 experience points.]
Four earth foxes later though, they both leveled up to level 6, and then, Alex pulled out some [Fox Ears] out of nowhere, giving them to Alice.
"Put them on, you would look great with them on your head!" he gave her a thumbsup, and her face turned red.
She didn't know where he got these from, probably from the monsters, but this was extremely embarassing.
"I… uh…" yet, for some reason, she couldn't push herself to refuse, and she put them on.
These things were only cosmetic, meaning that they granted no additional stat points, all they did was increase your charm, and god damn did it work on Alice: the fox ears blended in with your hair the moment they were equipped, and the ears began to twitch and move, almost as if alive!
'I should open up a cosmetic shop,' Alex thought, surely this would be a hit!
Nonetheless, they kept going afterward, Alice not removing the ears after Alex called her cute.
Alice's arrows became stronger the more she used them, and she even leveled up her skill twice, able to two-shot most enemies in the forest now.
Their damage output at this moment should definitely be in the top 1 percentile of Universal Descent, no questions asked.
And so, suddenly, after defeating more earth foxes and grabbing two more [Fox Ears] in the process, Alex finally decided that it was time for the quest.
"You ready?" he asked Alice, who was still wearing the fox ears, they were twitching cutely, making the girl even more adorable than before.
"Yes!" she nodded
"Alright," Alex grabbed the [Secret Goblin Area Token] from one of his backpacks, holding it in his palm, "Hold my hand."
"…" Alice's face turned red, but she followed orders, he had already explained to her that this would teleport them in a secret area, so she wasn't THAT surprised.
[Do you wish to activate the 'Secret Goblin Area' token?]
[There is no going back, and using the token will destroy it, meaning that death inside the area means that you won't be able to go back.]
"Doesn't matter," Alex mumbled as he crushed the small golden token with his hand.
Suddenly, a green glow enveloped them, and they were transported away.
Fwish! Ding!
Using some advanced teleportation spell or technology, they were transported to another forest, one that looked oddly similar to the one they were previously in, though Alex knew it was different.
[You have entered the level 10-20 secret goblin area!]
[Difficulty: Normal]
[Objective: Find the Antidote by Killing the Goblin King!]
[Additional rewards will be given based on performance, though remember performance below S-tier will not get any additional rewards!]
[The secret area will disappear if both players die or it is cleared, so make use of that chance!]
Secret areas can range between several difficulties: Normal, Hard, Epic, Infernal, Abyssal and Impossible.
The higher the difficulty was among those six categories, then the harder the objective/completion conditions would be.
Alex had tried to pass through several secret areas in his past life, but each time he miserably failed as they were ALL set up in a way so that the player is at a disadvantage.
"Hm… doesn't look like anything happened," Alice mumbled as she looked around, keeping her bow and arrow in position in case anything happened.
And she was right to do that, because less than ten seconds later.
"Humans!" they heard a voice from behind, and group of small and green goblins appeared, each carrying a small dagger in their hands.
Fwish!
Star Shot!
Alice shot one of her arrows, but it was actually deflected by one of the goblin's daggers.
"What the fuck? They can block now?!" she was astonished and taken aback.
This was the difficulty of a [Normal] secret area!