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HIDDEN QUEST ACTIVATED
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Player has triggered a Hidden Quest!
Quest Name: Pest Control- 1
Quest type: Side (Chain)
Objective: It's not enough to deal with external threats to prepare Earth for calamity. You need to control the possible internal threats as well. Identify the people who might take advantage of the calamity and cause damage to humanity and terminate them.
Clear Conditions:
Kill the 100 human pests: 4/100
Rewards:
Unlock the next quest under the Pest Control Chain Passive skill: Eye of Identification: A passive skill that allows the player to identify human pests. All Stats: +1
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Ayaan sat at the edge of his bed and read the quest details again and again. He didn't know if he should be delighted or concerned at the appearance of this quest.
Delighted that it could add some progress in gaining Exp, or concerned that this could lead to chaos in the current world.
Ayaan distinctly remembered what Ark said.
'100 Soldiers'
The quest is given to 100 soldiers and with the many wars going on across the planet, it would be safe to assume that more than one person might have already triggered the quest. Some people, particularly those with a hero complex, might get crushed under the despair of getting more Exp and get on a killing spree.
This could lead to the discovery of players…
Ayaan is neither worried about the killing spree nor the discovery of the players. He is worried that he might be discovered in that process.
He shook his head and got rid of those thoughts. There is no point in speculating. Particularly, about things that are not under his control.
First things first, he needs to figure out who these people are. He has a strong feeling that they are related to the bushes that he rattled.
He took out a mobile phone from his bag and turned it on. He took the masks off the dead bodies and took their photos.
He sent them to someone.
Within ten minutes, he got the details of all four people.
And the common denominators are pretty apparent. All four of them are part of a private security company registered in the State of Kanna. It just borders the state Ayaan lives in. Another common point is that all four of them are Ex-military. One of them is from the Army the other three are from Air Force, and all of them are dishonorably discharged for misconduct.
The most intriguing part of it all is that they are discharged just a few months after their promotion to the special forces all in the same month.
Ayaan never believed in coincidences, much less now.
He dialed a number and said.
"Assassination attempt. Four assassins down. Need clean up. ASAP."
He didn't give any more details and hung up. He got dressed and opened the system interface to empty his inventory.
First, he focused on the Essence of Frog King.
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ITEM DETAILS
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**Name:** Essence of Frog King
**Type:** Consumable / Quest Item
**Grade:** Uncommon
**Description:**
The essence is obtained by killing the frog king of the marsh. Upon consuming player will experience a rise in strength and endurance.
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The item is a lot less valuable compared to the Water Serpent King Pearl.
Ayaan took it out of the inventory. It's a round blood colored pill, not big than a marble. He swallowed it directly.
A warm sensation coursed through Ayaan's muscles. He could feel the increase in his strength. He checked his stats.
Strength (STR): 38
Agility (AGI): 35
Endurance (END): 38.5
Intelligence (INT): 49
Perception (SEN): 64
Both strength and endurance are up by three points. This whole quest seemed to be a massive upgrade for his stats. He still has five Stat points left. He can increase all the other stats as he pleases with those.
But he didn't hurry to do that. Since he is graced with the windfall of stat points from the additional rewards of the quest, he figured he could use this slight additional boost based on the requirements of the next quest.
Next, he opened the System shop and went directly to the Item exchange. The rusty iron swords, frog slimes, and crocodile leather armor, all of them can be exchanged. He is fine with trading the black iron swords as well.
And from the price given by the system for a Rusted Iron dagger, he has high expectations… only to be disappointed.
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ITEM DETAILS
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**Name:** Rusted Iron Sword
**Type:** Weapon (Severely damaged)
**Grade:** None
**Durability:** 10/40
A sword carried by the common frogman foot soldiers. Seen way too many battles to amount to anything. Craftsmanship is subpar and can barely be useful for anything.
Exchange rate: 20 System Coins
EXCHANGE:
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There is not even a grade. The durability and the description. Ayaan sighed and was glad that he at least collected a lot of them.
He exchanged them all.
He got 2400 coins.
Next the crocodile leather armor.
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ITEM DETAILS
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**Name:** Crocodile leather armor
**Type:** Armor(Severely damaged)
**Grade:** None
A common crocodile leather armor that has been used way too much.
Exchange rate: 10 System Coins
EXCHANGE:
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'Exchange all'
Now he has a total of 4400 coins.
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ITEM DETAILS
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**Name:** Frogman Slime
**Type:** Raw Material (Craftable)
**Grade:** Common
Slime secreted by the frogmen. Can be used for camouflaging in Marsh environments. Can also be used to craft adhesives.
Exchange rate: 10 System Coins
EXCHANGE:
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'Exchange All'
Coins: 5160
Next item.
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ITEM DETAILS
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**Name:** Black Iron Sword
**Grade:** Uncommon
**Type:** Weapon (Sword)
**Durability:** 88/100
**Level Requirement:** None
**Description:** A sword made of Black Iron. Well crafted and extremely durable.
Exchange rate: 800 System Coins
EXCHANGE:
==============================
Ayaan's eyes lit up as he looked at the Black Iron sword. Even in the Marsh, he noticed that these Black Iron Swords were quite good. Almost as good as the Mutant Soldier sword that he has. Their durability is also about the same.
However, there is one difference here. The standard mutant soldier's sword was much more expensive than this. He remembered that the last time he checked, the mutant soldier sword only had a durability of 60 left, but it was still priced at 1000 coins, while this one only had 750, even though it has more than 80 durability.
He held on to the swords and went to the crafting section.
There are two things to choose from.
Water Serpent King leather and the Standard Mutant Soldier sword. Ayaan's interest was piqued because last time he didn't have either of them.
He selected the leather first.
Craftable Items with Water Serpent King Leather
Water Serpent King Leather Arm Guard
Price: 1500 System Coins+ Water Serpent King Leather*1
Description: Flexible and durable arm guards made from Water Serpent King Leather. Offers excellent protection without restricting movement.
Effect: Increases defense against physical attacks by 25%.Enhances grip for weapons.
Water Serpent King Leather Boots
Price: 2000 System Coins + Water Serpent King Leather*1
Description: Lightweight and resilient boots crafted from Water Serpent King Leather. Designed for maximum mobility in wet and unstable terrains.
Effect: Allows smooth movement in semi-aquatic environments like marshes and shallow waters.Reduces stamina consumption when traversing such terrains.Won't be affected by water damage
Water Serpent King Leather Sheath
Price: 1200 System Coins+ Water Serpent King Leather*1
Description: A sheath made from Water Serpent King Leather, resistant to water damage and wear. Ideal for aquatic or humid environments.
Effect: Protects weapons from corrosion or water-related damage. Slightly reduces weapon draw time.
Water Serpent King Leather Pauldron
Price: 1800 System Coins+ Water Serpent King Leather*1
Description: Shoulder armor crafted with reinforced Water Serpent King Leather, offering balanced protection and flexibility.
Effect: Reduces damage from overhead or glancing strikes by 30%. Slightly increases agility when equipped.
Water Serpent King Leather Belt
Price: 1000 System Coins+ Water Serpent King Leather*1
Description: A sturdy belt designed to hold various tools and weapons securely, even in waterlogged conditions.
Effect: Adds an extra slot for carrying small consumables or daggers.Increases underwater item retrieval speed by 30%.Water Serpent King Leather Armor
Price: 3000 System Coins+ Water Serpent King Leather*1
Description: A sturdy leather armor crafted from reinforced Water Serpent King Leather. Offers balanced protection and flexibility
Effect: Reduces damage of attacks by 40%Reduces damages underwater by 80%Resistance to water-based attacks by 40% at highest durability
Ayaan's gaze locked on to the last one. The Leather Armor. That has the highest price that he could spend on the leather and it has the best effects as well.
He didn't immediately craft it though. He decided to check what other choices he had for the coins he hoarded.
He chose the Standard Mutant Soldier Sword option.
He is interested in this because, neither the black iron sword nor the black iron combat knife appeared in the crafting section.
Black Iron Alloy Sword
Price: 1000 System Coins+ Standard Mutant Soldier Sword*1 + Black Iron Sword*1
Description: A reinforced alloy sword created by merging the Standard Mutant soldier sword with a Black Iron sword.
Effect:
Maximum Durability of 240.Increased Sharpness. Can penetrate the defense of a Level 5 creature.
This time, Ayaan didn't hesitate. There was only one option and he opted for it. The Mutant soldier sword disappeared from his inventory along with one Black Iron sword. The system reduced thousand coins and within two seconds, a sword appeared in his hands.
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ITEM DETAILS
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**Name:** Black Iron Alloy Sword
**Grade:** Uncommon
**Type:** Weapon (Sword)
**Durability:** 240/240
**Level Requirement:** 1
Description: A reinforced alloy sword created by merging the Standard Mutant soldier sword with a Black Iron sword.
==============================
Once that is done, he went back to craft the water serpent armor. With three thousand points gone, a medieval style leather armor appeared in his hands. The black armor had the serpent king's scaly pattern.
The armor can be considered pretty complete.
It has the shoulder guards, the arm guards, the knee pads and even the shin guards. There is some gap in the legs, but it is pretty manageable.
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ITEM DETAILS
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**Name:** Water Serpent King Armor
**Grade:** Rare
**Type:** Armor
**Durability:** 500/500
**Level Requirement:** 2
Description: A sturdy leather armor crafted from reinforced Water Serpent King Leather. Offers balanced protection and flexibility.
Reduces damage of attacks from Level 5 and less by 40%Reduces damages underwater by 80%Resistance to water-based attacks by 40% at highest durability
Equip:
==============================
Ayaan checked out his coins. There are still 1160 coins left. He opened the shop section to see if there anything he can buy. But the thing with the highest cost he can buy are a pair of gloves that cost 1100 coins.
He wasn't interested in that.
He hesitated a bit about exchanging the Black Iron swords.
On one hand, he wanted to exchange them to gain coins. With each sword price around 750 coins, he can make 18000 coins easily.
But he also wanted to keep them, since he doesn't know what he has to face in the next round. After some hesitation, he decided to keep them for now.
Just when he wrapped up his shopping session..
*KNOCK* *KNOCK*
His cleanup crew arrived. He threw the leather armor in the inventory and opened the door.
They didn't ask any questions and they didn't even greet him. They just went to the dead bodies and started cleaning up.
The bodies were stripped clean, samples of all sorts are collected. Then they were wrapped up in plastic before they were placed in large bags. After four bodies were taken away, they cleaned up the floor and walls. Not even a faint drop of blood or a strand of assassin's hair was left.
Right before they left, they gave Ayaan a plastic bag full of things.
In that, the wallets, phones, communication devices, cards, cash, and some pictures of the tattoos they had, were all placed.
Anything that could be a clue. Then Ayaan signed a form for them and sent them away.
January 5th 2025, 1:30 AM
Before he went to bed, Ayaan called Raj.
"Hello Raj, did anyone try anything there?"
"No, sir. Everything is perfectly fine here. Is everything alright on your side?"
"Yes. I got four assassins in my hotel room."
"Assassins?"
"Yes. It seems like rattling the bushes went well enough. I was just worried that someone will make a move on Maya and you as well."
"Don't worry sir. My wife is with me and Maya is perfectly fine. We are already identified the people surveilling Maya. They haven't made any moves."
"Well then. Do one thing, get me some information about Black Dog Security company. I faintly remember their name. The four assassins came from their company."
"Alright, sir. I will get it you as soon as possible."