013 Busted?
Once again another announcement rang out.
***** ( Announcement ) *****
Player Blaise has received the first ever SS tiered quest.
He has received 10 gold and 100 nation fame.
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The world chat, forums, and James's private chat was going nuts. It's been about two and a half days and Blaise has taken three world's first titles.
Author was worried. He sent a message in the guild leader's group chat. [- If this keeps up we will be laughing stocks. A single rouge player not only had more world's first, most likely more titles then all of us combined, and more gold than all of our guilds combined. -]
The other members of the group chat talked among themselves about what to do. None of them got reports of Blaise leaving the library yet.
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James laid on the floor for over 15 minutes. Joe was worried and stood near be. He had tried calling for James but he got no response.
"Joe, tell me. After people get your permission to enter the fourth floor. Are they forced to read all the books in the library before they can leave?"
Joe was extremely confused, "I'm sorry. I don't follow you. Are you saying you are stuck in the library?"
James had debated to just log out and take a long break from the game. He was so mad right now he could nearly spit fire. He had to calm himself down.
He spoke in a very monotone voice, "Yes I was automatically given a quest that I was unable to turn down. I have to read all 10,631 books in this library before I may leave..."
"What did you say?"
"That I cannot leave until.."
Joe interrupted James, "No, how many books did you say?"
James noticed to confusion in Joe's voice and looked directly at him, "10,631"
"That cannot be right; this library only holds 10,630 books in total."
James fully sat up this time.
"Do you think a new book was added to its inventory?"
"That cannot be. Every librarian is updated when there is a change of inventory."
"That can only mean there is a secret book somewhere. I am now actually excited, I get to find the book that even the librarians do not know about."
James got up and looked around, "Joe, how many floors are there left above me?"
"There are only two remaining floors. You already have access to one of them."
"I will start on the floors above me. Thank you for your help."
James made his way upstairs and was once again greeted by a librarian. This time it was a young woman.
"You made quite far! My name is Jamie. Are there any book topics you are looking for?"
"It is nice to meet you, here I thought the librarians were going to keep getting older has I climb the tower."
Jamie giggled at his comment.
"Well... You are right. I am older than I look. I'm twelve years older than Joe. I am a mage so I look younger than I am."
James felt like he just embarrassed himself.
"Sorry about that Jamie, I was not aware."
"It's no problem! Anyway could I help you in any way?"
"Could I get the quest to advance to the top floor?"
"You sure can! I am rooting for you!"
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* Ding*
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New Quest Offered
Name: Hungry for Knowledge
Difficulty: A
Completion Requirements: Read 15 books of the 25 total books of the third floor.
Failure Conditions: None
Rewards: Access to the fifth floor of the library.
Time Limit: Unlimited
Accept?
[Yes] [No]
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James accepted the quest and ran off to the first book of the floor.
[No need to ask for specific books this time. I am not leaving until I read all the books on this floor. I will need to be sneaky on the bottom floor. People know my name, I may need to hide my name and hope no one recognizes me.]
He quickly looked at his progress; he had quite the number of books read already thanks to the other quest.
* 2,050 of 10,631 books completed *
He started his marathon. After reading a few books he found it was taking 70 minutes to each books on this floor.
* * 15 of 25 books completed *
* 2,065 of 10,631 books completed *
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* Ding*
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Quest completed!
Rewards: Access token to the fifth floor of the library.
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Jamie skipped over and upgraded James's token then went off to do her own thing again.
James kept reading and the time started to fly by. Before he knew it he finished all the books on the floor.
* 2,075 of 10,631 books completed *
James scurried off to the fifth floor, "C'ya later Jamie!"
When he got to the fifth floor he was not greeted by anyone. All he saw was a plaque on the wall. It read 'Welcome to the fifth and final floor. Read to your heart's content. You may leave through the portal or walk down the tower yourself. If you use the portal you will have to pay to get back into the tower. - Thanks, Finn"
"Did the final librarian really just leave a sign to skip out on his work? Oh well, looks like there are only five books on this floor."
James walked over to one of the extremely thick books on a podium and started to read.
Three hours later he finished the first book.
* 2,076 of 10,631 books completed *
He continued on reading streak until he finished the books on this floor.
* 2,080 of 10,631 books completed *
"That only leaves floors one through 3. I guess I will eventually give Tod some company again."
James walked down stairs and got to the third floor.
Joe noticed his presence instantly and ran over.
"Blaise, your back! It is been so long! Did you give up on the upper floors, it's okay I have never heard of someone climbing to the top of the tower in a few days?"
James chuckled and showed Joe his token.
"W..Wh..What?! You have the seals of the fourth AND fifth floor?"
"It has been a long day. I even had to stamp own token for the fifth floor the librarian was nowhere to be seen. After I read the last book the stamp appeared before me then disappeared after I used it."
James paused for a second, "Any way I am going to start reading where I left off. I can't leave even if I wanted."
"What do you mean?"
"I got stuck with a quest to read all the books in the library. I cannot leave until I finish. I'm off to start reading."
James once again started where he left off.
* 2,081 of 10,631 books completed *
* 2,095 of 10,631 books completed *
* 2,130 of 10,631 books completed *
James finally finished all the books on the third floor. He very quickly made his way down stairs again.
James said his good bye and went to the second floor.
James greeted Tod and filled him in about his situation then started reading his way through the book shelves. He needed to read the final 2,000 books on this floor. He did take a break from time to time to talk to Tod. He felt bad about for Tod. He ended up letting Tod know that he can leave and return to the library at any time.
* 2,131 of 10,631 books completed *
* 3,450 of 10,631 books completed *
* 4,130 of 10,631 books completed *
He finally completed this floor. He walked over to Tod and started chatting. During their conversation James paused which confused Tod.
"Is everything okay Blaise?"
"I hope so. I hear footsteps on the stairs."
"You are correct a new visitor is on his way up. He just finished Edwards's quest."
"I have a lot of people looking for me. It is no coincidence that after the global announcements someone made their way to the second floor."
Tod looked concerned, "Why are people looking for you?"
"Nothing illegal. Some people are just nosy and what to bother me. I accidentally gained some fame and now they want talk to me. Where does your exit portal lead to?"
"I guess being hunted down just because of some fame would be annoying. My portal is behind that door there and it leads to the castle's garden. Not many people go there so you should be safe. There is a hidden exit that leads to the streets on the east side of the castle. I wish you luck!"
"Thanks Tod! If he asks about me tell him I went to the next floor!"
James ran over to the door and threw on the [Mask of Illusion]. He quickly opened the door and jumped through the portal.
Shortly after James disappeared a person in a green robe appeared.
"Hello, my name is Brock. Is there someone else here on the second floor?"
"Greetings Brock, I am Tod the keeper of the second floor. There was someone else here for a while. He finished my quest then went up to the third floor though."
"Thanks for the information I would like to accept the same quest. I'll be reading now!"
Brock was internally annoyed, [Damn, how long ago did he enter the third floor? It took me just over two days to read through all those books downstairs. Now I have to read 500 more? I don't understand how he can stand it."
Brock initiated a voice chat with Tempest.
"Well? Did you get any information about titles and Blaise?"
"Yes, after I read 500 books on the first floor I got a title called 'Junior Librarian'. It does give bonus stats; I got +5 intellect and can now enter the library once more for free."
"Five bonus intellect? I will send the other mages there in a few days. A free 50 mana is well worth it."
"I am not too sure about that. It took me almost a full day to get the title. I would only send a few at a time so that we always have people farming experience and levels."
"Thanks for the update, keep it up. Find him and you get first pick of loot once dungeons open up."
Brock smiled, he was looking forward to being the best geared [Earth Mage] in the guild.
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James magically appeared in a vacant space in the garden just like Tod said. He looked around to make sure that no one was around.
[Phew, I managed to avoid that player. Now time to get back to the first floor. It is nice to see and feel the sun again. It is surprising that I was able to actually leave the library though.]
James had his full plan ready. He would leave the garden through the hidden exit then blend into the crowd. He would keep his mask on so he looked like a new player. Since he could enter the library for free again it would give the appearance that he really was a new player. No one would suspect a thing.
He opened the door to the exit and went to walk through when something stopped it. He felt like he hit a rock wall. A notification popped up in front of him.
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Notice to player,
A great magic prevents you from leaving the library grounds.
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James just stood there. [So this is what they meant by I cannot leave the library. Change of plans I will have to exit the garden normally and hope no one was actively checking for players inside.]
He slowly made his way out of the garden and looked around as discretely as he could.
He did not see anyone suspicious so he started to walk casually to the front door. Luckily the rouge was only watching the castle's entrance and not the courtyard.
Once he was inside he gave a nod to Edward then went to reading.
* 4,131 of 10,631 books completed *
* 4,999 of 10,631 books completed *
* 5,000 of 10,631 books completed *
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* Ding*
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Title Gained
Name: Senor Librarian
Effects:
1. + 30 intellect
2. Allowed five free visits a month to the library.
3. + 40 Library Favor
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[Finally! I was wondering when I would see that title. I was thinking it would pop up exactly at the half way mark. Only 287 more hours to go. These books take no time at all but there are so damn many of them.]
Time flew by. The sun rose and set, the days passed. It took him over a week to get to where he was today.
* 9,999 of 10,631 books completed *
* 10,000 of 10,631 books completed *
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* Ding*
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Title Gained
Name: Senor Scholar
Effects:
1. + 20 intellect
2. Increases [Identify]'s skill level by 1.
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[Nice! Now I do not need to waste a skill point on leveling up that skill! Only 361 more books to go!]
Brock was pissed; he went all the way up to the fifth floor during the week that James was finishing up his reading. [All of those damn NPCs told me the same thing. Hell, there was not even a librarian on the top floor! While I did get some valuable information I hardly believe it was worth it.]
Brock sent a message to Tempest. [- I finished up all the quests and gained access to the top floor. Blaise must have finished his quests and left through the library secret exit. -]
[- It is unfortunate that he seems to have escaped, I notified the other guilds already. Sorry for wasting your time. I have a bus set up to get you back up to level. Apart from that I have 50 mages going to the library to get that one title. I have not released that information to the other guilds so keep it to yourself. -]
James had no clue that 50 of the top mages in the game were closing in. He was still grinding out his required books while praying that he can finish before anyone identifies him.
* 10,628 of 10,631 books completed *
It took almost half of a day for Tempest to get all the mages he wished to send to the library. Each of them were out in grinding parties. He had to reorganize the guild's parties to deal with the lack of mages.
Tempest planned to join the other mages at the library as he also wanted the 50 free mana. Mana was the life blood of mages, no one wanted to be OOM (out of mana) while out grinding.
James finished his 10,629th book and was positioned practically at the entrance of the library. He grabbed the second to last book and started reading. He was nearly finished when he was interrupted by someone tapping on his shoulder.
He looked up and saw a player smiling at him. He was wearing a red magic robe that had gold trim around the collar, sleeves, and belt. He had a staff with a ruby affixed to the top of the staff. Lastly, there was a guild badge attached to his right sleeve. The badge had a capital 'S' on with this a sword stabbed into it.
James started to sweat a little bit, [Oh no. He is from Solemn Sword.]