First Meeting

ANTONIO WAS EXCITED TO FINALLY GET HIS FIRST QUEST, BUT HIS EXCITEMENT IMMEDIATELY FADED AWAY AFTER HE SAW HECTOR ON THE THIRD FLOOR.

"Finally, I met you in person. I was waiting for you, Antonio Weiss. It took you a while to visit the Town Hall." Hector commented as he met his gaze with Antonio's.

Antonio became a little shocked and stuttered to force a reply, "I got my errands to run. Please accept my apologies for the trouble I caused you." He bent his upper body to show his sincere attitude.

"No worries, I don't mind. I am glad that I was able to meet you. I would like to travel with you for a while and help you in getting familiar with the cities if you don't mind."

"Umm... I don't mind but, I must be somewhere within a few weeks and it's a little personal."

"I will part ways on the way so you don't have to force yourself. I am going to a nearby city located near the border of Kalvar," he assured

"hmm... I am fine with it." Antonio replied after thinking for a while.

Antonio and Hector walked together towards an array of lined-up counters which provided the quests to the players. All the counters were crammed up by different players who were waiting for their turn to receive a quest. As soon as Antonio saw an empty space among one of the counters, he rushed towards it but, he was pushed aside by another player who filled up the empty space. Hector who was watching in silence burst out in laughter as he saw Antonio falling on the ground.

"Yeah... Yeah... I think I don't want a quest right now. Let's proceed to the WildWood Forest to farm some EXP and return after some time." Antonio suggested annoyingly and started moving out of the area.

Hector immediately stopped laughing and stopped Antonio with his right hand, then signaled him with his left hand to follow him and started walking in the opposite direction. Antonio silently followed Hector as they moved through several counters to finally reach an entrance which marked as 'Only Dukes/Duchess or above ranking nobles allowed'. Antonio stopped after reading while Hector walked inside after telling Antonio to wait near the entrance.

After waiting for several minutes, Antonio saw Hector walking out of the same entrance and told Antonio to follow him inside. He did as Hector asked and went inside. He immediately froze as he saw the huge hall before him. The hall was luxuriously furnished and one could hear the chatters of people sitting on couches made up of oak wood and had chip carvings on the sides.

The hall had well-plastered walls with paintings that showed the images of the nobility that ruled the region of Kalvar. Several counters lined near the right corner of the hall and the ceiling had a different size of medieval-styled chandelier and a big chandelier which lit the hall evenly.

"Hey, Antonio! Come to this counter, you can get a fine quest here." Hector called out from an empty counter.

Antonio ran in the direction of the counter and stopped before Hector and started catching his breath. Hector then moved aside and let Antonio pass to take the quest from the counter. The counter was also furnished with oak wood and a strange insignia was carved in the middle of it. On the other side of the counter stood a lady who greeted Antonio as he stopped near the counter.

"How may I help you, good sir?" she asked politely.

"I would like to receive a quest en route to the city of Gelion," Antonio replied with the same tone.

"I must apologize sir, but there are no available quests en route to the city of Gelion as the city is a base to Helgan Leaf whose head had disabled the quest progression system in the area," she explained

"Okay. I understand. Well, can you please suggest some suitable quests in the nearby areas?"

"I found seven quests suitable as per the information that you provided. Please place your hand in the processing area to see the details of the quests." The lady informed as she pointed towards a marked area on the right-hand side of the counter.

Antonio placed his right palm onto the marked area and immediately saw a screen floating in front of him. It contained the information about the seven quests that the lady mentioned before. Antonio selected two of the seven and confirmed the selection of the two quests.

Antonio opened up the menu by slicing through thin air and opened up the quest panel as he walked out of the Town Hall. He again start to read the details of the two quests that he received a few minutes ago.

ACTIVE QUESTS:

I. Kill 12 Frost Wolves found in the fields outside the city of Keldar

Quest Rarity: (Uncommon)

Rewards: 1 Skill Point [Assist]

100 Experience Points

2 Attribute Points

1 Mastery points

II. Kill 2 Fire Giants found in the Wildwood forest.

Quest Rarity: (Rare)

Rewards: 2 Skill Points (Weapon)

200 Experience Points

6 attribute points

3 Mastery Points

Antonio wasn't sure about the second quest as the quest difficulty was more than he could alone handle but, Hector insisted him to take the second quest as it could grant fine rewards as the quest rarity was rare. Antonio tried to decline the moment Hector told him to accept the quest but, after continuous persuasions and the thought of fine rewards took over the senses and he gave up.

Antonio closed the quest panel as he saw Hector approaching him. Both of them then strolled through the path that led to the city gates. They eventually activated the sprint skill and dashed towards the fields. It was a sight to behold as the golden grasses and overgrowth were just perfect. Some green trees and bushes dotted the fields.

Both Antonio and Hector folded their legs and started crouching. The overgrown grasses perfectly concealed their stature as they crouched forward without making a sound. Suddenly, Antonio saw a pack of Frost Wolves and started counting them. Hector and Antonio turned towards each other and signaled to not move as Frost Wolves can detect the slightest sound.

Hector stood up and started to descend in the direction of the wolves but Antonio stopped him and whispered in an assuring tone, "I have got this under control, do not interfere, this is my quest."

Antonio started towards the pack of wolves and soon got detected. The wolves circled him and started to move slowly as if a predator circles the prey before landing a death blow. He kept his cool and started scanning various features of the wolves. Snow-white fur with black coatings, sharp-bright eyes that didn't blink even once. As one of the wolves leaped into the air, all the others followed and pounced at Antonio.

Antonio instinctively activated the sprint and high jump skills and altogether sidestepped to dodge the first wolf and unsheathed his scythe to counter two of the wolves from the left side and then leaped into the air with little help from the scythe to maintain his balance. The other wolves landed on the ground to find nothing but patches of grass waiting for them. Antonio hurled his scythe towards the first wolf while in mid-air.

The maneuver pulled by Antonio caught the first wolf off-guard as it tried to dodge the scythe but his head was slashed off onto the ground while the scythe stuck into the ground. Antonio safely landed onto the ground and with the corner of his eyes saw another wolf advancing towards him, he unsheathed the dagger that was tied to the leather scabbard on his left thigh and flung it in the direction of the wolf which directly pierced its heart.

Hector who was watching the struggle of Antonio and the Frost Wolves was amazed by the maneuvers that Antonio pulled so far. In his lifetime of playing MMOs, he hasn't encountered a person who could pull off something like this with such accuracy and precision. Hector even forgot to blink, afraid that he would miss something as he silently admired the person in front of him.

Antonio saw another wolf appear before him as the last of the wolves lay dead with a loud cry. This wolf, unlike others, was a bit taller and had a complete snow-white fur with a pair of golden eyes that gleamed with anger. Antonio right away deducted that this wolf was no ordinary one but the pack leader. Another thought crossed his mind, and he stared into the eyes of the wolf vilely.

The War Scythe, Titan Kronos was started quivering in excitement as if responding to the vile thoughts of Antonio. He tightened his grip over the scythe as soon as he saw the wolf making a move. He immediately dashed forward and tried to land a hit upon the wolf but the wolf dodged the head-on attack and scraped through the flesh of his left arm. Antonio tried to control his cry of agony as pain filled his mind.

The Health Bar on the bottom left corner of Antonio's view frame showed a decrease in health by ten percent. Antonio switched to his right hand and held his scythe in an arch which moved its head to face the wolf. He lunged in the direction of the wolf but immediately side-stepped to catch the wolf in a surprise assault. The scythe scratched the vital part of the wolf's leg, which made it fall on the ground. He then held out the scythe and cut off the hurt leg of the wolf and it growled in pain.

Antonio immediately struck the scythe through the knee joints in the back which disabled the movement of the wolf. He then touched the area that was scraped by the wolf with his right index and middle fingers stick the blood flowing from the wound and drew an insignia on his left palm.

"Now, time for you to be mine. Tamer Skill: Pact by Blood," exclaimed Antonio and pressed his left palm on the chest of the Frost Wolf.

The wolf started growling and struggling as soon as Antonio removed his palm from its chest. The insignia that Antonio drew started to get engraved onto the chest of the wolf and the wolf was engulfed in burning flames. After some time, the wolf was completely swallowed by the flame and vanished.

Antonio flipped the scythe and sheathed it. He started walking towards Hector with a huge smile on his face. On his way, he upgraded the skill 'Slash' to the next level which was 'Avalanche'. He also got to level 5 and acquired some dropped items and equipment which included Darksbane Scimitar, Leather Armor 6 wolf teeth, 3 Elixer; Elixer increased the Mana Points, which is consumed by the player after using a weapon skill, and with it, he completed his first quest: Kill 12 Frost Wolves found in the fields outside the city of Keldar.

Antonio equipped the leather armor and unlocked two skills, 'Horizontal Slash', 'Vertical Slash'. He also allocated two of his remaining skill points into two 'Assist Skills' called 'Enhanced Drop Rate' and 'Increased Experience Points'. After configuring everything, Antonio gently tapped on the shoulders Hector to snap him out of his imaginary world. All this while, Hector was just lost in his thoughts after watching Antonio fight.

"Hey Hector, let's proceed to the WildWood Forest, I have to complete that second quest that you forced into my to-do list," Antonio said in a playful tone.

"Uhh... yes yes. Let's go, but first, have you done getting your skills and items together?"

"Absolutely. I have added the points to my attributes and skills. I got to level 5 and also unlocked one combo skill. I am stocked with healing salves and other items." Antonio assured Hector.

The two of them walked through the small pathway that was carved by trimming the overgrown grass patches. WildWood Forest was situated to the southeast of Keldar. It was a level 8 area and is inhabited by different species of monsters. Hector kept glancing towards Antonio as they neared the Forest. They didn't talk much as both of them were focused on what lay ahead of them. Suddenly, Hector remembered something and called out Antonio was walking ahead of him.

"Antonio, I think I forgot to tell you an important detail about the quest."

"What is it that you forgot to tell me?" Antonio questioned turning back to Hector.

"We have to cross WildWood Forest and head to Fiery Volcano Caves to find the species of Fire Giants," Hector answered.

"Is it a problem to cross the forest?"

"No No, actually, we will need a party of three people to enter the Fiery Volcano Caves as it is the minimum requirement."

"This is a problem, I guess we should drop the quest." sighed Antonio.

"Absolutely not, I will call one of my clan members but, we will have to wait near the entrance of the WildWood Forest."

"Uhh... Fine. I think I am okay with waiting for a while."

"Then, rest assured. I have sent a message to one of my clan members, they will be arriving soon. Let's head to and wait at the entrance of the WildWood Forest." Hector assured and started heading towards WildWood Forest while Antonio followed in silence.