1 Chapter 1- Link Start

Leo was a world-renowned appraiser. He mastered the art, and people would always look for him. Everything seemed great, and he gave his family a good life, but one day, everything changed.

An accident happened, and Leo lost his sight completely. He was entirely lost. A man without its sight was nothing— now imagine an appraiser, someone who relied entirely on the vision to perform the job.

Years and years passed, and Leo finally had the chance to be happy again. Quest Online.

A VRMMORPG launched. Everyone around the globe was excited to play it, including Leo's grandchildren.

At first, he was unsure if he would play the game, but one thing changed his mind completely. He would be able to see the world again inside Quest Online— even if it was inside a virtual world, it was enough for him.

"Hey grandpa, did I tell you about this VRMMORPG?" a teenager asked Leo, who was sitting on a chair, feeling the spring breeze on his wrinkled face.

"Of course you did," he said.

"Grandpa, you need to play with me," the teenager jumped in joy after thinking of that possibility.

"I'm too old for this. What can a 65-year-old man do inside that game? I'm sure pretty much everyone will be young people like you." Leo answered, which was a lie. He was thinking of playing the game too.

"Yeah, you're right about the young people part, but the rest it's not true. You're a smart man, and I'm sure that your wisdom would help me a lot inside the game." Jason was not giving up on bringing his sweet grandfather to play with him, but his attempts seemed useless.

"Is the game launching today?" Leo asked.

"It is. Did you change your mind?" Jason smiled for a second.

"No, I didn't," Leo answered, crushing Jason's fantasies.

"I just wanted to know. Someone needs to make you lunch before you start to play that game," Leo said, getting up.

"I'm sure you'll spend hours and hours when that game server launches, so you need to eat something first."

"Stop grandpa. I'm not that game addicted, okay?" Jason said, and his grandfather laughed in response.

"Sure," Leo said and then made a hand gesture.

"Oh, sorry grandpa." The gesture had a meaning. Leo wanted help. The life of a 65-year-old blind man was difficult, so Jason always helped him move around the house, and Leo felt fortunate to have a family who always looks up for him.

"So, I'll go to my room now," Jason said.

"Are you going to play Quest Online already?" Leo asked, and he didn't stop there, "and just said that you were not a game addicted, shameless..."

"Don't say it like that," Jason didn't get mad—he knew his grandfather was playing with him.

"I know. You need to play when the game launches, that way you won't get behind in levels, right?" he said, and Jason was astonished.

"You sure know a lot about games, and yet, don't play," he said.

"I picked up some things along my years. I'm sure my knowledge regarding the subject is far lesser than yours," Leo said.

"You're right, now if you excuse me. I have some monsters to kill," Jason said and then left.

"Hm, the game just launched. Should I start my adventure too?" Leo thought.

An old man was lying on a bed, wearing a helmet. That particular helmet was the only way you could log in inside Quest Online, and that old man was, precisely, Leo.

He had planned to play the game a long time ago, since the day the game company announced that every disability would vanish inside the virtual world— in Leo's case, he would be able to see again. He would pay anything to have his sight back, and why not also have fun playing a game along the way. Leo knew he was getting old, and Quest Online perhaps could bring him joy again after so many years of difficulties.

Link Start

These were the words that appeared in front of Leo's eyes after he had synchronized with the game servers.

"I... I can see."

Leo couldn't explain the happiness he felt after reading that simple phrase.

"Hello," a young good looking lady said to Leo. She wore a fine dress and had perfect skin. Leo couldn't help but notice that the place they were in was rather strange. A simple squared white room. The only thing inside that room was Leo and that lady.

"Hello," Leo answered. He was still lost for words after being able to finally see the world again after twenty-plus years.

"If you excuse me, lady, can you tell me, who are you?" Leo asked.

"I'm the AI designed to help the players create their characters, and also give them basic information about the game." the lady answered Leo's question.

"I see," he said, frowning his eyebrows.

"AI lady," he asked her again.

"Yes?"

"Do you have a name?"

"Huh?" the lady was unable to respond to Leo. She never thought that someone would ask her that type of question.

All the players that came to see her, we're only looking to create their characters as fast as possible, and only asked her things regarding the game.

"You don't have a name? If so, can I give you one?" Leo smile at her.

"You... of course you can," she smiled back.

"Hmmm, let me see. You are beautiful, and your silver hair looks astonishing as well. I'll call you Seraphin. What do you say?"

"I loved it. Thank you, mister Leo." she smiled yet again.

"Wait, how do you know my name? I don't remember saying it to you," Leo was sure he didn't say his name to her during their conversation, and the game didn't ask him to name his character yet at that point.

"I know the name of everyone that enters the game. When you create your account, you have to register using your real-life ID," Seraphin answered, and he understood.

The game company made sure that no one with criminal records would play the game. Quest Online was the first VRMMORPG that looked like real life, so these bad people could cause trauma to the other people who played the game. But of course, clashing against a dragon would cause trauma the same way...

"Seraphin, can you tell me what classes does this game has?"

"Of course. There are some initial classes. The Berserker, the Mage, the Ranger, the Crusader, and the Priest." she answered his question but continued with her explanation.

"Quest Online doesn't have only these classes. Every initial class can go to different paths and specializations at higher levels, and the game also has hidden classes." Leo was excited to explore the world, so he made sure to ask her as much as he could.

"Is there some other initial classes? I don't know, like a Merchant or something," if the game had these types of classes, Leo would choose it.

The thing that he regrets the most in his life was that he was not able to continue his work as an Appraiser, after the loss of his sight.

"Yes, of course. Quest Online has different life skills. There is alchemy, smithing, tailoring, and tons of other life skills you can learn inside the game," Seraphin said.

"Can I learn all these life skills with any class? Or does it need to be with a specific class?" Leo asked.

"The game developers wanted the life skills to be completely different from the combat classes, so no. There is a blank class named Life Skiller. You need to choose this class and then learn one profession inside the game. If you choose to learn to smith, you'll not be able to learn alchemy, for example."

"They did this so that every profession depends on one another, and also because it's hard to master one profession, imagine all of them." Seraphin gave Leo a complete explanation regarding the life skills inside the game.

"But if I do choose this Life Skiller class and learn a profession, how can I level up inside the game? I assume that these classes are poor at killing monsters," Leo said.

"You're right, they are bad against monsters and other players. But as you level up your profession inside the game, you'll also earn XP to level up," she answered, and acted differently afterward.

"Leo, I'll only say this to you because we're friends, and you gave me a name. Quest Online lets you have more than one class, so if you're planning to become a Life Skiller, later on inside the game you can have another class."

"Really?" Leo was surprised not only by the information but because Seraphin was telling him that.

"Yes, but bear in mind that you'll have to find a hidden class, and it's not all of them that allows you to mix. Some hidden classes will erase the class you currently have."

"I see," Leo thought for a moment about what path he would choose, and then he decided.

"Seraphin," he looked seriously into her eyes and said, "I want the Life Skiller class."

"Okay then," she said.

A message appeared, flying through the wind, saying.

Enter your character name

Leo didn't hesitate and chose his real name, Leo.

Choose your race

"Human."

Leo's vision darkened and soon he found himself in an unknown place.

"Where am I? I forgot to ask her about the respawn location, damn it."

He was an old man almost clueless about the game, alone. For a moment he wished that his grandchildren would be there to help him.

And for the first time in who knows how much time, Leo felt happy. He stayed there, looking at his surroundings, enjoying his sight once again...

Quest Online didn't allow you to customize that much of your character looks, so Leo didn't do that. He had almost the same look like IRL. An old man with white hair, and a mustache that suited him very well.

Like all MMORPGs starts, Leo only had ragged clothing with zero armor, and a dagger.

"So, where do I start?"

Leo found himself in a village. He noticed that there were tons of players around him, and everyone looked excited to play the game. He didn't want to wait and didn't want to waste time talking to other players, he knew that the NPCs inside the game held the information he was after.

The beginner's village had almost zero buildings in it, and the few it had were all made of wood. It didn't look that the people there had any money. Leo walked through the muddy road, thinking about what life skill he would choose.

"Hm, smithing and alchemy seem like good profit. Should I choose one of these two or another?" he didn't have much information about any of the life skills inside the game, and that was the first thing he planned to do. He was going to make sure to look for information about all the life skills, that way he would be able to have a clear judgment on what life skill to choose from.

After a couple of minutes of exploring the village, Leo found what he was looking for, an Inn. It was common sense that innkeepers had a lot of information, and it was also common sense that drunken people would spill the information.

The inn was also made of wood, but it was clearly more well-built than the rest of the village. Leo walked through the inn's door, dragging the attention of all the NPCs inside of it.

"Come in, come in. It is rare to see a new face around here," the innkeeper said with a gentle smile.

"What do you mean? Is there something wrong with this place?" Leo asked, trying to learn something.

"Oh, no, quite the contrary, the village of Meham is the perfect place for a peaceful travel, because, well, as you probably noticed, there isn't much here to stress you." everyone inside the Inn laughed after hearing the innkeepers words.

"I see," Leo decided to sit on the wooden bench near the innkeeper to have a proper conversation.

"So, what's your name?" Leo asked. He had a natural talent to persuade people, and NPCs were technically the same, so maybe, just maybe, he could use that fact in his favor.

"I'm Robert. Nice to meet you," he answered in a friendly manner.

"I'm Leo. Nice to meet you too."

Their conversation lasted long, and Leo managed to find some information about the world and life skills.

"So Leo," said Robert, laughing like a maniac, drinking yet another shot of who knows what.

"Hm?"

"Did you know that a legendary figure was born in this little town? Awesome isn't it?" Robert said.

"What do you mean by legendary figure?" Leo got interested in what Robert was going to say.

"Francis Bexley, this world's best artisan of all time. That man mastered everything you can imagine. Smithing, alchemy, enchanting, and even magic, true legend.

"What happened to him? I'm interested in knowing this, Francis."

"Not one knows, the guy simply vanished twenty years ago," Robert said, which made Leo sad.

"Hey, don't look that sad, Leo. Some people say that his secret research cave is still around here somewhere. No one found it in years, but maybe you can.

Ding New Quest acquired

The descendant of Bexley, the artisan

Quest Rank: SSS

You had heard stories about the legends among all craftsman, Francis Bexley. The innkeeper of Meham thinks that Francis's lab is still around here somewhere.

Quest objective: find Francis hidden lab.

"What?"