30 First Raid
After Merlin was done conversing with the NPCs, the group of new arrivals approached him. It was easy to guess what the classes of three were. Two of them were most likely mages like Merlin and one of them was most probably a martial artist.
"Hey, your a player as well right?" One of the three players spoke to Merlin.
"Yeah, and you guys are?"
"Oh damn, sorry about that, it's just so hard to differentiate who's the NPC and who's a player. Well, I guess if you see the tattoo on our faces would be a good indication, but you never know. Hi, I'm disguisedfox, these two are lonelypants, and Diablo, you must be the same as us a streamer right?" The player who was speaking was a rather cute looking girl with a nice smiling face. 'Was this her real appearance or did she modify it?'
"I'm Merlin, and yeah I'm a streamer as well."
...
While the three players were talking to each other, the final streamer arrived. After the last streamer was done with choosing a class and getting his equipment, Raymond ordered one of the local guild members to call everyone back to the square.
Once everyone was gathered, Raymond spoke in a loud voice so that everyone would hear him.
"My fellow Guild Members of the Guild Eternal, with our current strength it is finally time to uphold justice and eliminate the vile monsters and rescue the captured maidens!"
Hearing Raymond's declaration the local guild members let out a warcry. Raymond then activated the quest he made in the Create Quest application. This quest could only be seen by the players.
[Story Quest: For Justice]
[As a summoned warrior of the Guild Master Raymond, you must help him uphold justice by eliminating the monsters and saving the damsels in distress]
[S Rank mission]
[Requirements:
Kill goblins: 0/20
Kill hobgoblins 0/5
Save captured women 0/2]
[Task Reward: +10 attribute points, +3 SP, increased affinity with Guild Master, 1 Rare Equipment]
Seeing the mission prompt Merlin and the others were getting excited. The five streamers decided that they needed to stay together if they wanted to have a chance to do this quest.
...
"Hey, did you guys try using your skills?" As the NPCs were getting ready to leave, one of the streamers named Gandalfisawizard asked the others. All of them shook their heads in response.
"No, not yet, why?" Merlin asked.
"See for yourselves." Doing as Gandalfisawizard said Merlin tapped on the Energy Bolt skill, and then a video on how to do it was displayed. First, he needed to think of the words Energy Bolt, then a text box would appear before him which he needed to read the words. Then he needed to point his staff in the direction of the enemy. Everything seems to be easy enough but then Merlin noticed what he needed to say to activate the spell.
'O mana gather and form, [Energy Bolt]' It was short and easy to say, but it felt embarrassing to say it. It was then the group finally noticed something else.
'Doesn't this mean if we get stronger spells, the more complicated and longer it would be. We might be speaking a whole essay in the higher levels.'
"You guys think you have it hard? To use my active skill I need to follow a set pattern of movements shown by the skill assist function." Lonelypants told the others as he made awkward punching movements, but after a few tries, he was able to use his skill.
"This game truly is something else. This kind of way of using skills might be hard, but it seems like it's going to be fun." Disguisedfox told her opinion to the others. Seeing a pretty girl smile made the four male players swoon a bit. Even lonelypants no longer felt angry at the difficulty of using the skills. In fact, the four male players started thinking that the way to activate skills was rather fun and innovative.
As the five were practicing their skills, they saw that the NPCs seem to be done with their preparation as they started walking out of the Guild space with Raymond at the forefront.
...
As Merlin and the other players followed the NPCs they couldn't help but once again marvel at how realistic and good looking this game was. As they were walking through the oak-brown forest, the players were enchanted.
Looking at the tall and ancient-looking trees made the group of players truly feel that they were transported into a fantasy world. At the distance, they could hear the growling and roaring of the animals or would be monsters, which just added to the fantasy atmosphere they were feeling.
These look and feel coupled with the sunlight illuminating the forest just added to the appeal. Some of the players thought, If only there was some BGM that matched the scenery it would be even more epic. On the other hand, the others felt like a game like this shouldn't have any BGM as it might ruin their immersion.
...
'Why is the host joining the raid? Did the host forget that he doesn't have the undying body like the others? If the host is worried about EXP, The host could've stayed in the Guild space and still receive ample experience points.' Hearing the system saying a stream of words, surprised Raymond. Usually, the system wouldn't start a conversation and only talk when Raymond speaks to it.
'Are you worried about me?'
'The system is worried about the host in a lot of ways, for example, the host's intelligence.'
'Now that's the system I know... Well, of course, if I can I wouldn't want to risk my neck by going to such a dangerous place. But this is necessary, I need to show the players how cool and badass I am. I need to make a good first impression on these streamers for my future plans.'
'Future plans? Does the host have the capability to even make plans?' Hearing that comment Raymond and his system started arguing again.
'This is the problem when you have a system with an AI.'
...
On the way to the cave, some monsters had attacked the group but they were easily killed. The players had leveled up because of these random encounters. The first time the players saw a monster come attacking, they were frozen on the spot. They knew that it was a game in their heads, but seeing the approaching monsters still made them scared. But after some more encounters, the players were finally able to adapt and assist in killing the monsters on the way to the cave.
When Lux saw the players' performance he felt disappointed. 'Are these guys really warriors from another world? If they freeze up from some small animals attacking them, will they even be able to help in fighting hobgoblins? They might hinder the operation. I wonder what the Guild Master is thinking summoning these guys to help.'
