13 The Truth
Upon reaching his apartment, Luke first removed his apprentice robe and mask. Then he locked all the doors and windows to prevent any pages from flying away.
He then sat down on his bed, and seriously began reading the 200 page thick stack of papers.
This silent atmosphere continued for an hour before Luke had finally reach all the pages, and had formed a complete copy in his mind. Currently, this was the only book in his mind. He then burned the stack of papers to ash to prevent someone else from benefiting through his money and hard work.
He then opened some of the windows to let some fresh air in and remove the carbon dioxide released from the burning.
He then sat cross-legged on his king-sized bed and closed his eyes to begin seriously understanding the book.
This continued for another 4 hours before Luke stopped around 1/4th of the way through to go out and get some lunch.
Wearing his double-breasted coat, he took 10 silver coins, a few bronze, and a handful of copper coins, and stuffed them into three separate pouched before tying them to the belt that held the 'cursed dagger.'
This dagger may not have been of much use so far, since most of Luke's encounters were pre-planned and well thought out in advance. However, Luke knew that it would one day come in use, and maybe even save his life.
Therefore he never disarmed himself of this dagger and the revolver under his left armpit.
Although using a firearm was illegal, owning one and using it only for self-defense within the city was permitted. Therefore he wasn't worried about that.
He went to the nearby restaurant and decided to some Segu pie, the local delicacy of a small city about 200 km south of Sozra.
Along with that, he had some Malt beer along with it.
While seated at a table on the roadside, he greeted a few acquaintances he had made over the past month. These included barbers, shop keepers, some overly gossipy ones, but it mostly did not include anyone important within even Sozra, not to mention meeting the important figures of the Leon Kingdom.
However, that did not matter since he had a lot of time to spare when it came to making relations.
The open beta would open in 52 days, and last for about 1 month in game. Then it would be another 2 years before the players actually came to 'Ultimatum' and destroyed the fragile balance in Gamin, resulting in the war.
Anyway, Luke was already making preparations for the actual release of the game. He intended on allowing the Leon kingdom to rope in as many players as possible. This would benefit him as well since The Guild of Magic's Leon Kingdom headquarters was also its main base. Most of the guild's resources were invested into Leon and since the guild has most of the knowledge of the Magician pathway, Luke intended on allowing the Leon kingdom to survive for as long as possible until he could extract all the knowledge from the guild. The he could simply discard the kingdom and shift to the Roland Theocracy, or the Holy Kingdom of Islesat.
But this was far in the future, and who knew what twists and turns fate might bring about?
…
After enjoying a hearty meal, Luke paid the 1 bronze for the meal and started walking back to his rented apartment.
Just as he turned the corner, he heard sobbing sounds from an alley across him. Although he didn't want to bother with such a stereotypical 'slave girl' episode, he decided to investigate, since such scenarios always, and he meant 'ALWAYS!' had a quest attached to it.
How could the great Luke reject a helpless and naïve quest?
Walking in to take a closer look, Luke saw a small child, about 7 years of age. He was wearing rather luxurious clothes for a commoner, and had a gold ring around his right hand, with the insignia of the Leon kingdom.
'Not a slave girl I see.' Luke commented inwardly as he narrowly escaped a useless trope.
'But he seems to be a noble, and one closely related to the royal family?'
"Hey kid, are you alright?" Luke asked the standard quest activation question to be used helpless children.
"Yes, I want to go home!" said the kid as he reigned in his tears.
However, no quest notification popped up, so Luke decided to press further.
"What happened? Why are you here alone? Where are your parents"
"Dad was mixing special medicine. He then gave it to Fluffy, but instead of healing Fluffy, it made Fluffy big! Fluffy became biiig Fluffy, and then…"
"And then?"
"And then Big Fluffy ate father. Mommy took me and began to run. We ran and ran all the way until we finally escaped the forest and reached the city. Mommy took me with her into the city and told me to wait her for a while until she comes back, but she didn't come back."
Suddenly, a quest completion notification popped up in Luke's view.
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Chain Mission (3/4)- Investigate
The unknown creature was not a naturally born being. Investigate the ones behind the creation of the creature that caused the deaths of 24 humans before being slain by your hands.
Clues- 12/12
Difficulty- F+
-Completed-
Mission completion reward- 200 exp, 1 Talent point, 1 Skill point
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Chain Mission (4/4)- The Truth
The true reason behind the creation of the abomination that devastated the lives of countless is being investigated by the Leon Kingdom's Intelligence Agency, MI9. Handing the collected information to the relevant authorities would gain you faction points and a certain amount of money. However, finding out the truth yourself might be more beneficial.
Option 1: Hand over the information to MI9
Mission completion reward- 50 Faction points with MI9, and 10 Faction points with the Leon Kingdom
Difficulty F-
Option 2: Find the truth out by yourself
Mission Completion reward- Unknown
Difficulty: D-
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Instinctively, one thought came to Luke's mind, 'Unknown reward!'
Most of the times, Unknown rewards were incredibly precious items and skills. Sometimes, Unknown rewards even had hidden quests, and other times, they could contain special items that led to some incredible benefits.
The Hidden Quest Spies also had Unknown reward, which also made him want to complete that mission quickly. However, that was a long term mission that required at least a year.
Without thinking about gaining the faction points of an already dying faction, Luke chose Option 2.
"How long ago did your mother leave you?" he probed.
"I don't know. I think 5 minutes. She should have come back by now."
Hearing this, Luke instinctively looked around. After a few seconds of intense vigilance, Luck decided to wait nearby for the mother, and tail her to complete Option 2.
"Don't worry little man. You mother will be back real soon. I will be going now. Bye"
With this, Luke turned around and walked out of the alley, and went across the rather sparsely populated street, where he entered a coffee shop and order a cup of black coffee with milk and 12 spoons of sugar.
In real life, Luke had diabetes, which forced him to control the amount of sugar in his body. However, in Lucas' body, Luke chose to indulge himself in as much sugar as humanly possible once a while.
With the in one hand, Luke chose to sit at one of the tables on the outside of the shop, saying that he preferred fresh air. Naturally, this was to be able to hear the child leaving.
He didn't intend on wasting any time stalking a child. Instead, he used his enhanced Perception to be able to hear everything going on inside the alley, while blocking out most of the irrelevant sounds from elsewhere.
With this, he closed his eyes and began trying to understand the advancement knowledge.
…
Time passes incredibly slowly, and after nearly an hour of meticulous reading, Luke finally heard footsteps from inside the alley.
Opening his eyes, Luke stopped stretching his mind to the limit trying to understand the contents of the knowledge.
He put down his sup and paid for the coffee, but he did not get up from his seat. Instead, he sat in the same place, trying to hear what was happening inside.
"Don't worry little Zack, mommy will take care of everything. The old base was destroyed by Fluffy, but there are still plenty more hidden in Leon. We just need to move to another one and report the problem. I have already bought the tickets, so we should go to the train now. Are you ready?"
"But mommy, what happened to Fluffy and Father?"
"Uh, father went to take a nap inside Fluffy. Don't worry about him. We need to leave now before the MI9 catch up to us."
"MI9?"
"Yes. They are bad guys who try and stop your father from making the medicine. Come now young man. We need to leave Sozra."
"Alright mommy!"
…
Soon, the mother and son duo left the alley, walking swiftly towards the only train station in Sozra.
A few meters behind them, Luke was following them casually, as though he was going for a stroll.
Upon arriving at the train station, Luke took a glance at the train ticket Zack's mother was holding, and quickly went to the cashier to buy a ticket on the same train.
Currently, most of his wealth was in the rental apartment, amounting to nearly 30 silver. However, they were hidden separately throughout the entire house, preventing any thief from taking it all.
He spent almost an entire silver for the ticket, and got on the train with his remaining 9 silver, 28 bronze and 14 copper.
