Hidden Quest

"Where are we going? And what do you want as a reward?" I followed her from behind.

"Make me a potion that can heal any disease."

I'll have to cross different realms to get the main ingredient, I thought to myself and added, at least that's better than the fear of getting killed in your sleep.

"Is that it?" I asked for confirmation

"Yeah."

"Okay."

We left the station as she said, "We're lucky in this town."

"Why is that?"

"Come on, follow me." I followed her. We were in a part of the city I barely knew. She led me somewhere, crossing innumerable shops, alleyways and now, in a quiet area.

From the signs hanging, it seemed to be the district area, the type that became quite busy at night.

We entered a cafe and took a seat at the counter table. It had a relaxing ambience with jazz in the background. The bartender, a youth with glasses, approached us.

"Ms. Shino, welcome back. Is there something I can get for you?"

"American Latte with warm water."

"And what might this gentleman want?"

"Coffee milk and cold water."

"Understood." He nodded with a smile.

"Ren, wait." She gave the bartender a card. He received it and looked at it. He stood like that for a few seconds straight.

"So, why did you bring me here? If we're looking for his whereabouts, we can wait. He's always the one that comes to me. After we beat him, we can interrogate him to know his location," I said.

"But there is no guarantee he's going to tell us."

"If that's the case, I can call someone that knows about him." Airi's face flashed in my mind.

"No need, we're here to get myself prepared."

"I'm sorry it took a while, Ms. Shino." The bartender, Ren, finally spoke after looking at the card for fifteen seconds straight.

"Don't worry."

"Here is your item." Ren tapped the table a few times and a wooden staff materialized out of the thin air.

That's similar to Zero, I thought to myself and shifted my head to him. He played a lot of games before. Based on what happened earlier, he store items for players.

"You don't look surprised at all." Ms. Shino criticized my lack of expression.

"Who is he?" I asked, ignoring her words. From her words, it seemed a weapon coming out of the thin air was a rare thing.

"He's Ren. An NPC from Divinity. He store items for free. Each player is limited to six slots."

As I thought, I said to myself.

"NPC? But he looks like us. How did you know he's an NPC anyway?"

"Try to appraise him."

"How?"

"Look at him for ten seconds. An option should appear."

I heeded and exactly ten seconds later, two options appeared.

[Appraise]

[...?]

I willed the system to chose the first option. A display name popped up above Ren's body and below it written, 'Bartender of La Grande Giroflée's Cafe'

Shortly afterward, two more people entered the cafe and looked at me warily. When they saw Ms. Shino, however, their expressions softened and they sat.

I turned my eyes to her.

"They're early access players just like you. They probably thought you're here for trouble. Most players already know this place and want to hog its purpose on their own.

"Fortunately, most players defend this place and make sure it's available for everyone." She explained.

"Here you go, Ms. Shino, Mr. 007." Ren gave us drinks.

"Mr. 007? Please call me Ryuta."

"Very well, Mr. Ryuta." He nodded politely.

"Ren, I want to know everything about a person called Hanazaki." Ms. Shino gave him ten gold coins. I frowned.

"Very well." Ren accepted the currency.

"Share it with him as well."

"Understood."

Ren's eyes began to stare into the distance. Following that, something appeared in front of my eyes.

Would you like to download [Hanazaki's Information.pdf?] Into the system?

Why is it a pdf? Such a line flashed through my mind.

I answered yes in my mind and the system took it as an answer. It was downloaded in less than a second and opened the file automatically, too.

It is filled with Hanazaki's information to a tee. His story from childhood to adulthood: his connections, friends, family and enemies.

His ability and the ones he stole. The condition to use his main ability, as well as the stolen ones.

"Can every player do that?" I asked her.

"About paying him to produce information about someone? No, I luckily completed his hidden quest. Though, Ren also has one more quest for him. Did you notice the locked option when you appraised him?"

"Yeah."

"Some players tried to figure out what it was. All fail."

"Even though you completed the hidden quest?"

"I haven't figured it out already. The clues to unlock it must be hidden in the previous quest."

"Can I help? We'll split the rewards in half."

"80:20. Your ability seems weak for fighting."

"60:40. My ability will be the one that you suck the most in the future."

"70:30. Like hell, you'll be dead before the Divinity is released globally!" She shouted.

"Oh, you haven't heard?" Ren said without warning, stopping our banter. Our eyes shifted from looking at each other to him.

"About what, Ren?" Ms. Shino asked.

"Due to some unknown circumstances, Divinity will only be available to certain countries. The developers are met with problems forcing this decision, and for each country, players are only limited to five thousand."

Ms. Shino frowned as she sensed something was wrong. The fact still remained though that less players mean less competition.

"Well, that's good. We don't have to worry about competition." She pressed her lips on the cup and sipped.

"Whoever controls Divinity must be similar to a god. Whoever makes them shrink back on their decision must be a force to reckon with," I concluded from a quick observation.

"They offered a deal the developers can't resist." Ren prepared drinks for other customers while talking with us. They don't seem to mind that.

"Money?" I instinctively spoke.

Ren finished making the drinks, gave them to the customers and returned to us, whispering, 'It's not about that. Divinity's existence clashes with an already existing concept in the sky, in order to keep Divinity running, the developers had to decrease the number of players.'

"Heavens exist?" I raised one eyebrow. "How did you know this? Aren't you just a bartender?" I looked at him suspiciously.

"I can't answer you that question, I am sorry."

"What do you mean by clashing with an already existing concept, Ren?"

"I am sorry, Ms. Shino. You've helped me so much, but I can't tell you any further than this."

"I'll pay."

"It's not about money, Ms. Shino." He wore a troubled look

She fell silent, eyes still locked on Ren's. "I understand." She finally spoke and drank the last bit of her drink. I listened to their conversation while drinking. Like her's, not a drop remains on my cup.

She got up and walked to the exit. I followed along. Ren's heart filled with guilt as he was watching her leaving. Finally, he couldn't contain the guilt any longer.

"Ms. Shino!" He yelled. "The path chosen by those who seek to be Immortal and stood at the peak. A fantasy everyone loves and hates, where sword and magic pale in their wonder!"

That's a hint, I thought to myself.

Ms. Shino turned around and performed a deep bow without a word, and then leave. I walked from behind her.

The two customers looked at Ren weirdly.

"I'm sorry for the inconveniences." He bowed slightly.

Now outside, we walked towards the station. While walking, I asked, "Have you figured out what he might be referring to?"

"Not at all. We should be thankful he goes all the way to do that." She shook her head.

"A fantasy where sword and magic pale in their wonder, huh? Something about becoming immortal and standing at the peak..." I recounted his words as I was contemplating. "I feel like I have heard this kind of story before."

"It's not from the west. That much is certain."

As we were talking, we already reached the station and entered.

I opened my phone and entered the words the man said on the searching bar.

"Oh, so it's cultivation, I remember it now. So cultivators do exist." I remarked. "Those at the peak of the cultivation must have had a nice chat with people from Divinity, that's what must've happened," I concluded.

"What's a cultivation?" Ms. Shino asked. The train arrived.

"People get stronger over time using different kinds of methods to be Immortal and stand among the heavens. If you read cultivation stories, most cultivators are prideful in their powers, making them hateful and like to bully the weak.

"If you get on their bad side even though you've done something right, they won't stop bothering you until you show them you can't be messed with."

"I see, they're inhumane people with superpowers."

"That's one way to put it. There are also kind people, but rather hard to find. You're exposed to a lot of things, even the darkest side of humanity, as you advance through tribulations and trials to be Immortal, after all," I explained.

As I was speaking, someone entered our range of vision. A man with one eyed closed, an Arabic symbol on his forehead, curly, messy, malnutritious hair. He had red skin like he caught a disease, he was skinny like someone who hadn't eaten in days.

[An abnormality has been detected!]

Immediately afterward, a red notification appeared right after I saw him.

My heart skipped a beat the moment I saw him. My pupils shrank back to the tip of the pen. I forgot to breathe.

This man... What is he? I asked myself as I felt an intense and despair aura from him, like a hopeless bunny before the apex predator.