Emergency quest

[Natta Blades (Grade 2)]

Damage: 17-23

Effect 1: [Bleed]- Applies the bleed effect when hitting the target's skin. Deal 1 damage every 5 seconds for 1 minute.

Effect 2: [Pairing] - Natta Blades exist as a pair, without their twin blade, reduced the weapons stats and effects by 50%

Li Wei crouched next to Ranger Oleg's body and picked the two daggers. They were unexpectedly Grade 2 equipment! The Natta Blades were an excellent pair of weapons but they paled in comparison to Li Wei's Dark Runic Swords. He swiftly placed them in his inventory and continued to search Ranger Oleg's body.

To his disappointment, there were no more valuables aside from the ring at his finger and the keys to open the graveyard. Having been playing the role of the gravekeeper, Ranger Oleg did not wear any rare equipment.

"Just too bad... But I hope your brother won't disappoint me."

Li Wei picked the ring and the keys and made his way to Mage Oleg.

[Skull wand (Grade 2)]

Intelligence +1

Wisdom +1

Skill: [Summon Skeleton]

[Summon Skeleton (level 1)]

Summons a skeleton to fight for the user for 3 minutes. All the stats of the skeleton are equal to the caster's wisdom.

Mana cost: 60

Cooldown: 2 hours.

"What a powerful wand! I was so lucky he did not use this skill!" exclaimed Li Wei. In the hand of a priest who invested a lot in Wisdom, even at this stage, they could summon a skeleton with all stats set at 25. The skeleton would be much stronger than any players or even NPCs at that level.

[Magic Silk Robe (Grade 2)]

Armor +3

Magic resist +7

Skill: [Mana absorption]

[Mana absorption (level 1)]

A passive skill that increases the user's mana regeneration rate.

Mana Regeneration +1/second

"No wonder he was able to cast so many skills. He could regenerate so much mana... It is even better than my [Tear of Fairies]."

Li Wei sent the two pieces of equipment in his inventory and continued to loot.

[Boots of Gelor]

Armor: +6

Skill: [Blink]

[Blink (level 1)]

Instantly teleports the user a short distance away.

Teleportation distance: 3m

Mana cost: 40

Cooldown: 10 minutes

[Aquamarine Trousers]

Magic resist +10

Skill: [Refresh]

[Refresh (level 1)]

Instantly refreshes the cooldown of a skill whose cooldown time is less than two minutes, including itself.

Mana cost: 30

Cooldown: 2 minutes.

Li Wei's eyes widened. What a deadly combo. The Aquamarine Trousers combined with the Magic Silk Robe formed the ideal set of equipment of a mage. "D*mn, I could have been in so much more trouble. Fortunately, he did not blatantly attack me when I was close to his brother."

"Such a pity I am not a mage... These items are so good," exclaimed Li Wei. He looked at the pieces of equipment in his inventory with envy. They were all tailored for mages, however, Li Wei still decided to change his pants for the [Aquamarine Trousers] and his boots for the [Boots of Gelor].

Both items outclassed his previous equipment. He continued to search for more loot but unfortunately, Mage Oleg only had two more rings. He did not have any leg guards, gloves, armguards or hat.

Li Wei briefly looked at the rings but quickly lost interest. He could not take off his [Ring of Chaos] and the ring with [Earth Wall] was still very useful to Li Wei. Unfortunately, the Mage's pendant also exploded after activating its skill earlier.

These were all the equipment Mage Oleg had but aside from that, Li Wei also found an old yellow book in the mage's robe. It was already clearly damaged by time. However, when Li Wei grabbed it, he obtained the following system prompt:

[System prompt: You have found a tome containing the knowledge of the skill: [Roots of Magic]. Do you want to learn this skill? Once used, the tome will be destroyed.]

[Roots of Magic (level 0)]

Mana cost: 0

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Effects: Decrease the mana cost of all skills by 30% and decrease the cooldown of all other skills by 20%

Note: Roots of Magic will be automatically canceled if the user tries to move his legs or is affected by a strong crowd control effect

"D*mn... Another item useful for mages..." complained Li Wei. He thought he struck gold but in truth, all these items were not suitable for him. However, they would still be valuable and would bring him a large sum of money when sold.

"This should be it."

Li Wei stood up. The quest had been completed. He did not need to spend the night here since he now had the keys to the gate of the graveyard. However, as he was about to walk out of the house, Li Wei's gaze briefly landed on the small opening next to the hobs from which Mage Oleg came out.

"Now that I think about it. Since they have been robbing graves, they should have a few good things in there."

He hesitantly went through the small opening which led to a small cache. As soon as he entered, Li Wei was momentarily blinded by the glistening sight. The cache was filled with gold coins and jewels.

After plundering the graveyard for weeks, the twin brother accumulated quite a bit of gold and items. They did not hesitate to sell the items to the black market and had accumulated a small fortune by doing so. They were planning to run away very soon to enjoy their gold in a different town but unfortunately, the sole beneficiary of their shady business would be Li Wei.

[System prompt: You have found a hidden cache. Do you want to automatically add the following items to your inventory: 592 gold, 20 Grade 0 Jewels and 20 Condensed Crystals. Note that non-craftable jewels have already been converted to gold.]

[System prompt: You have found the Quest item: Chalice of Harmony. Do you want to accept the quest: The long lost Chalice.]

[Quest: The long lost Chalice]

Return the chalice to the church at the capital of an empire.

Reward: 10000 exp and a follow-up quest.

"This... This is too great! I knew the rewards for completing the quest would be huge but I did not expect so much!" exclaimed Li Wei. Without hesitation, he agreed to both system prompts. The cache was emptied in an instant as Li Wei's inventory became full.

He looked at his inventory with interest. He now had 619 gold, much more than any player could hope to obtain through normal means. The Grade 0 jewels were materials that could be embedded into weapons. They were not very useful to Li Wei as only Jewellers could use them and this profession could only be unlocked at the capital. As for the Condensed Crystal, they immediately attracted Li Wei's attention.

[Condensed Crystal]

Consume to obtain 1000 exp

Li Wei was delighted. The harvest this time was huge! He was about to use the Condensed Crystal when a thought suddenly crossed his mind.

'Since all these items were essentially robbed from the graves, will I get into trouble if I do not return them all? They should all belong to rich NPCs and their families might come after me... The Condensed Crystals coincidentally give me the exact amount of exp I would have obtained if I submitted the quest.'

He was in a dilemma. The harvest looked too good to be true and after thinking for a while, Li Wei came up with a potential scenario. In the end, he chose to not touch the Condensed Crystals yet. He would first go to the Warrior Association and see whether they would ask for the items.

'If it was a subjugation quest, it would have been fine to just take everything but this quest is a bit different. It is better to be safe. Using them now won't have much effect anyway. I need more than 40 thousand exp to level up again.'

Li Wei was about to leave the house when suddenly, two system prompts sounded:

[System prompt: An emergency quest has been issued: Save the warehouses!]

[Quest: Save the warehouses(Unique)]

[Information]

The warehouses of Verdan Town have all mysteriously caught fire. Help the guards put out the fire and save the food stored in the warehouses

Task 1: Go to the well near the warehouses and help the guard put out the fire by carrying buckets of water from the well to the warehouses.

Task 2: Save the items still in the warehouses.

Reward: 100 exp per item saved or 100 exp per bucket of water carried

Note: This is an emergency quest. Players do not have to participate. Not participating in any emergency quest will worsen their relationship with the citizens of the town.

[System prompt: An emergency quest has been issued: Find the arsonists!]

[Quest: Find the arsonists(Unique)]

[Information]

The warehouses of Verdan Town have all mysteriously caught fire. The guards have identified that the incident was man-made due to the fire's abnormal resistance to magic. Help the guards find clues about the arsonists.

Task: Find clues about the arsonists and report to the barracks

Reward 1: 20000 exp for each clue given if the arsonists are caught.

Reward 2: Alternatively, players would receive a mysterious reward for arresting the arsonists by themselves.

Note: This is an emergency quest. Players do not have to participate. Not participating in any emergency quest will worsen their relationship with the citizens of the town.

"What? What on earth is happening outside?" exclaimed Li Wei. Having received the system prompts, Li Wei was certain that all the players have also received it and considering the negative effects of refusing, everyone would definitely participate.

"This is bad." Li Wei briefly looked at his character window. His fatigue was already at 54. It was quite high and after passing 60, his stats would be affected. He was reluctant to take part in the quests but he knew all the other players also had high fatigue levels. Some might even be in worse shape than him.

He quickly left Oleg's house and went to the entrance of the graveyard. In the distance, he could already see part of the town brightly emitting an orange light. He took out the keys and opened the gates but at that moment, two more system prompts sounded:

[System prompt: An emergency quest has been issued: Defend Verdan Town!]

[Quest: Defend Verdan Town(Unique)]

[Information]

The scouts caught sight of a wave of flying demons. They should arrive at Verdan Town in the next ten minutes. Help the town defend against the demons

Task: Go to the barracks and enroll yourself for the night. Assist the guards in killing the flying demons

Reward: 10000 exp

Note: This is an emergency quest. Players do not have to participate. Not participating in any emergency quest will worsen their relationship with the citizens of the town.

[System prompt: An emergency quest has been issued: Escort the Royals!]

[Quest: Escort the Royals(Unique)]

[Information]

The aim of the flying demons is the Earl's castle. The Earl has ordered for his two sons, the 6th prince and the 7th princess to be evacuated.

Task: Go to the barracks and volunteer to escort one of the four characters during their escape to the next town.

Reward: 10000 exp

Note: This is an emergency quest. Players do not have to participate. Not participating in any emergency quest will worsen their relationship with the citizens of the town.

"What is this? Two more emergency quests? This cannot be a coincidence. Is it an event? Did somebody trigger it?"

...

In the middle of the night, Skywalker rushed across the streets, wearing his trusty cloak. "Are you sure we made the right decision? There is a quest that has been released to hunt us!"

Dark King bit his lips. "We knew something like that would happen but as soon as we leave the town, everything will be fine. Nobody will know that we were behind this."

Followed by a group of players, the two players went into a dark alley where a cloaked figure was waiting for them.

"Sir, we have done our part of the plan. As you requested, we swapped some of the fruits for the explosives and put them in the warehouses. At the same time, my men have set the other warehouses on fire. They should be on their way here," solemnly said Dark King.

"Hmmm." The cloaked figure took out his cloak and nodded. If Li Wei was here, he would immediately recognize the cloaked figure as the old identifier!

"You did well. This should have caused enough chaos to split the guards." The old identifier nonchalantly pressed onto one of the bricks behind him. It activated a secret mechanism; with a muffled cranking noise, the wall behind the old man slid open.

"Follow me. Everything you asked for has been prepared. We also prepared an escape path as you requested. However, it is also being used by our men to infiltrate the town." The old identifier guided the players to a secret warehouse where countless boxes full of potions were waiting for them.

Dark King grinned as he saw the glistening potions. At the same time, he received a system prompt:

[System prompt: You have completed the quest "Cause chaos", 100000 exp awarded.]

In an instant, Dark King leveled up to level 18. He received an absurd amount of exp just for completing one quest, allowing him to completely skip level 17. Furthermore, he was not the only one, all the members of Exodia, currently in Verdan Town, received the exact same notification.

The rewards were bountiful. He also got all these boxes of potions that would further increase the stats of his guildmates. However, this quest had a huge risk. If they were caught, not only were they guaranteed to die, they would also suffer in the future as they would be labeled as criminals. This quest was a high-risk high reward quest!

"Dark King. Will our guildmates be fine? They are still running away from the guards. They might get caught," murmured Skywalker.

"Since when did you start to worry about your guildmates? A few losses are inevitable but the majority should be able to make it here. Send them a message and tell them about the brick that opens the wall."

Dark King swiftly commanded the players who transferred all the potions to their inventory. He was delighted. With the massive boost of power they have just received, Exodia should not have any trouble settling in a nearby town. At worst, if they were caught, they would be able to make a name for themselves at the Dark Cities.

The old identifier nodded as he noticed all the potions were gone. He pointed at one of the dark tunnels. "This is the exit. It leads directly outside the town."

However, at that moment, a dark figure emerged from the tunnel, followed by several other men.

The old identifier's eyes lit up. "Gogius! It has been a while. You are still as ugly as the last time I saw you."

"Old man. Time was not very kind to you either. Who are these guys?" asked Gogius as he took off his hood.

"They are the little helpers I found to cause some chaos. Some of the guards of the castle should have left to deal with the fire and with the incoming wave of demons, the castle would be even more defenseless," said the identifier.

"Good. Let's move quickly then. Our goal this time is the Eye of Mydas. It is one of the jewels found in the treasury of the Earl. According to the Messenger, it is a very powerful item that would be useful for the Heir of Darkness to release his third seal. He has already dispatched the flying demon corps to help us with this task."

"Got it. Looks like the faction is sparing no efforts in getting the best materials for the heir. Any regular jewels would have been alright but they are going for the best of the best," commented the old identifier.

"Do not question the orders of the Messenger." Gogius took the lead as several cloaked figures emerged out of the tunnel.

Dark King and the other players froze as they observed the long line of powerful NPCs making their way out of the secret tunnel. 'Looks like it was the right decision to not oppose these lunatics'

At that moment, a voice sounded next to Dark King. "By the way, Dark King. I have a proposition to make. Since you have already helped us cause chaos, why don't you help us in our next task?"