Chapter 13 Research

A blue faint light shined behind Alex and he turned around to see what Gabriel found, but it was Gabriel's status page.

"Source of light..." Gabriel said with a smile making Alex laugh.

"What are you guys doing?" a voice said behind them, making both of them freeze.

"So you guys also know killing NPC gives XP," the voice said.

Alex and Gabriel immediately turned around and looked at the person behind them, he was standing outside the door so they could see him clearly because of the light outside.

"What are you doing here Max" Alex sneered at him.

"Don't call my real name, this is a game, I saw two players killing NPCs and when I got close it was you guys"

"Haven't you leveled up, what are you still doing in the newbie village?" Gabriel asked.

"Walking around and stuff, there is a possibility that a powerful weapon or armor is here in the newbie village," Max said.

"People are coming, hide..." Max ran inside and closed the door immediately.

Alex and Gabriel quickly swiped their status screen and the house was covered in darkness. The three of them heard footsteps approaching but it was heading somewhere else.

"How are we going to find our way outside without making a single noise" Max whispered.

"I think I have something, but I'm not sure it would work," Alex said.

"What is that?"

"I found a light orb but I don't know the use of light orbs, maybe it's used for seeing at night"

"No...though they give little light, light orbs are used for upgrading equipment quality," Max told them.

Alex opened his inventory and brought out the orb, though it brought little light it was still better than nothing.

"So this orb can be used to upgrade equipment, can the grade of the equipment be changed through this upgrade?" Gabriel asked.

"Yes, but it would require other things like a beast crystal or a rare metal or something like, that depending on the grade" Max explained.

"How did you know so much about this game when you are playing for the first time?" Alex asked Max.

"I told you before, I did my research..." Max said.

"Research right...and what exactly did you research, details of the game cannot be posted on the internet, you can do a live stream but you can't explain about the game so how did you do research," Alex said.

Max looked around thinking of what to say but before he could speak Alex took out his dagger and held it towards Max.

"Speak..."

"You know you can't kill me right, your weapon is useless against me," Max said.

"Maybe we should find out," Alex said.

"That's not what I mean, you can't kill a player in the newbie village, it won't work, try it," Max said.

"Are you serious, if you say so" Alex held the dagger tightly and plunge it into Max's neck but the dagger was stopped by an invisible force just before it got to his neck.

"I told you, it won't work, players can't kill other players in the newbie village, if we can kill each other they would be war don't you think"

"So players can't kill each other..." Gabriel asked.

"Only in the newbie village, but it's different outside"

"So are you going to tell us the truth about your research or you would wait till we exit the newbie village," Alex said.

"Okay, but please don't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you," Max said.

"Okay..." both of them replied.

"My dad works at the gaming company that produced Nova Online, he was the one that told me all about the game, so I could be a professional player and earn money," Max told them.

"You know people that work there can't give information to players or they would be fired," Gabriel said.

"Yes, that's why you can't tell anyone, he told me not to tell anyone or he would kill me"

"But now you are telling us, isn't that kinda stupid" Alex scoffed.

"Wait...if you know much about the game we can travel together, we can be a team," Gabriel said.

"That's what I was telling you guys earlier, if we work together we can become top players," Max said.

"Okay, so what else do you know?" Alex asked.

"I can't tell you all I know at once, I would tell you if something comes up, and besides I haven't finished reading all my dad sent me," Max said.

"He sent you a note..."

"Yes, I'm not done with it yet, but I know all the basic information"

"Maybe we can get together to read it sometime" Alex suggested.

"That would be nice, so what are you guys up to? Max asked.

"We need to dress up as NPC so we would be able to enter a building, we suspect something important may be in there," Gabriel told him.

"Why dress up as NPC, can't you just go in as normal players, they can't differentiate between NPC and players, they don't even know they are NPC, they think of themselves as human"

"There is a guard at the entrance of the place," Alex said.

"Don't tell me it's that building at the end, the small hut that a huge man guards" Max said.

"Yes, it's that place, what is that place?"

"I don't know, but you can't get in without a pass, even if you dress as NPCs you still can't get in," Max said.

"Did you say a pass..."

"Yes, I haven't seen the pass before, but when I approach the man, he told me to show him my pass"

Alex chuckled softly, "I think we have what we need"

Alex and Gabriel took off their clothes and placed them inside their inventory, then they wore normal NPC clothes that they found inside the house, Max joined them when he saw that they were serious.

"So what's the plan, you can't hope to defeat the guard at the door because he's the only level 10 NPC in the newbie village," Max told them as they walked towards the building.

"The guard is level 10, imagine the amount of XP I would gain if I kill him" Alex smirked.

"Is this how he normally behaves?" Max whispered to Gabriel.

"No, it's like he's possessed by a spirit, but it's just a game so I wouldn't worry much"