Chapter 6: Part 1

Soul Art Online

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 6: World Quest -1 

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- Arthas -

I woke up to a soft feeling on my face.

On opening my eyes, I saw white.

It took me a moment to realise what it was and I pulled away quickly.

The movement broke Veena's sleep and she looked at me groggily.

"Arthas. Did you wake up?"

I nodded mechanically while my brain was catching up with the events of the previous night.

The incidents with the Goblin had really affected me a lot more than I was expecting.

"Did you sleep well?" She asked again.

I did. It was probably the first peaceful nap I have had in a while. It might be due to finally letting my heart out about the whole thing.

"Yes."

"That's great. Not sleeping well can be very bad for our health. I am glad you are alright now."

"…. Thank you." I sincerely thanked her.

She looked at me slightly surprised before a bring smile dawned on her face. "Oh my. You look really handsome when you smile. You should do that more often."

"Huh?" It took me a moment to realise what she meant and my eyes widened.

I touched my face.

Was I smiling again?

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The morning went by quickly while I was feeling a lot fresher than before.

I could smile again.

Even if it was just barely, I was recovering my ability to show emotions.

This fact alone made me feel a lot more comfortable.

By breakfast time, Shiroe had also arrived there.

He ate his breakfast with us nowadays.

While eating, he looked at me curiously.

"Hmm? Is there something on my face?" I asked, tilting my head.

"No. You just….feel different somehow."

"Ah….I guess a good sleep does help a lot." I smiled.

His eyes widened. "You're smiling."

"Yes….I am."

"....that's great. Glad to have you back."

"Thanks."

We ate our dinner and talked about many things.

"You are level 25 and Veena is 28, right?" I asked and they nodded.

"In that case, we will get her to level 30 first." I suggested.

"Yes. Anyways, we will need to test out other classes for her while the Mage Class is already set for me." Shiroe agreed.

I checked my Shingen-ryu and it was level 21.

Shingen-ryu [Unique Skill] [Level 21] [Exp: 11001/21000]

Shingen-ryu or "Style That Originates From The Heart" is a school of Martial Arts in which the practitioner learns hand-to-hand combat as well as the ability to control their aura for combat.

Passively Increases +2 STR +2 END +2 DEX +2 INT +2 WIS per level.

Current Increase: +42 STR, +42 END, +42 INT, +42 WIS

This skill was seriously broken, at least at this stage.

This kind of increase was similar to having an extra T2 Class Stats added on my already existing stats.

Obviously, the advantages will be evened out at higher levels. But at this stage, it's absurdly broken. And it was not even at full level yet.

It's just that it takes too much time to level up as I can only practise it at night.

My mind went on to the other two rewards I had gotten from the 'Man of Culture' Achievement.

The ability to use Undead Classes while not being an Undead myself and the Goblin Slayer Class.

All three of these were related to the references I made to get these.

I should make a list of the references I can think of and test them all one by one.

"By the way, did you guys find anyone following or spying on you?" I asked, remembering the problem.

"Some people did look from a distance after we bought the hostages from the quest and some did ask me about it but nothing more than that." Shiroe accepted.

It had been a week since that day and whoever it was that was following us, didn't show up after that.

We had still maintained our usual routine of going out in disguise just to be careful.

"I see. By the way, do you know who among the other players is the highest level, outside our team, that is?"

"Hmm." He put a hand on his chin and thought for a while. "That must be Gareth and Dwain. They are leaders of two other teams, Azure Blade and Blood Knights. Gareth is a Martial Artist and Dwain is an Archer and each of their team has around six members. That said, the level of their members vary a lot. Three of their members are production classes or those who are probably being raised to become a Scholar and then a Mage. They are still T2. They are recruiting people quickly though so we must also start or we will be left behind."

"Hmm. By the way, do you have any name for the Guild?" Shiroe asked.

"Name?" I shook my head. "Hmm, let me think."

Which one should I do?

I thought of several things and decided on one of the most iconic ones that I knew.

"Fairy Tail."

"Fairy Tale? Because this world is no less than one?" Shiroe asked.

"No. Not tale. A Tail." I explained.

"Do Fairy even have tails?" He asked.

"That's the question. Do Fairy have tails? Do they even exist? It's an eternal mystery. An eternal adventure."

"Just that?" He asked sceptically.

"Well yeah…." I nodded.

"Sure. I don't see why not."

"Umm. Fairies do exist….those annoying bunch. Some of them do have tails too….but why not. This name is good." Veena said and we looked at her oddly while she just smiled.

"Great. Then I will register our guild after our hunt today." Shiroe agreed.

I smiled.

We got ready for the daily levelling and went outside as usual only for something odd to happen.

The gatekeeper at the gate stopped us.

We looked at him confused. This was the first time such a thing had happened.

"Excuse me? Is there something wrong?" Shiroe took the lead and questioned.

The guard nodded. "The City Lord's scouts have found traces of Goblin settlements merging. It is expected that a Goblin General was born"

"A Goblin General?"

"They are high tier 5 Monsters, incredibly strong and smart. They can rival a Lord Knight in terms of power but their most dangerous skill is the ability to lead goblins and other monsters. They can command Goblins of lower tier than themself and control hoards of such goblins. Previously, the largest hoard under a Goblin General was known to be around seventeen thousand goblins and they had destroyed a Mid Level City."

A Mid Level City was far bigger than something like Llyne. They had at least one Tier 6 person leading and several Tier 5 ones. Was a T5 monster that dangerous?

"And now you think the goblin settlements merging is the sign of a Goblin General being born?" Shiroe asked.

While it was called 'being born', it was actually some T4 Goblin Commander evolving into a General but such things were very rare.

"It's most likely. The City Lord has sent several scouts to different towns and we will be getting an update by this afternoon. Till then, by the orders of the City Lord, no one is allowed to leave the city." The gatekeeper insisted.

"I see. Thank you for telling us everything." Shiroe pulled out a gold coin and gave it to the man who casually slipped it in his pocket and looked around and then whispered something in his ears.

I merely raised an eyebrow while he turned around and we left back to head towards our home. He signalled us to wait till we got home.

"What was that about?" I asked as we reached home.

The guy brought out a piece of paper, ink and a feather pen. "The gatekeeper said that the City Lord will draft the players to face the Goblin raids. It's probably a large-scale quest. We need to make preparations in advance. How much funds do we have?"

"Around twenty eight thousand gold."

"I have seven thousand five hundred myself. We need to get as many supplies as we can. It will probably be a city defence type raid. Veena-san, can I ask you to prepare as many attack type consumables as you can? We are going to need tons of them. If somehow my predictions are wrong, we can always sell them to other players so we won't be suffering any losses. We will also need tons of healing items. Can you tell us what ingredients we are going to need and the prices?"

Veena nodded and started to make a list.

"Getting the ingredients will not be a problem but I don't think I can process so many of them even if I were to work all day. This much would take me working for a week to get everything ready." She said after completing the list of ingredients.

"Hmm….that can be solved. Can we recruit any other Herbalists?" I asked.

"I do know three other Herbalists. One of them is a member of the Blood Knights so that one is probably a no go. I can contact the other two."

"I have some acquaintances from the guild too. They are NPCs but I think I can hire them for some gold." Veena added.

"Then we discuss the price and get them to work but first we need to buy these items as soon as we can. Others are going to know about the raid soon and they will probably all jump on the chance too. With the demand of the item rising and supply being limited, the prices will rise. We need to be quick on our feet."

It was a good thing that we went out hunting very early in the morning to avoid getting tracked. It was a habit we had made since the time we were followed. We had even bought special capes which prevented appraisal type skills under a certain level although the price of those things had made us bleed.

Most of the players didn't even wake up at this time so we still had time on our hands.

We prepared everything and went out as soon as we could.

First we bought everything we could buy of the ingredients of the healing items and then attack related items. Veena went ahead and went to contact her contacts in the guild while Shiroe went to get in touch with the other two herbalists.

I in the meantime, went to get our equipment fixed at the blacksmiths and get some extra spares.

By the time everything was done, it was late in the morning and everyone had found out that we couldn't leave the town and some among them had figured out that it was related to some quest.

They were rushing to buy stuff.

Veena had consigned most of the items to be made by the npc Herbalists while she worked on some herself.

Shiroe and I were working on some plans and strategies for the raid. We didn't have anything concrete as we had no idea what this quest was.

This changed soon.

In the afternoon, the City Lord held a gathering in the town square and every player simultaneously got a new quest.

World Quest - 1

The Beginning of the End

A great danger is opening its eyes as chaos has started to spread all over the continent.

Brace up and fight against the approaching darkness for a chance to survive.

Objective: 1. Attend the City Lord's Summons.