Chapter 5

'No way... this necklace is...'

Jhin couldn't believe what he was seeing.

[Lily's Family Heirloom (Unique)

Equipment Type: Necklace

-This is an ancient heirloom that has been passed down Lily's family for generations.

Effects: Revives the target upon activation. (Can be used on oneself)

-Condition: Target must not be dead for more than three hours otherwise, the revival will fail.

Cooldown: 1 Month ]

'This is...'

He didn't know that this item existed and after reading its description, he was so overwhelmed with shock that he didn't know what to say. His heart skipped several beats as he stood rooted in his position.

Revive!

The most sought-out skill in not only the game but even after the players were taken to the world of Argentia.

Of course, Players can still revive inside the game after their death. Dying in game would result in three days penalty in real-life to which the player will not be able to log in during the said penalty.

This penalty however, only went in effect after the players reaches level 10.

Once the penalty is lifted, the players can log in again normally but they would lose their exp points and even some of their equipment and money.

So in this way, one could say that the players "Revived" however, this isn't the type of revival that is being talked about. The correct term here would be "Respawned".

The revive that is being sought out is the type of revive that would immediately bring a player back from the dead.

The meaning of the word itself already explains why it is extremely precious.

Unfortunately, these skills and items were extremely hard to come by and there was no known skills that gave the same effect as a real revive, one that would truly recover a player from being dead.

The closest skill that is related to revival is either the Warrior's ultimate skill [Undying Will] or Cleric's unique skill of [Dead's Vengeance].

The first skill is an area of effect buff in which all the affected players will have 1 HP no matter how much damage they took for the next thirty seconds.

The second one allows the chosen target to live again and use his or her skills without mana cost. However, they only have a minute or so until they die once more.

On the other hand, items such as [Revival Scrolls], which is the only known item that has the desired effect to instantaneously and revive someone, are extremely scarce and highly sought out by everyone since it serves not only as a safety net for the player's equipment, but a literal second chance in life.

And how would you obtain such an item?

Well, aside from its 0.00001% chance from the gift boxes sent by GMs during events, they could only be obtained through quests or treasure chests hidden across the map. Of course, the percentage chance is the same as the gift boxes.

Due to how rare it is, many players in the future who were lucky enough to get [Revival Scrolls] from gift boxes became wealthy overnight due to may rich and competitive players paying high amount of money for it.

In any case, Revival can only be achieved through the use of [Revival Scrolls]- Is what Jhin thought until now.

And so, Jhin's current reaction wasn't too surprising. After all, the fact that there is a cooldown means that the item is usable again.

For a second, greed flashed in his eyes as he grasped the necklace in his palm.

But then he took a moment to rein in his emotions and calm himself. Taking a deep breath, he now cast a confused and curious look at Lily who was innocently smiling at him.

Her expression told him that she was trying to discern whether he liked her gift or not.

Jhin's brows slightly furrowed as he racked his brain for any information about this little NPC called Lily.

To his knowledge, Lily was simply a normal orphan little girl. She didn't seem relevant to any kind of story as she was simply considered as a "Mob" or a background character.

Though all NPCs are unique and life-like, majority of them didn't have any significant relevance to any quest or stories that would contribute to a player's progression throughout the game.

Similar to how in reality, everyone has their own story but they remain as background characters or strangers to you because they don't have any relevance to you.

This was the same case to Lily since she was simply a normal villager little girl.

At least- that was what Jhin thought until now.

'Who is this... girl?'

While his face remained unmoved, he was inwardly narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"Mister?"

"Hm?" Jhin woke from his thoughts.

Lily didn't point out his attitude and simply asked, "How is it Mister? Do you like it?"

Her innocent and expectant eyes would make anyone feel bad if they were to answer negatively.

A few seconds passed before Jhin finally moved and gave the necklace back towards the little girl.

Lily titled her head in confusion as if asking what he was doing.

Jhin however, looked back at her and calmly said, "...Take it. It's your family's heirloom, right? This must be the only memento you have in remembrance of your deceased parents."

Lily's bright expression slowly faded as she looked at him in confusion before making a face devoid of any emotion.

With a toneless voice, she asked, "Mister... are you absolutely sure with your decision?"

She looked him in the eyes with a lifeless gaze, making it seem as if she had inorganic eyes. Jhin on the other hand, wasn't surprised by the sudden change in the little girl's demeanor instead, his suspicions only grew.

In the world of Ascended Order, there are countless hidden quests in which many of them were left undiscovered even in the future.

However, what is known about these hidden quests is that the player must fulfill certain conditions in order to trigger these hidden quests.

In the future, the pattern that is known usually leans towards maintaining a good attitude and harboring good intentions towards the NPCs.

This means that those who are helpful, kind, and caring towards NPCs were more likely to trigger a hidden quest.

Jhin was anything but a good person but in this case, he felt that Lily was going to give him a hidden quest.

And so, he made a gamble.

He gambled away the chance to take an extremely unique and precious item for a chance to trigger a hidden quest.

In response to Lily's question, Jhin nodded unhesitatingly.

"Yes. I'm sure that, that's a very important item for you."

"Besides, I only did a relatively simple request so there's no need for you to give me your important thing." He said to the little girl.

Lily once again made a confused look for a while before taking a deep breath and smiling towards him.

"Mister... If you won't accept my reward then..." She grabbed the hem of his clothes again. She continued with a slightly hesitant voice. "Could you please... follow me?'

Jhin blankly stared at the little girl for a while after she said some words that might be deemed dangerous especially when spoken to an adult stranger.

"...Sure."

After receiving his answer, Lily began to lead the way while pulling on Jhin's clothes.

While they walked across the village which attracted the attention of some of the NPCs and players however, not one of them stepped up to speak to Jhin and Lily.

Along the way, Jhin was trying to recall information about Lily but no matter how hard he did, nothing came up. All he could remember was that she simply remained as the little villager girl.

All he knew about her was that she was an orphan who was being taken care of by the other villager. He didn't even know how old she was but if Jhin had to guess, then she was probably around 6 to 8.

Eventually, Lily led Jhin into a small wooden hut inside a forest near the outskirts of village.

The little girl let go of Jhin's clothes and proceeded to push the tall wooden door which was three times her height.

"Hnnn!!"

She pushed with her entire body while her cat, Boots, was still inside her right arm.

"Let me." Jhin walked forward and pushed open the wooden door with ease.

"Oh thank you mister!"

Lily had a grateful sweet smile as she thanked Jhin before leading him inside the house.

.

.

.

.

.

The interior of the house was smaller than Jhin thought as it only contained one large sandalwood bed, a wooden table with four chairs, and small cabinets with various small jars above it.

Lily pulled on one of the chairs and gestured for Jhin to sit, to which the latter followed wordlessly.

After sitting on the chair, Jhin briefly scanned the house before looking at the little girl who was struggling to sit on the chair in front of him.

'...a small child like her lives alone?' As much as Jhin didn't want to think of it, all the evidence in the house points toward that speculation.

The greatest evidence of all is the worn out wooden stool which seemed to have been dragged across the room for years.

Jhin figured that she must have used them to stand on to do chores that adults usually do.

"Welcome to Lily's home, Mister." Lily said after finally taking her seat.

"Do you have someone living here with you?" Jhin asked curiously.

Lily shook her head. "Not at all. Lily is taking care of herself all by herself."

Jhin slightly nodded before asking hesitatingly, "Is that so... If you don't mind me asking, how old were you when you lost your parents? And how old are you now?"

Lily looked at Jhin for a moment which made Jhin think that he was being too rude.

"I'm sorry, You don't have to ans-" Just as Jhin was about to take back his question, Lily spoke.

"Lily lost her parents by the age of four. No one in the village wanted to take care of Lily so Lily takes care of herself."

She continued, "From time to time, The villagers would be nice and share meals with Lily but as for everything else, Lily handles it all by herself. Lily is six years old now, by the way."

With a solemn face Lily turns towards Boots, who was walking around the house.

"You see, Mister... Boots is the only family Lily has left, which was why Lily thought the necklace was a deserving exchange for mister's deed."

She turned her gaze to Jhin. "However, Lily did not expect Mister to reject the reward.. truly..." Her voice trailed off as her eyes began to glisten.

With an expectant voice, Lily asked. "Mister... could you be a... Hero perhaps?"

Looking at the expectant gaze of Lily, Jhin smiled and chuckled.

"Unfortunately, I am anything but a Hero."

While Jhin answered, he was pondering something else in his mind. 'Lily's quest should have been available for everyone and in my past life, I finished the same quest but... why has this never happened before?

A unique interaction with an NPC like this should've been shared in the forums and yet, I don't recall anything about her.'

Is it a one-time quest trigger? there were plenty of quests like that in the past or...

Did they hide the information? Jhin wondered. He thought that should have been the case if the player received the necklace as a reward but if so—

'How come I've never heard or seen that item before?'

For him who crawled his way to the peak after being transported in the game, while he may not be all-knowing, his knowledge could still be on par with "Curious Wisdom"- the player that is said to have reached the peak of knowledge and information on the world of the Ascended Order.

Which was why he was genuinely surprised after seeing Lily's necklace.

Lily slightly tilts her head in confusion. "Mister is not a hero?"

"Not at all. I'm just a man with principles." Jhin replied.

"Principles?"

"It means that I follow a set of rules that I made for myself."

Lily made an, oh I see, expression while nodding her head in understanding.

After that, silence ensued as neither of them spoke any longer. Jhin and Lily simply stared at each other.

Jhin knows that some NPCs were capable of discerning lies of the players and so, not wanting to waste this chance on a simple lie, he decided to answer truthfully.

After a minute of silence passed, Jhin's eyes slightly narrowed as he thought, 'Hm.... is this it?'

Did he lose the gamble?

Or did he make the wrong answer?

Just as he was thinking like that, Lily's eyes finally left him as she looked down at the table in contemplation.

"A principled man huh..." Lily muttered quietly.

Jhin did not know what the little girl was thinking but he wasn't in any hurry so he simply waited for her next words.

Seeing the little girl deep in her thoughts, as if trying to decide on something, Jhin kept quiet and let her figure out her thoughts.

That was when Boots the cat jumped on top of the table and sat directly in front of Lily. This brought the girl out of her deep thoughts as she met the gaze of the unique heterochronic eyes of the cat.

One was yellow and the other one was blue. This unique pair of eyes drew Lily's attention which finally brought her back from her contemplative state.

She made a soft sigh and looked at Jhin once more. "Mister... could Lily ask you a question?"

"What is it?"

Pausing for a moment, Lily asked in a slow but curious voice. "What are mister's principles?"

Jhin didn't expect to be asked by this question especially one from a child. After all, children would often take answers at face value, never really trying to find out what they meant unless they were genuinely curious about it.

Besides, knowing that this game is far from a normal one in which everything has a deceptive front including the little girl in front of him, he decided to answer honestly.

"I only have three principles; Protect and take care of those who are important to me, Act according to plan, and finally, Never stop until I achieve my goals."

Listening to Jhin who answered straightforwardly without an ounce of doubt on himself, Lily couldn't help but blankly stare at him for a moment.

"If so, then Mister did not help Lily out of goodness but because it was necessary for Mister's plan?" She asked with genuine curiosity.

Jhin nodded and replied, "That's correct. Rewardless or not, helping you out was already within my goals and I simply fulfilled it."

"Then Mister," Lily looks directly towards his gaze. "What is Mister's goal?"

Unexpectedly, the corner's of Jhin's lips curved upwards while his eyes glinted in coldness. His devilishly handsome charm radiated once more as he spoke.

"My goal is..." His voice trailed off as looked upwards, making it seem as if he was peering beyond the ceiling.

"To reach the apex of existence... My goal is to become the most powerful being in all of existence so that I may protect and never lose those who are important to me."

His voice was filled with burning conviction, as if he was declaring this to not only Lily, but other entities as well.

Lily stared at Jhin absentmindedly as she processed his answer.

A passing thought came to her, which she subconsciously muttered out loud.

"Wonder if I can be someone important to Mister..."

Realizing what she had said, Lily immediately covers her small mouth and bows her head. "Lily apologizes to mister..."

Jhin simply waved his hand as if telling her that it was alright.

'This quest... something is off about it... but I can't draw any conclusion based from what I've been seeing. However, what I am sure of is that Lily's parents weren't normal people..'

In the first place, he thought it was weird for someone to suddenly say something like Lily's previous words. If it was intentional then Jhin would understand however, if it wasn't, then Lily's yearning and lonesome feelings was portrayed wonderfully.

Besides, the arrangement of her house along with her story was enough to tug on an average person's sympathy.

Of course, Jhin already knows that there are unique NPCs that turns out to be deities but Lily is certainly not one of them.

However, what Jhin also knew is that all the NPCs aren't computerized or coded programs. Instead, they are real living and breathing residents of the world of Ascended Order.

And players are given a high amount of freedom in interacting with the NPCs. One could even kidnap an NPC, that is of course if they are prepared to face the [Guardian] of the map from where they are on.

Naturally, at this early stage of the game, no one knows the existence of these Guardians.

In another case, if one player develops a romantic relationship with an NPC, they could even sleep with them or in some dedicated players' cases, marry them.

"Once again," Lily's voice pulled Jhin out from his thoughts as she bowed towards him and said, "Lily thanks Mister for bringing Boots back to me."

Jhin stared at her for some time before saying, "No problem."

After saying these words, he stood up thinking that it was time for him to leave.

Of course he didn't really mean to leave but was guessing that this is a necessary action he needed to take in order to trigger the hidden quest from Lily.

Seeing that Jhin was walking towards the door, Lily's small hands bawled into trembling fists and her cute face became sorrowful.

She seemed as if she wanted to say something but couldn't do so. With bitter feelings, she looked downwards while biting her lips in frustration.

Jhin could no longer see her expression since her bangs covered her face but nonetheless, he did not stop and opened the wooden door.

Creak.

Hearing the door open, Lily's hurriedly turns towards it where she saw her benefactor's back leaving her house.

Her hands stretched out towards his receding back automatically, as if she wanted to stop him from leaving. Once again however, she could not say the words she wanted to say.

"Well then. See you." Without looking behind him, Jhin left these words and closed the door.

Thud.

Now, left alone once again inside her house, Lily sighed as her small head slumped down the table.

She wondered if- just what if-, If she said the words she kept in her heart, would her benefactor agree? Or would he not since her suggestion is definitely something outside of his plans.

In the end, Lily was unable to say it for the fear of getting rejected by her benefactor.

After all...

'Rejection is the most painful feeling of all...' Lily solemnly thought to herself.