LUCKY LUO YAN

LUO YAN stared at his task column, particularly at the additional task.  It said that the player was not required to do it.  But Luo Yan would surely do.  Additional task could yield higher EXP and better rewards.  So, of course, he would do it.

Speaking of better rewards, when he played Arcadia, there were a lot of hidden events that gave him good materials.  Sometimes it was even better than those that could be bought in the game store.  Hidden events could be triggered by different ways.  You could talk to an NPC and your conversation would trigger a hidden event.  Even killing a certain monster could trigger one.  But as the name said, it was hidden, so those events were generally not known to the public.  It could only be based on the player's luck.

Luo Yan wondered if he could trigger a hidden event here.  But he didn't have much hope.  This was an origin village after all.  Wouldn't he be just too lucky if he triggered one at the very beginning?  But even so, Luo Yan still decided to talk to all the NPCs he met just in case.  

He opened the map of the village first and determined the position of the Pharmacy and the Weapon's Shop.  Since he already accepted the task of going to Crescent Woodlands to kill those Blights, then he needed to prepare first.  What he needed most right now were potions and a weapon.  He couldn't just go to the forest barehanded.

Obviously he couldn't afford any items right now because he only had zero crystal coins in his account.  But based on his experience, when he was a beginner, he got free potions and a free weapon just by going to the Pharmacy and the Weapon's Shop.  He doubted it was different in this version.  But even if that was the case, he could just log out and buy crystal coins outside.

There were two ways to buy crystal coins.  Either by direct online money transfer or by using game cards.  A player could choose from four game cards; a 100 crystal coins game card, a 500 crystal coins game card, a 1000 crystal coins game card, and a 5000 crystal coins game card.  But if a player wanted to buy a huge bulk of crystal coins then it's better to use the first option - direct online money transfer.

Arcadia had an app that catered to that.  In order to register, a player only needed his game account name.  If a player wanted to buy crystal coins using online money transfer, then they only had to enter the amount they wanted to buy and then their bank account name.  On the other hand, if a player bought a game card, then they only had to enter the code on the game card.  The amount of crystal coins on the game card would be automatically transfered to their game account.  The same was true if one used the online money transfer.  

If Luo Yan remembered correctly, the current conversion of crystal coins was 1 RMB for every 10 crystal coins.  

He closed his Status Window and started walking first towards the direction of the Pharmacy.  Just like he planned, he talked to every NPC he passed by.  But almost every one of them just gave him a general reply.  As if they already had a set of answers encoded in them.  With just that, it could be seen that they were really not human and just a collection of data.  

It was just a small building with a Pharmacy sign on top.  Luo Yan entered and he immediately smelled the scent of herbal medicines.  The only person inside was a female elf with the name Pharmacist on top of her head.  Just like all the elves in the village, she was also tall and beautiful.

"Noctis, I heard that the Elder asked you to solve the Blights in the Crescent Woodlands," the Pharmacist said when she saw him.

"Yes," he answered.

"Then it's a good thing you visited me.  I have extra potions here that you could use."  She took out a box from a shelf and opened it.  Inside were five small bottles containing a red liquid.

He accepted it and it immediately disappeared, which meant that it was already in his Items Tab.  Luo Yan opened his Items Tab and saw the five potions occupying one of the grids.  The Items Tab had a function that could identify basic items in the game, like this potion for example.  He clicked on it and saw an introduction on the side.

Small Red Potion:  An item that could restore 100 HP.  Cost - 10 crystal coins.

If memory served right, there were three types of red potions; small, medium, and large.  The large red potion being the one that could restore the highest amount of HP among the three.

A player could see his HP on the Stats Tab.  In Arcadia, the Stats Tab could be divided into two types; the Basic Stats and the Derived Stats.  Basic Stats composed of Strength (STR), Agility (AGI), Dexterity (DEX), Vitality (VIT), and Intelligence (INT).  These stats could be controlled by the players themselves.  Because at every increase of five levels, a player would receive 4 stat points which they could distribute to any of of the basic stats as they wanted.

These Basic Stats would in turn affect the player's Derived Stats.  HP or Hit Points belonged to the Derived Stats.  It represented the lifeline of a player.  An HP of 0 meant that the player's game avatar died in the game.  Along with HP was the MP or Mana Points.  MP was the one being consumed whenever a player used an Active Skill.  Just like HP, one of the ways to restore MP was thru potions.  In the case of MP, blue potions were needed.

A player's maximum HP and MP increased whenever a player leveled up.  But it could also be increased by adding a stat point on VIT and INT respectively.  Some other Derived Stats were Attack Power (ATK), Defence (DEF), and Speed (SPD).  STR directly affects ATK while AGI and DEX directly affect SPD.  DEF on the other hand sometimes depended on the armor or clothes the players were wearing.  

Luo Yan no longer looked at the potion and closed his Status Window.  

"Thank you," he said to the Pharmacist.

"If you ran out of potions, there are some fruits and plants in the forest that could help you," the Pharmacist added.  She was probably talking about plants that could restore HP.   "And please, do be careful.  You're one of the few young elves in our village.  I don't want you to end up not returning because you had an accident in the forest." 

Luo Yan just nodded and bid farewell to the Pharmacist and went straight to the Weapon to get a weapon.  The Weapon's Shop was just on the opposite side of the Pharmacy so he immediately arrived there.

Upon entering, he immediately saw a lot of different weapons inside.  There were broadswords, rapier, bows and arrows, etc.  Standing behind the counter was another handsome white haired elf.  On top of his head were the words 'Weapon Master'.

"Noctis, I heard that the Elder asked you to solve the Blights in the Crescent Woodlands."

Luo Yan shook his head hearing the same dialogue.  Looked like the design team needed to pay more attention to the scripts of their NPCs.  

"Sadly, I could only give you this knife to help you fight those monsters in the forest."  He took a long knife and gave it to Luo Yan.

Luo Yan accepted it and it went directly to his Items Tab.

"Crescent Woodlands can be a very dangerous place if one isn't careful enough.  So you have to take caution.  There were some young elves who went there in the past that ended up not returning."

What the Weapon Master said last caught Luo Yan's attention.  Because it was almost the same thing as what the Pharmacist said before he left the Pharmacy.  He didn't think it was that important when he talked with the Pharmacists.  He thought it was just a simple reminder.  But now?  He couldn't help but feel that there was something important behind that reminder.

"Who are the elves that didn't return before?" he asked.

"I could no longer remember the names of some.  But the latest one was the Gatekeeper's son.  He went there a month ago and never returned.  The poor Gatekeeper never left the village entrance since then.  Always waiting for his son to return."

Luo Yan raised one of his brows.  The Gatekeeper?  "What's the name of the Gatekeeper's son?"

"Filli." 

He gave his thanks to the Weapon Master and walked straight to the village entrance.  There, he saw an elf standing straight and guarding the opened gate.  There was no expression on his face, but Luo Yan could feel a certain kind of melancholy radiating off from him.  On top of his head was the word 'Gatekeeper'.  

Luo Yan walked towards the Gatekeeper.  

"Hello, I'm going to the Crescent Woodlands.  Do you want me to search for Filli?"

The Gatekeeper turned to him.  A certain emotion flashed on his face when Luo Yan mentioned the name of his son.  Then he became expresionless again.  "No.  The Elder tasked you to solve the problem of the Blights.  That's your job and not to search for others."

"I don't mind."  

"I told you, there's no need for you to do that."

"But I want to.  I'll search for Filli and definitely bring him back."

The Gatekeeper's expression completely collapsed when Luo Yan said that.  His body began to tremble and then he reached for Luo Yan's hand.  "Yes, yes, please bring my son back," he finally said, his voice hoarse as if restraining all his emotions.

"I will."

Then the chibi version of the Gamekeeper suddenly appeared in front of Luo Yan.  The boy with blue hair and blue eyes was still wearing a butler's uniform and a monocle on his face.  There were fireworks appearing on top of his head.

[Congratulations player Noctis!  You triggered the hidden event 'Save Filli'!  Filli is a filial son who wanted to prove his strength and make his father proud.  So he went to the Crescent Woodlands.  But sadly, he never returned.  Go and look for him.  Once you succeeded, a very, and I mean very, valuable item is waiting for you.  Good luck!]

He bowed and then the chibi Gamekeeper disappeared.

Luo Yan smiled.  Well, looked like he was indeed lucky after all.