Chapter 4: Aiden ran away
Hendrick Greene had always been with his little brother ever since their parents died. With no money and nobody to take care of them, the two were forced into the slum. The slum was where the lowest of the low lived. From robbery to murder, anything could go, and the guards would not do anything about it.
He woke up hearing Aiden's gleeful laughter.
'I hope he is okay. He had a fever for the past couple of days, but he seems happier than ever before. He must have had a good dream to hear him laugh like that.' After hearing him laughing, Hendrick went back to sleep with a smile. He told himself that he would find a better life for his little brother.
Aiden kept quiet after seeing Hendrick was waking up. He covered himself with the smelly blanket to avoid being seen with the scroll. He wanted to open the scroll to see what it was all about.
The content was not as he imagined. On the scroll, it revealed several blinking dots and nothing else.
He placed his finger on a random dot on the map. Then an intangible statue appeared floating on top of the map. It was a bronze statue of a man carrying a sword and wearing light armor.
[
Private Soldier
★☆☆☆☆☆☆ - Common
Requirement:
- Defeat 10 ★ Monsters
Inquisition Experience:
- Gain 1x experience points by defeating monsters.
]
"Unbelievable. This map really does show the location of the Statue Class. And I believe this one is not far from here and is one of the beginner classes. Even more, it showed the requirement to obtain it. Usually, a player will have to do the quest to find out what is required to get the class." Aiden was hyped and felt hopeful. Because he was playing as an NPC, his growth rate could not be compared to players. But this item could change things.
"Soldier is the most picked beginner class and then acolyte. But their potentials were low. Eventually, they have to replace the class if they want to reach 2-stars and waste more time in doing so."
He tapped on the dots one by one: Private Soldier, Acolyte, Blacksmith Apprentice, Unkeen Archer, and many other common beginner classes.
"Since this is a beginner area, I should not be expecting much. Well, there are two more dots left for me to check." The two dots were in the opposite direction from each other.
He tapped on one of them, and a silver statue appeared. She had long flowing hair and sitting on a tiger as if it was her throne. The tiger looked like it was on fire.
===
Phantom Beast Summoner
★☆☆☆☆☆☆ - Uncommon
Requirement:
-Kill 100 ★ Wild Tigers
-Kill 70 ★ Mountain Eagle
-Kill 1 ★★ Giant Red Bear
Inquisition Experience:
- Gain 1.5x experience points by taming beast-type monsters
- Gain 1x experience points by defeating monsters
===
"Holy. This class is famous. I do not remember the player name, but many people talked about her class for a while now. She would not reveal how she got it, however. So, for her to find it in a beginner area, it is really unexpected."
Inquisition Experience, or IE, were specific ways for the class to level up. Some classes needed to kill monsters, some needed to eat herbs, and Phantom Beast Summoner was special since it had two ways to gain experience.
Aiden was excited to start his adventure as someone overpowered. But he could not obtain that class with the way he was now. He needed to get stronger so he can complete its requirements.
He yawned and placed the map back his to inventory. Because of his young and weak body, he felt fatigued easily.
The map vanished once it touched the menu.
After closing the menu, he fell asleep under the blanket.
Morning came, and Hendrick was already up. Seeing how Aiden was still sleeping, he woke him up.
"Wake up, Aiden! We have to go to work. Wake up." Hendrick softly patted him on the shoulder. "Our boss is expecting us." Hendrick did not want to disturb him after recovering from his fever, but he had no choice. Their boss was not a kind person, even more so if they were late.
"What is wrong?" Aiden opened his eyes to see Hendrick.
"We have to go to our job, remember?"
"Yeah." Aiden lied.
He thought he could check the character's history for more details about what was going on. For now, he had to pretend to be the little brother Hendrick knew. "I remembered it now."
Aiden followed Hendrick to their destination. While walking there, Aiden checked his history.
'We worked as graverobbers for a man name Terius. According to the journal, Terius is a vicious man who used unwanted children from the slum to do his dirty work. He gives little pay, which is barely enough to buy bread. I am surprised such an NPC is still alive. Usually, players will murder such an evil man in the name of justice...' Aiden did not care to take action in the name of justice. Although if they trouble him, he will not hesitate to strike them down.
"Hendrick, why do we need to work as graverobber? Why can't we be adventurers?" Aiden asked Hendrick. Being a player, he knew that fame and fortune that would come when going on an adventure. He wanted someone to help him along since it was dangerous to travel alone, even more so with his low stats.
Hendrick stopped walking and stood still. "We cannot." He said in a low voice.
"Why not? I am sure that--"
"Stop it, Aiden! We cannot! We are nothing more than powerless trash that no wants! There is no way for someone like us to be adventurers."
Since Aiden could only see his back, he could not see the complex face Hendrick was making. But he did not have to see it since the tone of his voice said everything.
Anger, frustration, and loss of hope were what Hendrick was feeling. Aiden read about Hendrick Greene from the character's history and how he took care of his little brother ever since their parents died. Being mature as he was, Aiden knew the burden in taking care of someone when that person also had nothing.
'Even in this world, the NPCs have emotions like real people. Now that I think about, I never really interacted with an NPC over the two years of playing. I was too focused on trying to hack the game... '
Aiden was planning to leave Hendrick if he did not want to go with him. He wanted to be an adventurer and did want to do such a shitty job as a graverobber.
"So instead of becoming an adventurer, you want to work a job like this?"
"Yes..." Hendrick hesitated to answer. "At least it can provide for us until we find something better."
Aiden sighed. 'Hendrick wanted money to leave this slum, but he is going on it the wrong way. Since words won't get to him, I will show him once.' He had a plan and took off to do it. He decided that if Hendrick was unwilling to come after, then he will go an adventure by himself.
Hendrick saw Aiden running away.
"Wait, Aiden. Where are you going?" He was going to give chase, but he could not. He stared at the floor, thinking that he was a useless brother. With fist clenched, a tear of frustration fell to his cheeks. "I wanted to be stronger, but I can't." He felt trapped in this world and felt burden by everything going on around him.
'If I did not have to take care of you, then I would not be stuck in this place.' Hendrick thought before running back to his job.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone