章 12: Exp Bus?
"You are making us go through so much trouble to carry him. Just who is this guy, Red Queen?"
Zamir asked, his hands twirling the dagger with familiar ease. He was unwilling to waste his precious game time just for some noob, but Stivi had been adamant about making some guy tag along with them on their Penance quest.
"He is a gem. If he joins Grandeur Guild, it will be very easy for us to establish ourselves as the leaders of Village #89."
Stivi said proudly, not bothering to sound modest at all. Her bragging piqued the interest of the party.
"Oh, is he some Godly Expert? Or is he a hidden Ranker?"
HardBro asked with child-like excitement on his face. Stivi laughed, seeing his curious face, and shook her head.
"Oh, hell no! Haha! If he faced a single Biter Sheep head-on, he would die at least 10 times before managing to kill one. However, he can kill hundreds of them if he has time is allowed to do as he pleases."
Stivi boasted as others watched her with disbelief and disdain.
"Shut Up! Even our party cannot deal with 10 Biter Sheeps at once, not at this stage. Yet, you are saying that your mystery guy can deal more damage than all of us combined?"
HardBro was clearly unable to digest the fact that an Lv1 noob with shit coordination could deal more damage than himself, a mage who had learned an AOE skill.
Zamir also couldn't take any more of her boasting. He put a stop to her and said, "Red Queen, we already agreed to carry him. So, you don't have to hype him up anymore."
"Whatever, Uncle. You will see it soon. He alone will be able to take care of more Wild Dogs than all of us combined if we give him free rein."
Stivi huffed and became quiet. Zamir threw her a stinky eye for calling him Uncle again and thought of her comments as simply an attempt to improve her mystery guy's worth.
Honestly, he did not think much of this newbie, but since Red Queen was insistent about carrying him, he could only give in. After all, she was their Party Leader and the one in charge of Grandeur Guild's development in Village #89.
Suddenly they saw a lean youth walk towards them with slight discontentment on his face.
— POV change —
"Sar - <Samar>, you are here!"
Stivi called as soon as she saw me. She almost called out my real name but quickly corrected herself, knowing I preferred to hide my identity inside the game.
She then turned to her party and introduced them to me one by one.
"This is <HardBro>, our resident Mage."
I nodded towards the guy who was holding a plain staff. He gave me a cheeky smile and a two-fingered salute as a way of greeting.
"...<MamaMia>, who wants to be a Healer."
Stivi pointed to the short girl with a gnarled wooden staff. She shyly said 'Hi' while avoiding eye contact with me.
Seeing the slight blush on her cheeks, I could not help but wonder whether she had developed a crush on me. The narcissistic ego of mine was stoked by the mere possibility and I smiled at her before turning to the giant standing beside her.
"That guy is <BigSoftie>, our Main Tank."
My gaze scanned the towering man who had his hands folded in front of his chest. He was staring at me with a stiff expression as if constipated.
I quickly moved on and looked toward the lean guy who was playing with the dagger.
Stivi stood next to him and pointed at him with her thumb.
"This Uncle is <Zamir>, our scout/controller/assassin."
The guy looked at Stivi with slight displeasure, annoyed by the way she introduced him. He pointed his dagger at me and asked, "He is your chosen Exp baby?"
Stivi nodded her head like a chicken pecking at grains.
"The-idiot-who-won't-be-able-to-level-up-without-my -help-but-is-too-proud-to-ask-for-help?"
<HardBro> cheekily added from the side, and Stivi nodded with a big grin. I was shocked by how I was introduced to others by Stivi.
What kind of lies had this little troublemaker been telling her teammates?
Well, it was true that I needed help until I could get my hands on a weapon, but there was no need to expose how bad my mechanics were, right?
Still, I was conflicted about becoming an Exp Baby.
I had more stats than other players and I was sure I could figure out a way to kill the Biter Sheep on my own. However, was it wise to waste time figuring out a way to kill Lv1 mobs and fall behind everyone else in levels? The answer was obviously no.
So, should I accept their help? My heart was unwilling.
Even if I wanted to, I would not be of any help to them in this Penance Quest and may even be a burden. So, how could I accept their help with a clean conscience?
I was just about to reject their goodwill and go on my own way when two white lights flashed near the tent. It signaled that a player had spawned in the village after his death penalty was over.
As soon as the lights faded, I heard one of the players curse.
"The hell are those Biter Sheep? They are clearly Lv1 monsters, yet they are so hard to kill!"
"This is already the third time we were killed! Shouldn't we seek help from an expert now?"
The sounds of the two players went farther and farther away, and I swallowed the words I was about to say.
These two players looked like they had better hand-eye coordination than me, and yet they could not even kill an Lv 1 Mob.
I had pride but could it be eaten? Could it help me level up? If I, a person with terrible control, refused help just because of my pride, I would be the biggest fool.
Still, how could I become their Exp baby on their hardest quest? I wanted to resolve trouble for Stivi, not increase her burden.
Moreover, even if Stivi concocted this plan to help me, why did her teammates go along with it when there obviously weren't any benefits to helping me?
Stivi gave me a knowing smile as if she knew what was going through in my mind. She came closer to me and placed her hand on my arms, and whispered in my ears.
"Don't feel guilty. Our Penalty for the Penance Quest is -100% Exp and loot. It means we will be killing all the monsters in vain. If we brought you along, you could kill the monsters we weakened. That way, we can at least get some loot."
Light flashed in my head as I understood why her team was willing to carry me for free.
They needed someone to land the killing blow so they could at least get some loot and prevent the Penance Quest from being a complete waste of time for them.
Instead of finding some random unknown player, they just decided to go along with Stivi's recommendation.
Now that I knew that I was not just a dead weight, I was much more willing to ride their Exp Bus.
I bowed my head slightly towards them and said, "Thank You. Please take care of me."
Stivi rolled her eyes at my formalities and dragged me along as we walked toward the eastern gates of the settlement.
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