"..." Arthur's face was completely blank as he looked at his name. He didn't know if he was supposed to be happy or sad at what he was seeing. "3250 points… I don't even feel like I should be surprised."
The difference between him and the second place, the player named 'Darkmoon' was so vast, it didn't even sound funny. He was now ahead of them by more than 2000 points and it all happened in a short period of time. 'And here I was a little happy that I wasn't number one. That didn't last long.'
Facepalming, he closed the ranking and looked around him. He could hear grasps of shock everywhere.
"You have got to be kidding me! 3250 points is insane!"
"What did he do to get that many points this quick?!" One player asked.
"Tsk, he must've cheated! There is no way someone can gain this many points this quickly! I have gone out to hunt and the most I gathered are a few dozen points from killing horned rabbits!" One player scoffed. "Persona is a cheater! Or they're one of the developers and they know exactly where to go to gather the most points!"
The player's claim was received with mixed reactions. Some agreed with her, while the others seemed apprehensive. But, nobody can deny nor confirm her claims. After all, Persona was an unknown player.
'I'm not a developer, girl. If I was, I would have far more points than that. Don't underestimate me, hmph!' Arthur snorted. 'But, now that I think about it, why am I being called Persona? Is that some kind of nickname? Well, it sounds cool so it's not a problem.'
Arthur knew how people liked to give others nicknames based on different things about them. Even he had been called nicknames before in his life. Granted, most of them weren't flattering, but he didn't care.
'Well, if I meet that guy who called me '0.5 boy' I may or may not break his face.' Arthur thought to himself as he continued walking to Nina's shop. When he reached it, he found the woman sitting behind the counter, reading a book.
"Looking good with those glasses on. I like it." Arthur smiled as he approached her.
"Hm?" Looking up with her glasses, she raised an eyebrow. "You're already back?"
"In the flesh. I almost didn't come back, though." He said. "That was brutal!"
"Brutal? Were there many orcs?"
"Forget about the orcs, those were the easier part. The goddamn young orc you told me about was the problem. That thing was something else!" He grumbled. "You didn't tell me orcs are born stronger than their older counterparts."
This fact Arthur discovered only after beating the fetus. It seemed when orcs are born, they're born very strong and slowly grow weaker with age. It was quite surprising for him as the logic said that as a creature grows older it should be getting stronger, and yet for some reason, the orcs defied that.
"Hm, what do you mean?" Nina was a little confused. "I assumed since the orcs in that cave are old, they should've not been a problem. Even the younglings aren't that strong since they should be at least a few years old. After all, the lifespan of an orc is around ten years or so."
"... Well, I found no younglings. There were old orcs that I had to fight for almost an hour and then, when I was able to kill most of them, one female orc was ripped open and a giant fucking fetus came out of its stomach. That thing was ridiculously strong." Arthur replied. Although he was complaining, he wasn't really that angry about it. In the end, he won and gained a lot of benefits from this battle.
The boy also didn't want to know everything about his enemy before actually meeting them. He wanted the element of surprise to remain there as this was a part of exploration. 'I had a lot of fun fighting it. Totally wo-'
However, as he was remembering what happened, Arthur noticed that Nina had gone completely quiet. Looking up, he saw a stunned expression on the woman's face. She was staring wide-eyed at Arthur.
"Nina? Oii, from the Divine Realm to Nina, do you copy?" Snapping his finger in front of her, the girl finally blinked.
"A fetus? A fetus orc? You've found a fetus orc?"
"No, I didn't only find one. I saw it being born and then killed it." Arthur replied. "Oh, also, here is its eye. Sorry if this isn't what you're looking for. Blurgh, it's slimy." Saying that Arthur pulled the eye out of his inventory and put it on her table.
The woman stared at the black eye for a moment before she picked it up and inspected it. Her face was completely frozen with surprise. "Arthur, I… I didn't know that there was a pregnant orc in that settlement… I thought all the females died before they could give birth… The old male orcs should've been the only ones left there." She said.
"Oh well, I guess there was one female hiding amongst them that was going to give birth. Anyway, is that the item you wanted?"
"Huh? This is far better than the item I'm looking for! Actually, I cannot believe you were able to kill a fetus orc on your own. That is a very strong foe in this region that requires an entire group of hunters to take it down."
"Haha, praise me more, I'm the best." Arthur laughed jokingly. "Well, I was very lucky, and I also used some underhanded tactics to take it down."
"I don't even know what to say anymore." She muttered as she finally smiled. "You're quite the strong boy, aren't you?"
"... I don't like how you phrased that."
"Fufufufu, good boy is a good boy, and you deserve a pat." Saying that, she stood up and walked around the counter before she wrapped her arms around Arthur's body, pulling him into a hug. At the same time, she started rubbing the back of his head gently. "That's a good boy."
Arthur was a little confused, but he didn't deny her. 'Why would I? I'm getting hugged by a beauty. You don't get that every day. This feels really nice.'
After a few moments, she pulled away and said. "You definitely deserve an extra reward for doing this flawlessly and even getting me something far more powerful than I could ask.
[Ding!]
[You have finished Nina's quest successfully!]
[You have gained +100% experience points.]
[Ding!]
[You have leveled up!]
[+2 Extra Points.]
"Good," Arthur muttered. "What's the extra reward?"
"I'm going to give you a third scroll apart from the two you wanted. Also, they're all for free so you don't have to pay me anything." She said.
"Wow, so generous, Nina!" He smiled.
"Fufufu, wait here." She said as she walked into the back room. Meanwhile, Arthur sat there, excitedly waiting for his reward. "Three abilities! I wonder what the third one will be."
As he was sitting there, humming to himself, the door to the shop opened and the boy heard the sound of the bell ringing.
A//N: Hand me all your PS!
"Hm?" Arthur looked over his shoulder at the door only to see someone clad in a black veil. His features were covered and so was most of his body, but purely from his build and height, Arthur knew that he was a man. But, not just a man, but quite the big of a man.
He was very tall and muscular even with his veil covering most of his body. He also had this powerful presence that Arthur couldn't ignore. It didn't take that much thinking to know that whoever this man was, he was way stronger than Arthur.
'He isn't a player, this is an NPC.' Arthur's eyes squinted for a second before he turned around and pretended as if nothing happened. Although the man looked quite suspicious, the boy didn't want to say or do anything purely because he felt uncomfortable.
The man seemed to look at Arthur before he stepped forward. When he got close, he asked Arthur in a deep voice. "Who are you?"
"..." The boy frowned and turned around to look at him. Then, he replied. "None of your business."
'The hell with that attitude, man? Who the hell asks someone for their name like that? Learn some manners.' Arthur rolled his eyes.
"..." The man went silent as if he didn't expect such a hostile response. The tension in the shop grew rather quickly between the two. Standing there between them would've made anyone cringe visibly.
It felt as if something was about to happen. However, at that moment, the door opened and Nina walked in. "Hm?" Seeing the new silhouette in the room, she raised an eyebrow. "Grandpa? When did you arrive?"
'Grandpa? This is her grandpa?' Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"Just now. Take this." Pulling the bag off his shoulder, the old man handed it to Nina before he walked over the counter and sat on the chair. Arthur's expression turned completely blank.
'Did I just insult… the grandfather of the owner of the shop? You idiot, Arthur! You absolute moron!' He cursed in his head. 'I just insulted her grandfather! Would Nina get angry and trigger the quest to fail?! My scrolls!'
Feeling a little bit panicked, he tried to open his mouth and speak. 'I have to apologize before he tells her or I'm screwed!'
"Uh…"
"Sorry, Arthur. This is my Grandpa, Miro. He had been out for a few days in the forest gathering some material. Grandpa, this is Arthur, he is a new client of ours."
"A client?" The man squinted his eyes. "Is that so?"
"Y-Yeah, sir. I'm now a loyal customer of this amazing establishment. Such a service and quality products. I rate them 10/10." The boy lifted his thumbs up trying not to make it shake.
"..." The old man didn't say a word to him and turned to Nina. "Did anything happen?"
"Of course, I was actually about to tell you. Arthur had just brought me a Fetus Orc's eye. Isn't he amazing?" She said as she showed him the eye. The old man picked it up, looked at it, and then at Arthur.
"Did you do that yourself, kid?"
"Yeah…" Arthur nodded.
"... You're one of those gifted folks, aren't you?"
"I think so."
"Impressive, boy. You should've not been strong enough to kill it."
"He is really impressive, isn't he? I was about to give him his reward." Nina clapped her hands. "Here, Arthur. Your three scrolls. Keep the third one for when you leave the shop. It's a surprise."
Taking the three scrolls, Arthur nodded his head and put them in his inventory to check later. "Well, before I leave, can I ask you something?"
"Hm? What's up?"
"The fetus had also given me two other things. It gave me its skin, and also its umbilical cord." He said as he pulled both items out. "Do you know how much they go for? I'm intending to sell them if possible."
The grandfather and his granddaughter stared at the two items on the table silently for a few seconds. Neither uttered a single word. The atmosphere inside the place seemed to shift again as if something weird happened.
'Why are they silent? Did I do something bad?' Arthur instantly felt a little worried. He didn't know what these items could do, especially the umbilical cord which was the one he suspected to be very special.
"You've got its umbilical cord?" The grandfather was the first to snap out of his shock. His tone had grown deeper. "I haven't seen this in a very long time. You've come across something really rare, kid. This is far from something you should be selling."
"Grandpa?"
"What are you saying, old man?"
"This umbilical cord as far as I can remember is used to make a particular potion. It's one of the essential components of it. But, Fetus Orcs are too hard to come by, and it's even harder to find its umbilical cord intact as they rip it apart when they come out of the womb. What a rare find."
"What kind of potion is that?" Arthur asked.
"It's a potion that heals all ailments no matter how strong they are. However, this is but one of many items that are required to create this potion. I believe you should keep it for when you might find the other ones."
"A potion that can heal all ailments, huh?" The boy muttered. 'No gonna lie, that does sound very powerful. A potion like that could change many things. I don't know what kind of ailments this world could inflict on me, but I'm sure they won't be a nice experience. I guess I will keep it till I learn more about this potion-making science.'
Although Arthur knew this was perhaps something that might take a very long time or even never happen, but he was ready to invest in it. He wasn't in need of money and something like this sounds too expensive to be sold in a beginner village.
"What about the skin?"
"That… I don't think it has any use." Nina replied. "It should get you a few dozen silvers."
"Hm, that's not too bad."
"If you want, I can sell it for you. I know the people here so I can get you a pretty good price." The woman said.
"You would? I would be very grateful."
"No problem, Arthur~"
Saying that, Nina took the skin away and kept the cord for Arthur to store again. With that, the boy believed his business was done there for the day and was about to excuse himself. However, the old man stopped him.
"Say, kid. What is your goal in this world?"
"My goal?" Arthur raised an eyebrow. He didn't expect such a deep question out of nowhere and especially not from this seemingly cold man.
"Everyone in this world has a goal, whether it's living your mundane life or reaching the highest of peaks. I wonder what is yours?"
"..." The boy and the old man stared at each other for a good few seconds. Then, Arthur shifted his vision and started walking away.
"I have no grandiose desire like that and I don't believe that everyone has a purpose. However, if I have to go with your words, my biggest goal is… to just have fun. Life is too short and I have already lost most of it for one reason or another. Now, I just want to live whatever is left for me, as happy as I can. That is what I want." In the end, the boy smiled calmly at the old man.
It was a smile mixed with many emotions. However, the old man could read them all very clearly on the boy's face.
A//N: Hand me all your PS!
Bạn cũng có thể thích
bình luận đoạn văn
Tính năng bình luận đoạn văn hiện đã có trên Web! Di chuyển chuột qua bất kỳ đoạn nào và nhấp vào biểu tượng để thêm nhận xét của bạn.
Ngoài ra, bạn luôn có thể tắt / bật nó trong Cài đặt.
ĐÃ NHẬN ĐƯỢC