[Defeated the Lich!]
[Hidden boss defeat reward granted!]
When I defeated the [Lich], the reward immediately entered my inventory.
[Obtained ‘Necromancer’s Soul Fragment’!]
[Necromancer’s Soul Fragment]. It was a key item that upgraded hidden quest rewards.
‘Nice.’
With this, I was done here.
After checking the item, I returned toward Ivelin, who would be waiting across the poison pool.
Bubble, bubble.......
The poison pool was boiling faintly from the aftermath of the [Venom Serpents] losing their master and returning to liquid.
Ivelin was blankly staring at the poison pool.
“Ah! Kylo! The [Venom Serpents] disappeared!”
“They were structured to disappear once the boss was defeated.”
When I explained briefly, Ivelin continued admiring it with an, “Ah, so that’s why.”
“Kylo, is there anything you don’t know?”
“I know almost everything I’ve cleared once.”
Conversely, that meant I did not know much about things I had not done before. I was not the type to live while memorizing guides by heart.
“Does that mean you cleared this quest before?”
“Yes.”
“Wow...... So that’s why you killed the boss right away without even getting grazed once.......”
Even when I had first faced the [Lich], I had killed it without getting hit once. That was because before doing this tutorial hidden quest, I had already killed [Liches] several times.......
“In any case, it’s safe now, so we can collect the poison in the container.”
“Yes!”
But correcting them would have been petty, so I decided to proceed with the quest for now.
I opened the bag I had received from Kelvin and took out an engraved glass bottle and a tool shaped like a pump.
According to the setting, the [Medusius Serpent]’s poison was quite strong, so unless you used quest-exclusive tools, you could not even properly carry the poison.
“Do you have the tool, Ivelin?”
“Yes, my quest gave me the same tool.”
I was a little curious what route their hidden quest used to collect the [Medusius Serpent]’s poison.
But it was a quest for babies anyway. Even if I learned it now, it would not be especially useful information.
Glug, glug, splash, splash.......
Using the pump, a quest-exclusive tool, we carefully placed the [Medusius Serpent]’s poison into the glass bottles.
If it happened to get on a finger by mistake, we would die on the spot, so it required quite a bit of tension.
......This might actually be harder than killing the [Venom Serpent] and the [Lich].
“Wow, but for poison, the color is really pretty.”
Ivelin, who had finished collecting the poison before I knew it, admired the red poisonous liquid inside the glass bottle.
To me, it only looked like a blackish, blood-red liquid.
“......Do you perhaps like poison swamps?”
“Huh?”
“Even though you’re a beginner, you started with heavy armor, and for some reason, you seem to like poison.”
There were some people with that kind of concept. Among people who liked dark fantasy hardcore action RPGs, that was.
“I’m not sure? I’ve never seen a poison swamp before, so I don’t really know.”
Ivelin answered while their helmet clanked.
“Can I tell you after I see one later?”
“There’s no need to go that far and tell me later.”
“Ah, but it’d be nice if it became an excuse to talk, wouldn’t it?”
What incredible sociability. Was that how online social butterflies thought? They must have had their own way of enjoying things.
[Obtained ‘Medusius Serpent’s Poison’!]
[Medusius Serpent’s Poison]
◆ Grade: Rare
◆ Category: Event
─[Poison collected from the remains of the Medusius Serpent. It is the cursed poison possessed only by the vassals of Medusius, the great general of the demonfolk. A power that curses life itself dwells within it.]
In any case, I also finished collecting the poison.
“I have one more quest to do on the way back to the base. What will you do?”
What I had offered to help with was collecting the [Medusius Serpent]’s poison. After this point, Ivelin did not need to accompany me.
“May I watch it if it isn’t rude?”
“It’s not that you can’t, but Ivelin, you won’t gain anything from watching.......”
“It’s a hidden quest, isn’t it? I thought watching might help me study the game.”
“Study?”
“Yes! If I’m going to become a pro, I have to study hard!”
Ivelin answered spiritedly.
‘Come to think of it, their introduction said something about going pro too, didn’t it?’
Maybe because they were newbies, it was quite an absurd goal.
I did not mean to dismiss them. It was just that [Elysium Online] was an RPG, so it did not have a pro league.
“A pro in an RPG....... What level is your goal? Something like placing in the top few percent of the server?”
I asked because I was curious about the standard. Strangely enough, this person’s target was more similar to my level than the random nobodies I had met earlier.
“I’m not sure if I’d go so far as to say the top few percent of the server.......”
As expected.
“But if I place in a tournament, wouldn’t I get scouted?”
“Scouted?”
“Yes! By a team or something like that.”
Ah, it was not that their skill was at a pro level. They were aiming to become an actual gaming pro?
“......Then shouldn’t you go play an AOS or FPS?”
Wasn’t the front line of pro gamers usually those genres?
I had heard that VR games were enjoying an all-time golden age for pro gamers, but there were no RPG pros. If they wanted to go pro, they should have played a different genre.
“Ah, do you not watch pro leagues much these days?”
“No.”
When I was in the army, I only exercised later on. I thought there was nothing bad about taking care of my health.
“Well, from [Legend Artemis] onward, RPGs have started a pro league boom these days too.”
“Oh, really?”
“Absolutely!”
Was that true? I had not expected such a change while I was in the army.
“[Elysium] had E-sports pro tournaments and things like that too, but it didn’t have a regular league. But!”
“But?”
“They’re officially promoting that this classic release and reorganization are for launching a formal pro league! They’re deliberately doing all sorts of things to bring skilled people into the classic server too!”
“Aha.......”
So it was not for no reason that the classic server events were oddly large, or that old rankers like me received various things under the name Legendary Player.
Apparently, this classic server was a server launched by the game company with various intentions.
“So I was also aiming to become an RPG pro, and when I heard they were investing a lot into [Elysium] this time, I came to try for it. [Joysoft], the company running [Elysium], has a really huge parent company.”
I had to listen to them explain how large N Group, [Joysoft]’s parent company, was, how much its market cap was, and so on.
I roughly listened and let it pass, as if listening to a senior I had no interest in boast about their hobby.
In any case, I understood that Ivelin had chosen [Elysium] after quite a bit of thought.
‘Joysoft, huh.......’
They called it a major company, but back when I played, [Joysoft]’s behavior was worse than even small-to-mid game companies, so people called them J-shit....... Were they different these days?
“So! I want to watch the play of skilled people even a little more! If I won’t be a burden, may I keep following along as a form of studying?”
“Hm, there won’t be much for me to show my skill with.......”
“Still!”
I wondered what it was like to play games with the feeling of studying, but there was no need to kick them out.
“Do as you like.”
“Ah, thank you!”
Ivelin moved excitedly, and their armor clanked noisily.
In any case, I decided to focus on the rest of the quest.
I put the collected [Medusius Serpent]’s poison into my inventory and took out a tool for the next quest.
[Fairy Powder Pouch]
◆ Grade: Rare
◆ Category: Event
─[A pouch containing Fairy Powder. By scattering Fairy Powder, it shows the path toward the place or object desired by the requester.]
─[Dwarven blacksmith Kelvin’s request dwells within it. It will guide you toward the wagon lost by Kelvin and his companions.]
Fairy Powder.
It was a navigation item that served to guide you to quest locations in [Elysium Online].
I scattered the Fairy Powder from the pouch into the air. Then,
VWOOOM, VWOOOM, VWOOOOOM......!
the golden powder scattered in the air emitted light, turned into a lump of light, and began guiding the way.
“Ah, this quest gives Fairy Powder?”
“Yes.”
“My hidden quest didn’t give me powder, so I really struggled. Ugh.”
Ivelin said that while shuddering.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if every quest gave guide items like this?”
“......That’s true.”
There was no room to refute it. [Elysium Online] did have quests that did not even give guide items like this, forcing you to suffer while finding the conditions.
“I do think they made it that way because searching without guidance has its own fun.......”
Since I mostly charged in myself, there were many cases where I cleared quests strangely. Sometimes, I covered things with physical ability or used tricks, causing the quest to twist.
“Hm, so searching is also part of the fun! Understood!”
With an energetic answer, Ivelin followed the fairy light forward.
Dark nighttime ruins. The path where specks of fairy light drifted gave the feeling of walking through the Milky Way. It was a unique sensation that could only be tasted in a game.
As for me, I preferred combat to looking at scenery, but I did quite like this unique atmosphere games had.
“Aren’t you taking screenshots?”
Remembering how Ivelin had been snapping screenshots earlier, I asked Ivelin, who was clanking beside me in armor.
“Screenshots? Why?”
“......Isn’t the scenery nice? The Fairy Powder is glowing too.”
“Hm? Is it? I think the glowing poison earlier was prettier!”
“......”
Was I the strange one, or were they? I was genuinely becoming curious about what this person would do if they went to a poison swamp someday.
Rustle, rustle.......
That was while we were chatting and following the fairy light. From somewhere, I heard the subtle sound of cloth and similar things brushing together.
“Prepare for combat.”
“Huh?”
Fwoosh!
The moment I spoke, the sound of something cutting through the wind came from somewhere. It was the sound of an arrow.
It was night, so visibility was poor. I had no skills to help with projectile evasion or observation. But, well.......
‘There.’
Since I had noticed the sign before the arrow flew in, intercepting it was not that difficult.
WHOOSH! CRACK!
I drew my sword and cut the arrow down.
PING!
“Ah!”
I heard Ivelin scream beside me. An arrow had hit their head accurately, but thanks to the helmet, it had broken.
“That’s a nice helmet.”
“Ugh, it is.”
Ivelin muttered while stroking the place where the arrow had struck.
“But where is the attack coming from?”
Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
“Ah! Ah!”
Ivelin made a fuss and rolled wildly on the ground. Since they said they were aiming to go pro, they did dodge well, but how should I put it? They were not seasoned.
“......You’ll need to get used to projectile attacks.”
I gave that advice while knocking away the rest of the arrows with my sword. Well, in VR games, something flying quickly toward your face was more likely to make you psychologically shrink back than a giant monster boss charging in.
“W-what monster is it? I can’t even see it!”
“It’s probably a Goblin Scout.”
“Scout?”
“A scout soldier. This is a battlefield.”
The battle had ended, but it was common sense for scouts to move at night. In this hidden quest zone, scouts and undead-type monsters appeared from time to time at night.
They were not really the main focus, and were treated as small fry you caught on the way to a quest.
“CrrAAaaa!”
“GRaHka!!”
Sure enough, goblins armed with daggers and bows soon appeared and blocked our path.
They were just small fry, but I was still level 1. Allowing an attack would be dangerous. It would be better to clean them up quickly.
“Let’s clean them up fast. You can handle that much, right?”
“Y-yes!”
SHING!
Then Ivelin drew the large two-handed sword they had been carrying on their back.
Heavy armor and a two-handed sword. It was a fairly typical and stable combination. In appearance, that is.
That heavy armor was a costume, so it had no defense. ......Well, since they cared enough to take care of that visual, perhaps they had properly equipped armor on their own too? They did say they had watched guides.
“Yahhh!”
When I charged toward the Goblin Scouts, Ivelin also ran after me.
CRACK! SLASH! SLASH! ?!
I cut down the incoming arrows, dodged the goblins’ daggers, cut off their limbs, and finished them.
Since I still had no skills, the feel of it was lacking, but killing several at once made it somewhat better.
“Hrk, hrk! Hrrrk!”
SLASH!
While I cleared out three goblins like that, Ivelin struggled and wrestled with the remaining one before finishing it.
Well, the movements of a player in the early section were usually about that much.
“Whew......! I’m done too!”
Right after we finished dealing with all the goblins.
VWOOOM!
The Fairy Powder I had scattered earlier began emitting an even stronger light. It meant we had almost reached the quest objective.
“W-what is it?”
“It means we’re almost there.”
“Ah.”
I scattered another handful of Fairy Powder. Then the light of the golden Fairy Powder grew even stronger and guided us.
The light of the Fairy Powder extended beyond the end of the wasteland to the part where the forest began.
“Huh? I think it’s that!”
And not long after entering the forest, we were able to reach our destination.
Beneath the specks of Fairy Powder’s light, I saw broken wagons and the corpses of horses and soldiers.
“Kelvin.”
Hadn’t he told me to call his name if I wanted to find the tools? I recalled Kelvin’s advice and called his name.
“Kelvin!”
VWOOOM.......
After I called the name several times like that, I saw silver light flickering among the broken wagons. It seemed to be the wagon carrying the blacksmiths’ tools.
“Ah! That’s it, right?”
“Yes.”
When I approached, the glowing wagon had fallen on its side. Fortunately, the door opened upward. Well, it had been like that last time too, so it was natural.
“I’ll go in and bring the item out.”
“Yes!”
I crawled onto the fallen wagon, entered the wagon, and began searching through the mess inside.
Before long, I found a large leather pouch sparkling with silver light inside.
I placed the leather pouch into my inventory.
[Obtained ‘Kelvin’s Blacksmith Tool Pouch’.]
[Kelvin’s Blacksmith Tool Pouch]
◆ Grade: Artisan
◆ Category: Event
─[A leather pouch containing exclusive blacksmith tools belonging to dwarven blacksmith Kelvin and his companions. Tools bearing a dwarf’s soul are contained inside. Tools containing souls may react when their owner’s name is called.]
‘Good.’
I had obtained both the [Medusius Serpent]’s poison and the blacksmith tools. On top of that, I had the additional reward and the Necromancer’s Soul Fragment connected to it.
As far as I remembered, that was the end of the rewards.
“Let’s go back now.”
That was when I had taken everything I needed and came back out of the wagon.
“Um, Kylo. Look at this.”
Ivelin called me as if they had found something. Strange. Once I found the tools, there should not have been anything else unusual here.
“What is it?”
“This is a dwarf, right?”
What Ivelin pointed at was a single body among the corpses that was especially short.
“Couldn’t it be Kelvin’s companion?”
“It could be, yes.”
He had said he was separated from his companions during the chaos of battle.
“What about bringing back the body?”
“The body?”
“Yes. He seemed sad about being separated from his companions....... Wouldn’t he be grateful if we brought back the body?”
“Hm......”
It was not a baseless thing to say. I remembered there being quests that involved moving corpses or wounded people.
However, in this tutorial zone’s hidden quest, I had not thought there was any need to go that far, so I had not bothered doing it.......
‘There’s also how a hidden objective I didn’t know opened after killing the Orc Warrior.......’
Wouldn’t it be fine to do something I originally would not have done? This kind of thinking was not easy unless you were a newbie who had just entered the game.
However.......
“Can you carry a corpse on your back?”
The decisive reason I had not gone out of my way to move the corpse that looked like a dwarf before was that I had done this quest alone.
A level 1 state. If I encountered a monster while carrying a corpse on my back and unable to use a weapon, it would be troublesome.
Now, Ivelin was beside me, so I thought Ivelin could move the corpse and I could deal with any monster that appeared, but.......
“Wouldn’t it be hard?”
“I guess so?”
“Maybe one would be fine, but three is a bit.......”
“Huh? Three?”
“Yes! There are more dwarf dead here.”
“......”
Why the hell were they so good at finding corpses in the dark like this? This heavy-armor newbie? Their field of vision should not even be that good with a helmet on.
They really were suspiciously good at seeing poison and corpses. Shouldn’t they set their class advancement direction toward Necromancer?
“No matter how I think about it, carrying three people seems difficult.”
“Hm, I guess it’s too much after all.......”
I was looking at Ivelin giving up like that, the fallen wagon, and the dwarves’ bodies.
VWOOOM......!
“Hm?”
Suddenly, silver light burst wildly from my body.
‘What is this?’
This was the first time I had seen an effect like this occur here.
‘No way......?’
That was when it happened.
[‘Necromancer’s Soul Fragment’ reacts!]
[You can temporarily sense souls!]
─Young adventurers.......
─Can you hear our voices......?
A new hidden development I did not remember began to occur.