[‘Necromancer’s Soul Fragment’ reacts!]
[You can temporarily sense souls!]
─Young adventurers.......
─Can you hear our voices......?
As silver energy flowed out from my body, a voice came from somewhere.
‘Is this the voice of a soul?’
Judging by the tooltip, it was probably a voice reacting to the [Necromancer’s Soul Fragment].
‘This is the first time I’ve seen this development.’
The problem was that what I could hear was only a faint voice.
It felt like I had to do something more here.
[Tutorial]
[An event is occurring where an item in your inventory is reacting. Please take the item out of your inventory and activate it. An additional event will occur!]
A tutorial message that provided the answer appeared just in time.
‘As expected!’
No doubt about it. This was a new hidden element!
“H-huh? Kylo? What’s wrong? Your body is glowing. Did something go wrong?”
“No. You did well.”
“Huh?”
When I praised them for discovering the hidden element, Ivelin tilted their head.
I decided to explain later and took the Necromancer’s Soul Fragment out of my inventory.
Then silver mana flowed out from the Necromancer’s Soul Fragment and enveloped the dwarves’ bodies.
And then.
WHOOOOOM.......
The silver mana enveloping the dwarves’ bodies connected to something invisible in the air.
Then the invisible things gradually formed silver shapes and began revealing themselves.
“G-ghosts?!”
Just as Ivelin said in shock, the item’s interaction was showing us dwarf ghosts!
─Young adventurers.......
─Can you hear our voices?
“Yes, and I can see what form you are in as well.”
─Ohhhhh.......
─At last, our voices have reached the living......!
The dwarf ghosts reacted with deep emotion.
─Young adventurers.......
─We have a request.......
“What is it?”
─Our bodies.......
─Our equipment.......
─The tools bearing dwarven souls.......
─Will you deliver them into the arms of our kin......?
[Hidden objective unlocked!]
◆ Additional Objective
─[Deliver all the dwarves’ bodies and tools to their kin.]
◆ Additional Reward
─[The dwarves’ souls will affect the linked quest.]
‘Oh-ho.......’
It was exactly as Ivelin had suggested.
When I delivered not only the tools as I had originally done, but their bodies and tools intact to Kelvin,
a new hidden element that even I had never experienced before would unlock.
─The power of the soul fragment you carry is not yet refined.......
─We will lose form again and return to death’s slumber.......
─Please, return us to the arms of our kin.......
─We ask this of you.......
Ssssss.......
Soon, the light flowing out from the Necromancer’s Soul Fragment faded, and the dwarf ghosts disappeared as well.
“Wow...... That was an amazing event.”
“Yes. Thanks to you, I got to see something good.”
“Huh?”
“If it weren’t for you, Ivelin, I would’ve missed this event without unlocking it.”
I was not just being polite. It was true.
I was an old fossil who had mastered most combat content, but I was rather dull when it came to worldbuilding, story, and small story-based hidden quests without combat.
My real stage was the arena. I had practically reached the rankings through PVP, after all.
“Then we’re delivering these dwarves’ bodies to Kelvin, right?”
“We should.”
No matter how little interest I had in these small hidden elements, I was not the kind of gamer who missed a hidden element that had already opened.
If there was a new reward, I had to take it right away.
“Hm, but how do we move them?”
It was good that we had found more of the hidden quest, but we had ended up stuck at the same place again.
‘Hm.......’
Since the quest had opened, there had to be something nearby that could help. I examined the surroundings carefully.
How long had I been looking around?
‘Hm?’
Suddenly, a flash went through my mind, and a brilliant solution came to me.
“This might work if we do it right.”
I had thought of a good way to carry out this hidden quest all at once.
***
Of course, two people could not move three corpses at the same time.
Especially since our levels were low, so we could not display any exceptional strength either.
If the corpses had been quest items, we could have put them directly into the inventory. But perhaps the developers had some conscience, because that trick did not work either.
In fact, if we had completed class advancement and had items, similar absurd behavior would be possible, but this was the tutorial zone. Unfortunately, we could not do that kind of absurd thing yet.
“What do we do?”
Perhaps still unable to imagine a method, Ivelin asked while their helmet clanked.
“It’s actually simpler than you might think.”
“It is? What could it be?”
“The wagon.”
I pointed at the fallen wagon.
“Couldn’t we raise it and drag it along?”
“Ah.”
It was obvious if you thought about it, but a wagon was an object meant for loading and moving cargo.
“And as it happens, the dwarves’ wagon is in the best condition.”
The wagon loaded with the dwarves’ weapons and tools had fallen on its side, but its condition was cleaner than expected. At most, there seemed to be a problem with the wheel on the fallen side.
“It would be difficult alone, but there are two of us. If we lift the damaged wheel side so it doesn’t touch the ground, we should somehow be able to move it.”
“Ah, that sounds good! Let’s try it right away!”
Then Ivelin immediately ran toward the fallen wagon and took action.
“Hnnnngh!!”
Creeeak, grrk.......
However, raising the wagon was not easy. Ivelin tried hard to lift the wagon, but all they managed was lifting it a few centimeters off the ground.
“A-ah, I can’t do it!”
In the end, the exhausted Ivelin let go of the wagon and fell flat backward.
“This is too heavy. Even if we do it together, I’m not sure it’ll work.......”
“That’s true if we just do it normally.”
It was not as if this was an event where some magical force was at work. Right now, the two of us were simply trying to raise the wagon with strength.
Naturally, that strength was affected by the character’s “Strength” stat.
However, this was the tutorial zone.
Both of us had the initial class, [Novice], so we did not receive proper Strength correction, and both of our levels were low.
At least Ivelin had leveled up before coming here. I had not even unlocked leveling yet, so I was still level 1.
Naturally, we could not raise the wagon with simple strength.
“Then how do we raise the wagon? Should we try using a lever?”
“It seems possible, but that carries the risk of damaging the wagon even more.”
In large-scale VR games like Elysium, most objects applied physics calculations and interactions even if they were not objects with special events.
That was why the fallen wagon was not part of the map, but something that could be directly raised.
Conversely, this meant unexpected interactions could occur too.
For example, if we tried to raise the wagon with a lever for no reason, too much force might be applied to the leveraged part and damage the wagon.
“So let’s take a safer method.”
“A safer method?”
“You still have all the potions I shared with you earlier, right?”
“Yes!”
“Please use the buff potion bundle I gave you then. There should be a Strength Enhancement Potion in it.”
“Ah! Then we can increase our strength with potions and lift it?”
“That’s right.”
[Eighth Supply Depot Buff Potion Bundle]
◆ Grade: Rare
◆ Category: Consumable
─[A buff potion bundle issued by the Eighth Supply Base. When used, grants beginner stat enhancement potions.]
I did not know whether this had been issued for use like this or to use as buffs in boss battles, but at the supply depot, you could receive buff potion bundles with tickets.
They were usually an item chosen as a lower priority, pushed back by Revival Orbs or recovery potions. The same went for the Holy Water I had used when fighting the [Lich].
‘Still, thanks to the Gold Medal of Honor, I received them together this time.’
In any case, I had experience clearing every hidden quest afterward even without these buff potions. If a use for them had appeared like this, I should use them without regret.
[Used ‘Eighth Supply Depot Buff Potion Bundle’!]
[Obtained ‘Low-Grade Strength Enhancement Potion’!]
[Obtained ‘Low-Grade Agility Enhancement Potion’!]
[Obtained ‘Low-Grade Dexterity Enhancement Potion’!]
[Obtained ‘Low-Grade Stamina Enhancement Potion’!]
The potion bundle contained buff potions that were relatively helpful for physical builds. Since magic could not be properly learned in the tutorial section, that was only natural.
The only ambiguous one was probably the Dexterity Enhancement Potion. In this hidden quest section, it was hard to use bows or dagger-type weapons that benefited heavily from Dexterity correction.
“First, let’s drink the Strength buff potion and try again.”
“Yes, yes!”
I used the Strength buff potion and was about to go to Ivelin’s side.
“Hup!”
Before I could go help, Ivelin began raising the wagon alone.
Creak, creeeak.......
The effect of the buff potion was certain! The wagon was slowly lifted, then finally stood completely upright.
“Ah, it worked! It really worked! It’s just as you said, Kylo! Amazing!”
“......”
I had meant for us to lift it together, but they did it all alone. I had already drunk the buff potion too.
‘Somehow, I feel like I became someone who made them do all the work.......’
In any case, the wagon we had raised was in far better condition than expected. Except for one wheel being slightly broken and the side that had been lying on the ground being covered in dirt.
For something that had overturned sideways, the damage was not major. Even with the broken wheel, the wagon only tilted slightly and stood properly. If there had been a horse, we could have dragged it along as it was.
“Maybe it’s durable because it was dwarven-made?”
“Maybe it was designed with dragging the whole wagon back included.”
At any rate, at this point, we should assume that dragging the entire wagon back was included in the scope of the quest from the start.
“Now we just have to load the dwarves’ bodies inside and go.”
“Yes!”
We moved the fallen dwarves’ bodies into the wagon one by one. After loading all three corpses Ivelin had found earlier, we searched the surroundings one more time just in case.
“There doesn’t seem to be anything left, Kylo.”
“Then let’s get going.”
“Yes!”
And before the final departure,
thinking they might help with something, Ivelin and I drank the Agility buff potion, Dexterity buff potion, and Stamina buff potion as well.
“I’ll push from behind. Ivelin, please support the wagon from the side and push together. And if you see a monster along the way, let each other know.”
“Yes!”
Like that, we pushed the wagon and returned toward the Eighth Supply Base.
***
The road back was not particularly easy.
It was hard to balance the broken wagon, and since this had been a battlefield, the ground was rough and filthy all over.
How should I put it? It was like a tedious balance minigame.
At least, I wanted to think that the Dexterity and Agility buffs helped with balancing.
[Your body is trained while moving a heavy wagon.]
[‘Strength’ increased!]
[‘Stamina’ increased!]
[Your patience grows while moving a heavy wagon.]
[‘Mind’ increased!]
[Tutorial]
[About Stat Growth]
[Stats, the foundation of a character’s strength, increase not only through quest rewards, but also by performing certain actions!]
[Challenge more difficult actions and train your stats!]
While moving the wagon like that, my stats grew.
“......”
Was this a characteristic of [Elysium Online]? Stats rose strangely well from things like grueling labor.
Back in the day, I used to raise stats while mining in mines and the like. What a memory.
‘Well, I’m grateful it rises even through this.’
Right now, leveling was blocked. It was probably a tiny amount, but I was grateful that my character’s basic foundation was becoming even a little stronger.
“Wow, stats rise even from something like this?”
“Usually, they at least give stats in content that gnaws away at your nerves in small ways like this.”
“Aha!”
While we continued the tedious movement with the wagon like that.
“KrrrrRrrrrr.......”
I heard the cry of a monster behind us. It was the unique howl of a wolf.
‘Riders?’
When I turned around, sure enough, I saw a group of wolf-riding Goblin Riders running toward us.
[Objective added!]
◆ Additional Objectives
─[Deliver all the dwarves’ bodies and tools to their kin.]
─[Return to the supply base while avoiding the Goblin Scouts’ pursuit.]
─[Protect the wagon and the dwarf ghosts’ bodies from the Goblin Scouts’ attack.]
‘This is.......’
This was a hidden element I had never seen when I did not move the dwarves’ bodies. It was a protection-type quest where you defended an object or NPC from monster attacks.
“Ah, monsters! What do we do?! Should we leave the wagon and fight?”
“No.”
It was not a bad judgment, but I shook my head at Ivelin’s suggestion.
“First, hold your weapon and focus on defense. We have to keep moving.”
“That...... might be a little hard!”
“‘Protect the wagon’ was added to the quest objectives just now. The completion rate will probably drop if the wagon takes even a little damage.”
That was fairly common in protection-type quests.
In severe cases, you could not receive the best reward if the object or NPC was so much as grazed.
“Uh, uh, then what do we do?”
“It’s fine.”
While reassuring Ivelin, who did not know what to do, I activated the Supply Sword from my inventory.
“I just have to block everything on the way.”