Chapter 63: [63] The Adventurer’s Guild
"Missing?" Ark asked, feeling skeptical. It was a ridiculous thing to say, considering that players went missing in Eden every single day.
Danger was not reserved solely to the dungeons and towers. Eden was a medieval fantasy world...
There were monsters all around that could easily snatch a player and drag them into a bush in the middle of nowhere. A few missing players were actually pretty normal.
But of course, there was a catch.
"What else do I need to know?"
"All these players went missing trying to complete the same quest."
’Ah, so that is why...’
Ark’s gaze moved back to the quest board. "What is the name of this quest?" he asked in a lowered tone.
"Wyvern egg collection."
Ark spotted the quest and unpinned the paper, looking through it. It was a decent quest ranked two stars, but the payment was very odd.
"Twenty thousand credits for a successful collection, and they will double it if I find a golden egg?"
"Why is the quest so generous?"
"It is an auto-generated quest," Tristan explained. Auto-generated quests are quests that were not put up by people, but instead by the system.
"The rewards for these quests keep increasing the longer the quest remains unresolved."
’So people have been unable to complete this quest for so long?’
Wyverns were powerful creatures, but the quest was not to slay one. Stealing their eggs should have been relatively easy.
"Players must be avoiding the quest..."
"Indeed. Most players have refused to take on the quest because of the... umm... curse."
"Curse?" Ark would have rolled his eyes if he could.
"Well, that is what players have begun calling it. Pretty cliché, right? Apparently, if you take on the quest, you are doomed to vanish."
Ark sighed as he stared at the caller ID. "Let me guess, you want me to take the quest."
"Exactly. Talking to you is so easy."
"No. I’m not the association’s errand boy." Ark folded his hands across his chest. "I’m sure I was pretty clear when I said I wouldn’t be joining the associatio—"
"I’ll give you double the quest rewards."
"We have a deal."
"I knew we would come to an understanding..." The call ended.
Ark stared at the paper, reading through the description once more. "What could be so dangerous about hunting wyvern eggs?"
He turned around and began walking towards the counter. "I guess I’ll find out soon enough."
"Welcome to the adventurer’s guild! May the sun and moon guide your path!"
Behind the counter was an elven woman. Her pointy ears were peeking from within her long, honey-brown hair, and her emerald eyes were filled with enthusiasm.
"How can I help you today?"
The woman in front of him was not a player, and neither was she a nephilim.
Centuries ago, when players visited Eden for the first time, many people were already living in the world.
At first, they thought they were NPCs. Some players even killed them if they so much as looked at them wrong, expecting them to reappear the next time they logged in.
They never did.
It wasn’t long until the first-generation players realized they had been very wrong...
They were not NPCs that the system had conjured up to give the world a storyline... They were real people.
Most of them had lost their memories of how they ended up in Eden. Their minds were blank, and whenever they tried to think back, it would be as though their memories were corroded by a thick, black mist.
But one thing was clear, they were not from Earth, and so players went on to call these people natives.
Natives were different from players in that they could not access the system.
They could still awaken, gaining skills and magic, but it was a whole other process completely independent of the system.
"I would like to take this quest..." Ark handed her the paper.
The moment she read through it, the woman’s face twisted with worry.
"Um... are you sure? This is..."
"Yes, I am."
"Alright then, let me process your request." She pulled out a ledger and began going through it.
"Come on, what do you mean it’s burned? Look at it, it’s in perfect condition, this is just a little char!"
Ark suddenly heard someone say from beside him.
"I’m sorry, miss. The monster is only good because of its hide, the way it is now... it is usable."
"The quest said bring back a bear wolf, it said nothing about the state it had to be in, did it?" The girl shot back.
"Actually... it did," the receptionist sighed. "Did you even read the quest details, miss?"
"..."
"But..." her voice trailed off.
’That voice...’ Ark mused. It sounded oddly familiar.
Ark turned to face the side, just at the same time the girl was turning. Their eyes met and the girl’s eyes widened.
"Skelly??"
"Olivia..."
"Skelly!" Her face suddenly lit up with a smile. "How are you doin—uhum!— I mean..."
Her voice lost its friendly tone. "What are you doing here? Don’t tell me you were looking for me?" She smirked smugly.
"??"
Ark looked away.
"I’m kidding!" She abandoned the charred monster corpse on the desk and walked up to him.
"So what are you doing? Are you trying to complete the beginner quest?"
Ark nodded. "I just found one that looks good, it should be enough to get a little training done."
"That is good..." her voice took a sombre tone. "Would you believe I have failed the beginner quest two times now?"
Knowing Olivia, it wasn’t all that surprising. But Ark did not want to destroy whatever morale she had left.
"Really? How come, did you take on the higher-ranked quests?"
She sighed and shook her head. "That is not the problem. Last time, I blew up the monster into chunks of meat... they said it was unusable."
Her shoulders dropped and she began twirling her orange hair with her fingers. "So I thought magic would work, great plan, right?" Her face reddened slightly.
"Uhun..."
"But the monster couldn’t even survive my spell!" She complained with moist eyes. "Now they won’t accept it, is that fair??"
Ark’s gaze moved to the monster’s corpse and even he was taken aback.
"Olivia... What... what did you do to that poor thing?"
"Sorry to interrupt, but I have officially registered you for the quest." The elf handed him the paper.
"So? What quest are you picking out?" Olivia clasped her hands at her back, her wings fluttering excitedly as she read the details from the paper.
"Egg hunting?" Her eyes widened with excitement. "I never tried a two-star quest..."
She paused for a few seconds as she contemplated, then she tried her best to put on a serious face.
"Hey, you know it is dangerous for newbies to take on two-star quests?" She folded her arms across her chest.
"Don’t worry..." She placed her hand on her chest. "I, the great battle mage, will personally assist you—"
"No."
"Huh, why? I didn’t even finish!" Olivia cried.
Ark gave her a blank stare.
It wasn’t that she was not an asset. He knew that she would be helpful, especially considering her skills.
But...
Ark stared at the bottom of the paper.
At the cash price.
’Won’t I have to split it fifty-fifty?’
"Umm... it’s... it’s too dangerous. I’ll go alone."
"Sorry to interrupt... again." The elf laughed nervously, trying to be as polite as she could. "There are three other people who registered before you, this will be a group quest."
"Sorry I didn’t tell you at first, I’m new... b-but if you want, I can remove your name from the ques—"
"No! We will take it!" Olivia cut her off with a wide grin.
"Who is we?" Why were so many people adding him to their ’we’ these days?
"Both of us." Her wings swayed like a cat wagging its tail.
Ark sighed as he ran the calculation in his head. The price he arrived at left a bitter taste in his mouth...
"Let’s go..."
The money was still decent at least, and he still had the bonus from Tristan, so there was no need to refuse.
Olivia walked closely beside him, whistling a merry tune as they left the guild.
It was time to meet their teammates...