The Immortal Player

Pedro sat down on the chair that Village Chief Antonio pointed. And before Pedro could even say a word, Antonio forced out a smile towards him before saying, "Forgive me for the late introductions, Adventurer D-Death! I am Antonio Kagat, the Village Chief of Kagat Village! Since I am quite busy right now... Can I know if you are up to any tasks I have in mind?"

Pedro could not help but force out a smile deep inside and thought, 'Dang! It's so awkward to hear someone call me like that! Anyway... what's important is that I get some quests before other players do!'

Pedro glanced to Antonio and said, "O-Of course, respected village chief! As long as it is within my ability, I would try to do my best to help!"

At this point of the game, Pedro's goal was exploring quests and other paths that he may take this time around. This was one of the benefits that he got from playing in the closed beta phase other than 'warming up' and being able to play the game in advance.

There was no benefit in trying to do the same tank role path he had in his past life at this closed beta phase. So, it is ideal to explore different quests as much as he can.

On the other hand, Village Chief Antonio's mood seemed to lighten up a little bit after hearing what Pedro said. Then, Village Chief Antonio clapped his hands and said, "It's good to see your confidence, Young Adventurer! Then... I would not hold back! Currently, the village is experiencing a bit of trouble! Just this morning, a village soldier amongst the escort group of my wife and daughter had returned to the main gate, barely breathing and severely injured. After tending to his wounds, he informed us that they encountered a group of trolls and were able to kill every single soldier in the escort team."

At this moment, Pedro could not help but bit his lips while forcing out a smile deep inside. He thought, 'Oi, Oi! Don't tell me that the village chief is going to give me a hunt quest? Well... If that's the case, then I could only decline respectfully! I would just die if it would turn out to be a hunt quest after all! For now... It would be best to probe a little further and gain more information.'

"What about your wife and daughter? Perhaps... They are alive?" Pedro asked. Then, he crossed his fingers and hoped that it was not a hunt quest. It was not because he had no ability to face a monsters, but because all of his stats were at its lowest.

On top of that, he did not have any offensive type skills--even the Bronze Rated skills. So, it would be difficult for Pedro to fight monsters this early in the game. 

However, Pedro suddenly had a bad feeling as Village Chief Antonio's face frowned--unable to hide the worry he had kept deep inside. Village Chief Antonio said, "The injured soldier said that the trolls did not harm them. According to him, a fellow soldier stalled for him to escape and send a warning to the village. While he was running as fast as he could, he saw my wife and daughter in the middle of the group of trolls like a prisoner--heading into the forest." 

"What can I do, Chief?"

"The soldiers are preparing as we speak. It will take about 20 minutes to complete their preparation. As for the trolls, they might have not wondered that far--making a rescue operation possible. However..."

'Here it comes.' Pedro thought deep inside as he reactively took a gulp.

Village Chief Antonio frowned and said, "However, we can only depart when the preparations of the village soldiers are complete. At this point in time, scout soldiers were often mobilized to locate the enemy. This will allow us to plan a strategy to minimize the casualties and, at the same time, it would also allow us to reach the trolls in a shorter period of time. Unfortunately, the village only had one scout! And... It was the soldier who was severely injured." 

"So... You want me to scout the enemies?" Pedro asked in a calm demeanor, and thought, 'This is not a hunt quest... But the danger is almost of the same level! In any case... As long as I won't need to kill several monsters then... I can accept the quest.'

Village Chief Antonio nodded in response and said, "Yes, Young Adventurer! Although I know that this task is beyond your current capability, And... This might cause your... untimely... death... I have no other choice but to ask anyone who can do it as soon as possible!"

"I-If you are able to complete this task, I promise to reward you generously!" Village Chief Antonio added to ensure that Pedro would accept the quest--because of being lured in by the rewards.

That said, the village chief's heart could not help but to race faster each second. The atmosphere inside the room became tense as he awaits Pedro's final answer. 

At this moment, Pedro's player interface popped out--displaying a notification regarding the quest.

[Village Story Activated!]

[Quest: Scouting Duty!

Rating: B-rate

Mission: Scout the whereabouts of the Trolls who took the wife and daughter of the village chief.

Duration: 20 minutes

Will you accept?]

~~~~~~~~

Pedro could not help but frown as he rubbed his chin and pondered whether he would take the quest or not. He thought, 'If I took the quest, there is a high possibility that I would die. On the other hand, this was a quest from the village chief himself. The reward should be... Ahh! What am I thinking?! It's just scouting. I am not even required to kill anything! Besides... It is just the Closed Beta Phase. Dodging and stuff would be a good warm up for me at the least!'

"I accept. I'll take the quest, Chief!" Pedro shouted and was followed by another notification from his player interface.

[Player Death has accepted the quest!]

On the other hand, Village Chief Antonio shot up from his seat and said, "That's great! I greatly appreciate your help, Young Adventurer! Since you accepted my personal request, take these ten silver coins and go to the village shop! Buy some items that you might deem useful for your survival!"

Village Chief Antonio hadded over ten silver coins to Pedro. Of course, Pedro happily took the ten silver coins from him. And out of excitement, Pedro was about to ran out of the Village Chief's Office and do the quest as fast as he can.

But before he could leave, the Village Chief stopped him and said, "A-Another thing, Y-Young Adventurer! If... Just if you were successful in tracking those trolls, and there was an opportunity to rescue my wife and my daughter... I would greatly appreciate it if you could rescue them and escape! If you could do so, I would personally reward you a secret skill that was passed down in our family for decades!"

[Side Quest Activated!]

[Quest: Rescue! Rescue!

Rating: A-rate

Mission: Rescue the village chief's wife and daughter from the trolls and escape without dying.

Duration: 30 minutes

Will you accept?]

Pedro could not help but to slap his forehead deep insde. He thought, 'Sh1t! I'm at this point already! Why bother reject it?!'

"I accept!" Pedro gritted his teeth and accepted the side quest.

[Player "Death" has accepted the quest!]

Pedro did not want to allow Village Chief Antonio to give him more difficult quest so, he rushed out of the village chief's office and headed straight to the village shop to buy some items.

"Welcome!" The saleswoman greeted casually.

"Is there anything I can purchase, under ten silver coins?" Pedro asked in a hurried manner. 

"Under ten silver coins?" The saleswoman was thought for a second as her eyes scanned through contents of the shop. Then, after a few seconds, she brought a syringe and several vials that were containing a light red and red liquids respectively, and said, "Sire, here are the items that can be bought under 10 silver coins."

[Basic Potion]

Effect: Heals 25 HP of the players instantly

Cooldown: 2 seconds.

Price: 5 bronze coins

~~~~~~~~~

[Intermediate Potion]

Effect: Heals 50 HP of the players instantly

Cooldown: 2 seconds.

Price: 10 bronze coins

~~~~~~~~~

[Potion injector]

Effect: Automatically activates a selected potion in the inventory if HP drops from 20%.

Price: 1 silver coin

~~~~~~~~~

Pedro's enlarged out astonishment and thought, 'I can only buy potions?! Wait a second... 50 HP???' Then, he sighed deep inside and grumbled, 'It's only a village after all... What could I expect? The shop doesn't even have weapons or equipment for sale! Well... I guess I'll take the potions. It is better than having an empty inventory!'

"I'll buy 1 potion injector and 90 intermediate potions!" Pedro said bitterly.

A gold coin is equivalent to 100 silver coins, A silver coin is equivalent to 100 bronze coins. Since his goal is to survive at all cost, it was only the right choice to spend all of his coins to potions since there's nothing he could buy other than that after all.

'I must rush to the forest. Time is running out.' He thought as he immediately left the village shop--after finishing his transactions, and headed to the north of Kagat Village, which led to the direction where the wife and daughter of the chief were ambushed.

He ran pass throught the northern gate of the village and eventually reached the pathway along the forest, north of Kagat Village. After several minutes of non-stop running, he arrived at the location where the ambush happened.

The corpse of village soldiers from Kagat Village were scattered all over the place. The gore sight was paired with a strong metallic smell that made Pedro cough a few times to avoid throwing up.

Then, he took several deep breaths to catch his breath, while simultaneously checking how much time was left for him to complete his quest.

[Quest: Scouting Duty!

Rating: B-rated

Mission: Scout the whereabouts of the Trolls who took the wife and daughter of the village chief.

Duration: 12 minutes left]

~~~~~~~

[Quest: Rescue! Rescue!

Rating: A-rated

Mission: Rescue the village chief's wife and daughter from the trolls and escape without dying.

Duration: 22 minutes left]

~~~~~~~~

"Not good! I need to find their location, fast!" Pedro grumbled as he ran straight into the forest--following the trail that the trolls left behind.