Chapter 7: ~Scout 1~ skill
'At last!' Pedro sighed. Thirty meters away from where he hides was a guarded camp.
'That should be their camp.' He stared at the camp, trying to spot if the family of the village chief was there.
'Let me check first, how much time I have left.' He opened the player interface and check the quest details.
[Quest: Scouting Duty!
Rating: B-rate
Mission: Scout the whereabouts of the Trolls who took the wife and daughter of the village chief.
Duration: 6 minutes left]
~~~~~~~
[Quest: Rescue! Rescue!
Rating: A-rate
Mission: Rescue the village chief's wife and daughter from the trolls and escape without dying.
Duration: 16 minutes left]
'Wait! I spotted the camp of the trolls already. Why didn't I receive a notification from the system that the quest has been completed? Don't tell me~' Pedro started to panic realizing that the system has not informed him about the completion of the quest. On top of it, the timer was still running.
'Am I supposed to return to the village and report to the chief?!'
'Impossible! It would take me 2 minutes to return to the ambush site. While it would take me 5 minutes to return to the village from the ambush site. Basic math says it would take me 7 minutes. I won't make it.' Pedro was still in panic when a sudden commotion happened in the troll camp.
A little girl ran out on one of the tents in the troll camp. Unfortunately, a troll was guarding outside of the tent and kicked the little girl back inside. At this moment, the system sounded and the notification Pedro was waiting for, appeared.
[Quest: Scouting Duty!]
[Completed!]
[You have found the location of the trolls and the wife and daughter of Chief Antonio Kagat!]
'Sigh. Thank god, It was just that!'
The system always gives tricky quests. In this case, Pedro had found the camp. However, he didn't see the chief's wife and daughter. Hence, the system didn't consider the quest as finished.
For the system, What he scouted was "The camp of the trolls" and not the "Location of the trolls who took the wife and daughter of the chief".
The system was right. There might be several troll camps in that area. And Pedro might have scouted the wrong camp. Hence, unless it was confirmed that the family of the village chief was in that camp, the system won't consider it as completed.
[Generating Rewards!]
Reward:
~Scout 1~ skill book
100 Reputation points of Kagat Village
20 Bronze Coins
[Congratulations Player "Death" for obtaining 200/1000 Reputation points of Kagat Village!]
The buff Pedro got earlier, raised the 100 reputation points he got as a reward to 200.
He knew from his past life, that if his reputation points were raised to 1000/1000, the village chief will make a recommendation letter that will allow Pedro to enter a Kingdom that the Kagat Village is affiliated.
Villages on Bearth does not have any requirements for entry. However, the Kingdoms require a recommendation letter. or, Players can pay a high price of 2 gold per entry.
This was the reason why on the official release of Bearth Online, other than "skills hunting" and leveling, Players also focused on getting recommendation letters from the villages.
Pedro hurriedly opened his inventory and used the ~Scout 1~ skill book.
[You have learned ~Scout 1~ skill]
Skill: ~Scout 1~
Rarity: Bronze-rated Skill
Skill Type: Active
Effects: Temporarily increase the player's movement speed by 10% and increase the player's vision by 100 meters for 30 seconds.
Cooldown: 5 minutes
[A Skill required to learn skill ~Scout 2~]
The rating of the skills gained on Bearth Online was based on its attributes and effects. The skill ratings were Bronze-rated skills, Silver-rated skills, Gold-rated skills, Legendary-rated skills, and Divine-rated skills.
"Not bad. Every skill that I could get would be very useful." Pedro gazed upon his newbie sword and checked its properties for the first time.
[Newbie Sword]
Rating: Bronze-rated weapon
Level Requirement: 1
Attributes:
Attack Damage +1
[Default weapon was given to players]
Cannot be Traded
~~~~~~~
'Sigh. Attack damage of 1? At least, it is not zero.' Pedro could only shake his head as he stares at the sword.
"Trolls are slow walkers. Though they can deal strong damage, their movement and attack speed was low compared to humans."
"I can only carry one person at a time. Should I still try rescuing the two?"
Pedro activated the [Potion Injector] and selected the [Intermediate Potion]. This way, once he took damage and his HP drops below 20%, Potion Injector will automatically consume an Intermediate Potion instead of him manually using the potion. This is why he purchased it instead of an additional 10 more Intermediate Potions.
"Sigh. No guts, no glory!" He steeled his self before rescuing the two.
"Let's start! ~Scout 1~ Activate!!!" Pedro launched like he was participating in a marathon.
The nearby trolls patrolling looked at the direction of Pedro and started running like a predator that has seen its prey.
[~Scout 1~ Activated!]
[Player gained a 10% increase in movement speed and increase vision by 100 m for 30 seconds!]
Pedro smiled as the Trolls approached him.
As he expected, he was able to outrun the Trolls. Once the trolls get into his range, he will slice his sword to the body of the trolls.
Although his damage was just a pitiful 1, It will ensure that the aggro of the Trolls would be focused on him. When he successfully rescued the two, He was assured that no trolls will chase after them.
"If I have the aggro, the Trolls will follow me. I won't have to think about their safety."
He opened the player interface to check how many seconds were left on ~Scout 1~. By this time, He already entered the camp.
'I have 10 seconds left. Faster!' He looked back and saw a huge gap between him and the Trolls.
[~Scout 1~ skill duration has ended!]
His speed slowed down but the trolls were still not able to close the gap. Fortunately, He was just meters away from the tent where the little girl was located.
He quickly entered the tent and was relieved by what he saw. The little girl was hugging her mother and both of them are in the corner shaking from fear.
Beside them was what made Pedro's eyes shine! It was the two treasure chests that were shining brightly! Due to the lure of the treasure, He quickly came up with a new plan.
"Go outside now! Hide in a corner for a second. When all of the trolls entered this tent. Run back to the village as fast as you can. The Chief and the village army are on their way!" Pedro instructed as he was about to touch and open the treasure boxes.
[Gold-rated treasure chest detected.]
[You don't have a key to the treasure chest! Would you like to forcefully open the chest? Yes or No?]
"What about you?" The kid asked as she was being carried by her mother.
Pedro looked like a heroic figure. He looked like someone who was willing to sacrifice his life just to save others. On top of that, the scene looked cooler because of the bright light the treasure chest emits.
"Don't worry about me. I am~ an adventurer, after all!" Pedro glanced back with a smirk.
The mother bowed slightly before running out of the tent as fast as she can.
"Yes! Open that treasure chest!" Pedro shouted like a greedy person. Then, he felt something in his hands. A blue aura was going out of his hands to the treasure chest.
[Please don't move! Opening treasure chest ongoing! 5%]
"@@@@!" Pedro can't help but curse. He can now hear the footsteps of the trolls signifying that they were just meters away from the tent.
[Please don't move! Opening treasure chest ongoing! 50%]
"Grrr! Grrr! Grrr! Grrr!" The angry trolls appeared. They went inside the tent one by one.
'@@@@! I am dead! My greed~ really got me this time!' He cried while thinking that he should have escaped with the two, instead of staying for the treasure chest.
In seconds, he was already surrounded by the trolls.
"Grrruuuurr!" The trolls that were about to smash Pedro halted upon hearing the voice outside the tent.
[Please don't move! Opening treasure chest ongoing! 90%]
'Come on faster! faster!!!'
Pedro panicked. The trolls inside the tent moved aside. They gave way in the middle, directly heading to Pedro.
A Troll, twice larger than the others, entered the tent and walked towards Pedro.
'A troll commander!' Pedro wore a grim expression when he saw the huge troll.
'Did my bad luck from my previous life followed me?!'