Meow Brother was thrilled when he learned that, for reviewing the game helmet, he'd received a physical reward in the game. He wanted to know what the developers had given him.
A cool mount?
A limited-edition collectible, perhaps? Or maybe an outfit, like the closed-beta rewards?
It was like having a shiny treasure chest or a box of assorted chocolates placed right in front of him. But unless he actually opened it, there was no way to know what was inside.
That anticipation was the most tantalizing part.
He kept imagining the possibilities until Murphy reached into his psionic pocket, pulled out a sheathed oak hunting sword, and handed it to him.
"Damn! A gear reward? How boring."
Meow Brother's excitement deflated at once.
It wasn't that special equipment was bad. The thing was, he was an experienced gamer. They were all still beginners; the game interface had only just opened, and they hadn't even started the proper grind of killing monsters and leveling up.
No matter how good the equipment an NPC gave them now, once they leveled up, they'd have to toss it aside.
Under the circumstances, even the village's finest legendary sword was less appealing than a permanent outfit.
Still, his disappointment lasted only a moment. The NPC had given it to him. What, was he supposed to return it?
"You seem a little disappointed."
Murphy had noticed the change in Meow Brother's expression. He shook his head, adopted a mysterious air, and lowered his voice as he spoke to his little player.
"You'd better take a good look at this sword."
"Hm?"
Meow Brother blinked.
Prompted by the NPC, he examined the hunting sword in his hands, its crossguard made of oak. It looked familiar. A few seconds later, he exclaimed:
"Isn't this the weapon that gray-haired demon huntress had? I remember it could set things on fire."
"Correct. This is a replica of a blessed holy blade from the Old Church, a weapon of faith. Only followers of Avalon can wield it and activate its special abilities."
Murphy patiently coaxed him along.
"Perhaps this sword can reveal some of the secrets of the gods spoken of in legend. But as you can see, I'm a vampire, a sinner by birth. No divine being would ever turn their gaze toward us.
"So I can only choose someone among my warriors—someone brave, wise, and curious like you—to uncover its mysteries in my place."
Murphy held the core computing orb in his hand.
As soon as he finished speaking, the computing orb hanging around Meow Brother's neck chimed softly. He looked down and opened his player interface, where a notification appeared:
Special · Hidden Quest Triggered!
Quest Name: Shadow of the Old Church
Quest Description: The vampire Ravnos Murphy Lasombra of Cadman City seized a replica of an Old Church relic during battle. This mysterious creature of the night, burdened with a great mission, is fascinated by the gods of legend.
He hopes you'll use this rare replica of a holy blade as your starting point and help him investigate the secrets of the Nature Old Church and the god Avalon.
Quest Rewards: Unknown
Time Limit: None.
Record this quest?
"Yes! Now this is more like it. I love it."
Seeing the familiar quest prompt and description, Meow Brother grinned. Before the quest panel had been added, he'd had to follow whatever directions the NPCs gave him. It was realistic enough, but it never quite felt like playing a game.
Now that the quest feature was online, the familiar feeling had returned all at once.
He immediately accepted the quest, then bowed to Murphy with the Blood Vulture salute he'd gotten pretty good at, saying:
"As you command, my lord. Your will is the path I follow. I'll do everything in my power to uncover the secrets of this holy blade and that damned god—"
"Shh!"
The bold little player's unfiltered words startled Murphy.
He hurriedly put a hand against Meow Brother's forehead and said:
"Don't be so disrespectful, my warrior. The gods are real in this world. Your blasphemy could bring you misfortune! Followers of Avalon are spread across the continent. They won't let someone who insults their god run free."
"Uh, thank you for the warning, my lord."
Meow Brother replied at once, though he didn't really take it to heart.
Even if the gods in the game were powerful, could they really send down a bolt of lightning and kill him in the real world?
He'd said what he'd said. What could this Avalon do to him?
He'd grown up under the red flag, after all. He'd been a staunch atheist since childhood.
Meow Brother held the reward holy blade in his hand. As he turned to leave, he heard Murphy remind him:
"The computing orbs you're carrying have a translation function. With them, you can speak to my assistants and servants. When you have some free time, why not check in on them and see if anything's troubling them? Perhaps they'll need your help.
"It'll take two or three days to get back to Cadman City. Perhaps you could learn a little swordsmanship from my loyal Maxim?"
"So that's a hint about what to do next."
Meow Brother perked up.
Looks like the development team had added a tutorial, too. He decided to follow the NPC's advice, introduce himself to the other NPCs, and see if he could trigger a few more quests.
While Meow Brother wandered around the convoy looking for quests, the other players gathered together to discuss the attributes and character traits they'd just seen in their player interfaces.
"I just worked it out. Our six starting attributes are all different, but they add up to thirty for everyone!"
Electronic Succubus Lao Qu, one of Meow Brother's Four Great Guardians, stuck a blade of grass between his lips and told the others:
"There's a special note under the attribute panel, too. It says the attributes are based on the game helmet's scan of our real-life physical condition. So there's no random character creation.
"From what I can tell, our starting character traits are also based on our real lives. My trait is 'Quick Draw.' It reduces the accuracy penalty for ranged attacks and increases reload speed.
"That's clearly a marksman talent.
"What about you guys?"
"Car Car's special trait is that one part of his body is really long!"
Invincible Tyrannosaurus Car, one of the Dormitory Six Bros, immediately jumped in with a lewd joke, seizing the chance to make a dirty remark. The other guys all laughed at him.
When they'd given him an atomic wedgie earlier, nobody had seen anything particularly long.
"Tch, boring. All right, Car Car's character trait is 'Optimistic.' It reduces the duration of all kinds of negative status effects. Obviously, that's an amazing skill!
"So Car Car really is a chosen one, blessed with a perfect balance of brains, virtue, fitness, beauty, and hard work, right?"
The college student loved fooling around and referring to himself in the third person. He gave a thumbs-up with a smug grin. The others shared their character traits, too, and all agreed that the traits seemed pretty accurate.
For example, Duo Dao Le San Wu Dou, whose name made his hobbies pretty obvious, had a high-endurance trait. Leading Pigeon, the esteemed dorm head, had the trait "Mystic."
The strangest one belonged to Meow Shark, one of the Dormitory Six Bros.
His trait was "Pet Expert." It raised animals' affinity toward him, but only worked on small and medium-sized animals.
Most of the traits reflected some aspect of the players' habits or preferences. Since they were all positive traits, no one complained about them. That was, until Niu Niu, the sports major who'd stayed quiet throughout the discussion, finally spoke up—and shocked everyone.
"Damn! Niu Niu, how come you have two character traits?"
A-Cha's startled cry immediately drew everyone's attention. Niu Niu looked baffled, too. Scratching his head, he said:
"I get 'Sports Master.' I exercise every day, so of course I'm better at sports than you couch potatoes. But I have no idea where the second one, 'Martial Artist,' came from. Maybe it's because I'm good at boxing?"
"What kind of boxing?"
Car Car sidled over with a cheeky grin.
"Like those XXN Drunken Fist moves people use online?"
"Get out of here. I mean actual boxing. Martial arts. You know?"
Niu Niu pushed Car Car away and explained seriously, clenching his fists:
"I train in sanda. It runs in the family. I started in middle school, and by high school I was competing for my school. I even learned a bunch of other styles to rack up awards—things like tai chi and Krav Maga.
"Maybe that's why I got this trait?"
"Holy crap! Sanda bro, no wonder you hit so hard!"
The others were amazed. Now they finally understood Niu Niu's incredible combat skills in the game. The guy was a professional, after all.
"Hey, guys, what are you chatting about? You look like you're having a good time."
While they'd been talking, Meow Brother had finally wandered back. The other players spotted the oak hunting sword proudly hanging at his waist and immediately knew that the rascal had made a deal with an NPC behind their backs.
"Did the developers just give you a weapon as a reward?"
Duo Dao Le San Wu Dou looked enviously at the weapon in Meow Brother's arms. The sword's ancient, imposing oak crossguard made it obvious that it was no ordinary weapon. He grumbled:
"Aren't they worried it'll mess up the balance?"
"What balance? It's a quest item! Just use your item appraisal function and take a look."
Meow Brother plopped down beside him and sighed.
"It's high quality, but without a faith system to support it, I can't bring out its real power. It's a reward from our NPC for a hidden quest. He wants me to investigate the Old Church and the faith of Avalon. And even though the sword looks cool, it's not as useful as the basic weapons you guys have.
"I just took it to that white-haired NPC, Maxim, to learn swordsmanship, and he told me that a beginner like me shouldn't use a weapon that takes special technique. I might cut off my own fingers.
"Damn!
"Getting looked down on by an NPC in a game is the worst. But I've found out a lot already!"
He turned to the other players.
"The white-haired NPC in the convoy, Maxim, teaches Blood Vulture Swordsmanship. You can buy food and daily necessities from the red-haired NPC, Mirian—things like tents, torches, and sewing kits.
"I checked out that female merchant's shop. She's selling guns, too—the very ones we scavenged and sold to her. She's just selling them right back to us. What a scam!
"But she says she maintained the guns, so she's not ripping us off.
"There are two coffins in the second carriage.
"They should belong to the young lady we rescued and her servant. They don't spawn during the day. Given vampire customs, they probably won't show up until night.
"I guess the young lady might teach us some basic psionic techniques—in other words, magic.
"This game doesn't seem to have rigid class restrictions. Our NPC is a swordsman, but he can also throw dark energy balls. I figure we won't get formal class changes until level ten or so."
"Awesome! Our resident electronic elf, Meow Brother, did a full lap and gathered all that information for us. You should go post about it on the forum and score some rewards."
Happy Stick said with a grin. Before Meow Brother could answer, a bell rang. The players turned around and saw the red-haired NPC, Mirian, standing on top of a carriage, vigorously shaking a handbell to signal that it was time to leave.
"Come on, let's go."
Meow Brother patted the dust off his backside and stood up.
"I just heard the NPC say it'll take three days to get back to Cadman City. He said he'd arrange two carriages for us to rest in at the next village.
"Maxim teaches Blood Vulture Swordsmanship around dinnertime, so we can show up then.
"We only get six hours of free playtime a day, so we need to manage it well. I suggest splitting into four groups and making sure there's always a player online in the convoy. If a random quest pops up, let the group know.
"I figure once we reach Cadman City in three days, we'll be free to explore."
"Tch, this game being so realistic is kind of a pain, actually."
Duo Dao Le San Wu Dou couldn't help complaining.
"In other games, you could just press Escape and skip the trip. Here we have to follow the NPCs around for three days."
"That's not what I'm worried about."
Happy Stick, who'd nimbly climbed into the carriage, looked at the incredibly lifelike scenery all around them and sighed.
"If they're simulating the journey this realistically, learning skills is probably going to be a real ordeal. Learning a whole sword style won't be as simple as you guys think."
Niu Niu nodded vigorously beside him. As a sports major, he knew all too well what it was like.
"Aren't sword styles and moves just for show?"
Spicy Gugu Chicken poked his head out and asked. Happy Stick immediately curled his lip.
"If you'd ever seen the people who practice armored sword fighting, you wouldn't say such a stupid thing. Next time someone says that, hit them in the face with a windmill sword technique! Take my advice: don't waste your time arguing with idiots online. You can lay out the facts and reason with them, and they'll dismiss everything with 'I think...'"
"Exactly. This has existed throughout history and across the world. How could it be fake?"
Niu Niu patted Gugu Chicken on the shoulder and said:
"You've seen how our NPC fights with a sword. It's not something you can do by swinging wildly. Honestly, I'm really interested in this game's content.
"I want to see just how realistic this game can get!
"To be honest, I don't believe the developers could actually hire a whole bunch of real-life sword-fighting masters to handle the motion capture."
The eager sports major rubbed his hands together, looking forward to it.
Several hours later, beside the camp at dinnertime, Niu Niu watched his rapier get knocked from his hand for the seventh time. Maxim stood before him with a look of utter disdain. Niu Niu could barely feel his wrist, and he was ready to cry.
Damn!
These NPCs were actually for real!
The flashy sword moves he'd learned were no match for Maxim. It was just a game. There was no need to make it this hardcore, was there, man?
P.S.
Thanks to our bro "Frostfang Claw" for the generous alliance-leader reward! I'll count the bonus chapters toward the post-launch burst. Thanks, bro.
Before you continue