Story 3: Chapter 7: Rest and Rewards (Patreon)

Soul Art Online

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Chapter 7: Rest and Rewards

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- Arthas -

I woke up to the soft feeling of Veena’s embrace the next morning.

It was the second day I was waking up to this and that helped me reign my surprise more. That was not to say I wasn’t embarrassed at the situation.

To further increase my embarrassment, I felt my lower head become harder at the sight in front of me.

Scolding myself inwardly at my thought for the woman who was trying to help me out in such a time, I shook my head and slowly tried to calm down.

She was holding me tightly and any kind of movements would have awakened her and I didn’t want her to see me in this situation.

Yesterday had been stressful for everyone and I didn’t want to wake up so soon. So I decided to lay down for a while too.

Almost an hour later, she shook slightly and I looked in her direction to see her awaken.

Her grip on me became lighter and I took the opportunity to move away….although a small part of me could feel the reluctance when I did so.

Me leaving the bed finally woke her up.

“Arthas. Did you wake up?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm, alright. Give me a few minutes.”

“Sure. Take your time. I just wanted some water.” I replied before taking one last look at her and leaving the room.

I am pretty sure I heard a chuckle.

She was really trying to get a rise out of me….as usual.

In all this time, I had figured out that she liked getting me flustered.

It was usually when she wore a towel when she came out of the bath.

I wasn’t bothered by this as it was her way of showing her closeness and trust.

Anyways, today was a big day for us.

Today, we were going to get rewarded for the whole World Mission.

The quest had been updated after the fight ended yesterday but it was still not completed.

World Quest - 1

The Beginning of the End

A great danger is opening its eyes as chaos has started to spread all over the continent.

Brace up and fight against the approaching darkness for a chance to survive.

Objective: 1. Attend the City Lord’s Summons.(Completed)

Objective: 2. Choose a Gate to protect.(Completed)

Hidden Objective: 1. Talk to the City Lord and become the guardian of a Gate.(Completed)

Objective: 3. Defend the gates after the start of the war.(Completed)

Objective 4: Attend the Award Ceremony.

The Award Ceremony was going to be held in the afternoon today so we still had a few hours left.

I went and got refreshed and took a bath before Veena was up.

By the time I came out, she was already dressed and preparing for breakfast and Shiroe was there too.

We sat down together for breakfast and discussed our future plans.

“So….you were followed by people when you came here?” I asked Shiroe who nodded as he took a bite of his pancakes.

“This was to be expected as we stood out too much in the World Mission. People were bound to notice.”

“I am not worried about them noticing us. What I am worried about is what they would do about it.” Shiroe said.

“Oh….do you mean try to discover our so-called secret?” I asked and he nodded again.

“You have no idea how persistent people can be. Even in my gaming days, we were hounded by people who wanted to know how we cleared such high level raids.”

“Any suggestions on what we should do?” I asked. 

“To be honest, I am not good with these things. Kanami was the one who took care of the people and did most of the talking.”

“So no ideas?” I asked.

“Well….it’s not like there are no ideas….I just don’t know how effective they will be.” He confessed.

“Let’s hear it. Maybe it will give us some hint on what to do.” I asked.

“We can….give them what they want?” He said finally.

“Huh?”

“Well, from what I am imagining, most of them will want to know how we did what we did….so we just disclose the information. We don’t need to give them anything personal but the information about the quest is something we can relay as it doesn’t have any use anymore.”

I raised an eyebrow at his suggestion and he explained further.

“The only reason we could even do so many things was because you saved that girl in the Knight Class Advancement Quest. Without it, we probably wouldn’t have been able to do anything and have to fight normally like other people. In a way, it was a factor of luck. Then again, it could be a unique case due to us being the first team who cleared that quest which would mean we were just faster than everyone else.”

I nodded understanding his reasoning.

“As for how we hunt….well, it’s not as if they are some insane game breaking cheat methods. The only reason we could do so is because of our personal skill levels, teamwork and focused grinding to level up. Even if they knew, they would probably not be able to replicate it.”

Yes.

It’s not like no one is going to figure out that using Chili Powder on monsters works as well. People are already using baits and other items made by Herbalists. We were just the first to use them and that gave us an advantage and our lead over everyone else.

“I think Shiroe’s suggestions are quite good.” Veena spoke for the first time in the discussion and we looked at her.

Seeing us focused on her, she elaborated further. “Tell me what we were discussing the day before yesterday?”

I remembered and answered. “About how to make a guild.”

“Exactly. We can use this information as an attraction for people to join our side.” She said and it was actually a good plan.

“That’s right.” Shiroe nodded. “I can imagine many players, at least the lower level ones, would totally gather around us for such things. Remember, even basic information and class advancement information were up for sale.”

“And that’s not all.” Veena continued. “Remember our situation.”

I looked at her confused.

“In the game, trapped, fighting for a chance to get out….that situation.” She rolled her eyes, making me blush. “Anyways, our main goal is to get out of this game by beating it….and the more players….the better chance we have to do so. I think giving other people this basic information and ways to hunt more efficiently….we are enabling the lower level players to level up quickly and thus increase the chance of us beating the game.”

That….makes a lot of sense.

Till now, I had been considering myself alone but as we know….it’s almost impossible to beat an MMO alone.

Especially this one, where we weren’t exactly competing against one another but rather the game itself.

The more players who are higher level, the more access we will have to stronger people and the more the chance to clear the game.

“Anyways, we can spread the news after we make our guild and use it to attract people as Shiroe said.”

“Yeah….about making a guild.” Shiroe suddenly spoke and we looked at the man. “Apparently it’s not that easy.”

“Huh? Don’t we have to just sign up our names with the City Lord?” I asked.

“No. I used the time yesterday to talk with some of the high level Knights and find out more information. We can form official teams by just registering at the Adventurer's Guild but to make a guild, we need several other things. I was confusing the two earlier.”

And then he went on to bring a piece of pen and paper and make a list.

“One member in the Sixth Tier or higher as the Guild Leader.”

I knew that already but there were other ways too. I had read the information the first time I had visited the Hunter’s Lodge. While I didn’t read the Guild part further, I knew there were other guilds too.

And sure enough Shiroe continued. “Good thing there are other ways to get past that but the conditions become stringent.”

“We would need to satisfy several other conditions. First, we would need someone to be at least a Fifth Tier. We can soon get that covered with you.” He ticked off the first one.

Yes, I just needed to get two more levels for the Fifth Tier so it can be done.

“Second, we need a property, possibly a house or building as the official base of the Guild.”

That….will be hard.

“Can we rent it?” I asked.

“Well, there were no mentions of having a permanent address so I guess rented places will work too.”

“That’s doable.”

We did have enough to rent a house for two years or so even before the whole raid and that amount has only increased during the raid due to all the drops and whole trade we did of the healing items.

“Lastly, we need official permission from the City Lord and the country to establish a guild. This is the hardest part as generally people have to make some huge contribution towards the country to be allowed this….or just pay one million gold coins and get the Guild Order.”

“How much?!” I asked, stunned.

“Yeah….I was shocked too. I guess they want people to make contributions towards the country rather than just pay their way into making guilds. It will probably be some quest or something.” He explained.

I was still trying to comprehend the concept of one million gold coins.

Fucking hell, that would take us years….

“But hey, there are apparently several benefits of having guilds too. The guy couldn’t tell me everything in detail but guilds can be upgraded by levels too. Bronze, Silver, Gold Ranked Guilds. Each of them supposedly grants some form of blessing as he called it, to the Guild Members.”

“Blessing?”

“I guess it must be some kind of bonus stats or buffs or something….” Shiroe shrugged.

How much and what kind of buffs are we talking about?” I asked, suddenly interested.

Shiroe shook his head. “No idea. But it doesn’t exactly matter, does it. Any kind of extra and free buff will attract people to join our guild.”

“And not many people will be able to make guilds so it will be hard for anyone to compete with us.” Veena added.

“True. That means, next up we have to put the hunt for a Guild Order on the list of things to do. I said.

“Yes. But even then, we can always try to socialise with other people and try to form an unofficial guild of sorts.” Veena said and we agreed.

We discussed some more things before it was time to go to the Town Square to attend the Award Ceremony.

There were already many people gathered in the place and our entry gathered a lot of attention.

Many people looked at us and some were whispering among themselves.

“Looks like things are developing just as you expected.” I said to Veena who looked completely unbothered at all the attention.

“Don’t pay attention to them, dear.” She replied, nonchalantly.

She must be in a position where she has to deal with the normal public more often.

Apart from the other players, we received the nods from many Knights as well.

We gathered at the head of the crowd, near the Knights and the stage where the City Lord would give his speech.

A while later, the countdown came to zero and the City Lord appeared on the stage with another person whom I recognised as the Holy Knight we had seen yesterday.

“Dear Citizens, I am very happy to inform you that the deadly threat to our home, Llyne….has finally been taken care of. We have finally destroyed all the goblin settlements in the surrounding areas of Llyne.” He shouted, letting everyone digest the information. “....And for that….I cannot thank you enough.” He finished.

“Yes, my citizens, this entire endeavour would have been fruitless without your assistance. Without all of you, we probably wouldn’t have lasted a single hour against the attacking forces, let alone stop them long enough for the Knight Brigade to arrive and end the threat once and for all. For this….I am and will be eternally grateful to all of you. Give yourselves a big round of applause.”

The crowd cheered loudly at his speech and he let everyone settle before continuing.

“Now coming back to other matters. As promised, your assistance in our moment of grave danger will not be forgotten. Everyone will be rewarded for their help according to their contribution. Everyone’s contribution has been recorded by our Knights and they can collect their rewards from our Knights. That said, the top ten contributors are going to get rewarded by us personally. The one presenting the awards will be the Commander of the twentieth Legion of Knights under the Emperor, Holy Knight, Marquis Lord Conrad Black.” He turned towards the other man and bowed slightly.

The crowd applauded.

The man in question himself looked at the crowd and nodded.

Just on cue, Kenneth came forward giving him a piece of parchment.

“Now, before I start calling on the brave warriors, I would like to clarify some things. Those who were working in parties, will have their points calculated according to their contribution in damaging the Goblins.”

That explains a lot.

“Arthas.” I heard Shiroe whisper to me.

“Yes.”

“Change your class to Knight before the announcements. Maybe it could help us get some quests or something from the Conrad guy.”

“Sure.” I did just that.

On the stage, the City Lord started announcing the names of the people.

“In tenth place with three hundred and fifteen points is….Shooting for Milfs. Please come up and collect your rewards.”

….

….

….

….

There was a long silence in the entire Town Square.

It lasted for a few seconds before it was broken by a small chuckle which then increased and spread around as if it was a virus and covered the entire Town Square in almost an instant.

“I don’t get it. What is so funny about it?” Veena asked me, looking confused.

I rolled my eyes. There she goes with her teasing again.

….or at least I thought so at the start.

Her expression didn’t change for a while and I realised that she actually….really didn’t understand what the name meant.

Very hesitantly I explained.

“The name or rather the word Milf stands for….Mother’s I’d like to….well….”

“Yes?”

“Fuck.”

“....oh.” The look of realisation dawned in her eyes and she giggled too. “Oh my, that is funny. But then again, why would someone use such a name for themselves?”

“They were probably using this account to get a feel for the game then make another account. It’s quite normal for people.”

“Although there are some people who do this just for fun or to troll….” Looking at her confusion at the word, Shiroe added. “Troll is someone who takes pleasure in causing drama by arguing with people without wanting or accepting anyone's response. People can have a weird sense of humour.”

“That they do.”

We looked as a brown haired guy with glasses slowly walked up the stage. His face was red from the reaction of the crowd but he still received the reward.

The Holy Knight brought out a bow for the guy and presented it to the guy. “This is an Elven Bow made by the Woodelves of the Fairy Forest. I thank you for your contribution. You are a brave warrior, Shooting for Milfs. May you receive success in your endeavours.” The man completed solemnly.

….

The crowd erupted in another burst of laughter while the guy looked like he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole just so he could escape from the whole mess.

I took a look at Veena and saw that she was actually having fun with the whole thing instead of being offended and I sighed a breath of relief.

Poor guy quickly climbed down the stage and ran off somewhere, probably to hide.

The City Lord, unaware of what just happened and the real reason for people laughing, continued.

“In ninth place with four hundred and nineteen points is Dolphin Puncher.”

The next guy was actually a close combat fighter. I knew Gareth was a Martial Artist, a brawler to be exact but I hadn’t seen him yet so it was a surprise to see one here first. He looked like a middle aged man with black hair and the same coloured eyes.

He got a pair of boots and left the stage to go stand in one corner.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw three people going to talk to him.

Shiroe followed my gaze and looked at the people and filled me in. “That guy is Dwain’s Party member.”

“Hmm.” I nodded.

This is actually a good place to scout out potential members for any group.

The City Lord however didn’t give them any time and continued.

“In eighth place with four hundred and thirty five points is….oh my, how do I spell this….” The man paused before taking a deep breath and forced himself to spell the name. “XxX_VoidSamurai_XxX.”

….

The guy had a sabre on his side and walked up the stage and collected his prize.

He looked quite happy at the reward and bowed before leaving the stage.

“Should we?” I asked Shiroe.

“No. We should wait till the names are all announced. Talking to them after we get a better place will be more advantageous in a negotiation.” Veena said as she looked at the guy too.

We nodded and looked forward.

One by one people came forward.

Seventh Place was a guy called Messer. From the looks of it. He was an archer too.

He got a plate mail helmet.

Ah, I needed a good helmet.

Shiroe saw me eying the helmet and said. “He’s in Gareth’s team so I doubt he would trade it.”

“Still, there are a lot of Archers in the group.” Veena commented.

“Obviously. They could most likely snipe as many enemies as they could from the safety of the walls. This type of raid gives an excellent advantage to any ranged attackers like archers.” Shiroe replied.

“In sixth place is Gareth with five hundred and eighty five points.”

A bulky man with a slightly balding head walked up. He was wearing a light leather armour and the rest of his gear were above the rest too.

He was given a pair of Gauntlets.

The guy equipped it instantly and waved at the crowd before climbing down the stairs.

Several people gathered around him and the crowd looked at him too.

“In fifth place with seven hundred and eighteen points is Dwain.”

A blonde guy who looked like he would be in his thirties walked up the stairs. He had a confident smirk on his face. In fact, the female players were actually more excited. The guy also seemed to revel in their attention. He waved to the crowd with a smile before bowing to the Holy Knight to receive his reward.

The guy was rewarded with a magic bow. He smiled as he looked at the bow.

I guess he was reading the effects of the bow.

Looking satisfied with whatever he read, he went another step and nocked an arrow in and fired it in the air.

The arrow changed into a streak of flame and tore through the air.

Oh….

The guy thanked the Holy Knight once more and came down the stage and to his group before he was surrounded by many people.

“That’s the enthusiasm. Now, in fourth place with one thousand and eleven points is….Shooting Star.”

Murmurs ran through the crowd as a guy in what looked to be a cow-boy hat, waked up the stage. He had a bow on his back and a sword on his side.

I looked at Shiroe. “Know him?”

Shiroe shook his head. “No. I haven’t even heard of him.”

I took a look at the guy and saw that he was a young guy around my age. He had black hair and blue eyes and was extremely calm even in the face of all the stares and murmurs.

But that was not what attracted my attention.

The thing that attracted my attention was his level.

“Level 29 Hunter.” I said and Shiroe took another look at the guy.

“Seriously?!” Shiroe looked at the guy again. “That’s amazing. He has to be the highest level player apart from our team in this town.” He exclaimed.

The guy probably sensed my stare and looked at me.

Our eyes met and he smiled at us before going towards the Holy Knight and collecting his reward.

He got a crossbow, and a….Skill Book.

Many eyes were attracted to that Skill Book but the guy didn’t care as he walked down the stairs and went to another corner and stood there with his back to the wall.

Before the crowd could bother them, the City Lord’s voice stopped them.

“And now, we come to the last three people. The three people who changed the entire course of the war with their wit and courage. These three people not only faced the Goblin Hordes but also led people and defended their gates with less than tenth of the force used by other gates. I cannot find words good enough to praise them. Without them, I doubt we could have won this war as comfortably as we did. So without any further ado, let me call them to receive their honour. In third place with thirty nine thousand points is….Veena.”

There was a sudden outburst at information as the crowd went wild.

I could hear the exclamations of thirty nine thousand and that’s impossible, ring through the entire place. There were even claims of us cheating.

Yeah….tell that to the Game Master.

Even the Shooting Star guy was looking at us with stunned eyes.

We looked at Veena and gave her a nod and she took the lead to go to the stage.

Apparently, most of the people didn’t know her name and they stared at our group in shock.

Veena went up to the stage and received her reward. The Holy Knight said something to her which we couldn’t hear.

She was given a plate mail armour armour bottom, two pieces of papers, a book which I assume was a Skill Book and a ring.

She curtsied to the Holy Knight and walked down to us with a smile.

“Next up, in second place with fifty seven thousand points is….Shiroe.”

Shiroe gave me a fist bump before walking forward.

The Holy Knight talked to him too and gifted him with three Skill Books, a necklace and a robe.

While this was happening, Kenneth came to me from the side and informed me about few things

At this point, everyone was looking at me.

There was almost no doubt in anyone’s mind that the last person had to be me.

And sure enough, the City Lord continued. “And finally, I am especially happy to announce this name as the person. He is not only the one who brought the plan to protect the three gates to me but put his life as a bet to allow him the chance to do so. A member of Llyne’s own Knight Academy, with one hundred and fifteen thousand points is….Arthas.”

The npcs clapped with all their might while the Knights drew their sword and presented me with a salute while I walked up the stage to receive my reward.

Players on the other hand….they were quiet.

I guess one hundred and fifteen thousand points was just that absurd.

On the stage, I was faced with the Holy Knight.

Thankfully, Kenneth had instructed me how to greet the guy.

I kneeled on one knee, with my sword placed beside me on the ground.

The man drew his sword and placed it on my shoulders one after another just like I had seen royalty knighting people. Then again, this guy was a Marquis too so maybe this was just that.

As I was thinking of this, I heard the voice say. “Rise.”

I looked up and stood to my feet.

“Knight Arthas. You and your group were the ones who investigated the disappearance of our scout party and alerted us to the brewing chaos among the goblins. Without this, we would have been caught off guard and countless lives would have been lost.” He said in a noble voice, loud enough for everyone to hear.

I looked at the crowd from the corner of my eyes and saw many of their eyes widen in realisation but didn’t pay attention to them as the man continued.

“Not only that, when you found out about the danger to the town, you stepped up once again and with your team, did the impossible and stopped around five thousand goblins across three gates with barely any forces and even took down one of their commanders in the process. This Commander, Gurthak, the Cruel, was wanted throughout the province and had a reward on his head. Your bravery and quick wit has saved the life of every citizen of this town. For this….you will be rewarded. I, Conrad Black, Lord of Greenfrost, by the right vested in me by His Majesty, the King, present you with a piece of land in Greenfrost as well as the rank of a Baron. May your blade cut down the enemies of the Kingdom and your shield become an invincible wall to protect the peace of the Kingdom.”

With that he presented me two scrolls for the said deeds.

Woah.

I took a moment to realise what had just happened.

He then handed me several things.

An armour, a sword, shield, three Skill Books and finally a scroll of some kind tied with a Red Ribbon.

Before I could check what they were, the City Lord stepped forward so I stored them in my inventory.

“From the town of Llyne and the Knight Academy, you are awarded a mansion in the residential area to congratulate you for your achievement.” He added while presenting me with the deeds to the house too.

I bowed to him too and then I stepped down before walking towards Veena and Shiroe.

“And with that, the Award Ceremony for the day is finished. I urge the rest to collect their due rewards from the stand outside the Knight Academy based on your achievement points. Thank you all for helping us again. Have a good day.”

With his last words, the quest was updated once more.

World Quest - 1

The Beginning of the End

A great danger is opening its eyes as chaos has started to spread all over the continent.

Brace up and fight against the approaching darkness for a chance to survive.

Objective: 1. Attend the City Lord’s Summons.(Completed)

Objective: 2. Choose a Gate to protect.(Completed)

Hidden Objective: 1. Talk to the City Lord and become the guardian of a Gate.(Completed)

Objective: 3. Defend the gates after the start of the war.(Completed)

Objective 4: Attend the Award Ceremony.(Completed)

Congratulations on completing the first of many World Quests!

Reward: Skill Book: Devotion Aura x1, Skill Book: Holy Blade x1, Skill Book: Dragon Skin x1, Blessed Armour of Sun x1, Blessed Sword of Sun x1, Blessed Shield of Sun x1, Guild Order x1.

Hot damn!

Is that Devotion Aura from Warcraft?!

And the Guild Order!

Did I just get the Guild Order, just like that?

Even the house was done.

Was this quest designed so that the winner can make a guild directly?

Congratulations!

You have discovered a glitch in the game!

The Developers thank you for your efforts to make the game more perfect for everyone.

Reward: +100,000 Exp Card, Man Slayer Class Unlocked.

Glitch?

What Glitch did I fix?

Also, Man Slayer?

That sounds awfully suspicious. Is it an illegal class?

I didn’t have enough time to check the rewards as I had to step down from the stage. I will have to do it at the end of the day.

Sure enough, as soon as the City Lord and the Marquis left, the crowd went wild.

We were surrounded with questions.

How did you get such a high score?

What level are you?

How did you level up?

Did you find any loopholes or glitches?

Where do you people hunt?

What are your skills?

Did you get some new classes?

Do you have any unique items or skills?

What colour are your panties?

….

I couldn’t find the one who asked the last question or I would have broken his nose.

The only reason we could even understand everything was because of our high stats.

I wasn’t used to these situations but I had enough experience with people to not be overwhelmed.

Shiroe on the other hand looked troubled.

The one who was the most comfortable was Veena.

She took the lead and addressed all of them.

“I know you all have questions and we are willing to answer some of those questions as long as they are not personal. This….however is not the way to ask questions. So, let’s all take a step back. Right now many people have to collect their quest rewards and take care of things. If we do any meetings now, we wouldn’t be able to address everyone at once and it will just prolong the problem, so, we can gather in the park outside the Knight’s tomorrow evening and address everyone’s questions once and for all. I hope everyone will understand this and cooperate.”

There were some grumblings but people did settle for the words when the Knights came in to clear the crowd.

I personally think most of them wanted to get their rewards.

As they were leaving, I looked at the place where that Shooting Star guy was standing previously.

He was still there and looking at us.

Shiroe sensed my gaze and questioned me. “Are you planning to recruit him?”

“If possible. I want to see if we can work together. He is a ranged fighter and we might need one to reduce the pressure on you. And if we get along, we can discuss the recruitment.”

“Sounds like a good idea.”

Veena was still talking to some of her friends who had helped us make the products before the raid so we just informed her before approaching the guy.

“Hello, my name is Shiroe and this is my friend Arthas.” Shiroe was the one who greeted the guy and I gave him a nod.

“Yeah. I know. Well, it’s kinda hard to miss that after all that has happened today.” He smirked, offering his hand for a handshake.

We shook hands. To be honest, till now, he seemed to be quite friendly.

“Could we have a bit of your time?” I asked.

“Sure. I was getting hungry anyways. Let’s go and grab something to eat. We can talk over food.”

“That sounds like a great idea. We just need to get our third member.”

“The beautiful Lady, right? Sure, I’ll wait.”

Veena joined us after some time and half an hour later, we found ourselves in the inn, talking over apple pie.

“So, you have been hunting all alone, all this time?” Shiroe asked.

“Yeah. Other people were just too slow and I didn’t want them to drag me down. I guess they were too busy being scared of being trapped in this game to do anything about it and I wasn’t going to wait there on my ass and do nothing. By the time everyone woke up from their daze, I was already too far ahead of them. Joining any team would have dragged me down.”

“Oh my, that sounds awfully similar to someone I know.” Veena laughed as she threw me a look.

Shiroe merely laughed.

“Oh, you were hunting solo too?” The guy looked interested and turned towards me to ask.

“Yes. I wanted to get ahead to avoid being crowded in the hunting grounds.”

“I don’t think anyone was crazy enough to go to the middle of the forest to hunt in the first week of the game. Being crowded was the last thing you had to worry about. Although I might not mind another one of those adventures.”

“The middle of the forest? Seriously? I only got there after three weeks. I generally camped around the forest area and hunted.”

“So that’s why we didn’t spot you in the town earlier.”

“Ah, that was due to the Hunter’s Quest. It was a pain in the ass to hunt a Mutated Panther.” He shook his head. “All the planning and preparations and the several tries took me two weeks to finally shoot that cat down. Slowed me down a lot.”

“Yes. That quest is annoying. Especially since there are generally other followers beside the mutated animal.” I remembered my own hunt. “I was lucky to meet Veena back then or I would have been the same.”

“Oh, you are a hunter too? I didn’t realise that.”

“I got it in the starting village as other jobs were not easily available.”

“Yeah.”

“It annoyed me to no end when I learned that I could have passed the test much more easily if I had come here instead.”

“Wait what?!”

“The quest requirements are different here than in the first village. It’s much easier.”

“Say what. Did I fucking waste two weeks of my time for nothing? Damn….that sucks.” He grumbled as he shoved his apple pie down his throat, eating with a huff.

“This game is too elaborate. Information is power….quite literally. We can save a lot of time if we have the correct information and waste weeks if we don’t. No wonder they charge so much for information in the Black Market.”

“Black Market? There’s a Black Market?”

….

“Star….do you mind if I call you that?” I asked, not trying to go completely on a tangent once again.

“Hey, who would mind being called a star. Certainly not me.” He smirked and I rolled my eyes and couldn’t help but smile. It was funny.

“Then I will call you that. Would you like to work with us” I asked.

“Straight to the point, eh. Good, I like that. Going round and round is not my thing either.” He took the final bite of his apple pie and drank his mead before facing me. “So, I assume that you are trying to recruit me?”

“Yes. If I have to trust my back to people in a fight, I would like them to be competent and not drag me down.”

He laughed when his words returned back to him.

“So, why me? Why not someone like the baldy or that casanova wannabe from before?”

“Excuse me, who?”

“Number five and six. Sorry, don’t remember their names.” He waved his hands.

“They already have their own teams and I doubt they will join us. Not to mention, combining two teams together will be harder and can mess up our coordination.”

“Hmm….yeah, that makes sense. They did look like they were trying to show off a bit too much. Probably trying to recruit. Let’s see….well what the hell, I’m in. You people seem decent. As for the trial period, I understand. In fact, if you guys are not good, I wouldn’t want to drag my feet for you either and if I am the weaker one, well, I deserve to be trashed.”

“Alright, we are in agreement then.” We shook our hands. We discussed when and where to meet early in the morning tomorrow for the hunt.

We talked for a while about other tropics and found out that he mostly stayed in camps and only came to the town to restock. Moreover, he wasn’t using the baits and other products that Herbalists made.

If he did, I doubted he would have been so far behind me. If anything, there was a good chance that he might have been in the lead.

That said, my levelling speed had only increased after teaming up with Veena and Shiroe and we could take more difficult quests which he couldn’t.

He was mainly just grinding on mobs to level up while we were coupling them with quests.

I guess he didn’t know much about the MMOs and the only reason he played this was because he wanted to check the game out because he had heard a lot of good things about the game.

The guy was quite frank and outspoken and I found this attitude to be quite refreshing as Shiroe was much more conserved.

We departed our own ways and Shiroe followed us to our home to discuss about the rewards. On the way, I had spotted several people staring at us and some even trying to follow us and see where we lived.

I ignored them as we were probably going to move to the mansion either way and they would find out about it soon enough too.

There was just no escaping all this attention.

Getting inside, I locked the door behind us and gathered around the table.

It was still evening and we had gotten our dinner packed so there would be no cooking today.

“Wasn’t that tiring?” Shiroe said as she finally slumped in his chair.

“It was certainly a new and quite novel experience.” Veena giggled.

“It….wasn’t bad per say but I could do with less of a crowd.” I replied.

“So….what did we all get?” He asked.

We brought everything out of the inventory and placed them on the table, gathering all our rewards from the quest.

There were seven Skill Books, several equipment and accessories, two pieces of papers which turned out to be the recipe for two new medicines for Veena and finally the Guild Order. 

I even added the Exp Card inside the pile which was only possible since the rewards were not announced.

“Is this….really the Guild Order?” Shiroe asked in surprise as he held up the item and checked it carefully.

“I would think so….with the item description and all. Personally I think they wanted the one in lead to make Guilds so they offered this.”

“Or it could be because of us breaking the exam.” He replied. “Perhaps you didn’t realise that even the fourth place, the one who was almost Tier 4 was only able to get slightly over one thousand points. Maybe we got rewards based on the points we scored.”

“Hmm, that’s a valid theory. Still, it’s better to assume that we will be encountering more guilds soon.” Veena concluded.

I checked the items next.

Blessed Armour of the Sun(Blessed Sun Set)

Physical Defence: +220

Magical Defence: +220

HP: +5,500

3 Piece Set Effect: +3% HP and MP Regen under the Sun

5 Piece Set Effect: +8% Magic Resistance

7 Piece Set Effect: Blessing of the Sun Buff is applied to all party members. Increases the attack and defence by 10%(20% against creatures of the Dark)

Requires Level 100 to equip.

Wow.

I checked the other pieces.

Blessed Sword of the Sun(Blessed Sun Set)

Physical Attack: +500

Magical Attack: +500

MP: +1500

Requires Level 100 to equip.

Blessed Shield of the Sun(Blessed Sun Set)

Physical Defence: +150

Magical Defence: +150

HP: +2000

Requires Level 100 to equip.

Blessed Bottom Piece of the Sun(Blessed Sun Set)

Physical Defence: +200

Magical Defence: +20

HP: +3,500

Requires Level 100 to equip.

All of them were Blessed Sun Set.

But there were supposedly seven pieces in the set.

The robes and staff were independent weapons so maybe this was just one set.

Shiroe was the next person to check it and came to the same conclusion as me.

“What do you think are the last three pieces of the set?” He asked.

“Probably the gauntlet, the boots and the helmet.”

“Yeah, I thought that too. We were given the rewards by the Holy Knight, it would make sense if we got equipment for knights. This set is for Heavy Armour users so you will be the only one qualified. We just need to get the last three pieces. One is with Dwain’s team and two with Gareth. I will try to talk to them and see if we can trade them for something. Even one piece will help us get the five piece effect and help us out a lot.”

We decided to talk to them tomorrow.

For now, we moved to the two accessories.

The necklace and the ring.

The necklace gave a boost to MP Regen so it went to Shiroe. The ring on the other hand, prevented the user from being spied on by Observe type skills.

I was given the ring as I was the highest level in the group.

Till now, people only thought I was a Knight and a level 2 Knight at that because I had made it a point to hide my Goblin Slayer Class in front of others so apart from my team, no one knew that I was not a T4 Player but almost a T5.

It was our trump card.

Veena’s Skill Book was Double Refining. It gave her a 5% chance to produce twice the products than she could normally using the same raw materials.

It was quite broken in itself. Imagine using it on some higher ranked products and getting double products. That would be a huge profit.

Shiroe’s Skill Books were all for the Mage Class.

Create Mist, a Skill which creates a fog for the enemies but the user and his team members can see through the fog. It could be very useful in battles.

Earth Wall was as the name suggested. It created a wall for defence.

It would help us avoid the situations where we had to make the makeshift walls from the corpses of monsters.

The last Skill was Thorn Bind Hostage.

It bound a target with vines made of energy. Each time one of the vine was cut, it damaged the enemy.

If the vines were not cut within 30 seconds, the skill will be dispelled and cause no damage to the enemy.

While bound, the attack speed of the enemy is reduced by 70%.

The number of vines and the damage from each vine being cut increased with the level of the skill.

I had to say that it was a beast of a skill and Shiroe was really good at using these.

As for the recipes, they were for two pills, the Greater Healing Pill and the Miasma Repelling Pill.

The Greater Healing Pill was the best pill available in the town and even then there were rarely any stocks in the shops. None of the players knew how to make it….or atleast none knew till now.

As for Miasma Repelling Pill….they did just that, repelled Miasma.

In the world, there were some areas where the magic of the world was corrupted and turned into miasma.

These places were generally dens of monsters and people rarely went to these areas.

One of the main reasons for this was the Miasma itself.

Even breathing in the area could cause people to get status effects and lose HP over time. Most of them hallucinated in the fog.

This made it nigh impossible to hunt in these areas unless they had specific equipment or items to use here.

One of these items was the Miasma Repelling Pill. It gave the user immunity from Miasma’s effects for two hours.

It might not look like much but it was a massive help and probably the only way to take any quests in the miasma affected areas of the world.

Veena had learned of this while reading some of the books she got from the guild.

There were miasma affected areas in the mountains too so maybe we could go there sometimes and check the place out.

Finally came the Exp Card.

“One hundred thousand experience points! That’s a week’s work.” Shiroe exclaimed.

“It is.”

“With this, you can probably become a Tier 5 right now.”

“Hmm, I currently need around ninety thousand five hundred points.” I nodded.

“Use it.”

“What?” I asked.

“Use it.”

“Shouldn’t Veena or you use it to close in the difference between our levels?” I wasn’t so keen on using it because I already had an exp buff with the Traveller Title.

“Not really. You are the main fighter of the group. It would be good if you had higher levels. If you fall, all of us will crash.”

“He’s not wrong, Arthas. You should use it. Not to mention, with that you will be Tier 5 and can use the Guild Order right away. Then we can attract people to our guild at tomorrow’s meeting.” Veena added too.

“Are you guys sure?” I asked once more.

“Yup, absolutely sure. Now, get on with it.”

“Okay. If you say so.”

I changed my class to Goblin Slayer and picked up the card before crushing it in my hand.

Level 40 Goblin Slayer.

The loss of nine thousand five hundred exp points pained me but I pushed the thoughts away and looked at the T5 Classes available to me.

The only one on top of the list was….Man Slayer.

Sigh.

I guess the ring came at the right time to help me avoid suspicion.

With everything set, I selected the Class.

Man Slayer Level 1.

Congratulations on being the first one from your Continent to advance to a 5th Tier Class.

Title Gained

One Among One Hundred Thousand

+40% increased Exp Gain.

Keep doing your best, Traveller.

I looked at the experience gain bonus with satisfaction. Add this with the boost from the Traveller Title and I had well over 50% exp gain.

“You got a new Class?” Shiroe asked.

“Hmm.” I nodded while checking the skills.

This Class was similar to the Goblin Slayer Class in a way that it gave Skills and Buffs when I fought against Humans and Demihuman Species like Beastmen and Elves.

It even had the Fated Enemy(Human) and Sweet Revenge(Human) Skills.

The Class was absolutely broken but then again, it was supposedly the reward for fixing a glitch. I doubted there would be any more of those.

Over the next few minutes, I explained the skills to Veena and Shiroe and the guy noted everything down.

“This can help us against bandits and other such enemies, not to mention against other races. It’s a great class to have.”

“And other players.” Veena added, making us turn towards her. She smiled at us. “If I am trapped in a jungle with an animal and another person, I would be more wary of the latter. Animals can be predictable. People, not so much.”

Shiroe let out an uncomfortable chuckle at the reminder.

“Alright, too much depressing stuff. Let’s see what that Guild Order does.” Shiroe said excitedly.

We looked at the guy and laughed. He really became like a kid when things came to game matters.

I picked up the Guild Order and the option to use it came to my mind.

Use.

Pick a name for the Guild.

Fairy Tail.

I put in the Guild name and confirmed.

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Author’s Note:

I am back with another chapter of Soul Art Online.

Arthas and the team got the rewards from the raid and blew everyone’s mind.

They have also scouted another member for the team who is another canon character.

Our team is finally in the open and even starting a guild.

What troubles will come for them next?

In the next chapter, we will see some other characters.

I will just give some glimpses of other characters and how they are doing, maybe make it an interlude chapter of sorts.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.