Otherworld Volunteer - Chapter 78 (Patreon)

Noah was hesitant in approaching Declan’s group. He was wary of Victor. Not in the sense that he would lose a fight, but because he most likely had a Skill to sniff him out from his stealth.

After searching around for a while, and listening into a lot of groups, he didn’t have much luck. They were too low level, so the chances of them discovering a castle was pretty low.

Just as he was about to give up and head on back to his home. He discovered a group that was quite high level. If he compared them with Declan and the others, they were around the same–if not a little weaker. They weren’t humans, rather, one of them looked vaguely familiar. Long black hair, dark skin with pointed ears. They were dark elves. Deep wounds covered their bodies–it was evident they had encountered something incredibly dangerous. Not only that, the mood within their camp was sombre. Most of them gazed at an empty log around the fire. Someone must have sat there before. Noah noted.

He slowly dropped to the ground, hidden within the long grass as it tickled the back of his legs where the armour of his greaves were non-existent. At first, he didn’t have much hope of remaining in the shadows as he thought dark elves were naturally perceptive, but it seemed he was wrong.

Noah wasn’t sure if it was because of his increase in [Sneaking] and [Shadowed Presence] Level, if he highly overestimated their perception, or maybe they were just too tired, but ignoring what the reason may be he just decided to listen. Fortunately, it seemed he had finally hit the mark of his subterfuge mission.

“Lorena, what are we going to do about the–” The young man with long hair looked over his shoulders before continuing. “About the castle?”

The woman named Lorena was sitting with her legs crossed on the grass. The orange of the fire flickered against her face, as her silver eyes shone, along with the reflected flame within. She had her bow rested over her legs, as if she never wanted to part with it. It was the same for the others, they all had their weapons in easy to reach areas. Most had bows along with a secondary weapon, while others seemed to use short curved blades as their main weapons.

“We aren’t the only ones to discover it, Aroro.” Lorena caressed her bow. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were talking to that Declan, or the high elf by now.”

“They seem to be a unit,” Aroro said. "I heard they joined forces to enter a dungeon while we were away. Not only that, the trees tell me that they were unable to enter. A man with the name Noah cleared it all on his own. One of them turned angry and tried to kill Noah, but he killed him with ease. So what do we do?”

Lorena nodded as if she already knew. “Even Noah, as high levelled as he is, it would be tough to make it through the goblins. We need an army of our own.”

“But then we will need to share it all. We found it–”

“All the wealth and power in the world is worthless if you don’t have a life to enjoy it,” Lorena continued, and turned her head to Noah. His glistening silver eyes peered straight at him through the darkness and thick blades of grass. “Isn’t that right, Noah?”

Noah huffed in amusement and stood up. “Hey, how did you know I was here?”

“The grass talks,” Lorena said as she brushed her hands against the grass. “It says you are heavy.”

“Then you should meet my noble steed.” Noah chuckled, but the mention of his level confused him. “How do you know what Level I’m at?”

“Have you not looked at the Ranker Leaderboards?” Lorena tilted her head. “You were the one to unlock them, after all.”

“Huh?” Noah immediately opened the Level Leaderboards and was met with information that he hadn’t seen before.

Ranker Level Leaderboard -

1. Noah - Level 35

2. Night Watcher - Level 26

3. Moonlight - Level 24
4. Guiding Light - Level 24

5. Blade’s Edge - Level 23

6. Declan - Level 22

Noah could guess a few of them. Well after all, some decided to use their original name like Declan, and Cai. While the others were a bit more difficult to guess, it didn’t take long to gain a rough idea of who they were. For instance, Victor was most likely Night Watcher. Guiding Light was Maera. While he had a faint idea of who the others were, he couldn’t be certain.

When Noah had checked the leaderboards, most likely none of the others had entered their name yet, and that was why he couldn’t see anyone. He also checked the Shard Ranking, and was surprised to find himself even further behind than before.

Ranker Shard Leaderboard -

1. Moonlight - 3
2. Guiding Light - 2

3. Night Watcher - 2

4. Blade’s Edge - 2
5 Noah - 1

After the fifth position, no-one else had a Shard. While Moonlight had three. Did that mean Moonlight was even stronger than he was? It was difficult to quantify the strength of Shards as they were all so different to one another. One might improve power, but the others may improve other things like mana recovery–things like that.

While still in thought, he sauntered toward the campfire, then looked at the log, before asking, “Can I sit there?” With Lorena’s permission, he sat down. He removed the thought of losing from his mind, and continued. He just had to be first to unlock his Bloodline. “So you need my help.”

“Something tells me you wouldn't be shy at the opportunity of gaining power,” Lorena said.

“You seem to know me well.” He approved. “So I’m clearly not enough, and let me guess, you want me to talk to Maera?”

“Yes. For some reason, they don’t look at us very kindly. It’s rather unfortunate, but that means diplomatic opportunities have been severed between us. And it is why we have looked elsewhere for resources.”

“I see.” Noah grabbed a stick and poked the fire. Flecks of embers rose into the air. “I’m guessing there is no other way into the castle but the front?”

Lorena moved her hands against the grass once more, she parted it, creating some sort of map. “That’s correct. We have explored the jungle surrounding it, but there is nothing. The only way in is from a plain area in front of the castle, and it just so happens that an army of goblins have set up camp. But that’s not all. All throughout the jungle, they have scouts. Strong. And that isn’t all–there is an area mission.”

“Area mission?” Noah asked, wanting more information.

“Yes. Enter the Castle. Reward: Epic Pathstone Fragments, and an Epic Skill Essence. That is for who enters first.”

Noah followed along and nodded. The reward was extravagant, clearly indicating the difficulty of the mission. Of course, Lorena was certain there wasn’t another entrance, but Noah had the image of another map in mind. He knew exactly where the second entrance was, but he didn’t intend on giving out that information. He was sure the reward would be the same, if not greater for that doorway, than the other.

“Alright then, I’ll run it up with Maera, and see how they are feeling.” Noah stood up and smirked. “This should be fun.”

Leaving the dark elves group, he wandered over to the clump of houses that Maera had gained control of. Thankfully, Declan, and the others had seemingly retreated back into their houses for some sleep. Of course, Victor was different.

He sat crouched in front of the house and struck his curved sickle against a hand-sized piece of wood. Shavings fell to the floor at every cut, and an image was forming. What it was going to become, Noah didn’t care.

Ignoring the wolf-man, he entered Maera’s camp. The knights who had previously gotten used to him, were now confused on how to act with him. He had saved their lives, and had even taken them safely through the jungle, but now with the new team forming–it was an awkward situation to be in.

“Noah, your Level, and bravery, truly is impressive,” She said with a slight bow of her head.

“Yeah, maybe I should have picked another name after all.” Noah scratched his head.

Maera chuckled. “Well it’s not like it would be difficult to tell who you were regardless. If you weren’t at the top spot, it would colour me surprised.”

“You’re telling me,” Noah continued. “I was shocked to discover I wasn’t first on the Shard Ranker board. Hey, what one do you have anyway?”

“Not telling.” Maera teased. “Unless you tell me yours, that is.”

“Forget it.” Noah laughed.

“Now don’t tell me you just came over for a chat after having killed one of our own.” Her face turned serious.

Noah shrugged. “Actually, I come with a business proposition.” He went on to tell the princess everything Lorena had told him. From the direction in which the castle lay, to the monsters that protected it, and the only way in was a full frontal assault on the plains.

“And you found this information where?” Maera asked.

“You know me. I have my ways.”

“Alright then, I’ll talk with the others.” Maera glanced at Noah. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep it a secret from the others.”

“Don’t worry about that, they already know it’s going to come from me,” Noah said. “Just make sure the rumour goes around the whole camp. Anyone that wants to risk their lives for greed is welcome to join.”

Maera nodded along with his words. It made sense. Most likely, Declan and the others would know that Noah was the one to approach the princess. Spreading around the camp would mean giving the others a chance of power if they ignored it. They couldn’t do anything but accept the mission.

“Get some sleep. No doubt we’ll be entering hell once more.” Noah said and stood up. With his back turned, he waved to the princess before disappearing into the darkness.

He returned to his house, only to see Samira leaning her back against the outside wall.

Should I tell her? Noah thought. But there was no point in hiding it from her. She would find out, but he was curious what her answer would be. With her strength that was no less compared to any of the other top rankers right now, would she stay at home, and look after the kids, or come along?

After all, there was one thing that the others seemed to have forgotten. The Hub would be under attack in three days, after tonight, two days. Of course, that was assuming the System had something planned.

“Follow me.” Noah brought Samira into the room, and it seemed the children were already sleeping. The other men and women were sprawled over the living room’s floor in disorderly chaos. It seemed they had rolled in their sleep quite a bit. They were most likely still restless from life on the beach.

Walking straight into the Taming Room for a place of quiet, he asked her to sit before telling her everything about the mission. And the possibility of monsters invading after a few days.

He awaited her answer.