Chapter 101: Arrows and Magic

Chapter 101: Arrows and Magic

Rakkan and Sherry watched as the doors to the Unarmed Combat arena opened and Darkshot slowly walked out of the room. He’d been inside for 8 minutes, and in that time Rakkan and Sherry had both seen Aegis’ notification. Rakkan had his arms crossed, a serious expression on his face as he watched Darkshot walk towards the quest NPC, whilst Sherry looked anxiously hopeful.

“Congratulations on pass-” The quest NPC began her dialogue, but hearing the first few words were enough for Rakkan to let out a loud cheer, while Sherry let out an excited sqeal.

“We did it, we all did it, first try!” Sherry shouted excitedly.

“Good, ‘cause we’ve still got a lot of quests to complete. Can’t be wasting time. You saw the message?” Rakkan asked Darkshot. Darkshot nodded back at him.

“Aegis is your party leader, right?” Sherry asked.

“Yeah. He’s always up to something. We can’t get left behind.” Darkshot replied, and Rakkan nodded back at him. “Unarmed Combat was the first one.” He said as he finished talking with the NPC and stepped towards the other two. The three of them walked side by side towards the exit of the training hall, back to the training grounds.

“Travis says he’ll be back in a week to help with the others if you need it, but...” Sherry began.

“He also said we should be able to do the rest on our own.” Rakkan finished her thought for her.

“Mhm.” She nodded as they exited the hall and descended the stairs out front down to the training grounds. She turned to watch as Darkshot equipped his longbow and quiver again, and Rakkan equipped his bladed fist. “I guess this is goodbye for now, since I’m all done here. But I wish you guys the best of luck, I’m sure you’ll be able to beat all of your quests in no time.” Sherry smiled at them.

“Thanks.” Rakkan nodded at her, as she turned and walked away, and Darkshot watched her leave. Rakkan watched Darkshot following her with her eyes, and let out a light huff of air, causing Darkshot to look at him.

“What?” Darkshot asked Rakkan.

“Nothin, just, you probably won’t see her again. Did you even ask to add her to your friends list?” Rakkan raised an eyebrow at Darkshot.

“Huh? We’ll see her again. She’s a Night Hunter.” Darkshot said dismissively.

“She’s also a merchant player though. But whatever, none of my business.” Rakkan shrugged.

“So what?” Darkshot grumbled back.

“Nothin, just, saw you lookin’ at her a lot. Figured you mighta wanted to see her again. But, yeah, nevermind. None of my business.” Rakkan added with another shrug as he moved towards a training dummy with his bladed fist. Darkshot watched Rakkan do this, then glanced towards Sherry as she was reaching the exit of the training grounds, about to step back into the streets of Kordas. Darkshot let out an annoyed sigh at himself.

“Fine, fine, I’ll take initiative.” He whispered under his breath as he suddenly rushed after Sherry in a full on sprint. “Sherry! Sherry, wait a second!” Darkshot called out to her, causing Rakkan to smirk. Sherry heard Darkshot calling out and stopped just at the archway of the training grounds leading back to the streets of Kordas, turning to face him.

“Yup?” She asked curiously.

“Uh, well...” Darkshot said awkwardly as he caught up, standing a meter away. “I thought, you know, since it was fun spending time together, maybe we should add each other to our friends list. You know, in case we want to hang out again sometime.” Darkshot suggested.

“Oh. right.” Sherry thought about it. “I’m not really going to be going on adventures though, like you will be. I’m just going to be hanging around Kordas doing merchant quests. No more training for me.” She shrugged back innocently.

“That’s fine. Then, we can just hang out together whenever I’m in Kordas. You know, once I’m done with all these quests.” Darkshot replied awkwardly.

“Ok. Sure, I guess the three of us can hang out again sometime.” Sherry shrugged as she started to open up her interface.

“Or, maybe just the two of us. Without Rakkan.” Darkshot suggested.

“You mean like a date?” Sherry asked as she paused her interface fidgeting, and Darkshot could see she was starting to blush under her short white fur.

“Yeah, I guess. I mean, unless you already have a boyfriend or something.” Darkshot replied nervously.

“No... I don’t.” She replied while avoiding his eyes.

“Cool, then... is it okay if I add you?” Darkshot asked.

“Yeah.” She smiled as she pressed a few more buttons on her interface, and Darkshot got her friend's request. “Good luck on the rest of your quests.” She bowed before turning and heading quickly off into the streets of Kordas.

“Thanks!” He called out after her, and stood idly around a few moments after she’d left. “I can totally take initiative.” He said to himself proudly, before heading back towards Rakkan.

“How’d it go?” Rakkan asked once Darkshot had gotten close enough.

“Friendslisted. Easy.” Darkshot held his hand out for a high five.

“Nice.” Rakkan high fived him.

“Now... let’s see how this works.” Darkshot said with newfound confidence, pulling out his longbow as he stepped over towards the shooting range, in front of a row of archery targets a few meters away from the target dummies where Rakkan was. Darkshot wasn’t the only one there, several other players were practicing shots, but Darkshot ignored them as he drew an arrow from his quiver calmly and carefully lined it up with his bowstring. It lined up perfectly, with ease, first try, and he’d just remembered he needed to disable skill assistance to practice properly.

He quickly moved through his interface and disabled skill assistance from his Longbow Mastery, then tried again. He pulled another arrow out of his quiver and attempted to nock it, and this time, he took much more focus and time to get the arrow lined up on the bowstring. It was unacceptably slow. But without being told, he knew what he needed to do. Travis’ words were still echoing fresh in his mind. If he wanted to learn to do the tricks, the basics had to become as easy as breathing. The best way to do that was by repeating the basic motions.

He knew he looked stupid doing it, and even got a few funny stares from the other players near him on the shooting range, but he didn’t care. He didn’t fire a single arrow that entire day, he instead just repeatedly took arrows out of his quiver and practiced nocking them quickly. Rakkan didn’t take long before joining Darkshot, practicing loading his crossbow repeatedly, rather than shooting it. It was repetitive, and boring, but they both knew that his method of training was incredibly effective.

“See you back in Rene.” Rakkan held his fist out to Darkshot.

“Hopefully before the summer ends.” Darkshot replied as he pounded Rakkan’s fist, and with that, the two turned and walked their separate paths towards their intermediate class quests.

“I’ve only got a short amount of time before the Airship to Arallia leaves. What’s the matter?” Trexon asked as he marched through the Wizard Tower of Kordas. He was being led by an Apprentice Wizard member of the Night Hunters, wearing purple robes with the Night Hunter emblem on the back of it, a male elf with a brown pony tail and a staff on his back named [Yorgi - Level 30].

“I don’t know, she’s saying that Jael is a bugged NPC, and she’s been wrecking the place and locking the doors, preventing other players from doing their quests and studying the magic tomes.” Yorgi explained to Trexon as the two walked hastily down a long hallway lined with paintings on the walls and a fine purple strip of carpet down the center.

“If a player is causing that much of a commotion, why not call the Kordas guard and have her thrown in jail?” Trexon asked.

“That’s just it, she’s not breaking any laws. She’s causing the most chaos she possibly can without actually committing any crimes.” Yorgi explained as they turned down a corridor, and Trexon attempted to push a pair of double doors in front of them open, but they wouldn’t give- they were locked. Trexon let out an annoyed sigh and pulled out his staff, tapping it on the lock of the door and causing it to make a clicking sound as he’d unlocked the door using magic, and swung the doors open to Archmage Jael’s office.

Inside he saw the player [Pyri - Level 30] sitting cross-legged in the center of the tiled floor of Archmage Jael’s office. Books from the shelves were strewn about the floor as if a tornado had come through, and a particularly tall stack of roughly 25 books was standing beside Pyri. She currently had an open book in her lap and was calmly reading it. Behind her across the room and sitting at his desk was Archmage Jael. Neither seemed bothered by the gigantic mess of a room around them, both reading in silence, and neither reacted to Trexon entering the room.

“There, that’s her. She’s the one who keeps locking players out of Archmage Jael’s office. She’s also been taking those spellbooks from the beginners library and bringing them up here with her, locking herself in this room. Since she’s still in the Wizard Tower , it’s not technically stealing, but because she keeps locking the office, it prevents all other players from reading those books and learning those spells.” Yorgi explained. Despite Jael and Pyri both hearing him give Trexon his explanation, neither reacted.

“Hm.” Trexon looked at the two of them curiously. “Let me guess. Jael won’t give you your intermediate class quest.” Trexon said to Pyri, and without looking up from the book she was reading, she gave a thumbs up in Trexon's direction.

“He’s bugged. Assign a new Archmage NPC to the Tower so I can get my quest, or I’ll keep legally messing with all the wizard players of Kordas.” Pyri replied in monotone.

“How long has she been doing this for?” Trexon asked Yorgi.

“About a week.” Yorgi answered. “I didn’t want to disturb your dungeon delve with the Night Hunters since you were all looking forward to it...” Yorgi replied anxiously.

“And you, miss, how long have you been stuck trying to get a quest from Jael?” Trexon asked her.

“A month.” She finally looked up from her book, glaring at Trexon. “More than a month actually. He kept shoving different spell books into my hands anytime I asked for my intermediate class quest.” Pyri stood up and pointed at the tall pile of spell books beside her. “I learned them all. Every single spell is level 30. Still nothing. He’s bugged.” Pyri said, annoyed.

“He’s not bugged. He’s an elite, he has free thought.” Trexon sighed as he turned his attention to Jael. “You want to explain yourself, Jael? Why aren’t you giving this young wizard her intermediate class quest?” Trexon asked Jael, and Jael finally looked up from his desk to pay attention to the three players in his office.

“She came in here demanding I give her the intermediate class quest for Controlmancer.” Jael replied calmly.

“And? She didn’t meet the requirements for that class?” Trexon asked as all eyes turned to Jael.

“Oh, no, she met them. Pratically any wizard who reaches level 30 is qualified to become a Controlmancer.” Jael shrugged.

“See!? Bullshit! He’s a broken NPC.” Pyri pointed at Jael angrily, but Trexon chose to ignore this comment for the time being.

“Then why not give her the class quest?” Trexon asked. Jael looked Pyri in the eyes carefully, and she glared back at him, before Jael turned to look at Trexon.

“Because, of all the hundreds of spells she could have chosen to learn as a beginner Wizard, she felt perfectly comfortable with only having learned two.” Jael said, and with these words, Pyri glanced between Jael and Trexon as they stared at each other as if they were having a silent conversation, whilst Yorgi looked confused about what was going on. “Lumina, and...”

“Cinderbolt.” Trexon answered for Jael as he turned to stare at Pyri with an interested squint.

“So? So what? What is wrong with Cinderbolt?” Pyri asked defensively, glancing between Jael and Trexon as they both now stared at her curiously. Eventually Trexon gave a knowing nod to Jael.

“Sorry, it’s up to you to figure out how to get your quest.” Trexon apologized to Pyri as he turned and started heading out of the office.

“What? What the hell? Aren’t you the leading guild in this city? You’re just gonna let this NPC bully me and not give me my quest?” Pyri stomped after Trexon angrily as he left the office and walked down the halls out of the Wizard Tower. “Fine, if you won’t do anything about him, I’m just going to keep messing up this Tower for everyone!” Pyri shouted angrily, causing Trexon to stop walking with a sigh, and turn to face her again.

“Listen. He’s not bugged. He’s one of those, what do you call, yoda-type NPCs. He won’t give you the answer, he wants you to find the answer yourself.” Trexon replied apologetically to Pyri.

“Answer to what?” Pyri groaned in annoyance.

“Exactly.” Trexon nodded back, as Yorgi, who'd been following behind them, glanced between the two of them still confused.

“Sorry, I wish I could help more, but I’ve got to leave on an Airship shortly. If you’re still stuck when I get back, I’ll try to help out.” Trexon said as he turned from Pyri and continued walking away hastily, Yorgi following behind him.

“Answer to what, dammit! I just want my stupid quest. This is so bullshit.” Pyri sighed in frustration as she watched Yorgi and Trexon disappear around a corner in the hallway.

“Sir, I don’t get it, what’s the big deal about her learning Cinderbolt?” Yorgi asked once he and Trexon had gotten far away from Pyri.

“How many beginning Wizard players do you know that go for Cinderbolt as their only spell?” Trexon asked him.

“Well... none... most wizards learn a bunch of the beginner spells. And, well, Cinderbolt isn’t even that great of a spell.” Yorgi replied with a shrug, causing Trexon to force a smile at Yorgi while patting him on the shoulder.

“Keep an eye on Pyri and Jael. In doing so, I have a feeling you’ll soon learn a few interesting things about being a magic user in this game.” Trexon said to him. “Try to keep things under control until I get back.”

“R-right.” Yorgi said as he stopped walking and watched as Trexon exited out of the building, heading out into the streets of Kordas. Yorgi apprehensively turned back down the direction of the hallway that he’d left Pyri at, and heard a loud banging noise come towards him, echoing off the walls. Yorgi could do nothing but sigh to himself.