Chapter 35:

Meow King was very excited to learn that he had received a physical reward in the game for his review of the game helmet. He wanted to know what the official reward would be? A cool mount? Or a rare collectible, or perhaps a cosmetic outfit like the closed beta reward? It was like having a shiny treasure chest or a box of chocolates with different flavors in front of you, but unless you opened it, you wouldn’t know what was inside. This feeling of anticipation was the most tantalizing. This feeling of imagination lasted until Murphy took out a sheathed oak hunting sword from his spirit pouch and handed it to him. “Damn! Equipment reward? Boring.” Meow King suddenly deflated. It’s not that special equipment was bad, but mainly because he was also a veteran gamer. Everyone was still at the beginner stage, having just opened the game interface and not even embarking on the proper path of killing monsters and leveling up. At this stage, no matter how good the equipment the NPC gave, it would have to be discarded once the level increased. Under such circumstances, even if he was given the best sacred sword in the village, it would not be as good as giving him a permanent cosmetic outfit. However, his disappointment only lasted a moment. Since the NPC had given it to him, he couldn’t very well return the equipment, could he? “You seem a bit disappointed?” Murphy noticed the change in Meow King’s expression. He shook his head and assumed a mysterious pose, lowering his voice to his little player: “You’d better take a close look at this sword.” “Huh?” Meow King blinked. At the NPC’s suggestion, he began to examine the oak hunting sword with a crossguard, and then he felt a sense of familiarity. A few seconds later, he exclaimed: “Isn’t this the weapon of that gray-haired witch huntress before? I remember it can ignite flames?” “Yes, this is a replica of a blessed sacred blade from the old faith, a weapon of faith that only followers of Avalon can use and activate its special abilities.” Murphy gently explained: “Perhaps some secrets of the legendary gods can be uncovered from this sword, but as you can see, I am a vampire, an innate sinful descendant, no divine being will ever look upon us. Therefore, I can only select from my brave warriors someone like you, who is courageous, wise, and has an exploratory spirit, to seek out its mysteries on my behalf.” Murphy grasped the core computational bead in his hand. As soon as he finished speaking, the computational bead that Meow King wore around his neck emitted a soft sound, prompting him to lower his head and activate the player interface. He then saw a prompt: 【Special Hidden Quest Triggered! Quest Name: Shadow of the Old Faith Quest Description: Revnor Murphy Lessenbra, a vampire from Kadman City, acquired a replica of a sacred relic from the old faith in battle. This mysterious, night-dwelling being with an important mission is interested in the legendary gods. He hopes you can use this rare replica of a sacred blade as a starting point to help him investigate the secrets of the old nature faith and the god Avalon. Quest Reward: Unknown Quest Time Limit: Unlimited time. Accept this quest? Yes/No】 “Hey, this is more like it! I like it.” Meow King grinned when he saw the familiar quest trigger and description. Previously, without a quest panel, he had to follow the NPC’s instructions, which was realistic enough, but it always felt like something was missing from the feeling of playing a game. Now that this quest function was online, the familiar feeling came back all at once. He immediately chose to accept the quest and, with the now quite familiar Blood Vulture courtesy, bowed to Murphy and said: “As you command, my lord. Your will is the direction I shall proceed. I will do my utmost to uncover the secrets of this sacred blade and that damned god for you.” “Shh!” The audacious little player’s unrestrained words startled Murphy. He hurriedly raised his hand and pressed it against Meow King’s forehead, saying: “Do not be so disrespectful, my warrior. There are deities in this world, and your impiety may bring you misfortune! The followers of Avalon are spread across the continent, and they will not let a blasphemer go unpunished.” “Er, thank you for your reminder, my lord.” Meow King immediately replied, but in his heart, he didn’t really care. “What imbalance? This is a quest item! Use your item appraisal function to take a look and you’ll know.” Meow King plopped down beside him and sighed: “Although the quality is high, without a supporting faith system, it cannot unleash its true power. This is a hidden quest reward from our NPC, asking me to investigate the old faith and the Avalon belief, and although this sword looks cool, it’s actually not as good as the plain ones you guys have. I just went to learn swordsmanship from that white-haired NPC Maxim with this sword, but he warned me that as a newbie, I shouldn’t use weapons that require special techniques, lest I cut my own fingers. Damn! To be looked down upon by an NPC while playing a game is really something. But I’ve figured it all out!” He told the other players: “The white-haired NPC Maxim in the caravan is responsible for teaching the Blood Vulture Sword Arts. At the red-haired NPC Miriam’s, you can buy food and daily necessities, like tents, torches, and needles and thread. I checked at the female merchant’s shop, and she even sells guns, the ones we scavenged and resold to us, which is really shady! But she said she maintained those guns herself, so it’s not exactly ripping us off. The second carriage has two coffins. They should be the young ladies we rescued and her servant. They don’t spawn during the day, following the vampires’ living rules, so they may not spawn until night. I reckon the young lady might teach us some basic spirit skills, that is, magic. This game doesn’t have such strict class skill divisions. I see our NPC is a swordsman but can also throw dark orbs, so I estimate proper job changes may not happen until after level 10.” “Awesome! As expected of the electronic fairy Meow King, you’ve compiled all this information in just one round trip. Why don’t you post it on the forum and get some rewards?” Onboard Joy Stick chuckled, but before Meow King could respond, they heard the sound of ringing bells. The players turned their heads to see the red-haired NPC Miriam standing atop a carriage, vigorously ringing her hand bell, indicating that they were about to depart. “Quick, follow along.” Meow King slapped his butt as he stood up and said: “I just heard from the NPC that it’ll take us three days to get back to Kadman City. He said he’ll arrange two separate carriages for us to rest at the next village. The time for Maxim to teach the Blood Vulture Sword Arts is during dinner. We can just come up then. Now that we only have 6 hours of free game time per day, we need to allocate it properly. I suggest we split into four groups and maintain players online in the caravan at all times. If random quests pop up, just shout it out in the group chat. I reckon after three days of returning to Kadman City, we’ll be able to explore freely.” “Tsk, this game being too realistic is actually not that great.” Three to Five Pecks couldn’t help but complain: “In other games, you can just ESC and skip this travel process, but here we have to follow the NPC for three days of travel.” “That’s not what I’m worried about.” The agile Onboard Joy Stick climbed onto the carriage and looked at the incredibly realistic scenery around him. He sighed: “If they simulate even the travel process this realistically, learning skills is going to be tough, I reckon. Learning a set of sword arts isn’t as simple as you guys think.” Niuniu nodded vigorously beside him. As an athlete, he understood this all too well. “Aren’t sword techniques and moves just for show?” Spicy Gugu Chicken poked his head out and said. Onboard Joy Stick immediately sneered: “You wouldn’t say such foolish things if you’ve ever seen those real military drills. In the future, if anyone tells you that, give them a full windmill sword technique right to their face! Take my advice, never waste your breath arguing with idiots online. You can state facts and reason, but they can dismiss it all with just ‘I think.'” “Yeah, how could something present across all eras and cultures be a lie?” Niuniu also patted Gugu Chicken’s shoulder and said: “You’ve also seen how our NPC uses a sword in combat. It’s not something you can just swing around and slash at random. To be honest, I’m quite 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 group of real combat sword masters to do motion capture.” The eager athlete rubbed his hands together, full of anticipation. Hours later, at the campsite during dinnertime, after being knocked down by the Swift Sword for the seventh time and seeing the disdainful look on Maxim’s face, Niuniu, feeling no sensation in his wrists, was on the verge of tears. Whoa! These NPCs are playing for real! The fancy sword moves he had learned were absolutely worthless in this person’s eyes. It’s just a game, why make it so hardcore?