Chapter 10: Path of hero quest

Chapter 10: Path of hero quest I looked at all the towns listed and shook my head. "Chief Eldan, I’ve read about how Sir Klaus, after reaching the level of Awakening (choosing a class), he didn’t awaken an instead performed an amazing feat that started his path as a hero. I wonder if I can follow Sir Klaus’ path too," I said. It was the dialogue required to trigger a special quest that grants an legacy left behind by the hero. Normally, you’d be supposed to go to the Village Library, complete a quest about missing books, find them in a thief’s hideout, and learn about the hero’s story. After that, you could ask the Village Chief for the quest. But since I already knew the end, why go through all that hassle? "Hmm, the path of a hero is not an easy one, young bud," the Village Chief said, his voice filled with wisdom. "Yes, but I aspire to be like Sir Klaus," I replied with determination. "Very well then," the Chief nodded, and suddenly his eyes glowed a bright blue. [ Village Chief is checking your qualifications... ] [ You qualify. ] [ Village Chief is assessing your level and abilities... Generating a suitable quest. ] Wait! What do they mean, "suitable quest"? Give me the special one! What is this about checking my abilities?? I started to panic. In original version of this scenario, had there ever been a quest difficulty adjustment?. Damn it! Given my absurd class and stats, I’m probably going to get an insane quest. [ New Quest: Path of the Hero ] "You are suitable for a hero’s trial. Complete this task and I will give you the legacy left behind by the great Sir Klaus, for those who seek to follow in his footsteps," the Village Chief smiled, handing me the challenge. I nodded in response, despite feeling a slight chill of impending doom. [ Quest: Path of the Hero ] Description: Klaus, a simple villager from this very village, started his path to greatness. Now, you seek the same path. Objective: Defeat any leader among the four tribes in the Black Forest, Alone, you can’t get any help from other players. Reward: The legacy left by Sir Klaus. Time Limit: None. Failure: The Village Chief will merely admire your courage and send you to the Town of Beginnings with a smile. ] "Yep, there it is," I thought to myself, looking at the Village Chief with a small smile on my face. "Don’t worry, Chief, I’ll do it," I said confidently, even though internally I was cursing the gods for my luck. He nodded, his expression one of faith. "Go on, may the Goddess be with you," he said solemnly. I nodded again and walked away, my mind racing. Soon, I reached the village fountain, where I paused to gather my thoughts. This quest... the leaders in the Black Forest are no joke. Each of them is around level 30, but they aren’t normal bosses. They’re field bosses, which means they come with field boss corrections—making them much stronger than regular level 30 monsters. "Hmm," I mused, thinking it over. "But don’t I have an advantage?" I smiled. Normally, each level up gives players 10 stat point, so most players at this stage would have around 300+ total stats. But me? Well, let’s just say I’m far from normal... _________ Stamina: 210 Intellect: 210 Strength: 210 Defense: 210 Vitality: 210 Agility: 210 Domination : 200 Ancient Affinity : 300 _________ I had over 1200 stat points in common attributes, aside from my special stats. This quest might actually be manageable, given my advantage. Plus, I still had 90 free stat points to allocate. But here was the problem: I didn’t have any strong skills or proper equipment. That meant one thing—time to go shopping. For that, I needed gold coins, and lots of them. Luckily, I had converted my real-life money into in-game gold. After all, I had invested my hard-earned money into companies that were set to soar after the release of Final Life, and now I was officially a bona fide billionaire. So, the money problem? Solved. "Hmm?" I muttered to myself, scrolling through the game’s forums while I waited for my funds to transfer. One article caught my eye. "First Guild Built, Only to be Destroyed by Another Player in the Next Hour!" I couldn’t help but laugh. "Hahaha, how sad, but LMAO!" Another post read, "Damn, I heard that guild building requires defeating level 50+ bosses, and this Red Dragon Guild invested a lot to get theirs. But they failed." Curious, I scrolled down the replies. "Who’s the player that wrecked their guild?" "His name is TitanSlayer, and he’s a mage class. But it seems like it’s a hidden class!" "Wait, hidden class already?!" "Yeah, and it’s really powerful. Especially that Dragon Breath spell—it blasted through everything like a knife through butter." I paused, taking it all in. "So, it’s starting already..." I mumbled to myself. TitanSlayer, or rather Max, the protagonist of the game’s storyline. As for Red Dragon, they were nothing more than opportunists who’d backstabbed anyone in their way. I knew how this would play out. Max would eventually get his revenge and prevent their rise to power. After all, in the main storyline, Red Dragon’s leader had even betrayed Max during the final war. No surprise they’d get wrecked early on. "Well, I don’t need to get too involved right now," I thought. "But things are falling into place." Soon, Max would start getting real-life recognition too, when he accidentally saves a rich girl who offers him protection from Red Dragon and other cliché plot points. For now, though, it was time to gear up and crush this hero quest. Hearing the notification, I gave a nod and immediately opened the Auction tab. My goal: Mage and Warrior skills. A long page opened before me, showcasing a variety of skills being sold by other players. Most of these were common and uncommon skills, as the game had only been out for a month, and rare skills hadn’t surfaced yet. But that was fine. I didn’t need overpowered abilities at this point—I could focus on quantity rather than quality. Scrolling through the listings, I skimmed past items labeled "Basic Fireball," "Cleave," and "Ice Spike," among others. Most players were dumping whatever they found from low-level dungeons and monsters, hoping to earn a quick buck. While none of them were particularly impressive, they would serve the purpose of filling up my skill slots. After all, a well-timed combination of common skills could still turn the tide in battle.