Worry

Jason, Perseus, and their new addition to the silver wings guild Rocky all sat on a table as Jack hurriedly placed the 4 vials of purple liquid onto the table.

Rocky looked around in confusion, Jason had brought him over to a huge house, fit with furniture, he had even seen some NPCs running around and a kind looking women tending to a garden in the back of the guild house.

He let out a scream when he saw a group of wolves approach them. But Jason made sure to explain to Rocky, that they were friendly.

The wolves sniffed Rocky a few times and one of the younger ones decided to lay in Rocky's lap. Bringing Rocky to heights of happiness he didn't know was possible.

With a tearful goodbye, Rocky went to the inside of the silver wings house amazed at how Jason was able to get such a large place for the guild when the rest of the players were struggling to get enough gold to create a guild.

As Rocky walked around the house with Jason giving him a quick tour, he saw a blond-haired person sitting at the kitchen table looking at him with cold appraising eyes.

Jason introduced Perseus to Rocky saying that he was his brother and the guild master of the guild. Rocky earnestly introduced himself nervous that he would leave a bad impression if he didn't do so.

Perseus's hard-set face softened as he heard Rocky's introduction and as he viewed the loyalty state Rocky had. It was abnormally high, probably thanks to Jason's charm and other things he did.

Perseus introduced himself and soon the two of them were on talking terms. But before Perseus could ask Jason about why he had brought Rocky here, Jack burst into the room sweat dripping down his childish face as he ran over breathing heavily.

Perseus was already up, sword in hand ready to head out immediately and take out who ever caused Jack to run so heavily.

It took a few minutes for Jack to regain his breath and soon Jack revealed the items he found while he was gaining some territory in the slums.

As Jack placed the vials of purple liquid down he started to talk to the three people. He wasn't sure who the huge bald person sitting next to Perseus and Arch was. But Perseus assured Jack that he was somebody who was trustworthy, at least for now.

Perseus trusted Jason's judgment, even if it did seem a bit premature.

Jason had already explained to Rocky who Jack was and how they were trying to infiltrate the rippers gang.

Rocky nodded in agreement as Jason explained. He was very familiar with the slums and how gangs worked and he understood that it was a viable option in the game.

So the three of them listened to Jack as he showed them the 4 vials.

"these are the (Ichor of Chaos) a horrible tool used by evil people to ruin entire cities, if I were to splash this in the middle of the city, it would attract every single monster in a wide radius to that specific spot, if a person were to get a drop of this liquid on their body they would be dead unless they had sufficient strength to defend themselves from the hoard of monsters that would rampage towards him."

Perseus quickly questioned Jack

"Where did you find these vials?"

Jack replied

"When I was raiding a suspicious house in the slums we found 4 people each with a vial in their satchel."

Jason's eyes flashed as he looked at the purple liquid, Something about it looked familiar. He asked Jack as he stared closely at it.

"Did they say anything about where they got it?"

Jack shook his head

"they said they didn't know, just that a cloaked person gave them the vials to do the job"

All three of the players looked at Jack as he said the last part expectant for him to continue.

Jack did saying in an upset tone

"they were tasked with spreading the ichor around the forest, I think they wanted to turn the forest into a den of monsters or something"

Rocky asked quietly

"did they just spread the liquid around the forest like fertilizer or something?"

Jack shook his head and said in a cold voice

"It had been said that they use metal objects to extend the period of their effectiveness, that was how they destroyed the city of Abester"

Perseus's eyes widened and he opened his inventory to drop a metal object about the size of his fist onto the table. The metallic object pulsed with purple light as violet colored veins flowed through them.

It was the goblin monster bait that he had picked up a few hours ago.

"you mean like this?"

Jack only needed to give it one look before he solemnly nodded.

"yes, the king and nobles have spread images of objects like those and have placed many warnings for them "

A notification went up in front of all three of the players

[you have discovered a hidden plot in the city of Herdita]

[the (Ichor of Chaos) has been used as a weapon by a mysterious group of people to sow chaos and destroy many lives, they have planted numerous objects in the forest to bring about a horde of monsters]

[new mission]

[find these objects!]

[1/300]

[rewards: (+200,000 EXP) (+30 gold) (1/3 of the tome of the elements) (increased affinity with residents of the city of Herdita) (+20 fame) (title savior of Herdita)]

Jason's eyes narrowed as he also reached into his inventory, he said in a low voice

"I found a few of these in the vicinity of the rose knight training center"

He said as he started to drop multiple monster baits that he and the wolves had found as they patroled the forest.

There were numerous types of baits that started to pile on the kitchen table. From snake ones to goblins and even a kobold one that Jeffery had found. In total there were 30 of them and Jason looked at the huge amount of notifications he got as he placed them onto the table.

[you have discovered a monster bait]

[you have received +3 fame and 1 silver!]

[2/300 objects found]

[you have discovered a monster bait]

[you have received +3 fame and 1 silver!]

[3/300 objects found]

[you have discovered a monster bait]

[you have received +3 fame and 1 silver!]

[4/300 objects found]

[you have discovered a monster bait]

[you have received +3 fame and 1 silver!]

[5/300 objects found]

[you have discovered a monster bait]

[you have received +3 fame and 1 silver!]

[6/300 objects found]

[you have discovered a large monster bait]

[you have received +6 fame and 3 silver!]

[7/300 objects found]

...

[you have discovered a monster bait]

[you have received +3 fame and 1 silver!]

[31/300 objects found]

Jason was the only one who saw all of the notifications, it seems they were rewards for finding the monster bait.

He looked back to see Perseus Rocky and Jack all staring at the pile of monster baits in a mixture of admiration and confusion.

Rocky turned to him and asked slightly stuttering

"h-how did you get this many?"

Jason gave a tired smile and replied

"I have been grinding in that forest for a long time, I was bound to find something interesting there"

Jason turned to Jack and asked

"do you know what we can do with these? do you want us to destroy them or something? because I have a few plans for how I can use them"

Jack shook his head

"no, sir I don't know what we can do with those baits, but I do know that we have to get those objects soon or else it could spell the doom for the entire city"

Jason shrugged and said to himself

"fine, I guess ill hold onto them for now, i might have a use for them later"

and saying that he placed all of the monster baits into his inventory. Usually, if a player had to lug around 31 monster baits in his inventory he would have been complaining.

But thankfully Jason's inventory was infinite and could easily store the monster baits without having to worry about his space unlike most of the players.

Jason looked at Perseus, Rocky, and Jack each in the eye for a few seconds before he started to talk.

"Well I guess we all know what we have to do whenever we go to the forest, Perseus alert the guild members about the baits and make sure that they report when they find one, Jack I'm not sure if you can help us, but try and send your friends if you can. And Rocky..."

Rocky didn't know why but he felt like he needed to salute and stand at attention when Jason called his name.

"y-yes!" he said nervously, the Arch in front of him gave off an aura of charisma and charm that made him want to listen to him.

Jason grinned

"you're with me"