Chapter 2- The Legendary Artisan

"Are you all right, Leo?" Robert was clueless about the notifications that popped up in front of Leo's eyes, and no way Leo would explain that to him.

"Yes, of course. Why wouldn't I?" he answered.

"Sorry mate, I'm too drunk, already imagining things," Robert said, almost falling after drink another shot of Dragon's breath.

"Can someone help my friend Robert here?" Leo yelled, afraid that Robert would pass out after drinking that much.

Some of the drunken men inside the inn didn't give a shit about Leo's yell. It seemed that Robert passing out was something normal. Well, at least someone came to his rescue, a little girl. She looked 8 or 9 years old and wore a cutie dress.

"You're new around here, right?" the little girl said to Leo.

"You're right. What gave it away?" Leo asked.

"Nothing. It's just that Meham has less than one hundred people, so it's easy to recognize a new face around."

"That makes total sense," Leo said.

"And don't worry about uncle Robert," continued the little girl, "he always drinks like there's no tomorrow, and he always wakes up. A strong lad he is," she said, picking up Robert and moving him to a room at the inn's back.

"These NPCs look so vivid. This game sure is completely different from the rest." Leo couldn't help but praise the amount of work put in building Quest Online.

"Now, what should I do next?" he thought about all the possibilities he had at that moment.

A mysterious quest that had a rank SSS of difficulty— Leo wasn't that optimistic about completing it. And there was also the fact about what profession he would choose. The thing that was closer to the job he did back IRL was a merchant, the trading life skill. But he wasn't sure if that was what he wanted.

"This is a magical world, so screw this, I'm going to learn something that I couldn't do IRL, like alchemy or enchanting."

Leo was already moving to the inns' exit when some people walked in. Players. The group had four in total— a crusader, a priest, a mage, and a ranger, a standard formation.

"We're already level 2, Luke. I don't think there is another party at our level," said a blonded youth to a muscular man who wielded sword and shield.

"Don't talk nonsense, Johnny. We're mere four college friends. How can we compete against the large guilds?" Luke said.

"We don't have a chance then?" Johnny laid his head down.

"Well, if we don't sleep for the next 72 hours, maybe. The beautiful thing about this game is that there's a lot of things to discover, and those large guilds are just as clueless as we are. But they have millions of players to explore the game, and we're only four." said the muscular man, looking a bit sad.

"These players are already level 2, and yet I didn't even get my profession. Well, at least I have a rare quest." thought Leo, watching the group of players.

"Hey Luke, look," Johnny then pointed towards Leo and said, "isn't that old man a player as well?"

"What? Who? Where?" Luke followed the direction that Johnny was pointing, and then he found. An old man with a mustache, staring at them.

"No way he's a player Johnny. He's too old to be playing video games," Luke moved his head right to left in negation.

Leo heard everything they were saying.

"Do they think I'm an NPC? Oh right, this game doesn't differ players from NPCs. The only way of knowing it is by talking to them or seeing their level. Players right now are level 2 at most, so anything beyond that is an NPC for sure."

"Should we go talk to him?" asked Johnny.

"Well, why not? He looks like a gentle old man." Luke didn't think that just talking to Leo was going to be a problem, so he didn't oppose it.

Luke walked through the inn towards Leo. The inn's wooden floor couldn't hold against that giant of a man, cracking sounds entered everyone's ears.

"That guy looks scary. Wait a sec, is he coming towards me? What did I do?" Luke looked like a bully attacking its prey, and that prey was, Leo.

Tension in the air, and Leo's breath became irregular, but what happened was completely different from what Leo had in mind.

"Huh, hello," said Luke, scratching his hair, "I'm Luke, nice to meet you."

"What? This man that looks like a door and has a scary face, is shy?" Leo laughed internally. Sometimes appearances foul you.

"I'm Leo, nice to meet you too, Luke," Leo said, smiling.

"So, me and my friend over there," Luke then pointed towards Johnny, who pointed to himself, as if saying 'it's me, it's me.'

"We made a bet. He thinks you're a player, and I don't. Of course, I'm right, but just to make sure. Are you a player?" Luke said that, and stared, seriously, at Leo, waiting for the response.

"I'm a player. Why wouldn't I be?" Leo said.

"Wait, what? Really? Why are you so old? I thought that it wasn't possible to change that much of the game character." Luke was stunned.

"You're right, you can't change. I'm old." Leo answered.

"Why are you playing this brand new VRMMORPG then? I thought only teens and maybe some adults would."

"My grandchildren play, so I thought why not play with them," that wasn't completely true. Of course, he wanted to be closer to his grandchildren, but he also wanted his sight back, and Quest Online made that possible.

"That makes sense. Anyway, it was nice to meet you, Leo. Maybe we can see each other around some other time," said Luke, who was planning to leave when Leo thought of something.

"Can we add each other as friends? Maybe we can go hunting some monsters tomorrow. I can join your party, right?" Leo had that mysterious quest that just popped, and to find that secret lab, he would need to explore the area surrounding Meham, and he couldn't kill monsters alone being a Life Skiller, so he needed help— Leo thought that Luke and his group seemed friendly.

"Of course, that would be awesome. What's your class? What's your class?" Luke asked.

"I'm a Life Skiller," Leo answered.

"A what?" Luke frowned his eyebrows in confusion, then he looked towards his party and yelled, "Hey Johnny fish-head, what is a Life Skiller?"

"Hey," Johnny looked pissed, "don't call me that in public, you idiot. And why are you asking this? Didn't you read all the classes available at the start?"

"No, I didn't. I just chose the class that wore heavy armor and looked awesome," Luke said.

"That's so you," Johnny tapped his forehead and continued "Life Skiller is a class that is bad at fighting but can learn a profession to create items and things. like smithing," Johnny also didn't have that much information about the class, the initial screen didn't say much about the professions, only that the Life Skiller could learn one.

"That's cool. Are you saying that maybe we've found someone who can craft sharp and badass-looking swords?" answered Luke.

Leo didn't expect that outcome. Many parties would not accept someone that couldn't kill mobs, and Leo thought that they wouldn't also, which was wrong.

"Maybe. Hey Luke, we should be friends with this guy and help him with everything. Almost no one chose the Life Skiller class, and I think there will be a lack of craftsman in this game, at least for now." Johnny said, and he was right.

Everyone was so excited to play the game and to kill mobs, so the Life Skiller class wasn't appealing to them, which would eventually be a problem. The game developers always said that every class was important, and the Life Skiller was also included.

"So, Leo, it's settled then. Tomorrow I'll message you and we can meet up, sounds cool to you?" Luke said.

"Sure, no problem. I have some other things to do today anyway," Leo still had to learn his profession, and he would do that as earlier as possible.

"All right, I'll be going now, there is a lot of mobs to kill and XP to earn today."

Luke then walked back to his group, and they parted ways from Leo.

Leo couldn't acquire any more information in that inn. He had everything he wanted at that point. The Meham village was so small that it didn't have official buildings that teach the professions, so Leo had to find someone who practiced what he was after, and that was enchanting.

"Does he live here?" Leo thought to himself— as he walked through a dense forest, looking for a small wooden cabin, home of the only enchanter in Meham, Alistair.

He managed to get some information with the drunken Robert, and Alistair's location was one of them. After thinking a lot, Leo decided to learn how to enchant. The life skill consisted in, well, like the name says, enchanting. You can add enchanting into weapons, armor, and accessories— which would boost their stats or give them special bonuses.

"Hello? Anyone home?" Leo knocked, and no one answered.

"Is he at home or what? Screw it, I'll keep knocking, if he's there, he'll eventually open." and so that was what Leo did, for the next 10 minutes, until the man finally got out of its cave.

"Damn it," an old man yelled in frustration, opening the door.

"What do you want? Every time I pretend I'm not home and people give up after two minutes or so, but oh boy, aren't you an annoying type." the grizzled old man looked pissed.

"I'm Leo, sorry to bother you. I heard back in town that you're the most magnificent enchanter around here, and I'm interested in learning it," said Leo.

"The most magnificent enchanter around here?" Alistair heard that and couldn't hold his laugher, "I'm the only enchanter around here, if I'm not magnificent, who would?"

"I never thought in that way, I was just trying to be nice. Anyway, can you teach me how to enchant?" Leo went straight to the business.

"Perhaps, but first I need you to do something for me. Come in, please," Alistair invited Leo to his simple house, and another message popped up in front of Leo's eyes.

Ding new Quest acquired

Eye problem

Description: Alistair somehow lost his glasses, and it's impossible for him to find them, as he can't see properly. Help Alistair found it

Rewards: unknown

Difficulty: D

"I didn't even finish my first quest and now another one popped up. Well, finding a pair of glasses doesn't look that hard."

Leo was surprised by how messy Alistair's house was. Papers with strange patterns scattered around the room, alongside dusty books. The house was small, but it had tons of different things inside, which would turn Leo's search into a nightmare.

"So, if I'm not mistaken, my glasses should be inside my house, somewhere. I don't think you'll find them in this mess, but hey, good luck," Alistair said that and went back to his usual business.

"He doesn't even clean his house; no wonder he lost his belongings in here. This place looks like hell."

Leo had something in mind, and he wanted to ask Alistair before his searchings begin. He didn't have that much of an expectation, but it was worth the try.

"Hey, Alistair. Do you know that legendary artisan? Francis Bexley if I'm not mistaken," Leo said.

"Huh?" Alistair turned back and stared at Leo, and said in surprise.

"How do you know my brother?"