Chapter 32 - A new sort of quest (2)

The Original Fourteen - this moniker was coined after the celebration of end of compulsory quest. Never mind that only 10 members attended it and party was very tame. No booze, no sexy ladies...it was more like birthday party of ninety year old. You know the type right? If it was hundredth year birthday bash, it would be a grand occasion. Ninetieth birthday party is like humouring an old man. Just another name for get together, it's not a party. Same here. So obviously lame moniker would be coined there.

This type of group which had suffered together should be more together, more cohesive. In actuality, not so. The party of four went their own ways most of the time, maybe joining together to conquer a tough map or become pioneer in new maps. Their timings were not fixed. Their gaming skills meant that once they got hang of it, the limiting factor would be monster respawn rate.(Saachi not included in this skill boast. As Bree mentioned in passing, unless Niyam changed his mindset, he would never become elite and have corresponding skill set)

Among others, four were weaponsmith, more closer to Royo. Those working with hammer and such, that is, those working in Smithy, most often went physical way with high constitution and strength. Stamina was important there. As to why not many 'physical way' players not choose smithing as side profession, the reason is lack of time. Tanks tended to move in groups, a healer support made them feel safe and they would rush into any map without fear, face any monster with out being afraid. Tanks are more social too, unlike mages or thieves who could move around alone.

The six remaining ones, not all turned to be alchemist. A pretty lady turned out to be a tailor. She was pursuing fashion in real life and wanted to do the same in the game too. Apparently, she wanted to be inspired by game to make new designs and create a new wave of fashion. Whatever a pretty lady says is truth.

No chefs or cooks. No merchants, no other subclass or side profession. Only 5 alchemist.

This is break down of 'original fourteen' group. Niyam is odd one out, pursuing both monster hunter and alchemy with diligence. Six alchemist doling out potions. They were not enough for the original fourteen if they went farming (killing low level monsters). The party of four had separate deal.

Basically no one was supposed to look into player market as they did not have enough potions for their own use.

A rotten egg can spoil a whole batch. A duo of alchemist and weaponsmith partnered for nefarious purpose. No, they were more money minded. Nothing is wrong in being money minded. Most people entered the game to make money. Even Saachi did. But this duo wanted to have cake and eat it too. They planned to have other make that cake without the knowledge and that crosses the moral line.

Even they did not enter market. The Alchemist had easy deal. Direct handover near maps or in village when no one was looking after. Weaponsmith mainly dealt with increasing durability. Even making level 1 weapons was labour intensive process needing lots of skill. So low level weaponsmiths just repaired low level weapons or increased durability of the weapons.

Was Saachi turning into a busybody when he decided to intervene? Can he do it? Does he have right to it? And how did he learn of this deal?

Lots of questions, just circling around the head but Saachi was tight lipped.

Now the situation had come to this. And ...he got an odd quest to boot. A timed quest. As the name says the quest has timer. Finishing the quest within the time limit is necessity to get rewards. If late, harsh penalty would be applied. Of course, for Niyam( Saachi's avatar), penalty would be nominal. But repercussions would remain the same.

Commonest examples given to describe timed quests were getting a life saving medicine back or saving a prisoner from execution. If not completed within time limit, that NPC would die forever and story would change and follow different direction.

Is life just like that? It's not like a serial novel or a comic, where a problem arises only after old one is solved by MC. Nowhere he had read stories where a hero dealt with multiple problems solving as much of each everytime. 'Escape' is that game touted to give the escape feel and realistic feel too. Maybe in later stages when the levels of players increased, they also might get multiple quests, sometimes interlocking, sometimes going in different ways. Saachi had not reached that level even in his previous life. All this thought was just a conjuncture at this point though.

The two problems grappling him were inside the game but they were not created by NPCs, so technically this was nothing like his thinking.

Now....what to do? Should he seek guidance or help? Just do something?

He had a feel that whatever step he took would affect his life forever. Last time he had this feeling was when he was trying for this university, no even more recent than that. It was when he decidedly poured all the money into gaming pod.