In The Dead of Night

Evan put his mind to inspecting the Quest reports in front of him.

—

[Quest: A Hunt for Leopardmen (D-rank):

A tribe of Leopardmen has caused several disruptions to the natural order of small settlements around the Moss Forest near Old L'eth City. Help the local settlements defeat the wanted Leopardmen and restore order.

Reward: +300 Aerth Coins, Lesser {STAT} Ring of Stoneskin, +10 medium health potions.]

[Party Quest [Exclusive]: Defeat Ruslow the Assassin (D-rank)

Intel suggests that Ruslow the Assassin, a notorious member of Nocturne, has recently been disbanded from the dark association together with his band of misfits. He and his crew have recently been spotted taking refuge near Talker Mountain near Sleeping Giant Crossing. Now is the perfect time to strike and find information that may offer clues to Nocturne's future motives.

Reward: +900 Aerth Coins, Prevalent {STAT} Necklace of Life, D-rank {Intuition} Proficiency Scroll. Additional rewards based on completion rank!]

—

Evan hurriedly opened the Map, and a large projection of Cobblestone town replaced the whole interface window. He zoomed out to get a better picture of the Edin Kingdom and found out that it was a rather large kingdom compared to its neighboring rivals' geographical coverage.

He located Moss Forest and Talker Mountain respectively and noticed that they were in opposite directions. Moss Forest was located to the south and he estimated that it would take half a day to reach, while Talker Mountain was further away to the north.

'I could really use those rewards, especially the Proficiency Scroll.' Evan thought. 'The problem is finding a decent party.'

Evan pondered for a while and decided to ask Lord Brickwell for some guidance on the matter. As NPCs knew nothing about levels or status windows players can see on their interfaces, he had to ask Lord Brickwell in a round-about way.

"Milord, how deadly is this Ruslow the Assassin? How many allies should I bring?"

"He used to be far down in the Nocturne organization. Though I estimate that he's currently far stronger than you. I would advise that you bring at least three other adventurers. This is no small Quest despite its D-rank. However, you show great growth potential, and as a fellow follower of the Amber Guardian, I will put my faith in you."

This was news to Evan. He had no idea that NPCs also had Guardians. It never really showed up whenever he inspected an NPC's status. He'd also tested this on Markos that was level 30 and the guards that were around level 22.

"How strong are they compared to the town guards then?"

"Hah, he's a weakling compared to them. Our kingdom only trains and recruits elites after all." Lord Brickwell heartily laughed. "These mere lowlifes need to be at least double in numbers to defeat my guards."

This was a small relief to Evan. He estimated that he and his party needed to be at least level 12 and preferably higher before they attempted to seek out Ruslow the Assassin.

He soon departed from the Brickwell Manor and contacted Mille.

Luckily, she had just come online and was willing to team up with Evan again. Though he wasn't willing to bring just anyone, Evan decided to ask if she had any potential teammates for the D-rank {Exclusive} Quest.

"I have one person in mind. This person is actually meeting up with me right now. Catch you soon!" She'd answered.

Moments later, Evan was standing next to a small fountain in the town's plaza waiting for Mille and her companion to arrive.

"Looky here!" A familiar voice rang out behind Evan.

He turned around and noticed a new face. The face belonged to a female elf around Mille's age. She had dark hair to her shoulders, not that far off in contrast to Evan's, light brown eyes, and quite frankly an opposite demeanor compared to Mille.

"This is my friend Sightseer." Mille introduced. "As you can see, she's an Elven Ranger. Scouter class to be exact. She used to be a ranker in another VR game before she decided to take a break. And now she's here."

'Sightseer? Why does that name sound familiar?' Evan mulled.

After their brief introduction, they soon left Cobblestone and headed north. They were still one player short, but Evan had contacted his former classmate and confirmed that he would be joining them later since his starting location was in another town.

Their next location before reaching their final destination was Azure Lake, a few hours away from Cobblestone. Teleportation gate fees were expensive in the early stages of most games, so they decided to go there on foot, explore, and grind monsters on the way.

"We're being followed." Sightseer said in a hushed voice after an hour's travel.

Evan and Mille were surprised and had been oblivious to the arising situation.

"Huh? Followed? Since when?" Mille asked.

"I wasn't sure in the beginning, but their route hasn't separated from ours even though we took this detour into the woods. My combat proficiency {Detection} tells me that there's five of them."

"What's their goal?" Evan tried to discern. "Even if they're PKers they won't get any drops from us unless we're red name players. Could it be–"

"Yes, they most likely have someone in the party with the {Corrupted Enclosure} skill. Or we should at least take that into consideration." Sightseer interrupted with a scowl.

"What does this {Corrupted Enclosure} skill do?" Mille questioned.

"Rumors are saying that some players have learned proficiencies with skills that can turn an area into a Yellow Zone. People that die in the Yellow Zone will drop at a set amount of items and coins depending on the proficiency rank of the skill." Evan explained.

"Doesn't that mean they will be put under the {Corrupted Enclosure}'s effects as well? Let's kick some ass then!" Mille voiced with a grin.

She had a point. Sightseer and Evan nodded in agreement toward Mille's bold suggestion as their eyes met.

The trio halted in their tracks moments later, not knowing who their potential enemies could be or what their motives were.

Three silhouettes in a half-circle rushed toward Evan's party in the dark. Moonlight soon exposed the silhouettes as they got closer, now only 30 meters (~100 feet) away, all three level 6 according to Sightseer's {Detection}. Two Warriors, one Ranger, and another two still unaccounted for.