A Merchant in Need

Someone was calling for help. This deep in the forest, they were likely being attacked by a beast. Freya quickly changed her route and headed for the source of the scream. Soon enough, she came upon a scene of a young man cornered by three wolves. He held his arm that was bleeding profusely and screaming for someone to help.

Freya pulled out her steel sword and readied a spell.

'Ice spike.' Three spike fell on the three wolves, instantly killing the two gray wolves, but the third one, a white furred wolf, dodged the spike and turned to growl at her.

[You have killed a level 8 'Gray Wolf'. +127 Exp.]

Two similar messages appeared on the death of the wolves, giving her a small amount of exp. The White wolf, however, was stronger than the other two. It continued to avoid the ice spikes that Freya cast and began to rush at her.

Freya readied her sword as the agile wolf approached her. The beast was fast enough to dodge the ice spells, but Freya's eyes could easily see its movement. Just as the wolf lunged at her, she nimbly moved to the left and with a simple movement of her hand decapitated the beast.

[You have killed a level 13 'White Furred Wolf'. +392 Exp.]

['Fang of the White Wolf' has been added.]

A new message appeared as she killed the feral wolf, and she felt a small object suddenly appear in her pocket, but she ignored it. She walked towards the injured young man.

"Thank you, stranger." The man quickly thanked her, "You have saved my life. I'll surely reward you."

"You are not saved yet." Freya replied, tossing a health potion to him. "Drink this. It'll stop the bleeding and help in your recovery."

Her heart cried in distress as she gave him a small red potion worth 5 silver coins. She had bought it in the morning after knowing she'll be training near the forest, just in case. It was a grand loss, but she could not bear to see a human die before her eyes if she could help him.

The young man seemingly understood the value of the potion as he gave her a look before carefully drinking from the small bottle. Immediately, the blood stopped, and the wounds began to close slowly. Freya also helped him bandage his injured arm.

"Truly, stranger, you are an angel sent from the heavens." The boy looked at her with glowing eyes. "My name is Lorcias Edmont, a humble merchant. And you are miss…?"

Freya shook the extended hand and introduced herself, "Freya Einar."

"So Miss Einar. What reward will you for want for saving my life? Gold? Jewels? Land?" the young man eagerly asked.

Freya gave him a second look. He was indeed wearing clothes that would be worthy of a rich nobleman. He had a bag on his side that was also worth a hefty price. She thought for a moment before going with Art's suggestion.

"What is your life worth to you, merchant?" as she asked, the young man's eyes wavered. A moment later they began to shine with a suspicious glint and a smile appeared on his lips.

"Strong and wise, you are a rare find, Miss Einar." He spoke in a tone befitting a noble. "My life is invaluable to me, and therefore I will give you something that I also consider invaluable."

He reached into his bag before pulling out a small rectangular card. It was a pitch black card with a silver line running along its border. In the center of the card was a silver spider web. That was all that the card on it.

"I only have one of this, so take good care of it." The merchant spoke further, confusing Freya. She didn't why would a card be worth the life of such a rich man. Seeing her confusion, Lorcias continued, "Take this card to the tailor's shop directly in front of the Adventurer's Guild Building in the city, and you'll know it's worth."

Freya was about to argue, but Art stopped her, 'Let wait and see.' So she just pocketed the card and walked toward the corpse of the white wolf and picked it. Since she was done with the daily quest, but now, she thought it's better to take the corpse back to the city and have something to eat.

"I assume you are headed to the city. Would you like me to accompany you?"

"Oh, that would be most pleasant, Miss Einar?" the merchant quickly walked to her side, and they began to walk towards the city.

"By the way, what were you doing alone, this deep in the forest?" the mage asked.

"I wasn't alone." Lorcias answered, "I had a group of three silver ranked adventurers with me, but we were ambushed by a pack of wolves. The three you killed were the last of the pack. Unfortunately, the adventures died as well."

His somber answer silenced any other question that Freya had. They didn't encounter any other obstacle along the way and parted when they reached the city.

Freya headed to the adventurer's guild, where she was pain a silver coin for the wolf's corpse. Even though the White Furred Wolf, was a very rare beast, it had not yet become a magic beast and therefore its corpse was not worth much.

Freya returned to the Roaring Manticore and ordered a large meal. A maid delivered her meal soon enough, and she began to eat with a little more restraint than she had the day before. While she was eating, she pulled out the loot she had obtained after killing the white wolf.

[Fang of the White Wolf

Rank: Rare

Description: This fang is rare loot that drops from an already rare White Furred Wolf. This fang is known to bring great luck to its holder, but only if embedded in a piece of ornaments. In its raw form, it effects are greatly reduced.]

Apparently this small fang was a charm of luck. Freya didn't believe in luck or at least did not rely on it too much, but if the system was referring to its effectiveness, there may be some truth to it. She was still thinking of strategies to increase her level, and so far she only had two options.

First was to hunt high level beasts in the forest west of the city. Although it was an easier way to level up, she could not earn any coins from it apart from the price of the corpse unless there was a bounty on any of the beast.

Second was to complete quests from the guild. It would allow her to gain contribution points, allowing her to advance in rank. Plus, it also paid well, but the downside was that there was no guarantee she would come across any high level enemies in her current rank. So her speed will be considerably slow.

'Let's check out the quests, first. See if there's any worth doing.' Art suggested.

After she finished her lunch, she went to the guild building. As she entered, she went to the reception and presented her silver badge.

"Freya Einar, Silver Ranked from Kraus." The bespectacled receptionist spoke as she examined the badge. She recorded an entry in her logbook and let her in. Once inside the building, she instantly headed for the board that had a silver border. She only had access to these quests until she ranked up, and she had to wait a week for the next exams.

Her eyes diligently searched the boarded, but only found mediocre quests. There were a number of quests for protection of trade caravans, a few for hunting some small animals and some other disappointing stuff. She was about to leave when her eyes caught a piece of paper on the edge of the board.