A few hours before Warrific accepted his quest:

I look at Musa who just asked me to join him, well, not like I’d refuse anyway.

All these details though, damn. Hmm, I should start thinking about what direction to go. I have always played archers, but in virtual reality, that wouldn’t really fit me. Oh well, maybe Musa has an idea about what direction he was going to take already.

I decide to ask him:

“Hey, Helius, do you have any ideas about where to go right now?”

Helius speaks up, and nods his head to the church behind him:

“I’m not one hundred percent sure yet, but, I think I might try to get affiliated with the church…”

The church huh, is he aiming for paladin?

Well, it might be fun to see how the church functions.

“Alright, let’s go. Maybe they’ll provide us with a quest or something.”

I nod at Musa’s idea, and walk up to the church.

Taking another look at it, it really does seem big. You could see the pillars rising up into the sky, and there were a lot of detailed engravings on the walls. I’m not sure about what they try to convey, but it looks like some like some skull and scythe.

I raise my eyebrows, weird emblem for a church.

They’re probably trying to scare people into joining the religion. Well, can’t blame them.

As we walk past all the other priests and players interacting with each other, before the grand doors, we take a look around at the interior.

It’s a very spacious hall, and it looks like there was a fountain located near the end. There were a few paths leading to the interior of the church, but they looked deserted, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to stroll around there.

As I scan the interior, I can see one guy, or maybe even a child, sitting near the fountain. He looked like a human boy who is very kind. He had blonde hair reaching his ears, and his eyes were clear blue. He was wearing a long hat, which was fully white, except for a red cross in the middle. The boy was in the middle of a prayer, next to the big fountain. He was sitting right in a spot, where the light was falling precisely on, and around, him.

I looked to my left, and saw Helius standing there, just as mesmerized as I was. While I nudged Helius’ shoulder, he totally ignored my attempt at getting his attention.

Hmm, I don’t think it’s a good idea to talk with that person right now; he’s probably the son of some higher ranked priest.

Although, if you think about it, this is, an important NPC. Well, probably.

That might mean, that maybe he’s related to special quest!

I follow Helius, who was heading for the boy.

“Halt, I won’t allow the two of you to pass, unless you can identify yourself right here!”

I see Helius’ shoulders jolt, and I almost jumped up. That voice came out of nowhere. I guess I was so occupied with the strange atmosphere surround that boy, that I totally missed that guy standing in near the fountain, in the shadows.

He was pretty tall, and had the face, of an average grim guard.

Grim.

That word is perfect for the description of this guy.

It looks like he’s a guard, probably here for the kid.

Hmm, I don’t want to get in trouble, right before we have even started. I’ll just act humble and honest.

I see Helius starting to move his mouth, but before he can say something, I start talking to the guard.

“We were just sightseeing, sir. We suddenly saw that kid over there, and we thought it might be a good idea to join him in his prayers.”

I try to read the man’s face, but he just kept glaring at us.

I don’t think we’ll find anything here…

“Bugger off, there’s nothing to see here. You were lucky that there weren’t any priests around at this particular moment, otherwise they would’ve sent you away already.”

The man waves us away and starts walking back to his initial location, where he had his back, against the wall. You could maybe even call it slumping, but if you looked carefully, you could see that he was still eyeing us, very cautiously.

That guy must be protecting someone really important, or he’s just trying to fool us. Maybe he’s actually someone who’s pretty good at his job. I can admire that.

As I see Helius turn around, I also start following him, to the exit of the church.

But suddenly, we both turn around, because a young voice spoke up:

“Torvus, that’s enough. They’re probably, only here to visit this beautiful, small church.”

Small.. Church…?

It certainly doesn’t look small…

I think this game’s AI, still has some faults.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t allow tha-”

The boy takes on a firm posture and starts to speak up, interrupting Torvus:

“These two adventurers, will, at least get the opportunity, to make themselves useful. I expect you to think of something useful for them to do. And if you can’t, at least find someone who is.”

Make ourselves useful…? We aren’t random tools to be used. It also looks like the boy, and his, presumed, guard aren’t on best terms…

“R-Roger that.”

His grim face, started to get even grimmer.

I didn’t think that would even be possible.

Torvus left his spot from the wall, and came over to us again. You could clearly see his scowl, but it seemed like he had no intention of trying to conceal it.

I don’t like this guy… And that’s pretty rare, because I don’t dislike people very soon.

He came over while muttering something under his breath, looks like he’s spouting curses or something.

“Hmmm, something to do èh... Ahh, yes! There is something that has to be done with urgence!”

He starts smiling mischievously, and his eyes start to shine.

T-This doesn’t look good at all. I don’t like how he’s looking at me like that. This guy can’t be up to any good.

I could see Helius holding down a shiver, don’t ask me how.

But, a quest is a quest. Maybe it will help us, it probably won’t have any downsides, and if it does, well, then we can just drop it.

Torvus continues:

“Yes… Yes, this quest is of high importance! The upper part of the church has been infested with mice! If you two, would be willing to help us with that issue, then we’ll award you greatly! You can expect at least a few coppers!”

*ting*

Quest: All Worship The Mice

Torvus, has been tasked with giving you a job. He told you that there was a problem concerning mice, within the upper part of the church. Clear out the mice, and claim your reward!

Difficulty level: F+

Quest requirements:

-Pique the interest of the young boy

-Make Torvus offer you a job

-Level one

I think, he got caught up in his roll, and started adding nonsense.

It doesn’t matter anyway, what does matter, is that this is my first quest!

I can’t wait!

I look to my left, and can see that Helius made up his mind too. He probably thought the same things as I had.

We look at each other, and nod.

“We’ll do it.”

“Please grant us this task.”

*Ting*

You have accepted the quest!

The boy flashed a smile and walked back to his place at the fountain:

“I’m not sure if I agree completely with this quest, but it’s fine for now.”

Torvus raised an eyebrow in the direction of the boy, but they boy didn’t see it, because he had turned around already.

“Okay, walk back to the entrance you two, and ask a nearby priest, if he’ll guide you to the upper part of the church. I don’t have the time for that. If you’re capable enough, meet me back here, and we’ll see what we’ll do about your reward.”

As I look at Helius, we decide to walk back, towards the entrance.

I see Helius nod his head back to the direction we came from:

“I don’t like that Torvus guy. I think he has a problem.”

I agree with him:

“Yeah, I don’t like him either. But this quest, is still a good opportunity to experience something like this.”

We walk towards a nearby group of priests. They were peacefully discussing something, I couldn’t really discern which words were spoken, but, to be honest, I wasn’t really interested. I was more occupied with my current quest.

The three priests stopped talking, and looked at us. They started smiling, and were probably waiting for us to say something.

Phew, I’m glad they don’t mind us interrupting them.

Helius smiled back at the priests, and directed his attention to one of the three priests, she had short blonde hair, with green eyes.

She looks pretty…

Then, he spoke up:

“Hello, would one of you be so kind, to guide us to the upper part of the church? We were asked to take care of a certain problem there.”

The female priest, who Helius asked the question to, looked to her right, to a fellow priest. The other priest to her side, a young man with short, brown hair. Also looked at the same priest.

Guess they’re asking for his approval. They’re probably his students or something.

The priest who was looked at, had a long grey beard, and was bald.

Bald people creep me out…

The old priest kept his calm and simply said;

“But of course.”

He looked at the younger man, and asked him:

“Would you mind guiding them for a bit? If you have finished, come back here. They should be able to find their way back, on their own.”

The priest with the shorter brown hair, smiled an innocent smile. And pointed in the direction of a deserted corridor.

“Come, I’ll show you the way!”

He’s brimming with enthusiasm, isn’t he?

He’s probably happy, to be of use to the older priest.

The priest we were supposed to be following, had a fast pace, and walked quickly to the corridor. When I look to my left, I can see that Helius had already started following her. A small part of me was sad to leave the female priest behind, but as I was almost losing sight of the priest and Helius, I soon forgot about her.

While we kept walking, both Helius and me, started looking around.

The corridor had a lot of paintings hanging on the walls, there were also a lot of other side paths. I have no idea where they would lead me. I hope we can even find the way back, after clearing out the mice.

Wait, speaking about mice, how are we even supposed to wipe them out? We don’t have any weapons, and they probably don’t have any to spare for us, because, in the end, we’re still in a church. I don’t think they have any tools for us available too, something like rat poison…

But this is still virtual reality, and both me and Helius, have both trained karate for a few years. We should be able to kick them, at least.

As I was lost in my thoughts, I could see the young priest arriving at a door. He stopped walking and looked at us expectantly:

“Alright, after you open this door, you will find the stairs leading to the upper part of this church. Be careful though, we don’t want any mice heading for the lower part, and infest the whole lower part. Please wipe them all out, and don’t let any slip out! I will leave you two here, the door is unlocked, and to be honest, I hate mice. You two, you know the way back right?”

Helius nodded a few times, when the priest was talking, and responded:

“Yes, we’ll be fine.”

The priest smiled a last time, and started walking in the direction he came from.

I could see Helius, starting to walk towards the door.

I think before heading out, we should first make a plan:

“W-Wait Helius, before we open that door, we should make a plan before we head out. How are we going to deal with the mice?”

“Huh? Oh, I hadn’t actually thought about that. Can’t we just… Stomp them, or something?”

Stomp them? That was his plan?

I start laughing out loud, and soon Helius was laughing together with me.

This is such a new experience, I have literally no idea about what to do. But ‘stomping’ them might work.

“Alright, let’s kill some mice, Helius!”

I open the door for Helius, and he walks past me. The first thing we see are some stairs extending, with an undeterminable amount of steps. It was ill lit, but there were some torches on the walls. They made a zigzag pattern, in alternating order left and right, until the end of the stairway.

I close the door behind me quickly, before the mice would escape to the lower part.

Not that I can see any mice here…

Now, on to the mice!

The stairs turn out, to be longer than I thought them to be. As I look behind me, I can see Helius is out of breath too. There’s another door at the end of the stairs, but I figure it might be a good idea to catch our breath first.

“Helius, let’s wait a bit, before opening that door. We should regain our stamina, before we enter that door.”

“Yes, you’re right.”

I rest my hands on my knees, and bend my back a little. In my karate trainings I’ve experienced this situation a lot, I’ll only take a little while, and then I’ll recover.

I can see Helius looking at me with a weird face, probably because I’m biting in the collar of my shirt. I don’t know when, but somehow I attained the habit of biting in my shirt when I’m starting to get tired.

I think it might be better to analyze the situation inside first:

“Helius, I’m willing to go in first, then come back, and with the acquired information, we can work out a plan.”

Helius raises his elven eyebrows and smiles:

“Okay, just don’t die.”

I’ve regained my breath, and I feel fine.

Okay, here goes nothing!

I enter the door with full determination, they’re just mice, I can easily just step on them. I shouldn’t try to defeat them on the spot, let’s just look at the interior of the room, and see if it’s safe for us to enter.

A mouse has bitten you. You have lost 1 health.

A mouse has bitten you. You have lost 1 health.

A mouse has bitten you. You have lost 1 health.

A mouse has bitten you. You have lost 1 health.

A mouse has bitten you. You have lost 1 health.

A mouse has bitten you. You have lost 1 health.

A mouse has bitten you. You have lost 1 health.

A mouse has bitten you. You have lost 1 health.

A mouse has bitten you. You have lost 1 health.

*ting*

*ting*

*ting*

*ting*

*ting*

*ting*

*ting*

*ting*

*ting*

W-W-WHAT?!

I immediately retreat back into the stairway.

As I close the door hurriedly behind me, I can see Helius staring at me.

“What are you even doing…”

That was scary as hell, I couldn’t even see the floor, the only thing I saw, was white.

Everything.

Was white.

The whole floor was covered with mice.

Wait?! How much health did I lose?

“O-Open status window!”

Name:Glinc AramilRace:Half-ElfAlignment:NeutralProfession:N/ATitle:N/ALevel:1Fame:0__________________________________________________________________________Health:37Mana:100Strength:10Agility:10Vitality:10Wisdom:10Intelligence:10Charisma:5Luck:5Offense:0Defense:0__________________________________________________________________________Magic Resistance:N/A

Did I just lose 63 health?!

In that small amount of time, I must have received 63 attacks. Isn’t that way too much!

“Helius, give me a few minutes, I need to restore my health!”

“Restore your health? You’ve only been in that room for a few seconds.”

“Open inventory!”

There are 10 pieces of bread in here. I move my hand to the breads in my inventory, and open the stat window.

Common Bread:

Durabilty: 10/10

The most common form of bread, this item has been mass produced by cooks, who didn’t pay any attention to the quality. It can be bought in almost every regular bakery. The taste is very bland, but it does help with the regeneration of some health. It was also help filing the satiety meter.

Effect: Restores 8 health and raises satiety

That means, I have to eat 8 breads before my health will be fully restored. I ask Helius to wait a few minutes, and I start eating my Common Breads resignedly.

This.. It doesn’t taste like anything!

Shit, how can we deal with all these mice?

Whilst eating the horrible bread, I discussed the situation with Helius:

“That whole room, is filled with mice. You can’t set a single step, without being bitten. Mice may look weak, and they only deal one damage a time, but, in the short amount of time I spent there, I was bitten 63 times! I don’t think we can just barge in there and try to start stomping blindly at them. Maybe we can use the door… Do you have any ideas?”

This must be why Torvus started grinning so evilly. I shouldn’t have trusted him with giving us an easy beginner quest anyway! He didn’t look like someone you could trust at all.

Helius looks at me, and starts speaking:

“Are you serious? I have a hard time believing that these mice can give us a hard time…”

He didn’t believe me?! This feels like the boy who cried ‘wolf’. I don’t even lie that much.

I look at him, and attempt to convince him again:

“Yes, if you’re not careful, and you enter that room, there’s a high chance of you dying.”

“Why won’t we just drop this quest then? I don’t want to risk losing my stats at level one.. We’ll only get a few coppers out of this too.”

He does have a point… But this quest should be easy. It’s still an F+ quest. Enza told us F quests are the easiest of the easiest, we should be able to solve this, if it’s us.

I can see Helius suddenly staring at the bread, which I was still trying to eat. A smile formed on his lips and he started talking:

“Do you think they’re hungry? You might not like the bread, but maybe these mice can appreciate it?”

“That might lure them to one place. But how are you planning to deal with them when they’re all gathered up?”

Helius starts laughing and answers my question:

“We’ll stomp them!”

Yeahh, no.

That won’t work…

Probably.

It sucks that we don’t have any weapons available to us right now. Or a powerful magic, to blow them all up at once. Fire magic would have been useful.

Wait a second… Fire…

I look at the torches to my right and left.

We might be able to use this, maybe we can use something burnable.

“Hey, Helius, can you undress for me?”

“What are you saying?”

Well, that came across a little weird.

I can’t repress the sigh leaving my mouth, and start explaining:

“Well, we can’t suddenly start kicking or punching the mice. We don’t have any heavy objects to throw at them, nor any weapons to use on them. Then, it hit me; we might be able to use the torches placed on these walls. I need your clothes, we can set them aflame, and throw them at the mice, when they’re all gathered around the bread.”

Helius looks at me, like I just said something stupid.

Huh, didn’t it make a lot of sense? I think it’s a pretty good idea.

“Why do you need my clothes for that?”

Oh, yeah. Why haven’t I thought about my own clothes?

I wonder…

“No I just meant your shirt, I’ll use my own shirt too. But I don’t really want to undress any more than that. People will start thinking I’m some weirdo. The more clothes we use, the more chance we can wipe them all out.”

“Won’t it be dangerous though? I mean, we might set the church aflame, right?”

“I don’t think so, the whole interior was made out of stone. I didn’t see any burnable objects. And even if we can’t burn them all, they’ll probably die because of the smoke.”

Helius starts undressing while he started talking:

“Alright, that sounds like a viable plan to me, let’s finish this quest.”

We take a torch from the wall, and stand ready in front of the door.

Here goes nothing.

“Oh, can we use your bread to lure them by the way? I’m almost out of bread already, when I was trying to regenerate my health.”

.

“Yeah, sure.”

I stand near the door, and ready myself to open it. I sign Helius, to start throwing the bread on my mark. As I open the door I give Helius the sign:

“Okay, throw it!”

Helius throws the bread, and immediately picks up the shirts afterwards, because we had dropped them on the ground as preparation.

After Helius threw the bread pieces, I closed the door immediately. I hope they’ll bite… We shouldn’t wait too long, because the bread will probably be eaten immediately.

“Okay, Helius, start wrapping the shirts, around the torch!”

This time, Helius opens the door, and I immediately throw the torch in the room.

One mouse tries to enter the stairway, and escape from the room, but Helius shut the door at once, and the mouse’s body was split in two.

Whoa, that’s really realistic.

We start waiting for a new message to appear, or before we deem it safe to enter again. When suddenly:

*Ting*

You have come up with a clever plan to clear a quest, which was deemed almost impossible for beginners, by Torvus.

Wisdom has risen with 1 point (+1 WIS)

I look at Helius, and he started smiling. Then we both said at once:

“Ting!”

Nice, we both got the increase in the Wisdom stat.

Just when I want to discuss, what had just happened, with Helius, I hear another message popping up.

*Ting*

Quest Complete!

All Worship The Mice

You have come up with a plan, to burn and smoke out, all the mice in the upper part of the church. They have all been wiped out, which has completed the quest. Go back to Torvus, and claim your reward!

Reward: Unknown.

I start laughing out loud, and can’t contain my voice:

“Nice, we did it!”

Helius is just as happy as I am, and already started descending the stairs again.

“Yeah, I really wonder what the reward will be, I hope it’ll be something good!”

After spending some time trying to find the way back, we finally manage to arrive at the main hall of the church.

We approach Torvus while smiling broadly:

“We did it, the mice have all been wiped out!”

You could see a flash of surprise on Torvus’ face, but it soon made place, for his usual expression.

“Oh, good job, I knew you two could do it, this was one of the easiest quests I have to offer. You’re probably waiting expectantly on your reward, and rightfully so. Here you two go; 10 common breads for the both of you. You both look like you don’t have any food, so you two can probably appreciate this a lot!”

While he was handing us the bread, on his face, a sarcastic smile could be seen the whole time.

Are you serious? Did we really just spent the whole day for a few pieces of bread?!

Damn, this sucks!

Why did we trust that guy again?!

As we start heading for the exit of the church, right before we leave, we hear the voice of the young boy:

“Wait, Torvus, stop them! If they did clear the mice on the upper floor, they might be useful as lackeys. Maybe they’re more useful than I thought initially. I want you to keep providing them with the jobs the others can’t be bothered with. It’ll prove to be some experience to them, and we won’t lose anything.”

Helius and I, stop walking, and return to Torvus.

I can see Torvus doesn’t like this at all, as he was grinding his teeth.

“Yes, I may be able to give you two some other chores. That is, if you two are willing to serve us again.”

As much as I dislike the guy, I’m still inclining to accept his quests. Right now, we’ll have nothing else to do, if we turn this down. We also might get some intimacy, with the church. Even if these quests are bullshit…

Torvus raises his eyebrows, and gives us a quest:

“There is something, you two can help with. The staff of the church, needs people to clear some rubble in the lower parts of the church. Only his floor is really maintained, because this church is so big, that this floor contains all the necessary things. People never visit the upper or lower parts of the church, but if you two clean it up, it might be used for something good.”

*Ting*

You have come up with a clever plan to clear a quest, which was deemed almost impossible for beginners, by Torvus.

Wisdom has risen with 1 point (+1 WIS)

I look at Helius, and he started smiling. Then we both said at once:

“Ting!”

Nice, we both got the increase in the Wisdom stat.

Just when I want to discuss, what had just happened, with Helius, I hear another message popping up.

*Ting*

Quest: Unbury The Church

This church, has many unexplored, and deserted rooms. The rooms were full of life once, but now these rooms have lost all their function. Especially the lower, and upper floors, aren’t frequented anymore. After the two of you wiped out all the mice in the upper part, clear out and clean up the specified rooms in the lower floor, and make them usable, once again!

Difficulty level: F+

Quest requirements:

-Complete the first quest given by Torvus

Reward: Unknown

I speak up immediately, because I already made up my mind:

“I will clean up the rooms.”

Helius looks at me for a few seconds, while knitting his brows. After a few seconds he starts speaking up to:

“I will help too.”

*Ting*

You have accepted the quest!

***

Volume 1 - Chapter 5