Chapter 014

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‘ ‘ for thoughts.

“ “ for speech.

Please point out any mistakes/inconsistencies you find and feel free to comment on anything regarding this FF.

I am looking for Proofreaders! Please PM me if you are interested!

I may not reply to all comments, but I sure am reading them!

If you enjoy reading this FF, please R&R! It really helps my motivation to write when I receive positive feedback and constructive criticism.

This Chapter is shorter than my usual length because if I included the next segment, it would become too long and also RL stuff.

Thanks to CanadianBacon for proofreading this chapter

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Jack went towards the guard barracks. After a brief explanation, he was led to Captain Zubin’s office. After entering, Jack greeted Captain Zubin and noticed that there was someone else present in the office. He was an olive skinned man in his early thirties equipped in chainmail armor.

“Welcome Jack. So have you decided to join our extermination party?” Captain Zubin greeted Jack. After Jack nodded, Captain Zubin introduced the third occupant of the room to Jack.

“He is Lieutenant Gail. He will be leading the extermination. The approximate location of the arachnid nest is roughly half a day’s canter on horseback. Follow Lt. Gail, he will introduce you to rest of the party, and discuss the specifics.” Captain Zubin said to Jack.

Hearing this, Lt. Gail got up and beckoned Jack to follow him. While they made their way, Lt. Gail initiated conversation with Jack.

“So you are the young traveler who solved the kidnappings and impressed Captain Zubin, eh? Now before we continue, do you accept to accompany us on this extermination quest?”

Quest InformationNameArachnid ExterminationGradeE+Description

Captain Zubin, has tasked you to join the extermination squad. The target is a nearby nest of giant arachnids. The more you contribute, the better your potential rewards are.

Duration / Time LimitOne WeekPrivileges

N.A.

Failure

You abandon the quest, or you are separated from the squad for too long.

On Failure, intimacy with the Rotang City Guards is reset.

Rewards

You will gain money, fame, intimacy with the guards on successful completion of quest. Depending on your contribution, you may gain additional rewards.

“Yes Lt. Gail.” Jack said.

“Hmm now the squad I am leading consists of 10 swordsmen, 5 pikesmen, 5 hunters and 4 priests apart from us. The swordsmen are defense oriented melee combatants, whereas the pikesmen pack some ranged capability with crossbows. The hunters are mainly for ranged damage with their bows, but have some scouting and ambush capabilities.” Lt. Gail said.

“The Church of Isis has provided us four of their acolytes specializing in healing and recovery for this extermination. The hermetic magicians on the other hand, refuted our request for aid and demanded compensation! Most of the Squad members are over lv60. Now you look like you are around lv40 with your equipment, a bit on the lower side, but what are your capabilities, both combat and noncombat?” Lt. Gail inquired.

Jack pondered for a bit on how to best answer the question. Finally he replied:

“I have basic stealth, but I probably won’t compare to hunters. I have a couple of single target mid-range attack spells, but I can also handle melee opponents in a pinch. Outside combat, I can repair equipment as long as it is of common rarity. I can also identify and enchant, but only the basics.”

Lt. Gail continued seemingly without a care, but mentally he was deep in thought. ‘What the hell does this traveler aim to be? Spreading his skills over spellcasting, melee and crafting? He is quite capable though, seeing how he managed to impress Captain Zubin. Hmm, might as well use him to repair and enchant our equipment for free. The Royal Guards have such a large budget while they stay in the palace, and we can barely scrape enough for supplies for these exterminations.’

“I see. Well, we are equipped with common weapons and armor. So between skirmishes, you can repair and possibly enchant them. The hunters will take up the role of scouting and reconnaissance. As for the actual battles, stay in the rear and shoot spells at the monsters, and don’t hit us.” Lt. Gail said as a matter of fact.

“Yes Sir! I will do my best to contribute to this extermination!” Jack exclaimed enthusiastically. He was really pleased, that he could grind his Mana Repair and Enchanting skills.

‘I can grind my skills on these NCPs! I cannot repair an item fully once it is enchanted though, but that just means I will have to absorb the enchant before repairing it, further grinding my skills! On the other hand, xp and loot is divided between 26 of us. I hope my repairing and enchanting counts as contribution, and I hopefully get some good rewards.’ Jack pondered.

They had reached a large courtyard near some stables. A couple dozen people were preparing for the journey. Jack paused. He had almost no idea about horses and riding.

“Lt. Gail? Are we going to make the journey on horseback?” Jack inquired.

“Of course! Or do you prefer to walk all the way?” Lt. Gail replied.

“Not really. But, I don’t own a horse nor do I know anything about riding.” Jack answered. Jack observed that Lt. Gail was frowning.

“Learning riding won’t be possible in such a short time. And we can’t spare a horse anyway. We won’t be going at a full gallop, but somewhere between a trot and a canter. We will also take a break every couple of hours. We can arrange a mule, but honestly, it will be much faster for you to walk all the way.” Lt. Gail informed Jack.

Jack was irritated at this turn of events. The mule sounded too annoying to bother with. From what little he knew about horses, a canter was approximately 13 miles per hour (A/N: Roughly 21 km/hr). While he was confident that he could run at a similar speed, he wasn’t sure how long his PP would hold.

“Lt Gail, I would prefer to go on foot. But can you please tell me about the route and destination? I can probably take a more direct path and arrive on time.” Jack informed Lt Gail of his decision. Lt. Gail chuckled and called a private to bring a map.

Lt. Gail then explained to Jack the route they planned to take and the final destination. The whole journey was estimated to take around 6 to 7 hours. Jack summoned his own ingame MAP and was pleased to see that a new location was updated. The route which the guards planned to take was approximately 65 miles long (105 km) making it almost triple the distance of a marathon! In RL, the best athlete completed a marathon in just over 2 hours. Fortunately, the route wasn’t straight and Jack estimated that had to travel roughly 40 miles (64 km) if he went in a straight line towards the final destination.

Jack had to travel through the woods. But he was confident that he could tackle the wolves and bears in them without much difficulty. ‘Lt. Gail did warn me that the woods didn’t have dangerous monsters, but the terrain is a bitch to travel through. If a pack of wolves or a bear attacks me, I can dispatch them easily enough.’ Jack thought as the squad left the city gates.

Unknown to Jack, most of the guards were placing bets when Jack would reach them. Since the extermination was supposed to take almost a week, odds were that Jack would be a day late at least. Jack confirmed the final location on the map, before he began. He roughly matched his pace with the horse’s canter while keeping an eye on his PP.

Jack ran across the beginner fields and entered the nearby woods. Quite a few players noticed Jack with the guards and speculated about it. But when Jack shot off into the woods alone, they just shrugged and returned to their grinding.

Jack estimated that he could maintain the pace for an hour before he completely depleted his PP. He decided to take some rest every time his PP was depleted by half. As Jack ran through the woods, the terrain gradually became unfavorable. The density of trees increased and there was significant underbrush. The terrain was also somewhat rocky, which made maintaining the pace challenging.

Jack used his RL proficiency in parkour to maintain his pace as much as possible. It was quite challenging, but not beyond his capabilities. Jack however noticed that navigating the difficult terrain drained his PP faster. After 20 minutes, Jack had depleted half his PP and he took a break. After a few minutes of meditation, Jack was good to go.

Jack continued running through the woods towards his destination. Whenever his satiety and thirst were low enough to give him regeneration penalties, Jack ate some rabbit jerky and drank some water from his canteen. He was attacked by the wildlife a few times. It was mostly wolves, bears and boars.

Jack dispatched them with mana bolts and soul strikes when he was facing more than one. When he was facing a single monster he also used his mana blade enhanced sword. Jack refrained from collecting loot since he had a time limit to worry about.

In this way, Jack traversed the woods and managed to reach the designated location, but found t empty. ‘The horses didn’t just disappear; they must have made a camp near the roads.’ Jack thought as he made his way towards a road the guards were expected to come from. Before long, he could see them in the distance.

In the meanwhile Jack decided to review his notifications. He had made a few stat gains, mostly in agility and sustenance. He had also unlocked a new skill called ‘Free Running’. Jack summoned the skill information window for Free Running.

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Free RunningBeginner215.72%

You have adapted your movements to travel more efficiently, maintaining your momentum as much as possible while still remaining safe. This skill reduces the PP cost and possible damage due to injury of all movement related actions. Higher Balance and Flexibility, improve its effects.

Jack was quite pleased at this turn of events. This skill partially countered his PP consumption in battle. As he used the same PP pool for all physical actions and spellcasting, with reduced recovery from mana potions, anything that aided his resource management was welcome, and as a bonus, he also took less damage from movement related injuries.

‘This is quite useful. Not only do I have more PP for spells in combat, but I also take reduced damage from movement. Bet this will be useful if someone knocks me against walls. Grinding this skill also seems to have improved my agility and sustenance! More agility and sustenance means more total PP and PP/s! I should get this to intermediate ASAP.’ Jack thought happily as the guards finally approached.

Most of the soldiers were shocked to see that Jack had overtaken them. He greeted Lt. Gail, who seemed cheerful for some reason. Jack was instructed to enchant the weapons of the squadrons while they tended to the horses and set up camp. Jack was then approached by the guards. He set to task of enchanting their melee weapons, ranged weapons and staves with strength, dexterity and intelligence respectively.

By the time Jack was finished with enchanting their weapons, most of the preparations at camp were done. He was thanked for the enchantment, and they regretted that they didn’t have enough time to get their armor enchanted too. It was mostly Grade E Common equipment, so it wasn’t much of a challenge for Jack and he could consistently enchant them with +3 to +4 stat.

A fourth of the personnel were to remain at camp with the horses, in shifts and the rest would go on with their extermination. Finally 7 swordsmen, 4 pikesmen, 4 hunters, 3 priests, Lt. Gail and Jack made his way towards the entrance of the giant spider nest.

A couple of hunters scouted and reported that there were giant spiders in groups of three, in the first level of the dungeon. Lt. Gail ordered them to join a party. Jack joined the party and he saw a notification stating that exp was in Even Share mode. When he inquired a nearby guard about it, he explained that exp would be distributed evenly among party members according to level.

Jack realized that they had priests with them, who would concentrate on healing and buffing and generally refrain from offensive actions. This setting would enable them to receive a portion of their exp. Jack dismissed all notions of leeching exp though. He reminded himself that he had to contribute as much as he could for better quest rewards.

After climbing through the opening, the swordsmen and pikesmen arranged themselves in a practiced formation. Five swordsmen were leading, with three of the pikesman between them. Then were the hunters and priests along with Jack. The remaining swordsmen and a lone pikesman were guarding the rear along with Lt. Gail.