Tristan blinked down at the begging guard and offered a very small smile. He looked almost sad, no, it was more of disappointment maybe? Raven wondered if he had done something wrong.

Now that they were closer, and not fighting a giant monster, Raven could actually get a good look at his savior.

Pale skin with lean and toned muscle meant he was likely a more Agility based fighter, probably because he was pretty short at around 5'7. His hair was light brown, and he has very piercing green eyes that looked sadly down towards Raven. He was actually kind of...pretty? If Raven had to choose a word to describe him.

He looked fairly young to be a knight and probably wasn't much older than him. At the oldest he put him at twenty-three, which meant he was an extremely strong Swordsman to already be a Knight who was trusted to travel alone within his empire.

"Oh…" was the simple reply, it was such a quick rejection for a lone Knight. If this were still the normal game Tristan would easily qualify as a class teacher for Swordsman, and surely his relationship with him wasn't low. So, why would he not even consider it? Why look so disappointed and sad?

"Apologies Raven." Tristan said after a few moments, giving a small nod of acknowledgment before he turned back in his saddle to start back down the road.

‘Did I do something wrong? Surely fighting a monster together would impress him enough to at least consider it..’ he thought to himself with a small frown as he watched Tristan start to trot off. He was max level for Militia now...and the knight had been his best bet to scoring Swordsman as soon as possible. There were probably a ton of useful skills he could learn from him too.

Raven pulled a curious face and tilted his head as he watched Tristan’s horse suddenly begin to limp, and Tristan pulled them to a stop.

“Are you okay girl? You’re still limping..” he said and gently dropped from the saddle to pet her mane softly. Raven slowly stood and dusted his knees off as he jogged over towards the pair.

“Hey.” he started, and stopped a few feet away as Tristan gave a soft sigh and turned towards Raven. He assumed Raven was going to ask about training again, and was getting ready to let him down softly again because he was a bit worried about his mount currently.

“Hey listen I’m sorry bu-” he paused, Raven simply walked past him and gently pet her snout with a small hum.

“You mind if I take a look at her? I used to work on a farm and we had a cow limp like this, I think I might know what the problem is.” he explained as he looked over to Tristan with a small smile as he motioned at the leg the horse was limping on.

Luck Bonus Trigger: NPC Favor

Tristan Willow’s opinion of you has Increased to: [Impressed]

“Yeah, please feel free if you think you can help her. She’s been limping for a few days now.” he explained as he kneeled down along with Raven to look at her hoof, setting a hand gently on her side to keep her calm.

“Yeah, if it’s what I think it is it would be pretty hard to notice. Even though it’s wildly annoying for her.” Raven concluded with a soft laugh as he gently lifted her hoof up to take a look at the underside of it, his eyes looking over it. When he had worked his week on the farm with his dad they had a cow that was limping around, and he had shown Raven how to find the multitude of problems that may cause it and how to ease the burden on the animal. It was more than his real father had ever taught him in the real world.

Raven spent a few moments looking around before he finally found the culprit he had been hunting, reaching down to slowly and gently work out a long wooden splinter that had gotten wedged into a crack along the poor creature's hoof. He then blew on it softly and packed it softly with dirt and nodded to Tristan.

“That should keep her safe for a little while, but you should have someone take a proper look at it at the next big town you run through.” he explained as he dusted his hands off and gave Tristan a small bow. “Good luck to you Knight of Ember.” he added with a large smile before he started to jog back to town.

Luck Bonus Trigger: NPC Favor

Tristan Willow’s opinion of you has Increased to: [Friend]

“Wait!” Tristan called out after a few moments of silence, and Raven jumped lightly as he skirted to a stop and glanced back towards him. Tristan was walking towards him with a sad smile and offered a brief sigh as he took in a breath to begin speaking.

“For...reasons, I can’t take you on as my squire. However, I can offer to teach you a skill to help you out on your training.” he offered, causing a large smile to appear on Raven’s face.

“That’s amazing! I would really appreciate that.” he said with a few quick nods as he walked to meet up with him on the road.

‘It’s not the best outcome, but at least I can learn something. Maybe it’ll be enough to impress another Swordsman who will teach me. If I can find one..’ he thought to himself as he stood in front of Tristan with a nod. It would also just be really good to finally have a skill to utilize.

“I have three skills that should be able to help you, I have time to teach you one so make sure it’s a good pick. The skills are:

Sky Piercer- which functions similarly to my Adamantine Piercer but on a less destructive skill. Certainly a very powerful skill to have at your disposal though. Perfect Parry- is a useful defensive skill that allows you to parry all physical attacks for a duration of 2 seconds. As opposed to normal Parry which just gets one attack. Quick Slash- also similar to another one of my skills you saw me use, Swift Slash, but this one lets you attack immediately after attacking with your sword. For a quick two attack combo, that can catch people off guard.

Any of those should be good choices for you." Tristan explained as he moved to the side of the road so as to not block the way for passersby.

Raven instantly went into game mode as he started to go through the various choices that were placed before him. He had no idea if learning one would be enough for him to classify as the Swordsman Class, so he had to choose what was best for his current situation.

Sky Piercer sounded amazing, an ability similar to a heroic skill was sure to be able to do a lot of damage but probably have a long cooldown. Perfect Parry was a good defensive skill but he was focusing his health and defensive stats currently so he was pretty okay there. Right now he severely lacked sustainable damage, so he gave a long hum before he looked towards Tristan.

“I’ll take Quick Slash, I think that’ll be the best for me currently.” he said firmly, Tristan gave a small chuckle as he watched him think hard on the choice. He was impressed at how far ahead this guard seemed to think ahead, they had a good eye for the future.

“Very well, that’s a good choice Raven. I’ll show you the basics.” Tristan confirmed as he drew his sword and turned to the side.

***

“Quick Slash!” Raven shouted mid swing of his blade, a soft blue glow wrapping around him and allowing him the sudden speed to swing the blade again to slash a secondary time. He panted lightly as the sun began to sink below the hills around Rosewood. They had been practicing all day with just little breaks for his Concentration to recharge.

Raven released a happy sigh as he saw the blue window pop up in front of him, a big smile breaking through his face as he read its contents:

Skill Learned:

Quick Slash: Costs 1 Concentration, Cooldown- 5 Seconds (4.5 Seconds)

You swiftly strike against after landing a blow to deal even more damage with a slash that is much faster and harder to avoid.

“Wow Raven… I was hoping you’d just get the basics down. Your learning speed is impressive!” Tristan exclaimed with a chuckle.

NPC Favor:

Tristan Willow’s opinion of you has Increased to: [Close Friend]

‘Advantages of being a player in an NPC world’ he thought to himself with a grin. He had to work harder than normal to actually learn the skill, but because it still was a game for him it was only a few hours of repetition.

"I really wish I could take on a Squire, I could see you going far.." Tristan said to himself quietly, almost sadly. Raven was barely able to actually hear what he said but immediately his mind landed on a curious possibility.

‘Does he had a unique quest?’ he thought to himself, it would make sense after all. Sometimes in Wrath of Titan’s an NPC would have a special quest unique to them, that could only be completed once ever. They also usually came with fantastic rewards and were highly guarded secrets back when he played normally. He took a deep breath before giving a small bow towards Tristan, hoping that the upgrade to close friends would help him out.

“Please take me on as your Squire then my friend, what’s stopping you? Tell me and perhaps I can be of assistance.” Raven pleaded, staying bowed while Tristan went silent in contemplation before the Knight released a soft sigh.

“I’m sure you’re curious why I don’t already have one. Obtaining a Squire and teaching them the ways of Knighthood is the greatest honor a Knight can achieve. I’ve been claimed by a terrible curse..” Tristan started, causing Raven to glance up as he started to tell his story.

“I made the mistake of breaking the heart of a young woman, who’s mother happened to be the Witch of the Northern Sky. So her mother cursed me and made it nigh impossible for me to acquire traveling companions or a Squire, she essentially barred me from greatness after Knighthood.” he explained with a sad sigh, continuing after a brief pause. “Now, if anyone wishes to travel with me or truly learn under my tutelage they must beat me in single combat. The curse prevents me from holding back in the slightest, and will not end until I am incapacitated or my opponent is dead.” he finished finally, looking down in defeat.

Unique Quest Unlocked: Weeping Willow

Quest Started-

Weeping Willow- Unique Heroic Quest

Tristan Willow is desperate for a traveling companion to help him break the Witches Curse. Defeat Tristan in single combat to release him from the curse.

Rewards:

- Swordsman Class

- Squire Rank 1

- 3,000 EXP

‘Awesome, I was right!...But I CAN’T BEAT HIM!!! STUPID GAME.’ Raven screamed inwardly, though he put on a small smile on the outside so as to not startle the depressed Knight in front of him. Tristan was his best chance to grow stronger but unless he could predict the future he would never be able to beat him…

Then his eyes lit up as he came to a sudden realization, his arms shooting forward to grip Tristan by the shoulders as a wild grin spread across his face.

“I can beat you Tristan!” he said with a small fit of laughter, “It may take a little time...for me, but I can beat you.” Raven assured with several nods of his head.

“I uh...I appreciate your enthusiasm,” Tristan said as he was being shaken back and forth. “But I’m sorry, even if you had another twenty years I don’t think you would be able to beat me Raven. I don’t want to have to kill another friend..” he explained as he gently pulled himself from Ravens grasp.

‘I don’t need twenty years, I can respawn. I didn't want to start using them so soon, but I can afford to use a fe to in this quest..’ he thought to himself as he shook his head at the red clad knight.

“No, trust me my friend...I can beat you.” he assured again as he drew his sword, and held it tightly. “I challenge you, Tristan Willow! If I win you will take me on as your Squire!” Raven screamed before charging forward at the Ember Knight.

***

Respawning at Locked Position

2/100 Respawns used.

Raven gasped loudly as he clutched his chest in pain and grit his teeth together, slowly going to a knee as he took in a deep breath. He slowly opened his status window, and confirmed that nothing had changed; he was still level 10, and still knew Quick Slash.

“Alright Tristan…” he whispered to himself, before slowly rising to his feet and sneaking back out of the farm house, as he did before. Though this time he left the silver cutlery, he had wanted to sell it for equipment but he could just become a guard again. Additionally, he didn’t think he would be beating Tristan this time around either, he’d take it again when he was confident he could get somewhere with it.

For now he was going to focus on repeating everything he had done before, and getting back to Tristan. If he could just memorize everything Tristan did then he could eventually beat him, he was determined to break the curse, become a Swordsman, and grow strong enough to defend the farm.

“Game on.”