The old man’s eyes widened, almost popping out of their sockets; his mouth opened slightly, just wide enough for a fly to fly in; his face paled even more than it already was. “Yo—you are a wa—war—warlock?!” he shouted out, stuttering as he retreated back by a single step.
Huh?
I tilted my head in confusion,
“Didn’t you already know? Didn’t you say beggars can’t be choosers? Didn’t you see me using <Shadow Bolt> against the boar piglets?”
The old man took another step back, “I—I didn’t know! I—I said beggars can’t be choosers, be—because I thought you were an ad—adventurer as I saw you using ma—magic. I—I thought that you were a sorcerer of some k—kind. I su—suspected that you were e—evil as you made those boars ribs ap—appear out of thin air and the pouch dis—disappear into thin air. Bu—but to think that yo—you are an evil war—warlock,” he said in a shaking stuttering voice as he continued retreating back. A single step for every few words that left his mouth.
Ehh?… So he didn’t even know that I was a warlock? And he just thought that I was a sorcerer?... When I played the game, I never did pay attention to the quest givers. The only NPCs that I cared about were the bosses that I had to beat. In hindsight, If I paid attention to the quest givers and read the flavour text of their quests, I would have known that this old man doesn’t like adventurers. If I knew that, I wouldn’t have thought that this old man knew that I was a warlock.
My thoughts finished and I focused my eyes on the old man who now stood with his back against the house’s wall and was slowly moving towards the door.
I furrowed my eyebrows,
compared to him frowning when I first approached him and his pale face when I stored items inside my inventory and extracted them from it, his reaction now is much, much stronger. If an old man, a civilian like him reacts to me in such a way, then how will the knights react? How will the church react? How will the king react?... They won’t just
say, ‘I don’t deal with your kind, evil scum,’ they will just put me down if they know that I am a warlock…
I can’t let this old man tell anyone what I am. I have to silence him. I have to kill him… No! What I am thinking?! I can’t kill an innocent old man. The ten years I have spent in prison affected me more than I believed… I have to make him trust me, so he doesn’t tell anyone that I am a warlock.
I unfurrowed my eyebrows and took a step towards him, “I won’t hurt you, I promise,” I said.
The old man shook his head and took a step closer towards the door, “Do—don’t get closer to me, y—you evil thing!” he shouted out, stuttering.
I took another step towards him, “I won’t hurt you, I promise,” I repeated my earlier words, but in a gentler voice than before.
The old man shook his head and took another step towards the door, “Ge—get away from me! Do—don’t come cl—closer!” he shouted, stuttering.
This is not working,
I took a deep breath and took a step back instead of taking a step forward, “I don’t want to hurt you and I won’t hurt you, I promise,” I said in an even gentler voice.
The old man’s pupils constricted, “Wha—what d—do you want from me wa—warlock?” he said, stuttering and taking yet another step towards the door.
I took a few steps back and spoke slowly and in the gentlest voice I could muster, “I just want to help you, old man. I already helped you with the boar piglet meat. Please, believe me.”
The old man gulped down his saliva and unwillingly nodded his head, “G—go and ki—kill twenty wolves,” he hastily said, stuttering and ran into the house as he had reached the door; quest notification messages flashed in front of my eyes.
<Quest Received>
<Quest Level: 5>
<Quest name: Killing wolves>
<Quest Description: kill 20 wolves>
<Quest Reward 1: 500 XP>
<Quest Accepted>
As they flashed, the door was shut closed with a loud sound,
Bang!
And then a locking sound sounded,
Clang!
I smiled and bowed my head towards the door, “Thank you,” I said and turned around.
Hopefully I can earn his trust. I need to kill 20 wolves, but before I start killing the wolves, I should first grind up to <Level 5> as they are <Level 5> monsters. I will kill boar piglets until I reach that level.
I quickly found a boar piglet standing 15-yards away from me.
<Boar Piglet, Level 1>
<HP: 50/50>
I extended my right arm towards the boar piglet,
Shadow Bolt!
I spoke in my head;
my hand got enveloped in a black light and words I had to say appeared in my head, “
L'togael bolt!
” A black bolt flew out of my palm.
Swoosh!
The black projectile flew through the air and hit the boar piglet at which I aimed at. Damage floated up above its head, <-33>. It was reduced to 17 health. It squealed in pain, locked its gaze on me and charged.
One more! Shadow Bolt!
My right hand got enveloped in a black glow,
“
L'togael bolt!
” A black bolt flew out of my palm.
Swoosh!
The black projectile flew through the air and hit the boar piglet which was now 9-yards away from me. Damage floated up above its head, <-31> as it squealed in pain, louder than before and fell down to the ground dead; it was enveloped in a golden glow which indicated that it was lootable.
<Boar Piglet, Slain>
<+10 XP>
I walked up to it, squatted down and touched its body with my right hand; a loot window opened.
<1 Copper>
I tapped on the item, looting it; then stood up, found another boar piglet which stood 9-yards away from me and extended my hand towards it.
Shadow Bolt!
My hand got enveloped in a black glow and I spoke, “
L'togael bolt!
”
…
I killed 6 more boar piglets and looted them. Killing them increased my level to <Level 3> and looting them gave me another 6 copper coins.
I opened up my character window,
If I put all my points into Intellect I should be able to kill the piglets in a single attack. Allocate 15 points in Intellect.
I looked over my changed attribute and nodded.
<Linen Shirt, Item Grade: White, Chest, Armour: 1, Required Level: 0>
<Linen Pants, Item Grade: White, Pants, Armour: 1, Required Level: 0>
<Name: Drak, Race: Human, Class: Warlock, Level: 3, Title: None>
<Health: 660/660, Mana: 400/400>
<Strength: 4, Dexterity: 4, Intellect: 40, Vitality: 11, Spirit: 6, Knowledge: 10, Armour: 2>
Close character.
The window closed and I turned my head, looking around, searching for the boar piglet. Not even a second later, I saw one standing 23-yards away from me. I extended my right arm towards him and opened my palm.
Shadow Bolt!
My hand got enveloped in a black glow and I spoke, “
L'togael bolt!
”
A black bolt flew out of my palm.
Swoosh!
The black projectile flew through the air and hit the boar piglet at which I aimed at. Damage floated up above its head, <-52>. It squealed in pain and fell down to the ground, dead; a few notifications flashed; it was enveloped in a golden glow.
<Boar Piglet, Slain>
<+10 XP>
Good, it won’t be long until I reach <Level 5>
I walked up to the dead boar piglet, looted it; then found another boar piglet and did to it the same what I did to the previous boar piglet, extended my arm towards it and shot a <Shadow Bolt> at it. I repeated this process until I levelled up to <Level 5>.
To reach this level, I had to kill 31 boar piglets and each one gave me 1 copper coin and now I had 57 copper coins.
Alright, I will allocate my attribute points and go and kill those 20 wolves.
I opened my character window.
<Linen Shirt, Item Grade: White, Chest, Armour: 1, Required Level: 0>
<Linen Pants, Item Grade: White, Pants, Armour: 1, Required Level: 0>
<Name: Drak, Race: Human, Class: Warlock, Level: 5, Title: None>
<Health: 660/660, Mana: 400/400>
<Strength: 4, Dexterity: 4, Intellect: 40, Vitality: 11, Spirit: 6, Knowledge: 10, Armour: 2>
<Unallocated attribute points: 30>
Allocate 15 points in Intellect, 8 points in knowledge, 2 points in Spirit, 5 points in Vitality.
<Linen Shirt, Item Grade: White, Chest, Armour: 1, Required Level: 0>
<Linen Pants, Item Grade: White, Pants, Armour: 1, Required Level: 0>
<Name: Drak, Race: Human, Class: Warlock, Level: 5, Title: None>
<Health: 910/910, Mana: 640/640>
<Strength: 4, Dexterity: 4, Intellect: 55, Vitality: 16, Spirit: 8, Knowledge: 18, Armour: 2>
I looked over my changed attribute and nodded,
time to kill the wolves. Close character window!