Matt asked the child on the ground, "Are you okay?" At that moment, three large men arrived. One of them was holding a wooden club.
"Do not bother us," the man said.
Matt stood in front of the child. "What is your problem with him?"
"His family did not pay the protection money," the man replied.
Matt did not hesitate. He opened 'The Databook' and used a Level 1 Element skill: Fireball.
[ UE COST: 5 ]
The fireball hit one of the men and he died instantly. The other two men moved to the left and right, surrounding Matt. As they got closer, a warning screen appeared in front of Matt.
[ SYSTEM WARNING ]
You killed a village protector. Apologize and pay 5 gold coins.
Note: Continued bad behavior will be punished.
Matt read the message. "Even if this is not real, allowing a child to be bullied is no different from being a bully," he said. He ignored the warning and used the book to use a second Fireball.
[ UE COST: 5 ]
The second man fell. The last man, the leader, started running toward Matt. Matt wanted to use the book once more, but the System sent a new notification.
[ SYSTEM PUNISHMENT: PARALYSIS FOR 10 SECONDS ]
Matt could not move. The leader reached him and hit Matt in the stomach with his club. The force was so strong that Matt flew backward and hit a wall.
[ HP: -80 ]
Matt was in great pain. Another screen appeared.
[ SYSTEM WARNING ]
You killed the village protectors. Apologize to their leader and pay a 40 gold fine.
Linked Quest: Become his new servant.
If you refuse, you will be punished again.
The leader stood over Matt. "Apologize now," he growled.
Matt looked up and saw the child watching him. He used his last 5 UE through the Databook to cast one final Fireball.
[ SYSTEM MESSAGE: YOU KILLED THE LEADER OF THE PROTECTORS ]
Matt waited for a heavy punishment, but a different screen appeared.
[ SECRET QUEST COMPLETED: PROTECTOR OF THE DEFENSELESS ]
Rewards:
Title:
Gold: 500 Coins
Experience: 10,000 XP
You have leveled up 7 times.
New Quest Line: Protect the Village.
Matt stood up and looked at the reward screen. The villagers, who had been watching from their windows with fear, began to gather around him. The father of the child thanked Matt deeply, and the child did the same. Matt told them it was not a problem. However, one of the villagers looked worried. "You killed the protectors," he said. "Who will protect us from the wolves now?"
At that moment, a new screen appeared in front of Matt.
Title Quest Line:
- Protect the village from the wolves.
- Develop the village.
- Help the villagers.
Rewards: To be determined by the System based on the success rate.
After reading the quest, Matt looked at the crowd. "I am the protector of this village now," he said firmly. The villagers accepted his words and gave him a small hut to stay in. Matt went inside and sat on the bed. He needed to analyze his current situation and his new power.
"Status open," he whispered.
[ STATUS SCREEN ]
Player: Matt
Title:
Level: 13
HP: 220
E: 240
UE: 22
Strength: 5
Resistance: 5
Speed: 4
Stamina: 5
Intelligence: 7
Sense: 12
Stat Points: 7
Skill: None
Talent: None
Matt stood up and tried to spend his new stat points. He used one point for Speed. However, he could not use the points for Stamina or Strength because he had already reached the physical limit for his current body. He decided to use one point for Intelligence and one point for Sense instead. Now he had 4 stat points left for the future. Because his Intelligence increased to 8, his Energy (E) became 230.
Matt also noticed that after Level 10, the experience points (XP) needed to level up increased significantly. Then, he checked the advantages of his new title.
Title:
XP: +500%
NPC Communication: +200%
Special Quest Chain
Matt was shocked by the rewards. He used his Unique Item again to find information about other Title quests, but a new message appeared: "You have discovered a weakness of your uniqe item: Title quests cannot be learned."
"Of course," Matt said. It was never going to be that easy.
He gathered the villagers in the square. "We must defend this village," he said.
"What should we do?" the villagers asked.
"We will dig a deep moat around the village and fill it with wood," Matt explained.
An old man spoke up. "Wolves are smart; they will not just fall into a hole. Even if they do, we do not know when they will attack. If they come at different times, we will run out of wood."
Matt looked at the crowd. "We will build a wall around the village first. Then we will dig the moats and put weak bridges over them. We will place steaks on the bridges as bait. Finally, we will spread the smell of the meat into the forest to attract every wolf at once."
"Where will we find so many steaks?" another villager asked.
"I have the steaks," Matt replied. The entire village began to work together.
5 Days Later
Suddenly, a loud voice echoed through the entire dimension: "The First Defeat."
Before Matt could understand what happened, a recommendation screen appeared: "Do not trust anyone."
-------------------The City----------------------------
After the announcement, fear spread through the entire city. The Gamers guild members were watching the city gates closely. Meanwhile, the other members of the guild were holding a meeting.
Lex, the leader of the guild, looked at his members. "We have to find the person who did this. Does anyone have an idea?" he asked.
Nobody said a word. The room was silent. Finding one specific person among 10 million people was almost impossible. Although all the members were skilled, the guild only had 20 people right now. Also, "The Gamers" was the only organized guild in the world. Other players had formed groups, but they were not organized. Those groups only cared about leveling up and their own interests. They did not work together like a real team.