In what remained in the Venders’ Village, Anthea, Sky, and Hazel sat in a house with at least walls. To be more precise, Sky and Hazel sat, while Anthea brewed some green tea over a fire in front of Sky and Hazel.
It was silent and it was obvious that Sky was trying to find the right words to say to Anthea as she made the tea, while Hazel had a displeased look.
Hazel nudged Sky’s side making Sky glance at him.
“This maybe a little late, but do you think it was a good idea to follow that NPC here? She may be a hidden boss.”
“Anthea isn’t like that and you saw how she acted. Do you think a boss would cry for the loss of a village?”
“It could be pretend.”
“I doubt it,” whispered Sky with seriousness in his face and then added, “We also need to know if she knows why her village was attacked.” Hazel nodded and whispered, “Maybe she can tell us how she gained awareness as well. For an NPC, she sure doesn’t act like one now.” Sky nodded.
The green tea soon finished and Anthea began to pour each of them a cup. Sky took his cup and glanced at Anthea asking, “So Anthea, can you tell us exactly what happened here? You mentioned the Dragon Lord?”
Anthea took a sip from her cup and nodded with a shriveled look.
“He came at night a week ago. He brought so many monsters that slaughtered my people. And the people who managed to get to the shelter were destroyed by a dragon’s comet. He killed my friend with his own hands right in front of me.”
Anthea was shaking as she spoke and seemed ready to cry. Sky frowned and stated, “You don’t have to say anymore if it is too painful.” Anthea shook her head.
“I have to say it since you two are involved.”
“WHAT?” exclaimed Hazel nearly dropping his own cup.
“Look here Miss. NPC! We were never here during this massacre so don’t lay the blame on us.”
“I’m not blaming you,” squeaked Anthea, “I say that you are involved since the Dragon Lord spoke with me before he left.”
“He spoke to you?”
Anthea nodded.
“What did he say?”
“If you want to know the truth and get your revenge then gather all the heroes and the flowers and face me.”
Just saying those words sent chills down Anthea’s spine. Those words sounded like a curse to her.
Sky frowned and placed his cup down as he faced Anthea’s shaking form. He hugged her and whispered, “It’s OK Anthea. That monster is not here.” Anthea slowly stopped shaking and sobbed silently into Sky’s chest.
Sky glanced at Hazel and stated, “Those words sound like a quest right?” Hazel nodded and then glanced at Anthea’s sobbing form.
“I’m just wondering why the quest was spoken to an NPC like her.”
“I’m wondering about that too, but that quest must have given her awareness and this quest is what she needs to do.”
Hazel nodded with crossed arms. Sky made Anthea look into his eyes and stated, “Anthea, you were given a quest so you must complete it and maybe your village will return.”
Anthea’s eyes widened.
“Really?”
“Hazel and I have finished many quests and the places affected by the quests were returned to normal so it may be the same with your village.”
Anthea stared at Sky with wide eyes and suddenly smiled making Sky blush a deep red.
“If that’s the case, I will take this quest. I will gather the flowers and heroes and face the Dragon Lord. I want to have my friends and father returned to me.”
Sky smiled still blushing and said, “That’s the spirit.” Anthea immediately hugged Sky making him turn even redder than before to the point that Hazel thought Sky was ready to pass out.
Hazel rolled his eyes at the two and then asked, “So this quest: what did the Dragon Lord mean when he said flowers and why gather all the heroes?” Anthea released Sky who seemed disappointed that Anthea had stopped embracing him. Anthea touched the Goddess Flower in her hair and stated, “I think he means this flower.”
“Isn’t that the flower Sky sold to you?”
“I gave it to her!” exclaimed Sky refusing to remember the price Anthea gave him for the flower. Anthea nodded and stated, “This flower is one of seven flowers of the Dragon Lord.”
Sky and Hazel’s eyes widened as they exclaimed, “A Puzzle piece?” Anthea nodded.
“I slept with this flower in my hair on the night of the attack and had a dream about a dragon in a flower field and a boy I didn’t recognize. There must be more to the dream and the other flowers must hold the pieces.”
Sky and Hazel nodded in agreement.
“Then the gathering heroes part?”
“I don’t know, but I will gather all of you if it will revive my village.”
Sky smiled, while Hazel sighed and shrugged his shoulders saying, “All right, so we help with the quest, but how will you keep track of the quest, I mean you don’t have a screen like us, so…”
“I actually do have one.”
Hazel and Sky froze and then exclaimed at the same time, “YOU DO?” Anthea nodded and muttered, “Inventory.” A screen appeared before her and to her surprise, Hazel and Sky were able to see it too.
“Wait a second, how can an NPC like you have a screen?” demanded Hazel staring at her Inventory screen and then gasped when he saw the amount of money in her money pouch.
“And why do you have so much gold?”
“I’m a Vender, so of course I have money.”
“This is such a glitch,” wailed Hazel making Anthea confused. Sky shook his head saying, “Hazel has yet to reach that amount of money and he is the Thief. He’s just jealous.” Anthea nodded in understanding, but Hazel looked green with envy as he looked at Anthea’s screen.
Sky rubbed his chin as he looked at the screen and stated, “But it is strange that you have a screen. Can you show us your Stat screen?” Anthea nodded and clicked the arrow leading to the Stats screen.
Sky’s eyes widened as he saw her Stats.
Anthea (NPC Vender)
Level 1
HP 90,000
MP 70,000
Speed 600 (intermediate)
Strength 900 (intermediate)
Awareness 900 (intermediate)
Intelligence 900 (advance)
Charisma 500 (average)
Luck 400 (average)
Skills
Animal Whisperer 20% (beginner)
Wind Barrier 20% (beginner)
Healing Touch 50% (beginner)
Picklocker 10% (beginner)
Spirit Summoning 20% (beginner)
Angel Flight 30% (beginner)
Ocean Wave 20% (beginner)
Messenger 50% (beginner)
Secondary Skills
Barter 100% (advance)
Blacksmith 100% (expert)
Cooking 100% (expert)
Sewing 100% (expert)
Observe 100% (advance)
Swimming 100% (expert)
Dancing 100% (advance)
Crafting 100% (expert)
“Anthea your stats are really strange.”
“How?”
“Well as a level one, you HP and MP shouldn’t be so high. Level Ones usually start out with 100 HP and MP.”
“Really?”
Sky nodded. At his words, Hazel looked at Anthea’s screen and felt himself choke in shock.
“Why the Heck is your HP 90,000? This is definitely a glitch!” yelled Hazel. Hazel seemed angry as he spoke, so Anthea inched away from him afraid that he might attack her at any moment.
“Calm down Hazel. We are just looking at her stats for now. Now your skills are pretty good, but it seems scattered.”
“Scattered?”
“Well with our skills we can only do skills that were assigned to us. For example: Hazel as a thief has the snatch skill. I’m a swordsman, so I don’t have such a skill, but I can do long sword rapid slash and Hazel can’t.”
“Who would want a long sword? Daggers are better,” stated Hazel twisting his dagger in his hand. Sky pointed at Anthea’s skills and stated, “With your skills though, you have skills that can be done by different heroes. Spirit Summoning is a skill a Shaman hero can do and Healing Touch is something a priest can do.”
“What does it mean?”
“My guess is that you can learn all the skills of the heroes with training of your level and it is because you have no set skill as a hero.”
“That’s definitely a glitch!” wailed Hazel. Anthea stared at her skills in awe. She never imagined that she could learn so much more skills, but it was still a question why this glitch happened to her.
“Now let’s see your ALLY and QUEST list.”
Anthea clicked the arrow in her Stats screen and this time the QUEST LIST wasn’t empty.
Quest
Flower Field of Memory Expert
“Flower Field of Memory, I guess that’s the name of the quest,” stated Anthea and added, “Such a beautiful name with such a gruesome beginning.” Anthea’s hand slightly shook, but Sky placed his hand on hers with a reassuring smile. Anthea smiled back at him in thanks making Sky cheer in his mind.
Hazel peeked at the quest and scoffed.
“It’s an expert level quest, so this may be tricky for you in level one so we better train you.”
Anthea nodded, but then realized that her ALLY LIST was empty. She looked at Sky and Hazel and asked, “How do I add you guys as my allies?”
Sky smiled and pointed at a button labeled “JOIN” on the screen.
“Click that and then choose our names on the list. As long as we are close, our names should appear.”
Anthea nodded pressing the button. A screen with Sky’s and Hazel’s name appeared before her. She clicked their names and then two screens suddenly appeared before Hazel and Sky.
Anthea has asked you to join her party. Do you accept?
- Yes
- No
Sky immediately clicked “yes,” but Hazel seemed to be hesitating.
“Hazel,” muttered Sky with a glare. Hazel shrugged and clicked the “yes” icon. A small ringing was heard and then Sky’s and Hazel’s name appeared in Anthea’s ALLY LIST. In turn the name of the quest gave off a quick glow.
“That glow means you did a step in the quest,” explained Sky. Anthea nodded in understanding.
“Try clicking it,” suggested Hazel with crossed arms. Anthea did just that and gasped when she saw the screen filled with information about the quest.
Flower Field of Memory Expert
The first flower from the Field of Memory has been recovered and the journey begins. All seven flowers must be gathered to reach the truth of the Dragon Lord and the heroes must also be gathered to reach the final Truth of the world. The Dragon Lord must be slain at the end to complete the Quest.
To be completed
- Gather the Flowers of the Field of Memory
þGoddess Flower
- Avalon White Rose
- Queen Amaryllis
- Bells of Vahala
- Angel Blessings Carnation
- Aphrodite Gardenia
- Crimson Dragon Lily
- Gather all the heroes
þSwordsman
þThief
- Priest
- Merchant
- Fairy
- Shaman
- Detective
- Alchemist
- Magician
- Dancer
- Ninja
- Monk
- Beast Tamer
- Knight
- Mercenary
- Winged-Warrior
- Elf Archer
- Beastman
- Barbarian
- Defeat the Dragon Lord
Anthea read the details of the quest, especially the list of flowers to be gathered and the heroes yet to join her as an ally. Anthea knew about the heroes, but never realized how many there were in the world. She felt that is was almost impossible to complete the task, but she knew that she had to complete the quest if she ever wanted to see the people she loved.
Sky also peeked at the details and stated, “The last task to be completed is obvious, but it is still going to be difficult to complete it, especially if we need all the heroes for this quest.”
“Not to mention the flowers and what is with the naming sense? You think the creators would work harder in coming up with better names,” stated Hazel peeking at the screen as well.
“But the names are lovely,” stated Anthea. Hazel scoffed muttering, “Says the girl” earning him a hit from Sky.
Sky smiled at Anthea saying, “Clicking on the flowers will reveal their location or give us hints, but I think it is best you focus on gathering the other heroes first.” Anthea nodded taking Sky’s suggestions to heart since he was a long time veteran of an adventurer in this world.
Hazel scoffed again saying, “We better train her first though and we can start by leaving this dump.” Anthea flinched at the words and then looked at her surroundings with a saddened look.
“So I really am saying goodbye to this place,” stated Anthea with a solemn voice. Sky shook his head and held a hand.
“This isn’t goodbye. You will return here after the quest and see the ones you care about again,” stated Sky. Anthea smiled and hugged Sky saying her thanks. Sky was blushing madly and had a look that he had finally seen heaven, while Hazel rolled his eyes at the two.
They soon left the village taking what they could hold and what was still intact. Anthea took one last look at the village and then walked away with Sky and Hazel.
I will see you again my friends.
Manga Hunter 