“Assistant Head of Murim” Carmichael- with a title as daunting as his, it was no wonder that his mere presence was domineering. The same couldn't be said about the actual head who spent more time indulging in his rather horrid carnal desires than ruling the literal dimension belonging to him, but that's a story for a separate time. The current me was situated in a chair across from said man as we discussed the reason I came here. 

“I know a few people…” Carmichael began as he skimmed through files in a filing cabinet, “But even so, I’d get nothing out of sharing that information with you.” One of the many files in the filing cabinet was pulled out of its spot in the drawer and Carmicheal quickly skimmed it. “This should work” he handed me the file. But- “Oops” he quickly pulled it back. 

I grit my teeth and calmed the intense feeling of ‘I want to punch this bastard’  before somewhat calmly replying with, “What do you want?” The man laughed, “You didn't hit me, color me surprised.” a few seconds passed, “Anyway… The task you shall do is very straight forward.”

“Well? What is it?” 

“A few weeks ago, An item vital to the continued operation of this Murim was stolen from a top-secret facility of mine.”

“You don't mean-” I was cut off, “Yes, it was Facility “14-21-18-19-5-18-25. That Item, I need you to reacquire it.”

--

“No clues or anything either, how does he expect me to find this thing!” I shouted, “Not even to mention that the rewards for a quest of this level are scammy levels of low.”

The quest window opened up and I closed it again. The expansive and distorted land that is the Martial Murim is amazing by itself- but becomes the worst aspect as soon as you have to find something. Many hours passed as I became absorbed in the hunt for this mysterious “Vital Item.” I got so absorbed in fact that I slept for 8 hours a day for a full week, which due to how time works differently translates to roughly 33 days in-game spent on a single quest. You may think that that’s a little excessive but in actuality, it isn’t completely unheard of in gaming for certain quests to take months or even years.

That is until…

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah” A shriek emanated from a dark alley, It echoed off the walls and was delivered to me on a silver platter. Not being one to miss an opportunity, the alley walls passed by me as I rushed through before arriving at a large open space. In the middle of the opening was a small child, no older than 9, or 10 with two small horns growing out of their head. The child was surrounded by an uncountable number of thugs and was being forced into a small cage. On the split second before I attacked, “Unhand her you, Fiends!!!” I heard someone shout. A man with an unkempt appearance appeared from the alley adjacent to me, ‘he must’ve heard the scream, as well.’  I thought. “How vile you are! Kidnapping a defenseless child, you should be ashamed!” The gloomy man shouted in a manner that conflicted with his appearance. “Let her go!.” He raised his hand forward like he was preparing to use a spell, “What? Wanna fight, you little-” 

“Infestation!” Suddenly about 25% of the total thugs pulled out their weapons and struck at their closest allies. “What the hell are you doing!?!” The man who had initially threatened the unkempt stranger shouted at the men. “I- I- I can't control my body! I'm so sorry!” one spoke for the group as their bodies mercilessly slaughtered their comrades. “HAHA!!! That's what you get for attacking a child! Justice is served! Oh, Praise me the benevolent-” in the midst of the unkempt strangers' rant, the thugs had managed to turn the tables and subdue the quarter that had been controlled. “HAHA!!! I am amazing!” The strange man was completely oblivious to the men that approached him. 

“Oi! Didn't your parents teach you manners? Kidnapping? That's low.” I called their attention away from the man who was still in the midst of a flurry of self-praise. “A witness… it's a machine, hardly worth anything. Kill it while I take care of this guy.” the biggest thug of them all commanded the rest. “Looks like talking this out isn't an option.”

The fight began with me stretching my forearm and throwing a punch before quickly retracting the stretch causing all the kinetic energy to transfer directly into my fist, I felt my first make contact with flesh but didn't let said body stop me. I punched through and sent a thug flying into one of the nearby walls. “Well? I thought you were gonna kill me.” my provocation seemed to work as the group rushed me. Narrowly dodging blades like a winding stream I retaliated with strikes of my own. I was only able to dodge because the thugs had speed slower than my Evasion stat, that and the added fact that I was skilled at dodging. I narrowly dodged another slash aimed at my neck and activated the [ Extreme Speed ] skill. The engines on the back of my right greave shot out a massive amount of horsepower, forcing that foot to fly forward into the back of a thug's neck, eliminating him instantly. As the battle continued, the thugs' forces dwindled at a reasonable pace eventually leading to my victory.

As I sat in the afterglow of my victory a thought quickly entered my head, “Shit! That guy!” when I turned to look at where he had been standing, I was surprised to see the leader of the thugs prostrating himself.

“Well? Are you going to tell me what the f*** you were doing?” he asked as an irritating beep censored his language live. ‘I forgot about that setting…’  “Ceaseless Tragedy” the prostrating man spoke with reserve. “We are a part of a clan of Traffickers; illegal monsters, and slaves.” the last thug somehow managed to prostrate himself even deeper than before. “Where are these children being held?” The unkempt man continued with his interrogation, “Inside “The Inescapable Prison- Tartarus” the corpse of an ancient Treasure Beast we are using as a hideout.” the thug responded in a voice filled with panic. “I See… I See…” Without another word he began to walk away, “Hey!” I shouted, “Hmm?” he turned his head towards me, “For one, I'd like a thank you, and secondly- would you like some help? I'd like to help some kids in whatever way I can.”

“...”

“Most Definitely!”

I helped the child up and made sure she found her way to her home before turning and leaving with the unkempt man. “Thank you for the help, Even though I could’ve taken them myself!” 

Now that I looked at him, I was able to notice some nuances in his appearance that I hadn't seen before. He seemed to be constantly producing sweat and his green hair reflected that by sticking to his face, three fungus-like plants encircled him, Sort of like they were guarding him against incoming danger. Not to mention his extremely flaky skin that fell off with each scratch. Overall he was very gross looking like he hadn't showered in days. This in of itself was weird because bathing is completely unnecessary in-game, and avatars automatically remain clean by themselves without any outside influence. 

His appearance and his personalities were like oil and water, a narcissistic “hero” attitude combined with the gloomiest appearance I’d ever seen. 

We walked for an hour or so before we arrived at one of many official guild buildings in the Martial Murim, “Demon Slaying Circus” a guild run by a high-ranking NPC that specialized in the eradication of unholy beasts that plagued the wildlands. Which roughly translated from fancy to regular people's speech is “You kill monsters, We pay you.” Luckily for us, it was a place that kept an archive of every known UBM- or ‘Treasure Beasts’ as they are called in this part of the world that have plagued the Martial Murim in the past. It didn't take long before we found what we were looking for.

“Damn, Right in the middle of the desert?” The Unkempt man next to me bemoaned, ‘Oh that's right’ “Shit, I forgot to ask your name- what is it?” I asked bluntly, “Oh! It's Orphio Teralis. How about you?” Orphio replied, “Lauer.” a silence fell between us. “It's an... interesting name.” hesitation filled his voice.

“A- Anyway, this is a problem that we won't be able to handle in our current gear. We'll die out in that desert for sure. We need some Auto-Cooling clothes and maybe a Water Mage. I could just learn that magic easily enough though, which leaves the Auto-Cooling clothes as our top priority.”

“Yes, I reckon your right.” I spoke, “such equipment is much too specific for general stores, which means… It's time to check the Marketplace!” I said, completely ignoring his clear disdain towards my name.