*YNAHHH*
A loud shriek vibrated across the fortress, waking Alexander up.
“Ahh!”
Afraid that he was under attack, Alexander immediately jumped up, drawing his Spellblade. Holding his sword tightly, Alexander scanned around.
There was no enemy. However, he couldn’t be certain that there were no enemies hiding, waiting for him to lower his guard.
Alexander moved back against the tree to reduce the angles of attacks. However, he soon walked on something he shouldn’t have.
*Pur* A tired sound came from below. Alexander slowly glanced down.
Lo and behold, a giant Panthershutt was sleeping by his previous spot.
*Pur*
It raised its lazy head at Alexander, questioning why he woke it up so early in the morning. Yet, to Alexander, it looked as if the creature was angry at him for disrupting its sleep.
Although afraid, Alexander stood his ground. He remembered the documentaries that he watched when he was young.
If you are cornered by a predator, don’t turn your back on them.
You must stand your ground and try to look as intimidating as possible.
Furthermore, knowing his brother, this creature’s AI must be similar. So with all of his strength, Alexander growled.
“WAHHHHH!”
Thankfully for him, the creature didn’t have eyes to see how ridiculous he looked right now. However, that didn’t mean that it didn’t know that he was doing something stupid.
*Pur*
Its fin-like ear flapped towards Alexander, asking if he was an idiot and telling him it was rude to disturb people’s sleep. Before swiftly lowering its head to rest.
Seeing that he was successful and the Panthershutt slowly dozed off, Alexander didn’t let his guard down and slowly backed off.
After moving a considerable distance away from the creature, Alexander finally relaxed. He dropped to the ground and summoned a few Eliot Nutrients from the Store Inventory for breakfast to celebrate not dying in the morning.
*Slurp* *Slurp*
‘I don’t think I can ever get sick of these things.’
Alexander was transformed into a staunch supporter with a few Eliot Nutrients.
***
Whilst enjoying his breakfast, Alexander looked around.
The fortress was alive once more, with skeletons moving around in formation.
Some were patrolling.
Some were guarding.
Some were training.
As Alexander casually looked through the repeated scenery, something caught his eyes.
A high-ranking skeleton was inspecting troops. It was wearing tattered light armour with a torn cape drape on its left soldier.
Unlike the other skeleton that moved like machines, it moved with the elegancy of a noble.
As Alexander stared at it, it also noticed him. Within a blink of an eye, it appeared in front of him.
“It’s good … that you … join us … brother,” it spoke in a sweet but crooked voice. “We could … always use … more Freóriht-Ælf.”
Surprised by its appearance, Alexander reflectively spoke about what was on his mind.
“Are you also an Ælf? What happened to our species?”
However, after quietly observing him for a moment, it commanded him with a sentence he had known too well.
“New recruit … must complete … the wall,” it then pointed its finger towards the direction of the wall.
Unlike the armoured skeleton, it didn’t guide him there but walked away, resuming its eternal duties. Alexander attempted to inspect it.
_ _ _
[Name]: Leona ???
[Species]: ???-Undead [Culture]: ???-Demi-Lich
[Class]: Death Commander
_ _ _
‘Damn! This game is good at hiding important information!’
Whilst Alexander was thinking about the strange interaction and the skeleton commander’s information or lack thereof, a notification appeared.
_ _ _
<Updating quest>
_ _ _
<Race Quest 1: Sub-Quest 1: The story of the Freóriht-Ælf>
<Description: By sheer coincidence or divine manipulation, you have discovered clues about the decline of your species.>
<Objective: Ascend the wall to increase affinity with Leona>
<Reward: ??? depending on the highest point achieved>
_ _ _
‘Ya right, coincidence. I bet Cillian planned all of this out beforehand!’
As Alexander thought about the new quest, Chibi Cillian appeared, riding a leaf.
“Good morning to you!”
“Hey, good morning!”
“How was your sleep yesterday?”
Alexander paused for a moment. As he pondered, he felt that he slept extremely well yesterday, even more than on normal days. It was as if he slept on the softest bed.
Dwelling deeper into it, his head started perspiring.
‘Did I sleep on that dangerous Panthershutt ?’
Seeing Alexander’s twisted expression, Chibi Cillian broke out laughing.
Want to distract himself from that dangerous thought, Alexander queried.
“By the way, is my Inspect broken? It has been showing less information.”
“Well, you’re technically correct about Inspect being broken. For the initial quests, we supercharged your ability. In its current state, it is just returning to normal.”
Chibi Cillian swirled his leaf in front of Alexander’s eye level and explained.
“Huh? Then how am I supposed to use it in its normal state then?”
Chibi Cillian created a small fireball and said, “In this game, every spell and ability required the user to understand them in order to work. You can’t just willy nilly, hoping that they function properly.”
Chibi Cillian then enlarged his fireball.
“That’s why we have proficiency and mastery.”
The fireball in Chibi Cillian’s hand then burst into fireworks.
“Inspect works by helping you form detailed conjectures based on already known information. If you don’t know anything about your target, it won’t work. If you want to improve Inspect, you must know more about the world around you,” Chibi Cillian smiled.
***
The two had small talks as Alexander walked towards the training area.
The training area was repopulated by skeletons swinging their invisible sword. As Alexander passed by the armoured skeleton, he greeted it.
“Morning!”
The dementia-riddled skeleton replied with the same line.
“It … has been … so long … since we … last have … a new recruit!”
Alexander chuckled and followed it towards the wall once more.
