It was staff and shield that were worthy of being a legendary grade. Many skills in their description made him feel hot and wanted to use them right now. Unfortunately, their requirements were not easily attainable. If he added all the points gained from his promotion to new level, then he would need at least sixteen additional levels to be barely able to use them. That was difficult to be achieved in a short time. Despite his great regret that he was not able to use both of them now, the day would come to use them, and he looked forward that day eagerly. He then checked the next rewards.

“Legendary quest: assemble the legendary Minior set

Task: Assemble all parts of the legendary Minior set.

Duration of the quest: Unlimited.

Quest Reward: Not Specified.

Quest failure: There is no penalty for quest failure.

Quest progress: 2\12”

It was a legendary quest like the one he just finished, but it did not have a time limit or failure penalty. This was a good quest that suited him. When he remembered the features of the staff and shield, he decided that he must do everything he can to get the remaining 10 tools of Minior set. Who knew, maybe when he gathered them together, he might find a surprise waiting for him.

“System Prompt: player has risen to the next level. Your new level is: 1. player has 10 free Attribute Points.

System Prompt: player has risen to the next level ...

System Prompt: …

System Prompt player has risen to the next level. Your new level is: 7. player has 10 free Attribute Points to distribute.”

One million XP points looked huge, but in Rioneed game the player needed a large amount of those points to upgrade from one level to another. One million XP was barely enough to upgrade to the seventh level. As for rising to the eighth level, Ibro needed more than 250K XP. This was not a small number! Now, after that quick upgrade wave, he had 70 Attribute Points” AP” to distribute. As he did before, he distributed AP according to his own equation: 50% Intelligence, 25% Vitality and the last 25% for Agility. He distributed 35 AP for Intelligence, 17 AP for Vitality and the last 18 AP for Agility. His new personal stats were as follows:

“Vitality: 23 - Intelligence: 46 - Agility: 24

HP: 230 - MANA: 460 - Magic Attack: 46 - Speed: 2.5 – Attack Speed: 4”

His stats became more powerful, but what he lacked was skills! His MANA was enough to make him able to fight for five continuous minutes. But he only had three skills. As for the observation skill that he acquired from the reward of the quest, it was considered an auxiliary skill. He can know many features about monsters, players and, tools, ... Etc. But it did not help him in fight. Suddenly he remembered that there was store that sell skills for different classes in novice villages, but the problem was that these stores were not like Enog store, they did not exist in every novice village! He wished his luck would not run out this time, so he quickly left Enog shop and started searching into the whole village. After half an hour of careful search, he didn’t find that store. He was not lucky this time. He didn't know what to do. The methods of obtaining skills were a lot, but all of them started when he entered the city. Every city contained shops that sell skills, whether ordinary or secret stores. The problem of having enough money needed to buy strong skill had been solved. He had around 3000 gold coins in his Inventory. He took a deep breath and began to think about his options, which were almost only one. If he wanted to have strong skills, he must get past this novice village. He still lacked three levels in order to be able to move to the city. The tenth level was considered a milestone for many players, as it alone needed at least 2 million XP as he remembered. If he killed ordinary monsters, he would be able to exceed that level in about two weeks! He did not have time to waste here, as he had a lot to do when he reached the city! The fastest way to upgrade in the game was to play through the dungeons. But novice villages didn’t have any dungeons! He had the key to Tutankhamen dungeon but he could not use it now as the least number allowed to open it was 20k players. While he was deep in his thoughts, he walked unconsciously across the village to find himself in front of a strong wooden gate. He looked at the gate and then his mind suddenly froze. How did that information escape from his mind? He almost hit himself from his anger, because he forgot that quest! Unlike Enog quest, the player who announced it was a famous Egyptian player named 205. 205 discovered a unique method of promotion at the time! Although he did not announce the details of the quest in the forums, but he knew it well as this player was a commander of his team. Ibro was close to that commander than the rest of his teammates, so 205 often boasted in front of him about that quest. This quest was simple, as near every novice village there were a series of high mountains. These mountains harbor many thugs, thieves and monsters. Through pure coincidence, this player managed to attract the attention of all these small groups to attack his novice village. This sounded like a crazy move, but at that time the number of Egyptian players in each novice village was huge. Ibro alone would not be able to fend off all this huge number of enemies.  Perhaps that was why his mind has missed this quest! But didn’t he now possess a scroll that would help him to kill everyone in the vicinity of a kilometer? If he could activate that quest, he would be able to get enough XP to upgrade at least two levels!

But in order to fulfill the condition of this quest, he must destroy five thug strongholds. All the strongholds he knew about needed a team of at least 10 players to destroy them. He hesitated a little before making up his mind. He would make a journey of investigation and exploration of the dens surrounding the village. He hoped to find a way to help him, and perhaps after he finished destroying them he would rise to another level.

He moved out of the village gate to pass through different leveling areas crowded with various kinds of monsters. All novice villages in the game use the same system of monsters distribution. The closest areas to the village contained level 1rabbits then level 2 sheep, then level 3 foxes, then level 4 wild cows, level 5 wolves, level 6 snakes, level 7 hyenas, level 8 unicorns, level 9 crocodiles and level 10 tigers. All of these monsters were passive monsters which only attacked the player if the player started to attack them first. Each monster of these types varied according to the rules set in the game. There were individual monsters, such as rabbits, snakes, and unicorns, and there were herd monsters that move in groups such as foxes, wolves and tigers. While walking and thinking about whether he needed to kill a number of monsters while he was moving towards the mountains or not, a loud bell rang in his ears, driving him out of deep thinking to find a pleasant surprise in front of him.

“System Prompt: Player: Oya added you as a friend. do you accept?”

Finally Aya Darwish! His bet was correct and it seemed that the previous announcement made her try to reach him. He nearly jumped from joy as he admired himself for this brilliant move.  He immediately accepted the friendship request. He received a chat request from Aya, and immediately accepted it to find a screen hanging in the air that, brilliantly, did not hinder his field of vision. He was used to that screen, which allowed players to move and fight while talking to other players at the same time.

“Welcome to the first player in the game to own and win a legendary quest. How did you do it Ibro?”

Ibro laughed happily and did not hide his happiness in front of her before saying:

“This is just a stroke of luck. Where are you in the game?”

 “I play in Oinga novice village.”

“A village belonged to Ihnasia city?”

“How do you know that?”

Ibro felt stressed at once. In the midst of his enthusiasm to talk to her, he made a foolish mistake this time. The information of the village in which Aya played was known to everyone in the past but he could not tell her the truth. When she noticed his silence and hesitation, she said in a serious tone:

“You are full of mystery. You know my Ashley code and can use it so perfectly like me. I swear that no one knows this code that I personally invented. You also know some secrets about the game, and now you know where I play. Won't you tell me how do you know all this?”

He tried to escape this trap which he put himself into by saying:

“Unfortunately, i cannot answer all of these questions. But I can assure you that I mean no harm to you. I’m just a friend who wants to help you, not your enemy.”

“Talking is easy, and promises are delicious, but both are always a deadly poison. If you cannot share your secrets with me, many of them are related to me, how can I trust you?”

Ibro smiled when he heard her words, as he had thought beforehand of several scenarios for his first conversation with her. So he replied with confidence:

“I cannot tell you about these secrets for now and that to protect you. I can assure you that whoever pressures you and others to spy on the Egyptian domain does not bode you any well. If they treat you nicely now, then what is the guarantee that they will not betray you in the future? Don't interrupt me please and listen to what I have to say first before you speak. When you log out of the game, please break your game capsule apart in the way that I am going to send it to you right now. You will find two groups of foreign objects, a black balls and a grey cubes. I do not know the function of each group, but there is no doubt that one of them spies on the player and the other determines his position. Insulate them in the same room you are at now, but isolate them so that they cannot listen to you. Be careful in talking to any of your mates or friends too, as I do not know how far the people holding you would go to control you. My other advice for you is not to trust those around you, as someone might betray you and reveal your secrets in public and you will be in great danger then.”

Aya remained silent and her beautiful face did not reveal what she was thinking about. He doubted that he managed to convince her by his words to listen to his two advices, especially the last advice. He knew very well that she was killed because one of her friends betrayed her.  But Aya wasn’t calm as she looked from the outside. Unlike that poker face she loved to use, there was a great storm inside her. What she understood from his words was very dangerous. She was under watch. She was watched without knowing it and this was the second time in her life dangerous like that had happened to her. Last time she lost her freedom and now she was about to lose her life! She also understood from his words that he was fully aware of her delicate situation. This led her to the most important question:

“Ibro.. Can I trust you?”