Chapter 38 - Crafting a Gift (1) - Awesome Quest Rewards

There was still one pretty annoying problem with that situation. If Arthur wanted to infiltrate the Holy Church, he would have to change his current contracts and lean more toward the magic side + a faith-related class, like a priest.

Shadow Cloak would definitely be pissed about that, since she wouldn’t be able to use his items during the contract.

Still, something was giving Arthur pause.

’Myra said I can earn rewards if I donate the item. Could I do the same with Shadow Cloak, keep her happy with the item, and still get some benefits?’

Even if the benefits were more basic, being permanent, they would already be pretty powerful for Arthur. Of that, he was sure.

Either way, that was something to think about later. He hadn’t even unlocked the donation function yet to know exactly how it worked.

For that, he needed to craft the gift for Myra and head back to deliver it.

The doors closed completely the moment he left, and the system notified him.

[Special location where only a Soul Artisan may enter.]

The place was sealed. Only Arthur could enter. Not even Bram could, in case he ever wanted to go talk with his wife Myra.

Arthur returned to the village where he had found Louise. She already had a worried look on her face.

"So? Did you find anything?" she asked.

Of course, he couldn’t tell her exactly what he had discovered.

"There are no beasts in the region because there’s a powerful creature down beneath those ruins," Arthur said. "But please, don’t tell anyone. That’s a secret I’d rather keep between us."

Louise frowned, but in the end, she agreed to his request. Despite seeming bossy and kind of mean, deep down, she enjoyed Arthur’s company.

"Fine, but only if you promise to craft me a powerful sword someday. I don’t know, find a way to remove that weird restriction."

She was referring to the soul restriction. Louise had tried using one of the items Arthur had made, but it didn’t work.

If this had been a while ago, Arthur wouldn’t be so sure he could help her, but things were different now. Depending on how this donation system turned out, maybe he could give her an item.

And for him, that was even better.

’I’ll focus these donations on NPCs, and barely any players. I don’t want to give an item to the wrong person...’

That could be disastrous.

"Fine, I’ll craft you something."

Louise was jumping with excitement when she heard that.

Anyway, now back at the village, Arthur went over to the wooden cart full of raw ore and magic herbs, and stored everything in his inventory. The items vanished on the spot.

Louise still had no idea how that worked.

"My father has some kind of item with spatial storage, but it’s rare and fits barely anything. How the hell do you have something this powerful? It’s not fair."

Arthur just gave an awkward laugh. Honestly, it wasn’t fair. Players had plenty of things NPCs couldn’t even dream of having.

With everything they needed, the two got on the horse and headed back to the city of Snow Pine, going straight through without stopping anywhere.

It would still take them a few hours to get there, which once again made Arthur question whether doing this was the right call.

Before, he had gone there precisely to have monsters to kill along the way, gaining EXP and leveling up.

But with Myra’s presence in those ruins, the monsters had migrated to another region. The place was completely empty, without a single monster.

Yuki, who could talk to Arthur mentally, finally said something during the trip.

"I almost died of a heart attack near that dragon, man. That same feeling I got when facing my mother."

"You’re serious? You’ve gotta be messing with me. Comparing yourself to a dragon?"

"Hey, I already told you I’m even more impressive. Just wait until I grow up and you’ll see."

Arthur had no idea whether that little snake was telling the truth or not. The system had told him its growth potential was unknown, which could mean it really could become a powerful creature, but only time would give him the answer.

The forum was already packed with videos showing Arthur and Louise’s fight against those players. It was a massacre.

Everyone knew he had someone powerful with him, and that messing with Cinder was not a good idea.

And to his surprise, a friend request came through. Arthur opened it to check, and there was a message attached to the request.

"I speak as the guild leader of Coffin & Daggers. I’ve come to apologize for what happened. As you already know, we only accepted a contract from a powerful player who wanted to see you dead. From today on, we won’t be accepting contracts like that anymore, and if you’d like to make any transaction beneficial to both of us, I’m at your service."

Arthur was surprised to see that. The guild was pretty powerful in the scene. Sure, it wasn’t the only assassins’ guild out there, but it was one of the best. Probably sitting somewhere in the top 10.

And they were willing to work with him? Now that was what surprised him.

’Maybe they saw my potential as a player? I mean, the things I’ve been doing are pretty relevant.’

He still hadn’t accepted the friend request, not wanting to seem desperate or anxious to get a big guild’s help. Arthur was a solo player, and he wanted to keep it that way for now.

Arriving in the city, Arthur and Louise went to Ray to deliver the ores and herbs they had collected. The quest was completed successfully.

The rewards were fairly generous.

[+ 2500 EXP]

[+ 1 gold coin]

[Special reward for completing the quest quickly]

[Bonus: +1000 EXP, +1 gold coin, + increased relationship with Ray and Louise]

Since it was a "normal" quest, the rewards weren’t insane, but that much EXP was already enough for Arthur to jump from level 6 and get almost to level 8!

That was better than he expected. At least he got some EXP even without killing a single monster.

And to top it off, he received another notification about the rewards for the quest of taming Yuki. Unfortunately, since he hadn’t managed to hand Yuki over to Ray, the quest rewards had been pretty much nullified...

Sure, in the end, having Yuki as his tamed beast was the biggest reward of all, Arthur was sure of that. But it was always nice to get some extra stuff too.

[Rewards modified for completing the quest differently]

[+1 level]

[+5 gold coins]

[New title acquired, Selfish Beast Tamer]

[Selfish Beast Tamer (Unique Title)]

[One of the only selfish Beast Tamers, incapable of sending a tamed beast to another person]

[+10% EXP for your beast companion]

[+20% bond gain with your beast companion]

The title was simply too good! On top of that, it was a title that kept its bonuses always active, even without equipping it!

The one he had received from Bram, which was really powerful and unique too, needed to be equipped first for its effects to kick in. That was a category of even more powerful titles, with special passives, so only 1 could be in use at a time.

’This is too good! With all these bonuses, Yuki will evolve way faster.’

The only thing missing for Arthur was Yuki getting some kind of ability useful in combat. Once it did, leveling up with it by his side would definitely be way easier.

Ray was anxious about his shop’s grand opening.

"The shop opens in 12 hours," Ray said. "I’ll send the ores and herbs to my blacksmiths and alchemists so they can start crafting the items."

The timing was perfect. In 12 hours, the huge wave of players would have already arrived in the city, which would guarantee astronomical sales.

Speaking of players, the city had a lot more of them now. A good number had already managed to reach level 10.

And many were people who wanted to see Arthur up close.

"Cinder!" a player shouted while approaching him.

Arthur was in front of the tower where Ray lived, and being the mayor of the city, there were always guards around so Ray wouldn’t have to move around to deal with small stuff.

Quickly, several guards approached the players.

"Don’t take another step," one of the guards said. "You are in the presence of the mayor, and of Cinder. Show some respect."

Arthur felt great getting that kind of treatment. His high reputation in the city was making all the difference. The guards treated him really well.

Plus, his name was showing a faint red, which indicated he had killed a player.

If it were a player with low reputation, the guards would attack them the moment they entered the city.

Arthur, however, was granted the exact opposite. Not only did the guards not attack him, they were actually defending him.

"You really are famous among the Chosen Ones, aren’t you?" Ray laughed.

"Yeah, a little, haha. Hey, can I use the shop’s crafting station and grab some of that iron ore?"

"Sure, no problem."

"Also, Ray, I want to talk to you about something..."

They discussed Arthur’s idea of improving the heating system inside the shop to allow the employees to wear some...revealing outfits to arouse the players.

Ray actually liked the idea, as he didn’t think about it before.

"This is genius," he said.

After they were done discussing that, Arthur walked past the player who had shouted and said, "I’m busy right now, but when I can, I’ll spend more time chilling in the city."

It was just his way of being polite. Arthur didn’t want to lose time in the city doing nothing, only talking to his fans. That was just useless to him, honestly.

He then headed toward the shop. Arthur needed to craft an item to give Myra as a gift and secure the quest reward as soon as possible.