“…”
“On that day, Brent Kingdom, which bordered on Rosenheim, dispatched a band of assassins. They revealed a treacherous ambition to seize our Kingdom, and Freya only knows how shocked I was when assassins stormed in and assaulted Her and His Highness in the garden”
“Those wicked scoundrels!”
“Yes, young traveler, you can say that again. A couple of Royal Knights were trapped, thus incapable of holding them in check—and we were left to face death. At that very moment, Zahab-nim walked into the garden. As you can see, right in the middle of fighting, Her Highness warned him and ordered him to leave. But Zahab-nim only smiled—”
“He smiled in the middle of such a dangerous situation?”
“—and he said he would show her the most beautiful statue that he had ever carved under heaven. To everyone’s surprise, the moonlight shattered into pieces at Zahab-nim’s sword. Its beauty was really striking. He was singing a song while he carved the moonlight. I cannot remember the lyrics word by word, but the title was A Sculptor’s Heart. Listening to the song, Her Highness was overflowing with tears. It was really the most beautiful statue Milady had ever seen. Had Zahab-nim only inscribed his name on a crude plank, but Her Highness would have taken it for the most beautiful sculpture in the world, but I tell you, the sight he was carving with the moonlight was literally heavenly. The assassins scattered at the inconceivable sight, and Zahab-nim kept his promised. Many years since gone, but I still cherish that moving memory.”
Then, a mysterious flashback flittered before Weed’s eyes
*Whittle*
“For now, all I can do is carve a piece of wood. But someday, I will give you the most beautiful statue in the world”
“Thank you Zahab. I’m looking forward to that day”
The boy and girl make a promise with each other, hand in hand.
“Why did you forget our promise? Your promise was everything to me…”
To Weed’ surprise, two levels went up for a single quest, and that wasn’t the end of it. A message window popped up. To his surprise once again, it was a class conversion window.
An infinite number of users are bustling about to discover secret classes in Royal Road, but fewer than one out of a thousand actually discovers one.
Weed answered, “I refuse”
“I refuse”
To Weed, being stuck in the corner of a closet and making unwanted statues wasn’t considerable. He had to admit that being a sculptor could make quite an amusing class if properly trained. But he needed a financially lucrative class for his personal gain. When Weed came to his senses, the old lady’s maid was watching.
“It was a wonderful story. Thank you very much, ma’am”
“You’re welcome. It’s my pleasure to tell you their story like this. So, young adventurer, I want to give you a small present. Will you please take it?”
Wouldn’t it be unkind to reject a present out of goodwill? Weed was not so cruel as to decline anything offered to him. A man should accept any present with gratitude.
“I will gladly take it, ma’am”
The old lady’s maid took something bundled up from deep inside a drawer. It resembled an ancient scalpel.
“This engraving knife used to belong to Zahab-nim. He left it to Her Highness, and I happened to keep it now. And this wooden statue is carved by Zahab-nim. Please take these” The lady’s maid said.
“I shall long treasure your present” Weed said.
He received two items from her.
Weed thought that these items were uncommon as they were left by one of the Masters of Sculptural Art. Even the wooden statue looked classy at a casual glance.
Weed calculated that this might sell and make good profit.
“If only I could hear the song of that day again… Everything about sculpture mastery is concealed in that engraving knife”
“Excuse me?”
“In Zahab-nim’s engraving knife”
That moment Weed looked at the engraving knife. He had a gut feeling that an irresistible destiny was drawing near.
A serial quest with a difficulty level of A, rewarding four skills. Weed couldn’t tell if he’s lucky or not.
For one thing, he knew that it was extremely difficult to acquire skills unrelated to his own class. Those skills, such as Item Identificationand Repair Skill, which he had learned without converting to the sculpture class, could come in handy in numerous ways, but an A level quest was far beyond his ability for a long time, possibly many years.
The average level for Royal Roadusers is currently a hundred or so. The highest ladder is in the low 300s. The difficulty of a quest that requires a balanced party of power rankers a level 300 to finish is known to be B-level.
That means Weed had just accepted a quest that requires him to be above level 400 to be able to cope with the quest, let alone finish it.
As if it were not bad enough, the Gray Pass region is the most perilous of the perilous areas, inhabited by the most forceful monsters. It is one of the top Ten Forbidden Areas on the continent, where you are absolutely guaranteed to be chopped to pieces the moment you stepped in the area.
“Dammit”
The number of quest that a user can store at a time is only three. Now that one of them was taken by the quest Zahab’s Last Wish, Weed was left with only two spaces for new quests.
But in case of serial quest, it is unpredictable what rewards await the user in the end. This serial quest introduced a secret class at the second stage. Even after he refused to convert to the class, he was given four practical skills. Imagine what rewards in the final stage would be like.
Weed wasn’t stupid to say no to a good opportunity. Yet, it remained unknown when and how this would work out.
He bid farewell to the old lady’s maid, and went back to the sculpture stop.
“O Weed-nim, I appreciate your hard work to bring me results so soon. I am once again assured that it was the right decision to entrust you with this quest” The shopkeeper said.
The shopkeeper paid Weed as a reward for the request.
Weed received 2 silver coins, recovering the silver coin that had been virtually robbed by the bard.
When he returned to the Training Hall, he received another silver coin, along with a word of commendation from the instructor. Therefore, it was a total of 5 silvers that Weed had earned so far.
He also leveled up twice, to level 3. He distributed those earned stat bonus points equally to AGI and STR.
“Why aren’t you taking on another quest?”he asked himself.
Weed wrestled with a sudden temptation, but picked up the wooden sword again. A quest that was undisclosed to the public similar to the quest he just undertook, was rare. That was why Weed earned generous rewards for his level.
Chapter 4
Dreadful Weed