Level Is Everything

Quest

After one hour hunting inside the impossible difficulty dungeon, Luna finally levelled up to level 2. However, it is now finally clear why the difficulty itself is labelled as impossible. Even the weakest horned rabbit who have 50 HP become a monster with 250 HP. Now there's no more horned rabbit so they need to find another monster. The next monster inside the dungeon are level 4 'wild rhino'. The monster is known for their slow speed and low attack but they have high defence. Right now with the 5 times status enhancement, the wild rhino has 1000HP and 40 defence. Ryou can only deal 5 damage to it and it will take around 250-300 attack considering the monster regeneration. Ryou definitely didn't bring that much arrow so they decided to pull out from the dungeon.

Ryou himself haven't levelled up through the hunt inside the dungeon, the only profitable thing they got are materials from the horned rabbit and some equipment which is dropped due to five times drop rate of the dungeon. Basically, Ryou can keep on doing this and make some profit from the drops but his level won't be increased by much.

At this point, most of the expert player have levelled up to level 10 and entered the real world map of Aaru. Looking at Luna nearby him, Ryou thinking of ditching her and levelling up by his own. At least on the field he will be able to find monster that he can take down on his own, even though it will makes levelling up longer.

While they are walking towards the item NPC to sell their loot, something weird is happening. The village chief NPC that is known as the number one favourites quest giver of beginner's village is moving in Ryou's direction. The village chief never before moved from his position, because he is one of the busiest quest NPC in town. There's always a player engaging with him either to take some quest or to hand in their quest completion.

「Maybe he just need something to do in town. 」

Ryou's thought are wrong, because not long after the village chief stopped in front of him.

「Does he have something to do with me? Wait, he is not looking at me. He is looking at Luna. 」 

Luna herself are confused with what's happening right now. It can be said aside from going to the field and dying to the monsters, entering the dungeon and gets wiped out, she never did anything else like taking a quest from the NPC. So she is completely confused why the village chief appeared in front of her.

"Young lady, do you have some time?"

"Eh, sure?"

"If you don't mind, please follow me. It isn't convenient to talk about it here."

Luna sending a glance at Ryou and Ryou nodded. Not long after, they both followed the village chief back to his hut. Meanwhile the other players are causing a ruckus.

"Look, that's the village chief NPC. He never moves from his hut before."

"Hey, there's two player following him. Will they receive a special quest from the village chief?"

Ryou planned to be more low key while playing the game. After all his approach and reason to play the game are different from most player. However, right now he is involved in something that can't be hidden.

When they arrived at the village chief hut, there are some players waiting for the village chief to come back either to take a quest or hand in their quest completion but they have to be disappointed now. The village chief immediately ordered everyone to go out from his hut before finally closing the door to the hut. Leaving only Ryou, Luna and the village chief inside.

The village chief sit down and gestured Luna and Ryou to do the same.

"You might be confused why am I inviting you here. In fact, it has something to do with the future of the beginner's village."

When Ryou heard that, he is sure that the village chief is going to give them a quest. It will be a unique quest to boot, but why is he giving them the quest? What is the trigger?

"The story has been passed down for a long time at the village creation hall. Only the village chief is allowed to read the records of the ancestor. It is said that when a lot of people comes to help the village they will be able to clear the monster in the surrounding but there's one monster that they can't handle. It was the elder monster 'Yaga'. The records said the Yaga will appear when a lot of monsters are killed and it is disturbing its peaceful slumber. I have a feeling that Yaga will wake up soon and the village will be destroyed when it happens."

Ryou gets the rough idea that the quest has something to do with Yaga, but was it possible for them to complete it? Not to mention Yaga is supposed to be the boss monster of the beginner's village.

"So, why are you telling this to us?"

The village chief looked at Luna and replied.

"It was prophesied that Yaga will wake up and throwing rampage in the surroundings area. When it happened, a 'hero' will appear. The hero will have a special skill to turn misfortune into fortune. The awakening of Yaga is a big misfortune and the hero will have a chance to turn it into fortune."

After hearing that, Ryou instantly looked at Luna. Was it because her skill "fortune in misfortune" that the village chief come looking for her? So, she is the trigger of this and it probably have something to do with her levelled up to level 2.

"So, what do you need us to do?" This time, Luna asked the village chief as if she was bent on accepting the quest. Ryou can feel another headache coming when he looked at her determined eyes.

"It was recorded that Yaga is sleeping deep inside the forest, at this location. For now, I need you to check whether Yaga is still sleeping or its already waken up?"

The village chief takes out a map and there's a marked location on the map. Not long after that, Ryou hears a notification ringing on his head.

「You have received a unique quest from the village chief. Do you wish to accept? 」

「Your party leader has accepted the quest. 」

「"Investigate Yaga". Quest Rank: unknown. The elder monster Yaga, is suspected to have wake up from its slumber. Find out the truth about the incident and report it back to the village chief. Quest rewards: unknown. Time remaining: 23h 59m.」

「Warning! Quest failure will result in unforeseen disaster in the world of Aaru. Please complete it at all cost. 」

"Alright, leave it to us." Luna immediately accepted the quest without even asking for Ryou's opinion and leave the village chief hut afterwards. At this point, Ryou wanted to bang his head to the wall if it can decrease the headache that he is having right now.

He goes out to catch up with Luna and stopped her in her track.

"What are you going to do?"

"What? Of course I'm going to the forest to find Yaga."

"But, aren't you forgetting something?"

Trying to think hard about what she is forgetting, Luna gave up after a while because she can't think of anything.

"What is the thing that I forget?"

"If you get out to the field, the tempest wolf will come to kill you."

"Ah, the big grey wolf? It seems that I forget about it. But, we have to help the village chief. If not, I don't know what will happen to him and the village. So…"

Luna dragged her tone and looked at Ryou with a wide expectant eye. Ryou was afraid to ask but he still did nevertheless.

"So?"

"So, I'm counting on you Ryou!"

Luna is putting an encouragement gesture of touching his shoulder while speaking but Ryou can feel that a mountain is just being put on his shoulder. Not to mention the headache that he already has from earlier, Ryou really wanted to logged out right now. But looking at the expression on her face, he is really helpless against that.

「What a pain in the ass…」