Chapter 9 - Unique Quest
Just as the trio walked into the training hall, the instructor suddenly shot up from his seat, making the three players stop in their tracks.
They turned to observe the instructor's behavior curiously as the middle-aged man hadn't made any move all this time, except for sitting back on his chair and looking down on all the new players.
"What do you guys think is going on?" Rey asked as he watched the instructor walk towards the far corner of the training ground where the 'joker' was performing his dance moves.
"Perhaps this is some sort of trigger for a quest?" Mia suggested.
"Or maybe the instructor couldn't put up with the eyesore anymore and took action to personally toss him out," Alex added with a straight face.
The three of them continued watching as the man walked up to Liam and stood in front of him with a revered expression on his face.
"Young man, you are almost there. Keep doing it." He even encouraged him, becoming his personal cheerleader.
All the other players in the training ground immediately became dumbfounded.
The instructor who had been gruff and rude to them was going out of his way to act polite and nice to the skinny weirdo.
Where was justice in this world?
Some people even tried imitating Liam, however, the instructor's attention was fully locked onto him and their actions only went unnoticed.
So everyone could only helplessly watch as the instructor continued encouraging Liam more and more. Soon, just a few minutes later, something weird started to happen.
Instead of sweat, Liam's body started to ooze something dark and black, stinking up the entire training area.
"What the heck???"
"Did he just fart??"
"This stinks."
Everyone scrunched their noses in anger, but the instructor's face beamed in surprise.
"You have done well lad." He patted Liam, who now stopped moving, and stood erect, slightly bowing to the instructor.
"It has been such a long time since I have across a competent young man like you."
"There is a sharpness in your eyes and I can see that your will and determination burns brightly."
"You have the tenacity to achieve the impossible. Young man, do you wish to attain perfection? Do you seek absolute power?"
The instructor's words utterly shocked everyone around, making their jaw drop on the floor.
All the surrounding players could clearly see that Liam was currently receiving a quest and more importantly, it was not an ordinary quest for sure!
It was definitely a special quest! Or perhaps a hidden quest! Or perhaps even a unique quest!
While special quests typically offered more rewards than normal quests, in any game, hidden quests and unique quests were rarer and were coveted more.
Particularly, unique quests were offered only once and the entire questline disappeared after the specific player finishes the quest.
Since 'Evolution Online' was brand new, no one was able to guess what was going on but they could tell that this was something special.
To make matters worse, they were only able to hear half the conversation, after which no one was able to hear what the two were talking about anymore.
Only Liam was able to hear the instructor's words and he had a big fat smile on his face.
"A few years ago, when I was fighting a life and death battle in the middle of a terrifying hunting expedition, I came across this small vial." The instructor muttered and handed over a small glass vial to Liam with a solemn expression on his face.
Liam as well accepted that vial with a look of reverence on his face and one could tell that he was not really faking it for gaining the favor of the NPC.
Whatever respect he was showing, he truly meant it. In fact, the vial he had received was nothing short of a life-saving elixir.
"My friend analyzed a small portion of this liquid and found that the medicine inside this vial is priceless." The instructor continued his explanation.
"It is capable of cleansing impurities from the very root of the body."
"Unfortunately, my prime has already passed and my body is riddled with injuries that cannot be undone. So I am not able to use it for myself."
"However, if you are willing to help me, I am more than happy to gift you this."
"First, I want you to destroy the beast that wreaked havoc on me and caused me to become crippled like this."
"Bring his head to me. I will only be satisfied if I spit in his severed head every day!"
[Ding: Unique Chain Quest activated]
[Ding: Quest cannot be refused]
[Ding: Kill the bear king Barabara and bring its head to the training ground instructor]
Liam smiled, happy that the information that he had was indeed accurate.
This was the main issue about unique quests. The person who managed to get it most often wouldn't spread the details of the quest around unless he was a total fool.
But Liam had been fairly confident about this particular quest because the person who managed to get it was none other than the bully who had been tormenting him his entire life.
He had pulled up the quest screen repeatedly and boasted to Liam, every time thrashing him around, while the latter could only watch him helplessly as he rose in power because of a single quest!
But now, Liam had successfully taken his first step!
He had managed to snatch someone else's fate and make it his own!