Chronicles of the True Wizard

Felix ran out of the town, careful to limit his speed so he didn't hurt anyone, himself included. He headed directly towards the world boss to the south east, and conveniently on the way to the only other dungeon he knew about.

Felix sped through the plains only tripping a single time and losing a sliver of health. As he approached the south shore of the continent, the plains abruptly ended where a sandy beach began just on the horizon. As Felix approached the beach, he saw the figure of a large animal, though he couldn't identify it in any way as it seemed to be curled up and sleeping. Felix approached until he could identify it.

[E - Special] Griffin (Lvl 87)

87? That's not too bad. I shouldn't be able to see it's level though if it's that high, maybe The System let's you because it wants you to be able to plan things out a little bit? I know if I do, it will kill me before I can blink, but I really want to hit it.

Felix decided not to commit guaranteed suicide, and instead just risk potential suicide. He approached until he felt he could accurately judge the creature. It was aptly named world boss, with a full height of about fifteen meters and length of twenty, by Felix's estimate. It was covered in light brown feathers with sandy colored stripes.

Felix was satisfied with his estimation and disappointed he couldn't do any more. Though he assured himself he'd be back to fight it some day soon. Felix ran north along the shore up to the edge of the forest then east towards the next dungeon he could find. As he ran, he finally encountered wild enemies with levels in the double digits, though none high enough for Felix to bother with. There were a lot more than Felix was expecting though, wolf packs, flocks of birds, bears, deer, and those were just the ones he encountered running along the edge of the forest.

It took Felix a few minutes to locate the dungeon as it was overgrown with vegetation, but he finally managed to spot it by falling into the entrance as he stared at his map.

Quest Dungeon C

You have found a dungeon. Would you like to enter?

Yes

No

Huh, a new type of dungeon, interesting. What the hell does a quest dungeon entail? Yes.

Felix looked around at a massive jungle, similar to the one he found himself in in the combat dungeon when he fought the Goblins, Monkeys and Troll, except bigger in every way. After a few seconds a screen appeared in front of Felix.

Quest Dungeon C

A Monster plagues the people of the Caregarr Forest.

(1/6) Gather information

Felix walked through the jungle stepping over massive roots and around skyscraper sized trees. He made it through the jungle with the help of his Cool spell, to regulate his own body temperature and cool the water in his canteens. Finally, he climbed through roots and around a trunk wider than a typical house causing a massive forest village to come into view.

The buildings of the village were all built on the sides of three massive trees, with bridges and walkways connecting the trees together and a spiral walkway around each tree connecting all the doors on the same tree together. The trees were growing over a massive valley that looked like the ground had been forcibly torn in two. Around the entire village hung a thin wall of vines.

Felix walked up to the one visible bridge leading from the ground into village and approached the two guards. Both guards were about two and a half meter tall lizard men. Their physique gave away their strength focused classes and each held a wooden spear and shield. One of them was covered in dark green scales with a smattering of light green, the other in red scales with a few symmetrical spots of white.

[E - Common] Caregarr Drakene (Lvl 38)

The one with red scales approached Felix threateningly "State your purpose."

Uh.

"I hear there is a monster plaguing the people of the forest, I… have been sent to deal with it."

The lizard man's eyes briefly flashed surprise and the other scoffed. "I am not sure who sent you, but we can handle the monster ourselves. I will lead you to the tavern, The Tipsy Tree, so you can rest, but forget about the monster, it is our village, we can deal with it ourselves."

Felix nodded, "That would be much appreciated, thank you."

Felix followed the guard up the bridge, through the vines and into the village. They walked up to the first level of buildings on the closest tree and the guard led Felix down a walkway just past a handful of rooms before slipping into a large wooden building. Felix followed into a tavern that appeared as expected except, bigger as it was built for a larger species.

The tavern was entirely empty and the guard led Felix up to the bar and rapped on the counter, "Borrugra, you in there? There's a human here to deal with the monster."

A pink and green scaled Drakene walked through a curtain from the back. She and the guard traded a nod then he walked out of the building.

"So, you're here about the monster. Follow me into the back."

Hmm, well hopefully they don't just kill me on the spot. I assume they have classes and professions just like me which would mean they are a much higher level than I.

The Drakene led Felix past a curtain and through a simple kitchen into a small sitting area. Felix settled himself into a floor cushion across from the Drakene.

"Sorry about the guard, the elders of the village have been saying they will handle the monster for a few generations now. Everyone who tries to handle it themselves ends up disappearing and the guard have launched attacks but they've never even seen the damned thing. Most, in the village, have grown up with it and don't think about it much."

Suddenly, she clenched her fists, which looked painful with claws, and looked away, "Last week, Gavren, a Drakene… I knew, disappeared. He didn't even go looking for it, he was just taken. Every Drakene that has ever tried to go after it on their own just vanished, so I was hoping an outsider might be able to find it. The guard who led you here is my cousin, he agreed to help me sneak someone into the village if I could find them. You can take everything I own if that's what it takes, I just need it dealt with, please."

"I'll see what I can do, but I'm lower level than everyone I've seen here so far, I'm not sure if I'll be able to do what you all couldn't"

"Just try… please. Someone disappears about every 9 days unless the schedule is disrupted by someone going out and looking for it. Since Gavren disappeared a couple days ago, just last week, you should have 7 or so days until it comes hunting. If you can find it before then, great, otherwise you might have to go looking before it takes someone else. In the meantime, you can stay here and talk with the Caregarr Drakene, just don't mention you're here to hunt it, it's a matter of pride for most."

"Thanks, I appreciate that. I guess I'll go asking around, see what I can find. Are there other monsters I can go hunt to level around here as well?"

"There are some, but you have to venture out pretty far from the village to find them. You might be able to convince the guard to hunt with you, you'll need them. The monsters are mostly higher levels, in the mid 40s or so."

"Thanks, I'll look into it."

"Here, I'll show you to your room."

After seeing the room Borrugra kindly offered, Felix wandered out of the village to try and find something to hunt. He left the village the same way he came in, through the wall of vines and down the walkway. He ventured out into the jungle and managed to wander all the way to the edge of the dungeon without finding any living creatures at all.

I wonder if there is anything here, or if it's empty and the Drakene's minds are being affected by System fuckery. I'll ask the guards. Otherwise I'll ask around the village and see if there's a mage or something so I can try and work on my profession. Worst case, I guess I can finally come up with a new workout routine. Kind of annoying to be stuck in here for a week, especially if I can't really do anything.

Felix made his way back to the village and into the inn. He asked Borrugra about any mages that might be in the village with knowledge of enchanting or magic item creation. Unfortunately, the only option she knew of was one of the elders, who specialized in ritual magic, who likely wouldn't be able to see him anyways.

It was still a few hours until The Tipsy Tree would start filling up so Felix went out to socialize with the people of the village. He was told the guards would definitely be at the tavern later, as they were every night, and it would likely be easier to convince them to bring him on a hunt if they were mildly intoxicated.

A little while later, Felix wandered across the walkways connecting the village together. Most of the buildings were closed and appeared to be simple homes but some were open on a side with visible wares. Nothing was of particular interest to Felix, he saw spears, shields, herbs, Drakene furniture, and a lot of raw meat. He was tempted to buy some seasoned skewers of raw meat as it smelled delicious, but he already had plenty of rations left from the goblins, and he knew he could hunt for meat himself.

He talked to anyone who seemed open to it, shopkeepers mostly, about the monster and the village. He didn't really learn anything though. Everyone seemed to have just accepted the monster for what it is, they didn't even seem to show much fear. It seemed like the village in general believed that if they stayed in the village and didn't go looking for it, they likely wouldn't be next. It also took anyone who was out of their homes at night, making them feel safe if they weren't breaking the unofficial curfew and skulking through the night.

The only thing he learned from talking to the Drakene, was that they could come in any combination of colors. Apparently there were also chromatic metal Drakene, with scales that looked like different metals. Even rarer were scales with a mirror like finish. He didn't see any chromatic Drakene himself, but the Drakene were prideful and upon encountering an outsider, quite a few of them took it upon themselves to tell him about themselves.

Interestingly, they didn't seem to consider themselves related to dragons, instead it seemed like they revered dragons as gods. Felix tried to inquire more, but they didn't want to talk much on that particular subject. He did hear about how the spear is the superior weapon, magic is only for weak fools, except the elder who practiced it, and that the length of a Drakene's claw was indicative of their masculinity. Though he wasn't so sure about that last one.

Back at The Tipsy Tree, Felix waited until a group of guards came and sat at a table near the door. He wouldn't have recognized them himself so luckily Borrugra agreed to point them out for him. Felix waited patiently for them to be buzzed, but not quite drunk enough to forget anything they agreed to, then he bought them a round of drinks to begin the courting.

It didn't take long for them to agree to take him on their next hunt, which was luckily tomorrow at dawn. They were prideful and Felix used that to his advantage, letting them go on about how they needed to show him how it was done. After making fun of his being a caster for a while, they told him to show up at the front gate before dawn or else they would leave without him.

Felix bid them farewell for the night after buying them all another round, both in gratitude and to buy him more time tomorrow morning as hopefully they slept in a little longer. Felix headed up to his room for the night, ate a ration and checked his quest status before heading to sleep for the night.

Quest Dungeon C

A Monster plagues the people of the Caregarr Forest, hunting them, at night, every 9 days or so. The monster has hunted the people for generations and rarely eats people from within the village, mostly hunting those that risk the outside. There is an unofficial curfew to keep people from being taken and most believe this keeps them safe.

(1/6) Gather information [Complete]

(2/6) Wait for the monster's next hunt

The next morning, Felix headed out for the day. It was just before dawn and the sky was still dark. Felix rushed to the entrance of the village, worried he might be late, even if the guards were drinking all night. He made it to the entrance, where he had met the two guards yesterday. He was just on time as there were six guards already there.

Luckily, they weren't waiting for him, they were waiting for another guard who arrived just a minute later. Felix followed the guards as they sped through the forest, he was only able to keep up with them thanks to his set bonus increasing his movement speed. Before heading out they made it very clear that he was not to interfere until they had hunted enough to sustain the village.

Felix also found out that their prey were exclusively large birds that lived in the jungle, which was odd to Felix considering they all wielded wooden spears and shields. They ventured about halfway to the edge of the dungeon judging by his map before they spread out to hunt for the birds. When he asked how they would know when one was found, they said he would know. . . . . .