Ethan stared at the figure shuffling slowly towards them. The guy moved like one of those idle NPCs you’d see loitering in the safe zones of Ethereal.
He knew Harmony City like the back of his hand. And in all his ti here, he had never, ever seen a system character like this.
"Huh...? Never seen him before," Ethan murmured.
The others followed his gaze, their eyes flickering with curiosity.
"You think it’s so kind of hidden NPC out for a stroll today?" Leeroy suggested.
"I’m gonna check it out. Maybe he’s got a side quest," atball declared, and before anyone could stop him, he was already sidling up to the NPC.
Exchanging glances, Ethan and the rest of the group decided to follow.
"That’s Leo!"
A bright, girlish voice piped up from among them.
"Wait, what? Kiara, you an that’s Skyblade?" Evelyn, who had heard Kiara, sounded utterly disbelieving.
"Yep, that’s Leo, alright," Kiara confird, a cheerful smile on her face as she looked up.
"How can you tell, Kiara?" Lyla asked, intrigued.
"His footsteps. That’s definitely Leo’s walk!"
Hearing this, Ethan understood. Kiara had an almost supernatural sensitivity to sound, and it seed that unique talent had carried over into Ethereal.
"atball’s about to have a bad ti," Ethan thought, a smirk playing on his lips as he spoke. He’d just noticed the figure Kiara identified as Leo subtly moving his hands behind his back. The guy was clearly up to sothing.
"Honorable..." atball began, then faltered, unsure how to address the naless figure floating above the NPC’s head. "Honorable sir?"
The figure, in a ridiculously strained, faux-solemn voice, cut him off. "Young warrior! I see you possess a rare and exceptional bone structure! I have a task for you... are you willing?"
"Willing! Absolutely willing!" atball’s head bobbed up and down, a grin splitting his face.
"Warrior, you must first pass my initial trial! You must carry this cask of mine and run laps around the square ahead! You will not stop until I say so! Do you accept?"
"I do! I accept!"
"Then catch!"
Whoosh...
From a distance, the rest of the group watched, their faces turning various shades of red as they struggled not to laugh.
The figure slapped the bottom of the massive wooden cask on his back. It flew through the air as if launched from a catapult, heading straight for atball.
Seeing the barrel coming, atball let out a determined "Hah!" and dropped into a horse stance, ready to receive it.
THUMP.
A dull, heavy sound echoed as the cask connected squarely with him, flattening him to the cobblestones.
One had to rember, atball was a Warlock at his core. Even with his hidden class, he was still a primary Intelligence build. A caster. Strength was not his strong suit.
The consequence of a cask—taller than a man and thick enough that three people could barely link arms around it—landing squarely on him was predictable.
But atball, ever the dedicated quest-chaser, seed to value the potential reward over his own well-being. With a furious struggle, he actually managed to get back to his feet. He hunched under the cask, hands braced against his back as if holding up a mountain, and began to shuffle forward.
His face, visible to Ethan’s group even with his head bowed, was the color of a bruised plum. Every step was a monuntal effort, his teeth gritted in determination. In his mind, this was the price of a rare, hidden quest.
He’d completely forgotten one crucial detail: why hadn’t a system prompt appeared to confirm he’d accepted anything?
anwhile, the figure—Leo—stood off to the side and behind him. He lifted the brim of his hat and tugged the scarf down to his neck, revealing his utterly ordinary, yet currently suprely smug, face. A deeply mischievous grin was plastered across it.
From their vantage point, Ethan and the others had a perfect view of Leo’s expression. They were speechless.
Was atball... just a little bit too gullible?
"Not bad, young man! You can actually move! This... Cosmos Cask... is a heavy... a powerful artifact!" Leo continued his charade, pinching his nose to alter his voice. "Since you are so remarkably strong, I have decided to upgrade your reward! You shall carry as well! If you can manage thirty steps, my trial will be complete!"
Without waiting for a reply, Leo leaped into the air, executed a showy, completely unnecessary 360-degree flip, and landed with one foot perched delicately on the edge of the cask.
atball’s body imdiately sagged under the new weight. He was now beyond speech, his legs trembling violently as he forced himself to take another shuffling step. Thirty steps would bring him right to where Ethan’s group was standing.
Gritting his teeth, he pressed on.
Having heard Leo’s pronouncent, Ethan’s group could only look on in a mixture of pity and amusent.
"atball... you can do it!" Leeroy suddenly shouted, a little too enthusiastically.
"Go, go, go!" Williams joined in, egging him on.
"Is this really okay?" Evelyn asked, frowning.
"What’s the problem?" Victor said, a sly smile on his face. "He’s standing right next to him and didn’t recognize him. We’re all the way over here; how were we supposed to know the NPC was Leo?"
Hearing this, a light seed to go on behind Evelyn’s eyes.
"atball! Why are you moving so slow? Can’t you handle it?" she called out, her voice sweet but carrying perfectly.
The effect was instantaneous. The man who had been bent at a near-ninety-degree angle suddenly straightened up a little, his head lifting.
"Who says I can’t handle it?!" he grunted, the words forced out through his strain. The phrase ’Can’t you handle it?’—especially from a beautiful woman—possessed a motivational power unlike any other. His pace actually picked up a fraction.
Naturally, the spectacle of a man carrying a giant cask with another man balanced on top was drawing a crowd. They were in the busiest district of Harmony City, the central hub for players. Pointing and whispering began, and soon laughter and mockery mixed with the curious murmurs.
Leo, for his part, simply crossed his legs and sat down comfortably on the cask, that infuriatingly smug grin never leaving his face.
"Ethan," Lyla murmured, leaning closer to Ethan. "This is getting a bit an. We’re all publicly ssing with him. Won’t atball get pissed?"
Ethan, however, seed lost in thought and didn’t answer.
"Well, well... atball? Skyblade? What’s all this? Lose a bet or sothing?" A new voice cut through the crowd. A man dressed in a black cloak, with two greatswords strapped to his back—a Berserker—pushed his way forward. His face was hidden, and his player na was hidden.
atball, of course, had no breath to spare for conversation and ignored him, taking another laborious step.
"Damn... if this is truth or dare, you’re taking it to the extre. Making a fool of yourself in front of everyone like this. Have you no sha?" the cloaked man continued, his tone turning accusatory as atball ignored him. He pointed a finger at Leo on the cask. "I’m talking to you, Skyblade! Is this how the Renegade Alliance treats its mbers? Just because you’re a main tank, you think you can humiliate people like this? Who are you trying to fool with that hat and scarf? You think we’re all blind?"
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