Faceless Phantom

Chapter 10 - Path to Astral Artisan (1)

Chain quest.

It was a quest that once you received the quest, it would continue to another quests. The difficulty sometimes becoming hard and, of course, the rewards also much valuable.

I never expected it to be a chain quest. This made me thinking that Mirage was probably only a temporary member until I reached the end of the chain quest. Well, I wanted to travel alone from the start. Even so, I was sincere to help Mirage recover her memories.

'What is this quest about?'

Well, I had played enough MMORPGs to know where this was going. Path to the Astral Artisan sounded like a job quest. Astral Artisan might be Belgram's profession. The clue was the message from the man himself, and Halton also said about passing Belgram's legacy to someone's worthy enough. However, was I worthy enough? I didn't know. They might be choosing the wrong person.

'I never think myself as a worthy person.'

Being an artisan, huh? I had made blacksmith characters before, but I never used them as my main character. Some players definitely knew this very fact, they had made a blacksmith just to make equipment for their main character or making profit by using the character as vending machine. Artisan or Blacksmith as main character might as well ended up being a merchant. Still, every job was never useless. They had their own role. So, maybe I could try being one as main.

"Yeah. Of course. It's the only clue we have."

"Hmmm..." His expression was firm yet gentle. And then he smiled. "Well, I hope you find what you seek. And I hope Miss Mirage will regain her memories soon."

"Thank you..."

[You have accepted Path to Astral Artisan Quest]

"Anyway, what is this?" I raised the strange cubic on my hand. "Is it some kind of device?"

"Hahaha... I tried to examine that one multiple times. Alas, I still don't know what it is. Sir Belgram's works are full of mysteries. Perhaps, you'll know once you get there."

"I see... We will be going then."

I put everything in my bag and ready to get up, but...

"Before you go... Take this." He put a book on my hands. "Thank you for doing my request."

"What? No... You don't have to..."

I tried to give the book back but Halton opened both of his palms and shook his head.

"It's fine, take it..."

[You have earned a Book: The Beauty of Crafting by Halton]

"Well, I wish you luck."

"Thank you, Mr. Halton."

"Thank you very much."

"You're welcome, kids. Take care..."

We bowed and left. Before I turned to the alley, I looked back for a moment while still walking. I saw Halton's lonely figure sitting beside the campfire with a bowl of soup on his hand.

・・・

The sun almost set, I was thinking that I probably still had time to buy Mirage some clothes. When I was in Belgram's workshop before, I found a bunch of clothes inside a cabinet. But they were small and definitely her childhood clothes. Therefore, I planned to buy her one or two. Even though her white dress still looked good, Uruzak's old tattered robe she was wearing was what I didn't want her to wear when we were in town. Earlier, some players were laughing as they saw an Aphu being followed by someone that looked like a beggar. Well, if they knew who was behind the old tattered robe they would be surprised.