Eternal Awakening [LitRPG] [EtA Book 1]

A Quest's Payout

Obi noticed the golden glow flickering and realized his mana was depleting quicker than he thought. While the shield was still up, Obi checked his Mana bar.

Mana: 10/300

He knew he couldn't use an ability with 10 Mana so he had to take drastic measures. Obi reached into his satchel and held onto a Mana Crystal. It was the last of which he had acquired, but the situation left him no choice.

Obi pulled out the Mana Crystal from his bag and held it up high in the air. He crushed the Crystal into his fist and shards flew everywhere. Blue tendrils of Pure Mana drifted up and around his arm and into his chest, slowly brightening in intensity.

He checked his Mana bar again.

Mana: 300/300

"Perfect", Obi said to himself as he readied his sword for an attack.

Obi was ready for the Golem when the shield went down and channeled Mana into his sword. He activated his [Mighty Cut] ability from the second gem slot in his sword.

Just as he was about to hit the Golem, he felt a falling sensation, and his surroundings became a light blue with white streaks moving up rapidly. His attack hit no-one, and he could see the mana flow out of the sword and join the tunnel.

After a good 4-5 seconds, Obi found himself next to his client. The first thing he did was check for the Golem. It was confused and trying to grab the air.

"Sean, you actual IDIOT! Why the HELL did you teleport me?"

"I saw you getting hit by the... creature, and I thought you were getting hurt so I teleported you. You told me to help, right?"

"You just made me use my last mana crystal, and then you teleport me while I'm attacking? I lost almost a quarter of that mana through that teleport! You know what? Just stand over there, don't move, and DON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID!", Obi yelled as he pointed to a thick, tall tree.

Obi watched Sean slowly shuffle and was about to tell him to hurry up, when he got the chills up his spine. He realized that he still kept aggro from the Golem, and turned around to find the Golem leaping at him.

The Golem overshot Obi, and landed between Sean and Obi, changing its target to Sean. It slowly prowled forward, sensing weakness as Sean panicked.

As it all unfolded before his eyes, Obi barely had time to think before he used his [Shield Dash] and put himself between Sean and the Golem. He grabbed a branch growing out of the Golem's head and used all his strength to throw the Golem away from Sean.

It just stood back up and stared at Obi. What a resilient beast it was. The Golem exhaled, and the golden form slowly evaporated, and the shimmering-gold skin withdrew itself. The entire body seemed to droop in exhaustion, but the Golem still stood to fight.

Obi took one look at the Golem and pitied it. After such a good fight, he didn't want to end such a good beast. The notion momentarily stopped him, but he knew he had the mana for the killing blow. 

Obi could hear his client screeching over the mic, and so he muted the channel. He needed to focus on the task at hand. Not only was the Golem angry, but it was also ready to fight. Obi gathered mana in his hand and charged his shield. He activated his [Pivot Point] gem and steadied his foot. As the beast charged at him, Obi threw his body weight against his shield and slammed it against the spine of the Golem. The shield's blunt point concentrated all the force against it and threw the Golem to the ground.

[Golem Health: 0/120]

The Golem skid a few feet before stopping against a large boulder. When Obi looked at it, he saw a magnificent creature, one of noble qualities and bravery, yet only created for people like his client to waste their time upon, and just play a game. As he walked up to the defeated Golem, Obi unmuted his Client who was cowering behind a tree.

"T-that was so close, hadn't you been there, I would have been crushed!"

"Shut it, Sean, now where's the money?", Obi gruffly said.

Sean slowly extracted himself from the tangle of branches and walked up. As he mustered up the confidence to talk back to Obi, a wire transfer of 17 Thousand in-game credits took place. 

Sean began, "That was awesommee!! See, I even leveled up! I just want to -"

"My work's done. Now leave my party.", Obi interrupted. He hated it when these brats kept prattling on and on about their fantasies and gear.

The loot involved: 3x medicinal herbs, 32x Wood Chunks, 2x Magical Leaves. All junk at his level. One item caught his eye though. It was a mythical rank gem. He pocketed it before turning away to look at it later.

It was time for Obi to log off. His 4-hour timer had just gone off, and no amount of justification could keep his guardian, Dern, from scolding his ears off. His armor had taken a beating. It would anyways take a long time for his [Shield Dash] to recharge. Obi's combat tag wore off, and he was able to teleport back to spawn. The Devs had changed the decorations for the occasion. FelliFest was around the corner, and they couldn't miss a chance to brighten up the place with some bits and bobs. 

As Obi logged off, he watched the red streaks fly by him as he 'flew up'. It never got old. He would be able to surprise his sister, Sara, with a present today. The paycheck of today's quest granted him leeway for another month. The world slowly transitioned to black, and all noise faded until Dern took the headset off.