“Ah… Right! My name is Mary. What’s yours?” Mary, for some reason, was now clinging to my arm. I have no idea why, but as we walked, her rosy cheeks and bright smile as she continued talking filled the quiet back alley.

    “Zoe. What were you doing in the alleys anyway?” I asked out of curiosity. This was not part of the quest line but my own curiosity as to why a young girl of fifteen or so was in the back alley like this.

“Ah…. To be honest, they snatched me off the street. I think they planned to sell me off. I did not feel as if they wanted to do anything to me personally. At first, they covered my mouth, but after we entered the alley, I finally bit the man’s hand, which allowed me to scream. If not for you, I have no idea what would have happened to me.” Mary’s eyes turned downcast. NPC or not to have to go through such a thing was not something any girl would want to go through that is for sure.

“You are safe now. We will get you home. Make sure from now on, you walk in the middle of the road or at least out the outside of the crowd. This way, you will not get grabbed by those with evil intentions again. After all, pretty girls are targeted the most.” Mary was indeed pretty. Her lightly freckled face and big green eyes with red hair matched that of a ripe apple. 

“Pretty.” Mary’s entire face, for some reason, turned as red as her hair. I was never like this a few years back, but then again, she was an NPC with her own life and history. Which actually amazes me about this game. Each NPC has a birthdate and background. You can ask any NPC in a game about their youth, and they will answer you, and each one is different. The ideas and thoughts behind each of these backstories were quite amazing. Although I think they have an AI that makes up all these histories. 

But because of this, the NPCs also have their own culture. And young girls like Mary are at the innocent stages of life. In some cultures on Earth, they would already be in relationships or maybe even more than just the occasional kiss stage. For me, growing up, that was something that I could not fathom since just talking to another person was hard enough. While I force a smile on my face at work that was a facade to get through the day. I do not say more than I need to, which makes me sound like a robot. At first, I could hardly say the few lines I had to say at work. ‘Welcome!’ ‘Is that it?’ ‘That will be 9.99.’ ‘Here’s your change.’ ‘Please come again!’  But after a while, I gradually turned my mind off and moved throughout the day as robot Zoe.

“This is it.” Mary let go of my hand and ran to the door of a shop. It seemed she was a merchant’s daughter. This would have made her a perfect target. A merchant has lots of money. And would most likely dish out a lot to retrieve their daughter.

“I am glad you are home safe. Remember to always walk on the outside of the crowd from now on if you are alone.” I gave Mary a smile before starting to turn to leave. It was a required part of the quest to take your leave without asking for anything further from what I heard.

“Wait!” Mary called out and ran over to me. She looked up at me with her big green eyes while taking my hand into hers and asked: “Can you come by tomorrow? I wish to thank you for today. I can’t give you much now, but tomorrow….” 

“I will be here tomorrow.” I smiled and patted her head, to which she returned a beaming smile at me. 

“Okay! I will be waiting!” Mary’s bright smile never left her face as she shoved something into my hands and ran back to her shop. I glanced at my hand to see a silver heart shaped pendant. I looked up to see the smiling girl waving at me. I couldn’t help but smile and wave back before taking my leave.

[Hidden Quest: ‘Alley Rescue’ Completed!]
[Completion Rate 200%]
[Main quest: 100%]
[Rewards]
[Experience Points Gained!]

[Level up!]
[Level up!]

[Hidden Optional Quest: 100%]
[Hidden Optional Quest: Gain Mary’s Favor]
[Rewards]
[Experience Points Gained!]
[Reward: Mary’s Heart]

[Level up!]

[Item: Mary’s Heart]
[Type: Accessory]
[Rarity: Rare]
[Defense: 10]
[Description: Item filled with Mary’s Love. It will protect the one she loves.]

[Hidden Quest: Updated]
[Hidden Quest: ‘The Swordmaster's Challenge’]
[Return To Mary and get information about a sword master.]

I had to say one thing about these hidden quests, it would be the experience rewards were very generous. I was not even an hour into my gameplay time yet, and I was already level 7. But what surprised me even more was the hidden quest line. When I heard about these quest lines, to begin with and read the summary on the forums on how they were done, it never mentioned an item called Mary’s Heart. 

Now, this item might seem weak, but for a low level, it was very good since most accessories could not even be worn until level 20, and every little defense stat helped. As such, to have ten extra defenses now was truly a godsend.

I quickly equipped the pendant and walked towards my next destination. I no longer had to worry too much about time frames except for stopping at Mary’s the next day. As for the other two quests I need to quickly grab them and move on. 

My destination, though, was a tad scary. I had to go to an abandoned house at the edge of town and investigate it. Well, more like it investigates its cellar. Now, this quest might seem easy to start, but it wasn’t. The cellar had a level 5 unique ghoul that could easily kill players in one strike. This means I was in for a fight, even if I was at a higher level than it. If I remember from my dreams correctly, the one who was able to successfully grab the quest was a player who was level 10. 

Now, dark places were fine and all, but the thing that scared me was the ghoul. This game was very realistic, which meant the smelly, disgusting ghoul’s body would be on full display for me to see and smell. I really need to get used to these things. I fought many in my dreams, but up until now, they were just dreams. They were not reality!