Chapter 18 : The Truth in the Shadows

  He adjusted the worn leather satchel slung across his shoulder, its weight a familiar comfort. The quest, a seemingly simple task of delivering a message, had become more complicated than one could anticipate.

  He glanced at the datapad strapped to his wrist. The coordinates flashed on the screen, guiding him through the maze of narrow alleyways and towering hab-blocks that made up the lower part of the city. The nuance of recycled air and cheap synth-noodles, a familiar and not entirely unpleasant situation that spoke of the city’s underbelly.

  He reached his destination, a grimy doorway tucked between a noodle stall and a flickering neon sign advertising “Corning Domes.” The building itself was a dilapidated mess, its once-grand facade crumbling under the weight of neglect. He double-checked the coordinates on his datapad, then pushed open the door, stepping into the dimly lit interior.

  The air inside was heavy with the scent of stale smoke and something else…something metallic and faintly antiseptic. The room was small and sparsely furnished, a single flickering light casting long, distorted shadows across the walls. Behind a battered metal desk sat a figure shrouded in darkness.

  “You’re late, Morality Mortalized,” a raspy voice said from the shadows.

  Aron stepped forward, his boots echoing on the worn floorboards. “Erven,” he greeted, a hint of joke in his voice. "Traffic was a wildride, huh."

  The figure chuckled, a dry, rattling sound. “Always an excuse,” he said.

  “Bruh…”Aron rolled his eyes as he heard that.

  Shake my head.

  He really wanted to say, ‘Excuse your ancestor…’, but reason was holding him back. Who knows what kind of feedback this NPC is going to give him after saying that?

  After all, he knew how quite tricky the journey was in this particular endeavor so far. Though he could only be patient in the end.

  “Come on, then. I haven't got all night." The figure gestured, and the light caught his form.

  "We had a deal, yeah. My delivery, then your information. I held up my end. Where's mine?" He pointed to the package in his hand. "This isn't exactly light cargo, you know. It took a lot of effort…to get it here. And you know it yourself that this ain’t easy.” Somehow the tone of Aron in the end wasn’t so sure. As if saying that it was tricky, true, but it ain’t a lot of effort.

  Enver steepled his fingers, his gaze fixed on Aron. "You delivered the package, I'll give you that. But the information I need…it's more elusive. It requires…verification." Enver said slowly and calmly.

  Aron's frown deepened. "Verification? What kind of verification? And how do you propose we do that? I'm not going back. That's not part of the deal. You said it was a simple drop. No questions asked."

  Enver shrugged. "Things change. Information changes. My contact…he's become unreliable. I need to be sure what you delivered is what I asked for."

  Aron looked helpless hearing what was in front of him. He could tell that even though it didn’t sound hard and all, the subsequent mission after this is going to be another tricky one.

  "Haa... I know that it's not going to be easy but dang..." Aron said resignedly as he looked at the quest that is related to this NPC in front of him, reviewing the quest once again .

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  …

  Quest Name: The Truth in the Shadows

  Quest Giver: Enver, the Information Broker

  Type: Unique Quest

  Location: Enver’s Hidden Lair

  Objective:

  Deliver the mysterious package to Enver. (Turn in the package to complete the chain quest.)

  Reward:

  Clue regarding a Unique Rarity Item: Enver may offer you a lead on a Unique Rarity item

  …

  "This quest looks simple and all, but the one who's doing the quest is the one who knows the slick situation huh..." Aron sighed softly with his eyes closed.

  Aron had always known that finishing a quest like this was never going to be easy. He had anticipated the extent of the challenges that would come with delivering this mysterious package, but he still couldn’t help but lament about it.

  It all started when he received the package. It was an item that had changed hands multiple times in the black market, passed from one shady individual to another. Each time, it was hidden deeper, protected better, and guarded more fiercely. From the moment the request came through, Aron knew this wouldn’t be a simple job.

  The first setback came when the building housing the package was sealed off by a powerful gang who had no idea that the item they were holding was anything more than another piece of contraband.

  Once he had the package in hand, things didn’t get any easier. During his escape, Aron was ambushed by a group of masked figures who seemed to know exactly where he’d be. They’d been waiting for him, waiting to steal the package and dispose of him as a loose end. The ambush was swift and tight.

  As if the previous obstacles weren’t enough, there was a twist. The contact who had initially helped him retrieve the package turned out to be part of a larger scheme, one that aimed to seize the package for a far more powerful group. Realizing that Aron had been played, he had no choice but to deal with the twist.

  Finally, Aron was close to completing his mission. But getting to Enver wasn’t as easy as just walking through the door. Enver had his own security measures in place, ones that kept even the most skilled individuals from gaining access to him.

  All of this was just a summary about what happened before, a very much simplified version.

  By the time he finally stood before Enver, holding the package, Aron wanted to say that he was physically and mentally exhausted, going through those missions that many wouldn’t even have the chance to succeed in on even one occasion. But the fact was otherwise as he looked nonchalant and easygoing and all, so he really couldn’t say that.

  He could only sigh.

  “Haa…” So he sighed. Once more.

  … Should I just go away from this?

  A thought sprouted in his mind as another option that went otherwise crossed. It was true that it would take quite a bit of time just to get this quest done. More specifically, this quest that needed him to take the socalled detour. He was sure of it.

  Though he had his own resources to make him be able to bypass a lot of obstacles along the way, somehow he looked like he was in a dilemma whether to drop this quest or not.

  And one might ask, how could Aron abandon this quest when he had progressed up till now, when he had spent his time to reach up till this point?

  That was where the interesting part laid. Not every Unique Rarity item was good. To be exact, good in a sense of being worth the trouble and all. As the name suggested, a Unique Rarity item would have effects or skills that would be unique, no other rarity items would have it.

  But just because other rarity items wouldn’t have the same skills didn’t mean that other rarity items wouldn’t have the similar skills. For example, a unique rarity item would have an effect that would evolve an item and the effect of that certain item.

  It didn’t mean that one wouldn’t be able to improve that item through other means. It would just be a shortcut of a detour.

  But this value could be a whole different matter if it was used on a certain powerful item that needed close to impossible requirements. And that value of that Unique Rarity item would soar through the sky.

  But sometimes the opposite happened, where the value would just be a drop of a bucket. Getting Unique Rarity items would be basically getting a wild card, either you make it or either you would be damned with it.

  Though naturally, anyone who got the Unique Rarity items would just be glad with it as they would have a certain item that was literally useful in particular cases. Not in general, but it would be handy.

  Still tho…

  “If this item is not gonna be worth the time I swear…”