A Certain Lost Teddy Bear
“A hidden quest?”
It was not the first time Lost had gotten a hidden quest. In fact, not too long ago he had gotten the evil slime king’s hidden extermination quest. Hidden quests weren’t something rare themselves. It’s just a term for quests that are impossible to get through normal means.
To get a hidden quest, players could sit in front of a place and pray, consume a certain consumable item at a specified time of the day, and so forth. But he had never heard of a hidden quest that was triggered through a coincidence.
And even more intriguing, is the quest difficulty and rewards. The rewards were actually quite acceptable. I mean, what would you give someone when they find your lost belongings, just a thank you, right? But the difficulty, why was it unknown? Finding a teddy bear that was lost in a forest, it would probably be an E difficulty at most, why was the system being so mysterious about this?
Lost got suspicious. However, just before he rejected it, he saw Malec’s crying face. It reminded him of when he was a child. He lost his favorite teddy bear, and he cried for weeks. He didn’t want another child to feel that either, so he accepted the quest.
“Okay, leave it to me!” Lost said, putting his hand on the kid’s shoulder, smiling widely.
“R-r-really?”
“Yup!” Lost reassured the crying child. “Did you give him a name?”
“Th-Theo.” Malec responded, still stuttering as he cried.
Lost was surprised.
Theo.
That was the name of his lost teddy bear. The one he lost when he was a child. Theo was the first gift from his parents. They were busy people, and were rarely at home, leaving him with his grandfather when he was at home. And thus, this gift meant a lot to him. Lost shed a tear without realizing.
“Why are you crying?” asked the boy, clueless to Lost’ past.
“Ah.. it’s nothing.” Lost responded, wiping his tears away.
Was it a mere coincidence? Could this quest be something that his parents created before they passed away? Nevertheless, he was even more determined to find Theo.
After saying goodbye to Rodzic, Lost quickly left the restaurant. And immediately headed to the nearest forest. As he did, Rodzic looked at Lost with a melancholic look on his face.
“What’s wrong, papa?”
“...”
***
Freedom Fantasy is a VRMMORPG that shook the world, literally. The day of the game’s release, there was a massive earthquake that shook Japan. But that’s a story for another time.
One of the reasons for Freedom Fantasy’s success is the Class System. It is said that Freedom Fantasy harbors tens of thousands of classes. This has been never heard in any game before, as the balancing of each class would be hard. This made the impression that every player can be a unique existence within the game.
Each class is unique, with its own advantages and disadvantages. There are two types of classes in this game, common classes, and hidden classes.
A common class is a class that could be obtained by ordinary means such as studying from a class master and such. Common classes are by no means easy to obtain, but they have a straightforward way to obtain them. For example one could become a knight by enlisting in the army of a kingdom, a wizard by studying under a magic teacher and so on.
A hidden class is a class that is unobtainable through normal means. Hidden classes can be obtained by a player when said player finishes certain quests a certain way, or meets the requirements needed to obtain a class.
However players didn’t really care about whether or not a class is common or hidden. Since the only thing that made a difference was actually the rank of the class itself.
The highest ranked known by players thus far was epic. It was leaked that there were currently 4 players that had an epic class. One of them was Kjellberg, a swedish streamer that had accidentally gotten the class on-steam. Other than him, the other three’s identities were kept confidential.
Ann Hamasaki, a player from japan was currently venturing the Griefyard Badlands, an area in the south of the west continent. She went by the username of Ann.
[“Shadowblade IV” Quest Complete!]
“That son of a witch..”
She had recently fought the field boss ‘Shadow Witch's Offspring’, and had barely come out of the battle alive. Her health was currently in the lower 5%, and has run out of mana.
[Due to the completion of “Shadowblade IV” another quest has been generated.]
“Finally, it’s almost over...”
‘Twilight Cat, is that monster strong?’ Ann wondered.
“Miss Ann, help..” a man mumbled, crawling on the ground. He looked dirty and was bleeding. His hair was yellow, and his face was that of a french teenager’s. His body was covered in armor, yet every piece of it looked like it was about to break.
“Larron, you’re still alive?”
“...”
***
Mirrond Grasslands, an area outside of the city of Mirrond. Every corner is covered with vegetation of many kinds. As the name states, it’s mostly covered by only grass.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Theo.”
He can’t get that name out of his mind. It’s been so long since he heard it.
“Where are you, old friend?”
Theo was his only friend when he was little. He would bring Theo to the dining room to eat with him, and take him to the bathroom to take a bath together. He told Theo his secrets, and they slept together everyday. He couldn’t sleep without Theo, and Theo would bring him courage every time there were lightning strikes.
They were inseparable, like wine and cheese. Lost- no, Axel’s old friend existed within the game Freedom Fantasy, and he can’t wait to see him again.
‘Will Malec let me keep Theo?’ he wondered.
‘...’
‘Probably not.’ Lost sighed.
“Status Window.”
'Wait... I've just realized this but..'
'Where are the passive skills I've gotten?'
"Settings."
Lost opened the settings menu.
"What's this?"
To his surprise, under the standard options (display, audio, etc.) there were another option, it was labelled "Special Class Options". He accessed that option, and he found a rather interesting sentence.
"What the hell is this?"
"I haven't had any bonuses anyway, let's turn this on."
The moment he did so, a notification appeared.
[Commencing Class Evolution...]
[Class Evolution Complete!]
Before Lost could react, another notification appeared.
[Commencing Class Evolution...]
[Class Evolution Complete!]
"Whoa...."
Lost felt immense joy. After getting stuck with a poor rated class for weeks, he had finally managed to evolve his class, although it was purely coincidental. What's even more surprising is the fact that he evolved twice in a row. Surely this made up for all of his bad luck. After reading the each description, his face turned grim.
"Raven..ous?"
He had recalled a forgotten memory from the past.
"The reason I lost Theo..."
Suddenly, he saw a cat's sillhouette heading towards him from the corner of his eye. He felt that it was quick and deadly, and he had barely dodged it. The cat had a sudden halt, and turned his head around. Upon closer inspection, the cat's fur was jet black, with bright yellow eyes to contrast it. In the cat's tail, it held a bear-like plushie.
He saw the cat's name, and he laughed.
"Is this merely coincidence, or is this fate?"
The cat let out a sharp cry
"That's right. It was you, wasn't it?"
Lv. ??? Field Boss
"Raven."