Chapter 163: A Dark Trap


    The NPC just harrumphed while pointing towards the interface, "c''mon, take the final reward out. Let''s see what this system forced reward is all about."


    Bloom shrugged and paused for a moment there before shrugging again and then selected the fourth icon.


    The icon shed in golden light, and what appeared next was nothing!


    "System alert: congrattions for the yer to gain the highly esteemed national quest. The quest is enforced and can''t be rejected, yet the penalty of failing it still applies."


    "System alert: Destroy the dark forts in the empire quest: this is a special, highly esteemed national quest only issued for those who are held high in the eyes of the emperor.


    Having this quest means you are acknowledged by the emperor, gaining the yer a thousand point prestige in the entire empire. yer will be received and dealt with as VIP, and no one can touch a single hair of the yer in any imperial official settlements.


    yer has gained a rank of honorable yer, and this can be used as a title whenever the yer wishes."


    "System alert: Destroy the dark forts in the empire quest: assigned from the emperor to yer Bloom. yer has to seek and destroy one fort of the dark forces by himself once per week.


    Dying this and it will be considered as mile failure. yer will pay a penalty of ten thousand gold coins per week dy.


    Failing to do this for the entire month will be considered as a moderate failure. yer will have to stay in the nearest imperial settlement prison for one week to atone his crimes.


    Failing to do this for three months will be considered as a total failure. The emperor will issue a warning arrest, announcing the yer to be an enemy of the empire. yer can''t enter or get near any imperial settlement at all. All his belongings and stored items inside any imperial system will be confiscated. Any current imperial settlements quests will be dropped. Bounty rewards will be issued upon his head for life."


    "Wow!" Bloom was shocked when seeing all these punishments. "Never thought a quest will have consequences and punishments; no rewards!"


    "What did you get?" the NPC asked.


    "Some bullshit called national quest."


    "What the f*ck!!" the NPC was electrified like he was stung by a snake. "An imperial national quest?" he asked again in a very distressed way.


    "Sure, are you familiar with this?"


    "Familiar?" the NPC returned his head to the back as he bitterlyughed, "man, you must have pissed someone off," he muttered before returning to normal before adding:


    "This national shit is the thing that made me reach this lousy and sorrow state from the beginning. I had it enforced upon me once, and I failed to do one task. Just look at what I ended up to, without your help I would have been doomed."


    "I''m doomed!" Bloom bitterly said, while his mind was thinking about another dilemma. "Even aftering back again and trying to save myself from the desperate end, my fate followed me no matter what and I ended up by what made me end like this in the first ce weird," he thought to himself before he heard the NPC''s next words.


    "My type was to kill dark forts, what about yours?"


    "Damn!" Bloom cursed before ncing at the interface, "this isn''t fair gamey, y''know!" he shouted at the hidden person who appeared and threatened him just before.


    "The game is unfair, we all know that," the NPC muttered.


    "Who are you referring to?" Bloom shook his head while the NPC showed a panicked expression like he said something he shouldn''t. "Don''t mind this, now what do you n to do?"


    "I will try to force my way to make this quest fulfilled," he sighed.


    "What''s your time window? A month?" the NPC asked.


    "A week."


    "Wow, that''s much harsher than mine," the NPC nodded before adding, "As you have my quest, I can help you with intel."


    Bloom nced at him. "Tell me everything you know," he said, before adding, "and what''s the benefit of such a quest anyway? I have no rewards at all!"


    "Nah, you got your reward already."


    "Which is?"


    "The prestige rank," the NPC said, before adding, "or how else do you think I got my current status in themunity raised? By fulfilling each task, you''ll get a bonus of prestige."


    He paused before starting to brag, "My current rank is imperial viscount, which is something very high if you know what I mean."


    "Tsk, not worth the trouble," Bloom said before adding, "just tell me the info. What is the level of these dark forts? How many do I need to prepare?" he then paused before adding, "what are the consequences of stirring the ho nest?"


    "Wise and clever," the NPCmended before seriously adding, "the issue isn''t at first. Your first forts will start from level zero and increase with five each time. For now it''s easy, butter when hitting the higher levels above fifty, you''ll need almost one week to raise a level or couple if you''re lucky and didn''t die inside any dungeon or at the hand of any monster."


    The NPC sighed before adding, "but this isn''t the scariest part of the quest. What really made me fail was the relentless hunt of me. I learnt that after finishing five quests, the dark world here will take notice of me. I heard about something called quests issued over my head by many, can you imagine that? Many dark masters put a rich ransom under my name, sigh."


    Suddenly Bloom was hit by a lightning bolt. "Damn! This is your trick then!!" he inwardly cursed while understanding what his hidden foe did.


    "If this continues, my head won''t be safe," he recalled the long list of dark quests issued by low dark yers and NPCs like him in the dark auction. He knew there were higher levels and ces for more advanced dark masters, and even thinking about having his name and tag over the quests in the lowly ck auction alone gave him a headache.


    "Wait a minute" his track of thoughts suddenly paused as he realized something, "did this make me the enemy of the dark side? Would I lose my ss?" this time was greatly enraged.


    "Alright, let''s go out then," Bloom shortly said, as he had many important things to doter on.


    "Sigh, take this," the NPC handed him an old parchment. "Just ce it in your inventory and we''ll be able to talk together in the usual way you yers use," the NPC added while exining, "when passing through this portal, you''ll appear in your vige and I''ll appear in my city."


    "Aha," Bloom nodded in understanding before saying, "you can go ahead, I''ll have a word with my dolls here."


    "Tsk," the NPC turned his gaze again as he was reminded of these beauties. "Won''t you change your mind?"


    "Just leave," Bloom wasn''t currently in the mood to deal with this lustful NPC. He watched the NPC moving unwillingly through the portal before taking a long and deep sigh.


    "Come my dolls," he took out their tokens before sending them all back. He started this with one hundred girls, then a thousand, and ended up with a hundred and twenty plus the tokens of another thousand to revive if he wanted at great cost.


    "This game" he shook his head while picturing the tworge worlds in it, "I swear this won''t be passed without a retaliation from me," his gaze turned much serious as he added, "much more serious than you can even imagine."


    He moved towards the portal, leaving this world behind and appearing again inside the vige.