Lucifer was surprised. He hadn't expected that his research would give him a unique skill. Especially one as useful as this. Quick Study would allow him to level up quickly without having to worry about his level getting higher than the mastery of his skills. Although it has no direct use in battle, Quick Study would make all of his other skills more powerful. He would be able to level as quickly as he wanted to and still be more powerful than the average person at his own level. He had completed the basic training hall and gone though Darwyn's lessons, so he was still more powerful than most players his level, although he hadn't allotted any of his skill points.

  When night fell, Lucifer packed up his stuff and hid in a nearby tavern overlooking the plaza. He took out his paper and pencil and peeked out through the window. He watched as players gathered at the square, looking for him. He recorded the amount of people who came, their reactions when they realized he wasn't there, and how long they stayed, wondering if he had logged off. Again rumors began to spread through the town, but now they weren't as complimentary as before.

  "I can't believe it. That cloaked bastard who was selling all that crap ran off!"

  "What? No way! How could he?"

  Lucifer now had other problems. Not only was his face very recognizable, but now so was his cloak. He needed to find a new way to avoid attention. He decided he needed to leave Serabourg as soon as possible, even if that meant spending day and night in the forest or going to a small town with few users.

  After a few days holed up in the tavern, Lucifer's Handicraft skill became 99% through Beginner Level 9. He decided to make himself a new cloak to get it to the Intermediate stage. He took out the last bits of wolf pelt he had, and began removing the hair. He crushed some flowers to make a red dye. He sewed the skins together to make a cloak.

  Lucifer wasn't particularly happy with the outcome, but at least nobody would expect him, the man who had made huge amount of money selling japtem, to wear such shabby clothing. He dyed the cloth red. Unfortunately, his Handicraft skill didn't rise to the intermediate level with such poor work, so he needed to do something else to raise it. He decided to try and make a better cloak out of a different material.

  He slipped out of the tavern, and went to the largest Tailor shop in the city, avoiding people as much as he could. He asked the NPC for the best sewing material they had in the shop.

  The NPC brought him a large sheet of a very soft, white, material.

  "What material is this?" Lucifer asked.

  "This is silk soaked in holy water blessed by the priests of the Church of Freya. It is the best material you will find in all of Serabourg," the woman answered.

  "How much does it cost?"

  The woman looked offended.

  "This is a priceless piece of cloth! How could I sell it to a pathetic foreigner such as you? That would desecrate the name of the Church!"

  Lucifer was angered by her remark, but he kept his cool.

  "I did ask for the best material you had, but what's the point if you aren't even going to sell it to me? This was a waste of time. I guess I should just go to another shop and buy something there. Obviously this shop isn't as reputable as people say. Perhaps I should tell my friends of this." Lucifer was trying to force her to sell the cloth to him by threatening to make the shop lose business, but she was having no part of it.

  "That doesn't matter. If I sell this to someone like you, this shop will lose all of its honor."

  Lucifer needed some kind of material to make his cloak.

  "Fine. Do you have just plain silk? I'll buy that."

  The woman gave him a look that said,

  "I don't want to sell anything to this dirty brat," but she got the material anyways.

  "How much?" Lucifer asked again.

  "100 gold."

  "What? That's ridiculous. I could get this much silk for 20 gold anywhere else!" Again, Lucifer found himself outraged.

  "Then go somewhere else!"

  It was obvious the woman didn't want to sell Lucifer anything. He walked out of the shop, furious. However, in his anger, he hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings. A few users noticed his cloak, and shouted out to him.

  "Hey aren't you that guy who was at the beginner's plaza?"

  Lucifer began running away. He slipped into the sewers again, coming back out at the edge of the city. He had given up on trying to make himself a new cloak. He left the failed cloak by the city walls for anyone who wanted it to pick up.

  He began hunting furiously. He leveled up quickly by fighting any monster he could find, many of which were above his own level. Suddenly, he got a message.

  Lucifer had obtained a stat that generally only warriors had. Also, his level had risen by ten in just 3 days. However, he was unsatisfied. His hunting speed was too slow, even slower than most solo players. This was due to 3 reasons. One was that he had no Profession yet, so he couldn't get the bonuses, another was that he was conserving his skill points. He had put a few skill points into strength and agility, but his points were generally unspent. The last, and most important in Lucifer's opinion, reason was that he didn't have any way of healing himself. He could eat food, but that didn't really give him many health points, so he had to wait a long time after losing most of his health before he could fight again. He could buy potions, but they cost a lot of money, so he didn't particularly want to do so. He decided he needed a skill that would allow him to regain health more quickly.

  He logged off to look for a skill matching his requirements.

  When Finn left his pod, it was midday, so he decided to have some lunch. While eating, the front door flew open, and his brother and sister came flying into the room. Seeing him, they began shouting in excited voices.

  "Mom and dad are getting us Royal Road!" Finn's brother shouted. His sister nodded saying,

  "They're installing the pods in 3 days!"

  Finn congratulated them.

  "I hope you have a good time playing Royal Road. Can we meet up in the game when they are installed? I want to see your characters."

  His brother and sister agreed. They decided to meet up in some fields just outside of Serabourg. They had been playing as much Royal Road as they could, so they had apparently become pretty powerful.

  Finn finished his lunch and went back to his room. He checked his email, then went searching for skills to help him hunt. He found 7 possible skill that he could easily obtain. There were 3 different cleric skills he could learn that would heal himself, a Bandage skill, a Brewing Potions skill, and 2 bard skills that sped up health and vitality recovery.

  Finn logged back on to Royal Road.

  Lucifer woke up in the middle of a forest. He began making his way back to Serabourg, fighting monsters along the way. When he arrived in the city, he went to an NPC shop where potions were sold, and asked the man at the counter who supplied their potions.

  The man looked at Lucifer.

  "Our supply comes from a person on the edge of the Rosenheim Kingdom. It's a hermit who has been brewing potions for a very long time now."

  Lucifer made a face. The edges of the Rosenheim Kingdom were a few days away, even by horse.

  Suddenly the NPC said,

  "If you are going to see go see the hermit, could you bring the payment we owe for supplying potions this month? I usually go with a few guards, but this month my wife is sick, and I don't want to leave her."

  A quest with difficulty level C! Lucifer was barely level 30, and level C quests were generally completed by parties with levels above 100! However, it wasn't like Lucifer could refuse. If he didn't accept the quest, the hermit would no longer supply the city with potions, and he would not only lose a huge amount of popularity among the citizens of Serabourg, but his fame would also drop a huge amount. And besides he would be able to go with NPC guards who would make the quest easier.

  Lucifer made up his mind to accept the quest.

  "Of course I will deliver the money for you. I hope your wife gets better."

  "You may take my horse, as long as you bring it back healthy," The shopkeeper offered.

  "I will go to deliver the money as quickly as possible."

  With that, the shopkeeper brought Lucifer a chestnut horse. Lucifer took a look at the horse's stats, and was very pleased. It was a very good horse. He got on the horse, and the shopkeeper handed Lucifer a sheet of paper.

  "Here is a map to where you are going. You should meet the guards at the city's southern gate," he said.

  Lucifer thanked the man, and rode off. He had cut the hood off the cloak he had made to use it to keep people from seeing his head, and he couldn't help but feel a little ridiculous while riding through town.

  At first, although he had NPC guards, Lucifer considered asking some high level players for help. He wanted just so that he would be able to continue his research, but he decided against it. He didn't want to attract any more attention than he already had.

  He rode to the southern gate, and saw 5 men in knight armor together, waiting on horses. He took his hood off and rode over to them, explaining the situation. They introduced themselves as Richard, a warrior, Ackerley, an assassin, Bradyn, Neville, both mages, and Felix, an adventurer. When they finished introducing themselves, the 6 started in the direction the map was pointing.

  The 5 NPCs were all much more powerful than Lucifer, so they were easily able to kill any monsters on the path.

  The 6 rode until sunset, when found a clearing in the woods. They stopped, and Neville took food out of his pack, as the others collected wood for a fire or set up camp. Lucifer offered to help Neville cook, but once they started cooking, it was apparent Neville was a much better chef than Lucifer. Therefore, Lucifer mostly just observed Neville cook, and learned how to make different dishes.

  Lucifer began to realize that the 5 NPCs had obviously been working together for many years, as they attacked monsters together, each covering for another's weaknesses. Although they had been traveling for 3 days, Lucifer still hadn't gained a single level. The 5 NPCs were took care of almost all the monsters. Brayden and Neville could both use powerful area of effect spells, and Richard absorbed damage while Ackerley swiftly attacked monsters weak points. Meanwhile Felix was a jack of all trades, who could deal or take damage to a certain extent, disable traps, etcetera. Lucifer found he had no real place in the team, he was sure that the 5 could have delivered the money themselves, and therefore was wary, waiting to find out the reason that they didn't just deliver the money themselves. He was also becoming suspicious of the 2 week limit on the quest, they would arrive in only a couple more days, so why did he have so long to complete the quest?

  During the whole trip, Lucifer had been repairing armor and weapons and cooking, yet his Handicraft skill still had not become intermediate level. He was anxious to level it up, and was constantly checking its progress, but it was completely stuck. He knew he needed to make something special to level it up, but he had nothing special to craft.

  On the 4th day of the trip, Lucifer got a message.

  A forest dungeon! These dungeons were extremely rare, and usually had an extremely powerful boss monster in them. However, they were only about a day away from the hermit's house, so Lucifer wasn't particularly worried about running into the boss.

  As they walked further into the forest, the trees became more and more densely packed. Lucifer began to feel uneasy, but the 5 NPCs continued forward in silence. They had stopped coming across monsters, but Lucifer couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched although his detect skill didn't show anyone being near them.

  Suddenly, the trees began to thin out, and Lucifer realized something. They were in the exact same place as they had started! From then on, he began making marks on trees as they went along, and saw that they were going in circles. Lucifer now figured out the reason for the two week limit. They could go around in circles for days if nobody realized they were doing so.

  When Lucifer pointed out that they were going in circles, the 5 NPCs looked at each other and laughed.

  "We know," Richard said, "to get through the Forest of Faeries, you need to either be friends with the faeries or defeat Oberon, the King of the Faeries. The man who usually comes with us is very good friends with the fairies, so we usually get through easily. That's why he brings all the money from shops that owe the hermit for potions. Right now, we need to keep walking in circles until a faerie comes out. They don't trust us, so if a faerie comes out, you will have to speak with it. However, it is not easy to become a friend of the faeries, and if you don't become friends with them we will have to fight them. Be warned, they are very powerful."

  Lucifer nodded. He had time to spare. He could be patient for a few more days. He needed to think of how he was going to befriend the faeries anyways. He waited.

  Despite that, the days went by, and they had done nothing but ride in circles, with no sign of any faeries. Lucifer began to get worried, but the NPCs told him not to worry, that the faeries would come speak to them any day now.

  Finally, on the 9th day of the quest, while eating, a bush rustled, and a few small children came tumbling out. They looked between the men and the food, mouths watering. Lucifer, noticing this, walked over to them, smiling and holding out his plate for them.

  "Would you like some food?" he asked. "If you want, you can have some of mine."

  The kids seemed about to reach for the food when Lucifer felt something hit the back of his head. Hard. He turned to see what it was, but it seemed like there was nothing there.

  "We don't take food from no stinkin' humans!" shouted a voice that seemed to come from thin air.

  "That's a double negative. What you just said means you do take food from humans!" Lucifer responded laughing.

  There was a pause. Suddenly.

  "Are you makin' fun of me? 'Cause of you are, Imma kill you." The voice came again, but this time, Lucifer pinpointed its location, and grabbed at the place the voice was coming from.

  What he found in his hand was what looked like a very small person with red skin and clear wings.