Morbid

Bokuboy

Thanks to Arnold's Accelerate spell and a visit to the shop where he had sold all those items and bought the necessary components for what Kelly thought was a ridiculous amount of gold, Arnold visited the quest giver for the Resist Effect spell. He fulfilled the requirements in only moments and acquired the gold version of the spell. It shocked both the quest giver and Kelly that he had achieved it so quickly.

“You were right, Kelly.” Arnold said and looked at his hand. “Just eight stacked Accelerate spells stop the game from registering my movements.”

“E-e-eight?” Kelly looked at him and thought about it. If each spell gives him a fifty percent boost, then the next spell gives a fifty percent boost on top of the new speed. “Arnold... good god.”

“Now I have the gold version of Resist Effect. It has a fifty percent chance to cancel any effect that targets me and it stacks as well.”

“Won't that cancel your Accelerate spell that makes you move fast?” Kelly asked.

“Only if I cast it after Resist Effect, and since you can cancel a spell at any time...”

“...you can cancel the Resist Effect spells and stack more Accelerate spells and cast Resist Effect again.” Kelly finished for him. “What's the next spell we can quest for?”

“Magic Hand and then Magic Armor.” Arnold said.

Kelly remembered doing those tasks herself. “Okay, I can show you what you need to do, since the trials for them are the same, no matter who you are.”

“Thank you.” Arnold said and they went to an empty area.

Kelly did her best to simulate what the trials were going to entail and gave Arnold the best chance to complete the task with little or no errors. “That's all I can remember about it. Hopefully, they haven't changed the tasks or the requirements.”

Arnold nodded and they travelled part way across the city to meet a wizened old man. He sat outside a run-down shack that had seen much better days and he eyed the two newcomers warily.

“I guess you'll be wanting to try to learn my old tricks, huh?” The old man asked.

“Only if you're willing to teach them.” Arnold said and took out one of the things he bought. It was a magic focusing item of the highest quality, a pendant and chain that he had spent several thousand gold coins on, and he handed it over to the old man. “Please accept this as a token of my intent to learn.”

The old man couldn't hide the surprise on his face at the ridiculously expensive magic item. “Are you all right, son?” He asked as the magic of the item glowed brightly in his hands. “You do realize what this is?”

Arnold nodded. “I bought it for you.”

The old man looked at the pendant and admired it for several moments, then looked at Arnold. “You've proven that you seriously want to learn.” He said and the pendant disappeared. “Most people just hand over whatever magic item they had on them from a loot drop that they couldn't use.”

Arnold nodded. “I haven't gone out very much yet and I thought it was better to buy you something.”

“You thought right.” The old man smiled and waved his hand. The run-down shack image changed and became the entrance to the grounds of a mansion. The wizened old man stood up straight, as if his hunched back had never existed and bright blue wizard robes grew around him to cover him.

Kelly's mouth fell open at the transformation, because she had never seen anything like it before, and she had been playing the game for a while. She had thought Arnold was crazy for wasting so much money on a magic trinket when he bought it, and now she sincerely regretted only handing the old man one of the magic long swords that she couldn't use when she had acquired the spell.

“Follow me, please.” The now regal man said. He was still an old man; but, he held himself with poise and confidence as he led the two of them into the compound.

Kelly couldn't believe the difference from the shabby back room that she had been tested in and the large parlour that the old man led them to in the mansion. She knew for a fact that no one had seen this before, or at least no one had told anyone else about it if they did see it. Her eyes glanced at Arnold, whom she was surprised didn't understand the difference of what everyone else experienced when talking to the old man. She stopped herself from shaking her head at the absurdity of Arnold once again showing her something new in something she thought she knew inside and out.

“Here we are.” The old man said and waved at the set-up. “I will lend you a temporary version of the spell to test you on its use.”

A scroll appeared in front of Arnold and floated there. He read it and it disappeared.

“Now, as someone who wants to learn this spell properly, I will instruct you on its proper use and its subtlety. First, a caution. It is not a brute force to use on an object. Do not merely try to grab things with it as if it was some plaything. It is not a toy.” The old man said a little sternly, then he smiled. “It is a useful tool that can grant you an extra hand that can be very useful when used properly.”

Arnold perked up at that and the old man nodded.

“I see you understand.” The old man said. “Here is what you do...”

Kelly was stunned at the extensive explanation that Arnold received about the use and procedure of Magic Hand. She hadn't known that much detail was actually included in the game and she knew that even if Arnold somehow didn't complete the trials to the fullest, his Magic Hand spell was going to be much more versatile than her own.

I didn't know it could be used to open locks and trapped chests! Kelly exclaimed in her head. I thought it was just for moving heavy things and knocking people over to distract them when you attack.

Kelly wasn't surprised when Arnold's Magic Hand trials were much different than hers. It still had the stacking boxes section that she had told him about, except that they were half the size and he had to put them in a specific order. It was also timed like hers had been. Since Arnold had used the Accelerate spell eight times, his character didn't move at all, even though he himself needed to move to use the hand... or so she thought.

Kelly was very tempted to take off her VR headset to look at Arnold in real life, just to see if he really was moving like she thought he was. There was no way that the Magic Hand floating in front of him on the table was pouring out and mixing potions without him moving. His character didn't move, because the game couldn't register him moving so fast.

The old man had a huge grin on his face as Arnold completed every test he gave him. “Excellent work, my boy. Excellent.” He said and took out a little book. “Please accept this as a reward.”

“Thank you.” Arnold said and accepted the book. The top tier gold version of the Magic Hand spell was added to his Hotkey list and replaced the temporary one.

“Shall we move over to the Magic Armor section?” The old man asked, hopefully.

Arnold nodded and took out a magic bracelet and held it out to him.

The old man laughed and took the bracelet. “You are a rare find, my boy. Very rare, indeed.”

He really is. Kelly thought and followed them over to the Magic Armor training area. She was a little surprised that she was allowed to come along, actually. She wasn't participating and she really shouldn't be there while someone else did the trials. Of course, she didn't know that there were no rules against it. She just assumed that everyone took the trials on their own and no one else was allowed to be there.

Once again, the old man took his time to explain about how Magic Armor wasn't just magic wrapped around someone to protect them when they were attacked. It was an intricately difficult magic construct that needed to be properly visualized to work.

Kelly was astonished at the intense and in-depth description that gave her the impression that Arnold's version was going to be head and shoulders better than her version, even though she had excelled at the armor part. She stood there and watched as Arnold used multiple Accelerate spells before he cast the temporary Magic Armor, then the sneaky bastard used Resist Effect and stacked it.

The old man started to cackle with laughter as all of his attacks were stopped by Arnold's buffed armor. He threw stronger and stronger spells at Arnold, who took them all. After several minutes, the old man had laughed himself out and stopped attacking. He walked over to Arnold and examined him, then barked a single laugh.

“You are smarter than everyone else I have ever tested, my boy. Much smarter.” The old man said. “None of them thought of using other complementary spells to help them keep the armor for longer.”

Kelly's mouth dropped open in surprise, because she suspected that Arnold would have been disqualified for not using only the armor, then she remembered what the old man said about keeping the armor up for as long as he could.

Goddammit. Kelly thought. Arnold figured out how to cheat without cheating!

“Here is the book for the top tier Magic Armor.” The old man said and handed it over. “Now I have a question for you.”

“I can't accept your class.” Arnold said, anticipating the question.

The old man chuckled. “Ah, well. I knew it would be too good to be true if you accepted.” He grabbed Arnold's shoulder. “If you ever change your mind and decide to learn from me, you know where I am.”

Arnold nodded and the old man led him and Kelly out of the mansion and over to where the run-down shack used to be. As soon as they stepped outside the entrance, the shack reappeared and the old man's wizard robes faded as he assumed his wizened old man persona once more.

“Thanks for stopping by, youngins!” The old man said and cackled a laugh as Arnold and Kelly walked away and back towards the inn.

“Arnold, would you mind if we did a quest for me next?” Kelly asked.

“No.” Arnold said. “What do you have to do?”

“I already have all the things I need to complete it, because I gathered them before. I just have to go to a town near the capital and visit a woman there to restart it.” Kelly said. “After that, it's just going through the motions and then finishing it.”

“Will it take long?” Arnold asked.

“Not if you take me there with your flying horse.” Kelly said. “I'll start casting Accelerate on myself going there and then I'll go through it in a flash.”

“Okay.” Arnold said and they went back to the inn. He retrieved the nag, who was very happy to have been treated so well, and they flew to the small town just outside the capital. Kelly talked to the mature lady at the entrance to a basement and gave her a search quest for her stolen jewellery.

“You're searching for clues?” Arnold asked.

Kelly nodded and walked back over to him. “I've already gathered them, so I only need to visit the locations and then come back here to search the basement for the last one.”

Arnold cast Accelerate on her twice and then Magic Armor. “The armor lasts an hour.”

Kelly gasped as a full set of armor covered her, fit her body perfectly, and was even styled for a woman. “Arnold, this... how many Magic Points was it?” She asked easily, because the helm had an open face and wasn't covered.

“I'll have them back just before the armor fades.” Arnold said.

Kelly looked at him with wide eyes, because she knew his magic regeneration rate was twice what hers was, and if it took an hour to get the points back, the armor was ridiculously expensive, points-wise.

“Arnold, you...” Kelly stopped when she saw that none of her spells were greyed out. “It's full armor and it doesn't disable my spell casting ability!”

“Yeah, that's the best bonus with magic armor.” Arnold said.

Kelly tapped it with her armored hands and it made the right metallic sound. “But, it's metal!”

“It's light as well, even though it's classed as heavy armor.”

Kelly shook her head. “I'll be back in a bit.”

Arnold smiled briefly when she ran away at her full speed and disappeared from sight almost immediately, because she didn't notice that the armor didn't impede her at all. He slid off the nag and walked over to the woman and tried to initiate the same quest. He wasn't surprised that he couldn't when she said that she had someone else looking into it already.

Considering Kelly and I are there together, perhaps only one instance can be done at a time. Arnold thought, then wondered what would happen if he waited a minute after Kelly did it, then initiated it himself. He would find out soon enough and climbed back onto the nag to wait.

Kelly came back ten minutes later and stopped in front of the woman. “I've followed all the clues and it seems I need to search your basement for one more.”

“I don't see how that will help you find the thief.” The woman shrugged and waved at the basement. “You can go ahead and search all you like.”

“Thanks.” Kelly said and went into the basement. She came back out holding a piece of black cloth with a cuff link on it. “Ah, I see.” She said and handed that and the other clues she had found to the woman. “Madam, I believe your husband is responsible for your stolen jewellery.”

“WHAT?!?” The woman exclaimed loudly.

“He led me on a long and arduous fake trail, which I just so happened to follow in the wrong order.” Kelly said with a chuckle. “I didn't realize until recently that the trail didn't lead away from the house, it led to it. The culprit is right under your nose.”

The woman looked through the clues and her face turned deep red. “That little weasel! I'll kill him!”

One of the items in her hand was a note from one of the adventurer shops that bought jewellery. He had bought the items for their basic value, had them enchanted with powerful charms, then sold them for a tidy profit. He did not know where they had gone.

“They were family heirlooms and were worth more than their basic value.” The woman spat. “Their combined magic protected this family from misfortune and only the set of them restored can save us from ruin.”

Kelly gasped when she received a popup. “Arnold! It's another quest!”

“Show me.”

' The Westing Family is in grave peril. An old evil has plagued the family for generations and only the enchanted set of seven jewellery items could protect them from its wrath.

Limited Time Quest: Take it upon yourself to replace these items to protect this family. You have 24 hours to complete it.

Success: All seven items must be completely enchanted and then added to the ritual circle in the attic of the house.

Failure: You leave them to their fate and let them all die.

Family Members to protect: 38 '

“Do you know what the seven items are?” Arnold asked and Kelly took out a piece of paper. On it was a list of seven jewellery items, and he imagined that they were something that a single person could easily wear. “What about the specific enchantments?”

Kelly shook her head and went over to the woman. She took out several pieces of paper and handed them to Kelly. “Oh, damn.”

“What is it?”

“They have to be enchanted by at least a mid-level enchanter.”

“So?”

“Arnold, they are expensive as heck and not to mention eccentric.” Kelly said. “I doubt one enchanter could do one of the items in a day, let alone seven.”

“Can you add me to your quest?” Arnold asked.

Kelly looked at all of the options she had and shook her head. “If we had started it together, maybe. I don't see any link to create a party.”

Arnold sat on the nag and thought about it. “All right. Accept the quest.”

“What?” Kelly looked at him like he was crazy.

“There's no rules against me helping you, as long as you do the actual actions yourself.”

Kelly looked at him with hope in her eyes, then she nodded and turned to the woman. “I'll do my best to complete this task as soon as possible.”

The woman's face lit up with happiness. “Oh! Thank you! Thank you!” She gushed. “Please, be careful! Dealing with things like this is very dangerous.”

“Don't worry.” Kelly said and climbed onto the nag in front of Arnold. “If there's one thing I've learned, it's that there's nothing that Arnold... I mean Morbid... can't do.” She smiled. “Absolutely nothing.”