The Soul Keeper

I pulled myself together and reached to the floating crystal. As soon as my fingers touched its cool surface, an interface popped up

'Quests cancelled: 'Escape the Torchlight Woods', 'Get to Stonepatch Village', New Quests Available: 'Kill the Cursed One', 'Survive''

As we looked at the fading text, new lines appeared. 'Quests Completed: 'Survive', 'Kill the Cursed One' Special Requirements Met: 'Cleanse the Torchlight Woods'

"Wait, what?" I mumbled as the quests disappeared.

"Oh!" Erik said in surprise. "I heard this was a thing. Apparently, there are some secret quests that you can complete that'll give extra rewards or something." He paused, then squeezed my shoulder. "You're lucky."

I chuckled and nodded as my status panel appeared in front of me.

'Rewards Received: 15000 exp, Gift of the Makers, 5 Stat Points'

"Whoa, cool." Vincent mumbled. "Wait." He said as he spotted my stats. "Why haven't you allocated any points?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure of what to do with them quite yet." It seemed like an important decision, I wanted to be sure of my choices before committing to anything.

"Why?" Erik asked with a hint of confusion in his voice. "You should give them to whichever stat you use the most. For example, I've been investing them to Strength and Constitution." He grinned and showed off his muscles.

I chuckled and closed the interface. "Wait, you are level 31 now?" Vincent asked. "How?"

I shrugged again. "I killed a lot of monsters before finally getting rid of the giant horned lion. What level are you guys?" I asked out of curiosity.

"We're all 17." Erik said after a moment's hesitation. He seemed somewhat embarrassed. "We've been killing creatures since we came here but I guess you did a lot more killing than us."

"Oh." I said trying to hide my disappointment. I was sure they'd been working hard since they got here. "Well, I'm sure it's because I killed the big one. It must have given me a lot of experience." I lied with a fake smile.

"That must be it." Erik said with a nod as we made our way back to the tavern. I couldn't shake this feeling of doubt no matter how much I tried. The more I thought about it, the stronger it became. I shook my head and looked around in an attempt to distract myself.

"Did you meet any other players?" I asked to break the awkward silence. Samantha nodded enthusiastically as she answered with a smile.

"Yeah. It's a group of four." She pointed towards the inn I had stayed the night in. "They're staying there."

"I don't particularly like them," Erik quietly spoke. "But they're not bad. They're pretty set on killing the Demon Lord too." He hesitated. "Right, about that." He glanced at me. "I won't blame you if you hate me but-"

I shook my head. "I know it's not your doing." I said with a tired sigh. "I don't blame you, you're a victim of this whole situation just as much as the rest of us are. I'm sure your dad didn't intend for us to get trapped in this game either." I stopped in my tracks and looked up to the sky. "I'm sure we'll eventually get out of here."

Erik nodded. "Thanks, Kai." His bitter smile hurt a little. I felt a little guilty for doubting him, yet I still couldn't shake that weird, annoying feeling.

We soon arrived at the tavern. Now, there were customers besides us too. While most of them were Ereth, I spotted two women who I suspected to be players. One of them had scaly, green skin and long black hair. I couldn't see her face since she was sitting with her back turned to me. She had several meters long scaly tail. The other was petite, wore a simple brown dress and looked human for the most part. She had short, green hair and an almost childish face.

"Yep, those are them." Samantha said with a smile. "I'll go greet them, come with me!" Before I could say anything, she grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the two.

"Alex, Rina!" She called for them as we approached. As soon as they heard her, huge smiles appeared on both their faces.

"Samantha, fancy seeing you here!" The snake lady spoke. She then glanced at me and froze in place. "What on earth is he?" She shouted.

Blood rushed to my face – which probably only made me seem slightly less pale – as the green haired woman also focused her attention on me. "Oh, he's interesting!"

"When did you become so rude, Alex?" Samantha asked the snake lady. "And Rina, please don't stare at him like he's some research subject."

I flinched; she really was looking at me like that. "I'm Kai. Nice to meet you what I'd like to say but…" I glanced at Alex's long tail slowly approaching my legs. "Maybe I should just excuse myself." I continued as I stepped back.

"Aww, you're sharp." Alex said. For some reason, her playful tone reminded me of Vixia. Except she wasn't trying to actively torture me. I think.

"Ok, enough." Samantha's harsh tone put a stop to the two women's teasing. "He's the guy I told you about." She hesitated. "My friend whom I thought to be dead."

Both women stopped as they quickly regained their composure. I had thought them to be tipsy because of the drinks but they very quickly proved me wrong. Rina quickly hugged Samantha. "I'm so happy for you!"

"I see how it is now." Alex said with a faint smile. "She was really sad about losing you." She stretched her arms, then took a sip of her drink. "I'm glad you're fine."

"Thanks." I mumbled. This feeling of guilt struck again as I watched Rina and Samantha. "I'm glad she's fine too."

"Oh, right. You had no idea whether she was alive or dead, had you?" Alex fiddled with some of her hair. Her gaze never left me, I felt like I was being held under a microscope.

"Yeah." I sighed. "I didn't know what happened to them." I glanced to the back, where Erik and the others were laughing at something. "I'm glad they're fine."

"I don't really care much about them, to be honest." She said as she called the Ereth bartender with a wave of her hand. "The priestess is too full of herself and I wouldn't trust the rogue with anything." She signalled the bartender for two glasses, then continued with her words. "The Paladin seems like a good guy, but he's too scared."

The bartender put two glasses on the counter. "Come, have a seat." Alex used her tail to pull a stool closer. After a moment's hesitation, I thanked her and lowered myself onto the stool, while still being wary of that long tail.

"It's not alcohol." She said as she pushed one of the glasses towards me. I glanced in it. It was filled with an orange liquid. "It's like orange juice." She said with a smile as she drank some of it. After a moment's hesitation, I gave the drink a try as well.

"It's not like orange juice. It is orange juice." I said after nearly finishing the entire glass in one go. "Damn, I've missed this."

She chuckled. "It's better if you don't drink alcohol in here." She added after glancing at Erik and the bunch's table. "I don't think getting drunk on virtual stuff is a bright idea."