Adder just glanced at others. In witchcraft, the quality of sacrifices was very important.
Most of the players were going for a bare minimum, only offering a finger. He did not care about these people.
Just a few minutes earlier, a boy had slashed his entire arm. Those were the most troublesome players.
After that boy, a few had already started slashing their second finger.
Adder just closed his eyes for a moment. All the humiliation he went through flashed through his head.
He could take it easy and just slash a finger or two, but would that be enough?
No, he could not leave it to chance. Overkill or not, progressing through chain quests was not acceptable.
With this new clarity, he just smiled and grabbed the sacrificial blade before him.
The sharp edge of the blade rested against all four fingers of his left hand.
The cold blade reminded him that he had to at least continue this entire chain quest without them.
He took a deep breath as the sounds from the surroundings vanished. Now there was only his hand and the blade.
The next instant, his hand moved down.
Plop!
Four fingers wiggled before him on the ground. It took a moment, then intense pain shot through his arm.
Adder just clenched his teeth and grabbed his bleeding hand.
Ding!
-2, -4, -5…
His health had already started plummeting. He just crouched down and pressed hard against his bleeding area. "Come on!!"
-3, -1…
It worked. Still, drops of blood seeped through his hand. He was already down to half his health.
"Hey, you want a potion?"
Adder ignored the voice and just stuffed hard bread into his mouth.
+5, -2, -1, -1…
That helped. He clenched harder as veins all over his body popped up.
Thankfully, the blood stopped dripping.
Adder took a deep breath. Even his health dropped to the midpoint. He just dropped to the ground as the pain started to vanish.
At least within the game, pain was not lasting.
Soon, the pain disappeared like an illusion.
Adder took a sip from the water canteen. It was part of the beginner kit each player got.
Not wasting much time, he picked up his fingers and rushed out of the room.
Just the sight of the bleeding fingers sent phantom pain. He stared at his fingerless left hand.
At least for this chain quest, his left hand was pretty much useless. It was a setback, but if it could help him progress, then this much was nothing.
Back in the hall, he saw the old witch tossing a finger with a player waiting next to her.
She just placed her finger into her robe as the player rushed out in excitement.
Adder just rushed in and placed his four fingers in her hand. "This is my offer for sacrifice."
The old witch raised her eyebrow at him.
Unbothered, Adder just took out the canteen and started cleaning blood off his hand. Now with just one hand, he could risk the weapon slipping out of his grip.
From time to time, he glanced at the old witch. Oddly, she just kept staring at his fingers.
It was much different from how she was examining that other guy's finger.
Was it because of the number of fingers? But he had never heard of such a thing.
Finally, she picked his pointer finger and just brought it closer to her face.
Instead of stopping there, she just placed it right under her nose and took a big whiff.
Adder stared with wide eyes as her old face turned rosy. Heck, not stopping there, she even kissed his finger while staring at him.
Instead of avoiding it, he stared back into her eyes. Now he was sure none of this was normal.
Don't tell me she found something about my identity, but how?
The witch continued to examine his other fingers. As she placed them into a silver box, it hit him.
'Shit, was it my species?' Adder cursed himself and opened part of his status. Sure enough:
[ Species: Human/??? ]
In his past life, he was never able to uncover the mysteries of ???. That was why it slipped past his head.
He averted his eyes.
'Did she find out about my class?' He just clicked his tongue. It was hard to tell, but he could not leave her like this.
'Shit.' This entire quest had already taken an unexpected turn.
Finally, she said to him, "Warrior, you really gave me some good sacrificial material."
Adder just forced a smile at her.
Ding!
[You have completed the Witch's Sacrificial Quest 2.]
[The old witch is so impressed with your sacrifice that she eased her requirement for you.]
Adder raised his eyebrow. In his past life, he had heard the rumor but never expected it to be true.
Heck, was his body really that good of sacrificial material?
[Do you want to take the normal reward and exit the chain quest, or would you like to proceed to the third quest?
(Note: Irrespective of your choice, you will get an additional reward of 50 copper coins.)]
He just stared at the old witch. For some reason, he could see a new, disturbing shine in her eyes.
For now, he just went along with her and asked, "Miss, do you have any other tasks for me?"
The old witch gleefully smiled at him.
Ding!
[Chain Quest!!!
Quest: Witch's Ritual Quest III.
Quest Rank: D.
(Only players with level 10 or less can take part.)
Description: After seeing your dedication toward witchcraft, the old witch requested that you bring her (-10) 5 liters of wolf blood.
Task: Bring 5 liters of goblin blood.
Reward: Basic curse creation and 50 copper coins.
Old Butcher's Requirement: 20/500 liters.
Failure Condition: Not delivering the blood before the required deadline.
Failure Penalty: Curse of rage and madness.
Note: To help with the blood collection, the old butcher is willing to send a young witch for blood collection.
The death of the young witch will cause task failure. Do you want to take help, or will you do it on your own?
]