They chatted for a while, and Number Sixteen introduced herself. Her name was Kira. In her own words, she was a professional gamer who had been working in studios around the country for six years.
She had come to Liverpool at the end of last year, fallen in love with the city, and decided to settle here for a while to develop her career. For some reason, though, she didn't tell them her in-game ID.
Since it was still the trial period, Extraordinary Studio didn't enforce strict attendance requirements.
Don decided he would finish this quest, then head home for a proper night's sleep before coming back in the evening. That was just his nature, he liked being around people. Things were more enjoyable in a crowd, and leveling was no exception. Having two beautiful girls leveling nearby was decent motivation on its own.
He put on the light-sensing glasses and clicked the 'Realm online' start program.
A flash of silver light, and his figure materialized outside the Brugg headquarters.
Before him stood two sentry posts about fifteen meters apart, each guarded by two shaggy Brugg guards in tattered leather armor. They held crossbows that looked more like children's toys, their wary little eyes scanning left and right.
Don quickly pulled up their attributes.
[Brugg Scout, Common Monster]
[Level 16]
[HP: 3,000]
[ATK: 150–220]
[Physical DEF: 180]
[Magic DEF: 130]
[Skills: Burst Shot, Triple Shot, Whispering Shout]
He couldn't help but smile. 'These stats were genuinely weak, no wonder they were only Level 16 common monsters.'
He immediately went invisible and slowly made his way to the left sentry post, then climbed up the crude little ladder.
The poor creature didn't even notice him. Don drew his dagger and brought it down hard across its neck. The sharp blade sliced through its head as easily as cutting tofu.
[3,590!]
No doubt about it, a fatal blow to a weak point. Even more absurdly, despite being only fifteen meters apart, the Brugs at the opposite sentry post were completely unaware of what had just happened on their side.
Don casually kicked the corpse aside and collected the silver coin that dropped. These ordinary monsters were really stingy. He immediately left the post and waited for his invisibility cooldown to refresh. The moment it was ready, he crossed to the opposite sentry and killed the second Brugg using the exact same method.
Now he could enter the Brugg stronghold legitimately.
Actually, calling this place a "base camp" was generous, it was more accurately a quarry. The black hills shimmered with embedded light as Brugg miners diligently swung their pickaxes, separating glittering stones from the rock face.
The miners were common monsters too, only Level 17, and their HP was too low to make them worth killing. Their attacks couldn't do meaningful damage either, and they were passive on top of that.
Below the hills stretched barren fields where a group of Brugg Farmers were digging the ground. Every one of them looked miserable, glancing back nervously and occasionally stopping to rest.
Then, just as one of them couldn't help but lie down to catch his breath, a low growl echoed from nearby.
"Damn slave! How dare you slack off! Tired of living?"
The voice was rough, deep, and extremely hoarse, not quite human.
A moment later, a creature nearly two heads taller than Don came charging into view, wearing heavy, battered plate armor, roaring as it ran. Its exposed skin was dark green and extremely coarse, and its head, about the size of a seven-inch iron pot, bore a ferocious face with two rows of sharp beast teeth jutting from its jaws.
No doubt about it. This was an orc, one of the evil beings who had betrayed the orc tribes and sided with the demonic forces during the great war between gods and demons according to the game's history.
A bloody scene unfolded quickly before Don's eyes. The orc charged straight at the lazy Brugg farmer, grabbed his thick, fan-like hand, and snapped it with a sickening crack
But that wasn't the most horrifying part. What happened next made Don's stomach cramp.
The orc tossed the Brugg's bleeding body aside, slammed its head against the blade of his battle axe, and the skull split open cleanly. Before the brains could spill out, he lifted the head up and sucked them out through his gaping maw.
What was even more chilling was that the surrounding Brugg workers seemed indifferent, acting as if it had nothing to do with them. If anything, they dug harder, as if afraid of becoming the next meal.
Having drained the poor farmer dry, the orc wiped his mouth and growled, "Dig holes and plant potatoes properly, or you'll end up like him!"
Then the creature swaggered off without a backward glance.
Don hurriedly wiped the sweat from his brow. The scene wasn't exactly scary, it was just disgusting. He glanced at the orc's stats and immediately understood why it acted so arrogant.
[Orc Overseer, Elite Monster]
[Level 19 ]
[HP: 100,000]
[ATK: 380–550]
[Physical DEF: 380 ]
[Magic DEF: 260]
[Skills: Heavy Strike, Stun, Shout]
This one had a lot of health, and its attack power was more than enough to break through his defense. On top of that, it had a Shout skill, which meant he'd have to fight it in an open area. If that ability triggered while other monsters were nearby, things would go south fast.
There was nowhere to hide, so Don would have to create space for himself. 'If I don't go to hell, who will? Brugg people, I'm sorry.'
He circled behind a Brugg excavator and drove his dagger into the back of its head. The sharp tip sank in cleanly, and a striking red number erupted along with the splatter of blood.
[2,983!]
A single hit had already cut three-quarters of its health. The creature was slow to react, turning around in pain, but before it could raise its axe Don had already slashed twice across its skull.
[690!]
[763!]
Its head split open like a ripe watermelon, blood and brain matter spilling out together. Dead.
Don clicked his tongue in amazement. Because he used to play a mage, he didn't really have a feel for melee combat.
The bloody scene in front of him was satisfying in a way he hadn't expected.
No wonder in those brutal period dramas, the young women were always complaining to their men, "Hmph, you stinky men are always shouting for violence."
There was nothing to be done about it, it was simply a man's nature.
He kicked the Brugg's corpse aside and picked up the single silver coin that had dropped. A silver coin for zero investment, a pretty decent deal.
He quickly reached the second excavator and slashed its face. A clear red gash split open, blood spurting out and splattering across his breastplate.
[1,032!]
The little creature grimaced in pain and swung its pickaxe at him. Don didn't dodge, he took the hit, feeling a tightness across his chest.
[159!]
The damage wasn't significant. Acceptable.
He didn't use any potions. He simply circled the creature and wore it down with normal attacks, activating Evasion only when he couldn't dodge naturally. It took him just four hits to finish the poor digger off.
After three or five kills, he gradually worked out a rhythm. He would open on a single target with his only two attack skills, Backstab and Consecutive Slash, taking it down without taking damage.
Then he would dodge the second target's opening attack and finish it with normal strikes, timing everything so his skills would be off cooldown when the next fight started.
He drank a red potion the moment his HP dropped to half, and he never lingered in combat. The moment he saw an orc approaching in the distance, he disengaged immediately.
Soon he had cleared out all the monsters in that acre of land.
He glanced at his experience bar. Less than three percent gained. So in the future, when he didn't have a quest to push through, there was no real reason to kill these Bruggs, they simply weren't worth it.
Each one only dropped a single silver coin, and not a single piece of equipment. As for the quest item, the wine gourd, well, if it could drop from these common monsters, the designers of Realms Online would probably have killed themselves.
So his hunch was that the gourd had to drop from the Orc Overseer.