Chapter 6 Token

Vance arrived at a small drop-off that the path ran through. He kept his eyes peeled on the area around him for any signs of struggling. The path was narrow here, and maybe two people could walk side by side if they were careful, but it really was only big enough for two people. Vance looked around and saw nothing too out of the ordinary. As he continued forward, he finally came to a spot that caught his attention. "This is…."

An area on the side looked as if a bunch of rocks fell and there was an indent in the ground. Vance had no idea if it was made recently or not, but it did seem fishy to him. The way the rocks looked, it seemed that something had fallen from above. Vance looked up to see that about twenty feet up was another grassy ridge. "Does the path continue up there?" Vance had no idea, but he did plan to find out.

He continued walking for some time, and sure enough, the path split up. One continued going straight while there was another less traveled path that went up the mountain more. Vance looked both ways before progressing upwards. He wanted to see if he could find anything noteworthy along this path.

Fifteen minutes passed when Vance came to a point that looked as if a fight had broken out. There were still footprints in the ground of the loose soil, and it seemed that there were at least three people. "If things are as I think, the previous owner of this body had fought with the Everling brothers and was pushed or slipped and fell off the edge. But why did they fight? Was it because of a woman?" Vance thought about the so-called engagement he was supposed to have had but was called off. If that was the case, he could see why they would fight, but the timeline did not seem to match up unless the engagement did not get canceled until he was pushed off the side of the cliff.

pAnD a(-)n0ve1.com "Life quests really know how to make things interesting." Vance sighed as he looked around. He was not really expecting to find anything of use, but surprisingly he ended up spotting something green setting behind a small rock the size of his foot. "This is?" It was a green wooden token, and it had an intricate design on it. It seemed it had been dropped during the struggle or whatever had happened here.

[Ding!]

[Notice! You found evidence that suggests that there may have been foul play in your trip to the mountains. Talk to the villagers and find out who the token belongs to.]

[Life Quest has been updated.]

Vance smiled when he saw the notification and turned back around. He had only come for this and maybe a maglio flower that would help boost his stats. He was not sure if he could find one or not, though. He had not really been looking for it when he made his way here.

Since he completed one of his tasks, Vance decided to go ahead and begin his search for the maglio flower on his way back. It was running late, so he figured it would probably be best if he followed the path out, which would reduce his encounter rate. While he might not gain any more levels on his way out, it was fine as he was already happy with his current progress.

When he was playing the game, three hours in real time would be an entire day in game. So in reality, he had only been doing things for a few hours, even though it felt much longer for him.

But this was nothing new to him because this was how it was when he played the game as well. It was something with the way the day and time cycle worked while in game that made it feel naturally longer than real world time.

Vance followed the path and came across a small area with patches of flowers on the side which made Vance stop. He knelt down and began rummaging through the flower patch to see if he could find the flower he was looking for. If he could get his hands on a maglio flower today, he could boost his stats even more, to make his leveling even easier.

He spent ten minutes rummaging through each flower patch but did not find the flower he was looking for. Maglio flowers did not grow in patches. In fact, they were kind of a parasitic type flower that would feed off other flowers. They even took on the same look as the other flowers within the flower patch. The only difference was that they had a strange red bulb under their petals that was very distinct to the maglio flower. This was really the only way to tell them apart from other flowers.

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Vance let out a sigh as he stood up. "I did not expect to find one right away, but still would have been nice."

With nothing else to do here, Vance quickly returned to the village. By the time he arrived, it was already starting to get dark. "Vance!" Ricky yelled out as he saw his son walking up. Vance waved and smiled. He walked over to Ricky and showed him the token. "Father, have you seen this before?"

"Hmmm? Isn't this the village chief's son's token? He always carries it on his person. However, I heard he lost it a few days ago…." Ricky's mind spun as he came to a realization that he did not want to come to as he asked: "Vance, where did you find this?"

"Up in the mountains at the spot that I should have fallen from. Father, tell me when did my ex-fiancee break off the engagement with me?" Vance asked. He had a feeling these things were all connected.

Ricky sighed as he said: "I think I know what you are trying to get at, and it might just be so…. I won't hide it from you, David, the village chief's son, had been trying to Woo Stacy for a while even though she was engaged to you. I guess he might have been successful… She did break off the engagement with you a few days ahead of time, but you didn't seem bothered by it. You acted as you always did since you two barely had any contact."

"If that is the case, then it might not be her fault but the village chief's son's. But it is all just assumptions at this time. I need to go and speak with the Everling brothers and find out what exactly happened. I will be heading to their house tomorrow." Vance now had an idea that maybe this David was jealous of the previous owner for some reason. Why that was, Vance did not know, but it seemed this was the case. It was a bit cliche, but it was something that happened all the time in the real world as well.

Ricky thought for a moment before nodding. "Just be careful. It is best to get to the bottom of things. I will not allow someone who harmed my son go even if they are the village chief's son."

"Father, do not worry. If things turn out that way, I will teach him a good lesson if the village chief won't. For now, let's head in before Mother gets mad at us. We don't want her taking our food away." Vance turned to walk inside. Ricky stared at his son and nodded his head in approval. His son would do just fine.