"That's too big for a common dagger, I would give you a weapon of Epic quality, how's that"

"Sorry, I think I'm going to hold onto this" Alex threw the blade back in his inventory and walked towards the portal when the man stopped him.

"How about I give you something more valuable" the man smiled as he spoke.

"And what's that?"

"Give me the blade first and I would give you something valuable, but if you don't like it you can return it," the old man said.

'Why does he wants the blade, the rank is ordinary and he's offering me something of Epic rank, but my guts is telling me not to let go of the blade' Alex groveled inwardly.

"Sorry, I don't need anything, let's go," Alex said to Max and Gabriel.

"You are really not gonna give the blade up?" Gabriel whispered to Alex.

"Why does he want the blade, you saw his reaction, the blade must have some kind of hidden power" Alex whispered back.

"Hidden power...even if it does, you are still a newbie, how would you activate that power, you have a chance to start the game with a golden finger and you're blowing it" Gabriel whispered.

"Maybe Alex is right, he said Alex shouted give him his most valuable item, if it's that blade that means it's valuable..." Max chimed in.

"I've already made up my mind, I'm not giving him the blade," Alex said.

The three of them stood in front of the portal and one after the other, they jumped inside.

"Hmmm...so that's him, at least he didn't hand me the demon blade so maybe he's a little intelligent," the old man said before sitting down.

"I'm a little bored, maybe I should go meet Manuel, I know he'll be happy to see me"

...

"So this is where our journey begins," Max said and inhaled deeply.

The three of them were in a grassland, and in front of them was a small settlement of not more than a hundred people.

"Now that we have a 1 hour shield we should use that time to level up, at least reach level 5, so we wouldn't be at risk when we are killed" Alex suggested.

"That's a good idea, I can't afford to buy another VR helmet, I can't," Gabriel said loudly.

"So where do we start, we should check the map and see where we are first"

"The village in front of us is called vina, it's a small settlement because I don't see many houses, but after that there's a giant forest," Max told them as he looked at the map.

The three of them were looking at the map, the system couldn't show them the entire map so they had to scroll to see more, but their location was displayed on the map with a red marker that only they could see.

"We should check that forest first, they must be animals or beasts in them," Alex said.

"You are right, let's go"

"Guys we have a problem, I don't have a weapon, how am I supposed to kill beasts" Gabriel sighed.

"Didn't you start with a weapon, did you sell it?" Max asked.

"Hey kid, do you think am stupid, why would I sell my weapon, I'm a mage I didn't start with a weapon"

"We should check that village, we might find something there"

"The system said a task would be given, what if my task is to defeat something and I don't have a weapon" Gabriel complained as the three of them walked towards the village.

"This is a really small settlement the villagers may not be up to 100 in number, I doubt there's a weapon that we can purchase around here," Max said.

[Welcome to Vina settlement]

The system alerted the three of them as they entered the village.

"See it's not even called a village, it's a settlement, maybe we shouldn't have used that portal, there are many portals we could have used" Gabriel complained.

"Is this our fault, why didn't you buy a weapon in the newbie village?' Alex asked him.

"I didn't have enough coins..."

"Hi there, are you warriors," a voice asked and the three of them looked sideways.

"Yes we are, is something wrong?" Max asked.

"Goblins...they reside in the forest, they come anytime they like and steal our foods, they have swords and clubs, we need your help" the NPC pleaded.

"What would you give us in return?" Gabriel asked immediately.

"I'm very sorry, we are a small village and all we depend on is our farms, we don't have anything to give unless food from our farms," the NPC said.

"Then do you have weapons?"

"We only have a club that one of the goblins forgot, and a spell book if you are mages," the NPC said.

"A spell book...can I see it" Gabriel said in excitement.

"So will you help us?" the NPC asked.

"Yes, we would help you," Alex said.

"Really, follow me," the NPC said smiling.

A notification dinged in their heads and the system interface appeared in front of them.

[Quest/task]

[Quest: Defeat band of goblins]

[Reward: None]

"We got ourselves a task with no reward, that's great," Max said.

"Hey... I'm getting a spell book, that's a nice reward" Gabriel told Max.

"He's giving you the book because they have no use for it..." Alex said.

They followed the NPC to a particular house in the village, the NPC knocked on the door. The door opened and an old man with a white beard came out and looked at them in surprise.

"Did the city finally send warriors to help us?" the old man asked.

"Yes..." the other man said.

"The city didn't send us, we haven't even been to a city" Max whispered.

"We just need to get the spell book and club, then we can leave, we won't even receive a reward, so there's no need to complete the task" Alex whispered.

"Wow...you sound just like a villain..." Max muttered.