Just as Barron entered into the breakroom to prepare to head home, Max was already in front of him talking to him within seconds. “Hey, you seemed tired today. You started playing last night?”
“Haha, yea…” Barron said, his words trailing off as he thought back to his experience in the game. The lifelike scenery and the vivid feeling of wind brushing against him. The terrifying fall and the freezing water.
“Oh yea, you pick a lancer like I suggested right!? No wait you’d have to start with the basic three…” He continued however Barron wasn’t listening, only catching a word here and there. Occasionally replying with a nod or ‘Mhm’.
The game had truly provided an experience he hadn’t thought possible, the ads and songs of praise he heard from others about the game had now started to seem reasonable. Even though in the past he thought them extremely overdramatic like most others, perhaps they were right sometimes.
He wanted to hang his vest and get home as soon as he was able to, the feeling of excitement from first killing the horned rabbit still lingering with him. Already wondering what he would do next as soon as he gets home.
Coming out of his daydream as Max had started snapping in front of his face, “Earth to Barron, earth to Barron. Important transmission is being received,” he said with his hand over his mouth mimicking an intercom of sorts.
“Ah- sorry,” Barron said while rubbing his head, a bit embarrassed.
“It’s fine, but like I was saying there’s a new add-on you can get to your game! It’s super helpful you should look into it asap,” Max said while pulling up a website on his phone, showing large words in bold ‘Scammer Away!’
Barron wasn’t at all familiar with the add-ons and even after Max had explained it to him he still wasn’t sure it was a good idea.
“Trust me! Like 70% of people have this on their account already it’s insane!” Max said while showing him the number of downloads it had, “it adds an icon next to people’s name when they’re a known scammer! It could save you a ton of trouble.”
There are a lot of ways that could go wrong. Barron thought while telling Max he’d look into it. Asking about Max’s own progress instead.
Max summarized most things as he was unsure of what Barron was already familiar with, the information about his character boiling down to him being level 26 and a core member of a guild, something Max clearly took pride in.
Although Barron wasn’t entirely familiar with the concept of guilds he understood the rough outline, that being large groups that specifically worked together when entering dungeons or when mounting raids on wild bosses as well as providing benefits to their members.
Max didn’t seem to touch on the rankings much at all, dismissing it by saying even the best guilds have only upgraded once at most to reach second rank. Something which Max didn’t know anything about as it didn’t concern him directly.
Instead focusing on his ‘Grand’ adventures. Those being the ones where he was beaten to death by a gang of orcs, or when he was pushed into a well by his guild master.
He grimaced while telling the first one, the memory of it luckily seemed to be more of an annoyance than a trauma for him.
Chatting only a minute or two longer before Barron decided to head out.
Half an hour later Barron had made it to his apartment complex, stepping into his apartment and happily hanging his keys on the rack, setting his shoes in place before sitting at his desk.
Jotting some notes down on paper while opening up the forums. Specifically looking for information regarding the foraging talent. Most people saying ways to level up your foraging, one being around main cities there was typically a type of weed you can forage and then mix into a drink or a potion to either upgrade your brewer or apothecary talents at the same time.
After scrolling for a bit, he found one that wasn’t particularly popular with only a handful of views, it detailed proper foraging methods as well as having links to many websites that would teach the basics of foraging in the real world.
This isn’t particularly relevant Barron thought however he still continued to take notes on the basics of genuine foraging because it interested him at this point.
Clicking his helmet on before waiting for the satisfying ‘Ding’ of his helmet coming to life. Laying in the same spot he did before, this time only doing so after properly shutting down his pc.
After loading back into Warlord he had decided to look for something he could eat instead of continuing to travel without food.
Following the advice, he had found on the forums, which eventually lead him to a small bushel of ripe red berries.
Aha! Barron celebrated while inspecting them, the advice to be extremely careful while foraging staying as a reminder to not eat it right away.
Red Sage Berry (5)
You cannot determine the properties.
Barron thought about what the other forums had said, now wondering around trying to pick more berries, each one found in roughly the same type of location. Inside of a small bush next to this same type of tree. Although Barron wasn’t sure what the tree was it didn’t seem significant.
With a little of what he presumed to be luck he found a golden plant which almost glowed, something Barron found to be particularly interesting. Looking at it’s status to get some information the system responded by giving him a small UI.
Bitter Gold Root (1)
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
You cannot determine the properties.
On the forums it had said that as long as you reached the first level of any talent you would be granted with an identification skill that would make advancing that talent much easier, so he had decided to pick the berries over and over until he reached the next level.
He had been enjoying the act of Foraging, seeing the little percentile bar increase slightly with each berry he picked caused him to be happy even though it wasn’t moving particularly quickly. Although he did notice that he couldn’t find another one of the gold roots again.
Being able to enjoy nature like this even though he knew it was inside of a game gave him a sense of happiness. Eventually after picking roughly 20 of them a soothing ‘Ding’ appeared alongside a system notification:
Your Foraging Talent has improved!
Your Foraging has Leveled up!
Your Foraging rank has increased from ‘Inept’ to ‘Layman’!
The notification causing him to quickly open up his talent’s menu. As his Foraging talent had just leveled up he was interested to see what he had received as a reward for his efforts.
Opening up his talent menu and searching for Foraging.
Foraging (Layman)
Progress: 1/100%
Skills: Plant Identification (Layman) | Plant Index (Layman) | Plant Tracking (Layman)
Clicking each skill to read their description; Plant Identification allows him to identify different plants and their purpose, giving him brief overviews of what the plant does. And the Plant Tracking where he would be able to see a little icon of a plant in his map if it was marked in his index.
Any plant he comes in contact with or reads about he is able to add to his index, but only after its properties are revealed they become marked in the index.
Looking at his map after reading the description of Plant Tracking he finds that he had picked most of the Red Sage Berries in the area. The more interesting ability of them being the Plant Identification, using it on the berries he had picked.
Red Sage Berry (25)
Consumable
Gives the Regeneration status for 15 seconds.
A bit disappointed because he knew Regeneration was the most common status effect. Barron had at least hoped for instant healing, however that was normally only provided with fully cooked dishes and if they were prepared by a Chef then you would also be given attribute bonuses as well.
Ah! What about that? Barron thought before inspecting the golden root he got, a disappointing message appearing on his UI.
Bitter Gold Root (1)
You cannot determine the properties.
Had he not been able to determine the properties of the Red Sage Berries he would have thought he used Plant Identification wrong.
Is my Foraging too low? He checked the “Layman” title that was given to him, the part of the description telling him that he was only able to identify low level foraged plants causing him to be disappointed. However, that did mean that the Bitter Gold Root was of a higher level than that of the berries.
Barron didn’t bother with it much as there was nothing he could do as of now, instead popping one of the berries into his mouth. The juicy berry, although a bit sour for his taste was still delicious. The taste more similar to a grape than a berry however Barron didn’t particularly care.
Eating another before the Regeneration icon disappeared causing it to refresh. Barron started snacking on them while every 5 seconds a small bright green +1 flashed above his head as a single point of health was added to his total until eventually it stopped altogether, his health reaching its maximum total.
Now at full hp he had decided to continue the quest he had previously started and continued onwards toward the mine, now realizing that although the incident with the wolves hadn’t taken him off track too much, he definitely didn’t gain any distance to it.
Making sure to re-mark the mine on the map, the ground glowing again creating a path for him.
Because he didn’t run into many distractions at all on the way he was able to make it to the mine in half an hour, a bit longer than he hoped however it was still manageable.
The mine was more like a giant archway, the steep incline inside made it look – from the outside at least – like a pathway to the abyss. Still grand, yet demonic as well. The chilling air released from the inside caused one to shiver unconsciously.
I didn’t think it’d be so popular. Barron thought while looking at the hundreds of people around the mine entrance. People were continuously walking into the mine in groups of 4 or sometimes even 5 or 6. Although he noted that a couple seemed to be friends the people shouting nearby about wanting to join a group did make him realize that many probably just met.
“Hey caster!” someone had shouted towards Barron while running up to him. “What have you put your points into? We really need a healer if you’re interested,” the man said. Barron noticed this man wasn’t only wearing the beginning starting equipment, instead he wore what seemed to be a slate tunic of sorts.
While looking around that seemed to be a common trend. Most people had been wearing more advanced pieces of armor and had different weapons than what was given out at the start.
“Points? I’ve only gotten one so far,” Barron replied honestly, unsure of what the man meant.
“Oh, is that so,” The man seemed disinterested instantly, turning away and heading to talk with someone else instead. “Don’t bother he’s level 1,” the man had started talking to someone who was holding a bow not too far away.
“Then how did he get over here?” the bow wielding rogue replied, confused as this area most people were level 4-6 already. The path to get here wasn’t exactly that easy, most of them having to fight a handful of monsters their level.
Barron had already started walking away by that point, instead more fascinated by the light green obelisk that poked out of the ground, the intricate symbols and runes carved on it seemed to interest him greatly.
As he got closer to it a notification appeared in front of him.
Would you like to set your spawn here for the next 6 hours?
Yes / No
Barron had heard about these from the forums however he had yet to see one yet, it looked much more interesting in person. The soul beacon was something that was typically placed outside of dungeons or other places of interest. A very large one was placed in most towns and cities however as you entered the city you were automatically assigned to that one.
The ones out around the world were mini versions of it, letting you temporarily set your spawn so you didn’t have to run all the way back if you died. Unfortunately, they were not common at all, especially in the wilderness.
I guess that explains why it’s so populated over here. Barron thought before pressing ‘Yes’ on the screen, it flashes ever so slightly green before disappearing before him.
A new icon appearing in his status, clicking it to reveal a description.
A fragment of your soul is being protected by the obelisk, if you die you will return to this point.
Time remaining: 5h 59m 51s
Barron nodded before looking back towards the mine, people heading in as they slowly disappeared from view group by group.
Although there were hundreds of people in the area most didn’t seem too interested in talking with others. Well besides the occasional person that would walk up trying to recruit others into their group. Barron easily avoided them by truthfully telling them his level.
Although he didn’t mind working with anyone he felt that he only was going to be there for a minute or two, so he didn’t want to let anyone down by leaving so soon. As his quest only had to do with collecting ore not killing anything inside.
I’ll just grab a few pieces of ore from the entrance and be out in a few minutes. Barron nodded to himself before checking his quest again and confirming that he was only required to get 4 pieces of metal. Deciding to head in by himself. Another notification appearing in front of him after 30 or so steps into the mine.
Entering The Ruined Mines.
Please wait.
As the torches on the walls around him brightened up and the entrance slowly got sealed off by a black void.