I'm writing this to say that real life got in the way of me writing regular entries into this fanfic. I can't promise that i'll be able to keep a regular schedule going forward, but I do plan on bringing this to an end that i can be satisfied with instead of just leaving it unfinished. Also i think this should let people know that i haven't forgotten about it! Hope you enjoy what i've written.

*****

At the entrance to the city of Rhodium, a very brightly colored elf was pacing back and forth impatiently. To onlookers he looked as if he had been stood up on a date and was venting his frustration at the people walking by.

What the hell is taking her so damn long?

Lance clicked his tongue before continuing his pacing with mumbled words under his breath. It had been over an hour since Sen had told him that she was on her way. They had agreed to meet up at the southern entrance of the city, which normally was a sight to behold. Even though Rhodium was a city of artisans, they still maintained medieval style walls that were manned with town guardsman. The Southern gate had an impressive mechanism that lowered a metal grate down in the entrance way. The city guard closed the gate at night to keep the monsters from wandering into the city, which normally was not a frequent problem.

Since it was still in the mid-afternoon, there was a fair amount of traffic coming in and out of the city. Many of the more common stall types would position themselves at the gates of Rhodium to try and entice weary travelers that were passing through.

Lance could care less about such details right now. He had never thought much of the saying “time is money” before, but he could really understand and appreciate it now.

As Lance continued his pacing with rising irritation, a small hooded figure stepped out from behind a nearby stall. Caught up in his own musings, he failed to notice even as the figure got close enough to touch him. Suddenly the hooded figure outstretched a hand and coughed, breaking Lance's concentration. Startled, he took a step back and with a confused look on his face, asked “Can I help you?”

“heheheh...maybe you can, maybe you can't” The hooded figure began hacking with a nasty cough before regaining composure and removing their hood. An old woman with matted, scraggly, salt and pepper hair was revealed. The creases on her face looked like they were filled with dirt and had been etched over hundreds of years. The ears sticking out from her hair clearly made her an elf and the fingers that had grabbed her hood were stained with some indistinguishable substance.

She looked up at Lance and gave him a crooked smile before saying “you're that young lad that's got all the shops up in arms aren't ya?”

Oh great, not another one of these shopkeepers...

“Listen, You can complain all you want about my business practices but it's not going to change anything.” Said Lance, not hiding his irritation.

“I've done nothing outside the laws of the city so I don't have anything to be ashamed of” with that he crossed his arms as if to signify the conversation was over.

“I quite agree, you've done quite a fine job for being so young. You're actually just the kind of person I was looking for.”

“What do you mean?” asked Lance, surprised by the unexpected response. Until now he had only been met with hostility from the NPCs.

“heheh, I knew you might be willing to listen. I tried to get those fools to help me but nobody listens. Those old fools are only...” the old lady continued to ramble on to herself almost forgetting Lance was standing in front of her.

Is she senile?

“Ehem...you wanted to say something to me?” Lance interrupted.

The old lady looked up as if to remember what her initial purpose was. “oh yes yes, I was looking for a business savvy person like yourself to help me collect some materials” she reached down to a belt at her waist and put her hand into a pouch. When she brought it out, she was clutching a handful of clovers.

At first Lance didn't really know what to think but he suddenly realized that these weren't just any clovers, these were four-leaf clovers!

“Wow! How'd you get so many?” shouted Lance, unable to hide his surprise.

“In the past these were easy to come by, but there seems to be a shortage recently.”

“I noticed that you are good at getting materials and I thought you might be able to help me...”

Lance could understand her predicament. Alchemist supplies were hard to come by since Rhodium didn't have that many combat classes who needed potions. Even though there were many types of potions, the easiest and most popular ones were always potions related to combat. The wheels in his head began to turn as Lance contemplated the pros and cons of helping this old lady. However, something came across his mind as he looked her over.

“Wait a second here, any way you look at this it's either going to take me a lot of effort or a lot of money to get what you need. How are you going to help?”

“Well, I don't have much money at the mome-” the old lady made a very forced coughing noise and covered her mouth with her free hand before continuing. “As you can see, my health is not the greatest either” she said flashing her crooked toothed smile once again.

Lance let out an audible sigh before responding. “Listen, you approached me saying you had a business deal but I don't see any way I can make this worthwhile for myself. Unless you can give me some evidence that I can make a profit out of this-”

“I can offer you my services.” she interrupted.

“I don't really want to employ an alchem-”

“I'm saying I'll teach you the skills to brew potions and the like, I don't think it's a bad deal right?”

Lance was intrigued by the proposition she had just given. Alchemist was a fairly profitable profession in the right hands, not that he wanted to be one. But if he understood her correctly she was willing to teach him the skills of an alchemist without forcing him to change professions. Of course he would never be able to make potions as well as a professional alchemist, but good potions could sell for a lot of gold and players of all levels bought them.

Lance had been looking for another business venture outside of the art supplies. His hope was to save up enough money for a cart and travel to other cities. But for that he needed a product that he could sell anywhere, not just in Rhodium. Lance was definitely interested in this unexpected quest but he still hadn't completely let up his suspicion.

“Why would you teach me that? What if I undercut your prices after you taught me?”

“heheh-” the old lady began laughing which caused her to enter into a coughing fit. She settled down before continuing with her statement.

“Boy, the day an amateur like you can make a better potion than me is the day I retire.”

Ah...I guess that's true..

An Alchemist's skills were difficult to raise. It took a long time to brew anything in Royal Road, especially potions. Good ones also required rare substances and ingredients that could only be harvested by people with the necessary knowledge and skills. Still, it's rare to get an opportunity to learn a skill like this so Lance washed away his doubts with thoughts about how he could take advantage of this new venture.

“fair enough old lady, I'll help you gather some ingredients in exchange for you teaching me how to brew potions.”

Clover Exchange

An old alchemist women has approached you with an offer to teach you how to brew potions if you can gather the materials she has asked of you.

Difficulty Level: E

Quest Requirements

*Merchant Class Only*

Have a negative opinion with at least half of the city Vendors

You have accepted the quest

“Good, good. Then I'd like you to get me at least 1 lb of clovers within the next week.”

“Wait a second, within a week!? That's ridiculous!” Lance complained.

“Are you saying that you can't do it?” the old lady's expression turned into a condescending one as she looked up at him.

“Argh...no it's just.....ahhh whatever, never mind ill get it done.” Lance quietly mumbled under his breath and mentally persuaded himself into believing that everything would turn out fine.

With the conclusion of their conversation the old lady smiled one last time before thanking Lance and heading back to her street stall that was covered in exotic looking plants and materials.

Barely five minutes after Lance's conversation with the old women ended, he spotted a familiar silhouette making it's way down the street towards him. As it got closer, the bright blue robes they wore were reflecting in the sunlight, making them glow an even brighter shade of blue. This was of course Sen, who had dawned a freshly bought blue mages robe.

Lance greeted her with mixed feelings.

“I'm guessing This is why you're so late?” he said, gesturing at Sen's new fashion statement.

“Don't you like it? I thought I should at least look the part now that I chose a class.” Sen replied trying to lighten the mood with a smile and a twirl.

“These don't give me any stats, but it was all I could afford!”

“Wait, weren't you coming with me to find out what kind of class you wanted to choose? So I waited here for nothing!?” Lance played up his frustration a bit to force some guilt on Sen for making him wait.

“Sorry but I didn't really plan things like this. Here, why don't we start making our way to where you need to go and I can explain along the way?”

“Fine....but it better be good.” Said Lance, happy to go along with the suggestion to speed things up.

The two began making their way towards the fields south of the city. Sen explained her run-in with Reggie and the quest that had activated and resulted in her gaining the mage class and a new spell. After hearing out her story Lance could understand why she made the abrupt decision to choose a class. Lance also shared his story about the old lady he met right before Sen had showed up.

Since it was Sen's first time outside the city walls and Lance was absolutely no good in combat, the two decided to stay in a meadow that was still in view of the city. The Meadow was bordered by a forest in the distance, but the only monsters that you could run into here were Rabbits and Foxes. The good thing about starting in Rhodium is that there was little to no competition when hunting. Many places were so full of lower level players that it was difficult to find a good hunting spot, but because Rhodium is mainly made up of artisans there was never any problem for lower level players while finding good hunting spots.

That being said, Lance specifically chose a place with lots of Clovers so he could start gathering the materials he needed for the old lady's quest. Lance knew it was probably impossible for him to find everything he needed by simply looking in the grass, but he could at least get a head start.

“So....what am I supposed to hunt then?” Sen asked as Lance began crawling around on his hands and knees in a clover patch.

“Rabbits are probably the only things you can hunt at this stage, especially solo” said Lance who was only half paying attention to the current conversation as he shifted his focus to clover hunting.

“Hmm...well I guess you're right. I should probably test out my new spell before I try anything though”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Having been in the city up until this point Sen had yet to try out her newly acquired spell. From reading the handbook a bit she knew how to activate a spell so she moved away from where Lance was and gave it a try.

“Spitfire!”

As she activated the spell she could feel a warmth start to emanate from her right hand. Bringing her hand up to her face revealed a small flame now burning in her palm. Something seemed off to Sen though.

The spell shouldn't be something this small right?

The stats window had actually shown it to be quite powerful. As she glanced at her mana bar it was clearly being drained, but at nowhere near the rate that had initially been shown.

I must be doing something wrong.

She decided to ask lance for some suggestions.

“Hey Lance, is there some trick to activating a spell?” she yelled over to him.

“Not really....I think you normally just activate it with a word or gesture or whatever right?” Lance replied while attempting to fight off a couple of rabbits that were trying to eat the clover patch he was searching.

A gesture! I hadn't thought about that....

“Alright thanks!”

Sen went back to trying to figure out how to activate her new spell. She tried to throw it and whip it around but nothing worked. She did figure out how to deactivate it by simply closing her hand. Oddly enough the flames didn't seem to hurt her at all when she touched them, but when it touched the grass it caught fire instantly. Sen tried to think back to anything she knew about fire that might help. Suddenly an idea popped up.

Sen remembered going camping with her family and everybody gathering around the campfire. As a kid she would always try to stoke the fire by blowing into it and her mom would yell at her to be careful because it was dangerous. She decided to apply her memory to this spell in the hope that something might happen. Sen activated the spell and placed her hand flat in front of her mouth as if she had just blown a kiss. Careful to aim it away from Lance, she took a deep breath and blew out air as if to extinguish the candles on a birthday cake.

Suddenly a massive flame erupted right in front of her. A torrent of orange and white-hot flames reached out from her hand and arched through the air like a giant flamethrower. Sen's initial reaction was to flinch at the heat, but she quickly realized that there was no change in temperature, at least for her. It still remained the same temperature as it had been as a small flame but it was obviously more devastating due to the scorched earth that was now in front of her. Sen swallowed her saliva and braced for pain as she closed her hand to stop the spell, only she felt nothing.

At least I don't have to worry about burning myself.

“Wow that looks like a pretty powerful spell!” Said Lance, his concentration having been broken by the giant blast that had just occurred nearby.

“hehe” Sen just smiled and gave a peace sign before going back and stomping out the rest of the flames that were still on the ground.

Sen spent the next couple of hours trying to figure out how the spell operated. Unfortunately the spell seemed hard to aim because the burst of flames blocked her vision. Not only that but she could only tilt the flames left, right, up or down. Moving around while casting the spell proved to be quite difficult because she had to focus on where she was aiming while running in a direction without looking. Fortunately her Soccer experience came in handy for the running aspect, but trying to run without making the flames go every which way proved much more difficult. Despite the difficulties, Sen's confidence grew alongside her skills.

At this rate, I should be ready to start hunting in no time.

Sen moved back to the area where Lance was searching. He had moved about 20 feet from his starting location. It seems he hadn't made much progress due to defending against the rabbits that wanted to eat the clovers for Lunch. As Sen approached the scene where Lance was furiously trying to defend his patch of ground from some rabbits, she had to try harder and harder to stifle her own laughter.

Normally one would be worried about their friend and attempt to help them. However the more Sen watched the scenario, the more her imagination took over until all she could see was a small elvish boy frolicking in a meadow with some cute animals. As the pink and flowery backdrop of the scene continued to expand, Sen's laughter continued to escalate until she was forced to cover her mouth to keep from bursting.

Finally, Lance was able to drive away the rabbits and stood in place for a moment of triumph before turning back to see Sen on the ground seemingly writhing in agony.

“What's wrong?” Lance said innocently.

“Pfft-noth-hehe....Nothing, don't worry about it...”

Lance shrugged and went back to searching for clovers, slightly confused at the weirdness coming from his companion. After a few more minutes of giggling, Sen finally settled down enough to relax and gain her mana back. As her mana reached it's maximum amount she began scanning the area for possible targets to hunt. It's didn't take long for her to spot a Rabbit trying to sneak it's way back towards Lance's patch of clovers. As she looked closely at the small animal approaching her, a nagging thought came into her brain.

Do I really have no other options but to hunt something so cute?

Sen had a real soft spot for cute things and it wasn't just because she was a girl. As one might expect growing up in a household full of brothers, Sen never had many chances to be around cute things. As something that she could never get very often, seeing a small animal or finding a cute looking sticker were one of the small joys in her life. Cute things gave her a warm fuzzy feeling on the inside and she always treasured them whenever they were around.

As she was contemplating what to do, the rabbit stood upright and perked it's ears up. Almost simultaneously, an orange and white blur flashed from seemingly out of nowhere and shot right towards the rabbit. The rabbit, having quick reflexes, was able to barely dodge the attack. However a large tuft of fur was missing from the rabbit's shoulder. In a panic, the rabbit tried to book it towards the treeline, but was cut off by the fox that had anticipated the action.

The rabbit regained it's composure and made a beeline for a nearby burrow hole but was once again was cut off by the fox. This process continued for a few minutes with the rabbit using it's better agility and speed to try and run towards safety and the fox anticipating where it wanted to go an cutting it off. It was obvious that the fox was no match in speed, but it made up for that by taking the path of least resistance. Instead of tiring itself out by chasing the rabbit, it would simply wait until the rabbit ran out of energy and then go in for the kill.

Of course the one watching all of this unfold was Sen. She couldn't help but root for the rabbit to get towards safety, but as the ordeal dragged on, the outcome became obvious. The fox decided it was time to end the hunt and began moving in for the kill. The rabbit, which could barely even run at this point, seemed resigned to it's fate. The fox slowly moved in, saliva dripping from it's mouth in anticipation. The fox prepared for the final pounce when...

“Spitfire!”

Whoosh! A huge burst of flame erupted towards the fox who just barely managed to jump out of the way, suffering some minor burns. The flames startled the rabbit and, with it's final burst of energy, it managed to scurry into a nearby burrow while the fox was distracted. Sen let out a sigh of relief but as she turned to face the fox that she had just burned, a gut wrenching fear took hold of her and stopped her legs from moving any further.

Standing before her was a furious little red fox, although it didn't seem so little to Sen anymore. The salivating fox now turned all of it's hunting prowess into taking revenge on the foolish human who had decided to interrupt it's dinner. The fox began running full speed towards Sen. Unable to move, Sen screamed at herself internally.

MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!

As the fox pounced with it's fangs aimed at her throat, Sen was barely able to lean and force the bite to her shoulder. Nearly 25% of her health dropped in that one hit alone!

I need to get out of here fast!

As panic took hold, Sen tried to run as fast as she could back to the city. The one thing Sen was confident in was her speed. Even though Sen was the fastest human this fox had ever seen, she was still no match for his speed and he was easily able to cut her off. The same hunting method that had captured the Rabbit!

Every time Sen tried to get away the Fox would cut her off and pounce at her. While she was able to anticipate the pounce and avoid any serious hits like the first one, it didn't take long until her health dropped below 30%. Sen had stopped her panicking and was trying to figure out a way to retaliate. She didn't want to waste her mana unless it was a guaranteed hit.

Ugh...I need a guaranteed action....wait, what about the pounce?

Sen's brain formed a plan around the one action she knew the fox would take, a pounce to go in for the kill. She began running back in the direction of the town and sure enough the fox cut her off before she got too close. Once the fox planted itself to stand its ground, Sen steeled herself and sprinted toward the fox. Confident in it's own strength, the fox took up the challenge and began charging towards Sen. As they approached each other the fox, true to it's habits, pounced towards Sen's neck. In the same instance, Sen performed a well practiced slide underneath the fox.

Boy am I glad I practiced so hard now!

But thing's didn't go as smoothly as Sen had hoped. The fox realized her tactic at the last second and reached out a claw that dug through her other shoulder dropping her health to 1%! But that was all the adjustments the fox could make. Sen dug her heels in the ground and propped into the standing position. The fox landed and quickly tried to whirl around only to see a wall a fire engulf it. Spending most of her mana in an all out attack, the fox was defeated, unable to escape the flames.

Sen dropped into a sitting position before sprawling out on the ground in pain and out of breath, but alive. Lance who had witnessed the whole sequence from about the halfway point came rushing over.

“Sen! Are you alright!? That was incredible! You should have told me you were such a good fighter!”

“heheh...I didn't know I was one...”

As the two of them sat there talking, Sen was about to suggest heading back into town for some much needed rest. Suddenly there was a trembling that came from the forest on the opposite side of the meadow.

“What is that?” said Lance.

As the both of them were looking at the forest, a human shape burst from the underbrush. The human was obviously a player but they were dressed in an unorthodox garb. They were wearing bright red armor and brandishing an unsheathed sword that looked like a katana. They were running quite fast and seemed to be yelling something.

“What is he saying?” asked Sen.

“Not sure...” Lance replied

As the man got closer his words soon became apparent.

“RUUUNNNNN!!!”

At the same moment hundreds of humanoid shapes began rushing out of the underbrush.

“TROLLLLSSS!!” yelled the man as he ran past Sen and Lance at full speed.