“Damn” I close the blacksmith’s door behind me as I exit the shop…barehanded as before.
Dammit why is the cheapest thing an entire 1 silver 10 copper?
No wonder no one has gotten a weapon yet; they’re too blimming expensive.
I really wonder what the hunting group did in these first 5 hours…
Anyways, no time to dawdle, Squirrels are needed to be killed.
Most of the village group is heading their way to the outside (since they all went to the blacksmith themselves to get some crushed hope), though no one is walking.
Everyone is doing some kind of strange action as they go out; some are jumping, while others rolling. A couple are sending punches to a friend who dodges and vice versa. The two pink rabbits are even sneaking their way to the outside…
They say skills change a person…but this is too mild.
Trying to only get 1 skill at a time? Terrible.
I join the large circusy crowd and begin to do some strange sort of burpees; Jump vertical into the air, then roll a bit forward once touching the ground and then taking a sneaky step.
Some fellow jumpers and rollers see me do this and with grins the ‘burpee’ horde begins…
They say skills change a person…we’re all craving the xp.
So this strange burpee horde lasts about 30 minutes and by the time we reached the end of the village about 20% of us were hands on knees breathing heavily from the workout.
The other 80% were on the ground panting like dogs.
Guess which one I’m in
…
..
.
Ok much better. Seems like the system will help you recover decently quickly so that’s good for the unfit…
Sadly no skill or stat as of yet…however that’s just fine as I take a few recovering steps outside.
Everyone starts to disperse…walking, because they want to save a little face…fools!
I peer at a couple of them and see that some are still doing tiny jumps while others are still trying to walk silently…Don’t resist the temptation my friends. Let the need for skills take you over!
I look back to see where Baila is
…
..
.
“This never happened”
She walks past me slightly red-faced as she heads to the forest.
Hehe, don’t resist the temptation!
Following her (in stealth of course) we make it to the forest within minutes and start to scour the world for squirrels and berries.
While we scour I continue doing my burpees, so really Baila’s doing all the scouring. But I mean she’s ok with killing cute critters(apparently) so she’s appropriate for this job.
After about 5 minutes, Baila spots a squirrel munching on a little red berry.
NAME:Forest Squrrel [lvl2] (Passive) Health:15/15Attack:2-2 Defense:0No resistances Attacks by jumping and biting
Ah, my catching skills were never the best…
Question is; how do I taunt the thing?
…ooh taunt!
“Oy you little grey furballs stop squirreling away in those trees and fight me like the squirrels you are”
…
..
.
“Seems like squirrels don’t know English…that was to be expected. Guess taunt is out of the question + Baila’s looking at me funny.
Plan B; Get some more skills!
I start to climb the tree the squirrel is in but as I get to the top, it jumps to another tree…More climbing, yay!
Baila starts to jump on the spot as I climb down then up the other tree.
Reaching the top I come face to face with the squirrel who cocks its little head slightly and starts a staring contest with me
*Spit*
-2
“Aaaaagh”
-1
*Thump*
…
..
.
Well that was one way to taunt the thing. Buut, I learnt that taunting a squirrel while your hands are busy holding you up and your face is by it…it’s a bad idea.
-5
Grabbing and tearing the squirrel off my face, ayyyy, I lock it within my two hands and begin to wring it like a wet towel
-1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1…
After about 15 seconds the squirrel finally dies with a satisfying crack of its spine.
Dropping the body on the floor beside me, I get up to see Baila holding back a laugh with her hand.
“What are you laughing about…it’s your turn next”
That drained the colour off her pretty little face.
Though she doesn’t complain and starts to look for another squirrel.
Following her burpee style, it takes us another 5 minutes to find another squirrel. However this time it’s on the ground picking berries.
Activating her assassin level skills, Baila walks up to the squirrel and begins to hug it within her mountains before getting a hold on its neck…The rest I don’t want to remember.
Poor things don’t even get a chance to retaliate…
Anyways, she did her kill so it’s my turn now…damn.
We both squat down and pick the berries gathering 6 between us.
ITEM:Forest Berry x6 (Low Quality)A common berry that resides in forests
Ah, only low quality. Well that’s beginner herbalism for you.
Moving on, she spots another squirrel which is on a tree again (I think she finds ones on tree just for me…).
Climbing up once more I hold myself up with an arm before spitting on it.
-2
“Aaaagh”
-1
*Thump*
-5
Damn I was too slow. However I still have the squirrel in my hands now.
Instead of wringing it like before I hold it in place with one hand and then methodically break all 4 of its legs.
The now immobile squirrel can’t do much but try its best to bit me with its little teeth.
Standing up I turn to Baila.
“Catch!”
She turns to me in midair with a bit of shock in her face as the squirrel comes flying her way.
Catching the squirrel she drops to the ground and sends the missile back to me.
*Thunk*
-1
OW! Rubbing my head I thank the gods it only did 1 damage. The squirrel dropped onto the floor
and without hesitation I stomp on it a couple of times to ensure its death.
“Pfft”
Oh shut up Baila, you almost killed me there!
Moving on, we spot another berry bush and harvest 5 berries.
A couple of minutes later we find another squirrel, on the ground once again. Oh cmon.
Baila goes up and hugs it once more but instead of restructuring its neck she decides to break its arms and then legs…
Oh god! Arms out, hands open I prepare for the missile as she launches it towards me.
*Thunk*
-1
God dammit!
I know my catching skills are not the best but still! How’d the squirrel get past my hands there?
Anyways, I pick up the squirrel and I chuck it over to her.
Seeing as though I’m being kind to her, she sends another missile. Is this revenge for having her do the transcript?
Catching the squirrel with my face…it hurts.
However at least I touched the fur this time…
We continue this little game of throw and catch(?) until I’m on the verge of death. Then we stop and she breaks its neck like she’s twisting a lid.
Squirrel hunting may actually be quite fun.
So we start a bit of a routine; whenever it’s my turn, Baila jumps while I grab a spit and fight a squirrel on the floor. Whenever it’s her turn we play throw and catch. Also when we’re moving around, I do my burpees.
After a good 40 squirrels and an hour later, we’ve picked another 80 berries (which is more than enough) and have subsequently gained a couple of new skills and a stat:
Congratulations! Through repeated agile actions you have discovered a new stat: agility
STAT: AgilityPoints in Agility will increase attack speed, movement speed and will affect agility based skillsDo you want to put this stat on one of your stat slots?YESNO
xp increases by 10%
Congratulations! You have learnt the skill: Throw
SKILL:Throw, Beginner [lvl1] 0% (Active)Throwing objects is a skill that needs to be practiced to be mastered.
When used:
Does terrain damage
Throws target 1 metre (+- bonuses/penalties dependent on object thrown)
Strength bonus: n/a
Agility bonus: n/a
Dexterity bonus: n/aCost: None, Duration: instantaneous, Cooldown: None
For learning a new skill, xp is increased by 5%
Congratulations! You have learnt the skill: Headbutt
SKILL:Headbutt, Beginner [lvl1] 0% (Active)Headbutting is the skill to cause pain with your head while not doing damage to your own
When used:
deals 70% unarmed damage
Strength bonus: n/aCost: None, Duration: instantaneous, Cooldown: None
For learning a new skill, xp is increased by 5%
Congratulations! You have learnt the skill: Roll
SKILL:Roll, Beginner [lvl1] 0% (Passive)This skill allows you to roll more effectively
When rolling:
2% to dodge chance
Agility bonus: n/aCost: None, Duration: instantaneous, Cooldown: None
For learning a new skill, xp is increased by 5%
Congratulations! You have learnt the skill: Jump
SKILL:Jump, Beginner [lvl1] 0% (Passive)The jumping skill will allow you to jump better
When jumping:
1% higher jump than normal
Strength bonus: n/aCost: None, Duration: instantaneous, Cooldown: None
For learning a new skill, xp is increased by 5%
Congratulations! You have learnt the skill: Climb
SKILL:Climb, Beginner [lvl1] 0% (Passive)Climbing needs to be practiced because pure strength is not always the answer
When climbing:
Surfaces will feel slightly rougher
Strength bonus: n/a
Agility bonus: n/a
Dexterity bonus: n/aCost: None, Duration: instantaneous, Cooldown: None
For learning a new skill, xp is increased by 5%
All in all I’m pretty happy…although I got headbutt instead of catch…Even the system is making fun out of me…
The skills themselves only add a tiny little difference but every little thing helps!
Baila got throw, catch and jump, of which the jump was already expert level giving her a 40% increase in height…racials are awesome…
I’m only 14% from level 4 as well, so I’m definitely going to level up once I’ve gotten my sneak skill and cash in my quests.
However before that; we’ve got another dozen or so squirrels to kill…
When we move around this time we both try to sneak around the forest.
Turns out we’re both pretty good at it as I can’t really hear too much…could I have a higher grade sneak already?
I’ve figured out that racials are just common sense, which is easier with beastman races but there are some obvious ones for us monsters and the humanoids too.
So really I should be trying to get a hobgoblins skill set…which I have no idea what it is…
I’ll look it up later.
We find another squirrel and this time I stand at the foot of the tree before spitting on the squirrel.
Getting a squirrel to the face, I peel it off before making short work of it.
Since I’ve been practicing my spitting, I’ve actually improved it to the point where I can spit from about a metre away now. Ah school days sending spitballs to my classmates…never thought I’d ever spit for something useful ever again.
The rest of our squirrel murder session is quite uneventful with me spitting and then killing the squirrels while Baila focuses on getting roll and sneak.
Another 30 minutes and we’ve killed the required 60 squirrels (well it was 30 but we decided it’d be better if we killed 30 each, to grind our skills somewhat too).
After this hour and a half long squirrel murdering session nothing has increased yet, however I’ve gotten a couple new skills in the process:
Congratulations! You have learnt the skill: Spitful taunt
SKILL:Kicking mastery, Beginner [lvl1] 0% (Active)To taunt others with your spit is effective because of their honor being most literally spat upon
When used:
spits 1 metre
gain 1% agro(100% if target not in combat)
Strength bonus: n/a
Dexterity bonus: n/aCost: None, Duration: instantaneous, Cooldown: 3 seconds
For learning a new skill, xp is increased by 5%
Congratulations! You have learnt the skill: Sneak
SKILL:Sneak, Intermediate [lvl1] 0% (Active)Sneaking is the skill to move silently for one reason or another
When used:
-1% chance to be detected
Agility bonus: n/aCost: None, Duration: instantaneous, Cooldown: None
For learning a new skill, xp is increased by 20%
With that I leveled up to level 4. Whoo!
It’s a bit odd that I got a taunt but it’s a different taunt? Or maybe there are different types of taunts? I have no idea but if that means I can get a whole bunch of different taunts I’m happy.
Baila got her roll and sneak skill and she’s pretty close to level 3 it seems. Thanks to that meeting I’m pretty far ahead.
So with us finished we decide that we should head back. And so we take the scenic route back to the village: We sprint as fast as we can through the forest and out into the deserted field. Then we run our way round the village, joining up with a sprint-gliding crow-beastman.
*Caw*
“Hello there, getting some skills?”
His raspy tone gives me a bit of a shiver because it immediately reminds me of a mad old man…never take candy from an old man with a raspy voice. A useful lesson I learnt as a child.
“Why yes, just taking a nice run around the village”
We run, mostly in silence, for a good 20 minutes until my satiety bar is dangerously low. Grabbing a handful of berries I munch on 19 of them leaving 40 for myself (we split the berries 59:59).
Wow each berry raises the satiety by 2, not bad.
Running around for another 20 minutes the satiety is getting quite low again (about 15/180). So we decide to run into the village waving the crow-beastman goodbye.
Making our way to the general goods we spend 9 precious copper on 5 pieces of bread; The petite brunette tending the stall had looked at our pitiful gazes as we gave the money and gave us a discount of 1 copper.
1 copper is a huge fortune for us so I’m extremely grateful to her (plus I got a little bit of proficiency on my diplomacy).
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Munching on a piece of bread, it quickly recovers a full 60 satiety (so about 2 hours worth of game time, nice!). Making our way to the elder we see he’s currently giving constant bows to the line of people completing their quests.
Seems like most of them have completed the rabbit and squirrel extermination.
After a few minutes we are first in line and we give the good news to the elder.
“Oh thank you young ones, our village is most thankful towards you”
Quest Complete!Rewards:
20 Copper
+1 intimacy with village
Oh so much money!
“It is our pleasure Elder, however we must have more problems that are needed to be solved?”
“Why yes, we have a problem with wolves too. I say problem but it is more that the wolves are a slight annoyance to trading caravans and thus we need to lower the number somewhat. Also I heard that Jenna was running a bit low on pelts for this coming winter”
“I’d gladly help” Although that may be the reason why you have an overpopulation of bunnies and squirrels?
QUEST: Wolf ExterminationThe Village Elder has asked you to kill 10 wolves that reside deeper in the forestRewards:
+1 intimacy with village
30 copper coins
Oooh 30 coppers! I like this quest.
However skills take priority over everything else.
Thanking the village elder, I head to Nathan’s place.
“Hello Nathan, I have berries for you”
“Oh…who-Ah! Yes…Thank you”
Don’t force yourself to stay alive Nathan.
His mind seems to be going slightly but that’s to expect with his age (of which I don’t know but suspect to be pretty old).
I handed over the 20 berries and got my +1 intimacy and 10 coppers in exchange.
Ahhh, 51 coppers all resting in my bag. It jingles so sweetly.
As Nathan is heading to his room I put a hand gently on his shoulder.
“Nathan, I’ve collected a couple of extra berries but I don’t really know what to do with them…could you give me a few pointers?”
He turns round, staring at me for a minute before I think he understands.
“Hmm…First…gather some…pond lilies”
“Sure will do” Ah, it’s never that easy. But then again making potions with 1 type of herb doesn’t really work does it
QUEST:A Budding Alchemist INathan has given you a pointer that to become an alchemist you should first gather some pond lilies, 40 should doRewards:
???
Ooh! A chain quest! Well I mean the extermination are kind of...) And ??? rewards (which may mean nothing buuut still)!
I grin to myself as I watch Baila go to Nathan and give him a dangerous hug to one of his frail arms.
“Mister Nathan, can you teach me how to become and alchemist? I’d ever so love to have a session with you…all alone”
“W-wwell of course…I’d be…happy to be alone…teaching you alchemy…of course…”
…
..
.
Damn, why didn’t I start as a sexy rabbit-beastlady so that I can convince old men to give me skills for free! I respect you Baila, you just increased a whole bunch of points in my book.
“However…I need some…Fire flowers to teach you”
…
“Will do Mister Nathan”
She lets go of his arm and pretends ignorance at his roaming eyes.
Well once a man always a man? It truly does look like we don’t lose our internal vigor with age…
Baila hops over to me with a grin.
“I just got the second stage!” She sticks out her tongue playfully at me.
…
..
.
Wow I really need to become a sexy rabbit-beastlady if it means I can skip quest lines to get the skills!
Well at least I’m a sort of good looking hobgoblin buuut I don’t think Nathan will fall for me, damn.
Anyways. We both exit his house and head over to the leatherworkers. Why? Because we had a pretty much direct hint from the elder that Jenna needed a few pelts, and I’m guessing she’s the leatherworker?
We’re not the only ones going into the house and when we enter the entire building is filled to the brim with about 30 people.
“Hey Jenna I’d like to kill some wolves for you”
“Misses, wolf pelts are my specialty”
“Don’t worry I’ll get some just for you”
“Older sister Jenna, Please teach me…”
SO many people are speaking at the same time…guess everyone wants leatherworking…I mean I guess having armor would make like slightly easier and everyone’s in a bit of a rush not to die because of its decent brutality…
I wonder why Nathan’s shop didn’t have the same fervor?
“SHUT UP!”
…
..
.
Everyone quietens and the middle of the crowd takes a step back, revealing a tall woman wearing long brown leather boots as well as matching shorts and a low-cut top, which is filled to the brims... Her long black locks of hair curl down past her shoulder but does not hide the fuming, slightly freckled womanly face which also has some slightly visible laughlines.
…
..
.
This skill had me interested but now it has my attention! Especially if she's teaching me.
Well that explains why so many people want to take leatherworking: Because we can see firsthand how, divine this skill is. I thought that Cat-beastlady was sexy in that shirt, in these clothes she’d be…god, just the image is arousing, I can’t fathom how great the real thing would be.
Sneaking a look at Baila I notice she’s got a little sparkle in her eyes. Guess women also like that type of clothing (or they wouldn’t ever wear it right?). I wouldn’t mind having her along for a long time if she decides to get leatherworking…
Jenna fumes for a few seconds before she lets out a large sigh.
“Ok ok ok, I’m running low on pelts and need about 100 wolf pelts. If you’d all be kind enough to get some for me I’ll teach you how to use them”
QUEST:Wolf Pelt GatheringJenna, the leatherworker, has asked you to gather wolf pelts for her. However she only requires 100, so once she has them all, she will not accept any more.
WARNING: Pelts must be medium quality or higher to be accepted
0/10 wolf pelts given
0 wolf pelts given so far...Rewards:
Leatherworking skill
…
..
.
*BAM CRASH* “OW” *THUMP, SMACK, WHAM*
Phew. Thank god I was closest to the door.
Sprinting out the place I’m quickly followed by the horde of 30 which are still fighting to get out.
Racing to the gates, Baila and I are quickly overtaken by the pink rabbit duo who hop over us…
damn those rabbits.
…
“Hey, wait a second”
The little loli rabbit sticks her tongue out at me mid-hop.
“Slowpokes, what do you want?”
“Well if we party up, we can do the quest faster and all complete it all together!” I try to diplomacise with them.
The little one goes “hrmph” but the bigger one slows down slightly cocking an ear my way.
“Wolves will probably hunt in packs so if there’s more of us we’d have a better chance” I’m a pretty logical person.
“…Ok that sounds fair, but we take first pelt”
“Sure, not a problem”
So they get a bit of a headstart once we finish, she’s got brains as well as boobs. I like this one too.
So I send them my party invite, and lo and behold; they’re Pinky Juniour and Seniour. I suspected as much.
They slow down so that Baila and I catch up. Then we all go sprint together…
-1 -2 -3
…
..
.
I can handle one well endowed bouncing bunny, but 2? I lost over half my health watching them bounce either side of me. I’m a strong man but I have my weaknesses…
PJ (Pinky Juniour from now on) asks me why I’ve lost so many hitpoints…
“I got…something in my eye…It did quite a bit of damage”
“Oh, ok then” Ok so her size isn’t just for show. The other two though…don’t really mind me saying that?
Baila just gives me a devious grin while PinkyS (Pinky Seniour) chuckles to herself.
These women are definitely confident in their own bodies. Buuut I won’t look because I might actually die...although will I get a title from doing so?
Oooh, but I’ll have to try that out after I’ve gotten leatherworking.
Sprinting through the grassland, I look back to see everyone dispersing like pollen to different areas of the forest.
My party goes straightforward to the forest and without stop keep running through it.
The trees whoosh past us as we move deeper into the forest. Slowly the light dims and my eyesight finally improves somewhat.
I look around to check for wolves buuut they’re not as easily found lazing about like the squirrels…
“AWOOO”
…
Well they found us instead, I guess that’s good?
Heading to the direction of the howling we slow down and then activate stealth (luckily everyone has it).
We soon sneak past a tree and a couple of trees away is our prey
NAME:Forest Wolf [lvl3]Health:30/30Attack:3-5Defense:0No resistancesWill attack by surrounding weakest looking target and pouncing.
Also uses claws and bites.A common grey wolf found in forests
Hmm, normal hp, horribly high attack and the whole surrounding thing certainly suggests they don’t fight alone…
“AWOOO”
Before we can think of a plan, the wolf in front of us howls and then looks at us.
“Kill it quickly!” I charge towards the wolf.
Baila does charge behind me, thank god. However the Pinky duo just look at me funny for a second before they get the message.
The wolf bounds towards me and it pounces on me.
“Oomph”
-5
Ok charging a wolf is not a good idea.
-3
Ow, damn that wolf bites, literally!
“yaah”
The wolf is quickly tackled off me by some red beauty. They roll on the floor for half a second before she is inevitably underneath.
I quickly get to a kneeling position.
“Yaah”
A light foot presses against my back, followed by a “whee” as I see a pink loli rabbit fly above me.
*Crash*
The loli lands on the wolf doing pretty much nothing to it, hell I don’t think the wolf notice her till...
*CRACK*
…
..
.
Oh Jesus that’s nasty…
I feel sorry for Baila because she just got a gut shower…eegh
I quickly put my fingers in my ears but still slightly hear the horrified scream coming from both the loli and Baila…
Why? Well because there’s half a wolf above Baila while PJ drops the upper half of the wolf onto the floor getting a good spray…
Both are screaming their lungs out…
“OOF”
-1
Flattened to the ground by some tremendous force I almost die…Just what was that? Felt like a foot…
“Shh the Baila, shh, its only particles”
“Sister…why aren’t you cuddling me, it’s no fair”
“Juni, stop screaming if you’re not scared”
…
..
.
I’m not sure whether the kid is really mature or just insane…
Either way, she’s got some crazy strength and it’s effective…
I dig my face out of the ground and look towards my rabbit trio: Baila is sobbing profusely while being hugged by PinkyS. PJ is dragging the wolf back together on the side…
Guess everyone has forgotten about the 3 wolves that just came into view…
“AWOOO”
Shiiii-
The wolves bound towards Baila who definitely looks like the weakest here while covered in guts.
“Ow”
1 wolf swipes Baila before PinkyS uses her body to block the rest of the blows.
“Sister!”
*SMASH*
One wolf dead as anything as it flies into a tree with a resounding crack…
That’s hell of a kick…
The remaining 2 immediately agro onto PJ and try to claw her. She manages to dodge one but gets a claw to her right side.
“Don’t touch me!”
*CRACK*
Another wolf’s back meets a tree…I want that kick power.
The third wolf is grabbed by the back-paw by PinkyS and as it tries to kick itself free it gets a punch to the face, smashing it to the ground and knocking its eyes into the white…
None of the wolves are dead mind you…but 2 have broken spines and the other is unconscious. Needless to say PJ goes around curb stomping them.
And that was the end of our first wolf pack encounter. Overall, not too bad, but that may have been because both of them seemed to put quite a lot of points into Strength…
Strength is really quite overpowered; I just can’t imagine how brutal a 50 strength person is…
While PJ drags the wolves into a row, PinkyS continues to console Baila, whose eyes are slowly gaining some light.
I head over and lightly pat Baila’s slender shoulders, after wiping off the remaining guts off them of course.
“Well you’ve certainly got guts…”
*Elbow*
…
..
.
Mother, I’m sorry but you’ll never have grandsons…
…
“Please don’t say that word or you may get hurt”
“Oh…don’t be so intestinetive”
(Ed: play on words with insensitive?)
*Kick*
“OWWWWWW”
I’m out of this world and into hell…
At least…she’s…better…but…I think…I shouldn’t…have tried to help…owww.
“Baila, don’t go any further or we may become an all female group” Thanks PinkyS…I think…
“Ah that made me feel so much better”
…
..
.
Seriously Baila…How does hurting me make you feel better…you sadist...although I don’t hate that…I think.
While Baila gives multiple sighs of relief as she slowly looks towards and away from the guts, PinkyS and PJ look towards the wolf corpses…
Me…I’m still meditating on the floor, reaching a new stage of elightenment…
“Umm guys” PinkyS’ sweet voice gives a little relief from the pain.
“W…what…is it?” Words are still difficult at the moment.
“How are we going to skin the wolves…”
…
..
.
“Good point” Everyone nods their head slowly…this may be bit of a problem...