System quest offered: Beginners exploration. Explore the nearby areas outside the city, Eldoria's Reach. Objective: find five landmarks outside the city, and kill 10 creatures.
Reward: Experience points towards all skills, 10 gold coins, 1 common skill, +50 reputation.
Landmarks found 0/5, creatures killed 0/10
Accept Y/N
"Did you get the quest?" Droozle asked the moment Kai stepped outside the city gates, to which Kai answered in the affirmative as he accepted the quest. "Great, I've done that quest already, so I know where the landmarks can be found. You'll finish it in no time."
"What kind of creatures are there?"
"The weakest monsters are Plain runners, Froglins, Rockhoppers and Spriggans. We'll start with those, all of them are small low level creatures. They're only dangerous in large swarms. Once you level up your skills enough, we'll search for bipedal deer."
It didn't take a long time of walking in the fields outside the city to come across their first creature rustling in the growing wheat. It was something akin to a large toad, with warty brown skin, sharp claws, pointy teeth and slit blue eyes of a predator. Froglin, level 5.
Kai stared at the odd creature for a few moments, "Attack it," Arson said. The froglin decided to take up on the offer, and shot its sticky tongue straight at Kai's face. Before Kai could react, he felt himself falling on his knees as his face was being pulled right at the froglin's mouth. A smooth sound resounded through the field, and Kai felt the tongue slacken as Arson cut the tongue in twain. With great effort, Kai pulled the stuck tongue off his face as laughter echoed from his friends.
"Next time-" Droozle chuckled, having shot an ice arrow through the froglin's skull,"maybe don't just wait to get attacked."
"I'll try," Kai said icily, before throwing the froglin's tongue at Droozle's face with a smile. To Kai's disappointment, the tongue was easily dodged.
A minute later, the trio came across a second creature, Froglin, level 3. But Before it could attack, Kai activated his lightning reflexes. This time, he reacted in time when the frog came for an attack. Kai dodged in time, jumped in the air with his spear, activating Thunderspear dance, and striking down on the froglin with a crackle.
You have killed creature: Froglin, level 3, having dealt 2+6 damage.
Your mana has increased from 12, to 13. Current mana: 10/13.
Beginners exploration: creatures killed 1/10
Skill: lightning reflexes, novice 2, has increased to novice 3. Skill: Thunderspear dance, novice 1, has increased to novice 2.
"Guys, is there any way I can turn off notifications?" Kai asked once he'd read the new information.
"Yeah, it's in your interface settings." Came the quick reply. "Congrats on your first kill."
Kai quickly found the settings tab in his interface, and found the notification settings. From there it was simple enough to show only 'important' notifications, instead of 'relevant' notifications.
A couple more froglin's later, the group came across a large stone. Beginners exploration: Landmarks found, 1/5. But Kai's attention wasn't focused on the stone, but rather on the rockhopper, level 10 sitting in atop it, staring at his group. It looked like a statue of a grasshopper made from solid obsidian.
As before, Kai activated his lightning reflexes, and prepared to strike at it with Thunderspear dance, only for the rockhopper to simply dodge the attack. Kai's spear instead chipped the large stone with a crack. The rockhopper quickly landed, and jumped towards Kai in an instant. Thanks to his still active reflex skill, Kai managed to react, but not in time. The rockhopper crashed to Kai's side, causing the simple clothes Kai was wearing to shatter where the rockhopper impacted.
Too close to the rockhopper to use his spear, Kai quickly gritted through the pain and pulled his sword, slashing at the obsidian insect. Obsidian and metal chipped as the insect was thrown away, still alive. It quickly jumped towards Kai for a second time, but this time he managed to put the tip of his spear between the rockhopper and himself. The spear stabbed directly at the insect, chipping off one two of its legs, and cracking the tip of the spear. Kai went to slash at the hopper with his sword for a second time, only the insect dodged, jumping to the side, before hopping directly towards Kai once more.
Moments before the creature crashed with Kai again, he felt the refreshing feeling of Arson's healing skill, allowing Kai to tank the critters second impact. With a second hole in his shirt, Kai managed to kill the insect, cracking it in half with a final slash of his sword.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
You have gained new skill: melee combat (common), novice 1.
Hit points have increased from 10, to 14. Current hit points: 11/14.
"I imagine you might not want to face one of those again? It almost entirely ruined your weapons." Arson stated, as he gave Kai a second heal. Current hit points 14/14.
Kai gave a glance at his sword, spear, and the holes on his shirt. It looked like the shirt had been made from thin stone instead of fabric from the way it'd broken. "Yeah… did it have some sort of skill to do this?"
"Probably. It's a good thing the critter didn't hit bare skin. We'll handle future rockhoppers, until you get more durable weapons." Droozle said.
The next couple hours were spent as the trio kept moving around the city, finding four more landmarks such as a large lonely tree and a small shack on the top of a hill, while letting Kai kill all the froglins they came across to increase his skill levels, and finish his quest.
Congratulations, you completed the quest: Beginners exploration. You gained the skill: pebble toss (common), novice 1. You gained 10 gold coins. Your reputation has increased by +50. Skill: Thunderspear dance, novice 3, has increased to novice 4. Skill, Shadow stride, novice 2 has increased to novice 3. Skill: melee combat, novice 4 has increased to novice 5. Mana has increased from 12 to 13.
"Level five, nice! Though you might want to pick up the coins from the ground." Droozle said, pointing at the ten small gold coins on the ground. "Buy a money pouch, or some inventory item, system quest rewards will automatically appear in one with you. Or open a bank account."
"What skill did you get? It's completely random from what we can tell. I got dark vision when I did the quest."
Having stuffed the ten coins in his pocket, Kai opened his interface to check, already grimacing from the skills name. Pebble toss (common), novice 1 Increases user's accuracy with small thrown objects by 10n%, where n is skill level.
"Pebble toss, it increases my accuracy with small thrown objects."
"That's… not the worst you could get. I got cooking when I did my quest. But anyways, it's getting dark. I imagine it's a good time to head back to the city." Droozle said
"What, why? I was just starting to have fun." Kai uttered.
"The monsters become more dangerous at night. Besides, you could invest your money, find a few quests to do and what not, then we can log out for the game night, have a couple hour break to eat and continue when night ends."
It sounded logical enough, so the party made their way back to the city before parting ways, though Kai did feel slightly disappointed. But he did have something to do, mainly buy a new shirt, get his weapons repaired and buy a money pouch, or other inventory item.
Once Kai found a promising shop, 'Adventurer's Gadgets', he entered it immediately.
"Ooh, a customer," an aged woman behind a counter almost giggled to herself. "What do you need? I'm sure you can find anything you need here."
"Uh, hi? I'm looking to repair my shirt and weapons, or to buy new ones. And I need some inventory item."
"Those poor things? New ones would be a better choice, I can find you a good bronze spear, and a gladius for only 15 gold total."
"I've got a hard budget, what can you get me for 10 gold?"
"I… see. Well, I can give you a sewing kit for one gold, and a good quality pack for three. You can have your weapons repaired in a nearby smithy."
"Are there any magic storage rings or such?" Kai asked curiously.
"Oh yes," the woman laughed, "but those will cost you at least 50 gold, even a pack with an enchantment will cost you at least twenty gold. Tell you what, I'll give you a nice backpack of your choice, and the sewing kit for a nice three gold."
Reluctantly, Kai was about to agree, but then he had a better idea. "What if I were to help you with something, and get some equipment as a reward?"
"You mean you want me to give you a quest? Eh, sure. Why not?" Kai let a wide grin spread on his face, until the old woman continued speaking. "Give me three gold, and as a reward, I'll give you one sewing kit, and a non-magical pack of your choice!" She cackled.
Quest offered: Fair trade. Give 3 gold coins to the old shopkeep of Adventurer's Gadgets.
Reward: a sewing kit, and a backpack of your choice. +1 Reputation.
Failure: -1 reputation.
Gold coins given 0/3.
Accept, Y/N
Kai let out a slow sigh, as he accepted the quest, and gave the coins to the shopkeep.
"Thanks for the business. Feel free to pick a bag. I'll find you a sewing kit." The woman said. "You know, if you want a proper quest, you might want to ask the city guard. They're having a lot of trouble handling all the wanderers who started appearing here last month." She continued as she came back with Kai's new sewing kit.
"Thanks", Kai muttered as he took the most comfortable backpack he could find, and stuffed the sewing kit in it. "Have a nice day."
"Thank you, you too!" Kai heard as he stepped out of the shop, headed towards a nearby smithy.
Weapon repair wasn't as expensive as Kai had feared, costing two gold to repair his weapons. While waiting, Kai decided to try and patch the holes in his shirt with his new sewing kit. It wasn't Kai's first time sewing, but his work wasn't anywhere near good. Maybe halfway decent.
You have shown yourself capable of basic sewing. You gained the skill: Sewing (common), novice 2.
Apparently his work was good enough to be recognized by the game at a whole novice 2 level. Though that did make Kai curious. If he were to show his capabilities in something he was better in than sewing, like writing or math for example, then could he get a higher level skill from the get-go. But Kai could wonder about that at a later date. For now, he should go and find the city guard for a quest. Kai had already made $50 profit, if he could find a good quest, he might be swimming in money in no time.