"It's you again, Wanderer!" Came a surprised shout of the barkeep, who at the moment was cleaning a tankard with two pale transparent hands extending from his stumps. "You disappeared, turned into light three hours ago."
"So that's what that looked like," Kai pondered, "don't worry about it. It's a wanderer thing."
"Clearly"
Kai soon left the tavern, into the night time city. Floating balls of orange fire dimly lit the cobbled streets, leaving the unfamiliar night sky clearly visible. It had to be almost midnight, while in the real world it was afternoon. Kai would log out in maybe five real time hours, so he could get his seven hours of sleep. That meant a bit over a full day in game time, with time until morning before his friends logged on.
It was the perfect time for burglars to be doing their business, as plenty of houses were entirely dark inside. Kai decided to do the simple thing, and climbed on the roof of one building for better visibility. Kai would simply wait atop the roof, until he saw something suspicious.
One hour passed, and Kai was getting bored. He briefly stretched, and then an idea struck his head. It was night time, that meant he was in a shadow, meaning he should be able to use his shadow stride skill. It was the perfect time to practice with it. Another hour later, Kai checked his notifications. Skill: shadow stride, novice 3 has increased to novice 5. Mana has increased from 13 to 16.
Kai's attention was brought away from his notifications to a dark figure passing across a roof some fifty yards from Kai. Sneaking carefully, as not to attract attention, Kai gave chase. Seeing the figure enter a house through an open window, Kai decided to wait directly outside. He could just about see the person, man, scavenging through wooden drawers and shelves inside the room the window led to.
GruffMan (Burglar Brawler), level 14 nuisance. Kai read the information that appeared above the figure's head. He remembered seeing 'GruffMan' on his list, which meant Kai would be making some money.
The moment GruffMan stepped back outside through the window, Kai prepared to attack. Thick threads of arcing electricity lit the space for a brief moment, as the burglar dodged out of its way with little effort before punching the spear out of Kai's hand's. For a moment Kai was frozen in terror as glowing red eyes stared him down. The eyes stopped glowing, turning to an amber color in the soft street fire.
"What the hell man? Why'd you attack me?" GruffMan angrily whispered. For a moment Kai was quiet. "Cat got your tongue?"
"I've got a quest for it."
"A bounty hunter then? You might want to do some social quests before going after the likes of me." The burglar said, letting out a quiet, yet deep rolling laughter. And it was funny. Here Kai was, with only half a day in game, one quest under his belt, attempting to capture a man twice his level. Kai couldn't prevent it, he let out a chuckle, then a boisterous laughter, unable to even properly take a breath. A fist hit Kai directly in the face, and it hurt.
Current hit points 3/14.
The man continued his deep laugh, even as he prepared himself in a fighting stance. Even as Kai's mouth filled with blood, Kai kept laughing harder than he could remember. Was it a skill making him laugh? Kai thought, as he activated his own skills. With a 60% increase in his reflexes, and a nice 300% increase in his movement speed, thanks to partially activating his shadow stride, dodging the next attack was simple enough. Problem was, Kai didn't have long before he'd feel the effects of quickly draining his mana. Kai quickly moved behind GruffMan, and punched the back of his head with everything he had, attempting to knock the burglar unconscious.
It felt like punching a stone wall. Current hit points, 2/14.
"That's a cool skill, but I've got a passive constitution skill at the beginner stage." GruffMan stated, matter of factly as Kai attempted a second attack, this time with his sword. Kai had to do something. Before GruffMan could turn around and face Kai, the sword bit over half an inch into his neck. With the last bits of his mana, Kai made an attempt to run away.
"That actually hurt." GruffMan said, covering his wound with his left hand, as he prepared to punch Kai a second time with his right. "I might even have to buy a potion to heal this, that's like half the money I just stole!" The second punch struck Kai's feet as he was already in the air from his jump. Kai ran out of mana in the middle of his tumble, before landing on the cobbled street head first.
You have died. Assessing cause of death: Failed attempt at escaping, leading to a fatal fall. Penalty for death: Skill: Shadow stride, novice 3, has decreased to novice 2. You have lost an item: beginner spear.
In-game time until respawn: 2 hours.
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Kai read the message, mortified. Dying had sucked, it hurt like hell, but luckily the pain was quickly over. After a moment of calm, in a cozy little room where one could wait for respawn, Kai decided to log out so the wait would go by faster. But a decrease in his skill, and a loss of his spear? He would need money for a new one now. Speaking of money, exactly how much did a healing potion cost and how much money did the burglar make from a single house?
–
"So, you found a quest for capturing criminals, fought a burglar who said he'd have to buy a potion, searched for potion prices while waiting for respawn, and decided that it's a great idea to become what… highway robbers, burglars, pickpockets?" Droozle questioned, receiving an enthusiastic nod from Kai. "I'm not sure if that's the best idea."
"But it could be fun, and we wouldn't even be stealing from real people. It's free, morally acceptable money." Kai explained.
"You know what? You are absolutely free to do what you like, be that stealing or bounty hunting other players, but I'm not joining you. I have a really good quest, but I need a high reputation for it. So I can't join you, or help you with the purpose of breaking the law. Maybe after I complete the quest."
It was a good enough reason, so Kai decided to let the matter go. But he would still be trying burglary at least once. The cheapest healing potions went for ten gold, hitting a few houses a night could be a literal lifesaver for pretty much anyone. It was no wonder there was such a high crime rate amongst players. But Kai could think about it later. There was a full day ahead of fighting monsters with his friends. But Kai was curious about one thing.
"How come GruffMan was so much stronger than me? He did 11 damage in a single hit, while easily tanking my punch, and even a slash at his neck with my sword."
"You said he showed as level 14? That means his highest skill is at beginner 2. Once a skill gets to the beginner stage, it isn't just linear progression, rather the skill itself becomes better. If you had a skill for casting a fireball, at the beginner stage you might become able to control its movement, or explode it when you want. At the apprentice stage, you might become able to change the shape of the fireball, and so on. Though nobody has leveled their skill past the apprentice stage yet."
"So, GruffMan's constitution skill at beginner increases his constitution extra well?"
"Yeah, it might do something like make his body denser, in addition to adding to his health pool. And that's not the only thing that increases as you reach higher levels. You've noticed how your mana, stamina and health have increased?" Droozle asked, to which Kai answered positively. "Well, there also are what could be considered hidden stats. Your strength, dexterity, perception and such also increase. Work out your muscles, and you get stronger. It might be possible to increase your Luck by getting lucky, or even your intelligence by doing something smart. This 'GruffMan' is probably much stronger than you, because he's simply played the game for longer."
The trip walked in silence after that, reaching the city gates, and the vast fields and plains outside the walls.
"Did you get any other quests? Something you cold progress on while we're out of the city?" Droozle suddenly asked Kai, who shook his head in reply. "Alright, in that case we can go to the nearest farm owner, and ask if they're having any problems with monsters. According to the wiki, they almost always have something they need help with."
They quickly walked towards a nearby farmhouse, whilst killing the few froglins they came across. Once they found a farmer, a weathered old man with a straw hat, Arson quickly introduced their group. "Good morning! We're simple mercenaries, looking for a job. Do you happen to have anything you might need our help with? Or know anyone who could do with our help?"
"Oh yes, thank the heavens. Every night, something attacks our chickens. It happened so much that we started keeping the chickens in the house at night. The chickens are safe, even if our floor is covered in filth, but because they're safe, the city guards refuse to kill whatever was eating them. I could leave the chickens in their coop as bait, you could defend them and kill whatever the creature is. Unfortunately I don't have much money to pay, but I promise I'll make it worth your time." The old farmer explained.
Quest offered: Lost Chickens. Meet the old farmer Jack at sunset, in front of his farmhouse. Find out whatever has been eating the farmer's chickens, and prevent it from killing more chickens.
Accepting this quest will grant you: +10 reputation.
Refusing this quest will grant you: -20 reputation.
Reward: unknown, but 'worth your time', +200 reputation.
Failure: -30 reputation.
Creatures discovered: 0/1, creatures killed: 0/1, chickens alive 52/52.
Accept Y/N.
"So the creature attacks at night, and the reward is unknown. I'm not sure if this is worth it." Droozle said.
"It does give a lot of reputation though, that's always good. It's enough to get my reputation to 'trustworthy'." Arson mentioned.
"I think the quest could be fun. I could use my shadow skill better at night. But what's a trustworthy reputation?" Kai asked.
"Fine." Droozle said, turning to Kai. "When you do good deeds, meaning obeying the law or finishing quests, your reputation goes up." Kai nodded, he knew that much already. "When your reputation is between 0 and 1000, it's neutral. But if you get your reputation to above 1000, or negative, you get a sort of title that anyone can see when they focus on you. At 1000 to 2000, it's 'Trustworthy'. At 0 to -1000, it's 'Nuisance'."
"That explains why GruffMan had 'level 14 nuisance' written along with his name." Kai said.
"Exactly." Droozle turned to face the farmer again. "We accept the quest."
Droozle has accepted the quest: Lost Chickens on your behalf, do you accept his decision? Y/N. Kai mentally chose the yes option.
You have accepted the quest: Lost Chickens. Reputation +10.
"That's great!" The farmer said enthusiastically. "See you at sunset!"
Kai looked towards the sun, which had only a while back risen over the horizon. They had plenty of time before that.