"Is there anybody available for a party?" I ask the receptionist. She starts looking through a list and many people start shaking their heads. "Never mind," I sigh as I leave. Of course nobody would want to team up with me. Their reaction to me being a tamer said it all, but if they were that openly averse to it then I shouldn't force anybody. I'll just try to punch something into submission. I could use the slime to distract them. It's name should be Distra because it's my distraction.
I have to get a quest that sends me out towards a monster I can tame. At my level (one) I can only tame another slime. No, I can't think in game terms. Level is just the accumulation of stats and experience, which doesn't necessarily mean I have to defeat monsters to get stronger. I can work out, but that only helps me defeat monsters, not tame them. Defeating monsters only helped upping my charisma in the game, but how would I upgrade it here? No, that way of thinking is wrong, too. The monsters are living creatures, so they must have preferences. Slimes, what do slimes like? I just pretended to like the one I have. Maybe that's why they were so easy to tame in game?
No, none of this matters. These are only assumptions at this point. I need to collect actual data, preferably personally. Like in a quest. I head back to the receptionist, not having noticed I walked away as I paced.
"Where do I choose quests?" She examines me deeply to see if I am serious. Shaking her head, she pulls out a list with "Rank One" at the top.
"I can narrow down quests a bit if you give me something to look for. Is there any type of quest that you want?" What do I want to ask for? There are certainly no monster subjugation quests, as those have a rank two and party requirement, if I remember it correctly from the game.
"Anything with a high chance of running into weak monsters. Preferably something on the level of a slime or goblin." The list highlights three quests which are deemed to match my requirement.
"We have an herb collection quest, which needs five unharmed batches of Purple Star Grass which is located near a goblin settlement, an herb collection quest, which needs seven unharmed Jelly Fruit from the goblin village's orchard, and a scouting quest which wants a report on wild fox nests in the region. You may accept up to two quests at one time." The choice is easy then.
"I'll take the fox one." She nods and dots the list near the quest. The goblin quests sounded like an easy two quests and a chance to meet up with the goblins. Bad idea. I may not even be able to fight a single goblin, let alone a village of them. The only reason it is a rank one level quest is that they are really stupid and slow, so escape and stealing is easy. I need to tame something, so instead I took the quest for the foxes, as those should be tamable.
"The range for scouting is about a seven mile radius around this town. I wish you luck." I nod and take my leave. I haven't had anything to eat since I got here, but I also don't have any money to buy food. I would need to complete my mission first. I also can't buy better clothes or footwear, so before I can do anything else, I need to complete missions.
...
"Huff, huff." I was three fourths of the way around the town now, and have found 47 wild foxes spread across 12 dens. The last quarter remains. I also haven't had the chance to try taming a fox, as they were all very angry at my presence. It would be fine if it was a single fox, but groups are too difficult to fight against, and there has not been a fox that was alone until now. This is my chance to tame it.
It looked up at me. I stared back at it. I will beat this fox into submission. Go, my slime! With a nice throw my slime flies through the air towards the fox. The fox dodges to the side and stares at my slime.
Distra jiggles.
The fox stares intently.
Distra backs away slowly, looking intimidated.
The fox lunges forward and attacks with it's paw.
Ouch! Distra loses four hp- I mean looks hurt. It flinched!
The fox eats Distra.
Your pet slime has died
Wait a second, hold on. My pet slime has... shit.
You have started taming Wild FoxProgress: 12%
Oh? I can tame a fox by feeding it slimes? I can't tame slimes though, I need a substitute. Jelly fruit? I need to go back! I run in my excitement, causing me great suffering.
"Huff. Huff. Haaah." I clutch my chest and bend over. I'm too fat.
"Are you okay? Do you need some sort of help?" The receptionist starts reaching out a hand to me. I shake my head.
"Pet dead. Haah... Need quest... Goblin... Huff... Fruit..." The receptionist understands and marks off the quest.
"The village is a bit due south east of here. Remember, the requirement is seven! Uh, I wish you luck?" I stumble off hearing what I needed to. Must grab fruit. 100 divided by 12. That's about... one, two, six, eight... nine fruit? Nine fruit. Which means I need sixteen fruit. I have enough pockets, probably.
South east was in the quarter I didn't explore yet, so I can finish my first quest as I come and go. Walking became much easier after I caught my breath again. After about an hour and a half of walking, I found the goblin village. The orchard was heavily guarded on the side facing the village. All other areas were open. I shake my head at their stupidity.
Entering from the other side, I start picking fruits at my leisure, making sure to not be too loud. I found a nice little function for my pockets- they work just like a game inventory. Good fruits are stackable, bad fruits are stackable in a different pocket. I haven't found the max stack yet, but from the game, I can assume it is 20 for food items. After grabbing 17 good fruits and 18 bad ones, I head out. I also grab some Purple Star grass on the way back, so I could finish the third quest. So easy! Unfortunately, the job isn't worth, well, anything really. After these three quests I could probably buy a meat bun. I could just eat the Jelly fruit, of course! Free meal then, but I still have no money.
I take a bite from one of the better Jelly Fruit. "Bleck." This tastes terrible! I wonder why that fox even liked it. Good thing none of the goblins heard me. Leaving would be a good idea.
I finished the survey, 52 foxes across 14 dens. Now to find that lone fox again.
I found it! I think it's a she. I guess I can find out when I tame it. One of the bad fruits from my pocket/inventory space is taken out and I place it on the ground before backing away. The fox comes up and sniffs it before eating.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
You have started taming Wild Fox23%
I do it again, but stay closer.
You have started taming Wild Fox34%
You have started taming Wild Fox45%... 56%...89%...
You have tamed Wild FoxWould you like to give Wild Fox a name?
Success! First I have to check if the fox is a she. Yep. Then I name her Sabrina.
Wild Fox is now named Sabrina
"Okay Sabrina, let's go!" She trots alongside me as we come closer to the town.
"Halt!" Oh great, the guards again.
"Yes?"
"Wild animals cannot be brought into the town!" One of them says without flinching.
"This is not a wild animal. This is my tamed pet." They look at each other.
"Your previous tamed pet was a slime. A tamer can only have one pet at a given time, and therefore this fox is not your pet!" I furrow my eyebrows. A tamer can only have one pet at a time?
"Is that some sort of law?" The same guard from last time raises his eyebrow. I'll call him Eyebrow from now on. Eyebrow speaks up for his, I assume, subordinate.
"This is common sense, a tamer can not control two beasts at the same time." Now it's my turn to look at them funny.
"No, a tamer just can't tame multiple creatures if all of them together overrun him. Handling three slimes wouldn't be a problem. And this is currently my only tamed monster. My slime died." They look at me differently, having gained new information.
"Fine, you may pass." Eyebrow opens the gates for me. Now to finish three quests.
"Hi... uh... I don't know your name. I've been here twice already and haven't learned it." I look at the receptionist apologetically.
"Oh, it's nothing. My name is Janice, how may I help you?" I take out seven Jelly fruit and five Purple Star Grass. At least, I assume these are the items. The Jelly fruit looks like a fruit made of jelly and the Purple Star Grass is purple, with the top splitting off in five directions like a star. Nobody confirmed that for me yet.
"I would like to complete the two missions I have, and take then complete the quest for collecting Purple Star Grass. It is still available, right?" She looks at me in shock.
"Oh my, that was very fast! What are the numbers for the fox population?" I have to stop and think for a second. I almost forgot the numbers in my rush.
"52 foxes, 14 dens. There are much less near the goblin village. Does this fulfill the requirements?" She nods.
"Yes, it does. Thank you for your services, you have successfully completed three rank one quests. You may continue to do rank one quests or start a rank two quest. Your pay is 72 copper coins." 72? I was expecting somewhere close to 30.
"This is much more than I thought I would receive. I thought rank one quests will normally give out around ten copper coins per quest."
"That is normally true, but you chose the more dangerous quests and they gave a higher pay. I thought that is why you chose them?" I shake my head.
"I just wanted a chance to tame another pet, which I did. This is Sabrina." I lift up the fox, showing her.
"Aww, it's cute. What happened to your slime?" There was an awkward silence for a moment.
"She ate it. That's how I found out she likes Jelly Fruit." Janice stopped for a second to put all of the information together. Then she hits her palm with her fist as she pieced it together.
"Ah! So that's why you ran in here for the request. I would like to continue talking, but there are other people waiting, so I'll need you to move." I look behind me to see that I'm holding up some tough looking guys. Better move.
With a "Sorry," I walk out of the building. I can afford a bun, a room for a night, and have a little bit left over for something else. It wasn't until I passed by a small shop that I thought about eating Jelly Fruit again. Yeah, I'll bear with it.
After stepping inside a bell on the door rings. I find a bunch of odd things for a fantasy world store. Where you would expect swords, shields, spells and potions are trinkets, not enchanted in the least, wooden carvings, writing tools, a magnifying glass and what looks like a metal bar. I guess this is some sort of specialty shop?
"Yes, a customer! How can I help you?" I look over to the voice to see an old lady, who was notified of my presence by the bell.
"I'm just looking around. What products does your store have?" She looks at me with delight.
"Oh, I sell all kinds of things. This glass can enhance your vision without magic, the pens can write indefinitely with just a bit of magic, the stack of paper over here will never run out of pages as long as you don't run out of mana, this walking cane over here will always find a place to help you stand,..." There are a lot of almost-useless items over here. No wonder there are no people in this store. But two of the items interested me.
"Can the pages be bound into a book?" She looks at me, excited.
"Yes, yes! I can do that for you in the back. Along with the stretchable leather I have and the pens, I will make you a bundle and sell it all for 70 copper." I don't know if that's cheap or if she's ripping me off. I can sleep on the ground, I guess. Not like I haven't done that as a professor before. I take two coins out of all of the money I've earned and hand everything else to her. She quickly counts them with what I assume is a magic spell, and goes into the back to get me my items. After a few minutes, she brings them out. The pages are in a dark leather cover, which looks perfect for an adventurer. I smile and take my leave as she grins and runs into the back.
After I find a nice looking alleyway to sleep in, I start writing in my journal. Controlling my mana was easier than I thought, or maybe it was the pen. Either way, it wrote fine.
Dear Diary
No. I don't even know why I wrote that. It'd be better to just rip out the page. From the beginning.