My guess was that my alter ego had some sort of limit of how much he could control my body. He couldn’t overpower me and do that all the time, but it should be easier when I was sleeping, since I would be completely relaxed. The annoying part was that I couldn’t wake up when he did that.
Still, cooperating with this moron had some value… When it comes to certain activities that rely on skills and confidence, he was better than me, but he was also the type who gets carried away easily, so I had to handle him with caution.
“Hey, how can I help you today?”
Lain, the information broker, greeted me with his usual business smile when I approached. While I had wasted half of the day already thanks to oversleeping and my alter ego, I had a chance and some extra money to spend, so it was better to get some valuable intel before moving. With some luck, perhaps I could even reach level ten today.
“I want to ask about the conditions of the people coming to the town if more are still coming.”
“Very well. Five thousand people is the limit of people coming here. Some groups decided to leave the town and fight together, but a lot of them are returning very injured. Others are leaving only to grab the apples and returning to the town.”
You used 30 Origin coins.
I could see that by myself, but that would take time… still, five thousand. I wanted to ask why, but it felt like it would be a very expensive piece of information. I decided to ask something else.
“I guess the apples won’t be found for a while… Can you tell me some good hunting spots for the dire rats?”
“The number of rats and the apples are restored every day. If they are left alone, they actually multiply a lot faster. That is why the people of the town are worried about the others doing a poor job hunting for them. It seems that you already can use the Map, so I will mark the spots where the good hunting grounds are.”
I wanted to know how that was possible, but it was another piece of information that would be too expensive and the information itself wouldn’t be of much use to me, at least for a while.
You used 70 Origin coins.
The Map appeared in front of me showing the area of the town that I had visited and the areas outside as well. It was the view from above, so it wasn’t that detailed. Still, soon enough, some red dots appeared in some areas around the town, some of them I haven’t even been yet.
“... How did you do that?”
“You can do anything here with money and power, even share information like this. Thank you for your purchase. Those spots have the largest concentrations of dire rats, so you will have some work ahead of you if you approach them.”
You used 30 Origin coins.
I nodded and then decided to leave the area before I asked too much and ended up broke. I needed money to do anything inside the town, so I had to be cautious.
‘Perhaps I should buy some defensive gear to make sure those spots won’t be a problem.’
‘You should save for when you get to the next class. You don’t know when the items being sold will be updated. Saving the money will be more useful.’
To think that this guy would actually use his real head for a change… I was speechless. Perhaps he was telling the truth about what he said earlier regarding thinking about the future. It was better not to assume anything yet.
“Hey, going to hunt again? It seems that you aren’t much of a morning person.”
“Hahaha, guess so.
You received a quest: Slay 50 Dire Rats.
Rewards: 17 origin coins + extra, 10 EXP and improve Guard Chark’s appreciation.
Time Limit: None
“By the way, can other guards grant me quests as well?”
“Probably, if you talk with the others at the other gates.”
“I see, thanks.”
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
I dashed to the hunting grounds… Perhaps talking with the other guards wasn’t much of a better idea. While heading toward them, I could just hunt the dire wolves normally. Then again, there was a chance that they might give me some useful information or different quests based on the type of person they were.
I approached the closest spot that the information broker marked on my map and soon a pair of dire rats emerged from the hole. This would make things easier.
‘All right… you can take care of this. Just don’t mess up and get hurt.’
‘It only happened before, because ten of them attacked me.’
I felt myself losing control over my body for a moment, and then the other guy smirked. I felt that I still could control my body, but it felt like I was submerged in the ocean and I just let him control my body. The sensation was a bit different from what I recalled.
It was annoying, but he was truly good at fighting. Probably he was just a mass of instincts. When the monsters jumped toward him, he smoothly moved to the sides and just stabbed the monsters in the air.
You received 02 EXP.
You received 02 Origin Coins.
“Hmph, too easy.”
While the moron was letting his ego inflate, a pair of dire rats left the same hole as the previous ones… The information broker was right about the hunting spots. Perhaps getting the new class was actually possible today.
It made me wonder if some sort of test was necessary. We got the apprentice class at the moment we left the staircase, so perhaps it wouldn’t be anything too difficult.
In the end, I let the moron clean that spot without doing anything to stop him. He had the chance to fight thirty dire rats before they stopped coming. There were more than ten of those spots and if they had the same number, we wouldn’t be able to level up, so perhaps we would have to fight at night.
‘How the monsters come at night?’
‘They don’t hide in the holes and they come at you the moment they see you, even if you make noise hundreds of meters away.’
Leaving at night wasn’t a good idea then… at least unless you are bat shit crazy like the other guy. Still, doing that after reaching the eight or level nine was the best option. Unless you want to spend the day hunting dire rats and not leveling even once.
‘All right, time out.’
I took over my body and then looked around. There were some groups of people hunting, but they were doing so very clumsily and in large groups of ten. They wouldn’t level up anytime soon in this scenario since only the person who causes the last hit on the monster would get experience.
I found some people looking at me and soon they looked away… I couldn’t blame them since, thanks to the moron, I had my clothes covered in monster’s blood. He didn’t even clean my clothes after hunting during the night.
‘I guess I should buy some leather armor when it becomes available. Buying proper armor would work as well, but I don’t want to become slower. Still, I wonder if nullifying all the damage of the dire rats was possible, even if they hit the unprotected parts. It would be fun since it would make it possible to build the fist build that focuses on armor.’
‘It wouldn’t make any sense. What would be the point? It would be better to invest all the money into a shield with high defense and stay light.’
‘I guess so…’
I headed to the next hunting ground, and I had to cross the plain lands for a couple of hundred meters… I was heading north and in that direction, there was this massive forest. It looked pretty ominous. People avoided the place and the holes of the dire rats… thanks to it, their number was quite high. The beasts began to show up and then charge at me, and then I focused on my movements.
‘Imagine what you are going to do before you put it into practice. If you can see the movement well enough, it is almost impossible to miss it.’
I wasn’t sure how much that would be applicable, but the moron wouldn’t lie to me… he would tell convenient truths, but he wouldn’t lie. With that in mind, I copied the moves that he showed before… moving to the side and targeting the beasts from the side. I didn’t know if it was muscle memory or something, but my body moved as smoothly as it could be. I barely felt any resistance when I cut the necks of the monsters.
You received 02 EXP.
You received 02 Origin Coins.
The weight of the bodies of the monsters was lighter too than before, so that passed a lot of confidence.
‘They are only a problem of people at level one or two. This place is basically a glorified training field.’
I couldn’t deny that, but it only raised more questions about the future of the five thousand people in this town. The forest ahead should have much more difficult challenges… Perhaps I should ask Lain about the things that we should be mindful of here. He didn’t say anything in detail, but letting the monsters multiply like this couldn’t be a good idea.
Regardless, when the next group of monsters showed up and charged, I stepped forward and then jumped to check the limits of my new strength… Much to my surprise, they passed below me. It was hard to believe, but it looked like I was already two times stronger than I was before… faster and more durable as well.
‘Focus on dodging. I have the feeling that it is the best option for us.’
‘Based on what?’
‘Instinct. Dodge and attack them at the very last moment. It is clear that the monsters act to sharpen our reflexes and make us understand our newfound strength. When they come at night, the focus is to improve our spatial awareness and be mindful of large group fights.’
I wanted to ask for something more logical, but that was plenty logical… if this place was a tutorial zone, then we had to get used to the basics of fighting and the things related to it. The functions of the system are liberated slowly to help with that as well.
In any case, I could ask about that later with the information broker… for now, I decided to focus only on hunting the dire rats. To make sure that I would improve my fighting skills, I also alternated with the other guy and watched how he used my body.
At some point when the number of monsters slowed down, he got bored and then decided to throw the knives at the monsters… I complained since his aim was terrible, but that didn’t seem like a bad way to attack. We just needed to do some training with that and perhaps increase our dexterity.
‘Long-ranged attacks are important and since we can’t use some bows without the archer class, it might be good to learn how to do this…’