When we arrive at the guild, I go to the counter to sell herbs and cash in my quest only to find it closed. A bit confused I then head for the reception desk instead.
“Hi, I would like to cash in the repeatable Rank G herb collection quest” I say as I place my bag on the counter.
This time the receptionist is a rather tall 34 year old man. I am inwardly glad it isn’t that lady…
“I am sorry, today is a night day. During night days the herb collection ends early and is sent to the alchemist shop by the supply officer. If you want to cash in your quest, you would either have to wait till tomorrow or go to the alchemist shop before it closes to receive proof.” he informs.
Noticing the opportunity to acquire a production skill, I gladly chose to go to the alchemist shop. After asking for directions from the tall man, we quickly head there taking up only about 10 minutes to reach the shop.
The alchemist shop was located at the edge of town in a small two floor building. We entered the shop and saw a bunch of shelves with all kinds of ingredients, in there was a man wearing an official guild uniform standing there with multiple bags of herbs. Besides the guild official, sitting on the floor was an old man who was silently grinding some herbs on the floor.
You have acquired a new skill [NP][Herb Processing] Level 1
Production skill get!
Though I was more hoping for alchemy skill, is it maybe divided into multiple skills?
I come closer to the duo and turn to the guild employee in the shop who is already looking my way.
“I was told by the guild to bring the herbs here for cashing in my Rank G herb collection quest...” I explain to the man.
“Hmmm...that should be fine, give it here and I will inspect it” the man responds.
I hand over the bag of herbs and he looks over the herbs carefully. After he finishes inspecting the herbs he places them in the bags. Then he stretches his hand forward and a part of his hand disappears. It then reappears with some copper and iron coins and a piece of paper which he then hands over to me.
You have acquired a new skill [NA][Item Box] Level 1
Now there is an unexpected gem! But I can’t let myself wallow in excitement just yet, I need to confirm something important.
“Mister, what was that? Is it some sort of rare ability?” I inquire.
“Hm? Ah this? It is called [Item Box], it is a heritage skill. So it could not be learned through regular means. It allows a person to use something similar to space magic with much less difficulty and mana cost. Of course this skill is not exactly magic despite the similarity. There are a few [Item Box] heritages in the world, and one of them is owned by the guild. It is a requirement for the guild master and guild supply officer to learn this skill for the safe transportation of documents and items” he explained.
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Perfect! Now I have a safe way to store stuff without anyone knowing!
“Thank you very much mister!” I exclaim with a double meaning.
Unfortunately at level 1 I am only able to store about 1 cubic meter of stuff. So things like my spear is a no go, but I should be able to retrieve my dagger and store it as well as fit in a few herbs. It would be nice if I could get him to use it again in 5 minutes to see if I can get another level in both skills or pickup other alchemy related skills. While I was thinking that…
“Come on! We are done here, lets go back before the boss gets angry that we are late” Kuina insisted.
I hesitate at first but without much of an option, I reluctantly agreed and we left the shop and headed back to the guild. There is always a next time I thought.
After I showed the paper to the receptionist, he processed the request and marked it as complete. Making this my first ever quest completion, and placing me 1/20th way there towards ranking up to a Rank F adventurer.
Once we got credit for the quest, we naturally headed back to base. Today has probably been the best day so far! I got registered in the guild, 2 combat skills, a level up, production skill and the famous [Item Box]! Things are finally going my way!
We arrive as it started to get darker due to the setting sun and are shown inside by Ryo to the Boss.
“You are late, you better have completed your assignment without excuses” the old man grumbled. With a displeased face
“S-sorry...we g-got d-delayed. I-I got all 15 herbs...” I hurriedly replied fearing punishment.
“I see...very well then show me the guild tattoo information” he asks while looking somewhat in a better mood.
I show him the tattoo information which he reviews carefully and then a condescending smile appears on his face.
“Now then, hand over all the money and herbs you got. This is an [Order]!” he exclaims.
I get a little startled but hand over the coins I got as ordered while somewhat perplexed…He looks over the coins, counts them and turns back to me.
“Very good! Very good! You are at least smart enough not to try to steal things behind my back while I ain’t looking...or maybe in your case it might be more accurate to say your too retarded to even think about it? Regardless, it is time to issue standing orders to you. From now on, during gathering days, you are required to get 15 herbs per day. You are required to cash in all herbs you pick to the guild for quest completion unless told otherwise by me. All money you earn is to be handed to me. This is an [Order]!” he announces.
Argh! You really had to take a complement and turn it into an insult?!?! I am really getting sick of this treatment! And just when I thought I got some freedom to tinker around I now have to an [Order] to deal with? Talk about ruining a good day...how can things possibly get any worse!?!?
“Oh, by the way. Tomorrow we are going on another subjugation. So you will be required to act as a tracker, I will be personally keeping an eye on you so make sure you do it properly..or else...” the middle aged man threatened.
I just had to ask…
“I-I u-understand! I-I’ll d-do my b-best...” I muttered while shivering.
With that I was dismissed and proceeded to have dinner, with the now slightly larger portions. It still tastes bad though…I also noticed that there were 2 new bunnykin during dinner. Most likely to replace the losses during the [Hell Boar] incident.
The next day, I was brought to the front of the base. Looking around I notice that I was the only non-dogkin there out of the beastkin. Which made me somewhat nervous that I would be used as bait again. Luckily my fear did not last long as the middle age man came in front and started briefing us with the details.
“Everyone is here I see, today we are going to be hunting a [Dire Bear], which should be a simple prey so we do not need any bait. This is what we would be using to track it” he said while taking out a piece of wood with a bear claw mark on it and letting everyone sniff it.
With the scent memorized we proceeded into the forest tracking the bear. Interestingly enough, the middle aged man’s companions did not come with us.
In about 2 hours since we left, the first ones to pick up the scent of the bear was me and Ryo. So we proceeded down to narrow down the bears location as we got closer the other dogkin also picked up the scent and it did not take long to track it down at that point.
When we arrived I saw a large over-sized bear prowling around. It did not take long for the [Dire Bear] to notice us and let out a roar as it headed straight for us.
“GGGRHAAAAAAAA!!!!”
“Step back” said the middle aged man as he stepped forward brandishing his spear. We quickly followed his advice and took a distance.
As the bear approached within a few meter range, the middle aged man pulled back his spear and putting strength into the spear he thrust it forward with great force while taking a step forward.
You have acquired a new skill [NA][Thrust] Level 1
Your skill [RP][Toughness] has become Level 2
The spear hit the bear straight in the neck going right through it and splattering blood from the other side. With that one hit, the bear died almost instantly.
“Annoying special requests, hardly worth the time...” grumbled the old man in a bad mood. Then added “Hurry up and drag it back to town” towards us.
Dragging the bear was no easy task, and it took us 6 hours just to make it back to base. It would have taken longer if not for Ryo who was way above us in level doing most of the heavy lifting.
With that, the day ended surprisingly uneventfully. I mean it does make sense that not every event has to end up in a life or death situation normally right? Either way I got the [Thrust] skill which should definitely help with wielding my spear and maybe my dagger. And increase in [Toughness] will help me survive, so other than the difficulty dragging the boar, today ended up relatively well.