The man stepped forward and placed a hand on Carn's shoulder, his voice deep and booming. "This is a member of our guild, and a promising one at that," he said, his eyes scanning the rest of the party.
“How was your first hunting trip kid?” Shaun asked, patting Carn on the back.
The group looked confused at the interaction happening in front of them.
“It was tough but I managed to get Novice Slime Slayer and kill a large slime, albeit barely. These guys helped me back,” Carn replied, pointing to the group behind him.
“Ah Liam’s party, that's a good party there,” Shaun said before getting back on track, “Novice Slime Slayer and a large Slime on your first hunting trip, well-done lad. It took me days to get that title. Well super-rookie, I’m off to bed let me know when you tier-up and I’ll get things sorted for you. Also you guys,” Shaun said pointing to Liam's group.
“Yes sir?” They shouted, standing to attention like soldiers.
“Good job helping Carn, we wouldn’t want our new recruit dying on his first day after all,” Shaun said heading inside the guild.
“Thank you sir!” The party said in unison.
“Oh Shaun, I forgot to mention something! The receptionist said you need to give her a visit,” Carn said remembering his earlier conversation.
“I’ll do just that, it would be rude to deny her request after all,” Shaun replied with a thumbs up entering the building.
“You know Shaun!” The spearman named Leif asked with his attitude taking a complete 180, “Also that was your first hunting trip and you killed a large slime! Like what the fuck no kidding that you are a super rookie!”
Carn was surprised by his shift in attitude but happily explained how he met Shaun and joined the guild. The entire party was shocked by his story, especially how he was in the top 5 tutorial clearers. Carn explained why he was trying to level as fast as he could so that he could do a dungeon with fellow guild members.
“You know mate, we are a high-iron/low-gold tier party. We would be happy to take you through your first dungeon. We just hunt slimes most days so we are available whenever,” Liam said with confidence.
“Sure that would be great!” Carn replied.
“Alright, it is settled then. Well, I’m knackered so give me a message when you tier-up.” Liam said, shaking Carn’s hand.
The two groups said their goodbyes in the housing hallway where Carn stumbled into his room and crashed into his bed falling asleep.
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Carn’s last day in the hospital was quite uneventful, he talked and ate with Alicia. He still had to wait until tomorrow before he could leave so he just tried to relax. Mr. Cho called and told Carn that the combat evaluation for Stanford was tomorrow so he would have someone pick him up from the hospital and take him to that.
After the relaxing day Carn re-entered God’s Paradise first he went to a craftsman at the guild and got his quiver fixed. Apparently, Liam had talked to the craftsman so Carn didn’t even have to pay. After that, he went back to the forest to hunt some basic slimes. He made a point to not go too deep into the forest so as to not run into any large slimes. After a day of demolishing slimes, he was level 27 and had 2465 basic slime cores including the ones from the day prior. His bag was basically unable to fit anything else so he went back to town and made his way to the barracks.
Carn saw the two guards that he had spoken to earlier and had a short conversation with them. They told him to dump his cores into the barrels on the side of the building and his rewards will be given automatically. Carn asked about the large core and they told him that he would need 5 to see any rewards.
Carn saw a row of barrels and people who were dumping slime cores into them. Carn grabbed his bag and approached the barrel. He tipped his bag over and slime cores started spilling out. However, Carn noticed that the slime cores vanished when they hit the bottom of the barrels.
While he was pouring a voice repeated over and over in his head, “Calculating rewards… Calculating rewards…”
Finally, after a couple of minutes, all his basic slime cores were gone and a notification appeared in front of his face.
- Repeatable Quest “Slime Hunting” Completed -
+2588 experience
+444 gold
49 gold given to your guild
- You have leveled up! -
- You have leveled up! -
- You have leveled up! -
A robotic voice sounded off in his head, “You have reached level 30. Your body must be reformed in order to increase your limits.”
Carn pumped his fist in silent excitement. With haste, he made his way over to the creationist church.
The symbol of Saturn hung over the doorway and Carn made his way inside. There were some people roaming around but it was late and so there weren’t nearly as many as there were when he first entered God’s Paradise.
The priest in the green robes that had greeted him when he arrived saw Carn and made his way over, “How can I help you otherworlder?”
“I wanted to perform a tier-up ceremony so I came here,” Carn said, slightly out of breath from running all the way here.
The priest raised his eyebrow slightly before responding, “Otherworlder sir are you level 30?”
“Yes, I just hit level 30 a couple of minutes ago,” Carn said, no longer out of breath.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
The priest nodded in understanding, “I must inform you of a couple of things. First off the cost for the first tier-up ceremony is 100 gold, we beings under god need to eat after all.”
Carn withdrew 100 gold from his inventory and tried to hand it to the priest. The priest stopped Carn before continuing, “Second, it would be wise to invest all your stat points as more benefits are given the larger your stats are. Lastly, this is a 3-day procedure. More accurately it takes 72 hours, the time only counts when you are here so being in the astral state won’t count towards the total time. Or in your people's vernacular, you need to log on and stay logged on for 3 whole days. During the days you are undergoing the procedure it would be advised that you had no physical activity planned in your world. With all that said, do you wish to start the tier-up ceremony today or another time?”
Carn had forgotten to invest some stat points he had just gotten so he needed to do that. Aside from that he had the combat evaluation when he woke up tomorrow. Disappointed, Carn responded, “I do have a physical activity planned, I’ll come back when I am available. Thank you for your time.”
“No problem, please come back when you have the time,” The priest said with a smile.
Carn bowed and turned out of the building. He looked at his stat sheet and tried to decide what to do with his 15 remaining stat points. Today he had already invested 10 points into strength, 10 into agility, 5 into intelligence, and 15 into wisdom to avoid running out of mana again. Knowing what was important to a ranger he decided to put 10 more into agility and 5 more into strength to better balance his stats. His maxed stat sheet for wood-tier looked like this:
[https://i.imgur.com/aelN8Mp.jpg]
Satisfied, Carn went back to his room in the guild house and went to sleep.
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As Carn slowly opened his eyes, he noticed the sun was gradually peeking over the horizon, casting a warm glow over the room. A gentle breeze wafted through the open window, causing his long hair to whip around his face. He grimaced and muttered, "I should really get a haircut."
As if on cue, Alicia strode into the room, her arms full of clothes and a small white box. Carn couldn't help but admire how stunning she looked in her skinny jeans and tank top, a far cry from her usual nurse's uniform.
Carn got a good look at her before turning away, “You look good in that.”
“Thanks, I know,” she said with a slight blush, “These are some clothes for you, your others ones were trashed and we can’t have you walk out of here in a hospital gown after all.”
“Thanks, I really appreciate it, what is this box though?” Carn asked, gesturing toward the white box.
Alicia hesitated before responding, her voice a bit unsteady. "It's the latest communication pill. I heard you needed to go somewhere right after leaving the hospital, so I thought it would be helpful. It's got a ton of features, so you won't need to upgrade for a long time."
Carn's jaw dropped. "Alicia, these things are crazy expensive! I can't let you pay for this."
But Alicia just smiled and waved away his concerns. "Consider it a congratulatory gift for getting better. Don't worry about paying me back."
“Okay if you say so, I’ll call you right after the test,” Carn resigned.
“Sounds good, now get up and get changed. It was hard to guess what sizes you are with that hospital gown on so sorry if they don’t fit quite right. Call me back when you are done,” Alicia said walking out of the room.
Carn took off his hospital gown revealing his toned body. He hadn’t taken it off in a while thanks to cleaning magic provided by the hospital. The jeans Alicia got him fit alright but the shirt not so much. She got him an olive-colored v-neck that was probably a size too small. He could wear it but the fabric hugged his skin tight.
Carn made a mental note to buy some new clothes later. As he popped the latest communication pill into his mouth, a woman's voice echoed in his head. "Smart pill 11 successfully ingested. To access its features, simply say 'SP11 help.'"
Ignoring the pill's features for the moment, Carn set Alicia's number as a new contact and nervously asked the pill to call her. A few rings later, he heard Alicia's voice in his head. "Hello, who is it?"
"It's Carn. I got the pill working and I'm all changed, so feel free to come in," he replied stiffly.
The door opened and Alicia walked inside. Carn stood beside the window, his shoulder long hair hanging down messily. She hadn’t really gotten a good grasp of Carn’s physique due to him staying in bed and wearing the hospital gown but now she saw how tall and ripped he was. She blushed, noticing the shirt was too small, “I’m sorry the shirt is too small.”
“No, trust me it is fine,” Carn replied.
“I didn’t know you were so, you know,” Alicia gestured in his general direction.
“Oh yeah, I am quite proud of my body. Living on the streets is quite boring so I’ve made it a point to exercise as much as possible,” Carn said with a chuckle, “Do you have a hair band perchance? My hair is really long and I don’t have time to cut it.”
“Oh yeah I do,” Alicia responded, reaching her hand into the space in front of her. Her hand disappeared and a moment later she was holding a black hair band.
Carn sat on the edge of the bed, his shoulder-long hair falling in front of his face. Alicia stood beside him, a black hair band in her hand. She had offered to tie up his hair into a man bun, and he had agreed.
"Are you sure you know how to do this?" Carn asked with a chuckle.
Alicia rolled her eyes playfully. "Of course, I know how to do this. I've tied up my hair countless times."
She stepped behind him and started gathering his hair in her hand. Her fingers glided through his soft hair and she started twisting it, creating a neat bun.
"Ouch!" Carn exclaimed as Alicia pulled his hair a little too tightly.
"Sorry, sorry!" Alicia said, loosening the bun slightly. "Is that better?"
Carn nodded, his hair finally out of his face. He looked at himself in the mirror and had a look of undecidedness on his face, “I don’t know if this is the look for me I gotta get it cut.”
“You look great,” Alicia said admiring her handiwork.
“Still gonna get it cut,” Carm said flatly.
Alicia rolled her eyes in response. “Whatever dude.”
Before he could say anything else, Dr. Stevenson entered the room. "Ah, Mr. Cho's car is waiting for you outside," he said, eyeing Carn's outfit with approval, "You look good, Carn. That shirt is a little tight though."
Carn nodded, "I appreciate it Doc. And thanks for everything."
Dr. Stevenson flashed a broad smile, revealing a set of pearly whites, “It was an absolute pleasure. Remember, stay safe, Carn, and if you ever need any medical assistance, don't hesitate to contact us at the hospital. Take care.”
Carn and Alicia trudged to the elevator in hushed silence. The farewell was fast approaching, and the two friends found it hard to speak, despite their earlier free-flowing conversation.
Once outside, Carn breathed in deeply, inhaling the tangy sea breeze. It felt like a lifetime since he had last felt the sun on his face. The warmth of the rays restored his energy, as he gazed upon Alicia. The wind caused her silver hair to sway, and her dark skin shone in the sun's rays.
He looked at her purple eyes and spoke up, “Listen, I don’t know how to say this… But, thank you. Thank you so much for taking care of me. I've never really had a friend like you, and it's kind of like a dream come true for me. I really hope we stay in touch.”
He bowed his head, waiting for her response. The soothing fragrance of lavender filled his nostrils, and he opened his eyes to find Alicia standing beside him. As she gave him a kiss on the cheek, Carn's heart thumped wildly in his chest, and he saw her pointy ears blush a deep shade of crimson.
“You better keep in touch,” Alicia said, her face resembling a ripe tomato.
Without thinking, Carn answered, “Absolutely.”
“Call me after your test!” Alicia said, her face still a bright red, before disappearing in a burst of white light.