Yunya led them to the archer outpost, since he had to restock on arrows first.
“Won’t that be expensive in the long run? Always having to stock up on arrows, I mean,” Breeze asked.
“Not really. Besides, if a mage keeps drinking mana potions, isn’t that also expensive?”
“I guess you’re right.”
Yunya then turned around to the receptionist, asking for more arrows to refill his quiver and some spare. Having put every attribute point he’d gotten so far into dexterity, he now had 5 dexterity and 2 mana, with everything else still at the base 1. Except for dark elves who also put everything into dexterity like Path, no other players had as more dex than Yunya did at the moment.
As Yunya heard someone spitting at the floor behind him, he felt as if in a déjà vu. And sure enough, the expected voice soon followed.
“Djinn, have you brought your filthy high elf friend to also become an archer?”
“Thelonius, it's none of your business what my friends do or don’t.”
The dark elf npc suddenly turned cold.
“Who gave you permission to call me by name?”
“Who said I couldn’t? Besides, I’m pretty sure I heard Desmond say that you’re not the boss around here anyway.”
Yunya then turned to his friends, with his back to Thelonius.
“Ignore that idiot. He thinks only dark elves make good archers.”
But before they could leave, Thelonius suddenly moved in front of them.
“You think you’re a big man aren’t you, with just that little bit of extra dexterity,” he snarled.
“I’ve told you before and I’ll tell you again. Piss off and leave those guys alone,” a voice responded from afar. Desmond came around the corner and stared at Thelonius. Thelonius stared right back and if looks could kill, he probably would’ve killed Desmond there and then. Not that the latter showed any signs of being intimidated.
“Are you gonna keep looking at me or are you gonna move aside so they can leave?”
With a seething gaze, Thelonius turned around and left, not deeming anyone worthy of a reply.
“As Ashen Fall just said, just ignore him. Need any help?” Desmond asked.
“Thanks, but no. I’m here to fill up on arrows before we go on a quest,” Yunya shook his head.
“They’re here with me, not to become archers,” he then added and winked at Desmond.
Looking at Whispering Breeze, the npc sighed, “What a shame.”
He then spotted another high elf player walking into the lodge.
“Let’s go convince another one to become an archer,” he laughed under his breath and almost ran towards said player.
“That would be the magic archer npc. And he would love nothing more than for this high elf here to become one as well,” Yunya said as he belatedly introduced Desmond and looked Breeze while saying that last part.
“Hmph, as if. I’ll become a mage and nothing else.”
“We know. Let’s get going,” Path said as she ignored her friend’s rambling.
Back at the clearing they previously fought the alpha boars, they started looking around. Climbing the rock Breeze had previously stood on, Yunya used it as a vantage point to look all around him. At first, he ignored everything he could 100% link to the male boar. They were here to look for clues regarding the pregnancy.
A lot of trees had scratch marks but Yunya ignored most of them, since the male made them. Only a few lower ones grabbed his attention, since they should be from the female.
The place where the female had been laying was obviously a place that would require more attention.
Yunya also wanted to ignore the marks on the ground from where the male had been patrolling, for the same reason he ignored most of the scratch marks.
“Wait,” Yunya suddenly frowned.
He jumped down, looking at the marks more clearly.
“Look at this,” he said out loud.
When the others came over, Yunya pointed at the ground. “There were footsteps in there. Fresh ones, but not ours. Someone’s been here.”
“I was going to say the same thing. I found digging marks over there,” Path said as she pointed at the treeline.
“I did that,” a voice suddenly called out.
Yunya immediately turned around while readying an arrow, but hesitated to fire at the low level player that had emerged.
“Why?”
“Why was I digging? A quest for treasure.”
“Are you a rogue?” Yunya suddenly asked.
“About to be,” the player answered hesitantly. “How did you know that?”
“I saw you at the rogue outpost earlier, tripping over your own traps. Rather unimpressively I might add.”
“Ahn. Not my finest moment. I’m Zephyr by the way.”
“Ashen Fall. And they are Starlit Path and Whispering Breeze,” Yunya said as he introduced themselves.
“Zephyr, if you don’t mind, can you show us that quest?”
“Sure, as long as you tell me why you guys are here. After all, it seems a little coincidental that two different quests are happening in this same little clearing.”
In response, Yunya sent over a screenshot of the Secret of the boar II quest, while Zephyr showed his own quest, which said to find a bracelet from the alpha boars and then took a bracelet out of his inventory.
“I don’t think Zephyr has anything to do with the pregnancy,” Path said.
“Pregnancy? What pregnancy?”
Yunya then briefly explained their previous and current quest.
“And the only clues we found so far are your footsteps and your digging,” Breeze added.
“That explains why you are so vigilant,” Zephyr said as he looked at Yunya’s drawn bow, Path’s unsheathed sword and Breeze’s glowing wand.
Yunya just shrugged, not making any motion of withdrawing his arrow.
“Then if I can find other clues, will you at least not point your weapons at me anymore?”
“Go ahead. I was gonna look at the scratch markings and her ‘bed’ next,” Yunya said.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Zephyr directly went over to the trees, “I’ve already looked through her ‘bed’ when I was searching for the bracelet. Except for the pile of leaves she lay on and the grass and herbs she ate, it wasn’t anything special.”
“Hmm, there is not much special about these marks either. Only difference I see is that they’re less shallow than the higher ones, but I assume the higher ones are from the male, who had sharper tusks?”
“Yes, his tusks were pretty dangerous,” Path said as she remembered that one semi-failed dodge after the alpha had just gone berserk.
“Thank god I didn’t actually get hit by them,” she silently added.
Meanwhile, Yunya was completely ignoring them, squatting at the ‘bed’.
“You found something?”
“Maybe. Why would a boar eat herbs?” Yunya said as he pointed at the half eaten pile grass and herbs. “Besides, not that I’ve looked around that much in this forest, but I don’t think I’ve seen orange herbs around here.”
Going silent for a second, he then grinned, “Looks like I’m right.”
“What do you mean?” Zephyr asked.
Quest Secret of the boars II Description Eldwin has a feeling there is more to the story behind the pregnant alpha boar. You somehow convinced him to let you investigate this further and have discovered that the herbs she was eating seem suspicious. You better find out more about them. Reward a personal favor from Eldwin
“The quest just updated. The herbs are indeed suspicious,” Breeze smiled.
“But now we need to investigate said herbs,” Yunya sighed as he hung the bow on his back again.
“You no longer suspect me?”
“No, those herbs were already there when we fought the boars, I recognize their orange leaves. Besides, you would’ve taken them away before you grabbed that bracelet if they were your doing.”
“I would’ve,” Zephyr chuckled.
“Then how are you gonna find out more? Don’t tell me we’re just going to search everywhere?” Breeze asked. “‘Cause I sure don’t feel like doing that.”
“Calm down, Breeze. I’m sure there’s an npc we can ask. Maybe even Eldwin himself.”
“Before we visit Eldwin, we should go to someone else,” Yunya said as he stood back up. “I’ve done a quest for an herbalist before, she will probably have more information for us.”
“Can I come?” Zephyr suddenly asked.
“Fine by me. But we’re unable to share this quest though,” Path apologized.
“Doesn’t matter. I like solving riddles.”
“Where did you find these herbs?”
The herbalist had been rather friendly when they introduced themselves, but became agitated and even somewhat threatening once she caught but a glimpse of the herbs in Yunya’s hands.
“A pregnant alpha boar was eating them in the forest. Why?”
“Does anyone else know about this?”
The herbalist didn’t give Yunya an answer, but instead replied with her own question.
“The four of us, Eldwin the village elder and now you.”
They hadn’t talked to Eldwin yet, but she didn’t need to know that.
“Good. Good,” the npc mumbled before continuing in a normal tone.
“Once you’re strong enough to leave Red Reef, come back to me. I need you to investigate something for me, but it’s outside the veil that protects the village. And don’t show these to anyone from the village before that. Else, you might be getting in over your head.”
Quest Secret of the boars II Description Eldwin has a feeling there is more to the story behind the pregnant alpha boar. You somehow convinced him to let you investigate this further and have discovered that the herbs she was eating seem suspicious. If you want to know more, you need to be able to leave the village. Reward a personal favor from Eldwin
“Sure,” Yunya said hesitantly. This simple quest was getting bigger than he expected.
“Anything else?”
“No. don’t bother me again before you’re strong enough. Now please leave my hut,” the herbalist said as she ushered them outside.
“That was… something,” Breeze laughed.
“Let’s actually go tell Eldwin, Ashen.”
He nodded, already heading towards the mayor’s home.
“The quest is probably on hold until we reach level 5,” Yunya said. “What level are you guys?”
“About halfway over 3,” Breeze said.
“I just reached 3.”
“Same as Breeze. So after we visit the village elder, we grind our way to level 5, then meet up again to end this unfinished business?” Zephyr asked.
They all nodded, already having accepted Zephyr into the temporary group.
“Almina recognized this herb?”
“If Almina is the name of the herbalist, then yes, she did,” Yunya responded to Eldwin’s question. “But she also said we could only help her further once we were able to leave Red Reef.”
“So it seems this continues outside the veil? That is rather troublesome.”
“Yes. But at the very least, it shows there is more to this story. Someone must’ve provided those herbs,” Breeze said as she hoped for the reward already.
“Calm down, young lady. My request is not fully completed yet,” Eldwin smiled, dashing her hopes.
He then turned serious. “But Almina is right. If someone is capable of setting up a pair of alpha boars, then that means they’re not weak. And I’m sorry to say, but right now, you guys are not yet capable of engaging someone on that level. Even if you could pass by the veil, I would have suggested getting your archetype anyway.
Once they were outside, Breeze started complaining.
“How stingy. We already proved that the pregnancy wasn’t natural, but he doesn’t want to pay us yet.”
“Because we prove anything yet, Breeze. Who knows, those herbs could’ve come by river or wind.”
“As if. Someone gave those herbs to the boars, you know it as well,” she snorted.
“Probably. But we have no actual proof.”
“Tsk.”
“Let’s go vent your frustration on some monsters,” Path said as she tried to distract her friend.
“Yes. But no boars. I’ve seen enough of those for the moment.”
Laughing, Path and Breeze went their own way after saying they’d meet up later.
“I pity those poor monsters the stingy mage is gonna encounter,” Yunya sighed.
Zephyr laughed and then said he still had to hand in the quest for his boar bracelet, so he left as well.
Alone, Yunya shrugged and decided to log off for dinner.
“Oh, someone made a list of available professions?” Yunya thought as he browsed the forums.
“Let’s have a look to see if the- Oh, there is a paywall? Sure, they’re not asking for much anyway. This might be a good way to make some money on the side if I have good intel.”
After paying, Yunya opened up the document before frowning.
“There’s over 30 total professions? Wow. ‘This is the village elder’s list of professions. It might not have much explanation, but it’s all the available professions, along with what attribute they mainly focus on. As for where to find the npcs to get more information from, I’m afraid you’ll have to find them ingame.’ Let’s hope your words are right.”
Yunya had previously said he’d want a profession to boost his dexterity, but he’d at least take a gander at the other professions. Especially those for endurance or mind before he ignored them, since a magic archer could never have enough of those.
“Charisma is too situational, even if becoming a merchant for earning more money is attractive.”
Yunya then chuckled. “I wonder if the stingy Breeze would pick it, even if she said earlier she only wants a profession for more mind.”
He then went down the list again, now leaving out the strength, vitality and luck professions.
“I don’t think I’ll use a greatbow, so I don’t need any strength. Those professions are a no go. Same with vitality, an archer should not be a meatshield.”
His eyes moved farther down, to a special attribute.
“A treasure hunter or bounty hunter profession doesn’t sound too bad, but the luck attribute is too unreliable. I’ll probably add some points into it later, but I don’t want to have it as the main attribute from my profession.”
Yunya sighed. “Skipping those three categories, that leaves what, 20 something remaining professions?”
“I don’t want artistic professions, so painter and the like are no option. That’s like half the dexterity options gone. And I don’t want fisher, farmer, sailor or dancer. Damn, that means none of the endurance professions remain. A bit of extra endurance would’ve been nice.”
“As for mind, let’s see. I’ll need it for more mana for magic arrows, not for casting speed or knowledge. At least I don’t think I need casting speed? I should remember to ask Desmond about that. But for now, the librarian profession and consorts are gone.”
In the end, Yunya was left with three professions from both dexterity and mind: herbalist, jeweler or cartographer for the former, investigator, alchemy and enchanter for the latter. He initially wanted to skip cartographer as one of the artistic professions, but the fog-of-war minimap made him reconsider.
“Only six professions? Shouldn’t be too hard to get information on those before I enter the big city.”
With those words, Yunya finished doing the dishes and logged back in.