After taking a new breath I swam inside the hole.
“What do you think he's doing down there?”
“I'm not sure, Garnet.”
“No point in standing around let's sit and divide the loot!”
“The moss over hear isn't wet, sit.”
“Ow!”
“What happened Tali!? Did something bite you?”
“No, I sat down on something pointy.”
{Shuffle, dig}
“Hey isn't that the third book!?”
“Oh my.”
I'm soon going to be out of breath and then my health will start to decrease rapidly, I better swim back.
{Shine!}
That looks like the surface! I broke the surface just as my stamina was running out.
It was too dark too see anything but I could hear that it was a wide opening. I swam around till I found a ledge and jumped out of the water.
Taking out the flint was the first thing to do. I lit a torch and I saw a room as big as my living room.
You are the first to discover the secret room in the cave of Goblins.
+50 fame
“Haha! I found a undiscovered room!”
I whispered to Tali and Garnet
“Hey guys, I found a room in under water! I got 50 fame for being the first one to discover it.”
“That's what you've been doing!?”
“We found the book. It was buried in some moss, Tali sat on it!”
“Quit it Garnet. What's inside the room?”
“I haven't looked around yet.”
“See if you can find something useful, like books!”
It wasn't a very large room 5x6m. There was a desk, chair, bed, bookcase, stove and a table.
“I'll see what's here first and then I'll clean everything up into my bag.”
I shone the torch towards the bed, a simple wood construction with half ripped bed covers and a pillow made of straw. I had planned to use 'observation' when checking the room. I shook the pillow and rags on the bed to see if anything would show itself. Nothing. I even checked under the bed but aside from moss and dirt there wasn't anything there.
Thank god the pot on the stove was empty or something might have crawled out of there covered in mould. I thought of taking the pot and utensils that were lying beside it but they were far beyond repair, breaking apart if hit too hard.
There were some books and parchments in the book case, there was no point reading them so I just put everything inside my bag. I inspected the bookcase more, maybe there was false board. No. I don't think whoever set this place up ever thought someone would find.
Last it was the desk. Carefully removing all cobwebs and gently blowing away the the dust I inspected it. There was one book, open with a pen lying on it. Most likely a diary but maybe he was writing a book as well. Some copper were lying around and quickly found their place in my pocket. There were a lot of burnt out candles and paraffin covered half the desk. More pens and ink. Upon a closer look there were small items inside the paraffin that had leaked onto the desk. A knife and a ring. Both were in good condition all thanks to the paraffin. They were both unidentified, when I get to town I'll be able to see what they are.
{clink}
My foot hit something. There was a massive amount of bottles under the desk, either big for keeping alcohol and small for keeping potions inside. 20 bottles. A big bottle costs 2 silver and a small 1 silver, I wouldn't need to buy any if they weren't broken. 2 small bottles were still unopened. This could be worth a small fortune. Isn't like that, when you find old wine that has been resting for a couple hundred years they go for auction in the hundred thousands of $.
“Before leaving, I'll double check.” Nothing there. Nothing there. Ceiling full of webs. Ground covered in dirt, moss and a stick. Stick? I picked up the stick. It was a fishing rod. Good for trying out fishing later.
“I'm coming back now.”
“Be sure to have enough mana to run. Both goblin raiders have respawned.”
“Garnet will grab them so we get some time to run.”
The return swim was much easier, the current was in my favour. I broke the surface as quietly as possible not to alert the monsters. I waited for the moment when only one was in the area and jumped up on shore and ran. I ran passed Garnet as she yelled 'vine!'.
“C'mon let's go!”
We ran all the way to the entrance of to the 2nd floor, there we rested and decided to go back to town. First a quick stop at the cave entrance and then the long road back to town. I told them what I had found showing all items except the books or we'll hear silence from Garnet the whole way back.
“Have you guys decided what to do next?”
“What's this Garnet, you got any plans to leave us?”
“No, but I am a bit tired of non stop fighting.”
“I feel the same.”
Both Tali and Garnet wanted to take a break it seemed. I wasn't going to stop them.
I also planned to rest for a while from fighting, non stop.
“Well I for one want to increase my Alchemy to level 5 beginner before I go adventuring, I've read that some crafts get bonuses when they reach the midpoint.”
“I want to read all the books we collected and look for more in the library. I would also like to go to another town, for exploring.”
“Tali?”
“I can follow Garnet, I'd like to spend the money I've earned on some good food and look for a new string to my bow.”
“It's decided then. If you two happen to be ready before I am then I hope you can pick some plants and herbs for me. I'll pay you back.”
“Ok. Before we part we should really sell our loot and check the ring out.”
It was nice to be outside again, the blazing sun warmed our skin and a breeze caressed our cheeks gently. At last out of the damp cold cave.
The town had changed a bit. When I started this was a new town only discovered a month before I began, It wasn't a popular starting place because the central continent was much more developed. There were many more low level players here, many tourists exploring the warm area and bathing by the beach.
When I got back here to repair and buy necessities I didn't look around much but many new stores had been open by the beach. They were mainly selling ice-cream, barbecue and cold beverages. The port town had transformed into a resort town.
It's good for the economy to get an influx of new players who buy from stores. The cooking class was becoming more popular and the same could be said about the fisherman class. The two didn't hunt but it did make more people buy food.
First we went and sold our loot, I saved the ores because they would probably sell well with blacksmiths. I also kept most of the herbs and plants I gathered. We split the money and each got 9 gold. We profited the most from the items the goblin raiders dropped. I gave Garnet all the books so she could read them and report back to us when she was finished analysing them. Then we headed our way to the identification guild.
As always it was crowded. We stood in line for about half an hour and it was our time at last.
“I would like this ring to be identified.”
“Wow look he got a ring!”
“No way, how much money did he spend on that.”
“Stupid you don't buy unidentified rings, he must have been super lucky having it as a drop.”
“There aren't any known monsters that drop rings though.”
“Maybe it's not widely known yet.”
“It costs 2 silver to have it identified.”
“Here you go.”
“Identify!”
Worn out ring of a dedicated man.
An unknown man spent a lot of solitary time on crafting. When he died his spirit influenced the ring. Anyone who wears the ring can feel a sense of accomplishment.
Craft related experience increased by 10% after the intermediate level.
Requirements:
Intermediate level in craft related skill.
“What a catch!”
“You found it Malice so it's yours.”
“You're letting me keep it? Thanks.”
This ring could be sold for big bucks to the craft classes. Too bad there wasn't many people crafting items, many were like me. Having chosen a craft skill after their primary class, most popular being cooking. I'll keep it for now and sell it when crafting becomes popular.
We went our separate ways, I headed to the blacksmith to repair my equipment, especially the fishing rod. I wanted to test out fishing in the port and at the same time improve my alchemy. Killing two birds with one stone.
It was a a good fishing rod, sturdy, bendable and it could carry the weight of 20 kg. I only had to buy a good quality fishing line and some bait. To accompany the rod the line cost 1 gold, I also bought the cheapest bait I could get my hands on.
There were already some people fishing on the bridge. I went around asking how to learn fishing and they gladly told me. All the fishermen were players who only came to royal road to fish exotic fish and in interesting places. They told me that experience is only gained when you catch a fish, the rarer and bigger the fish the more experience.
I walked around and settled on a spot where some birds were floating in the water, diving. I set up a big fire and a small one, the big one for alchemy and the small one for grilling any fish I might catch.
After three days I had caught 4 fishes and gained the fishing mastery, still level 1. I was running out of plants. Since I was already near the sea I would get some seaweed and other sea plants, this lasted me another two days.
All out of ingredients for alchemy and bait, I packed down everything and headed back to town.
This time I bought better bait and more diverse plants in the alchemy guild. I went around again asking local fishermen on tips for fishing and I learned that not many fishes came this close to the bridge and that a boat would be better.
It's not possible to do alchemy on a boat so that was out of the question. I went to the same spot and just started fishing again. This time focusing on night time fishing rather than all the time.
“Malice?”
A whisper from Garnet.
“What's up?”
“How are you doing?”
“I'm fishing while doing alchemy, just need a bit more to get to level 5, I just got level 2 in fishing though.”
“Well aren't you busy. I read the handwritten book you found. It was a diary.”
“And? Anything interesting in it.”
There were lots of interesting things but they weren't that useful. It told the story about how hundred years ago a man was exiled from a village for killing his lover. The diary told of his despair and anger over what he had committed. It had been an accident but he couldn't forgive himself so he searched for a place away from everything to settle down in. He found a cave which was still uninhabited by monsters and went as deep as he could. There he found an underground river with fish and fresh water. He built all his furniture and settled inside. He fished in the river and got other foods by leaving the cave once in a while. As he immersed himself in reading and fishing goblins and kobolds had settled inside the cave. He couldn't exit the cave any more and he was afraid the monsters would find him so he sabotaged the underground river. The river flowed inside the cave. There isolated he spent 5 years until he stopped writing and died from malnutrition and smoke damage, throwing himself into the water.
“That's it? No useful information?”
“Not really and his other books were mostly old novels but I haven't read them all yet.”
“What about his work? The ring I got said the man was dedicated to some work.”
“I guess it was fishing. Or maybe he made potions or alcohol, you did find empty bottles.”
“What's Tali up to?”
“Oho... You miss her?”
“Funny...see you later.”
“Just kidding, she's going around eating at restaurants and vendors.”
A week later I had spent 3 weeks fishing and trying to get my alchemy to level 5. At last my effort would pay off I was at 99% and I had two potions boiling. I was sure I would get to level 5 when they were done. Some of my skills had improved: Light Sleeper was finally at intermediate, Alchemy Beginner [5], Cooking Beginner [3]
Light Sleeper Intermediate [1] 49%
You fall into a light sleep, your health and stamina regenerate.
Your def and magic resistance are increased during sleep.
The bonus persists for 30 minutes after you wake up.
Alchemy Beginner [5] 4%
You are able to make poisons. Poisons are divided into two categories: Specific poisons and common poisons. The former targets different species and common works on all living things. Poisons are useless on Undead.
Both Ambush and Alchemy have passed level 5 beginner.
You have acquired a new special skill for the Guerilla class:
Status blade.
Status Blade Beginner [1]
Inflict a random negative status effect on you enemy. Cost: 100 mana
Available status effects are poison and bleeding.
Increased mastery increases stacks, effect and amount of neg. statuses inflicted.
“...YEAH!!!”
Hell yeah! At last an offensive skill!
Happy? happy? happy??
“Garnet! Tali!”
“Are you alright!? Did you get hurt?”
“HOHOHOHO! I have gotten an offensive skill!”
“Eh...that's it?”
“Eh...It's an exclusive skill for my class!”
“Oh then tell us what it is.”
“I'll show you guys when I use it, where are you at?”
“We're at Tali's job.”
“Job?”
“The job she was doing during her 4 week starting period.”
“Ah...where is that?”
“On the outskirts of town to the west where the big plains are. Ask for the farms.”
“Farms?”
I wonder what Tali did at a farm? Feed animals? Oh well, I'll see when I get there.
I wonder if I should go see teacher? He did tell me to come back when I learned more about the class. ...Not yet.
The west of town had all the grocery stores, and general stores. Most people shopped there for ingredients to cook. If you wanted higher quality food you had to go to restaurants but grocery stores had all the basic food you'd need to not go hungry.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Passing the stores you exit the town centre. There were residential quarters and further west the farms were located.
It was here most of the fresh products found in grocery stores came from. RR was even realistic when it came towards food production, though the rate animals grew to adulthood was much faster than in real life, but from adulthood to old age the growth slowed down. Vegetables and fruit had an even higher growth rate, planting and harvesting took a couple days at most.
I had read that in some villages the animals got sick and died and crops withered. It didn't go well for those villages. If the damage was too big some villages were abandoned, if you see a village totally abandoned then it might have been because of that. The people said it was because they had incurred the wrath of the goddess Freya as she was the goddess of abundance. RR was really interesting like that.
“I'm at the farms where are you guys?”
“Go to the pastures!”
The farms were divided into animal related on one side and plant related on the other. Chickens occupied the first buildings, egg laying and for slaughter separated. The egg laying barn was really loud, lots of hectic voices and plopping sounds. I took a look and chickens were laying eggs so fast you could use them as a gun, no wonder they were frantically gathering eggs.
They also had a pigsty and cow barns. Past them were the pastures. Horses were outside galloping and lazing about, on one of the horses there sat a figure. It was Tali, she was riding a horse as if she was a pro. Garnet was playing with a fowl squealing once in a while 'cute!'.
“Hey guys, I'm here!” Wave, wave.
Tali galloped gently towards me waving, she looked really different than she used to. More happy.
“You're here Malice, help me down and we can talk.”
I extended my hand towards her and she grabbed it while jumping down.
“Thanks.”
“You worked with horses before setting out adventuring? That's nice.”
“I've done some archery on horseback before and that's partly why I decided to start in this town. Easy access to horses.”
“Was it profitable?”
“You mean if I earned a lot of money? No I didn't.”
“I did get 3 skills though.”
“3!? what kind of skills?”
“The caretaker is a former adventurer with the archer class so he taught me.”
“I rode a lot of horses here and naturally I learned the horseback skill, it's level 3 beginner.”
“Don't tell me that your third skill is related to taking care of animals.”
“Kind of, it's called 'Tamer' it let's me tame animals with low intelligence and ride them if they are big enough.”
“That's a really rare skill you got!”
“I got it taking care of different animals at the farm”
Taming was thought to be class exclusive for the Druid, Beast tamer and Summoner classes. You could manage to tame some monsters and animals but they weren't always that obedient. If you showed weakness or if you bribed them with food and happened to run out of it they could turn on you.
“You're incredible Tali.”
“Who's incredible, Malice?”
“Tali is, Garnet.”
“I've read all books now Malice”
“More good news!”
Many of the books were as she had said, ordinary fiction. She found some scrolls with maps, some of nearby geography and some were dungeon maps. She couldn't figure out where they were though, a lot of things had changed in over 100 years. She wasn't confident she would be able to decipher them. Worst of all was that the dungeon maps had no directions for the dungeon, it could be located anywhere.
You have deciphered an old map.
Level increased to Deciphering Beginner [2]
“Oh guys I know where this is!”
“This is a map of the coast and these cliffs are just a bit west of the harbour.”
“Does it do any good knowing that?”
“Yeah it says here that there is supposed to be a cave that appears when the tide recedes.”
“Oh, Good job Garnet!”
“Malice, should we borrow some horses and go there, it's not that far from here on horseback.”
“Good thinking Tali, You take Garnet on one horse and I'll just run there. I want to see if I'm as fast as a horse with 'wind walking'.”
“Before we leave have you repaired your equipment?”
“Yeah don't worry we did it before coming here.”
“Good, I got some herbs, potions and leftover fish I caught. We'll be fine.”
Every opportunity that presented itself to run I took, I was really curious what would happen if I got to intermediate level. It was still a very long way to get there, I was only at the forth beginner level soon to be fifth.
We couldn't go down the steep cliffs so we went towards the beach and went as far as we could. Tali left the horse tied to a stone where the water wouldn't get to it. We walked the rest couple hundred metres. The waves hit the cliffs hard every time they came from the ocean, water splashed everywhere. We took of our armours and went closer in only the most necessary clothes.
“There should be a cave around here!”
“Is the tide away right now Garnet?”
“Yes, look here. You see the white stuff on the cliffs above us that's where the water goes up to later.”
“Malice isn't there a big hole slightly underwater there”
“You're right, so after a hundred years the water level must have risen.”
“I wasn't wrong!”
“Should we swim inside?”
“I think we got 3 hours before the tide comes back and it would be more difficult to swim out because of the currents.”
{Blop, Splash!}
It was warmer than I thought. Garnet used a light spell and illuminated the way for us. You could hold your breath for 5 minutes in RR and additional time was gained the higher stamina you had. Since I knew the girls didn't as high stamina as I did I decided to only swim for 3 minutes in one direction.
It was a narrow but high cave. There was a ledge to the right where stones had been stacked, before this was submerged people had walked there. It didn't take long until we saw the end of the cave. I had to wait for Garnet to swim close enough to light up the walls. At the bottom near the wall there was a stone figure of sorts, it was covered in too much corals and other sea creatures to make out the exact shape. Around the figure there was a plethora of sea life. Only small fishes were present there were even some baby sharks. It was a nursing cave for young offspring.
Nursing grounds have been discovered.
+20 fame
Over time the cave had been fully submerged in water and now I had become a safe haven for all kinds of creatures who can't defend against the great sea.
“Nice, we got fame.”
“Garnet, Tali I'm curious about the figure the corals live on.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well this hadn't always been submerged right? I've heard villages used to make shrines or altars to pray for the men lost at sea in these kind of caves.”
“And you want to see if that's a holy figurine?”
“Yeah.”
3 and a half minute had already passed though it took just a minute and half to swim here. I still had time.
'Sorry corals I might kill you moving you.'
I hurried to remove the corals covering the top first. OH, there was a head. I removed the rest.
You have destroyed wildlife.
-10 fame
A statue! A mermaid holding a human baby. First time I've seen one of these.
An icon thought lost to time has been rediscovered.
+100 fame
If you tell about the found icon you may be rewarded.
Caretaker of lost souls
A statue of a Mermaid lovingly holding a human child. It had been thought that mermaids took care of lost souls of men who died at sea, reincarnating them.
+7% health and mana regeneration for a day
+5 to Vitality, Wisdom, Strength
+5 to Attractiveness
You are less likely to encounter storms at sea
Improved all seafaring skills by 15% for a week.
Because it has been submerged for a hundred years additional stats are given:
Monsters do not come near the statue
Oxygen content in the cave is increased improving animals health.
{Puhaaa!}
“Fortune smiles upon us!”
“Malice should we go hunt with the buff?”
“What do you think Garnet?”
“I'm in, let's hurry and get to some monsters”
It was the first time we had seen anything like it. To think there were items that could give that many benefits.
The closest monsters close to our levels were two hours walking distance to the west, since we travelled a bit already and we had a horse we could get there in half an hour.
It was a marshland with Lizardmen. Lizardmen were in the 60s and there was a boss monster the Lizard King. It being their home turf they had an increase in fighting power and few liked to hunt there. Another reason was that they had pretty bad equipment, only leather armor and most were already broken. The only one with good drops was the Lizard King but to get to him you had to defeat countless Lizardmen.
The marshlands a beautiful place in the day and a deadly place at night, one wrong step and you could fall into a bog never getting out. My footwork skill had the benefit of decreasing the strain put on the body walking in tough terrain. It was very lucky, since I was the one fighting the closest to monsters and moving around all the time I had the highest risk of stepping in bogs.
Garnet had a bonus given to her 'Mud' spell. Increased area and effectiveness. It was a mystery how it would affect the lizardmen though, they had no problem moving around in the marshes and swamps. Lizardmen were patrolling in groups of three. Against normal players they would have been much too fast and strong but not against me, all their bonuses were basically useless. I wouldn't lose balance nor would I be slower.
“Humanssss!”
“Invading our home!?”
“Kill them!”
“Bury them!”
We carefully chose a group that was as isolated as possible, wouldn't want reinforcements coming.
“Vine!”
“Power shot!”
“Wind walking!”
“Stop growing on me!”
“Kahh!”
Focusing my attention on the monster that just got shot by Tali it went down fast after I hit it in the same place where the arrow had flown through. The armor was so bad that Tali's shot had gone right through the lizardman's shoulder barely holding their arm in place. It was smarter attacking the exposed flesh because their skin was much thicker than that of a Goblin, their natural high defence was bypassed. Tali's damage had gone up considerably since we hunted kobolds, it didn't matter any more that she was slower than other archers. She took down the third lizardman as I was just about finishing the second one. It was good teamwork the only downside was that Garnet wasn't getting any kills having her gain less experience.
When we could we would give Garnet the killing blow. Soon a day had passed but we were already deep inside the marshlands.
“We should go back before the buff ends.”
“Yeah let's go.”
{Drum...Drum...Drum...}
“What's that?”
“Can't be anything good. Malice use 'Observation'”
“Already checking!”
...
“This is bad. The lizard king is approaching with 2 large crocodiles and some guards.”
“Let's run!”
We simply ran, we ran even though messages popped up about stamina being depleted and health being lowered. Finally we were out of the marshlands. Tali fell into a bog but with Garnet's help we got her out of there, she was covered in foul smelling mud and her equipments durability fell by 10%. Still better than fighting the lizard king without the buff.
Tali washed her clothes and we headed back to the farm to give back the horse. We talked if we should mention the statue to the village. We might get some kind of reward if we did but then other people will know about it as well. Players with seafaring skills were scarce and the players might destroy the surroundings. We decided to use the buff for the time we went to hunt in the marshlands. We also went around asking mostly the old people, church and fishermen if they had any information on the statue.
Like this a couple weeks had passed. We had gotten some requests from people to locate the statue if it existed but nothing registered as a quest. We were visiting the statue every time we went off to hunt.
We had been chatting a lot ever since we found the statue, mostly about our hobbies in the real world and what we found interesting in RR. Tali and Garnet were no surprise from south Korea, when I told them I was from Europe they launched several questions. They weren't satisfied until I had told them everything about how life was. Cheerful girls. It wasn't unusual playing and speaking to foreigners, it was unusual to visit foreign countries though.
“Are you familiar with the architecture in the game?”
“You must have seen many castles before!?”
“Tell us how they are. We haven't had access to castles here so we're curious!”
It was fun how interested they were. I liked answering questions it was initiating conversations I was bad at.
“I've seen my share of castles. Not too many grand castles though like you see in Hollywood films. I've been to London though.”
“Ohhh what's the difference then?”
Garnet was a bit too enthusiastic, Tali asked the more serious questions. I tried my best to answer their questions.
“Have you ridden real horses!?”
That was Tali, when it came to horses she kind of lost herself.
“Not many or often but there are a lot of pastures and stables with horses scattered around.”
It continued like this every day. I never got to ask them any questions.