Tuna
If you were to fight, it’d be almost impossible to defeat
There was also [Giant Pike], [Celes Whiting], and [Gobbers].
What I really didn’t want to do was piss any fish off unnecessarily… I tiptoed past several giant fish, but there was no need to be so cautious, for when I was within attacking range of them, they just flopped about like magicarp.
However, when I approached the lure, one of the fish managed to flop itself right on top it... but barely acknowledged my existence. It was as I had thought, the fish didn't aggro. That was before I tried pushing it off the lure.
The fish pivoted before I could grasp the lure, and its tail whipped across my face with the wee force of a semitrailer, sending me hurtling through the air. Everything went black for a moment before my vision returned filled with stars, and a jackhammer migraine going off in the side of my head, but there really wasn't anything else I could do about that, but I didn't need to, a soft warming glow washed over my head and it was as if nothing ever happened, but health bar was down a little.
"Mother effer whacked me!"
There was a perfectly good rock for throwing at the stupid fish, lying next to me, but before I could enact any revenge, there was some flopping coming from behind, and it was getting closer.
When I turned, the fish was almost upon me, and he brought a friend, probably the one that broke my landing, and I did what any self-respecting adventurer-wanna-be would do, I got up and ran away. There was no way I could live with myself if I got killed by a bunch of fish flopping about on the land.
The fish didn't lament however, their bodies slapped into the ground with every flick of their tails. I just sprinted until I could no longer hear them, I sprinted so hard that my heart beat like a jackhammer and my ears began to ring.
Shit-shit-shit…
I knew this feeling all too well. And then there it was, a pull in my chest, like suddenly there was a space vacuum—
When I came to, my hearing was back, my heart rate was normal… what would have normally landed me in hospital… was gone.
Huh? How?
My health bar had dipped drastically…
Could it have been? I didn’t have time to contemplate, the dreaded slapping of something big and wet hitting the ground was coming from behind me.
When I looked back, there they were like killer tomatoes. So, I ran not sprinted but they were never far behind and chased me past the docks, and through the market square.
"Help!" I called out but none of the NPC cared to look or lift a finger.
This quest was definitely a bust.
I weaved through another street, then into a courtyard and I ducked into the nearest building I could find, which was a shop, and slammed the door behind me, slumped down and caught my breath...
This was a mistake… why am I even here, why did I even think I could be an adventurer, idiot.
"Okay—" I began to say before something slammed into the door from outside and made me bite my tongue.
"Motha-fadtha!"
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It was the fish, and they weren’t giving up. They whacked the door over and over again.
My tongue healed, causing my hit points to go down some more, but at least I wasn’t going to choke on my own blood, so that was a bonus.
"Dammit!"
Cracks started to show on the wooden door. I was done for, this was it, death by magic-carp... I didn't want to die, especially not a virgin...
I closed my eyes and prayed... "Please god, please-please don't let me die this way."
The whacking stopped. "God?" Cautiously I opened the door ajar and peeked out.
The fish were lying still, just outside the entryway, their breathing had slowed to haggard gasps. They were suffocating. The only thing that made sense was that they ran out of hit points, like possibly, the hit points were preventing the fish from suffocating, but without that, they were really suffocating, and moments later they expired into an explosion of sparkling lumens.
Two items appeared in their place, a fish bone and rusty fish hook, for which I turned my nose up at and went back inside the shop.
Over in the corner there was a dark robed man peering through a magnifying glass at a leather glove, perhaps inscribing some runes or magic of some kind, next to him on the desk lay a large pointy hat. He looked up at me.
“You appear lost [Tomb Raider], the Temple of Light serves soup on Fire-day, Wood-day, and Earth-day,” he said.
Huh?! That’s no way to greet a customer!
“Um no, that’s not why I’m here.”
He shot up from his desk, grabbing his hat.
“Welcome to Hadrien’s Magiporium! If you have a problem with Fire Drakes, then try our Ember Cloak, or, maybe you have to traverse the deadly swamps of Van’Goon, then you’ll want a Mask of Purity, air never tasted so sweet or pure.” He twirled around the shop in glee, and I ducked a swinging arm that had almost hit me.
“Woah, um…”
The shop didn’t look cheap, in fact in looked pretty pricey. Maybe this guy has some dough up his sleeve?
“I’d like to sell some things, if I can.”
A shop menu appeared, and I quickly tabbed over to the sell submenu.
Out of the items I had for sale the only combination that worked was [Hermes’ Ring] and [Heavenly Ring], meaning Hadrien only had about 96k to 103k in the bank.
“Thank you for your patronage, please visit again soon!” Hadrien twirled back to his desk and continued his examination.
Hah, now I have enough money to transport me and Catherine to Celestia, and buy new equipment, wait, Catherine’s probably still pissed off at me… hmm… if me and Catherine aren’t the only ones to have crossed over then I wonder if anyone will be in the Capital… if there was one place to go it would be the capital cities, if that’s the case… then… what would that mean? If there’s hundreds or even thousands of people doing what I’m doing, then that probably means no NPC will have any money left, at least not large amounts… that would be a problem, I’ll need to find more people to sell my stuff to.
…
My feet are still awfully bare, hmm, huh, oh, but when I checked his spatial wares there were no boots.
Several items were on display behind some kind of see through barrier at the front of the shop, a Greatsword with a blue glow, a red cloak, and there was a vacant spot where a magnificent pair of high leather boots lay below it, it looked like they were inlaid with soft fur, or maybe it was just inverted leather, either way, and even if they were winter boots, they looked a hell of a lot more comfortable than my current situation. When I spun round to emphasize my next question by pointing at the boots, my backpack caught something, and there was a loud thud on the floor.
“Hey! What are you doing?! Thief! Guards! Help, someone is trying to rob me!” Hadrien exclaimed, throwing his arms about wildly, then twirled his way over to the giant Spell book that lay on the floor, next to the now empty pedestal.
“Woah, woah, woah! Hold on a sec—"
The air in front me distorted and streaks of electricity buzzed through the space. Suddenly, the space pulled in on itself like a vacuum before matter exploded out of it. A guard appeared out of thin air and pointed his menacing halberd at me.
“Hey you! Stop in the name of the LAW!” he said, before a notification formed in space between us, his halberd piercing through the holographic image.
Please choose an option
Pay bail
2,000a
Serve time in jail
Serve a sentence of hard labour
The see-through screen hovering in my face made it difficult to address the issue behind it. Minimising it helped, and I raised my hands up like I was under-arrest.
“Umm, wait a second, I haven’t stolen anything.” I pointed to the pedestal, “See, there’s the item there, back in its original space.”
His eyes narrowed, and his forehead creased.
I think I was getting through to him but wasn’t quite there yet.
I gestured to the pedestal. “It—was—an—accident—,” I said as slow as I could, which probably would have come across as really condescending back home, but I felt it was important that each word was enunciated clearly.
His halberd still bared down at me, his face remained grimaced and he was about to say something, which I was sure was not going to be something I liked.
“Wait! Fine, here!” I selected the [Pay bail] option.
His face and stance relaxed, and I released my breath.
“Ahh, thank you for your understanding, [Tomb Raider], well, you have a nice day then, and stay within the law!” The guard said, but instead of disappearing, like I thought he would, he simply walked out of the shop, and presumably back to where he was originally stationed.
Wow, that was scary… and could have turned out a lot worse, imagine being stuck in jail, damn, and I only just got this money, but again, that is something that often happens in games, the second you get a load of cash, a need to spend it pops up conveniently around the corner.
I inspected the boots on the ground, cause I mean they looked freakin awesome, and I still had no shoes.
100,000g
[Leaping Boots]
DEF: 7, Hardiness: 21, Durability: 21
Level: 7, All Job Classes
Boots made from a particularly sprightful lizard.
100k? Are you serious? Well, I meet the minimum requirements and I doubt I’ll be able to find anything else my level in town…
I traded a few more cavern items and the boots disappeared from the ground and dropped in front of me. They looked a little small but when I tried to pull them on they conformed to my feet, and I pulled the leather boots up to me knees.
Normally I just wear the same pair of sneakers I always do, but now I kinda look like I’m a mountain man or something… better than barefoot though and can’t argue with the item bonuses. +3 DEX and +3 AGL is nothing to sneeze at. Might as well put them to the test.