Perseus walked through the forest his eyes were peeled for any signs of Jack. He was an idiot to release him into the forest with almost no training and no supervision Perseus would be surprised if he could make it without an injury when hunting rabbits.

He quickened his pace, he was already deep in the forest and there was no sign of Jack. He had left to go search for Jack after a few hours had passed so Perseus was now very worried. Walking down the main road he only saw dust and the multitude of footprints that were left by other travelers.

Perseus started to panic a bit he did not want to lose his newest paw.. err pupil. He had many plans for Jack and to lose him here would be a shame. He started calling out his name which in hindsight he should have done in the beginning. And to his surprise the moment he first called out his name. Jack popped up from the surrounding bushes.

"Master?"

His face was full of surprise and he was a bit bloody(did in-game rabbits even bleed?). His clothes were tattered and he was carrying 10 rabbit skins on his back. Well, it was more like he was dragging the skins around. He asked Perseus again

"Master, did you come here out of concern?"

"Yeah, it's late and I got worried"

Jack made a touching expression and closed his eyes as if thinking something. He faced Perseus again

"I have completed your mission master"

He then dragged the rabbit skins in front of Perseus and stood proudly.

Perseus didn't even need to see the shining eyes to know that Jack wanted praise

"well done Jack"

Jack's face erupted into a beaming childish smile. Perseus analyzed Jack to see his progress

[Jack]

[status: healthy]

[name: Jack]

[sex: male]

[level 8]

[age: 9]

[skills: swordsmanship level 2]

[CQC level 2]

[dagger basics level 3]

[pickpocketing level 4]

[innate talents/skills: none]

[talents: dagger affinity F]

Hmm, level 8 is kinda small, I need to get him to at least level 20, to challenge a ripper member. And I need to get money for the guild startup. Perseus looked up and was about to tell jack to follow him on another grinding journey.

But of course, human voices were heard in the distance. Jason and Jack both freezer, any human voices this deep in the forest, meant that they were either hunting monsters or doing something shady.

Persues hoped to the high heavens that they were doing something shady. He motioned to Jack to follow him and the two started heading closer to the voices. Perseus tried to be as silent as he could but needed to stop occasionally to readjust and make sure that he was completely silent in his approach.

Jack on the other hand slid in and out of the shadows of the forest easily approaching the source of the voices silently like a true rouge.

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Jack reached the humans first. Peeking out of a bush he could see two armed men laughing and chattering to each other. They were dressed in a simple cloth garment and leather armor. They both had swords strapped to their waist and bandanas were tied around their arms. Jack had no appraisals and had to wait for Perseus to arrive to figure out what to do.

Perseus arrived in time, he struggled a bit with the passive effects of the sprint skill and looked at the two men.

[bandit sentry level 15]

[bandit sentry level 15]

Perseus smiled to himself. He really needed a change in opponent after facing rabbits the entire time and hopefully, the bandits would have a hideout that Perseus could loot. The bandits were level 15 and he had just turned level 20.

Yeah, he could take them. He turned to Jack and told him to hid and attack when there was an opening.

He waited for what seemed to be the right moment used his sprint skill and charged out into the opening the bandits were in. He quickly used slash on the first unsuspecting opponent and took the dagger he had heated on his hip and stabbed him. The first bandit fell without even drawing his sword. The second one was quick on his feet and drew his sword before Perseus could attack him, Perseus no longer holding the element of surprise got out of the bandits striking range and circled around him.

The bandit held his sword in front of him desperately trying to hold off the unknown aggressor. He looked at him and a cold shiver subsequently went down his spine. the aggressor was a blond teenager.

He could be described as handsome, with a sharp face clear skin, and cool blue eyes. If he were in any other situation he would have been joyful that he had found such a good looking man to sell. But now see his comrade bleed out. He felt scared. It didn't help that the teenager looked at him with an emotionless face, his eyes were still clear like they were staring at nothing. Yes, that was what he was nothing.

Despair started to cloud his mind and then a dagger stabbed him from behind and his vision faded to black.

Jack pulled out his dagger and then wiped the blood off with a corner of his tattered shirt. He looked up to see Perseus looting the bandit's bodies. He was a bit shaken after killing a person but his desire to protect his master overcame it. Besides if they were bandits then anyone could kill them.

Perseus pulled out a few bronze coins and a bloody bandana clicked his tongue he expected more than just that, for a person who had spent their lives stealing from others. He put away the coins and examined the bandana.

[bloody bandit bandana]

[description: a bloody bandana used as a tool to identify yourself in a bandit camp]

"my, how convenient"

Perseus addressed Jack who was standing waiting for him

"Jack go around and look for more bandits like these two, be sure they don't see you"

"yes sir"

Jack ran off and before Perseus knew it he was just a distant shadow running through the forest. He called out to Boops

"Hey Boops you there?"

'Yeah I'm here Perseus, what do you need?

"how much does slow-acting poison cost?"

'hmm why.... oh Oh my that's a good idea, and I can do you one better in this forest, there should be some plants that give you what you need, here ill send you a list'

[you have a new mission]

[collect the following]

[Cicuta Immaculata 0/15]

[Ageratina altissima 0/10]

[Abrus precatorius 0/5]

[optional]

[Nerium oleander 0/??]

Boops clarified everything

'so the cicuta is a wildflower and kinda looks like celery, its roots are the most dangerous, ageratina has small white flowers, abrus is a plant that has small red beans the beans are toxic, and finally Nerium oleander which an extremely rare beautiful red flower, I listed it as optional since you don't need it and there's a high chance you won't find it, nevertheless it's useful to have'

"Boops how do you know all of this stuff"

'ha, I just read a crap ton of books I know more things then I can list, by the way, look around this forest a bit more, there are rumors of a treasure being hidden here.

"thank you Boops"

'no problem, just get to making that guild asap'

"will do"

Boops cut off the connection and Perseus started searching for the plants that he had just described. Looking around for herbs was much easier than he thought, he first spotted some white flowers and walked over he carefully pulled it out making sure to not damage any parts of the plant. He was about to look for more but by then Jack had already arrived.

Jark appeared behind Perseus scaring Perseus a bit he excitedly told Perseus

"master, I found 3 of those bad guys over there!"

He then pointed his finger to the deeper part of the forest. Perseus stood up and started walking toward the bandits under Jacks's guidance. He still needed to find the plants, suddenly it hit him

Perseus turned to Jack

"Hey, Jack want to play a game?"

"yes, master!!"

"Okay there are certain plants around here that I need i want you to find them and carefully excavate them for me, can you do that Jack?"

"yes, master!!, which ones?"

Perseus shared with Jack the information on the plants and let Jack run around while he started comfortably strolling toward the bandits.

As he got closer and closer to them the more Perseus changed, the friendly aura he had around everyone started to disappear and fade away, the friendly face he put on when he was talking to Jack was no longer there, what replaced it was a serious dark face that the bandits would learn to fear.