With another disaster averted, it's back to ratting again.
[Government Issued Quest: Reach Level 10 within 3 days. Importance: Utmost. Difficulty: Average. Progress: 9/10, Exp to next level: 21024/25600. (11/72 hours left).]
The seventy-two of them should give me thirty-six hundred. Then a thousand from Selena on completion, and it's over. Finally, most of that progress happened in the last thirteen hours too. So when Balide said he had done it in six with Premium, he must have told the truth.
I'm not doing that bad for myself if we ignore that two days wasted beforehand. Or how tight my math is, relying on random luck, and almost getting myself killed. This is the finish line, with one healing potion and twice the antidotes in stock than these tasks need.
The villager is still alive, at least near the first house, and this is when I realize the error in the calculation. They need healing too, and there are two of them. No, don't overthink it. The leftover antidotes will do the trick, or you can split the potion, while it's still not patched.
The random doubts and these mini heart attacks will take me down for sure. Is this the controller's doing, the energy drinks, or losing my mind? Don't think, these are rats, chug down the antidote to start the immunity timer, and clear the house.
Come on, let's do this.
[You killed a Plague Rat +50 Exp]
This is ridiculous, after going through all those undead that only gave thirty. Each posed a much more serious threat than all the rats combined. Who decides these experience rewards? The advanced zombies gave this much, and that was a serious duel to take them down.
Well, it's still not as risky as dealing with the last four boneheads that almost killed me with a single lucky shot. Death is always around the corner, and my first attempt at these critters was close to killing me too. And their Death Rat version deserves the hundred Exp reward.
Those are even tougher than the Zombie Footmans, though only because of their numbers. There's no need to fight them, this mission won't escalate further, this is the last round. And after all this grind, and getting tired, even missing a few tails is acceptable.
[You killed a Plague Rat +50 Exp]
It feels like I'm drunk, the effects of that energy drink are wearing out. As sleep deprivation and stress take over, I'm even more scattered than usual. Like, why the hell am I gripping that shield while fighting these rodents? It only gets in the way, and they don't jump up to attack anyway.
Or sure, early on it was all about sword practice, but one minute is already gone, and it's still the first room. Switching to the dagger and putting away the shield speeds things up. It's still like sleepwalking, except a little faster.
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[Status effect: Immunity (antidote) 01:22]
This is fine, with a little focus, the kitchen and the attic are doable in under a minute, forget about the tails. A few more stabs, a walk to the Guild, a chat with Selena, and it will be all over. A good night's sleep is all the reward I want, and in five minutes, it should come.
Okay, ten at most. The last critter dropped dead a few seconds after the timer ran out, but it didn't make me feel sick. I left a few droplets at the bottom of the vial, and the villager took it without a complaint. See, it's that easy, why did you freak out about this? Next!
[Quest: Rat Ravaged Home. Importance: Medium. Difficulty: Average. Progress: 37/37. Reward: 5 Silver and 500 Exp. Plague Rats infested a villager's house, infecting him too. Cure the villager and kill the rats. The rats are in the basement, kitchen, and attic (3/6 hours left).]
One more and it's done. A hundred meters walk to the next target and try not to fall. Even if the last rats managed to infect me with something, this next antidote should purge that shit. The rats are where they should be, the right weapon is in my hands, let's do this.
[You killed a Plague Rat +50 Exp]
I'm missing out on a few tails. The last mission only gave me twelve, but doing it with eyes halfway closed it's a miracle I can even hit them. It was worth building up some muscle memory though, it lets me go forward even in this sorry state.
Such a sharp difference, from the hype of becoming one of the zombies I killed on the way. And it doesn't matter, one minute for each room is doable even while asleep, and this round the timer won't run out on me.
There is a quiet ping though, and the counter by the minimap jumps up a number. It showed that sole sick villager until now, and now there is another signal. This isn't a problem within the settlement, but it's unexpected enough to shake me up.
With two critters remaining, the counter stays where it was, so it's not someone passing by either. What a rollercoaster. Now my heart rate is picking up, and the sleepiness is gone. A glance at the journal reveals something interesting.
[Quest: Rat Ravaged Home. Importance: Medium. Difficulty: Average. Progress: 35/37. Reward: 5 Silver and 500 Exp. Plague Rats infested a villager's house, infecting him too. Cure the villager and kill the rats. The rats are in the basement, kitchen, and attic (3/6 hours left).]
That shouldn't be, the progress is off. There are two more rats in here, and one extra point is to heal the homeowner. The vial is still with me, leaving enough of the blue gunk for him to drink, which means I haven't healed him yet.
Did that random dude do it? Is he here to steal the quest?
[You killed a Plague Rat +50 Exp]
There, maxed out the progress, head back to the street and see what happened. The excitement returns and the villager is back in full health. The counter drops to one, and I catch a glimpse of someone sprinting towards the end of the street.
"Fuck." It's a job stealer indeed, the Mustache Man doesn't even offer to sign the contract, which means he already did it. He healed the guy and waited for me to finish the last two mobs, then made a run for it. "Hey, that's my quest!"
The math was flawless, but I didn't count with a scumbag like this. If he gets there first, I'll be five hundred Exp short, and he could have taken the other mission too. Now it's a good thing that the inventory is almost empty, that means I can sprint fast too.
"Stop!" The yelling doesn't bother him, and he's too far to read his name. Once I start running, the distance shrinks fast though. Come on, you can make it. Despite the sleepiness, the stamina bar is full, and the Guild should be at a dashing distance.
He even makes the mistake of taking the shorter route through the Marketplace. It's shorter, but not faster, and the counter shoots up.