"It's ratting time."
The minimap shows the way to the jobs as arrows and they don't point in the same direction.
"Did Selena mess it up? Well, who didn't specify to keep the tasks close together?"
Arriving at the scene the street has the villagers with the mustaches waiting.
This is the furthest location and the other missions call to a different part of the settlement.
Was the Assistant aware there'd be other quest givers nearby to take on without the limit?
"It's Selena, of course, she was." It's an unworthy insult to even question her genius.
She's the best NPC, unlike Tank, who promised to reset the tutorial, and the system is still quiet.
The last errand will be at the pharmacy, near the training grounds, and then he will hear from it.
First, let's talk to the villagers.
The map arrow points at the closest one, but let's begin with the one furthest away.
The logic is that the task will spawn the problematic homes that only the avatar can see.
The rest might be visible to other players too.
It's better to clear them before someone else does since the ratting errands will be scarce.
Nobody had a good thing to say about them on the forums and they are boring.
They pay a decent experience though, and are easy, and fast to clear.
The most important is the availability.
It doesn't matter if the zombie contracts paid better if they no longer exist.
In a while, these will run out too, and the newbies will realize that the following missions are way worse. It's like a tendency here.
The starter village had well-paying zombie opportunities replaced by less challenging rats.
The new main jobs won't involve fighting and Premium users can take them only.
Way to draw out the struggle for everyone else in Origin, and make them hate the game before it starts.
Well, it's not my problem, let's focus on the present.
"Hey, good man, are you struggling with pests perchance?"
Holy shit, what the fuck was that coming out of this mouth?
Is this the system giving immersive words to the avatar? Why?
'Let's get rid of your rat problem' wasn't good enough? It has no slang or meta-bullshit in it.
"Oh, traveler, you came at the right time. Yes, these rats have swarmed my basement, and they are now in my attic and kitchen too."
His response is new, even if the job stays the same.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
His invitation leads to twelve rats in the kitchen. It's hard to get over the weird wording regardless.
[You killed a Common Rat +5 Exp.]
They didn't become any more challenging or interesting either.
The sword is unwieldy inside the house to fight small opponents, and the dagger is faster anyway.
What if the avatar dual-wields them since the shield would be overkill against rats?
Too bad the rest of the sidearms ended up in the secret stash, dual-wielding those would be the best.
These get into each other's way, and the attack speed and accuracy suffer, so let's stick to a single blade.
Tank did praise ambidextrous people, warning that I'm not one.
Is that a skill in the game, or do you have to be born that way?
There was no setting to make the character right or left-handed either. He inherited that from the real deal.
Once the skills are accessible, let's skim through them and pick up the two-handed trait.
Oh, right. What if it's a trait you must earn rather than train up?
No, let's worry about that once we get there. There are almost three thousand rats until that point if there are that many left in the village.
The first twelve die without leaving anything worth mentioning behind.
The next twelve in the basement do the same, a reminder of how boring this day will be.
The third dozen in the attic has a small surprise.
[You killed a Plague Rat +50 Exp.]
"What? A Plague Rat?" And tenfold the experience for that one?
He didn't look any different than the rest, nor did he take more than one strike to kill, so why?
Did it carry some disease that can affect the character? There are no new status effects, and he didn't drop loot either.
None of them did, no rat-tail to boot, and still forgot to check how much Selena pays for them.
The task finishes like normal, the villager pays thirty coppers and says the usual lines.
"Well, no complaints about the extra Exp." There's still loads more needed.
The house next to this offers the same errand, and it goes the regular way, thirty-six common rats, no plague one here.
There are two tails instead, and they might become a rarity too, so it could be worth holding on to them. What are they used for?
The third villager spawned here from the task.
While he tries to say the usual lines speedrunning the place won't let him finish.
One more drops a tail in the attic, and in less than ten minutes, the avatar gathers almost fifteen hundred Exp.
Yes, this would be doable, if the contracts wouldn't run out.
"Fucking bandit encounter, kicking off this stupid event."
The forest acts as a reminder that two zombie spawn points are nearby.
Even if it's only a little, they can provide some extra experience.
And let's not forget, the rusty sword, the highest damage weapon also came from the undead.
They might drop a helmet or boots, given enough of them go down for the random chance to kick in.
And if it's skeletons, all the arrows; the archery shop might open soon.
No luck at first, the closer spawn is empty, and it's still far until midnight in this world.
The second one is deeper into the forest and six skeletons rattle their bones.
"Yeah, they'll drop loads of arrows for sure." And act as a test for the new sword against them in action.
One of them looks different than usual.
It was a joke with the helmet and the boots, yet this guy has them all, and more.
It wears a metal breastplate too, and his bow is longer than the rest.
What kind of gear is this for a ranged mob? It feels wasted on him.
With some luck, they become loot and the Training Ground equipment can finally retire.
That's not what happened with the shield, ending up sticking to the lighter one.
Let's decide if it's worth the switch once it drops and see if the sword can cut through them.
They rain arrows once the tree's cover is behind and the guard does magnificent to bounce them back.
The main reason it's getting beat up and scratched is that I used it as a weapon too. With this sword, it can finally relax.
"Let's see how this can break bones."
[You killed a Skeleton +30 Exp.]
The first mob turns into pixels in a single swing and drops a pile of arrows.
The second needs two and leaves a bow.
Yeah. While the sword moves slower than the dagger, the extra damage it deals to them might make it the perfect choice.