After hesitating for a few moments, I decided to accept the Quest. However, I knew I needed to buy a new greatsword and see what I got from leveling up three times before I did any more fighting. Not knowing how much gold a greatsword would cost, I decided to start by looking at my status screen.
[Player ID: [Cain]]
[Level: 3]
[Job: Greatswordsman]
[Stats:
HP: 120/120
MP: 50/50
Str: 80
Vit: 10
Agi: 40
Dex: 10
Int: 10
Physical Attack Power: 400
Magic Attack Power: 50
Attack Speed: 80
Movement Speed: 80
Physical Defense: 100
Magic Defense: 50
Carrying Capacity: 160
Luck: 01]
[Unallocated Stat Points: 15]
[Skills: [Acid Resist - Lesser], [Throw I]]
[Weapon/s: none]
[Armor: none]
[Accessories: none]
[Other Items: [Small Stones (x5)]]
[Currency: 130 gold]
“Okay, I have 15 stat points I can spend. Should I just keep bumping up Str and Agi, or should I put them into Vit to bump up my Physical Defense?” I muttered to myself. “My main method of attack at the moment is [Throw I], which does damage proportional to my Physical Attack Power. And Physical Attack Power is proportional to Str, but I also don’t want to be a glass cannon. I need enough Physical Defense to actually survive, though I guess higher Physical Defense wouldn’t exactly be helpful against [Giant Green Slimes]. Their main method of killing Players is to melt and suffocate them within their acidic bodies. So I guess Str for right now? Or I guess I could just split them up.”
I put 10 of the points into Str and the remaining 5 into Vit. This bumped my Str to 90 and my Vit to 15, which in turn raised my HP to 195, my Physical Attack Power to 450, my Physical Defense to 150, and my Carrying Capacity to 180. Happy with the change in my stats, I decided to try to get a new greatsword. Stopping a passing Player, I asked them where a could find a place to buy weapons.
“There are lots of different places to buy weapons, but the place you want to go to depends on the quality of the Items you want and how much gold you have to spend,” he explained patiently. “How much gold do you have right now?”
“130 gold,” I replied sheepishly.
“Wow, yeah, that’s definitely not gonna cut it, bud. Um, I guess you should just go and hunt monsters until you get enough gold to buy a decent weapon,” he said. “Well, see ya around.”
Taking the man’s advice, I went outside the village to find monsters. Eventually, I came across a lone wolf all by itself. But before I could throw any rocks at it, I saw a kid come running up, screaming and crying.
“D-don’t hurt [Fluffy]!” The kid screamed. “He’s my pet, not a wild animal!”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I’d never hurt someone’s else’s pet,” I replied. My arm fell back to my side and the stone in my hand vanished back into my inventory. I then turned to walk away, but I saw an exclamation mark pop up over the boy’s head. I turned to address him. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”
“Well, Sir, if you don’t mind, could you find some [Blood Red Lilies] from the woods? [Fluffy] got hurt recently, and I can use those flowers to make an ointment to help heal his wounds,” the boy replied. A message popped up in front of me.
[Zak would like your help getting [Blood Red Lilies] for an ointment]
[Collect 0/15 [Blood Red Lilies]]
[Rewards: [Blood Red Ointment]]
[Failure Penalty: [Fluffy’s] injury worsens]
[Accept: Y/N]
“Sure, I’ll accept,” I said while pushing the button.
“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! You can find some [Blood Red Lilies] growing in a clump near an old, twisted oak tree with a bunch of knotholes that look like a face,” Zak explained. “Please find them quickly! I don’t know how much longer [Fluffy] can go without the ointment.”
“Got it. I’ll find the tree and collect the flowers you need,” I assured the young boy. He jumped in the air for joy. Smiling, I walked off in the direction of the woods marked by the Quest.
As I walked to the woods, I took the time to admire how beautiful and realistic this virtual world felt. Taking a deep breath, I could smell the air, which was so much cleaner and better than the real world’s air. I could also see several animals running through the fields and open spaces, which you definitely wouldn’t see in real life.
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“Dang, this is so amazing,” I thought aloud. I couldn’t help but look around at all the sanding sights. Which is why I didn’t see the group of Players in front of me.
“Hey, watch where you’re going, noob!” One of them shouted after I bumped into him.
“Sorry, my bad. I just got caught up in the beauty of the game,” I explained, apologizing. But the guy didn’t seem to care.
“How dare a little newbie like you talk back to me!” He shouted. He then even began drawing his sword, but stopped when one of his group members looked at him. “Arrgh, count yourself lucky this time. But if you do something like that again, I’ll take your head off!”
He then pushed past me, his group following close behind. The one who stopped him from killing me gave me a sheepish smile. I shrugged in response. They all then kept going on their way while I continued on my trek to the woods. But when I reached the edge of the woods, I was immediately attacked.
A large wolf the size of a car with pitch black fur and blood red eyes leapt out from the tree line. Dodging its pounce, I looked at it fearfully as it snarled. Standing up, I pulled out one of the rocks in my inventory. I then activated [Throw I] before pitching the stone. The missile impacted the side of the wolf’s head, which seemed to do a fair amount of damage. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to kill or scare the monster.
Backing up, I threw another stone. This one hit the wolf’s eye, doing a much greater amount of damage. It yelped in pain before growling, seemingly angry now. Gulping, I prepared myself to dodge another pounce, but this time it lunged forwards. Its jaws snapped at me, my body just out of its reach. But since it was close enough to hit, I decided to punch it in the muzzle as hard as I could before backing up again.
“Come on, just run away, you dumb mutt,” I muttered to myself. However, the wolf didn’t seem ready to give up. It tried to tackle me, but I dove to the ground, its large body flying over my head.
Readying another stone, I cocked my arm back and sent it flying. The projectile impacted its nose dead-on. Whimpering, the wolf pawed at its snout before turning to look at me. Its growl became deeper than before as its eyes seemed to start glowing. Realizing that this wasn’t good, I began backing up quickly, ready to start running. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to run as it suddenly howled, and the mournful sound caused my body to lock up.
“Oh, it’s howl has some kind of Fear effect. Great,” I muttered. I tried to move, but my body wouldn’t respond at all. The wolf then pounced at me, its jaws open wide. Closing my eyes, I screamed in pain as its teeth sank into my fragile body. However, the pain allowed me to move again. “Get off of me!”
I punched the wolf in the head. It snarled and bit down tighter, not wanting to let go. Pulling out another rock, I bashed the blunt object against the wolf’s head. I continued doing this until it finally let go and fell limp. Not wanting to take any chances, I backed up and used [Throw I] to launch the stone into its body. It yelped once more before turning into a cloud of red particles.
“Phew, I finally managed to kill that thing,” I said, falling to the ground. I then received two system messages, one telling me that I had leveled up to Level 4, and the other telling me that I had gotten a new Skill called [Giant Killing].
[Giant Killing]
[Type: Passive]
[Effects:
1. When four of your opponent’s main stats (not HP/MP) are higher than yours, your main stats (not HP/MP) are doubled until combat ends]
“Oh, wow, this looks like a pretty good Skill!” I commented. “At least I don’t have to worry about having too much of a disadvantage against stronger enemies. I wonder if it works against Players too, or just monsters?”
Shrugging, I decided to go ahead and spend my stat points before heading into the woods. I decided to assign all 5 of them to Vit, recognizing the importance of it after taking so much damage during the fight with the wolf. This raised my Vit from 15 to 20, which in turn raised my HP to 245 and my Physical Defense to 200. Nodding my head in satisfaction, I then walked into the woods.
“I just need to find the tree that has the [Blood Red Lilies] growing near the base, which should be marked due to it being the Quest objective,” I said aloud. I kept careful watch of my surroundings as I hiked through the thick woods, not wanting to get ambushed again. But after several minutes, nothing appeared out of the darkness, nor did I hear any kind of rustling in the trees or foliage.
After a few more minutes of searching, I found the old, twisted tree with knotholes that looked like a face. Rushing over to it, I began plucking the bright red flowers growing out of a patch of grass in between the tree’s roots. I quickly picked 15 of the flowers, completing the Quest.
“Well, that was pretty easy,” I said with surprise. Looking up, I noticed a large apple-like fruit hanging from one of the tree’s branches. “I wonder if I can eat it. Besides, it could be magical.”
Jumping up, I grabbed the apple. It snapped free from the branch, falling with me to the ground. Holding it up, I looked at my reflection in its shiny red skin. Biting into the fruit, its juice flowed into my mouth. It tasted better than any apple I had ever eaten in real life. In no time, I had eaten the whole fruit, leaving only the core. As soon as I had swallowed the last bite, I received system messages.
[You have consumed [Apple of Strength]]
[Str stat has permanently been raised by 5]
[Warning! You have eaten an apple belonging to the [Forest Guardian]]
[If you do not leave the forest within 5 minutes, it will start hunting you]
“I knew it was too good to be true,” I said with a sigh. Getting up, I began running in the direction of the village. However, when I was near the edge of the woods, I heard crashing behind me. Taking a glance behind me, I saw a massive figure charging through the trees. I began running faster, finally bursting out of the forest and into the open air. Looking back, I saw a pair of glowing eyes staring at me before turning away and stomping back into the woods. “That was close.”
Brushing myself off, I started walking back over to Zak. As soon as I approached him, he clapped in excitement.
“Thank you for collecting the flowers I needed!” He exclaimed. He then handed me a circular tin. “Here, take this. I had some of the [Blood Red Ointment] left over. Since you helped me make it, I want you to have what’s left.”
“Thank you,” I said, accepting my reward. However, the wolf began barking and walked over to me.
“Looks like [Fluffy] wants to thank you as well,” Zak said with a laugh. I kneeled down to be face-to-face with the white wolf. It licked my face and barked again. I then received a system notification.
[You have obtained Active Skill [White Wolf’s Howl I]]
[White Wolf’s Howl I]
[Type: Active]
[Effects:
1. Raises all main stats for yourself and allies within 50 ft by 5% for 1 minute
2. Lowers all main stats for all enemies within 50 ft by 5% for 1 minute]
[Costs 20 MP to use, 5 minute cooldown]
My eyes widened in astonishment. I kept looking back and forth between the Skill window and the fluffy white wolf sitting in front of me. Grinning, I began scratching [Fluffy’s] ears, which he really seemed to enjoy.
“You’re a good boy, [Fluffy], yes you are!” I said to the wolf. I scratched him under the chin and he barked and wagged his tail. “Aw, you’re so cute!”
“Hehe, [Fluffy] doesn’t usually like strangers,” Zak told me with a big smile. “If you’d like a pet of your own, I can lead you to where you can get a pet.”
“Really? That’d be cool! Yes, please, lead the way,” I said. As soon as I said this, a message popped up.
[Zak would like to take you to the [Strange Pet Shop], but you have to prove that you are worthy of owning a pet]
[Follow Zak to the [Strange Pet Shop]]
[Reward: [???]]
[Failure Penalty: unable to enter the [Strange Pet Shop]]
[Part 1/?]
[Accept? Y/N]
I quickly accepted the Quest. Once I did, Zak began walking back towards the village. Following closely behind, he lead me to a small, worn-down wooden shack. There was a sign above the front door that said “Pet Shop”. I watched as Zak went inside, and I hesitantly entered after him.
The store was filled with cages and enclosures of all different sizes. There were all kinds of creatures inside the cages and enclosures, though they looked well. I examined a dog-like creature in a pen near the door when I heard rustling from deeper in the store.
“Miss Maggie, I brought you a customer,” Zak shouted. The rustling got louder and I saw a short, portly middle-aged woman step out from behind a stack of cages.
“Well, hello dears. How can I help you?” She asked in a pleasant voice. I then received a notification, indicating that I had completed the Quest.
[You have obtained Item [Pet Voucher]]
[This Item can be used to obtain a pet from the [Strange Pet Shop]]
However, the Quest window was still there and had been updated.
[You have met Miss Maggie, the [Strange Pet Shop’s] owner, and you must prove to her that you are worthy of owning a pet]
[Collect 0/20 [Raw Meat]]
[Reward: exclusive pet offer]
[Failure Penalty: kicked out and banned from [Strange Pet Shop]]
[Part 2/?]
[Accept? Y/N]