Adam took one final look at the dragon he had faced, beaten, then got advice and help from. From Adam's side, he gave the dragon a nod to show respect, and said a final thank you towards the dragon. Adam said to the portal that his destination was Tophia, and with a final wave towards the dragon, Adam took his first steps into the portal.
Adam was surprised to see it was already dusk when he exited the portal, though this city was not exactly advertised to beginners, in fact when looking through the list, the city was not there unless he turned off the "Reccomended for new players" option. Looking around, Adam could see he was in a surprisingly well maintained but empty church. The system gave Adam a short blurb about how the church was just a respawn point and safe log off point for players who dont have a house or room in an inn, and where players will appear when they first log in. Looking around, Adam couldn't see any other players and decided it probably wasn't worth waiting for any yet, as he didn't see any need to talk to another player yet.
Walking outside of the church, Adam saw a bustling street with a backdrop of mountains. People were hustling about, mostly NPC's who were clearly high level telling from the armor they wore. Wounded, healthy, warriors, mages and all kinds littered the street, haggling at stalls entering and exiting shops and no one payed close attention to Adam in their hurry. Adam was still taking in the scene and looking at groups of people who would walk by when he got a notification.
[Skill gained: Identify]
[Identify: gain information regarding something you can look at. Enemy stat's are limited to seeing name, health points, and level. You may only see the statistics for monsters ten levels above yourself.]
Adam was still amazed though, as even with the new identify skill active, every NPC on the street had question marks above their head, meaning each one was atleast ten levels above himself. Walking outside of the doorway of the temple, Adam walked around for a couple minutes through the paved streets looking for some sort of job board or guild building, before he decided it was like finding a needle in a haystack without any help. Adam sighed and had no one to blame but himself. He had over an hour to look at introductory guides, but spent the time looking at which city to pick, granted there were more options than he expected but he still felt a little guilt over how he mismanaged his own time.
A scholar looking NPC stopped at Adam on the street with confusion plastered all over his face, and asked Adam "You wouldn't happen to be one of those players would you? Your equipment is low level so I can only assume you are a foolhardy traveller or a foolish player and accidentally chose this place.". Adam looked back to the scholar and replied "I know this city may not be the friendliest but I do plan on making my own way, no matter how many challenges I face.".
The scholar grinned at Adam's determination and asked him, "So you are one of the immortal players? I own an apothecary if you would like to follow me, I think I might be able to help you. If you truly know that this place is tough to live in, you must have factored in that the guild barely posts quests that are available for anyone under level 10.". Adam sighed in resignation, he should have known that in a city like this that it wasn't just hidden from the "Recommended for begginers" section of the city browser just because it is a difficult place to live, but also because it is a difficult place to survive or level up in. Adam agreed to go to this persons apothecary, and on his way to said apothecary he learned of the guild system, job boards, and generally just knowledge he had missed out on learning. After ten or so minutes of walking, Adam had passed most of the important structures like the guild street which housed the various guilds, and some of the markets that were held within the city.
Soon, Adam and the scholar, or "Asthalder" as he introduced himself to Adam, arrived at his admittadly run-down apothecary, with a crooked wooden sign labelling the store as "Asthalder's Amazing Apothecary". Adam and Asthalder entered the shop, Adam chuckling to himself about the not so humble name, while looking through the shops interior to find about a half dozen red healing potions, three blue mana potions, and a couple potions labelled "mystery potion".
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Asthalder brought Adam to the back, where his confident demeanor faded, and his body language started drooping, before he told Adam, "Look, I know this shop doesn't look like a lot and you are probably second guessing coming here, but don't worry. I haven't made potions out of dragonfolk and as far as I know the myth that dragonfolk tail meat will make you live longer is not as popular anymore. What I need from you is help, I'm an alchemist by trade and if im being honest, I'm a little scared of dying if I went out into the jungle to get potion ingrediants."
Adam sighed as he knew where this was going, so he calmly responded "So you view the players as a new expendable workforce, but since I am most likely the only player here you want to hire me and send me out into the jungle to get your materials, and keep working with me then bring up having a business partnership because you think having me working with you because I am a player will bring you a lot of benefits since you have the unfair advantage of an immortal employee that no other business has so far.".
Caught a little of guard, Asthalder thought it out for a second, scratching his chin before he said "Yeah that is a good way to condense my thoughts on the matter, so what about it? I don't think you have any reason to decline.". Adam sighed as he agreed with what Asthalder said, before Asthalder after a little beating around the bush gave Adam his first quest.
[Quest Available: Gather Jungle Flowers]
An Alchemist who's shop is in a downtrodden state has tasked you with getting herbs from the jungle. The flowers are known to grow on the edge of the jungle, but the further into the jungle you go into the jungle the higher quality the herbs will be.
D+ Rank Quest
On quest success: 3 copper coins, 30 experience points, familiarity increases by 2 with Asthalder. Rewards scale with quest completion tier.
On quest failure: familiarity decreases by 5 with Asthalder, Penalties scale with failure severity.
Will you accept the quest? [Y/N]
Adam clicked accept quickly, he wanted to go to the jungle anyways so having a quest while he goes will be like killing two birds with one stone. With a quick goodbye, he left Asthalder's shop and started on the road to the eastern gate that Esthalder pointed him towards which would bring him to the jungle after a probably 5 minute walk. When Adam arrived at the gate, he saw some human wearing clearly novice clothes waiting to go through the gate. A quick identify let Adam know that this was indeed another player, telling that he could see the persons name.
Martial Arts Fanatic was talking to the guards about something, while Adam chuckled over his name and slowly got closer to the man and the guards. "Yes! I'm a player, I want to go out in the jungle and hone my skills. I doubt there will be another player with to "Ensure my safety" or whatever you want!". Adam thought to himself, clearly the guards know he is an abysmally low level and wanted him to be with atleast one other person because they don't fully trust that he will not immediately get himself killed in such a dangerous area. Adam thought to himself for a moment, he would probably be in the same situation if he did not try to team up with Mr Martial, because he also was a solo player right now, and still level 1 with no achievements to his name to prove him worthy enough to leave alone.
Adam walked over to the gaggle, and interrupted Fanatic, saying "Hey I will party up with you, if you help me out with a quest.". Fanatic held some thoughts in his head before saying, "Yeah whatever you want, as long as you get these guards out of my ass, lets get out of here.". Now that Adam was with Fanatic, the guards had to relent before reluctantly letting them both pass through the gate, where they could see a massive looming jungle nestled between the valley of the two mountains.
"You want to go to the jungle and protect me while I get some herbs?" Adam replied as he sent a party request towards Martial Arts Fanatic, "Protect? I'll make sure you get every herb in that jungle by the time we are done." he replied. Both talking about the game and their experience so far, Adam and his newfound companion started in their walk to the jungle.