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Quill was not having a good day. Well, sort of. But not really. He was honestly happy for Jane because she’d defeated the bear and levelled up. He was rather down on himself for doing pretty much nothing to help out. Other than give the bear something soft to land on when it had fallen on him.
He was covered in blood. Drenched. His clothing was soaked. It stunk, it was sticky and gross, and it attracted flies. Worst of all, Jane kept looking at him and giggling.
The three of them, Jane and Sapphire and himself, rolled the huge bear head through the forest. They wound their way around trees and did their best to avoid the high-level rabbits and spiders moving about. But a bear head is not perfectly round, nor does it always go where you want it to, and they were constantly fighting to stay on course. It was smelly, disgusting work.
Ah, the other side of being an adventurer. They tell you about the glory and the gold. They don’t tell you about the blood and guts and embarrassment of pushing dead monster parts down the road while the entire village comes out to watch and point. Or about how all the other adventurers stopped and stared in awe or laughed at them.
A small stream ran next to the village. Quill left the moss bear head and walked right into the water without saying anything to the others. Tired and sore and feeling filthy like never before, he sat down in the water and let it wash over him. A cloud of red drifted downstream.
Jane stood on the bank, watching him with a smirk on her cute face. “So. That time of the month, huh?” she shouted.
He just groaned in response. He sank his head beneath the surface and scrubbed blood out of his hair. When he’d gotten what he could out of his clothes and hair and most of his skin was clean, he stood up and splashed Jane.
She yelped and dodged. “Missed me.”
He mock-glared. “So you want to tease, huh? Heh, I’ll get my revenge on you. Oh yes, I’ll have my revenge. Mark my words…”
Her eyes narrowed. “Hey. Are you trying to steal my lines? Also, you don’t understand the line at all. Psh.” She dismissively waved at him, and mock-haughtily looked away.
He snorted at how adorable she was and looked over at Sapphire.
The young woman in blue stood next to a villager, tapping the middle-aged man on the shoulder. She spoke with a worried voice. “Excuse me. Mr Borony? Mr Borony?”
The villager made no reply. He didn’t acknowledge her presence in any way, just stared at the moss bear head and muttered something to the woman standing next to him, presumably his wife.
This only seemed to stress Sapphire out again. She whimpered and backed away, shaking her head.
Quill nodded in Sapphire’s direction and spoke to Jane. “Let’s keep going. It’s not good for her here.”
Jane looked over and saw the scene too. “Yeah.” Her voice turned hopeful. “Maybe things will be better in the city?”
“Maybe.”
It took several hours to go a relatively short distance. Quill and Jane saw very few players out in the field, fighting and levelling the way they had been. A few they did see seemed just as intent on growing. Others seemed reserved and hesitant before getting into battle. But when they saw the giant bear head rolling around, many other players pointed and laughed or called out, the sight raising their spirits.
“Holy! What is that?”
“Hey! You know bags of holding exist, right?”
“You gonna eat that?”
“You’re bearly getting that thing to move but bear with it guys! Almost bear.”
Quill sighed inside, but smiled and waved with good humour to the other players.
They attracted even more attention as they finally rolled through the gates of Stormstadt as the sun touched the horizon. It was much busier in the city, and a lot of players were still in shock and denial, huddled in corners, slouched against walls, talking to others with bitter expressions, their words of resentment loud enough to overhear.
When they saw the passing bear head though, it put smiles on a lot of faces. Even more were surprised, even stunned.
One girl screamed in fright.
Her friend backed away. “You’re kidding. That’s what out there, waiting for us?”
“Well, yeah,” Jane muttered under her breath as she pushed the head. “What kind of game did you think you were signing up for?”
“Hey,” Quill called out, looking around. “Anyone know where the Adventurers Guild is?”
A middle-aged woman in the same quest-reward clothing he wore nodded and helpfully pointed. “Second intersection. Turn left. It’ll be on the right.”
He smiled at her. “Thanks!” He was exhausted and couldn’t wait for this to be over. Like Jane, he’d been battling his Stamina bar the whole way.
One thing of note was how many players had gained better clothing. Specifically, they had armour. Nice armour.
Jane turned her head to watch a player in red-and-brown leathers stroll by. Keeping her voice down, she spoke to Quill. “Is it just me, or does it feel like some people are leaving us behind already?”
Seeing others getting ahead made him mildly sick with jealousy. He felt the urge to work harder so he could have nicer things too. But the voice of reason in his head calmed him. “Well, many drops are random. You could kill a wolf and get nothing or a legendary set of armour. It’ll happen to us soon enough.”
The sun set completely as they arrived at their destination, street lamps and the wall sconces on either side of the Adventurers Guild doors flaming on.
The guild hall was in a very large building made of huge, gray blocks of granite and massive logs as if a mountain had reshaped itself for habitation. From the roof, two waterfalls spilled down the outside of the walls into twin ponds next to the building and under a little bridge to the front double-doors. Humans in full plate metal with tall halberds stood guard in front of the bridge.
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Jane stared up at the three-story structure. “Wow. How did we miss this?”
“It’s a big city. Guess we still have places to explore.” He stood on the street and stared up in awe. Lit from beneath, blue and white flags flew overhead, decorated with sword and dragon. Wide windows stretched the full height of the first and second floors. Adventurer players flowed in and out the front doors. A classy, brass plaque with stencilled letters was bolted to the wall over the doors: Adventurers Guild.
There was something very exciting about being here in person, something no traditional computer game could replicate. Standing here in front of an actual Adventurers Guild for real felt amazing. It brought back to mind a thousand fantasy stories, tv shows, books, and games. He felt a rush of childhood excitement and wonder and, on the inside, was jumping up and down with glee. But not on the outside. Because he didn’t want to look like a kid or an idiot in front of Jane.
Jane shook her head in awe and slowly grinned. “How cool is this? I can’t wait to see what it looks like on the inside.”
“Me too.” Quill and Sapphire pushed the moss bear head through the doors while Jane held them open. They stopped a few meters inside. Quill took a moment to get his Stamina back.
“Hey.” Jane waved him over to a spot right next to the main double-doors. “Look at this. Fliers for bounties.”
He fought off his tiredness, then strode over. Though his Stamina bar was filling, his body still felt worn. “Is the moss bear up there?”
Jane’s hand roamed over the listings as she read. “Yes. Here it is.” Her eyes widened. “Wow!”
“Ten gold?” His jaw dropped. That was an absurd amount of money at their level. “That can’t be right.”
She beamed at him. “Come on. Let’s turn it in. With this, we can actually sleep in a real bed tonight.”
For a brief moment, he thought she meant sleep in a bed together. Then he realized it was just the wording and shook the image away.
Quill looked around. The Adventurers Guild of Stormstadt was vast inside, and beautiful. The foyer was two stories of open space with a balcony on the second floor with inn rooms. A ball of yellow light hung over their heads, illuminating the room like a second sun but softer. The floor was worn, dark wood, and lush greenery spilled from tall planters in the corners of the room. Opposite the doors was a long counter underneath a dragon skull that slowly moved back and forth, watching guests. Three receptionists stood behind the desk, smiling and dealing with players.
On the right side of the foyer was an item shop with a variety of weapons, armour, potions, and other gear. On the left was a wide tavern with an array of circular tables, a bar, and a small crowd engaged in some activity on the tables in front of a large hearth.
The place was quite busy. There were lines of adventurers at each receptionist, and many tables had people eating dinner at them. Others wandered around the shop, browsing goods.
As with the players outside, many people in here looked down, dispiritedly picking at food or aimlessly wandering and looking at things like tourists but not interacting. The vast majority had stolen clothing or curtains and the like to cover up with.
A handful of folks seemed, like Quill and Jane, to already be playing the game, excited at their surroundings in the guild, happily eating, even if it was only bread. Of course, there were those with really nice gear here, too. It was quite the contrast. The well-off ones seemed to be the most boisterous, some with smug faces as they flexed their gear off, others loud and obnoxious as they ate. But one seemed very focused on talking to a receptionist and learning, and another was wolfing down food at a table alone as if trying to eat as fast as possible so they could get back to grinding levels.
At least some players were pushing hard to win. Quill felt even more pressure to do the same.
Their arrival began causing a sensation. Players from all corners of the guild pointed the giant bear head out to each other. As outside, there were smiles and laughter, and the mood seemed to lighten.
Quill leaned over and softly spoke to Jane. “Look at these people. Some of them have full armour sets and magical weapons and stuff already.” He had an unpleasant suspicion about how most of them had done it so fast.
Jane shrugged. “Maybe they have higher stats and level faster. Or spent the night grinding? Or just got really lucky?” She didn’t sound like she believed her own words.
“Maybe.” Quill wasn’t so sure. A few of the people here looked much high-level already. Surely they hadn’t been in the game long enough for that. He gestured forward. “Let’s line up. Turn the bounty in.”
They stood in the shortest line, which was the middle one. Five people were in front of them. They were all watching Quill, Jane, and Sapphire’s approach.
“Nice haul!”
“What the hell is that thing?”
Quill spoke. “Moss bear. We think it was some kind of group boss.”
“Wow. How’d you kill it?”
He answered humbly. “Accident. Got lucky.”
One guy leaned out of the line and nodded at Sapphire with his head. “What’s with the NPC?”
Jane slipped over to Sapphire’s side and once more protectively entwined her arm with the other woman’s. “This is Sapphire! She helped with the quest. In fact, we couldn’t have done it without her. She’s the best Storm Scout ever, aren’t you, Sapphire?”
The woman in blue blushed and looked down. “Aw, come on. I’m far from the best.”
But Jane nudged her. “You’re the best to me. You saved our lives!”
Her embarrassment deepened. “I…I’m just glad I could be of use.”
Brows rose from those in line. “Wow. She’s not like most NPCs. You can actually interact?”
A woman in the line next to them piped up. “There are a few like that. Key NPCs. They’re a whole ‘nother level. We met a couple in the castle. The vice-captain of the knights and a knight-in-training.”
Others around them, part of the crowd now checking out the bear head and those who’d brought it in, overheard. “The head of the academy was one, too.”
“Cleric in the hospital is probably one.”
“Ha. That guy was the weirdest cleric ever. Total edgelord. But sexy.”
“Have you met popsicle guy? I’m not sure if he’s one cuz he’s such a space case, but he was weird, too.”
Jane gave the guys in front of them her best smile, which seemed to make them all straighten and stand taller. “I was just curious. What’s up with the guys in nice gear already?” None of the ones in line had anything but rags or stolen clothing.
The one to answer smiled with self-importance. “Ah. You haven’t been in the shops yet? Most of those guys bought that gear.”
Quill was puzzled but suspicious. “How? Where’d they get enough money so soon in the game?”
The guy scoffed and addressed his answer more to Jane than Quill. “It’s cuz they spent real-world money. They’re pay-to-win types.”
Quill nodded and gave a sigh of resignation. “Of course.” His suspicion had been correct.
“Seems to be a fair number of them,” Jane commented, scanning the crowd.
“Definitely.” The guy bent forward with a conspiratorial look. “Did you hear?”
Male
36
QUILL KRAU
Class NONE, Level 2
STR
1
STATUS
DEX
3
Currently feeling great.
HEA
7
SKILLS
INT
2
WIS
17
ITEMS
STA
14
CHA
11
Official Adventurers Guide
Female
26
JANE EULA
Class NONE, Level 4
STR
6
STATUS
DEX
11
Currently getting drunk!
HEA
19
SKILLS
INT
18
WIS
18
ITEMS
STA
2
Gilded Armour of the Nature Goddess (unique); knife
CHA
5