18) First Quest (I)

Once Ryker returned to his room, he continued on with his routine. He decided he would not go back to the Underground Market until he had enough gold coins to buy a lot of things from Golak. He felt bad for the orc but after seeing the stats on his new dagger, he knew the orc was a diamond in the rough.

[Monarch double dagger- made from the rare Monarch Dragon teeth, the dagger is almost impossible to break. Basic damage: 20. Two spells can be used with the dagger. [Double slash]. [Execution]]

[Double slash- sends two mana blades in an X shape towards the target dealing double damage.]

[Execution- cuts through one target ignoring resistance and armor. It slashes through anything.]

As the spells belonged to the dagger, he was unable to see how much MP they cost and their cooldown. He would have to figure that on his own. Still, the two spells were incredibly useful and they were of neutral affinity, meaning he could use them easily. Ryker proceeded to send his mana into the dagger and the golden lines turned silver for a split second before returning to normal.

[Monarch double dagger bound to player Ryker]

[MP of dagger: 10]

[Total MP: 500]

Right now his dagger had a maximum MP higher than Ryker. He didn't mind tho, he would go hunting soon and hopefully gain levels. After exhausting his MP on his dagger he then walked towards the adventurer guild in town. He had seen there were quests here that paid gold coins but he preferred to solo hunt. Now that he was in dire need of gold coins he had no other choice.

The place was packed with people, most of them were players but he didn't know this yet. He stood in line waiting for an hour before his turn finally arrived. As he arrived at the counter he recognized the face of the lady behind it. It was one of the sisters that ambushed him yesterday. Fortunately for him, it was not the one he ignored, otherwise it could've led to some troubles.

"Oh, it's you. Is it your first time becoming an adventurer? You do look like a rookie."

It was the hostile and aggressive sister. Ryker realized her aura was the one of a warrior. So she probably was an adventurer herself. Why was she running the counter? It was an easy quest that paid enough money. Most people would not take it as they preferred to explore the world but for her, it was enough. She had two sisters so she could not risk her life every day just for some gold coins. People here did not respawn as the players did. There were other ways to bring someone back from the dead tho. After all, death is just another beginning.

"Yeah, I haven't registered yet. Is that a problem?"

She looked him up and down when she caught a slight disrespect in his tone.

"Name"

"Ryker"

"Level?"

"Ten"

*Pfft*

"Seriously? And here you thought of yourself a special, only clowns have come to register today. You are clearly not from here as our children are level 10."

"Yeah yeah, just sing me up."

"Okay fine." -she then handed him a tanzanite pin with a stag on it- "this is your adventurer pin, it gives you the right to take on quests and also a little bit of status. As you complete more difficult quests you can upgrade it to musgravite, then emerald, ruby, jade, and diamond."

Tanzanite was a precious stone. It was a mixture of transparent purple and blue. Musgravite was a translucent black crystal. Emerald was translucent green. Ruby, red. Jade was an opaque green, almost as if it were green-colored milk. And diamond was the most precious one, it was totally transparent. The rarity of the crystal showed the status of the adventurer inside the guild. Tanzanite was an almost worthless stone as it could be easily synthesized by mineral casters.

"You can only take up quests from the tanzanite board. If there is one you like, take it off the board and bring it to one of the desks, carry it out, and then come back with the proof asked. If you fail to do one of these steps then you cannot turn your quest in. Also, you have a time limit of a week to complete any quest unless specified. If you fail to complete the quest at this time you will be charged the quest reward and someone else will be able to take it. That person will then charge the quest reward plus the gold coins you have given. There are some quests with thousands of gold coins as no one has been able to clear them but don't get greedy. There is a reason after all. And you do not have the abilities either. Now off you go and "have a great adventure" -she said the last line with gritted teeth. It was obvious that it was something they needed to say even if they didn't want to.

Ryker walked up to the tanzanite board to see which quests he should take. It was a huge board with thousands of different papers. There were also hundreds of people standing in front of the board. All of them had the tanzanite stag pin which showed they were new adventurers. In the Feywood branch, the highest adventurer grade was emerald and only a handful of people had it. The quests ranged from collecting herbs and killing beasts to judging local contests and helping unload merchandise in local businesses.

Fortunately for him, there were three quests that fit him perfectly, almost as if a higher power had made them especially for him. Which was obviously not the case. They were:

[Quest! Tanzanite level.

Collect 15 Swallowtail mice wings.

Reward: 30 gold coins. 2 gold coins per extra pair of wings.]

[Quest! Tanzanite level.

Judge the monthly baking competition.

Reward: 100 gold coins.]

[Quest! Tanzanite level.

Participate in the sosage eating competition.

First place: 200 gold coins

Second place: 150 gold coins

Third place: 100 gold coins

Participant: 10 gold coins]