31) Test dummy

As the sun reached its highest point in the sky, Ryker was outside of the city's border sweating bullets. He had spent the entire morning completing one quest he thought would be very easy. Luck was not something that was on his side even with the high luck stat. The quest was very simple.

[Quest! Tanzanite level

Collect 10 Malachite grass

Rewards: 5 gold coins]

The problem laid in the location of where the Malachite grass grew. It was the most fertile part of the valley, meaning that normal grass was very abundant. Malachite grass green in nature and the only difference between normal grass and Malachite grass was the amount of energy it had. It was used by many alchemists to make healing tonics, rejuvenating soaps, tranquilizing salts, just to name a few. So to identify a Malechite grass, one needs to touch it and apply mana to it. It would then warm up a little bit.

That's right, Ryker had spent around 5 hours touching the grass. It was recommended to collect it at night or very early in the morning because the rise in temperature was minimal and if the weather was hot then it would be more difficult to recognize it. But Ryker, as someone with a short temper, did not read the entire description of the quest and accepted it. So he did not know of this little trick the adventurers used. This ended in his current predicament. Collecting grass was the easiest task in the world right? Well, apparently not in this one.

He picked up another grass and it was warm even before he applied mana to it.

"Dammit, what does this mean? Is this one? HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FINISH THIS QUEST?!"

So far he had collected five blades of grass, he still was not sure if all of them were Malachite grass or not but he was willing to take a chance. After another hour he finally gave up.

"You know what? F*ck this sh*t!"

He grabbed a bunch of grass from a few different spots, stored them away, and marched angrily back to the city.

He had still other quests that he wanted to finish before sunset. The one he was looking forward to was the lab assistant quest. For a hefty amount, he would help an inventor test his creations. They only allowed him to do this quest due to his high stats compared to his level. He also had to go hunting to level up. Quests also gave him XP but he needed to get more and faster to accomplish the other quest he had.

He arrived at a tall building white building with black glass, like every other building in the city. He knew it was the one because of the huge letters that spelled "The Basilica". When he entered, it was very busy, there were a lot of people chaotically running or walking around the reception area. They all had these lab coats of different colors representing their standing.

Once they realized that Ryker had shown up, their faces relaxed for a split second. Truth was that no one in the city wanted to be the test subject of the doctor anymore. They had all been tricked into accepting this quest before and they promised to themselves they would never come back. With no other options left, the doctor started using his own lab team as test dummies. So when they saw how another victim finally came, they were all relieved.

They all rushed to Ryker as moths to a flame.

"Hello sir, we have been waiting for you"

"How long are you staying for sir?"

"Please never leave"

"Our savior has finally come"

"Quick! Take him to the doctor!"

Once someone said this they all realized they were holding Ryker at the entrance instead of taking him to the doctor. They immediately opened up a path that led to the elevator. There was only one stop on this elevator and that was the doctor's office.

Ryker had a bad feeling about the way the staff reacted but when he looked back he realized they had already blocked the exit to prevent him from escaping. So, he put up a brave facade and walked straight to the elevator as if he was unbothered by their attitude. This elevator was an old-style one. The doctor decided to use them instead of the light tubes in order to create a sort of pressure on whoever was going up. Take it as psychological torture. And it currently was very effective on Ryker who kept pacing in the elevator.

It took around 45 seconds but they felt like an hour to Ryker. Once the doors opened he was met with two things. One, an impressive view of the city below, and two, a high-speed laser heading straight to his head. Thanks to the fact that he was nervous, he was also hypervigilant, otherwise, he would not have been able to dodge it on time. Once it hit the back of the elevator it was absorbed by the wall as if it was never there.

"Good, you are not useless. Now move, I have already wasted enough time waiting for you." -said a raspy voice in a somewhat excited tone.

"You are free to go, Dominic, I have found your replacement" -once he said that, a small head poked out of behind a desk that was filled with burn marks and holes, perhaps maybe because of the laser. He ran towards the elevator at full speed and once inside he pushed Ryker out and started pressing the buttons desperately as if his life depended on it.

"Bah! You didn't even get shot this time! You coward!" -shouted the raspy voice from somewhere that Ryker could still not see.

He was left standing in the middle of the room. He looked around in amazement as there were hundreds of different things around him. There were some metal gloves with glowing lines, there were small stones of six different colors, there was a sword that seemed to be drawing in all the light, he recognized what looked like a shuriken, there was even a floating chair.

A very old man came walking out from behind a stack of books that reached Ryker's waist. The man was shorter than the stack of books, that is why Ryker had not been able to see him before. He had a long white beard and pointy mustache, as well as a walking stick made out of some type of wood. He was bald and had a very big belly.

He used the stick to hit Ryker in the back of the legs which made him fall, he then grabbed Ryker's face by the cheeks and started looking inside his mouth as if he had lost a treasure there. He snorted and said.

"After all these years, this is the best I could get? A measly level 12 assistant? Damn my luck, you better not whine or I will not pay you." -he said in a threatening matter. "Now come, I have been dying to test this new shield against the lasers. The old shield was reduced to ashes but I am confident this one will resist, at least for a few more seconds than the last" -he said as he was walking towards a set of stairs that descended into the lower floors.

'NOT AGAIN!! UNIVERSE WHY DO YOU WANT ME TO DIE SO BADLY!' -Ryker thought to himself as he followed the old geezer into the test room.