A Cola Situation

Marching outside the Lucky Forest Inn that me and Ivy usually used as a safe place for logging out of the game, the familiar white and tall walls of the Starting City greeted us in. It was a complete opposite to the houses and other similar infrastructures that were built within those walls, because they usually have more color compared to said parapets.

Players of all kinds, classes and races were found all over the place, but because the game favors at least four kinds of elves, most players in the game has different shapes of pointed ears and complexion instead. Most of the ones from my view were lumped together in groups, a usual sight here in the Starting City.

"Where should we go first?" Ivy was the person between the two of us to initiate the conversation, asking about the first location of our adventures tonight. I put a hand beneath my chin in thought. "Aha! I heard some players talk about this NPC somewhere in the marketplace. Says the dude makes awesome drinks. Let's go!" I replied to her then I lifted my hand and beckoned her over to come and join me to the market east of town.

"I don't have anything better to do, okay then." She responded and walked towards me, making me frown in return. Can't she at least try to be more excited about this?

"Come on sis, I'm sure it'll be worth your time." I winked at her as I said that, then continued to make our way to the marketplace. The Starting City is no joke despite being branded the first city that players find when discovering the game. It is huge, probably as big as our real world town, and has many attractions for low level players like us.

To the west of town is an arena where players can gain some gold fighting against fellow players, or a number of monsters according to their levels. I've never been there myself, but I've always been interested in checking it out too. Maybe I should go there with Steven and Ivy tomorrow?

To the south of town located the chapel where class advancements are done to unlock more powerful gifts to add to our Ability Spheres. Surrounding the church are Non Player Character owned houses of varying sizes and grandiose.

To the east is the marketplace. It is where most players like Ivy and I go to trade items with NPCs, train our blacksmithing and mercantile skills, and of course, to gain quests.

The infamous Tower of Steel can be found to the north of town. It is a giant infrastructure that oversees not only the Starting City, but the world around it as well. No one has been able to enter that place though, because the gates leading to the tower itself has always been locked away, almost as if it was intended by the developers to stay that way. Maybe it was supposed to trigger some sort of an event but it's impossible to unlock right now?

Anyway, Ivy and I crossed the town to reach the areas occupied by NPC vendors of fruits and other similar items required for synthesizing things through alchemy. Deeper into the marketplace would be the weapon and armor shops, but that's not why we are here today.

"Over here!" I called out to my sister, pointing to one of the stalls near a corner, over to the walls that divide the miscellaneous section of the market to the more combat oriented ones. She was quick to follow up, while I approached the NPC behind said stall.

It is a man maybe in his middle age. He is short, at least significantly shorter than me, wearing a fancy beret on top of his curly black hair, and dons a moustache that makes him look like a typical old man in decade old Shōnen mangas.

"Hello there adventurers!" He said as soon as I stepped forward, his eyes lighting up in what I assume is excitement. "I have a preposition to make, are you willing to listen to this old man?"

I nodded my head to respond.

"Fantastic! My name is Farco, I am the owner, or was the owner of a thriving company that produces fine wine for the city!" He drawled out in a loud voice, catching the unwanted attention of NPCs near his stall. I smiled. Looks like the developers nailed the realism in these sort of scenarios too. I don't exactly know what it is called, but I at least know they did this very well. Maybe I should ask Steven about it later.

"Was? What happened?" Ivy put forth as she stepped into the conversation too.

The NPC was quick to react upon her arrival to the scene, his expression now both showing shock and excitement at the same time. "Ooh! A Dvergr lady! It's so good to see you." He said, but cleared his throat as he diverted the topic back to its original place." Yes, I was once the owner of a thriving wine company in this city, until I'm not anymore! You see I've been perfecting this drink I wanted to make for the people of the town. I mixed lemon with other fruits and wham! I made a masterpiece!"

Farco slumped his shoulders in shame, maybe defeat, but I'm not good at reading people's emotions to know exactly what he was trying to convey. "The problem is, it's missing a vital component so I can't finish it! My men thought I was going crazy over project I can't even finish and demoted me. Now I roam the streets still looking for a way to finish this delightful drink."

"What can we do to help then?" I asked a question next, pumping my chest out like how heroes usually do it. I want to look awesome in front of my sister. My actions made Farco's eyes lit up in joy like his depressive mood earlier vanished within a second. He raised his head and looked me in the eye, making me smile widely to show him that I'm happy to help.

"Well, you can help me by collecting what I think is necessary to finish this masterpiece! To the east forest, there are colorful bundles of summer plants that also happen to produce a certain type of juice that I think will be perfect for this drink in exchange for sugar!" He mentioned, pointing a finger towards the nearest exit of town in the process. "I will need at least ten samples of these plants, and I want them fresh! Be careful though, as there are some Guardians around that place. I'd be sure to keep my weapon close when I approach that area if I were you."

I put my hand up and gives him a thumbs up as my means of approval. Ivy said she was willing to play along because she has nothing better to do anyway, and I want to see this quest through. "Leave it to us then! We'll help you finish your project."

"My saviors! If we do get to finish this drink together, I'll be sure to share the recipe with you so you may synthesize it for yourselves. Go now, and take care!" Farco responded with a smile.

With that final note, my sister and I ventured out of the city and into the east forest as instructed by Farco himself. We may have encountered some level 1 to level 7 monsters on our way there, but my sister's powers at level 15 and mine at level 10 proved to be useful for getting us out of our predicament easily more than expected.

Fantasy Burst Online provides no quest markers on your map after acquisition of a task from an NPC. Normally it will be problematic because it becomes hard to keep track of what you must do for a game, but it simply feels right for it not to include that feature for this game too. It makes you chew on what the NPC says and feels rather than swallow and forget everything they say at once. Anyway, it's possible to put down your own marker on your map as long as you have the data for it so it's not that easy to get lost here.

"Here we are. Hey sis, you're the one with a big shield here. Take charge while I go try to collect the items, aight?" I asked Ivy as soon as we reached our destination as said in our quest. I lingered my eyes around me for a moment to check our surroundings, observing a clearing that was marked on my map as the East Forest. Thick trees only about a couple of feet taller than me surrounds the area which are being blown gently by the wind. Grass covers the perimeter, but it's not too much to a point we won't be able to see if any traps linger in our environment.

"Roger that, but be quick. I'll leave you behind otherwise." She responded to my earlier request while I took out Zweihander from my back, its broad, steel blade a direct contrast to the origin of the name itself. I will slowly approach the glade as to not alert enemies nearby, my watchful eyes trained towards the bundle of flowers across the pathway which looked like they were glistening with crispness.

One, two steps forward. I continued to make my way towards the target without a care in the world. My sister has my back and that's enough to put my mind at ease as I approached my destination quickly. Soon, I finally got close to the flowers to a point when I can finally pick them up, but the sound of Ivy's voice puts my mind in a phase of alarm.

"Tristneve!" She roared, followed by a mighty swing of a a large paw over my head. I ducked quickly, and the attack missed me by an inch of my hair, but it was enough to put me to the edge of my anxiety.

Another roar erupted from my environment, but it wasn't my sister's voice this time, rather it was from a four legged animal that stands between the two of us.

"Watch out!" She yelled once again, but I was mindful of my surroundings this time around that I was able to raise my weapon high in the air to slice my opponent as it approached me, the edge of my blade connecting with its front paws and inflicting damage to its single health bar, decreasing it to 93%.

The Guardian, now as I see it is a wolf bigger than their usual size jumps back and away from my weapon, but in doing so, its back will collide with Ivy's heavy shield, making it yelp in pain.

Ivy pushes the enemy back to the center, her forceful movement rendering the animal in a state of stagger for a mere moment. It was honestly enough time for me to attempt to jump and come down to the enemy from above as dictated by one of my weapon abilities for reaching my level, but the Guardian avoids my descent as it gained speed to move out of the way, so my sword becomes buried to the ground instead.

It howled very loudly as it stood proudly between me and Ivy, the sound of which was actually an attack because it forced me out of my stance to be blown away from the center field. My sister doesn't seem to be very thrilled with it as well, although she was able to hold her ground because her shield absorbed most of the attack.

"My turn." She mumbled afterwards, unsheathing her weapon from her back before she charges towards the wolf that does the same thing, only that it leaps into the air for an aerial attack first. Ivy hoisted her shield up to defend herself against the attack, and the wolf once more collided with the stiffness of her armor. She uses this chance to lower her shield and lift her sword up instead, something she brings down to the front of her shield to strike the wolf in its most vulnerable position. It howled as its health further decreased to 80%.

Retrieving my weapon from the ground, I will give my sister a smile of approval because of how cool she was when doing what she just did. Maybe it was her level that allowed her to do that, or maybe she's just a much better player than me, but it was not the first time I found her exploiting the power of her shield.

"Cleave!" I shouted as I finished a dash towards her shield where the animal is glued to, my weapon thrusting forward and connecting with its exposed torso that allowed for a direct hit. Its health decreased to 65% because of it, and it seems to be bleeding at that point in time.

"It's time to finish this." I said and gestured to my sister with a nod. She returned my gaze and raised her shield once again, but she did it not in a defensive position, rather she did it to divert aggression towards her instead. She was giving me a chance to strike the enemy again, something I know I won't waste on dillydallying because our time is short.

Although feeling sleepy from my activities today, I used all my remaining vigor, if I even need it to convert my thoughts into actions using my avatar, and raised my weapon above my head for another powerful strike. Doing so caused my avatar to slowly shed some stamina, although it also helped raise another meter just below my magic points which is dedicated solely for us Berserkers.

Rage!

Once the meter becomes full from the pressure that welled from within me, I felt the sudden need to destroy something. To rip something out, to carve someone's skull. Rage filled my avatar and my vision turned red, literally, as I brought down my weapon to the Guardian still trying to break through my sister's defenses.

It growled in pain after the breadth of my weapon tore through its flesh, reducing its health further, especially because of my rage filled attack. It bled continually, and I held its leg to attempt to toss it to the air, something I was surprised the game allowed to be done, and Ivy lifted her weapon from behind her shield to strike the wolf as it descended from mid-air too. Her movement finally turned the Guardian's body into bits and pieces of data, our interfaces now showing how much experience points we got from the encounter.

Gained 45 exp!

My screen said, making me frown in disappointment.

"That was it? That was barely a number for what I need to level up." I complained, grumbling about our predicament.

Ivy puts her hand to my shoulder as she speaks more casually this time. It was probably the sudden surge of combat that forced her to raise her voice earlier. "Come on, let's go get those flowers and finish this quest."

I groaned once more, but I ultimately decided to put my weapon back to its place anyway. "Fine fine. I'm looking forward to getting that recipe anyway." I replied to her as we both began to make our way across the clearing once again. Ivy and I picked up as much of the ingredients as we can, because we figured we will be needing these once we get the recipe too.

"Alright. This should be enough, yeah? Ain't got nothing to do about it now if this isn't gonna be enough anymore." I mentioned as Ivy and I turned away from said bundle of plants to finally make our way back to town. However, it seems this adventure won't end just yet as the growling of ten more beasts filled my ears with alarm. Some of them were located above tree branches, others were concealed by the bushes surrounding the glade, but the largest of them stands right where we came from.

Ivy and I summoned our weapons to our hands in response to this, giving one another a nod afterwards. "Count your kills, Ivy. Whoever wins get all the loot from our next dungeon hunt" I spoke, smirking as I readied my weapon.

My sister returned my gaze with a look of challenge on her avatar's face. "Deal."