A new mission
With such basic concerns sorted he headed to the column and checked out all the panels, there was one there he hadn't seen before and he silently thanked Tom for picking up on it.
QUESTS
"How can there be quests with no NPCs? Is it the world wanting me to do things?"
- Clear the Zombies
- Collect the cores
- Retrieve the Bandoleer
- Hunt the boar
- Retrieve the map
- Destroy the Skebble nest
The quests sounded vague but when he focused on them the mission details became clear, and so did their rewards.
{Clear the Zombies}
Destroy 10 zombies
Mission reward 200 exp, 4 potatoes
"Food again. Why does it want me to kill the zombies, where are they? Is it just the ones I've been killing? Or does clear mean a certain area?"
Confused as he was, he was immediately tempted by the mission rewards.
{Retrieve the Bandoleer}
Retrieve the Goblin hunters' bandoleer
Mission reward 700 exp, Huntsman bow
"700 exp and a real weapon? Because it's a specific goblin maybe? Or because it's causing particular harm to Eden or something? Could they just be randomly generated as a buff to us? But if so where is the exp coming from? This must be a form of exchange but I can't see why or how God would be doing it given he needs the energy for his own battle"
After thinking about it for a while he gave up trying to think of a reason and took it as a welcome from the planet. Thinking that the planet was able to sense any balance changes enough to motivate a third party into doing something about it was not a pleasant thought though given that he was essentially a parasite on it right now but maybe it was really pleased with his contributions from Earth or something.
"Whatever the case, there's no way I can pass this one up, the mystery alone"
{Retrieve the Map}
Retrieve the Treasure map
100 exp, Treasure map
"What map? Where? What is the treasure? How can I not try it!"
Selecting and confirming the quest he was immediately hit by notifications
[Quest started: Retrieve the Map]
[Congratulations Hermes, new Interface options unlocked]
Opening the interface excitedly he was not disappointed
{Status}
{Inventory}
{Equipment}
{Chat}
{Information}
{World Map}
"How? That's awesome, but why"
Opening the map Daniel saw a representation without detail of the areas he'd explored; the areas he could see from a distance were still blank but the glowing green arrow in the centre and the yellow exclamation mark sitting in the sea of blank space far to his east made him realise immediately what had happened.
"Activating a quest which had a specific location unlocked the map function, this will make the treasure hunt doable at least, to think I saved my parchment map for this, no wait, this will make it all the more important I have a physical map I can fill in, I can do a better job now too"
Looking at the sky and trying to estimate the distance to the location specified he decided that might be a quest for tomorrow.
"I'll need to go through the zombie fog to get there too so I may as well pick up the clear quest while I'm at it, need to be efficient"
[Quest started: Clear the Zombies]
[Quest started: Collect the Cores]
[Quest started: Hunt the Boar]
In the top right of his HUD he could now see the completion criteria waiting in yellow
"50 cores, ok, slimes on the way to the woods in the south and maybe I'll find a boar there again, first thing though, I need new clothes and spears"
New clothes including poor leather boots, poor leather jerkin and crude leather belt left him with just over 6 Silver, next he topped up his spears with 2 that were stone tipped, bought 5 water skins, 5 trail mixes, some Silk pears and a bunch of carrots. This left him with 51 copper but at least he didn't have to worry too much about food and drink for a couple of days.
"Whatever happens hunting those Zombies tomorrow and making a boar stew with these carrots, that casserole dish they dropped last time should fit plenty in"
With happy thoughts of a roaring fire and the smell of a casserole filling the log cabin he headed out of the dome again feeling more confident than ever.
The slimes seemed as abundant as always and he didn't need to deviate from his path in the slightest to collect the cores as he went. He was mainly watching the horizon and sneaking looks towards where he guessed the treasure map would be. It didn't take long to arrive at the wooded area he collected logs from before.
"Okay time to get to work, firewood first, magical treasure maps later."
As he'd hoped this wood was the home to more than just that one boar from before, after almost an hour of wood collecting and just as he was packing his storage space to head home he heard the scuffling noise he'd been hoping for.
"Finally!"
Stooping down and drawing one of his new stone spears he crept forward and saw the boar. It was just as big as the last one which prompted him to consider mob respawns briefly before focusing properly on the beast. Unlike last time it hadn't seen him and he was able to take careful aim while it foraged.
With strength and speed impossible to him only a week before he threw the spear straight into the boar's side, as it screeched he sprang explosively forward and put his new Grim touch skill to the test. Where his hand gripped the boars back the skin withered as the screech died in the boar's throat, its flesh mottled under his touch and the boar collapsed lifeless to the ground
[10 exp]
He'd used only 6 MP and a single spear throw to bring it down and was immediately impressed by the skill, once released the skin returned to normal and seemed undamaged, another pristine carcass waiting to become bedding for his new cabin.
[Quest objective complete: Hunt the Boar]
The total lack of reward was as he expected, he'd no doubt have to cash it in at the Beachhead which, given this reward, was no bad thing.
With his Storage space already full of logs he took a drink and once again headed back with the boar in a princess lift in front of him. With only a few more cores to collect he managed to awkwardly poke a few to death as he went and had completed his second quest before arriving.
He went straight to the quest panel and turned in both quests with no issue; as the boar disappeared from his hands the slime gems disappeared from his storage space he received some excellent notifications.
[Quest complete: Hunt the Boar]
[Quest complete: Collect the Cores]
[Inventory updated:]
Poor quality Fire gem x 1
Poor quality Ice gem x 1
Poor quality Earth gem x 1
Poor quality Air gem x 1
Poor quality Dark gem x 1
Suckling Pig x 1
Boar pelt x 1
[100 exp]
[50 exp]
"There it is! Wait, do it right"
The first thing he withdrew from the Inventory panel was the pelt and then returned to the cabin to put it across the hard wood bench which followed the thin table attached to the wall in the cabin. It was positioned in such a way as you could look out of the one large window at the front of the cabin and could sit two comfortably.
The random collection of cutlery and crockery perfecting the ambiance for his reward.
When he returned back to the cabin the sun was setting and the fire crackling in the hearth made the setting perfect, taking the apple from the pig's mouth he tried to live in the moment as he gave this fine reward the respect it deserved.