JohnWillStab, Alex and Jordan walked down to south Grimwood along the cobblestone road. surrounded by trees and bushes on all sides.

  "Quest difficulty: C"

  "Quest level range: 7 - 10"

  "Task: Help the young man in the medicine hut heal three people."

  "Reward: 600XP, 5 gold, 3 weak health potions, 3 weak mana potions"

  "Potions? Do they work like medicine?" Jordan asked.

  "In-game they just heal almost instantly," JohnWillStab explained.

  "Woah... if this could exist in real life-" he was cut off by JohnWillStab.

  "Now that is impossible, a magical item can't exist in the other world," he explained.

  "But what if!" Jordan rebuked.

  "Uhh... it's like loading a save-file from one game into another game, it won't work unless they have the same engine... and even then it's rare." JohnWillStab shrugged.

  "Software?... Like the laws of the universe?" he asked.

  "Yeah, I guess." JohnWillStab shrugged.

  Jordan's shoulder slumped a bit.

  They approached a clearing in the woods as a house came into view, it was a small hut, raised off the ground by four, one-meter long poles, a small staircase leading up to the creaky door.

  The hut itself looked quite shabby, the roof was made from straw and sticks and the walls were a mix of wood and layers of overlapping fabric.

  Quietly JohnWillStab and the other three snuck towards the house, upon closer inspection, they noticed patches of different plants around the house.

  "Is this... a garden?" asked Alex.

  "He's probably growing herbs." JohnWillStab offered.

  As soon as they opened the door they saw the old man sitting cross-legged on what looked like a pile of hay.

  He had long, white bangs and long hair in general.

  In his hand, he held a massive pot, it had a flexible pipe leading from the pot to a smoking-pipe-like contraption in the old man's hand.

  "I know that smell." thought JohnWillStab looking for the source of the powerful scent of weed.

  "Woah... are you... like... real?" asked the old man, he had the ultimate surfer-dude voice.

  "Yes! We're on a quest to help you cure three people!" Alex exclaimed from behind.

  "Wild..." the old man said wide-eyed.

  "Though, it's been like... a week since you're meant to show up... now... like... two of them are dead." the old man said pointing to the two decomposing bodies tied down to the ground, most bloody.

  "What the hell were they suffering with!?" demanded JohnWillStab.

  "A cough, but I couldn't let them out until you came here and cured them, man. So I tied them down."

  "..."

  "And like... one of them tried to escape... so like... I broke his legs..." the old man continued.

  "The solution for the quest was... like... eat healthy so I just left them without food so as to not spoil the surprise."

  JohnWillStab glanced down at his quest paper and saw he had "0/1" people saved.

  "It's weird how none of them attacked you." JohnWillStab laughed walking into the little house.

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  "Well, I guess it's because they knew I was doing it for their good." the old man speculated scratching his chin.

  The patients all lay on grey mats on the floor.

  The inside of the hut was filled with shelves of bottles, cupboards and whatnot.

  JohnWillStab looked around the room suspiciously before shrugging.

  "Well, we're just here on a quest for a measly 600XP, think of us as mercenaries, we're very open to a new deal as long as it's worthwhile," JohnWillStab announced looking around the room.

  "Are you now..." the old man said with a raised eyebrow.

  JohnWillStab walked over and had a look at the two corpses.

  A young woman, covered in black burn marks.

  "Why does she look burnt?" he asked.

  "Fever." the old man shrugged.

  "Ohh, I see!"

  JohnWillStab looked over to the man next to her, he had a slit throat.

  "What about him?"

  "Oh, that young man had problems breathing because of swelling in his throat, so I made a passage into the airways... sadly he still passed away." the old man said sombrely.

  "I see, so that's why you removed his tongue?"

  The old man nodded.

  JohnWillStab looked to the surviving patient.

  "He looks a bit ill," JohnWillStab remarked seeing his pale expression.

  "Yes, it would appear he's experiencing night terrors, poor thing, it's all because of the fever." the old man shook his head.

  "Poor thing damaged his throat yelling nonsense for a week, can't even speak."

  JohnWillStab clenched his fists.

  "How terrible..."

  JohnWillStab reached into his pocket and retrieved a piece of paper and a pencil.

  "What are you doing, miss?" asked the old man.

  "I'm making sure he doesn't have any symptoms we didn't notice," John replied bringing the page to the child's hand and handing him the pencil.

  After a few moments, JohnWillStab took the pencil and page back.

  He looked to the page and to the old man.

  "Hmmm...."

  The old man began to sweat.

  "He just scribbled 'old man' like a dozen times." JohnWillStab laughed, "Guess he really is delusional." he added, crumbling the paper and putting it in his pocket much to the child's horror.

  "Yes... now, could you, brave heroes help me prepare a potion to cure this poor, innocent child." asked the old man.

  "Of course!" JohnWillStab agreed.

  The old man walked over to a nearby table and grabbed a large book with the picture of a skull on it.

  "Let's see..." he flicked through the pages.

  "Aha, found it!"

  "I'm going to need one Doombloom, one Evilflower and two Poisonblooms" the old man exclaimed handing JohnWillStab a page with the pictures of local plants.

  The patient tried to yell once more in protest.

  JohnWillStab looked at all of them.

  "And there are all in your garden?" John asked.

  "Indeed, but hurry up... he might not last long..." the old man said.

  "Alright, we shall be back soon."

  "Man, I'm tired," Alex said stretching.

  "You think I could rest up in the hut for a while, my mana is too low to fight anyway," he added.

  "You want to laze around when the life of a child is in danger!?" demanded Jordan grabbing Alex by the shirt.

  "Whatever, Alex was always a sociopath." JohnWillStab shrugged, as he headed towards the outside.

  When JohnWillStab walked past Alex he performed a playful karate-chop over his head, which Alex blocked with both hands.

  Jordan shot Alex a dirty looked as he walked out.

  Alex sat down opposite the old man, "Sure is a nice day today, eh?"

  "...yeah..." the old man sighed annoyed.

  Outside JohnWillStab and Jordan were digging through the different herbs.

  "Bones..." JohnWillStab sighed.

  "Same..."

  "Hey, does that man strike you as a bit suspicious?" asked Jordan taking a second to wipe the sweat off his forehead.

  "The very old almost ancient man in the hut literally two meters away from us taking care of a young child, no of course not." JohnWillStab shrugged.

  And without even raising his voice a little JohnWillStab asked: "Isn't that right, Alex?"

  "Yeah," he replied from inside the house.

  "Damn, the fabric walls really are thin," Jordan noted.

  "Alright, I think we got them all," JohnWillStab announced.

  "You found them all already?!" Jordan asked.

  "Yeah! let's go!" JohnWillStab said walking up to Jordan patting him on the back before walking upstairs.

  "That was weird..."

  He entered the building and saw the old man turn towards him.

  "Ah, your back! We can prepare the poi- I mean medicine!" the old man laughed.

  "Your speech is quite slurry... do you mind if I check what's inside of your smoking-pot before we start?" JohnWillStab asked concerned.

  The old man looked at him and shrugged. "Knock yourselves out."

  JohnWillStab took the lid of the pot off and looked inside, he reached his hand deep into the pot and after a while reached out a pile of mushed plant bits.

  "Shit, guess it's not weed." he sighed before putting the lid back on.

  "Alright, let's get started!" JohnWillStab said handing them the flowers much to the horror of the child.

  "I think I'm going to wait outside," Alex said walking towards the door.

  "You should wait outside too, Jordan, you don't want to inhale the fumes from the medicine-making process," he explained.

  "What about you?" he asked.

  JohnWillStab began talking but was cut off by Jordan "Vitamins?" JohnWillStab nodded.

  "Yeah..." Jordan sighed heading downstairs and standing with his arms crossed and his back turned towards a confused Alex.

  JohnWillStab saw the old man grind then boil the herbs before pouring them into a bottle.

  Suddenly the old man began clutching his chest.

  "W-what's happening?!" he glanced over to JohnWillStab and saw a wicked grin plastered on his face.

  After a moment of confused thinking, the old man looked down to his smoking-pot and kicked it to the side causing it to shatter and expose the six black-rose-looking flowers inside.

  "What!? WHAT DID YOU DO!?" he demanded.

  "I snuck some extra Doombloom into your pot when I was pretending to check what you're smoking," JohnWillStab said smugly.

  "W-what?! Why?!" the old man asked crawling away from JohnWillStab as blood began to trickle from his nose.

  "Because I can read. The quest told me to help the young man, not the pre-Mesopotamian fossil." JohnWillStab explained.

  "Hold on! You said to think of you like mercenaries, right?! Help me make an antidote! I'll double your XP! Tripple!" the man pleaded.

  JohnWillStab crossed his hand behind his head.

  "Oh, that wasn't directed at you," JohnWillStab replied pulling out the uncrumpled piece of paper.

  "Quest difficulty: "

  "Quest level range: "

  "Task: slAughTeR thE OldMan"

  "Reward: 2000XP"

  The old man turned to the kid.

  "You little shit!" he exclaimed as he reached into his pouch and pulled out a dagger before charging towards the tied-up man.

  JohnWillStab suddenly appeared behind him.

  "Sweet, I learned manoeuvre!" next he planted the dagger in the man's side causing him to fall over and drop the blade.

  JohnWillStab cut the child free as Alex and Jordan charged inside.

  "What's going on!?" demanded Jordan.

  He glanced at the old man and over to his hand, he levelled up twice.

  JohnWillStab checked his stats, he was now level nine.

  Dexterity: 10 + 2(Gloves)

  Perception: 10

  Stamina: 6 + 4(Boots)

  Athletics: 8

  Strength: 7 + 1(Gloves)

  Weapon skill: 10 (+1 from "Killing old man")

  Magic: 5

  Intelligence: 7 (+1 from "Not falling for the old man's trap")

  Luck: 5 + 1(Ring)

  Charisma: 1 + 7(Tits)