Go to the lobby? I'm not sure how the whole 'accepting quests' thing goes. As you know my jobs were usually of the less reputable sort.
That wasn't very helpful.
Let me remind you: Libraries-
Hold it! I'm not going to the library for that. I'll just ask somebody else.
"Hey Alvon, where do I need to go to..."
Goldie twisted his head around and saw him talking to Rhona.
Goldie gritted teeth and joined the two. It shouldn't have been making him as angry as it did, but Alvon was the first person who Goldie would call a friend.
"Pardon my intrusion", Goldie started. "but I have a rather important question to ask."
Rhona shut him down: "If you want to join, I'm afraid any requests we take are far above your paygrade."
"Don't just instantly turn him down! We haven't even heard what he wanted to say", Al complained. "And Xandon, there's no need for you to speak so formally to me, we're friends after all."
"I just wanted to know where I should go to start. I assumed you guys know your way around."
Alvon gave Rhona a meaningful look.
"Ah, my apologies for making assumptions. Sadly, I'm not the best person to ask about the locale", she explained.
Al shrugged. "I think the newbie dungeon is always an option for beginners. We could go check out the quest board together. I was planning on starting with an easy one before turning in for the night."
The two men were about to walk down the stairs when they got interrupted.
"Wait, you both!" Rhona interrupted and turned to Goldie. "I've been to your room, which means you probably still need to collect your personal items. Unless you want the guild to keep them, that is."
"Of course, how could I forget."
"I'll join you if you want", Al offered.
Goldie gave Al the go ahead and they wandered to his room.
"She's been in here with you ey? Anything interesting happen between you two?", Al teased.
"Not you too!"
"Too? Who else said something?"
"Argh, nevermind. One of my friend's is a huge pervert, that's all."
"I was just teasing, don't worry. I don't suspect either of you are like that." Alvon assured. "But, why was she here?"
"She simply mistook it as being empty."
"That's lame, I was hoping there'd be more to it than that."
Goldie coughed. "Y-yeah, nothing interesting."
Goldie quickly picked up his bag and stuffed the mounted clock inside, which Al shrugged off with a comment about everybody having their quirks. Afterwards they made their way back to the guild's entrance.
This time, instead of walking to the left, they would finally enter the building's right wing. The corridor led to a spacious room bustling with activity. There were a few tables with groups of adventurers huddled around them, fiddling with glowing orbs. More of these Orbs were stacked in shelves on the side of the room. On closer inspection they were actually locked in glass display cases. On the far end of the room sat three receptionists with lines of adventurers in front of them.
Surveying his fellow adventurers, he took note of their gear. Most of the adventurers wore mixes of cheap-looking leather and chain armor. Of course, any set of armor was expensive, but it was quite clear these people were newcomers. One of the lines, however, likely reserved for the higher tiered fighters, had more exotic outfits. They were dressed in full plate, scale, chitin, and even bone.
"Alright to pick a quest you should go over to one of these research globes", Alvon mentioned, as he motioned Goldie over to one of the display cases.
"Your adventurer's signet should allow you to unlock the case."
Goldie walked over and pressed the ring against one of the glass panes. The case popped open and Goldie took out the fist-sized sphere.
"Alrighty, power the orb and let's have a look!", Alvon chimed.
The crystalline orb began glowing and warping. It seemed like the space inside the sphere was expanding and folding outward.
"Among those nine, there should be an unlimited monster hunting quest. It usually entails patrolling around the L?ngva forest to exterminate mutated creatures. Most of them aren't very dangerous, but from time to time an elite monster appears. Those are quite deadly, especially for lower levels, but they also fetch quite the hefty reward.", Alvon explained.
Goldie looked over the list during Alvon's explanation. There were a few quests wherein one had to gather specific materials from the forest or deliver monster materials to various outposts at the edge of town. Goldie figured it would synergize well with the hunting quest Alvon mentioned. He also noticed two boring sounding delivery requests and finally there was another permanent quest to 'dungeon delve'.
"What dungeon does this refer to?" Goldie asked.
"Most people call it the newbie dungeon. It's a decent place to level for lower ranks, but it barely gives any money since the corpses dissolve back into energy. You'll make the most money by delivering materials, and you'd gain the most levels by grinding monsters", Alvon explained. "I suggest you wait until tomorrow before entering. It takes a while to get anything done in there since as far as I know it is quite overpopulated."
Goldie wasn't completely oblivious to the nature of dungeons, though anything he knew was hearsay from his life as a merchant. There were a few instances in which some of the materials or items he sold originated from a far-off.
Which raised the question...
"Haven't some people gotten treasure from dungeon delves before?"
"It depends on the dungeon's nature. Sometimes people discover long forgotten ruins within them. Some dungeons supposedly even summon items for the people who clear a certain condition. Every dungeon is unique. "
Some people are convinced the gods created dungeons to reward brave heroes who dare enter. Like a 'hero recruitment program' or something.
What do you believe?
I think that's a bunch of nonsense! I think the gods are simply taking credit for a natural occurrence! It's not like those old bastards have ever done anything for anyone.
How did one explain the loot generation then? Goldie sensed he'd struck a nerve and decided to refrain from mentioning that to Xander.
What quest do you suggest I start off with?
I was never the adventuring type. Seems like hunting until evening and going to the dungeon tomorrow would be smartest.
"Alright, I guess I'll go patrol the forest for now.", he said as he tapped against the permanent quest. After reading the other descriptions he decided to add the gleamgrass and dire puma fang gathering quests. They seemed easy to do in conjunction with patrolling and upped his money-making efficiency.
"You seem to have things figured out. I'll leave you to it then" Alvon said. "Actually before I go, do you have a place to sleep?"
"Uhh, I was planning pay for a room at the guild for the time being."
"I see. Tell you what, if you want something nicer, then come over to my house in the evening", Al offered.
He then scribbled his address on a small sheet of paper and handed it to Goldie, before walking towards the newly arrived Rhona. He must have realized that Goldie didn't feel very comfortable around her.
It was a tad strange of him to be so welcoming, but it warmed Goldie's heart to have met such a kind person.
At the front of the line, the receptionist took the orb off Goldie's hands and placed it on a circular depression on her desk. There was a slight humming while a part of the desk lit up.
"Please place your signet ring on the glowing pad", the receptionist requested.
After having done so, the ring dimly shone for a few moments and was then returned to him.
"Your quests have been logged, have you any need for additional services?"
"None today, thank you."
He couldn't afford to burn daylight. As soon as he left he telepathically asked Xander for directions and strode off to the forest.
It took a while to arrive at the city's boundary, especially because Xander's telepathic direction-giving skills left to be desired. Once they finally arrived a guardsman asked for confirmation of his status as an adventurer. After inspecting Goldie's ring, he bode them safe passage and let them enter the forest.
Of course, the city wasn't right next to the forest. It took a quarter of an hour to reach the woodland's edge. According to his quest descriptions, which could be displayed with his ring, gleamgrass grew deeper into the forest, where the clustering of the trees no longer let as much light enter. Naturally that was also where the most creatures appeared which meant it was the perfect place for him to go.
He glanced at his watch and took out his booklet. It was already 1:25, which meant he had around five hours to complete his tasks, if he wanted to eat dinner at an adequate time. Especially because he planned on accepting Alvon's offer and didn't want to be a bother by arriving at his doorstep late at night.
One would think so, however, after scouting around for more than an hour Goldie still hadn't found a single enemy. He did uncover a few patches of gleamgrass, but it only amounted to around a fifth of what he needed.
"Where is everything?"
Of course, as irony would have it, a snake chose that moment to leap off a tree branch and bite Goldie in the shoulder.
"Coristam dammit!"
He quickly grabbed the snake and pulled it off his body. After it landed it raised its head and waited. This passive behavior confused Goldie somewhat, but he decided to attack nevertheless.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
He then realized what it had been waiting for. The venom inside his body made him sluggish. He almost fell on his face before the snake jumped at his again, going for his neck.
Goldie activated a Telekinetic Push and knocked the snake off course. It landed on its back and he jumped atop it, stabbing it in the head with his dagger. It spasmed lightly before going completely still. Goldie could feel a bit of its life force enter his body.
Something with such a miniscule amount of strength nearly managed to cut his first adventure short. He needed to be far more cautious in the future. Yet at simultaneously he needed to speed up his patrol or else he'd never finish his objectives in time.
I'm in a real pinch here, Xander.
Did that tiny snake sap your will to continue? You handled yourself just fine, there's no use in moping around on the forest floor.
That's actually a side-effect of the paralyzing venom inside my bloodstream.
Oh... whoops.
At this point the muscles inside his body had ceased responding to any input. Goldie had activated Targeted Invigoration to try counteracting its effects, but even then it took a few minutes for the effect to wear off.
He thanked Yan’gekal that nothing attacked him while he was lying motionless on the ground, and continued his search for gleamgrass. Thanks to sticking to the shaded areas of the woods, he was able to find nearly enough to complete his quest.
I'd have originally expected adventuring to be more interesting than this. Even standing inside a store all day without a single customer beats walking through a forest to gather herbs.
You're gonna have to pull through the tedious parts of adventuring before getting to the interesting bits.
But aren't there supposed to be monsters here as well?
Of course, he had been attacked by a few more snakes on his journey, but they weren't much of a challenge once he figured out he could use telekinesis to shoot them off course. At least the encounters gained him another Lvl in the skill, even if the snakes were practically worthless anima-wise.
Eventually, Goldie came across something that interrupted the tedium.
FINALLY!
Hang on, that's just a large field of gleamgrass what's so special about that? Oh, there's a boar standing on it, and not just any boar, it was a mutant. Instead of the usual two tusks, it sported four. It had red fur and two crystalline horns on its head. Its eyes were emitting a dim yellow glow and it was a massive six feet tall. The best part, however, was that it had not yet noticed Goldie's presence.