by Phoenix Grey
Congratulations! The skill: Drinking has reached Level 2. There is no real benefit to this skill, but it definitely helps to make a hard day easier to bear. The higher your level in this skill, the more likely you're an alcoholic.
Level 100 alcoholic, here I come, Azure thought with a smirk. Then he winced. Even moving his face made his head hurt. Luckily, he didn't need to feel well to fish.
The trek back to Roselake was miserable. About a quarter of the way there, Azure paused, considering returning to the inn to take the day off. All of this going and going and going was getting old. But when he really thought about it, it wasn't much different from his life before. Every day was a slog to progress a little further—to get a little better. And every day wasted put him further behind.
Settling down at his regular fishing spot, Azure pulled his newly repaired Starter Pole from his Bag of Holding. If his math had been correct, he had bought enough bait to last two full days of fishing. Hopefully, he'd have enough coin to buy the Teleportation Prisms when he was through. He really didn't want to have to spend more than a week trying to earn money for them.
As luck would have it—bad luck, that is—Azure's Stamina ran out long before his bait did. The lake didn't seem to want to provide today. After three hours of fishing, he was only able to catch three items.
You have received the following items:
Ruined Leather Boot
Uses: Junk
Smallmouth Bass
Level: 2
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Length: 38 cm
Weight: 0.72 kg
Uses: Cooking, Restores +2 HP if eaten
Catfish
Level: 1
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Length: 28 cm
Weight: 0.70 kg
Uses: Cooking, Restores +1 HP if eaten
With only 28 Stamina left, Azure decided to call it quits for the day. Frustrated, he returned to Squall's End, cutting through the forest to do a bit of foraging. His luck with that wasn't impressive either, only earning him an extra two Fireweed, one Wild Onion, and two Blue Mushrooms.
Upon returning to Squall's End, Azure immediately went to the fishmonger to sell his catch. Keeping the Blue Mushrooms aside for their Mana restoring properties, he sold the rest of his alchemy components, earning him a total of six silver and five copper, most of which came from what he had foraged while completing his magic school quest. Subtracting what he had spent on the day's bait, he had only made a little over three silver for his fishing efforts.
This isn't going so well, Azure thought as he dragged himself up the stairs of the inn after eating. Typically, he hung out in the tavern for at least an hour, but with the drain on his Stamina, his lingering headache, and the bad luck he'd had fishing, Azure just didn't have it in him to people watch. He was in a miserable mood, just wanting to sleep and hope for a better tomorrow.
The following day, Azure's luck was seeming to fair about the same. His first two catches weren't impressive at all.
You have received the following item:
Broken Cup
Uses: Junk
Perch
Level: 1
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Length: 14 cm
Weight: 0.78 kg
Uses: Cooking, Restores +1 HP if eaten
Every time he cast his line into the water, his mood sank along with his bait. All he could think about was how little he was earning for his time"about how he was just wasting it.
But when his line pulled the third time, he was beyond ecstatic that he had hooked what appeared to be a small ring made of green stone. As he wiped the grime from it, a notification appeared.
You have received the following item:
Jade Ring
Durability: 9/15
Item Class: Uncommon
Quality: Average
Weight: 0 kg
Traits: Increases chance of Critical Hit by 10%
A smile spread across Azure's lips as dollar signs flashed in front of his eyes. This was what he had come for. Hopefully, the price of the ring would make his time spent well worth it.
Feeling renewed and greedy, Azure cast his line into the water four more times, but when his Stamina got down to 28 points, he decided to stop. Happy that he had managed to snag the ring, but still a bit disappointed that he hadn't landed a fourth item, Azure headed back toward Squall's End, alternating his path slightly to forage some more.
Today, his luck with foraging was a bit better. He managed to pick up eight Fireweed, six Wild Onions, and six Blue Mushrooms.
As he walked back toward Squall's End, Azure wondered if he should keep the ring. A 10% increased chance of striking a Critical Hit in combat was nothing to sneeze at.
By the time he reached the fishmonger, he still hadn't decided. The question had replayed in his mind, what did he need more, the ring or the money. Presently, the money was of utmost importance, but Azure had no idea when the next time would be that he'd come across such a ring.
"How much would you give me for this ring?" he asked the fishmonger as he handed it over.
The man gave it a quick look, not seeming particularly interested in the item. "Two gold," he replied after a moment.
It was a lot of money, but still not as much as Azure had hoped. Even if he sold the ring, he'd still only be able to afford one Teleportation Prism. He blew out a breath between pressed lips like a horse would, stressing over the idea of selling the ring.
Finally, he held his hand out to take the ring back, silently cursing himself for being unable to part with it. When the fishmonger returned it to him, Azure slid the ring onto his finger with a frown. The fishmonger paid him one silver and nine copper for everything else. After keeping both the ring and the Blue Mushrooms he had foraged, Azure was at a deficit for the day income-wise.
At this rate, it will take me longer to earn the money for the Teleportation Prisms than it would for me to walk the distance to Oxbell, Azure thought as he stood in the middle of the street trying to figure out if he wanted to take the rest of the day off or head to The Adventurers Guild to see if he could find a profitable quest. In truth, despite pulling some pretty epic items from Roselake, spending his days fishing had been boring. Plus, he felt like he was wasting a lot of time with his Stamina running out so quickly, and he wasn't earning any character experience for his efforts. Laziness and wanting to take the easy way out had been what had kept him from going to The Adventurers Guild in the first place. But Azure knew he'd earn money faster from a bounty or miscellaneous quest.
With a heavy sigh, Azure redirected himself toward The Adventurers Guild, feeling his loss of Stamina as he trudged along and then waited in the insufferably long line. For being the middle of the day, The Adventurers Guild was packed. There were eight people in front of him. After waiting in the E line for over two hours, Azure finally reached Mel.
The clerk looked him up and down and snorted. "Haven't seen you in a bit. Didn't think you'd be coming back after losing a comrade. That tends to scare a lot of people off."
He may have been my comrade, but he wasn't my friend. Losing Sir Thornton hadn't affected Azure even one-tenth as much as losing Uden had. He highly doubted that anyone would miss The Asshole Knight except for maybe that Lord Blakemore guy he had served.
"People die," he said nonchalantly. "Now what do you have for me? I need something that pays well."
Mel smirked as he pulled the first four quest papers from his stack and presented them to Azure. Not wanting to dawdle, Azure looked first at the bounty quest. While the rewards were great, the difficulty of Very Hard made him pause. Very Hard now equaled death in his mind. Without any additional party members, that meant the only life to lose would be his. Briefly, Azure considered waiting for Lonnell to return. No doubt, his friend's greed would spur him to want to join in on the quest, and if he had managed to resurrect Uden, the thr
ee of them together would yield a greater chance of success. But Azure wasn't sure how long it would take for Lonnell to return.
Sucking in a breath, he pushed the bounty quest aside and looked at the next most profitable quest in the lineup.
Adventurers Guild Quest: Alchemy of Life
Jasmyne Swailes, our resident alchemist, needs ten Giant Wasp Wings and ten Fireweed to complete some of her potions. Please collect them and turn them in to The Adventurers Guild.
Designation: E
Type: Gathering
Difficulty: Easy
Deadline: 5 days
Success: Bring ten Fireweed and ten Giant Wasp Wings to The Adventurers Guild
Failure: Cancel quest
Reward: 7 silver, 1 Quest Point, 5 Empty Vials, and 1 Minor Potion of Life
Will you accept this quest: Yes or No?
"I'll take this one," Azure said. Giant Wasp Wings were worth six copper each. It would serve him best to wipe out every single one he came across to earn more coin.
"Great," Mel replied with no real enthusiasm, then immediately looked past him and called, "Next!"
Azure trudged a few feet away with the quest sheet in hand. Pulling up his World Map, he saw that the location marked for the Giant Wasps was the same as from his previous monster quest. They must have re-spawned. That was unoriginal, he thought. Or perhaps there was a nest around there. Whatever the case, he was happy for the work.
Before leaving, Azure walked over to the Open Quests board to see what was available, not that he had any chance of finding a quest that he could actually accomplish as a solo Adventurer. To his surprise, the Bower Boys quest was back on the board. Whoever had taken it on before must have died. That thought was a little sad, but what concerned him more was the fact that he had to worry about bandits on the road again. As if he didn't already have enough to stress over.
With nothing else to do, Azure went to the tavern to eat and get to bed early. If he was able to start out for Red Road first thing in the morning, he should be able to complete the quest and return to Squall's End on the same day. The sooner he could get this over with, the better.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
THE REALM – Day 67
Azure foraged as he walled toward Red Road, hoping the whole way that there would be tons of Giant Wasps to slay. It wasn't long before he received a notification.
Congratulations! The skill: Foraging has reached Level 9. Plants collected through foraging have a variety of uses. You can sell them, consume them, or use them to create potions through alchemy.
As shitty luck would have it, there was only one Giant Wasp bobbing in the air when Azure arrived at his destination. Someone else must have gotten there before him to complete a similar quest, though he didn't see any bodies lying around.
It's going to be a longer day than I had expected, Azure thought with a sigh, approaching the rottweiler sized wasp. Briefly, he thought about casting Grease but figured it would have no effect on a flighted foe. Instead, he used Dirty Move as his first attack, causing the Giant Wasp to fall back about a foot before blindly moving to attack him, stabbing its stinger at him wildly.
As soon as he was done casting his spell, Azure reached for his Bergen's Glaive. The blade felt heavy in his hands, and it took him several swings to get used to it, but he did like the reach advantage that it gave him. One good hit cleaved the Giant Wasp's head clear in half.
Critical hit! Defeated Level 5 Giant Wasp. 30XP rewarded.
After ripping the wings from the Giant Wasp's body, Azure wondered what to do next. The marker on his map clearly indicated that he was in the right location, yet there were no more Giant Wasps to be seen. Currently, he felt like his options were to either wait for more to emerge from the forest or to enter the forest himself in hopes of finding the nest.
Not wanting to waste time and seeing it as an opportunity for more foraging, Azure decided to venture into the forest. Searching aimlessly for an hour only led him to find one more Giant Wasp. What was the deal? He was starting to wonder if there was a demon that was decreasing the re-spawn rate for monsters in the area.
With no better luck in the forest, he reemerged to where the field was. Though he had no idea how they'd managed to slip past him, there were now three Giant Wasps lazily meandering about. He made short work of them, too impatient to stick around for more to show up. It seemed like today was going to be another bust.
By the time Azure returned to Squall's End, night had fallen. He'd just managed to skimp by without having to light a torch. Unfortunately, The Adventurers Guild was closed, so he'd have to turn in his quest items the following day. While he'd only acquired exactly ten Giant Wasp Wings, Azure had managed to forage thirty Fireweed, twenty-two Wild Onions, and six Blue Mushrooms. Without turning in the Blue Mushrooms, that would earn him an additional four silver and two copper on top of his quest reward. A little over one gold for a day's work. It wasn't impressive, by any means, but it was better than nothing.
As was his new routine, Azure returned to the tavern to eat and people watch before going up to his room. It was a slow night with few new faces, which frustrated Azure even further as he'd been using his time in the tavern to level up his Analyze skill. Nothing seemed to be going right lately.
The following day, he showed up at The Adventurers Guild bright and early, trying to beat the line. Even with waking at the crack of dawn, he still had to wait forty minutes before it was his turn.
Congratulations! Adventurers Guild Quest: Alchemy of Life has been completed.
You have collected the necessary items. They will be delivered to the client. You have earned 7 silver, 1 Quest Point, and 180XP. You have also received the following items:
Minor Potion of Life
Quantity: 1/1
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0 kg
Traits: Increases max HP by +20 for 5 minutes
Empty Vial
Quantity: 5/5
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0 kg
Uses: Alchemy Component
Azure had to resist the urge to check out the Minor Potion of Light when Mel handed it over, opting instead to immediately get down to business. "What else do you have for me?" Enthusiasm didn't reach his voice. A job was a job at this point.
"You sure seem to be taking your adventuring duties seriously." The clerk smirked at him before sliding over four quest sheets.
Azure didn't bother to respond. As it was, he didn't even feel like he had time for a conversation. Two of the four quests had to do with trolls, a foe that Azure had yet to face. One was a monster quest, the other was an odd miscellaneous quest. While the monster quest was infinitely more appealing thanks to the adventure involved, the miscellaneous quest offered a plethora of interesting rewards.
Adventurers Guild Quest: A Dwarven Woman Scorned
Trolls have taken over the road to Tradebreach. They have no settlements in the immediate area, and it has been suspected that they traveled by way of an old abandoned mine. Unfortunately, the only person with a map of Astral Mine is a dwarf named Thavis Firstfall. Her ex-husband currently resides in Tradebreach, and she has no interest in handing the map over to help aid the town. Perhaps an outsider will be able to convince her otherwise.
Designation: E
Type: Miscellaneous
Difficulty: Very Easy
Deadline: 4 days
Success: Get the map for Astral Mine from Thavis Firstfall
Failure: Cancel quest
Reward: 2 silver, 5 copper, 1 Quest Point, 3 Small Skill Tokens, and 2 Random Treasures
Will you accept this quest: Yes or No?
"I'm interested in this one." Azure tapped the paper with his finger, wondering if he had enough Charisma to even complete the quest. It was one characteristic he'd largely ignored up until now. "Do I need a certain level of Charisma to complete it?"
Mel stared straight at A
zure in annoyance. "Does it have a requirement?"
"No."
"Well then." The clerk gestured for Azure to take the quest and shoo.
"I still have some questions," Azure caught his attention again before he had a chance to call for the next person in line.
Mel huffed. "What?"
"What are Skill Tokens and what do you mean by Random Treasures?"
"Small Skill Tokens can be used to add one-hundred points to any skill. Random treasures are just what they sound like. Locals and residents of neighboring villages that we service will occasionally donate a treasure for any future quests that might arise. We put them in boxes and distribute them out randomly as payment for high priority quests in place of coin," he rattled off the information.
"So this is a high priority quest?" Azure arched an eyebrow.
The clerk pointed to the deadline. "That's why there's only a four-day deadline. It's anticipated that the trolls are planning to raid Tradebreach."
This quest was sounding more profitable by the minute. "So these treasures, how much are they usually worth?"
"I can't answer that." Mel shook his head. "Now if you're finished, I have a lot more Adventurers to attend to." His eyes shot past Azure to the evergrowing line.
A fantasy of punching the clerk in the face flashed through Azure's mind. He knew that The Adventurers Guild was busy. But still, answering his questions didn't take that damn long.
His mood soured, he grabbed the quest and headed for the door, rounding the corner as soon as he was outside to go visit Malina's cart. It had been a while since he had done business with her. Seeing Malina's pretty face smiling at him as he approached instantly eased the tension in Azure's shoulders from dealing with the grumpy clerk.
