Wimpy Villager 13: Quest Mode

by Cube Kid

  ♦15, ♦45 and ♦45—a total of ♦105.

  The shopkeeper told us that a gold nugget goes for around ♦2, a slice of melon ♦1. We needed eight nuggets and one slice of melon per potion.

  In short, we determined that it would cost roughly ♦255 for fifteen splash healing potions. The alternative would be spending ♦375 on fifteen normal healing potions, without the AoE effect.

  At this, I gave Breeze a high five right in front of that shopkeeper. Did he look a little annoyed?

  "Yes, you can surely craft your own healing potions," he said, "and you'll surely save on emeralds. But if you buy from me, you'll save something far more valuable: time and energy. Both of you are clearly tired. So why not treat yourselves? Buy my healing potions and spend the rest of your night relaxing." He patted one of his ender chests. "I have three stacks right in here."

  "No thanks," I said. "We're good."

  "We'll have at least three hundred left over," Breeze said, "after buying those ingredients and trading for the rest. Is there anything else we could use?"

  "How about that bracelet?" I said. An iron bracelet with Regeneration I. "It's only 65."

  Breeze pointed at an item frame containing a stone bracelet. "How about that one? It gives one point of armor."

  "Hmm. It's a bit cheaper, too. I wonder what's better? Regeneration I or another point of armor?"

  "I'm not sure . . ."

  "Anyway, what about yourself? Check that ring with Swiftness I. It's one hundred and fifteen, but we have three hundred to spare, right?"

  Breeze looked deep in thought. "It's good. I like that one better, though." She pointed to a wooden ring with Strength I. It cost ♦95. With that equipped, she'd do slightly more damage. "Oh, wait. Look at that ring. It has both Swiftness and Strength. Two hundred, though."

  "That's fine," I said. "I can just get the stone bracelet."

  "No, I couldn't do that," she said. "My items are already better than yours."

  "Then we'll spend an equal amount," I said. "Around one hundred, maybe one fifty. Sound good?"

  She smiled. "Yeah."

  And that's how it goes in an item shop. You can't call yourself an adventurer until you've had the full item shop experience.

  Count your emeralds: what's the best way to spend them? The best bang for your buck. Well, that item is good, but is it worth buying over this? Or how about this and this? Well, those are the price of this, which is better than this, and you could buy two of those for the price of this and this . . .

  The countless choices at hand. That eternal search for the most efficient way to upgrade yourself. Maybe it's a sword that offers a slight increase in damage output, or maybe it's that one last point of armor you so desperately need. Or maybe it's a few potions to give you an edge in the battles that lay ahead. Whatever it is you want to buy, it means a slight increase in power—and for that, you'll pay anything . . .

  And while Breeze and I debated several more possible buys, arguing and joking and calculating, that shopkeeper kept grinning at us, warm, inviting, offering to show us more of his cheaper wares, with the jukebox continually blaring that shrill, fast-paced music—a style called 8-bit, I'd later learn.

  These kinds of experiences are what any adventurer cherishes dearly. The innocent little moments of being a carefree noob. Right then, I no longer minded being one again. Not with her around.

  Breeze placed ♦55 onto the counter. “First, we'll take that stone bracelet.”

  With a nod, Moomoo took the emeralds, then removed the stone bracelet from its item frame and slid it across the counter. The dwarf then uttered yet another cliché shopkeeper line. Or tried to. Breeze interrupted him before he could even finish his sentence.

  "And try that inn I mentioned," he said. "It has a few rooms with brewing stands."

  "Do the rooms have cauldrons, too?" Breeze asked. "Buckets? Furnaces? I'd trade anything for a nice warm bath."

  "Of course," he said, taken aback by this question. "The Enchanted Dragon is one of the best inns in the entire world. Dare I say that you'll find no finer inn until reaching the gates of the capitol itself. And be sure to try the mutton. It's practically enchanted with Tastiness VII."

  "Will do," she said. With a single sweep of her arms, she picked up all three piles of ingredients, then lost her balance and almost fell into me.

  DAY 7—FRIDAY—UPDATE XI

  Just after the sun went down, we stood before a crowded place. A massive building made of oak and dark oak, spruce and cobblestone and hardened white clay. Panes of glowstone glass held the silhouettes of many jovial patrons, while cheery, medieval-style music drifted through the air.

  The Enchanted Dragon.

  That was the name of this den of adventurers and noobs, and to its door we sauntered up. (Well, more like hobbled, really. Today was a long day. Check the number of updates if you don't believe me.)

  Ah, yes. An inn. How could anyone call themselves an adventurer without ever visiting this most famous of traveler hangouts?

  I'll never forget when we walked into that main room. Walking into an inn for the very first time . . . woomf, the smoke from the torches hits you first, followed by the smell of mutton sizzling on a furnace, with the sound of over two hundred voices overpowering you, heads thrown back in laughter, all brightly-colored hair and long ears mixed with helmets and wizard's caps, or huge beards over mouths filled with square yellow teeth, while several, in the very back, sip on their enchanted drinks quietly, faces concealed by the shadows of their hoods, one shady-looking, quite possibly a rogue or treasure hunter, carving something into a table with a dagger, and before all of this, three young women—a human, an elf, and another, human-like except with fox ears and a bushy red tail—dancing next to singing pigmen, one playing some kind of stringed musical instrument, to either side a group of knights in iron armor armor cheering them on, mugs raised, clashing now . . .

  This is what I experienced in the first few seconds, and all of it hit me like a rapidly approaching wall. Breeze, too. She looked rather overwhelmed. It was all we could do to find a table, sit down, and order some warm food. As if the assault on our senses wasn't already shocking enough, our waitress was dressed in the weirdest-looking outfit I'd ever seen. All the waitresses were.

  "What'll it be?" she asked.

  "Mutton," Breeze said. "And a baked potato. No. Two baked potatoes. And a loaf of bread."

  The waitress squeezed her shoulder. "Wow. Long day, hun?" Then she eyed our swords. "Of course. I know treasure hunters when I see them. Any luck so far?"

  "Not exactly," I said, and nodded at Breeze. "I'll have what she's having and . . ." I looked past her, at two humans in leather. Between laughs, they were sipping on potions. "What are they having over there?"

  "One of the finest potions in all the land," the waitress said with a smile. "The Noob Rager."

  "Noob Rager?"

  "Best tasting potion you'll ever drink," she said. "Gives a nice burst of energy, too. A young man gave us the recipe. A treasure hunter, much like yourselves, but different. One of those mysterious travelers from a faraway land . . . anyway, he said he named that potion after something called an energy drink, which is a kind of potion they have in . . . well, wherever he came from."

  Ah, she must be talking about . . . of course. I gave the waitress a knowing smile. "I'll take one."

  "As will I," Breeze said.

  Considering her height of 165 miliblocks, Breeze sure can put away a ton of food. I think she might have two food bars.

  And that potion really was amazing. It tasted better than melon juice—and the energy! It was like a potion of Leaping, Swiftness and Strength all rolled into one. After chugging that thing in like a second, I had to order another.

  "I wouldn't advise that," the waitress said. "Drink too many and you'll go right to sleep after the effects wear off! Buff overload, they call it."

  "I like to live dangerously," I said.

  "As you wish, m'lord." The wait
ress whispered to Breeze: "Just so you know, he's going to crash in exactly one hour."

  After our meal, the empty bottles reminded me of how we needed to trade for ingredients. Following the shopkeeper's suggestion, we went from table to table, in the off chance that anyone had a few melons and gold nuggets for trade. As luck would have it, a blue-haired elf girl and one of those wolf people—another odd couple—had exactly what we needed.

  Another person had a handful of blaze powder which we needed to fuel our brewing stand. At this point, we had a total of 15 emeralds to our name, so we decided to call it a night.

  On the way upstairs, that waitress from earlier approached us. She glanced around before speaking to us in a lowered voice. I could barely hear her over the noise coming from the dining hall.

  "If you really are treasure hunters," she said, "could you do me a favor?"

  "Define favor," I said.

  "Well, I've always wanted a necklace. A nice one, you know? I was hoping to craft one myself, but I need a frost opal. That's my favorite gemstone. If you two happen to find one, could you bring it to me? I don't have much in the way of emeralds, but I do have these." In her palm were several brilliant white coins. "They're a special type of coin," she said, "crafted ages ago. So long ago, in fact, that their original name has been lost. Some believe they were once the official currency of the ancient people. Now, many simply refer to them as quest tokens, because this is what the king usually gives to someone completing one of his many quests."

  "So they're like money?" Breeze asked.

  "In a way," she said. "Follow me, I'll show you."

  She took us downstairs, into the basement, to a spruce door surrounded by many signs.

  As we approached, two guards in obsidian armor immediately rushed in front of the door, yet said nothing.

  "This is called the Quest Store," the waitress said. "Several such stores exist throughout Ardenvell. Here, you can find many unique items the king has donated as possible rewards."

  Standing before this door, the sense of wonder was as overwhelming as when I'd first stepped into Owl's Reach. I had to go in there, I just had to, but those guards wouldn't move. I asked them if I could maybe just take a peek inside, but they didn't reply. Not a word.

  The waitress grabbed my shoulder. "I wouldn't advise that. You could get banned from entering the Quest store. Permanently. If you want to shop here, you need to show them that you have quest tokens."

  "So you've offered us a quest," I said.

  "I suppose you could call it that, but that makes it sound so serious, doesn't it? I'm no king, only a waitress . . ."

  "We'll see what we can do," Breeze said, and that was pretty much it. Despite how intriguing this Quest Store was, we were both totally exhausted. After waving goodbye to the waitress, we went back upstairs and checked out our room.

  DAY 7—FRIDAY—UPDATE XII

  Before we started brewing, we took off to the bath house. There, we each found our own personal 3x3 room with a cauldron.

  The block below the cauldrons contained lava, so the water was actually warm. Since we're further north, it's colder, especially after sunset. Honestly, I don't know how the zombies around here survive. They must wear clothes enchanted with Cold Protection.

  I returned to our room first. When Breeze came back, I asked her a question that had been on my mind ever since that battle with the pigmen.

  "Breeze? How did you wield two swords?"

  Silence. That dark expression again. She didn't want to let me in on her little secret.

  "Your father must have taught you," I said. "He must have. I saw him do the same thing once. When we were defending against the wall breach."

  She turned to the furnace, which was crackling away. "It's . . . an ability," she said.

  "Ability? What are you talking about?"

  "You know how an enderman can teleport?" she asked. "How a ghast can breathe fire or a spider can climb walls? Well, people are capable of similar feats. Some are magical in nature, like spells, while others, such as duel wield, are physical. Their complexity varies as well. Some are easy to learn. Others, nearly impossible."

  "Does that mean you can teach me?"

  "I can train you," she said. "The same way my father trained me. It would only take twenty or so minutes."

  "Twenty minutes?! Seriously?! Why didn't you tell me about this before?!"

  She shrugged. "Just slipped my mind. My father only recently showed me how to do it. And he didn't want me to tell anyone about it. He said most of us aren't ready yet."

  "Well I'm ready! I'll be the best student you've ever seen! Believe it!"

  "There's one thing you should know," she said. "You can only learn a limited number of abilities over time. If I show you how to duel wield, and you come across another ability in the near future, you may not be able to learn that one."

  "Why not?"

  "Because learning an ability takes experience," she said.

  "Got it. Hmm. By the way, what do you mean, if I come across another ability? How does that work?"

  "If you happened to meet another person who knows a different ability, perhaps something better than duel wield, they could train you. According to my father, there are over a thousand different abilities. Some are better than others. Most are common and known by many in the Overworld. The best are rare, highly sought after, and can only be learned from some ancient hermit living on a mountaintop, a nymph or faerie in some secret cove, a wizard in some remote tower. Like that. My father said there are even items that can teach abilities. Usually enchanted tomes."

  "Interesting. Okay, look, I've thought about this for a very long time, and now, I've made up my mind. Teacher, please teach me how to duel wield. Err, train, I mean."

  "Are you sure?"

  "100%."

  And so, Breeze began training me in the art of duel wielding.

  As a precaution, we wielded sticks in each hand. Before long, and after much frustration, I began to effectively wield two sticks at the same time.

  In total excitement, I swung my improvised weapons around. "Yeahhh!!"

  She gave me a little clap. "Oh. You should know that any ability will improve the more you use it. You'll be much better by the time we've cleared that dungeon."

  "Maybe I shouldn't, though. I should just stick with my shield, right?."

  "Well, there will be times when you need to do more damage. With duel wield, you'll always have that option."

  "I guess you're right. When I need more defense, I can use my shield, and when I don't, I'll swap the shield out for another sword. Sheer versatility. Kinda like Batman, y'know?"

  "Who's Batman?"

  "This guy Kaeleb was telling me about. He can do all sorts of cool things to handle any situation, like throw smoke bombs to escape, or use this thing called a grappling hook that's like a bat with a string attached to it, or deflect arrows with his cloak, or fly with using his cloak, and . . . and . . . why am I still talking because you don't seem very interested in this at all."

  "Um . . ." Breeze gave me a blank look. "I know we've been avoiding it, but we really do need to work on those healing potions."

  "Of course," I said. "Let's do this thing. I still feel kinda energetic after chugging those potions, so I'm probably going to craft one million potions. At least one million."

  "You mean brew?"

  "Yeah. Also, how do we craft those golden melon things again?"

  Needless to say, I didn't brew one million potions. I didn't even brew one. Okay, I almost brewed one. I put a base potion on the stand, threw in one of those golden melon things which Breeze had crafted. But it had been such a long day, you know?

  So the waitress was right about those energy drinks! Exactly one hour after I drank that second potion, the potion's buffs wore off, and thunk, I became an anvil in villager form . . . sorry, Breeze.

  DAY 8—SATURDAY

  It was still dark when we set out.

  As we rode southwest, what cre
pt behind us was the most beautiful sunrise.

  We had to stop and turn around. Only then did I notice just how many flowers there were. A countless number, as far as you could see.

  "Pink roses," Breeze said, swinging off her horse. "They're quite uncommon, this far north. This must be a flower field. It's one of the rarest biome types, I think. It has to mean something. A good omen?" She turned to me. "Do you believe in that kind of thing?"

  "Considering where we're going," I said, "I'll believe in anything, so long as means a better chance of not getting clobbered by ten zombies at once."

  We walked through the field together, then stopped as the sun came into view. We stood there forever like this, saying nothing. I didn't know what was on her mind, and couldn't have guessed, but she was clearly thinking about something.

  "Kolb told me so many things before I left," she said at last.

  "Like what?"

  "He said our world used to be something called a server. A Minecraft server named Aetheria. And everything we see now was dreamed up by the players of that game, their countless ideas added, over time, through a series of updates, modifications, with every structure built, by their hands, through some interface. Then, one day, that world became this world. A world that's more than just a game . . ."

  "You believe that?"

  "I prefer not to, of course. It's much more comforting to believe they were summoned to our world."

  "Breeze, you and I both know we're more than simple game characters. And even if we once were, we aren't any longer. We're real, now. Isn't that what really matters?"

  She said nothing, but I knew from her expression that my words had some effect. I even believed them myself. I felt lighter, uplifted, and once more I gazed at the beautiful expanse before us: the way the light scattered across what had to be hundreds of millions of petals . . . no, a game couldn't have been responsible for this. Although I didn't understand the technology of Earth, I knew no machine was capable of producing a world like this. Even if it was a thousand times more complicated than our redstone.