Chương 5: Fang Forest

I saw players already leaving the village, going on a hunt or collecting herbs, but I wanted to look around and speak with the people of the village first. Getting to the marketplace, I noticed that most stalls and shops were already set up, and merchants were sorting through their merchandise. Judging by the horse-pulled carts behind some of them, I was certain that many weren't locals and had probably been pulled to Carpa because it was an 'adventurer's welcoming ground', as they said.

Various foods and beverages were already being sold, but a lot of interesting curiosities and ancillaries were put on display as well. I saw tents for events like dueling, practicing with various weapons, shooting at targets, and even a riding field being prepared for horse races, along with workshops where both NPCs and players could try various crafts like pottery, woodworking, blacksmithing and so on.

It felt like a real medieval fair, sprinkled with just enough fantasy elements to keep fans of the genre occupied for hours on end. The lady who was setting up the Arc was amid preparing her stall; she must have been some sort of a cook, because her wares were mostly baked goods, some of which I'd never seen in my life. I paid her a visit, even though I had no money to spend.

"Everything smells delicious," I tried to fire up a conversation.

"Thank you, young adventurer!" she smiled.

"Here, have a taste of this. I've just finished baking them. These cakes are made from walnuts and erdberries, but the rest is an old family recipe. I can't share them with anyone just yet."

"I'm honored, but sadly I have nothing I can pay you with." I was bummed since the cake smelled and looked delicious, and even though this was just a game, my avatar felt quite hungry.

"No need to pay, adventurer. You were so kind when you offered me help with the arch; take this as a show of gratitude." She put the cake before me. This interaction alone gave me some much needed information about the world. The first thing was that NPCs remembered previous meetings with specific players, although I didn't know how long their 'memory' was just yet. We'd met half an hour ago, after all.

The second, more important piece of information was that the way you treated NPCs affected the way you were going to be treated by them in the future. It was just basic courtesy to offer my help, and yet it scored me a delicious surprise. Even though these events seemed minor initially, when projected to a scale of 2 million players and numerous NPCs, with virtually unlimited interactions between a single player and all the NPCs they could encounter, I was once again astounded by the system's capabilities.

"In that case, I'm grateful," I said, taking the cake. The moment the sweet dough touched my lips, my heart melted. I didn't remember the last time I ate something so… good. I felt all the different ingredients coming together to form a taste so unique yet so familiar I had to close my eyes to savour it.

"This... this is the best cake I'd ever eaten," I said without a hint of doubt in my voice.

"I'm glad, young adventurer!" The woman was visibly pleased with her creation.

"Please. Call me Orion." I wanted to see if NPCs remembered specific names as well, but most of all I really wanted to befriend the person behind the best delicacy of all time.

"In that case, nice to meet you, Orion. My name is Sheila, and I work at the inn as a bartender. If you ever need a place to stay or you get hungry after a long day of adventuring, you're welcome to visit us!" I thanked her for her kind words and set off to take a look at the other stalls. However, when I looked at my health bar, I noticed a small icon. Luck +5 Time remaining: 58m, 36s You've unlocked the hidden property of 'Sheila's Erdberry Cake' by eating it without paying for it.

Once the buff runs out, Luck will permanently be increased by 1. My Luck was 1 before, so this brief encounter had essentially doubled it. From the prompt, it sounded like even if I stole it, or got it through other means, I could have received the same benefits, but I guessed my approach was the intended one. And for an hour now I had +5 Luck. I didn't know the specifics of how the stat worked, but common sense dictated that I should not waste this short period. The festival could wait until the buff ran out.

On my way out of the village I talked to a couple of villagers and asked the carpenter, the blacksmith and the tanner if they needed any help, but if any of these NPCs had a secret quest, someone had probably got to it faster than me. Or maybe there weren't any in the first place. I saw that the Association worker was free, so I quickly stopped by for a chat. He was formal throughout the conversation, and didn't seem to have any hidden info either. I got some valuable knowledge from him, though.

According to Cyndral, there were about twelve to fifteen thousand adventurers in the Silverwing region, and it should have been similar in the other five regions as well, so 72 to 90 thousand players in the Kingdom overall. That meant there were roughly one million players on the continent. There were 96 villages and 7 towns in the Silverwing region, plus the city of Silverwing itself. Every town was ruled by a lord or lady, and each of the towns had 10 to 15 villages in its jurisdiction.

Thirty of the biggest ones in one region were selected as welcoming grounds for the adventurers, so there should have been around 400 to 500 players in every village, Carpa included. If my math was correct, Tidemark County had spawned roughly 2, 000 players. I also got to know that the village of Carpa was under the protection of Count Vizgrad, the Lord of Tidemark, the easternmost town of the kingdom.

Cyndral handed me a regional map for free that showed all the Silverwing region and important landmarks and towns, although the official said that I should get hold of a local one if I wanted to keep track of where I was going. He wasn't wrong; the regional map gave me some information regarding Silverwing itself, but in no way did it help me in navigating the forests, hills, and valleys of my immediate surroundings. I thanked the man for the help and set off once again.

I crossed the village bounds and set forth into the forest near me. I figured I should work on the two quests I've taken from the Association. On my way, I had already gathered some mushrooms and blue wildflowers, which meant that their respawn timer was quite short, as a dozen players had already been there before me. Finally, I looked into my Skill Book. I only had one active skill to use. 📖 Skill Book Piercing Shot Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Level 1 Fires an arrow with enough force to pierce through enemies in a straight line, dealing moderate damage to all targets hit. Cooldown: 18 seconds Mana Cost: 12 Sounds like a basic ranger skill, I thought. It not stopping at the first enemy hit was pretty good, but I wasn't sure how many monsters I could lure in at once without the risk of dying. As if the system knew what I was thinking about, a group of wild dogs appeared before me. There were 3 of them; smaller than wolves, but still dangerous.

I would have definitely tried to not get involved with the likes of them in real life. However, despite the insane technology, this was not real life. Wild Dog Level 1 I got the bow off my shoulder, feeling its weight in my palms. It was decent craftsmanship. Pacific yew, maybe, although despite all of my effort I sunk into archery, I wasn't much of a bowyer. The arrows were simple, but, by their looks, effective. I nocked my first one on the string and drew it past my ear with the same motion.

The resistance pulled against my body and I let out a laugh; it was no different than real life. The dogs glanced at me, the sound of my laughter gaining their attention, but I was on my home turf just as much as them. I released. The arrow went right through the skull of the one closest to me, its HP bar instantly falling by one third. They charged at me while I shot a second time, hitting the wild beast's side. That one dealt less damage, meaning the location of the hit mattered.

I should aim for weak spots, I thought. While the notion felt exactly like in real life, I felt my attack speed limiting my ability to shoot arrows in quick succession. I had 21 right now, and although I wasn't sure about the exact numbers, it felt like I could shoot an arrow every 3 seconds. My real drawing speed was three times as fast. Regardless, if I had to aim at critical points, this way I could at least take my time adjusting my aim without feeling like I'm wasting time.

The next thing I tried was shooting on the move. I retreated to increase the time needed for them to reach me, nocked another arrow on the string, and released. It needed some getting used to, but it wasn't too bad, although I missed the head, taking about 20% of the critter's HP. In real life, a shot like this wouldn't have been an issue; my actual body likely had four to six times higher dexterity than my character, at least for now.

However, my running speed was already higher than IRL, so I created a bit of distance between me and the beasts. The wild dogs kept running at me viciously, lining up in a straight fashion, which only meant one thing. I readied another arrow and raised my bow to fire, while thinking about the skill. It all felt seamless; the system did a great job. Piercing Shot activated, and I let go of the bowstring.

The grass beneath the projectile bowed to the side as the powerful shot roared through the air, hitting all three of my enemies. The first one fell to the ground, while the other 2 lost half their health and got disoriented by the sudden attack. Both the visuals and the sound effects are incredible, I thought. I finished my other two targets with some well-placed basic shots, then walked to their bodies in order to loot them. However, when I got there and inspected the corpses, a system notification popped up.

Missing item: skinning knife"That makes sense," I muttered. I got ready to leave when I noticed a small, shining object next to the pile of bodies. Upon inspection, I got excited. Collar Can be used to tame low level animals. WARNING: If the taming fails, the item is destroyed! I wondered if getting an item like the Collar was because of the Luck buff I had. Either way, I was quite happy. I wasn't sure how rare it was, but getting any item after the very first encounter sounded like a success to me.

I quickly checked both my status and my quest hub. EXP 60/1000 Quest Log Pest Control Required Rank: Copper Objectives: Kill dangerous wildlife (small) 3/100 Herbs for the Spring Festival Required Rank: Copper ⏳ Time Limit: 6 days, 23 hours, 21 minutes Objectives: Butterfly mushrooms 3/50 Blue wildflowers 4/50 Flamewing tulips 0/50 Walnuts 0/100 I was making slow but steady progress. It seemed like wild dogs were worth 20 experience points, so killing 47 more of them would net me a level.

I felt like I could lure six or seven of them at once and be fine. With that thought in my mind, I continued deeper into the forest.