Maxwell

I called it sightseeing, but that was pushing it. I had hoped for shops and a bustling metropolitan life. What I found was a city that seemed to be under a lot of strain. Most of the shops that weren’t geared toward metalworking had been closed. Judging from the boards on a few that we looked at, they’d been closed for quite a long time at that.

The dwarves were not very welcoming. So far, I had been cursed at, spit at, and even one man had threatened violence when I got to near to him on the street. That particular encounter had gotten Lapis into a belly holding laughing fit. The sad part of it, was that I couldn’t be sure if it was due to me being an elf, a void elf, an outsider, or some combination of all three.

“I’m starting to think this has been a bust,” I remarked after another dwarf spit on the ground as he passed me.

“That tends to be the case when you go somewhere without a goal,” Lapis snickered at my circumstances.

“Its not like I don’t have a goal. I’m just not sure how to go about achieving it,” I replied, feeling depressed that all I’ve earned for this trip so far was a sarcastic dragon.

We turned down another street. I didn’t have a destination in mind, we were just wandering. Relief did wash through me as I spotted non-dwarven people for the first time since arriving at the city. From their features they were human or something extremely close to it. I decided that I didn’t have anything to lose.

I straightened up and walked over to the shop they were gathering. Glancing at the sign, I found it was the Galim City Adventuring Union. A few people glanced at me as I approached, but other than appear curious, they didn’t fling abuse at me. A man gestured at something in his story, and I spotted the player tattoo on his wrist. Excitement welled inside my heart. Finally, some other players.

Pushing my way inside the building, I found what appeared to be a bar. The air of depression was so heavy that I could almost feel it on my skin. Few people were talking and those that were did so in whispers. Along the bar, a few patrons were nearing black out drunk.

I walked over and sat at a free seat. “Welcome to the Union,” the barkeep said as he walked over. He gave me a quick look over. “You’re new in town?” The way he asked it was obviously sarcastic.

“That’s right,” I pulled out a few of the copper pieces that I’d gotten during my hunting. “What can I get for this?”

“Just the piss that claims to be ale,” replied the barkeep.

“I guess I don’t have much choice.” I looked to the side for Lapis, and found her poking one of the patrons that was close to passing out. He slid off his chair and slammed roughly onto the ground. “Leave them alone!” I sighed then shook my head. “Do you want anything to drink?”

“Sir, I don’t have anything to serve a child,” the barkeep said with a raised eyebrow at Lapis. Lapis turned to face the man and only barely opened her mouth. To the barkeep’s credit, he immediately realized that he’d made a mistake. “So don’t bring any with you if you should visit again. Here’s a free malt wine for the lovely lady.” He handed me a drink that smelt like something had died in it. Judging from the yellow and red in it, I wouldn’t have been surprised if something had. He then handed Lapis a glass that had a smooth red liquid in it. Even from a distance, it smelled nice.

I decided to just ignore all that. “Excuse me, but why does it look like death has visited here?”

The barkeep rubbed his head. “To tell you the truth, I don’t quite get it. A few days ago, all the other-worlders went apeshit crazy. After a worrisome period, this is the result. It’s a real bother since only a few of the quests are getting done.” He grabbed a cloth and started wiping the corner down. “If you want some work, just go talk to Oka over there. She’ll get you sorted out.”

I thanked him and lifted the glass to my mouth. I steeled myself, but in the end chickened out. I set the glass down and got up from the bar. The barkeep chuckled but kept quiet. I guess that was the common response to that beverage. “If you plan to bore me while doing fetch quests for this place. I will kill you myself,” Lapis remarked as I walked over to a small recess. There was another counter with a middle-aged woman sitting behind it knitting.

“I’m broke, if you haven’t noticed. We need money to do anything.” Plus, I could use the coin back in the village. Just a glance at the mage tower and library book expense had almost caused me to faint. That mages could certainly research magic on their own, but it was more efficient to buy the lower ranked spells and schools then have them work on increasing those in unique patterns.

“Why are you so poor?” Lapis moaned. “Just stop being poor.”

I sighed and shook my head. “You make it sound so easy.”

“When I need gold, I just take some gold,” Lapis shrugged. The little man-eating bandit. Dragons were known for pillaging, I supposed.

We reached the counter and the woman, Oka, put her knitting down. “You wantin to do some quests?”

“I’d like to hear how the system works first.”

“No problem.” She stood up and handed me a sheet of paper. “Fill this out and you’ll be allowed to take quests from the Union for a week. You’ll have to resubmit it every week. We don’t care what quests you take as long as you complete them to the specified requirements. If you want to slay a dragon, make sure you are capable of slaying a dragon.” I glanced at Lapis with worry, but she didn’t react. “If you fail note that it comes with a penalty. Generally, it is ten percent of whatever the payout is.”

“Steep, but understandable.” If you took a quest and made a mess of it, then they might have to increase the difficulty of the said quest. Thus, the money would go back into the quest. This world might be a game, but it was living and breathing. Everything was dynamic. If I took a quest to slay a demon and failed. It wouldn’t wait around for the next person, it would move or even seek revenge. “Do you?” I asked with a grin. “Have any dragon slaying quests, I mean?”

“We don’t.”

“Pity.”

She slid the paper over to me. “Fill out the paperwork, and you’ll be able to access the list of quests.”

There was no fee, and from looking over the paper, nothing that bound me to actually doing a quest. The system appeared to be a way for them to keep track of how many people were working in an area. I read everything twice just to be safe then signed the bottom. After I handed it back to her, a blinking icon in my vision appeared. When I focused on it, a list of quests popped up.

Looking a few of them over, this city seemed to be a mid-level zone. The levels listed were in the twenties and thirties. I selected one that was a hunt quest. I felt that was simple enough for a quick quest. Even I had trouble finding the target, I would bring Rowena over to help.

A magic stone plate next to Oka glowed almost as soon as I accepted the quest. She glanced at it then coughed. “Maxwell, was it? Are you sure you will be able to handle this creature?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve never heard of it before.”

Oka sighed. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. You’ve already accepted the quest. Just remember that if you fail, then ten percent of the quest total will be subtracted from your assets.”

“I know.” I reopened the quest to double check the payout as I made my way out of the Union. It had been a hundred gold right. Yeah, a hundred gold. There was a symbol next to the hundred. I focused on it and then walked into the wall. It wasn’t a hundred gold! It was a hundred thousand gold!

“You forget how to look where you’re going?” Lapis asked as I felt like was sinking to the bottom of a lake. I didn’t have ten thousand gold!

“We have to hurry!” I grabbed her hand and ran out the door.

I made it down about half the street before I was yanked to a stop. “Release me, or you will find out just how it feels to be eaten alive.” I dropped her hand quickly. “What has you so rattled?”

“I have roughly forty-eight hours to slay a Razorfang that’s been sighted a few kilometers to the north of the city.”

Lapis scuffed. “It’s just a Razorfang. Those are weak. Even you can handle one by yourself.”

I relaxed and straightened up. “You’re sure I can handle it?”

“You’ll be fine, probably.”

~~~

I teleported from tree to tree only barely staying ahead of the beast. “How the fuck is this weak?!” I shouted at Lapis who was floating above the battle like it didn’t concern her. The Razorfang quite simply was a snake. A snake that had six arms a few meters back from its head that were razor sharp blades. A single stroke had cut the tree I was on like butter.

Pointing at the monster, it was over thirty meters long so I had plenty to target, I sent Spatial tear after Spatial Tear at the beast. The spell was still affective, but the beast was so huge that the attacks weren’t getting much further than a few centimeters. The thick scales didn’t help matters. “I could have killed it ten times already.”

“I’m not a fuck…” I had to teleport as the Razorfang slammed into the tree I was in. I had barely appeared before it was already chasing me. I took a deep breath and then started using Void Discourse. Thankfully, I could just speak random shit. That proved to be the wrong move as it seemed to piss the beast off even more. My teleport hadn’t cooled down yet as the Razorfang turned the bottom half of my tree into paper sheets. To avoid the same fate, I used every ounce of my strength to kick from the tree onto its neighbor. Dangling from the branch, I felt like a pinata about to be broken apart.

The Razorfang slithered under me and opened its mouth as it started stretching up. I ground my teeth and grabbed a larger branch. I used Rune Crafting on it, and enscribed Toxin of the Beyond on it. I could only put a hand size rune on it, but I had to hope it would at least give me a chance to regroup.

Tossing the branch down, the Razorfang snapped it up. I grew worried as nothing happened for a second or two. It was less than a meter from being able to bite down on my legs when it stopped. The Razorfang hissed before it recoiled. It began to thrash about obviously in a great deal of pain. I used the chance to pull myself up before raining down Spatial Tears left and right. This went on from about two minutes before the beast finally stopped moving.

“About time. I was about to fall asleep,” Lapis’s voice came from overhead. I gave her a rude gesture before climbing down from the tree. I was saving my mana in case the beast wasn’t truly dead and I had to beat a hasty retreat. Cautiously approaching the Razorfang that was turning the ground red with all its blood, I confirmed that it was truly dead.

“That wasn’t too bad,” I said finally as I dropped to the ground a few meters away. I was exhausted from everything that had happened today. I had planned to head back to the village, but Rowena was going to handle the teleportation today and it would take me close to three hours to get back. The sun had long set during my adventure to hunt the Razorfang.

“I have a few pointers, but I’ll get to those later.” She pointed at the Razorfang. “Can I eat it?”

“Hold on.” I pulled the quest log up to see what I needed to take back to prove that I completed the quest. It wasn’t like the older games where you killed the ten wolves and the quest giver knew. You had to bring back proof. “I just need its magic gem. You can have the rest.” I was sure the materials could be sold, but I had no way to transport it back to the city. A space bag might be a nice purchase in the future.

“Then I’ll mark this a half a favor.”

“Why just half?” I asked, tilting my head.

Lapis flung her hand out and an icicle that looked sharper than any sword lanced out right next to my head. I thought it was a threat until I heard something massive collapse to the ground. Looking behind the tree, I found another Razorfang, only with brighter coloring. “Because I killed the other one. Fun fact, Razorfangs always travel in pairs.”

“Why didn’t it help?”

“That is how they operate. One will go berserk, while the other will sneak up on the prey to finish it off once its weakened.”

“I guess we can call it even then,” I remarked. If that thing had attacked me, I wouldn’t have even been able to run for it. Lapis chuckled before her body grew to her full dragon form. I was forced to send the next half hour listening to her feast on the two corpses. I only felt like vomiting three times.