And Mehubanarath did kick me out, just like that.

[ Quest: Proving Your Worth! ]

Convince Mehubanarath, the keeper of the arts of Ancestral Flame manipulation, that you can keep the purity of your Ancestral Flame and are worthy to learn of his secrets.

Gain one (1) level without interacting with the village.

What the hell? Did this entail killing Mirdabons to level up? This wasn't exactly what Luds mentioned the quest was going to be. But then again, he already lied so I shouldn't rely on his words too much.

Gain one level, that was what it required. I blinked rapidly, my mind racing for possible ways to fulfill the quest. But before that, I wanted to try something else.

For the next ten minutes, I endeavored to find another way back inside, deliberately inspecting every inch of the perimeter of the Big M’s cozy base. Every opening, whether big enough for me to pass or small that even a Mirdabon couldn’t squeeze through, was completely sealed off. No clues or hints were in sight on how to open the magical walls. Calling for the old Mardukryon to talk to me also yielded no result.

"Is there a doorbell somewhere?" I said as I ran my hands over a smooth stretch of the barrier of light. What if I attack it?

Throwing my beefy sledgehammer fists at the barrier didn't do anything, but it was an amazing experience nonetheless. My muscles worked with coordination my real-world self couldn't achieve. Savoring the exhilarating power behind my fists, feeling the impact course through my arm as my knuckles hit the immovable barrier, it was very satisfying.

I had read that increases in attributes were reflected in a character's physical capabilities. The effect of an additional fifty points of Might didn’t only add juicy numbers to damage calculations, but the player could actually feel himself become stronger.

Very tempting to forego my plans of building a tank and instead go for stacking as much Might as possible and punching everyone. But then again, it probably felt better not to get hurt from the attacks of others.

Kicking the barrier also couldn't make a dent. After some experimentation with my body, I found out that I could only kick with my hind legs, either sideways or backward. Using my front legs to kick forward was impossible, perhaps something to do with Mardukryon anatomy. I could only rear up and stomp down.

How did cows and horses kick in comparison? There was a time my family stayed at my great-aunt Jemma's modest farmhouse up in St. Turaco for a couple of weeks after we couldn't pay the rent for our apartment in Prince Ruspoli. A few horses and cows were there, but I hadn't observed their differences in kicking.

For the next order of business, I equipped my new weapon—the sling.

I was certain the Big M gave it to me to help me, and other new players who’d somehow stumbled into his place, a way to safely navigate the Golden Forest. Or at least, make it safer. With a ranged weapon, I could hit the golden crystals from afar to make them ring, easily driving away the Mirdabons in the vicinity.

However, it could also be a clue to breaking Mehubanarath's barrier.

I swung the sling in an arc towards the barrier and..."Huh? Nothing came out?" One end of the sling simply snapped forward, the other still attached to my wrist. While that could probably hurt someone if I did it with enough force, I was using a sling, not a whip. "I need to find ammunition for this," I said, knocking my temple with a knuckle. I was thinking like a box for a moment there; I should be ashamed of myself.

In Nornyr Online, weapons such as bows, guns, and cannons could be immediately fired without any ammunition. But I did remember playing other RPGs that required arrows or bullets, and also had crafting systems for the ammunition, giving the projectiles special effects, more damage, and so on. Apparently, Mother Core Online's system was the latter one.

"Where do I get a stone to put in my sling?" I asked the empty forest, surveying my surroundings. "Do I just pick up—?"

The empty forest did answer my question. On the ground, a couple of meters away, a small object gave off a faint blue glow. It wasn't a special item or a quest trigger, but a stone the size of an avocado seed, seemingly highlighted by the game system because I had equipped the sling.

[ Obtained: 12 Stones ]

Twelve from just one? Phew, I assumed I needed to pick up one stone for each attack I made. This was much more reasonable.

And thankfully, I didn't have to physically get the stone from the ground with my hand. It was already a bother for a human to bend down to pick something up, what more for my half-bull, half-humanoid charcoal self? I only needed to be close to the item and give a mental command to collect it.

I shot the barrier a few times using the sling. The rocks harmlessly bounced off.

Not sure what I expected to happen…

Since, clearly, it wasn't possible to reenter the Big M's hiding spot, and the next step to complete his quest wasn't here, I figured I should return to the cliffs and start my search there. I needed a way to level up other than trying to kill Mirdabons—that wasn’t going to turn out pretty.

What were my options?

One—explore the icy wilderness outside the Golden Forest in the hopes of finding a weak monster I could actually defeat. Something more reasonable than those asshole furballs.

If there were none, which was likely the case as I hadn't seen any other kind of monster yet, then, Two—find a secret quest that didn't involve combat. This was the likelier solution to my predicament. A quest trigger could be hidden amongst the layers of snow or inside this forest. Could it be the set of footprints I found earlier? Those weren't Mehubanarath's given their size.

Again, I considered resting now and searching tomorrow for hidden quests or monsters outside Kurghal Village with a new perspective and a fresh mind, perhaps trying scouring the internet as well. But I was certain I couldn't fall asleep without any progress for this quest. At the very least, I wanted to lessen the areas I'd search tomorrow by starting now.

So, how do I get out of this forest? I couldn’t recall the path I had taken. I didn't have any teleportation skills, but I did have something just as good. "Yoohoo!" I called out, running wildly on patches of snow. "Mirdabons! Where are you?"

Stepping on something soft, I lost my footing, tripped my other hoof on a rock, and nearly slammed against a tree trunk.

"Squeak? Squeak...squeak..."

"There you are, you little fuckers " I said, turning around to face my maker.

"Squeak...squeegrroaarghh!!!

"The Great Herald Sto—" I started to declare to the mountaintops with my fist held high, but then stopped myself, noticing that I wasn't alone.

Quivercess, or Nic as she had introduced herself to me, sat beside a nearby rock, watching a video likely from a connected WeeCee. She stood up from the snow when she saw me respawn. "There you are, Herald," she said, waving at me after she closed the floating screen in front of her.

I slowly lowered my hand and acted embarrassed to hide my own actual embarrassment. It’s complicated fourth-dimensional thinking. "Hello there, Nic. I didn't know you'd be here. Can you just ignore what I did?"

"You must really like this Herald Stone guy, huh?" she said, questioningly tilting her head as she approached me. "Haven't heard of him. But I guess I'll look him up later to see why you idolize him so much."

"He's awesome," I said, smirking mentally. "You might get inspiration for...um...whatever you're doing." And that was the truth. I'd say my life was pretty fucking inspirational. Though I hadn't gotten around to writing an autobiography to share it with the masses—it'd be a certain bestseller and would make the world a better place. "Why are you here, Nic? Are Luds and Wharton coming here too?"

"Don't worry, they won’t bother you," she said. "They have already logged out after Luds finished farming. And I also scolded them for bullying you."

"Ah, I don't mind it," I replied. I bowed my head and slumped my shoulders like I was used to being a downtrodden poor sod. Now was the time to farm some sympathy, then extract information from her. "Those guys were just having fun, that's all. I'm used to it." Implying that I was also bullied in real life.

"Oh no, that's not right. What they did to you was wrong. I mean, those two idiots often prank each other, and that's fine. The problem is if they do it to strangers and just assume other people would get their joke.

"I understand what you mean, but as I’ve said, I don't mind." I gave her a defeated shrug and shuffled forward.

"Wait a bit!" she said, stepping in my path with her hands up. "On behalf of Luds and Wharton, let me just say sorry. Furthermore, I also apologize I didn't stop them. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you."

This was what I had been waiting for. "No, no, I'm fine—"

"Do you want some Artas? Food buffs? I can also give you some spare gear, but I think they're a bit too high-leveled for you to wear."

"It's enough that you came here to apologize," I said, obviously a lie, but I was reeling her in. Since I was rejecting her, she couldn't 'clear her conscience' so to speak, and would be more eager to offer help. "You must've waited some time for me. And you weren't even sure if I went ahead and entered the village, or already logged off, or maybe picked a new character. I appreciate the kind gesture."

"Don't pick a new character!" she exclaimed, picking up the crumb I had left for her. "It's so rare we get a new Mardukryon player. That jerk Luds and—anyway, just stay a Mardukryons. I know people usually say we're trapped here and there's no future for us, but it's fun here too. And I'm sure we'll eventually escape this mountain.

"Okay then," I said with a sigh.

Continuing to convince me to stay, she said, "I can help you level. I'll force Luds and Wharton to join in too. And we can give you items. Our community here may be small, but we do watch out for each other. It's just that Luds and Wharton are..." She gestured, drawing circles with her finger in the air beside her head.

"It's too much of a bother for you to help me level up," I told her. "I'm fine on my own. And when I become stronger, I can join you guys. I don’t want to be a burden now."

"Oh, okay then. If that's what you want. I can try to find some good guides for you to use."

"What about that quest Luds mentioned? The one where I need to kill a Mirdabon? Do you know anything about it? I've been trying to look for it and died several times already."

"Poor you," she said with a concerned face. "That idiot Luds, really...Ugh. I asked him about it earlier, more like forced him to spill the beans, and he told me you can find the quest if you follow the source of the smoke." Essentially, she recounted Mehubanarath's quest to me. I didn't interrupt her because I didn't want to admit I already found it. "Luds was just messing with you when he said that you need to kill a Mirdabon. It's better if you ignore that quest and continue to the village."

I raised a brow. "Why? Is it hard?"

"No. It's impossible to complete."