Finishing 1 of the 9 bags of fruit by myself, I arrived in front of the shop and read the sign again. “The shop and Quest both say Drune, I wonder if I should be calling the dwarf that?” Opening the door to the shop, I instantly noticed that the hot and humid temperature from before was now significantly less hot and humid, with the forge looking to be cooling down. I also noticed that a short asian girl was talking to Drune at the counter, and I instantly thought “She’s a Player.”

“Master Blacksmith Drune, please accept me as your humble apprentice, and teach me your skills!” The Girl pleaded, unstrapping a sheathed katana from her waist, as she then fully bowed her head and body down to the ground. The Girl added, “An old man I helped out told me that you're secretly the best blacksmith in town, and that if I was looking for a Master, no one in the Human Kingdom could compare to your skills.” I couldn’t see her face clearly now that she was on the ground, but I could see that the Girl was wearing the starting half plate armour set of a Fighter, and had a short bob hairstyle, with her hair being jet black in colour.

Drune leaned over the counter to respond, “Look, I don’t know what you heard, but I’m not looking for-” He stopped mid sentence as he saw me, and said “Kid, I see you did it! Wasn’t it easy like I said, and what’s with all those bags of fruit?” He chuckled at the sight of me carrying the bags.

“Don’t ask.” I said, walking up to the counter. “And I guess it was easy, but it did get real iffy when I noticed that my bow had a crack, and when Galen wouldn’t let me switch my bow and threatened to arrest me if I did.” I could see that the Girl's head was slightly turned so she could stare at me, as she continued to bow on the ground.

“Well it looks like it all worked out if you’re here and not in the barracks jail.” Drune chuckled to myself. “Back to business, it’ll still be a few days until my friend arrives in town, so in the meantime, can I ask you for another favour?”

“A favour?” I repeated, then saying “Depends, what is it?”

“Okay, here’s the situation.” Drune said, explaining “I’m running out of iron ore to forge my other pieces, and I’d usually just buy some more in the marketplace, but the town’s local mine was attacked and occupied by some goblins yesterday, so the cost for iron ore right now is unbelievably overpriced.”

“Goblins in a mine, what a classic.” I thought, still liking the idea of killing some goblins.

“Any other week I could easily deal with the goblin problem myself, but this week I have to really stay here and finish a piece for my friend who’s only gonna be staying in town for a few days.”

“So what you’re saying is you want me to get you iron ore in the mine?” Wanting clarification.

“Exactly Kid, but I also want you to clear out the mine of all the goblins, otherwise it could take the town a week to get around to doing it themselves, and iron ore would still be overpriced for a while.”

“Is this gonna be another Quest?” I wondered, listening to Drune continue talking.

“And if you can do it within a day, I’ll pay you a good price of 20 Silver per iron ore you bring back, and I’ll even throw in a 25% discount for your first armour set you buy here. But if you can’t do it within a day, I’ll only pay 10 Silver per ore, and you won’t be getting a discount.” When he finished talking a new Quest appeared.

Quest

A Favour for Drune:

Clear Asheton's local iron mine of all goblins, and bring back at least 10 Iron Ore to Drune.

Rewards: 20 Silver per Iron Ore brought, and receive a 25% discount for your first armour set bought in Drune’s Shop.

Time Limit: 1 day Failure: If this Quest is not completed within a day, Rewards will be decreased, and the Quest will be updated as such.

Will you accept:

[Yes] or [No]

My eyes widened in excitement from gaining another Quest, and I thought “Ooo, this Quest has a Time Limit, a Failure condition, and a Reward that I can actually see, opposed to the question mark Rewards I’ve only seen up until now.” Also thinking, “But even though it does say Failure on the Quest, from what Drune said earlier and the reading that this Quest will get updated if I don’t do it in time, I don’t actually think I can fail this Quest.” I theorized.

Feeling a tug on my foot, I looked down to see the Girl’s naturally cute face, still partially bowing and waiting for Drune to answer her, but she was now also pulling on my leather boots to get my attention. From the look in her eyes, I could tell she realized I was a Player, as she then pouted her lips and looked at me asking for help. I tried to step away from her, but she grabbed my foot tight and wouldn’t let go. Sighing and rolling my eyes, I said “Sure, I can do the favour for you, but here’s the thing, I don't know what iron ore looks like, and an archer going into a mine by themselves sounds like a horrible idea.”

Drune laughed out loud, “Sorry to laugh Kid, maybe I’ve just been used to being around good archers in the past, but if you’re being serious about what you just said, you must not be as good as I thought you were.”

Getting fired up from Drune’s comment about not being good, I was about to accept the Quest to do it alone to prove him wrong, but I felt another tug on my boot. Seeing the Girl batting her eyes at me, I begrudgingly calmed down, and said “Maybe you’re right, so I’ll need a little help from someone.”

“You sound like you already have someone in mind?” I then pointed down, and Drune curiously leaned over the counter again to see what I was pointing at. “What the! I thought you left?”

“I haven’t moved from this position Master Drune, not until you accept me as your humble apprentice!” The Girl announced, bowing her forehead against the wooden floor.

Drune shook his head in disbelief and he looked to me for an answer. I just shrugged, not knowing her deal either. Drune then looked to be contemplating the idea of having an apprentice, and after about a minute of thinking, he finally said “You really wanna become my apprentice, Girl?”

“I really do, Master Drune.” The girl answered earnestly, slamming her forehead to the floor again.

“Okay, okay, stop doing that.” Drune said, feeling bad for her head. “If you really wanna become my apprentice, prove to me you're worth taking on, and show me your potential.” He told her, “All you have to do is help this Kid clear the mine of goblins, bring back 200 iron ore between the two of you, and then finally forge something that convinces me to take you on as my apprentice.”

Instantly the Girl stood up and pressed her finger into the air, saying “I accept! Thank you for giving me a chance, Master Drune." She had the same look I had when I got my first Quest earlier.

“I thought it might’ve been a fluke that I didn’t see Lavie’s screen in the Tutorial, but this really proves you can’t see another Player’s screen.” Looking at my unaccepted Quest, I saw that it was surprisingly unchanged, and I thought “Interesting, I expected the Quest to change because she was gonna help me, and Drune asked her to bring 200 ore back, but it looks like I can still complete my Quest regardless of what the Girl’s Quest is.” Finally clicking Accept on my Quest.

Grabbing my arm, the Girl began dragging me out of the shop, and she shouted "Hurry up, let’s go!”

Stopping her, I said “Wait, do you even know where the mine is?” She opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it right after, not knowing the answer. “That’s what I thought.” Turning back to Drune, I asked “So where can we find the mine?”

Drune happily answered, “Just leave through the eastern entrance and then follow the road for about an hour. You should spot the wooden sign and a small path along the right side of the road, and that’ll lead you straight to the mine.”

“Thanks, and now we can go.” I said to the Girl, walking out of the shop with her following close behind.

Making my way back to the town square, I went the opposite way of western entrance, and saw an identical raised gate with guards standing at the entrance. Leaving through the gate and heading out of the town, I was surprised to see that the 4 guards standing by the entrance didn’t even bother to give us a look, and just continued talking to each other in their pairs. “Those are some bad guards, but maybe there’s just nothing serious enough to seriously guard for in a starting town like Asheton.” I thought, walking onto the wide and straight dirt road, with a tree line surrounding both the sides of the road ahead.

After a few minutes of walking in complete silence, I couldn't help but think “God this is so awkward, we’ve been walking in silence since we left Drune’s shop.” Using my peripherals, I saw that she was nervously rubbing her right arm. “I thought she was an extroverted type from the way she was acting at the shop earlier, but it looks like she’s more introverted than I thought.” Making a move to make conversation, I took out a bag hanging on my forearms, from the many bags of fruit I forced myself to continue to carry to remember my mistake and to not go wasting food, as I then offered her some fruit from the bag. “Fruit?” I asked.

Catching her off guard, she stumbled on her words. “Wha-uhh-umm, okay...” As she grabbed a few oranges out of the bag. “Th-Thank you.” She thanked shyly.

“Your welcome.” I replied, adding “And please feel free to grab some more, I have no clue what to do with all these.” Raising all the bags of fruit to her.

She giggled a little, “Yeah, I've been wondering ever since you entered the shop, why you were carrying all those.”

“Oh yeah, I just accidentally bought a whole stand of fruit, and I didn’t have the heart to ask the old lady if I could return some.” She giggled again, amused by the explanation. “By the way, my name's Eyes.”

“Mako.” She replied, unpeeling an orange.

Changing to the Eyes Of A Seer, I used them to confirm her name as Mako Nomura, and then changed them back to hide them just in case. “So Mako, why’d you wanna be Drune’s apprentice so badly?”

“You heard what that Nulla guy said, right?” I shook my head yes. “Well I was on the unsure side of things, and he said to just find something I enjoy and then do it, so that’s what I’m trying to do.”

“Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but being a blacksmith is something you enjoy?”

“Well not exactly, you see before all this, I used to be an apprentice swordsmith in Japan, and I loved doing that.” She explained, having a few pieces of her orange.

“Wow, that's super cool!" Actually genuinely impressed by her being a swordsmith before, and thinking to myself “So they did get people from all over the world, and it seems like they even translated and streamlined our languages so we can understand each other, cause Mako doesn't even having a hint of a Japanese accent.” Also noting, “Though native languages in Novus might not be translated and streamlined, because I did hear elves and dwarves talk in different languages at the market earlier, and I couldn’t understand a thing they were saying.” Then listening to Mako talk again.

"Yeah, it was pretty cool." She said proudly. “But anyway, when I was asking around the market, I was able to find some swordsmith shops, but after watching them work and seeing their already forged swords, I realized they were no better than people who apprenticed longer than me.”

“Then I assumed you kept asking around, and the old man you said you helped told you about Drune who’s apparently a Master Blacksmith?” Guessing what happened.

“Exactly, though I didn’t believe the old man at first, but as soon as I entered the shop and saw Master Drune’s work, I instantly knew that he really was a Master Blacksmith. After looking through some of Master Drune's work, I decided to not limit myself on only becoming a swordsmith who forged swords, but instead becoming a blacksmith who can forge all things.” Mako explained further, eating another few pieces of her orange.

"That sounds great, go for it." I said, eating some fruit too, and offering Mako some more.

As we continued to walk and eat, we slowly ate through 4 of the 8 bags of fruit, and we got comfortable talking to each other. Eventually we decided to add each other as Friends and to form a Party together.

Mako Nomura has accepted your Friend Request, and has been added to your Friends List. You have created a Party, and have been designated as the Party Leader. Mako Nomura has accepted your Party Request, and has been added into your Party.

When Mako accepted, her Name, Health, Mana, and Stamina showed in my peripheral under my own Stats, as well as in the Party Menu.

Party

Current Party[Add]: 2/5

Eyes Thalion(Leader) Health: 300/300 Magic: 200/200 Stamina: 200/200 Mako Nomura Health: 600/600 Magic: 100/100 Stamina: 300/300

“Woah, Mako has some really high Health, but if her Stamina is only at 300, that must mean she only has 30 points into Vitality.” Doing some quick math in my head, I thought “That must mean Humans get 20 Health per point, which means the Health difference between the Races is gonna be really huge at higher Levels, assuming the Dwarves also get more Health than the Elves. I should keep that in mind if ever have to fight the other Races.” I noted to myself.

“Hey Eyes, I’ve been meaning to ask you, what Rank did you get in the Tutorial?”

“Ummm...” I hesitated telling Mako.

And Mako laughed, “It’s okay Eyes, don’t feel bad about getting a low Ranking, I only placed 303th myself.”

“Looks like she doesn’t remember my name in the Top 10, but will telling her my Ranking make her feel bad if she realizes she placed way lower than me?” I wondered, asking her “Why’d you wanna know?”

“I wanted to know how much I could rely on you in a fight, cause we don’t know how many goblins there could be in the mine or how strong they are.” Mako answered.

“Seeing how you're already getting prepared, it sounds like I can really depend on you.” I said, smiling at her.

“Oh my..." Mako said, staring at me. Then quickly shaking her head out of the stare, she added "Don’t smile at me like that.” Holding her face and fast walking ahead of me.

Chuckling to myself, I caught up to her quickly and was able to get a better look at her katana. Sheathed in a simple matte black scabbard, the guard was a pointy gold star shape, and the handle was wrapped in bright red colour with a gold pommel at the end. “Hey Mako, is it okay if I ask you what your katana does?”

“What are you talking about? It’s a katana, it slices?” She answered, looking at me weirdly.

Clarifying, I said “No, I meant its special ability, like my quiver.” Pulling out an arrow.

“What!? My katana can’t do anything like that!” She exclaimed.

“What? Didn’t you get that katana from your Guide?”

“I mean I guess so, but this is just the weapon I chose for my Reward in the Skills Tutorial, and I don't know what special ability you're talking about.” She said, sounding completely honest.

“Reward for the Skills Tutorial...” And then I remembered that I never got my Reward for the Tutorial, because 13 was gone when I completed the Tutorial Quest, and then I got distracted by the creation of Infinity before I could bring it up to her. “Wow, I would be super pissed for missing a bow like Mako’s katana, but luckily I got a good one right away, and things worked out.” Finally taking a look at my new bow’s Stats.

Odelia’s Shame

Rare

Attack: 250

+25 Strength

Effect: Increases damage by 1% the closer you are to the target, up to 30%.

Requirement: Lv.20, Str 100

Reading the Stats, I was blown away by the Attack and the Effect, but when I read the Requirement my heart sank, and I shouted “Nooooo!”

“Wha-what’s wrong?” Mako asked, surprised by my sudden shout.

Disheartened, I said “I looked at my bow that I got earlier, and I think it's incredible, but I don’t think I can use it anytime soon.” Deciding to store the bow inside Infinity for now.

“Uh-huh, so what you're telling me is that you have nothing but some bags of fruits and a useless magic quiver that can only store things." Mako chuckled at my situation.

“Haha.” As I then pointing up ahead, I said “Over there, I can already see the sign and the path to the right.”

“Okay, just leave it all to me Eyes, I’m sure it won’t be too hard to deal with a couple goblins by myself, especially after going through the waves of the Combat Tutorial.” Mako said confidently.

“Maybe you can, maybe you can’t, but I’m not gonna risk it, after all we don’t know what this world has in store for us.” Pulling out a composite bow out of Infinity.

“Wow, what do you have in there?" Mako asked, curiously jumping up behind me to see what was inside, but she gave up after not seeing anything. Walking back beside me, she said "Wait, I don’t see a sign and a path anywhere.”

"You probably can't see with your human eyes, but trust it's up ahead." Leading the way.

After a few minutes of walking we arrived at a sign that said 'Asheton's Iron Mine' and a straight path behind it. Following the path, we noticed that the sun was beginning to set, with the trees on both sides of the path making it seem darker than it is with their shadows, as we then came upon a clearing.

Closer to us and near the edges of the clearing, were 2 half broken and splintered wooden picnic tables, with dried blood splattered all over them. Following the multiple dragged blood marks on the ground with our eyes, they led us past a few bloodied and broken pickaxes, a minecart off the rails and tipped over, a pooling bloodied body of a Dwarf man, and into a darkened cave entrance.

Pushing past me, Mako stepped into the clearing, and suddenly a new message appeared.

A Party Member has entered an Open Dungeon.