Floating in a golden space, a series of unfamiliar memories flashed through my mind, never staying for more than a moment, and never allowing me to get a full grasp of what I was seeing. Though vividly standing out to me, images of hundreds, maybe thousands of goblins were banded together and heading towards a town that looked kind of like Asheton. My eyes then opened, and I found myself waking from sleep—my eyes emitting a golden light from them.

Getting up and looking around the room, I said “Woah! Was that what I think it was, my first Vision?” The golden light from my eyes was beginning to dim down, “But what the hell was any of that? Those goblins looked like trouble, but if that was supposed to be a potential future, how far into the future was it in?” I wondered to myself, opening my Inventory and equipping just my boots. “I probably shouldn’t worry about it too much, that could be days, maybe even weeks away for all I know.” Making my out of my room, and heading down the stairs.

Going down the stairs to the ground floor, I could see there were a couple of waiters and waitresses cleaning the tables and the stone floors of the place, and behind the bar was Rayna—cleaning mugs and glasses with a clean rag.

Seeing me come down the stairs, Rayna greeted me smiling, “Good morning, Handsome.”

“Good morning to you too Rayna, but please just call me Eyes.” Sitting myself at the bar in front of her.

“Well Eyes, you know you’re a really good sight to see after such a long and busy night, but tell me, how was your suite? Was everything to your liking?” Rayna asked.

“Everything was perfect, more than perfect actually.” Remembering the pleasant smell of the room, the warm relaxing shower, and big comfy bed.

“That’s good to hear.” She said, putting down a cleaned mug and picking up a different one to clean.

“But a suite like that must be expensive, right? Are you sure I shouldn’t pay you for it?” I offered.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s the least I could do to repay you for saving Sherry and Kassa in time; anyway you look hungry, want some breakfast?”

Feeling my empty stomach from all the vomiting yesterday, I said “I guess so, what do you recommend?”

Waving at a waitress, Rayna shouted “Lia, can you tell Gord to cook up 2 of the best?”

“You got it boss!” The waitress happily replied, heading through the door under the right staircase.

“So Eyes—Mmmm, even your eyes are good looking.” Rayna complimented, staring closely at my eyes, “What brings you to town?”

“I kinda just found myself here.” Answering honestly, “Though I was thinking about checking out the Adventurer’s Guild later, but after visiting Drune’s Smith & Shop to give the owner the iron ore he asked me to get.”

“Ahhh, so you’ve been to Drune’s shop, but do you know that he’s secretly the best blacksmith in town, maybe even the Kingdom?"

“I did hear that rumour, but it looks like it’s true if you’re saying it too.” Thinking, “Either Drune’s really amazing, or there must not be a lot of good blacksmiths in the Human Kingdom if the best one is in the starting town.”

"As for the Adventurer's Guild, it’s a good place to make good money, but it can be dangerous work depending on the Request; if you're looking for it, it’s the wooden building to the left of here, you can't miss it.” She pointed her finger in the direction, and then added “You might wanna get to the Guild soon though, before all the good Requests are taken; I saw an unusually large amount of adventurers come by yesterday, maybe it’s because of all the recent monster attacks.”

“About the attacks, do you know why a Dungeon formed at the mine?” Curious if she knew.

“I would assume it was because a lot of goblins stayed in the mine together and one just formed around them, right? But luckily for the town’s people, you cleared it before more monsters appeared and expanded the Dungeon Area closer to Asheton."

“So Dungeons are a common thing in this world, but if one just appeared because a lot of goblins were together…” I remembered my Visions, and I had to ask “Are there any big Dungeons in the area? Like a place to hold hundreds of goblins?"

Rayna looked curiously at me and said, “Not that I’m aware of; Asheton is just surrounded by forests, not really a usual place for a Dungeon to form, with the nearest possible Dungeon I could think of being days away and something that the town never really worries about.”

“Maybe the Visions aren't happening anytime soon.” I thought to myself.

Rayna then asked, "Are you saying there’s a big Dungeon in the area somewhere? and that’s the reason for all the recent attacks?”

Replying, I said “No, maybe, I can't be sure though.”

“That’s concerning, after hearing about what those monsters did to the girls and the other people at the mines...I’ll have to force those two to stay here and be safe in the inn." Then quickly changing her attitude, Rayna said "Speaking of those two, I saw Sherry red faced again after handing back your clothes, did she see something while she was up there?”

Seeing Mako come down the stairs, I gave Rayna a wink and smirk as Mako said “Good Morning!” At the same time the waitress from earlier came out bringing 2 plates full of freshly cooked food. Sitting beside me, Mako and I both thanked the waitress and Rayna for the food as we dug in and ate—Rayna eyed me curiously the whole time.

Finishing the food, I said “Thanks again for the food, and tell the chef it was was delicious, Oh, and here’s the key to the suite.” Trying to hand the key back to Rayna.

“You're still staying in town for a while, right?” I nodded yes, “Well then, keep it until you leave, besides those suites don’t get used often anyway.” Handing back the key to me. I reluctantly accepted her offer, and Mako and I left the inn.

Making our way to Drune’s shop, Mako asked “Hey Eyes, why are you just wearing sweats and a t-shirt?”

“My Quest Reward gives me a discount for the first armour set I buy at the shop, so I was thinking of buying new armour right away. I was also gonna sell all the goblin stuff I collected and split the profit with you, plus we got 33 Gold from Rayna’s Quest yesterday.”

“I know right, it seems like a lot of Gold—Wait, 33 Gold? I only got 30?” Mako pointed out.

“You only got 30?” Then remembering something that I completely forgot to read because we were spawned in Asheton before I could, I opened the Stats Menu and read the Titles.

The 1%: Maintaining a Place in the Top 1% of the Overall Rankings, you find it easier to become wealthier than most. +10% Currency Gain from All Sources. *Note* This Title is immediately removed if you are ever Place outside the Top 1%.

Then explaining to Mako, “I only got 3 more Gold than you because of a Title that gives you more money from stuff, and I think it was the Top 100 Award.”

“Oooh, well that sucks.” Mako said, sounding slightly disappointed, “If I would’ve known that, I would’ve tried harder in the Tutorial.”

“I don’t think that actually matters; from what the Title says, you only need to be in the Top 1% in the Overall Rankings to get it.” Reading the Title again to check that’s what it said.

“Really!? I wonder what Place I’m at then.” While we walked, Mako seemed to be looking through the Menu, and she finally said “I can't find the Overall Rankings, but I’m 112th in the Highest Levels Ranking right now, and just to let you know, you're in 2nd.”

“I’m in 2nd?” Surprised by the fact.

“Yeah, only someone named ‘Lavie En Rouge’ is ahead of you, and it looks like she’s the only one ahead of us in terms of Levels—being Lv 6 already.”

“Lv 6?! We just completed a Dungeon and we’re only Lv 3, what the hell have you been doing Lavie?” I wondered to myself, arriving in front of Drune’s shop.

Entering the shop, I could feel the blazing heat coming from the forge again, and when I looked to Mako, the heat didn't bother her at all. Seeing Drune working at the forge and hammering a long glowing piece of metal, I shouted to him “Hey Old Man! We got the iron ore you asked for, and we cleared the goblins at the mine!” Walking to the counter.

Hearing me, Drune stopped his hammering and walked up to the counter, saying to me “Kid, you’re back! When you two didn’t come back yesterday, I thought you two died or something, what took you so long?” Hopping up on the stool on the other side of the counter again.

“Well to be honest, we didn’t expect a Dungeon to be there, and the two miners that needed to be saved.” I explained.

With Mako adding, “But no need to worry Master Drune, we cleared the Dungeon and the miners are safe, and we still got what you asked for.”

“A Dungeon formed this close to Asheton?” Mako and I both nodded our heads yes, “I see why you didn’t come back yesterday, but it was a good thing you two cleared it before it could expand, the town’s iron ore supply would’ve been wrecked for weeks if you hadn’t.” Drune then paused and looked to be thinking to himself, as he finally said to me “Okay, if you still got the iron ore I asked for, I’ll also give you a permanent 20% Discount at my shop for doing a little unexpected work for me and the town.” Then a message suddenly appeared.

Quest Updated.

Along with my Quest Menu popping up, as I could see the Quest Reward change.

Rewards: 20 Silver per Iron Ore brought, gain a 25% Discount for your first armour set bought, and gain a permanent 20% Discount at Drune’s Shop.

“Wow, what the hell!?” I exclaimed.

Then Drune asked, “So where’s all the ore? Did you just leave it outside in the cart?” Holding my finger up, I unstrapped Infinity from my back, made my way to the stone section of the shop, and then began pulling iron ore from it and dropping it onto the ground. “Holy shit, Kid! I only asked for 10!”

“I know, but Mako needed to bring you 200 ore, right?” The ore starting to pile up around me.

“Wow Eyes, just how much can that thing store, and how much did you take?” Mako asked, still watching me pull ore from Infinity.

“I’m not really sure, I was too lazy to check how much I took, but I’m sure it was over 200, so don’t worry.” Ignoring the question about how much the quiver could store. Then after about 5 minutes, no more ore came out when I reached for it, and I said “I think that’s all of it.” Looking at the giant iron ore pile surrounding me and filling the space.

“Kid, this is amazing, with all this I won’t have to buy iron ore for a whole year. Here, you more than earned it.” And as Drune handed me a huge sack full of coins, I completed my first Quest.

Quest Completed A Favour For Drune has been completed. Rewards: 58 Gold and 74 Silver (+5 Gold and 34 Silver), a 25% Discount for your first armour set bought, and a permanent 20% Discount at Drune’s Shop.

Then pointing to Mako, Drune said “And you, I’m not expecting much, but I’ll allow you to use my forge to craft something that shows me your potential, but first I want you to bring all of these ores into the storage.” Drune then pointed to a closed wooden hatch on the ground behind the counter.

Mako looked ecstatic to do the task, saying “Yes, Master Drune.” As I watched her make 25 iron ore quickly disappear into thin air, and then carry as much as she could hold into the dark hatch on ground.

Remembering, I said “Hey Old Man, I also got a lot of goblin armour and other weapons I wanna sell, are you willing to buy them?”

“Sure Kid, let’s see them.” I then spent the next 10 minutes removing the hundreds of weapons and armour from inside Infinity—only leaving the bows and arrows, and a knife and a cleaver. I also took out my starting Ranger armour from my Inventory, except for my cloak.

Drune looked at me in shock and awe, as I could hear him whisper under his breath “That really is what I think it is, she’s gonna love examining it.” He then did a general inspection of all the stuff, and said to me “All of this is pretty basic craftsmanship and I’ll probably just salvage most of it, but there are some interesting weapons I’ve never seen before.” Examining a hook sword, “With that being said, I’ll give 4 Gold for it all, plus an extra 40 Silver just because I like you Kid.”

Knowing it was a pretty good deal for some mostly free stuff that I just took from the Tutorial, I said “Deal.” Shaking his hand.

With Mako coming back up to get more of the ore, I gave her her share of the money, and then Drune said “Hey you, what’s your name?”

“It’s Mako Nomura, Master Drune.” She said, happily bowing.

“Okay Mako, after you store all the ore away, I want you to sort all of these weapons and armour for me, and let’s say that’ll be part of the potential you show me too.”

“Of course Master Drune!” As Mako looked even happier to collect the ore.

“Now Kid, I think my friend will be here tomorrow, so make sure you stop by the shop then.” Drune reminded me.

“Actually, one more thing. As you can see I have no armour on, so I was looking to buy some, or maybe ask you to make me some; and I heard you're the best blacksmith in town, maybe even in the Kingdom, is that true?”

“I don’t know about saying the best in the Kingdom, but I would say the best in the town. After all, I was trained by the Great Blacksmith Oros.” Drune sounded really proud of that.

“Uhhh, should I know who that is?” I asked, really clueless of who that was.

“Typical Elf, not even bothering to know about one of the best blacksmiths in the entirety of the Dwarven Kingdom.” Then Drune looked a bit sad, “I still wonder where Master Oros went after he was exiled because of his Race.” Changing his mood, Drune looked me up and down, and he said “But enough of the sad memories, what’s your Level Kid? I need to know so I can make you the right Level armour.”

“I’m only Lv.3 right now, but I’m open to not wearing armour for a few Levels if you can make a good higher Level armour.”

“What?! Your Lv.3?!” Drune exclaimed, acting completely surprised, “I thought you were a high Level or something cause of that quiver and all, and I just assumed you wore crappy armour because you were broke.” Then he looked at me impressed, “Yet you still beat Galen in an archery competition, and you already cleared a Dungeon; you must really be something special, Kid.”

“Hah, not really, Galen was a joke of an archer, and Mako carried me through the Dungeon.” Not really being impressed by my own accomplishments so far.

“If you say so.” Drune said, leading me through the shop. “Anyway, at your Level, I suggest you just buy some basic armour, and you shouldn't think about personal crafted armour until you're at a much higher Level, otherwise the costs outweigh the low benefits. Just a little bit of friendly advice Kid.” Then Drune brought me in front of two armour stands, and he said “I’d recommend picking one of these two.”

“So what’s a high Level to you?” I asked, pressing my hands on both the armour stands, causing the Stats to appear side by side.

Leather Armour Set Iron Half Plate Armour Set

Common

+8% Total Physical Damage Reduction

Requirement: Lv.3

Common

+10% Total Physical Damage Reduction

Requirement: Lv.5, 15 Strength

While I contemplated between the two, Drune said “Well most of the town’s senior guards are around Lv 15-20 I think, with Galen being Lv 25, but I wouldn’t say they’re high—“

“Galen is Lv 25?!” I exclaimed, caught completely off guard by the fact.

“Well yes, I may not think much of the guy, but he’s technically the Vice Captain of the town’s guards.”

Giving Drune a look of disbelief, I thought to myself “I can’t believe he gave me a Quest to gamble my quiver with the Vice Captain of the guards. I really might get arrested for taking his bow.” Then asking, “What about the Captain, what Level are they at?”

“Ummm, I think Wyn’s in the low 30s, maybe mid 30s, I’m not entirely sure.” Drune answered.

“Not much higher than the Vice Captain, but that makes me wonder if there’s gonna be a Level Cap in this world.” Turning my attention back to the armour stands.

Looking at the half plate, it had shin high iron boots, iron gauntlets that covered the forearm, an iron chest piece, dark coloured pants; with no armour on the shoulders and arms, legs, and no helmet. Liking it’s look compared to the leather armour, I asked “How much for the half plate?”

“With the 25% discount I’m giving you for your first set, it’ll be 7 Gold and 50 Silver .” I then gave him the money from the sack of coins I still held out, and then I put the rest in my Inventory, and noted that I had 135 Gold and 64 Silver inside. “Why don't you try it on?” Drune suggested.

“I can't, I’m Lv 3...” Drune laughed a little, as I decided to store the armour in my Inventory. “Oh and one last thing, can I get a price for this?” Taking off the Ring of Strength and passing it to Drune.

“Oooo.” Examine it quickly and then handing it back, Drune said “I would give you 100 Gold for that.”

“Woah, good to know.” Then moving close to the hatch on the ground, I shouted “I’m leaving now, see ya later Mako!”

“Okay, see ya!” Mako shouted back, as I made my way out.

“Remember tomorrow.” Drune reminded me again, as I put my hand up in acknowledgment.