“Now the fastest way to gain strength is to advance your level and skills. You gain experience to level by defeating opponents or completing quests. You can also use quests as an opportunity to practice your skills and abilities, leveling them too.” Mary lectures. “So let's get you your first quest!”

A blue box appears before me.

Make Dinner

Mary is hungry. Create a comfortable location to eat and prepare dinner for Mary.

Rewards: Base 10XP. Bonus XP based on quality of meal and location prepared to eat.

Accept or Decline?

I think [Accept Quest ‘Make Dinner’] and the window disappears. “Hmm, ‘Make Dinner’, huh? Somehow I thought my first quest would be something along the lines of ‘Kill 10 Rats and bring me their tails.’”

Mary screws her face up in disgust. “Ewwwww. What would anyone do with rat tails? That’s just gross. I’d much rather have a nice meal. Preferably not rat by the way.”

“Ok. Ok. Make a meal. No rat. Got it. I don’t suppose there’s a supermarket nearby?”

Mary shakes her head no. Oh well, didn’t think it would be that easy. Mom taught all her kids how to cook but we always used ingredients from the store. Guess I’ll have to get back to basics to get this quest done. A simple meal of roasted meat and salad seems like it shouldn’t be too hard. I look around at the forest and realize I have absolutely no idea what plants are edible. I would probably fail my quest if i poison Mary. I sit and try to think of a way to figure out how to tell which plants to eat. As I sit, I faintly hear a rustling sound. I quickly turn my head to see what the sound is and see a small, white, furry animal. It’s a rabbit. It’s much larger than the rabbits I’ve seen before and it has a horn. As I focus on the weird looking animal a new window appears above the rabbit's head.

Horned Rabbit

Level 1

Well, that’s useful. At least I can tell what it is now and if it’s stronger than me. As I watch the horned rabbit I see it move to a bush and start nibbling. Of course! That’s how I can tell which plants to eat. Watch the local wildlife. Guess that’s how I’ll have to get the meat for my meal too. “Mary, are there alot animals around here?”

“Yup, this is kind of a beginner area. You’ll find all kinds of animals including some predators and monsters too, so be careful. You only get one life here. No respawns.”

As soon as I started talking to Mary the horned rabbit ran off. The bush I saw it eat is small and has broad green leaves. That’ll do for part of the salad but I get extra XP based on the quality of the meal I make. So, I want to see what other plants can be eaten around here. I get up, dust off my pants and begin my search for another horned rabbit to watch.

Moving through the forest I catch glimpses of white blurs running from me. The last horned rabbit I saw ran away as soon as it heard me talking to Mary. Guess I’m making too much noise. I’m snapping twigs and rustling leaves with every step. That won’t do. I’ll never find another horned rabbit that way. I start to deliberately watch where I step. Carefully moving to avoid small twigs and leaves on the ground. That’s better but I still hear my steps. I remember seeing a movie about ninjas and how they walk toe to heel and not heel to toe. I try it and notice that I make less noise. Guess those ninjas know what they’re doing. I move a lot slower now that I’m trying to be quiet. It’s frustrating but it can’t be helped since it’s the only way I’ll ever get close to another horned rabbit.

I’m on my second hour of moving quietly through the forest when I finally see a horned rabbit again. I freeze the moment I see it. I don’t want to scare it off and have to look for another one. The horned rabbit doesn’t seem to notice me and I watch to see what it does. The critter hops around the little clearing nibbling on several plants including a bush with bright red berries. I take mental note of the shape of the bush, its leaves, and the berries to use in my salad later. As the rabbit moves out of the clearing I move to follow it as quietly as I can. Suddenly a window pops up.

You've learned [Sneak]

I mentally ‘Woooohoo’ at getting my first skill. Thank you movie ninjas. I focus on [Sneak] to get more information.

Sneak

You are more difficult to notice while sneaking. Movement speed is reduced while sneaking. Advancing in Sneak reduces movement penalty and the chances of others noticing you.

Level: Novice 1 (1%)

Bonus: 20% reduced chance of being noticed. Movement speed is reduced by 75%.

So, the more I practice sneaking the better bonuses I’ll get as I level. Something to work towards I guess. I continue to follow the horned rabbit for another hour watching it’s patterns until it finally disappears into a hole in the ground. As I watched the horned rabbit I get new notices.

You've gained a level in [Sneak]. Novice 2.

You've learned [Observe].

I check to see what changes happened to [Sneak] when it levels and what [Observe] does.

Sneak

You are more difficult to notice while sneaking. Movement speed is reduced while sneaking. Advancing in sneak reduces movement penalty and the chances of others noticing you.

Level: Novice 2 (15%)

Bonus: 21% reduced chance of being noticed. Movement speed is reduced by 74%.

Observe

You learn the weaknesses and strengths of a creature when you observe them for long periods of time. You gain a bonus to damage when fighting creatures you've observed. Advancing in Observe increased damage bonus to observed creatures.

Level: Novice 1 (1%)

Bonus: 1% damage bonus to creatures observed.

Creatures Observed: Horned Rabbit

I get 1% sneakier per level of [Sneak]. I wonder if the bonuses change when I get to beginner or intermediate? We’ll have to wait and see. I get a nice increase in wisdom and a bonus to damage from [Observe] though. That’ll be useful. Every bit of extra damage helps in a fight. Too bad I have to watch something for a ‘long period of time’ to get the bonus though. It’ll only be useful when I have time to watch an opponent for a while and I won’t have time to get the observe bonus in a surprise fight.

As I walk away from the rabbit hole I decide to start collecting the plants for the salad part of the meal quest. I rush over to the where I saw the berries and realize I’m wasting an opportunity to train. Why walk like normal when I can [Sneak] while I collect plants. It takes two hours to collect enough of the plants to make a salad for two but by the time I returned to Mary [Sneak] had leveled up to Novice 3.

Time to get the meat.