"Heh, I've got 8EXC… That's $1600. And I got that for what, an hour of work maybe? If I wasn't in debt… Oh, whatever, this is a good omen! I'll keep collecting Excia!" Mickey yawned happily. "I'm really tired. If I go to sleep in the game, will I feel rested?"

Mickey was looking out the window of his inn room, sitting next to it and wondering about the little details of HWO. He had left dinner, sent off by the kind women wearing happy faces, and found his way to the inn without problem. The innkeeper was expecting him even—no doubt thanks to Selia.

"Hmm…" Mickey looked down at the square. A few NPCs were still crossing it, going about their lives. "I haven't really found a storyline, have I? So far, I've only done what would be tutorial quests in any other game…" Mickey recalled what the guides told him. "The game is really open-ended. I thought it was marketing speak, but it actually is... The only real prompt I've gotten is 'go do quests.' I guess it's a bit like M*necraft in that you make your own story... Still, the quests can be a jumping-off point, so I'll need to keep my eyes peeled... And I'm still talking to myself. It's hard to differentiate between thinking and speaking in here."

Mickey pulled out his Slate to see if there were any more bits of information for him to learn—

"Huh? An alert? I completed a quest?"

—and there was.

***

Slow Life Quest

Every two days, Theresa fetches groceries, and every two days, she carries them home without any help. But the honorable Trailblazer wouldn't stand for that, would he?

Rewards: 10EXP, 20EX-EXP

[Quest Completed. Rewards have been delivered/applied.]

***

"Huh? 'Slow Life Quest'? And what is with this description? But I got rewarded… 10EXP too… But wait, wait. I got experience for that?"

Mickey had already concluded that this game encouraged doing quests thanks to the rewarding scheme but this was too much.

"Wait, these types of quests—can I just do them by helping out the NPCs?" Mickey looked out to the square and counted the few NPCs. "Do they all offer quests like this?"

What floored Mickey was that there was no mention of slow life quests in the guides, but if they were as easy to find and do, such that Mickey just stumbled across them—then weren't they broken?

If Mickey could complete these quests—wouldn't they be more profitable, extra-experience-wise than simply killing monsters? And they gave some normal experience too.

Mickey calmed himself and came up with a plan. "Okay. I can't get worked up over something I don't know. Tomorrow, I'll try helping out the NPCs and see how many of these Slow Life quests I get. It'd be nice if I could push through to Level 5 with them…" Mickey threw himself onto the bed and nestled in. "Still, a random NPC being able to give me so much experience and then the extra as well. This game really wants me to help the NPCs… The guides didn't put as much emphasis on the NPCs as they did exploring…"

Mickey looked through his Slate some more before drifting away to sleep.

***

"Whew, well I guess that's that," Mickey said, stretching in the town square. "That's a nice stopping point."

Mickey had spent the morning helping townsfolk. In the process, he had completed ten Slow Life quests. He only stopped because he received an alert informing him that he had reached a daily limit—he could only complete ten a day. A totally reasonable limit, in Mickey's mind.

For his trouble, he received 100EXP and 200EX-EXP. As it turned out, in exchange for helping the townsfolk that needed it, he got 10EXP and 20EX-EXP apiece.

Mickey was now at Level 5, and planning out the rest of his day. His map was updated with a few more named monsters as well, thanks to the grateful townsfolk slipping Mickey some details. All in all, Mickey was pleased. He saw no reason to not continue helping the townsfolk with their little chores, though he was curious about one thing.

"Since the experience needed between levels is static, I wonder how difficulty is introduced into slow-life quests... Surely this isn't something where I can gain one level every day, right?"

Since there was no information regarding Slow Life quests, Mickey had no choice but to learn by doing, which he didn't really mind. That said, a guaranteed level a day was too good to be true, so he prepared himself for some limiting condition to be revealed.

"Okay… Let's go take out a boss monster or two… but before that…" Mickey fixed his gaze on the armor shop. "Let's tie up some loose ends."

"Hey, would you be able to appraise these?" Mickey asked, placing [Peter's Ring] and the [Old Locket] in front of the armorer.

The armor shop's burly keeper shook his head. "Sorry, can't. I don't know how to, Trailblazer… I'm very sorry." The armorer, usually stern, crumpled and looked more apologetic than Mickey thought possible.

"Whoa, hey, no problem. I was just checking," Mickey replied, frantically waving and reassuring that he wasn't upset.

"If you need new armor, I can do that for you."

"Right. I remember, and I'll keep that in mind."

Mickey left the armor store and headed for the weapon store. So they don't have anyone that can appraise treasure in this town… I can see the advantages of making another town your hub…

Mickey arrived at the weapon store and greeted the keeper kindly.

"Hey, Trailblazer! That sword do you any good?"

"No. I don't really use swords."

The keeper's grin fell abruptly enough that Mickey panicked.

"I mean, it's not my style. Actually, I came here for two things. Could I get a dagger instead? A dagger would work a lot better for me."

"A dagger?" the keeper repeated, pepping up again. "Yeah, hold on."

He went over to one of the walls covered with weapons, pulled out a dagger that was hidden behind some other blades and returned to Mickey.

"I've got this one. It's one of the nicer ones. I can sell it to you for 10 gold."

Oh, so he's not going to give it as a gift… Mickey thought, as he eyed the dagger. It was the right size for what he wanted to do. "Hey, how much does a potion usually cost?"

"A potion? Those go for 30 gold, don't they?"

"Thirty… I see. Thanks…"

Usually, potions would be cheaper than weapons. To have a dagger be cheaper than a potion meant either it was a really bad weapon or he was being given a discount. The keeper didn't say anything, however. Mickey would have expected him to try and defend his item's price, but he just stood there, waiting for Mickey's decision.

"Is this on discount?" Mickey finally asked.

"Yes," the keeper quickly replied. "As an apology for not giving you something you could use."

"Oh—uhh. Okay…" The answer was a little too honest—Mickey felt guilty for asking. "Great, I'll take it. Here's the 10 gold." With the exchange done, Mickey moved on to his second topic. "So, could you fix up this sword I found?" The [Rusted Sword] appeared in Mickey's grip and the keeper received it.

The keeper eyed it while Mickey hoped he had some kind of repair service available. "Hmm… Yeah, I can fix this up. Might take a day or two."

Mickey lit up. "Yes! Okay, great! Let's do that! How much?"

"Maybe… 20 gold."

Okay, let's do that then!" Mickey replied without giving it a second thought. He didn't use swords but this was one of the first weapons he had found in the wild. Whatever he learned from this experiment would greatly inform his future actions.

Mickey left the weapon store with his Slate in hand as he inspected his equipment. So, when I'm using the dagger, my attack parameter increases by eight… Good to know.

With eyes on his Slate, Mickey approached the dispatch.

"Hi, Tralas Mick!"

Mickey tucked away his Slate to see Selia looking cheerful, standing behind the counter. "Hey, Selia. Got any quests?"

"Of course! Here's three we have available right now."

***

Defeat the Named Damned

Monsters of an era long gone haunt Asniels' lands. Defeat three of the named ones and give the land a momentary respite.

[Notice: 1/3 Named Damned have been defeated]

Rewards: 50 Gold, 25EXP, 75EX-EXP, [Node]Skill Bit

Find Five Landmarks

Asniels' boasts many hidden and forgotten visages. Go out and find five. Visit them, and something good will surely happen.

[Notice: 1/5 Landmarks have been found]

Rewards: 1EXC, 10 Gold, 20EXP, 25EX-EXP

Try Infinite Descent

Word tells of special dungeons only Trailblazers can enter. They say these dungeons have no end, only an infinite descent.

Trailblazer! Visit it!

Rewards: 25 Gold, 10EXP, 10EX-EXP, [+1%]Skill Bit

***

Hmm… These look like tutorial quests again with how they're introducing me to elements of the world… Not that that's a bad thing. I see an Excia in there and there's that [Node] bit—that'll be good for the future!

Mickey accepted the three quests and focused his attention on Selia. "Hey, Selia, by the way, who writes these quests? Is it you?"

"No, I receive them from the shrine's maiden in the morning."

"Huh? Really? Where does she get them from? Do you know?"

"She finds them on the shrine."

"…Huh. Did not expect that… So they appear out of thin air?"

"No, they appear from the light."

In other words, they might be coming from a higher power. Okay, I see now how that could lead me to the story—if there IS one... Mickey nodded and accepted that answer. "Okay, well, I'll be taking off now Selia."

"Of course. Will you be returning to Torea today?"

Mickey smiled back. "That's the plan. I'll see you later."

"Very well. I will await your return."

Mickey wanted to tell her to go home if it was too late, but he wasn't going to get in the way of an NPC's programming.

With his tasks for the morning done, Mickey made for the town's exit—

"Wait, hold on! I totally forgot! I hope I'll still be able to help her!"

"Oh, thank you so very much, Tralas Mick. Feel free to sneak one or two for yourself."

"No, I couldn't do that, Ms. Theresa. These are for Lonnie."

Theresa had been patiently waiting for Mickey outside her door, basket in hand, when he had finally arrived. She didn't seem all too bothered, which relieved Mickey's worries.

Theresa rested her cheek against her hand as Mickey received the basket of cookies. "I do hope he'll enjoy them."

"No doubt, Ms. Theresa. These cookies are amazing."

Mickey had returned to Theresa to fulfill a promise he made with her at the end of dinner the night before. He was going to deliver cookies to Lonnie. For his trouble, Mickey was greeted with an alert.

***

Instance Quest

Deliver Theresa's Cookies to Lonnie

A grandmother who loves her grandchild has prepared cookies for him. Have a heart; deliver the cookies to the hard worker.

Rewards: 1EXC, 10 Gold, 10EXP, 45EX-EXP

***

So this one is an "instance" one… Is it because I'm leaving town? Still, I'm glad I'm getting rewarded.

Mickey bid farewell to Theresa. The next stop? Lonnie's camp.

***

Now Loading...Stats

Tralas_Mick, Level 5:

HP:140, ATK: 17, DEF:15

Currencies:

EX-EXP: 480, Gold: 45

New Weapon:

Simple Dagger-> ATK + 8. Crit Rate+20%

Inter-Chapter Scene: Bidding Farewell to the Nice Guard

"Have a good day, Tralas Mick," Albert the guard shouted as Mickey jogged by.

"You too, Albert!"