As Raphael picked up the belt and fastened it around the loops of his pants, he noticed a crumpled up piece of paper that had been underneath the belt. Picking it up, he smoothed it out and could barely make out a crude map of Blue River Village and its vicinity.
Most of the village was surrounded by a blur marked simply as forests, including the one Raphael had first spawned in. The stone-paved road that travelled through the village travelled from a mining site in the west and continued to Archosa in the east. The familiar chime rang out, as a game notification popped up.
▸ First Origo map fragment acquired. Regional Map System has been unlocked. Congratulations! ◂
Opening his personal map, Raphael inspected it solemnly. Less than a tenth of the region was shown, due to the fragment Bernard had left for him. Blue River Village was at the center of the bottom part of this region, and Archosa was no better - it was placed a bit higher and to the east, but even after reaching it, Raphael would not have travelled more than a fifth of the region's height.
'Trudging along on foot is such a bummer, man I can't wait for mounts to become a thing.' Raphael thought, having tightened the belt. He checked the potions and gem, each type in its corresponding pouch. Luckily, although the system marked 3 out of the 5 pouches as occupied, it didn't require Raphael to only put 1 item in each pouch. Beginner potions like these were kept in tiny vials that were topped with a cork. They could hold no more than 25 milliliters of liquid inside, so it was natural that each pouch could fit at least 2 of them.
What made him even happier was that while 3 of the 5 pouches were placed at his back, the other 2 were near his pockets, which made them easy to use for important items. On top of that, the design was ingenious, as the side pouches actually had false bottoms that could be uncoupled, which enabled Raphael to use them to store his two current weapons - the aged hammer and flimsy dagger.
Having accepted the mission, Raphael decided to make his way around town and search for other corresponding quests. Typically there would be at least a few, but after half an hour of going around town, introducing himself and firmly keeping a smile plastered to his face, Raphael gave up.
'What is up with this damn zone? The Mayor, the Church, the Militia, even the villagers - none of them have any quests whatsoever!' he thought, frustrated to no ends.
This was quite atypical, as games would often offer a few low-level quests to help players grind up their level. The only explanation that Raphael could think of was that accepting the Archos quest locked players out of doing any other quests. At the very least, it would partially explain the halfling's curious actions.
Despite not finding anything else to do, Raphael had not entirely wasted his time, as he had managed to sell off the three Vagrant items he had, winning himself 4 Copper coins! Sadly, they had almost entirely vanished, as he had had to use three of them to get his Wanderer's Cloak repaired. Its durability had fallen to 3 out of 5 during the fight with the Aged Wild Boar, so he had no choice but to repair it or risk losing its useful bonuses. Of course, that did not mean that he did so without reluctance - he had felt like crying when he looked at the solitary copper coin in his palm, after he had payed off the lovely young lady at the Clothing Shop.
Realizing that he had nothing else to do, but slowly make his way towards the neighboring town, Raphael took a good look at his current gear and their bonus attributes, tallying their effects up.
He now had +5 to both Cold and Heat Resistance, as well as a whopping 19 Defense! The Old Hammer would be his Main Hand weapon, while the Rusty Dagger would become his off-hand choice. Although the hammer was slow, it would offer better damage, between 9 and 15 to be precise, while the dagger that had now been relegated to his left hand would only deal 4 to 6.
His combination of weapons would typically be frowned upon, but since Raphael was used to wielding heavy weapons, it was actually easier for him to use a hammer, instead of a dagger. This would allow him to have a higher damage output, as well as make use of his until-now empty offhand slot.
'Well, nothing left but to get going then.'
Raphael marched down the main road, receiving curious glances from the villagers. His tall stature, standing at a meter and 90 centimeters, along with his shoulder-length gray hair and amber eyes, were definitely rare, but it was actually his equipment which drew the most looks.
A hammer and dagger in a makeshift belt, coupled with a typical blacksmith's get-up‽ A few old men, which were lazily sitting in front of their shops, even started outright laughing at his appearance.
Raphael blushed and quickly covered himself with his cloak, accelerating his tempo towards the East Gate.
'What are you blushing about, you imbecile…, it's not like they're real people.' he chastised himself, trying to get a grip of his emotions.
His face having returned to its usual pale hue, he stood in front of the East Gate. One of the guards did a quick check, holding his hand over the identity tag that was now hanging around his neck.
"You're free to pass, Mr. Lefevre." The guard stiffly answered, as he gave a signal to the other militiamen, the gates slowly opening.
"Thank you, may the gods be with you." Raphael answered, as he hid the identity tag yet again. He felt a little perturbed at the identification method the village used, as it included strangers touching him.
'They're not real, Jiver, stop worrying about a little physical contact!'
The Thief made his way out of Blue River Village, the gate closing loudly behind his back. A wind was picking up, forcing him to put the hood of his cloak over his head.
He walked with a brisk tempo, happy to finally be out in the open. Having lived in the wilderness for most of his previous life, Raphael felt caged when he stood inside buildings. At one point it had gotten so bad, that he had had to go to a psychiatrist, as he feared it would evolve into a full-on claustrophobia.
As he got further along the road, its state of disuse became more apparent. Within just a month, numerous weeks and wild grasses had started growing out of the cracks between the stone slabs. Raphael crouched and broke off a stalk from one of the wild grasses, placing one end in his mouth. The other side drifted with the wind, side to side as he slowly chewed.
"Now all I need is a dog named Indiana." he said with a chuckle, sauntering down the road as if he was riding the world's tiniest pony.
The trees started swaying from side to side as the wind picked up speed, lifting up Raphael's cloak over his head. With a few anxious movements, he whisked it back into his place, scowling as he looked up.
'Oh come on, AI in the Sky! Stop ruining my mood…'
Suddenly, he faintly heard a couple of growls, the wind almost covering the sound of imminent danger.
Raphael gulped once and slowly turned around.