Eldrian looked ahead further, trying to make sense of the crowd. They clearly didn't look like NPCs. Unfortunately, he had no method to find out, or at least he didn't know-how. As such, Eldrian started walking towards a group that was forming in the crowd.
This group was forming in front of what looked like a roadside booth. As Eldrian approached, a female player came to him and asked, "Excuse me sir, are you perhaps here to register for a guild?"
Confused, Eldrian looked at the group again. This time he saw that normally a few people, probably friends, grouped together with another person who had a piece of paper.
"Um, no. Wait. How can you already form a guild? I thought no social interactions have been implemented yet. Did someone already find the method to start a guild?" A confused Eldrian looked at the girl who approached him. She had dark brown hair, pretty eyes, and looked quite pretty to Eldrian.
"Ah, no. It isn't for official registration but rather to gather people, for when we do unlock the guild function. You see, even if we can't form a guild, it should be useful if you can contact many people for events later in the game." She replied in a friendly manner.
As she spoke, Eldrian found her to be superb at this type of work. It certainly seemed to work on him, since he wanted to give his details now.
"That does sound useful. But I don't think I should make a commitment yet when I have no idea of, well...anything. For now, I just want to explore this world. Can you maybe tell me how to recognize NPCs? I assume you had to talk with them to set up this booth inside the temple."
"Yes, you are correct. We had to ask some NPCs. But the method is easy just use your identity skill. And are you sure you don't want to join us?" She replied as she held a laugh. 'This person seemed to be a complete noob in gaming,' were her thoughts.
"Ah… This seems to be one of the limits…" Eldrian muttered after looking for skills mentally. In this game, the interface was used by consciously thinking about the things you want to know. It was very confusing at first.
"Sorry, what did you say?" She asked, having not heard his muttering clearly.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to say that aloud. But this will also work. Can you point me to an NPC please?" Eldrian asked after considering that this might be his best method to be introduced to this world.
"Oh sure. Why wouldn't you have the ability tough?" She asked as she pointed to an old-looking man. His hair was of silver-grey color, due to aging. Eldrian mentally locked these rough-looking NPCs into his head as he turned back to the girl to end their conversation.
"It seems to be part of the limitation on High Elf players. I didn't expect to not even be able to inspect people or items. Seems like we truly do have limits to counter our strong race." Answered Eldrian. He was also curious about how extensive this limit will be.
"Wow, you sure are daring. No one I know of decided to try the High Elven race. Since you know, it said extremely difficult and had 3 warning indications." She said as she looked at Eldrian anew. 'Seems this guy is taking this game quite seriously.' She thought.
"Haha, nothing like that. It is just that I had always been fascinated with fantasy, and after looking at the description of High Elves, I thought it would actually fit my plans well. To enjoy the world, not the game." Eldrian said, trying to dispel any misconception he might have just created.
"Really, how impressive... Most in our guild just want to play this new type of game. We are even planning on going monster-slaying in a few hours. You are welcome to join." Hope shined in her eyes as she said that.
High Elf players were a rare sight. She really wanted to befriend one for reference to her friends who couldn't join the first launch. 'Maybe the race isn't too bad.' She thought.
"Haha, how would I even go about fighting? I have no skills nor weapons. I feel I would just be asking for my death doing such a bold action. But thank you for the invitation, miss?" Eldrian said the last part questioningly.
"Ah, sorry… I forgot to introduce myself and our guild. It just surprised me so much with your questions. I am Elizabeth, and our guild is called Flaming Heart." She replied, embarrassed by her lack of basic etiquette.
"Then Elizabeth, thank you very much for your help. My name is Haru, and well I am going to talk to that NPC now. Enjoy your hunting later." Eldrian said as he started walking to the NPC.
"It was my pleasure Haru. If you ever want some help, or just party up then give me a call later. I heard rumors that a friend system was going to be added later. Along with an improved system interface." She said just before he left earshot.
'Now how would she know about an update coming? I don't remember reading anything like that. But she was very friendly, so if such a system is added, I will add her,' Eldrian thought as he walked over to the grey-haired NPC.
When he neared this NPC, he quickly concluded that this guy must have seen quite a few battles. The NPC was standing with his arms folded, showing a big scar running over his right arm. It certainly looked like it hurt.
He also had a scar over his cheek and a bunch of smaller scars over his body. This NPC was also very fit, or so Eldrian believed. He looked like the classic example of a mortal Hercules. As he approached, the NPC turned and looked at him.
"Are you one of those Chosen something?" He asked quizzically, as if he was testing Eldrian.
"Ah, yes, sir. I am a Chosen adventurer." Eldrian answered as he swallowed with difficulty. Something from this NPC just instilled a kind of fear into him.
"You clearly came to me. So, what do you want?" The NPC glared at Eldrian. This caused Eldrian to swallow hard again. 'This guy is so intimidating!'
"Sir, you look like you are a warrior. Or at the very least, you have been in combat a lot. Would you mind teaching me?" Eldrian said this all rushed. Even when he realized that this was a game, he just couldn't come over the fact that this guy scared him.
"Mmm. Why? Do you want me to teach you?" He asked, relaxing his glare a bit. Now he just looked at Eldrian quizzically again.
"Um, well. I feel that to be safe in this world we came to, we certainly have to learn the basics at least. Secondly, I always wanted to learn how to fight. So, will you please teach me?" Eldrian started sweating as he was saying this. The most difficult thing for Eldrian was keeping eye contact with this NPC.
[Quest condition met. Sub-quest completed]
[Quest: Gain acknowledgment completed.]
[Favorability with NPC increased by 5]
Seeing the notification, Eldrian was flabbergasted and his thoughts ran wild, 'Was that pressure I felt a type of quest? What was the reason for succeeding? Eye contact or my reason for wanting to learn? Or both? Ah, never mind, this indicates I can gain a quest from him. Awesome!'
"You seem capable. The previous Chosen decided to just turn tail after I asked them why they approached me."
"Thank you, I guess." Eldrian awkwardly said, not sure how he should respond. 'What was this NPC's deal? Is he mean or just tough?'
"Now then, since I decided to teach you, we will begin with the basics. So, follow me to the training field." The NPC said as he started walking out of the temple.
"Ah, sir, what is your name? Mine is Haru" Eldrian asked as he followed the NPC.
"You don't need to know my name yet. So just call me Old Sword. It is what most people in this city call me by." He replied as he continued on.
After exiting the temple, Eldrian was surprised to find that next to the temple just about a hundred meters away was a training field. 'What a weird place for a training field.' Eldrian thought.
"I can see you confused why we have a training field here, besides a temple. The answer is you guys. We received an oracle about a month ago from the goddess of life. This is her temple," Old Sword said as he pointed to the temple they just came out of.
"She told her clerics and priests that she and the other gods are going to summon people from a different realm to help us. From what I saw so far, you aren't going to help much. Still, after hearing this, we converted the park, near the temple, into a training field for you Chosen to start training." Old Sword sounded rueful at this part.
"But we never imagined that none of you wanted to train. About 200 hundred of you already ran out into the wilds. After just buying some basic weapons. In fact, you are the first sane Chosen I have met. Or so appear somewhat sane at least. We will see when we start training." As Old Sword finished this part, they arrived at the training field.
Eldrian decided to keep quiet since for the NPCs this was their life, not just a game. At least they seemed really lifelike. Players certainly weren't thinking about them.
Indeed, this was the first deep dive game, so players still had the old MMORPG mindset. Or rather it was one of the first, another released a few days ago, but this game -Isekai to elven lands- did not have the ability to replace sleep.
"Okay, we are here. What weapon do you want to train in?" Old Sword asked as he pointed at the weapon rack next to the fence which surrounded the field. Weapon racks were placed next to every entrance into the field. There were three entrances where the fourth would have been, a wooden cover was installed.
"Let's start with a spear," Eldrian said as he walked over and took a spear.
[You have accepted the quest, A Veterans Training. Quest level of E, due to the player race being High Elf quest level risen to D.]
[Quest Name: A Veterans Training]
[Quest giver: Old Sword]
[Quest Rank: E -> D]
[Quest Progress: 0/1]
[Quest time limit: 2 days]
[Quest Limiter: No XP may be gained, from kills, while this quest is active]
[Quest reward: unknown, condition to continue training with Old Sword]
"Okay, I expect you to master a weapon to rank 1, within two days. It does not need to be the spear." Old Sword said as he also took a spear and walked to a nearby training dummy.
Melee training dummies were placed on the outskirts of the training field. Lengthwise, there were some archery targets, with a wooden cage at the back which blocked where the fourth entrance would have been.
Eldrian was not surprised to receive a quest since he already got a hint to it from the previous notification. What did surprise him was the quest rank. He remembered one of the devs' posts mentioned quest ranking briefly.
The difficulty for normal quests ranged from ZZZ to SSS, with Z being menial repetitive quests, F-G repetitive with a cooldown after each success. E-C normal level quests which weren't repeatable, B-A Rare and difficult quests, S-SSS of great difficulty and rarity. There was also a teaser in the post stating that these were only standard quests.
"Okay let's get into it. The basic rule of fighting is, try not to get hit while you hit the enemy. Sounds dumb, but believe me it works. Once you get that down you have to then learn to hit them in a manner that will cause some actual damage, or even kill them."
"Lastly, if it is a bladed weapon you want to hit them with the sharpened edge. This is called edge alignment. And that is what you are going to train on." Old Sword said as he also demonstrated the moves.
Eldrian carefully observed what Old Sword did and tried to remember his words. As Old Sword spoke he demonstrated. For the first rule, he kept at the max distance of the spear and struck at the dummy.
With the next rule, he struck hard at the dummy, but only hit with the pole. With the final rule, he struck at the dummy again with the edge. As he struck a deep cut was made into the dummy, with the spearhead disappearing into the dummy.
"Naturally with a spear, you do not need to strike, you can also thrust." Old Sword said as this time he had thrust the spear into the dummy. Again, the spearhead disappeared into the dummy.
"So, what is the key?" Old Sword asked after pulling out the spear.
"The key is to hurt the enemy more than he can me and the best method of doing this is through ensuring, when I hit him, the weapon will be efficient. Unlike you showed when the pole hit the dummy." Eldrian answered as he remembered the key facts.
He was surprised at how little Old Sword taught him.
It was so basic. Boring even.