A rooster's crow served as Noah's wake up call. He had so far managed to sleep through the animal's early morning cries, but that day he was especially sensitive to the piercing caw. A low grumble escaped him as his heavy eyelids started opening slowly. The minimal light coming in from the window hurt him, and Noah had the absolute worst headache ever. He drank so much the night before. Somewhere in the third or sixth or twentieth game of Twenty-One that they played, Noah barely recalled taking several shots of the liquor at once. He groaned again and rubbed his throat, the memory of swallowing that much liquid fire causing a phantom pain.
"Mhmhm," a gentle voice whispered. Noah opened his eyes some more, noticing that a warm, soft weight was resting on his arm. The same feeling was pressing against his entire front, and Noah had to fight the urge to gasp when he realized what that feeling was. With fully open eyes, he saw the bare back of a woman. It was a familiar woman with long brown hair that smelled like strawberries. Noah lifted the blanket slowly and gulped. He and Raelynn were indeed laying together under them, pressed close to each other with Noah as the big spoon.
Naked.
Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god, Noah's mind screamed at him. The last moments he remembered from the night before was Raelynn and Teague helping him up to his room. He still had clothes on when Raelynn lowered him into the bed and given him a goodnight kiss on the lips. After that nothing was clear. In fact all his memories from that point were darkness.
Raelynn decided that was a good time to shift her body, pressing back against his crotch. Noah also realized where his other arm was resting. The arm was nestled tightly in the valley between his partner's breasts. All this was too much for the sleep and hangover weakened Noah. He made to sigh quietly, but the only sound that escaped him was a loud, long purr.
Fuck.
There was more stirring on Raelynn's side of the bed, and she clutched onto the arm resting in her cleavage tightly. That led to a chain reaction of pulling Noah closer to her, Noah being pressed firmly against her rear, and causing another loud purr from the once innocent fae. A giggle left Raelynn, and Noah finally got out that groan of frustration he had been storing up.
"How long have you been up?" Noah asked, trying to slowly move himself back a bit.
"A little bit before the cock crowed," Raelynn answered. Noah couldn't see the mischievous grin on her face as Raelynn mentioned the rooster. However, he could definitely feel as her hips followed his back. "You've been up for a while haven't you?"
"Nah," Noah replied, missing her little joke entirely. He had to admit this was a nice thing to wake up to, even if his heart wouldn't stop trying to beat right out of his chest. She was so warm, so soft. Her scent was so lovely. It wasn't just her hair. It was like Raelynn's entire body smelled of sweet, tasty berries. Noah felt himself fighting hard against his baser urges. Was it just a fae thing that described his insatiable want to pin the girl next to him down and claim her over and over? Or was that a normal thing that any regular guy would want when the woman next to them was naked and as beautiful as Raelynn?
"Did we-?" Noah asked, wanting to confirm the only suspicion he had left. In his mind, he was picturing a drunk and clumsy him doing his best to seek pleasure from Raelynn. It wasn't a pretty sight in the slightest.
"No, monsieur," Raelynn replied. There was a grim look on Noah's face, his little fantasy despite how awkward it seemed being shattered. Having his hand brought up to Raelynn's lips and receiving a gentle touch of her soft lips cheered him up some, though. "You passed out before we could really start."
"Oh," Noah said, feeling pretty damn foolish. He was pretty drunk, and the guys had warned him that he was going to simply black out by the time he got upstairs to his room. Unfortunately, he couldn't remember that early enough to not ask such a goofy sounding question. There were no issues during the card game with using coarse language with the others. They had even specifically discussed fucking, including a horribly graphic description to Noah, who was naïve and ignorant to the ways of fucking before, on the fine art that was fucking. But in front of Raelynn, there was politeness.
"You never talk about fucking with a woman," Dee had said to him.
"Or anyone you wanna fuck, really," Noah had recalled Rapide adding.
There was another soft kiss on his hand before Raelynn turned around to face him. The covers had started to fall off them, landing somewhere along Raelynn's waist. Noah was doing his best to focus on Raelynn's smiling face and her lovely blue eyes. The male gaze was a fickle thing though, and occasionally the young man's eyes would wander down for glances at her bare chest.
"You were very affectionate though," Raelynn said, leaning in to plant a chaste kiss on his neck. The nature of the kiss was meaningless though, as her leaning forward made her naked breasts press right against Noah. "I really thought we were going to make love, but somebody drank way too much booze last night. You conked out before the fun had started."
"Sorry about that," Noah replied. It wasn't a sufficient apology, but it was all he could think to muster. Another of his memories of the card game aided him, however. He leaned down to kiss Raelynn's forehead, saying to her in his best impression of a baritone. "I'd rather we share such a moment when I'm sober."
"Chicks dig sentimental crap," Teague had told him. "Kiss them (not on the lips, Roy added), say something romantic, and even the iciest heart will melt."
The Brawler's advice seemed to have worked because Raelynn immediately gave Noah a big grin and kissed him. It wasn't the gentle kisses that he recalled getting from her either. If his mind would clear, Noah would compare it to the one kiss that Isdiel had given him. His mind wouldn't be clearing anytime soon though. Raelynn's kiss was even better than the honey flavored ale, and a lot warmer too. Noah had a moment of pure misery when Raelynn finally broke it off, and she fixed him right up by scratching right behind his ear. Noah's purr that time was softer, but it was still enough to draw a little giggle out of the young lady with him.
"When we do this again, will you tell me all the things you told me last night?" Raelynn asked, gently caressing Noah's cheek and shoulder.
"No promises," Noah replied. What things had he told her last night? It must've been something amazing if he had managed to end up in the bed naked with her. Raelynn gave him a little pout, and he again decided to rely on Teague's wonderful advice.
"But I'll do my best," Noah said, bringing her hand up to his lips and planting his own soft kiss to them. "Just for you."
Raelynn looked overjoyed to hear that line from Noah. She smiled brightly at him then wrapped her arms around his chest in a tight hug. Again, the hug was less innocent than she may have intended, but Noah returned the hug anyway with his own warm smile.
"You have to get ready to go soon, don't you?" Raelynn muttered against his skin, her voice low and almost sultry.
"Regrettably," Noah replied. At first, he didn't want to go. Holding onto Raelynn just seemed so wonderful. It was the kind of lovely thing that he would enjoy doing all day. However, there were other matters that he had to attend to. Prior engagements took priority over holding a pretty, naked woman. Or Noah assumed they did anyway.
"Well, I'm letting you cheat and telling you one of the promises that you made me."
"What's that?"
"When you get back from whatever it is you're doing, I'm going to take a whole day off." Raelynn placed a quick peck on his chest, making Noah's heart speed up again. "And you're going to take me out on a picnic."
"Yeah," Noah replied. "That doesn't sound too bad."
Noah made a quick mental note that he would have to ask someone, anyone really, for advice. After all, pretty much every encounter with Raelynn he had so far had been rather intimate and ended with a lot of physical contact. A picnic, as far as Noah thought, was not that kind of thing. It probably wasn't something he would be able to ask the guys about. At the very least he wouldn't be able to talk to them without having the piss taken out of him. That left Noah with only one other option.
Noah would likely have to ask Isdiel for advice about a date with another woman.
--
The journey of Noah and Teague to the Eastern Forest Outpost was simple enough. They simply walked to a Gate at the eastern end of town and stepped through it. This put them at a place unfamiliar to Noah but not the least bit threatening. In fact, the land that the Outpost was on was quite beautiful. Grassy fields stood tall on all sides of the long, winding, dirt country road. Far off in the distance behind them, they could see what Noah assumed was Remnant. Going forward on the road led to a thick, dark forest with a Gate in front of it. Noah was confident that particular Gate would lead to a dungeon. There was the faintest sight of a red smoke swirling around in it.
More impressive than the simple nature around them was the Outpost itself. It was a massive two story building made from logs of the Eastern Forest itself. Though it was shorter than The Risen Moon (the largest building that Noah had ever seen before), the building easily took up more land in length and width. Two large circular windows stood on the front of the building like two clear eyes looking at any potential visitors. Hanging off the roof of the wooden porch that could've easily fit Noah's bedroom was a sign that read
Eastern Forest Outpost
All Adventurers Welcome
"Come on," Teague said. "We need to go in and get you registered."
"Registered?" Noah asked as the two started walking up to and along the porch. The boards creaked with their desperate pleas to be replaced under their footsteps.
"Yeah. Trust me, it's worth it."
Taking his word for it, Noah continued to walk along with Teague to the front doors of the Outpost. They opened with a similar creak to the boards on the porch as the two young adventurers stepped inside.
Noah had expected the inside of the Outpost to resemble The Risen Moon more. While the décor was relatively similar, the atmosphere was far different. There were large lanterns hanging down from the ceiling to light the large room when natural light was no longer available. The middle of the room had an abundance of tables and chairs where adventurers were currently sitting and conversing. However, their conversing was calm. The entire feeling of the room was not the merry, nonstop party that The Moon could turn into. No, the mood of the room was a lot more focused. Everyone here was ready to work.
"Damn, they've got like everything here," Teague mentioned, looking around the room. The walls of the long lobby were lined with tables. Each table was loaded with all the different tools an adventurer could need. There were weapon merchants barking about how their swords were all the best. The jewelry dealers would place their trinkets on the potential customers, telling them just how much stronger they looked in them. The alchemists were conspiring with each other at their tables, trading ingredients for their valuable potions.
Noah looked less at the tables along the walls and was more focused on the counter in the corner closest to him. There was a small crowd of people at the counter, waiting patiently to speak to the young brunette behind them. He had seen merchants before, but never had he seen a person place something on a counter only for the person behind the counter to give them gold. And the things that were being on the counter were various. A short-haired fae that looked only a little older than Noah himself had placed a handful of long, blue feathers atop the counter. He didn't get too many coins from the woman. The next man had placed three short, gnarled looking black claws that Noah recognized all too well. The woman gave him a small pouch that clinked with coins in exchange for the goblin claws. Behind him was a woman covered in a white cloak. She pulled out from her Item Box the mummified arm of a kobold. She and the girl behind the counter had started arguing when Teague had whipped Noah around to face the opposite direction.
"That's the place we want to go," Teague explained, pointing to the other counter on their side of the room. There was no one waiting in line at this counter, and the elf girl with her green hair tied back in a pony tail looked bored beyond reason.
With a shove forward, Noah led the way to the counter. When he got close, the girl looked up at him with a set of very uninterested eyes. She pulled a pair of thin glasses out of her shirt pocket and put them on, adjusting them compulsively on the bridge of her nose as she talked to them.
"Welcome to the Eastern Forest Outpost Registrar's Desk," she said, straightening out a stack of papers in front of her. "My name is Carol Ann. How may I help you gentleman?"
"Hi," Teague said, pushing Noah forward enough that the counter had started to dig into him. "My buddy here needs to register and get his new bracer."
"My what?" Noah asked.
"Hand please, sir," Carol Ann said, stooping down behind the counter and out of sight. Noah, still stationary with his confusion, didn't resist as Teague manually picked his wrist up atop the counter. With a little fiddling and a quiet click, Noah's Starter Bracer fell off his arm and landed on the table. Carol Anne returned to view, holding a similar looking bracelet. While his original starter one was clearly made of some cheap copper material, this new bracer looked to be made from a slightly higher quality bronze.
"Here we go," Carol Ann said as she clicked the bracer onto Noah's wrist. The metal was cool against his arm. She then grabbed Noah's hand in both her own before looking Noah directly in the boy's eyes.
"Do you vow to uphold your oath and act properly in a behavior reflecting that of a true adventurer?" Carol asked him. Noah shivered as a cold energy started to encase his hand. He looked down to see blue smoke tendrils attach Carol Ann's hand to his. They wavered back and forth in the air as they continued to attach to him, like odd worms striking against him.
"Wha-," Noah began to ask.
"Just say yes," Teague whispered in his ear.
"Yes. Yes!" Noah probably would've said anything to stop the weird feeling that the smoke tendrils were causing him.
"Thank you, sir," Carol Ann said with a smile. The cold that exuded from the ends of the tendrils left and was replaced by a soothing warmth. The blue smoke worms had turned red, and then slowly receded back into Carol Ann's body.
"That's it?" Noah asked.
"That's it." Carol Ann answered.
Registration may have been completed, but for some reason Carol Ann was still holding tightly onto Noah's hand. When he tried to pull them back, she seemed to grip his hand even tighter.
"Y'know," she whispered just loud enough for Noah to hear. "You're pretty cute for a fae."
"Thanks, I guess," Noah replied, not sure if what she just told him was a compliment or not.
"I get off work after sundown." Carol Ann's gentle fingers had started caressing the back of Noah's hand slowly. "Maybe you can come back here and keep me company."
"Just give us a job, lady," Teague demanded as he pulled Noah free from the woman's grip. She gave him a loud "Hmph" and shoved a paper from the stack in front of her into Teague's hand. Carol Ann then sat down on the little stool behind her desk, turning her back to her customers.
"C'mon Noah. We'll get ready outside."
Teague led Noah outside as he read over the paper they had just received. They stood beside one of the many tables out there to get ready for whatever they were about to do. Teague conjured up his Item Box, and Noah copied him as Teague read from the paper aloud.
"We're going to fight something called a 'feral mole,'" Teague explained, retrieving his staff from the endless box before him. "Says here they're a one star."
"One star?" Noah asked, tightening his belt around his waist and socketing the potions onto it.
"Monster strength is ranked in stars. Goblins, and these mole things I guess, are really weak so they're all one star."
"That doesn't sound too bad." Though the goblins were frightening looking creatures, they weren't particularly threatening unless there were a large group of them. Curiosity was getting the better of Noah as he slipped his ring on, and he continued with his endless questions.
"So what would a kobold rank at?"
"Probably a two star," Teague answered while he pulled on his leather gloves. "It takes something really nasty to get higher than a three star. None of us have come across anything stronger than that yes."
"Probably because you and your friends are a bunch of weak, seri types I bet," an unfamiliar voice called from behind them.
"Wanna say that to my fuckin' face?" Teague spat, whipping around to look for the source of the voice with a snarl on his face.
As Noah looked back, the first thing he saw were two full grown women, both wearing long white cloaks that covered them from their shoulders down to their feet. One of the women, the taller one, was a blonde elf with a green strip of cloth over her eyes. Noah wasn't sure how this woman managed to see where she was going. The other woman was shorter, measuring about the same height as Katrine. Like Katrine, this girl's hair was also blue. However, the strangers hair was a much lighter shade of the color. Noah would've thought she was another human, if it were not for the furry triangle shaped ears that stood atop her head. It was hard to determine their exact body shape beneath their cloaks, but Noah could notice that the tall elf's cloak clung a bit tighter to a set of broad shoulders, whereas the smaller girl with the cat ears had a great deal of excess cloak that seemed to drag across the ground.
Neither of them were the source of the earlier taunt, though. To find the one that shouted at the pair earlier, Noah had to look down between the two women. Standing there, proudly and with an arrogant smirk on his face, was a dark-haired elf child. His face was still round with youth, and the earliest signs of stubble hadn't even started to show yet. A pair of amber eyes with hints of brown was looking at them from across the porch, giving them a sly look.
"How uncouth," the little boy said. "Of course, such is to be expected from some seri Easterman."
Teague started to step forward, great desire for pummeling the annoying little brat into the ground painted vibrantly across his face. Noah managed to grab his arm and pull him back towards their table. Teague gave him an incredulous look, to which Noah just pointed over to the trio opposite them. The tall elf had pulled back her cloak slightly, showing an unsheathed curved sword resting against her side.
"Why bother even hunting such easy prey?" the boy asked. His cocky grin may not have left, but Teague's attempted approach did at least make him step a bit further back behind his cloaked companions. "There's almost no gold in those rats anyway."
"How about you just let us do what we want, little guy?" Noah asked, adding a little jibe at the end just for good measure. That seemed to really make the red rise in his face, but a stern look from the cat-eared girl seemed to instantly start calming him.
"I hope those rats gut you seris," the boy said. With a snap, he and the women started walking towards the door. "That's the least you deserve." The trio entered the Outpost and slammed the door shut behind them.
After a few moments of silence, Noah reached into his item box and pulled out his sword. He fastened the weapon into place on his belt and sent the Box away with Teague doing the same with his shortly afterward.
"Don't let him get under your skin, man," Noah said, seeing the remnants of the furious look from before still resting on Teague's face.
"Little punk doesn't know a damn thing," Teague replied. He looked back down at the job paper rather than at Noah. He gave the paper a slap and big grin popped up on Teague's face.
"We're in luck Noah," Teague said, looking from paper to Noah and back.
"Why?" Noah asked as he walked up beside Teague and took a look at the paper himself. Teague was pointing at one line in particular located a little more than halfway down the page.
Boss Monster is also present. Expect one extra 3 star enemy!
Equipment Change:
Noah
Starting Bracer unequipped.
Journeyman Bracer equipped. All STATS + 2
Torchlight skill added.
Home Gate skill added.
Auto Loot option added.
--
From the Adventurer's Guide
Section on Basic World Knowledge
Job's and Quests! An Adventurer's Bread and Butter!
Good tidings adventurer. I'm Celsi, Divine in charge of all the cool shit that you'll see in the world. but for now I wanna teach you all about how you will likely be making all your cash in the world. I personally love material things, and because that I always need cash. You can beat down monsters and sell their pieces forever. But the only way you can make any real gold is by doing jobs and quests.
Each of these can be gained from visiting your local Registrar's Desk. There will always be something available for you do. Whether it be hunting down packs of monsters, or simply delivering packages from one village to another, you can always expect to get a nice bag of yummy, shiny coins. Just remember all rewards have to be split equally between the party members.
Let's discuss the difference between the two.
Jobs are usually smaller scales. Expect to do maybe one short or even no dungeons in order to complete these tasks.
Quests are a bit more complicated than that. They usually involve some background research on your own, and can span over several large dungeons. It all pays off in the end though, with massive rewards being available. As such, these don't come around to the desk quite as often, and usually only one party at a time can work on them.
Always be prepared for the journey ahead of you, Adventurer!