Mack woke up the next morning earlier than usual, even before the time he used to wake up to get to class.
It should be noted that Iwa University had a very strict code when it came to their class schedule, meaning he had to arrive before 6 a.m. and leave after 6 p.m., what was a nightmare to not only him, but also half of the student body.
Thankfully, the special recess Iwa had given to their students had saved the boy from the daily torture, even more after working non-stop for 3 straight months, which had left him at the edge of collapsing, among other things.
Unfortunately, he didn't get much sleep. The entire night saw him tossing and turning on top of his bed, anticipating the new day as his mind swirled around what he needed to successfully clear the Dungeon.
Standing up from his bed he proceeded with his morning schedule, stretching, eating a light breakfast and taking a shower before getting back into his room to enter Archeon once again.
The VR Gear fitted like a glove, no scorch marks or anything that would give away the show of fireworks that happened the prior day.
Mack was still a little dubious about his Gear's safety, but not wanting to waste any more time he decided to have it checked later on. With a flash the familiar ceiling disappeared from his sight, being replaced by the wood ceiling of the Silver Sparrow.
Standing up he checked to see if anyone had tried to enter the room and steal from him. While the inn offered a type of protection since it was considered a Safe Zone, it didn't hurt to be a little more careful.
With how the developers intended to recreate Earth as a whole, Mack was certain there would be some way for players or even NPCs to steal from players while they were logged off, something that really bothered him.
He went down the stairs after finding that nothing was missing, payed the innkeeper and took to the streets, his destination being the smithy that Roark and Lina suggested.
It took him a few minutes to find the smithy, but when he did so he immediately stopped dead in his tracks. The place was bursting with people some of which, he noticed, were players while the others were NPCs. The two types of customers were bundled in messy lines that mixed with each other, making turns around the other side of the street, making it impossible for Mack to get even closer to it.
The boy looked in utter disbelief at the sight. "Why in hell were there so many people this early in the morning?!" he thought, the sun had just barely risen, the streets were still cold due to the night wind, and there seemed to be some people that had passed the entire night waiting!
It was only after he saw a small group of players holding some twisted pieces of wood, old parchment and some common looking ores that he finally understood what had happened.
Last night all the players at Gue Town went to attack the newly opened Dungeons, so it was obvious that there would be a lot of players with new materials and Blueprints waiting to get their hands on new equipment.
Mack cursed himself for being such an idiot and immediately decided to go to the Adventurer's Guild. If he couldn't get a weapon that he could use, the kukri being left for when he became level 5, then he would at least get himself a decent armor, his beginner clothes being useless to him right now, and stack some potions for their raid.
The building was deserted, just like last time, with the only people inside being the receptionist. Thankfully Roark was still there, which made things a little easier to him.
"Hey, Roark"
"If it isn't the seller from last night. What brings you back to the Guild so early in the morning?"
"Yeah, about that," Mack rubbed the back of his head, "I wanted to ask you to make some armor for me."
"I don't think you are gonna ask for one made with that leather you sold me last night, that would be too dumb," he mused, "so you have some other leather you want to have turned into armor, right?"
Mack nodded a little embarrassed.
"No need to get like that, many adventurers keep the best parts to themselves so they can get better armor, it's their nature," Roark simply laughed before turning serious, "but I won't be making an armor for free and you know that."
Mack was about to take the money out when Roark stopped him.
"Let's make a deal. As you know the Guild is in need of a lot of leather, so in exchange for making your armor you will bring at least 20 pieces of leather. It doesn't matter the source as long as you bring it and the quality is good."
"Deal?" he extended his hand.
Sudden Quest: [Gather Leather]
Difficulty: Minimal
Roark has requested you to gather at least 20 pieces of leather due to the crescent need of the Adventurer's Guild. In exchange he, as the best Leather Worker of Gue will craft you an armor.
Clear condition: Gather, at least, 20 pieces of leather (0/~20)
Reward: [Wolf Leather Armor]
Mack took a quick look at the panel before shaking Roark's hand, "Deal".
"Good. Just leave the leather with me and don't worry, I won't steal it"
"Heh, thanks," Mack gave the three pieces of leather to the crafter before turning to leave when his eyes caught sight of something.
*
*
*
By the time Mack had finished cutting the last wolf's throat the sun had reached its highest peak, the boy's body was drenched in sweat, or so it felt to him. It was quite weird how realistic the game made him feel, and he really didn't want to know if the program would recreate the fool smell of hours of work under the sun.
The process of hunting wolves had been quite easy at the beginning, the cool wind of the early morning was a good refresh after the fights, but as the day went by Mack noticed that the number of wolf packs became thinner and thinner, and he was sure it wasn't because of him.
He was in the middle of a battle when other players appeared and tried to kill steal from him. Thankfully he had already harvested the other corpses, so the loss wasn't much, but things became clear to him after the encounter. With the Dungeons being taken by the large guilds the other players had decided to use the common grounds to level up, and that meant fewer monsters to hunt and competition.
However, it didn't matter to him anymore, he had finished his hunt and collected enough wolf leathers so Mack left the forest grounds followed by a happy looking Leo who was bouncing rather than walking, he didn't seem so small either, having grown to twice his original size.
Reaching town Mack took a small detour before entering an alley and, much to Leo's dismay, recalled him into his card and logged off. He quickly ate something and tidied his house before logging back; he couldn't leave his place unattended.
It was already 2 p.m. when he arrived at the Guild and the building, differently from his last two visits, was filled with adventurers of all types. He had roughly two hours until his friends' arrived, so he went straight to Roark.
One of the receptionists pointed him towards a back room that worked as Roark's workplace. There were tables and frames all around, stashes and pieces of pelts, leather and other materials all separated through them.
Roark was waiting at one of such tables, looking at Mack with a smile. "Had any Luck?"
"Very," he brought out the materials harvested from the wolves, and the number exceeded the necessary amount.
Roark whistled at the sight, giving the small pile in front of him a good look then getting closer to check it. Making sure that everything was in order and the total number of materials he walked back to where he was sitting and took a small set of clothes, throwing them at Mack.
They consisted of a chest plate, a pair of bracers and shin guards, all of which had small decorations made with wolf teeth and claws, a grey hue surrounding them.
"You earned it, just don't expect the same kind of treatment the next time."
"Yeah, I got the feeling that this was a one-time kind of deal," he smiled giving Roark a handshake before putting his new armor on.
[Special Wolf Armor]
Level requirement: 3
Grade: Uncommon
Defense: +8
HP: +14
[Special Wolf Bracers]
Level requirement: 3
Grade: Uncommon
Defense: +5
HP: +8
[Special Wolf Shin Guard]
Level requirement: 3
Grade: Uncommon
Defense: +5
HP: +8
Mack smiled at the descriptions, it wasn't much, but was better than what he had. The quest had said that the minimal amount was 20, so he thought what would happen if he brought a higher number and went for it.
Hunting those extra wolves really payed in the end, and now was time to get the rest of the supplies, though Mack couldn't stop thinking that maybe he should have hunted more.
*
*
*
The Town Gates were once again abuzz with players, some were trying to form parties to enter the forest while others were preparing to leave the Town in direction of the Capital, the "real" starting point for players.
The young boy walked among the crowd unnoticed until he noticed a small group of six arriving. He immediately went to greet them but was beaten by a black skinned male with a metal chest plate who approached and gave him an old fashioned salute.
Mack chuckled at the gesture and responded the gesture before fist-bumping with his friend.
"You guys are earlier," he turned to the group, taking in their appearance.
Their physical looks didn't change much, but their wardrobes were quite varied. While Sal and Joy were both wearing metal chest plates and bracers, Jake and Carol had each a leather armor that closely resembled Mack's, save for the adorns, with Jake sporting a pair of daggers in his belt and Carol a rather thin sword. The last two wore robes of different colors, one seeming to be a perfect copy of Carol, with the difference that she was shorter by a foot, and had a white robe signaling her position as a Cleric, while the other wore a brown robe that closely matched her black hair.
The dark haired girl crossed her arms and huffed saying, "Saulo pushed us the entire way, he didn't even let us rest just because he 'didn't want to miss it'."
"Typical from Saulo, but don't worry Lud, you guys will have enough time to rest, but before that let's get going, there are a few things I have to tell you."
With that they parted towards the forest. Even after some of the Players had left to other areas the entire place was still brimming with people trying to hunt some monsters to level up. The group didn't give them much attention and proceeded deeper inside, but kept an open eye for possible 'rats'.
Once they reached the small clearing where the cave was and verifying that there were no guards/scouts outside Mack turned to his friends.
"Alright, you guys must have already tried to guess which class I have since I didn't tell last night. Well, truth is I didn't take the test at the guild," he held a hand to stall any questions and continued, "while I was sightseeing the town I stumbled across a weird looking tent, a few things happened and I got a Hidden Quest."
"So, you are saying you got…"
"Yeah, I got a Hidden Class" as if to prove his point he lifted his hand and a card appeared before spinning and flying to the ground. In a flash Leo appeared between the group and Mack, looking at the six stunned strangers in curiosity.
Carol was the first to snap out and her first action was to jump on Leo, hugging him so close to her that the red cub almost became blue. Mack immediately flicked his wrist, turning Leo back into his card form and then returning him to normal over his shoulder, something the lion became quite thankful for, and Carol pouted at.
"Cool! What else can you do?" Jake asked as he tried to get closer to the cub, only to get his hand slapped by the other party's paws.
"I can pretty much summon any creature or use any spell as long as I have them on my cards, the only downside is that they are one time uses only."
"Wait, if they are one-time uses only then does that mean-" Gabby began to ask but Mack immediately dismissed her.
"No, Leo here is a permanent one; it's kind of a special trait. I can have an infinite amount of spells and summon but they become one time uses, or I can have 40 permanent Spells/ Summons, but that means I can't change them once I have decided to make the deck permanent."
"So, how many spells do you have?" Lud asked.
"Just 1, an AOE Fire Spell," he sheepishly replied. "But it is a real good one since it can be upgraded, just like Leo right here can grow stronger, right bud?" he said tapping the cub's head which made him close his eyes like a cat and receive a few 'awws' from the group.
"Hm, if that is the case then that change a lot of things and could be really useful," Gabby murmured making Mack turn to her.
"That's exactly what I wanted to discuss with you and Lud."
"Us?" the two asked in unison.
"Yup. When you received your Spells you learned their Magic Circles too, right?" both nodded and Mack promptly made two blank cards appear over his open palms, though those two had a rather dull color to them. "Think you can write them on the cards for me to use?"
The two immediately caught on to what he was implying and immediately grabbed the cards to inscribe the circles on them. Meanwhile Mack turned to his other friends and started asking them about which weapons they used so he could get a better idea of how they would fight.
"I prefer a hammer over a sword since it's easier to strike and then retreat, has less chance of getting stuck on bones," Sal was the first to explain his choice, and it was quite a good one.
"I chose the Spear because I don't really do well in close range, and if this System chooses the classes like you said it did, then it becomes easier to me since I am accustomed to using a staff. They aren't so different." Joy' choice was little peculiar, but not outright weird.
It was only when he asked them about their defensive style that he sighed heavily and opened his Inventory, an annoyed look passing through Sal and Joy, "you owe me one."
He proceeded to take out two rustic looking shields and turned towards the two, "I know it may not go with what you guys have in mind, but someone has to be the Tank, and since both of you have the Warrior Class it will have to do. Just bear with it until we are finished, then you can give the Shields back to me."
"Why did you have two shields with you?" Jake asked looking at his friend.
"He most probably already knew the answer", Mack thought, "but decided to ask so the others could understand too".
"I have a plan for us to clear the Dungeon, but we will need the shields so listen…"
++++++++
Name: Mesphist
Level: 5
Class: Card Mage
HP: 240 (210+30)
MP: 450 (150+300)
Attack: 10 – 20
Defense: 18
World Reputation: 320
Titles: 1
Spell Cards: 1
Summon Cards: 1
Special Blank Card: 1
Normal Blank Cards: 37
Calamity Beast - Leo [Growth Type]
Grade : Unknown
Level : 3
ATK: 20 – 25
PhDEF: 20
MgDEF: 20