"My… my clothes master?" Spoon stuttered in embarrassment. When he spawned in this game, Spoon was given rations for a day in his pocket along with some beginner clothes. It can be considered next to nothing and with the time that has gone by most of his food and water is already eaten by him. So at the current moment, the clothes he wore made up 80% of his capital. 'What kind of weird quest is this? Did the devs make it as a joke for new players?... or is it an easter egg?... Well, let's see what happens next."
"Is something the matter boy?... I know asking for your clothes may be uncouth of me and for you who are also poor and hungry, it may be a huge request, but look at me. I am old and my bones are brittle to the cold wind." Looking at the conflicted expression of the player in front of him, Girisia thought of pushing the player a bit further.
He gestured toward the players who were eyeing his conversation with Spoon and said. "It's not like I am asking for your clothes for free, look at your back, it seems some youngsters are already interested in my offer. So if you can't decide now young man, I will just make an exchange with those who know to appreciate a good opportunity. It's not like I can handle the cold for long anyways." Girisia threatened in his own way with his eloquent voice, pressuring Spoon further.
And as those players saw the interest of Girisia decrease toward Spoon, the other players around them who had heard the conversation suddenly stepped toward them, even the female players.
'What kind of AI is this? They can receive responses from expressions alone and just because I was conflicted, I didn't even say anything yet… Is this AI really a troll created by devs?' Spoon thought, but he then turned behind and saw the other players eyeing his opportunity. 'Even the girls in this game have no shame.'
"No, no need sir. I accept your request… I was just a bit embarrassed due to your request, nothing more. Please take the clothes." Spoon shook his hand telling Girisia to not worry and slowly undressed leaving only his white underwear on his body. His exposed body did make him a center of attention for some and he can even hear some people take pictures of his body, but he just held his embarrassment in.
For now, he has learned that in this new game, NPCs are pretty advanced and he needs to take steps cautiously around people if he doesn't want to receive any more weird quests. And as Spoon handed his clothes to the old beggar in front of him, a prompt sounded in his ear.
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Reward: 21 exp and information on the sustenance
[Affinity with the beggar +5]
"Thank you young man., these old bones will be warmer due to your help." Girisia really appreciated the player in front of him, the clothes were pretty clean and light, giving him a feeling he hasn't felt since he came to this world six months ago.
"As for your reward, it's easy. Currently we are in a safe zone, so there are a lot of farmsteads around the area. So all you need to do is find one of them, the closest one if I remember right is five kilometer west of here. I remember hearing from the guards that the owner of that farm is looking for temporary serfs that he usually employs from the city. But as the city is closed down he can't go to the city to look for them, so there is your opportunity, go and apply for a job there." Girisia gladly told what he remembered, he recalls the place his brother brought them to in his previous life, but now it can be used as a bargaining chip.
As for Spoon himself, all he felt was elation. If not for the cold wind against his naked skin stopping him, he would have long run away to the farm with little ration he had left in his bag. For now his priority was to look for clothes.
But what he didn't know was that people around him also heard the words of the beggar and ignoring his shivering self, they left the place in hurry, toward the west.
"Wait, why is everyone moving to that place? Didn't they need to do the quest to get the same info?" It took a while for Spoon's mind to process what has happened, his mind has blanked out a bit after seeing the pixelated penis of the beggar when he was changing to Spoon's donated clothes. "
"What are you speaking about, foolish boy? They got working ears and an empty stomach, of course they will run towards the place where their stomach leads them. It's your fault for taking so much time looking at "things"." Girisia derided Spoon in a pompous voice, while he rubbed the grime from his beard with his old dirty clothes. He felt very refreshed now.
On the other hand, Spoon was devastated, he thought he had sacrificed his clothes for nothing. If he had just stood aside before and let some other player give up their clothes, at least he didn't need to suffer under a cold and still know the destination.
Though he soon recovered out of his self pity and tried to break into a run. He can still catch up to them, though if he didn't, who knows how many serfs the farm owner will employ. But a hand on his shoulder broke his run.
"Boy, now don't be in a hurry like those foolish people. There is still something I forgot to mention." GIrisia said as he rubbed his new clean clothes in giddy while looking at the experience he earned through the small quest. He now had a stable way to gain experience without putting his life at risk.
"Look above boy, the clouds in the air are not normal. Soon the clouds will rain acid, though not harmful in of itself, it will still cause mild skin irritation and blisters." Girisia said as he pointed his finger at the sky.
Then he turned his finger towards the ground. "And that's not all, the ground that you stand on hides lots of insects among which some are poisonous and all of them search for a warm body to bite into, without proper preparations, those that run away are probably going to die."
"Then… then why didn't you mention it before?" Spoon asked as he looked at the dirt ground in horror.
"Why would I mention something so common that even a four year old child knows." Girisia said with a mischievous smile.
Though he also wanted to end this conversation as nothing was to be gained from Spoon for now, so he continued. "Do you treat me like a fool boy? I have seen your people appearing out of thin air and acting like complete idiots for the past day. Though I have to say, your made up story was really cute and it brought to the life of this poor beggar."
"But as you took time to fulfill this old guy's request, let me tell you something. Take my old clothes and cover your body with it, the acidic rain will probably cause the insects to dig deeper into the ground and they won't come up for a few hours after it. So that will be your cue to go to the farm." He gladly gave lessons to the young player, in his previous life he and his siblings barely made it to the farm, though his sister was poisoned by that point and Girisia and his older brother Gyatri both had blisters on their skin.
"Just wait for a while, under these city walls, like me." He said leaving Spoon, who stood there shocked by Girisia's words and moved toward the gate where the majority of the beta players were grouping together. He still planned to use up his rest of the quest point, he can still give out nine of them.
"The NPCs in this game are pretty scary." Spoon grimaced as he picked up the dirty clothes that once belonged to Girisia. "This smells bad."
It would be a lie to say Spoon was not angered by the event, but he soon mused while looking at the yellow clouds. 'Guess those leeches will die before reaching the farm.'
And as Girisia has said before, the first droplet soon fell on the players causing most of them to run towards the walls to find shelter from the rain. As for those that couldn't find one, they could only grimace with a new status effect they just obtained.