After the base was established, the players were rounded up once again, along with Girisia.
"Enough chit-chat, we will be giving you the map, follow the marks and scan the areas for any disturbances." This man held the same voice as it was on the comms, a man who Girisia felt a bit nostalgic about.
'I was not sure before, but it really is Tarkov.' Girisia wondered.
"Now find the person who has to explore the same place and team up." The man called Tarkov added before leaving the player to their own devices.
And this is how Girisia met StarkillerTara for the first time.
*****
Girisia gawked at the reward of this mission, a full 400exp on success, was huge for even someone like him. He was only 700 experience points away from leveling up for the first time. But he never planned to use his point in level up, he was still focused on obtaining the class upgrade material with the help of GrannyRussia. He still had ten mission points in his hand as of today.
As for Tara, she was happy to be with the famous "hidden" NPC that lived among the players. "Uncle Korus, is there something I can do for you?... I mean anything?" Tara playfully winked twice at Girisia as if she wanted to do something naughty, but Girisia didn't fall for her charm and he also knew what this player wanted from him. The players in the barracks regularly came to him for "safe" missions and free experience points from their point of views, and each time he has happily obliged to their request.
He was glad that his brother didn't seem to show much interest in him and only ever visited him one time to extract some "lore" of the world from him, an event that had left Girisia in sweats. Though most of the time he usually dragged Greya to take part in expeditions on the outside.
"Of course young lady, I do have a request. You see, this old man used to be a beggar with a very weak constitution." This was a blatant lie from Girisia, his constitution was the only stat that exceeded a common player; "And this place is very dangerous for someone weak like me, why don't you protect me while we are on this job together. In return I will tell you the information about something your kind has been searching for a long time."
Girisia pauses, hyping Tara, "Don't your people want to learn about how to obtain supernatural strength?... Well I know how you can achieve that and if you do a good enough job, I will even tell you some details about them." Girisia said, while sending out his request to Tara. But this was not a normal form of request, instead it was his new discovery, a conditional mission.
This sort of conditional mission drains 2 quest points out of his daily questpool. But in chance the second condition is met, his experience multiplier will become 2.4x plus and the bonus experience gained will become 15% of the quest taker's accumulated experience. Girisia learned of this method after he tried to recreate some quest from his memories of the previous timeline.
As for the name Korus, it was just something he came up with, he can't go on to be called Girisia again.
At least, not until his family leaves.
"Oh thank you Mr Korus, this is really what most of us wanted to know. Just put your worries away, I will keep you safe." Tara promised as she stabbed the boom-stick she held in the air like a sword.
"Young lady, it will be safer if you don't play with something as dangerous as a child, we may need it in case something bad happens." Girisia suggested, ignoring her boasting, no way in hell he was going to put his life in the hands of an ignorant player, he was just looking to make some more experience and expose these players to class information earlier.
<
{Attack power: 50]
{Attribute: Explosive]
Remark: A single-use killing device that contains burst power to kill or wound a low level enemy. Use it cautiously.
Girisia also possessed one of these little boomsticks, but unlike Tara, he carefully placed it in his satchel.
This was a rarely used weapon even in the later days of previous timelines because most of the players preferred a long blade that can be used a lot when compared to a one time item. And the only time this item was ever used was during the ongoing public beta.
But its current importance can't be denied by Girisia of the present, he was just too weak. And so, he had his eyes on Tara's boomstick too while playing the role of a good uncle.
A good uncle with an appreciation thread of his name stickied to the Taurus forums, much to the dismay of Spoon and his entourage.
"Sorry Uncle Korus, I was just too excited." Tara apologized as she placed her boomstick back in her satchel and instead took out her survival knife.
The path in front was closed due to vines and branches, so it was time for the survival knife to shine.
'Well, At least she has some sensibility.' Girisia admired the devotion Tara showed to her quest, he didn't even need to lift a finger and all the hard work will be done by Tara.
*****
StarKillerTara: The hidden NPC Korus just gave me a quest.
**Image of the quest**
What do you think?
In the tag labeled HiddenNPC's Tara's post exploded in popularity, until now no one has come across class up knowledge yet. And her quest may be the key to blow away the fog of ignorance.
YourMajestyFarquad: @StarKillerTara , how da fuck can you be this lucky. You better not hide this info from us.
DemonPepe: @StarkillerTara, drag Korus to a dangerous place and then save his life if you have to. We all need to know how to get a class. I am getting bored killing these bugs for little exp. This is not a farming game… Why am I forced to farm to survive?.. I want some action goddammit.
TiffinYiffer: @StarKillerTara if you contribute the rewards info to the wiki, we are ready to award you with 2k dollars and a platinum badge with an appropriate permanent role to your name. I believe you will do the right thing.
Monketron: I will pay you 2k dollars for this info and another 4k if you hold it to yourself and your close friends for at least a while. You can go to the TiffinYiffer later. @DemonPepe , how is farm life going?...R-tard!!
HandSlave: @Monketron, I never expected you would do something this shameful in public. Info like this should be shared. @StarKillerTara post it on wiki. I will give you 8k dollars up front.
DemonPepe: @Monketron, much better than that friend of yours!!
Monketron:...
Her post has already started a price war in the forums with some professional players joining in the bidding either on HandSlave's side or on Monke's side.
*****
"Do you smell something weird Uncle Korus?" Tara's joy over the bidding war cooled down after her nose picked up a weird smell that gave her goosebumps.
At the current moment they are in a building that once used to be a school and it was the second location on their map to be scanned. Tara had thought this mission was going to be easy, but never had she thought something weird like this would happen.
As for Girisia, "Smell?... What kind of smell?" Girisia asked in confusion. What Girisia didn't know was that his sense of smell has long died out due to his previous lifestyle as a dirty beggar and him being still suffering from his 0.6 INT problem, he never noticed this weakness of this.
Well, that was until now.
"Ho… No, What kind of smell is it?" Girisia asked, as though he can't seem to be able to smell anything. His understanding of different monsters from the other timeline still remained.
"This…" Tara was confused for a while, but soon she picked up on Girisia's request. "It's hard to describe, the smell is sweet and soothing, but musky at the same time, with a hint of rotten blood or abandoned toilet. I don't know if it helps." Tara asked with some expectant eyes.
And Girisia gladly answered her. "Don't worry, I have some idea of what we are dealing with here."
"We need to leave this place fast." Continued Girisia as he threw the wristband on the floor after activating the distress signal. "And don't throw away your wristband yet, it may come helpful in the future."
Tara suddenly gets ecstatic to learn that Girisia may really be in danger and if she saves him, her reward would really get a lot better if she is able to save him.
She was dragged by Girisia towards a broken wall which acted as their exit from the worn out building.
But it seemed, someone or something didn't appreciate them leaving this place.
"Hilihili…" Cried something in the air.
These noises were trying to mimic the laugh of a child which stopped Girisia on his tracks. But as soon as a light switch went on Girisia's head, he ignored the laughter and held Tara's hand. "Never stop moving, we have been found out by the Sirens" Girisia cursed his luck, this was the worst scenario possible, he only had one life.
Unlike Tara, who, even though a bit confused by the term siren, she was not as scared and even showed some curiosity towards these beasts. 'Aren't these the winged cousins of mermaids?' She recalled.
But what Tara didn't know whas, in this world the Sirens were a bit different.
She didn't notice when a small dog-like creature suddenly jumped in front of their escape route. This creature had a flower for a head, which was releasing the sweet smell from before while its actual mouth was hidden below it that mimicked the laughter of the children that Tara heard earlier as saliva dropped down from its mouth.
"This… this is your siren?"