Upon arriving at the Crying River Bar, Hegen was greeted with a strong scent of alcohol. A glance around the bar revealed that there were all sorts of age ranges here, from teenagers to the elderly.
'Seems that the younger kids can finally enjoy themselves without worry.'
Ignoring the many patrons enjoying themselves in the bar, Hegen sent a message to Ghastly Demon asking where they were in the bar.
[Ghastly Demon: Oh, We're in room 3, sorry about that.]
Hegen made his way into the room and noticed four people, including Ghastly Demon, were seated inside the room. Hegen immediately gauged their strengths by their movements and actions, noticing that while they all put on a reckless attitude with each other, their actions were that of experts. As Hegen was observing them, they also observed him.
Ghastly Demon, however, looked excited upon noticing Hegen's arrival. "You're Here! Come, let me introduce you to the group!"
Hegen was slightly taken aback by Ghastly Demon's energy, not understanding why he was so excited. It must've shown because Demon had paused in his speech and took a second to collect himself.
"Sorry about that, it's just that we used to have five people but one of them couldn't get access to the Beta Test, so we were worried we'd be a member short until the full release." Apologized Demon.
"Don't worry about it, I'm happy you invited me," Hegen courteously replied.
'It might not be a bad idea to get acquainted with a group like this, I wonder how their skills compare to the others in this world.'
The player next to Demon laughed, "I'm glad he didn't scare you off!"
Demon ignored this player and even introduced him, "This guy right here is Hollow Style, a top archer player. The tired-looking guy at the end of the table is Restless Slumber, fitting isn't it? Surprisingly, he's probably the best priest in the game. And lastly is the man across from me, Crazed Maniac, a pretty good warrior player. And you've met me, I'm a thief but I'm better at collecting information."
Crazed Maniac seemed like he wanted to refute Demon's words but couldn't find the right words to do so. Hollow Style, on the other hand, was happy with his introduction and Restless Slumber was literally sleeping. Noticing this, Demon gave him a quick nudge causing him to jolt awake.
"What! Huh! Oh, who's the new guy?" Slumber said, seemingly still half asleep.
Demon just shook his head and looked at Hegen, evidently waiting for his self-introduction.
"I'm Hegen, and I'm a mage. I've just started playing games in general but I'm confident in my skills."
Demon looked shocked by this revelation.
"A mage!? Then why were you beating the cr*p out of those boars?"
"I became a mage in order to cover my weaknesses as I'm confident enough in my close combat abilities. Although the game also doesn't give mages any starting skills."
This time, everyone in the room seemed shocked, except Slumber who went back to sleep. Hegen was confused by their surprise and Demon explained to him why.
"So you haven't gotten your skills from the tutor at the center of the village? Every level 1 player can redeem a skill based on their class, I believe the mages was a fireball."
"Oh well, my method worked regardless, didn't it? Although that does help to know that there was a way to get skills."
"So how did you end up pummelling the boar to death fighter-style as a mage? Do you know kung fu?"
"No, I don't know kung fu but I guess it's similar to it. It doesn't really matter though. I'm curious though, what do you guys do as a mercenary group?"
"A good question, we've actually just got our first task from somebody."
Following this, everyone in the group looked at Crazed Maniac, seemingly waiting for his explanation. Even Slumber had slightly woken up and half-glanced at Maniac.
"Our commission is from another player this time, he wants us to help him defeat the Rare Boss: The Silent Devourer. It's a level 10 boss and will be quite difficult with our current levels but completing the task shouldn't be a problem," Maniac concluded.
Demon nodded and added what he understood about the boss.
"The Devourer has high levels of both physical and magical defense, as well as attack damage. It's a giant humanoid creature in the Silent Forest, that foggy forest at the edge of town. As you guys know, bosses have an innate regeneration, regenerating 1% of their hp every 10 seconds, but the Devourer has the innate ability of regeneration allowing it to recover 3% of its hp every 10 seconds. The one upside is that it has a low amount of health so we should try to hit it with as many attacks as possible and finish the fight as soon as possible. Avoid a battle of attrition at all costs." Demon stated.
The rest of the members nodded their heads to show their understanding and so did Hegen.
Shortly after everyone understood what they were up against, Hollow Style exclaimed, "What are we waiting for, lets go kill that boss!"
Following that the group all stood up and chatted as they headed towards the forest where their contractor was waiting for them.