There were about five beggars sitting in the alley. Two looked to be drunk and out of their minds, two looked to be alert and the final one seemed to be half-asleep.
The one that Arthur was kneeling in front of was the half-asleep beggar who was an old man. It was hard to tell how old he was with the dirt and grime on his face, but one could easily tell that he had been like this for a long time.
"Would you like some bread, old man?" Arthur questioned again, seeing that the beggar had not responded.
The old man moved after a few seconds, as a groan came from his mouth.
"Ugh! What do you want brat?" The Old beggar said with annoyance.
This time Arthur didn't respond, though.
Instead, he seemingly tapped on the air.
~DING~
>Inventory Opened<
***
Items:
Bread x5 (Replenishes hunger by a small amount)
Small water flask (Replenishes Stamina by a small amount) [Reusable]
***
This was the basic inventory that a player would start off with in Morpheus Online. They would get some bread and a flask of water as the initial supplies. The players needed to eat and drink just like real life to maintain their optimum condition.
If they didn't, they would get debuffs that would get worse the more time passed. The players could even starve and die if they went too long without food. The same happened if they did not drink water for too long as it would kill them even faster.
The game truly stayed true to its promise and gave the players great immersion.
Of course, as a game, it also allowed them to go beyond the limits of normal humans.
For example, in the case of hunger and thirst, one could greatly increase the time needed for them to feel hungry or thirsty. This would rise with their level and the amount of food needed for them to fill their hunger and thirst bars would increase proportionally too.
For the current Arthur, the 5 loaves of bread were something that could replenish his hunger bar by two and a half times.
If he were a newbie player, he would have been quite wary of giving away his starting items. After all, who knew when they would need them? It could also put them at a disadvantage when compared to others.
But Arthur wasn't worried. He knew he could easily obtain more later, and the benefits brought right now by giving some away would be exponentially greater.
Arthur pulled the bread out of his inventory and held it in front of the old beggar.
The man's glassy eyes scanned the bread before snatching it with astonishing speed.
"Mm… seems like…. Young… brats… still got some…. Manners…" The beggar spoke while snarfing down the loaf of bread.
He talked with his mouth open and bits of food and spit would fall down from the side of his lips. Though it wasn't entirely his fault either, as he was missing a few teeth here and there too.
Regardless, it was an unsettling and slightly disgusting sight that most players would not like.
Arthur was unfazed though, as this was not even the lowest level of weirdness he had seen in the game. He let the old man finish eating and simply nodded at his words. The other beggars had also returned to their own thing, which was just sleeping.
They seemed disinterested in the bread that Arthur had given the old beggar, which was a little strange if one thought about it.
After finishing the bread, the old man licked his fingers for the crumbs and looked at Arthur, a bit more life in his eyes.
"So what would an adventurer brat like you want from a beggar?" The old man finally asked with a knowing look.
"What any adventurer wants, a good adventure." Arthur replied with a smirk.
"Hmmm… a good adventure, you say? How good?" The old beggar questioned.
'This is it…' Arthur's smile widened, knowing the hint. "As good as it can get." He answered.
"Very well, if that's what you want… why don't you go get me some Razer Tusk Boar Meat? I heard it's really supple and juicy when cooked right." The beggar replied.
And as soon as he did, Arthur heard a notification.
~DING~
>Quest Issued!<
——
Quest: Hunt for Razer Tooth Boar!
Info: The old beggar has asked you to get some Razer Tusk Boar meat. Kill the beast to obtain its meat and give it to the beggar.
Grade: Uncommon
Difficulty: Hard
Reward:???
Warning: The player is under-leveled for this quest!
——
Seeing the quest window, Arthur was pleased. This was exactly what he was looking for and would be the first quest to start off his journey. Granted, this was not something most would try as it was a Hard difficulty quest.
The quests in Morpheus Online had five difficulty levels. They were Normal, Intermediate, Hard, Extreme, and Heroic. For a level one player like Arthur, Hard difficulty was basically impossible.
Even Arthur knew he had no way to kill the target of the quest at his current strength.
'But that doesn't matter… what matters is that I have the quest first. I can finish it after a bit of work…' Arthur thought to himself.
"Alright, I'll get you some good meat." Arthur accepted.
"Haha! I'll see if you really can do that brat." The old beggar laughed, clearly not expecting Arthur to really do it.
"Young people should be careful not to take on more than they can handle." Another beggar sitting nearby warned.
"I know what I'm doing." Arthur replied.
"Humph… Just warning a fool, that's all." The beggar turned his back and closed his eyes, ignoring Arthur.
Arthur chuckled in response and left the alley. It didn't matter much to him what the beggars thought, as he would be proving them wrong anyway.
"Now that I got the first quest… I need to get strong enough to be able to finish it…" Arthur muttered as he moved towards the gate of the village.