It took Liam another hour before he managed to find the other Five Star herbs he was looking for, but he didn't come across any other rare herbs in his travels.
He looked at his quest log and ignoring his unique quest, which he noted had a slight increase in the life force amount, Liam only had two other quests to finish. He decided to do the wolves quest first so he could gain a couple of levels before going back to the cave he saw.
With that in mind Liam went deeper in to the forest.
"I should get a couple more levels fighting these wolves, then I can equip my new sword and take those goblins on in the cave" Unfortunately what Liam didn't know was that due to him being a lower level he received more experience from monster, and this would drop further once he out levels a monster becoming zero. This was a feature used to try and deter people from hanging around areas too low for them. While it won't necessarily stop everyone it's enough to sent most players elsewhere.
Five minutes later he came across his second ever wolf and due to his higher stats it was put down in relatively short order.
[Grey Wolf defeated. Received 40 Exp]
"Huh?" Liam's confused look check the notification again and again "Why is it only half of last time?"
While Liam did some research on the game he didn't really go into detail, mostly as he had no time due to his many part time jobs. But something as fundamental as this should have really been checked.
In the game of Fairune! any monster 3 levels higher than you will give 2x the experience, dropping to 1.5x at 2 level difference and 1.25x a 1 level. As you level rises and you start to outstrip the monsters the gain drops to 0.75x at 1 level difference, 0.5x at 2 levels difference before dropping to absolutely 0 at 3 levels higher.
Liam found a help guide in his menu and read the details before coming to an understanding. As the monsters he fought were all higher levelled than him before he certainly wouldn't have noticed this. However Liam shrugged his shoulders seconds later "Oh well. I'll still gain a level from all the wolves."
Finishing with his thoughts he bent down to pick up his drops and was glad that both quests items were there giving him 2 of each now.
It took only 30 seconds or so before the next wolf appeared in front of Liam, problem was it wasn't just one wolf but 3. Wolves are pack animals so seeing a small group wasn't to surprising. Maybe so to Liam considering he was lucky enough to run into only one beast at a time before.
The wolves eyed Liam like they had found the tastiest morsel ever and it didn't take long before they pounced towards him. Liam was ready and instead of moving backwards he step a step forward and swung his sword from left to right and back in a swift motion, managing to hit all 3 at once.
The 3 wolves whimpered on the ground for a second before splitting up and slowly circling around with Liam in the centre. Liam stood motionless for a single second to watch the movement of his enemy before using Charge on the nearest one. With that Liam managed to dodge the wolf that had made it's way behind him and cause damage to another at the same time.
Liam continued to dance with the 3 wolves and slowly defeated them one by one earning 3 more sets for his quest.
Two wolves and 2 more quest items later and Liam heard the sweet chime of the notification informing him of another level up.
[Level up. You have received 5 free points]
Immediately after the chime Liam went to his inventory and equipped his new sword increasing his attack to 89-93. This was a great boost and will help him when he goes to fight the goblins later.
"Excellent, I can finish this wolf quest quicker with this weapon. Although I really need some other gear." Looking at his shabby equipment, Liam realised that he really was undergeared. It currently wasn't a problem as this was only the early stages but the need for decent equipment is going to increase exponentially as the game goes on. So getting into a habit of finding better gear early on would be beneficial.
Darkest was setting in now as day was starting to slowly give way to night, this would make it harder to see and fight. It would also increase the amount of monsters hovering around the forest.
Wolves by nature are nocturnal so as the night settled in the forest was becoming filled with more of them, ready to hunt prey and the occasional adventurer who strayed to close. Because of this Liam became slightly more cautious and alert since he was still in need of 8 more fangs and furs.
Being cautious didn't mean he was troubled when he came across any wolves though. With a new sword in hand Liam managed to easily earn his quota in only half an hour, earning him a nice chunk of experience too, putting him closer to another level up.
Pleased with his progress Liam got his bearings and walked in a particular direction for 20 minutes before coming face to face with the cave he had ran away from earlier in the day.
"I'll finish this up quick and log off"