Many players assumed that building favorability with NPC's in a beginner village was a waste of time and effort. For individual players without a group or friends that was indeed the case but not members of Guild or party.
Just like in real life you could introduce one friend to another, you could introduce a player to a friendly NPC and transfer some of the benefits of your reward to them.
For example, I had introduced Stivi to Goku and had him include her in my daily quest, leading to us both enjoying the advantage of higher stats over other players.
This gave me an idea to get the best of both worlds!
If I asked for a reasonably small reward from Luni, like a daily supply of Sheep Milk jars, Luni would regard me with enough favorability to consider me a friend.
I could enjoy the reward for as long as I was in the village. When I did leave, I could introduce one of the newly recruited Grandeur Guild's trainees to Luni and transfer the benefits of my reward to him.
This would give Grandeur Guild an edge over Fortune Guild for a long time, even after our party had left the Village.
Also, this would be counted as my merit and I could receive Guild Contribution Points or Dreamverse Coins for it!
Coming to a decision, I quickly moved forward and lifted Luni up by his shoulders. This was the start of my two step process to get the reward I desired from Luni.
"Shepherd Luni, I did not kill the Red Fleece Ram with expectations of reward. I simply killed him because the beast was a threat to the Pasture."
First step, modesty. Show Luni that I am an honorable adventurer without greed and appeal to his fiercely protective feelings for his pasture.
"Adventurer, you may not want a reward but you are the avenger of my father and protector of my pasture. I cannot in good conscience let your deed go unrewarded but I don't have anything of value."
Luni replied in almost exactly the same way I had expected.
In all my years of playing VR games, I had yet to meet the rumored 'Shameless NPC' who cheated players out of their rewards. If you did not receive the reward, it just meant you were a fool who could not fulfill the hidden conditions.
Even now it may seem like Luni was trying to get out of paying me but it was because I had just not proposed the right conditions.
"Shepherd Luni, you are truly a righteous person. If it helps you sleep better, I am willing to accept your reward. It does not necessarily have to be too valuable. Something as simple as a fixed supply of your excellent quality Sheep Milk will also do."
The second step flattery as well as a suggestion for possible reward. If my suggestion was near the actual reward, I should be receiving a positive response.
And that's exactly what happened.
The young man considered my request and realized it was entirely within his means to spare a few Jars of Sheep Milk and provide them to me free of cost. The troubled look in his eyes was replaced by a smile of relief and joy as he opened his mouth to seal the deal.
"Sure! I will provide you with 5 Small Jars of Sheep Milk every day for as long as you want."
I beamed with joy. Five jars per day was much more than what I was hoping for.
This was not a small amount. Only 100 Jars of Sheep Milk was made available to Players through the quests issued by Luni everyday and I was essentially monopolizing 5% of it without doing the quests!
Moreover, Sheep Milk was a food item that aided in Mana Recovery. Most of the Magic Class players in Villages suffered from lack of sufficient Mana.
Casting any spell 4 to 5 times was their limit which was nowhere enough for long hunting sessions or Boss raids. Yet, Sheep Milk could help increase that number in Village.
With 5 extra bottles of Sheep Milk, the Magic Classes of Grandeur Guild will prove much more effective in any battle as compared to Magic classes of any other forces.
Thus, I did not even need to consider the offer and haggle for better terms as it had already exceeded my expectations. I quickly agreed to Shepherd Luni's offer, causing a notification to chime in my ears.
[You have completed the hidden quest, Shepherd Luni's Vow of Vengeance.]
[Your familiarity with Shepherd Luni has risen. Favorability +100]
[You have received 5 Jars of Sheep's Milk (S).]
[Henceforth, You can collect your reward everyday from Shepherd Luni.]
The notifications indicated that the offer was now truly sealed. I received today's supply from Luni and bid him farewell.
Having submitted this quest, I no longer had any pending quests or tasks to do today. So I decided to meet Stivi and help her with the recruitment drive.
However, just as I started walking towards the Barbarian Chief's Tent, where the recruitment drive was being held, I received a warning message from the Central System.
{You have reached your Stamina Limits. It is recommended you log off for now.}
Accompanying the warning was a status report that recorded my real body's physical condition.
—--
ID: Samar
Height: 5'11" Weight: 67 Kgs
BMI: 21.6 (Healthy)
Optimal Game Time: 425 min
Time Spent: 409 min
Calories burned today: 3889
Avg. Calories burned: 2497
—--
There were also many other indicators such as O2 meter, Heartbeat monitor, Body Fat Count etc but my eyes were focused on the numbers of minutes and calories.
Even though I had spent less time inside the game than what my optimal time suggested, I just had to look at the number of calories burned to know just how eventful my day inside the game had been.
I had burned nearly 4000 Calories! A thousand calories more than the average calories I burned after spending a day in the VR room.
Most probably my amateurish rock climbing as well as the fight against the Red Fleece Ram had burned a huge chunk of the number.
These numbers made me realize that I was running on adrenaline and my body was actually tired. I heeded to the Central System's warning and logged out of the game.