'I want to reach level 10 as soon as possible.' Loki thought to himself, planning his long-term training out in the wild, hoping to stay in the forest for a week or two. Wanting to talk to Ignatius about it, he goes back into the forge to see the blacksmith cleaning up the coals. It seems he's preparing for another order or project coming up shortly.
Loki walks up and begins to talk about his plan, "I want to go out and reach level 10 fast. I don't know where to start because the forest doesn't have enough monsters to defeat at a faster pace than I'd like."
"Weird, the forest should be crowded, even with all the adventurer's in the city there has never been a lack of monsters. Well, either way, there is one place I can suggest." Ignatius said while glossing over the lack of presence in the forest.
Loki, wanting a new place to travel to, calling it the beginning of his adventurous life, asks in anticipation, "Where would you suggest?"
Ignatius answers with a smile seeing Loki's excitement, "This place called the Plains of Murias; it's heavily populated with Red-Eyed Rabbits ranging between levels 5-20, you should be able to level up rather quickly there. Just be careful of their leaders, they are few and quite distanced apart but they can reach up to level 30."
"Plains of Murias? Sounds like a fun adventure, why rabbits though?" asked Loki.
"Well, there has always been a lack of predator monsters and rabbits have a high breeding rate. With the lack of predators to quell their reproduction, they just mass populate the plains. However, it's good for us as rabbits make for a great stew and an easy beginner leveling field." answered Ignatius, as he drools over the thought of stew.
Loki takes note of the place, and the idea of stew, and realizes he needs to create a list of things he'll need for this adventure for a week or two. After getting lots of food and a sleeping bag, Loki plans to sleep in the wilderness and get the feeling for adventure.
With all his items together in a backpack of sorts, Ignatius quickly stops him from leaving the store and hands Loki a small silver ring. Ignatius explains, "It's a storage ring. I made a few back in the day and have no use for this basic one; it has a 5x5 storage capacity, so instead of dragging around a backpack, you can have this ring. OH! I forgot to give you your cut of the work we did for the Royal Cavalry."
{Notification}
+1,200 Gold
"Cool! I'm excited to use this." Loki exclaims as he puts all of his belongings into it and is thankful for not having to carry a backpack the whole time.
Ignatius goes to turn around, but pauses to remember another important thing to say before letting Loki leave, "I can message you if I have any orders" Ignatius pauses, then quickly exclaims, "Oh! If you need anything too, of course. I don't mind helping, I suppose."
"Add you? How?" Loki asks, absolutely bewildered at a concept like that.
Ignatius sighs, forgetting how oblivious this kid really is to how the whole world works and having to teach him slowly.
Ignatius begins to speak, "Alright, there is this feature in your system where you can add people as 'friends'. It helps people contact each other over extremely long distances. You can add me by simply thinking "system" and moving to your friends tab. When you are there, you'll see an option for 'Add Friend'. There, you will think of me and it should automatically send me a request."
"Ohhhhh, that's awesome! Alright I'll do it." Loki responded before thinking about the system. It opens a large screen with many options that are locked and read 'must reach higher levels to unlock.'
Loki saw the friend tab and, just like Ignatius said, there was an 'Add Friend' option and thought of his teacher.
[Sent Friend Request]
Ignatius saw the request and nodded before accepting and thought to himself, 'Now with the kid added, I'll be able to track him in case something happens...'
"Good, now I'll be able to contact you in case I need you to help me with some orders. Now get a move on or it'll be dark before you reach the plains and finding a safe place to camp will be more difficult than it needs to be." Waved Ignatius feeling a little better.
"Okay! See you when I hit level 10!" waved Loki as he sprinted off towards the market. Since he is level 5, he wants to get new equipment to help his grinding speed.
Reaching the market, Loki counts up the newly received gold from the Royal Cavalry, having an astounding 2,140 gold now. He proceeds towards a vendor that is selling some uncommon equipment, eyeing some of the chest pieces and greaves. Two seem to catch his eye as he walks around:
[Tunic of Versatility]
Level: 5
Grade: Uncommon
Defense: +10
Cost: 750 gold
[Swift Greaves]
Level: 5
Grade: Uncommon
Defense: +5
Agility: +2
Cost: 550 gold
These items would make perfect additions to help him defeat monsters quicker. In the side of his eye, he sees a pair of boots that scream perfect for him, although they have a hefty price and are too high leveled.
[Boots of Acceleration]
Level: 10
Grade: Uncommon
Defense: +5
Agility +8
Cost: 800 gold
"Ah, f*ck it, I'm gonna buy them anyways. Now I have a bonus for when I reach level 10." Loki said decidedly, like he felt proud of his decision even though he only has 40 gold left over.
With his new equipment and new storage ring (courtesy of Ignatius), Loki feels as ready as he can be to start the few hour travel to the new leveling area and become stronger. Rushing towards the gate he first entered when he came to the city, Loki flashes his adventurer's badge since it has more leeway than a simple apprentice.
Loki officially begins his first solo journey away from people for as long as it takes him to reach Level 10 or maybe even higher.