I wandered around the village, trying to find a charitable soul who could give me some information... Unfortunately, charitable souls were in short supply in today's world.
Although I missed it at first glance, Terhi was a military town, a former border post that had grown more than it should have. The majority of the population were soldiers, with the civilians working to supply the basic needs of the small army that guarded the village and patrolled the surrounding forests.
What I mean by all this is that nobody has enough time to answer the questions of hundreds of confused players.
After wasting a lot of time not knowing what to do, I end up finding the "adventurers' and explorers' hall". Obviously I wasn't the first player to find this, given the influx of players entering the hall.
I'm answered by an exhausted lady, who sighs heavily before saying: "Enter your skills and level, then move your mana to the ring, and you'll be able to choose a mission that suits your level. The ring will record the enemies you've killed, and will be used by the issuer of the mission to confirm its completion. If you fail a mission, you will be barred from accepting new missions for a month. If you fail three missions in a row, you will be expelled from the Adventurers and Explorers Association. Next!"
The lady hands me a gray ring, and I'm soon replaced in line, while the lady repeats everything she just said to a new person...
Moving mana through my body is easier than I thought it would be... It's a bit like breathing, really. There are various exercises that increase the "effectiveness" of breathing, but anyone knows the basic method of breathing... it's kind of a necessary requirement for being alive.
Leaving aside abstract arcane concepts, I make my way to a panel where there are missions suitable for my type... they all come down to hunting some kind of animal. Apparently, wildlife is at war with civilized life outside the walls.
My mission involves killing any creature in the surrounding area, in return for which I will receive copper coins.
As I make my way out of the village, I see a few groups of players carrying weapons and wearing various types of armor. For a moment I thought I'd go and talk to them and try to find out how they got this equipment, but I soon change my mind when I hear a name.
"Stardust"
The developers promised equality within the game, but that promise went down the drain as soon as the beta testers were chosen.
Only famous players were called in for the test phase, many of them members of huge guilds in other games. The result was these guilds migrating en masse to the new game, with millions of players signing contracts full of benefits, such as the equipment needed for the game being gifted by the guild, and a generous monthly salary. All this before the game was even released.
Sirius was a famous streamer, and one of the deputy masters of Stardust, and he was the one chosen to test the game, and because of him I tried to join the guild.
I wouldn't have had to go into debt to buy the equipment if I'd signed the contract... but what I imagined to be a work contract was a slavery contract.
There were lots of promises of information, money, glory... all you had to do was serve and obey without question. If I signed the contract, I wouldn't even be able to choose my own race or class... I'm desperate, but there's no point.
Stardust wasn't the only one with this kind of contract; the biggest guilds in gaming followed the same pattern, offering a salary and certain advantages in exchange for total control over the player and their character. Of course, the contract could be altered if the player showed skill, as well as the promise of being generously rewarded if they achieved a significant feat for the guild...
Unfortunately, there were many obscure things about these contracts. In a quick search on these guilds, I discovered hundreds of cases of wronged players, forced to give up their achievements to favor important guild members.
Stardust, Eternity, Steelwind, Behemoth, Mystical soul, ... some reports claimed that the number of people who signed a contract with a guild exceeded 35% of the total number of players expected.
35 million players at the service of a few dozen guilds and the companies behind them...
There is no doubt that they will dominate the game, the only lucky that people like me have is that these guilds have a long and bloody history of the gaming world, with rumors of the deaths even in the real world... my hope is that they spend so much time fighting each other that they leave some room for someone like me to collect some treasures.
I stop thinking about the others and go back to concentrating on my mission. After leaving the village, I head to the outskirts of one of the farms, and there I spot my first enemy.
A group of small wild pigs devouring the crops.
I prepare my magic, feeling the mana coursing through my body and concentrating on my right hand. I follow the guidance of the system, moving my hand in a predetermined pattern, and when everything is finally ready, the magic fires.
Black spark is a bit of a disappointment. The magic glows a dark purple as it moves slowly towards its target. When I say slowly, I mean that any intelligent being would be able to dodge it without any problem.
[You killed a wild pig, level 01]
My luck is that these pigs aren't that intelligent.
As soon as the first enemy dies, I finish preparing the magic again and have to choose between four pigs running towards me.
I choose the one that seems most determined to avenge its fallen brother and fire the magic, and without wasting any time I prepare another attack.
The second pig dies with a squeal and the other three continue to approach rapidly.
I fire the third spell and decide to reposition myself. I try to prepare the magic while moving, but I fail miserably and feel a slight reaction.
I turn around and start to prepare another shot, but immediately change my mind when I see three pigs very close to me. For some reason the third shot didn't kill the third pig, and faced with this new reality, I'm forced to execute a new strategy...
As I retreat from the battlefield, I find myself wondering how much stamina these pigs have and how long they intend to chase me...
The vengeful animals give up after a few dozen meters, and now I'm recovering in the shade of a tree. A quick look at my status revealed that even the failed attempt to cast the magic cost mana and that my feat of killing two enemies raised the experience bar by 2%... At least I didn't die.
After reviewing the fight in my mind, I tried to understand what my mistakes were... the list is long, but most of them couldn't be avoided.
If I had a weapon and armor, I could risk facing them in melee, since they don't seem to have much hp.
[black spark] deals 2-6 damage, I thought this damage was random, but I'm beginning to suspect it's related to how well I perform the procedure of invoking magic.
The first two shots I was relatively calm and did everything right. On the third shot I was already a bit nervous and worried about the approaching pigs, and I ended up making a few mistakes when invoking the magic. The fourth shot was a complete failure.
I'm going to have to test that theory. Now for the second round.
This time I position myself as far away as possible, and calmly begin to prepare the magic. The flickering spark hits the unsuspecting pig, putting an end to his life. The other two raise their heads in fright, only for one of them to follow his brother in death. The last one finally finds me and charges towards me, only to die a few seconds later.
I breathe a sigh of relief and approach the bodies, which begin to glow and disappear, giving way to an item.
[pigskin]
Better than nothing, I guess.
I still need to kill another 95 pigs... If I keep my distance and run when necessary, it should be possible to kill a group in about 5 minutes, and with the time to find the groups, I should reach level 02 in about two hours.
The surrounding area is full of pigs... I don't stop to count, but there must be well over a hundred groups scattered around the plantation. There's no shortage of enemies, I just have to make sure I don't overdo it and end up dead.
Time to kill pigs.