"Go away punk. You are too weak to help me with anything," The old man shouted after giving Damon a onceover.
Some players around heard him and started mocking Damon.
"How weak do you think he is that he can't even help an old man?" A player with a green hair asked his friends with him. They were a few meters from Damon.
"Let's go see what the old man has to offer."
Damon was offended by the man's words, but he kept his cool. Since the old man considered him too weak for his mission, it could only mean that it wasn't a normal mission. Some NPCs had the special ability to see a player's stats. Even though all the players were currently at Level 0, the old man felt Damon was weaker than others because of his pitiful defense.
"Surely, I can handle whatever job you have in mind, Sir," Damon pressed on, watching the old man put some items on a shelf.
"Are you deaf? Didn't the handsome grandpa just tell you to leave?" Damon turned to see a player with green hair and a smirk on his face. Behind him were three others.
Damon had been in this situation too many times in VR games to already know the outcome. He ignored the group and turned back to the old man.
"Boy, if you don't leave now, I'll call the soldiers to kick you out," The old man warned with a stern look on his wrinkled face. "I don't give missions to weaklings."
Instead of leaving, Damon took his Iron-grade daggers out of his inventory and placed them on the old man's table.
"I have a better idea," he said with a smile. "These guys are here for your mission so let's make it a competition. Give us the mission and whoever finishes it first gets the rewards. If I lose Sir, you get to keep my dagger and sell it for a good price. If I win, I get to keep my dagger and…" Damon turned to the green-haired player. "You permanently change your Avatar name to one of my choosing. Agreed?"
"I'm game. What do you say grandpa?" The green haired player asked crossing his arms.
"What the fuck, Kev," cursed the player next to him.
Besides the unknown rewards for the mission, there was nothing to gain by agreeing to Damon's idea but pride couldn't let him walk away. The old man had his eyes on the dagger ever since Damon dropped it. He picked it up and began inspecting its quality with greedy interest.
"Fine. I need 50 pounds of Warthog meat within an hour. Whichever of you gets it for me first will be rewarded. Although I strongly doubt you'll be able to kill a single Warthog," he said the last part staring at Damon.
Ding!
{Old man Hano wants you to give him 50 pounds of Warthog meat from the wild.
Reward: 50 copper coins / 3 small Health Potion / 3 small Mana Potions / 10 EXP
Mission Grade: F
Mission Type: Competition
Mission Time Limit: 1 Hour
Accept?}
Instantly, Damon accepted the mission. The same couldn't be said for Kev. He stood still weighing the consequences of his actions. Warthogs were Level 5 beasts. Currently, regular players could only farm monsters two levels higher than them. Three was a risk for professionals and beyond that was just suicide.
Damon could feel the weight of the stares from other players and NPCs around. No one believed he could pull it off, not against a monster three levels above the starting threshold, and especially not against a group of players who clearly had experience working together.
But Damon wasn't new to this. He'd been the underdog in countless VR games before, and if there was one thing he'd mastered, it was turning the odds in his favor.
"Come on, Kev. What are you waiting for?" Damon teased, when he saw Kev staring at the Mission Notification.
What Damon didn't know was that Kev didn't have a choice.
{Accept or all Stats shall be permanently reduced by 50%}
With his chest puffed out, Kev tapped on Accept, "I don't need an hour to finish this. My team and I will be back in half that time."
His teammates exchanged wary glances, one of them muttering, "Kev, are you out of your mind? We don't even have decent gear-"
"Shut it," Kev snapped, glaring at the speaker. "We're doing this."
Damon suppressed a grin. Overconfidence was always the downfall of players like Kev. Judging by the frown on the faces of his party members, they were bound to make mistakes.
"Better get moving, then. You wouldn't want to lose to a 'weakling' like me."
Kev sneered but said nothing, motioning for his group to follow him. As they headed towards the forest, Damon turned back to Hano.
The old man didn't even look up, already rocking in his chair and humming a tune that seemed to mock Damon's confidence.
As soon as he stepped out of the village gates, Damon sprinted toward the nearest thicket. Unlike the other players who were rushing to the known spawn zones for Warthogs, Damon had a different plan.
"Warthogs, huh?" he muttered, recalling the old man's sneer. "Let's see how tough they really are."
Damon intended on spending his first day meticulously testing Rivia's mechanics. While most players focused on leveling up, he had prioritized understanding the game's environment. After roaming around for some time, he discovered a hidden alcove north of the village, where Warthogs roamed in small packs. But he wasn't planning to take them head-on. Not yet, at least.
The forest was eerily quiet, the faint rustle of leaves and the occasional growl of distant creatures the only sounds that broke the silence. Damon crouched low. He spotted a Warthog grazing near a shallow creek, its tusks sharp and menacing.
"Level 5, huh," he muttered, narrowing his eyes.
{Inspect has been activated}
{Red-eyed Warthog
Level: 5
HP: 250
NOTE: They move in packs.
Skills:-
Tusk Strike: When threatened, it attacks with its tusks causing 15 Damage per attack.}
Warthogs were notorious for traveling in groups. Damon scanned the area carefully. As expected, two more Warthogs lurked nearby, partially obscured by the underbrush. If he attacked now, he'd be swarmed before landing a second hit.
Damon picked up a stone and threw it in the direction of one of the warthogs. A red figure floated above its head.
-2
It made a grunt then searched around for its assailant. Not seeing anyone, it laid back on the ground with its eyes closed. Damon picked a bigger stone and with increased force threw it, this time aiming for the warthog's head.
-5
Immediately the stone struck the beast, it got up in anger. But just like before, it couldn't see its attacker so it laid back after a minute of searching. Damon picked up five more stones and threw them with all the force he could muster towards the beast's head.
-9
-7
-10
-5
-10
The same situation repeated itself. Using this technique, Damon was able to drain the HP bar of the beast without coming in contact with it. Within moments, it collapsed, its health bar drained to zero. The corpse had numerous wounds on its head. It took 10 seconds for the beast's corpse to turn into sparks of light, leaving its drop. Damon noticed that unlike other VR games, Rivia gave visual descriptions of blood and gore.
Damon came out from behind the bush he was hiding to collect the drop.
{5 Pounds of Warthog Meat has entered the inventory}