Chapter 55: A Mischievous Dark Elf
Rita was now in front of me! She was a gorgeous Dark Elf Sorceress, and she said she… She was greeted by Nyx when she started playing? Come to think of it, I never investigated that. I should probably search in the forums, perhaps differently people get a different God at the beginning? Maybe based on that god, their choice for a Race and a Job Class was influenced by these godly figures.
"I don't know what to say, I've never thought about it, but I guess there could be more godly figures that appear at the beginning of the game…" I sighed.
"Well, whatever's the case, nobody cares about the game lore or whatever!" said Rita relaxedly. "What do we do now that we are here in the game? I remember my son said that he levels up, learns skills, and beats Boss monsters… Or something, but that sounds pretty boring, isn't it?"
"I don't know! I saw that you were having the blast of your life beating those mushrooms to death though!" I said while crossing my arms.
"Hahaha, old habits die hard, I used to beat the crap out of those that tried to bully my cute Elayne." said Rita, while petting my head.
"Don't call me cute, we are both old hags now…" I sighed.
"O-Old hag?! Maybe you think that but I am in the peak of my life as of now!" said Rita while proudly puffing her big chest.
While she was at that, I decided to check her status. It was possible to see another person's status easily when they're your friends, otherwise it seemed that you could only see their name and title if not.
And Rita's status was…
[Player Name]: [Achlys]
[Race]: [Dark Elf: Lv3/20]
[Race EXP]: [600/3000]
[Job Class]: [Dark Sorceress: Lv3/20]
[Job Class EXP]: [600/3000]
[Satiation]: [72/100]
[HP]: [23/70]
[MP]: [310/310]
[STR]: [32]
[VIT]: [32]
[DEX]: [32]
[AGI]: [36]
[INT]: [55]
[WIS]: [60]
[LUC]: [36]
[Race Skills: 3/10]
[Descendant of Darkness: Lv1], [Malice Conversion: Lv1], [Dark Magic: Lv1]
[Job Class Skills: 2/10]
[Dark Spiritualist: Lv1], [MP UP: Lv1]
[Equipment]
[Dark Elf Sorceress Robes]
[Ring of Darkness]
[Diadem of Malice]
[Dark Staff of Shadows]
Wow! She got some pretty okay stats! It appeared that Dark Elves were more all-rounder than Dryads, she got like 10 Stat points per level in everything? She seems to only exceed in MP. Meanwhile, Dryads were much weaker but their MP, INT, WIS, and LUK all increased a lot more than everything else. I guess Dark Elves are not just magicians but fighters! I remember seeing them in some stories, Dark Elves often were assassins as well, rogues, and all of that.
Perhaps if Rita had chosen a Job Class like those ones, she would have gotten a bonus to her AGI and DEX, but because she chose Dark Sorcery, she started rather differently. Even then, she had enough STR to beat those mushrooms with her bare fists, so she's formidably strong. But I was pretty sure I also saw some technique behind those hits…
Well, Rita's father owns a dojo, so she has practiced martials arts there since she was a little girl. I remembered meeting her father a few times, he was a strict man that loves his daughter more than anything. He once told me that when he had a daughter, he decided to train her as she grew up so she wouldn't be discriminated against by the world, nor handed around by men.
…Well, technically Rita was the one dominating every boyfriend she ever had, she's a very dominating woman, even her husband is dominated by her. Well, not like she's toxic or something. I mean dominating in the… other way.
A-Anyways, she knows how to fight martial arts, and was able to beat those mushrooms thanks to the experience of the real world she accumulated, which made me think that this game was very well made! We can even bring our real-life experiences here, such as my ability to fish, cook, and farm, while Rita can beat stuff to death with her fists and legs even as a Dark Elf… Haha, we are all different after all.
"I guess for now we could go see the Squirrel Village… But Rita, don't you have any starting quest or something?" I wondered.
"Yeah, it said that I should go meet the "Spirit of the Forest, Herald of the Tree of Beginnings" and… Oh, the quest is completed, it seems it was… you?! You're an NPC?!" Asked Rita.
"Wait… What?! Your starting quest was meeting me, a Player?!" I asked in shock.
"Y-Yeah? It's weird? Should I talk with somebody else– Oh wow, now it's saying that I am in your care and that you should assign quests to me…" said Rita.
"M-Me?! Giving you quests? Why me? I know that this game has this system which generates quests automatically over time, but involving a Player is a bit… too risky, what if I can't log in anymore? Will the quest stagnate?!" I wondered.
The Guide Spirit emerged to tell me about it.
"Nope, the quest will evolve and adapt to the situations, you were given a starting quest to meet the tree because you were the first spirit of the forest in eons, apparently."
The Guide then looked over at my friend. "Meanwhile, Rita's spawning point where she could get a quest regarding her race would be the Dark Elf Woods, but because she decided to come here, the game readjusted her starting quests and used you as the herald of the tree of beginnings to guide her, after all that old tree is sleeping soundly now, better not bother him."
It then added.
"If you're gone after a few days from the quest starting, Rita will get new quests to progress without you… I guess the game A.I. that generates quests saw both of you interacting well and decided to make your lives easier, it is not the first time that this happens with players, sometimes they get quests from seniors and even are taught skills and techniques."
"A-Amazing, this game is really incredible…" I said.
"So what quest are you giving me?" Wondered Rita.
"Huhh… I don't know? How can I give her a quest?" I wondered.
Ding!
And then, right in front of my face, a system window emerged.
[You've been assigned as a [Quest Helper]!]
[You acquired the [Quest Helper] Title]
[Quest Helper]
Acquisition Conditions: Be chosen by the System to become a Player's Quest Helper.
Equip Bonus: +20% EXP, +10% All Stats for User and Target Player while Playing Together.
A Title given to someone that has been deemed as useful for the System, you're now a Quest Helper, and you can assign Quests to both NPC and Players whom the System deems worthy of receiving your Quests. Quests rewards will be automatically rewarded to the target Player/NPC, and you will also gain rewards if the target Player/NPC completes such quests. Quests to assign will be automatically generated. This Title effects all apply even without equipping it.
"Wow! Amazing! I am like a GM or something! What the heck? How is it possible to give me such privileges out of the blue? This game is really unbalanced, Guide!" I sighed.
"It's not really unbalanced, there are hundreds of Quest Helpers… Well, they're still rare but not too rare…" said the Guide. "But yeah it is kind of unfair, I guess. Nothing is fair in this game anyways!"
"Erm, who are you talking to? What's that thing? And can you explain to me what's going on, Elayne?" Asked Rita confusedly.
"W-Well… You see…"
I tried to explain to Rita everything that just happened as easily as possible. I told her about the Quest Helper Title and everything that came with it and yet she was slowly growing more and more confused. I felt like steam was coming out of her ears, she really had a hard time figuring out complex game mechanics.
"Huh, so in summary you're giving me a quest and I can get goodies out of you?" She asked.
"Erm, well, technically yeah but I don't know how to-"
"Hey I got this, what's this anyway?" Wondered Rita, showing me a strange key with the shape of an orange mushroom. "I got it after I killed them, alongside a pile of mushroom corpses and other useless things."
"A-A key?" I wondered. "Let me see it…"
Rita gave it to me, as I saw the item in detail.
[Mossy Damp Mushroom Caves Dungeon Key]
Item Type: Dungeon Key, Dungeon Creation Item.
Item Quality: D-Rank Quality.
Item Level Requirement: No requirement.
Item Description:
A special Item that can be randomly dropped from Mushroom-type monsters, it has a 0.5% chance of dropping from mushroom monsters, but the lower the level of the player that defeats the mushroom monsters, the higher the chances of acquiring this mysterious Key.
By using the key in any area within the Forest of Beginnings, you can spawn the Mossy Damp Mushroom Caves Dungeon, a dungeon with no level requirements. This Dungeon was sealed long ago by the Demon King of Miasma, and it is said to contain the sealed Legendary Mushroom Hero and the Mushroom Calamity Seed! If you feel brave enough to enter this Dungeon, give it a go! You can only enter once, if the dungeon is completed, it will remain in the area where it spawned.
What? Mushroom Hero and Mushroom Calamity Seed? And it says that this thing was sealed by the Demon King of Miasma? Why? I never thought we would find a Lore item like this, well, Rita did because she beat many mushroom monsters at a very low level, so it increased the chances of dropping the item… But wow, she's lucky.
"It is a Dungeon Key, if we use it, we can enter a Dungeon…" I said.
"A-A dungeon?!" Asked Rita. "Wait, like those sex dungeons?"
"Noo! Geez, you're such a perv sometimes! I mean a dungeon dungeon, those where you walk inside and fight monsters and get loot!" I said. Rita looked at me while squinting her eyes, unlike me and my husband, she was not experienced with RPGs. Well, I wasn't either, I mostly played them sometimes and I often just watched my husband and my daughter play them in the sidelines, I mostly played Candy Crush…
Maybe I should revisit the classics and play them to remember my husband and see… What was so nice about them? Hm… A-Anyways, Rita seemed to laugh at my reaction, as she grabbed the key back to her.
"Then let's go!" she said.
"W-Wait, we should first go prepare and…!"
Ding!
[You have found a desirable Quest Item; new Quests have been generated for target Player]
[You've assigned the Quest [Explore and Conquer the Mushroom Dungeon!] to [Player: Achlys]!]
[Complete and conquer the dungeon to acquire rewards alongside the one taking the quest!]
"I got a quest! It says that you gave it to me, I'll accept it!" said Rita, quickly accepting the quest and… well, she used the key right after that without even listening to me.
FLAAAASH!
"Woooah!"
Rita suddenly pushed the key into the empty space, and the key suddenly clicked there, as if there was some invisible door. Light then came out of the key and tremors emerged all around us, from the ground below our feet, something started to surge up, the entrance to some deep, dark, and damp underground caves.
"Yoooo! This is insane! Look, we got a dungeon right away, let's go explore it!" said Rita.
"Wait, Ritaaaa! You have to wait, if we die inside the dungeon we won't be able to get inside anymore, we should prepare and– Ah, she went inside…" I sighed, looking at my friend running downstairs, she had not even fully healed yet from the battle she just had and she went down at Level 3! Was she just completely insane!? The Dungeon said no level requirements but I bet it must have some! I had to quickly go protect her and aid her at completing her starting quest!