Chapter 2: Slimes, A Request, and the Guild

“Squee! Squee!”

Many slimes attacked me as I walked, giving me plenty of time to explore the default skills. Slash, Stab, and Bolt were the offensive ones, while Roll and Block were the defensive ones. 

Roll, Bolt!

I narrowly dodged under the jumping slime, and fired the condensed silver energy from my left hand into the green slime’s back.

“Squee!!!!”

The green slime paused and angrily shook, before charging at me again.

Slash!

A light blue glow emanated around my opponent, and my stick ineffectively bounced off its side. I mentally braced myself for impact.

Thump!

My health ticked down by a pixel. 

These slimes really do no damage. I guess this is the starting area after all. 

The slime undulated a bit before leaping at me again.

Block!

I raised my hand forward, a faint green shimmer appearing ahead of it. The gelatinous enemy slammed into the ephemeral wall, pushing me back a bit with the impact, before plopping backwards to the ground.

Stab!

This time, the slime did not glow blue, so my attack managed to scrape away a bit of its goo. 

After exchanging a few more blows with the slime, it finally went down. An involuntary sigh was forced from my lungs as I crouched to grab the dropped item pouch from the fight.

YOU HAVE DEFEATED 10 TRAINING FOREST SLIMES! THE BESTIARY HAS BEEN UPDATED!

Oh right, the rat did mention that there was a bestiary that unlocked information by defeating monsters.

I checked the Bestiary window and there was a familiar shiny border highlighting the Training Forest Slime icon.

~~~

Training Forest Slime

The first monster that new players of Equilibrium will encounter, if they spawn in the forest zone.

Skills: Block - [Not Learned: Modifiers Not Unlocked Yet!]: The Slime blocks your attack, somehow.

Visible Health Bar: ??? (Defeat 40 more to unlock)

Drops: ??? (Defeat 90 more to unlock)

~~~

I had my suspicions, but it was nice to confirm that the slimes were in fact using a skill to deflect my attacks. While the completionist inside me screamed to kill ninety more slimes to clear all the blanks, I ended up only killing twenty more before I reached Training Forest Village. My inventory became filled with a bizarre spread of items that I sorted as I approached my destination.

Rock - [Weapon/Ammo] A rock. You either picked this up from the ground or from an item pouch. We aren’t sorry for the filler items. At least you can hit things with it!

Forest Slime Goo: LQ - [Material] Poor slime, you killed it when it wasn’t in it’s prime. The goo reflects that, being more watery than it should. Maybe someone could use it.

Forest Slime Goo: NQ - [Material] Goo from a mature slime. Crafters need this for almost all Forest related items, so demand is high. 

Leather Boot: Melted - [Trash/Material] Either someone left their shoes outside, or actually lost to a slime. Regardless, you can’t wear this or repair it.

Copper Axe: Melted, Rusted - [Trash/Material] A lumberjack probably abandoned this tool in the forest instead of properly disposing it. The handle is rotted through and the axe head is riddled by rust. Slime stomach acid obviously did not help.

Bones: Melted - [Material] These unidentifiable bones have been partially digested by the slimes, making it perfect for Alchemists and their recipes. 

NEW LOCATION FOUND! Training Forest Village AND ITS ZONE DETAILS HAVE BEEN ADDED TO YOUR MAP.

I tabbed open my friends list with this notification.

Looks like Felix is still in his starting zone. Wonder what’s taking him so long to get out.

The tutorial rat had mentioned that I needed to visit the Adventurer’s Guild if I wanted to properly start the game. Apparently, the developers at Equilibrium went through hell trying to optimize the new player experience, and retention was awful when they didn’t have multiple “tutorial” checkpoints in place.

POINT OF INTEREST MARKED: Adventurer’s Guild!

A faint beacon of light appeared over the village, marking what I assumed was the Adventurer’s Guild.

On a side note, developers who push for navigation-related quality of life features deserve all of the love in the world.

My initial impression of this first town was not spectacular. The outer ring of buildings looked like a scene from The Three Little Pigs. The ugliest shacks made out of straw and sticks were haphazardly thrown side by side, and honestly, I was genuinely shocked that they stayed up when a stiff breeze blew by. 

I chalked it up to magical shenanigans.

Thankfully, there was an open dirt road that pierced through the flammable mess. I slid into the somewhat crowded lane that ran deeper into the town. 

Also thankfully, the quality of buildings dramatically increased after I walked a few blocks deeper into the village. While the architecture was nothing impressive nor creative, they were made of proper wood and bricks. My vision of a quintessential forest town was saved. Before long, I found myself in the main town square.

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“Excuse me! Are you new here?”

I turned around to look at a cheery young man with moppy brown hair.

“Yeah, I just started a bit ago. What’s up?”

“Oh perfect! I just got a quest from the Guild that needs me to do a friendly duel with another player. Can you help me out?”

I couldn’t help but glance at the long scabbard on his back.

“Uhh, I mean I could. What do you need me to do?” 

“Just accept the duel invitation that I sent you! I just need to surrender afterwards and it will finish the quest. We actually both get rewards, so it’s perfect!”

KEVIN XYY HAS SENT YOU A DUEL REQUEST!

ERROR; YOU MUST VISIT THE ADVENTURER’S GUILD BEFORE YOU CAN ACCEPT DUEL REQUESTS!

“Uh, I got an error message that said I can’t accept the request.” 

“..”

Kevin XYY looked at me with a beaming smile.

“That is fine! I can wait for you outside the Adventurer’s Guild. Please hurry though, I only have a few minutes until the quest expires.”

I glanced towards the busy entrance of the Adventurer’s Guild, nodded slowly to the still smiling man, and went towards it. 

The inside of the building was almost painfully stereotypical. The walls were painted the dullest beige and lined with oil lanterns. Breaking up the beige as a decent number of opaque windows let the sunlight filter in. 

I navigated myself past a few dozen wooden tables seating what seemed like hundreds of players. Since most of them were dressed in similarly themed green and brown gear, the sight looked like a sea of moss dancing on the tree floor. My mind wandered and I suddenly thought of crowded, and very sweaty convention floors.

Thankfully, the smell did not reflect that.

Some advantages of virtual reality was that most games wouldn’t force bad smells on you unless it was important for gameplay. Looking around at the amount of people who had clearly spent hours “outside”, I silently thanked the genius who popularized the idea. 

“Hey! You look new here, just started?”

An official-looking woman at a side window waved me in as I got closer to another gigantic blob of adventurers who were congregating around a large billboard on the wall. Compared to the crowd behind me, her well-fitted guild uniform and tightly wound bun were incredibly formal.

A familiar rat keychain was also hooked at her waist.

“Hi! Yeah, I started maybe around two hours ago. Sorry if this is a weird question — you’re a player right? I also have that keychain.”

The redheaded player clearly stifled a giggle.

“Yep! One of the unique perks of this game is that you can actively take the jobs of certain NPCs if you pass some exams. I’m an Executive Assistant out in the real world, so the guild clerk exam was easy enough to pass. Comes with lots of free cash and information. Also got a nice title from it, but sadly, it’s purely cosmetic.”

She waggled her finger at me to lean in.

“Since you’re like, the third new player to notice that I’m not an NPC, I’ll tell you a hint for something useful.” 

ARTEMIA HAS USED HUSH! SURROUNDING PLAYERS CANNOT HEAR YOUR CONVERSATION.

“Actually, if you haven’t seen non-combat skills, that makes two things, hah.”

“The tutorial rat definitely did not tell me about those.”

“Well, our rat friend can only speak on so much during certain parts of the game. Anyways, I’m sure you noticed that the slimes on your way here kept blocking your attacks.”

“Yeah. It was definitely pretty annoying, but they stopped blocking after a while so I could kill them afterwards.” 

“Mhm. There’s a reason why they could only block so many attacks from you.”

“Oh?”

“I can’t tell you too much since I’m technically on the clock. However, if you’re not opposed to it, I would advise asking NPCs plenty of questions. There’s a lot of valuable exposition if you take the time to try.”

Artemia waved her left hand out, and my ears felt like they popped.

HUSH! HAS BEEN DISPELLED. SURROUNDING PLAYERS CAN NOW HEAR YOUR CONVERSATION.

“Anyways, here’s your adventurer card. Thankfully for me, the forest spirits do all the hard work around here.” 

YOU HAVE RECEIVED YOUR ADVENTURER CARD. YOU CAN NOW RECEIVE QUESTS. PLAYER PVP IS NOW ENABLED. 

“The thing you were staring at is the quest board is over there. Unfortunately, you’re joining a day late, so you’re definitely behind on clearing the Major Quest, but I would advise finding a group to speed the process up.”

“Got it, thanks! I appreciate all the help.” 

Artemia winked at me and patted the rat keychain. 

“Least I could do for you. Come back anytime!”

I warily approached the quest board before suddenly remembering the guy waiting for me outside. I exited the building quickly, hoping that the crowd would thin out by the time I got back. Kevin XYY was still at the same spot, rapidly tapping his foot against the ground. His face lit up as he saw me approach.

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