[SP | Kingpin] Earning a Living (Quest)

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"So this is it, huh?" He stood in front of the location that some strangers had pointed him towards in his search to find out where in particular to start. Sure, he enjoyed playing games every now and then, but he was nothing more than a casual gamer. This whole experience was a new one to him, especially now that he was trapped inside and couldn't look up what to do. However, those that he had spoke to here seemed to have the common impression that going out and hunting monsters was the best way to progress. One alternative would be to open a shop, something far more up Damon's alley. At least this way, he could start making easy connections to other businessmen and work on creating a group of some sort.

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As he went to open the door, a prompt screen appeared in front of him. "Earning A Living (Quest) - Enter?" He turned the door handle to find it was lock and wouldn't budge until he clicked the "accept" icon in front of him. It was a pretty unique concept, albeit something he was very unfamiliar with, but he wasn't too keen on it, "Oh, boy. Just kill me now if everything's going to be this techy." Now that the door had been unlocked, he walked in to find a variety of potions and bizarre scents lingering about. Making his way towards the counter, he'd find that the store owner was standing around as if he had been open all day and expecting customers, "Hello there, would you be so kind as to help me out?" He gave a genuine smile, but it obviously had no emotion behind it, "Sure thing, whatcha need?"

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After a bit of talking back and forth, it was a pretty simple request. All the NPC wanted was some materials for his shop: a dozen petals from a summington rose, an eye of newt, and a pile of fresh grunt pig dung. He wasn't so certain as to why the shop owner wanted these specific materials, but he figured that it would make for one crazy side-effect potion or kill someone; more than likely the latter of those two options. Regardless, that had nothing to do with him and he had to complete the quest to start up his own shop so he headed out for the scavenger hunt. Besides, how difficult could it be to find three measly items? It was probably more difficult than he had in mind, but that was up to his luck. At least his determination was in the right place.

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Damon would slowly, but surely, make his way out of town. He wasn't in any rush and didn't plan on running around when he had plenty of beautiful scenery to absorb, this place was truly amazing to the eye. It was nearly realistic in every sense and he was certain people could get lost in this world if they lost hope, but he had a lot of people awaiting his return and he was the next in line after his father to take the throne. None of that was worth giving up to stay in a measly game; no way, no how. He'd walk through the meadow, pondering the ideas that would pop up in his mind as he was keeping an eye out for those materials the shop owner had requested, "Now... where are they?"

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Eventually, he would come across a pretty large patch of flowers, plenty of variety amongst them too. The shop owner had described the flower as having twelve maroon petals and that it wasn't very tall, but he didn't see it in this group. Another patch was growing up ahead near a tall oak tree and he saw some crimson colors scattered about. He plucked the first one that he saw right out of the soil, hoping that it was the right one. He began plucking the petals off, thinking that this was even easier than he had first suspected.

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[5197] 8 Loot

 

Unfortunately for the poor lad, the flower was not the one he was looking for. It only had eleven petals in total so he either happened to pick up a defect or the totally wrong one, but he tossed it back down. There was plenty to go around and it wasn't like this gaming world cared about global warming and all that hub bub. He picked up another one that looked pretty similar and it too lacked a twelth petal. He figured he might be able to get away with just taking twelve in total, but he didn't want to risk missing out on the rewards. He would continue to pick a few more flowers until he found one that fit the perfect description.

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[5271] 5 Loot

 

Bad luck! As it turned out, all of them were of a different family. Rather than their relatively close summington flowers, they were rovletier flowers. They are a pretty common flower that's used by scammers into earning easy money on those that lack proper knowledge about the flora. Damon probably would have been an easy one to trick in this regard, but he was certainly lucky not to be in such a despicable situation. He lost focus on the flowers when he heard a hiss from behind, which came from a pretty large looking amphibian... or something of the sort. Damon drew his blade and rushed forwards, taking no hesitation in attacking the monster.

 

Kingpin: 5/5

Monster???: 3/3

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[5274] 9 Battle | 4 Loot | 6 Mob

 

1 + 2 = 3 Damage

 

The sword cleanly cut through the being, instantaneously slaying the beast. The monster faded from the world and left nothing in its place, other than a look of surprise on Damon's face, "Huh, looked a lot tougher than that." He went to sheath his sword, only to find out there was another one following shortly behind. Catching the hilt before it slid all the way in, he prepared to repeat the same process, expecting this one to go down in one shot as well.

 

Kingpin: 5/5

Monster???: 0/3

 

Kingpin: 5/5

Monster???: 3/3

[Kingpin 0]

[5299] 1 Battle | 5 Mob

 

Miss!

 

This one was a little smarter as it dashed to the left of where the sword had struck and it even began to use the opening as a counter, showing some signs of true artificial intelligence for a low level monster. However, Damon was able to side-step out of the way on his own when the monster jumped up at him. He didn't expect to take any damage today or, at least, until he got some armor and increased health. He pivoted on his heel and lunged towards the beast, this time swiping instead of stabbing.

 

Kingpin: 5/5

Monster???: 3/3

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[5300] 6 Battle | 2 Mob

 

1 + 1 = 2

 

It caught the monster off-guard, easily catching it in the face and taking off more than half its health. It turned out that Damon got lucky on the first one, considering they both had the same amount of health, but this ought to be over pretty soon. The monster took its cue and tried to jump up at Damon, which he ducked beneath. In a sense, he let himself fall on his back onto the ground. As he did so, he raised his sword in the air, hoping to stab the brute in the gut as it flew overhead.

 

Kingpin: 5/5

Monster???: 1/3

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[5301] 8 Battle | 4 Loot

 

The monster let out a squeal as it writhed against the sword in its stomach before fading away, another successful victory for the SAO newbie, "I could get used to this." He hadn't encountered anything troublesome, let alone take any damage, so the odds appeared to be in his favor. As no more of those creatures were around, he went on to explore and find at least one of those blasted flowers. That was giving him more trouble than anything else at this point.

 

Kingpin: 5/5

Monster???: 0/3

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[5302] 9 Loot

 

After some more picking of close, but not close enough flowers, Damon decided he'd go pig crap. That ought to be the easiest of the lot to find, considering the fact that it probably stunk and would be swarming in the equivalent of flies in this game. There was none nearby, but after some walking, he'd come across a pile of feces on the ground. It was a surprisingly large accomplishment for whatever animal left the prize, but Damon didn't want to get his hands dirty for the wrong stuff.

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[5305] 9 Loot

 

After having placed it in the bag, he examined it to find that it wasn't pig dung, but the remains of a wild cargorian moose. That would certainly explain why it seemed like such a big load for something called a "grunt" pig, "Ugh, at least it isn't as bad as picking up dog censored in the yard." He dumped out the baggie, not caring if any morsels remained in it; what did it matter if the main course came with a little bit of seasoning? Damon gagged a little at the thought, "Why would I even..." He knelt down with a sober look on his face, was this it?

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[5308] 13 Loot

 

The name of the contents were displayed, showing that it was debonian carfangle. It must have been some sort of monster, he had never heard of it before. "Nope..." He dumped out the contents of the bag, this time not thinking about all the little bits and microscopic details of what remained. He walked over to where a few flies were and another bag lay on the ground, not looking forwards to having to keep this process going.

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[5461] 19 Loot

 

The display showed that it was, in fact, grunt pig dung. Fresh too, if the flies weren't already an indication of that. He sealed up the bag and placed it in his inventory for travel, then only had to walk a few more steps to find a few more of the flowers that he had been searching for. He knelt down, looking for one that absolutely had 12 petals on it and plucked it out of the ground, "Come on, this has got to be the right one."

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[5462] 15 Loot

 

"Sweet, it really is a summington rose." Rather than plucking the petals, he decided to just bring the whole damn thing. It wasn't worth leaving to have to come find it again in the event that the NPC actually needed more than just the petals. After all, this was a game and typos were always a possibility, right? At the very least, it was a believable theory and most assuredly the safest way around this situation. Cracking his neck, he recalled back on the last item, "An eye of newt... Now just where would that be..."

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It took some time walking around like a fool looking for these things, considering the NPC didn't describe the source to him. If it was some sort of flower or plant, he was going to absolutely murder the shop owner. However, if it was an actual newt or something, then it would have to be a pretty small beast that'd be difficult to find. Of course, neither of those two options sounded very good and he didn't want to head back to town just to get clarification on what was implied. So he decided to walk around a bit more, that is, until another one of those monsters from earlier began charging towards him.

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[5463] 6 Battle | 4 Mob

 

The monster was like a train with no brakes, but just as smart as one too. It remained directed in simply rushing forwards in a straight line, almost as if it was on a track. An easy thing to dodge, even for someone as inexperienced here for Damon. As the player sidestepped to the left, he pulled out his sword and ran it along the length of the dumb creature. It was a spot on slash, not that there was much difficulty to it, but would allow for him to follow up fairly quickly with the next blow.

 

Kingpin: 9/9

Monster???: 3/5

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[5464] 7 Battle | 3 Mob

 

The monster let out a curdling shriek as it fled from the source of the pain, but Damon was in full pursuit. This ugly thing wasn't getting away, not after being the one to initially start the fight with Damon. Besides, he could certainly use some spare materials for his shop. Sword in hand, he took a whack at the behind of the monster, coming pretty close to hacking the beast's tail off. It certainly would have looked like a nice strike, but the limb was surprisingly thick.

 

Kingpin: 9/9

Monster???: 1/5

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[5465] 5 Battle | 7 Mob

 

The monster, much to Damon's surprise, didn't continue running away with leg tucked between its legs. Rather, it skidded around so that it was facing its pursuer and ran towards him once again with a hiss. He stepped to the side, expecting it to resume its fairly guessable track, but failed to react properly when it pivoted towards him at the last second, jumping up at his chest and knocking him down as it landed a bit past him, "Geez, didn't see that one coming..."

 

Kingpin: 8/9

Monster???: 1/5