After settling down with his family, the old man decided to lie down on his bed and put on his personal animusphere, the device that allows him to traverse into the virtual world. After spending some time with his wife, perhaps a new world is all that Reynard needs in order to be whole again, perhaps he find something new in this world for him. As he put the headset on, he lay on his soft bed and began to log in. The application he had was already installed, known as Terrasphere which is a game said to be illegal and suspicious. Out of curiosity and having to possess a genuine copy, he decided to see and for himself, ignoring what the critiques and leave it up to his judgment to decide whether or not this game was worth it. And so he began, surfing through cyber space only to stop and been given the option to shape his avatar. Of course appearances in the virtual world is everything but what kind of appearance did he wish to have he wondered? It took only a few minutes to decide what he wanted to look like. A cruel decision even for him to take on the appearance of his younger brother, tanned skin, bearded along with that strange hair style he’s found off perhaps a body tattoo around the eye with an athlete’s body would do the trick. Finally it was time for his default attire, basing from his younger brother’s gym attire, he decided to remake it altogether in a medieval style. He wasn’t actually a man of fashion as he knew no fashion than a business suit and formals. But he didn’t want that and wanted something entirely different altogether, so he decided to dress his avatar in a way that it would almost make him look native American, a traditional native American outfit but much better than that. Before he saved changes, he would walk around his avatar, checking out every section of the body to make sure nothing is out of place, because this will be his permanent appearance in the world of terrasphere. Not like it would have mattered much but also a fact that it would look much like his brother in a way that regardless of the bad circumstances, he will not play this game alone. And soon when the light hits him, he was automatically transformed both mind and soul together. No longer was he Reynard Leone…. But under the name of his brother himself he will be known as… “Romulus” The feeling was amazing, he can feel himself breathe, he can feel himself clench his fists and move around. Was it like this for his brother too back in Sword Art Online? No… perish the thought as this is not the world his brother was nor would he be the same person again. Romulus is the embodiment of Reynard’s wishes, a man granted passage to a world a new, a new adventure and a new life awaits him. “HERE I DECLARE! ON THIS DAY, I ROMULUS WAS BORN TO THIS WORLD, TO TAME THE LAND AND FULFILL THE DREAM! ADVENTURERS FROM ALL AROUND, ADVENTURERS NEW, WHO AMONG YOU WISH TO JOIN ME ON THE ROAD TO GLORY?” He shouted from the top of his lungs with such confidence and presence, you’d think that he might actually do something amazing.
It didn’t take Curious George long to get into the groove of thankless manual labor to support himself. The game was surprisingly like real life in that regard. He thought he’d have gotten a little more aid from the system when he first joined up, but apparently, he’d only stepped in with the clothes on his back. When he talked about it with his life, she pinched the book out of his hands and pointed to a segment warning against being a full crafter on account of lacking equipment. Turns out he’d gone the absolute worst route imaginable for settling himself into the world. Would that stop him? Hardly! If anything, the extra challenge would only help him learn the system better! Which is why he was hanging out in the forest with a disposable sack collecting mushrooms. A chef None Player Charact- NPCs, he corrected himself. His wife kept telling him to start using that. A chef NPC had sent him on a mission to collect mushrooms for his stew. None poisonous, he clarified, and Curious George had taken the job as seriously as any he received in the real world. He examined oak and elm in the woods, hunting along the edges of the forest, carefully tugging what mushrooms he thought were none poisonous from the ground. It was a long process, and before he knew it hours had passed. He felt exhausted. This was part of the stamina system in place, wasn’t it? He sat down on a turned over log to have a rest – then immediately got back up when he heard someone shouting. His head wiped left to right, confused, before he located the direction of the source. Sack in hand he…hobbled his way down the path to see what was happening. Maybe he should work on that stamina issue later. He found a man standing by himself in the wood. Curious George tilted his head at the man, but didn’t think bad of what he was doing. Seemed like he was having a lot more fun than George was at the moment! “Try yelling a little louder.” Curious George adjusted his sack over his shoulder, trying to get it more comfortable. His smile was friendly and open. “I don’t think the villages over the mountain side heard you well enough.” @Romulus
Shouting out from the top of his lungs, his call was answered by a suggestion from player who found rest on an old log, probably startled by his loud voice when he stood up. The first one to answer his first call, now that’s a person worth remembering! With a confident grin he walked towards him like a foreign patriot and waved his hand high: “Greetings stranger, as much as I wanted to, I believe there can only be a few who can hear me from this part of the forest. That aside I hope not to burden you with this favor, you were once new to the game are you not? Would you be generous enough to help me find direction? And to what do I need to get started?” He was so proud, a vibrant face filled with confidence, new life and new purpose, the man never felt so alive to be in this world. At the same time he would be so gullible for that he knew nothing of strangers, never once did he think so badly of those in the virtual world as his brother was once a citizen of it himself. “You don’t look like the type that had recently spawned here so I’ll assume you have some experience! I shall introduce myself once more, I am Romulus the one destined to tame the land. To whom do I owe the pleasure of speaking to?” Of course he would ask as such information wasn’t visible to another player, player names are originally hidden from the public. “You speak of a village, do you know the nearest one?” He asked as his eyes turned to the attention of the sack he’s carrying. “I do not have that” he pointed to the sack George was holding on to. “I’ve heard that adventurers would start out with nothing and that’s what I am going to do but I would like to know how to gain something… such as that sack you’re carrying.” He would probably realize that he was just too much for @Curious George , tho he won’t blame him if he decides to leave him, then again if Romulus was his old self he might have taken interest and would probably leave him all the same as he would assume that the said person was merely jesting with them. Thing is that wasn’t his intention to jest, as he said he must not act himself in a new world, hence a new persona.
“Still new, friend.” Curious George enjoyed how much energy the man had, in fact. In the real world he was just as spirited. It was only in this virtual realm that Curious George felt so…sluggish. “Only joined just a little while ago myself.” He hefted up the sack he was carrying. The sack itself wasn’t too big, and unfortunately it was only half way full, but this was a first for Curious George. Slow and steady would be the way he had to go until he could get better at this. “Most I’ve been able to figure out is how to get between villages and some work I can do.” “I’m Curious George.” He offered a hand shake to the man. “Good to meet you Romulus. Like I said, I’m not too familiar with the game myself but I can take you to a nearby village. Hopefully show you some things to get you started.” Curious George adjusted the sack again, feeling it sink again to an uncomfortable level. “This sack? This isn’t anything. I was just given it by an NPC to do a job for him.” Curious George moved it around to let the man have a better look. “It’s nothing special. Just something to help me do work. If you want, we can try to see if he’ll have some work to do for you while we’re there. Or any other work other NPCs could have for us. What, uh, masteries do you have?” It felt weird to ask that sort of thing in casual conversation. Curious George moved the sack back around to rest on his shoulder again. “Let’s continue this talk while we move. I’ve still got work to do and there’s only so many hours in this game’s day. Walk with me and I can tell you what I know while I hunt for more mushrooms. If you want, you can help me search. Get some experience for these kinds of manual jobs in game.” George wasn’t sure how that would affect rewards for Romulus, or if he would get any at all. But at least the new player could learn more about the system and how to earn himself some income in game. Past that George wasn’t sure what he could help with. @Romulus
The man that replied to his call introduced himself as Curious George, who was also new to this virtual reality like he is. He explained to Romulus that he acquired the sack he was carrying was given to him by an NPC to do a specific job and by the looks of it, he seems to be foraging and gathering. However the term NPC was foreign to him, perhaps he can understand that finding an NPC may lead him to landing a good job in this world, the mention of masteries was also strange. Could it be translated as specialization? He came into this world knowing nothing about games and the like but he trusts that over time he spends here, he will soon learn everything that he needs to know. Curious George seems like a fine fellow patriot to converse with, he was quite generous too to give him assistance. For now he would stick with him until he finds a headway for himself. However some questions come first, while it may feel like he’s going to school again, every bit of it seemed so exciting. Was this the very experience his brother felt? To him it was bizarre, amazing even and to think he wasted years of his life doing business and marketing. He accepted his handshake that came along with a proud grin on his face. “Masteries? What are those? Is it something like specialization or knowledge? I am not too familiar with the game terms as this is my first time playing an online game so I may have to burden you to with some questions.” And so the two of them started walking through the forest of Brisshal. When Curious George asked Romulus if he can help gather mushrooms he nodded and accepted without hesitation. “Very well I shall help you on this quest, there’s nothing like starting off small now is there?” His words true, in the beginning humans came into this world and started with absolutely nothing, now strive to possess the necessities they need to survive and stride as a civilization. Romulus had always seemed to have it in his head that everything that he’s been doing has meaning, not a single bit of effort would be irrelevant to him. “By the way, where are we right now? I can recognize that this is a forest but does it have a name? Like is it a region?” He asked as he looked around the environment, admiring how well perfectly designed the game is, it was flawless almost as if they are actually real trees. From one question, Romulus asked another. “I also like to know what the term NPC is. What does its three letters stand for?”
Drag, drag… The sound of a heavy cloth meeting the rough ground below suddenly became more and more apparent, especially in the seemingly quiet and serene part of the Brisshal forest. While the occasional newbies will use the grounds as a way to improve their meager expertise – mostly by provoking the artificial intelligence of the nearby beasts before trying to dispatch them with whatever offensive masteries they’ve chosen at character creation – this particular part of the forest doesn’t spawn enough hostile mobs to attract a lot of people. Really, if you want to hone your combat mastery you’d be better off going Northwards and try your luck at combating the various aquatic mobs at the shore instead of trying to eke out every giant caterpillar from the ground in order to then hack them to bits with your sword. The method is inefficient and time consuming, not to mention incredibly barbaric by any self-respecting citizen of civilization. However, if there’s one aspect of this part of the forest that players tend to overlook, is the fact that the place is positively overflowing with mundane ingredients of any kind. Nothing extravagant of course – this is a beginner’s area after all - but they have all kinds of things that an aspiring Alchemist might want…which is, again, not contributing at all to its popularity. One, Alchemy is an uncommon mastery to start with, and Two, even if you do have Alchemy at the start a lot of those people will simply pick up enough herb to stock themselves up in healing potion before moving on. However, that might be precisely what those people who start with Alchemy would want. Some people might want to become combat proficient at the shortest possible time…but others might just want to spend the first few hours of their virtual life collecting weird things. The peculiar sound of cloth being dragged through the ground became clearer and clearer until the source of the sound finally revealed itself. At first glance, the figure might have looked like one of those higher-leveled players, complete with cloak that obscured its feature…but another glance will reveal that the cloak’s made from any cloth that one can grab from the nearest settlement. It has more in common to a table cloth than any respectable adventuring gear. To the owner of the cloak however, the cloth serves an adequate job in protecting her from the environment – mostly the windy atmosphere and the dirt – in order to assist her at her current endeavor. Namely, to gather the herbs that grew nearby. Yes, it’s a her. Upon closer inspection, the table cloth is too sloppy to conceal anything beyond casual glance. In this case, her long, silver hair quickly becomes apparent. Can’t expect too much from cheap cloths after all. Seemingly leaving the two men nearby to their own conversation, the cloaked woman walked with a leisure pace towards her destination. That is, the overgrown patch of bush at the base of a great oak tree nearby. Once within reaching distance of the vegetation, the cloaked woman then unceremoniously stopped dragging the cloth sack and left its content visible to onlookers. Said content which includes numerous cut vegetation and greenery. She then crouched near the bush before withdrawing a dagger and cutting up the tips of the numerous greens and putting it inside her sack. All of those without seemingly acknowledging the other two people at the vicinity. It wasn’t until she seemingly finished with her endeavor, closing her sack tightly once again, and turned towards the direction of the two men that she finally realized that she’s not alone. “Ah, are you two also here to harvest some herbs?” The sound of the dragged, full bag returned as the woman made her way closer to the pair of men, both of whom are taller than she is. It wasn’t an unprecedented situation, but it’s rarer than you might expect. “Perfect timing. Have you seen any peculiar mushrooms growing nearby? Their caps are commonly green, but purple ones also exist. They usually grow near the base of the trees, particularly these Sycamore-esque trees. I’ve been trying to find them but it seems the randomly-generated…err, well, the Gods had seen it fit to not grace this part of the woods with an abundance of mushrooms, it seems.” It seems that vegetation is the only thing she had in mind.
Curious George paused. It was not one of thoughtful contemplation or knee jerk fear, but of realization. George turned his head around, slowly, virtual neck creaking with each jerk towards Romulus’s direction. The man didn’t know what masteries were. Curious George squint his eyes, as if assessing the one beside him, and then opened wide when he understood what Romulus was. In the sea of experienced gamers, more technologically adept younger players, and overall just more knowledgeable people on the game – this was the first person Curious George had met that was just as clueless as he was on the game. Curious George had found a true comrade in being utterly confused of this games mechanics. “It’s no problem at all.” Curious George smiled. “Mastery’s are the skills our avatar has for the game. It is what we picked out when we were making our characters. Mine for example are Tinkering, Cooking and Artisan. What they’re supposed to let me do is mess with machines, cook food and do wood work. Unfortunately, I’m only able to do little because my…mastery is little…” In real life he could whittle with the best of them and did work on the house for his wife. Here he could barely scratch out a crude statue out of wood. It was disheartening, but Curious George had never been a man to give up at the first failure. Or the third. Or seventh… Curious George coughed into his fist. “You can check your progress with them in the menu or hud.” One of the players had explained to him this much. “NPCs are None Player Characters. They’re the not players like villagers or soldiers that make up the world. The NPC I was talking about was a chef that worked at an inn.” Curious George shook his bag a little to place emphasis on it. “They don’t recognize that they’re in a virtual world. Whenever someone brings it up they just fail to register it or place it in a context they understand.” Such context includes ‘you must be drunk, sir’. Curious George shook his head. “Back on subject, we are looking for mushrooms to give to the chef. Enough to fill the sack with so he can feed his inns guests.” The chef said he was making some kind of soup with it. There was a part of Curious George that made him wonder if the chef would be willing to take him in as a part time worker, so that George could work on his cooking under a skilled professional. He had worked on his other skills mostly, so George’s cooking was falling behind somewhat. Curious George’s head perked up. He raised a hand in the air to stop them. “Wait.” He heard something heavy moving its way through the forest. The first thought that came to Curious George was that it was a monster. But the truth became clear with time. A cloaked woman wondered in dragging a sack. “Uhh.” Curious George tilted his head when she just abandoned it to work on brush she’d walked past. The sack entrance tipped open to reveal…basically his sack’s contents but with other plant-life and filled to the brim. How long had she been out in this forest to gather that much? Then she asked about the mushrooms Curious George had been gathering. “Uhh.” He repeated, unsure of how to deal with the woman. “I’ve…found a few mushrooms.” George said slowly. “I’ve been searching for them for a question.” He eyed her. “My name is Curious George. And this is Romulus.” He gestured to the man beside him. “What’s your name?”
At first he was given a strange reaction from George, he almost had the idea that he was about to reject his inquiry until he said that it wasn’t a problem for him to answer. George would then explain what masteries are and that they are skills that a player’s avatar has for the game. Unfortunately for Romulus he couldn't remember what he placed but perhaps that’s a matter that he’ll try to look into himself. “So if your mastery is that of a novice then how can you increase it? Can’t knowledge from the real world apply here in the game?” He made the most common newbie question ever but perhaps he had misunderstood the point of masteries, tinkering sounds closely related to mechanical engineering, becoming an artisan requires some certain degree of creativity and professionalism and cooking was by all means an easy basic to go by. There were so many questions Romulus has, he chose to enter a world with complicated rules and strange conditions that aren't that of the world he lived in. George also explained that NPCs are non-playable characters that act like humans in the world, so basically it’s the same as AI but from what George had said, it sounded like a more advanced AI. While having wanted to ask about how he’d access the interface menu, he sees George’s work as something even more important. “VERY WELL! Roma shall assist you in the gathering of mushrooms! You may want to point out what they look like, I will do my best too!” He bellowed in a tone that seemed like that of a man who sounded like he was going to do something great. Then suddenly, the duo stopped to pause as George can feel another presence. Romulus can hear it too, the sound of something dragging along the ground. From the tales he heard of his brother, in his world there are strange fauna and monsters alike, would they encounter a monster? Romulus’s eyes seemed to be the face of the man who’s ready to jump in and fight but to such disappointment it was only a cloaked woman. “A forest dryad!?” No that wasn't it, she was just another woman probably doing the same job as George was according to what contents he’s seen in her pack. George proceeded to introduce himself and Romulus before her as he could only nod, unsure whether or not this woman is actually a player or a NPC.
“…Ah, I’m sorry. Where are my manners.” As if she just realized something that hadn’t been so incredibly obvious, Elmyra took a few seconds to relief the cloak around her out of its many, many imperfections. Smoothening the fabric in a few pats of her hands, straightening the crooked parts that have been like that ever since she barreled through a few vegetation with no thought of her own well-being, as well as getting rid of leftover remnants of said vegetation. After she’s finished, the cloak…still looked ragged, but at least she doesn’t look like she had been through a literal shrubs full of unidentifiable leaves, roots and twigs. Realizing that she’s within company of other people, Elmyra also took down her cloak obscuring her face. Her long, pink-ish silver hair now free for all to see, with little signs of the hazards that ravaged the cloak that covered it. All things considered, its appearance aside, the cloak had done a good job on protecting what’s inside. Function over form and all that jazz. “My name’s Elmyra,” She said, at the same time trying to dust off the remaining traces of vegetation remaining on her person before nodding somewhat politely at the direction of the lanky, blonde man and his stockier companion. “Elmyra Cressen. Like I said, I’ve been looking for some herbs around here. This particular area is surprisingly rather fruitful to explore if you want to collect some raw ingredients for practice concoctions. Perhaps the area was designed that way in the first place.” Realizing afterwards that she had once again used an out-of-character term, Elmyra immediately cleared her throat in order to put an immediate stop to that. If these two men had been an immersive gamer she’d pretty sure she had just destroyed said immersive atmosphere. Sophie immediately thought that even if the damage had already been done, she’d need to at least rectify said damage… “…A-hem, I mean, surely the Gods made it this way for the same reason, yes.” While she still appeared to be calm on the outside, Elmyra – or, specifically, Sophie – had tried frantically to search for any convenient segue to switch the focus of the conversation from her earlier gaffe. Her eyes wandered from place to place before finally settling on the mushrooms that the George fellow had offered her. Just like that, her thoughts departed from trying to make up for her failings and back to Mushroom Kingdom. Perhaps such is the power of mushroom. It was so obvious that she failed to notice that it’s been there in front of her eyes all these time. “Those mushrooms…Hmm, those with the brown caps are edible and basically harmless if prepared correctly, but they’re not what I had in mind.” Elmyra segued, talking basically from her newly-found memory as she remembered the details she procured from her recent expeditions to profile low-level materials. “It’s more suitable as a seasoning in a dish, or perhaps a part of a hallucinogenic concoction in sufficiently large quantity.” At that last part, Elmyra herself did a mental double take on the exact same quirk of the mushroom that she just said. She then made a mental note to gather a large amount of the bronze mushroom later on. For studies. Yes, of course. Her eyes then wandered once more until another kind of mushroom in George’s sack caught her attention. Those mushroom has green caps, and their regular size are noticeably smaller in average than the brown ones. Their features seemingly designed to hid them from public scrutiny. “Those ones, however, are more in-line with what I'm looking for. They're also poisonous if consumed without proper preparation.” Elmyra said while pointing at the direction of the one green-capped mushroom who managed to stand out at the top of the pile. No doubt because of the way George rustled the contents of the sack earlier in order to expose it to her. They stood out more because their numbers are significantly smaller than the brown ones. “However, if you distill those ones in proper alchemical alembic, you can purify the poison and extract their liquid essences. Those liquid essences have healing properties, rather useful in producing healing potions and poison antidotes.” “Ah, I’m sorry.” Elmyra added, realization apparent in her normally stoic expression. “Fellow herbalists such as yourselves probably already knew of all of those things I said. You two are also herbalists, right?” Begs the question on why they gathered brown mushrooms in particular and not the green ones…unless, of course, that’s their objective all along.
“From what I know, Romolus, knowledge helps. I’ve done some wood working in my life and it’s,” Curious George looked conflicted, “Helped me not that much right now, honestly. But it has helped me identify some wood types to use for carving later.” From what he could tell the world had different and real types of lumber for him to work with. That was a little comforting. When Romulus called their new arrival a Dryad Curious George tilted his head in confusion. ‘What was a Dryad?’ ran through his mind. “Oh, uh.” Curious George looked around himself consciously. Elmyra Cressen, as she called herself, had taken the time to smooth out her outfit and pluck the vegetation from her outfit. It had not even occurred to George to do the same. He looked down at his outfit – little more than a plain shirt and strapped together pants that he had from when George first started the game. He had been saving his pennies, so to speak, to try and get a tool for his masteries such as a saw or hammer, or even a skillet if George could for his cooking. Right now, Curious George only really used what he could scrap together or borrow from NPCs. George picked out the leaves and twigs he had ignored until this point. “I would think it is built for such a thing. Supplying players.” He tugged a leaf out of his hair. “With how close it is to the village, it was probably meant to ease us into the games gathering.” That was what George believed, at least. If someone had asked him a few days ago why the developers made the game like they did, he would have answered ‘because its prettier like this’. Now that George had a taste of gathering for quests and practice with his cooking, he understood. They wanted players to be able to scrounge like this without wasting hours to find a single material. George squinted at the woman when she started talking about gods, then he raised his brows upward. Realization had struck him. That’s right, there were Gods lore within this game. There was a lot of detailed lore in this game, actually, but somehow that felt less impressive than the extensive AI network that existed in the game. “Yes, Gods, right.” George said, trying to play along with the obvious player. Sometime later he would take the time to learn more about the divinities of the game and who was important to the pantheon of the game world. He reached behind himself and patted. Curious George’s face scrunched up when he felt something unnatural. “We are both players if you want to relax a bit more.” He offered while yanking the twig he found into view. George was not sure if she was just really into the roleplaying of the world, but he wouldn’t begrudge her if she wanted to keep in character. He just would not know how to handle it. Curious George let Elmyra explain the mushrooms she was looking for. When he heard that she wasn’t looking for the mushrooms he had, or at least most of them, Curious George nodded. It was unfortunate for her, but it meant he could turn in these mushrooms without issues for their companion. When she mentioned the green caps being poisonous he leaned over the sacks top to glare at the mushrooms. It must have looked weird to see his skinny avatar bend in such a way. “That’s good to know.” He said, righting himself and starting to pinch out the green ones. When he was done, George found that he had five or six of the buggers piled in his hand. “I don’t know a thing about mushrooms.” George was very open about his lack of knowledge. “I’m not a herbalist or alchemist. I’m a cook at best. I was just gathering these.” He hefted the sack back up onto his shoulder, now green cap free, “So that I could turn them into a chef for a payment. I recruited Romulus here to help me since he just logged in. Thought it could help him get familiar with the land and help me find more brown mushrooms.” Curious George looked at Romulus. “I don’t suppose any of your masteries are alchemy or cooking, are they?” They had been discussing what masteries were, but he had never heard what Romulus had. “Anyway, here.” Curious George offered the green caps to their new arrival. “I’ve no use for them for what I need and it sounds like you do. Take it as thanks for helping me keep the chef’s cooking from being poisoned.” He was not sure if the chef knew which mushrooms were poisonous or now. The chef probably did, which meant Curious George should have said thanks for ‘keeping me from getting chewed out’. Curious George looked past her into the wilds they were going to move on into, then back at Elmyra. “Well, since you’re here want to look for mushrooms with us? Since there’s two main types and we’re both looking for a different one it could help speed up the gathering.” Work smarter, not harder after all. @Romulus @Elmyra Cressen
It speaks… IT SPEAKS!! By all means this was no exaggeration, Romulus was terrified thinking that this could be the first monster he’d encounter on his first hours in Terrasphere but fortunately it was just another player like him and George. Nobody would blame him for thinking of such appearance earlier, the piece of fabric that the woman used was impaled by greens and vegetation. A woman who had pink and silver hair who introduced herself as Elmyra Cressen and she claims to have received the same job as that of Curious George. While she had said an out-of-character term, when she corrected herself Romulus would nod and smile as if he preferred that she did. After all, in a new world one must be a new person and leave behind all traces of their former selves, to him anyways. She sounded like someone who had knowledge over her expertise and introduced themselves as a herbalist. Quite the professional she is and if so Romulus would love to earn her as an ally. Fortunately he didn’t shout out what he had completely in mind, if he did he’d looked like a fool. George would then explain to her their current situation as Romulus was just accompanying him to harvesting and foraging mushrooms in the forests. Soon afterwards they had come to a decision that they were to cooperate in order to acquire the items they were looking for. “I apologize for my rude remark earlier, your figure strikes me as that of the mythological creatures I’ve heard tales about but Rome can be foolish at times” should she had heard of his remark, he’d closed his eyes and nod in an apologetic matter. “I held no expertise in herbalism but seeing as you identified these mushrooms then Its safe to say that Rome has met one of the fine herbalists of this world. As for my masteries, I have no means of identifying what they were as I randomized the selection. I’m still trying to figure out how and I do apologize for my lack of competence for this kind of thing.” And he gave another apologetic nod to George. “Rome will aid you in both of your quests now that I’m able to memorize what they looked like. Let us make haste and proceed with the harvest!” he chanted.
“I see…” Elmyra had no idea if she was insulted or praised. Usually if one compares someone to a monster that’s to insult someone, but…well, he did say that he mistook her for some ‘mythological creature’ and not some kind of hostile monster so it might have been an innocent mistake. As innocent it would be in an MMO where monsters are plentiful anyway. Then again, if he’s really a new player he won’t know what kind of bestiary this game would have so it might have been a relatively innocent mistake. …Well, newbies are probably also the ones who want to ease up on the whole roleplaying thing so them requesting her to relax on being in-character also makes sense if they’re newbies. It seems they’re also still learning when it comes to the mechanics – more clueless than her even, which is saying something – so it might be a good idea to elaborate more on the system lest they do something they might regret later. At least the RP-less speaking environment is a change of pace from the non-stop in-character chatters that permeates the official towns. Sophie doesn’t mind the roleplaying – heck she enjoys it – but keeping up in-character twenty-four seven gets rather tiring after a while. “Oh,” The realization hit her even harder than last time. She had just assumed that she was talking with player that at least had more experience in this game than she is, but it turns out to be anything but. “Now I see why there’s a lot more of the brown mushroom type in the bag than any other types of mushroom…at least you can fetch a decent price with the amount you’ve gathered. Perhaps…hmm…around 50 gold?” “Mhm yes, I did take Alchemy in character creation.” Elmyra nodded, her gaze moved away from the now-significant collection of mushrooms in order to address the tall, lanky man directly. “Mastery in Alchemy also gives you knowledge about herbalism, including the benefits and the hazards of the herbs around here. I believe cooking gives you the same kind of knowledge, but only for edible ingredients.” She continued. “So for example, if you kill and take the meat of a wolf, you’ll get to see how to best prepare said wolf meat into a cuisine. At least that’s my understanding of it. You’ll probably understand it more than I am the more you put points into said mastery. I don’t have it, sadly.” “Ah, thank you.” She didn’t resist when George proceed to put his green mushroom into her bag. It might be for the best, even, since all a non-alchemist could do with that particular mushroom is to use it as some kind of mild ingested poison…if they don’t accidentally poison themselves that is. “Actually, wait a second.” Elmyra said after George had finished dumping all of his green mushrooms to her own sack. “Here you go, these red mushrooms aren’t poisonous or hallucinogenic, so they might make for good cooking ingredient as well.” She explained while handing George a handful of red mushrooms. “They taste…slightly tangy and sweet, a good chef shouldn’t be stumped on turning these into a good dish.” Before Elmyra could speculate on what to do afterwards, George had already beat her to the punch by suggesting that they should probably team up in order to harvest the mushrooms in the area, which sounds like good enough idea. So good, in fact, that the other tall man – Romulus, was it? How very classical… – had prompted with haste about his intention to undertake this particular task with zeal. By now it wouldn’t do to just decline with haste now, wouldn’t it? Though to be exact, it’s not exactly a quest… “That’s a good idea.” Elmyra nodded before hauling her sack back up her right shoulder, “Since you’ve already got a lot of them, you two knew where to find the browns, yes? I’ve heard that they tend to grow near growing vegetation because they’re parasite, but there are a lot of places around here that fits the description.” As she made small talks on her newly-found companion, Elmyra began to keep an eye out for hidden mushroom places. For starters, she managed to find a couple of green mushroom growths at the base of a nearby tree.
