Chương 5: Snowflake Forest
Walking hand in hand with Abby, Fotas finally reached the Healer's Hut. The Healer's Hut fronted an ample circular space in the left side of the village. A large bonfire was lit in the to the right of the Hut. The odd thing about this bonfire was that Blue flames rose from golden-colored logs. It had an elegant and serene look to it.
Fotas stowed away his spear and shield into his inventory and gingerly stepped into the hut. Looking back at Little Abby and he saw her smile and motioned him to move forward.
'Looks like I'm going in alone.'
The Hut had a low ceiling, compared to the house of the Mayor. It was spotless inside, but you could see that everything was old. To one side was a rickety wooden table with four dusty square mats around it. To the left of the meal was an alter. On the picture frame rested an old man with a kind smile. His hair, white as snow, fringed a bald spot on his head, looking like some grandpa that would sit you on his lap and tell you about his grand adventures.
"Hello?" Fotas called out. "The mayor sent me here to hear about the history of the Snowstorm Barrier and receive a blessing?"
"Ah, young one," a wispy voice said, like the stereotypical voice of a witch that has a boiling pot of cauldron tucked away somewhere. "Welcome, welcome. I have been expecting you."
From a small dark corridor leading further into the house, a frail old lady walked out. Despite her voice being creepy, She looked like those grannies who bakes cookies for fun in movies. Add to that, on the left side of her face to her arms, was burnt skin. It looked as burnt out like charcoal. Noticing something new above her head, Fotas made out a light display.
<Lvl. 15 Winterhorn's Healer: Lyn>
'Huh, that's weird. Why didn't a display appear on top of Darrell, Abby, and Mary earlier? Is it because that since I'm now interacting with a quest, I get to see the NPC's information? Well, I guess this helps me know who they are now. Level 15 she's pretty high leveled for the current me, probably could Killy single-handedly.
"Hello. The Mayor said that I should go here."
"Yes, yes. To hear the story of our people? Yes, you are an adventure, indeed!"
"Didn't have many choices in this matter."
The Healer moved forward, with her hand in front of her. Then Fotas noticed that her eyes were glazed over, sort of a crystalline texture.
'Is she blind?'
Reaching out for her hand, he slowly led her towards a mat and settled her down.
"Thank you, dearly. You are most kind. Tell me what your name is."
"I am Fotas, a wanderer that woke up in front of Winterhorn's gate. Due to the hospitality of the mayor and a desire to travel the lands, I have agreed with the Mayor's request to liberate Winterhorn."
Laughing to himself about his cheesy narration, Fotas thought to himself that he did a good job.
'Man this sounds so cheesy, but with the A.I. advancements in this game, I think I'll be ok. Maybe I can polish my acting skills here in the game.'
"It is always good to have more younglings around," Healer Lyn said. "But most of the adventurers simply choose to stay in this town than venture out."
"Is it that dangerous? Has no one found a clue on how to dispel this Barrier? Is it because they are weak?"
"Aha, a self-assured youngster, eh? Maybe you're the one needed by our people. But best not to get cocky."
"Cocky," Fotas repeated.
He grinned as he recalled that back then, he has been called cocky before, but only once. Slowly his mindset started to shift back towards the days that he used to play games online — the time before he ate away at his problems. A sense of confidence oozed out of his voice. His eyes glimmered with a mischievous twinkle.
'The games begin now. Top 100 is mine!' A conviction echoed in his head.
"Unreasonably or excessively confident. But I'm not that kind of person, Healer Lyn. I'm just sure that I have better potential than most people."
"Bah, call me Granny Lyn. Stop it with the Healer nonsense." The granny debuted him immediately.
Healer Lyn than let out a croaky laugh and rubbed her hands together.
"We'll see about potential then…not that I can see!" She let out another laugh that was creepy and endearing at the same time.
"Let us have a seat before I tell you what has been passed on to me." She gestured towards the table and the mats.
"Let's see. Where do we begin? That's right, how could I forget! Did you know the land that we sit upon today was the final resting place for a god before he went back to heaven?"
A bombshell was dropped at the beginning of the conversation. Fotas couldn't wrap his head around what he just heard.
'God's resting place? There are Gods? Does this mean that there's more than 1? What was this God known for then.'
Looking at straight at Fotas as if she knew what he was thinking about, she continued her story.
"Yes, there are more than 1 God in the world of Aglenem. The God that resided here last was Ombris, the God of ice and snow."
Reaching down towards the table, Granny Lyn felt around until she found her glass of water. Drinking it to clear her voice, she continued with her story.
"Gods used to roam these lands. No lesser beings existed. Each one of the gods was capable of overturning ocean and mountains. Then one day, they all returned to the high heavens and creatures they created started to roam the world."
"What happened to them?" Fotas interrupted Granny Lyn mid-speech.
"We don't know, and we never will. Anyways there has been speculations that a believer of Oveses, the God of the sun, went to the temple of Ombris and angered the God. With Ombris feeling that he was being tested he created a Snowstorm Barrier to keep the believer in here forever. We don't know where he is to this day."
Listening to the story, Fotas quickly thought of something out of place and asked Granny Lyn.
"Wait if you know that he went to the Temple of Ombris, why didn't you guys just go there and check to see if anything occurred there?"
Sighing, Granny Lyn looked at Fotas as if he was a newborn calf, even though she can't see him. The feeling of something missing irked at the back of Fotas's mind, but he pushed it away. Granny Lyn then turned around to face the picture of the smiling old man with a sad expression hanging on her face.
"We tried to enter the temple to see if there was anything we could do to ease our predicament. What we found instead was a monster. An outrageously powerful monster that wreaked havoc among the people there. My husband was killed during its outrage."
Recalling the memory of her husband, a tear slowly fell from Granny Lyn's eyes. An aura for sadness and sorrow hung over her like a damp cloth.
"That's why seeing you here we hope that there is another way out of the Snowstorm Barrier. We believe that since you could come in here without harm, then there should be another way to get out."
Seeing her like this Fotas felt a pang of pain shoot through his heart. Resolving to do his best to help the old grandma, he shouted out his willingness to defeat the monster.
"Don't worry Granny Lyn I believe that I can grow strong enough to take the monster down!"
Right after saying this line ding rang out and a panel popped up.
_____________________________________________
[New Quest]
After hearing the tale that Healer Lyn described to you, you now feel the need to help her. Hearing her plea to slay the monster that has killed her husband, you accepted.
[Success]: Slay the Monster that killed Healer Lyn's husband.
[Failure]: Unable to kill the monster in the allotted time.
[Rewards]: Favorability with Healer Lyn +5,000, EXP + 5,000, acquire the skill [Gluttons Health].
[Penalty]: Sadness and Disappointment from Healer Lyn, -5,000 Favorability.
[Time for completion]: 6 months
[Accept]: <YES>
_____________________________________________
"Thank you, youngling. Your words have instilled with me new hope. Let me give you this blessing before you go on your adventure."
[You have gained the <Blessing of Winterhorn>]
[For accepting Healer Lyn's request she has bestowed upon you with <Blessing of Adventure>]
Glancing down towards the notification, Fotas saw that he got two blessings in total. Deciding to check the benefits out later he turned back to Granny Lyn and listened to her final comments.
"You should learn how to hunt and forage, youngling. You can ask around. I'm sure that you can find someone to teach you," Granny Lyn said. "I don't go out anymore because I can't see it, and I am fragile. People give me food in return for my services of healing them and giving them advice."
"Go with little Abby, and she will take you to the Hunters Building, you can learn skills there."
_____________________________________________
[Quest Completed]
You have heard of the tale of the Snowstorm Barrier and received your blessings from Healer Lyn.
Experience +100
[LEVEL UP]
_____________________________________________
[Quest Updated]
Follow little Abby to Hunter's Building to receive your skills. Learn everything you can. There won't be another chance after this until you reach level 10.
_____________________________________________
'100? That's fair enough for a quest of doing nothing but listen to this granny. Now that I leveled up, I should check my status on the way towards the Hunter's Building.'
Thanking Granny Lyn once more, Fotas stood up and proceeded to walk outside to meet up with little Abby.
'At least now, I know one of the solutions for the Snowstorm Barrier quest. There's a high-level monster roaming around up in the temple, probably somewhere a bit further away from the town around one of the mountains. My priority is to go around and finish some of the smaller quests to gain levels.' Thinking to himself, he thought of a quick game plan and proceeded to walk next to Abby.
"I'm going to show you around the village." Little Pony said. "Next, we're going to the place of the town's elite hunter, Borak. He's pretty excited that there is a new person that he could teach hunting."
'Looks like this introductory questline is going to take a while,' Fotas thought to himself.
This wasn't surprising since this game has a quite steep learning curve. He will probably need to meet a few more NPCs before moving on to other side quests for experience points like gathering ten pieces of monster fur or something.
There's no reason to skip the main questline. Usually, players receive items to help themselves along, so he planned in sticking with the storyline unless He saw something that would be helpful to his plan of leveling faster.
'Oh, yea I forgot to check my status for the two blessings and the level up.'
_____________________________________________
[Name]: Fotas
[Level]: 1 (0/300)
[Class]: Beginner
[Blessing]:
<Blessing of Winterhorn*>
<Blessing of Adventure*>
[Health Points]: 250 (+50)
[Mana]: 60
[Stats]:
Strength*: 7
Agility*: 4
Constitution*: 15 (+5)
Intelligence*: 6
<Points*: 5>
[Special Stats]:
Endurance*: 10
Luck*: 5 (+1)
[Resistances]:
Ice: 20%
Cold: 20%
[Skills]: None
[Forte]: Fatso*
_____________________________________________
[Blessing of Winterhorn]: Healer Lyn has blessed you with the Blessing of Winterhorn.
+10% Cold and Ice Resistances
+5 CON
Last for 6 months
[Blessing of Adventure]: Healer Lyn has blessed you with the Blessing of Adventure.
+1 LUCK
+50% EXP
Last for 6 months
_____________________________________________
Looking at his Blessings in amazement, he realized that he got a hug he buff. With the extra 50% in EXP gain, he would be able to level up faster. The added CON and Resistances would help him tank even more damage. His character is now heavily leaning towards tank which had him worried.
'It's great that I have all of these points in CON and Resistances, but since I'm playing alone, I don't have a great enough DPS output. It's not like I can form any teams around here, I haven't seen another player since I got here!'
Musing to himself some more he felt a tuck on the corner of his sleeves. Glancing downwards he realized that Abby was the one pulling on his sleeves. Giving her a quizzical look, she pointed to his left. Looking up, he realized that he was at the gate of Winterhorn, the road that led to the outside.
The Hunter's Building is right next to the gate. Did you know daddy was the one that made this gate." A childish grin was stuck on her face.
An idea then popped into Fotas face, and a mischievous grin started to creep onto his face slowly.
"Ah, wait a bit. I have something that I want to try." The grin still hasn't left his face.
'Maybe I should try killing a couple of monsters before I get my skills? This would allow me to check how tanky I am and allow me to see what kind of skill I need. Plus, those Icicle rabbits should be right outside the town. With my knowledge of their weak points due to [Fatso], I should be fine. The battle system in this game was bound to be interesting.'
Holding the Grimm Fotas quickly skipped towards the outside of the gate.
'Oh, right I have to check my ranking before I leave. I want to see how much that level up and blessings impacted me.'
Turning back to his interface, he brought up the ranking system again.
'It's still pretty low, but there's an improvement. I also still have five unaligned points. That should boost my ranking up a bit more if I input it in. I'll probably assign them to points I need later when I'm learning skills.'
[Ranking Player <Fotas> 946]
[Congratulations you are the first person to find Snowflake Forest]
[+50% EXP gain for five days]
[+50% Extra Loot Chance for five days]
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deevi
deevi If you like the story please give it a rating and vote for it with your stones. If there is anything I need to work on please tell me in the comments. Thank you.
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