The Earth After Rebirth

There were also street performers. People who danced with tamed beasts, young men playing dice, an artist offering to paint you in 2 minutes for a gold coin. He found himself glad he didn't have any money, because these merchants were pretty convincing. Various people could be seen buying things they didn't even need.

He continued to walk in-between the shops and stalls and everything else. To an outsider it looked as if he was walking aimlessly. But this was a strategy to trigger a herb collecting quest. Which would raise his favour of the NPCs, making a few give him more quests.

Though it wasn't easy triggering this. As you'd have to wander around the market for about 2 hours, looking interested in the things they're selling. Most players would look around for an hour at most and leave.

Finally, something happened after 2 hours. It had been a long, rigorous 2 hours. It even raised his stamina by 0.2% from all the walking around.

"Young man, you seem famished, I have all kinds of foods here for lower prices of course."

Kiro smiled, caressing the back of his head. "Haha, I don't have any money Miss. I'm walking around here looking for 'odd jobs'." His smile turned into a grin, those were the trigger words for the quest.

"Well, if it's odd jobs you want, I've plenty. But you look so scrawny and unreliable. I don't think you can handle it."

"How can a hero sent by the gods be judged by appearance." He said nonchalantly, the woman was shocked. He attempted an awkward smile, but when the shock didn't leave her face he continued, "Rest assured Miss, I'm more than capable."

"Alright, alright. I need these herbs right here. Collecting them is a hassle, the field is infested with low level monsters."

Ding!

[You've been given a quest to collect herbs at the nearest field where the lowest of monsters live. Note that this won't count as your first quest, as you've already accepted one. So the rewards will be as though you've already done your first one, if you choose to accept.]

"I accept." Kiro said taking the piece of paper and bag for herbs from the woman, he left immediately.

He never bothered to watch this quest in his past life, so he had no idea what kind of monsters to expect. He got bored watching it because 2 hours of watching someone doing nothing but walk was not it.

There wasn't a single person, which was understandable since its been mere minutes the game released. Kiro practically ran to the field, when he got there he saw plenty of herbs but no monsters. He shrugged, "My luck I guess."

Picking herbs wasn't hard, you just needed to be extra careful as to not take out the root or ruin the stem. You had to cut it perfectly at the bottom of the stem. Kiro was crouched down, picking them one by one, even humming.

He made the mistake of plucking one herb from the root. The minute he did, liquid flew into his eye as if the flower had spat. It burnt horribly, he threw herb far away.

Ding!

[You've been contaminated by the paprika spit. Your speed will be greatly reduced for 30 minutes.]

"F*ck! Talk about being careless."

Just as he was nursing his very red eye, he felt a cloud over his head. It was a relatively sunny day, so when the shadow blocked the sun he noticed. When he looked back, a bee about the size of his head was staring him down. "Kyaa." He instinctively fell back, but too late. As the bee jabbed its sting, and landed on his face.

Ding!

[You've encountered and are being attacked by a Bumblebee. It's a low level monster with 30 HP, it's stinger can be deadly. They usually roam in groups.]

It missed his eye by an inch. He couldn't pay attention to the system message as he was busy dodging. The bumblebee was faster, he only dodged 1 out 5 attacks. "Holy hell, what the actual hell!" The bee was unrelenting, as it stung him in various places.

He finally got fed up from being bullied by a damn bee, and closed in throwing a punch, but the bee was smarter for a low level monster. As it just put its stinger on the way.

Kiro was infuriated. He didn't even have a weapon. He decided to retreat for now. It was lucky that low level monsters can only inflict 1 damage, otherwise, he'd have died, his HP sat at 30 now.

"Great job man, being pushed back by a bee, real class act." He berated himself. He was so embarrassed but glad at the same time, because there weren't players nearby. So nobody saw this embarrassing moment.

Though his face was a lot swollen. He happened to have a herb to help tone down the swelling in his person. He felt like this was a joke by the devs, why would he be tasked to collect herbs to be stung, only to use the very herbs he was on a mission to collect?

There was a river on the other side, so he walked there. Looked for two rocks, got a bit of water and started grinding the herbs to make the medicine.

The river looked deep and serene, but there was something eerily uncomfortable about it. Which made him grind faster so he could get out of there.

Ding!

[Your grinding is impeccable. Maybe you'll get a herbalist subclass!]

"Don't you dare give me something so useless."

Even though he said this, he knew the subclass wasn't useless. He just didn't want it. Herbalists are a lower level version of alchemists, if he wanted a class, he wanted the best not a lower version of something.

He started applying the medicine on his face and various parts of his body. 5 minutes later he was alright, the swelling had gone down. Then he heard a splash coming from the river, when he looked, nothing was there. There weren't any ripples either, he hastened out of there.

"I definitely need a weapon, I can't fight those bees without one. The system did say they hunt in packs right? I was lucky there was only one that time..." he was talking to himself as he went.

Then he had an idea. He found a sturdy tree and climbed it, he started cutting, with the knife for picking herbs, he started cutting a branch that was long and thick and to his liking. That's right, he was making his very own staff. He didn't just stop there, he mutilated the tree, taking chunks of its bark.

He reckoned if the tree could talk, it would complain and curse him with every disgusting name in existence.

He sat cross legged below the tree and started shaping his staff. When he was satisfied with the results he tried it.

He practiced swinging and since he was a sage he at least knew basic moves. He swung and speared the air.

Ding!

[Or maybe your subclass will be craftsmanship, you sure are good with your hands player. Congratulations on creating your own staff, something no one has ever done as a noob. The achievement will be recorded in the hall of fame. Congratulations once again, for creating an uncommon staff.]

Uncommon weapon? That was insane. Every beginner started with a common weapon and here he was with a wooden stick, that ranked higher! His luck may be bad, but it wasn't heavenly defying bad.

Kiro continued to swing, getting used to the weapon. It felt, right. He could finally use the staff wielder skill. But he wasn't done yet. He took the bark, and started crafting a mask. He had enough of being stung in the face. Then he crafted shin, elbow and shoulder guards. They didn't look like much, but it was an okay defense.

Now, he was ready for war, more or less. It was hard walking with his armour, but he made it work. He knew his movements would be heavily restricted, so he'd have to depend on his eyes and reaction speed.

He somehow made it to the garden of herbs. He started picking them off, according to the list he was given and placing them in the little pouch he was given. It was hard doing all this with his man-made armour but better this than getting stung again. Then he heard the hum, when he looked, right there at the horizon an army of bumblebees could be seen.

He gulped. They were the size of his head, how will he fair? "Come at me you sons'a bitches!" He shouted his warcry, and without hesitation they dipped down to attack him.

Two were coming right for him, but unlike before he was ready. He swung his staff as hard as he could and flung his guarded arm at another bee, they fell at the same time.

Ding!

[Congratulations on killing a bumblebee for the first time, you gain experience.]

"One shot, one kill?" Kiro wore a crazed smile on his face, he couldn't move all that well but this made him happy. They were low level monsters after all.

He ran forwards, and picked off the bees one by one. Some penetrated the tree barks, some were lucky and got his skin. But at least this time he was able to kill. It was him who was relentless this time, before he knew it he had taken them all down.

Just as he was about to take a breather, a notification rung.

Ding!

[You're being attacked by sonic rats. They're little creatures that live underground, you've disturbed their peace so they're showing their frustration]

Kiro couldn't see where or what the attack was. "Can't this damn game be normal? you didn't even give me time to rest. Now I have to fight invisible foes?"

Just as he was complaining, something shot out of the ground, and hit him straight in the face. He may had a mask on, but that was tree bark, the impact hurt him, it didn't protect him at all.

Like a meteor shower, many of them shot out of the ground, some missing, some hitting their mark. Kiro was simply too slow for them. He took off the mask, and guards. He felt 10 times lighter.

"Then, let's try this again, shall we?"