Old Wolf's Quest

After walking for a few minutes, Kirou once again returned to the town center where he originally met Old Wolf. Looking around, Kirou found Old Wolf sitting on a chair, watching the villagers moving about. He then approached and greeted Old Wolf.

"How was your talk with the instructor, young one?" asked Old Wolf with a smile.

"It was both pleasant and informative Elder. Thank you for pointing me in his direction. Instructor Bladesmith's words truly opened my eyes to the potential of my class," replied Kirou with a relaxed smile of his own.

Hearing Kirou actually mentioning Bladesmith's name caused Old Wolf to raise an eyebrow. "The fact that you know his name and spent so much time getting back here already tells me that you are truly different from the other weapon master rookies who've passed through this village. Very good. Since that is the case, allow me to give you some work."

[System Message: Village Head Old Wolf has issued you a quest.]

Quest: Workaround Elderwood Village

Rank: C+

Level: 1+

Details: There are a few people in the village that need help. Find them and aid them in their queries before returning to Village Head Old Wolf. Reward changes depending on the passing grade given by the villagers for your help when you are done.

Villagers to visit:

Blacksmith: 0/1 Grade-?

Tailor: 0/1 Grade-?

Butcher: 0/1 Grade-?

General Store Manager: 0/1 Grade-?

Pharmacist: 0/1 Grade-?

Reward: 1 skill book (grade unknown), 3-7 sp, and a fishing rod.

After looking over the quest, Kirou noticed on his map display five areas being highlighted. He assumed those to be the locations for the five villagers he needs to visit.

Looking at the rewards for the quest, Kirou couldn't stop himself from raising an eyebrow before thanking Old Wolf for the quest. He then started making his way towards the highlighted villagers

Before he got far, however, Old Wolf gave him a piece of advice, "For things you don't understand, it's fine to just follow the advice given by others blindly but if it is something you yourself are proficient in then do it your way. You won't be disappointed with the results." And with that Old Wolf went back to ignoring Kirou.

As he was walking away, Kirou never stopped contemplating over the old man's parting words.

'I wonder what he meant by that?'

*******

Kirou was currently standing outside of the general store. It had taken him a few minutes to get here from where Old Wolf was. He was currently standing outside with his brows furrowed. The reason for him standing outside, however, was that it was currently packed with players. Even if he was ignorant of the ways of gaming, he could tell that the people occupying the store were players based on the conversation that was currently taking place.

"Hey, Lady. How is it that you only gave me a C- for the stuff I brought ya?" yelled one player as he was facing a woman with wolf ears behind the counter.

"Yea. Even if this stuff is of average quality, we shouldn't be getting such a grade when we can't even collect better quality goods from outside the village," yelled another player from the crowd.

"Yea. This is a total ripoff," yelled a third player gaining the support of the rest of the crowd.

While the crowd of players was shouting, the general store manager maintained a calm expression on her face. It's almost as if the complaints of the crowd truly didn't affect her.

After what seemed like forever, the woman finally seemed like she was tired of their complaining so she finally opened her mouth, "Ladies and gents, I'm sorry if it seems like my grading is unfair but the items you brought me truly deserve that grade. In fact, it's supposed to be much lower for a few of you but I decided to give it a C. I'm sorry if you feel cheated but I cannot in good faith give it a higher grade. That being said, I must kindly ask you to take your leave now as you are disturbing my business."

Her words seemed to have caused the players to lose their last bit of sanity as they all started making threats and taking out their weapons. In response, the woman behind the counter just shook her head before taking out a great axe from behind the counter and proceeded to remove everyone from her shop. Those at the front were quite unlucky as they were immediately killed and their bodies removed from the shop. The ones at the back that were lucky enough to escape fled as fast as they could without looking back.

When Kirou saw this, all he did was shake his head. He couldn't understand why those guys thought it was a good idea to try and take on an NPC when they were still in the beginner village. Did they truly believe these villagers were weak chickens they could truss up whenever they felt like? After the last of the players either fled from the shop in terror or died by the axe, Kirou finally made his way inside. Kirou went in just as the store manager placed down the axe behind the counter. When she saw Kirou, all she did was smile at him.

'Scary woman. Let's not repeat the mistake of those idiots.'

"Hello, young one. I am the general store manager. How may I assist you today?" asked the wolf lady with a professional smile.

Kirou gave the woman a polite bow and started, "Hello miss manager. I'm here on an errand from the village head."

"Oh? That means you're here to help me. Good. Recently I've run short on rabbit fur and rabbit meat. Could you go outside of town and travel south and collect some for me?"

[System Message: General Store Manager has issued you a quest.]

Quest: Collect Rabbit Fur and Meat

Rank: D

Level: 1-5

Description: The general store manager wants you to head south of Elderwood Village to kill some rabbits and collect some fur and meat. Quality of fur and meat decides the reward and grade given for the quest <Work around Elderwood Village>.

Rabbit Fur: 0/10 Quality-?

Rabbit Meat: 0/5 Quality-?

Rewards: Rabbit Stew x 1, rabbit under armor and grade for <Work around Elderwood Village>.

After receiving the quest, Kirou didn't leave immediately. Instead, he asked the store manager about which grade he would receive and the different quality rabbit items he could return. In response, she gave him a rundown on it.

"The grades are given based on the following; average quality gets a C, good quality gets a B, great quality gets an A and perfect quality gets an S. As for how you would go about getting those above average, I have no clue. Why not ask a villager that specializes in that area?" the store manager with wolf ears and tail hinted at with a wink while explaining to Kirou.

"Thanks for the advice. I'll be back as soon as I can." Kirou smiled at the woman before leaving the shop, making his way to the other four areas before he would leave the village.

'Seems like this one might just give me a surprise when he returns. Ahh, who cares. Let's wait and see what he comes back with,' thought the woman as she went back to manning her store.

*******

It somehow didn't surprise Kirou the second time he ran into a situation like what happened at the general store when he went to the other four locations. In fact, he pretty much expected it. That being said, he chose to wait until after the stores were emptied before he made his way inside to collect the quests.

Just like with the general store manager, the other villagers gave him quests as well. And just like with the store manager, he asked for further details. Like with the store manager, he was directed to other villagers to learn how to increase his chances of getting items with higher qualities and he made sure he went through every hint directed at him before started making his way out of town.

Going over the details he had acquired, he couldn't help but notice that they were quite similar to how he dealt with them back in his previous life when he was an assassin. During his younger days, he remembered when he had to hunt for food and materials himself. A lot of trial and error took place back then but he did learn how to do everything and he learned how to do it right.

Thinking up to there, Kirou remembered something and opened his menu. Instead of looking at his status menu, he turned his sights towards the gameplay menu. This menu controlled a few settings on how he would experience the game, such as the ones that control his five senses and how deeply immersed he would be in the game.

Those weren't the settings he was looking at this time though. After running his eyes over the menu he finally found what he was looking for.

'Gameplay settings,' Kirou thought to himself.

The gameplay settings were a feature used to define how players play the game. By default, the gameplay settings are always set to 'system assisted mode' or 'automatic mode.' In this mode, the system basically helps the player in their execution of everything, whether it be in using skills, gathering, or crafting. While it is not a bad idea since not everyone can do those actions without the help of the system, it limits the results gained from those actions as well. The reason why all those players were complaining about being only able to get average quality items is most likely the result of them gathering the items under automatic mode. It removes the possibility of getting bad quality items but unless they are lucky, they won't get anything better than average quality either. This mode was there for beginners

The next setting under the gameplay settings is 'half system assisted mode' or 'semi-automatic mode.' This mode provides the player with hints on what they should do such as how to move their hands or weapons to execute skills, where to hit or touch when gathering and where items should go when crafting. This mode is both good and bad. Good in the sense that anyone that can follow instructions will be able to take advantage and gain better quality items. Bad in the sense that failure to follow instructions or missed timings will cause spells to fail or items to break or receiving lower quality items when gathering. This mode is mostly used by pro gamers or craftsmen.

As for the final option, it was known as 'player mode' or 'full manual mode.' This option is recommended by the best. The reason for that is everything is on the player. Whether it be fighting, item gathering, or crafting, all judgments are made by the player themselves. Whatever the outcome, it was all based on the player's own experience. People who use this mode are either extremely confident and gifted, or they are very foolish and arrogant.

It was this mode that Kirou changed his gameplay settings to. As soon as he pushed the confirmation button, Kirou felt like a certain weight was added to his body. Unlike before where the system helped with even his movement, he was now walking under his own strength and felt the weight of it. He still felt like he was moving through mud but at the very least Kirou felt like he was in control of his body traveling through the mud now.

Now that he had done this, he quickly made his way to the exit of the village. As he walked by players on the route, if a person was there to observe him, they would notice that his hands kept brushing against the other players ever so lightly. It wasn't until Kirou finally made it to the south exit of the village that he allowed a smile to grace his face as he heard the prompt he was waiting for.

<System Message: Player Kirou's repeated action has finally been recognized as a skill.>

[Generating skill...]