《Second Chances at Unique Achievements》 Chapter 1 - Andrew - First steps --Andrew-- Andrew lay on his back staring at his hands, examining them with the sky as a backdrop. His hands were smooth and of uniform color. They were perfectly normal hands for a young man, the only problem is that they didn¡¯t look like his hands at all. He had the wrinkled time ravaged hands of an old man... they should be more claw like but miraculously the hands he found himself were the hands of a young man. The strangest part was that he couldn¡¯t bring himself to fret at the difference, all he could do was marvel. His body was young, his mind was clear. Andrew could remember agreeing to come to this strange place. His mind hadn¡¯t been this lucid in¡­ a long time. He couldn¡¯t remember the last time his mind wasn¡¯t being assaulted by pain that had plagued him for half of his life. Achievement get: Cloud Gazer 1 Description: For spending several minutes contemplating simple things while gazing at the sky. Stat: +1 mental stability. Deciding that he didn¡¯t necessarily want to be defined as someone who stood around and gazed at clouds he got to his feet and decided to go for a jog. He hadn¡¯t exercised seriously since he was struck by a car in his 40s. Running felt good, he could feel his heart thudding in his chest and his blood seemed to sing in his veins. He broke into a run. The laughter that broke out of his lips came as naturally as breathing. He hadn¡¯t felt this good in forever. He felt like he was a gazelle flying through the terrain or a falcon diving for the kill. The exhilaration of youthful movement flooded through him. On instinct a half forgotten muscle memory from his teenage years floated to the surface and he lunged forward executing a forward roll that he executed thousands of times in college. Aikido 101, 102 and 103 had been some of his favorite classes. He was never that great at the arm locks and throws but he had loved learning to fall ¡°correctly¡± as his Sensei had called it. As he rolled to his feet he was stopped in his tracks by a prompt. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Achievement get: Tumbler 1 Description: For falling with style. Stat: +1 Physical Balance Stat: +1 Falling Defense The prompt caused him to sit back down to resume his examination of his thoughts. The agreement he had accepted, it had mentioned that he could grow any way he wanted to and this world seemed to be built like some kind of game? If he could grow in any direction¡­ then¡­ Who did he want to be? He saw other people leaving the city carrying weapons. It seemed like it was a game that would require him to fight. He needed a plan. Again the question ¡°Who do I want to be?¡± echoed in his mind A slow smile spread across his face ¡°I need to make a plan.¡± Andrew had been at it for what seemed like hours but he kept doggedly executing forward rolls. The joy of tumbling had worn off long ago. This had been a terrible idea and he regretted ever coming up with it. His arms were sore and his head swam with dizziness. Once he had walked around the city and found no obstructions that would prevent him from tumbling in a full circle all the way around town¡­ that is what he had decided to do. He had been rolling and coming to his feet and then rolling over the other shoulder to his feet over and over and over, something that he hoped would be worthy of an achievement. He knew that in any fight footing was important, falling down in a fight tended to be what happened right before you lost. If he did fall, he didn¡¯t want to stay down long. He had already gotten the Tumbler 2 & 3 achievement with the same rewards. Finally, he stood where he had started and received the pop up. In relief he immediately fell to the ground to quiet the dizziness spinning inside his head. Achievement get: Rolling Around Town (Clockwise) Description: You rolled all the way around the starting village. Stat: +1 Speed to regain your footing Stat: +1 Physical Balance Stat: +1 Core Strength Stat: +1 Impact Defense Stat: +2 Falling Defense The word ¡°Clockwise¡± made him turn his head and look back the way he had come. Could he do it again the other way and double his gains? ¡°Nope¡­ that is enough of that¡­¡± He resumed looking up at the sky ¡°I need a better plan.¡± Chapter 2 – Andrew – Of contemplation, conversation and info dumps The system seemed to give rewards for achievements that matched the theme of the achievement and as good as being able to fall or tumble was, he didn¡¯t want to be the acrobat king¡­ or whatever¡­ he should seek out achievements that would lead him towards some large goal ¡­. What goal did he really want? Most of all, he didn¡¯t want to ever feel like a decaying mind trapped in a rotting shell ever again¡­ and after that... Andrew reflected back on how alive he felt when he was running but more than that, he loved how just being ¡°baseline human¡± made him feel more than human. He wanted to push that feeling, He yearned for the visceral feeling being a wolf or a tiger or a falcon, a whirlwind of claws and fangs tearing into his prey. He didn¡¯t want to have a sword or spear, he wanted to tear his prey apart with his bare hands. He wanted teeth like a feral cat, the speed of a deer and the strength of a bear. There are so many amazing adaptations in nature and he wanted to steal them all for himself. Better, monsters¡­ they might be able to breath fire and a thousand other things¡­ But Andrew knew he would have to start somewhere. He could easily imagine a dozen ways to earn achievements for falling but had not a single idea on how to get an achievement that would turn his hands into claws or that would allow him to steal or mimic a monster¡¯s adaptations. It was time for him to use the adaptation that made humanity so successful in the first place¡­ language. ----------------------------------- Andrew had walked through town and found the natives to be¡­ well¡­ not very helpful. He had tried talking with them and other than discovering that he could get a free weapon, meal and night in the inn he hadn¡¯t learned much. Observing the earth natives running around he figured that they probably had gathered the information he needed. That is how he found himself sitting in a sad bar eavesdropping on other people¡¯s conversations, he would like to think that he was just trying to find the right conversation to ask to be invited into¡­ but the system obviously through he was eavesdropping... Achievement get: Eavesdropper Description: Listing in on conversations not meant for you. Stat: +1 Hearing in noisy situations Stat: +1 to Mental Processing in noisy situations The bar was full of people like him who sat around in tight little clusters talking excitedly. Most were talking about random perks, skills or achievements they had found. Most didn¡¯t seem to have much direction or had thought through why they were trying to get the achievements they were getting and where it may lead them. Most were dead focused on discussing how to get ANY achievement rather than following some path towards a goal. The voices at one table stood out to Andrew, the two young women at the table weren¡¯t comparing achievements they had obtained or prattling on about their situation, they were excitedly discussing how they might go about getting specific abilities, specifically those associated with boomerangs and¡­ song fighting? The thicker young lady with the long black hair had a sword slung over her shoulder and the tall redhead with the short hair had... a bent sword¡­ maybe it was a boomerang? Andrew hadn¡¯t seen a metal boomerang before¡­ except¡­ wasn¡¯t there one in that one postie movie? Based on how they were brainstorming different boomerang related achievements it was defiantly a boomerang. Andrew approached the two ladies and smiled politely as he waved to get their attention ¡°Hello, I couldn¡¯t help but overhear you talk about brainstorming how to get achievements? Would you mind if I joined in?¡± Bethany: ¡°Hey, I¡¯m Bethany the Boomerang Babe, or Bee to my friends and this is Naomi the sword singer¡± She tilted her head towards her friend and shrugged.¡± ¡°The titles are a work in progress and in no way a reflection of our actual outlook, abilities or talent¡­. I¡¯m the beauty and Naomi is the personality.¡± The tall women energetically said as she gestured to her obviously far more shy friend. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Bethany: ¡°Lay it on us, list three ways you would get amazing boomerang achievements¡­ other than throwing it at things further and further away¡­ GO!¡± Andrew: ¡°Have you tried throwing two at once?¡± Bethany: ¡°Very Naruto, its probably called Boomerang Shadow or mirror or something¡­ I¡¯ll allow it¡­ number two GO!¡± Andrew: ¡°Why don¡¯t you try throwing your boomerang and catching it in mid air without touching the ground? Or with your eyes closed?¡± Bethany froze as she processed his words and then grinned ¡°Or all three at once! That would be amazing! Ok¡­ fine¡­ you can sit at the cool kids table¡­ for now¡­¡± she said with an overly exaggerated wink. Naomi spoke gently as he sat down ¡°What kind of achievements are you looking for?¡± Andrew: ¡°I¡¯m trying to steal monster adaptations¡± ¡°That¡¯s cool¡± Bethany gestured at Naomi ¡°Naomi here is big into table top games, board games, dungeons and dragons¡­ that kinda stuff¡­ I¡¯m in love with anime and vidjia games¡­ So like¡­ you want to sew monster bits onto yourself or¡­¡± She could tell the answer from the immediate scowl that must of bloomed on my face. ¡°So¡­¡± Naoimi started timidly ¡°more like a blue mage¡­ like Gau or Strago Magus or an E. kills materia?¡± The unfamiliar terms took Andrew a step back and obvious confusion clouded his features. ¡°What is a Gau?¡± Naomi smiled like she was talking to a young child. Andrew suppressed a shudder, it was too close the nurses had given him when he realized he couldn¡¯t¡­ well anything. She went on unaware of the effect her look had had ¡°He was a character in Final Fantasy Six! He was a child raised by monsters that could copy their behaviors. Strago was kind of the same, he could use powers that were used on him. Blue mages are people who learn a huge list of spells from monsters.¡± Her eyes started to shine with fervent interest in the topic and her voice become less timid and quicker and more animated as she went along. Andrew: ¡°I¡¯m not sure I need an exhaustive collection of spells. I would rather have a small list of useful abilities. How should I go about getting achievements that rewarded those kind of rewards?¡±¡± Bethany: ¡°The type of weapon you use when you slay your first monster seems to determine the ability you gain¡­ at least for killing the first few monsters. It seems to get harder to earn abilities over time. Andrew: ¡°I¡¯ll need to put some thought into that.¡± Naomi: ¡°Sometimes in cultivation stories you can sometimes get a monster¡¯s essence to learn its powers? I don¡¯t know how you would go about stealing it but maybe the quest system can help you out.¡± She quickly went over the quest interface, how it worked and the fact it could only be used once a week. Andrew: "Essence what is that?¡± Naimi: ¡°Oh, its the fundamental essence of what makes up a thing. Like atoms, if scorpion or wolf were elements. I don¡¯t know if essence is a thing here or not.¡± Well that gave him something to think over. ¡°What are you reaching for Naomi?¡± Naomi: ¡°I want to be able to transmit a sword slash through the medium of my voice.¡± Andrew: ¡°Are you equally good at swordsmanship and singing?¡± Bethany tried and failed to suppress a snort at Andrew¡¯s question and Naomi¡¯s shoulders slumped and she hid her face in her hands. Bethany: ¡°She is a wonderful singer! She even gained an ability for singing while trying to sing and slay a monster with that over-sized steel toothpick of hers, but she trips over her feet before she gets to the monster.¡± Naomi: ¡°It¡¯s hard to focus on multiple things at once, alright?¡± long suffering look. Andrew reflected on his old classes and half remembered instructions. ¡°So you need to work on your footwork and distance from your opponent?¡± Naomi brightened ¡°is that what it¡¯s called? How should I go about getting a footwork achievement?¡± Andrew couldn¡¯t believe she had never heard of footwork. ¡°Yeah¡­ perhaps try doing 100 practice thrusts where you lunge forward and then return to your starting position?¡± A determined look lit up in Naomi¡¯s eyes. Andrew: ¡°Thank you for the chat¡­ I¡¯ve got some work to do¡­ thanks.¡± Bethany: ¡°Any time, don¡¯t be a stranger.¡± said with her characteristic energy and Naimi gave him a little wave goodbye. Achievement get: The power of planning and friendship Description: Strategize your build with a friend. Stat: Mental Processing +1 Achievement get: Circle of planning and friendship Description: Strategize your build with a group of friends. Stat: Mental Processing +1 Bethany: Well if the system thinks we''re friends I guess you can call me Bee then." Andrew, Bethany and Naomi all looked at each-other and laughed before the one group became two once again. Chapter 3 - Andrew – First Kill According to Bee the kind of skill you gained was partially based on the kind of weapon you used to kill your first monster. With his goal in mind Andrew had gone through the vendors in town one at a time looking for claw like weapons, he had found a cestus, a variety of fighting claws and a kind of bladed gauntlet. He discarded anything that wouldn¡¯t be used like an animal¡¯s claw, several of the weapons were designed to use the force of a punch to push a blade through a target. Andrew needed the one that most fit the theme of an animal or monster¡¯s claw, something that would slashing a target instead of piercing into it. That left two of the fighting claws he had found. Ultimately, he chose the smaller one as the larger one was several feet long, slow and reminded him of some kind of arm mounted garden rake. The claw didn¡¯t give him any more reach than he already had, he could see why people would rather use swords or spears that allowed you to strike while still outside the reach of the enemy. He thanked the shop keep and decided to go to one of the barns to practice his footwork. Hopefully he and Naomi could both have a footwork achievement at the end of the day. The barn wasn¡¯t unoccupied. In a bizarre scene Andrew saw one of the shop keeps suspended by ropes with a sword tied into his hand and held rigid with an attached length of wood. There was another bundle of ropes opposite to the dangling man eerily similar. It took Andrew a few moments to understand what had happened here. Achievement Get: Junior Detective Description: You have worked out the basic details of a crime scene. Stat: +1 Visual perception Stat: +1 Mental Defense Someone had tied up two people and swung one of them with a sword tied to them at the other one until the sword had struck true. Then the dead person had dissolved like the people at the bar had talked about monsters doing. He walked up to the bound man who looked at him with a blank expression. ¡°I am not able to return to my shop, please take me back to my shop.¡± Andrew cut him down and helped him to his feet. The shop keep started walking towards the tight cluster of shops immediately once freed. Knowing that there was a ¡°Mental Defense¡± stat filled him with sad memories and he resolved himself to earn as much of that stat as he reasonably could. After the disturbing sight Andrew decided to practice his footwork outside, where there were more eyes on him. He didn¡¯t manage to take his mind off the scene for a while and didn¡¯t manage to get an achievement for footwork before deciding to just move forward with the next step in his plan. ------------- When he had walked along the outside of the city he had seen people fighting rabbits, boars and giant turtles. He didn¡¯t know how this world worked exactly but he knew in¡­ real life¡­ his old life anyway¡­ that rabbits didn¡¯t attack like the monstrous variety he had seen. The monstrous variety attacked like a swarm of fast moving rabid half rabbit half wolverines that jumped at targets attempting to clamp on with their claws and then implant their over-sized yellow teeth. He supposed that is why this was the tutorial village there weren¡¯t really stakes to what he was doing. If he died, he would supposedly come back, not that he wanted to test it. If he killed a monster, more would appear for others to slay or to be slain differently to unlock different achievements. Something about the lack of stakes bothered him and made him think about the lack of pain. At terrible as pain could be it was an important tool of the body to tell you not to overdue it, that if you kept doing what you were doing you would hurt yourself even more. He couldn¡¯t imagine that the pain inhibition would last past the tutorial village, it was too dangerous. He was a little afraid that once the pain filter was removed that the agony from his old life would come flooding back, that it was still with him waiting for him behind that wall aching to be freed. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. While the rabbits tended to swarm in small clusters there seemed to be solitary rabbits that orbited the larger swarms. Andrew took his time and singled out one of these lone rabbit. He bent low trying to sneak up on it but the furry menace noticed him right off the bat and jumped towards his head like a cannon ball. The thing moved with shocking speed but it had launched itself at him from far enough away that he was able to track its arc and roll to the side avoiding it¡¯s attempt at giving him a malicious hug. As it landed and almost instantly took to the air again Andrews was just able to swipe at its back drawing first blood. Sadly the rest of the fight didn¡¯t go as well, the rabbit was able to land twist 180 degrees and bound again, wrapping itself around his knee and immediately began to tear into the meat above his knee. Strangely this reminded him of play fighting with his kids and he lowered his weight on top of the creature pressing it against the ground. This of course drove its claws deeper into the back of his calve but he was able to grab its ears with one hand to expose its throat and slice with the other. The animal under him began to fizz and bubble as he moved to examine his wound. Andrew didn¡¯t think it was that serious since it didn¡¯t hurt but after examining it he decided to apply pressure and wrap it in cloth before examining his shiny new achievements. Achievement get: The best way to prevent a blow is not be there when it lands! Description: You have intentionally dodged an enemy that was trying to kill you in combat. Stat: +1 Dodge Speed Stat: +1 Reaction Time Achievement get: Roll Behind (Clockwise) Description: During a fight you executed a roll to get behind your opponent after getting the ¡°Rolling Around Town (Clockwise)¡± achievement. Active Skill: Roll Around (Clockwise) You may roll (Clockwise only) behind a creature, if there is space to do so. While you do you may have an opportunity to attack. Cooldown: 50 Seconds Achievement get: First kill. Description: Destroyed a monster for the first time. Stat: +4 Mental Defense. Stat: +1 Leg Puncture defense. Stat: +1 Leg Slashing defense. Achievement get: Claw Wielding. Description: Killed a monster using an uncommon weapon. Stat: +2 Arm Strength. Stat: +2 Arm Speed. Passive Skill: Claw Knowledge Knowledge of how to better utilize claws. Andrew looked around to make sure there weren¡¯t any other monsters nearby and moved a bit further away from the nearest swarm of bunnies. It occurred to him why he didn¡¯t get a footwork achievement while practicing in the barn, he was standing wrong, walking wrong, attacking wrong¡­ the knowledge of how badly he had been using his claw before made him a little embarrassed. He was pleased to get more mental defense and wondered if he would get more dodge and reflex speed if he was able to dodge a swarm of rabbits. The ¡°Clockwise¡± portion of his Roll Around skill felt like it was the system telling him to go back to town and get back to tumbling. He certainly didn¡¯t want to only be able to get behind something if there was space on one side and didn¡¯t the skill just copy what he just did? His eyes flickered back to town and imagined the tedium of rolling all the way around town again. ¡°I¡¯ll do it before I leave the tutorial village. First though¡­ lets test this new skill.¡± Chapter 4 - Andrew - Other Options and Sharing is Caring The Roll Behind skill confused Andrew, he had expected his skill to allow him to do something new but instead it allowed him to do something he could already do just better. He needed to be close enough to the target that he could reach out and touch them, he guessed it was defined as ¡°Melee Range¡± or some such, and then he would activate the skill and then¡­ well¡­ it was like he was rolling to the side of the target to get behind them but faster? It felt like he was covering the ground a lot faster than normal and he seemed to usually have an opportunity to be within reach of an undefended area of the opponent at least once during the trip¡­ Though the rabbit he had tested it on had managed to cut his hand with its back claw once during his tests¡­ so being faster wasn¡¯t proof against getting hit back during the trip. Using the skill was exhilarating and the testing had netted him another achievement. Achievement Get: Why so slow? Description: Repeatedly dodge an opponent faster than you. Stat: +2 Dodge Speed Stat: +2 Reaction Speed Ultimately his plan hadn¡¯t worked yet. The goal had been to get a monster themed achievement by using a claw weapon for his first monster kill and while the roll behind skill was a little exhilarating it certainly wasn¡¯t what he had been trying to get. Maybe he needed to kill more monsters with the claw, maybe he needed to act like a monster, maybe both at the same time. Monster behavior seemed to be characterized on a per monster basis. There wasn¡¯t any monster specific behaviors he could think to emulate. He shook his head, he could try out some things and see if anything worked. If not, Naomi had mentioned Monster Essence and said that he could use the Quest system to get quests to try and move forward in a specific direction. As he understood it the quest system had a week long cool-down like his skill and if he screwed it up he could use it again in a week. He wanted to be careful what words he used for the Quest system. Getting the (Clockwise) portion of his Roll Around Town achievement and the Roll Behind skill he figured that the system had a sense of humor. He didn¡¯t want to get some quest to kill all the children around town or something if he asked for quests to ¡°become a monster.¡± He considered ¡°Steal Monster Essence¡± before discarding the idea, he didn¡¯t want to be a thief. Finally he settled on the wording he felt fit his desires and activated the Quest Board. Quest Board: ¡°Harvest Monster Essence¡± -Obtain a monster pup and train it: Reward: A chance at a tamed monster. (Warning: Not all types of monsters may be tamed. Just because a monster is tame doesn¡¯t mean it won¡¯t try and eat you if mistreated or hungry.) Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. -Speak to the local herbalist to see if there is anything they need: Reward: More Quests -Bring monster parts to the local Tanner. Bring a live monster to the tanner in the tutorial village: (Repeatable) Reward: Leather Goods (+!) After perusing the results provided by the quest board Andrew was puzzled. None of the quests seemed like a direct path to what he wanted and the fact that the last quest offered had been¡­ redacted¡­ revised? Seemed significant to him. While the idea of having a pet monster was interesting¡­ he didn¡¯t know what kind of monster he would want and didn¡¯t want to spend the time the quest would obviously entail. He didn¡¯t see how it could hurt finding the herbalist and asking if they needed anything¡­ As his mind continued to think about the quest board results, he was struck by an interesting idea the, the word ¡°Repeatable¡± stuck out to him as interesting. With a grin he went looking for Bee and Naomi. They hadn¡¯t been back in the bar or in the streets of the town. He had ended up finding the herbalist before he found Bee and Naomi. Her shop shelves were completely empty, even of dust. She was dressed in the same cloths as the other shop keepers but they had a slight green tinge to them. The woman herself was short and gaunt. Her eyes were dull like the other shop keepers but they somehow still shown with a hungry glint. Andrew: ¡°Is there anything I can get for you?¡± he asked. The herbalist robotically intoned her reply ¡°My supplies are critically low and I could use some supplies, I would go myself but my leg isn¡¯t what it used to be. Collect ten of the red flowers that grow outside of town and I will reward you with a healing potion.¡± The quest in his quest board updated -Collect 10 red flowers: Reward: 1 least healing potion & More Quests While his knee and hand didn¡¯t hurt he could tell that they were still damaged and the idea of drinking something to fix that appealed to him¡­ and who could say no to yet more quests? After deciding that Bee and Naomi weren¡¯t in town he grabbed a few blankets from the empty npc houses and climbed the city wall. There it was¡­ in the distance he could see what could only be two figures and a boomerang spinning through the air. He climbed down collected the blankets once more and started jogging towards the two ladies¡­ then he decided to cover the distance faster¡­ as he picked up the pace just the feeling of running made him decide to push himself¡­ too far it turned out¡­ he hoped they hadn¡¯t seen when he had thrown up behind the bush before resuming his run... Achievement Get: Run like a fool Description: You ran until you couldn¡¯t breath and then tried running some more¡­ While people were watching¡­. Stat: +1 Lung Capacity Stat: +1 Leg Speed Well¡­ that was too bad¡­ As he reached the two friends he gasped out ¡°Naomi¡­¡± He then sucked in a breath and managed¡­ ¡°Bee¡± before he sucked in another breath. how had he not gotten more achievements that gave him air capacity or stamina or some such yet¡­ Something to look into later. The girls looked at him expectantly... and with amused expressions... They could see that he needed a moment but after a few seconds Bee quipped ¡°sup?¡± Andrew composed himself after a few more breaths and smiled ¡®How would you ladies like to do some shopping?¡± Chapter 5 – Andrew and the Gang And that is how he convinced Naomi and Bee to use blankets as nets to capture some rabbits and walk their squirming loads back to town. The rabbits claws and teeth shredded the blankets but multiple layers seemed to do the trick of keeping them from being able to do too much damage to their arms. Bee was a combat machine, her boomerang whistling through the air faster than Andrew could track, often hitting two rabbits each throw. She had to hold back to keep from killing them too quick often using the boomerang to reduce the size of a rabbit swarm before Andrew and Naomi moved in. While Bee was amazing, Naomi had been no slouch, she had been practicing her footwork and other skills and she always seemed to be standing in exactly the right spot to snag a rabbit or to position them in reach of Andrew¡¯s net. While she worked she sang a pleasant song whose words couldn¡¯t quite catch. A pop up informed Andrew that he had a temporary +2 to teamwork for the duration of the song. Which he figured explained how they all managed to coordinate so well without having practiced together before. Bee had the strongest arms of the three of them, carrying three of the squirming bundles in her arms. She seemed mostly immune to the rabbits scratches. Naomi explained that Bee has hit herself with her boomerang so many times she was probably immune to slashing damage altogether, Bee just smiled enjoying being able to show off. Naomi and Andrew both only managed one of the squirming bundles each. The worked together to manage the bundles when Andrew asked to stop to pick flowers for his other quest on the way back. As they handed their loads on the leather-worker the shop-keep put his hand into the squirming pile and the piles flattened out the rabbits disappearing and leaving a pile of shredded cloth with their passing. A notice popped up informing Andrew that he had completed the quest six times. ¡°You have six units of rabbit leather. All fees normally associated with this process are waived in the tutorial village. What leather goods would you like me to create?¡± the leather-worker intoned after all of the squirming bundles stilled. ¡°How about a pair of hiking boots?¡± Andrew asked looking down at his unimpressive starter shoes. The shopkeeper reached under the table and pulled up a set of light hiking boots and thumped them down on the counter in front of Andrew. Andrew curiously looked beneath the table and found it completely empty. ¡°You have four units of leather remaining.¡± the shopkeeper intoned. Andrew reached for the boots and as he picked them up the following prompt popped up. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Leather Rabbit Boots Effect: +1 distance traveled ¡°Huh¡­ they increase travel distance¡­ how the heck does that work?¡±¡± Andrew said as he sat on a convenient bench to change out of his starter shoes. ¡°They are enchanted?! Are quests transferable? And its FREE?!¡± Naomi asked excitedly, excitement overtaking her normally demure demeanor. ¡°We need to exploit the shit out of this!¡±. Andrew slid off the boots he had come into this world in and tried on the new boots ¡°Nice! They fit perfectly¡± ¡°I would like a sword belt please!¡± Naomi continued. Sadly the shop keep didn¡¯t respond. The group looked at each-other in confusion. ¡°Maybe Andrew has to ask for things because it¡¯s his quest?¡± Naomi guessed Andrew sighed and turned to the shopkeeper ¡°Would you accept that these two are my representatives and that I authorize them to both donate animals and collect leather goods on my behalf?¡± Andrew queried the leather-worker not really expecting it to work. Before the leather-worker responded Bee snorted and said ¡°Yeah, I am totally this guy¡¯s leather minion.¡± Bee¡¯s mirth was cut short as she got the far away look of someone reading a prompt. ¡°Well shit!¡± she cursed. Achievement get: Minions! (Leather gathering and Leather goods ordering) Description: You have minions that may collect leather on your behalf and turn it in for the ¡°Leather Goods (+!) quest.¡± Stat Get: Social Cohesion +1 ¡°Did you guys just get an achievement with a... weird stat?¡± Naomi ¡°Yes¡± Andrew and Bee said at almost a same time. ¡°What does that even mean?¡± The question was kind of hypothetical and none of them felt it deserved further attention. After an awkward moment Naomi turned to the shopkeeper and again said ¡°I would like a sword belt please¡± This time the shop keep reached under the counter and pulled out a leather belt with a metal ring affixed to the side. ¡°You have zero units of leather at this time¡± he said as he handed the belt to Naomi. ¡°Sweet! It increases my draw speed.¡± She looked at Bee as she strapped the new belt onto her waist ¡°Yep grinding.¡± Bee sighed and rolled her eyes. ¡°I thought rule number one was keep our goals as our sole focus and under no circumstances are we to take on a side quest?¡± Bee asked as though she was throwing Naomi¡¯s words back at her. Naomi was unfazed by Bee¡¯s recitation. ¡°This is different! It¡¯s free now but won¡¯t be later! Its a timed event!¡± Naomi argued. ¡°Sure, Naomi I see how it is.¡± Bee relented with mirth in her eyes. ¡°I wonder why its a speed boost though¡­ because it¡¯s rabbit leather and rabbits are fast?¡± Naomi postulated. ¡°I asked the quest board to harvest monster essence, maybe the speed is from rabbit essence in the leather¡± Andrew guessed. ¡°So other kinds of animals may give other bonuses¡­¡± Naomi mused. Bee snorted ¡°I¡¯m not carrying a turtle in here Naomi¡­ you can forget that idea¡­. And all Andrew would have to do to get some kind of monster essence achievement now is eat the leather.¡± Andrew blanched ¡°I don¡¯t think my teeth could take that¡­¡± The group split up again shortly after agreeing to meet up again to leave the tutorial zone together. Andrew felt like he had hit another dead end and didn¡¯t need a bunch of leather that made him faster¡­ the boots were nice though. They felt fantastic for running even if they were hiking boots and he seemed to cover more ground than was quite right. Next stop the Herbalist and her quest reward of ¡°More Quests¡± ¡­ hopefully not all of them would be side quests.