The young hot-blooded adventurers enter the Guild hall.
From behind a freshly refurbished countertop, the receptionist half-elf gives them a raised eyebrow. The eyebrow just keeps going up and up.
The three adventurers lack the proper equipment, or rather any equipment at all.
Laughter and snickering fill the hall. The trio beeline straight to the guild counter.
“What happened? You got mugged by thieves?” The half-elf asks, trying oh-so-very-hard not to laugh herself.
The swordsman – or by the looks of it, the swordsboy – slams the desk with his fists.
“Hey, watch out! It’s brand new.” The half-elf glares at him.
The swordsboy points at the IdentifyStone; it had left his fist a while ago, but a rather intrigued half-elf was ogling somewhere else entirely.
“Oh… So you DID find the rumoured ghost, undead, whatever monster it was… And IT totally wasn’t just a trickster wisp. Alright, let me see.” She takes the stone, reading the system message it printed. “What is this! *Slam!” She slams the freshly lacquered countertop.
The young, hot-blooded adventurers frown at the receptionist half-elf.
“WatcH oUt. It’S BraND NeW.” The swordsman mimics.
“Shut it! Why did you bring me info about some… measly slime?!”
“A measly slime… There were hundreds of them! Thousands! *Slam!” The ranger rages.
“A-and there was t-this cube of cubes.” The priest meekly slams the countertop in solidarity.
“Thousands? Stop making stuff up! *Slamy-Slam! First, you lost to a trickster wisp and now to a puny slime. You know, inventing these unbelievable tales won’t help your reputation. Grow up! *Slam!”
An audible laughter echoes in the Guild hall, the trio is getting a reputation. An infamous one.
“““*Slam!”””
They protest.
“It’s true!”
“And they were all square!”
“I-I am a Priest, I wouldn’t lie!”
Right before the half-elf could rage back in a hundred slams – and likely break her brand new countertop again – another party of underequipped adventurers storms in.
“Slimes! Thousands of CubeSlimes!”
“… In the meadow.”
“It’s a slime raid! A Raid.”
“…” The half-elf receptionist takes another look at the IdentifyStone. “Sorry… that’s on me.”
A MonsterRaid is an event. Uncommon one in these parts.
This is entirely unexpected, but from a certain perspective – welcome.
The young adventurers have a chance to raise their levels and get some monster drops.
That is if all goes well.
But…
If the hotheaded-hotblooded party’s info is correct (thousands of slimes), the entire Guild will be busy for quite a while.
The receptionist readies the reward for the under-dressed party. They’ll need it for fresh equipment.
Also, she makes preparations to issue the Emergency Extermination Quest.
Things just got exciting in this boring newbie town.
===
The shadowy vortex turns in quiet contemplation.
That which holds true beauty will never remain unchallenged.
The greater the treasure, the stronger the desire it awakens in others.
Envy is a law as old as creation, a shadow cast by light too radiant to ignore.
Even the most ascetic soul, tempered by years of silence and solitude, would falter before such perfection.
Can one truly be blamed for reaching out, trembling with want, when faced with the irresistible allure of a CubeBerry?
For these are no mere fruits.
No – they are icons of symmetry, crimson idols carved by chaos and kissed by temptation.
Their angles confound the eye, their hue stirs the hunger in the heart.
They are objects of worship, wrapped in the illusion of snackable flesh.
And so, they must be guarded –not simply from claws or crooked spells, but from yearning itself.
A Utopia of Berries cannot be left to the whims of chance.
It must be defended, with vigilance and with resolve.
And as its chosen sovereign – crowned in shade, cloaked in void – the burden of guardianship falls to me.
For I am the Watcher of the Red.
The Warden of Symmetry.
The last defence against druids and bears alike.
… … …
Okay… That might have been a bit too profound. But I must do something about it.
With some help from the goblins, a lot of twigs and dirt, and some goop from the slime, a new structure was erected.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
An improvised watchtower in the middle of the thriving BerryFarm.
The watchtower is just a tall, square mound of dirt and twigs, but it serves the purpose.
And once we had completed it, I was greeted with a message.
> Registering NewStructure
> Experiance awarded + 100 EXP
> GoblinWatchtower (Dirt) created.
GoblinWatchtower >> 10 Dirt, 10 TwigBundles, 1 SlimeGoo
[x] Increase the range of detection for bears and druids alike
[x] May entice goblins to sleep during their watch
And just so my ConstuctStructure menu is expanded. Neat!
The good news doesn’t end there.
Remember that feral druid?
At the time she had fled, she dropped her Satchel. I may or may not have used Manipulate to help her drop that.
Te-hee! ????
In my defence, this is my just compensation. Flinging those dirt cubes cost me a great deal of energy!
The satchel – my first ever Equipment – had an assortment of stuff inside.
=== Satchel ===
> TrailMix x5
> RabbitJerky x1
> HealthSalve x3
> BerserkerSalve x1
> JoyWeed x1
> AlchemySet (Beginner)
> Knife
> InformationalPamplet
> LabeledJar (Empty)
> HeatSpark
=== End ===
We, the berry farm protectors, share the offerings the druid had left among ourselves.
We eat the TrailMix. The taste is just alright, but it boosted the morale for the goblins and the slime.
Guessing that the RabbitJerky would have a bigger morale boost, I keep it for later.
I stash the salves for later as well.
Then I take the JoyWeed out. It’s unamusing and very plain, merely some dried leaves or something.
Looks worthless… Perhaps it’s the kindling for the HeatSpark.
Meh! ??
Yet, my companion CubeSlime #420 doesn’t think so lowly about it.
The slime right out snatches it from my manipulation. Without asking, I might add.
Naughty, naughty slime!
The dried leaves dissolve in their goo, making my companion breakdance.
Whatever… No loss here.
I take a look at the jar. It’s empty.
But! ?
That’s when I realise something. The language and its symbols look unusual to me, and yet, I can read.
Nice! ??
The label on the jar reads: “Captured Sprite Farts”
Eww! ??
Why would the druid even have that?
Disgusted, I smash the jar. Even if it was empty, I wouldn’t want to store anything in it.
I quarantine the smelly glass shards with Contain. Hopefully, I’ll be able to purify and recycle them later.
Knowing that I can read now, I take a look at the pamphlet.
It is titled: “10 Surefire Ways to Tell a Friendly Fungus From a Fatal One.”
It has pictures and descriptions. Mighty useful!
The rest of the stuff, the equipment, is the real boon here.
Knife, AlchemySet and the Satchel itself – I know exactly what to do with them!
[UpgradeGoblin] – here I go!!!
> Error. Goblin doesn’t know how to use the AlchemySet.
It fails… ?
I try again without it, just the knife and satchel.
> Goblin A unlocked a new class >> Gatherer.
Voilà! ??
The goblin, knife in hand and satchel on the shoulder, looks at me with reverent eyes.
“Gobu-Gubu!” Goblin A dances thankfully.
Then I see my goblin gatherer rushing to harvest all the berries from our farm.
Such a keen worker. I am impressed.
The other two look at me with begging eyes.
Sorry guys. We don’t have any other Equipment..
But it’s not like I can’t try crafting it.
Remember the HeatSpark I’ve mentioned earlier?
The druid probably used that in combination with her alchemy set.
However, I have another use. A better one!
Now, we can build that CubeForge and sort out our equipment issues!!!
Well… I also need to figure out how to extract stone.
But I’m positive I can do it!
Cube-shaped equipment, here I come!
===
> Title Unlocked: Warden of the Berry
