Author's notes: I want to sincerely thank all of you who read my story so far. I was not expecting this to reach over 100 follows in only a few days. Here's chapter two.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC.
As I move my gaze away from the sign, I look at one of the hanging banners. They are burgundy with a black lily at the center. Well here comes first contact with the people of this world. With that thought I make my way into the village. As I stroll along the paved pathway of grey and white hexagonal patterned stones, I glance around and see all the many buildings and the people. There seems to be a japanese-esq theme here, taken from the buildings they have and clothes they wear. I'm currently in Anima, which is based on a mixture of eastern cultures if I recall correctly. So this region is leaning toward the asian elements of that.
Quest completed
[Quest:Lost and alone]
Objective - Find your way out of this forest and to civilization.
Reward - 1000 EXP
+1000 EXP (250)
Level up!
HP, AP and MP restored.
Ignoring my recent increase in level for now. I slow down when I get near a food stall. The delicious smell of cooked meat caused me to realize how hungry I was. I approach a vendor to see them selling some kind of skewer with meat and vegetables, they look delicious.
"Can I help you?" a gruff voice wakes me from my meat induced stupor.
Looking up at the muscular man near towering over me. He had asian features and a long beard that reached down to the middle of his chest. He looked at me with suspicion, likely due to me being a kid with a sword on my hip and a shield nearly half my size strapped to my back. In hindsight, I probably should have put those back into my inventory.
"Y-yeah how much for the s-skewers" if anyone told you I stuttered at that moment they are a liar.
"Three lien each or five for twelve"
I reach into my back pocket and will the correct amount of lien out of my inventory into it, pulling it out and handing it over to the man. He puts five skewers into some kind of wrapping, ties it up and hands it over to me.
"Thanks for your patronage" he says in a more jovial tone than before. I assumed since I went from a suspicious child with a weapon to a paying customer.
While passing through shops, I noticed a clothing store and looked down at my one and only set of clothes. I entered the shop, the ringing of a bell attached to the frame of the door notified the shop keep that I entered.
"Welcome." an old woman greets me from behind a counter in the back half of the store.
Looking back towards her, she was small, about my height, maybe even shorter. She was sitting upon a stool so it was kinda hard to tell for sure. Although her face was wrinkled, you could still see the asian features that were very common in the village.
"Hello" I murmured back a greeting and walked to a nearby rack of clothes. I grab a black coat from the rack and check the price. "Sixty lien!" That's a large part of the money I have left and I still need to get some food, water and other supplies. I put the coat back. Maybe I'll stick to the one outfit I have until I do more grinding. I turned around to leave and leaped back in shock as the old woman who was behind the counter mere moments ago is now next to me.
"Are you a huntsman? No, given your age, huntsman in training maybe?" she inquired, not bothered by my surprise at her near teleportation.
"What?" I asked back in confusion at the sudden question.
She points to the sword at my hip and then the shield on my back.
"No, actually I am currently more of a... wanderer. These are for any small grimm I find" I replied to her while tugging at the pommel of my sword.
"A lone wanderer at your age?" asks the elderly woman who is now closer enough to see that she is a few inches shorter than me.
"Well, that's the way things ended up," not really wanting to go into details about how and why a ten year old would be traveling around the wilderness on his own.
Her face lights up as she smiles, "Hold on, l will be right back." She says as she goes behind the counter, and returns moments later with some type of clothing in her hands, which she then hands over to me and I take in confusion.
Unfolding what I now see is a rather large dark grey coat.
"Well try it on, don't just stand there staring at it" telling me to put the offered coat on.
"Yeah, it's kind of big." I looked down at myself, the end of it reaching almost to the floor, sleeves completely covering my hands.
"You will grow into it." She says as she rolls up each of the sleeves allowing me to regain use of my hands. I then use [observe] on the coat.
[The Nearly Perfect Coat]
This item keeps the wearer at the perfect temperature. It will never rip or tear and will remain clean. The only downside is that the size cannot be adjusted.
"How much for it then, I don't have much," remembering I was still short on funds.
"You can have it, when I made it, it didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted." she chuckled to a joke that only she was privy to.
"Thank you?" I replied looking at the shopkeeper as I used the spell again.
Mysterious Elderly Shopkeeper
Level ?
Nothing at all ominous about that.
Thanking her again, I left with my new coat.
Once I was a few shops away. Index what was that all about?
Due to the lack of dungeons, this world has been altered a bit so you can gain items among other things in special random encounters like the one you just experienced.
Well, I guess that eased some of my worries since it's something that can happen sometime. I should get back to gathering the rest of the stuff I need.
I proceed to stop at a few other stalls and stores for some bread, fruits and other foods. I picked up a sleeping bag and a canteen-like container to hold some water. I had put it all in something similar to a rucksack I purchased. I could have easily had my inventory store everything, but I didn't want to be pulling things out of thin air while surrounded by others.
In an out of the way area of the village I sat down to rest my legs and [observe] some of the people here of them averaged around level three with a few here and there going up to five or six. After only half a day in this world, I'm already three times as strong as an average villager. I get up and start walking to see if I can stay the night at an inn or something with the last bit of money I have left.
"Hey get back here!"
Someone yells and I turn in the direction of the outburst. To see four kids around my age well my new age. Three of them are boys, and they are standing over and mocking the fourth who is crouched with something in hand. Looking closer at the fourth, it appears to be a girl who is filthy, for lack of a better word. Her pink shoes, held together with tape, muddied shorts, torn black hoodie, and matted messy orange hair are all caked with grime.
"Where'd you get that bread?" the middle boy jeered swiping at the bread I had just identified. "I didn't see you pay for it, thief!" he continued.
"No, look, it's all moldy!" One of the other boys added while pointing at the loaf the girl was holding.
"I think she got it from the trash!" the middle boy laughed.
"Lemme see!" A third boy asked, reaching for the girl's bread. Only to pull his hand back and recoil in pain after the girl bit his finger. "Ah! She bit me!" he exclaimed while looking at his hand. He shoved her down, causing her to drop her bread, which she scurried frantically to retrieve.
By this point I was already closing the distance between me and the three bullies.
[Quest: Pick on someone your own size]
Objective - Stop the kids from bullying the homeless girl.
Reward - 1000 EXP
I was gonna stop this anyway but I'll take the free EXP.
Hey! I shouted a few feet away from the group, getting their attention. Now with their focus on me, I continued my stride cocking back my fist and decking the middle kid right in the jaw. I hear a cracking sound and he drops to the ground unconscious and bleeding from the mouth. "Oh fuck!" I exclaim with my arm and fist still extended as I stare at the kid at my feet. Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, I forgot I'm a lot stronger than normal. Looking back up I see the other three kids staring at me wide-eyed in shock until one of the boys runs off shrieking for help, immediately followed by the other.
Realizing this won't end well, I turn back to the still shocked homeless girl. "We got to hide." I grab her hand and take off running in the opposite direction of the now fleeing boys. I glance over my shoulder to cast [observe] on the kid I knocked unconscious. His HP was below a quarter, if I had another level or two I would have killed him with that punch.
Quest completed
[Quest: Pick on someone your on size]
Objective - Stop the kids from bullying the homeless girl.
Reward - 1000 EXP
+1000 EXP (250)
Level up!
HP, AP and MP restored.
Passive skill choice available.
Not now, Index. I'm currently fleeing a crime scene.
I had been running for a few minutes by now, weaving between buildings to avoid being seen.
"Stop, please stop, you're hurting me." A soft voice reaches my ears. We were hidden behind a couple buildings so I stopped my sprint.
I turned back and saw that I've been all but dragging this girl along with me. "I'm sorry about that." I apologized while releasing her hand.
She places the loaf of moldy bread under her arm while rubbing her shoulder with her other hand. I'm going to have to get a better handle on my strength. First I knock out a kid then nearly pull an arm out of the socket of another. I glanced at the bread she somehow managed to hold onto during our frantic escape.
"You shouldn't eat that, hold on.'' I tell her as I take off my pack. Digging through the backpack I find the pack of skewers I bought earlier. I wanted to eat them before they got cold, but I didn't want to expose my teeth so I was just going to hold onto them until I found a more secluded place to eat. Unwrapping the meal, I held out two of the skewers to her.
She looked down at the meat then back up at me. "Can i really have these?" she questions looking at me hopefully.
"Yea, here." I say, placing a skewer in each of her hands.
I set my pack down and take a seat on the ground, placing my remaining skewers in my lap.I expected the girl to walk away, but she sat down across from me and started eating. Not wanting to deal with my growing hunger any longer, I pulled down my scarf and started eating. If she had noticed my teeth she didn't say anything. So we sat there silently, with only the sounds of chewing between us.
She finished her two skewers before I got to my third. I saw her glance over at my remaining food despite her attempts at being discrete. I then removed half of the meat and vegetables from the wooden skewer and placed them on the paper in my lap and handed her the remaining skewer.
"But you already gave me almost half of what you had already." She says as she resists reaching for it.
I hold it out closer to her. "Food is always tastier when you share it with a friend." What was that shonen protagonist line that just came out of my mouth. Please, just take it before I say anything else embarrassing.
Luckily, she accepted the food without further prompting.
+25 affection with homeless girl for protecting her from the bullies and sharing your food with her. [25/100]
Ah the affection/reputation system glad to know I have that. I would assume I get special bonuses and other things at fifty and a hundred.
Correct, you can receive anything from a permanent bonus to affection or reputation with others, items or skills.
I noticed the sky was getting darker so I stood up, dusted myself off and covered my mouth again with my scarf.
"Well, I have to leave now, it's getting late and I need to find a place to sleep." I tell the girl now standing across from me.
Just remembered I never introduced myself.
"I'm Rain, Rain… well just Rain I guess." holding my hand out and just realizing the game didn't give me a last name.
"I'm Nora.'' she smiles back, taking and shaking my hand. Completely oblivious to the shock on my face.
Looking closer at her turquoise eyes, pink heart symbol on her shirt and although caked with dirt definitely orange hair.
What the hell is Nora doing here and homeless!? What was her backstory again? I don't think we got much of her background. If I recall correctly we only knew that Nora and Ren met as kids back when Ren's village was attacked by that creepy horse grimm... Fuck I gotta leave this town!
When I halted moving altogether for about a minute, Nora seemed to notice that something was wrong.
"Are you okay?" she asks, her tone worried.
How do I respond to that? Yes, I'm fine. But this town is going to be attacked by a large freaky horse grimm sometime in the future. It might be a good idea to prepare for that.
What do I do? Do I just leave before it gets here? I definitely can't fight it at my current level. I am approximately three times stronger than a non-huntsman, but it took all of team RNJR to defeat it. I'm probably nowhere near as strong as one of them at that time. There'll likely be more grimm with it, and even more will be drawn to the village once everyone panics. Although it's cowardly, hightailing it out of here is my best chance of surviving at my level.
I stiffly look over at Nora with worry still on her face.
What about Nora? What about Ren? I think they were the only two to survive the attack, but now that I'm here. I may have messed up and they might not even meet. If I just leave now after I interfered with Nora, one or both may not survive.
'Sigh' well god knows how many butterflies I've released by coming to this place.
My options right now are to run, leave the village to its fate, and hope Nora and Ren survive. Or I can take Nora here with me, but just leaving Ren here seems wrong somehow. Maybe I should warn the town guard or something. So they could make some preparations, maybe get a huntsman or two here, but would they even believe me. To them, I'm just some random kid who showed up out of nowhere and punched a kid almost dead and then told them a grimm will show up in the future. I would look like some deranged violent homeless kid.
Nora is looking even more worried at me at this point. I attempt to break my silence and calm the girl's worries, even though I don't know how to handle the current situation that I find myself in.
We are both caught off guard when the bell at the center of the city starts ringing loudly. Then in the distance I can hear an ungodly amount of screeching and howling.
[Quest: Survive the Night]
Objective - A hoard of grimm is going to attack the village you're in, don't die.
Bonus Objective - Nora survives
Bonus Objective - Lie Ren Survives
Bonus Objective - kill the Nuckelavee
Bonus Objective - ?
Bonus Objective - ?
Reward - 2000 EXP
Bonus Rewards - ?
"Well fuck."
Author's notes #2: A reviewer also asked if there will be world hopping. The short answer is yes but not anytime soon a longer explanation will be given in future chapters.