I return with an update! Unfortunately, it's mostly filler. I tried to make it interesting filler but it's filler all the same. I hope you all enjoy it - otherwise, I am deeply sorry.

Late afternoon, a cave two miles west of Emerald City...

Farming basically amounted to repeatedly performing an action that would be rewarded with certain crafting materials until enough materials were gathered. In Rose and Gambol's case, they were killing bears in caves in an attempt to gather [Bear Fat] which was considered a low-level [Oil] mat.

Rose scrolled through her inventory screen with annoyance. In the past two hours, they acquired an unfortunately large collection of bear-related crafting materials. However, most of which was not what they needed. What was she going to do with sixty [Bear Claws]? You only needed one claw to upgrade an ax, and she didn't use axes.

"We've always been selling these to NPC shops," Rose thought aloud. "I wonder where it all goes."

Next to her, leaning on a remarkably flat section of cave wall, Gambol shrugged.

"I think some of the bears have respawned." Rose said, dismissing her menu. "You got [Detection] up yet?"

Gambol gave a slight shake of her head and held up four fingers. She still had forty seconds of cool down left.

Rose nodded and activated her own [Detection] skill, which she had recently maxed out. She sensed a bear near the mouth of the cave. A glance at her mini-map confirmed what she sensed. She glanced at Gambol and tilted her head towards where they came. The two made their way back to the entrance.

As the two walked, Rose couldn't help but think about [Detection].

Simply put, it made your senses sharper. If you were looking for something, [Detection] made it easier to find. For things like hidden traps and monsters, it made sense. Even the most well-hidden trap had some aspect that gave it away as a trap and one merely had to look for the signs.

But then it also did other things - things that didn't make sense, like determining the kinds of techniques a weapon could use or the cool-downs of a hostile mob. One could argue that, if that was what you were looking for, then of course [Detection] would show that to you. It still didn't quite answer the question of 'why'.

Rose didn't quite understand the design decisions of it. Its scope was too broad. It was a catch-all skill that everyone could benefit from having - way too overpowered. There had to be some catch...

"There," Gambol said, pulling Rose out of her musings.

Near the mouth of the cave was a [Cave Bear Lv25] wandering aimlessly in a seemingly random patrol pattern.

Rose brandished her scythe. "I initiate the encounter, you go for the kill," she said, readying a technique.

Gambol nodded before walking backwards into the darkness, blending into it with her [Stealth] skill. She would enter the battle while the bear was distracted with Rose and administer a [Backstab] technique with her knife which did increased critical damage.

It fell within a few seconds.

While the reaper scrolled her inventory, double checking how much new stuff they got, Gambol called from deeper in the cave. "I'm detecting more of them. They've started respawning."

Rose nodded. "Coming!" She dismissed her menu and quickly made her way to where Gambol was. They continued their farming operation.

Meanwhile, near a hut in the middle of the Emerald Forest...

Myrtenaster quietly wondered if Rose and Gambol were having an easier time than she was, farming [Cave Bears] rather than completing some obnoxious escort quest.

Perhaps two or three miles south west of Emerald City was a tiny hut elevated on a tree. Said hut was the humble abode of an NPC hermit who collected special sap from the surrounding forest. The sap was said to be an incredibly versatile substance for use in crafting. It was also apparently highly flammable, which made it a possible substitute for standard [Oil] mats when used for things like torches. Players who wished to avail of that sap had to protect the hermit as he collected it. The quest would be completed when he died - he'd respawn back at his hut and players need only return there to collect their reward.

Due to the nature of the quest, Myrtenaster's reward was theoretically an unlimited amount of sap. All she needed to do was keep the NPC alive - which she had been doing.

For whatever reason, bears and wolves were particularly mad at the hermit. They seemed to spawn out of nowhere and immediately charged at him until someone else took aggro. Being primarily a damage-per-second focused player, her high agility build allowed for quickly dispatching individual mobs with relative ease. Her biggest problem was that there were always too many mobs to deal with. She did not have a large health pool and, while none of the mobs hit very hard, she was very much in danger of getting overwhelmed.

Her only comfort in that fact was Milou, who had elected to join her. The redheaded lancer sported a hybrid tank build with balanced defense and offence. She more than made up for Myrtenaster's weaknesses.

"The hermit's moving," Milou said, snapping Myrtenaster out of her thoughts. "I see a pack of wolves coming from the south and a bear from the south west."

Myrtenaster raised her rapier. "I'll take out the bear," she announced, dashing towards the approaching mob. "Stay with the hermit!"

With her Tailor's Tail, she quickly stabbed the bear in three critical-hit locations - though the heart, through the neck, and through the right eye - pin-point in her accuracy. With her higher level and upgraded weapon, she dispatched the mob with little effort.

Looking at Milou, the lancer was currently engaging the pack of wolves while the hermit worked away at a nearby tree. In the distance, Mytenaster could make out another approaching pack that would skirt past Milou's current battle.

"Milou, I see more wolves from the north! I'm running to intercept!" Myrtenaster made for the new pack.

The fencer grimaced as she made contact with the mobs. She was no adept at combat with multiple enemies that fought in a coordinated manner. In fact, one could say she was quite bad at it. Her fighting style relied too much on relentless combo attacks and critical hits. She was hard pressed to make use of either when the pack was too big. The moment she started a combo on one of them, the rest of the pack would pounce on her and immediately break her combo. Worse still, if they ever got her into a stun-lock, she'd be helpless - as good as dead unless Milou came to bail her out.

That was exactly what happened, much to Myrtenaster's dismay. With a slight mistiming of her cool downs, she was not able to activate her sword technique in time to counter an attack by one of the approaching wolves. The resulting stab had half the power it should've had and the wolf simply shrugged it off.

When one wolf engaged her, the rest entered the fray as well, coming at her one after another. She managed to raise her free arm and block the first two hits - taking perhaps only 70% the damage she normally would have - but the next one broke her guard and she stumbled back, completely undefended. After that, it was open season for her as every attack seemed to land right as her hit-stun timer ended, stunning her once more. At just four seconds in, her health bar was already yellow, half depleted.

"Myrt, I'm coming!"

Myrtenaster heard her name get called but was too dazed to understand what came after. The next thing she knew, Milou was standing over her, shield raised.

After she grasped the situation, Myrtenaster quickly rolled away and pulled two potions from out of her belt-bag - a convenient little accessory item she heard about from Magnhild and Stormflower. She popped the potions and sat up, immediately scanning the area for the hermit. He was just about to leave, with two bears lumbering towards him from different directions.

She made a mental note to thank Milou for saving her for the umpteenth time and ran for the bear closest to the hermit. She was mildly upset that she wasn't able to show her gratitude right at that moment, but she knew she didn't have time. She dispatched the bear and instantly went for the next one.

God, I hope the others are having better luck than we are...

Meanwhile, near the ruins of an ancient stone structure...

Stormflower ran a hand over the moss covered remains of a stone pillar. "This place must have had history," he said to no one in particular.

According to Rose - rather, according to Torchlight - the ruins found scattered around the Emerald Forest had a fair share of treasure chests in them. For a time, people were regularly checking them for items as they tended to suddenly restock after a day or so. Eventually, people stopped trying as the rewards they got were little more than petty change - not enough lien to put in the effort, even when the non-lien rewards were sold at NPC shops.

However, what Stormflower was after was not lien rewards, though that certainly wasn't unwelcome. No, what he was after was a large bottle of oil which spawned in the chests. Said bottle of oil contained within it the equivalent of 10 standard oil mats. It was reportedly a rare spawn, and really only appeared in large chests that changed locations every other day. Regular bottles of oil were fine too, though - and those spawned much more frequently.

"Reeeen. I'm booooored..."

Stormflower winced. While he himself had the patience to comb through every known ruin in the forest for chests, the same could not be said of his partner. Magnhild was decidedly unfit for work such as what they were tasked to do. The only reason she was even with him in the first place was because she had insisted to come. Had she not done so, their assignments and teams would have been somewhat different.

"What would you like to do?" Stormflower asked, noting a chest hidden under some tall grass.

"Can't we go kill some monsters?"

"If something enters the clearing, be my guest. I'm afraid I'm busy, though. I can't entertain you."

To that Maggy sighed dramatically. "It's fine. I just wanted to complain..."

Stormflower gave a small smile before heading towards the chest in the grass. With little effort, he opened it - it wasn't even locked.

The contents of the chest were substantial - at least when considering what he was looking for. Within it, there was 100 lien, two potions, and five small bottles of alcohol. The alcohol was considered a type of oil in most [Crafting] sub-skills, but was also considered an ingredient in [Cooking] and was therefore drinkable.

He glanced at the menu floating to the side of the chest and tapped [Move all to inventory]. With the chest emptied, Stormflower stood and continued searching.

Evening, near the gates of Emerald City...

Myrtenaster collapsed face-first into the grass next to Rose. Her voice was muffled as she spoke. "Crescent Rose, you are switching with me. The quest is too hard."

Rose sat up and chuckled, running a hand through the fencer's off-center pony-tail. "It was the wolves, wasn't it?" Myrtenaster groaned and the reaper smiled. "I'll take that as a yes. Wolf packs are always a pain since they attack together. They do have this rhythm to their attacks, though - like a half-second pause before the next wolf attacks. I don't really need to worry about that since I can one-shot anything under level 20 that doesn't spec health."

"Lucky you," Myrtenaster remarked, rolling over to her back. "The quest is supposed to be taken by a party of six under the level cap. We're both over-levelled for it - which is why we can do it with just two people - but we're not strong enough to make it trivial." She scowled. "You, on the other hand..."

Rose laughed awkwardly, scratching her cheek.

Milou took a seat next to Myrtenaster, laying her shield and spear down. "I'll be honest. I'd rather not go through that quest again. The constant fighting really wears down on you." She frowned. "It's a lot like fighting Grimm, now that I think about it."

Rose shrugged, lying back down. Myrtenaster kept her gaze upward, watching the sky change colors. Milou nodded thoughtfully before joining them on the ground. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Maggy and Stormflower arrived.

They heard Maggy before they saw her.

"Somebody switch with us! The treasure hunting was sooo boooring! Way more boring than the name suggests!"

"You know what? Maybe you should give your quest to Maggy," Rose suggested with a grin. "She looks like she's really bored."

Myrtenaster made no attempt to move from her spot on the grass. "If she's willing to take that stupid quest from me then I will not hesitate to give it to her."

While they discussed the reassignment of teams, a fourth party emerged from the tree line. It was merely Wilting Blush, who had temporarily exchanged her scimitar for a hatchet. "I have 88 [Wood] mats," he announced.

Myrtenaster sat up and clapped her hands together. "Perfect. Your job is done, Wilt. Send me the items and you can go on your way."

Wilt twitched but said nothing. He opened his trade menu and sent the desired items to Myrtenaster. "I'll be going now," he then said, trudging towards the city.

Rose sat up and stared at the man's back as it disappeared into the city. "Is something up with him?" the reaper asked, somewhat concerned.

Myrtenaster shrugged before lying back down. "Don't know. Don't care."

By the end of their break, their reassignments were set. Maggy and Rose would take the escort quest. Stormflower and Gambol would search the ruins for treasure. Finally, Milou and Myrtenaster would farm the bears in the caves.

And thus, they set out, hoping to meet their quota and return to town before the clock struck midnight.

Character Stat Sheet...

Gambol Shroud Lv40 (as of chapter 20)
Blake Belladonna 20 yrs old

Stats:

Health: 50
Defense: 40
Strength: 40
Agility: 70
Luck: 40

Equipped weapons:

Brightscale Blade (+5)
Attack: 80
Block: E
Crit: B
Parry: B
Scaling: Agility: B
Weight: C
Other Traits: partially ignores light armor, low durability

Beowolf Fang (+5)
Attack: 45
Block: E
Crit: S
Parry: A
Scaling: Agility S
Weight: S

Equipped Armor:

Leather Armor
Leather Leggings
Bandit Bandana
Fair Commoner Shirt
Fair Commoner Shorts
Shoulder Pack

Most Used Skill:

Detection: Lv100 (Max)
Passive: Increases vision radius, increases visibility at night, enhances all senses, increases duration of hit stun and sense-hampering status effects like [Blindness] or [Deafness]
Active: Greatly enhances all senses, shows additional information within a target's status window, lasts for 10 seconds, cooldown of 120 seconds (may cause [Paralysis] when inflicted with high amounts of damage or sense-hampering status effects like [Blindness] or [Deafness] while active)

End of chapter...

A short filler chapter. Sad, huh? I know.

Let me clarify something I wrote last chapter, specifically, Milou's most used skill. I wrote there [Gift of Life I] which is a purely passive skill. The only reason for someone to have a most used skill that does not have an activated effect is if that player does not have one equipped or, if they do have one equipped, has never activated one. Most used, in the case of Milou's, refers to the skill which was in use for the longest, which is the first iteration of the [Gift of Life] which is a starter skill and available to all who want to equip it. Its usefulness is inversely proportional to the amount of health you have but stacks with the other iterations of the [Gift of Life]

Now, to answer your first question, yes, I wrote a chapter where the characters are literally just farming crafting materials. It's an important part of MMORPGs and, while boring, can lead to interesting conversations. It also gave me an excuse to exposit game mechanics as well as flesh out these characters some more.

Finally, this is unexplained in the story, but the katana that Gambol got from the first Gate Dungeon Boss is called the [Brightscale Blade]. Similarly, the rapier Myrtenaster uses is called [Tailor's Tail].

I hope you enjoyed that chapter, I'll see you all in the next one.