"Welcome." The weapon smith said in a dull voice as he peered through the new comer before resuming to his work. Neptune eagerly replied back, and proceeded to browse through the wears. IF wasn't with her, as she suddenly had taken up a new quest that may last through a couple of days. Neptune wanted to tag along, since she was now an adventurer, but was stopped by both Compa and IF, who told her that she was under level to tag along, to which the purple haired girl understood.

Instead, Neptune opted to gear up, thus the weapon smith.

"Hey, Mr. Weapon Smith, is there any weapons you'll recommend for a rookie adventurer?" Neptune asked, her eyes not leaving on the lined weapon on the table. The weapon smith huffed before walking towards the browsing girl. "A rookie you say, I'd probably ask you to buy a really good equipment, but I doubt you have enough credits for that."

The merchant's eyes observed the girl in front of him. "Well, what do you want to fight with?" Neptune looked up at him. Well, in most games she's played she had always chose Katana as her primary weapon, because they look cool and their speed is near perfect. Not too fast and too slow. Then mixing it up with a great sword to spice things up.

"Do you have any Katanas?" The puple eyed girl asked, to which the merchant walked pass her without a word. Neptune followed the weapon smith, who was standing beside a table with sets of samurai swords lay. He took a small sword and handed it to Neptune, who gingerly took it. It wasn't heavy, as it was a short sword, it's hilt was adorned by the traditional wrap in black. The saya was also in black adorned with small hint of gold lining. Neptune's eyes go over the sword thoroughly.

She grabbed the hilt and unsheathed it, revealing a glimmering silver blade. "You like it?" The smith asked. "Yeah, the handle feels extremely comfortable."

"That's a wakizashi, shorter than a katana but I could tell you that it is a deadly as one. Someone as your stature would be perfect for handling this length." The weapon smith said. Neptune nodded as her gaze run along the fine piece of weapon in her hand. It was beautiful, but the length was the problem. It's too short.

"Do you have anything else?" The purple haired character asked, as she hands the weapon back to the man. The weapon smith huffed, he took the weapon and placed it back to the table before taking a longer sword. He handed the katana towards Neptune who took it eagerly.'

"Uchiganata, a fine piece of weapon. Length of the blade is almost perfect, with frightening sharpness that could cut through any type of foes." The smith said, as he watched Neptune unsheath the blade. Purple eyes run along the weapon thoroughly. The weapon was pure black. It's saya was adorned by small strange carvings, it's hilt strapped with black wrappings that the sword almost feel like death itself.

The blade was what made the weapon stand out. Also in black, it's cutting edge was in dark purple, a dull dark purple. Neptune was mesmerized, her eyes- no her body was drawn to this sword... Does that make sense?

"Ohh, how much for this one?"

"1,500 credits." Neptune's purple eyes widened. "1-1,500 credits?" The merchant gloomed over her. "Yes, 1,500 credits. The materials used for this isn't cheap, and some of the ingredients for this was was obtaining an orc's tongue."

"T-Tongue?! W-What are you trying to make here? A cursed object?" Neptune said in horror. The smith clicked his tongue, before taking the sword out of the purple haired character's hands. "If you come here to pass judgement, I reckon you get out." The merchant then returned the sword on the table with a small thud. "You damn rookies complaining and getting yourself killed using shitty equipments." The smith muttered under his breath.

"L-Look, I'm sorry for saying all that stuff, I won't do it again! I just started yesterday, so I'm really not that solid with credits right now, uhm, I only have money to buy a cheap weapon and a cheap armor." Neptune said with a bow. To which the merchant raised an eyebrow. He returned his gaze towards the table and grabbed a wooden sword. "Here." The purple haired girl looked up and clumsily catch the sword thrown at her. Purple eyes looked at the weapon in her hands.

A wooden sword.

A bokken.

She looked at the merchant for an explanation, who looked at her with harsh eyes. "If you obtain ten of those goos' heart, I'll give you discount on any weapon you want, I'll even throw in some of those cheap armors over there."

Neptune was taken aback. He'd give her discount for obtaining an item? She beamed. Oh boy, is this a side quest? But hang on, did he say a dogoo's heart? Neptune looked perplexed for a moment. Wait do they even have hearts in the first place? They're all blob, though. You could literally look through what's inside them.

The smith barked a laugh at Neptune's confused expression. "You look confused. You're probably wondering if they have a heart, right?" The purple haired girl nodded, then the smith walked pass her once again and rummaged through the top shelf, and obtaining a bottle. Neptune observed him and saw the merchant walk towards her.

He place the bottle close to her face. Purple eyes looked at the bottle, and saw a pale blue circle, almost the size of a tennis ball, with veins surrounding it. Neptune looked disturbed and mildly amazed at what she's looking at.

"This is what their heart looks like. Those bastards just have the ability to hide them." The merchant then removed the bottle away from Neptune's face. "How do you get those? When I killed some of them, they splashed into nothing. Not even a trace of that."

"They're there alright, just shattered in a million pieces. You see, if you cut those bastards up in just the right amount of speed and force in the right angle, you could cut through their cloak." He said. "They may seem harmless, but if you really anger those suckers they get extremely aggravated." Neptune saw his face, they were stone cold. "Did you know that a lot of rookies like you die because of them?"

The information caught the purple eyed girl off-guard. Someone actually died because of them? But they were too easy. "Heh, your face, you're probably thinking they're probably easy that they are easily killed. Well, that is right, they are easily killed, for an infant goo. A grown version of them isn't as innocent as they look."

Neptune looked at him in horror. "The bigger version of those bastards, are easily underestimated by you rookies. It moves faster, way faster, and once it caught you, it melts through your flesh until you're completely part of it's blob." The merchant placed a hand on the purple haired's shoulder. "The world's a different place now, rookie. Too much mutation happening."

The smith removed his hand on her shoulder. "You should get going, light's still dominant best use it to your advantage."

Neptune silently nodded, her will wavering slightly. That was a dark event info. She shook her head. It's probably nothing, besides this is the beginning town, there's no way starting monsters are that dangerous...right?

Neptune nodded to herself, clutching the bokken...she looked up the merchant, who was now back to his workplace. "Uh, mister merchant, do you have anything that could, like, hang the sword on my waist?"

...

Turns out the smith didn't have the thing she was asking for. But at least it wasn't a problem, as the sword didn't weigh that much. A couple of minutes had passed since she left the smith's shop, a couple more since she arrived back to Virtua forest.

An hour since she started the side quest, and that's obtaining a dogoo's heart. It was impossible.

"GAHHH, IS THERE EVEN A HEART?!" Neptune shouted, her outburst causing more dogoos to show. It was just undeniably unobtainable. She tried slashing, kicking, rough housing, still no trace of the heart anywhere on the goo's loot.

Was the smith messing with her?

SPLAT

The thirteenth dogoo's body turned into a mush. Still no sign. Neptune was almost at her limit, she was almost ready to just pass the towel and just go home. Back to where the Compa's home cooked meals were. Sighing for God knows how many times, the purple haired character sat down the grassy ground. There were no dogoos respawning at the moments, Neptune placed the bokken beside her as she laid down.

Neptune was greeted by the familiar scenery of the sky. Vast blue empty space with nothing but clouds filling them, she sighed. Now that she thinks about it, her skill sets are unusually...crappy. Well not that crappy, but only having two skills, which are passive mind you, and not obtaining even just one active skill after defeating all those goos yesterday is quite sucky.

'And here I thought I'll be one of those OP protagonist...' She sighed. Neptune's mind drifted back to her objective, does the heart actually exist? The smith did showed her proof, but what if that's just a prop or something? She shook her head. No. If that were a prop then he wouldn't went and give me this quest, right?

Neptune sighed for the umpteenth time. If only there were an appraisal skill she could use. She grabbed the 'bokken' beside her and looked at it thoroughly. After seemingly a couple of minutes passed, nothing happened. Well, it's not like that's be enough to-

Skill Unlock: Appraisal Lvl 1 (passive)

Purple eyes widened at what she's looking at. There, just right in front of her were floating words. And did she just obtain an appraisal skill when she just wished she had one?

Neptune sat up and looked at her sword intently once again. 'Focus.' And just what she intended, the status appeared.

Weapon:

BOKKEN

Purple eyes lit up as she looks at the name of her weapon. Well, it's not something to be proud of, but, well, she's proud of herself for unlocking a skill. The text disappeared after five seconds, before her vision went back to their usual.

Neptune nodded to herself. Obtaining skills wasn't as complicated as she thought, leveling them up should be as easy as unlocking it. Now that she obtained appraisal she looked at her surroundings and looked at the tree intently.

HEAHEA TREE

Neptune exhaled, right, she'll be using this skill a lot. Using it frequently might promote her appraisal to a more convenient skill, where she might be able to see their weak points. Then she'll figure out how to obtain those dogoo's heart.

An hour passed since Neptune unlocked appraisal, she had observed her surroundings non-stop making her appraisal jump from lvl 1 to lvl 3. She could now see the points and status effect of an object she focuses, at lvl 2 she could only see damage points and that's it. So she's really thankful for this skill. Along the run, she'd encounter monsters here and there, mostly dogoos and at other times she encounters other monsters like leotoad which was a level 4, an unusual type of frog that was in a size of a dog and shoots out substance, to what Neptune could only guess was poison.

Then an insect type level 6 monster called krantist, which is basically a mantist with crab like pincers. Neptune's first encounter of that was a terrifying one, walking towards uncharted areas caused her to meet krantist, easily towering over her, who had its pincers slash down towards her.

She would've probably died if it weren't for quick dodge, which leveled up from lvl 1 to lvl 2 due to her dodging those god awful pincers. Neptune rubbed her forehead at the dull ache she's experiencing.

Due to the excessive flow of information she's putting on her plate, her brain was stressed. Appraisal was a skill that was usually used by people with high INT, these were usually a skill scholars use with their high intelligence, using it is a piece of cake, and Neptune's INT isn't that high. The lower the INT the more painful the consequence of excessive use of appraisal that it may eventually lead to death. But the purple haired girl ignored the pain, as her primary goal was to keep at it until she had deemed her appraisal level decent.

Neptune plopped down underneath a tree, her breathing was ragged from all the running she's done to avoid mobs. Her quickstep had significantly leveled up from 1 to level 3, allowing her to run at certain amount of distance at an unusual speed. The purple haired girl breathed raggedly, the appraisal's side effect taking it's toll. She had been using the skill for more than a couple of hours now, and she still has yet to obtain the ability to know monster's weakness.

"This...sucks." Neptune breathed out, as she could feel her eyelids growing heavy. She was exhausted, she can't believe appraisal is a pain in the ass. A couple of minutes of nap isn't bad is it, she just needed to shut her eyes.

"Hey, sleeping in the open like that may cause monsters to jump on you." Purple eyes opened at the sound of an unfamiliar voice coming from her front. Neptune lifted her head up and saw a young man with red hair wearing an expensive looking glimmering armor, as he looks at the purple haired girl her with an arrogant smirk, behind him was a girl with black hair that reaches down her waist as she wore a mage clothing.

Neptune was perplexed for a moment. Who were these guys?

"What's a rookie doing in a place like this? You do know that this is only a place for veterans, right?" He said in a cocky tone, the girl beside him shook her head. "Kyro, stop being so arrogant." Neptune watched the girl walk towards her and knelt down towards her. "You're not looking so hot, are you okay?" Just as the black haired girl said those words, the purple haired girl's head pounded causing her to groan.

"Gira, you're not actually thinking of healing her right?" 'Kyro' looked at his companion. "Stop it, do you think Lady Vert would be so happy when she hears you talking like that?" The girl, Gira, said as she offered Neptune a vial. "Here, drink this."

Neptune took the vial out of her hands and gulped it's content. At the first drop on the liquid, the purple haired character had never felt immense greatness coarse through her body. It was ten times better to what IF had given her.

"Do you feel fine?" Gira asked as her gaze focused on her. Neptune grinned as she jumps on her feet. "I feel super, that was really kind of you, uhm." The black haired girl stood and dusted her clothing as she placed a hand on her well endowed chest. "Gira, and the other person is Kyro." The red haired boy looked at her cockily.

"You know we're level 6 so don't you think you should show respect to someone higher of your level?" Kyro said with a smirk as her circled Neptune, his armor rattling at his movements. The purple haired girl's right eye twitch. "Kyro, stop being disgusting." Gira cringed. "You only leveled up because of me."

"What the hell are you talking about? I leveled through my efforts, stop twisting the damn story you bitch." The red haired boy said this as he glared towards Gira, who shook her head.

"Whatever, I never got your name." Neptune perked when she realizes she was being asked. "Neptune, and thanks again for that."

"It was no problem, Lady Vert did say if you encountered someone in need do not hesitate to help." The black haired girl said with a gentle smile. "Anyways, you should get out of here, as much as I don't like to agree, this place isn't someone of your level. You're level 3 right? You should focus on exterminating goos, those are more like at your level."

Gira didn't spare Neptune another glace as she walked onwards, while Kyro followed suit, but not before giving her another cocky smirk. To which Neptune actually cringed at his face.

With the two of them gone, she could go back to exploring. As Neptune was about to go on her way, she stopped her tracks. She forgot her main objective. Purple eyes widened, that's right, she still need to obtain those dogoos' hearts. She groaned, they'll probably respawn in the area right?

The area she's currently in was far away from Leanbox. The location was probably near the heart of he Virtua forest as there were little to no sunlight around now that she's paying attention to her surrounding. The eerie feeling in her gut had started to manifest at the lack of sound she's hearing. Gira and Kyro were nowhere to be found as they had gone and went in their way.

Neptune gave out a shaky sigh. Now that it had dawned upon her, she was shivering slightly despite wearing a jersey jacket. She could see fog coming out of her mouth, her knuckles turning white as she held onto her sword tightly.

It's probably fine to turn back and just resumed tomorrow, besides it's probably almost dark since she's been here for god knows what. Neptune nodded to herself and turned to leave-

"AHHHHHHH!" A scream pierced through the air, and on instinct the purple haired girl made a stance, as she looked behind her to see monsters to find an empty pathway.

"HEELLPP!" Another scream tear through the air, Neptune then noticed that it was coming from where Gira and Kyro had gone. Dread had instantly filled Neptune as she went to their direction, her quickstep skill activating as she run deeper into the forest. A couple of minutes passed, the purple haired girl was impressed at how far Gira and Kyro had walked at a short period of time, but then suddenly Neptune pinched her nose. The smell was the first thing Neptune had noticed. It smelled of rotting flesh and sewers, the stench had almost made her puke she had inhaled some more of it.

The horrid smell was coming from other side of the tree obscuring her vision. Neptune slowly walked towards the end of the tree to see what was happening, and the sound was what came next.

Neptune heard a squelching sound on the other side. At this point she could feel her will waver, just like that time when the smith had given her the info. Neptune's eyes went wide as she had finally saw what the other side had offered her.

There on the clearing, was a massive looking goo with red substance coloring its blue body as its goo melts through flesh, it's face weren't like those of the normal goo she fought, this one had a demented face, it's teeth razor sharp as it gave a piercing howl. Gira was in front of the goo on the ground as she stares at the massive goo with a horrified expression, watching as Kyro melts into nothing but blob inside of the goo's body.

His skin had started to slowly melt, Kyo's armor melting like butter inside the massive goo. His innards had spilled out of his stomach without the skin holding it in place. His face was unrecognizable as the corrosive power of the goo had disintegrated his flesh as one of his eye could be seen swimming along the blood red body of the goo.

Neptune's mouth hang open, her hand shaking at the grotesque sight, as her stare caused her appraisal to activate.

DISTORTED OOZE

LEVEL 10