Second World

Bowler and Flame were excited by the idea and immediately agreed. The three of them then headed back to the Adventurers Association to hand over their respective quests. The crowd in the Bronze Hall was livelier than before. When Jack checked his radar, he was amazed to see many among them were blue dots, which meant that they were players like him.

'The others sure were fast to find out about this place' Jack groused. 'I'll have to work faster if I'm going to keep my lead.'

Jack went to an unoccupied counter while Bowler and Flame went to another one. From the delivery quest, he received 1 silver coin, a few experience points, and 4 Adventurer Points. He was now only 3 points away from becoming Silver rank and having enough points to buy that Body Double Technique Book. He heard a notification sound after receiving the reward.

"Congratulations, you have reached level 14 for your Magician class."

Great, now both his classes were only one level away from being able to apply for the Advanced class! Jack was determined to increase his level quickly.

While waiting for Bowler and Flame to finish their business, Jack sat on one of the benches at the center of the hall. He looked at the list of quests available on the Quest board.

'Peniel,' he called in his mind. 'If we take a quest together with other people, will the rewards be divided?'

'No,' she answered. 'All participants will receive the same rewards as indicated in the reward section. But there is a limit to how many people can take the same quest. The participant limit is the same as the number indicated by the recommended section.'

'Oh. When I completed the escort quest that recommended three people, I didn't receive anything extra. So that means it is better to just do the quest with the recommended number of people, since doing it solo doesn't grant any extra rewards?'

'That is correct,' Peniel replied.

'Why didn't you tell me this when I took that escort job?'

'You looked so confident. What's wrong with doing it solo if you can complete it as easily as with other people?'

Jack shook his head helplessly. This guide of his gave him information based on her mood. Sometimes she let him know things before he asked, other times she withheld information he needed. Since there didn't seem to be anything he could do about it, he didn't think further about it and went back to reading the quest list.

By the time Bowler and Flame approached, he had found a quest that he thought was suitable. He pointed it out to the two of them.

"You two interested in doing that quest?" He asked.

Pick a blue magecrest flower for an apothecary at the foot of Siren Hill

Difficulty: D (recommended: Party of 4, level 12)

Rewards: 3 silver coins, 2000 Experience points, 14 Adventurer Points

It was a quest that required them to leave the city. He figured they would have to go at some point, might as well do it now while they were together. Furthermore, this quest gave out the highest Adventurer Points that he could find among the D rank quests on the Quest board.

Flame and Bowler read the descriptions on the quest.

"It says party of four; we are going to do it just with us three?" Bowler asked.

"I don't think that will be a problem," Jack replied.

"Well, considering your strength, I supposed we can count you as more than 1 person," Bowler said. "Ok, I have no objection. What about you, Flame?"

"I'm game," she said.

"It's decided then." After the two of them agreed, Jack formed a party with them and then took them to the counter. They made the necessary arrangements to take the quest. After everything was finished, they left the Adventurers Association building.

"When should we start?" Bowler asked.

"Why wait? Let's start now," Jack replied.

"It's past noon already, by the time we reach the hill it will be close to evening. We will need to spend the night outside." Bowler said. They had asked the counter lady inside the Adventurers Association for the direction to Siren Hill. The counter lady had informed them that it was a couple of miles west of the capital.

"What's wrong with that?" Jack said. "We will have to spend the night in the wilderness sooner or later. We might as well get the experience now when we are together. Do you have a tent already? I saw a place that sells them among the shops not far from here."

"I know the place, I bought one from there already," Bowler said.

"I don't have one," Flame said.

"Let's have you buy one first then," Jack said. "What about restorative items, do you guys still have stock?"

Both of them nodded.

"Ok, then let's go buy you a tent," Jack said.

While Flame was purchasing a tent, Jack heard Peniel's voice, 'if you mean to head outside the city wall, you'd better go to that shop across the street as well. Purchase a couple of antidotes, just in case. You never know if you'll encounter poisonous beasts in the wilderness.

Jack saw the wisdom in her words, so after Flame completed her transaction, he took them both to the shop Peniel mentioned. Each of them bought three antidotes, costing 30 coppers each. Bowler and Flame had also gotten quite a number of coins from doing quests, so they could afford it. Jack noticed a materials shop next door, so he also bought 10 Iron ores costing 20 copper coins each.

After finishing their shopping, the three of them walked towards the Western Gate of the city.

There were three gates leading out of the capital, East, North, and West. When they first arrived in this world, they had entered the capital from the North Gate. On the south side of the capital was an impassible mountain that created a natural barrier against invasion.

Same as at the North Gate, the Western Gate also had some sentries keeping guard over it. The gate itself was open as citizens and adventurers freely came in and out. The guards were only there to keep watch for monsters that might roam too near to the capital.

The three of them went out the gate and proceeded west in the direction of the hill. They didn't see any beasts or monsters even after traveling for half an hour. It felt more like a walk in the countryside than a journey through hostile wilderness.

However, Bowler and Flame kept their vigilance. They had heard from Honuren, the Demigod who presided over their passage into this world, that if they died outside of the safe zone of a city or town, they would lose all their possessions and have their levels revert back to level one. Jack, on the other hand, was pretty relaxed. He had his radar to inform him if any beasts or monsters came near.

After walking a little longer, they finally saw a hill not far off.

"That must be the Siren Hill," Bowler commented.

"It should be," Jack agreed. "We should still have an hour or two of sunlight upon reaching it. Let's search for the flower while there's still light. When the sun sets, we can look for a place to camp."

With that plan in mind, they upped their pace, so they could reach the hill faster and have more time to look for the flower. If everything went smoothly, they might even be able to start heading back to the capital that evening, saving them from having to spend a night outside.

Bored from the monotonous journey, Bowler opened up his quest window to look at the picture of the flower they had to find. Once they had accepted the quest, the quest detail page had included the picture to enable them to look for the correct flower. It was a small common flower with six blue petals; the stem had some tiny thorns around it. There was nothing special about it that he could tell from looking at the picture. If not for the quest, they probably wouldn't even notice if they passed this flower in the field.

"Hold it!" Jack suddenly told the two of them.

"What's wrong?" Bowler asked.

Jack looked at the distance.. He took out his sword and told them, "Get ready, something is coming in our direction."