After making his way back to Salt Fish Town, Yamamoto, perhaps for the first real time in this world, felt his body aching from tiredness and fatigue. Everything felt tiring, both the dungeon and his encounter with Ludger, perhaps, particularly that encounter. It was so out of the box, he still couldn't believe it.
He went straight to the Inn, paid Grom for another night, and after entering his room and locking the door, collapsed on the bed. Even if he wanted to check the rewards, he couldn't, as in that state, even he had no idea when sleep claimed him.
He slept throughout the entire evening to night and until morning came, he didn't even eat dinner. On waking up, he felt his muscles sore and the tiredness still there, but gradually and unnaturally, he felt his condition becoming better.
'This again…' He thought to himself.
He had a theory for what was happening, but couldn't 100% prove it.
In the game, there were fixed mechanisms, like how much time it took to recover depending on ones stats, but most of the time it didn't matter, as if you were to enter a state of sleep, after eight hours, you would recover completely.
'Just what is game and what is reality?' He questioned, genuinely confused as he fell back on the bed, carefully not to hit his head on the wall—he had the experience, pulling up his status window.
…
[Status]
Character: Yamamoto Odinson
Race: Human
Title: Hired Assassin (Hidden)
Class: Swordsman
Level: 6
HP: 550/550
MP: 400/400
Strength: 10
Agility: 15
Endurance: 8
Intelligence: 5
Vitality: 7
Free Stat Points: 8
[Weapon Mastery]
One-Handed Sword Mastery: Apprentice Rank – 20%
Two-Handed Sword Mastery: Apprentice Rank – 5%
Free Mastery Points: 10
…
Looking at the stats, Yamamoto was quite pleased. He had hit level six with eight free stat points, and not only did he get so much free mastery points, but his one-handed sword mastery had also increased a bit. Killing all those rats was brutal, but it really paid off.
This was good. He sat up and looked for the Mystery Chest he got in his inventory. Opening it directly from there, it was unlocked and opened, revealing the contents inside.
..
[Healing Potion] (Common)
A basic alchemical concoction that restores health.
Effect: Restores 150 HP over 10 seconds
Quantity: 2
..
'Nice.'
He had used one before, though a weaker version? Perhaps a lesser potion? Anyway, this was a good replacement and addition.
Seeing as this wasn't a bad reward, he eagerly looked towards the rare-grade reward, one of the juices of this dungeon.
Quickly opening it, Yamamoto was rather, disappointed? Certainly not happy either.
..
[Ratfang Claws] (Rare)
Gloves fashioned from the teeth of giant rats. Brutal and effective for those who fight with their hands.
Durability: 80/80
Requirements: Brawler, Monk, or Unarmed Combat class
Effect: +15 Attack Power, attacks inflict Poison (2 HP per second for 3 seconds)
..
It was a pair of wickedly curved clawed gloves! The claws were actually the giant rat teeth!
This was just brutal.
He took out the gloves to examine it himself, turning them over in his hands, admiring the craftsmanship. They were genuinely impressive and seemed well made even to his untrained eyes. Such a good weapon was not for his class, it was a bit painful.
He could physically wear these gloves and punch things, but without the proper class or mastery, they'd be less effective than his sword, and he'd gain no mastery growth from using them, meaning they'd never improve.
Still, rare-grade equipment was valuable, so he could probably sell them for a decent amount of gold, or trade them to someone who could actually use them.
For now, he stored them back in his inventory.
Following that, he went ahead and allocated 2 stat points into endurance, bringing it up to 10 and giving him an extra 100 HP. For the rest, he chose to hold on a bit from distributing.
Now that he was done with that, he set his focus on other things.
He had actually planned to rest the whole day before tackling a quest the next day, but since he felt better, he quickly looked outside to see what time it was, if he would still meet his target.
After opening and looking out of the window, confirming how early it still was, he quickly made his way down, munching on some bread. 'I really need to fix this food issue.'
He made his way to the docks, the early morning mist just beginning to lift around that time.
He found several fishermen preparing the boats, readying for the day's work. After looking around for a bit, he found someone who matched his target perfectly.
The man was middle-age was also preparing, but anyone could see from his face that he was really going through life.
Yamamoto approached the man, and getting quite used to approaching quest givers, he didn't bother much about what to say and just said whatever came to mind, "Marcus Finn?"
The man looked up, his eyes red-rimmed and tired. "Aye. Who's asking?"
"My name's Odinson. I heard about your son, and I'd like to help find him." He said, straightforwardly without beating about the bush.
Immediately, Marcus's expression flickered with a spark of hope that was quickly suppressed. "You're not the first to say so, you know? The first returned empty handed, the second didn't even return. I myself couldn't even find a trace of my son…"
His silence seemed to imply the worse, but Yamamoto didn't pay any attention to it.
"For a price I can find him," Yamamoto said. "Will you let me try?"
Marcus studied him for a long moment, then nodded wearily. "Aye. Try if you want. Just... if you find him, or find what's left of him, bring something back so I can bury my boy proper."
Immediately, a quest window appeared:
..
[QUEST RECEIVED: The Fisherman's Missing Son]
Marcus Finn's 12-year-old son, Toby, disappeared while fishing a week ago. Find the boy and return him home—alive or dead.
Difficulty: Hard
Rewards: ???
Accept? [Yes] [No]