Chapter 12: My First Quest

I woke up and got ready for the day. I grabbed my robe, boots, and dagger and put them all on my body. The hood of my robe was up and my dagger on my hip inside of the robe.

I walked out towards the gate to exit Rybim, and to start my very first quest in this world!

-[At the Gate]-

I walked up to the gate and on duty today was Mark. I figured I would stop over to him and say hello before heading out. So I begun to go in his direction.

"Hello!" I said. Mark turned to see me approach him slowly. It would be faster if I was a bit taller because being taller means longer legs. I miss my height...

Anyways he looked down to see me standing now next to him. He then turned back and opened the nearby door and said to the people inside that he was going to take a 5 minute break.

He then turned back to me and walked out of the way as someone else went to Mark's position. Mark and I moved about 10 feet away from that spot and begun to talk to each other.

"Hello, Pearl. How are you doing? The last time I saw you was when Mary went on a rampage. I still want to punch her for what she did to you..." said Mark. I then replied, "Well, she did hit me, yes. But I also stabbed her in the upper leg. I was scared and I did it out of pure fear and my instincts were also telling me to do it. I felt that my death was upon me if I didn't. It backfired since I couldn't get the knife very deep due to my lack of strength."

I continued, "While my body is now fine, my mental state is still unwell from that incident. I feel like if she sees me again in this city, she will kill me." Mark then said back, "I won't allow that. If she tries and I see her after or during it, I will try and get her banished from this city. Or thrown in jail for like 2 years. Haha!" I like Mark. He's fun! And really reliable.

Mark continued, "So. You heading outside the city? Are you leaving for good? Or did you become an adventurer?" I then replied, "Yes, I did become an adventurer! Although it may be a bit over my head, I decided to take on a goblin slaying E rank quest. I'm confident I can succeed doing this since I've already killed nearly 10 on the day I first came here."

Mark looked slightly surprised that my tiny self could kill almost 10 goblins. I was proud of it as well. But I didn't want to come off as cocky so I didn't show and proudness about the slaying of the goblins. Mark then moved his hand, onto my head, and proceeded to I guess "pet" me? I don't care, it feels nice~.

I just stood there as Mark gave me head pets and the happiness of being petted was practically beaming from my face. Like a beacon of light, my happiness shown. Anyways, Mark stopped after about 30 seconds of petting and said, I don't want to halt your quest. It's still decently early but you should go on and do your thing. Go make some money!" Mark then patted me on the back and started to walk towards that door that leads to the inside of the check in station.

I walked to the "leaving" station on the opposite side of the check in station and was asked to show my identification card. I pulled it out of my pocket and handed it to the young man who looked to be about 13 years old. He looked at it for a few seconds and then handed it back to me.

I then walked off with a big smile because I was excited. I heard faintly from the young man, "Cute..." Dammit! My face turned slightly redder due to embarrassment. Why do I get so embarrassed so easily now? Maybe it's because I'm a woman? Or a child? Hell, maybe even both?

The forest was a good 150 metres away so it will take me a few minutes to get over there with my tiny legs. Nevertheless, I was in front of the forest in about 80 seconds of walking. I inhaled, and then exhaled to prepare myself. I got out my short sword and walked into the forest.

-[Inside the Forest]-

'I wonder if this forest has a name?' I thought. [Answer: this is the Great Forest of Jiro. It was named after the man who founded the city of Rybim, Anton Jiro.] Thank you once again, Gem!

I would be devastated without my system. I probably would've starved to death after my rations, that I still have, depleted. I also probably wouldn't have found the city of Rybim without Gem.

I'm one lucky man...woman? Fuck it. I'm both I guess. Well technically I'm a man on the inside, but I'm also female on everything else. And I've noticed that my behavior has changed since reincarnating. I'm more feminine in some ways. And I don't mastur- I mean, have "nighttime fun" anymore. At least for now.

I heard the rustling of leaves in an unordinary fashion so I assumed it was an animal or a Goblin. Guess what? It was a goblin with a wooden spear. The spear looked sturdy compared to a normal tree branch. It came charging at me and thrusted the spear towards my abdomen. I jumped above the spear and swung my sword as far and fast as I could towards the head. I got the sword lodged into the head and the goblin screamed and then died. I leveled up to level 4.

"Haaah...can't surprise attack me!" I said exhaling. I went up to the goblin and took my sword from it's opened skull. I then made sure to drag the body behind a nearby large rock and put the body in my inventory. You never know if someone or something is watching. Best to be careful.

I walked farther in the forest and encountered two more goblins. They hadn't noticed me yet so I wanted to experiment something with Gem. 'Hey Gem? Can I learn sword skills and the such by doing training or physical work? Like if I use my speed and run fast enough to gain a lot of momentum on a slash, would I be able to learn a sword dash type skill?' I said in my mind to Gem.

[Answer: Yes.] I had begun to smile and I got ready to run as fast as I can to try and learn that sword dash skill from a game I played back in my old world.

I put myself in a running position like I did in track back in Highschool. I was decent at the races we had against other schools. I got around 4th place or higher each time.

I began to prepare myself to run and I then ran with an explosive amount of speed compared to running without correct form. I arrived behind the goblins and swung my sword at the closer one with it's back turned. I cut him right in half from the side of the abdomen. "Euh?" The goblin made a weird sound whilst being slashed.

The other goblin had his weapon ready and hit me with his wooden branch. I got hit in the face by it and I fell backwards. I then tried to stand up again but the goblin hit me back down with the branch. 'Shit.' I thought.

I swung my sword at the branch the goblin held and cut it in half. The goblin then got scared and tried to run. That is when I got a system notification. [New Skill learned: Dashing Slash. Dashing Slash is where the user gains a lot of speed instantly and dashes towards an enemy to slash at them. Cost: 10 MP per use (cost will raise with evolution and leveling up).]

I was happy about learning my first skill and I wanted to try it out immediately. I then stood up and used my new skill.

I caught up to the goblin and swung my sword with tremendous speed. I was aiming for the head but I went a little too low and cut it's head clean off through the neck.

I was originally going for the eye level. I don't know why. Maybe because if I did that, it would look badass in a slow motion video? Whatever.

I then walked over to the dead goblins. I then stored the two bodies in my inventory behind a tree. I now had gained 3/5 goblin bodies. So I headed further in to find the last two or more. Maybe I will get paid more if I bring in more than five!

I found my final targets: three goblins standing around a deer that they killed. Most presumably for their food. The deer was still in good condition so I will also take that and use it's meat on my journey. FYI, food doesn't spoil or get tainted in the inventory.

I used Dashing Slash and killed one of the goblins. It had already walked away from the other two so it was an easy kill. I then turned around to see the other goblins running at me. I grabbed my dagger and threw it at the head of one of the goblins and hit them dead in the left eye. It screamed in pain but it wasn't dead yet. I then ran up and killed it with my short sword.

The goblin that was left had picked up a bigger rock and hit the back of my head with it. I fell face first into the ground and laid there holding my head.

The goblin then grabbed my leg and proceeded to look at me and reposition itself to try and drag me away. Maybe it thought I was knocked out or dead already?

It turned around to see me looking at it while trying to reach for my sword since I dropped it. It's eyes were scary. I shuddered after seeing it's face like that. It was going to kill me if I didn't kill it now.

My dagger was next to me still in the eye of the dead goblin. I grabbed it and I felt the hand of the goblin grab my neck. The feeling of being choked is...not good. I let out a small cough and threw the dagger at the goblin. I didn't have full strength upon the throw so it went in shallowly in the chest.

Regardless the goblin let go of me and fell back, clutching his wound. I then reached for my sword, grabbed it, and killed the bastard. I was out of breath and embarrassed as hell because I almost was choked to death by a fricking goblin.

"Fuck you. You goblin shit head." I said. I then stored the bodies and the deer in my inventory and sat down to take a break. I also noticed that I was now level 6. 'Status' I said in my mind.

[Name: Pearl

Skills: Dashing Slash

Level: 6

Age: 5

Mana: 190/210

Companions: N/A

Magic Types: N/A]

I wanted to learn magic so I asked Gem how to. [Pearl just has to use mana to take shape of something like fire, water, wind, or earth. Using your imagination can help with the visualization of magic, so use it wisely.] So I sat there for 45 or so minutes and learned basic earth, fire, and water magic. I was proud of myself but extremely tired so I checked my mana again.

[Mana: 19/210]

Let's hurry back to Rybim before I collapse from exhaustion. I'm already exhausted physically. I'll learn wind magic later.

I got back after about an hour of waking and I checked in at the station. Little did I know that the whole time, Mark was following me to see if I can truly handle it. I never noticed him but he told me this after the quest was completed. I felt embarrassed but he apparently left after I killed the first group of goblins. So he didn't see the goblin pin me down and proceed to choke me. It was embarrassing.

That's good that he didn't hear or see what happened. After I turn the bodies in to the guild, I'll check in on Aliyah since it's been over a week since I last saw her. Let's get going to the guild now.