5 A Powerful Reward

Alden waited in anticipation at the rewards for the quests. In Realms Online, every quest had a completion rating, ranging from F to S. Any rating below C would net 0 rewards, with F ratings even resulting in punishment.

But, since he fulfilled the hidden condition, Alden expected a good rating.

'And with a good rating, there are bountiful rewards to be had.'

Regardless of her confusion at the wide grin on Alden's face, Anya waited patiently, since it didn't seem like Alden wanted her to bother him right now.

With a "ding!" noise, 2 new panels appeared.

-[Grandma's Recipe Book]-

Completion Rating: A+

Rewards:

500 experience,

Grandma's Recipe Book

-[Close]-

-[Create a healing potion for the puppy]-

Completion Rating: B

Rewards:

150 experience,

A present from Anya

-[Close]-

Then, as if interrupting Alden's excitement, he heard a "splash!" sound from the shack.

'Did... did she just dump the bucket on the puppy?'

It would work, but still felt a bit barbaric. Alden watched as the puppy's breathing quickly became less erratic, and Anya breathed out a sigh of relief.

Then, Anya rushed over to find something beneath her musty pillow, retrieving a second book.

Anya inched over to Alden, and said, "Thank you... here."

Pointing his finger at the book, Alden gently smiled and asked, "For me?"

After Anya nodded, Alden took the book. The cover page was clearly drawn with crayons, and although barely legible, Alden read the title as "Anya's Cook Book."

Using the appraisal skill, Alden was shocked at the book's information.

-[Anya's Cook Book]-

Rarity: Rare

Description: A young lady from the slums has detailed her many cooking recipes in this book. But be warned, the girl has the talent of a poison master.

Usage: Access to the young lady's original poison recipes.

Additional Skill: "Guidance of Poison"

Skill Description:

A passive, 5% increase in the wielder's poison crafting success rate.

-[Close]-

Although Alden's body took on a golden glow, indicating his level-up, Alden was more shocked at the item he received. Only now did he realize why the girl's name felt familiar.

'She's Anya, the leader of the Myriad Poisons Cult! Then, that puppy... is that the legendary 3-headed hellhound, Cerberus?!'

Upon seeing the poison recipe book, he could instantly identify the girl. After all, the NPC poison master, Anya, was simply too infamous.

7 years later, at the age of 16, Anya would defeat a Paragon-level city lord through the use of poison, earning her reputation as one of the top 50 most dangerous NPCs!

'It's important to note, that the NPC she defeated was Realms Online's only Paragon Grand Wizard NPC, Merlin! Even after 11 years, only the top 10 expert players in Realms Online would stand any chance at fighting Merlin.'

Alden put the item into his inventory with a bit of urgency. Although the item was only rare, its additional skill would directly push him into the realm of an apprentice poison master.

Foraging could be said to be the only profession that didn't have a "success rate." Success rates directly affected how often a player would succeed in crafting an item, so it went without saying that any sort of increase was important.

"Wow, Anya, these recipes are... impressive," Alden said.

But, right now only one thought was in his head: 'I must recruit this girl!'

Although the NPC companion system had yet to be released, it wouldn't be long until it did. If he could nurture Anya now, within 2 weeks, she would be the strongest supporter he had.

Upon receiving Alden's compliment, the girl blushed, "I'm... bad at cooking!"

'Definitely horrible at cooking,' Alden thought in response.

Nonetheless, he only continued, "Cooking might not be your talent, but I think I know what is. How about this? In 3 days, I'll come back. At that time, I'll give you a home."

A bead of sweat dripped down Alden's forehead, and his heartbeat was becoming faster by the moment. He couldn't miss this opportunity.

"3... okay," Anya agreed.

In spite of the fact that Alden desperately wanted to shout and celebrate what he just accomplished, he remained steady, patting Anya's head.

"Alright, I'll be back then. Will you be fine?"

Clearly, the girl was starving. Alden didn't want her to get into any trouble while searching for food.

Still, the girl nodded, assuring Alden of her safety. 'I'll just go ahead and trust the future cult leader here.'

At the end of the day, she knew more about living on the streets than he did.

"I'll be back soon, Anya," Alden said, getting the goodbyes out of the way. In 3 days, he had to become rich enough and powerful enough to nurture a future poison master.

It was clear that he needed to rush.

As he walked, Alden realized that there was something that he was missing. It was extremely important to his progress, and without it, he would hit a wall.

'Money...'

Or more specifically, copper coins. And although he now had the ability to produce an immense amount of potions, that alone wouldn't earn him much. The NPC apprentice alchemist in town was cheap and had a large stock.

Thankfully, every player started with 20 copper coins. This was actually a high amount at this stage.

'20 copper can buy the player's first weapon and a large amount of grinding necessities. After spending 10 copper on my axe, I have 10 left.'

Using 10 copper, Alden planned to earn 1 silver. It would be easy if he sold poison, but that was definitely not something he wanted to be used on himself.

-

After 10 minutes of walking, Alden arrived at his destination.

In front of him was a large building, with a grand, wooden sign board that read, "Tri-Star Inn."

With a skip to his step, Alden entered the building. Inside he heard the clamoring of adventurers and the smell of of beef oozed throughout the room.

'What a wild crowd,' Alaric grinned.

Then, he took it upon himself to talk to the NPC clerk, who seemed to be a ginger-haired peasant woman, clearly not having much fun working.

"I'd like to get a room."

The women grumbled, "10 copper."

Alden handed over the 10 copper, which surprised the women. With only a glance, she could tell that he was a penniless brat.

'He must be using all of his funds for this...' she thought.

If Alden knew what she was thinking, he would tear up at how correct she actually was.

The price for Tri-Star Inn wasn't low. In Alden's last life, not a single player ever stayed here. The food was better, sure, but only a select few players cared about their culinary experience in the game.

'After all, our tastebuds are only 95% accurate.'

However, Alden was a reincarnator. He knew things that others didn't, things that would only be discovered years down the line. And Tri-Star Inn's secret was one of those things.

An unlucky rogue was being chased down by one of Realms Online's strongest guilds, and so he decided to go to the one place they would never check. Cedar Town's most expensive inn. Upon arriving in his room, he was greeted with quite a bonus.

From that point on, Tri-Star Inn was the most frequented inn by low-level players.

The NPC lady gave Alden the keys to his room and told him where to go, "First floor, far right..."

In no time at all, Alden arrived in his room. Immediately, he rushed over to the bookshelf provided by the inn. After scanning over the shelf for a bit, he excitedly exclaimed, "Found it!"

He withdrew the book from its position on the shelf, and read the cover. On it, were the words, "Parry."

System: "You found the skill book for the skill 'Parry,' would you like to learn it? This action will cost 150 job experience."

Alden only said, "Yes!"

Parry was a skill that every low-level player wanted. It was a weaker life-saving skill that any class could learn. If used correctly, melee classes would find it much harder to threaten anyone who had the skill. What made it more precious, was the lack of any class restrictions.

'Although plenty of monsters drop this skill, the chances are low. In exchange for 10 copper, I can learn it right away!'

With Parry learned, Alden felt that no one in Cedar Town could possibly defeat him, even if an entire party attacked him. 'I have the perfect set up, and now I don't need to be lowkey anymore.'

Being low-key could only be considered a disadvantage to the average player. They needed to gather allies and supporters in order to finish certain dungeons and quests after all.

Knowing that his time in this private room was limited, Alden decided to sit down and begin crafting potions.

"I guess the most useful potions right now are the common recovery potions and the common heat resistance potions."

As for why he wanted heat resistance potions, it was because Alden had a plan to earn plenty of coins.

Without anything else to do, Alden activated his skill, "Cauldron!"