147 Can't I Speedrun?
We went through quite a bit of tools in order to cut my skin. First was the needle, second was a knife, next was a dagger, a sword, then a battle ax.
"WAIT WAIT WAIT!! Are you going to cut off my finger or something?!" [Solace]
It had become entertainment for those around us. A crowd had gathered without me noticing, all while Burnes kept pulling random sharp objects from a wooden crate.
"How about this?" [Burnes]
He stepped on my arm and held it against the table before bringing down the ax. I yelped in fear of losing a finger, but the ax bounced off.
"Huh?!" [Burnes]
I stared in disbelief for a moment.
"Oh thank the gods…" [Solace]
I felt relieved seeing my finger intact. That is, until Burnes took out a saw.
"Guess we're in it for the long run." [Burnes]
He placed the serrated edge on my finger and started sawing away.
"This… feels very weird." [Solace]
It felt like running your finger along the edge of a hair comb.
"...I don't think it's working." [Fina]
"What do you mean?" [Burnes]
He lifted the saw to check his progress, but found that the serrated edge had become dull.
"Ooookay… We need to do something different." [Burnes]
He then uppercutted me.
"Urk?!" [Solace]
My jaw closed onto my tongue, causing me to flinch and tear up.
"Ow?! What was that for?!" [Solace]
Burnes gave me a hopeful look.
"Did you bite your tongue?" [Burnes]
"Of course I did! You punched me out of nowhere!" [Solace]
"Do you taste blood?" [Burnes]
"A little-hold on, was THIS your solution?" [Solace]
Burnes smiled.
"It worked, right? Now, spit into the tray." [Burnes]
Though I was irritated by Burnes' actions, I still did as told. As I spat into the tray, the blood in my saliva seemed to vanish.
"Now we have you in our system. Thanks for your cooperation." [Burnes]
I rubbed my jaw.
"Could've warned me earlier…" [Solace]
Was something I muttered.
"Would you really let me uppercut you if I did warn you?" [Burnes]
I had nothing to say for that.
"Don't be so mad. Here, now you can have this." [Burnes]
He took the piece of copper from earlier and tossed it to me.
("A necklace?") [Solace]
There was a string running through the small copper plate, along with the letter "G" carved into it.
"That's yours now. You can trade it out after you've done thirty rank G quests." [Burnes]
"Thirty?!" [Solace]
It's going to take a while to rank up.
"Here, I'll start you off with some simple quests." [Burnes]
He stood up and picked out a few sheets of paper from the wall behind him. I don't really want to refer to it as a wall, so I'll call it a bulletin board even though it didn't look like one.
"Pick one of these." [Burnes]
He spread out five sheets, each with a picture and some written details. It didn't take a genius to realize that each one of them were quests.
"Do you have any more… "exciting" quests?" [Solace]
All I could see were quests to gather herbs.
"You mean slaying monsters or something?" [Burnes]
"Yeah." [Solace]
Burnes shot me a crooked smile.
"Do you really think we're gonna let a newbie fight? Season yourself with herb gathering before coming back." [Burnes]
His attitude was… less than optimal. However, I can understand why.
"Thirty quests, right?" [Solace]
"Thirty quests." [Burnes]
Burnes nodded as he repeated it back to me.
"Fine." [Solace]
Instead of taking one of the quests, I took all five.
"Hey. One at a time." [Burnes]
He grabbed my hand and swayed his finger back and forth.
"Seriously?" [Solace]
"It's called being professional." [Burnes]
I gave him an unsatisfied look and took only one.
"That's better." [Burnes]
Is what he said smugly.
"I'll be back in a bit." [Solace]
Burnes made a waving motion for me to leave.
"I'll be expecting you." [Burnes]
