Big Deal

With Cynthia finally back online, Dags turned on the viewing screen to her perspective again. It had been about an hour in real time that she had been gone, which was 4 hours in-game. To whoever logged in to the game, it genuinely felt as if time was normal. The cycle of day and night didn't feel sped up to those who were playing at all.

"I wish I could have a 360 view of the surroundings. Having my view locked to wherever Cynthia is looking is far too limiting." Dags grumbled. He wanted to observe the surroundings himself, and not rely solely on Cynthia. He waved his hand, dismissing that thought for now as there was nothing he could do yet.

"Mr. Dags, are you still here?" It was a silly question, since Dags couldn't leave this space. He found it fairly endearing hearing that.

"[Of course. Do you wish to ask something?]" he replied.

"No, I just wanted to make sure you're still around. " Cynthia said, shaking her head.

"I'm going to head to Resolute to turn in that quest now since I cleaned up earlier. Actually, I wonder if they're still open? It's getting pretty late." She tilted her head as she tried to recall if there was a closing time for the building. It was currently the twilight hours, with the sun already set. The city itself was still as bright as ever though, with street lamps and signs lighting up the whole place.

"[The Resolute should be a 24 hour establishment. After all, mercenaries don't have set schedules and could return from a job at any time.]" Although Dags wasn't sure of this information, some other games he played before typically kept such buildings open permanently.

"Hm, that makes sense. Alright, I'll head over there then." Cynthia made her way out of the automated hotel, and walked a few blocks to the mercenary building. Sure enough, the place was still open. It seemed even rowdier than before in fact!

"Urgh…" Cynthia stopped outside, realizing how busy it was.

"Looks like she really doesn't want to go in there now. Guess the crowd makes her nervous." Dags commented, noticing Cynthia's hesitation to enter now.

"[You'll be ok. You could probably even use your [Cold Blooded] skill to remain unnoticed for a short period.]" Dags attempted to give some advice to make her feel better. With her low level, she probably couldn't hide from many of the people inside, but it was the thought that counts.

"Sigh. No, I'll be ok. It's just a bit of a crowd…" It sounded more like she was reassuring herself than replying to him. Dags shrugged even though he couldn't be seen.

After a moment of psyching herself up, she walked into the noisy building. It doubled as a sort of bar at night, and there were drunkards everywhere. They were all noisily joking with friends, bragging about their endeavors, or playing various games.

Only a couple eyes peered in her direction as she entered, but she was otherwise left alone. Cynthia made her way up to the receptionist counter, retrieving the bounty notice from her inventory. Remia saw her and waved at her with a smile.

"Welcome back once again Ms. [Formless Mist]. Have you managed to defeat those [Giant Rats] already? That was quite fast. Unless mercenaries form a team, it usually takes them a day or two since the rats like to group up as well." Remia held her chin as she looked Cynthia up and down. She looked like a fairly normal beginner [Marksman], but perhaps she was talented or special somehow.

"Yes ma'am. It was incredibly scary, but I managed to kill 5 of them. I was nearly overrun by a hoard of them in the end! I have the corpses as proof and to sell." Cynthia let out an excited voice as she told about her crazy adventure.

Hearing that, Remia's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"A whole hoard? There shouldn't be that many… I'm going to have to inform the guild master so he can issue a mission for a more thorough extermination of these pests. Hold on one second, I'll process your reward after I get the guild master and get you a bonus." Seeing as this was something important, Remia ran upstairs to the Resolute guild master's office rather than call him down through the datalink.

Cynthia was left alone at the desk, flabbergasted. She hadn't expected it to be such a big problem. She was glad for the extra reward for this information, but it also made her worry. She looked around, seeing some curious gazes stare at her.

"Ugh, I'm about to get a lot of attention…" She just wanted to turn in her mission, and it somehow turned into a big deal. Cynthia shifted from foot to foot, uncomfortable with all the stares she was getting. She kept her head down, but still felt all the looks directed her way.

"Sorry about that, I'm back now. This is Mr. Darius Redfield, the master of this particular mercenary guild. Go with him up to his office and let him know what you saw. He'll also give you your rewards." Remia introduced the hulking giant of a man next to her. Cynthia looked up at the man, astonished at how huge he was. He towered over her, about 6 feet 6 inches (2 meters) tall. He wore a black tight fitting T-shirt and a pair of khaki pants. The side of his rugged face had some cybernetics on it, with some visible scar tissue. From the looks of it, he had probably been quite injured in the past.

Cynthia appeared to shrink even more, intimidated by the large man.

"Ah! Don't worry, don't worry! Guildmaster is quite a kind person, so long as you don't cause trouble here." Remia quickly reassured her.

While this was going on, Darius was evaluating Cynthia. He noted that she was definitely untrained, and too timid under the scrutiny of others. He shook his head and turned to the crowd glaring at them.

"Well, what are you lot starin' at, huh?! Go back to your drinks and mind your business!" His rough voice reverberated through the hall, and immediately everyone retracted their gazes. No one wanted to get on the bad side of this man. It was a good way to find yourself stripped down and thrown outside. And that was a light punishment.

"Wow, this man is quite the character! He looks pretty powerful, easily making all those people cower." Dags nodded with appreciation. He was protecting Cynthia in that way, so Darius received a thumbs up from Dags.

"I wish I could see his stats. He's probably a really high level to make even the players keep their heads down. Some of the players here are already level 15, so maybe he's in the 50's? Or even the hundreds?" Dags tried guessing, but it was pointless since there were only question marks next to Darius' name.

After yelling at the others, the guild master motioned for Cynthia to follow him. He turned around and went upstairs, not waiting for her. Cynthia stared wide eyed for a moment, before coming to her senses and following behind him quickly. As they entered his office, he began to speak.

"I apologize about those crass fellows down there. Many of them aren't exactly upstanding citizens, and don't care if they make little ladies such as yourself uncomfortable." He rubbed the back of his head and let out a sigh.

"Anyway tell me about that hoard of [Giant Rats] you encountered. If it truly is such a large gathering of them, we'll need to have every member take on this mission. Those damned rodents are too voracious, and large numbers of them will be dangerous for the civilians." Darius said.

Cynthia pursed her lips, recalling the horrifying time she had in that place.

"Alright, it went like this…" Cynthia proceeded to retell her story of her time in the alleys, albeit leaving out details about Dags. Eventually, her story came to how the last rat used the [Call the Pack] skill. After that happened, it seemed like hundreds of [Giant Rats] came out of the woodwork. They surged forth like a tide and chased after her for several minutes through the alleys, eventually stopping when she reached the street.

Guild master Darius listened attentively, nodding in understanding. He closed his eyes and thought for a moment. When he opened them, he took out a guild card similar to Cynthia's except it was a lustrous gold color.

"Alright I've heard your story. I'll put out an emergency order for anyone at or above Iron rank to take this mission and clear those vermin from the city. For this information, you'll receive a generous reward. Hold out your guild card." The guild master explained.

Cynthia took out her copper guild card and held it in front of her. Darius then tapped them together and Cynthia received a notification.

[Mission 'Eliminate Giant Rats in the Outskirts' Complete]

[Payout: 1,000 credits (500 extra for bringing the corpses)]

[40 XP Gained!]

[Level Up! Lv.1 -> Lv.2 (20/200)]

[+5 Attribute Points (ATP)]

[Hidden Quest 'Unknown Infestation' Completed!]

[Turn in information on the growing danger in the outskirts of the city before a disaster breaks out!]

[Bonus Reward: 25,000 credits, 5x Basic Health Stim, 10% Discount at any weapon store in Technologica City, and 100XP]

Cynthia's eyes went wide seeing the rewards, and she had even leveled up! She hadn't intentionally completed such a quest, but she was happy about such a large reward. She decided to take a look at her stats later when she was alone. She looked up at the guild master and gave her profuse thanks for the generous rewards.

"T-Thank you very much. I never expected this to turn into such a big deal." She stuttered out.

"You've done us a great service by bringing this problem to light, it's only right that you receive this much. You should be able to get yourself some better gear with that now. What you have currently is entirely inadequate for a [Marksman]." He pointed up and down her body, highlighting her lacking equipment.

"[He's right. I was going to have you take a look at gear for the future when you went to get ammo, but it looks like you might be able to upgrade right away. Well done Cynthia.]" Dags praised her and smiled. This was quite the unexpected windfall, but he was glad as it would solve one of her problems for now.

Cynthia smiled at Dags' praise. She then bowed her head, thanking the guild master, and left the room. When she came downstairs, it was already in an uproar. Everyone was scrambling to gather their things and settle their bills. The notice for the mission had already gone out to all members, both NPCs and players, and they all wanted to cash in on the rewards.

The players had even posted on the forums about it, garnering the attention of many others who wanted the rewards for the quest. Smelling a lot of profit, many of the lower leveled players joined the city wide mission. As for the higher level players, the amount of xp and money they could get out of it didn't appeal to them. The [Giant Rats] were too low level for them to bother with by now.

[JohnyApex: Hey, did you guys see that there's a city wide mission in Technologica right now?]

[Weirdnub: This could be my chance to rise to the top!]

[CheeseBoss: Fat chance! You'll always be stuck with all us noobs.]

[BunnyPrincess: Can someone party with me for the quest, pretty please uwu]

[ThotPatrol: :vomit: BEGONE THOT!]

Multiple people are typing…

As the forums were erupting, Cynthia had no idea about it and made her way to the indoor shooting range underneath the building. Dags had asked her to inquire with Remia if this place had one, and she said yes. She pointed her in the right direction and told her that the guild provided the ammo, so you could practice as much as you wanted. After taking a look, Cynthia departed to go upgrade her gear.

While getting Cynthia to continue on, Dags was smiling at the screen in front of him.

[Data acquired from User Progress]

[Repair Status: 0.01%]

[Function 'Upgrades' now available]

[3 Upgrade Points added]