Side Quest: First Kill

Sitting under a tree with Shadow Arachne off to the side playing with its spider silk, Kirou gave Mistaken Fox his undivided attention as he listened to the man's request. This went on for a few minutes before Kirou raised his hand, cutting off Mistaken Fox from continuing before he opened his mouth.

"So let me get this straight. You are, essentially, asking me to help you hunt down and bind about 8 monsters of similar strength to the minotaur you just obtained. And to compensate me for my help in this endeavor, you are willing to tame another creature of similar strength for me, no questions asked. Is that what you are saying?" When Kirou asked this, he gave Mistaken Fox a peculiar look. This look made Mistaken Fox feel as if Kirou was staring at his actual figure, in reality, hidden away by the various lines of code used to make up his in-game body.

Mistaken Fox could only give a nod in response to Kirou's question as Kirou's gaze left him feeling quite vulnerable. Seeing the reaction that Mistaken Fox had from his gaze, Kirou knew that another misunderstanding had been created but he just shrugged it off. Kirou then rose from his seat and opened his mouth.

"Ok, I agree to those terms. I've got some free time and I don't mind helping out. It looks like it would be fun." Having said his piece, Kirou clapped his hand once, prompting Shadow Arachne to stop playing with its spider silk and approach Kirou.

Seeing that both player and monster were ready and waiting, Mistaken Fox did his best to shake off his negative thoughts and sent a party request to Kirou, to which Kirou accepted and now Mistaken Fox could see some of Kirou's details from the party menu.

Mistaken Fox took a glance at the party menu before his jaw went slack as he turned to face both Kirou and his pet spider. "No way??? You're at level 13? How are you so strong at level 13???"

In response to Mistaken Fox's question, Kirou only gave a casual shrug before saying, "I don't have a logical way to explain it. All I can say is that I just am." Following his words, Kirou then gave him a casual smile before pointing in a random direction. Seeing his action, Mistaken Fox's eyes followed the direction and only saw foliage blocking his path.

Sensing the confusion that was currently plaguing Mistaken Fox's mind, Kirou spoke up, "Roughly five hundred meters in that direction is another monster of similar strength to the minotaur you just acquired. Why don't we go check it out?"

Finally understanding what he meant, Mistaken Fox gave Kirou a nod, prompting Kirou and Shadow Arachne to lead the way. At the back, Mistaken Fox was currently contemplating what kind of person he had just asked for help.

'Could he really sense the presence of a monster from so far away? Forget it. If one is there, then it's there. If there isn't, we can just start searching for more. No need to overthink this.' Those were Mistaken Fox's thoughts as he followed Kirou and his spider. While he wasn't sure if Kirou could really sense a monster from such a distance, he was curious about Kirou's abilities.

This day marked the first of many in which Kirou would continue to surprise him. In the future, he would look back on this day as probably the changing point of his life, especially with the help of a Halfling by the name of Kirou.

**************

The trio of two players and a spider pet had traveled the five hundred meters and what greeted them upon arrival was a large scorpion monster with 'Stone Mount' title within its name resting within a forest clearing. Seeing the creature exactly where Kirou said it would be caused Mistaken Fox to look at Kirou with a gaze of admiration.

Seeing the look that Mistaken Fox was giving him, Kirou lightly coughed within his hand before speaking, "Is this a suitable monster for you, Mistaken Fox?"

Hearing the question, Mistaken Fox shifted his gaze from Kirou and back to the scorpion creature where his face morphed from one of admiration to one of seriousness. Mistaken Fox gave the creature a proper once over before opening his mouth, "That is correct, Mr. Kirou. This creature suits the criteria for the monsters I'm currently looking to tame."

Kirou nodded his head at those words before taking out a pair of gloves with metal knuckles from his inventory. As he equipped the gloves, he gave the scorpion in front of him a proper once over himself.

Monster: Stone Mount Poison Scorpion

Level: 18

HP: 19850/19850

Skills: Reckless Charge, Bite, Poison Spit, Stone Skin, Poison Stab

Looking at the information for the monster himself, Kirou then gave Shadow Arachne a signal, prompting it to disappear within the treetops. Kirou then turned his gaze to Mistaken Fox, only to see him pulling out two worn-out daggers. Looking at the daggers, Kirou could now understand why a player at such a high level as Mistaken Fox was struggling to fight the minotaur previously.

Just as Mistaken Fox was about to initiate combat with the Stone Mount Poison Scorpion, Kirou blocked his path before speaking in a quiet voice, "By chance, do you have any other weapons besides those worn-out daggers in your possession?" Hearing his question, Mistaken Fox's face adopted a reddish glow before shaking his head. Seeing this reaction, Kirou released a sigh before taking out two daggers from his inventory and passing them over to him.

Upon receiving the daggers, Mistaken Fox took a look at their stats and nearly jumped out of his skin. The two daggers Kirou had just given him were of rare grade. Immediately after seeing their stats, Mistaken Fox tried to return them while saying, "I cannot take these. These are rare weapons. They are worth quite a lot at the moment. How could you give me weapons like these?"

Instead of answering his question or take back the daggers, Kirou spoke to Mistaken Fox in a quiet voice, "I have no idea how or why a thief is acting as a summoner, nor do I care. It's your choice how you play this game. That being said, I can't have a teammate I'm working with use such poor quality weapons, especially in a fight like this where someone can die. Just take the daggers and use em. Besides, these are just some daggers I made from spare ore when I was bored so you shouldn't feel bad using them."

At first, Mistaken Fox was calming down at Kirou's words. It was when he heard at the end that Kirou was the one to make them that he nearly jumped out of his skin once again. While he may have done his best to avoid people for the last two weeks, Mistaken Fox was very aware of the importance of crafters to the many guilds and sects within Immortal Era. The fact that he was able to run into one such person and such a strong one at that made him apprehensive.

Before he could comment on the matter, Kirou had already dashed into the clearing, alerting the Poisonous Scorpion of his presence. Seeing that Kirou was taking the creature head-on, Mistaken Fox could only make a bitter smile before he disappeared using the <Stealth> skill. Since Kirou had trusted him enough to give him a pair of rare daggers, he would make sure to use them properly.

As Kirou began engaging the poisonous scorpion, from the treetops, Shadow Arachne was watching the fight with full focus. The spider pet was waiting for the moment when the poisonous scorpion overextended on an attack before it joined the fray. It didn't have to wait long as five minutes in, Kirou had led the poisonous scorpion towards the treeline where the creature used its <Poison Stab> skill with its tail to pin Kirou to a tree. Unfortunately for the poisonous scorpion, Kirou had anticipated its action and preemptively dodged the attack. Not only did the attack miss Kirou, but it also caused the scorpion's tail to impale the tree trunk in front of it and got stuck. This action resulted in the poisonous scorpion to be assaulted from three directions simultaneously.

Kirou, who had just dodged the tail strike sped around to the side of the scorpion. With its tail stuck in the tree, it had to resort to its claws to attack Kirou. Unfortunately for it, they were too slow so Kirou dodged both and landed a clean and solid hit on the poisonous scorpion's carapace.

[-120]

Immediately following Kirou's first jab, Kirou dealt a second one. Along with this second jab, Mistaken Fox finally allowed his presence to be known as he appeared behind the poisonous scorpion and attacked one of its leg joints with the thief skill <Eviscerate>.

[-135]

<Critical>

[-1345]

The attack from Mistaken Fox dealt a lot of damage to the creature. While Mistaken Fox was surprised that his attack did so much, the poisonous scorpion started flailing about to free its tail from the tree trunk. Unfortunately for it, Shadow Arachne finally joined the fray, spewing a glob of sticky web from the treetops which landed on the scorpion tail and the tree trunk, effectively pinning it down. This sticky web was different from the <Sticky Web> skill Shadow Arachne possessed when it was still a boss monster as this one came about from the experiments it had done with its <Thread Generation> skill since the previous day it had been traveling with Kirou. It wasn't at the same level as <Sticky Web> but it was close enough.

Shadow Arachne then dived out of the tree and landed on the back of the poisonous scorpion, just out of reach of its claws. Following its landing, Shadow Arachne once again spat out a glob of spider silk. This time, it was just ordinary spider silk which was then used to bind the joints of the poisonous scorpion's claws while reeling it in. If a picture was taken of this moment, many viewers would find it funny as it would depict a half meter tall spider riding on the back of a five-meter tall scorpion and is manipulating it like a puppet.

While Shadow Arachne kept the poisonous scorpion's claws busy, Kirou went around the creature's body, landing hit after hit. Under normal circumstances, such an action would be meaningless as it would only result in a set damage figure without doing anything else. When Mistaken Fox saw this, he too was confused, wondering what Kirou was up to. It wasn't until Kirou had passed by his area of the poisonous scorpion did he realize what was going on.

Mistaken Fox wasn't sure if it was due to a skill or the weapons themselves, but whenever Kirou landed a hit on the poisonous scorpion, a crack would always appear on its carapace. When that spot had been hit enough, the crack would spread until the carapace broke in that area, revealing the creature's fleshy interior. Along with that, whenever an attack landed on this fleshy area, it always resulted in a <Critical> hit.

Seeing Kirou do this, Mistaken Fox realized that Kirou was trying to help him out in dealing damage to the poisonous scorpion by creating such areas. He didn't hesitate to make use of those areas and like that, the health of the poisonous scorpion started dropping by pitfalls.

**************

The fight had been going on for another few minutes before Kirou retreated from the body of the poisonous scorpion. Following that, Shadow Arachne started spewing a few globs more of sticky web which were used to tie the poisonous scorpion down before it took retreated from the creature's back. At first, Mistaken Fox was confused about why the duo and stepped back. It wasn't until after he landed his next attack did he notice.

Monster: Stone Mount Poison Scorpion

Level: 18

HP: 150/19850

Skills: Reckless Charge, Bite, Poison Spit, Stone Skin, Poison Stab

As Mistaken Fox stared at the creature's health, cold sweat started to trickle down his forehead. He could see that this creature was just one hit away from death. He then turned to Kirou and Shadow Arachne, only to see them standing off to the side playing with their respective wire and spider silk. Mistaken Fox could only release a sigh before he approached the now bound and near-death poisonous scorpion.

Shaking his head free of any distracting thoughts, Mistaken Fox put away the daggers and started muttering an unidentifiable chant along with some strange hand movements. Maybe it was due to the poisonous scorpion's health being so low, this time's chant only lasted a few seconds before the creature turned into a mass of light which then became a medallion with the image of the poisonous scorpion on it.

Following the successful taming of the creature, Mistaken Fox then approached the man and his spider pet that were playing with their threads. Seeing his approach, Kirou collected back his wires before opening his mouth, "Now we have seven more to go. How was it, using the daggers, I mean?"

Mistaken Fox took a second to think of his words before answering, "Honestly, I like them so much that I really don't want to return them." Mistaken Fox was quite honest with his words as these daggers allowed him to deal such high damage that he nearly killed his prey without noticing.

Seeing his expression and hearing his words, Kirou allowed a smile to grace his face as he spoke, "Well, the daggers are now yours to keep. As I said before, they were the product of me using spare ore out of boredom." Hearing Kirou's words caused Mistaken Fox to remember his thoughts from earlier.

"So you really are a high-level blacksmith. Whichever guild or sect you belong to must have invested a lot to have you being so good, even while your actual skill is already this mighty. Now I'm curious as to which one you belong." As Mistaken Fox said those words, a wry smile formed on his face.

Kirou only raised an eyebrow are Mistaken Fox's words before speaking, "I think you are under a misconception here."

"Really, what kind?" asked Mistaken Fox with some confusion on his face.

"While I am indeed a great craftsman and I am stronger than a player should be at my level, this isn't the result of a guild investing in me. This is all me." As Kirou said this, he had a smile that wasn't a smile on his face.

Hearing his words caused Mistaken Fox to adopt a confused expression on his face. For a while, he had no idea what to say. Eventually, he did open his mouth, "Wait, so if this is the result of just your hard work, then how are you so strong?"

Kirou had a strange smile on his face in response to Mistaken Fox's question. Seeing this smile, Mistaken Fox was such he just asked something he shouldn't but before he could try to escape, Kirou spoke up first, "It's nothing that difficult really. While the methods are different, it's quite similar to how you, a thief player, was given a quest that made you change your class to a completely different skill tree. Consider it one of the many hidden gimmicks of Immortal Era."

Following those words, Mistaken Fox turned as pale as a sheet. While he wasn't sure before, he was now certain that the player before him had found one of Immortal Era's many hidden gimmicks. And by the looks of it, it is a very important gimmick.