Level Is Everything

When Ryou entered the cave on the cliff and find an NPC, the situation is different from what he imagines that it would be at first. Inside the cave, he found the NPC that he is looking for but his situation can be said as terrible.

He is lying down inside the cave and his clothes is in a mess. Ryou can also smell the air which is thick on alcohol. If Ryou have to describe what he looks like it will be described as 'drunk beggar'.

「The name is correct and the place is as shown on the map, but I never expected that Max will be in this kind of NPC with this kind of condition. 」

Ryou however have already spend all the time to come here so he might as well try to talk to the drunk beggar. There's no harm in trying as he is already here.

"Excuse me sir, are you called Max?"

Ryou tried to wake him up by shaking his body but the only response he got is a loud snore coming out from the NPC.

"Excuse me."

Ryou tried for almost five minutes but he doesn't show any sign of waking up.

「Maybe I should come back later. 」

Seeing that he couldn't do anything to wake him up, Ryou decided to logged out of the game as he first planned.

It didn't take long for Ryou to finished his daily routine and he logged back into the game after. When he logged back in, the NPC is still sleeping there in the same position.

「I guess, one of the quest pre-requirement is to wake him up. 」

Since Ryou tried to wake him up normally earlier and it didn't work at all, Ryou is now thinking for another way to wake him up. He tried to take some sea water outside and threw it at the NPC but the NPC didn't budge at all even after his clothes are all drenched. Ryou tried to make some noise and still no reaction. After Ryou done everything that he could think of, the NPC is still sleeping there.

Just when he is about to leave the place, a player comes inside the cave. The player that comes in carried a fishing rod on his back and a small bucket on his hand. His weight is over the norm as Ryou can see his chubby cheeks and bulging belly. When Ryou is examining him, the other party doesn't seem to care much as he headed towards the NPC. Seeing that the player seems to know what he is doing, Ryou decided to stay and see for a bit. The player on the other hand doesn't seem to be bothered by Ryou and he continue what he is doing.

Usually, a player inside the game is taking precaution against other player. Firstly, a player may PK them without them anticipating for it. Secondly, a player may copy what the other player is doing and this case is extreme when talking with an NPC.

There is some case where a quest is given to a specific player out of nowhere but most of the time each quest has a specific trigger. That is why, when a player talks to an NPC they prefer to do it when no other player is around especially if they have received a rare quest from the NPC. Even though other player may eventually get the same quest as them, they don't want other player to enjoy something that they worked hard to earn. They may have spent some time to earn the quest clue and eventually makes the NPC to have no choice but give them the quest and it won't feel good if they see a player comes and just copy what they did just because the player was there and seeing what they did to trigger the quest.

This player in front of Ryou however doesn't seem to care at all as he takes out a fish from inside his bucket and throw it at the wasted NPC.

「Is that the trigger? 」

Ryou looked at the situation and strangely the NPC woke up due to the fish slapping his face using its tail.

"Aw aw aw, who dares to disturb my sleep?"

The NPC looked to be annoyed at first but when he saw the player he immediately changed his irritated tone to a friendly one. Ryou even amazed how he can change his tone almost 180 degrees.

"Ah, so it was you. Thanks for the fish. But as I said before, you are only wasting your time here. There's a lot more that you can do."

The player opened his mouth for the first time since he entered the cave and speak towards the NPC without even a hint of respect.

"Hey Max, as I told you before I don't care about all of that. Just teach me that skill. You have promised me that you will teach me if I bring you liquor before!"

"Hehehe. I definitely said that but I didn't tell you how much liquor you need to bring before I agree to teach you."

"You!"

The player looked annoyed as he sits down on the floor in front of the NPC. At this moment, their conversation come to abrupt end and Ryou decided that it was the right time for him to cut in.

"Excuse me, are you Max?"

The NPC didn't reply to him but gives a simple nod and at the same time the name above the NPC changed into Max. As Ryou has thought before, every NPC in the game of Aaru have their own name if you care enough to ask them about their name. However, some of them may not give out their name casually just like not every NPC will give you a quest.

From Ryou can see, the game Aaru also have a concept of friendliness or reputation rating hidden from the stats window. For every player can gain a normal quest, a player that have a degree of friendliness with an NPC may take special quest from them. Just from what he sees earlier, a player may receive a penalty if he throws something to an NPC with the intent to harm the NPC but it can be negated if the NPC doesn't care much or forgive him. Just from the forum alone he already knows a few example of player that receive a permanent ban penalty for trying to s.e.x.u.a.lly harassed an NPC.

"Sir Max, can you take a look at this letter?"

The player seemed to not care about Ryou at first but his interest is piqued as he examined at what Ryou want to do. He himself knows how stubborn Max's character is and how hard it is to deal with him. He can't wait to see an amusing show happening in front of him when Max decided to kick Ryou out of the cave. At least that is what happened to him for several times before Max finally letting him in.

Contrary to what he expected, Max actually took the letter and read it for a while before looking at Ryou and returned to read the letter again.

"Child, so your name is Ryou and Richard sent you here to learn my skill?"

"Yes."

"Alright, I will teach you under one circ.u.mstances."

Ryou doesn't see anything wrong from Max willingly teach him a skill under a circ.u.mstances but the player didn't believe how easily Max is willing to teach Ryou.

"Wait! How can you easily agree to teach him a skill?"

"Hmm? What do you care? It is my skill so it is up to me whom I want to teach it to."

"Max! You can't do this to me! I already fulfilled ten of your condition but you haven't even taught it to me. There's a first come first served rule, at least you have to teach it to me first before teaching it to him."

The player seemed to explode after hearing what Max have said. Max on the other hand turn a deaf ear to him as he looked at Ryou.

"Alright Ryou, if you can land an attack on him, I will teach you the skill."

After Max said that, Ryou expression is changed.

「Can I really learn the skill this way? 」

"Wait Max! What kind of condition is that? Hey you, your name is Ryou right? Don't believe him. After all, he won't teach you even if you succeed. He already breaks his promise to teach me the skill so many times."

Max can only shake his head and turned to the player.

"Okay Nakk. I promise you that this is my last condition to teach you the skill. You must try not to get attacked by Ryou for ten minutes. If you are able to do that then I will teach you the skill. You hear me boys, only one of you will be able to learn the skill, so do your best!"

As soon as Max finished talking a system notification rings.

「You have received a skill quest from Max. 」

「" Learning skill". Quest Rank: unknown. Max is giving you a condition before you are able to learn a skill. Land an attack on the player 'Nakk' within the time limit to complete the condition. Quest Reward: A skill from Max. Time Remaining: 10 minutes. 」

Nakk immediately move back to make some distance from Ryou and the battle soon begins.