Bowler and Flame were excited by the idea and immediately agreed. The three of them then headed back to the Adventurers Association to hand over their respective quests. The crowd in the Bronze Hall was more lively than before. When Jack checked his radar, he was amazed to see many among them were blue dots, which meant that they were players like him.
The others sure were fast to find out about this place. He had to work faster if he was to keep his lead. Jack went to an unoccupied counter while Bowler and Flame went to another one. From the delivery quest, he received 1 silver coin, a few experience points, and 4 Adventurer Points. He was now only 3 points away from becoming Silver rank and had enough points to buy that Body Double Technique Book. He heard a notification sound after receiving the reward.
"Congratulations, you have reached level 14 for your Magician class."
Great, now both his classes were only 1 level away from being able to apply for the Advanced class! Jack couldn't wait to increase his level.
He then went to one of the benches at the center of the hall while waiting for Bowler and Flame. He looked at the list of quests available on the Quest board.
'Peniel,' he called in his mind. 'If we take a quest together with other people, will the rewards be divided?'
"No," she answered. "All participants will receive the same rewards as indicated in the reward section. But there is a limit to how many people that can take the same quest. The participant limit is the same as the number indicated by the recommended section."
'Oh, when I completed the escort quest that recommended three people, I didn't receive anything extra. So that means it is better to just do the quest with the recommended number of people, since doing it solo doesn't grant any extra rewards?'
"That is correct," Peniel replied.
'Why didn't you tell me this when I took that escort job?'
"You looked so confident. What's wrong with doing it solo if you can complete it as easily with other people?"
Jack shook his head helplessly. This guide of his gave him information based on mood. Sometimes she let him know, another time she withheld the information. He didn't think further on the issue as he continued to read the quest lists. By the time Bowler and Flame approached, he had found a quest that he thought was suitable. He pointed at the quest for the two of them.
"You two interested to do that quest?" He asked.
Pick a blue magecrest flower for an apothecary at the foot of Siren Hill
Difficulty: D (recommended: Party of 4, level 12)
Rewards: 3 silver coins, 2000 Experience points, 14 Adventurer Points
It was a quest that required them to go out from the city. He figured they would have to leave the city at one point, might as well do it now for a quest while they were together. Furthermore, this quest gave out the highest Adventurer Points that he could find among the D rank quests on the Quest board.
Flame and Bowler read the descriptions on the quest.
"It said party of four, we are going to do it just with us three?" Bowler asked.
"I don't think that will be a problem," Jack replied.
"Well, considering your strength, I supposed we can count you as more than 1 person," Bowler said. "Ok, I have no objection. What about you, Flame?"
"I am game with it," she said.
"It's decided then." After the two of them agreed, Jack formed a party with them and then took them to the counter. They made the necessary procedures to take the quest. After everything was finished, they went out from the Adventurers Association building.
"When should we start?" Bowler asked.
"Why wait? Let's start now," Jack replied.
"It's past noon already, by the time we reached the hill, it would be closed to evening. We will need to spend the night outside." Bowler said. They had asked the counter lady inside the Adventurers Association for the direction to Siren Hill. The counter lady had informed them that it was a couple of miles West from the capital.
"What's wrong with that?" Jack said. "We will have to spend the night in the wilderness sooner or later. Might as well get the experience now when we are together. Do you have a tent already? I saw a place that sells it among the shops not far from here."
"I know the place, I bought one already from there," Bowler said.
"I don't have one," Flame said.
"Let's have you buy one first then," Jack said. "What about restorative items, do you guys still have stock?"
Both of them nodded.
"Ok, then let's go buy you a tent," Jack said. They then proceeded towards the mentioned shop.
While Flame was purchasing a tent, Jack heard Peniel's voice, "if you mean to head outside the city wall, you better go to that opposite shop as well. Purchase a couple of antidotes, just in case. You never know if you encounter poisonous beasts in the wilderness."
Jack saw the wisdom in her words, so after Flame completed her transactions, he took them both to the shop Peniel mentioned. Each of them proceeded to buy three antidotes, costing 30 coppers each. They had gotten quite an amount of coins from continuously doing quests, so they could afford it. Jack also saw a material shop next door, so he proceeded to buy 10 Iron ores which cost 20 copper coins each.
After settling the shopping matters, the three of them went towards the Western gate of the city. There were three gates that lead out of the capital, East, North, and West. When they came the first time, they had entered the capital from the North gate. the South side of the capital was an untraversable mountain, creating a natural barrier from invasion.
Same as the North Gate, the Western Gate also had some sentries keeping guard over it. The gate itself was opened as citizens and adventurers freely came in and out. The guards were only there to keep watch on monsters who might roam too near to the capital.
The three of them went out the gate and proceeded West towards the direction of the hill. They didn't see any beasts or monsters even after traveling for half an hour. It felt more like a walk in the countryside than a journey through hostile wilderness.
However, Bowler and Flame kept their vigilant. They had heard from Honuren, the Demigod who presided over their passage into this world, that if they died outside of the safe zone of a city or town, they would lose all their possessions and had their levels revert back to level 1. Jack, on the other hand, was pretty leisurely. He had his radar to inform him if any beasts or monsters came near.
After walking a little longer, they finally see a hill shape scenery not far off.
"That must be the Siren Hill," Bowler commented after seeing the hill.
"It should be," Jack agreed. "We should still have an hour of sunlight upon reaching there. Let's search for the flower while it's still bright. When the sun sets, we will look for a place to camp."
With that plan in mind, they hastened their footsteps, so they could reach the hill faster and thus had more time to look for the flower. If everything went smoothly, they might even start heading back to the capital by tonight, saving them from spending a night outside.
Bored from the monotonous journey, Bowler opened up his quest window again, looking at a picture of the flower they were looking for. The quest provided them with a picture once they accepted the quest, so enabling them to look for the correct flower. It was a small common flower with six blue petals, the stem had some tiny thorns around it. There was nothing special looking at the picture. If not for the quest, maybe they wouldn't even notice if they passed this flower on the field.
"Hold it!" Jack suddenly told the two of them.
"What's wrong?" Bowler asked.
Jack looked at the distance. He took out his sword and told the two, "get ready, something is coming towards here."
