"Aw man, an herb collection quest. Really?" Ike sighed as he walked towards the west gate. It is a well-known fact in the oakenridge Adventurers Guild that the herb collection quest is the first quest every adventurer in the city must do. Ike, in fact, did not know that the herb collection in oakenridge is different then other places in the empire, because Oakenridge borders the whispering woods, a dangerous forest filled with low-ranking goblins to elven tribes, and even a dragon. "This is so lame," Ike muttered under his breath. "They gave me the impression that I'll get a big quest, not herb collection." Just as he finished his sentence, he arrived at the western gate. As he left the bustling city, it grew quieter until he reached the edge of the forest, when he suddenly heard a sound, whispering. It sounded like there were people all around him talking to each other in whispers. Even when he used his enhanced perception skill, the voices were still unintelligible.
"Let's see," ike said, as he checked the quest he had been given. As he glanced at the sheet of paper given to him, the system window showed up.
[Quest window unlocked]
"Great, another feature," Ike grunted. It seemed to him like the system would never leave alone.
[Quests]
Herb collection1
collect healing herb: Gulpus leaves (0kg/1kg)
Herb collection2
collect mana herb: Manacap (0kg/0.5kg)
As Ike looked at the two quests he had been given, he couldn't help but think they would be easy. He couldn't have been more wrong.
---
2 days later
Ike was exhausted. He hadn't slept well for the past two days, as the whispering of the forest would wake him up every time he fell asleep, and as for the quest, he had only found a small amount of either ingredient. Just as he was about to give up, he spotted a clearing in the forest. When he arrived at the clearing, he saw three things. The first was a large patch of the herb he had been looking for, the second was a circle of manacaps, and the third, and weirdest of them all, people. Three men were surrounding a woman in the middle of the mushroom ring. Ike then heard the woman shout, "YOU, OVER THERE, COME HELP ME!" he then looked at her, pointed at himself confused. "YES, YOU!"
[Attention]
The system blared in his head and in front of him. reminding him of something he spotted at the guild quest board,
Killing of bandits does not count as murder, happy questing.
A second later, Ike's sword was drawn, and one of the men's heads was rolling on the ground, before the other two could notice that Ike cast two fire bolts and hurled them at the two men with a swing of his sword. it was over before it even began, and the woman was shocked, "What the..?" she asked. ike put his hand out in a gesture asking for a handshake, "issac johnson, but you can call me Ike." As she reached for his hand, she spoke, "Lyra Valtharys, but just Lyra is fine." They then shook hands.
[Adaptive Assimilation Activated]
[Obtained new skills:]
Intermediate archery mastery (passive) acquired
grants the ability to use a bow and arrow with moderate success
Elven Agility (Passive)acquired
grants the user the agility of the elves
+5 Agility
"Right now, Really?!" Ike shouted as he yanked his hand from Lyra's. A system window had appeared just as he shook her hand, and his skill was activated. "What was that?" Lyra asked, confused by the strange sensation. "Did you take something?" She asked, her expression shifting from surprise and discomfort to one of anger and caution. "No, well kinda, maybe, I don't know." Ike sputtered. "It's my unique skill, I'm sorry." Just as he had begun apologizing, another system window appeared.
[Info: Lyra Valtharys]
Race: Ancient Dark Elf
Age: 114 (young adult)
Class: Ranger (Hidden Bloodline)
Title: Exiled Daughter of Twilight
Affiliation: None (Former Valtharys Clan)
Elemental Affinities: Shadow & Nature
"Jesus Christ," Ike sighed as he put his head in his hands. "How am I going to explain this?"
"What now?" Lyra asked, still cautious.
"What is something only you should know?" Ike asked her, annoyed at the situation.
"Like elemental affinities, or titles?" she asked back.
Ike then stated, "Shadow and nature, and your title is 'Exiled Daughter of Twilight'."
"You shouldn't know that. How do you know that?" she said, shocked at the fact that Ike knew something only she and the system should know.
---
a couple of minutes later...
Ike had started explaining the situation to Lyra while he picked the herbs required for his quest. "So basically," when Ike finished, Lyra asked him to confirm, "you're an... Administrator? For the system? And your unique skill lets you, Take? Acquire? Whatever, to others' skills?" "Yeah, kind of," Ike replied, surprised that she understood even half of that.
"So what does being an, you said admin? right? What does that give you?" Lyra probed, curious about the system, "because we elves have a sort of general understanding of the system, as it is a type of magic, yet I've never heard of an admin before."
"I'll ask the system," Ike thought out loud, "hey system, what is an admin? tell me out-loud."
[Query accepted]
An administrator, or admin for short, is a being in Aleastria with special access to functions of the system, and jurisdiction of some aspect of it, for example, participation in system polls, or features like the advanced map and crafting function
"Crafting function?" Ike asked the system, "What's that?"
[Now starting tutorial]
Just as the system said these words, multiple items appeared in Ike's hands: a stick, a coil of rope, a bottle with some clear yellow liquid, and a firestarter.
[instructions]
Open the crafting interface, and select the crafting recipe for a "torch"
Ike obliged to what the system said, and suddenly, instead of the components he had been holding a moment earlier, there was now a lit torch in his hand.
"What was that?" Lyra Asked, confused by the quick series of events that occurred in front of her eyes a moment ago. "Crafting," Ike answered, unfazed by the action he had just done, "it just made sense when the system told me I could do it."
"Anyway," Ike continued, trying to explain what had led to this situation, "I'm on a quest right now, gathering herbs for the guild, though they made it sound like it was actually worth my time, when all I've done is fill bags with leaves and mushrooms." "What do you mean?" Lyra asked, "From what I heard, only C ranks and up can go on herb collection quests, and they pay fairly well. Mainly because most people don't know if they are picking the right herbs unless the quest progress in the system updates, and it only does that every 24 hours or when completed." Ike then smacked his face with his hand, "so you're telling me, i thought this was a quest for F ranks, and it's actually a C rank one? no wonder i spent two days in this forest."
---
A while later, on the path back to oakenridge.
"Your name was Isaac, right?" Lyra Asked. "Yeah, but I prefer people call me Ike, Issac reminds me that I'm a noble," Ike replied. "You're a noble? I didn't notice. How come you're not a posh asshole?" Lyra asked, shocked at Ike's origins. "Well, about a week or two ago, I hit my head while running from a monster, and a bunch of memories of a futuristic world rushed into my head, as if I lived another life before this one. But I think that was just a weird dream." Ike answered, skewing the truth so she didnt know that he was an otherworlder, "have you heard of otherworlders?" he asked her. "yeah, i heard that they arrive here from one of three option, either they get summoned through a ritual, or are reincarnated with their memories as a child, or sometimes rarely, they arrive here at random with their old body and memories." She answered, surprised he was interested in something like this. "well, have you ever heard of an otherworlder possessing someone with the same name and apearance as themselves, retaining their old and current body's memories?" Ike asked, "cause i think that's what happend to me, because this body has memories and blood relatives in this world, but i have memories of a place called earth." "why do you trust me enough to tell me this?" lyra asked. Ike answered, "because i can tell that you wont tell anybody, right? also i can blackmail you because i know your information, though i wont do that." "that's, well, really creepy." Lyra told him. "also, what solution did you come up with for your unique skill, cause you cant take skills from everyone you touch, what about a filter? We elves like tea, but it isn't good unless it's strained through a cloth, which we call a filter." "That's actually not a Bad idea," Ike responded. he then imagined putting a sort of coffee filter on his skill.
[Skill evolution]
Adaptive Assimilation --> Skill Stealer
Skill stealer(unique)
The user, now with more control, can take what isn't theirs.
Grant the ability to select skills when copying.
When copying a skill, the person from whom the skill was copied will receive a penalty for a short duration. The penalty will vary depending on the User's intentions.
Nice, now what happened at the guild won't happen again.