Read My Vrmmo Life :: Enemy of the Doe eyed

Aspir found it unbelievable really. He had the chance to Play 'Second Coming,' the game that everyone dreamed of and wanted to get their hands on, but he was stuck grinding herbs and working for old Hod the apothecary.

He wanted to fight and hone his skills! Not be stuck in the cellar of Old Hod's shop as he couldn't even open the door!

But how did the customers get in and out?

"I hope you're grinding those herbs properly!"

Old hod's scratchy voice carried itself down into the cellar and pierced into Aspir's ears, once again 'politely' reminding him to work harder and faster. As In old Hod's words 'he couldn't afford to keep Aspir around for too long because he couldn't afford it,' not that he had actually agreed to pay him anything yet.

<Hod's job's - Progress : Spindlewood leaves : 52/150>

<Hod's job's - Progress : Snapper mushrooms : 50/50 >

<Hod's job's- Progress : Doe eyed Shrews : 25/25>

This was Aspir's current work goal, process and grind whatever Hod gave him. He was 'hired' to process basic materials whilst Hod worked on his secret experiment.

It wouldn't be so bad if Hod was at least a good boss to work for, unfortunately he seemed to realise that players don't have to worry about stamina depletion inside Melis, as it doesn't deplete unless in combat.

Which was currently banned inside the city walls, unless you were in the arena.

So he worked Aspir to the bone. Constantly giving him menial tasks or getting him to 'process' very odd items that he would much rather forget, like the Doe eyed shrew. Which was, in essence, a small furry mouse that grew a mushroom atop its head and featured very large and adorable eyes, which looked up to you glistening with tears.

At first, Aspir couldn't bring himself to 'process' these adorable creatures until one had bitten him as he tried picking it up.

-4HP-

-3HP-

He had suffered for an hour, blubbering like a man who had just lost his first love until Hod had checked on him and laughed so hard that he struggled to breathe.

What was worse was that once the effect had worn off, the first thing he had clearly seen was Hod's horrible face that made him want to cry again.

After that he processed them with a vengeance, even letting out an evil chuckle as he enacted his revenge, venting all his current frustrations on them.

This was just great, he did a job that he had no choice but to do and already he was treading upon the slightly evil path of a player rather than the good one that he wanted to try and stick to.

The only good thing that had come out of all of this for Aspir was the fact that his Agriculture skill had improved slightly from <Agriculture-Beginner> to <Agriculture-Beginner: Stage 1>, which gave a very slight improvement to the quality of herbs and plants processed as well as the speed of processing any Agriculture related material.

It was strange that the Doe eyed shrew was included, unless it was because of the fact that it was classed as a plant type creature.

<Hod's job's - Progress : Spindlewood leaves : 84/150>

Luckily Aspir could keep himself up to date with the game world via the In game news and chat feed whilst suffering in his captivation.

t turned out that many players were like him where they were stuck in their jobs,if they found one. Or tried running away only to be denied work by other NPC's due to their bad work history!

Meaning their only choice was to go back to their first jobs and plead for another chance, granting them less than savoury terms and pay. Even in Real Life people were on about how odd 'Second Coming' was and the fact that the highest level player was only level 3 after being released for a few days.

The highest level player was called 'Blaze' a male fire mage who released his job as a furnace stoker, where his job was to maintain the heat of a blacksmiths furnace using his skills. He stated this his skill Fire manipulator was at beginner stage 3, but had no idea as to the what the highest beginner stage was.His online interview even gained him a small fan base.

Aspir couldn't help but feel envious at having a group of players at your beck and call.

It turned out that leveling wasn't as simple as slaying an enemy and gaining experience, instead you had to gain the experience and improve your skills correspondingly. The fact that skills improved slowly didn't help anyone.

<Hod's job's - Progress : Spindlewood leaves : 101/150>

Looking around at his 'cell' Aspir couldn't help but sigh when thinking about how much longer he would have to be cooped up here for. Upstairs in Hod's shop, though cluttered, was better than the cellar where Hod's only warning had been 'Don't open anything and if you hear a strange scratching sound then stay near the light.'

Aspir dreaded to think what the scratching sound was about.

<Hod's job's - Progress : Spindlewood leaves : 134/150>

Nearly there, just a few more leaves to strip and crush and Aspir hoped he would be set free.

<Hod's job's - Progress : Spindlewood leaves : 142/150>

<Hod's job's - Progress : Spindlewood leaves : 149/150>

<Hod's job's - Progress : Spindlewood leaves : 150/150>

<Hod's job's : task one complete>

As soon as Aspir had crushed the last leaf, he heard the classic notification sound*tiring* informing him that the task was complete along with another Hod induced headache.

"Finally! A goblin with no arms and wooden teeth could have done a faster job than that! So stop dragging your feet and get up here...."

Aspir couldn't help but hold his hands over his ears trying to reduce the sound at least a little.

"...and lock the latch tight....I don't want that escaping again."

What was that?

What had he been in that cellar with?!

Coming up from the cellar and walking through the back of shop Aspir found old Hod leaning on his counter, reading half rotten scrolls with his beady eyes. Pausing briefly to send Aspir a glance, he could only grumble as he withdrew a small bag from his robe.

"Despite your slow work you've helped me out so here's your pay plus a few things you'll need," he threw the bag at Aspir causing him to give a slight grunt as he caught it.

Aspir was quite surprised at how generous Hod had been, perhaps he wasn't too bad after all.

"That piece of wood will let you in and out of the shop, so you can get out now and leave me in peace, though I might need your help again in future."

<Hod's job's : Task two received - Unavailable at present moment>

Hod sounded almost like a disgruntled but loving grandparent who didn't know how to show his love effectively. Aspir nodded his head and opened the door, looking forward to the sunlight and fresh air, but not before turning around and looking at Hod one more time.

He was starting to feel somewhat sentimental and attached to Hod's rough demeanor.

He regretted it.

He really regretted it.

He really.....really regretted it.

He really wanted to vomit.

Old Hod's face was bad enough in the dimly lit shop but to see it bathed in sunlight was horrifying. Hods crooked smile stretched from cheek to cheek exposing the gaps and holes on his face, which were wiggling and squirming in the sunlight. Whatever Aspir saw on Hod's face, it quickly crawled back inside Hod and disappeared from view.

Aspir's mind couldn't fully process what he had just seen, he just stumbled out of the door and vomited on the pavement to the sound of Hod's cackling laughter and the faint salty breeze, as the door swung shut.

He really regretted it.

"May the light sooth your suffering CURE"

"You poor thing, here get yourself a hot meal"

Aspir looked up from his self pity, body fluids and 5 coppers to see a female priest walking away from him, whilst muttering what sounded like prayers for his soul.

Damn that old man! At least he had left the cellar latch open, hopefully whatever was in there would bite him.

Briefly forcing himself to forget what had just happened Aspir took another look at the items he had received.

So this would allow Aspir to make his potions and concoctions but would also require quite a bit of stumbling around and experimenting unless he bought or created a recipe. He would undoubtedly need to be able to make HP and MP potions.

<Apothecary's grime encrusted robe - Light armour>

It was his first item at least and items were supposedly hard to get early game, but even still it wasn't favorable to be walking around in this so he'd best only wear it when alone and trying to level.

Though it was a shame that he hadn't at least got a piece of heavy or medium armour. Now with 2 silver and 69 copper his next destination was the blacksmith.

Once he found it and figured out where he was.

Crap! He had work in 20 minutes, the blacksmith would have to wait until tomorrow.

Who the hell was Sweetcheeks?

<"You pathetic worm of a man! Think that I will let you skip training with me the mighty Sweetcheeks! I will beat testosterone into you with my bare hands">

He knew who Sweetcheeks was now, it was his instructor from 'TVWT' (True Virtual Warrior Training). How did she even send him a message! Now he was in for hell when he trained in it next time.

Argh, he had to get to work.