"Well, we should probably get started on these basic quests. They seem to be easy rewards. I'll go and start on the first meal quest, you two can do whatever," Stephan started walking towards the mystical forest that was lurking in the background.
"That will also solve first blood for him... Bruce, let's get going in a different direction from him. I want to complete this first blood quest as well."
"Hm... Alright, let's do that."
Xavier began walking ahead with Bruce following closely behind. They were making their way towards the forest in a different direction from Stephan.
As they closed in on the mystical forest, it left them in a state of awe even greater than before. Being up and close to it made it even more magnificent to the eye. Almost the same feeling as biting into a sweet treat, that feeling of bliss that washes over someone as the taste fills their senses. The forest truly lived up to the definition of "Eye Candy."
Xavier closed his eyes while taking a deep inhale of the surrounding air. Calling it refreshing would be a severe understatement. He opened his eyes just as slowly as he exhaled, a light, sweet smile forming on his face.
"This is something we'd never experience back at home. Right, Bruce?-"
Though he was abruptly cut off by a visceral squishing noise coming from behind, with the sound of cracking bones underlying those sickening squishes. Any squeamish person would get nauseous from the sounds alone, let alone the sight Xavier beheld the moment he turned around to see what had happened.
Standing there was still Bruce, but under his foot was what seemed to be a squirrel with purple fur and glowing eyes. Though the glow had become extremely faint, presumably due to, well, dying.
The system appeared before Bruce.
[Beginner Quest, "First Blood," complete! Please select your preferred proficiency below.]
[Weapons -OR- Magic]
"..."
"..."
"I should pay more attention to where I'm walking, I think."
"...You think?"
"I'd say we should bury it to try and make up for it... But I don't think that would make up for it. Also, it's a wild animal, and we have no proper equipment to touch it. We could absolutely get a disease from touching it-"
"Just... Just leave it. Something will eat it sooner or later... Probably."
Bruce selected Earth magic as his proficiency and then continued to follow behind Xavier.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the general area, Stephan was currently lurking in the bushes and stalking a lone rabbit he had found. The rabbit looked mostly normal. The only major difference had been that its ears were abnormally large.
Stephan's eyes narrowed in on his target, his grip strengthening on the dagger he held in his hand. In the single moment the rabbit looked away, he leaped from the bushes towards it. The rabbit noticed the noise and quickly peeked in the direction it came from, but it was too late. Stephan was already completely on top of the rabbit, holding it onto the ground with one hand with his dagger in the other, ready to finish the job.
A tiny squelching noise echoed throughout the nearby area, but only loud enough for those just close by to hear.
[Beginner Quest, "First Blood," complete! Please select your preferred proficiency below.]
[Weapons -OR- Magic]
Stephan selected kitchen knives as his proficiency. He began walking back to the clearing by the cliff with his possible first meal.
Back near the other side of the forest...
"Hmm... Well, I have no idea how to use Earth magic, even if the system said I'm 'proficient' with it now."
"At least you have magic... I have no idea what my affinity is, so there's no way I could possibly try using it right now. I'm a free target for any big animals out here... For example, say this salamander, right there, was a giant bear."
Xavier pointed his finger at it.
"I can point my finger at it and try and channel energy into it, but nothing is going to come out. I can scream, 'Firebolt!' all I want. Nothing is going to happen."
Xavier stood there with his fingers out for a few moments before turning back to Bruce, "See? Nothing at all-"
A flash of light and heat shot from Xavier's finger, a slight wind blowing back at him and Bruce that sent their hair flowing backwards. They both looked towards where the salamander had been... A pile of ash was all that remained.
[Beginner Quest, "First Blood," complete! Please select your preferred proficiency below.]
[Weapons -OR- Magic]
They looked between the system screen, the pile of ash, and each other a few times.
"Now we're both cold-blooded murderers. You can't say anything about that squirrel anymore. You quite literally just obliterated that salamander."
Xavier let out a hefty sigh before selecting flame magic as his proficiency. The duo decided to head back to the cliff clearing to see if Stephan had finished everything on his side as well.
Though on the way back, they had the slight feeling they were being watched... They decided to pay it little attention and simply quicken their pace, just to be safe.
"Oh, you guys are back."
"Yeah... How'd everything go for you?"
"Good, just getting ready to set up a campfire for us to cook this rabbit with. It's not a ton of food, but it'll be enough to hold us for the night, at the very least."
Stephan held up a couple of pieces of rabbit meat, its fur off to the side.
"So how'd everything go with you two?"
"Well... Bruce accidentally stepped on a squirrel. I genuinely obliterated a salamander."
"Ah... Well, if it gets the quests done!"
Both Bruce and Xavier simultaneously thought, 'Psychopath!'
One could say their brains had a Bluetooth connection in that moment.
"Now to figure out how to start a fire..."
"Oh, no worries, Xavier can handle that."
"Huh? Oh, right."
Xavier walked over to the very... tiny fire pit that Stephan had built. It was likely just barely large enough to fit all the pieces of rabbit that had been cut to be cooked. He held his hand just over the clump of firewood and began trying to cast more flames.
...Nothing came out.
"Uh... How did I do this again?-"
Suddenly, a burst of flames spewed out from his hand. Not only did it completely engulf the firewood, giving them a beautifully large fire... It also lit up the surrounding grass like a fireworks show.
"Uh oh..."
"Bruce, how could you be nonchalant in a moment like this!?"
"Oh, my bad... OH SHIT!"
The three immediately scrambled around, stamping out the flames with their boots as quickly as possible.
"Day 1... We almost started a forest fire."
"...WE!?" Stephan and Bruce exclaimed this confusion in the same moment.
"Well, time to cook that rabbit, yeah?"
Stephan and Bruce stared at Xavier, completely dumbfounded. Bruce pinched his nose and looked at the ground while Stephan sighed and face-palmed.
"Yeah... Let's just cook the rabbit." Stephan spoke while walking over to where he had the raw pieces of meat lying out on display. He grabbed a few sticks that he had cleaned using one of the water canteens they had been given and stuck pieces of meat on the end of each.
"Here, one for each of us. Make sure to cook it right."
The group sat together as the sun began to set on the world around, holding their respective pieces of meat over the fire that illuminated the nearby area. No conversations were being held, just a comfortable silence that the trio accepted.
After not much time had passed, and the night was creeping upon them even more, they had finished cooking their dinner. They weren't professionals at this, so the meat was slightly overcooked, but they all still seemed to enjoy it despite this. All three of them received a 'quest completed' prompt from the system.
[Beginner Quest, "The First Meal," complete! Rewards will be distributed promptly.]
"Ah, so we all completed it from this," Xavier spoke just as he swallowed the very last bit of his slice.
"That's pretty convenient. At least we won't have to keep hunting."
Bruce was sitting quietly while reading his dictionary.
"It'd be a good idea to get some rest... I assume we'll be traveling tomorrow. Way more traveling than we've ever done, something we are not even a smidgen used to."
"Yeah..." Stephan stood up and stretched. Xavier followed his example, Bruce doing the same after noticing them while taking a glance up from his reading.
Before the three could begin getting ready for a rest, danger appeared. Light footsteps from the forest had caused the group to immediately become alarmed, all of them swinging their heads to face the source of the faint noise.
Emerging from the forest was a pack of 5 wolves, all snarling and bearing their fangs at the trio.
"Guess they smelled the food..."
"Our first battle in a new world! Finally, something interesting!" Stephan's face lit up with a slightly sinister smile as he clutched his knife in his hands.
"...Yeah, no."
"What?" Xavier and Stephan turned towards Bruce. He was sprinting towards the edge of the cliff, and before they could say anything, he jumped off.