15 Tavern
[Learn the skill [Heat Resistance (Level 1)] to enter the dungeon.]
Hiro retracted his hand upon knowing the requirement for entering the dungeon. In the meantime, Liberty and Jacob were already walking toward him.
Jacob, whose curiosity was piqued, imitated Hiro’s actions, put his right hand on the invisible barrier, and received the same notification.
“Heat Resistance? I’ve heard of that before,” Jacob muttered and tried to recall where he heard that term mentioned before.
Liberty only waited in silence. Meanwhile, Hiro felt that he made the right choice by bringing Jacob with him. With his help, he would be able to save time on getting the information they needed right now.
“Where did you hear that?” Hiro directly asked.
“In the tavern in Beginner Town, I think someone asked about the same thing. I don’t know his name, but I do remember that he brought a thick book with a cover of two dragon tails forming a black and white circle,” Jacob explained, still remembering some of the out-of-the-ordinary details.
‘A book? A mystic tome? The Yin Yang Harmony? Is that person the owner of that legendary weapon? He’s already found this dungeon, huh? Interesting. What kind of person is he, I wonder?’ Hiro silently thought.
“Does anyone in the tavern know about the Heat Resistance skill?”
“I think that wanderer lady knows. Wanna go there?”
“Of course. Let’s go meet her right now.”
“Sorry, but what are you guys talking about?” Liberty raised her right hand in an attempt to get involved in the conversation.
Hiro looked at her with a flat expression for a few seconds. He wasn’t interested in explaining the details to the girl since he knew it was pointless.
He doubted that Liberty would understand those complicated details.
“We have to learn the Heat Resistance skill to enter the cave, Liberty.”
The three then left the cave and headed back to Beginner Town. There was no time to waste, so Hiro led them to run. He didn’t want to only arrive when night already fell in-game.
Jacob showed the location of the tavern he meant, the place where he saw the wanderer lady.
The tavern was not so large. On the contrary, it was only a small building with a wooden push-to-open door. Apart from the three of them, there were no other visitors; only an NPC, an old man with a thick beard, standing behind the tavern counter wiping an empty glass.
The expression on the old man’s face didn’t change when he saw that he had visitors.
“Hey, Jack! Please bring us three glasses of beer!” Jacob shouted from the distance and chose an empty seat. The round table had a total of three seats surrounding it, perfect for their group.
Hiro and Liberty sat on the other seats.
“Just relax. Since you saved me, it’s my treat today, Bro,” Jacob explained his intentions.
Liberty stared at Hiro with confusion. However Hiro only shrugged, not knowing how to react.
Hiro looked around. There were really no other people in the small tavern except them. Not even the person they were looking for was there.
“What are we doing here? Where’s the lady you mentioned?”
“Chill, Bro. The lady usually comes at 11 AM. Just wait a bit, trust me.”
Hiro decided to trust Jacob. In games, sometimes special NPCs come at certain times, and it wasn’t anything strange.
Besides, there’s no harm in trying the beer in-game for now. Hiro had never tried one before because of how protective Yuujin was, so he wanted to try it for once.
Since Yuujin was gone, he felt that the prohibition no longer existed. He was just going to drink a virtual beer anyway, not in real life.
The NPC named Jack brought the drinks they ordered, three glasses of beer.
“Cheers for our new friendship!” Jacob exclaimed while raising his glass.
Hiro and Liberty awkwardly did the same. It seemed that Liberty also had never done this before.
He guessed that Liberty was actually a sheltered rich girl. Like a princess of some sort.
“Cheers!”
Clink!
“Argh!” Jacob really enjoyed the drink.
As for Hiro, he only frowned when he tasted the bitter taste spread in his mouth. Liberty even reflexively coughed even though she only had a very small sip.
She immediately put the glass back on the table, and this confused Jacob.
“Is this you guys’ first time drinking beer? Ah, sorry, they don’t have wine at the moment, but you gotta try them out! It tastes way better than this drink. Trust me!”
At that moment, the wooden door of the tavern slammed open and a sexy lady entered. Apart from the large cowboy hat on her head, the lady only had a black bra and shabby trousers.
Hiro subconsciously approached the lady just after she sat on the seat in the corner of the room. The NPC lady was named Abby.
“Hi there, Miss Abby. Do you know about the skill called Heat Resistance?”
Abby unhappily glared at Hiro before looking away.
“Get away from me, Wanderer. You are wasting my break time.”
The NPC lady’s reaction surprised him. Hiro didn’t expect that he would be treated so coldly.
“Ahahahah!” Jacob walked toward him while laughing. He had his glass of beer in his right hand and hugged Hiro’s shoulder with his left as if they were close friends.
“Looks like you’re not so experienced with the ladies either, Bro.”
Jacob sat on the empty seat in front of Abby and pushed his glass of beer toward the lady.
“Hey there, milady. Wanna have a drink with me?”
Abby accepted the drink Jacob offered and drank it all. She then returned Jacob’s look with a smile.
“Depends on how much you can drink.”
“Until you’re satisfied, of course.”
NPC Abby shyly blushed. But the next moment, her expression quickly turned serious and her eyes closely stared at Jacob.
“What do you want from me, wanderer?”
Hiro was dumbfounded when he witnessed what just transpired. He felt defeated by Jacob, who looked at him with a certain expression saying ‘This is how you get the ladies, Bro.’ all over his face.
“Mind telling me what you know about the Heat Resistance skill? My friends and I need it.”
With Jacob’s ability with the ladies, Abby was willing to share the information they needed. According to her, [Heat Resistance] could be learned from Fred, an NPC always on standby in the training area.
To learn the skill, they had to give Fred a present so he would happily share the skill with them.
“So what are we going to do now?” Liberty, who had been patiently waiting on her seat, asked.
“We’re going to hunt some foxes.”
“Eh? We’re not learning the Heat Resistance skill first?”
Hiro was already walking toward the tavern door. Behind him, Liberty pouted when she realized she was being ignored. Even so, the girl hurriedly went to catch up to him without a word.
Meanwhile, Jacob, who already felt he was part of the team, didn’t want to be left behind either.
According to the information he got from NPC Abby, the fox monster they were after could be found in the west of Beginner Town.
Again, the west of Beginner Town. Hiro was becoming even more sure of purchasing a regular plot in that area now.
If only he had enough money.
The three entered the forest with quiet steps, trying their best to make no sound. This was because the monster they were after was a timid-type monster. It was difficult to find this type of monster in noisy places.
“What are we looking for?” asked Liberty confused.
Hiro vigilantly looked at the strange bush three meters in front of him.
“Sssh…”
The green bush moved, but no wind was blowing where they were. The bush moved back from a bigger bush.
The moment the strange bush separated itself, a notification simultaneously appeared in their HUD system.
Ding!
[You have unlocked a New monster information.]
[Fern the Mythical Fox (Level 20)]
[Race: Beast]
“What a beautiful creature!”