BXBX NOVEL Chapter 39: Misfit (2)
Absentminded, Jake took the arrow and shoved it to his quiver while reading the system message.
'Isn't Misfit much better for me?' Jake thought. His previous title had forcefully put him on the side of the humans, demons, and their allies who had gone against the legendary existences.
With this newly evolved title, wouldn't Jake be able to find the common ground between two forces and reap rewards from both sides? Even if that would be difficult, Jake still could side with players whose mindsets were much simpler and less influenced by the game's plot!
'Ahhhh, but I want to sell the weaker traces! Uh, how about I call it a friendly exchange instead?' Jake looked around as though looking for someone to judge his thoughts before coming to terms with his plan. 'I won't sell those traces! I will make a friendly exchange—a trace for money! I will ensure I find good people for them!'
In the meantime, Wukong found a few more arrows. He was quite a smart fellow, too. When he noticed that the arrow was broken, he threw it away and went to search for usable ones. He was also considerate of Jake and brought him a few fruits to satiate his hanger, too!
Wukong also found a pair of black gloves hidden beside the monkey boss' carcass. He yanked them off and carefully carried them to Jake.
Once Jake noticed all the items stacked before him, he exclaimed in surprise and smiled at his second pet. Since it was time for Wukong to go, he patted his head and sent him off with a bright smile.
Wukong was also content and proud of his first achievements, even though Jake hadn't commanded him anything. He reciprocated the smile and closed his eyes, going for a nap.
Their first exchange went smoothly, and they seemed to have become good friends.
Jake hoped that Odin would soon think the same of his new friend.
"This must be an item from the boss! Great!" Jake shouted without hiding his excitement. He picked the pair of black gloves and checked their stats.
[Black Gloves Of Previous Monkey Boss(Unique)(Light Armor)(Durability: 200/200)—a part of the old monkey boss' set. The previous boss was an old monkey about to die in a few years. Puffy, however, couldn't wait this long and used schemes and tricks to kill him by poisoning the forest's fruits.
In his prime, the previous monkey boss was the fastest monkey known to the tutorial forest and an enemy feared by wolves and bears!]
[Increases the user's dexterity stat by 35 points!]
"Oh, Puffy, you bad boy!" Jake sneered, his eyes shining with cruel intent as he would hunt down Puffy to get the entire set of the previous monkey boss' set, which seemed perfect for his Joker Form. Anything that increased the dexterity was the best for this form!
No, it was the best for the archer, making Jake desire that set more than anything else.
-
"College is so boring," Jake's friend, Felix, said through the voice call.
Jake was a player, and his game system naturally included features like that. Even now, he was skinning down the monkey boss's hide to see what he could cook up with it while listening to his friend.
Jake replied, "It's pretty boring for me, too. You're living in dorms now, right?"
Felix nodded on the other side, "Yeah. You heard? My parents got divorced."
"Lukas told me, ye," Jake nodded.
Felix sighed, "So I ran to dorms because Father couldn't find any apartment yet… they keep arguing over little details and repeat the same crap of being free from each other. Like, they can't get more cringe, right?"
"Ye," Jake chuckled, "Can't you just run to the game world, though?"
"I have to eat and study… just seeing them arguing pisses me off. I joined their stupid game after I died and logged out and saw them arguing like I couldn't hold back… dying on the mainland is so annoying. Losing one item is guaranteed, you know?
And if a player gets hunted down by other players, they can force him to strip down and snatch every piece of his equipment before he put that into inventory… dying naked is like the worst." Felix clicked his tongue a few times while recalling the terrible times.
He hadn't died naked yet but had heard of those cases, which always made him feel goosebumps ran across his back and arms.
Jake put down his Steel Knife and took off his black gloves, thinking aloud, "I mean, we're pretty much living in a second world. The game developers could have put some limits on players, though. Something like making armor heavy or immovable for others, or at least anything… but that would go against what they advertise."
Felix shrugged, "So far, censoring is the only option to prevent anything really shameful. I'm sure we haven't heard of the worst cases yet because the company is rich to hush them up."
"You're really in a crap mood," Jake commented, as his friend usually wouldn't talk or think about those heavy topics.
Felix nodded, "Yeah… at least I have a good roommate who does everyone's assignments so I can farm up what I've lost and chill in the game. How are you doing? Still on the tutorial island?"
"Yep," Jake grinned, "I just skinned the monkey boss."
Felix grunted, "Man, you're into that?"
"What's so wrong about it?" Jake asked.
Felix sighed, "Ever heard of butchers becoming emotionless? Killing a monster with magic or a sword is different than butchering and skinning them… don't become numb to feelings, or we will entirely lose you."
"You tried skinning?" Jake asked.
"Yeah… I puked," Felix bit his lips.
"Haha!"
"Richard told me I'd get a title that would turn any corpse I killed into a drop on the mainland, so I just leveled up and enjoyed the game instead…" Felix smiled as he recalled his newbie days.
He even felt some nostalgia.
Jake chuckled, "Good for you."
"What are you up to now?"
"I'll do some modifications to my bow soon."
"Well, I won't take your time, then! Have fun."
"You too."