Greeting the Big Rock [ Quest / Closed ]

As the beacon went out, he stretched a bit. He was prepared to wait for hours on end before anyone even-

Pax almost jumped at the voice. He turned to look at the newcomer. A girl. He sighed and flipped the visor on his helmet up, showing off a beaming smile, "Uh, hi! Yes, I was planning on doing the mountain hike quest. I didn't expect someone to respond to my beacon so soon . . ."

He frowned and squinted his eyes at her, eyebrows furling slightly. He'd only just sent out the beacon, hadn't he? Had she just been standing around watching him? He swept the thought from his mind and just smiled again, flipping his visor back down and opening up his menu. He sent her a party invite with a firm nod, "My name's Paxilon. Most people have taken to calling me Pax, though. I don't mind being your escort up the mountain. It's a good simple quest most of the time, and it's a good time waster."

With that, he started up the trail. He hadn't talked to anyone in a while, and he was quite looking forward to a good conversation. Then again, he didn't mind the quiet beauty of the mountain, either.

Pax stopped for a moment and sighed. So, she had been watching him. He wondered to himself just how he was supposed to go about this. He rubbed his hand against the top of his chest plate instinctively, thinking it over as he began walking again. As he heard her thank him he turned around and tilted his head a bit at her, "You're welcome, I guess?"

As he listened to her talk, her started to smile. She was pretty new, but she'd probably get better at this. The fact that she'd paid attention to the lack of mention of monsters in the NPC dialogue attested to that. He laughed a bit and gave her a firm nod, "That's right. I've found that some of the quests do actually passively increase the spawn rate of some zones. Like that forest over there."

He pointed off to the distant forest, his confident smile hidden under his visor, "There's an escort quest in those woods that makes Nepents spawn that don't usually spawn like that when you're in there."

He gave an exaggerated sagely nod and then laughed at himself, "From an info broker, that information would cost like, twenty col! Here I am just handing it out."

He stopped and a serious air came about him as he realised something was wrong. He looked sideways at Zero and raised his eyebrow. She was uncomfortable? Curious. What could he have possibly done to make her so? Or maybe she was thinking he didn't need her and would throw her off the cliff at some point if he got bored of her. He frowned. With a sigh, he reached out to put his hand on her shoulder, flipping up his visor to give her a soft, reassuring smile, "Hey. Don't worry about anything right now. Just relax, pretend like we're taking a hike together. Like a date or something. You're with one of the strongest players in the game right now; we have nothing to worry about! Now come on! If we make it to the top soon, we'll get to see the sunset!"

He flipped his visor back down with an amused chuckle and started walking up the path again. He wasn't lying about being able to see the sunset. That was probably the only reason he ever did this quest with other people anymore.

Pax nodded with a laugh. Of course, there was a kind of cap on how strong a player could be on the first level, and he wasn't the only one who had reached it. Technically, he told himself, he was not lying about being one of the strongest. When she asked about the labyrinth he didn't laugh, he only nodded. They were about to reach an area that flattened out a little bit before continuing on upwards into the mountain via a rabbit trail surrounded by little bushes. It was a kind of lower lookout spot that some players would go to for picnics and the like. When they reached the little clearing he stopped and sighed.

"One of the main reasons I'm helping people do these quests is to try to get more players ready for the labyrinth," he recalled running through those elaborate mazes in the beta. Dying was quite common for anyone who didn't take it seriously. He turned his head towards Zero, "So far, most people are either too scared or too weak to enter the damn thing. Don't get me wrong, the labyrinth is scary and difficult, but . . ."

As he continued to speak he started moving through the tiny little trail covered in briar bush-type plants, his armor swathing a large path through the prickly flora, "We can't stay on this floor forever. If we don't start moving, everyone's going to get complacent and then nothing will get done."

His smile was warm as he pushed another thorny plant out of the way. He remembered coming up here the first time with that crazy woman. It was definitely the best view for this entire floor, and he was excited to have someone with him who would appreciate that.