An Unfortunate Plan and an Unknown Savior

"Yer walking all the way to Sardonia?"

It had been a good hour since I had left the village. This body, used to the roughness of farm labor had had no trouble so far. I stopped and turned to the old man driving the horse cart.

"Yeah, don't have money for a ride." I said with a shrug. I resumed walking when the old man spoke up again.

"Hop in, I'll give ya a ride till there. I'm carryin fewer goods than usual anyway."

"You mean it?" 

And so, I made steady progress towards Sardonia, jostled around at the back of the cart amongst a pile of goods that smelt strangely of sulfur. Ignoring the stench, I opened up and continued to study my map. It was just how I remembered it from the game so I should have no difficulties using it. 

The town we were heading to, Sardonia, was a relatively well off town, thriving as a center of trade for agricultural produce and craftsmanship. It didn't play any significant role in the game but was important enough that players knew of its existence. 

The town guards were lax and barely checked the wagon, not even stopping me for an identity check. We entered the walls of the town and after thanking the old man, I departed for the town square. 

It was a lively place; everyone seemed to be caught up in the hustle and bustle of trade. Shops lined the streets and the number of stalls grew as I neared the center. Soon, the narrow cobbled streets gave way to a large, open town square. A church sat on one face, a large row of impressive shops on another, the town hall on the third, the guild hall - equally as impressive as the other buildings - on the last face. 

Entering the guildhall, it was exactly how I had imagined it to be. You would collaborate with adventurer NPCs in the game as the protagonist but would never work as one. Seeing the RPG classic in the flesh had me tearing up slightly. I walked past the request boards and tables of parties discussing tactics and celebrating completed requests up to the reception. 

A short wait later, I was greeted by the bubbly receptionist girl.

"Hello! How can I help you today?"

Her name tag read 'Anna'. 

"Ah, I'd like to register as an adventurer."

"Of course!" She pulled out a sheet of paper from behind and placed it next to an orb on the counter. "Please fill out your information here and place your hand over the magic crystal to confirm your registration!"

I obliged and followed her instructions. Form complete, I put my hands over the orb which glowed faintly, then spat out a card with my details imprinted on it:

Name: Alfonse Thibault
Level: 2
Job: Adventurer
Rank: F

"Would you like for me to explain the ranking system?"

I nodded, and with a smile she explained, "There are a total of seven ranks ranging from S at the very top down to the beginner's rank F where you will be starting. Once you complete a set number of requests and you will be able to take the promotion exam that happens twice every month. Most requests are limited by rank so please start out with the F rank board just behind you!"

I thanked her and headed over to the board. The requests available had to do with herb collecting, hunting small wild animals, even helping find missing pets or some manual labor. I, however, knew exactly what I wanted. I grabbed a request flyer and took it to the counter. Anna looked it over quickly, then stamped it. "A harvest request, a great way to start adventuring. Stay safe!" 

And with that, I soon found myself outside the town walls once again, heading back into the forest. The plant being requested was a particular species of nightshade that was poisonous in large quantities but had medicinal properties at lower concentrations. However, it was also the preferred snack of a particular species of horned rabbits that dwell in these forests. In-game, these rabbits gave copious amounts of exp and were the staple level-up farm for newbies. The problem was how to catch them with my low stats.

Finding the nightshade was easy enough. I knew that they grew in shady spots near the base of trees and had purple flowers. I collected enough for the request and then a few more as bait before forging deeper into the forest. 

I stopped in my tracks as I heard chittering coming from near by. Kneeling down behind some bushes, I parted the leaves to look at a small clearing in the forest. 

Bingo. Around a dozen horned rabbits were gathered in the middle, munching on grass. They must have smelt me out quickly, however, as they stopped chewing and looked in my direction.

Damn, I can't have all my exp running away! I grabbed my extra reserve of nightshade and crushed it, smearing myself in its juices. I placed a few fresh ones at the bottom of the brush and lay in wait.

Sure enough, the rabbits took notice and made their way towards the bush. 

Wait. Patiently. Just a bit closer. Just a teeny, tiny bit more. Now!

I erupted from behind the brush onto the unsuspecting horned rabbits. They gave a screech and scattered, but I had already managed to catch two. 

"I'm sorry little ones, but I need my exp." I finished them off with a quick snap of their necks and was overcome with a warm feeling from within.

I checked my status to see that I had indeed leveled up massively:

Name: Alfonse Thibault (poisoned)
Age: 15
Race: Human
Job: Adventurer
Level: 14
Titles: Destitute, Paleolithic Hunter
Stats:
HP: 51/85, Strength: 20, Magic: 17, Defense: 16, Resistance: 14, Speed: 19, Luck: 16
Skills (skill-points: 63):
Farming (E), Poison Resistance (F)

Oh. That's what the warm feeling was. I barely had time to rejoice as I felt my vision tunnel and my limbs grew weak. An antidote. I need an antidote! There should be a blue species of mushroom with antidotal effects growing in close proximity to the nightshade!

I crawled to a nearby tree, heaving, a metallic taste in my mouth. I searched desperately but with my vision declining, I couldn't tell apart the nightshade from the mushrooms. I frantically grabbed whichever was closer and took a bite out of it. Good, it was chewy, this should be the mushroom.

I felt the poison dissipate momentarily, only then to resurge even more potently. Shit! I didn't have the time to concoct a proper potion-form antidote. I crawled to another tree before collapsing on my side. I could only see colors now, shapes indiscernible. 

As I began to fade out of consciousness, I heard a carriage come to a halt. I must have made it to a nearby road in my search for the rabbits. I heard footsteps draw closer, picking up in pace by the second. 

"Are you alright? He's unresponsive. Gideon! Get him in the carriage, we'll take him to Sardonia!"

It was a familiar voice, but I couldn't quite place my finger on who it was. I let myself be carried to the carriage, and then all was dark.