"Evil pain begone... Heart of the mountain grant my plea... Evil pain begone... Leave this youngling be…" Healer Gula repeatedly chanted in her croaky voice.

“That’s a great rhyme,” I dryly said followed by an exasperated sigh.

She wielded a staff made of crooked wood that ended with a gnarly spiral wrapping a golden crystal. Beads and knotted rope, similar to those adorning her horns, hung from it. She waved it as she circled me. It looked like some bogus quack doctor healing, but I noticed after opening my attributes page that I was actually gaining buffs.

Following SpartanDonkey’s advice of getting this NPC’s Ocadules seemed a good one. Besides healing for myself, an ‘easy’ way for a weak player to join a higher-leveled party was to be a support, healing and buffing others.

As Healer Gula did her thing, I simply sat on a square mat on the floor, my legs neatly tucked beneath my wide bull body. It was as awkward as having 'Happy Birthday' sung to me and I had no idea what to do. I considered clapping along with her chanting. A few Mardukryon players passed by her store and had a good chuckle at the newbie roped into something wacky by an NPC.

While waiting for this nonsense to end, I contemplated what Healer Gula mentioned earlier about a ‘lost art’ she detected inside me. I had pressed her about it, but she didn't want to elaborate, brushing away my attempts to get more information.

I wasn't sure if bringing up Mehubanarath was the right move or if I'd only antagonize her, so I shut my mouth. Using [Healing Touch] to show my skills was a gamble entailing a risk too high for my appetite.

My plan, for now, was to take it slow and build a good relationship with Healer Gula. It'd cushion any possible negative impact when I'd talk about Mehubanarath someday.

Undoubtedly, there was a hidden connection here that was only available because I had an Aritu Form Ocadule. Luds, SpartanDonkey, and others with Ancestral Flames Ocadules would have also gone the route of getting attacked by Buvalu and eventually meeting Healer Gula. But unlike me, they couldn't have triggered Healer Gula's reaction in this way—an advantage I didn't want to haphazardly ruin.

I also asked Healer Gula for clues about the main story quest of looking for other Mardukryon tribes. But she told me she didn’t have any information to share. I figured this wouldn’t be an easy quest.

"Thus, you are made whole again by the Heart of the Mountain," said Healer Gula. She tapped the lower end of her staff on the floor three times. "Arise youngling, and be on your way."

Sharulrath, who was waiting right outside her house, stepped closer to the display table and said, "Thank you, Healer Gula, for your assistance. The attacks of Buvalu are rare and far between, but it is distressful when it happens to the least of us. Younglings doing their prayers by the cliffs shouldn't muddle their communion with our ancestors by fear of that wretched Mirdabon."

"And that is your job to keep it away, isn't it, Hunter-Warrior with three spears?"

"Ah...yes." Sharulrath looked away in apparent shame. "Failure has met all our efforts to eliminate Buvalu. The time will come that our spears will pierce its heart."

"So, it's your fault that I got attacked," I said as I stood up. "Someday, I'm going to show you how to do it." Turning to Healer Gula, I bowed to show my gratitude for her services that I didn't need. "Thank you for your help. How much do I owe you? I don't have a lot of Artas on me."

"Oh, youngling," she said, chuckling like she had maracas lodged in her throat. "Keep your Artas. I administer my healing arts expecting no remuneration in return. That is my most solemn vow. What I sell are these." She gestured to the potions and herbs on the tables and shelves.

"But I want to repay you for your help," I said. "If not Artas, let me help collect herbs." I pointed at a couple of empty jars, following SpartanDonkey's tip. "You seem to be running low of...whatever is in them."

"I can gather those myself, youngling. Let this old lady worry about her herbs while you enjoy the years you are still spry and your legs do not ache."

"I insist Healer Gula." And insist, I did—a lot of insisting. As our conversation went back and forth, I was beginning to doubt SpartanDonkey's advice. I also thought I might've done something wrong like my Aritu Form Ocadule affected this NPC's behavior.

But in the end, Healer Gula relented. "To be a youngling. So eager and full of life. Go and gather herbs if that's what you want. Someday, you might be interested in the healing arts yourself."

[ Quest: Helping the Elderly ]

Venture into the Golden Forest to gather twenty (20) [Stalks of Rapdoms] required by Healer Gula in making her healing salves. After which, grab a light and venture into the earth, making sure not to lose your way in the caves as you look for fifteen (15) [Luminescent Borples].

Now, that's not too bad, I thought as I read the task. A collection quest. It was amusing how happy I was to get one.

These were usually boring and repetitive, but they were a staple in RPGs. Somehow, seeing this kind of quest still used up to this day gave me a sense of nostalgia. And collecting items might not be as boring as before since we were doing it in a virtual world where exploration was enjoyment in itself.

Opening the map I got from the Chief, I noted that the locations for the collectibles were marked on it. One was in an area of the Golden Forest previously inaccessible to me because it was outside the eastern gate of Kurghal Village. The other place was inside the cliff wall with massive golden crystal deposits, somewhere around the shallower tunnels.

"I'll get right on this, Healer Gula."

"Youngling, now that your body is well," Sharulrath said, "I take my leave. If you need assistance, know that I'll be at the Hunter-Warriors Lodge. Visit us if you wish to know more about what we do."

I also thanked him for his help and we went our separate ways.

Although I did tell the Healer Gula I was off to find the materials she needed, I didn't head straight to the Golden Forest. Unless the quest was specifically time-bound, NPCs could usually wait, even a hundred years, for a player to return and complete their quest.

When I used to play Nornyr Online with my high school buddies, Paul was the worst offender of not finishing side quests. His quest list would be full of the ones he was bored of completing. On the other hand, Mason was a completionist, doing all daily quests, side quests, and even random bullshit that didn't give any worthwhile rewards for the time spent doing them. I was somewhere in the middle, taking quests that were, at the least, moderately beneficial to me.

I needed to make a quick stop to empty my inventory. Similar to how I didn't want to go to bed with unfinished work on my plate, I had this nagging need to clear my inventory of crap whenever I could. And a lot of crap it did have that I could fertilize a whole field of crops with it—mostly the broken pieces of equipment I looted from Hermit Crabores.

"Around twenty-two thousand Artas," I said after selling all the useless items to a merchant NPC. "And the tokens Sharulrath gave me...twenty-seven thousand." Add that to the sixty thousand Artas I currently have and I'd be lucky to buy a sack of potato as armor.

The fifty thousand offered by SpartanDonkey would've been a helpful sum, but I didn't want to be indebted to him because I hadn't ascertained his intentions yet. It would be great if I ran into Nic. I could ask for money from her—perhaps, I should use the term 'borrow' to be less of a moocher. If Luds and Wharton were with her, it would be better because I could manipulate them into giving me Artas to show off their wealth.

The items that remained in my inventory were loot from the various monsters I killed.

Patch of Fur | Amount: 76

The fur of Mirdabons isn’t white, but hollow and transparent. They appear white as it takes the color of the surrounding snow, changing to crimson if it is filled with their energies. This special property of their fur makes them highly-priced.

Price: 15 Artas

"Highly-priced but only fifteen Artas," I said with a sigh. I didn't sell them to the NPCs because I might need them for crafting or other collection quests later on.

Near the merchants was a small but elegantly designed building—dome-shaped like the others—that had several players coming in and out of it.

The auction house.

It was a simple system: Players submitted their items, input the starting price, and then chose a duration from a minimum of one day up to a maximum of three days that it'd be on display. Those who wanted to buy it could place their bids, changing them if they saw others bid higher. When the duration for the item expired, it went to the highest bidder. And to prevent players from gaming the system—like inputting a higher bid at the last second—the last five minutes of the item's duration became actual live bidding for those present. There were other rules, but those were the basic ones.

I perused the items on display on a wide board outside the building.

It pained me to admit that while the tankiness aspect of my build was going great, I wasn't a true tank. I lacked a way to aggro enemies away from allies. "An Ocadule Shard..." I muttered as I scanned the common ones—higher qualities were out of my budget. "This looks adequate."

Lvl. 1 Enraging Taunt: Taunts nearby enemies, forcing them to attack you. During the duration, the enemies gain 10% Damage, while you gain (+20) bonus armor.

Duration: 3 Seconds

Cost: 10 Energy

Cooldown: 5 Seconds

There were four of the same item up for sale, and the cheapest was—

Two hundred thirty thousand Artas? Dammit, I was wrong. Even common Ocadule Shards were also out of my budget.

The four [Enraging Taunt] Shards were closely priced and not that far off compared to other common Shards, so I didn't think there was any market manipulation going on. If this specific Shard was a random drop, my only choice for a surefire way of obtaining it was buying it from here.

The problem was how to get Artas quickly—not a novel issue for a tank. Tank characters were slow at solo leveling because we kill mobs at a pace that would make DPS players fall asleep. And that also translated to slow farming. Needs elbow grease, maybe a liter—Eh?

Other than items for sale, the board also displayed offers to buy certain items. A number of them were looking for materials, specifically loot drops from monsters. I had some of those in my inventory.

"Two hundred twenty Artas for one Patch of Fur? What’s going on?"