Follow the Kago

Your My Main Quest

I crept through the Rokoko plains, wary of receiving a party invite from Jean. I jumped forward and tackled a wolf, stabbing it several times before it shattered. I dusted myself off, preparing to fight the next one.

I HAD to beat Jean. And, unfortunately, that requires work, and lots of it.

I swung my sword, his sword, and killed another wolf. Just a little at a time...

*Jean385 Invited you to a Party*

[Accept] [Later] [Decline]

....

I hit accept, sighing. I only got a few minutes in before he saw I was online. He must, what, check if I'm up every five minutes?

"Kago!" He sent, the text blue and excited. "Hi." I sent back, noticing him appear on the map. "im going MQ today. wanna come with?" He sent.

"What's MQ?" I asked as he ran up beside me, putting my sword away. "Main Quest." He said, looking happy. "What's that?" I asked again, tilting my head. I never heard the term before. "You know, Quests!" He said, gesturing around.

"..."

"... Sigh. Just come with me. I'll show you." He said, catching my hopelessness. "Okay." I said, hiding the chirp in my voice.  He smiled, then we went off and ran around talking to NPC's for a while. He must have assumed I had a somewhat background in Questing, because he kept talking about it.

When he dissapeared in the middle of the map, I knew I was wrong for keeping quiet. He reappeared, his HP low. "What happened?" I asked, confused. "I won." He said, high fiving me. "Won? Won what...?" I asked, a smile nevertheless making its way to my face from his victory.

"The boss fight, of course!" He said, chipper. I stared blankly at him, and it clicked. "Oh... You don't know about it, do you?" He asked sheepishly. I shook my head, embarassed.

"Well, then, I'll teach you. Come on, back to Bailune! That's where it starts." He said, nodding back the way we came. I laughed at his expression, like a little puppy's. "Okay." I said, and we took off.

Once we got back to Bailune, I started wondering if he lived there, too. He certainly knew his way around enough.

He brought me to the main NPC, a huge guy standing between two tents in the middle of town. "Chat with him. Don't hit quest, just chat." Jean said, prompting me forward. The statue of a guy was twice as tall as me, wearing bright purple robes.

I scooted up to him and my chat bar popped up: "Hello!"

[Quest]

[Chat]

[Never mind]

I stared at the options, tempted to hit Never mind. I ignored the urge and tapped Chat, bracing myself as he bellowed at me.

"Welcome, adventurer! I heard there was a shortage of...." He talked for awhile, making it apparent I had to talk to other NPC's. Jean encouraged me as I ran from place to place, chatting to the statues. Finally, one offered me a more mobile quest, to refill a water skin from a specific place. "Where is it? That was awhile ago, I forgot." Jean said.

"Somewhere in the Rokoko mines." I said, checking the quest on my profile. We jogged in silence to the mines, and I looked around for awhile before I found the right spot. I quickly dipped the water skin a pool under the bridge, turning to Jean as I screwed the cap on.

"Why do I have to do Main Quests? They take forever." I asked as we started the walk back. "They give you lots of exp." Jean said simply. "How much?" I asked, putting the puny water skin in my inventory.

"Later on, it can get up into the millions!" Jean said, throwing his arms up. I laughed, unbelieving. "Wow, that's so cool!" I said, boosting his ego. "Heh, yeah! It takes a lot of grinding, but once you get up there, you can really get it going. Though it takes so much to level up then, it's hardly anything special."

I didn't know what "Then" meant, whether level 50 or 100.

But I knew, undoubtably, that I would make it there. Probably. Eventually. Without a doubt. But, a little doubt.

I handed the water skin to the NPC, and they took it greedily, telling me to go talk to so and so to move on. Soon I was on the same quest as Jean, through I got the feeling he was behind for some reason. Like he had done this before, but had to restart.

My skin crawled at the thought.