The Primal Hunter

Actual traveling.

Who would have thought that the job as a Courier would include traveling? Sure had Jake fooled after he only ran around a city for several days. Sure, it hadn’t been the worst, and there was plenty of diversity thrown in there to make it entertaining.

Nevertheless, Jake was glad that phase of the Challenge Dungeon was over as he proceeded with Courier Job 20. It wasn’t like he had to go far, but it did feel good to finally be out in the open. He had traveled around a bit in the House of the Architect while in the worlds there, but he didn’t go full speed most of the time as he had to actively scout out the environment and couldn’t just focus on speed.

Now, speed was the only thing that mattered. Jake used One Step repeatedly as the city had long turned into just a blip on the horizon. Every single step passed around a kilometer of distance, having improved quite a lot during all his time in Nevermore. He was still quite a bit from passing a thousand miles like the name indicated it technically could, but with the sheer speed he could trigger the skill, that wasn’t really a problem.

Jake had experimented a bit with actually trying to increase the distance a lot, and it was possible. His record was about a hundred and thirty kilometers – or eighty miles or so – with a single step. However, that step had taken him well over a minute to perform and had been done under perfect circumstances with nothing in between him and his target destination. This is to say that if Jake just wanted to travel quickly, smaller but faster steps were far more effective. Also a lot more efficient, as a One Step taking him a hundred and thirty kilometers consumed way more than a hundred and thirty times more stamina than those taking him only a single kilometer.

With his speed, Jake was the fastest in his Nevermore party when it came to purely traveling, though Sylphie beat him thoroughly in shorter distances. His relatively high stamina pool and constant supply of potions also meant he wouldn’t really ever run out of energy as long as he didn’t push himself too hard.

For his very first job outside of the city, the Challenge Dungeon had even picked something super exciting, too. Jake had been tasked with – wait for it - delivering a tax form for a local small mayor to fill out. He even had to bring it back again once it had been filled, making it twice as exciting!

Alright, yeah, the Courier Job sucked ass, and it was clear the entire intent of this was for Jake to travel a longer distance than usual. Jake wouldn’t really call it long-distance travel, though, as it only took him a bit over five hours to reach the small town in question. It would probably have taken longer if any of the wildlife in the way dared get in his way, but luckily, they were all on their best behavior, as blasting his aura pretty much worked like a max repel.

Reaching the small town in question, Jake saw that there were two guards at the entrance, both barely in C-grade. They looked tired with slightly damaged armor, and observing the area, it looked like they had been struggling quite a bit with monster attacks recently.

I can almost smell it…

Entering the town by flashing his Medallion, Jake headed to the mayor’s office straight away without any problems and delivered the tax form to a secretary there. Right as he did so, the mayor himself exited his office and saw Jake, and it looked almost as if a wave of relief washed over him.

“Ah, you’re the Courier, am I right?” the man said with a bright smile. “Thank you for the delivery. Tax papers, right? I will get to it immediately so you can bring it back, but…”

Here it comes…

“… we have recently been dealing with excessive monster attacks from a nearby monster nest, which have put a strain on the guards. Seeing as you made it all the way here safely, you look like you can handle yourself, so would it be possible to look into it while I do the form?”

A side quest!

Right as he thought this, a system prompt appeared before his eyes.

Courier Side Job: Eliminate the nearby monster nest.

Objective: Monster nest eliminated (0/1)

Accept Side Job?

Jake had no reason to refuse as he nodded. “I’ll take a look at it in the meantime. Do you know where this nest is located?”

Courier Side Job Accepted.

“Thank you!” the mayor said, relieved. “I believe the guards mentioned all the attacks usually come from the north, so I reckon it is in that direction. As for any details, I couldn’t possibly tell you the exact situation; we simply haven’t had the resources to send out a scouting party.”

“It’s all good; I’ll find it,” Jake said reassuringly. “Just have those forms ready by the time I return!”

“Most certainly,” the mayor said with a small bow as Jake headed out of the office again. On the way, he released a Pulse of Perception and about a hundred and fifty kilometers to the northeast, he saw a big collection of monsters gathered around a few small hills and rock formations. The monsters all looked to be of the insect type, but with their small number, they definitely weren’t of the eusocial type. If they were, Jake also doubted the town would still be around.

It definitely looked like a monster nest, and Jake decided to make this an express delivery of death to the monsters.

Jumping, Jake summoned his wings as he shot into the air and flew up a few dozen kilometers. Once he reached a good height, Jake slowed down and pulled out his bow. He could see the monsters quite well from this high up, and using a few quick Identifies, he saw they were all in the 210-220 range. This made Jake feel like one wasn't necessarily meant to fight the robbers in the first Courier Job if this was supposed to be the first job with semi-mandatory combat.

Not that it mattered to Jake either way. Nocking an arrow, he took aim and let loose, firing a quickly-charged Arcane Powershot. Right as the arrow was released, Jake nocked another, which he charged ever-so-slightly longer before letting go of the string.

He did this with five more arrows before he felt like it was good enough. Jake didn’t see a need to wait as he began flying downwards, and as he did, the first arrow arrived and split into dozens right before it hit the the monster nest. Due to the difference in charge between each Powershot, the next arrow arrived nearly at the same time, followed by the remaining five.

A few seconds later, as Jake was flying downward, he got a system notification along with all the other kills messages.

Objective: Nest eliminated (1/1)

With a smile, Jake quickly made it down to the ground again and reentered the mayor’s building, having only been gone for a handful of minutes. He did so fully expecting the mayor to still be busy filling out paperwork, but to his surprise met the man in front of his office, the signed form in hand.

“Thank you so much for the assistance!” the mayor said with a bright smile. “Here is the form, all filled out! Once again, I cannot express the depth of my and the town’s gratitude for your help, and I wish you luck on your way back. Of course, should you wish to rest after dealing with the nest, you are more than free to stay at the local inn.”

Side Job Completed!

Side Jobs Completed: 1

Jake stared at the guy and notification a bit before just nodding. “I only did as I should, and thanks for the offer, but I will head back immediately.”

“Of course, of course,” the mayor said with a sense of admiration. “Truly a man of duty! Even after a grueling fight, he does not delay a job.”

“Yeah, sure,” Jake said as he said his goodbyes and headed out, successfully suppressing a laugh from the comments on Jake’s harrowing battle with the local monsters. Right as Jake exited the office, a few local townsfolk thanked him, and even the guards at the gate gave him words of gratitude as he began heading back to the city.

Jake had so many questions, even if he knew the true answer to all of them was probably dungeon-fuckery.

How the hell had the mayor known the nest was eliminated minutes after it had happened? How had he filled out the form so fast? How did everyone else in town also instantly know? What were these Side Jobs actually for? What did they give? Actually, to extrapolate on that point… what did any of these jobs give?

Jake had carried out twenty Courier Jobs now and had yet to earn a dime. No one had even mentioned any payment. Was he doing charity work or something without knowing? How the hell did the Courier industry even work? Wait… maybe he was meant to be an independent contractor who had to send his own invoices?

Of course, the ultimate answer was just that none of this mattered. Side Jobs and Courier Jobs most certainly just gave more Nevermore Points and a better achievement at the end of the Challenge Dungeon. Simple as that. But Jake did still like to imagine the utter lunacy of a world like this existing where society was only held together by unpaid Couriers.

Making it back to the city again took a bit less time than the way to the town as Jake hurried back. Turning in the tax records to the dwarf, Jake picked up another quest to go visit a town, and from there, it continued as Jake became the dedicated Courier for the local area, visiting most of the cities one by one.

By the time he had done thirty jobs, even the easy-difficulty Courier Jobs required him to leave the city. The difficulty also went up a tiny bit as he went to more and more dangerous territories monster-wise. There were also a few cases of trickery here and there, such as someone whom Jake was supposed to collect money from upon delivery claiming he had already sent the payment prior and thus didn’t need to write a check right then and there. This was despite Jake’s job making it pretty clear he had to return with the aforementioned check.

Instances like these were honestly pretty normal, and in most cases, it didn’t end in violence. Just a bit of pressure was enough to make most people crack in this early part of the Challenge Dungeon, and the slightest mention of the guards would have the merchants suddenly talk about everything being a misunderstanding.

In regards to Side Jobs, Jake didn’t always get one, but they were becoming more numerous. From what he gathered, these Side Jobs were jobs not directly related to delivery but were auxiliary tasks. Many could even be completed during the Courier Job, such as one time Jake was asked to kill a certain number of monsters on his way to a town, or another where it was requested if he could check out a certain area to see if a new powerful beast had made the place its home. All while running to a town anyway, making them pretty much free.

Nothing was difficult for Jake at all so far. Even the timed missions were just a joke. Giving Jake three days to get somewhere he could reach in three hours was honestly just sad. Alas, he was in the easy part of the Challenge Dungeon right now, and hopefully, the difficulty would step up soon.

A bit less than two weeks after arriving in the Challenge Dungeon, Jake had completed Courier Job number 35 and returned to the same Guild as always to speak to the dwarf he had gotten pretty damn friendly with by now.

Walking in, Jake gave the man a smile as he didn’t even bother taking a number.

“Job’s done,” Jake said.

“I saw,” the dwarf gave Jake a big smile. “Here, let me have your Medallion.”

“Huh, why?” Jake asked as he nevertheless placed it on the table. The dwarf didn’t even try to pick up but just pointed at the item.

“Now take a look at it.”

Jake instantly realized what the dwarf was getting at, and a quick Identify confirmed it.

[Courier Medallion (Common)] – the second-lowest rarity of Courier Medallion for a relative newcomer to the field who has begun to get some experience under his belt. This Medallion will hold information related to jobs and can give general directions to your destination if those are provided (may not be entirely reliable). Will automatically upgrade as Courier Jobs are completed and your reputation grows.

Requirements: Soulbound

Finally, Jake was no longer running around with an inferior rarity Medallion! Alright, it wasn’t that big an achievement, but Jake was happy it happened. It also ”only” took 35 Courier Jobs. This made Jake wonder if he would have had to do more easy jobs to upgrade it… maybe 50 easy Courier Jobs and 40-something medium jobs? It didn’t really matter, but Jake liked to tell himself he had saved time.

”Congratulations are in order,” the dwarf said, clearly happy for Jake. ”Less than two weeks, and you’re already beginning to no longer be a complete novice. If you keep this up, you may just become a real top-tier Courier who can take on the truly dangerous and rewarding jobs!”

Jake wasn’t sure about the rewarding part, considering he was an unpaid worker, but he still smiled in response. ”Thanks, mate. Now, just because I went up in rank doesn’t mean I’ll stop my momentum. So hit me with the next round of jobs!”

”Yeah… about that,” the dwarf said, his mood fading a bit. ”I have good news and bad news. What do you want first?”

”Alright… hit me with the bad news, I guess.”

”After getting promoted, you can go to one of the small-sized cities to do jobs – rather than here, which is rated as a smallest-sized one. Usually, you would do this through the teleportation gateway… but… there was an accident,” the dwarf explained with a big sigh. ”So now it is no longer operational as the space-locator or something has been broken.”

… yeah, this is one hundred percent a scripted event, Jake very quickly concluded, as he already knew where this was going.

”And the good news?”

”In order to get the teleportation gateway up and running again, we need to do either one of two things. Either we can call a space mage to come to fix it here, which will take about a month… or someone has to bring the currently broken space locator thing to the mages in the small-sized city, and they can fix it remotely from there to get the network up and running again,” the dwarf explained as he looked at Jake. ”I don’t think I have to tell you who this someone would be?”

”Not sure how this is considered the good news,” Jake questioned.

”It’s a Special Courier Job,” the dwarf said in a serious tone. ”The trip there will be a lot more dangerous and take a lot longer than the jobs you have done so far, but if you succeed, you will already be well on your way to upgrading your Medallion again. I also need to warn you that as your Medallion upgraded, I can’t give you any properly challenging jobs if you stay in this city, which may delay your next upgrade, but the choice is naturally yours.”

As the dwarf finished his sentence, a system prompt expectedly popped up.

Choose your next action:

Accept Special Courier Job 1: Transport the Space Magic Locator to the small-sized city.

Or

Continue doing regular Courier Jobs in the smallest-sized city for 1 month (30 days).

Needless to say, Jake was going on a cross-country road trip because there was no fucking way he would stay back and do regular boring Courier Jobs for another full month.