[NR] Talking To A Bigfoot - Chapter 484 (Patreon)

Courtney laughs, “This isn’t comparing you to anyone you could think of as normal. A normal person, especially the locals, spend most of their life not even breaking through to level ten. Players admittedly tend to reach 24 and many even manage beating a dungeon by the time they’re 30. Then there are the rich who if they manage to beat a boss will pay a small competent team who would be able to beat a dungeon anyway to drag them along. Then finally, with the next bottleneck, being rich no longer helps get you through.”

Rachel rolls her eyes, “Why? It’s only a System quest.”

Courtney, “A personalized System quest. What that means is that while you do get to choose between a selection of quests, each of them is targeted at your weaknesses. For someone like Jason, that will likely mean a lot of ranged enemies. And for some rich kid who got where he was on daddy’s dime?

“Well for starters, it is likely that all available quests will make it so they can’t just pay to play their way through it. Even you, someone who is actively avoiding the use of your family’s money would likely have restrictions based around it. That will right away knock out quite a few people.

“So much so that some families across the pond irl have a requirement now that to inherit, you need to reach level 50. Over here, money speaks a bit more still, despite all the work done, so most don’t have anything like that. My opinion is that a level 50 requirement has done them pretty good.

“Now, there are still sub-par heirs, but it does engender a base level of competency. At the very least, they don’t seem to have any mouth breathers kicking around their main line. So, while there are more ‘normal’ people in this level bracket than later ones, these are the people you need to compare yourself with and you’re winning.”

Of course, while comforting, simply telling someone they’re doing good isn’t enough. So, Courtney spends a good bit of time with Rachel. A comforting presence as Rachel faces her first big failure since misjudging that damn dwarf cultist.

Back in NeoRealm, Jason is doing his duty as an adventurer and reporting what the group just experienced. The guild obviously doesn’t want everyone reporting every dive, but that trap was special. Not only was it well above the reported difficulty, but after being triggered it blocked the way forward.

The report, however, isn’t enough of an emergency to skip the lines. After all, the trap not only wasn’t hidden, it was super obvious. Other players would likely still throw themselves at it, but locals would turn back. At least, that is the hope.

While waiting in line, Jason isn’t idle. To not cause a panic, he doesn’t say specifically what he is there for. However, he does talk a bit with those nearby and in general, listens in on the small talk.

Small talk that is quite muted. A bad sign if there ever was one. The Guild is supposed to be filled with a certain energy. An atmosphere of excitement and hope.

At least the good side of it is that the line goes quickly. So soon enough, Jason is at the front desk. “I would like to report how my group’s last delve went.”

The dogkin receptionist’s ears wilt and he sighs. “Through the door over there. The next available guild official will be with you shortly.”

That was a lie. A guild official wasn’t with Jason shortly. In fact, his wait inside a room very reminiscent of a DMV waiting room was three times as long as the line out in the main room. Then again, a line would be quicker when it seems a decent portion of it is being directed into another room to wait more.

Suffice it to say, the room was getting a little packed. All that despite the fact it seems they have five times as many people working the waiting room than out at the desks. Also, the waiting room is silent.

Everyone in the room keeps to themselves, with only the guild officials occasionally calling a name. Though, as always with this kind of thing, eventually Jason’s name gets called and he is led into a small interview room. Two simple chairs, one with a desk stacked high with papers.

The official who called on Jason, a strawberry blond lady bigfoot, sits at the desk and gestures towards the other chair. “I’m going to guess you don’t have anything uplifting to report?”

Jason shrugs, “The only person who died on my team was a traveller?”

The bigfoot official smiles, “Well that is good news! Though seeing as your group is likely all travellers, I’m going to guess I can’t talk you out of delving into this dungeon for the moment?”

Jason gestures at his shoulder, “Not all of us, but yeah. I actually have a quest to breakthrough in this specific dungeon.”

The bigfoot shrugs, “Can’t blame a girl for trying. Now, what went wrong? I have a guess, but just in case, how would you describe your delve?”

Jason, “It was normal enough up until the very end of the ninth floor. Then we came across a rather nasty trap. Worse, said trap when set off started a smoke heavy fire that will have eventually filled the entire dungeon. At this point, we have to reset the dungeon and try again.”

The guild official nods, “Well that was short and to the point. You did a lot better than most. I was expecting the usual nonsense about how you were this close or an in-depth and likely very exaggerated recounting of the entire delve.”

Jason shrugs, “This is a popular dungeon because it is comparatively weak and a good place to breakthrough. If I wanted to brag, I would have gone to some hell dungeon that started with level 25 mobs. At best, this is just a stop over for my group on our way to somewhere more exciting.”

The bigfoot official laughs, “Now that is bragging! But I get your point.”