Genesis Sync

"Hmm, my HP didn’t recover. I guess being logged out does not automatically restore HP, John said in surprise. "I wonder if the bread or water in my inventory will help?"

He opened his inventory and selected the bread tile before one appeared in his hand, which he began to eat.

[HP: 78/100]

John focused on the notification and smiled after seeing how his health was continually going up as he ate more of the bread before a new notification appeared as he finished the bread off.

[HP: 100/100]

[Buff received: Satiated.]

[Satiated: While out of combat, health will regenerate at a rate of 1% every 5 seconds.]

As he read the notification, John's eyes widened in surprise. {So I got the buff for eating the bread? Or was it because I restored my HP to full? Either way, it means if I stay out of combat, I will restore all my HP in 110 seconds.}

As he was in thought, he noticed a small icon that looked like a piece of bread had appeared at the top right of his vision with a small timer underneath which was counting down. As he focused on it, it expanded slightly with text appearing.

[Satiated Buff: 1:59:57]

{So I only have the buff for two hours? I guess that makes sense, but then what’s the point in water if bread restores my HP and gives me the satiated buff?}

As John thought of this, he opened the inventory again before selecting the water and reading its description.

[Water x 5]

[Simple water that restores 25% of your total MP when drunk but must be out of combat to receive the effect. If the drinker reaches 100% MP, then they will receive the Quenched buff.]

{Ohh, so water restores MP while bread restores HP.} Upon realising this, John checked the description of the bread.

[Bread x 5]

[Simple bread that restores 25% of your total HP when eaten but must be out of combat to receive the effect. If the eater reaches 100% HP, then they will receive the Satiated buff]

{I guess I really should read the descriptions of items before using them. But let's see what the quenched buff does.]

At this, John withdrew water from his inventory and began to drink it. As soon as the first drop of water touched his lips, he received a notification.

[MP: 20/20]

[Buff received: Quenched.]

[Quenched: Mana will regenerate at a rate of 1% every 5 seconds.]

[Quenched Buff: 1:59:59]

{So mana still regenerates in combat while health doesn’t, huh?}

After finishing his little test, John closed the Inventory window before heading off in a random direction to search for the final peacebloom he needed for his quest.

Luckily, it didn’t take long to find one, so he quickly took out his trowel and crouched down before attempting to gather the herb.

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[Herb gathering success]

[Quest progress:]

[Peacebloom 5/5]

[Silverleaf 5/5]

"Yes!" John cheered before he turned in the direction of the village. “I guess I can head back now.”

Along the way, he kept an eye out for any more herbs he could gather, as he figured he might be able to sell them to Sajiko or something, and as he was about halfway back to the village, he suddenly heard what seemed to be a whimper coming from behind a nearby bush.

John immediately went on alert in case it was another dangerous killer bunny.

However, after waiting a few seconds and nothing appearing from the bush, he decided he must have imagined it. However, almost instantly he heard the whimpering noise coming from the bush again.

After hesitating for a few seconds and with the appearance of no dangerous killer bunnies, John decided to check out what was causing the noise. He slowly approached the bush before peering over it to discover what seemed to be a lump of fluff, a lump of fluff that was in fact making whimpering noises along with the occasional slight movement.

John observed the fluff for a few moments before he slowly came around the bush in order to get a better look at it. What he found was a small bear cub, curled up in pain because of having a nasty-looking thorn sticking out of its left front paw.

John knelt down near it before gently asking, "Hey, little guy, you ok?"

{At least I’m assuming you're a guy. Inspect.}

[Name: Bear Cub (Normal)]

[Monster Type: Defensive]

[Level: 1]

[HP: 160]

[MP: 30]

[Description: A small bear cub that has injured its paw.]

(Hmm, it really doesn’t tell me much. All I can really see is the cub's level, HP and MP. It was the same with the killer bunnies though, so I guess it’s because I only have the most basic version of the inspect skill like Sajiko said.)

{Now what do I do with you?} John thought before deciding he had two options.

Leave the cub where it was, though it would probably die, or help it and risk being attacked in the process.

{If I help it and it attacks me, it should only be able to deal a small amount of damage to me since it’s a defensive type monster; guess it was a good thing I ate the bread earlier.)

John didn’t have any issue with animals since they had never done anything to make his life difficult, with maybe the exception of the killer bunnies, so in the end he figured he would help the little cub.

{If it attacks me, I can just turn and run like with the damn bunnies.}

He crouched down even lower and slowly approached the cub while saying in a calming tone, "Hey little guy, I'm here to help."

The cub, now aware of him, tried to stand up in order to back away, but pain suddenly shot through its paw, causing it to collapse again before it started to cry louder than before.

{Fuck, I doubt this guy could have travelled that far from its parents. If I’m doing this, I need to finish it quick.}

"Ok fella, no need to panic, I just want to help," John said as he stretched his hand towards the cub's paw. In retaliation, the cub itself attempted to bat his hand away with its uninjured paw.

“Come on, little guy, I don’t wanna be around when mamma and papa bear turn up. I’ve read that book and it doesn’t end well.”

John figured he would have to restrain the animal slightly if he wanted to help it, so in the end gently held it down using one of his knees, which made the cub cry even louder.

After he had successfully pinned the cub down, he used his other knee to pin down the uninjured paw that was once again trying to bat him before grabbing the injured paw.

After he had held the injured paw in one hand, he grabbed the thorn with his other hand before giving it a quick yank, pulling the thorn out while also making the bear cry out in pain before he quickly released it.

The cub quickly backed away again before it began to lick the paw after noticing it no longer had the thorn stuck in it.

Relieved that the cub was not attacking him, John retrieved one of the breads from his inventory before tossing it just in front of the cub's nose.

The cub noticed the food and sniffed it carefully before taking a small bite. Only after confirming that it seemed fine did it quickly eat the whole thing. As it did so, John noticed that the bear's HP was slowly rising while the wound on its paw vanished.

{I guess the HP restore effect works on monsters too.}

After eating the bread, the bear seemed to notice that the wound on its paw had disappeared and so it tried standing up. After successfully doing so and moving around a bit, the bear stopped and turned to look at John.

The bear cub continued to observe John for a few moments before slowly approaching him and giving him a sniff, followed by a low growl before it ran off into the woods.

"You're welcome," John said. He watched the bear cub run off before standing back up, and as he did so, he heard a notification sound before a window appeared before him.

[Quest Complete Notification]

[Help the poor bear cub (Hidden)]

[An injured bear cub hurt its paw and was not able to walk, so could not get back to its family.]

[By helping this injured bear cub, you have shown yourself to be a friend, and in doing so you may be rewarded in some way in the future.]

[Quest success reward:]

[150 exp rewarded]

[Exp: 0/100>>150/100]

[Ding]

[Level up]

[Level: 0>>1]

[All stats increased by 1]

[SPI: 5>>6]

[WIS: 2>>3]

[STR: 5>>6]

[INT: 4>>5]

[VIT: 4>>5]

"What!" John said, surprised, before excitedly saying, "Status"

[Name: Vincarna]

[Race: Human]

[Title: None]

[Class: None]

[Level: 1]

[Exp: 50/200]

[HP: 120/120]

[MP: 30/30]

[ATP: 6]

[END: 5]

[Stat Point Breakdown:]

[SPI: 6]

[WIS: 3]

[STR: 6]

[INT: 5]

[VIT: 5]

[Stat Point Allocation: 1 point to each stat on each level up]

[Skills: Inspect, Herb gathering]

"Nice, though I guess the amount of Exp you need increases for each level. Still, that was a lot of exp for one quest, and it was a hidden one?

Maybe they only show up if the right conditions are met, or I suppose it could have had something to do with my opportunity; I’ll have to ask Sarah about it later."

After that, John was in a good mood as he headed back to the village and on the way, he even found two more silverleaf and one peacebloom.

What he didn’t know, however, was that during his entire interaction with the little bear, someone or something had been watching him.