Chapter 6: Gift

  Fisk woke with a start, his hand snatching the bowl from his dresser and swinging wildly at the shadow standing over him

  “Oh!” Faith cried, stumbling back just in time to avoid the bowl aimed at her face.

  “Faith?!” Fisk shouted in dismay as the woman hugged the wall of the other side of the room in fear. “Shit… I must have fallen asleep…”

  “Sorry! I'll leave!” Faith said, turning to rush out the room.

  “Wait!” Fisk shouted, stopping the woman in her tracks. “I uh, you startled me. Sorry. That was my fault.”

  “No! I… I shouldn't have been touching you…”

  “Touching me?” Fisk muttered before looking down at his pants leg that was rolled up to expose his amputated leg.

  “I… got curious, I thought I could help but your leg… it doesn't heal,” Faith said, the worry clear on her face.

  “And it won't… ever,” Fisk said, his expression darkening. “I need your help, Faith.”

  “Is… it a curse?” Faith said, the village woman taking a step back as if Fisk were infectious.

  “No, but I need you to help me find something,” Fisk said, beckoning the woman over.

  “Me?”

  “Yes, you're the only one that can do it. Don't worry, you won't be in any harm. Listen closely, I need you to ask a player to find something.”

  “Player?”

  “Uh, an immortal,” Fisk corrected, the way the NPCs addressed the players being that of immortal considering their ability to resurrect.

  Then, it happened, the interface appearing in his vision that was unseen by anyone else.

  [Would you like to issue a quest?]

  ->Yes?

  -No?

  Fisk accepted yes, before setting the reward and quest conditions.

  Unfortunately, all he had was favor, seeing as he had apparently spent all his XP on the mess up in the plaza. But, considering the nature of the ravenous players…ppl

  [Issuing Quest: Find materials for [Nobody]]

  -Reward 100 Favor with [Nobody].

  Faith frowned, “You want me to ask an immortal to look for a bunch of junk?”

  “Wait, do you see a blue box or anything?” Fisk asked, curious about how his issuing a quest looked like to the NPC.

  “No? Am I supposed to be seeing something?”

  Is that how she interprets my quest? Just me asking?

  “Yeah, if you can do that, I'll be out of your hair in no time,” Fisk said, “But you can't let them know I'm here. Okay? It's important they don't know I'm here.”

  Faith frowned, “I take it they're the ones after you?”

  “Yeah.”

  At Fisk's words the woman froze, eyeing him cautiously, “Do I need to be worried?”

  “What?” Fisk said, realizing the woman was becoming suspicious of him. “No, just…. It would be very inconvenient for everyone if they found me.”

  Faith adopted an apprehensive look, but fortunately the words that left her mouth next gave Fisk relief.

  “I'll ask around, but I'm not sure if it'll be helpful, the immortals aren't the best bunch sometimes.”

  “Just be careful.”

  At Fisk's words the woman displayed a small smile before closing the door and leaving Fisk alone.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “AI my ass…”

  Fisk laid back, opening the forums again to eye his post.

  [Need help… where to find ingredients? Need Iron ingots, Magic Matrixs, Florren Wood, Silver Ingot and a Rabbit’s paw? By Nobody]

  Fortunately, it seemed Eve had a reason for depositing him in Liurnia. According to the streams of forum posts, everything he needed was located in the surrounding area.

  Iron was easy to come by due to the mountains nearby with silver a rarer resource from something called a golem.

  Magic Matrixs had a chance to drop from defeated foes.

  Florren Wood came from the trees nearby and finally, the Rabbit's paw, which was an epic drop from a common rabbit apparently.

  How all these materials came together Fisk didn't know, but apparently he could craft it himself if he had the apparent skill.

  There was just one problem…

  He didn't have skills, something that came with a class. So for now Fisk would be forced to find a blacksmith or a player with the ability.

  The town had a blacksmith, but getting to him without drawing the attention of the players would prove to be… interesting.

  Fisk sighed, plopping back down and opening his map up to review the world around him. Most of his map was fogged up, but there were markers and indicators, small symbols that represented Eve’s tokens that she needed crushed.

  One of them wasn't so far away, but…

  Maybe I could get a player to find it? Fisk rubbed his chin as he scrolled the forums again.

  Complaints… complaints… woke? What the hell is woke? Complaints. Item trade… looking for group? Raids? Complaints…

  No… judging from the stream of threads there was no way a player could be trusted with such an important task, if anything they'd probably try to sell the token or use it in a weird way.

  Bored, Fisk decided to post again.

  [What to do if stuck in a game world?] By [Nobody]

  Nobody… Fisk frowned, considering he wasn't a player, he supposed it made sense.

  -Stuck how?- by Mad Scientist.

  -Get my step bro to help me.- by Joytoy69

  -Get super OP and establish my harem of mommy elf girls- by Oompavillian

  -Introduce communism- by Mr. Feast

  -Get my bearings and start grinding!- by NOTaNekomancer

  A stream of comments immediately began flooding in, people bored it seemed between whatever tasks they were completing that gave Fisk some comfort.

  -What if you were stuck in The Brave Frontier?- by Nobody, Fisk commented.

  -Like in SAO?- by MemesFist

  -I don't know what that is- Fisk replied, his response netting a massive flurry of unhelpful feedback and an argument about how the show should have ended halfway through season one.

  “Maybe that's enough internet…” Fisk muttered.

  “Hello? Mr. Fisk?” Faith called out as a knock on his door sounded and the wooden entrance creaked open. “I did what you asked.”

  “Back already?” Fisk asked.

  “Already? It's been eight hours?”

  “WHAT?!” Fisk shouted, startling the woman. “Oh, uh, sorry…”

  Fisk turned his head, his wide eyes to the forum screen.

  This… this is a dangerous thing!

  “Mr. Fisk?”

  “Uh, yeah, sorry-you were saying?” Fisk said before his eyes noticed the hem of her yellow dress had been torn.

  “I managed to find a few immortals to look for the items you requested. Most turned me down but there were a couple that seemed eager!”

  “What happened to your dress?”

  “Oh.. uhm, a group of immortals grabbed me, but there's nothing you need to worry about,” Faith said with a smile, yet her hands moved together, a telltale sign of distress.

  “If someone’s bothering you let me know,” Fisk said firmly, yet even as he did so, he didn't miss the woman's gaze shifting to his missing leg.

  “Don't trouble yourself Mr. Fisk, I'm quite alright. The immortals tend to be very grabby sometimes.”

  The woman left and the door closed.

  Fisk's hands balled into fists, his jaw clenching as he stared at his useless leg.

  “Another world and I'm still useless…”

  “Not quite.”

  At the words Fisk jolted, his eyes wide, fists up, his gaze focused on the tiny woman wearing massive spectacles and a lab coat.

  “Jumpy are we?” Eve said as she adjusted her glass.

  “You! Who drops a cripple in the middle of the woods without so much as a warning or something to defend himself with!” Fisk yelled as he yanked the woman by her collar. “I almost died!”

  “But you didn't and you're still alive with a sweet farm girl tending to you I might add.”

  Fisk's eye twitch, his suspicions correct about Faith being sent to find him.

  “Tch, what do you want?” Fisk asked, releasing the woman.

  “Just checking in on my number one anomaly. How is your progress on hunting down my tokens?”

  Fisk gestured to his legs.

  “Fair, and your prosthetic leg?”

  “Faith says a few players are working on it already,” Fisk replied before laying back down. “I don't know how long that will take. Is there a reason you didn't just give me a new leg?”

  “Currently, the scope of my reach is extremely limited. But, you destroy my tokens, and I'll make sure you're well rewarded. How are you enjoying the world by the way?”

  “Oh it's lovely, all six by ten feet of it,” Fisk said, looking up at the rustic ceiling. “I've got a bed, a bowl, barrels of fermenting wine, and a thin sheet as a blanket. Five stars.”

  “Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.”

  “I've never claimed to be witty, want a true answer? It sucks. I don't like all this sitting around.”

  “It could be worse.”

  “Oh yeah? How.”

  “Bathroom functions could be turned on,” Eve said, vanishing as quickly as she came.

  However, in her place was a pouch, a leather bag.

  Fisk reached over, opening the bag to reveal its contents.

  “Huh…” Fisk said, a broad smile on his face as he lifted the item up with renewed vigor.