The silence in the clearing was so thick you could have carved it with a butter knife. Elizabeth, who in the real world was the untouchable Rank 1 student, was currently vibrating with a level of rage usually reserved for someone who just found a hair in their five-star meal.
Rogue, completely oblivious to the fact that he was flirting with a girl who could probably out-grind him with one hand tied behind her back, just smirked.
Mirra, however, had better survival instincts. She grabbed Rogue by the back of his cloak and yanked him toward the bushes. "Stop talking," she hissed. "Stop moving. Stop breathing. You're talking to a girl who looks like she has a kill-streak in her eyes."
Liam, meanwhile, was busy. He had pushed himself up from the dirt, his iron armour clanking like a bag of loose change. He didn't look at Elizabeth. He didn't look at the traumatised party members. He looked at his inventory.
[Item: Rabbit Toad Hind Leg (Raw/Bitten) x1]
[Item: Rabbit Toad Gland x1]
[Status: Poison Immune (Permanent)]
Eighteen years old, Liam thought, his inner voice sounding like a weary college professor. I am a legal adult. I am currently pursuing a culinary degree. And yet, because of a 'Randomised Avatar' glitch on Day 1, I am being treated like a runaway toddler by the girl who beat me in the midterms.
He adjusted his helmet with a heavy clink and typed into the party chat: [Quest: 2/50. We are wasting daylight.]
"Wasting daylight?!" Elizabeth rounded on him, her cat ears pinning back. "Liam, you were just paralysed in the dirt because you decided to treat a venomous monster like a juice box! The game has been live for three hours, and you're already trying to find a speed run to the afterlife!"
Liam looked up at her. Since he was barely three feet tall, he had to tilt his head back so far his helmet almost fell off.
["It tasted like grape soda,"] he typed.
["High quality. 8.5/10."]
"IT'S POISON!" Elizabeth and Mirra screamed in unison.
"Technically," Liam's internal monologue corrected, it was an unrefined syrup with a toxic kick. With some carbonation and a bit of honey, it's a bestseller.
Rogue finally managed to detach himself from Mirra's grip. He looked at Elizabeth, then at Liam. "Look, I don't know if you're his sister or his babysitter, but the kid's a tank. A weird, bird-eating, poison-drinking tank, but he holds aggro. We have 48 more toads to go if we want to hit Level 5 before the evening rush."
Elizabeth looked like she was about to commit a crime, but then she saw the Quest notification over Liam's head. She sighed. She wasn't some high-level god; she was Level 4 at best, just someone who had been grinding since the second the servers went green.
"Fine," she snapped. "But I'm following you. I'm not letting him eat anything else without a witness."
"Are you joining the party?" Mirra asked, hopeful.
"No," Elizabeth said, her pride as a solo-player flaring. "I'm observing. Like a safety inspector. Continue."
The next hour was a masterclass in psychological horror for Rogue and Mirra.
Every time a Rabbit Toad emerged from the brush, Liam would [Bull Rush] it with clinical precision. He didn't scream. He didn't cheer. He just slammed his shield into their ribs, took the hits with his high Defence, and waited for Rogue to finish them off.
But the moment the monster died, the real struggle began.
"Liam, no!" Elizabeth would shout.
Liam's hand would pause inches away from a Toad's gallbladder.
["Just a taste,"] he'd type. ["For science."]
"NO SCIENCE," Elizabeth barked. "Put the organ down!"
Liam would slowly, regretfully, put the organ back into the dirt. But the moment Elizabeth looked away to check her map, he'd snatch up a tuft of "Rabbit-Fur-Moss" and shove it into his inventory.
She's efficient, Liam thought, watching Elizabeth effortlessly parry a stray toad that tried to jump at her. But she lacks the soul of a gourmet. This forest is a buffet, and she's treating it like a hazardous waste site.
"So," Rogue whispered to Mirra as they followed the clanking wolf-girl. "Is she his girlfriend or something?"
"She looks like she wants to delete him from the server," Mirra whispered back. "And our tank is currently trying to hide a handful of mushrooms in his greaves."
Liam didn't care about the gossip. He was focused on the math.
[Quest Progress: 45/50][Absorption Progress: 12/1000]
He had managed to sneak a few more "samples" when Elizabeth was busy lecturing Rogue about his inefficient dagger rotations.
If I can automate the carbonation process using the 'Hearth' fire from Hestia, Liam mused, I can bypass the need for a pressurised bottling plant. I'll be the only player on Day 1 selling permanent poison resistance in a refreshing beverage.
"Alright, that's 50," Rogue said, wiping sweat from his brow. "Let's turn this in and get out of this creepy forest before the kid decides to try and eat a tree."
Liam stopped. He looked at a nearby patch of glowing blue mushrooms.
"Liam, don't even think about it," Elizabeth warned, her hand on her sword.
Liam slowly turned his head toward her. He didn't type anything. He just stood there, the iron helmet hiding his expression, but the "intensity" of his gaze was palpable.
["They look like blueberries,"] he finally typed.
"THEY ARE RADIATING PURPLE SMOKE, LIAM!"
"Ok, idiot sandwich," he whispered, his gravelly voice echoing through the woods.
[Status Window]
Level: 4 (Levelled up from the 50-toad grind)
NAME: Little Liam
CLASS: Vanguard
ATTACK: 90 (All points into Attack. Glass Cannon status: Confirmed.)
DEFENSE: 40
INT: 10
LUCK: 10
INVENTORY: 10 Venom Sacs, 4 Mushrooms (Hidden in boots), 1 Very Angry Elizabeth.