VRMMO: World's First Glyphborne-Chapter 6: Hare Today, Meat Tomorrow

Strolling out of the forest and heading back towards the town’s eastern gate, Belladonna kept one of her hands resting on the bulging knapsack that hung from her shoulder, white the other hand idly played with the dagger.

She was unsure of how the stealing systems worked in this game, but considering its neurotic compulsion towards immersion, it was undoubtedly present. Not to mention, the fact that items dropped on death.

All it would take is one little ambush to completely lose all the gains from a grinding session, making the return extra risk and nail biting.

Most of the other players were far too invested in their own grinding to pay attention to a random girl walking past them, lest they lose their kill to someone else in the crowded meadow. But there were some who caught sight of her, and who followed her progress through the meadow with suspicious and enviable gazes.

Those gazes confused Belladonna, mainly because she couldn’t imagine why they would feel envious of her. Sure she had a full inventory, but the bunnies were easy to kill and she had managed this many in just twenty minutes of light grinding,

That was, until she got another look at the other players.

The meadow was roughly a kilometre wide, filled with a mixture of short, vibrant green grass that rose from the multiple rabbit burrows and patches of tall, long grass that was perfect to hide in.

There were many who took advantage of that grass to sneak up on their prey, but it was their attacks that were the problem. They were slashing with the dagger that was clearly made to be stabbed, and didn’t use their free hands at all.

They simply swung, cut into the rabbit multiple times and chased after it when it inevitably ran from that flesh wound. Their kill time for a single rabbit was easily multiple minutes, as most of it was spent chasing and stalking.

The best kill times came from the few rabbits whose wounds left them unable to run, which meant they were overwhelmed by countless wild slashes.

It was just a complete and utter mess.

She could only hope that for their sake, they would do a little digging into the system’s abilities and learn about how to effectively kill. The secret would come out eventually, and undoubtedly there were some pro players using it already too, but for the journalists and less skilled streamers... this was it for the time being.

How sad.

Shaking her head softly, Belladonna asked a guard for directions before heading deeper into the town. The market at the town’s centre was where the guard had directed her, but she didn’t head into the butchers first.

Some more research was needed.

Perusing the market stalls, she tried to figure out the system of currency. Not just what they were, but how much they were worth. The best way to get scammed in any country is to not know the value of what you were trading.

Brut, Solis and Regil. These were the odd names for the currency, in ascending order of worth. B, S and R for short.

Based on the pricing she could see, it was decimalised. That meant that ten Brut were worth one Solis and ten Solis were worth one Regil.

Basic necessities seemed to all be traded in Brut, with bread and other foods hovering around the 2 to 3 Brut mark, while someone at a stall was trying to sell iron knives for as cheap as 6 Solis. Simple enough.

Armed with the power of knowledge, Belladonna headed towards the butchers and had to quickly leap backwards to avoid getting hit by the door as another player kicked it open and stormed out.

"Cheap bitch. Took me ages to kill that damned thing and this is all she gives me? Unbelievable."

The player was grumbling to himself as he stared at the fistful of coins in his hand. Brown coins, made out of a copper-like material, and which were clearly hand made as their shaping was not even close to uniform.

They were barely able to be called a circle, with deformities along their circumference and some even being bent in the middle. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Brut, if she had to guess. Four in total, for an entire rabbit.

Belladonna casually shifted her bag, so that it was behind her back, but one of the rabbits hanging from her belt was still clear as day. When the other player noticed her standing there, as well as the kill hanging by her side, he scoffed slightly and pointed to it.

"Good luck to you. That bitch just berates everyone who brings her stuff, then uses it as an excuse to pay you like shit. At this rate, it will take hours to get out of noob gear."

The player stuffed his coins in his bag and stormed off, still exuding a dark energy that followed him down the streets.

Belladonna watched him go then glanced down the way she had come with narrowed eyes, before heading into the butcher’s shop.

Fresh meat hung from metal hooks, that were in turn hanging from metal bars that lined the walls of the butchers. The stench of blood and death filled every inch of the shop front, a smell that would have put off some people with a softer stomach, but only made Belladonna’s mouth water. Although it was unclear if that was because of the meat, or her new appetite for blood.

A tall, full figured woman stood behind the counter, a blood covered, leather apron covering her clothing. Her hands were similarly covered in crimson, a repulsing sight to someone who was used to gloves being worn and much more sanitary conditions.

The woman was in the middle of chopping up a fresh cut of meat, when she slammed her cleaver down and glared at Belladonna with a withering gaze.

"Another one of ya, huh? Alright then hun, get it out then. Don’t be complainin’ when you get the price."

Her accent was thick, her voice gruff and rough just like her.

Belladonna nodded softly, unhooking the few rabbits she had hanging on her belt before laying them on the counter before the butcher. But whilst the gruff woman was already opening her mouth to speak, Belladonna wasn’t done.

Pulling her bag back around, she flipped it open and started to pull out rabbit after rabbit. Laying the brown, fuzzy creatures on the counter side by side, until just over a dozen fresh morsels were ready and waiting.

"Will you be able to buy them all?"

The butcher raised her eyebrows in surprise, looking over the morsels in front of her, before letting out a short, raspy laugh.

"Well now, Look at you lass. Yer other Graceless have been giving me one or two, but you got the haul of a real huntress. That’s more like it. Let’s see now... Hmm, good kills on a few of them.

This one is extra clean. Neck break, very nice. Oh, and this one looks like it got something through the head. Not bad... Not bad at all.

I can actually get some good cuts of meat outta these ones. Not like the others. But I still gotta skin them, gut them and prep them. That takes time for me, and time is money. All and all... How’s 5 Solis and 7 Brut sound?"

Belladonna’s eyebrows shot up in surprise at the total. It sounded great, especially compared to the 4 Brut that the last guy was complaining about. If she just got a few more rabbits, which would only take her a few minutes, it would definitely make her enough to buy the knife from the blacksmiths.

But she held her tongue and paused to think about it, doing some quick mental maths based on the previous complaining players grand total.

"Hang on... Shouldn’t it be closer to 6 and a half, even 7 Solis?"

"Smart girl, but I already told you. I gotta skin em and prep em, that takes time away from me. So that brings the price down."

"Hmm... How about you make it an even 6, and throw in some butchering lessons. If you teach me how to skin, then I can bring back cleaner kills in the future, freshly skinned. Saves you on time in the future, at a very reasonable price."

Belladonna flashed the butcher a sharp toothed smile, her crimson eyes flashing mischeviously. The butcher smirked herself, considering the offer.

"Make it 5 and a half, and I keep the pelts."

"Deal!"

Their hands slapped together, the butcher’s blood covered hand squeezing Belladonna’s as they shook on their deal. At the same time, the crystal on the back of Belladonna’s hand flashed and a screen appeared before her.

[New Quest Acquired!]

[Quest: Learning the Blade

You have made a deal with the local butcher to learn her trade in exchange for some of your goods. Take her lessons and learn how to properly handle kills.

Reward: 5 Solis, 5 Brut, Basic Butchery skills.]