Finishing the first mission of the storyline alone took 2 hours, and 20 minutes of that was spent climbing the building. If only he knew about the Garudama transport service, he would have finished this way earlier.
"Use our service again, young mercenary!" A middle-aged man riding a flying monster that looked like an eagle with orange feathers waved his hand and took off.
Max watched him fly away with the monster, and the corner of his lips twitched slightly. That was why his viewers reacted strangely when he climbed the building again. He thought they were laughing with him, but it turned out they laughed at him.
"You guys are really evil when I need help. Why can't you just tell me about the flying service?" He grumbled.
And then, he rolled his eyes, remembering what the chat told him before.
"Ah, I remember. No backseat, right? I think you guys need to know the difference between back seating and helping the streamer. Do you want me to hold a lesson about that?"
— No need to! We know already
— Yeah, we just don't tell you on purpose to see your parkour
— *nod nod* your parkour is so cool that we want to see it
— Definitely not to make you suffer. Source: Trust me bro
— I love seeing your serious expression and smiling face when you climb the building. It makes me want to keep you!
Excuses. Max knew that they could always tell him about it. They just wanted to see him working pretty hard and got frustrated.
Sighing, he just walked out of the base toward the steam train. The next mission should be in the main station because the lump of light gathered at the name station when he chose his next destination.
This time, strangely, the train was quite packed with mercenaries. They were apparently deployed to deal with Tromax in Misty Forest. It explained the situation because the train passed that place before continuing to the main station in Utopia.
'The game puts the details in a strange place.'
Even stranger than that, Max's usual seat near the door wasn't taken. So he sat in that place and enjoyed the time skip. Of course, the chat had to make comments about it.
— Breeze is surrounded by burly men
— Don't ever raise your rear! It's in danger!
— Please forgive their dirty minds...
— Those mercenaries are so cool. Can I ask for their contact information?
— Let me join, Breeze! I will... huff... protect you!
— Dude, Mercenary Quest is a solo game. You can't just 'join' their lobby. The online server hasn't opened yet. Biozone Entertainment said it would be next month.
Ignoring the chat that made fun of him, he listened to Jamal's explanation about the second quest.
"Located near the base is a Daigon Valley. It's a location for Small-Class monsters like Garudama, Horsedis, and Catlapu. I saw that you are walking a lot, not having any mount or steam machine. So talk to Old Man Rig outside this station. He will teach you how to tame a monster."
[Ding! A new mission is generated.]
[First Friend!]
[Ask how to tame a monster to Old Man Rig. Be careful. He's grumpy.]
[Reward: 150 Gills, 1 taming device.]
Looking at the notification, Max's eyes shone.
"I can tame a monster and make it my mount?!"
Mount!
Not only that, but it was a monster mount. He still remembered that middle-aged man riding Garudama on a saddle. And he also liked the feeling of riding it, even though it was just for a few moments.
"Yes! In fact, taming monsters and putting them in the stable is normal for mercenaries. Do you know about–"
"Say less! I will depart immediately." Max said and left without giving Jamal a chance to explain.
He didn't want to hear him yapping again!
— He's running away
— lolol, Jamal's average experience
— I have to admit Breeze has a big heart. He actually listened to Jamal's first yapping without cutting the NPC off
— Jamal seems to like Breeze. He yaps a lot! The more he yap, the more he likes the player, it said.
— lolol, let me post it in Mercenary Hub with the clip of Breeze climbing the main building
Mercenary Hub was the name of Mercenary Quest's community forum, a hub to exchange information. It was usually filled with information on how to hunt certain monsters or how to finish a quest. Entertainment was scarce because it was filled with die-hard monster hunters.
All the funny moments were appreciated. And so, when an unusual thread was posted, many players visited it like they were queueing for a viral hot cake.
[Lololol, a player climbs up the main base near Daigon Valley because taking a stair is a chore! He did it twice while being oblivious to Garudama Service.]
Three videos of short clips from when Max climbed up and down the building skillfully. Unexpectedly, it received a good reaction. Some curious and bored players asked for the streaming link, which made the thread starter add it at the top.
A few minutes after the thread was posted, the livestream viewers reached 16K, once again breaking the threshold, and it became the Mercenary Quest's livestream with the most viewers count in Punch.