Besides the basic thistle roses they were searching for—which, by the way, were not easy to find—Ren was keeping an eye out for other herbs as well.
After three hours of hard searching, they had only managed to find two thistle roses total.
No wonder people had historically hated this quest.
The drop rate was brutal, and the flowers were hidden like little green-and-silver landmines across the meadows.
Most players gave up after fifteen minutes.
Ren was stubborn.
And while he was at it, he wasn’t about to waste time.
He had also started harvesting other useful ingredients whenever he spotted them.
Early on, he had even handed Reed a few pictures—basic botanical sketches Ren had drawn quickly in their starter notebook—to help him recognize key plants.
“See this one?” Ren said, holding up a scraggly vine with thin purple flowers. “That’s called Whisperroot. It’s used in minor healing potions. Grab it if you see it.”
He pointed at another. “And this? Sunveil Fern. It’s a catalyst. Boosts potion strength. Looks like a normal fern unless you check the underleaf.”
Reed memorized as best he could, nodding seriously. Other fantasy-style herbs they kept an eye out for included glowcap mushrooms—tiny fungi that shimmered faintly in the dusk, useful for light-based elixirs; bitterthorn leaves, a low-tier plant that helped accelerate natural regeneration; and frostmint, pale-blue herbs used to cool minor burns or bruises, key for level one healing salves.
Each find added a little more to their battered starter packs.
Ren wasn’t just collecting them because they were valuable.
He was already planning ahead.
He didn’t just want to heal with pre-bought potions.
He wanted to brew his own.
At Level 1, every minor healing potion he could personally create would save them money—
and later, maybe even make them rich.
If they lived long enough to pull it off.
***
Occasionally, a Horned Rabbit would wander too close—and when it did, it was Reed’s job to defend them.
Horned Rabbits were perfect for new players. At most, they’d do a couple points of damage with their little headbutts. Still, those couple points added up if you weren’t careful, and if you let yourself get pecked down without healing, you could absolutely die like an idiot.
Luckily for Reed, he had Ren standing back throwing heals at him.
Every time Reed took a hit, a soft golden glow would wash over him as Ren’s basic Heal spell patched the damage. It didn’t stop it from hurting, though.
“Fuck, getting headbutted hurts,” Reed hissed after finally stabbing a Horned Rabbit to death with his starter sword.
Ren glanced at Reed as they moved between the trees.
“I know it sucks and it hurts,” Ren said, “but you’re playing at 100% realism. If we weren’t, you’d only be getting half an experience point instead of a full one.”
“Really?” Reed said. “You can get half a point of experience?”
“Yeah,” Ren said. “It doesn’t show up until you kill the second monster. The game tracks it in the background.”
“Why don’t more people play at full realism then?” Reed asked.
Ren shrugged. “Remember how much you just complained about how much it hurt?”
“Yeah,” Reed said, still rubbing at his arm instinctively.
“Well, imagine if a monster rips off your arm,” Ren said. “Or one of those spiky pigs charges and shatters your leg.”
“Fuck,” Reed said, his eyes widening.
“Yeah. That’s exactly what I’m talking about,” Ren said.
Reed shook his head. “So is that why you play a cleric and hide in the back?”
“Errrrrrr,” Ren said with a little embarrassment. “Also because I like being an alchemist.”
“Have you done that already? I don’t think alchemists exist yet,” Reed said, his brow furrowed. He had been reading all the lore Ren had passed to him during slow shifts at the laundromat.
“What I mean is, I theoretically like being an alchemist,” Ren said, making himself feel a little dumb. There was no way he was going to expose the fact that he was technically time-traveling.
“I always liked chemistry classes,” Ren said quickly. “So I figure this is gonna be close.”
“Ah, that makes sense,” Reed said.
“Which reminds me—are you gonna pick your secondary profession soon too?” Ren asked.
“Yeah,” Reed said. “Why?”
“What are you thinking about?” Ren asked.
“Not sure,” said Reed.
Ren hesitated. “Well, I know this sounds stupid, but you work at the laundromat and do a lot of tailoring, right?”
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“Yeah. Nobody wants to throw away shirt because there’s a hole in it.”
“Well, do you want to do that in the game?”
“What? You mean do laundry and sewing here in game too? When I’m supposed to be escaping from that shit? During my playing time?” Reed said, looking horrified.
Ren gave him a hard look. “First of all, I don’t want to hear the word ‘playing’ come out of your mouth again.”
“What?” Reed said, confused.
“Look, it looks fun right now,” Ren said, “you’re swinging your sword around, being a hero. But remember, all ten of us in the dorm are doing this to make a living, right?”
“Yeah, obviously,” Reed said, a little defensive.
“Then don’t forget,” Ren said, voice hardening. “This isn’t a game for us. This is our chance to get out of the slums.”
Reed looked a little abashed and scratched the back of his head.
“You’re right,” he said. “Sorry.”
Ren relaxed a little and offered his fist. Reed bumped it with a grin.
“I’m not saying don’t have fun,” Ren said. “But think about this like it’s your new life. Not just another game.”
“Cool,” Reed said. “I get it.”
Ren nodded. “Good. And seriously—if you like tailoring, why not double down? You can pick up linen scraps, learn patterns, and eventually you’ll be making cloth armor.”
“Cloth armor?” Reed said skeptically.
“Yeah. Everyone can wear it,” Ren said. “It’s basically just better clothes.”
“Why would anyone want cloth versus plate?” Reed asked.
“You feel how stiff you are moving around in that chainmail?”
“Yeah,” Reed said, frowning. “It’s kinda restrictive.”
“You’re wearing basic chainmail,” Ren said. “Lowest tier. Two points of defense. My starter robes only have one. But later? You’ll be able to craft cloth outfits that have better stats than early chainmail.”
“Ooh, okay,” Reed said, perking up. “That sounds good.”
“And besides,” Ren added, “even if nobody’s asking for armor yet, people will pay big for clothes—especially crafted clothes with stat bonuses.”
“Really?”
“Really. We just need to get you some blueprints first.”
“Neat,” Reed said, looking thoughtful.
After another rabbit attack, Ren grinned as the system chimed.
+1 Experience Point.
He checked the tracker. He needed 100 XP to hit Level 2. So… 95 more to go.
“These things still hurt,” Reed muttered, shaking out his sword arm.
“Yeah, I know,” Ren said. “That’s why I hate adventuring. Still—” he added, clapping Reed on the shoulder, “you are killing it. Good job.”
“Thanks,” Reed said, still rubbing a sore spot even though the pain was already gone.
The problem wasn’t just the fighting. It was the loot.
Neither of them were hunters. Neither of them had the Skinning profession.
So when Reed knelt to loot the dead rabbit, all they got was a Horned Rabbit Horn.
No extra hides, no meat, no bonus ingredients.
In Towerbound, non-humanoid monsters dropped ingredients, while humanoid monsters dropped coins, gear, and sometimes rare items.
If they’d had a hunter with Skinning, they could’ve harvested meat, fur, maybe even bone materials for crafting. But without it, the rabbit’s corpse simply shimmered and vanished, leaving only the basic drop behind.
Ren sighed, tossing the horn into his inventory.
“Guess we’re not gonna be eating rabbit stew tonight,” he said.
“Yeah,” Reed muttered. “Kinda sucks.”
They kept wandering, collecting herbs and low-level plants, steadily filling their starter packs.
***
They kept wandering, plucking flowers and grabbing herbs wherever they could find them.
Everything was going smoothly until somewhere around the fourth hour.
That’s when two Horned Rabbits attacked them at once.
Ren scrambled to keep Reed healed while Reed desperately tried to hold aggro on both monsters.
It wasn’t easy.
Reed was still a total newbie, and right now there wasn’t even a basic taunt skill in his warrior toolkit.
All he had was his Level 1 ability: Charge Slash.
Charge Slash cost three focus points—a resource unique to physical classes like warriors, different from mana.
Trying to corral two bouncing, headbutting rabbits at once was pure pandemonium.
Eventually, one of the rabbits broke loose and charged Ren directly.
“Ouch!” Ren yelped as the rabbit slammed into him, making him stagger.
He smacked it with his starter staff, doing a measly one point of damage, while screaming like he was dying.
It was a brutal fight.
Both of them were down to half health by the end of it, and at one point Reed had almost died outright.
“That was brutal,” Reed said, leaning on his sword, panting.
Ren, meanwhile, was still muttering and complaining nonstop about getting attacked.
“If it wasn’t for the fact that I desperately need these thistle roses,” Ren said grumpily, “I would never be out here in the damn field.”
He scowled at the rolling hills around them.
Some things didn’t change.
No matter how many times he time-traveled?
Ren absolutely hated being outside.
Still, as much as he wanted to keep grumbling about how much everything sucked, he had to admit—Reed was getting better.
Clumsy as hell, sure. Dumb enough to almost get killed by two overgrown rabbits, absolutely.
But better.
If nothing else, at least he wasn’t the kind of guy who quit just because his arms hurt.
After the brutal rabbit fight, Ren decided to pull up his character sheet.
A soft flicker crossed his vision as the translucent window appeared in front of him.
[Character Sheet – Ren Varrow]
Class: Cleric
Level: 1
Experience: 96/100
Primary Attributes:
- Strength: 7
- Agility: 8
- Vitality: 9
- Intelligence: 11
- Wisdom: 12
- Luck: 6
Secondary Stats:
- Health Points (HP): 110/110
- Mana Points (MP): 40/40
- Stamina: 100/100
Skills:
- Basic Heal (Level 1)
— Cast Time: 2.5 seconds
— Mana Cost: 10 MP
— Effect: Heals minor wounds for 20–30 HP
Current Equipment:
- Novice’s Linen Robes (Defense +1, Durability 24/25)
- Worn Wooden Staff (Attack +1, Durability 18/25)
- Beginner’s Leather Boots (Defense +1, Durability 22/25)
- Starter Belt Pouch (5 Inventory Slots)
- Cloth Satchel (Herb Pouch – 10 Slots)
Inventory:
- 2 Horned Rabbit Horns
- Starter Healing Salve x2 (restores 20 HP, slow-acting)
- Basic Gatherer’s Kit (Durability 19/20)
Herbs Collected:
- Thistle Rose x2
- Whisperroot x3
- Sunveil Fern x2
- Glowcap Mushroom x1
- Bitterthorn Leaves x4
- Frostmint x2
As he looked it over, a faint System notification blinked in the corner of his vision.
[Warning: Weapon durability dropping below 75%. Recommend repair soon.]
Ren sighed, lightly tapping his battered wooden staff against the dirt.
“First rabbits we meet and they’re already chewing through my gear,” he muttered, shaking his head.
Starter gear was a joke, but it was what they had.
At least until they could scrape together enough coins—or enough guts—to loot something better.
For now, though, they had to make do.
Herbs, rabbits, and whatever else this cursed field could throw at them.
Ren closed the character window and trudged forward, staff clutched in hand.
Because the next rabbit that tried to bite him?
He was going to run fast and faraway!
***
Speaking of the next rabbit, it showed up the moment Ren finished closing his character sheet.
“Ah!” Ren yelped, nearly dropping his staff.
‘Goddamn it. I jinxed myself,’ he thought bitterly. ‘I just had to think about rabbits, didn’t I?’
The Horned Rabbit barreled toward him at full speed, little horn lowered like it thought it was a goddamn siege weapon.
Ren barely had time to raise his staff when Reed dove in between them with a shout.
“Got it!”
Steel flashed as Reed slammed into the rabbit with a rough Charge Slash, knocking the creature sideways.
The rabbit skittered across the grass, scrambling for footing.
Ren, regaining his balance, thrust his staff forward and smacked the rabbit squarely on the back.
It wasn’t pretty.
It wasn’t heroic.
But between Reed’s wild swings and Ren’s frantic whacks, the rabbit was dead thirty seconds later.
Both of them stood there panting, glaring at the stupid corpse.
“No loot,” Reed grumbled after a second, kicking the limp body once for good measure.
The rabbit shimmered, pixelated, and vanished without leaving a single drop.
“Figures,” Ren muttered, leaning heavily on his staff.
Apparently, the universe wasn’t handing out freebies today.
He made a mental note—next time he started thinking about angry horned monsters, he was going to knock on wood or something.
Because Towerbound?
Towerbound definitely had a sense of humor.
And it wasn’t a good one.