Rapid Fate Online Chapter 5: Berry Frustrating

You slaved away, picking furiously until your basket was full and overflowing. 

“Alright! Time to head back to the city and sell some!” 

An urgent two tone beep sounded in your ear and you looked to your left. Your health bar had hit 35/50

“What?! How did that happen??!”

You pressed the little flashing icon. 

“You have not eaten in 3 hours.” The warning note said. 

“Ok? Well I’ll just eat these berries, no problem.” You thought, reaching for a berry and popping it in your mouth. “Oh my god I can ACTUALLY taste these!?” 

You reached out and took another one. 

“They’re pretty good!” 

You ate a few more and looked at your health bar. It hadn’t moved. 

“What’s going on here?” 

You ate a few more and finally it moved to 36/50.

“WHAT THE HECK?! HOW MANY OF THESE DO I HAVE TO EAT?! Nevermind I’ll just go back and sell them then use the money to buy a food item that will bring my health back up quicker.” 

And with that you turned from the bush and headed back across the field with your basket of berries, into town. 

You happily marched in and walked over to where it looked like there was a bit of a market place set up. Players had stalls with all kinds of goods to sell and you walked to the end and stood next to the last stall. 

A big red warning bar popped up. 

[CANNOT STAND HERE, UNLICENSED MERCHANT] 

“Oh.” You said audibly. “Ok…” 

You sheepishly walked off with your basket of berries and sat down on a bench. 

There was an older man sitting at the other end of the same beach and you turned to him. 

“Would you like to buy some berries?” You asked him.

He shook his head. “No thanks, I can get some from the woods myself if I want to.” 

“Oh…ok.” You replied sadly. 

You got up and walked around to some of the people standing around. 

“Want some berries? They’re cheap!” You said happily. 

Your cheerfulness was met with sniggers and snorts. 

“Why would we waste money on useless items?” Most people replied you. 

By the end of the next hour you were feeling very disheartened and your health bar was beeping again. 31/50.

You sighed and sat down, throwing down berries to try and bring your health bar back up. 

“Are you new here?” A voice asked. 

You looked up, a friendly looking guy was standing in front of you.

“Yeah.” You replied despondently, looking back down again. 

“Trying to sell berries?” He asked. 

“Yeah.” You replied again. 

“Can I buy some?” He asked. 

Your eyes shot up and met his.

“Y…you actually want to buy some??? Or are you just making fun of me?” You asked with reservation.

“No I want to help you, so can I buy some?” He said again, not moving from his spot. 

“O-oh! Umm yeah! Of course!” You replied. “So uh…how does this work?” You said sheepishly. 

“Ok well I want 10 berries so I’ll give you 10 Mahi.” He said pulling 10 coins out of his pocket. 

“Oh wow!!” You said excitedly, this was your first ever transaction and you were ecstatic. 

You took the money and put it in your pocket. 

“Ok here are your berries!” You said happily, handing him over 10 berries. 

“Thanks.” He said, eating them right there and then. “Also, food items have an expiry and those berries are about to expire.” He added, pointing down. 

You looked down into the basket and saw that the red colour of the berries was starting to fade. 

“Once they turn grey you can’t do anything with them and eventually they just disappear.” The male player said. “Some foods last longer, some shorter but these berries are the shortest.” 

“Seriously?” You said sadly as you watched the colour fade. “All my hard work.” 

“Anyway thanks for the berries.” He said, turning and walking away.

“Oh! No, no, thank YOU!” You called out after him. 

You sat back down again and stared at your basket. 

“Man this sucks balls, what a stupid game. What time is it in the real world I should get out.”

You swiped the holographic menu to appear and checked the time. 

“3 AM?! OH MY GOD I HAVE SCHOOL TOMORROW!!”

You were about to log out when a warning bar popped up. 

“you must leave your character in a safe place before logging out, you cannot sleep in the open.”

“Great…where can I stay…” 

You looked around and saw a few Inn’s close by and deciding to stay in the cheapest one for the time being. 

“Hi, how much is your cheapest room?” You asked the inn keeper with the purple cursor as you entered the building.

“95 Mahi.” She replied. 

You inhaled audibly, making the sound of something dying. 

“Is there anywhere that would take me in for 10 Mahi?” You asked her. 

“No.” She replied bluntly. 

You sighed. 

“Can I help?” A female player’s voice said from beside you.

“I need somewhere to stay while I log out and go back to the real world but it’s my first day here and I have 10 Mahi and an empty basket because all my berries expired.” You said flatly, completely done with this game. 

She laughed. “Ok, well what if I pay for you to stay here and you can pay me back when you make some more money.” 

“But why would you do this for me?” You asked suspiciously. “You’re very trusting….”

“I’ve been in your situation before.” She said with a chuckle. “Even if you can’t pay me back just think of it as me paying it forward, if you do ever make it in this world remember to be kind to the new players.” 

You almost teared up. “Thank you so much!” 

She smiled and walked to the counter. 

“I’ll have your cheapest room please.” She said to the Inn keeper. 

The exchange was made and she walked with you to the room. 

You put the key in the door and turned it, the room was as small as anything and just had a bed and a table, that’s it. 

“Well…I guess it IS the cheapest room, hey?” You said with a sigh. “Here! Let me give you the 10 Mahi.” You added, turning to the female player.

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Rapid Fate Online Chapter 6: A Better Day >>>