In the distance, Lilly could see Fressia rising up on the horizon. Its ramparts rose high, an indication of the wealth of the city. Looking from side to side, she could barely see the ends of the city walls, making her a little apprehensive. She had not expected the city to be so big. Just barely peeking over the top of the walls was a spire made of stone brick, but fine details were difficult to make out from a distance.

As they moved closer to the city, the roads got more populated, with other wagons and people on foot traveling beside them. Most travelers carried heavy packs, implying Lilly’s storage wasn't common among the masses. When Vincent had seen her put away the loot on the bodies, he bombarded her with questions that she couldn't really answer, though she understood how much of a boon it would be for merchants. She decided that it would be a good idea to not use it so casually in front of others for the time being.

On the way to the city, she had gotten some local clothing from Vincent. Now she had plain wool pants with a white cotton shirt, topped off with a black hooded coat and a rucksack filled with spare clothing. This way, she looked much less conspicuous compared to her Earth clothing, something she had worried about when thinking of the trip to civilization.

She made small talk with the children, asking questions like how the currency system worked and how much you could buy with certain amounts of money. Turns out, a copper coin is essentially the equivalent to a US dime, with each step up increasing by a factor of 100 respectively. The highest value coin would be a platinum coin, one step up from gold. Amenities like food would cost around 20 copper, but stuff like armor cost upwards of several gold coins. This was a helpful baseline moving forward.

According to Vincent, there were several guilds in Fressia, the biggest one being the Merchant’s Guild. The city was mostly managed by higher ranking members of the guild. An adventurers’ guild also existed, called the Adventuring Society. When Lilly asked about a thieves’ or assassins’ guild, Vinny (“I can call you Vinny, can’t I,” asked Lilly) claimed to know nothing of any such enterprises.

Their carriage reached the gate, Vinny showed the guard his papers and explained Lilly's situation. With that, she went through a relatively fast process of obtaining a temporary visitor's permit for the price of 5 silver. Regular citizenship, and hence free passage, could be applied for if she obtained a permanent residence, or obtained membership at any of the guilds.

Lilly gave her farewells to the Lenners, obtaining their address in the process and an invitation to visit at any time. She leisurely walked down the streets of Fressia as she took in the sights around her. The sidewalks and side streets were made of cobblestone, the main streets paved with asphalt. Runic lamp posts lined the streets. There were bustling shops in this area of the city, ranging from seamstresses showing off their dresses to shops offering various confectionery. The locals seemed to wear bright vibrant colors, with an emphasis on shades of green, which made them easily identifiable compared to the visitors and adventurers perusing through the shops. Most of the buildings in this district were one story high and sported the same bright colors that the locals wore.

She bought what resembled an empanada from a patissiere. She took a bite out of the pseudo-empanada and widened her eyes. “This is really good. Any chance I can get the recipe?”

The lady laughed. “Unfortunately not, young lady. How would I manage to stay in business with you stealing it all?”

“I had to try.” Lilly smiled mischievously. “By the way, I’m pretty new to town and at this point, I’m feeling pretty lost. Do you mind pointing me to the closest inn and perhaps some general directions to where everything is?”

“Anything for a customer.” She said happily. “Head further down the street till you reach the plaza at the center of the city. From there, on your right will be the residential district, where all the inns and such are. On your left will be the marketplace, where most common folk will buy their stuff. Straight ahead towards the big spire is where the big guilds and city council are.”

“Okay, thanks for the help.” She started to turn for the door.

“Ah, be careful about crossing the side streets between the inns and guilds. Shady things can happen there, what with the red district being there and all,” she said, worried.

“Alright, I’ll be sure to watch out for that.” Lilly smiled appreciatively, before heading out and down the street.

She reached the center of the city, a large square plaza featuring a decorative fountain sitting in the middle. The flooring of the plaza was cobbled with white stones that looked consistently maintained. The fountain had a diameter of eight meters, with a smaller disc rising from the main pool of water, and water spraying out the top in an elaborate fashion. Children played around the plaza; their parents watching from the side, sitting on benches that lined the plaza or shopping at open-fronted restaurants.

She took a right across the plaza and headed towards the residential area, where all the inns were. She watched as the buildings started to change from the stone that most of the city she'd been through had been made of, to a darker oak-like wood that better suited this district. There were a lot more side streets here, leading to neighborhoods and such. She still hadn't seen any people living in extreme poverty, which seemed a little suspicious. Even on modern Earth, while average quality of living increased in big cities, vagrants and beggars were still a recurring issue. Putting it to the back of her mind, she decided to look into it while she was here.

Walking up to an inn, she looked up at a sign with an engraved boar drinking from a beer stein. The inn itself was two stories high, with a plain door embedded to the side, and open windows facing the front with the wooden shutters open. The first floor looked like a tavern. It wasn't too crowded on the inside. A few people sat around round tables or lounged in booths, laughing and talking loudly, occasionally flirting with the barmaids. There were stairs at the far left that led up to the second floor.

She walked into the tavern, garnering a few looks, mostly of drunken depravity and lust. She walked across the tavern to the bar and bought a drink before taking a seat. She sipped the ale, the fruity alcohol washing down her throat. Feeling a bit more relaxed, she listened to the conversations of the other people in the tavern. The most interesting part was about an upcoming war.

"Did you hear? Proana is gearing up for war again."

"Seriously? That makes the third time in the last ten years... You'd have to wonder when they'll stop."

"Who knows, man. Apparently there's a lot of conflict in the royal court about whether we should be having these wars and several factions are arguing against it."

Humans going to war, as if that's a surprise. She smiled to herself and finished her ale, waving to the innkeeper.

"What can I do for you, lassie?" She asked.

"I was wondering if you had any rooms open for the night and for how much?" Lilly said.

"We do have rooms, five silvers a night and that includes breakfast and hot water. Want me to set you up a room for tonight?" The innkeeper asked.

"That'd be great, thank you," Lilly said.

The innkeeper went to grab her room key and came back shortly, handing her the key and pointing to the stairs. “Your room is up the stairs and to the right at the end of the hallway. When you head out, be sure to hand in your key. Your hot water will be up in a moment.”

“Alright, thanks.” Lilly gave her a smile and went up the stairs. Heading down the hallway, she opened her room and closed the door behind her. Flopping down on the bed, she stared at the ceiling and waited for the hot water. In a few minutes, a knock came from her door.

Opening the door, she found a young girl holding a small bucket and a small towel. “Excuse me miss, here’s your hot water.”

Taking the water, “Thanks,” she said.

The girl stared at her for a moment, before nodding her head and leaving. Lilly closed the door and went to clean off all the blood and sweat that she had accumulated. After she finished with herself, she pulled out the clothing from the earlier fight and the loot she had gained, then meticulously cleaned them off. From the bandits, she had a couple dozen silvers, three iron shortswords and some leather armor that didn’t fit her.

After she was finished washing, she stored the armor and money, and tried practicing with one of the swords. It was awkward at first since she had never held a sword before. She spent around thirty minutes doing practice swings, trying to move lightly and softly, focusing more on making smooth, fluid and controlled movements rather than speed and strength.

[Swordsmanship (Passive) - Skill Unlocked!]

[Processing…]

[Swordsmanship merged with Akronion Combat!]

[Arkonion Combat (9 > 10) - Level Up!]

She stopped and looked at the sword in her hand, feeling the weight. The balance no longer felt off, the grip no longer as awkward. It felt like her skill in daggers had been carried over. She tried making the same movements as before, only this time it felt more practiced. It didn’t feel like she had gained a skill that she didn’t understand, it felt like she had the skill from practicing and fighting, only without the memories of having ever done so.

She was reminded again that the system was changing her mind in a deliberate manner, and felt slightly conflicted over it. There was no question that she appreciated the help, but with it came questions about whether the system can make changes that she didn’t desire, and whether she could protect herself from it.

For now, the best thing she could do was do some research and learn more about the system. In the meantime, she’d take what advantage the system could give her. She spent a few more minutes trying different things with the sword, not really to get accustomed to it but more to see it with her own eyes. Her body and mind seemed to already know what to do even if she didn’t understand how.

Putting the sword away, she decided to go check out the guilds. After getting everything sorted, she left her room and descended the stairs. She handed her key to the innkeeper, headed out the door and took a left, going back to the city center. She’d have to get a map eventually, but for now, walking the side streets sounded like a good way to get lost and mugged. After reaching the center, she took a right and headed west for the guilds.

The further she went, the more adventurers and mercenaries she could see. The shops started to become more weapon and armor oriented, the hammering from forges beat out a staccato rhythm, thick sharp scents wafted through the air from apothecaries' shops. There were people sitting on the ground with weapons, trinkets, other gear laid out on sheets, hawking their wares to passersby.

There were other establishments too, the wall of what looked like a colosseum loomed at the end of the road, and elaborate signs advertised training halls of various martial arts. This area seemed truly geared towards people looking to make a living by fighting. Lilly tried identifying some of the people; levels seem to vary widely, going as low as low teens up to levels her identify skill wouldn’t reveal. After her time in the woods, it looked like her [Identify] allowed her to see levels that were less than twenty above hers, and every skill-up raised that number by two. That meant that a lot of people were at least thirty levels above her.

That was exciting news to her. Not that there were people stronger, but that she wasn’t even close to her limit yet.

She eventually found the Society. Lilly gawked at the large building. It was at least five stories high and was more glamorous than many of the buildings she's seen so far. At the top, there was the crest, a silver shield crossed by two swords, golden and bronze respectively. The building itself had steel columns at the corners supporting rich oaken walls. A set of large double doors had intricate designs engraved into the wood.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed open doors and entered the building.