Lucas woke up in bed. He didn’t remember going to sleep last night, the last thing he could remember was doing. Lucas reached over and went to pull the bed sheet back over his face before realising there was no bed sheet resting on top of him. Lucas looked around and saw Bart tucked into bed nicely, then looked down and realised he had been dragged onto his bed and hadn’t got in himself. As he remembered the events of last night, he realised he didn’t have a hangover, which was a miracle considering the amount he drank. Lucas flicked through his abilities and brought up the entry for Rainbow Cloak.

Rainbow Cloak

A cloak of rainbow light that protects you. Whilst you have the cloak active, you gain the following effects:

You are immune to the effects of poisons and diseases of a tier equal to or lower than your own.

Any clothes you wear are covered in a rainbow pattern. If someone stares at you for over 10 seconds, they hear birds chirping and can hear distant rain.

Small animals are naturally drawn to you.

Lucas assumed the part which said he had immunity to the effects of poisons was responsible for his lack of a hangover. Lucas stepped out of bed, before realising his foot had touched something furry and it jolted back. Lucas looked over the side of his bed, to see an army of hundreds of mice staring at him with beady eyes. The entire floor was covered in the little furry balls as they all sat there waiting patiently. Lucas just lay back down. It was too early in the morning to deal with an army of rodents at the foot of his bed. An hour and a half later Lucas heard a yelp and the squeal of a mouse. He looked around to see Bart carefully trying to step his way through the sea of rodents. Lucas watched as he delicately stepped around the swarm and said “Good morning.”

Bart spun around on one leg, imitating a ballerina and stared daggers at Lucas. “If the owner sees the amount of mice following behind you, we're going to get banned from the inn. You climb out through the window and disperse the army of mice. I will get our breakfasts to go.”

Lucas climbed out of the window and scaled down the wall of the inn. As he climbed down, he could see the mice follow him, nimbly jumping between dislodged bricks. Lucas approached the entrance of the inn as Bart walked out. Lucas and Bart hurried toward the exit gate in the early morning light.

“I managed to hire a peddler last night, so if we keep up a good pace we can make it to the capital by nightfall. The rest of the journey will be mostly over plains so it should smooth sailing.” Bart looked over his shoulder at the gathering mice horde.

“A peddler?”

“It’s a vehicle that you can hire if you are part of the adventurer’s guild. It is in the cutting edge of technology and can let you travel long distances with little exertion. I managed to acquire a two person peddler so we can both travel with ease.”

The mice had almost caught up to Lucas and Bart, and they had to run to avoid getting swarmed by the small beasts. The villagers watched as the small goblin and the tall man sprinted away from the army of rodents chasing them. Some laughed at the spectacle whilst others simply shook their heads and carried about their day. Adventurers had a reputation for their eccentricity, and it seemed this duo were no exception.

Bart and Lucas arrived at the front gate out of breath. They had got a significant lead on the mouse pack and had acquired the peddler. Lucas quickly learnt that what Bart called “the cutting edge of technology” was a tandem bike made of wood. Lucas didn’t object and climbed onto the back of the two seated bike. The height of it was too low for him to sit comfortably, but it didn't seem like there was much of a choice in the matter, especially as the mice started to catch up to them. Bart struggled up onto the bike, which was clearly too tall for him but didn’t complain. The two thanked the guards and quickly started pedalling away at full speed. As they made it into the open fields, they heard the shouts of the guards. Lucas could only imagine what was going through their heads as hundreds of mice flooded through the gate.

Whilst it may have been uncomfortable and also rather primitive, there was no denying the effectiveness of the bike. They had travelled past three villages by the time they stopped for lunch at midday, eating the breakfast that was made at the inn. They had a hearty meal of Firehawk eggs and Stonebeak sausages. Lucas could taste the difference between these variants and what he had eaten back on earth. They had a much more smoky flavour and were also a bit more bitter.

The journey continued into the afternoon, as Bart and Lucas furiously peddled with all of their might. Whenever Lucas tried suggesting a break, Bart told him it would be good exercise and pushed him to carry on. Lucas and Bart carried on cycling deep into the night, finally arriving at their destination after 15 hours of travel. Lucas could see fine, but didn’t know where the supposed capital was. All he saw was a massive open field with a single large oak tree in the middle. They dismounted the bike and approached the tree.

“All you need to do is touch the tree and wait. I will go first.”

Bart approached the tree and held his breath before pressing his palm against it. In an instant, Bart disappeared from where he had been standing. Lucas stared at the spot in wonder. It happened so quickly he didn’t even realise for a second. Lucas approached the spot Bart had been standing. It must have been some form of teleportation, that was the only explanation he could think of.

As Lucas put his hand on the trunk of the tree, he felt a sucking at his feet and he was pulled down through the soil. He was dragged down further and further until he felt his feet land on solid material. Unlike Bart, he hadn’t held his breath before he had touched the tree, so received a mouth full of dirt. He sat there on the ground coughing up small twigs, worms and other debris found in the dirt for a solid three minutes. He looked around and found himself in a small chamber made of stone. The stone was a pale grey, almost like a mixture between ash and stone.

Ash Stone (Material)

A mixture between ash and stone.

It seemed the system was getting snarky with him now. He was interested that his Identify ability had activated without him trying to use it; he hadn’t seen that before. Lucas stood up, brushing dirt off of his outfit before opening a door set in the stone. Lucas pulled it open, revealing a small wooden chamber where he found Bart standing. Apart from a small amount of dirt in the folds of his clothing, Bart looked fine. Lucas on the other hand was covered head to toe with dirt, with it forming a brown crust on his skin.

“I would say that’s an improvement on the rainbow look.” Bart said.

“You could’ve told me what was going to happen.” Lucas continued trying to brush himself off, to little effect.

“I know I could’ve but this is way funnier.”

Bart slapped him on the back and led him down the hallway. He and Lucas walked past dozens of pods similar to the ones they had been standing in, before making it to a set of large double doors. Bart gave Lucas a knowing smile before pushing the doors open.

Beyond the doors there was a massive open market. He could see hundreds of people talking to street vendors, haggling and buying and selling various wares. That was not what caught his attention though. The entire area was a dome, made entirely out of wood. From the main square, there were 6 giant tunnels, each branching off deeper into the underground. Each tunnel had a ring of colour surrounding it, one red, one blue, one green, one white, one gold and one black.

A woman dressed in a deep brown robe approached them with a beautiful smile. “Welcome to Deepoak. We hope you enjoy your stay. If you're looking for a respectable inn to stay for the night, may we recommend the golden oak for a place to stay tonight?”

Before Lucas or Bart had the chance to respond, they heard another voice say, “Don’t listen to her, stay the night at the Oak of Gold inn, you can get a room for half of the price.”

The smile of the first woman who approached them dropped as she turned to face her business rival. “Stop trying to poach customers, Scarlett. Just because your father’s inn can’t get any patrons doesn’t mean you should resort to such petty tactics.”

The two of them were about to continue their argument, but Lucas butted in. “Excuse me ladies, would either of you happen to know where ‘Big Sil’s’ is?”

The two women both turned and stared at him in disgust. “Go down the middle path of the low residential district. You can’t miss it.” They started walking away, seemingly disinterested in him after that statement. He heard them say something about not coming back as they walked into the distance, followed by laughter and glances back at him.

“Well, that was strange.” Lucas scratched his head before turning to Bart, “How do I know which one the low residential district is?”

“Each tunnel is called a district. As you can see, there are six in total. Three residential districts, the gold band representing the high residential district, the white representing the middle residential district and the black representing the low residential district. The other three districts are known as the support districts. The green district is where all forms of education are handled, the blue district is the governmental district and the red district is the emergency district, where the emergency shelters and guard barracks are located. Even though each district has a specific purpose, they also sometimes have more general purposes as well. For instance, just because the commercial district is here in the centre, it doesn’t mean that a restaurant couldn’t exist in the high residential district, and there could be a supplies store within the education district. It’s entirely possible to live your life without even leaving your district, and many people do.” Bart palmed Lucas 2 silver coins. “I have business to attend to tonight, let's meet up tomorrow at the low residential district entrance.”

Lucas nodded and wandered off towards the low residential district, taking his time checking market stalls and asking about items and their prices. Lucas didn’t want to buy anything until he checked he wasn’t being ripped off by Bart, but was still interested in what sort of things were sold in the massive underground market. Lucas found all sorts of interesting items up for sale, including spices, weapons, and one stall selling tiny boxes that when opened would play a jingle. Lucas keenly asked about the mechanisms behind the tiny box, which the creator was proud to explain. The trick was that it was a ritual constantly producing music, but thanks to the sound suppressing box you could only hear it once it was opened. Lucas learnt the name of the man who had made the box, Jeremiah, thanked him and walked off deeper into the market. Lucas spent over an hour in the market before eventually deciding to head towards the inn he was staying at tonight. He noticed guards lining the entire market, wearing a dark brown armour that helped them blend in with the walls of the zone. They eyed him up as he walked into the low residential district but didn’t move to stop him.

As he walked into the tunnel, it started to narrow slowly. He quickly came to a crossroads with five identical tunnels, each leading deeper into the ground. Lucas took the middle tunnel and carried on walking, unperturbed. After another five minutes, he came to another identical crossroads. Lucas walked down the middle path again. Another five minutes, another crossroads. Lucas wondered if he was caught in a time loop as he carried on down the middle path. For fifty minutes, he carried on walking down the middle path of the roots, going through another ten identical paths, each with five splits. As Lucas thought he must’ve gone insane, he finally saw something other than a crossroads. At the end of the twelfth tunnel he walked through, he saw a large two story building. It was made entirely out of a dark curved wood, and in large rusted metal letters above the door it said B_G SI_. The I from big was missing and the L was hanging loosely, held on by a single screw. As Lucas finally located the inn, he heard a loud cough from behind him.

Lucas spun around and found four men wearing cloaks behind him. Lucas immediately turned back around but found that another four men had blocked the path to the tavern.

“Do we really have to do this?” Lucas said as he stared at the ashen grey man who led the group.

“Not if you hand over everything you have on you.” The grey man smirked and flipped his dagger in the air.

Before he could catch the dagger, Lucas’s boot connected with his jaw, and the cloaked figure was knocked to the ground. Lucas made use of the surprise attack and went for a knee in the man in another one of the thug’s stomach. The man doubled over and Lucas pushed past him. If he could get past them, then he could escape the tunnels without having to give up his money or getting roughed up. Lucas would’ve gone for the tunnel but if it was a dead-end, he would end up getting cornered and would be in an even worse position.

As Lucas went for his mad dash, he got tripped and the two remaining cloaked figures held him down. Lucas yelled incoherently as the rest of the cloaked figures approached him. The leader of the group picked up his knife and approached, “Now you’re going to really pay.” Lucas gulped as the man approached and readied himself for the worst. As he lay there, contemplating the decisions that got him to this point in his life, he heard his heartbeat thump loudly. It went on and on, seeming to get louder and louder. In fact, it seemed to shake the ground as Lucas felt reverberations with each beat. Except those clearly weren't beats. Lucas opened one eye to find a gigantic man made entirely out of silver staring down at him. He was a giant of a man, seeming to stand at three metres tall. He looked down at Lucas with a neutral expression, with his arms crossed over his chest. He picked up Lucas’s leg with two fingers and dragged him off of the ground, examining him.

The figure dropped him, and Lucas fell to the ground in a heap. “Why did you come here, traveller? Very few would dare to come to my establishment and rough up my boys. You clearly aren’t from one of the other gangs, so you’re an outsider. Give me one reason I shouldn’t just pulp your head right now.”

Lucas quickly scrambled to his feet. “‘Uncle Mo’ recommended me to this inn. He runs a tavern in the village by the forest border. I was just defending myself because they were trying to mug me.”

The giant metal man stared down at the scrawny figure with a solemn expression. Lucas considered trying to make another run for it, but he knew he wouldn’t even be able to make it to his feet before he got caught. After a minute of staring, the man's expression turned from a gloomy frown to a cheery smile. “Why didn’t you say that Uncle Mo told you to come here? Any friend of Uncle Mo is a friend of mine. Come inside lad, I can fix you up with a drink and a room for the evening.”

Lucas and Big Sil took seats at the bar. Behind the bar was a young woman, around the age of twenty-five. “Hey Jody, can I get two mugs of firestone brew?” The woman behind the bar nodded and poured out two mugs of a bright red foaming liquid. Lucas took a sip of the thick liquid and instantly started coughing it up. As it entered his mouth and throat, it left a trail of what felt like fire in his mouth. Sil laughed as he clapped Lucas on the back.

“Now then traveller. I assume you arrived in this world recently, so I will give you some tips. I was once in a similar position to you eighty years ago. I was dragged here from my home and lost everything. I worked my way up and eventually reached tier one, before settling here with my wife. I’ve climbed up the ladder that you will face and I want to help some new blood other than my idiot sons.”

“Wait, how did you know I was an adventurer?” Lucas rubbed at the spot where his back had been slapped. He might have to check if he had a spinal fracture.

The metal man laughed. “Anyone could tell you’re a traveller. The weird pink skin, the foreign accent, the tone of your voice and your fashion sense are all dead giveaways. You're like a weird featherless chicken. But anyway you need to be careful. People will recognise your lack of knowledge about this world and try to exploit you because of it. Travellers who decide to adventure often get the worst of it, being abused and lied to by those who think they can make a quick coin from your misfortune. Back in my adventuring days I had to deal with all sorts. People try lying to you and exploiting you for money because they think your lack of local knowledge makes you a target. Be careful with those you keep as companions. You can stay at my inn for free until you can find employment, at which point it will be 10 bronze coins per night.”

“Thanks for your hospitality. It means a lot to me that you're willing to help me out.”

Big Sil looked at Lucas with a sad smile. “Just paying on the kindness that was given to me when I first arrived here. I will get Jody to run you a hot bath, until then just enjoy your firestone brew.”

Lucas looked at the mug, the dark red colour reflecting his face back up at him. A small nose sat between two beady eyes that he could see rings under. It was probably time for him to go to bed.