After two weeks of effort, Mathew finally formed the ice creating rune. It looked like a very shallow bowl of jagged ice, hanging by fog threads from the other two runes. System informed the mage, that if he sculpted anything on the bowl, he would have an easier time calling it up as a spell.

For now the man just walked this way and that, in front of a mirror, giggling at the ridiculous circular ice-hat he made. He's already experimented with the sturdiness of the ice earlier, finding that it could handle a few strong smacks with a hammer. It wouldn't help much against a dedicated physical fighter or a stronger monster, but would be just enough for the creatures in beginner dungeons.

Mathew put the ice hat away in the shower and went over to the clothes box in the bedroom. He browsed for a bit and picked out torn up, blue jeans, an older bordo shirt and in the corridor found sturdy, beige hiking boots. Dressed and ready, the mage left towards a train station in the city center, to go the First City.

The trains hovered through some sort of gravity enchantments above the tracks. The trains themselves were entirely wooden, the company that made them boasting about their enchantment capabilities. Inside lanterns hanged from the ceiling, instead of usual chairs, there were red sofas, small magic holograms showed the news and advertisements.

Third zombie apocalypse adventure park opened on Mars, this time it was finally suitable for non-magicians. The music festival in the Second City gathered it's biggest crowd yet with an improved magic show, as well as more musicians powering their instruments with their own mana. An old timer politician, soiled himself when the Spider visited a debate on which the politician in question spoke against false deities. The Spider surprised at the reaction, gave away some cookies to the audience and other politicians and left, while mentioning the Crystal City would be passing by Earth in the coming weeks.

Once Mathew got off the train, he quickly run out of the station grown out of a large tree. The entirety of the first city consistent of humongous trees and was in a perpetual spring. In a garden of regular tree sized flowers, just by the station was the portal to Maa.

Portals were somewhat of an orb-like hole in space. If you were to go around one, you'd see the vision of the other side match the direction from which you were looking, outside of the portal there. Surrounding the portal was set a circular mana barrier, only betrayed by white runes flowing on it. It was about thirty meters in radius, with the central ten taken up by the portal. On one side of the barrier, were four gates lettting a steady stream of people go through in both ways. Those intending to enter the portal had to go around to the other side, while those coming out had a straight path out.

Mathew stood behind a brown skinned elf, the skin showing the elfs alignment towards earth magic. The mage looked around, most people going into the portal were humans in all the boring shades of pink, brown and anything else you'd expect in a multicultural metropolis. Most of the people walking out of the portal, were the elves, each representing a different colour of the rainbow. Some of the older magical people, had stripes or dots, showing the money they spent on enchanting their skin, beyond their natural alignment. Among the younger elves, there were sometimes purple, black or stary ones, the colours of sci-fi inspired magics that came from Earth.

After about five minutes, Mathew got to the front of the line and stopped by the counter at the gate. Behind it sat a bored grey elf in a causal outfit and an official looking human guard. The elf wore enchanted jewelerly wherever it would fit and had a placard identifying him as a Grand Mage. The guard had a badge identifying him as a level twenty warrior, which would correspond to an Apprentice Warrior.

"Hello, reason for visit and identification, please." The guard asked.

Mathew fished out his basic ID and a blue and red crystal card with information on his magic power, and handed it over while saying. "Hiking, I will also stop by some adventuring agencies, but don't plan on any hunting."

"Hm... the systems shows you visited before as a Mage, but your ID shows you are barely an Apprentice." The guard looked over to his companion, "What do you say about this Kalev?"

The Mage waved his right hand towards the tourist, a few words in one of the southern Maa languages appeared. "He has an inert core, different magic on a below Apprentice level flows through the rest of his body."

"I understand," the guard gave Mathew his documents back. "Have a nice trip."

The mage nodded his head and smiled, then turned towards the portal. On the other side stood a tall marble city "Valkoinen Torni", from the roofs, some of which reached the clouds, hanged intricate constructs resembling mushroom-chandelier caps made from crystal. The city was filled with a delicate music of the crystals swaying in the wind.

The ground level of the city was reserved for pedestrains, while the various crystal, wooden and marble vehicles flew through the air. Mathew weaved through the masses until he reached a lift for a bus stop. The lift was a white, flowery cage made out of some white material, maybe a dead plant, maybe a work of art.

After waiting for approximately ten minutes, the bus the mage waited for arrived. It was a twenty meters long horizontally prolate, round vehicle. Starting at waist level it was mostly covered in clear panes of curved glass, the ground made out of matte stone.

After a fifteen minutes flight, about fifty kilometers from the centre to the edge of the city, Mathew got off in a mountainous area. Another thirty minutes - walking through a wide, cobbled path for tourists - later the human reached his first stop, at a wooden, nordic style Adventuring Agency building "Ensimmäinen Lento". Nearby also stood some hostels and restaurants.

The place was crowded with teenagers in glamorous adventuring outfits, office workers in gym clothes, taking part in company excursions, as well as the occasional odd ones out, in regular outfits. The crowds were split into about thirty percent humans and the rest elves, mostly coming from the nearby city.

Mathew walked into the agency. On the far and right walls there were some counter windows, described in Maas most spread out language Kieli and in English. The counters were low, with comfortable dark blue chairs in front. To the left the wall was covered in magical screens floating in front of the wood. There were some comfortable, green chairs by the door wall, and the space in the middle was filled with standing tables with brochures and smaller screens. The mage passed by the people milling inside and walked over to the screens.

The man passed his magic ID on one of the free screens. The device switched to English, and showed some options.

Basic guide about the "First Flight" dungeon Register a Party Register Solo Ticket for personal registration Ticket for selling dungeon loot Help

After some thought, Mathew decided to take a ticket for registration. He just didn't like searching through Help windows. A prompt appeared on the screen, asking the customer to put their hand to it. A short, dim flash of light later, the mage had a red Kieli number on his right hand. The screen showed that the symbol would turn green and turn in the direction of a correct window, when it was the mans turn.

Mathew looked over some brochures for fiteen minutes, when finally the symbol turned green and guided him to a window in the right corner. He sat down, leaving his magic ID on the counter. Behind sat a turqoise elven woman in a simple white tunic.

"Hello, how may I help you?", the clerk asked in her language and an enchantment on the window translated in a monotone voice.

"Yes, I've thought about finding a party...", the mage said in an uncertain voice.

"Hm... may I ask for your ID?" Mathew slid the card over the counter, the clerk typed for a while into her computer and continued, "There aren't any parties seeking members at your level, currently. There will be a vacation for students soon, maybe you could try then?"

"Thank you, I suppose I will search a bit more around the mountain, or in some bars." The mage took his ID and with a "Have a nice day." left.