-Monday Afternoon, 30th Of the 12th Month, Year 909-

'Phew, I finally made it out.' After walking for a while, I finally take my first steps out of the forest.

"Is that it?" Up ahead, I see a small village surrounded by wooden fencing.

Tilting my head, I think back to what Mom told me a couple days ago-

"After you get out of the forest, you should see the village. It's a small one, surrounded by wooden fencing. It should only take a few minutes to reach it after you exit the forest. But make sure you follow the path I showed you before, or you might end up in a different place."

"It fits her description, so that should be the place," Scratching my head, I walk towards the village while quietly taking in my surroundings.

●●●

"Good Afternoon!" An energetic guy calls out to me as I approach the village's entrance.

'He should be one of those gatekeepers that Mom told me about,' thinking to myself, I examine his appearance quietly. He's wearing leather armor that sticks tightly to his body with a circular shield on his back and a shortsword hanging on his waist.

"Anybody there?" He crouches down and waves his hand in front of my face.

'So close,' Feeling uncomfortable, I take a step back.

"Ah, my bad!" He stands up straight and scratches his short brown hair with an embarrassed expression on his face.

"No. It's alright." I shake my head back and forth, not wanting him to feel bad.

"It's fine, everyone is always telling me that I shouldn't invade peoples' space like that, so I'm sorry," He shakes his head and extends his hand towards me, "So let's start over. My name is David, what's yours?"

"Ryner."

"Ryner? That's a really cool name!" He compliments me with a bright smile on his face.

"Thank you."

"So, what are you here for?"

I explain to him that I came to Cara Village to find a carriage that can take me to Synthasia City.

After thinking for a moment, he claps his hands and asks, "Are you going there for Arcadia's Entrance Exam?"

"Mm," I nod, confirming his guess.

"That's cool, do you want me to help you find one?"

After thinking for a bit, I nod my head feeling that it would be better than searching on my own. He tells me to wait while he gets someone to cover for him. A few minutes later, he comes back with another guy in the same clothing as him. He waves at me, so I walk over to him, and we go into the village together.

Unlike what I thought, the village was pretty peaceful. Sometimes some elderly people or children would walk past us with a smile and greet David.

"They really like you don't they?" I ask seeing how everyone we passed, greeted David and looked at him with warm expressions.

"Well, I grew up here, everyone in the village helped raise me when my parents died, and I'm really grateful for it." He tells me with a slightly lower tone.

"Is that why you work as a gatekeeper?"

"Yeah, I just want to protect this peace." David stops and reaches his hand out as if he's grasping for something.

"You're a cool guy David." Hearing his goal, I can't help but feel that his goal is amazing compared to mine.

"Hehe, thanks!" David takes his hand back and scratches his head shyly.

We continue to walk through the village, finally reaching the village square. I look around, surprised by the feeling here that's different from the rest of the village. Some people had set up stands, and the villagers were going around buying things from them. Compared to the rest of the village, it's a lot busier. Everyone is talking and laughing, filling it with their joy and happiness. Kids are running around playing with each other with smiles on their faces. There are even people dancing on a stage in the middle of the square.

With a smile on his face, David turns to me and asks, "Feels different, right?"

"Mm," I nod, feeling a little overwhelmed.

"Hehe, The Square is where visiting merchants and peddlers set up shop while they're here," He explains.

"Oh." I nod again to show him that I'm listening.

He explains a couple of other things to me before saying, "We can find someone to take you to Synthasia in the tavern over there."

Without waiting for my response, he drags me into the Tavern. The moment he opens the door, a variety of loud noises enter my ears, causing me to frown.

"Yo, David!" A few guys in the Tavern greet David after noticing him.

"Good Afternoon!" He replies with a smile.

"I thought you were on guard duty today?" One of them walks over and slings his arm around David's shoulder with a mug in his other hand.

He explains the situation to the guys, and they all turn towards me.

"Yo, Little Guy!" One of them steps up to me and crouches down, spilling some of his drink.

Smelling his breath, I take a step back, uncomfortable with the smell. The guys frown at me, but I turn away, not wanting to smell his bad breath.

"Sorry, guys, Ryner is a little shy," David speaks up in my place with an apologetic tone.

"It's cool, David!" The guy takes his arm off David's shoulder before patting it and going back to his table with the others.

David turns to me and scratches his head before calling out, "Is anybody here a coachman?"

After a few seconds, a couple of well-dressed guys raise their hands, but I just shake my head feeling their eyes on my money pouch. When David sees me shake my head, he sighs and asks again. This time a skinny old man with combed-back, short gray hair walks over to us.

The old man is the same height as David with his back hunched over a little. He's wearing simple clothing under a dull leather vest. Unlike the others, he seems poor, but his eyes are bright.

"I'm a coachman, but I own a small carriage. It only has enough room for one person," The old man tells us.

Before David can reply, I answer, "That's fine."

"Is that so? When do you want to leave?" Without saying anything more, he asks me.

"As soon as possible," I don't know how long it'll take to get there, and I don't want to stay here for too long.

He nods and asks me, "Where do you want to go?"

"I want to go to Synthasia City."

"Synthasia? Hm, that'll be 2 bronzes." I take two bronze coins from my pouch and hand them to him.

"We can leave now then." He pays his bill and gestures for me to follow him before leaving the Tavern.

I follow him out after saying goodbye and thank you to David. Hopefully, I'll meet him again the next time I come here. I walk a couple of steps behind the old man as we leave the square and exit the village. We walk over to the left side of the village entrance, where the old man's carriage is parked.

"That's it over there." The old man points to a small wooden carriage or to be exact a wooden wagon. Unlike the other carriages, it was slim and didn't provide much cover.

"Having second thoughts?" The old man asks, turning to look at me.

'Why do I feel like he's challenging me?' I shake off the weird feeling and hop into the carriage, "I'm fine."

"Good, very good." The old man nods and heads back into the village to get his horse.

I thought about following him for a moment, but I decided to stay put since he didn't ask me to come with him.

●●●

When the old man came back, he had a bag on his back and the horse's reins in his right hand. He got on the front seat of the wagon—I mean carriage and tied the horse up.

"Let's go." The Old Man says briefly and commands the horse forward.

●●●

After an hour of rocking up and down on the carriage, I fell asleep. When I woke up, the sun was starting to fade from the sky. I sit up and stretch my arms in the air feeling the breeze brush against my face. The uncomfortable feeling from earlier pretty much disappears, seeing the passing scenery around me.

"How was your nap?"

"It was fine." I scratch my head, feeling a little embarrassed, 'I'm surprised I fell asleep so easily around someone I just met, but I just can't see this Old Man as a bad person.'.

"Good." The old man nods his head, and the only sound I can hear is the rattlings of the carriage and the breeze brushing against me.

"How long will it take to get there?" After thinking for a bit, I ask.

"At our current pace, we'll be there in around 7 days," He answers after a moment.

'So long.' I'll be traveling with this old man for a whole week.

"Why are you going there?"

"For Arcadia's Entrance Exam."

The old man nods his head without saying anything else. Having nothing else to do, I start cultivating. I cross my legs on the bench and start chanting, 'The Earth is holy, the Earth is the root of all life, the Earth gives me strength, and in return, I give myself to the Earth…'

After a couple hours, I stop cultivating and open my eyes. Looking up at the sky, I'm greeted by the moon instead of the sun.

The Old Man turns his head a little and tells me, "I'm going to stop at the next village for the night."

"Alright."

●●●

We stopped at the next village and found an inn. The old man paid for a room and told me that we would share it. After I accept the offer, we eat dinner at the inn before going upstairs to our room.

There were two beds in the room. I pick the one on the left and sit my bag and sword down next to it. The old man takes the other one and sits down after placing his bag to the side.

After some thought, I ask the Old Man, "Do you know anything about Synthasia?"

"Synthasia? Let me think," The Old Man strokes his chin for a moment before looking back at me, "Synthasia is the second biggest city in the Mistrom Kingdom. It's known as the City Of Knowledge and Opportunity."

"Why is it called that?"

"Although there are many different businesses in the city, it earned that name because of it's Mystic Arts Academy. Arcadia is the number one Mystic Arts Academy on the continent, giving it a good reputation. The Academy is the reason all those businesses came to the city and that it expanded so much," He tells me.

"So, that means the Academy is like the Pillar of the city?" I ask after thinking for a bit.

"Exactly." He nods his head and explains, "Synthasia started as a small village just like Cara village, but due to the Academy's reputation, it grew and expanded, making it what it is today. The students that graduate from the Academy all became something great and gained a vast amount of knowledge. Some of them even started businesses in the city that have expanded across the continent. That's how the city earned that nickname."

"That's amazing," Hearing his explanation, I'm really looking forward to seeing the Academy.

"It is. If you can pass the entrance exam and graduate, you're sure to become something great in the future."

"Mm..." I rub my eyes feeling sleepy from the long trip.

"You should get some rest, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." I nod and lay down in my bed.

"Good Night, Kid." The old man blows out the candle, wrapping the room in darkness.

"Good Night..." I mutter as I fall into a deep sleep.