It was dawn when the first adventurer got out of her tent.

“Morning Mr. Jones.“

“Morning Less, had a good night's sleep?“

*snorts* “As if! I've never slept well camping in the forest, surrounded by who knows what lurking. The formation we had set up wards most creatures away but not ones with powerful senses. What about you? Have you had any sleep?”

“'fraid not. I have a lot on my mind. I'll get some rest when we reach the town.”

She didn't respond, just nodded her head. Slowly the rest of the group joined them and after a brief breakfast, they started packing their tents. Meanwhile, Bones found a secluded place to take care of a “business”, took off his boots and from the sleeves of the lower garments fell out the half-digested breakfast he had. Once he returned and everyone packed their belongings, they headed in the direction of a town of Westbrook.

Not many beasts got in their way, sensing their levels. Only a few courageous and bold ones tried to ambush them from the back. Unfortunately, the one following the group from the back was Bones, still asking Nica some questions. Bones felt them dozens of meters away and dealt with them as soon as they made themselves visible.

“You're good with weapons! You won't have any problems joining a guild and finding a group! You do, plan to join?”

“I have it under consideration, yes and thank you.”

Bones figured it would be best not to use bone spears or show any bone manipulation so as to not raise even more questions. Till now he had gotten a basic spear and, for some reason, hand to hand combat mastery. He used the crude spear he picked up from one of the goblins and dealt with any ambushes swiftly and with precision.

Rest of the trip went uneventfully and like they said, half a day later, he was standing at the edge of the forest, looking at high walls stretching far and wide, blocking the sight inside. Only the top of the buildings and the far away tower were visible beyond the walls. Walls were made of stone, reaching around ten meters high and were structured in a decagon manner, encompassing a whole town. He counted four watchtowers from his side and a large gate bustling with activity. He couldn't see the details even with his mana vision, this far away.

They stepped out of the forest and onto a cobblestone road leading straight to gates of the town. The road was wide enough to accomodate carriages heading in both directions with a sidewalk used by people.

“Surprised?” Asked Nica

“I am. Wasn't this supposed to be a small town?”

“Hm? It IS small. What would you consider a big town or a city then?”

“Uh, towns with a population of ten thousands and cities over ten thousand?”

*pffft* Not even close. Villages have a population up to five thousands, towns on average around twenty thousands and cities up to a hundred, maybe two hundred thousand. Our capitol has a population of around half a million.” Nica was practically gloating now, smiling at Bones "naive views" of the world.

I expected cities would be bigger than before but not by this much. I dislike crowds…

“Come on you two, keep up.” Yelled Norris from the front.

Group joined the line heading for the town. As they were getting closer they could see a lot of people heading in and out of the town and carriages were lined up at the gates, waiting for an inspection of goods. Being closer to the gates, Bones could see how much bigger they were then he thought they were. Doors in front of the gates were made of stone and were wide open most of the time as they only closed them during an emergency, like a monster surge. Iron gates were behind the stone doors and they were open wide during the day and closed for transport carriages during the night. There were side doors in the walls from both sides of the gate that were used to let people in and that's where his newly joined group was heading to.

Bones expected to wait in queue but was surprised to see people waiting in line to make way for his group. They reached the entrance and waited behind another group of adventurers. There were guards posted at the gate inspecting people coming in.

He noticed adventurers having been treated differently. There were no detailed explanations necessary nor questions asked, perks of being an adventurer. Each adventurer flashed them an adventurer badge and entered the town. When it was his turn, however, he was asked to state his business for entering. As he was about to answer, Less came forward and answered for him.

“He is with us and is here to register for an Adventurers Guild.“

Guard nodded his head, wrote something down in his notebook he had on him and let him pass.

“Thank you Less.”

“No problem Mr. Jones. Guards here can be strict with strangers coming to town, sometimes even hostile. Too many came and…well people died so guards can be edgy with who they let in.”

“I see, then I am even more thankful now.”

She just smiled and nudged him to follow. Cobblestone road followed through the gates and further in the city. Immediately after the gates was an intersection with signs directing transport to left and right towards warehouse districts. North road, toward the center of the city, was a promenade, restricted to vehicles of any kind.

“As you can tell, this road follows all the way to the main square and is restricted to anything but walking. This street is also the most popular shopping district so don't get too distracted and watch your money. A lot of pickpockets “work” in the district.”

Bones however, didn't respond. His mind went numb looking at the crowd of people walking, talking, shouting and pushing each other. He almost turned around and walked out.

“Hey! You alright over there?”

The waving of a hand in front of his face snapped him out of it.

“Huh yes, yes I'm alright, I'm just not used to big crowds.“

“I see, I guess it can be a bit overwhelming. Take your time and if you lose sight of us just keep going forward until you reach the steps to the square. We'll be waiting there.”

“Thank you, I'll see you there.” They're a good bunch. Too polite to a complete stranger though.

Bones watched them leave ahead of him and slowly continued his stroll through the crowd. On the sides of the road were stands filled with all sorts of goods and an occasional food stall selling meat grilled on a stick and different kinds of beverages made from some sort of fruit. Closer to the square there were fewer stands and stalls and more shops selling armors, weapons and other adventurer necessities. He had to say, they weren't kidding about pickpocketing. Four times so far he was the target of pickpockets. He wouldn't even get angry even if they had something to steal from him. All his items and money looted were safe in his inventory. Now that he thought about it, he forgot to ask Nica about storage space.

Bones musings were interrupted by the loud chatter and people crowding in front of one of the shops selling jewelry. Rings, necklaces and bracelets to be more precise. Why would they attract such attention, he couldn't guess. He approached the crowd, peeking from the side, then from above, even from below, but couldn't see anything. Annoyance was showing on his…skull and he started poking people in random places with his bony fingers. Eventually the crowd parted enough so he could get in front of the crowd and see what the fuss was about.

In the window of a shop, in special transparent containers, several rings, necklaces and bracelets were on display. Apart from overly decorated attachments placed on jewelry, what drew his gaze immediately was what was written next to each piece of jewelry and what Identify told him.

Spatial ring of minor holding

Spatial necklace of minor holding

Spatial bracelet of minor holding

And a price of 100 gold for each piece.

“Now I definitely have more questions about storage space.”

He sneaked out of the clutches of the crowd and continued along the road towards the steps to the square where Less and Nica were waiting for him.

“Saw anything you like?” Less asked when he approached.

“Yes, right over there.” Bones pointed in a direction of a shop with jewelry

“Ah spatial accessories, yes quite convenient and a necessity for any adventurer. They’re expensive though. Even ones with minor enhancements cost what we would earn in a month.”

“Could you tell me more about them? Are they storage devices like Inventory?”

“Yes they are exactly like an inventory but with a set amount of inventory slots.. I’m surprised you know about inventory at all. Only adventurers around silver rank, with a few exceptions, have a soul strong enough to withstand a dimensional space within their core. Until then, adventurers use spatial accessories to store items. Hold a spatial ring long enough and you’ll develop a low space affinity, one of the requirements to unlock your own Inventory. Many don’t get to that point and use spatial accessories so they’re always in demand, hence the price.”

“I see and 100 gold is a lot? How much do guild contracts pay on average?”

“Come on, let’s meet others in a coffee shop and I'll explain it on the way.”

Apparently, pay at the guild is piss poor but still more than what common folk could earn. At least at a lower level. Oh and coffee shops are a thing!

Adventurer Guild was an enormous four story building with a large sign on top of a large door frame that read Adventurers Guild. Before the building stood a few groups of people, adventurers, talking to each other and on both sides stood a board with notes and papers attached to them. From time to time someone would come and take a paper from the board and enter the guild. They were contracts issued by the guild, ranging from monster subjugation, wanted posters to help wanted. Outside the guild, doesn’t give a proper sense of how big of a building it actually was. At the entrance to the guild stood a guard on each side, fully armored with halberds by their side. Across the guild was the tallest building in town, apart from the tower, looking like a nicer inn stacked on top of an inn on top of another inn, called a hotel.

In front of the entrance to a hotel, a small coffee shop was situated. Bones sat alone at the small table, sipping at a coffee when he felt something stir his mana flow. It felt wet and...hot? As he was staring at a coffee cup in his hands, a realization hit him. He is sipping coffee onto his bones and getting coffee all over his clothes from the inside...he couldn't drink coffee. He leaned on the chair, head looking high towards the blue skies as he let a long and tired, pained and wronged *hhhaaaahhh*

Was it worth it? Was immortality really worth not being able to drink a coffee anymore or anything else for that matter...*gasps* My wine!? Mood turned soar real quick and as he didn't want to look like an idiot, to no one but himself really, he continued sipping on a coffee.

Rest of the group left to their own vices and Less went to meet a client of their next quest. He was thankful to them, for everything really. Spending time with them, however, confirmed his decision not to join the guild. He had no sense of duty to protect these people. In fact, he had a feeling he would do more harm than help. No, he was sure of it!

I've been in a tavern and seen a tavern fight break out and I've participated in quite a few, but I've never seen or heard about coffee shop brawls before. I've always had my coffee in the comfort of my home.

Just a few minutes ago, after the group had already left, a quarrell in disagreement in opinion was escalating, to the amusement of everyone else. What surprised Bones even more was the reason for an altercation between a bartender, nonetheless, and a customer! Note to self, if ordering large coffee, don't ask for large but grande...