Dante made his way into the hall and down the large double wide stairs to the lobby of the Inn. Leading the way by his side was Virgil who didn't walk so much as floated forward.

Looking out the open doors of the Inn he saw a bustling night time street, filled with many people from earth but also other people. He saw long ears and tails, a mule centaur? They appeared laden with bags, with several well armed individuals surrounding them. He could not determine the gender from here.

He also saw what looked like a minotaur but instead of a bull the upper half was a horse. 'An Equitaur?' He mused for a moment. It had what appeared to be a collar of some kind around its neck. It was about 8 or 9 feet tall and was harnessed to a carriage that it was currently pulling down the smooth stone street.

All about the crowd he spotted several dimly shining golden figures. 'I guess the system really did want people to use the guide.' Dante thought for a moment as he looked upon the Inn's lobby.

The lobby was similar in appearance to his room. Rustic and middle ages in appearance and yet had many modern conveniences in the form of magical items.

Crystal lamps on the walls and an ornate chandelier with the same crystals instead of flames.

As he walked down the double wide stairs he looked right into a dining area. The windows were clear, letting in sunlight.

'Sunlight...' Dante questioned in his mind but withheld the question for the moment.

Virgil led him through the crowd to the dining area. Several in the crowd took an interest in Virgil only to be pulled back into whatever it was they had been doing before.

However as they made their way through every one of the dozen other system guides all tracked Virgil with their eyes.

Speaking, explaining, giving demonstrations, regardless of what they were doing they kept envious eyes upon Virgil.

Some part of Virgil relished in their attention. He had been granted a name and they knew it.

Then again the man within him didn't care much for the attention.

Looking towards the back of the dining area Dante saw a taller man with pointed ears open what appeared to be a fridge as he looked through the window into the kitchen.

Also he saw several cooks working at grills and with stoves.

On the side of the room opposite him he could see people that seemed to be getting drinks from red and blue crystals that were slightly glowing.

Everything seemed to have a hint of magic to it, even the appliances being used in the kitchen.

It was someplace straight out of a fantasy and he loved it.

"Hey, it's possible for me to make a village right?" Dante asked Virgil.

"Yes. However there will be several requirements you would need to meet. Would you like to hear them?" Virgil queried.

"Not at the moment. Do you know where..." He was however unable to finish his question as he heard an all too familiar voice.

"Dante!" His mother squealed with joy as she rushed from her seat at a table, nearly knocking it over. He saw his dad catch the table and steady it before he quickly joined them at the entrance of the dining area.

His mother was hugging and kissing him. "How are you feeling?" His mother asked.

"I'm feeling fine mom. Virgil told me that you guys got me here after I passed out. Thanks for that." Dante replied as he hugged his mother.

As his father approached he noticed that he was wearing the same kind of boots as him.

"Hey dad. Nice boots. Do they bring back any old memories from your time in the Navy?"

His father smiled, "More than you know."

Dante looked over to his father, "Are you a bit taller than you were earlier?" Dante could swear that his father had grown a few inches in height and width.

Frank's smile grew, "I'm glad you noticed. I'm finally as tall as you." Dante smiled as he stepped away from his mother who reluctantly allowed it. He stepped up to his father and put out his right hand, which his father grasped. They then embraced each other in a warm hug.

Dante stood to his dad's side and looked up at his mother who blushed. "Mom. Have you grown prettier since the last time we met?" His mother blushed even more and covered her face with her hands. Dante leaned right and whispered to his dad, "She put points into charisma didn't she? Does she have a class yet?"

"Yes to both. She has the class... Lady, but." That worried him, "But what?" Dante asked as he returned to standing straight. "You probably don't have the Observation Analysis skill do you?" Dante was a bit shocked but then again, 'They always did have an eye for the details.' Dante thought.

"Nope." Dante's mother finally removed her hands from her face only for his father to wink. Causing her to blush even harder and cover her face with her hands once more. Dante looked around but no one seemed to pay them any mind. It was as if this was something that happened all the time here.

"Here you go." His dad said as he handed him a blue box. Upon the blue box appeared to be his mother's status information. 'I wonder if he tied the skill's activation to winking?' He thought as he began reviewing her status.

Right away he noticed several issues. 'Her charisma is 23 and her luck is 30!' The rest of her stats were in the low teens, except strength which was 9. Dante looked up at his father, who elaborated, "Apparently this system counts those skills you already had before it came. It quantifies human experience into numerical values." His father stated as if reciting something from memory. "In your mother’s case, that would be levels in house cleaning, cooking, tailoring and such. She is a fine Lady. There is one more thing however."

Dante was trying to recover from the shock of such uneven stats. Then his father tapped the section where it displayed her class.

Classes

Lady Lvl. 5

N/A Lvl. 23

Upon seeing this Dante checked his own classes.

Classes

N/A Lvl. 22

"That's odd. Is it that there is no commoner class?" Dante asked this time Virgil replied such that the three of them could hear him.

"That is correct. There is no Commoner class. There are classes pertaining to professions like carpenter, fisherman and several other variations, including race exclusive classes like goblin skirmisher, I'm told, but there are no classes pertaining to one's birth status in society until you get to royalty." Dante thought about that for a moment.

"So no noblemen class, but there are classes like Prince and King?" Dante asked.

"That is correct." Virgil confirmed.

Dante looked at his dad, then handed him his own status, "And you?" His father took the status page he had been handed and handed Dante another blue box. Before he inspected it however, he tried handing his mother's status back to him. He simply waved his hand and stated, "Look at it and think disperse." Dante did so and watched with mild joy as the blue box crumbled into blue wisps of mana that floated up and dispersed into the atmosphere.

Dante examined his father's status. It was far more rounded. Most of his stats were in the low 20's except charisma 23, luck 19, and spirit 17.

He tapped on his fathers class information.

Classes

Naval Soldier Lvl. 17

N/A Lvl. 25

He could not believe his father was level 42! 'Those medals on his uniform definitely represent something. Holy Shit!'

Frank smiled as Dante stared in awe of his fathers status.

"While you were out we sat down here and started asking Virgil questions. We got to where he said you were at in the tutorial." Frank said, eliciting a look of contemplation from Dante.

"Hey Virgil, I completed the 3rd step of the tutorial right?" he asked.

"That's correct. If you were wondering what the next step of the tutorial is, I can show you now if you would like." Virgil spoke

Thinking for a moment and looking to his parents he decided against it for the moment. 'They waited for me, so maybe it's better if we did it together?' Dante thought.

"So were you guys having Lunch? Mind if I join in like 5 minutes? I’m going outside to check something out." He asked with a smile.

Dante’s parents moved to get up but he stopped them saying he would be back in 5 minutes. Begrudgingly they sat back down and continued their lunch.

-------------

He stepped outside looking upon the busy street looking for those he had seen a minute ago.

The sunlight was bright and he could feel the warmth upon his skin. It felt like it was going to be a nice day. It seemed it was somewhere between spring and summer in this place rather than winter as it had been back home before all this kicked off.

Turning back to the street and after a moment of searching he saw the two he had been looking for. The donkey centaur and the Equitaur.

Now that he was closer he could see details that hadn’t been so clear before. For one the ‘Equitaur’ as he was calling them didn’t have white hair like he had originally thought. No it was a snug fitting work shirt, like you might see a farmer wearing. Along with the shirt he wore what appeared to be a faded set of denim pants. Though it looked like the pants had been cut off at the shin. He was in the process of unstrapping himself from the wagon harness. His hair/fur appeared to be brown and glistening with sweat.

The donkey centaur on the other hand now that he was closer, he could tell she was female. She had to be a donkey centaur for she seemed far too small to be a...'normal' centaur.

'She might just be young but then again...' He thought as he examined her from a distance. Her upper half looked like a woman in her mid to late 20's, maybe early 30's.

She was also wearing what appeared to be the clothes of a simple farmer's wife. A yellow sundress with a little bit of embroidered design here and there.

Her bottom half also seemed to be covered in some kind of clothes.

'A skirt? A horse skirt?' He thought, quizzically raising an eyebrow.

She was stepping down the back steps of the cart stretching her arms and trotting around to stretch her legs. Most of the cart was covered with what seemed like a large cloth tarp of some kind. Whatever was underneath it seemed to make the cart fairly heavy.

But it didn't seem so important at the moment so he refocused on her.

Other than her lower half being that of a donkey she looked more or less like a human from the waist up, until you got to the donkey ears on the top of her head. What surprised him more than seeing a donkey centaur was that as she brushed back her hair he saw human ears.

‘Well… It seems that centaur’s really do have both kinds of ears. Unlike those terrifying pictures where they swap around the ears of cats and humans. Cat girl with cat ears and human ears, girls with just cat ears, cats with human ears…’ Dante shivered at the thought.

‘Well this is something most people could be happy with. I certainly am. I wonder if the world is becoming a Monster girl bestiary?...' His train of thought stopped for a moment upon that thought, then he cracked a smile and looked up.

Towards the two.

'Let’s go meet them.’ He thought, his smile widening, as he began to cross the street.

He paused, stopping to look both ways and make sure he wouldn’t get in someone’s way or get trampled.

Waiting a moment for a carriage to roll by, he jogged across the street, raising his hand and his voice in, waving the hand as he greeted them.

“Hello!” he spoke a little louder than he normally would to be heard above the general hustle and bustle of the street.

The two paused as they turned to look at him before the mule centaur walked up to him.

Dante was about 6 feet tall but she stood a good foot over him, and the Equitaur stood a good foot above her!

“Hello, can I help you?"

-----------------

Dante returned to the Inn after his conversation with the two. He had been very interested to learn about them, and learned a bit from them.

After introducing himself he had tried to ask many questions as he thought they might be able to answer.

He learned the Female donkey centaur's name was Veronica and the Equitaur's name was Victor.

He apparently had been correct in his assumption that the name of Victor's race was Equitaur but Veronica had told him her race was called Onocentaur.

About two minutes into the conversation he noticed that each of them wore gold bands on their left hands.

Noticing it had gained him...

+1 Perception...

It had been interesting to find out that they were actually married. They told him that they were going to be in town for a few days visiting an old friend of theirs and doing some trade throughout the town.

He had perked after hearing that information and asked if they had any places they would recommend.

They had recommended the shop of their friend, who they claimed owned several shops towards the middle of the town. They told him that he worked as a flesh monger among several side businesses.

Unfamiliar with the term Dante asked and they explained that a flesh monger is one who deconstructs the corpses of animals and monsters that said parts could be better utilized.

But when he asked the man's name they looked at him strangely. They told him that they knew him as %*^&%*, but that wasn't his real name.

They spoke of how the system sometimes failed to translate things such as names between any two languages. Thus people with such issues would often give out names to be referred to as for simplicity's sake.

That was certainly interesting to hear for Dante.

So it was that after getting a brief description of the person in question and directions to the Victor bid him farewell as he began to pull his cart once more. Veronica waved as they continued on their way towards their friend. As they bid farewell Veronica told him to drop their names to the shop keep and he would treat him well.

Dante smiled, thanking them as they left after their short break.

It was only then that Dante noticed something poking out from under the large tarp that covered most of their wagon. It looked like a small green arm. Well...part of one anyway.

'Oh shit...No wonder they're going to the flesh monger. Was that part of a Goblin? Are goblins real now?' He thought, frozen in a moment of disbelief. Stunned by the possibility he stood there in the street before someone shouted for him to move out of the way and flipped him the bird.

Dante frowned, his somewhat good mood suddenly ruined as he ignored the man and returned to the Crystalfoot inn. There he had some lunch while he talked with his parents.

-------------------------

What had truly surprised Dante was the variety of foods available. The menus were similar to his status box. He could search for anything he wanted. Even when he threw random words that could even vaguely be connected to food, like slime and mud, options came up. Each item had a picture accompanied by a description of the food and how it would taste. Dante was very impressed.

They had been discussing what he had learned from the two when a man with a guitar decided to make a little impromptu show from one of the booths near the window. Much to the enjoyment of the dinners.

First came, Don't stop me now by Eddie Mercury.

"Tonight, I'm going to have a real good time...

"Carry on my Wayward son! There'll be peace when you are done!...

"Hello Darkness my old friend, I've come to talk with you again...

He played and sang a few songs, his voice seeming to grow just a little more grand over the duration of his performance.

He must have had a skill or something because with every song, you could hear the accompaniment of instruments not present.

Drums, electric guitars, piano, all heard but none present.

People were singing along as the man sang and played. His parents joined in and after a little bit of embarrassment he did too.

When he was done he had not only gained the Singing skill, but it had leveled to 3.

...

Congratulations! Skill, Singing, has leveled up! Lvl. 3...

When he was done there was a great cheer and the hustle and bustle of the dinning area returned.

Dante watched as an elven man walked over to and began conversing with the performer.

He had seen the man come out of the kitchen once the guy had started playing and now it seemed he was genuinely interested in the music.

With a full belly Dante and his parents talked for a time.

Eventually about a quarter past 1 his dad resummoned Virgil.

"Alright Virgil. I think it's about time we all move onto step 4 of the tutorial."

Virgil simply smiled before he said, "Would you all like to begin the fourth step of the tutorial?"

Laura and Dante both answered in the affirmative.

So it was with a wave of Virgil's hand, blue boxes appeared for each of them.

Step 4 Explore the Town of Beginnings! You are implored to go forth and explore the town of Beginnings. Across the town are several locations of importance to the tutorial. At these locations you may acquire new skills and make new friends. You will be notified when you have completed this step. You may ask others for assistance if you so choose. Further parameters have been hidden to encourage exploration.

Dante laughed as he rather enjoyed that this was part of the tutorial.

Dante and his parents departed the Inn, which he found out the name of which was, The Crystalfoot Inn. They walked the streets taking in the city's sites.

-------------

Dante and his father were growing a bit bored as all the while his mother was busy browsing clothes in a shop.

"We've been together 25 years and in that time she always does this." Frank motioned to Laura talking animatedly with the female human shopkeeper, eliciting a nod from Dante.

As Laura slowly made her way farther into the store, browsing clothes the shopkeeper recommended, It just so happened that Dante looked out the window behind them and saw a sign that piqued his interest immediately. It read, "Brothel Alley".

'Isn't that street right next to one the flesh monger is supposed to be on?' Dante quizzically thought, raising an eyebrow as he rubbed his chin. He could feel a bit of stubble on his face now.

A moment of thought later, and seeing a chance to alleviate their boredom, he motioned for his dad to come over and they conversed for a moment. Slowly and quietly he explained his idea and what he had seen, making sure to stay out of his mother's line of sight while they spoke.

By the time it was over, Frank was smiling and gave a small chuckle, an old flame burned bright in his eyes.

"This reminds me of my days in the navy. It was like this a lot when the sailors got their shore leave."

His father nodded and walked over to Dante's mother.

"Hey honey?"

"Yes dear?"

"I'm going to take Dante on a little father son outing..." He paused as she turned to him and laughed.

*HA!*

"I was wondering how long it would take you to spot the sign. You basically want to go clubbing with Dante? See if you can find a strip club or something?" Laura spoke calmly but with a but of humor in her voice.

"..." Silence was his only reply.

To her credit the shopkeeper, the moment this little display had started, she had donned her 'Mask of Perfect Neutrality'.

A very useful skill for any shopkeeper.

"I knew the second I saw that sign that this was probably how it was going to turn out. Don't you remember Dante's 18th birthday party?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"...I...don't." Frank said as he seemed to be struggling to recall the memory.

"I'll tell you what happened, you were so excited you emptied a 12 pack of Coors and tried taking him to a strip club like you and your buddies used to do when you had shore leave." She said the smile never dropped from her face.

Frank on the other hand was rubbing the back of his neck, a bit embarrassed.

The shop keeper's mask cracked just a bit as she gave a small, restrained laugh.

Laura stepped forward and kissed Frank for a long moment.

"I don't care dear. Go have your fun with Dante dear. But no drinking!" She said as she gently poked him on the shoulder.

Her smile was bright and joyous. Frank looked lost for a moment before he shook it off and returned the smile.

"Alright I won't drink. We'll meet you back at the inn when we're done. Why don't you find something really nice and we can come back for it in a day or two."

Laura, Dante's mother, smiled and stated, "I'll hold you to that and I'm going to make it very expensive." She said as she raised her eyebrows. Frank turned back to Dante for a moment who simply gave him two thumbs up for assurance.

Frank smiled and said, "Whatever you want dear."

Dante and his father walked out of the store. Slowly making their way across the street and down Brothel Alley taking in the sights.

They watched as the sun touched the horizon, they had been exploring for quite some time before they got here.

Mostly his mom stopping at several clothing stores, and him not feeling like he should go off on his own.

This world was new and he wasn't about to run himself into something bad because he wanted to explore.

Now he had time, so he had hung back with his parents. Even with his dad saying he would cover for him so he could explore.

He didn't want to tempt fate.

The sun set was near perfectly aligned with the street so they got a good view as they walked.

------------------

'A marriage without trust is no better than a prison. We've been together for 25 long good years because I trust him.' She thought as she waved her husband and son off on their little adventure.

Laura turned and began speaking with the shopkeeper again, moving toward the back of the midsized shop.

Where the more expensive items were.

The shopkeeper dropped her Mask of Perfect Neutrality and smiled wide.

--------------------------------