"Status Screen"

[Name: John Phoenix

Age: 18

Race: Human

Title(s): Survivor

Level: 11->12(4%)

HP: 180

MP: 480

Vitality: 18

Strength: 17

Agility: 22->23

Intelligence: 48(mana brain)

Wisdom: 56(mana heart)

Skills:

Spells:

Mana Manipulation Lvl 1, Meditation Lvl 1, Chanting Lvl 1, Runic Language Lvl 1, Sense Mana Lvl 1, Extract Mana Lvl 1, Empower Spell Lvl 2, Inspect Lvl 2->3, Mana Shield Lvl 1, Mana Bolt Lvl 4, Telekinesis Lvl 1, Spell Break Lvl 1, Interrupt Spell Lvl 1, Clean Lvl 10

Fire Spells:

Flame Control Lvl 1, Burn Lvl 1, Firewall Lvl 1

Water Spells:

Water Manipulation Lvl 1, Fog Lvl 1, Breath of Water Lvl 1

Ice Spells:

Freeze Lvl 1, Frozen Dagger Lvl 1, Ice Wall Lvl 1

Earth Spells:

Earth Manipulation Lvl 3->4, Earth Wall Lvl 1, Dirt to Mud Lvl 1, Mud to Stone Lvl 1, Quicksand Lvl 1, Mud Shot Lvl 1

Nature Spells:

Plant Control Lvl 1, Growth Lvl 1, Wall of Thorns Lvl 1

Wind Spells:

Gust Lvl 1, Feather-Fall Lvl 2, Wind Arrow Lvl 1, Air Dome Lvl 1

Lightning Spells:

Spark Lvl 1, Chain Lightning Lvl 1

Light Spells:

Light Lvl 1, Flash Lvl 1, Cure Lvl 1, Mend Lvl 1, Purify Lvl 1, Heal Lvl 2,

Mind Spells:

Mind Shield Lvl 1

Shadow Spells:

Night Vision Lvl 1->2, Silence Lvl 1->2, Poison Cloud Lvl 1, Shadow Crows Lvl 1

Arts:

Dagger Arts Lvl 1, Bow Arts Lvl 1, Pugilist Arts Lvl 1, Siege Weapon Arts Lvl 1

Skills:

Tracking Lvl 1, Identify Trap Lvl 1, Danger Sense Lvl 8, Stealth Lvl 4, Running Lvl 1, Steady Hands Lvl 1, Precise Strike Lvl 1, Pain Resistance Lvl 4, Mental Resistance Lvl 1, Fear Resistance Lvl 2, Heat Resistance Lvl 1, Cold Resistance Lvl 1, Lightning Resistance Lvl 1, Poison Resistance Lvl 2, Soul Manipulation Resistance Lvl 1, Acting Lvl 1->2, Light Armor Lvl 1, Heavy Armor Lvl 1, Writing Lvl 1, Cooking Lvl 1, Herbalism Lvl 1, Architect Lvl 1, Mathematics Lvl 2, Measurement Lvl 1, Farmer Lvl 1, Hoe Arts Lvl 1, Sickle Arts Lvl 1, Hammer Arts Lvl 1, Cartography Lvl 1, Trapmaking Lvl 1, Cleaning Lvl 1, Trading Lvl 1, Appraisal Lvl 1, Decrease Price Lvl 1]

I nodded my head. I was making good progress on my levels. Maybe.

I closed the screen and then looked back down at my notes. I had purchased a lot of paper and what this world uses as a pencil from the screen in my world. It’s like a pencil but not because it looked like a rock carved into something you would hold in your hands. It wrote just like a pencil though, so I didn’t really care.

The only thing I didn’t like about this worlds pencil was the fact that it didn’t have an eraser, so everything I wrote, I couldn’t erase. It was a good thing that paper was 100 sheets for a 1/100th of a point though. Anyway, what I had learned about this world from Clark was incredibly interesting. Other than the fact that I could talk and understand him I mean. I quickly organized my thoughts to make certain that I wouldn’t forget anything.

To start, this is a medieval-ish world, possibly. The fact that most if not all countries are ruled by emperors is a big giveaway. The fact that the previous emperor of this country established essentially feudal lords to work and manage his vast country for him also reminded me of the medieval era of my world. But I could be wrong, so I will have to be prepared for any discrepancies as I go forward.

Nobles and such seem to be in use for the political power of this world and to manage large areas of land or cities. A relatively decent way of ruling, but also one that I can easily use to my advantage and exploit apparently. I will have to thank the old emperor if what Clark said was true.

If it’s true though, I could bump up my plan by weeks and possibly gain more information about this world from the higher circles of this government. However, I will need to be careful. The fact that the emperor uses and attracts mages politically shows that the emperor isn’t incompetent, or at least the last one wasn’t.

The next thing on my mind was mages and knights. It seems that people can live in this crazy dangerous world thanks to those kinds of people. Or at least people like Clark look up to those people for protection. My best guess from Clark’s reaction was that mages were rare, how rare, I don’t know. I was hoping to find out more on that, but from the way Clark talked about his social status, no one really tells that kind of information to the common man.

He spoke of an academy, which meant that some form of information was being spread and taught to the masses, but only to those chosen or with the aptitude for it. If I was to take a guess, I would think that most who pass the academy, whatever they teach, probably become retainers for nobles or possibly even knights. But I will have to confirm that.

I was lucky that Clark had been a bar-hand before. Many stories and information can be found in bars and pubs and he had some good information on the currency and items. The fact that there are different grades for items and food, surprised me. But with levels and stats, I guess anything is possible.

The fact that they are indeed on a coin-based system also reminded me of the medieval ages and king Arthur and such. I looked back at my inventory and saw all the gold coins I had.

‘Well, I may be rich then. At least I don’t have to exchange gold coins for paper money…’

With a sigh, I took a step back mentally. I was in a new world. I was hoping for a little bit more technological advancement, but from what I have heard and seen thus far, that’s not going to be happening. If the handmade clothing wasn’t a dead giveaway, I doubt that indoor plumbing exists either.

‘well…..at least I won’t have to worry about trying to sneak my way into the city’

I still had questions, too many really, but I knew that I couldn’t ask Clark everything. I couldn’t give away my complete lack of knowledge. He is already going to talk about a mage who was lost in the Dark Forest and lost some of his memories. I didn’t want to give him too much information about myself to spread. So I made a loop around the farms by staying in the forest, away from prying eyes, and asked a different farmer a couple of farms away from Clark’s farm more of my questions.

This time, I didn’t cast magic and instead used the excuse that I was an adventurer who was thinking about becoming a farmer. This farmer was an old guy, late fifties at least. He said he switched over to farming as well to get out of the city. He was a runner for a few businesses but didn’t like the environment. So he started farming 6 years ago.

The guy was friendly enough and helped me out with some information on someone trying to start farming. From him I learned more about the prices for food, who has the best food, what kind of food is usually grown where, what season it is best to plant what, etc.

I learned from him that there were cows in this world, as well as horses, sheep, boars, and bulls. None of them were really cheap to buy or maintain on a farmer’s pay. Those were for the richer farms. Cows cost a silver, horses were 3 silvers, sheep were 80 copper a piece, boars were 60 copper a piece, and bulls were 5 silver a piece. That was just to buy them. It was probably more to raise them.

I also found that you needed to have the animal herding skill at the journeyman rank for the animals to stay healthy, listen to you, and produce better products. The sheep’s wool for example or the cow’s milk. Journeyman rank made me pause, but the farmer was still talking so I asked him to explain that part later.

As he continued to talk, I found out that farmers only made about 10 copper for a pound of wheat, 20 copper for a pound of potatoes, 1 copper per head of corn, and 30 copper per pound of barley. He said that the only reason barley was so high was because people drink beer more than they piss. A very salty old man, but informative.

He said that Darno’s poorer farmers mostly grew wheat, potatoes, and corn. The richer ones grew barley, cabbage, onions, garlic, peppers, and tomatoes. He said that those were the ones that made the most money but were much harder to farm unless you were an adept farmer. When he said adept I had to stop him and asked him what he meant by journeyman and adept. He looked at me funny for a moment, and my acting skill leveled up once more, before shrugging and telling me.

What he said made me widen my eyes though. I had no idea that the level of your skill determines how good you were at something and would prevent you from succeeding if you were too low a level!

Levels 1 through 9 were apprentice ranked levels, journeyman was level 10 to level 24, then was adept level 25 to 49. After adept was master ranked level 50 to level 74. Grandmaster was level 75 to 99, and level 100 was only for those who passed the god’s test to receive.

He said that the level before the next rank was always much harder to get. It was like a milestone or a change in the skills abilities. He offhandedly said that it was the same for people.

My mind was a whirl of noise after he said that. But his next comments stopped my train of thought.

‘But most people either never even reach adept rank, or stay an adept rank until they die.’

I tried to keep my smile up as we talked some more. I was itching to get my notes out to write everything down. His last words to me were a piece of advice.

‘Don’t become a farmer here in Darno. Too many high nosers in the city won’t pay you what you are due. You’re young. You have time. If you have the chance and the money, go to a village around Eden. They are small, but the price for your goods is much better, the land is more nutritious for the crops, and you can level your farming skill faster there.

The city lord is selling this land cheap because he isn’t patrolling the forests with his knights as much. He is using the poor as an alarm system after they got upset after that monster hoard that came through a few years back. Completely destroyed a year’s crops and killed 100’s of farmers. Useless nobles.’

I took his last piece of advice and thanked him for his time with a silver coin. His cheery laughter from the coin as I walked away was the last thing I heard from him before entering the forest again.

It took me an hour or so to add all the information I gained from the second farmer to my notes and eat lunch.

After that, I walked around the other side, back pasted Clark’s farm, and to the left of it. There I met with another farmer tilling away at his fields. This guy was not one for conversation though. He told me to get lost or he’d beat me up. That made me smile. These were the kind of guys that I dealt with a lot in the apocalypse. I knew how to deal with them. Simple really, all it took was the flash of a silver coin and he was willing to tell me whatever I wanted to know.

I learned about the political leaders of the city, the major noble houses, how to become an adventurer, what to expect in the city, and, for an added benefit, I found out about the dungeon in the city. That was the reason it was called a city in the first place after all. A city could only be called a city in the empire if they have a dungeon under them. They were filled with monsters and resources for the adventurers to plunder and risk their lives for and it creates quite the lucrative market for goods.

It was a very interesting conversation, especially when he brought up the slave collars.

Apparently, slavery was enforced very easily in this world. The enchanted slave collars would force a slave to do almost anything their master wanted them to do. Perfectly loyal, perfectly obedient, free labor for the rich. A few of the farms close to the city were completely manned by slaves for noble houses.

But what concerned me the most was that they could put the collar on anyone, and they would be a slave. Mostly it was used on criminals, those who couldn’t pay back their debts, war slaves, kidnapped people from other countries, etc. But that wasn’t always the case. I instantly became incredibly worried and weary when I thought about that.

‘If someone got a slave collar on me…..’

That would be it. I would be done. My world would be done, and this one along with it.

I left the now richer man to count his coins and walked back into the forest. I had to change my plans, again.

---

‘I’m not ready.’

I sat in my cave as the afternoon sun shone in through the holes.

All the new information I gained helped me finalize a more concrete plan, but once I had it ready, the threat of the slave collars made me step back and question myself. Question why I was doing this so quickly. Why didn’t I take more time to prepare? I didn’t have to enter the city right now. I could push that back until I was stronger, faster, and smarter. That should be a good idea. But I knew that it wasn’t. I needed to follow my plan. It was a good plan. A plan that could succeed. But those thoughts of failure kept calling to me. Saying that I had already failed once. What if you fail again?

The beginning is always the hardest part of a plan. Trusting your decisions, your actions. Believing that you could do this. But at the back of your mind, you always hear the words, what if you fail? Those words can stop you in your tracks, freeze your movements, and terrify you from even beginning.

Even after all that time in hell, hardening myself to the cruelty of existence, I was still scared. I had put the dark thoughts in my mind in a corner, using the excuse of finding civilization as my goal, shielding me from confronting the fact that I had already failed once. But now that I found them, I had to keep going. I had to face the abyss.

The thought of fear, of failure, of endless death, was all it took for those thoughts to creep closer out of their corner. Then the what if’s began to build in my head, and the weight of what happens if I failed began to press down on me like a truck. It began to suffocate me.

I tried to breathe but found that my lungs wouldn’t take in any air. Then the voices came. The screams, the wails, the roars of the countless undead. The screams of my family. My friends. My love.

I was not able to save any of them. And now I was expected to save everyone? How can someone move with that kind of pressure? How can you think?

The downward spiral of fear began to grow and grow, almost breaking me, until I spotted the brand on my hand. The phoenix. It made me think of her, her hope. This hope that I had to fix this. To make it all worth something. Remembering it all, remembering what I was struggling so much for, made me grit my teeth. I then did what I always did when the fear and pain tried to drag me down into their dark holes, I got angry.

Angry at the world, angry at the god’s who made it like this, angry at the destruction of my world, angry at the unfairness of my life, angry at myself for being such a coward. That anger fueled me, moved me. Forced me to stand up and punch myself in the face.

‘NO! I’m not a savior. I’m a survivor. Even if I’m the last being alive left on this world, even if I end up enslaved, I’ll keep moving. I will survive!’

Pant. Pant. Pant. Pant.

My anger began to wane as the dark thoughts of fear and regret were pulled back under control. I used those moments to calm my mind and think about what I could do, would do, what I had done, to survive.

I took a few minutes to calm myself before I pulled up my library of spells and began to train. I was going to cast every single one of them before I entered the city. I would know exactly what I could do. If those people tried to enslave me, I would make it cost them.

I could do more than just run and hide.

-----

Morning came like it always does. My eyes hurt and my body was sore, but I was ready. 59 days until the end of the world. I had enough time.

I left my cave with confidence, dressed as an adventurer. My leather armor on, my dagger sheathed, a quiver of arrows on my back, and a bow to match it. My clothing and cloak looked worn, holes here and there, singed edges on some parts, dirty and rough, the perfect disguise for a normal man who went into the woods to hunt but failed.

I took one last look at the Dark Forest. This was where I started, where I came from in this world, and I may never see this place again. With a nod to the trees, I turned and began my journey to the city of Darno.

I passed by field after field on a makeshift road that the farmers used to bring their goods to the city to sell every harvest. I moved my body with purpose and watched the farms. Some were small single home farms. Some were larger and had families. As I got closer to the city, more of the farms had better homes on them, with more people in the fields.

I spent the entire morning just getting closer to the city. My increased agility allowed me to keep a pace much faster than any pace I could have had on my world. I didn’t even feel winded as mile after mile was eaten up by my consistent pace. Nothing too outrageous, and I slowed down a little bit when I passed people, but for the most part, I was making great time towards the walls.

And what walls they were. I could see the walls from the forest, so I knew that they were large, but I was not expecting them to be this massive.

My encounters with the farmers told me that Darno’s magnificent walls were so large because it used to be the capital city of the empire. That is, before the empire took over its neighbor and moved the capital to its current place there centuries ago.

As I got closer, I could see why they were called magnificent. The walls were at least twenty stories tall maybe more, like a skyscraper from my world. Reaching up to pierce the sky. Made from solid stone, mined from the “Giant’s Maw Mountains” behind the city. It apparently took 100 years to build during the first emperor’s rein, quite a feat, even with magic.

The closer I got to the city, the more people I encountered. Some even walked on the road with me for a while. I kept my distance but stayed close enough to study them. I knew there were different species in this world. The beastmen kingdom to the west and something dwarven to the south was proof of that. I also knew that there were more than just humans living in this empire according to the farmers. Even so, expecting it and witnessing it are two different things.

The first time I noticed that some people were different looking was when I saw tails on people. Then I noticed their ears. I tried to keep things within my realm of understanding so I identified what I was seeing according to my world’s logic.

Those that had fox-looking tails I labeled as fox beastmen, same with cats, wolves, etc. I wasn’t expecting to see so many different breeds of beastmen out in the fields. Originally I thought that they would be beast like in their appearance. However, they didn’t look like beasts to me. If it were not for the fur on some of their arms, their animalistic ears, and tails, I would have thought them to be human.

I refrained from inspecting anyone with the inspect skill. I didn’t know who was watching right now and I didn’t want to know if someone could sense when someone was casting a spell. My goal was to be as inconspicuous as possible for now.

As I passed farm after farm I kept track of all the beastmen that I could see and noticed any that I missed. I already found foxes, cats, wolves, and I just spotted a possible bear beastman around too. I had yet to see any feathered beastman or lizard-looking ones. So far it was just cats, foxes, wolves, and bears, but I guessed that there would be more.

They were all free beast people, working their farms, or moving supplies around on the farm. It wasn’t until I got within 5 miles or so from the city that I started to see the slaves.

They worked just like anyone else. The collars on their neck were hefty and black and showed their status. I scrutinized the collar and found it to be rather hefty looking. Not something that you could slip on someone easily without them noticing thankfully. But I didn’t know if there were smaller ones like that either. I kept clear of the slaves, but also noticed that none of them looked mistreated or beaten. In fact, many just looked like regular people working a job.

I was confused for a moment until I remembered that the original form of slavery was actually quite normal way back in the past on my world. It wasn’t about lording over your slaves and beating them and working them until they died from exhaustion. No. It was much different. When people bought or had slaves from my world, they were normally bondservants that were just bound to work until they paid back their debt.

Hell, if I remember correctly, most found being a bondage servant better than being a beggar. Most bondage servants at least had food and a place to sleep and weren’t treated that harshly. It changed of course, as time does, into the horrible thing it became, but it seems that the type of slavery of this world is like bondage servants so far.

That being said, I don’t know what the policies are here in this world and I could be completely wrong. Plus, what I’m thinking of is just the average that was told or written about from my world. There were probably those who treated their slaves as horrible as what I remembered during the slave trade era too. It could possibly be even worse.

Either way, from what I was seeing, the slaves didn’t look to be mistreated. I didn’t want to become one, but I did notice their ability to talk and laugh with those who were freemen walking around the farms too. It was a strange dynamic seeing that. Especially when the guys who looked to be in charge of the slaves would come over and joke with them and get them to come back to work after a few laughs.

It didn’t seem like they were treated as sub-citizens or something like that. It was hard to get my mind around it all, but I had to. This was the world I was in, and I needed to blend in.

I passed the slave farms with ease and continued forward. I was closer now. Close enough to see the gates of the city. In fact, I could actually see into the city itself since the gates were wide open.

And what massive gates they were. The gates must have been at least 80 feet tall and 40 feet wide. To even think that people opened and closed the gates every day was mind-boggling to me. But also, a reminder that the people of this world were strong. Much stronger than what I knew from my world.

There were some guards sitting in the shade of the walls and playing a game on the table that I noticed as I approached. Something with dice and a cup, but since they didn’t look at me and I didn’t look at them and kept walking. I managed to make it through the gates with surprising ease. However, now that I was in the city, I realized why they kept it open. It was completely packed with people of all races. I tried to see how far the city went, but from my angle, it looked like it went on forever.

I wanted to walk forward now that I was inside, but I found that I couldn’t. My limbs wouldn’t move the way I wanted them to, and I found a sickening feeling growing in my gut. I looked inside myself to see what the problem was, thinking that I had been poisoned or something, but I found that instead, I was just nervous.

‘Nervous?’

I fought zombie hoards when I was in the army. I ran from crazy cannibals with guns. I killed actual people and watched the light leave their eyes. None of that made me nervous enough to freeze up. But now? Now when I’m faced with normal people going about their day, this makes me freeze up?

My nerves were all over the place, and I began to gather some stares as I continued to stand still.

I never thought that I would have this kind of problem. I guess spending so much time alone or isolating yourself can have drawbacks when you are faced with the business of the world again.

‘I need to fix this…..’

Slowly, deliberately, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. This action calmed me down and allowed me to focus. In the past, I was able to get through multiple nerve-wrecking events by focusing on what I needed to do. It helped a lot, and it was helping me now.

After another deep breath, I smiled and opened back up my eyes. Without pausing any more, I entered into the crowded streets, hands by my side. With each passing moment, I let myself get adjusted to the flow of the city. Seeing people walking around talking, laughing, arguing, and bustling was a lot at first, but soon I was able to embrace the sounds and feelings of the people around me.

It took me an hour to find myself and adapt to being with other people again. It was like an old skill that I used to have. It hadn’t been used in a while, but now that I was using it again, I found myself easing back into the rhythm of life around me.

After finding a decent rhythm I moved farther down the street until the smell of food entered my nose. Smelling that, I smiled and followed it with a purpose to a stall owner selling meat of some kind on a stick. He was a larger fellow with a gut past his shoes and a smile that made him look downright jolly. He was selling to a few people at once when I approached the table.

“What can I get ya kid? 3 copper a stick. Best boar meat in the city!”

Before I could answer, the guy who just bought some laughed.

“Ha! Your meat sticks aren’t even the best in your house Bellos! You and I both know your wife’s meat is better! Her cooking skill is much higher than yours!”

Bellos laughed and pointed one of his sausage-like fingers at the other man.

“My wife loves my meat Vinnie! And if your wife came over she would like my meat too! BUAHahahaha!!!”

The other man laughed and cursed at Bellos with a smile before heading off into the crowd. Then Bellows turned his head back to me.

“So what will it be kid?”

I looked at him confused. I hadn’t been called kid in a very long time.

“I’m not a kid. I’m a man. And I would like one of your sticks, two if you can point me in the direction of the adventurer’s guild.”

Bellos snickered and grabbed two sticks and pointed further down the street towards what looked to be a massive castle in the center of the city.

“You got yourself a deal lad. But come back to me when you’ve grown some hair down there and I’ll call you a man all you want. Hell, I’ll call you my father! Hahaha!”

I didn’t know if it was his jolly attitude or his comments, but I felt more at ease talking with him than I thought. I also felt that it was a good price for the meat and passed him the copper with a chuckle. He certainly knew how to break the ice with customers that’s for sure.

“Thank you for your patronage my boy! And to get yourself to the adventurer’s guild, you head straight down the main street here, then when you find yourself seeing a big old black cat sign, turn right and follow it until you see a building that takes up three bloody streets. That’d be what you’ll be looking for.”

I nodded my head at Bellow’s words and thanked the man.

“Thank you Bellows. See you around.”

Bellows’ smiled and waved his fat arm at me and laughed.

“See you around lad! Hahaha! OH! Ugless where have you been you sad sack of bones? Your wife let you leave the house?”

I tuned out the enthusiastic cook pulling in his next customer and followed his directions. After having a conversation with the large man, I felt much more at ease talking in such an environment.

Before I could get far though, I had to look down at the savory meat. I hadn’t had meat in a long, long time. I had almost forgotten how it tasted, so I savored it. The sticks smelled so good, and the juices just melted onto my tongue. I was actually thinking about turning around and buying as much as I could, it was that good. But I held myself together and continued on, there would be time for meat later. I would make sure of it!

I followed Bellows' directions and after half an hour of walking on the main road, I saw the black cat sign. It was actually a decent-looking inn. The inn was situated on one of the four-way cross streets and was a 4 stories tall, quite different from most of the two or three-story buildings I had passed thus far. However, all of the buildings I had seen were made of wood, very few had stone.

This brought my foreboding mind to think about how this street could become a huge fire pit in minutes when the abyss comes. Thoughts of the abyss made me frown, so I pushed them aside and appreciated the people and architecture of this world instead.

The people seemed happy and well fed. People's clothing looked normal and more for durability than fashion. The buildings themselves were boxy in their design, but also reminded me a lot of the streets of Europe. Businesses or shops on the bottom with homes above.

There was very little room for grass trees or other fauna from growing in this kind of environment. In fact, I didn’t see any besides little flowerpots outside widows or near windowsills on the second or third floors of homes.

As I walked, I also noticed that there were very few if any carriages. It was all people so far on these main roads. Now yes there were carts carrying stuff here and there, but no horse-drawn carriages. Those carts were small and hand-drawn or pushed carts.

I then looked down at the road that I had forgotten to notice. Surprisingly, it was built completely out of bricks or something like it. Either someone on high had put in the time and money necessary to build decent roads in the city, or the commodity of bricks was easy to make and use.

The fact that it was all brick roads made me rethink my initial assessment of this world’s civilization. It seemed that farmer’s roads weren’t worth paving, but city streets were.

‘Well, at least on the main roads. I haven’t seen the side streets.’

After another hour and a half of walking, observing others, the shops, the clothing, the sounds of the people, and the gossip I heard, I realized that I was getting tired. Really tired. Not physically mind you, but mentally. I think all those years alone may have turned me off from large gatherings of people for good. I felt a headache coming on, but I pushed it aside as I finally saw what I was looking for, the adventurer’s guild.

Now, why the adventurer’s guild? After hearing about it multiple times from each farmer, I realized that it could be my perfect cover. Adventurers need no history to become one of them, they can disappear for long stretches of time, and they gain information on monsters and creatures of this world more than any other organization other than the knights!

What I needed more than anything after my forest experience was information on what monsters are in this world. I refused to travel outside the city until I at least knew that I wouldn’t be walking straight into a trap or an alligator den. Plus, I could gain an identity in case anyone asks who I was. God forbid I accidentally make people think I am a spy from a foreign nation and get locked up.

I also had other uses for it, but the main ones were securing my identity and allowing me free access to information of this world since libraries don’t exist outside of academies.

Now here seeing the building though, I misunderstood how large an organization this adventuring guild was. The building itself stood at least 6 stories tall and was wide enough to cover what looked to be three blocks. The building was massive and made entirely out of white stone instead of wood or brick. What’s more, I could see carvings on the stones as I walked past. It wasn’t until I noticed one of the carvings that I realized that these carvings were runes etched into the thick stones. The only skill that I learned about that did anything like that was enchanting.

Enchanting put spells in or on different things. It was a way for anyone to be able to use spells, even those with no talent in actual magic. But from what I found out from the farmers I talked to, enchanting things was horribly expensive. The fact that an entire building was enchanted in such detail only meant that a LOT of money was going through this organization.

I tried to look over the enchantments in detail, wondering if I could understand what kind of enchantment it could possibly be. Some parts or enchantments I could recognize from pieces of my spells, others I couldn’t.

Looking at the sight made me feel unprepared again with my limited knowledge of things.

Adding another task to investigate to my lengthy list, I looked away from the building and back to the people in the area. As I suspected, the type of people had changed as I got closer to the adventuring guild. No more were they normal villagers, the people who wandered here had weapons, armor, and a dangerous look to them. The other shops in the area rang out with hammers and striking of metal, the smells of alcohol, and the laughter and jeers of men.

Many wore light armor like my own, others only had pieces of light armor on and not a full set. I noticed that some had daggers, some bows, some swords, some axes, I even saw someone in full heavy armor carrying a shield on his back and a sword at his side. He was a beast of a man as he passed by me.

As he passed, I caught the glimmer of a piece of metal around his neck, hanging by a strip of leather. I then looked around and sure enough, all of those that I had looked at previously had them. They were all made the same way, but some were different metals.

‘This must be the ranks of adventurers I heard about from that farmer. Interesting…’

I then continued my walk until I faced the entrance of the building. It's two 10ft tall wooden doors were thicker than my head and opened up to a spacious and clean atrium. I was surprised at the cleanliness of the area until I walked through the entrance and a spell was cast on me.

The first thing I noticed was the fact that I could feel where the mana was coming from above me and recognized the spell forming. The second was the fact that it happened instantaneously. I couldn’t stop the spell from activating at my current level of skill either.

Thankfully, it was the cleaning spell that removed all the dirt and grime and sweat on my body as I walked through the entrance. Incredibly handy for sure. Still though, the fact that the adventurer’s guild had such a thing in place, and it activated every time you entered, was incredible and probably expensive. It just felt expensive.

I looked up at where the spell came from and noticed that it was another enchantment etched unto the doorframe that then connected to the enchantments on the walls and on the floors. It looked like it was all connected together somehow, but I just couldn't put it together.

When I looked at the floors, I noticed that they were polished marble of some kind. Completely white and clean. They shined and reflected the light from the multiple chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The chandeliers themselves had what looked to be stones instead of candles in them giving off the light too. All of this screamed wealth, but the rough adventurers walked to and fro and joked and laughed at the tables provided like it was no big deal.

I then heard a gruff annoyed voice behind me.

“Small stack, gawk somewhere else, you’re blocking me.”

I almost jumped in surprise, but I thankfully controlled my body and turned around leisurely instead. I hadn’t sensed anyone approach me from behind. I didn’t even know he was there until he spoke!

Not seeing me flinch or jump cause the voice to chuckle.

“Oh? Seems you aren’t a squeaker. Good. Need more newbies with some backbone.”

When I turned around, I quickly turned my gaze slightly lower than normal. Standing just over 4 feet tall and stocky was an incredibly hairy man. His beard was brown and grey, long and bushy. It covered most of his chest. His body was in heavy armor and a heavy hammer was hanging from a loop on his belt at his side. The armor looked old though and dinged in many places. His older-looking face, which wasn’t covered in hair, was marred with scars. His eyes were deep and cold to look at. Like a veteran of many battles. He even had an iron cap to protect his head. All in all, the first thing that came to my mind was dwarf. The fantasy race from my world almost described his appearance to a tee. However, I guess I had looked too long, and he had gotten impatient.

“Anything you like little one? Or do you just like gawking at anything? I don’t have all day lad. I have things to do today. So if you don’t move your skinny pale ass, I’ll bump ya on the butt with my hammer real good.”

I coughed in embarrassment and moved to the side to let him pass. Behind him were a few men who snickered at me as they passed. I watched them follow the old dwarf across the room and stand in line for one of the ladies behind the massive desk at the back of the room.

Now that I wasn’t gawking at everything, I noticed the other features of the building. At the back were two flanking stone staircases up to the next floor on either side of the long desk. At the desks were an assortment of lines. Some small, others with no people, some with a ton of people. On the walls were wooden boards with papers pieced onto them. There were 5 on each side. Other than that, there were a multitude of tables and chairs around the room with people in them. Not seeing anything else, I then walked to the back of the room straight up to one of the women dressed a little better than the common people that I had seen.

“Excuse me. I am here to apply to be an adventurer. What do I have to do for that?”

She looked up at me a little bored and pointed to the other end of the table near the other side’s stairs.

“All new applicants will need to be processed over there. Charlie is in charge of it today. She can help you with what you want to do.”

I smiled and thanked her. It was never a bad idea to be thankful of people who you needed information from.

“Thank you for your help.”

She shrugged as I walked away and around the lines to the other end of the table near the stairs. Sitting behind the table was a young cat beast woman that I assumed was named Charlie reading a book. No one was in line here either, so I was able to walk right up to her and smile my best smile.

“Good afternoon, I was wondering if you can help me apply to be an adventurer miss Charlie.”

The cat girl named Charlie looked up from her book when I spoke and smiled at me.

“My pleasure. Let me get the documents ready. Now, please be aware that you need to be at least 18 years old to become an adventurer and it costs a silver to apply. Once your application is finished you will be sent to one of our employed enchanters in a different room that will test you and inspect your status screen. However, if you don’t wish to be inspected, an extra silver is required.

Then you will need to go to the sparing room to fight against one of our instructors to find out how proficient you are in your arts. They will then let you know what kind of assignments are the best fit for you currently and how to grow stronger.

Once all that is finished, you will then be given an informational packet with the basics on what you can do as an adventurer and the scope of the adventurer’s guild itself. If you can’t read, I can read it to you for an extra 20 copper.

That’s about all for now though. I’ll tell you more when you finish your spar.”

I nodded my head at her words and sucked up any information that I could.

She then turned around and looked through one of the many cabinets behind her for a few pieces of paper and a writing instrument. Again, it was the pencil that I had also bought from the store. This time though it was detailed and looked much finer. She then placed the papers and pencil on the table and looked at me. Understanding her look, I made it look like I was pulling money out of a pocket in my cloak and popped two silver coins on the table.

Grabbing the silver, Charlie smiled and continued to talk.

“Great, now I am going to ask you a series of questions. Please answer truthfully. If you have been found to be lying and we find out later in a correction session, you will be fined and possibly removed from the guild depending on the severity of the correction session. Do you understand?”

I nodded my head and continued to smile at her.

“Great! First, what’s your name?”

I smiled and lied through my teeth.

“My name is Clark Hundak. Also, what is a correction session?”

Charlie then began writing as she answered me.

“A correction session is when you have broken the law or violated a guild rule. When you have done this, you will then be brought in for questioning and punishment if the claim is proven to be true. Usually, it’s by a council of guild leaders, but if the guild master wishes he can oversee the session himself and make the final judgment. That is the right of the guild master at any guild base. Every base of the guild has a guild master that reports to the master of the guild. Under the guild masters are the guild leaders and on and on. This is all explained in the packet you will get later.”

She then looked up at me and asked the next question.

“How old are you and what race are you? The guild doesn’t discriminate any race as long as they follow the rules of the guild.”

I continue to smile as I answered.

“I am human and 18 years of age.”

She looked at me a moment and scrunched her brows.

“Are you sure your 18? You look young for a human.”

I rolled my eyes and dropped my smile. I don’t know why this annoyed me, but it did.

“Why does everyone keep saying that? I know I’m a bit skinny and weak looking, but I’m 18, not a child darn it.”

Charlie chuckled at my response and began to write.

“Sorry. I guess you are one of the late bloomers of your family. You just look young and less muscular compared to the others I have seen. They usually have serious tans and callouses on their hands from a childhood of hard work. You just look like you came out of a cave where you spent the last few years knitting. Hehehe. I’ll make sure to call you a man from now on instead of a boy.”

She winked at me and then continued to ask her questions.

“What arts do you practice? And what level are you? Be aware, if you lie and when you face the instructor and he feels like you lied about your level or arts, we will ask you to be inspected by our enchanter to make certain you aren’t lying about it. If you refuse or are found to have lied, your application will be terminated, and you will not be able to reapply for another year.”

For this question, I resumed my charming smile.

“I am level 12 and practice dagger arts and bow arts.”

I saw her nod her head and begin writing.

“Not a bad level for your age. I’ve seen better, but about average for an 18-year-old. 5 years to get to level 12, not bad. Good job.”

I froze when I heard her words before resuming my natural attitude.

‘5 years? What does that mean? Can people not level up until they turn 13?’

I put the information I just obtained aside as she asked her next question.

“Do you have any next of kin that you wish to notify in the event that you die? We will report your death to your family in that event free of charge.”

I shook my head.

“No. I don’t. I’m alone in this world.”

Charlie carried a sad smile at that.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Well, that finishes up the application. Since you paid to wave the inspection, it’s time for you to go spar with an instructor.

The good news is that one just came back from walking through the dungeon with another party. I’ll let him know and he will meet you there. What you want to do is go up the stairs here and follow the hallway until you get to the next staircase, then go down it and you will be in the sparring arena. You may use any of the provided wooden weapons for your spar. Good luck!”