Ike began walking towards the road to oakenridge. As he got the bearings for his surroundings, he realized something. The stick he was holding, the system had classified as a mana wood branch, "weird, must be an area with lots of mana," Ike guessed out loud.
It had already been what seemed like an hour when he got to the stretch of cobblestone road. It was smooth, yet also bumpy; it seemed like driving a carriage would be less hassle than walking down the road. But he had no money, so hiring a carriage seemed impossible. He then spotted what looked like a tavern along the road.
As Ike approached the mystery tavern, which seemed too convenient to but real. But although his suspicions grew, the closer he got, the louder the sound of adventurers partying echoed through his ears. Note to self: disable enhanced perception when not in battle or scouting. Ike noted, the noise from the inn combined with the skill had made his head ache like never before. As he canceled the skill, the noise calmed down a bit, although still very loud and rowdy.
Ike then entered the small shack hidden beside the inn, seeing as it was labeled: "general store."
"Well, would you look at that?" A young man burst out laughing from the corner of the room, "What got you in here, Kid?"
"I want to sell some monster parts," Ike said, confident yet reluctant at the same time.
"Well, why didn't you say so earlier?" The man got up and gestured towards the front desk, cluttered with an assortment of stones and fangs from what seemed like many different beasts, "What are you selling Kid?" the man asked, Ike still offput by the man calling him kid. "i got two wolf fangs, and a wolf pelt" Ike said, hoping that it would fetch him a good price. "two fangs and a pelt you say? Well, let me see them."
Ike then grabbed the two fangs and the pelt from his inventory, laying them across the desk.
"Now that's impressive, kid." The clerk said in a voice that made Ike feel looked down on, "How about 20 cred for the fangs, and 5 for the pelt?" The man asked, the offer seemed like a lowball to Ike, so he refuted, "That's not worth the effort. 30 for the fangs, 10 for the pelt." Ike had left out the detail that he had only dealt the final blow to the already dying wolf.
"You got guts, kid, but I'll say fine. But only because this is your first time here, here's 40 cred." The man then handed Ike four silver coins, which were octagonal and rather thin, but money is money.
"Thanks, but I'm not a kid," Ike said to the clerk as he left the store, heading towards the tavern now that he had money. As he entered the tavern, no one seemed to care that he had.
He then went over to the bar and asked the bartender two things: "Do you know anyone going to oakenridge via carriage? And can I get a cheap mug of beer?" The barkeeper laughed. "Kid, I don't think you're old enough to drink, go back to your parents. Though you are rather tall for a kid. Also, if you need to go to oakenridge," the barkeep gestured towards two men, who were sitting in the corner eating quietly, "you should ask those two, they're on the way there already."
Ike was furious, although he found a method of transportation to oakenridge, he was still a 21-year-old man, right? "Can I get a mirror?" Ike asked the barkeeper, and the barkeeper, amused by Ike's thought that he could buy a mug of beer, obliged. As Ike looked in the mirror, he was shocked.
In the mirror, in front of Ike, there was a boy, no older than 18. Still, he didn't look like a scrawny kid, so he wasn't sure what the barkeeper and store clerk were on about, other than looking a bit younger, he still looked like himself.
"How can I prove that I'm at least 18?" Ike asked the barkeeper, "Well, you show me your system window." The barkeeper replied. Ike, hesitant, obliged.
[info]
Name: Issac Johnson,
race: ??? (shown to others as "human")
height: 5'11" (180cm)
age: ??21 (shown to others as "21")
alignment: none
"See, I'm not a kid," Ike said to the barkeeper, who was now flushed with embarrassment for calling Ike a kid. "I'm sorry for not knowing, sir," the barkeeper blurted in embarrassment. "One mug of ale coming right up, that'll be 1 cred," The barkeeper said to Ike, now recomposed. Ike slid a silver coin across the bar, "I don't have any smaller change, can I give me some?" Ike asked as he realized earlier that each silver coin was "10 cred", which was the currency here.
Later, after Ike had had his beer, he went over to the two men the barkeeper had pointed out earlier. "Hey, I heard you're on your way to oakenridge, can I hitch a ride with you?" Ike asked the two men. The first man looked like your typical adventurer, with dark hair, a sword at his waist, and leather armor. The second looked more like a ranger, his hair lighter in color, a bow sat next to his chair, and he was wearing a tunic with a hood.
The man with the sword looked at the ranger, then the ranger nodded. "Sup, I'm Albert," the man with the word said, "and that there is Romus," he said while gesturing towards the ranger. "My name is Ike," Ike said, surprised that the man was so friendly, but that's nothing to be concerned about right now. "I need to get to oakenridge," Ike blurted, shy at the awkward interaction. "I got some urgent business at the guild."
The next day, the three headed out. They had decided that since Ike needed to get to oakenridge fast, they would charge him 10 creds. One silver coin later, and they were on the road. The next two days were a blur; everything was going smoothly, and before they knew it, they were at Oakenridge. When they arrived, there was a long line of people and carriages stationed outside the town's gates. As they neared the security check, Ike began to worry. What if he couldn't get in because he was a stranger? But all his worries disappeared the second the guards got to their carriage. The guard inspecting the carriage had asked Albert what their reason was for wanting to enter the town. "Well, we were on our way to resupply and go to the guild after a quest, we picked up a passenger on the way, he's fine," Albert told the guard, as the guard looked into the carriage, Ike waved at him. "alright, go on through," the guard said.
As they entered the city, Ike told the two men that he would go look around a meet them at the guild. They then parted ways, for now.
As Ike stepped through the gates, he was shocked. There were people, and a lot of them, but not all of them were human, not in the slightest. Out of the large crowd, humans seemed like a minority, as there were beastmen, elves, dwarves, lizardmen, gnomes, and all sorts of other races. It was like a giant mix of every fantasy race Ike could think of. And the buildings, the buildings were magnificent, like those you would see in Europe. Stone and wood, not skyscrapers or concrete, or even drywall. It was bricks and stones and planks of wood arranged in such a manner that it made an entire street of houses, and nothing like the suburbs where Ike had grown up.
He was in awe; he never thought he'd see something like this except through a video game. But enough about that, Ike thought, I need to find theguild. So he wandered around town, following the map towards where the guild was, on the way, he saw multiple shops and stalls for various things: there was a stall labeled "Fresh Fruits" where Ike saw a weird spiky fruit, that upon further inspection looked like a mix between a banana and a dragonfruit. There was also a shop with an ominous sign, it was a cauldron with the words "Witches Cauldron" written around it, it seemed like an apothecary. The was an Inn with a crescent sign: "The Falling Moon" it was called.
Ike felt like he didn't belong, but nobody gave him any weird looks, no suspicious glances. Finally, he had arrived at the guild. A giant building stood in front of him, the doors were twice his height, and there was not only a clock tower, but what seemed like a wizard's tower and arena as well. This was definitely the adventurers' guild.
As he stepped inside, he was hit with a sudden sense of, Nostalgia? But he'd never been here, and the world he came from was so much different then this one. Nonetheless, he had to go and register at the front desk because his life quite literally depended on it.
As Ike walked toward the front desk to register himself at the guild, a man bumped into him. The man, dressed in heavy armor laden with holy imagery, like the sun, continued walking as if he hadn't bumped into Ike. "Rude," Ike scoffed, just then:
[Adaptive Assimilation Activated]
New function: touch acquisition.
[Skills have been added]
Holy one (Active)
Imbue attacks with Holy power, effective against undead, spirits, and demons, guaranteed.
Holy one(Passive)
Grants resistance to undead attacks, mind control, and curses.
"What the?" Ike blurted at the notification, surprised at getting such a skill from some random paladin. "Anyway, now's not the time to worry about skills," Ike assured himself.
Ike then approached the guild clerk and asked: "Where can I sign up to become an adventurer?" The man behind to counter, surprised that someone as young-looking as Ike wanted to sign up, asked Ike: "Are you new to town?" but not in a condescending voice, it was more of a worry in his voice. "Yeah, I'm new in town," Ike answered, eager to register. "Well, here is the form." The clerk slid a piece of paper across the desk. "Fill this up, and we'll give you a guild card. And don't worry, it'll sync with the system."
Ike looked at the application form, worried that it might be complicated, but it really wasn't.
He filled it out as follows:
[Adventurers guild application form]
Name: Issac 'Ike' Johnson
Age: 21
Race: unknown
Class: None
Level: 3
*Note that upon handing in the form, it will be verified via the system
Ike gave the filled-out form to the clerk. "Are you sure you put everything correctly?" The clerk asked, "That's what the system said; it says it'll verify via the system, so I just put what it told me." Ike responded. "Alright, one second while I verify." The clerk then took the form, folded it, and put it in a slot in the wall. In mere seconds, a card appeared from another slot. "Well, Sir," The clerk said, giving Ike the card, "Congrats on becoming an adventurer."