I had no idea what time it was, but I couldn't sleep. After the excitement of the day and seeing a status screen I had to get out and do something, anything, with my class. It was already getting dark but I noticed they had crystals that glowed along the streets. Thankfully just because the city looked like a medieval town didn't mean that it went to sleep with the sun. I am too much of a night owl to be spending the evening hours asleep.

I don't know how much time I spent putting everything together but it only felt like an hour at the most. If I didn't want my new friends to think I was dipping on them I couldn't be seen heading out the front door so I decided to try climbing out my window. I was on the first floor, but there was a step up for the whole building so I was still about six feet off the ground. Nothing perilous but still a longer drop than I have made since I was a kid climbing my grandma's apple tree. I spent a minute figuring out the latch on the window and managed to open it without making any noise. Thirty seconds and a bruised bum later I was out of the room and walking down the street. Thankfully only a couple of people were around and they mostly minded their own business, probably thinking I had just left a tryst with a lover and left out to back window.

I spent fifteen minutes walking around the city in wonder, just taking in the various sights. Eventually I made my way to the River that ran through the center of town. I was expecting something like the river Thames in the 1800's but what I was met with was something more akin to the river Thames in modern times. While it wasn't pristine it was clear and the lights from the streets pierced about five feet deep before becoming too murky to see.

As I was thinking about how they purified the water I noticed that the tower Sylvia mentioned was much larger up close than I gave it credit for. It completely dwarfed even the palace on the other side of the river in height. The tower itself went directly into the river, with no island to land upon at its base. It was truly built as a tower to enter through flight. The white stone that made up the tower reflected the light of a few beacons pointed towards it from the sides of the river and the tower was lit bright enough to be seen clearly from any point in the city. It would be hard to become completely lost in this city. Simply find the tower and head toward the center of town then find your way home again.

I had spent enough time looking at the beautiful tower and began looking around for any signs of activity. If I could find a tavern then I would probably be able to ask where the adventuring guild was. Tom let me know in our brief talk that the guild is open at all hours for those who come back from their jobs late and in need of respite. It is not large enough to house all of the adventurers but there are some rooms and even a small tavern for those who need it. The rooms are mostly left empty so they are available when needed for those who come back to town after all the other establishments are closed.

It only took about 5 minutes of continued wandering to hear more laughter and signs of a tavern. This one had a signpost with a sword piercing a frothing mug. As I entered I noticed there was no bard at this tavern, but there were plenty of patrons. The bartender was a man in his early forties, balding with a kindly smile. As I sat at an empty stool at the far end of the bar he grabbed a few mugs and walked my way. Stopping every couple of seats and dropping off a mug.

"What'll it be for ya?"

I still didn't know many drinks here, so I asked for the only one I had heard of so far "I'll have a moger if you don't mind".

"Moger, what are you celebrating!"

I was lost in the desert for a few days before a group of adventurers lead by the watch found me and helped bring me back to town. I am celebrating being alive"

"Being alive is always a fine thing to celebrate. That'll be 5 silver."

I transferred the silver, but noticed something funny when I looked at my status sheet to do the transfer. I had lost 2 silver and 3 copper. When I had finished with my sheet in the room I had 52 silver and 24 copper, but now, after paying the 5 silver to the barkeep I had 46 silver and 21 copper. Somewhere in the hour I was walking around town and looking at the tower I had gotten robbed. It wasn't a large amount, but I thought my money would be safe since it wasn't even a physical thing. There had to be some skills or classes for thievery. A screen appeared just as I was pondering exactly when I could have been stolen from.

Perception Unlocked

Congratulations! Getting stolen from is not usually a thing to celebrate, however you noticed the slight change in circumstance and this resulted in your first skill gain! As you pay close attention to your surroundings you will become more perceptive and it will be more difficult for the dishonest to pull one over on you. Perception is a generic skill and therefore works differently than your class skills. You may not increase them with experience and becoming a true master is rather a reflection of the abilities you cultivate yourself, rather than your class granting you abilities that you would not have otherwise. Learn to hone yourself and your skills to become a true master.

That was not a generic message. That was a message tailored to me. Was the system alive? The adventurers talked as if the world itself, Carbranthia, was the system. Did that mean mother nature was a literal thing here? Regardless of what the message itself meant, I was just happy that it was now a little harder for someone to steal from me. I'll have to keep a keen eye out for anyone trying to do something fishy nearby.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

The bartender had already dropped off the moger and it was not quite what I was expecting. The breaded butter had served it in a mug, however they put it in a glass at this place. As I looked around a few of the people here were using glasses instead of mugs, but the majority of people were using mugs. I picked it up and gave it a drink and was pleasantly surprised by what I tasted. There was a familiar sensation, similar to a champagne, yet it was definitely an ale by flavor. it did not look bubbly but when I drank it there was some kind of reaction that caused it to fizz as it went down. I was not a fan. I had just paid 5 silvers and like most drinks it probably grew on you the more you had so I finished the glass anyway. As I neared the end of the glass I started to feel something different than what I would expect from drinking alcohol on Earth. There was no buzz or lightheadedness, but rather a sense of connection. Just as I was beginning to put a finger on what the experience was like a familiar voice interrupted my thoughts. "So, that was you slinking out the back of the breaded butter." Sylvias tone was curious, not offended or threatened as I expected. "If you didn't want to spend an evening with us you didn't have to offer to buy us dinner."

"I'm sorry, Sylvia. It was just a lot" I didn't know what to say. There wasn't a good reason for me to leave in the first place. "I don't have any memories of this city and being with all of you was just starting to weigh on me a bit. You're all great people, but I need time to acclimate".

"I get it, I'm not upset. But you don't need to lie to me. You don't know me any better than anyone else in this city so you don't owe me anything. I just want you to know I. No, we, want to help you acclimate. It looks like you got your glass of moger after all. It's something, isn't it."

I took a moment to look at the last bit of the weird drink in my glass before finishing it off and answering. "You can say that twice. What is this sensation? It almost feels like I am connected to something?"

"That's because you are. Moger isn't an alcoholic drink, despite what most people think about it. If you don't have a SoulFire then it just makes you feel a little lightheaded and has a funny feeling when you go down. But for those who have a SoulFire, it deepens your connection to it for a brief time. Often times it is used as a celebratory drink because it has a unique profile, but it is really designed to help you connect with your SoulFire."

I had no idea what a SoulFire was. But I could definitely tell there was something that I could now sense, that wasn't there before. But the feeling was already fading slightly. "What is a SoulFire, and how does this moger help connect you to it?"

"Your SoulFire is the portion of creation energy that the gods implanted into each of us when we were created. Some people have more than others and no one knows why the amount differs, but it is what allows us to use magic, and imbue our will into the world. Moger is made by fermenting a fruit called Mogite. We don't need to get into the specifics of fermentation and distillation, if your interested in it we can cover the details at a later time. But the basics are that the fruit has some minor magical properties but is nearly as hard as stone so needs to be crushed and fermented to unlock those properties."

I was fascinated by SoulFire, and what it could mean if I was able to tap into it and use some of it, but I realized I hadn't asked why she had followed me here. She obviously saw me leave the breaded butter and followed me on my meandering tour of the city but why would she do that?

"This SoulFire sounds amazing, and I would probably benefit from learning more about it, but why did you follow me? Why not just approach me while I was walking through the streets and see what was going on?"

"I didn't want to interrupt, but even Freden isn't perfectly safe at night by yourself. I was outside getting some cooler air when I saw you fall out of your window" ouch "I figured you didn't want to be disturbed and couldn't help wonder where you were going alone so late at night. When I saw you enter here I thought this would be as good a place as any to let you know I was here".

"I appreciate your concern, but I just needed to have some alone time and explore a bit. I was hoping to find the guild and see if I could get signed up. It looks like I am a level 11 swordsman so probably not already a member of the guild, but I definitely want to be".

"That's awesome! A swordsman is a great starting point and you can always advance it to something better when you get into your next tier. take these first few levels to really learn your class skills and unlock as many hidden quests as you can".

"Hidden quests?" I had a sneaking suspicion I knew what she was talking about, but needed her to confirm.

"Hidden quests show up as question marks on your status sheet. They appear when you are able to do something that can unlock a new class skill, but you won't know exactly what you need to do. It says that you will not be able to view the quest until you do something, but the something it says is just the starting point. From there you have to either figure it out with whatever hints you ccan scrounge together, or let it disappear and lose the possible benefits it could have brought".

That's what I was afraid of. What hidden quest had I missed out in creation mode? Did it really want me to take an epic random class? Was that what I was supposed to do? But that doesn't make sense. She said that they were to unlock hidden parts of your class and I didn't have a class yet. Or maybe that's why it disappeared. If I would have gone with the unknown class whatever benefit was locked behind that secret quest would have been for that class. Just because it was labelled as unknown to me, doesn't mean whatever system was putting together the options for me didn't know what it was. Apparently I had spent too much time thinking about my missed opportunity and not enough thinking of a reply to Sylvia.

"You OK Ander? you look like your favorite kitten just dies".

"I just. I had one of those question mark points when I woke up in the desert. But it is gone now. I didn't know what to do and lost whatever opportunity it might have brought".

"That sucks. But on the bright side, hidden quests aren't always one and done. If you run into whatever the opportunity you were chasing in the desert was again, you will probably have another shot at the hidden quest."

I doubted I would have another chance at that one. It was definitely linked to my special creation mode, however that worked. "Thanks for all the help. I appreciate it. Would you mind taking me to the adventurers guild now? I really want to get started".

"Why don't we do that in the morning. Lets enjoy some drinks tonight and relax. We can do business tomorrow".

We spent the next hour or so hanging out, drinking, and telling stories. It was relaxing now that there weren't so many people I barely knew involved and eventually I went back to my room at the breaded butter and Sylvia went to her place. We were going to meet up with the rest of the group the next day to join the adventurers guild and finally get into some action.