Spawning into the beginner village, Connor’s mind immediately focused as he assessed the area he was currently in before making his way to the side of the village square.
Connor opened all of his Forerunner edition bonuses, receiving an uncommon longsword that increased his VIT, something he was mildly happy about, as well as selecting a costume similar to what Tyrell chose.
His costume was slightly bulkier than what Tyrell selected with larger pauldrons and greaves which gave him more presence. Its colour scheme was also similar, with the plates coloured in a glistening white while the trim was in red. His longsword and shield were quite similar to Russel’s, however instead of the motif featuring a dragon, it instead features a phoenix. The sword's handle was shaped like a phoenix with the blade protruding from its open mouth, while the round metal shield displayed a relief of a phoenix with its wings raised.
Happy with his new look, extra supplies, and intriguing blue egg with white spots, Connor proceeded to close the system’s quest prompt that was directing him to the first NPC character in the tutorial. Inwardly happy he did not need to get involved with the NPC who was currently surrounded by a number of new players who had also just spawned in, he instead walked up to the guard next to the village gate.
“Excuse me, sir guard, can you point me in the direction of Haligrad?”
Surprised by Connor's appearance, the guard looked at him with scrutiny while resting his hand on his sword.
“Who are you? How did you get into the village?”
Seeing the guard becoming cautious, Connor raised his hands as he tried to think what to say.
“Oh, sorry for startling you! I am Connor, I just arrived here a minute ago. I am… oh god, what did Chester say we were? *ahem*. I am an immortal adventurer; I am quite new to all this so you will have to excuse my apparent uncertainty.”
Hearing this, a look of surprise appeared on the guard’s face as he started to nod in understanding.
“Ah, so it’s today you immortal lot are arriving! The village chief mentioned you would be arriving soon but didn’t know when. Well, you are quite lucky because Haligrad is only an hour's walk west of this village. Just follow the road here straight and you will arrive.”
Hearing the guard’s response, Connor could only thank his luck that his spawn was so close to where he needed to be. Thinking of his reaction if his spawn was at the western border, he could only imagine a long slew of curses he would shout to the sky.
After asking the guard about any enemies he might encounter on the way, Connor started jogging toward Haligrad.
****
Around halfway through the trip, Connor took a slight detour from the path to an area that had a large number of boulders scattered around, a place that the guard told him where enemies spawned.
The enemies in this area consisted of slimes of Lv 1-2. They were weak blobs of jelly that gave little XP, but Chester had recommended everyone to spend a short time fighting them if encountered to get used to the weapons and skills they could use.
Connor spent around half an hour hunting slimes in the location, only encountering 12 which managed to raise his level to Lv 2, with 45% towards Lv 3. As he killed his 12th slime, a couple of other players appeared also hunting for slimes in the area, making the chance to encounter enemies significantly drop.
Feeling happy that he was at least able to hit the slimes with every swing, even if they were slow and his swings often missed the core at the centre of the gelatinous blob, Connor continued on his trip to Haligrad. Arriving at the front gates in only an hour and a quarter and now at Lv 2, he found himself a nearby bench to quickly rest on to allow his accumulated fatigue to reduce.
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During this time, Connor sorted through his mind and recalled his current plans while in Haligrad.
First, everyone in the group was tasked with going to search for a satchel in the deep water of the city’s docks. Chester had explained that somewhere near the end of the main quay there would be a satchel containing a number of gold coins and a unique piece of jewellery. He did not know the exact location, but he said it would be within a 20 meter radius.
The satchel was to be the group's starting funds and should allow them enough money to cover the cost of the basic necessities needed for everyone’s tasks, being worth more due to the necklace inside that apparently belonged to a Marquis's wife.
Connor's next job was to acquire a list of items that he had memorised. These items were all related to quests that can be encountered within the city of Haligrad and need to be completed for their rewards.
The final part of his immediate list of tasks in Haligrad was to meet up with everyone in the main temple tomorrow evening and officially form their guild.
After 10 minutes of recalling all the details while enjoying the unique and refreshing medieval city with the gentle salty sea breeze caressing its streets, Connor finally stood up from his bench. He followed the main thoroughfare from the eastern gate towards the castle, taking a turn to the west, following a wide street that sloped down towards the sea.
After around half an hour of walking using the systems map to help guide him through the streets of Haligrad, Connor made his way out from the buildings that reminded him of pictures from Havana in Cuba, onto the wide docks which lined the inside of the bay where Haligrad was situated.
Looking around, Connor could quite easily locate the main quay made from stone rising 2 metres above the water, visibly reaching further into the bay than any of the others around him.
As Connor made his way towards the end of the long stone structure, he received a few glances from the dock workers who found it strange for an armour-clad adventurer to be on the quay. Arriving at the end, he quickly removed his equipment, just leaving his common trousers on before jumping into the water.
Connor started methodically scouring the 10-meter-deep water around the quay, using some medium-sized stones he had previously collected while killing slimes to mark where he had searched. Each time he dove down under the clear blue water, he managed to cover a decent distance, having to pause every so often to let the disturbed dirt settle.
After around an hour of searching, Connor managed to cover 1/8th of the specified area before seeing a familiar figure at the end of the docks waving over to him.
Russel had also made it to Haligrad quickly and was now sitting at the end of the pier as Connor swam over.
“Aay, no luck yet?”
At Russel's casual greeting, Connor let out a sigh as he steadied himself against the rocks of the quay.
“Nope, been bitten by crabs, but I have not encountered the satchel. I have covered this area; can you start from that side?”
Connor and Russel were not that close, having met online through Chester a small number of times, while only meeting face-to-face for the first time 2 days ago. They could be considered friends but have not had the time to properly form a strong bond like he had with many of the others.
With a nod, Russel started to take off his armour with a struggle as he replied.
“Got it. Man, I might need to borrow some extra stones in a little while, there was not much I could find on the way here.”
With that, Russel jumped into the water and began searching from the other side of the quay opposite to where Connor was.
After another hour Ben and Marie had also arrived, joining the search. With all 4 of them now here, the search took a lot less time, eventually finding the large satchel in the last area they checked.
Climbing back onto the pier and lending Russel who was struggling to get back up a hand, Connor let out a sigh in exasperation while sitting down.
“Of course, it was located in the last area we had to search. So annoyingly typical.”
With a laugh, Ben commented, trying to squeeze the water from his trousers.
“Well, at least we got it now. Shall we head to the next stop?”
Seeing that everyone was avoiding talking about the elephant in the room, Marie decided to speak up.
“So… umm… before that… Ben, is what Fortuna said true?”
Letting out a deep sigh, Ben shook his head out of exasperation.
“Look, I’m not entirely sure myself. I assume that she told you Chester and I had a conversation about time travel which is true, but the whole sex change and that crap? I still need to sort out my own thoughts about this all. Shit is just too damn crazy right now and it will be better if we wait for everyone to arrive before we talk about this. Especially Chester himself.”
Hearing Ben's response, Connor crossed his arms as he spoke.
“Wait, so you are saying that what Fortuna said is likely to be true? What’s this about time travel anyway.”
Waving his hand as he pulled his shirt out from his inventory, Ben tiredly answered Connor’s curiosity.
“Long story short, yes, everything so far points that it’s true. I had shares in a company, however, a few weeks ago Chester accurately predicted what problems the company would face, as well as the rough time frame and the impact to share price. It’s the kind of prediction impossible to make unless it’s an inside job. Look, I will explain what I know to everyone later. True or not, we have jobs to complete right now. Chester should be here later, so let’s ask him more at that time.”