Lev and his friends sat around one of the tables present in the Guild Hall, still reeling from suddenly becoming homeless. Sort of. The mood was glum and sad, and nobody spoke for a few minutes. Eventually, Lev sighed and closed his eyes.
“It’s fine. She’s still going to be in her office. We can visit her whenever.” Lev said out aloud, both for himself and his friends.
Opening his eyes, he noticed his friends were still lost in thought. Before he could say anything, curiosity made him open the pouch Oriana had given him.
“What the hell,” Lev exclaimed in surprise at the pouch’s contents, getting everyone’s attention. They all leaned closer to look inside.
Inside the pouch were 15 silver coins. The currency in the plains worked the same as the ranks in the Hunters guild, except for iron. Copper was the lowest-value coin. A person could buy a day’s worth of rations with ten coppers. A bronze coin was worth 100 coppers. Silver coins were worth 100 bronze coins. Gold and platinum coins scaled similarly, but only the richest ever got a whiff of them.
Lev and his group fell in thought again. Oriana had given them too much money. They could live for years on just that much without ever having to work. None of them wanted that, but it was nice to have that backup plan. Anything could happen at any time.
Jack, noticing how the mood remained glum, spoke up first. “How about we go check the bulletin board? See what quests we can take as Bronze ranks.”
Quietly agreeing, they made their way to the board. Scanning it from top to bottom, Lev realized that bronze-rank quests were rare. There were only a few of them, and even those would take weeks to complete. Discussing it with his friends, he narrowed it down to two. They had all the time in the world, so any reasonably long quest was fine.
All the quests were caravan quests, asking for a few bronze-rank adventurers to join up with a team of silver or iron ranks. They picked the quest of escorting a caravan to Windkeep. It was the third city from Whitefall, requiring a month of travel. Windkeep was famous for its perilous location. The caravan was traveling through completely mapped safe routes, but the general location of the city was far from safe. The caravan was going to depart in three days.
The decision was not hasty. They already knew that Whitefall was far beyond them when it came to hunting and progressing. Even the weakest of monsters at the edges of the forest region could tear them apart. The lack of dungeons and White Grove simply paled in comparison to the opportunities offered by Windkeep. The goblin wave Lev was allowed to see was originally thousands strong, and those thousands were fleeing for their lives. That made their choice of avoiding the nearby regions and traveling to Windkeep even more convincing. It was the City of Hunters, famous for providing multiple avenues of progression.
They made their way back to the table and pondered their next steps. Amelia kept track of everything they needed. “Rations, one of the recently invented refillable water bottles, clothes, camping gear, and anything useful we see.” They all nodded at the list. Lev stayed behind to gather more information about the city while the other three went to hunt for the supplies. All of them were familiar enough with the Merchant’s district to avoid any trouble.
Walking up to the same clerk who had given them their badge, Lev voiced his question. “Where can I find information on the surrounding cities and the general area around them?”
The clerk smiled at him. “You’re in luck, hunter. Clerks in any Hunter or Adventurer guild halls are required to memorize general information about surrounding cities and offer it freely. What would you like to know about?”
“Anything about Windkeep you can tell me, and your name,” Lev added as an afterthought.
“My name is Mary. I have been working here for two years. Windkeep is roughly a month of travel away from Whitefall. The general location is at a higher elevation than the surrounding lands for reasons unknown. Windkeep is situated in the middle of the highland and gets its name from the constant breeze that flows through it. The land itself is plain, just with a very slight curve. By the time one gets there, there’s nothing to tell that they are hundreds of meters higher than the surrounding cities.
“The area around the city is dangerous, some parts far more than others. To the east are plains with few trees. The monsters in these parts are lower leveled in comparison, ranging from 30-100. To the west are the Dreadwoods, getting their name from the fact that they harbor monsters up to level 220 on the outer edges. Anyone below platinum rank is banned from entering, but anyone with common sense avoids the place like a plague. Unlike Whitefall, there are many dungeons present in the general vicinity. Overall, it is the most lucrative city for hunters to advance. The population also crossed a million in the last decade.”
Lev thanked her for the information and moved back to their table. The Hunters Guild was rather empty today. Lev thought about Windkeep and what they could achieve there. It provided a straightforward path of progress towards Level 200, but that was going to take years or even a decade. And that was still a generous estimate. Their leveling speed was going to slow down gradually, the last ten levels before Level 100 taking much longer than ten levels would now. Their skills would upgrade to the 2nd rank after level 10, giving them a new effect. All of that needed time and, more importantly, monsters to fight against. Money would not be an issue when taking rank-appropriate quests. With the beginning of a plan in mind, he waited for others to return.
The rest of the group returned after an hour, having scouted everything they needed to buy. They sat around the table and discussed their next steps.
“The refillable water bottle alone costs 40 bronze coins. It's so expensive.” Kayla huffed, already attached to their money. “Everything else combined costs less than 20 bronze coins.”
“How does it even work?” Lev asked, interested in why the price was so high.
It was Amelia who answered. “You just put mana into the container, and it pulls water from the atmosphere. There's also a small filter, so it’s safe to drink.”
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“That sounds like it’s worth every copper. Why are you complaining?” Lev looked at Kayla.
“That’s still so much money, even if it is worth it. I haven’t ever held a silver coin.” Kayla glared at the table as if it had personally offended her. Chuckling, Lev tossed her one of the silver coins that she scrambled to catch before it fell. Glaring at him for a moment, she focused on the coin and inspected it. Done with her inspection, she tossed it back.
“What do we do now? Lev asked after everyone fell silent.
Amelia shrugged. “Relax?”
And so they relaxed for two days. They visited one of the inns sponsored by the Hunters Guild, getting two decently large rooms in just 20 coppers each per night. The next day, they explored the city alone, looking for things they might have missed by not being able to afford them. The Crafter’s District was filled with exciting items and potions, but all of it was extremely expensive. The unenchanted gear for sale was decent for beginners, so they each bought a set of armor or weapons they lacked. Jack’s was the most pricey, covering his entire body from helmet to boots. Amelia’s was not as heavy, giving her ample room for movement while protecting all vitals. She also got a helmet. Lev and Kayla’s armor was light, letting them run around the battlefield easily.
Seeing nothing else of interest, they gathered in The Park and idly chatted till nightfall. Much of the next day went the same way, with them buying everything they needed before dusk.
Waking up on the day they were going to depart, Lev and his friends gathered their few supplies and went to say their goodbyes to Oriana. She was already waiting for them at the entrance of the orphanage.
“Of course, you already knew,” Lev muttered with a smile.
“Windkeep is probably the best choice all of you could’ve made. When do you leave?” Oriana asked.
“Within two hours,” Kayla replied.
“It’s probably best if you get there early. Can never be too sure.” She motioned for them to come closer.
One by one, all of them said their goodbyes and hugged her. Before they left, she handed Lev a letter and told him to give it to Windkeep’s Guildmaster. Fifteen minutes of leisurely walking later, they found themselves at the city gates again. Passing through, they noticed two dozen carts stationed at the left side of the road. Marching up to them, the hunter sitting on a cart close to the road looked them over before scanning a list in his hands. Nodding, he got up with a smile before it froze. He checked the list again and looked at them with doubt.
“Are you the bronze team going to leave with us today?” The man asked once he had looked over them again.
“Yeah, recently registered team, as was asked for,” Lev replied, offering his hand for a handshake. Realization dawned on his face as he shook Lev’s hand.
“The name’s Peter. I’m the leader of the iron-ranked team escorting the caravan. Come, I’ll introduce you to the rest of the team.” He led them past two carts, where four people were milling about on grass. All of them were male.
[Warrior - Level 89]
[Warrior - Level 90]
[Mage - Level 90]
[Mage - Level 90]
Lev inspected the man who had brought them here.
[Warrior- Level 90]
Very similar levels. Matches with the slower leveling at higher levels.
“Why are a bunch of coppers here?” One of the warriors asked.
“We were directly promoted to bronze rank,” Kayla answered, a bit of annoyance seeping into her voice.
“That doesn’t make sense. Did ya pay-” The warrior got cut off by a slap at the back of his head. The mage who slapped him spoke up. “Of course not.”
Before the warrior could question him, the leader spoke up. “They are adventurer candidates who performed well enough to be promoted even before the required level. Is that correct?” He turned towards Lev, who responded with a nod.
“Should’ve bloody started with that. Welcome onboard.” The warrior smiled a smile missing two teeth.
For the next two hours, they waited for the merchants and their goods to show up. The carts they were traveling in were larger than the ones they used for the exam. Slowly, most of them filled up with different types of merchandise, leaving enough space for the iron and two bronze teams to comfortably sit in. Lev and his friends settled in a cart half filled, with enough space for them to lie down side by side. The journey was going to take over a month, so they made themselves at home.
When the carts started moving, Lev and his friends gazed upon the retreating wall of Whitefall. The place they had spent their entire lives. Even if it had not felt truly like a home because of their unfortunate past, it was the next best thing. All the memories were going to remain with them forever. Even if they were not going to be leaving for good, the moment was too bittersweet. Lev was going to miss Oriana and the little menaces he had seen grow up alongside him in the orphanage.
The journey to the closest city went without a hitch. Timberhold was the first city in the line of cities, known for the great amount of trees and vegetation surrounding it. Not enough to be called a forest, but still the main provider of wood. In eight days, they stopped briefly outside the gates to restock. The merchants, who were clearly regulars in this field, made short work of their restock list. They were back on the road in less than two hours.