Chapter Thirty-One: I Can See That You’re So Far From Home

Marc knew what culture shock was, but he had never really experienced it. Not to this degree at least.

His first nineteen years had been spent in a small desert town. In the year he had spent in this world, he had been practically alone. In a cabin in the middle of a forest with only Rynan as his guardian and companion. He had a conversation with a total of three people, well, three people and one computer-brain-artificial intelligence thingy.

Now, suddenly he was surrounded by hundreds of people. Crammed into a narrow street, full of shops, vendors, traders, and shoppers, noise pounding him from every direction. His brain could not keep up. It was too much. He squatted down in the middle of the street and started to hyperventilate.

Grenn quickly caught him and pulled him into an alleyway off the main thoroughfare.

“It’s ok. Breathe deeply. Slowly. In and out. It’s ok. Breath.” Grenn spoke in a calm and soothing voice. After a minute, Marc had relaxed a bit. He kept his eyes shut and tried to block out as much noise as possible.

He heard Meservi call back.

“What’s wrong? Ah, no worries. Hardly surprising. Let’s get him to the guild quickly.” He heard the Elf from the entrance to the alley.

“No, We should take him to my home. He can relax there.” Grenn suggested.

“Ha! Relax? With Keri there? She’ll have him spun up in knots before he has a chance to take two steps in the door. He can sit in my office and acclimate for a bit. Maybe take him down to the fields so he can breathe. I was worried that the main gate might be a bit too much.”

“Hmm. Yeah. Let’s get him on his feet then. Keri’s not that bad though.”

“Yes, she’s the sweetest, kindest inquisitor in Clearwater.” The sarcasm was a bit surprising from the usually overly complimentary Meservi.

It took nearly five minutes, but eventually, Marc’s nerves relaxed enough that he could open his eyes and look at the worried looks on his escorts’ faces. He smiled a weak smile.

“I’m ok. It was just… a lot. So much happening at once. My brain just kind of shut off. I’m ok now.

As he spoke, he saw the pop-up window/

ACHIEVEMENT: TOURIST. VISIT A CITY WITH A POPULATION OF OVER 500,000.

YOUR INTERFACE [2] HAS LEVELED UP!

INTERFACE LEVEL: 10

INTERFACE UPGRADE AVAILABLE

WOULD YOU LIKE TO UPGRADE YOUR INTERFACE TO STAGE 3? YES/NO

《This is great!》

“No”

《Awww. Come on.》

“NO!”

《Spoilsport. Anyway, I’m just kidding. You should wait until you can rest. Remember what happened last time? The process got a bit rushed at the end.》

“Is that what happened? Anyway, we’re not doing any more upgrading until I know what I’m getting. The last one was… mixed.”

《That’s mean. But I have a feeling this upgrade will be particularly useful now.》

Marc ignored Kira’s attempts to provoke him and focused on not falling down while Grenn and Meservi guided him through the busy streets. Along the way, he caught glimpses of so many amazing things, complete with a running commentary track from Kira.

“More Elves!”

“Is that a woman with a tail?”

《That’s a Juujin, also known as Beastkin. Don’t call them that though. A member of the Fox tribe I think.》

“Meat skewers? Those look great! They smell… retched. Oh God, I’m gonna be sick again.”

《You might want to avoid that. Even your constitution will have limits. Fermented lizard might push it.》

“Does that sign say Wyvern Couriers?”

《Seems so.》

“Artifacts and Magic Tools. Kira, mark this place on the map. We have to come back.”

《Got it, although this place seems to have a rather dubious reputation. I wouldn’t suggest coming back alone.》

They quickly wound their way through the streets, pushing towards the center of the City. Marc noticed that they were climbing up an incline, parts of the city must have been originally built on a hill, he thought.

They finally arrived at a very large building, though it looked more like a hotel, or maybe a government building. It was a very large squarish building, about five stories tall and as large as a city block. A giant arch cut into the building, about two-thirds the height and well into the structure, so he could see all the way into the center. He could tell that similar cutaways were made from each of the other sides, giving the building the appearance of a square table with very fat legs. There were no external windows, but on the inside, stairs wound around each of the “legs” to platforms, cut into the internal walls of the structure. He could see open doorways and hundreds of people moving around on the stairs and the many platforms and levels.

Above the building was a brilliant white tower, like a lighthouse, the tower rose easily thirty to forty meters above the main building, and was topped with something similar to an airport control tower. Considering the amount of climbing it took to get here, a person should be able to see out beyond the wall from the elevation at the top of the tower. Around them were many other large and tall buildings. Marc noticed that none had glass windows, although some had open areas cut out and open to the air.

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The trio walked until they reached the exact center of the building. Marc was duly impressed by the size and imposing stature of the Guild Hall. There were hundreds of people working there, sitting at desks, moving around stacks of documents or crates of unknown items. Dozens of desks filled the open areas, while high tables around the edges were occupied by even more people, mostly wearing clothing almost identical to Grenn. These people seemed much more relaxed, talking amongst each other and even laughing and lounging casually.

Once they were in the exact middle of the open space, Meservi looked at him and winked.

“Wait until you see this part. I’m sure you will love it!” The Elf said with glee on his face.

Then Meservi slammed his right boot into the ground. A few of the people manning the desks nearby turned to look at them. Several nodded in their direction and then went back to the work in front of them. A few more of the people at the high tables looked over as well, but they entirely seemed to focus on Grenn. A couple stood up at attention, placing their hand across their chests in greeting, but did not bow. A salute perhaps, Marc thought to himself.

Suddenly a green circle appeared on the ground around them. In one quick motion, the section of the floor directly below them rose toward the ceiling. As it sped up, Marc looked up nervously, but soon after the small platform started moving, an identical piece of the roof above them slid aside as well.

Now moving at a healthy pace, the platform quickly rose, through the roof of the building, then through the tower, which had some kind of lighting inside so they were not plunged into darkness, and finally came to a stop inside the air traffic control room at the top of the tower.

It was much more like a hotel lounge than a control room, however. The entire space was open, with large balconies in every direction. In the center were what looked like soft comfy sofas. There were tables as well, and more desks. Marc imagined it was some fancy bank reception room or a five-star hotel lobby was like, not that he had ever been inside either of those types of places before. There were also second-story loft-like areas, with fancy staircases rising to them.

Meservi looked expectantly at Marc “Wonderful isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s really fancy.” Marc managed. “I’ve never been inside such a nice building before.”

Meservi looked a bit disappointed. “The lifting platform was my own design. No other Guild Hall in the Republic has one you know?”

“The elevator?” Marc asked. Surprised. They must not have many here, he thought to himself.

《As if you took magic elevators every day back in your old world.》

“Well, an elevator is an elevator right?” He answered Kira’s sarcastic rebuke.

“Yeah, it’s great. It’s way better than the stairs right?” Marc tried to placate the deflated Meservi.

“Can I look out there?” He asked, pointing to one of the balconies.

“Certainly!” Meservi replied, mood already repaired. “From that one, you can see the Ged mountains, and from this one is an amazing view of Lake Troutful.”

“Lake… Troutful? It’s really called Lake Troutful?” He asked the question aloud but was also hoping Kira would know if it was correct or a weird translation.

《Yes, that’s the name. A direct translation.》

“Ehem, yes,” Meservi answered as if he just recalled an embarrassing fact.

“The gentleman who first discovered this place, many thousands of years ago… Well, he wasn’t exactly very imaginative. Clearwater was named for… well, the clear water. The steelwood trees in Breen forest were also his discovery. He named them that way”

“Because they are silver like steel?” Marc finished for the embarrassed Elf.

“Exactly!” Meservi beamed. “And well, the lake, it had a lot of… trout.”

Marc laughed loudly, his mood fully recovered. Then he started walking over the balcony overlooking the lake.

The balcony itself was huge, double the size of Rynan’s cabin. Marc counted eight of them, arrayed to give the tower a full 360-degree view of the surrounding area. Only one other building had the height to match this tower, another, slightly larger structure not far from the Guild Hall. It lacked this kind of surrounding view platform, however.

The lake was breathtaking. It extended nearly to the horizon, and if it were not for some more hills beyond it, it might seem like an ocean. Maybe from the ground, it did look like that.

There were hundreds of medium and small boats moored near the dock or floating in various parts of the lake. Some of the small boats had sails, but the larger boats all seemed to have some other form of propulsion. Off in the opposite direction from the mountains was a large river heading away from the city downstream.

Marc was awed by the pristine quality of the land. Apart from the city and the boats in the river he could see no other man-made landmarks. No other cities or towns, no roads or signs of industrialization, People had been here thousands of years, and yet had left the land largely untouched. Well, perhaps the beasts in the region had something to do with that, but in his old world companies or governments would have just figured out how to get rid of the beasts so they could develop the land. As crowded as the city was below, one thing he hadn’t seen were beggars. No homeless wretches hiding in the corners asking for coins or food.

He turned to Meservi and Grenn with a relaxed smile on his face.

“It’s truly beautiful.” He complimented.

They both seemed pleased with his reaction.

“Yes, quite so,” Meservi said, satisfied. “Let’s get your application settled then. We can finally make it all official now!” He said cheerfully.

He led them up the stairs to one of the desks on the loft. There were several chairs there. Then the Elf called down to someone.

“Mumay? Can you come up here for a moment? And can you bring the forms I gave you earlier for the new prospect?”

“Yes sir. I mean Yes Adjutant!” Squeaked a high-pitched voice from below the platform. Seconds later, a young woman walked up the stairs.

She was gorgeous. Long dark hair down below her shoulders, light brown skin, and brown eyes with an odd yellow sparkle to them. She had the body of a model or an actress but lacked a bit of coordination as she tripped on the last step and nearly fell on her face in front of all of them.

Luckily she caught herself and handed the sheaf of paper to Meservi and she smiled shyly at the trio.

“Mumay, can you stay and help me with the forms?” Meservi handed the pile back to the woman who took another seat near the desk and pulled out a pen from a pocket on her uniform.

“Yes sir, I mean Adjutant.” She seemed quite flustered.

“This is Marc, he will be the new prospect for Guild Membership.”

Her eyes went wide.

“He will?” She said incredulously. “But, he’s… how can he… is he…” she babbled somewhat incoherently.

“He is more than qualified. He has awakened as a Fire Mana user and has already reached Journeyman level.” Meservi seemed to enjoy her discomfort.

“He what… Journeyman? Awakened? But he couldn’t be more than twelve…” She scratched her head and looked around as though maybe she had made a mistake about the identity of the prospect.

“I assure you Mumay, Marc here is already 19 years old and has all the required skills and references. Marc, could you give Miss Mumay here a demonstration? I think a simple Spark should be enough.”

They had already worked out this part, so Marc was prepared. He brought up his right hand and with a snap, a small light appeared like a Fourth of July sparkler in the air. It floated in mid-air for a few seconds, then faded away.

Something had snapped in the mind of the poor woman.

“Huh? Nineteen? That’s… Journeyman?”

Marc was crestfallen. She had pegged him at twelve years old? He tried not to imagine that he had lost a chance to get to know a gorgeous woman like this. It’s not like that was something he was seriously thinking about anyway. I mean, she was probably a few years older than him. He shook his head to excise the tangent his mind was taking him on.

《Aww, why not pull up her stats? Who knows, maybe you have a chance.》

There is no way he trusted Kira. This was definitely a trap of some kind. But at the same time, he took a quick glance at the stunned woman sitting across from him. What’s the harm, right?

NAME: MUMAY

AGE: 15

BASE LEVEL: 6

RACE: HUMAN

AFFILIATIONS: THE GUILD

STATUS: HEALTHY

“Grenn, Why don’t you and Marc go back down to the observation platforms, Mumay and I will finish up the paperwork, just come back in a few minutes so we can sign the contract.”

Grenn smiled and led a shellshocked Marc down the stairs. He could hear Marc mumble something about “fifteen”, he could not however hear Kira cheerfully singing a refrain directly into Marc’s mind.

《Somebody’s going to Emergency, Somebody’s going to jail.》