A brown-haired youth walked on the streets accompanied by a blue-haired woman. He seemed oblivious or just ignored the surprised gazes of people and kept looking around around with a astonished expression.
Horaud Town was different, it was bustling with adventurers. The streets loaded with different stalls, the merchants shouted to compete with each other. A water fountain in the middle of the town's plaza, it all looked really impressive.
He was curious about a gate ahead of the fountain. It looked like an entrance to some underground cave.
"What's that?" he asked, pointing at the gate.
"Oh, that's the entrance to Orcus Labyrinth."
"I see."
"Let's eat something first, shall we?"
"Yeah, my stomach is killing me for a while."
They went by a few streets and stopped in front of a building that looked like an inn or restaurant. Leo tilted his head up to see a wooden board with some unknown letters carved on it.
"It's the most affordable inn in this town, only costing 7000 Luta for a month with the best food."
He nodded his head and asked Jen about Luta, she snickered in his mind asking for 1SP again.
'Take it, you miser.'
(Luta is the currency used in human countries, with the same value as Japanese yen. It comes in blue, red, yellow, purple, green, black, silver, gold with their values being 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 5000 and 10,000 respectively.)
"Here, take it."
He snapped out of his thoughts and saw Irene giving him 3 black coins, 3000 Luta.
"Why?"
He was unable to believe that someone could be so kind after seeing him in his berserk state. But her face held no fear, only kindness.
"You lost your money, right? So keep it."
He scratched his cheeks and took it.
"Thanks."
"Don't worry about it," she replied with a beautiful smile.
'Maybe she isn't that bad after all.'
"Now let's go in," she said and pulled him inside.
Leo ate his fill after a long time, devouring all food on the table. He gave a thumbs-up to Irene, earning him a smile from the poker faced woman.
He rented a room for one week with breakfast and dinner for 3000 Luta. It was such a cheap deal.
They went out to buy some supplies and commoner clothes for Leo. He borrowed another 1000 Luta from Irene and promised to pay her back in the future.
***
Leo and Irene stepped inside the adventure guild. It was clean inside with a neat counter in front and some people gossiping on the side. Some turned toward him and whistled loudly.
"Kid got guts dating Ice Princess,"
"Irene-samaaaaa."
All sorts of weird whispers reached him.
Irene splendidly ignored them and walked to the counter. "Is the branch head busy?"
The receptionist, a young girl looked up and her face froze. "N-No, Young miss, Loa-sama is free."
"Then, I'm going in."
Inside the room, Leo eyed the old bald man with a scar on his right eye, his ripped body showed he wasn't one to be messed with.
"Uncle, I need a status plate for my friend," Irene said.
So she is the niece of Branch Head, that explains her reputation. But she shouldn't be feared that much, right?
Irene's uncle without any word threw a plate at her.
Irene gave the plate to Leo. "Drip some blood in the center.
He bit his finger and dripped blood on the plate. A magic circle flared with a faint red glow and the plate was dyed blood red.
"Idiot!"
She put his finger in her mouth and sucked on it, looking at him with puppy eyes. She looked so cute and seductive.
He coughed dryly and pulled back his finger forcefully.
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"This much pain is nothing," he said with an awkward smile.
Feeling a sudden chill, he looked at Irene's uncle who in turn eyed him sharply. This man is really strong.
Irene's uncle nodded his head in approval. 'This kid has good instincts.'
Tch
He looked at Irene, she still had a calm smile on her face. Maybe it was just an imagination, he thought and inspected the status plate.
Leo Evans
Age:17 Male
Level: 2
Job: Berserker
Strength: 90
Vitality: 100
Defense: 100
Agility: 80
Magic: 340
Magic Defense: 340
Skills: Swift steps — Martial Arts — Marksmanship — Weapon Mastery — Mental Fortitude — Pain Tolerance
(Touch the minus icon, quickly!)
Leo touched the icon as Jen said.
'What was that about?'
(Your parameters are way too high for a mere level 2. Stay low profile until you get stronger.)
'What's the average stats of people here.'
(10 in everything.)
That's pretty weak. But there would be some old monsters here, like the guy in front of me.
"I want to join the guild as an adventurer," he said, looking at Irene's Uncle.
"Sure, give me your status plate."
Leo tossed the plate to Irene's uncle and saw him writing something on it before throwing it back. He noticed an extra adventurer listed as a new Job in it.
"You will get a 10% bonus to sales in the guild and 10%-20% off in shops doing business with guild related shops."
He shrugged his shoulder and looked at Irene. "Let's go."
[Quest Completed: Join the Adventurer Guild.]
Reward Obtained: [Analyze] function unlocked, 100SP
Irene quietly followed him, leaving her Uncle speechless. When did this kid start to date someone?
***
"You don't like your Uncle?" asked Leo, he saw her acting rather oddly with her Uncle.
"He is annoying," she said plainly. "Let's meet tomorrow, we will go to the Great Labyrinth to collect some raw materials. Will you come?"
He was waiting for this chance, so he gave a quick nod. "Sure."
They both parted ways with a simple goodbye. He took a glance at the sun already sunk half below horizon and returned to the inn.
After a refreshing cold bath, he entered his simple room including only a single bed and chair. He threw everything to the back of his head and rested his body on the bed.
"Today sure was tiring, it's been a while since I enjoyed myself so much."
(.....)
'Why are you so silent now?'
(I was just thinking about how simple-minded you are.)
'Says the cheap woman. Tell me about [Analyze] function.'
([Analyze] can scan and quantify any living and non-living thing.)
He looked at the bed. 'Analyze'
[Wooden Bed]
[A simple bed made of wood with a mattress stuffed with wool.]
He really hit the jackpot with this skill. It'll be very helpful in Labyrinth for checking stats of monsters. He opened inventory and equipped his new sword. A sturdy built sword appeared in his hands, made of Iron.
'Analyze'
[Tempered Iron Sword]
A sword made from high tempered iron, giving it high durability and sharpness.
Rank: C
1. Attack +100
'Cheap sword, but it will do for now. The ranks start from?'
(F-Rank is lowest.)
'Sell me information about this world. I don't want to look too suspicious asking common things here.'
Jen thought about selling him normal info or…. the real one. This might be a good trial for him to overcome. As usual she deducted 1SP as her payment, every SP was useful for her own growth.
(As you know this world is known as Tortus, ruled by 3 races. Human rules Northern half, while Demon rules Southern half of the continent. Whereas beastmen or demi-humans live in the far east side of the continent. Humans and Demons waged war for centuries over their beliefs. Humans believe in Creator God Ehit and Demons believe in their Demon God.)
'So, It is safe to say that Ehit is the one who summoned Eri.'
His lips twisted in a vicious smile as his instincts craved revenge.
(As you are now, you will die against his weakest soldier.)
She poured cold water on his plans.
'How much for a detailed map of the Tortus?'
(30SP)
'Rob me. How much SP will that Ogre mana crystal sell for?'
(100SP. The mana crystal has accumulated quite a bit of mana.)
'Take it, and buy the map.'
He took out the map from inventory. It showed locations of all important places, there were blue marks showing 'Seven Great Labyrinths'.
'Good, now spit out the price for a detailed map of every city here. I don't want to explore every city to finish the [Minimap]'
(1000SP, it will decrease your workload by a margin.)
'...Not buying. Tell me about the Great Labyrinths.'
(1SP)
He was tongue-tied by her cheapness, asking 1SP for everything.
(The Great labyrinths are seven labyrinths scattered all over the continent also marked on your map. They all have different types of trials to overcome. The one located in Horaud Town is Great Orcus Labyrinth, said to be 100 floors high with every floor harder than the previous one. No one has cleared it yet.)
He had four months to help Eri, his first goal was to reach at least Level 60 or 70 during this time.
(Don't meet her before that, or you will regret it for the rest of your life.)
He never heard her this serious. 'And why is that?'
(.....)
[Quest available: Save Eri Nakamura and her classmates]
Your childhood friend and her classmates will be in big trouble as said by 'The Entity', save them before they die.
Difficulty: S
Rewards: Upgrade [Minimap] function, Upgrade [Analyze] function, 10000SP, 1x [Mystery Shop] Coupon
[Accept / Deny]
'How do I use magic?'
(2—) 'Take it!'
(First, you need a magic circle inscribed on a paper in Ancient or God of ages language. Then chant the incantation to channel mana in it. Different inscriptions are needed for various effects such as size or area of the spell. An Affinity in elements ignores the usage of extra inscriptions of that certain element.)
Leo nodded his head at her simple explanation.
'Which affinities do I have?'
(You have…)