After the whole "incident" with the water and then emptying the contents of my stomach. We went up the hill and were able to see the town palisade, the trees around the town were all cleared away and several homes were actually on the outside of the defensive wall. Which I thought was a little strange, but looking closer they seemed to be small farmhouses with barns. Made sense really since you couldn't realistically put farms inside without stretching out walls insanely wide. Giving the local wildlife though, I would much prefer being on the inside of said walls. Approaching closer, the damp grass turned into somewhat of a dirt road.
"What the shit is that thing?!" I screeched as a massive bull-like creature somehow appeared out of nowhere with his head hanging over the fence
"That would be an Abertrox." Bram stated.
"Uh... and its purpose is?" The tentacles of the creature's mouth waved in all directions like it had sensed me and wanted to explore my head holes. The body of the thing looked like a normal testosterone fueled bull, but around the snout foot long blue and purple tendrils flailed around. The worst part is I was able to see the things teeth at the center of the tendrils.
"They taste good, why else would they farm them?"
Not wanting any part of that thing, we made it to the outside of the towns gate which from the looks of it was in some dire needs of repair. Several canon ball shaped holes were patched over with planks. Definitely looking like the town had a lack of a craftsman, or they had some trouble recently. I was sure it would be the latter as the only stationed guard was sitting on what must've been a pretty comfortable chair with his feet up on a table, passed out.
"I haven't thought about it until now, but do they speak... English?"
Bram let out a over expressive sigh and boredly said "Everyone will speak common, of course there are some races that prefer their native tongues, but the system sets forth one standard language when inaugurating a planet... I'd be concerned for the fact that you still don't have any bottoms on." My face instantly flushed, totally forgetting my kilt got destroyed with the dagger blow. "If it makes you feel any better, I wasn't going to tell you, but you're my only option for leveling at this point and I kind of need access to that town to do so. From my perspective you got two options. Break into one of those modest farmhouses and steal some" I glanced over at the closest house, and I swore I saw one of the alien bull heads sticking out a window. "Or the option I know you're going to choose. Make something out of the bushes back there in the woods and have the whole town judge you. Either way I find it as a win."
------
After returning from my sprint back into the forest, I officially had on... something that resembled pants. Trying to make the best of the situation at least the only person that could have saw me was dead asleep.
Hurrying my pace, I walked up to the table and politely knocked on the table... "Excuse me sir? Do you need to check us in or are we free to go into town?"
The old man mumbled himself awake "What and who? Oh... Oh yes, you are free to pass. Just don't do anything stupid or unlawful. Wouldn't want to drag you out especially with all of the issues we've been having outside the walls." He mumbled through most of it, but I got the gist. He also tapped on his spear which was behind him leaning against the palisade. I could definitely use one of those over the damn club I'd been hauling around. "Shit!" I hissed and instantly through open my inventory screen to see what the curse had taken. Scanning through it I still had the food from the "might", the leather and goblin meat. Thankfully right at the bottom of the list was the club, a smile fell over my lips as I still had my main source of protection with me.
"Is everything all right?" The old man cut in. "Yes, I just thought I misplaced something. Have a good day"
Walking through the gate I was thankful he didn't say anything about the bush kilt I was rocking. The streets weren't all that busy and the town looked bigger from the outside. All the houses seemed made of wood and thatch, which seemed like a fire hazard. A faint smell of damp hay mixed with a tinge of smoke lingered in the air, but the streets were unnervingly silent, save for the occasional creak of a swinging signboard. The single stone building in town was the town hall, and across the street from it was the tavern. Continuing forward towards the gate on the other end of the wall, I couldn't help but to feel disappointed. I may have set my standard of a town way to high. This place was definitely a village, I've only seen about four people walking through the main road on smaller bisecting streets. I couldn’t shake the growing sense of unease. The place felt abandoned, like everyone had just up and left moments before we arrived. Finally, I turned to Bram. "Where the hell is everything? How am I supposed to get any quests or gear? It all looks like a ghost town."
"Oh, you thought this backwater village would have adventurers lining up with shiny loot to hand out. Cute. Welcome to reality, kid. The 'ghost town' vibes? Yeah, there's a reason for that."
Before he could get to the explanation, we were interrupted by a nervous woman around my age. "Ah you must be the help, the gods sent. We have been desperate with hope and prayers for the past two weeks; I am glad to see you here at last." She rushed out. "I forgot pleasantries, I am Renna Venstar I oversee Hillgrove here." She said with a small courtesy and when she mentioned the towns name, she wove her arm out in front of her in a wide arc like I was supposed to be impressed with what I've seen. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was definitely strange about her. I couldn't really pinpoint it though. She looked pretty plain her body type was rail thin with her pale complexion and auburn hair in a simple braid.
"Uh... Wow, seems like a nice place." Nodding along "My name is Liam, what exactly are you needing help with?" hoping it would start a small quest chain; I need to level and obtain a class if I'm ever going to have the smallest chance of recovering the teleportation coins.
"Well, you see... The town has been having nightly raids with an unknown encounter. They stay on the edge of our vision and seem to have a caster that's been wreaking havoc on our southern gate. We are glad you've made it, but I have to ask. Why didn't you use the passage glyph surely it would have been quicker?"
Bram definitely had a lot of explaining to do. It now made sense why there was a lack of villagers those that could afford it probably left before the problems got any worse. Heat rising to my face out of both anger and embarrassment "Ah, yes about that I decided it would be best to get the lay of the land and take in the surrounding area. You know for reconnaissance purposes." clearing my throat over the last bit probably not sounding all to confident. She wasn't convinced in the slightest.
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"Uh... huh... Well as you know, as the town overseer, I could see your title and I know it's a very minor issues among the gods, but we would appreciate your help. Even if you do have other reasons for being here. If you need anything just let me know, oh... and cooper inside the town hall has access to the system store, for certain replacements." She said while eyeing my makeshift kilt with a halfhearted smile like you would for a child that brings you a painting to put on the fridge. Instantly making me feel embarrassed all over again.
"Thanks." I said softly "Oh and I will help your village with its current issue." Realizing then that Bram wasn't around instantly giving me anxiety. "Have a good day." giving a curt nod then moving past her to walk straight into the town hall.
A screen appeared as I got to the door:
I struggled opening the door, the damned thing was about eight inches thick made of solid wood. For once since coming into town, I was not disappointed. Elegant tapestries hung from the stone railing of a marble staircase. The floors were even marble with some sort of gold inlay. Looking around the main hall I saw beautiful paintings of what had to be this planet's figureheads and even a coupler of smaller statues sitting on pedestals. "Impressive." Slipped out of my mouth unconsciously.
"That it is." Came a booming voice from my right. A big bear like man hovered over a nice oak counter that seemed to be recently polished. "Come over here, I have some wares you'd surely want to look at." eyeing me up and down, not even trying to hide the disgust on his face. I could barely see his mouth through the dense wiry blonde beard streaked with orange as he spoke again while tossing me something.
"Use that to access the system store. Press down in the center of it to activate. Stock is limited since we only have town access of supplies, but it'll get you enough to get by. If you have any questions, just ask."
He tossed a silver circular disk at me as big as my hand. It had intricated carvings throughout the whole thing and a light blue crystal sitting in the middle. As I pressed down on the crystal, the disk hummed faintly in my hand, warm to the touch. A sharp hiss of air escaped as a translucent triangle materialized in front of me, hovering a foot above the disk. Its edges pulsed with a faint blue light, and tiny glyphs and symbols danced along the outer frame, giving it an otherworldly feel.
The menu flickered for a moment before solidifying, displaying several tabs written in crisp Common:
* Gear
* Consumables
* Crafting Materials
* Miscellaneous
* Sell Items
Each tab was accompanied by a glowing icon: a sword for gear, a potion bottle for consumables, a stack of lumber for crafting materials, and a question mark for miscellaneous. The "Sell Items" tab bore a simple coin symbol, radiating a faint golden glow.
Curious, I reached out, my finger hovering over the "Gear" tab. The triangle shifted, its glyphs rearranging themselves to form a submenu. A list of items appeared in cascading order:
Traveler's boots
(Good for mild protection from the elements and basic wear and tear.)
Rarity: Common
Armor rating +2
Cost: 75 credits
Rusty Iron Short sword
(This sword has seen better days; however, it still has a pointy end for stabbing things.)
Rarity: Common
Attack: +4-6
Cost: 150 Credits
Leather Skull Cap
(Provides little protection, possible to stop a glancing blow.)
Rarity: Common
Armor rating: +2
Cost: 100 Credits
Basic Short Spear
(This spear is roughly 4 feet long and is equipped with a bronze spear head.)
Rarity: Common
Attack: +5-10
Cost: 250 Credits
The list went on like this for quite some time. Quickly skimming over the items, I noticed all of them were common items, must be because of the town limitations. I continued on to consumables which didn't disappoint. Stamina, mana and health potions filled this section, they ranged from minor which would heal simple flesh wounds to major ones that would snap bones back into place within seconds. I made a mental note to definitely get some of the minors and one major one of each, as well as one of the water skins. I would be collecting water from north of the village this time not wanting a repeat of earlier this morning. With that I continued on the list. Crafting materials didn't have much that I thought was useful, various amounts of pelts, ores, bones and herbs for alchemy. Though perhaps in the future I would consider picking up alchemy, I'd need to make sure I was safe in my primary class first though. Miscellaneous is where it got really interesting, it was filled with subcategories things like transportation, housing development and various odds and ends. I saw a large rucksack that was a bag of holding and I could only imagine what it could store, but with a price tag at 8,000 credits I was still off the mark for that one for a while longer. Finally, I made it to the sell items category and saw the price of everything in my possession. I instantly sold the goblin meats which I had two of for a sum of 10 credits and the leather for another 10. Moving on I decided to keep the coco meat slabs and all my starting gear. Interested I scanned over the ring to see it's sell price, but when I did the item name changed. It was now just a minor ring of holding with no curse attached. It must be a bug in the system, not saying a word to anyone I closed out of the menu.
Handing back the disk to Cooper he stopped me "You aren't going to collect your credits?" He boomed in a confused tone with an eyebrow raised. When I answered back with a bigger look of confusion.
He laughed "Where's your system mark? You'll need it to withdraw your credits. If you don't have one, I have spares but since you sold goblin meat, I would expect you do."
Not understanding what he meant at first, but then it dawned on me. I hadn't really seen any inventory with the number of credits I had. The goblin kills netted 300 credits and the "Might" was 500. Biting my tongue with seething rage, I just nodded at Cooper with my hand outstretched, receiving the system mark and feeling a slight tug at something within me. Looking down at it a message appeared.
System Mark (Tier 2, 50,000 Limit)
Description: A sleek, coin-like piece of metal about the size of a half-dollar, etched with glowing runes that faintly pulse in sync with the user's heartbeat. The mark is crafted from a mysterious alloy that resonates with the system's energy, allowing it to securely store and transfer system credits.
Features:
Deposit & Withdrawal: Users can transfer system credits from their personal balance to the Mark by touching it to any System Store interface, such as the silver disks. Similarly, credits can be withdrawn for safekeeping in the same way.
Security Measures:
The Mark is keyed to the user's unique mana signature, preventing theft. If stolen or lost, it can be remotely disabled through the system menu (for a small fee, of course).
Capacity: It has a tiered storage limit, ranging from 1,000 credits for a basic Mark to millions for advanced, rarer versions.
Durability: Virtually indestructible under normal circumstances, though high-level disintegration magic or specific rituals could destroy it.
Collecting the credits was a simple enough process reminding me of my homes tap to pay method. After thanking Cooper even after he told me about his cut in the deal, which left me with a whopping 15 credits, I left the Hall in search of Bram.
Stepping outside, I clenched the Mark in my hand. As much as I hated to admit it, Cooper’s system seemed efficient. But I needed to know more, how it all worked, and most importantly, why Bram hadn’t told me about it sooner. That smug bastard was going to spill everything.