Cole sat on his bed, staring down at the wooden floor. He’d leaned his spears up against the wall and unwrapped his tools from his shirt. He laid the sharp stone and quartz on the table, alongside the fish bones. Cole held his shirt at arm’s length. It smelled like a gross mixture of smoke and sweat. He was glad he was getting a fresh set of clothes, especially as they wouldn’t have any rips.
The window was still being lit up with flashes of colour from various abilities. Cole peered out, jumping back as a beam of light shot straight up into the sky, bathing the whole village in a faint orange glow. Cole wondered how anyone got sleep during a monster wave, and shut the blinds, which helped somewhat.
His head hit the pillow, which was actually surprisingly soft for something that lacked the benefits of modern technology. Regardless, it was far better than sleeping on in the dirt. Cole looked up at the wooden beams that crossed under the ceiling. It was funny, if he ignored the muted flashes of light, he could almost pretend he was back at home, safe and sound in his warm bed.
The only thing that was different, that truly told him that he wasn’t at home, were the runes floating within him. Cole held his hands up, pretending to trace out the runes in the air. He knew that he’d be able to learn more, but he had no clue where to start. He supposed he could enquire with Lyndell the next morning.
As Cole lay in bed, head faced away from the window, he realised something.
He didn’t miss his old life one bit.
Cole awoke, feeling much less sore than he had the morning before. He had no idea what time it was, but the moon had not fully disappeared yet, so he could only assume it was some time in the morning. He got up and stretched, looking around for the clothes Lyndell had promised him. Cole then facepalmed, remembering that he’d locked the door before going to sleep the night before.
Sure enough, upon opening the door, a pile of neatly folded clothes lay in front of him, he quickly changed, relishing the feeling of freshly washed linen on his skin. The pants were thick enough to be warm, but still loose enough for him to be able to move freely. The shirt was also plain and utilitarian, sleeves extending to be just above his elbows, and it had two long strips of cloth hanging off the sides to allow him to tighten it around his body. Cole couldn’t help but feel a little bit cool, like some sort of Japanese warrior.
He left his spears and other belongings in the room, only taking his key. Cole made sure to lock the door behind him, just in case someone stumbled in and thought that the sticks and stones that made up his wealth was actually just trash. Even though he knew that the spears weren’t proper weapons, and the stones and bones weren’t real tools, Cole felt oddly attached to them. Maybe it was because they were what had helped him make it through his first night, he’d somehow not perished even while hunting and hiking through the wilderness on his own.
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The stairs creaked, singing their age directly into his ears as Cole made his way back down to the bottom floor of the Guild Headquarters. As he passed the second floor and started on the staircase that led to the bottom, he could hear much more noise than there’d been last night on his arrival. It seemed like the branch was livelier than he’d expected. Cole looked down as he came to the ground floor to see a large crowd of people all moving around the space. He noticed things that he hadn’t the night before.
The bounty board, which was a standard for Adventurer’s Guild Headquarters, normally listed all the quests that would be available to take in the area. It was completely empty, something that Cole could only assume was because of the monster wave. He guessed most of the adventurers in the area would be focused on quelling the waves
Next to the bounty board was what looked like a leader board. It looked like the members of the Guild were comparing their total monster kills with each other. Argyle’s name was high up on the list, but not quite first. Cole compared this with what he’d known from when he played the VRMMO version of Vestria Online.
In that world, the leader board had ranked all players in the whole server. While Cole had been a member of the guild, he’d found it far too easy to climb his way to the top by abusing his Instant Portal technique. Monsters couldn’t do anything to touch him if he turned the ground at their feet into a portal that led to the bottom of a volcano. That was one of the reasons he’d lost interest in being a member of the Adventurer’s Guild. Cole had instead turned his focus away from mindless mob slaying, and into the far more exciting realm of PvP combat, where he could actually face real challenge.
‘Geez, does this guy ever sleep?’ wondered Cole, as he walked over to Lyndell, who seemed to be extremely alert, smiling at his desk. As he strode over, his stomach let out a loud groan, which made the young man flush with embarrassment.
“A bit hungry are we, Cole?” chuckled Lyndell, “The mess hall is over to your left, if you hurry you might be able to chat with some of the adventurers who just finished their night shift.”
“Thanks Lyndell,” replied Cole, gratefully inclining his head, “Is Argyle there?”
“I’m afraid he’s gone to bed already, but I’m sure you’ll be able to see him later this afternoon. The Branch-Master will be arriving back late today, so you’ll definitely see him then.”
Cole nodded once more, thanking the Steward, and then turned to his left.
The mess hall was a moderately sized room that Cole estimated would house around sixty people at full capacity. As of now, there were about twenty people in there, not including the serving staff. As he walked in, the aroma of freshly cooked bacon and eggs wafted into his nose.
Cole almost cried with happiness. He’d never imagined that he’d be able to taste his favourite food so soon. It was a sad day in his house when he ran out of pink bacon strips, and smooth white eggs. That was why he was so confused when he walked over to the serving station.
The eggs that he had smelled still looked the same as some scrambled eggs, but with a strange green tinge to them. He still scooped some onto the plate he picked up, unsure whether he would enjoy them. Luckily, bacon seemed to be much more congruent with Earth, and he heaped it on top. There was also some bread, it appeared to be sourdough, that he eagerly sliced with a knife.
Once Cole had stacked up his plate with delicious smelling food, he turned, looking for a place to sit. He felt like he was back in the high school cafeteria, deciding which clique he was going try and talk with.
He almost went at sat at a chair surrounded by empty places, but he stopped himself. His old life may have been lonely and isolated, but given another chance, he wasn’t going to waste it.
Cole spotted a group of 5 adventurers and sat down.
“Hi, my name’s Cole”