“Finally.”
Zelhaut could see a raging river in front of him. It was 10 kilometers wide, and looking up and downstream confirmed that this was the narrow point of the river.
Following behind him were six other figures that walked with precision movements marching forwards. These were Krindle and five other golems he had created on the travel to a new country. The five were wooden and looked quite nice. He had even added some decorative swooshes and swirls into the wood to make the golems look better as his carving skill got better. They had been traveling for a month and Zelhaut had yet to reach level one hundred. Unlike in the dungeon, the wilderness did not have monsters attacking him constantly, so his leveling had slowed.
“Commander, may I ask what country we are entering?”
Krindle was very curious as to where they were going.
“If I remember correctly, we will be entering Darserf. A country ruled by the dark church. They allow all intelligent species into their country, so hopefully, I can convince them I’m a harpy or something. Let’s just hope we went far enough north. The country of Lighgon is to the south of Darserf and they are not so accepting. Being ruled by the light church, the country doesn’t accept all species, just normal ones like elves, dwarfs, beastmen, and humans of course.”
They continued on in silence for a while, just walking.
“Let’s stop and make camp, I’m tired.”
Even though his strength and endurance were high, he still needed to sleep every day. It was odd that he had not gained sleep immunity or something along those lines, he would’ve thought he would never have to sleep again. The golems set up camp with a fire and everything. He did not use the fire for warmth or cooking however. With his unique title “Endurer” he slowly built up a resistance to the cold that swept over the forest at night, so he was good in that department. What he used the fire for was to build up his resistance to fire.
In front of him was a big bonfire. Zelhaut stripped his clothes off so they would not be ruined then closed his eyes and stepped into the fire, holding his breath so as not to breathe in the flames.
His unique skill might have been overpowered, but it did have a drawback. It took forever to gain a little bit of resistance, and it did not nullify the pain. When he had gained the skill the resistance that he got was gained quite fast. He had thought about it and attributed it to a boost in speed when earning the title. So he stood in a fire every couple of nights before bed and burned his entire body.
He stepped out of the fire, his skin burned black, the cracks in his skin looked red and blistered.
“You know the drill.”
Krindle nodded at his command and began patrolling the perimeter with the other golems. Zelhaut had decided to give temporary command of his golems to Krindle when he slept so that he could patrol the camp with backup.
He fell to sleep while trying to ignore the pain of the burns.
…
Chirp Chirp
He got up off the ground and looked at his body. It was still mostly black but was showing signs of healing. Every time he got out of the fire it healed just a little bit faster. Seeing that his resistance was building got him so excited. Being able to progress just felt so good.
After a breakfast of rotting meat, he collected his golems and kept moving along the river, looking out for any crossing points. A couple of days later he saw signs of civilization.
“Is that smoke?”
In the sky was a faint grey column continuously rising into the sky and dissipating.
The group hurried onwards towards the source and soon saw a fortress. It was small, about 400 square meters, but it looked sturdy, made of stone with slits on the second floor to shoot arrows or bolts out of. It had a parapet at the top and a thick iron-studded wooded door.
Out of the back of the fortress facing the river, he could see a rope extending across the river to the other side where another fortress stood.
He was interrupted from his wondering by a loud voice.
“Who goes there?!”
He looked up and saw a soldier on the parapet looking down at him. The soldier was in leather armor and had a bow with a nocked arrow pointed at him.
Zelhaut held his hands up but kept his hat lowered, hiding his face warped in cloth. He also had gauntlets on his hands that were extremely uncomfortable but hid his claws. His cloak hid the rest of his body.
“I’m just a traveler. I am heading to Darserf, is this the right stop?”
The soldier lowered his bow after hearing him speak the common language, signifying that he was not a beast in disguise.
“This is one of the crossing points into Darserf. Come to the gate and we’ll get you sorted.”
Zelhaut nodded his head and approached the entrance. Once he was there, he waited for a bit before a peephole slid open and a pair of pink eyes stared out at him.
“Touch this rod.”
The person on the other side stuck a clear rod, that looked to be made of crystal, out of the peephole. He touched it wondering what this thing was supposed to do. The rod didn’t react to his touch and the person on the other side grunted in approval.
“Looks like you’re all good.”
There was a clank of metal and then the door opened. A tall man in full plate armor stood on the other side and gestured for Zelhaut to follow him. The door closed behind him as he walked down a hallway into a large room.
“If you are new to the country go to that clerk in the corner. Also, keep your golems out of people’s way.”
After giving him some orders, the man left.
Zelhaut headed to a desk in which on the other side, protected by metal bars, there was a woman in a black outfit that resembled a suit. Over her heart, stitched in golden thread, was the symbol of the dark church, an eight-pointed star.
“Welcome to Darserf traveler. Let’s get you all set up.”
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He was not the only one in the room, but he was the only one at this desk. There was another desk in which there was a lineup of people waiting. They would flash a badge of some sort to the clerk then leave into another room.
“Please rest your hand on this ball. It will determine any problems in your status.”
He touched the ball and it glowed for a second then went dark again.
“Alright, that will be five silvers for a passport so you can enter the country, and another one silver per entity for transport across the river.”
“When you say entity does that also include golems?”
“Yes.”
Angrily he dug out the money and slid it under the bars.
“Thank you! Have a blessed day.”
He took a deep breath and proceeded into a different room that the clerk pointed him towards. This room had a large door and many people were waiting on benches at the side of the room. A small gap above the door let in a rope from outside that looped into a pulley-like contraption consisting of a huge horizontal wheel on the roof. It looked kind of like a ski lift.
“Am I just supposed to wait here? How do I get across?”
He mumbled to himself but it seemed a group of people next to him heard his mumblings.
“You don’t know? Look’s like we got an immigrant.”
A short man in leather armor began to converse with him but he denied it.
“Buzz off fucker.”
“Whoah, ok then.”
The short man went back to his group and left him alone.
Zelhaut was feeling regretful for chasing away info but resigned himself to just being patient. He sat on the bench along the wall while his golems stood in front of him.
After an hour, two guards and an old man in robes came into the room. The two guards opened the door to reveal the river just outside and stood guard beside the opening. Meanwhile, the old robed man stood under the pulley like contraption while a crystal pole descend from the center of the wheel. The old man grabbed this crystal pole and it lit up as the wheel began moving. In the distance, the fortress on the other side of the river was doing the same. A group of barrels moved along with the rope across the river carrying people.
As he had these thoughts the group of barrels crossed the river. The old man was breathing slightly heavy and a layer of perspiration was on his forehead.
“Well get going you sorry bunch, I don’t have all day.”
The old man urged them to get on. Zelhaut hopped into a barrel and it wobbled slightly as it was attached to the rope with four leather straps. He ordered his golems to hop in and the five wooden ones had no problem. Krindle, however, was having a bit of trouble though. The golem body was metal and not as light as the wooden ones, making it harder to enter the barrel as it wobbled and twisted around. Krindle finally made it inside but then fell through the bottom of the barrel.
“Young man, just tell your golem to hold onto the rope, it is too heavy for the barrel.”
The old man scolded him.
“Fine.”
Krindle jumped and grabbed the rope above him. The thick rope dipped a bit but did not show signs of snapping.
The rope began twisting around the pulley and he was transported inside the barrel to the other side. The river rushed past underneath him. As he looked down he saw a fish jump out of the water.
He looked as the fish left the water heading straight for his face.
Slap.
Zelhaut was stunned.
He was indignant.
“Looks like the rookie got hit by a slapper.”
Someone commented from a few barrels ahead of him.
As the fish landed back into the water, Zelhaut laughed in his mind about destroying this river and everything in it.
Eventually, they reached the other side. He and his golems took their leave and left through the open gates into Darserf.
They began to march on the road towards… Somewhere.
“I’m sure there’s a town or something along this road. I’ll just follow it.”
After about two hours of walking a town finally came into sight. There were golden fields of boonce leading to the village. Boonce was the main component that made that trickery boonce bread that looked like gold. Surrounding the village was a short wooden fence, it did not seem to have any use as it looked so rickety, if he fell on it, the fence would break. The town itself was quite small, the buildings were all made of wood and had thatched roofs that shone with golden color. Obviously, stalks of boonce were used for these roofs.
He walked into town under the gazes of its citizens. There were humans, beastmen, and even some rarer variant humans like a cyclops. This tall, one-eyed being looked at him before ducking into a building that depicted beer on its sign.
Eventually, he found what he was looking for. This building had many people going in and out of it with weapons and staffs, looking tough and weathered. The sign depicted a wizard hat resting on the hilt of a sword stuck in the ground. This was the adventures guild. He hoped to get a source of revenue from joining it and also information regarding any nearby dungeons.
Zelhaut stepped through the saloon-like doors with his golems in tow.
“Hey! Kid! Leave the golems outside, it’s crowded enough in here.”
Some man at a table in the corner yelled at him from across the room.
“What did y-...”
He looked around, and indeed the room was very full. There were many tables and chairs, but they were all filled.
“Sigh.”
He sent out his wooden golems but kept krindle beside him. He would not be difficult, but he would also not be stupid. Even though he was stronger than most casters, he was still a caster. He relied upon his golems to keep him safe. He did not know the strength of the people in this room, but it was always nice to have backup.
Walking to a counter that read “receptionist” on it, he waited behind a line of people. The woman in front of him looked back at him then gave a glance to his golem, looking forwards after the look.
He reached the front of the line after waiting for a while and the receptionist greeted him.
“What can I do for you today.”
Contrary to his belief after reading many fantasy writings, this receptionist was a dude. Like, a real ‘dude’. He had blonde surfer hair and a multi-colored shirt on, the front open to reveal rock hard abs and a tooth necklace.
“I’m joining the guild.”
Zelhaut got straight to the point, not wanting to waste time.
“Far out dude, I got you covered.”
“All right then, just touch this magic ball.”
Zelhaut touched the ball then the receptionist put it into a stand. The receptionist then proceed to channel mana into the stand until a medallion appeared.
“Heres your medallion. It’s got your name on it and one dove. This one dove represents the lowest rank. It goes from one to twenty doves. On the mission board over there-”
The man pointed as Zelhaut followed his finger and looked at a board covered with paper slips with writing and symbols on them.
“Are missions. These missions have ratings on them that correlate to the dove ranking system. You are ranked the lowest, so I would suggest you take missions with the one dove stamp. Any questions?”
“No, you id-... Do you know where the nearest dungeon is?”
“Well sure. Just head west along the road and you’ll come to Likenwood city. They have a pretty nice-sized dungeon.”
Zelhaut grunted in approval, then turned around and left.
“See you later dude.”
He pushed the door open and headed further west. On the road, he took a closer look at this token. It was round and flat, made of some kind of bluish metal. The dove rating system seemed to mean actual doves, as in, the bird. There was a single dove depicted on the token in white. A hole existed on the edge of the token, presumably to put a string through and wear around the neck.
The adventurers guild seemed pretty lax. He was in and out of there in under twenty minutes.
He appreciated the lack of questioning they did. On the road, he kicked a rock, it shot forwards at great speed.
“Oh, what a fantasy world.”
When he looked up he could see the asteroid belt in the sky slowly rotating.
“Can’t get views like this where I’m from.”