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It Started with a Punch
Chp. 2 The new view

Chp. 2 The new view

Chp. 2 The new view

As we go to her house it was late and she said she was going to go clean up and go to bed. Ava laid out some blankets on the couch. Then she showed me the guest bathroom and where the cups are if I needed some water. She was very hospitable, especially considering how we met and the events of the evening. After that, I was left sitting on the couch alone, in a new city and country at a stranger’s house.

After the events of the evening, there was no way, I could sleep just too much going through my mind.

I wandered around her cozy home, searching for any familiar signs of the life I had left behind. Her place was modest but comfortable, with a living room that doubled as a dining area, a kitchen that smelled of herbs and spices, a bathroom that sparkled with cleanliness, and a bedroom that invited rest and relaxation. She had told me to make myself at home while she freshened up in her private bathroom, which I guessed was attached to her bedroom. I wondered what it looked like inside. Did she have a bathtub or a shower? A sink or a basin? A mirror or a window?

I realized I had no idea what kind of technology she used in this world. In my apartment back home, I had relied on my phone for everything: entertainment, communication, information, navigation. I didn't own a TV or a stereo or a computer. They seemed redundant and wasteful. But here, in her home, I couldn't find any trace of electricity at all. There were no outlets on the walls, no wires on the floor, no switches on the lamps. The only source of light came from small crystals that hung from the ceiling or rested on the tables. They glowed with a soft and steady radiance that seemed to come from within. How did they work? Were they natural or artificial? Did they ever run out of energy? I felt a surge of curiosity and decided to ask her about them in the morning.

I decided to go to the bathroom and freshen up a bit. Maybe some water and soap would help me clear my head. As I stepped into the small but tidy room, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror above the sink. I stopped and stared, hardly recognizing the person looking back at me. I had always been an average guy, nothing remarkable about my appearance. I was 5'10" tall, with a medium build and brown hair that I kept short and neat. My blue eyes were dull and tired most of the time. I wasn't overweight or underweight, just healthy enough to get by. But I wasn't muscular or athletic either. I had never been interested in working out or playing sports. What I saw in the mirror was me, but not me. My face had changed subtly, becoming more handsome and striking. My jawline was sharper, cheekbones higher, and nose straighter. My eyes were brighter and more intense, like sparkling sapphires. And my body looked like it had undergone a rigorous training regimen. My shoulders were broader, chest firmer, and arms stronger. I could see the outline of abs on my stomach, something I had never had before. I was still slim and lean, but now I looked fit and powerful. What had happened to me? How had I changed so much overnight? I shook my head and splashed some water on my face, hoping it was just a trick of the light or a weird dream. I dried myself with a towel and headed back to the couch.

I decided to take the time to look at the HUD that had appeared. Judging by the way Ava reacted to the messages she couldn’t see this.

In the top right corner was my name and the letters HP and MP under it. Beside each was a bar with a number in it. Below that was the word Status: with the words tired/confused beside it.

image [https://i.imgur.com/jTz9Vao.png]

I noticed if I concentrated on this section of my view it would pull up another for lack of a better term screen. This screen gave the same information but with more detail including a body outline that was green right now. When I looked at the details for the status it said “Jensen is currently Tired. Jensen is currently confused.”

So, I guess just like in a video game the status will tell me what current ailments I have.

I also noticed that I had been assigned a level, currently, that level was 1, I wondered what that meant and how to increase that level.

The display also had a listing that said, “currently equipped items.”

Head: None

Shirt: Cotton T-shirt

Pants: Jeans

Boots: Air Jordans

Armor: None

Weapon 1: Fist

Weapon 2: Fist

image [https://i.imgur.com/3dGZIGs.png]

When I decided I wanted to go back the screen disappeared instantly and I was back at the HUD.

In the bottom left corner, there was a label called Skills when I concentrated on it, a box came up Current Skills: Loot, Party, Rested XP

image [https://i.imgur.com/v7ok3ZG.png]

When I tried to touch each of the skills a box popped up giving a brief description of each.

image [https://i.imgur.com/D7nx3Gh.png]

At the bottom right corner above the progress bar was the word storage. When I concentrated on it, the screen changed to a 4x4 grid, with the words “storage bag” at the top. In the grid was one item, a silver sword. When I touched it a popup box with the description “traveler’s sword” appeared. I decided to try to grab the sword and instantly I was holding a mid-size silver sword. I touched the blade to make sure it was real; it was a lot heavier than I would have thought but I had never held a sword before.

image [https://i.imgur.com/WO4DNqP.png]

I went back to the main display and concentrated on the top corner where my status was, the display came back up and this time it had changed where weapon 1 had been my fist before, now it listed the traveler’s sword.

image [https://i.imgur.com/CgPL674.png]

I brought back up the storage menu and tried to put the sword back in the square I got it from. When I put it there it stayed in place, and I was no longer holding the sword. I looked below the grid and there were several other icons. Three of the icons looked like money from a video game, are there Mario coins here…. it’s me it’s … ok getting sidetracked. Moving on, I noticed there were three types of coin: copper, silver, and gold. Pretty standard I would guess. Beside each of them was a 0. Wonder how I get those. Below that were several icons that looked like crystals, and I say crystals because they looked like the ones giving the glow in the house, I’m currently setting in. As I touched each one a pop-up with a description came up.

Crystal of Entergy Light – 0

Crystal of Entergy Ice – 0

Crystal of Entergy Fire – 0

Crystal of Entergy Electric – 0

Crystal of Entergy Wind – 0

Crystal of Entergy Earth - 0

Crystal of Entergy Water – 0

Crystal of Entergy Spirit – 0

Crystal of Entergy Dark – 0

Crystal of Entergy Unknown – 3

Wow, there are a lot of types of crystals here, I wonder what they are used for. Maybe the light crystal is what is being used for the glow in this house they do look similar. I made a mental list of all the things I needed to ask Ava in the morning.

When I touched the icon for the Crystal of Entergy Unknown a box displayed.

image [https://i.imgur.com/mXud7Ob.png]

Across the bottom of my HUD under skills and storage was a long bar with the word progress out beside it. The bar had 25/300 and was green with a section of it filled in blue.

image [https://i.imgur.com/cjhNvbj.png]

What is that I wondered and focused on the bar. The display changed the bar moved to the center of my view above the bar it said current level 1 below that it said progression XP to level 2 and had the bar with 25/300 filled in blue. Below that there was a history of XP and it had one entry. You killed Michael you are awarded 25 XP. So, I guess I get XP by killing people.

I thought back to last night and gave myself a mental shake. If I have to kill people to level up, then I think I’ll just stay level one.

After investigating the HUD a little longer, I decided to lay down and try to sleep. I wasn’t sure when I would be able to again or what tomorrow had in store.

What was that sound it’s almost like a roaring applause? If I can just open my eyes and see what’s going on.

That smell it’s like a mixture of maple and… what else what is that smell, is it bacon?

I blinked and opened my eyes, feeling a bit groggy and disoriented. I smelled something delicious wafting from the kitchen. I turned my head and saw Ava busy at the stove, stirring a pot of something that looked like soup. She had her back to me, but I could see her long blonde hair cascading over her shoulders. She was wearing a brown leather tunic that hugged her curves, a white shirt that peeked out from the neckline and sleeves, and matching leather pants and boots that showed off her legs. She looked like a warrior princess from a fantasy movie. But what really caught my attention was the glow that surrounded her. It was a soft and warm light that seemed to emanate from her skin. It was more noticeable in the morning sun that streamed through the window. It made her look radiant and beautiful. She must have sensed my gaze, because she turned around and smiled at me. Her smile was dazzling, and her green eyes sparkled with joy. The glow intensified, filling the room with light and warmth. I felt a surge of attraction and admiration for her. She was stunning.

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“Oh, you're finally awake,” She said, “I’ve got to go to work here in a minute, and since I don’t really know you, I don’t think you should stay here alone. But I thought I could at least fix you breakfast before sending you off.”

“It smells good. What is it,” I asked.

“It’s hatchling eggs and snider bacon” she answered. “Eat all you want, It’s something I get a lot of when I’m working. Do you remember anything else?”

“No” I replied “only yesterday and my home before, I still have no clue how I got here. You said you must go to work. What do you do?”

“I’m a Hunter” Ava answered matter-of-factly.

“Oh, you mean you hunt deer and other wild game, I didn’t know that was a full-time job.”

Ava looked at me funny “What is a deer? You really are not from around here are you?’

“Hunters” she continued “are people who go out and find dangerous creatures and other beings and return them for coin.”

“Oh, so you’re like Dog the Bounty Hunter?”

“I’ve never heard of a Dog, but I am a hunter. I hunt for what is causing the trouble,” she said.

“Look if you need some coins, and you don’t have anything better to do than tag along. You might also start remembering where you are if you look for a bit.”

“Ok well I don’t have anywhere to be, and I don’t have any coin so that might be my best option” I agreed.

After we finished our breakfast, Ava took me outside and showed me around the neighborhood. She told me that we were in Maraschino, the capital city of Astria, and that it had a unique design. "The city is shaped like a dartboard, with three rings of different districts surrounding the king's castle. The center ring, or bullseye if you will, is the heart of the city, where the royal palace and gardens are located. It's the most secure and luxurious part of the city, where only the king, his family, and his closest advisors live.

The middle ring is the upper-class area, where wealthy merchants, nobles, and city officials reside. They have spacious houses with large yards and gardens, and they enjoy the best services and amenities that the city has to offer.

The outer ring is the lower-class area, where most of the common people live. It's the most crowded and poorest part of the city, where houses are crammed together, and slums are rampant. Ava lives in the outer ring, or low town as it’s referred to. It's not a very nice or safe place to be, especially at night. There are a lot of shady things that happen here after dark, like crime, violence, and corruption.

The rule is around here if you don't want trouble, you go in before the sun does." She said this with a serious tone, making me wonder what kind of trouble she had encountered before last night or avoided in this place. She said we would get a map of the city when we reached the hunter's guild, which was our destination for today. “So that’s why no one came to help us when those guys tried to take us,” I asked.

Yes, pretty much all the low-town officials have been paid off or are just trying to stay alive and move up to midtown. There are a few good ones still but most just want to keep from getting a dagger in the back.

As we walked through the stone streets, the buildings reminded me of old houses that had been added to and remodeled in every way possible. Several shops were selling different hunting and crafting goods. There was also an open market where people were setting up shop early this morning to sell freshly cooked food. I knew from the smells already coming from that way that I had to get some coins and try the local favorites while I’m here.

When we turned a corner, I noticed a shop that sold crystals and that reminded me that I wanted to ask Ava what they are full of.

“Crystals,” she said questioning “you don’t know anything about where you’re at, do you?”

“Crystals are the building blocks of our lives,” she said.

“Oh, I thought that was atoms” I chimed in.

“What,” she asked.

“Nothing. Keep going,” I said.

“Crystals are how we function they are used for everything. We use light crystals to see in the dark, ice crystals to keep food fresh, and fire crystals to cook and do smithing among other things.

Crystals can also be used with our weapons, if you have a creature that takes more damage from fire you might add a fire crystal to the end of your arrow. When crystals hit something or are smashed, they will explode causing the energy they hold to explode. They can be very useful when fighting a creature that is a lot more powerful than you.

There are all sorts of crystals, and they say there are even some that haven’t been discovered yet.”

As we walked down the streets to the hunter’s guild, I started noticing the crystals hanging on the walls glowing. I also noticed the food vendors placing fire crystals under their cooktops as they started to prepare food. And others put ice crystals under what looked like a strange type of fish. I guessed this was to keep the fish fresh until someone bought it.

“So do the crystals not hurt the user when they handle them,” I asked, “You would think holding a fire crystal that can cook food would burn your hand.”

“I keep forgetting that you’re not from here,” she said, “When you use a crystal you must use a spell to activate it, to the opposite effect if you want it to stop working you can use a spell to deactivate it.”

“So where do the crystals come from,” I asked.

She explained to me that one of her main tasks as a hunter was to collect crystals from the creatures she hunted. She said that every creature in this world had a crystal inside its body, which was formed by the element that dominated its nature. The crystal's color and shape reflected the element of the creature, such as fire, water, earth, air, or something else. The crystal's size also depended on the size of the creature, ranging from tiny pebbles to huge boulders. For example, if she killed a red dragon, which was a fire-based creature, she would get a large red crystal that looked like a flame and was as big as her head. But if she killed a thrafsi hare, which was an earth-based creature, she would get a small brown crystal that looked like a rock and was as small as her fingernail. She said that these crystals were very valuable and useful in this world, and that she sold them or traded them for money or goods.

“Wait you have dragons here, like the Hobbit,” I asked.

“Not as many as in the old days, but they are still around. They normally stick to themselves, and we don’t have to hunt them. Most creatures we try to leave in peace not killing them just for crystals, but there are some that we kill whenever we can because we know they will hunt and attack others if they get any chance. I don’t know what a Hobbit is,” she said.

“Some of those include goblins, Jelly wheels, and orcs” she continued.

As she was talking, I noticed her ears. She saw me looking and quickly covered them with her hair.

I can ask, “are you human?”

“Human yes and no, I’m half human, half-elf, a half-breed,” she said quietly but with anger in her voice when she said half breed.

“Wow,” I said, “your half-elf"… she looked at me cross, “don’t say that too loudly. There are many races in Astria but being of a mixed race is frowned upon by some, and they will try to kill me for no other reason.”

“Why do you live in a city hostile against you all alone then,” I asked before I could stop myself.

...

For the first time as we walked down the streets, I noticed that not all the vendors and shop owners were human. The elves I could understand not noticing. They were not much different from humans besides their ears and an odd kind of glow to them.

My eyes widened as I saw the largest figure I had ever encountered in my life. He was towering over everyone else in the room, and he wore a dark cloak that covered most of his body. He looked like a giant human at first glance, but as he turned his head slightly, I saw that he was something else entirely. His face was a bizarre hybrid of a tiger and a bull, with a broad muzzle, sharp fangs, and a ring through his nose. He had two massive horns that curved upward from his forehead, resembling those of a Texas longhorn. His eyes were a piercing golden yellow that seemed to glow in the dim light. He looked fierce and intimidating, and I wondered what he was and why he was here.

“What are you looking at,” he growled in a deep voice.

And I looked down to notice his hands had what looked like razor-sharp claws.

“Are you going to buy something or are you just going to stare,” he growled in the same menacing tone.

Then I noticed he was cooking some kind of strange meat and vegetables on a stick.

“No thanks Enzo, he is just new here and looking around,” Ava said.

“Oh, hey Ava didn’t see you there, you need to tell your friend it’s not nice to stare. Not everyone is as nice as me,” said Enzo with still a hint of a growl.

“Sorry,” I said with a little shock still in my voice.

“Enzo is a tibull. For the most part, they are a very peaceful race, and Enzo is a sweetheart as long as you don’t cross him,” Ava said.

“Then why did he growl at me,” I asked.

“Because it’s rude to stare. Or is that ok where you’re from?” she asked.

“No, it’s rude there too,” I answered.

Enzo didn’t understand the full conversation, but laughed out loud when Ava said, “it’s rude to stare”.

She explained to me that this world was home to many different races, but that humans were the most numerous and widespread. She said that for a long time, the races had kept to themselves and avoided contact with each other. They had their own territories, cultures, and beliefs. But things had changed in recent years, and some of the races had started to mingle and coexist in the same towns. She said that this was a good thing, as it promoted diversity and harmony. But she also warned me that not everyone was happy about it. There were still some people who held prejudices and hatred against other races. They thought that their own race was superior and that the others were inferior. They caused trouble and conflict wherever they went. She said that one of those races that had been heavily discriminated against was the tibull. She said that they were proud and aggressive, and that they didn't like being challenged or disrespected. She said that staring at a tibull was a bad idea, as it would make him feel like I was looking down on him or provoking him. She said that I should avoid eye contact with them until you get to know them.

“And trust me you want to stay on Enzo’s good side.”

“Unless, you don’t want to be a hunter, but since you don’t have any other job or money currently, it might be the best way to make a living.”

“Along with making some of the best food in low town, he also pays top dollar for quality items you find while hunting,” she said as she smiled at Enzo.

“And besides, if you piss him off, it will piss me off” she smiled as she gave Enzo a big hug, “he is like a father to me.”

“Are you going out to run more jobs today”, Enzo asked. He then proceeded to shove potions and other things into her hands to put in her bag. Then he made her promise to let him know when she made it back to the city.

As we walked away, she started talking in a quiet voice.

“He’s the one that found me” she began. I looked questioningly at her.

“Enzo”, she continued, “When I was around 8 years old, my mom got sick. The elders of our village told my mother that the sickness was caused by me. Keeping a half-breed in the elf village would only cause her to get sicker and eventually die. My mother protested and said she would rather die, than to abandoned me. I overheard all of this and knew what I had to do. When night came and most of the village was asleep, I slipped out into the woods. I didn’t know where to go, but I knew I needed to get as far away as I could before my mother woke up. My mother had to live.”

“When I got to the edge of this city, some slavers saw me and started to grab me, but Enzo happened to be coming by at the same time. He had seen me walking to the city and noticed the slavers following. Before they could do anything, Enzo beat them nearly to death. He then asks me where I was heading. When I didn’t answer he insisted that I come with him to his shop and eat something. I started to refuse, but my stomach was a traitor and gave away how hungry I was. After that he just kept insisting, I stay and sleep, eat, and even do odd jobs to make money. Eventually, I gave up on leaving and helped Enzo in his shop and worked towards becoming a hunter that suited my half-breed status. I eventually got strong enough to be a hunter. I, then worked and got my own place. I still try to help Enzo out during his busy season.”

She was quiet for a minute, then she continued, “I don’t know what happened to my mother, I’ve thought about trying to go back and see, but I don’t want to make her sick again, so I’ve tried to stay away.”

I quietly listened as I did, I had a newfound respect for Ava and the hardships she had been through, the toughest part of my childhood was having to wait until the release date for a video game. I also decided that any business I could do would be done with Enzo, and I would really apologize the next time I saw him.

We walked in silence for the next several minutes.

“We are here,” she said, “this is the hunter’s guild.”