James noticed different races were walking the streets and figured the city was a popular one for travelers from afar to visit. There were beast kin, elves, and even dwarfs walking around with a sense of ease. Those three and humans are the most commonly found races in the holy empire while each race has its own kingdoms. The difference being the three races usually have laws that do not support others from roaming freely. The humans on the other hand appear to be open minded by allowing any race to travel their lands but it is more of a ploy trying to gain allies for their war.

There was a wolf beast kin not to be mixed with a werewolf walking on two legs with the same build as a human heading down the road to what appeared to be the blacksmith with had a sign of a hammer and anvil. He had on leather armor and carried metal gloves with long pointy claws attached as his weapons which he carried on his belt. He appeared looking similar to a human except his wolf like ears, fluffy hair down his back, and wolf like ears on his head. While his teeth were sharp, he carried himself with a smile and appeared to be approachable.

Looking towards the convenience shop James noticed a family of elves that included an adult male and female caring for their young female child elf seated on a bench enjoying a meal together. Some features were different between the family of elves like hair color or eyes, but they had pale white skin, long hair, and feminine features in common even for the male. None of them had a big build for their body but instead looked thin and naturally agile. The most noticeable feature was the pointy ears which caused James to get excited.

Even in his past life he always had a preference in female elves when looking for a partner in a relationship. Back then the kingdoms were more divided and running across another race was a rare occurrence.

Lastly, dwarves tend to be the most similar to humans, but their height is like that of a kid and their body is built with huge muscles. They usually were bald but sometimes had some hair and grew out beards regardless of their gender which they dressed up with jewels and colorful bands. James caught site of a dwarf talking to the wolf beast kin in the blacksmith store, but the group quickly passed by.

Angelina led the group to an inn which was located with a right turn made from the shopping district away for the housing streets and ended up taking up most of the road behind the stores. It was a huge three-story wooden building with mostly humans but also different races in the front laughing and enjoying themselves. It inn looked well taken care of and James imagined lots of adventurers must stay here considering most of the people were dressed in some type of armor with weapons.

The group entered the inn and Angelina had them wait at the entrance while she went to the desk and grabbed the keys from the innkeeper. The apprentices must have apparently already checked in because James has yet to see them since they entered the city.

After distributing the keys, she led them up a set of stairs to a floor which had the rooms they would be staying in for the night. Each room was simple with two beds, a table, two chairs, and a chest for clothes. The group of students were separated so that each family had a room and any kids without families shared a room based off their gender. James and Susy would have to share a bed, but they did not mind.

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After the family settled in an inn employee which was a teenage male elf came by to drop off food to each room. James and his family quickly ate but with it already being around sunset they decided to sleep early. While James was still injured, he had enough energy to check out the shops with a specific goal in mind. Emily was worried but Roy reassured her that James would be fine. The city was well protected with plenty of guards walking around.

James asked Susy if she wanted to come but was surprisingly shot down. She stated that she wanted to train because him getting injured had really gotten her concerned. It was a comforting feeling and James responded by giving her a hug while wishing her luck. After letting his parents know he would be back soon James grabbed a small bag from his stuff and headed out of the inn.

Angelina just so happened to be in front of the inn talking with a female snake beast kin. The snake beast kin while essentially looked like a snake and human combined, was actually very beautiful. From her waist to her head appeared more human with light green skin but with scales at the side of her face and down her arms. Below her waist was only a long tail that she used to prop herself up. Angelina looked over to James and nodded while the snake beast kin smiled at him letting her long tongue slip out.

James eventually made his way back to the shopping district and looked over the stores. In the small bag he brought were the cores Angelina gave him as a reward. Since he had plenty of knowledge of his past life James was aware of many uses for them.

Monster cores could be used in armor to increase resistances when tempered with a specific element. When applied to weapons a monster core can help it become more potent with elemental spells when undergoing the same process as the armor. There are plenty of potions that have monster cores as an ingredient. They also work as currency, for enchanting, and can be used in some formations. The most important use of monster cores though is breaking it down with a person’s energy to increase their level. This is the main way used for leveling no matter what type of class according to Roy and Emily. His past life did not include any class levels or even a system to keep up to date with, so he was learning new things as time went by.

James decided against using all the monster cores to try to level because gaining more money for his family was more important for him at the time. He visited the blacksmith, convenience store, and to his surprise a bank. The bank had a sign with different coins on in it and made James feel stupid for not realizing its purpose. In his past life exchanging or saving currency was done though guilds or military buildings. While looking around he was trying to find any cores for sale to get an idea of how much they were worth.

Eventually James found his way to the alchemy shop. As he entered, he realized there were no other customers but looking around he noticed only a few products being shown for sale.

“We mainly take orders but sometimes have extra potions which we put out for any possibly interested customers,” a middle-aged female elf said to the curious James.

James was caught off guard looking over at the elf noticing black skin with tattoos all over her. She had white hair, but it was the completely white eyes that made James feel he had seen them before but couldn’t remember.

'A dark elf,' James thought to himself.