Christopher and his companions loitered in the 1st floor City for a long time, mostly because Tris had some business with some face mage as she called him.
Around a month passed without her returning, Christopher was somewhat worried about her, but he had no way of finding her.
Day after day he begun to take strolls around the huge city, not a few times getting lost, but in general there was no adventurer that could pose a threat to him.
That day when he returned back at the Inn he saw Alexxa, or whom he thought was Alexxa. She looked gorgeous, she had makeup on, wore a lovely modern outfit and she was talking with Tanna and Rosetti.
They hadn't detected him yet and unwillingly he used his sneaking ability to approach them.
From their conversation he understood that she was not Alexxa, but Tris, but he non the less could not get over her, that voice, that smile, even the smell she gave off made him unable to even approach them any further.
"Do you think that he will change if I ask him nicely?"
Tris asked with a somewhat worried voice, but her tone was rather selfish and devoid of care, unlike how it used to be.
After seeing another world, learning what better existed in the world she would no longer be satisfied with what she had, she wanted to make Christopher into her Ideal Cool bad boy.
"Are you stupid, of course not, you have to make him kneel, make him run behind your ass like how Rosalinda did"
Rosetti said, making Christopher shocked at how much they had changed after being affected by our culture.
"Mistress, have you learned how to cook those otherworldly dishes?"
Tanna asked, but to her disappointment Tris could only look at the table, Alexxa had no idea how to cook, it wasn't among her talents.
She could sing, dance and was great at linguistics, but she had no idea how to cook, she also didn't practice any martial arts for self defense.
"So in general you only know their taste but not their recipes right?"
Rosetti asked and then continued.
"You still don't get it, it said so on the thing she saw in the box, the best cooks are males in their world"
"Do you think master knows how to cook?"
Tanna asked somewhat hoping for a yes, but Tris begun to laugh at their notion, after all she had absorbed all of Alexxa's memories, meaning that she knew that it was simply a saying about famous Chefs, it didn't really mean that all males could cook.
"Well we lose nothing by asking him, but I'm sure that it would be a miracle if he even knew how to cook a sunshine"
Tris said with a small smile, not even trying to disolve their misunderstanding.
"Even if I wanted to cook one, there's no butter in this world, as for other materials from our world, most of them don't exist on Axis or at least I haven't seen them sold anywhere"
Christopher added from behind her, making his presence noticable.
"Did you just teleport yourself inside?"
Tris asked somewhat irritated, in a way that Alexxa would have had if a boy had invaded her room.
"I see you have gotten yourself a new look, Tris"
Christopher said, making himself sound mysterious, as she hadn't revealed herself as Tris to him yet, she had even made multiple plans on how to surprise him.
"Do you like it?"
Tris said as she stood up and did a spin around herself, making Christopher unable to speak with her.
His heart was pounding rather fast as she was close to him now, he didn't know why but he felt the same thing as he felt when he was near Alexxa.
'was it simply her looks that he liked?'
He asked himself, but he knew that he wouldn't come up with an answer, even if he knew that she wasn't Alexxa he still could not take his gaze off of her, nor gather enough courage to speak to her, he always had a problem making the first move, either when approaching others to make friends or even asking for directions on the road, he wouldn't do so unless he was given no other choice.
"I see a cat ate your tongue"
Tris said as she smiled at him with an evil smile, but to him it looked as aluring as it could get. Love was a strange thing, he himself tried to diferentiate Alexxa and Tris, but each time he looked at her his mind subcontiously perceived her as Alexxa.
But all this ended when he remembered one moment, the moment Alexxa was kissing with the handsome ex-prince.
Raging flames of rage begun to burn in his mind and his body's temperature begun to heat up.
But all this happened in a few seconds almost evading their perception, only Tris could perceive that minute change.
"Oh, I see you want some of this?"
She said as she put her face so close to his, that he could feel her breath on his face.
"I..."
Christopher wanted to speak, but no words came out, he suddenly discovered that he didn't know himself what he wanted to say.
Normaly it was Tris whom would make the first step to have sex with him or even flirt with him.
He was like a confused virgin that had never touched a girl before, although he had lots of interactions with Tris before that, but this was "Alexxa".
"Keep dreaming"
She whispered to his ear, causing a strange feeling as if a bucket of cold water was suddenly thrown at him.
The second thing he knew he was given a seperate room from the women and was even sort of alienated, he felt similar to having returned to our modern world.
Tris would give him no attention at all and the others were now closer to her making her their leader.
Christopher didn't really care, after all she was not Alexxa, the real one was probably servicing that bastard in bed right about that time.
In his mind she had become a whore, or even worse, this was his way of fighting his feelings for her, a rather harsh towards her way, but he didn't care as he had already decided that he would no longer leave this world. Another decision that he would probably change at the end of the day.
When at last it was time to leave, Christopher was given a seperate Coach while they had another, it was rather strange and made him feel even weirder, it was as if they were pushing him more and more away from them and he wasn't completely wrong.
There were two great changes once Tris absorbed Alexxa's memories, first was her taste in men and secondly her disgust with those women like to call creeps. In a way she felt as if she had suddenly become a virgin in a perverted world where people see sex as something completely cheap, since there were no labors of birth.
The two carriages, were traveling fast as they approached the Outpost walls and took them towards the passage that would lead them towards the surface world.
In actuality the road connecting the outpost to the city was completely safe with lots of patrols, after the cities were the villages, that like a spiderweb conected the cities with the further away towns and last were the boarder villages that were where veteran adventurers went to hunt monsters.
Of course that didn't have anything to do with them whom were now leaving, the coaches wouldn't take them up, thus they had to go up on foot.
Tris and the others acted like little scared girls right now, probably they had seen too many thrillers and were spooked to stupidity.
Christopher was somewhat conflicted, he wanted to comfort them but all that came from his mouth was.
"The cave is safe so there's no reason to act like scardy cats"
He couldn't have come with a more stupidly made phrase, it was sort of like he was insulting them.
Of course their reaction could be imagined, as they puffed like angry peacocks, glaring at him as if they had found the enemy of all women.
He could of course see all that with his night vision glasses, but to the others were using the torch and could only see their own footing as they walked behind him whom was pacing at his own discretion till then, making him look very much like a jackass.
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The last hero of Runia was called George, he was an average looking guy, he was rather timid in class, but had a good build, it was no surprise that he was given the class of a warrior.
George's cheat power was Stone skin, he could summon a protective layer of stone to protect his body from damage, you could say that it was like creating a cast of clay around him which in turn made it impossible for him to move until it was broken or he recalled it.
Of course there were two problems with his power, one being he had to hold his breath and could die of asphyxiation, while the other was of course that he could not move, thus making it only useful for emergencies.
With title of the Constellation of the rabbit, his speed was doubled, making him faster than he normaly would have been, meaning that when he reached a high enough level his speed would be double of that of other same level warriors.
Of course he would still be unable to content with the realy fast races like the elves and beastmen.
Even in this world however he was rather timid, he didn't hunt much and even when he did he would only do so to support others, his weapon of choice was a spear, but it's length was rather long for a regular spear, the people called it a Pike.
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Even though George was faster than a regular warrior he still decided on a pike, amongst all those weapons available, it was simply a long spear in a way and he wouldn't have to move much in order to pierce his target when using it.
Of course the downsides were evident as well, it could not be used in short rages at all.
The pike was mostly used to fight large monsters in the Axis world, since most large monsters liked to simply trample over the smaller humans, thus pikes were rather useful in breaking their charge.
Of course it wasn't imposible to simply stab with a pike, but it was not as effective as a lance or spear.
Non the less however he easily and steadily raised his level to 42 as he fought under the leadership of a slave general called Diomir, it was rather funny how the old guy with the head of a dog and strange monster like legs was considered a half-beastman and not a monster, but he was really good at hunting like all beastmen, only he was more adept in group fights, something that beastmen wouldn't really need, since their individual strengths are so strong that they have no valid reason to hunt in groups, only the weak ones whom struggle to survive hunt in groups.
Diomir's tactics were rather crude, but for the untrained and undisciplined slaves they were about all they could accomplish even if given the greatest of generals.
There was only one rule...
"if you can't kill it run away"
This was what Diomir said most of the time when they encountered wolves, he said it wasn't worth fighting them over food, that they had hunted before the wolves arrived.
It might sound unfair, but that was the world of the strong and the weak, weaklings like them wouldn't even dream of hunting wolves, well exceptions did exist, for example if it was only one wolf alone or if they could set an ambush or a pitfall or if the wolf is wounded, but such occasions were extremely rare.
People in the village often joked saying something like George being Diomir's illigimate son or something, since he seemed to listen to him as if he was his father.
It wasn't really that complex, George simply respected him because he was older than himself, he showed respect to everyone whom looked elderly or at least looked like an adult.
A pity most of the slaves looked rather youthful despite their real age.
Of course a large part of this misunderstanding was due to their low intelligence and lack of education, which resulted in them acting more like street thugs than civilized people.
In truth the only thing that made Diomir look old was the beard he had on his canine head.
They say that behind each succesful man is a clever woman, this was probably much to do with George, since the little loli dwarf "Gurda" he had taken as a slave forced him to go out huntning against his will as for how, a single shout was enough to make the caveman go out to hunt.
Gurda was rather considerate of him, since he was too weak for her to have fun with him, thus she awaited patiently until the day he was ready for some hardcore stuff.
Well the day did come, it was around level 14, a day that would stay unforgetable for George for the rest of his life, not because he lost his virginity that day, but because of the gore and pain he experienced that day.
His chest and back still had scars from that experience, six strait lines that dug into his very flesh.
His nose was broken and one of his ears bitten off, it was simply being tortured, by her.
After that night he swore that he would become stronger and the next time it would be him in control, but his timid personality will forever mark him as a victim.
Of course George was rather proud of his scars of war(in bed), in a way people now looked at him with respect, as if looking at a wartorn veteral.
As to why she wasn't healed, this has to explained more in depth.
The bedding traditiions of the dwarves are somewhat rough, the scars must be left to heal naturaly thus to show that he respected his mate, unless of course she herself wants him healed, which was somewhat rare in the dwarven communities, but especialy for his situation, Gurda wanted him to keep them in order to remind him of his weakness, since she couldn't even go all out with him, having to suppress herself in order not to kill him, since her strength was still two times his own, even at level 42 he was still weaker than her.
In truth his physique was already three times hers, but she was a dwarf, thus having an x4 strength bonus, meaning that each point of physique she had counted for four points in strength.
In reality if she wasn't a rune mage, but a warrior he would have suffered even worse, it was of course shamefull to be beaten up by a mage, as a warrior, although to him it didn't really matter, but to her she felt ashamed for him.
Dwarves are proud in their craftmanship, but freedom to them is nothing but spare time. Dwarves could be said to be workaholic by nature, if they are not in a forge then they will be counting their fortunes, making plans or sleeping to regain their stamina in order to continue working.
Those whom have little talent for the runes and hammer are miners, of course the nobles prefer to become warriors and adventurers. You won't find a moment that a dwarf is simply looking voidly into the distance or relaxing, a warrior dwarf will spent most of his time conditioning his weapon and armor, while the dwarven bars are places for the dwarves to boast about their achievements rather than relax, of course those achievements can depend on finding a rock that looks like a dwarf's penis to slaying a dragon, depending on the dwarf.
The tradition of boasting amongst dwarves goes way back to their first ancestors, whom boasted whom could drink the most before only one survived not dying from intoxication.
This however is only a legend and could not be proved, but it explains finely how far a dwarf can go in order to confirm his boasts.
George's story is however not a happy tale, it all begun with a loud wolf howl.
That night they had (in the pillar's 1st floor it's always night) been hunting rabbits without George.
Diomir was rather happy with their catch, but quickly his mood changed as a horrifying howl could be heard not too far away from their location.
"Everybody retreet, throw everything of burden away and run"
Diomir's voice came as always with commands and everyone three their wooden shields, spears and bows and run, but this time what awaited them wasn't the usual wolf herd.
A huge body that rivaled that of a beastman, the head of a wolf and the gaze of a predator.
It walked on all four as its hands were longer than its feet, its gaze locked them all in place due to a sense of despair grasping over all logic.
The few whom still had weapons of shields unconciously let them slip off their hands, there was no way for them to escape from the beast in front of them. All of them were only half or quarter beastmen, but even if they were full beastmen they were too weak due to their species, it was a matter of genes.
The werewolf's arm stretched and descended like the grim ripper's scythe, the people in front of it were cut into two seperate pieces, while their bodies crubled by the force their intestines spilling into the ground.
"Why are you don't this, we haven't entered your domain?"
The Dog headed Diomir asked it, you have to understand that a werewolf is a C rank monster, thus having intelligence and unlike its level B feral cousin, they could be reasoned with.
Some might ask why werewolves are not considered beastmen? After all they don't look so diferent.
Well the reason is because werewolves don't need bestial blood, the werewolves are cursed individuals whom cannot turn back into their original race due to there being no day in the first floor, but even if they could revert when daytime came, there would be too much of a strain to their minds as they would still remember what they did at night.
Werewolves might have intelligence, but they like to follow their instincts, thus there are many occations when a werewolf has attacked his loved ones due to feeling hungry at night.
Of course not only those biten by a silver werewolf turn into werewolves and only the silver werewolf is practicaly immortal and only vulnerable by "purified" silver weapon.
"Stupid beastman the whole floor is our domain"
The werewolf said as he bugun going on a rampage, cleaving off heads and limps with its powerful arms, not even using claws since the people before it weren't even worth fighting seriously.
The next day(daytime, but it was still dark) when none of the hunters returned there was a small uproar in the village. George and some of the remaining hunters went to seek for the missing hunters, but what they found was only parts of their decimated bodies.
George vomited out everything he had just eaten, as the smell of rotten flesh permeneated into his norstrils.
George wanted to have a burrial for the dead, but then he learned from the others that even if they wanted to do so they probably wouldn't be able to do so due to economic difficulties, although in general beastmen do not burry their dead, they let them decay and return to the earth.
"What do we do now, we need a new leader, Diomir is dead"
One of the remaining hunters said, seemingly not even caring about the death of the other hunters, only caring about himself.
Of course everyone's heads for a moment turned towards George, but the moment they saw the vomit on his attire they understood that he was no good.
"Can't we resurrect him?"
George asked without knowing, making everyone want to curse at him. Of course he had no idea about the costs of resurrection, he hadn't even undertood that their own village was just getting buy with what they got, how could they even think about such stuff.
"What did I say wrong?"
George asked, not understanding the problem.
"Young master to resurrect the dead, there are three prequisitions, first being an offering to the temple of light, which is of course lots of Dofars(currency of Runia), next is the corpse of the person, if there is no corpse the price goes up even further, lastly you must first reach a holy temple of Ecclesia"
Of course George perceived the last point as something measured by distance, but in truth Runia and Ecclesia had a rather bad relationship, thus there are no holy temples to be found anywhere in Ecclesia, meaning that if they died they would be revived somewhere in Ecclesia and as for the price of the resurrection it would be too great to make it worth it, especialy if the person was old and would die anyways.
"Lets go back and have a meeting"
Another hunter said and everyone agreed with him, George being left to the side, full of grief as he only now understood that in this world death too was inevitable.
How could he not have understood that resurrection was probably only a luxury kept for the rich and mighty.
While the meeting was being held down in the village, George was now back in the tower, he felt like crap, he wanted to experience what people called drowning one's sorrow in wine, but he discovered that he had no wine, not even the most cheap of ale.
He looked around him as he saw blonde loli dwarf Gurda going around ordering the other slaves, making food for the villagers, while also giving out buckets of clean water to them.
Till then he hadn't seen her even once cooking, cleaning and distributing food and water, of course that was because she would most of the time kick him out to go hunting while she was doing her own work around the house(Tower).
"Gurda, Diomir is dead"
George told her, but to his surprise she only asked him one thing.
"Did he die full or hungry?"
Gurda's question made George rather puzzled but mostly confused. In truth he had no idea if he was hungry when he died or not, but the most important reason, what does it matter?
"Do you know why I only cook soups for them while you get to eat roast?"
Gurda asked him, another puzzling question that he couldn't answer, after all it just sounded like a discrimination between them and him.
"Because a lazy husband doesn't go out to hunt!"
She became angry and kicked him out, throwing his armor and weapon at him as he stumbled out of the tower.
He of course didn't know that eating roast on a hungry stomach might cause more harm than good.
Due to Diomir's somewhat cowardly hunting methods they had very little game and some days non at all, the main problem was their deep fear of wolves caused by Diomir's teachings.
George approached the hunters whom were still holding a meeting and said.
"Lets go hunting"