“Take me to your leader”
‘ My people don't have a leader’
‘Ok just take me down to the paradise city’
‘I'm sorry but I don't know where that is.’
‘Margaritaville?’
‘...........nooooo?’
‘Ok fine just take me to the nearest settlement.’
LGG darted forward. David was surprised at having to actually run to keep up. All the training he put himself through meant he could maintain a run for hours even before his new level advancements. He was eager to see which of them would tire first.
‘What can you tell me about where we are going?’
‘Quite a lot’
There was silence for a good long moment.
Not sure if he's messing with me or not
‘So how about you tell me where we are going.’
‘Oh yes of course. We are headed to the city incharge of this area. it's a low level area. You are now at a level where you should already be leaving even though you just got here. Lots of guild representation so you should be able to find a guild and then move on very quickly.’
‘This forest seems rather barren. I have seen the occasional animal, but it doesn't seem like nearly enough.’
‘Things were avoiding you. And with how many of the monsters in the area you killed in such a short amount of time I would say with good reason. ‘
‘Is that going to cause any problems?’
‘It will probably take a year or two for the monster levels to fully recover but you are already over leveled for this area so you need new hunting grounds anyway.’
Double make sure I only kill a few at a time. I seriously did years of damage in a day.
‘How far away is it?’
‘At our current pace we should be there by the morning. And there's no reason to be there earlier than that. The gates are closed during the night. ‘
‘Are they afraid of monster attacks?’
‘No there more worried about attacks from their rivals’
As they ran the sun descended. This time though David didn’t have to stop. LGG still led the way. His glow was more than bright enough to make sure David didn’t trip as he ran. And as far as directions, He had no choice but to trust that LGG knew where he was going.
Every so often David would ask LGG a question about something, but for the most part they ran silently through the trees. It didn’t actually start out silently, but after about an hour of their running, David acquired a skill called forest movement. Every step he took it triggered, so it quickly became yet another broken skill in his toolkit.
True to LGG’s estimate, They started to see glimpses of the city through the trees as the sun started to rise behind them. As they got closer to the city the trees started to thin. Which gave them much better sight lines, but also hindered their movement as the underbrush was no longer being smothered. So it was everywhere. LGG could just fly right over it but David had to zigzag around it or occasionally hurdle it if it wasn't too large.
He thought they were much closer than they were when they finally got clear of the trees and entered the fields around the city. It felt like it was just right there, but as they ran it just stayed there in the distance. The city didn’t gel with the ideas of what he might find out here. He expected either a well established castle city with stone walls or a small fort. But what he saw had to be the largest fort city he could possibly imagine.
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‘How big is this place exactly?’
‘About thirty square kilometers.’
Will I never escape Metric?
‘Why is it so big? Is it protecting something important?’
‘Nothing like that. This is an important low level training area for several important minor factions. One of whom is close to becoming a major faction.’
They continued to walk for another hour before they made it to the gates of the fort town. LGG had already jumped back into his mana pool before he could be spotted by someone. There was a small line moving through. As the people passed the guards they would be asked a question before they were allowed to pass. After what felt like an eternity…
Lines weren’t so bad when I could just play around on my phone.
…. It was finally their turn.
“What business do you have here?”
The guard looked bored as he asked his question. Like he's asked it a million times before and the answer had never mattered. The guard's equipment looked well maintained as far as he could tell but lacked a shiny quality he would have expected from a town guardsman.
“ Looking to join a guild”
Please dont notice my clothes are weird. I'm not suspicious, I swear.
“ There's been some strangeness going on in the forest. You know anything about that?”
Oh shit
“No.What kind of strangeness?”
Suddenly the guard got more alert. He looked at him as if he only now saw him. David couldn’t help but notice how the guard's hand rested a little less relaxed on the pommel of his sword.
Oh crap
“ A powerful presence got detected. A lot of monsters vanished too.”
“ I didn’t notice anything on my way here to explain either.
“ Where you coming from”
yup im screwed. Don't know what they want from me but the fact that they are one hundred percent looking for me is terrifying.
‘Tell him you are coming from the wilds.’
“I'm coming from the wilds.”
“What were you doing out there?”
‘You are a wandering hunter. And you are only coming from the wilds now because you are ready to join a guild.”
“Hunting. I am finally ready to join a guild so here I am.”
The guard looked at him suspiciously. He wasn't sure which way the interaction was about to go, when finally, the guard let him through .
The wood walls on the outside did not match the inside at all. There were stone roads several carts wide running in between stone buildings that were several stories tall. There were even what looked to be street lamps encased in stone.
‘ Why is the entire outside made of wood while the inside is stone? Shouldn't they make the walls of the strongest material available?’
‘They actually did. The wood isn't normal wood but magically infused warding wood. It keeps monsters from spawning inside the walls. For the most part anyway. Sometimes it can still happen in a cellar or sewer but its very uncommon’
Oh god how long until i get a clear the rats out of the basement/sewer quest.
He wandered aimlessly through the streets for several minutes before he began to wonder how he was supposed to get established in a new city without any money. What sort of guild would he join?
‘Where should I head?’
‘Well that depends on what you wish to do. You can join a hunter guild if you want to cull monsters for coin, of course a mages guild would love to have you, or you could join one of the factions. Fractions are less specialized and can have the prestige of nobility while not being bound to any kingdom.’
‘Kill shit for coin seems like the least restrictive option. I would really rather not get hung up on political stuff. So where's the hunters guild?’
‘There are several, however they are all in close proximity to each other. I suggest you get assessed by several and take the best offer.’
‘Don't I just take bounties or contracts? Why do I need to shop around?’
'There will be numbers for things like mandatory contracts, how much the guild will take, and minimum number of contracts.’
With a heavy sigh David started walking to the part of the city with the hunter guilds. It was near the edge of the city to keep the smell from the butchering of their hunts away from the majority of the city. It just wasn't near the edge they happened to enter from.
Walking through the city he couldn’t help but feel like the whole place was far too streamlined. There weren't any street vendors peddling their wares, or any urchins trying to rob him. Despite the constant stream of people and carts moving in every direction, the whole city so far has felt sterile. The people that passed weren't even kicking up dirt because apparently the city was kept clean.
I know I cast magic, so I shouldn't be surprised they can keep a city this clean, but what sort of magic is this?
He was so lost in his thoughts of his surroundings that he didn’t notice the man approach him from behind until he spoke, and startled the hell out of him.
“So you're new to the area.”