On a second thought, Equinox decided not to head straight for the Hall of Ascension. Instead, he chose to do some exploring on the way.
Meandering from gravel thoroughfare to dirt path and back again, he constantly kept the latter in sight while seeing, with his own two eyes, what lay on the route in between the cloud piercing tower and guarded stone hall.
Stores, more stores, and even more stores.
It looked like the Southeast quadrant of Golden Trees Village was a commercial district; or the in-game version’s equivalent, at any rate.
Many were uninteresting, unfortunately, but he did file away the locations of those that stood out in particular.
A quaint little shopfront at the side of one dusty dirt path, ancient wooden sign swaying from spotless eaves and naming the building as Grandma Meredith’s General Store; Taking care of all an adventurer’s needs.
A busy forge belching thick, black smoke at the endpoint of an especially sooty path, Mighty Mitchell’s Metalworks forcefully carved in a proud scrawl above wide open doors; know thy arms and armours and one shall be undefeated in battles to come!
And last, but most certainly not least, a solidly built establishment of brick and mortar, soft explosions coming from its unseen depths primarily responsible for drawing him in; Cara’s Alchemical Creations, blasts and burns guaranteed!
Admittedly, Equinox lingered on that last one for the longest time, sorely tempted to take a step inside and check out their wares.
A quick glance at the coinage displayed in his spatial pouch, however, dissuaded him from doing as such.
While he didn’t know the exact value of 2 silvers and 50 coppers—which, in hindsight, should have been something he asked Eleanor—the mere existence of gold likely meant it wasn’t worth very much.
Sending a last look over his shoulder at Cara’s Alchemical Creations, he left and walked onto the gravel thoroughfare and continued on to the Hall of Ascension; finally having cleared up and become more than a blurry multicoloured blob far in the distance.
While drawing closer, he noticed a complement of guards patrolling the Hall of Ascension’s outskirts, about ten strong if his count was accurate. Though silent and unobtrusive, the palpable aura of danger wafting off their plate armoured frames warned him not to even think of taking them lightly.
Walking by a pair of said guards, he slightly dipped his head in a respectful gesture on the way. It didn’t cost him anything to be polite, after all. Who knows? It might pay off, somewhere down the line.
He peered into the Hall of Ascension, quickly scanning its interior. Alas, there didn’t seem to be a single head of silver-streaked white hair within. As expected, Wyntir hadn’t managed to beat him back.
Having nothing to do within, he didn’t bother entering. Instead, he walked to the side and took shelter under the cool shade offered by one of the many Pyrite Trees nearby, leaning against its bark before expanding his Minimap; content to look it over while waiting for Wyntir to return.
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Equinox was just about to start going over the Minimap for the fourteenth time when Wyntir finally showed up; announcing herself with a soft touch on his crossed elbows.
After customarily greeting her, he instantly launched into a retelling of what he learnt.
Once done with that, he listened as Wyntir wove a colourful tale of her own findings. Like she declared earlier, the silver-crowned young woman headed straight for the Dojo of Arts, not distracted by any detours on the way.
Contrary to her hopes, she didn’t find anything music-related in the red-shingled abode. She did, however, find something more… intriguing.
Qi.
Much like the glimpses of Mana—expressed as blue-tinted special effects—Equinox saw, Qi users’ attacks were preceded—even if briefly—by red-tinted effects.
Where they differed, however, were in their variety and ways of expression. From her—admittedly limited—time observing those frequenting the Dojo of Arts, Wyntir only saw native Golden Trees Village folk engage in close combat spars; faint wisps of reddish air wafting off body parts before flesh met flesh in unusually thunderous impacts.
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According to a dojo’s attendant she conversed with, Qi, in its most basic form, functioned as an enhancement to one’s bodily parameters. While techniques had been developed to allow for limited mid-range combat tactics, Qi was still, at its core, employed in up close and personal fisticuffs.
Unfortunately, much like Mana, Qi could only be accessed by those who successfully reached the peak of G-rank while having a full set of Qi-attuned GSFs.
To achieve that, monster slaying became a necessity. And to accomplish that? Why, simply head on over to the militia’s training grounds!
……
Equinox smiled slightly as he looked down and to the side at Wyntir. “You’re going to pursue the path of a Qi user, aren’t you?”
“You are right, I am.” Wyntir confirmed, briefly glancing up at him before going back to watching the constant stream of people entering and exiting the Hall of Ascension. “Landing a good, solid hit on Seo-Yeowang will be most… cathartic, I think.”
The corners of his upturned lips couldn’t help but twitch at that.
He really wished he could claim to be surprised, but he really wasn’t. Not at all. Unfortunately, it was only ever a matter of time before one of them—whether it be Wyntir or Yeowang—thought of starting something – even if they weren’t anywhere nearby one another at the time.
“As… amusing as the thought of you and Yeowang duking it out is,” Equinox kicked away from the Pyrite Tree, eyes quickly flickering to the re-minimised Minimap and pinpointing the location of the militia’s training grounds, “Let’s get moving yeah? Time’s a wasting, and all that.”
He started walking without another word, Wyntir quickly joining him. Since both of them chose the Trail of Intrepid Freedom, there was no chance of them getting lost while heading to their destination.
Equinox and Wyntir charted a straight path Southwest, letting chatter from passersby fill the companionable silence hanging between them.
While walking, he observed those around him making transactions with temporary stalls lining the paths and thoroughfare at semi-regular intervals. Eventually, he managed to obtain a rough estimate of the value of coppers and silvers. Unfortunately, none within his line of sight pulled out a gold coin.
From the transactions he saw, two copper coins could buy a freshly baked loaf of bread while a silver could be exchanged for a proper sword – even if one clearly second-hand, judging from its scuffed up appearance. If comparing it to the value of real life credits, 10 coppers was roughly worth 1 credit while a silver, 10.
Assuming conventions from past fantasy-type VRMMORPGs held, a silver would be equivalent to a hundred coppers. Equinox made a mental note to confirm that fact at the next best opportunity.
A light poke to his side caused him to flinch away but brought him out of his head. Looking at the source, Equinox raised an unamused eyebrow at Wyntir and asked, “Hmm? What’s up.”
She pointed forward, amused gaze kept locked on his eyes. “We are here. Look.”
Equinox looked away after a brief moment and focused on what lay ahead as bade; realising he had been so lost in his thoughts that he had somehow managed to tune out the overwhelming racket coming from their destination.
Clashing metal; shouted instructions; and most prominent of all, moans and groans of effort and pain.
Numerous people soaked with sweat—a large, recognisable majority being players—clashed on a large swathe of land carpeted in dried rushes and heaps of straw.
Racks upon racks of dulled training weapons lined the militia’s training grounds’ sides, boasting common swords and weighty polearms to massive clubs and dainty daggers.
While straw and wooden dummies were liberally interspersed throughout the space covered in dried plant life, few of them were being made use of. More often than not, people were engaging one another in spars with individuals—dressed in standardised sets of garish, yellow-dyed leather armour—overseeing the one-on-one bouts.
Before Equinox could observe the training grounds any further, a loud shout was directed their way, drawing his and Wyntir’s eyes to a fast approaching figure dressed in the same garishly coloured leather armour as all the others overseeing the numerous, ongoing spars.
“Oiie! Black-haired lad and white-haired lass! Are the two of ya just gonna stand there lollygaggin’ or get your arses into gear and do some trainin’?!”
“Can we help you?” Wyntir asked while stepping forward, icy mask instantly slamming back into place.
Coming to a stop at a comfortable speaking range, the man crossed his arms and planted his feet a shoulder’s width apart; rippling musculature put on blatant display.
“You most certainly can-fucking-not!” The man shot back, lips curled into a disdainful sneer. “I can tell ya’ve had a lil’ bit of trainin’ in the fine art o’ close combat, but it ain’t enough! Not by a fuckin’ long shot!”
Wyntir folded her arms underneath her bust as she cocked her head to the right slightly, icy mask becoming even icier. “How uncouth. Do you know nothing, but how to swear in the face of your betters?”
A large vein prominently throbbed on the man’s bald pate as his face turned red in rage. “Why you lil bit-“
Equinox took a step forward, prepared to interpose himself, when a woman dressed in similarly garishly coloured leather armour silently bounded up to the bald man and smacked him upside the head none too gently.
“That’s enough out of you, Lieutenant Maximillion.” The beautiful brunette barked while circling around the now-named Maximillion and getting right up in his face. “Let the otherworldly foreigners be and get back to your duties.”
The vein on Maximillion’s pate only got bigger. Contrary to Equinox’s expectations, however, the bald man stiffly about-faced and stomped off; not even a peep falling from his lips.
“Thank you for chasing that… brute away.” Wyntir stated less frostily, immediately getting the brunette to turn back around and face them. “Are you, perchance, one of those belonging to Golden Trees Village’s militia?”
“How astute of you.” She said before snapping off a sharp, clearly reflex driven salute. “Name’s Annie Goldbright, Captain in charge of all the miscreants around here. I assume y’all are here for some weapon’s training?”
“Nice to meet you, Captain. And yeah, we are.” Equinox confirmed, stepping forward and placing himself slightly in front of Wyntir. “But before that, mind if I know what was up with that guy? Maximillion, was it?”
Annie groaned loudly, clearly exasperated. Turning away, she gestured at them to follow before she begun walking; Equinox and Wyntir doing as she bade.
“Sorry for the lieutenant. He can be a little bit… pig-headed, at times. It doesn’t help that you weren’t the one to confront him.”
As Annie spoke, she led the way to a comparatively empty part of the training grounds. Reaching one of the racks of weapons, she stopped and turned back around.
Coming to a stop as well, Equinox stopped walking, a confused expression plastered on his face at what she said. What did Wyntir confronting the lieutenant have to do with anything?
Wyntir harrumphed softly. “Please do not tell me the pig of a man is one of those miso-“
“Exactly.” Annie interrupted with an exasperated huff. “He’s a misogynistic pig – even if, unfortunately, an unquestionably competent one.”
Equinox winced, finally getting it.
“Well, damn.” Looking around, he tried to find something to talk about and help change the topic of conversation. The instant his eyes landed on the blunted weapons, he knew he had found the one. “But let’s not talk about the scumbag lieutenant. You mentioned something about weapon’s training…?”
Figuratively taking hold of the chance to change the topic with both hands, Annie said. “Indeed. From what I know, one of the higher-ups in the Guards should have met y’all in the Hall of Ascension to give you a quick briefing, am I right?”
“Correct.” Wyntir confirmed, hands loosely resting atop one another on her stomach. “What of it?”
“I’m sure they told you about getting free training.” Annie continued after nodding, before sweeping her arms out in a wide, deliberate gesture with a bright, genuine smile; as if attempting to encompass the training grounds’ entirety. “Well, tada! This is where you’ll be getting that.”