<< A few hours later >>

A sand-brown city with a wall higher than a hundred meters towered before me.

The entire city was taller and bigger than I could have imagined. Even though I stood a few hundred meters away from the city wall, I felt as insignificant as an ant before an elephant.

Striding towards the entrance, three armoured people who looked like guards stopped me.

The ones to the left and right were in full iron armour, hiding their appearance. They looked like typical guards from the middle-ages in full silver armour, shining in the desert sun.

The girl in the middle looked more like an aristocrat than a guard. Her wheat-golden hair was braided and toppled over her right shoulder down to her hip.

Her clothes were the same deep black as my horse, making her look thinner. She also didn't wear as many armour as the guards beside her.

A waist fauld consisting of multiple silver plates flowed down her belt like a waterfall and protected her hips.

Silver shining gauntlets covered both her hands, and with her right arm she held a spear pointing to the sky.

"Stop!" she shouted.

I stopped my horse and jumped off it, holding its reins so that it can't run away.

"Identify yourself!"

'*sigh* Great. The same problem like with the girl in the forest…'

But this time I had a smartphone with me. I pulled it out and searched for a text app to write my name in to. I swiped left and right, but there was none. Not even a browser.

'Wait. She wants a name. And there was a name in the game that was left open. I'm sure she wouldn't notice the difference.'

I opened the Profile app and showed her the page with the information from the rider.

The girl grabbed my phone and looked at the info. Her expression changed, and she stared at me with a raised eyebrow.

"This isn't your dumbphone, right?"

I was puzzled. 'What is a dumbphone?' But it had to be the smartphone, so I shook my head because it wasn't mine.

"Haven't you read the tutorial? To link a dumbphone to a new account you have to logout and login again. You are not allowed to enter the city until you identify yourself."

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'They want me to create an account? What a weird city is this?!'

I took my phone back, clicked on logout, and then on 'login/register'.

[Message]: Please put your thumb onto the middle of the screen.

'What a strange method,' I thought and did as said.

[Message]: Loading . . .

[Message]: User found.

[Message]: Logging in…

[Message]: Welcome Shen Chao[1]

[Message]: Loading profile…

[Name]: Shen Chao

[Clan]: --

[Level]: 10

[HP]: 10/130 (starving)

[MP]: 0/0

[Coins]: 17000

[Occupation]: NPC (Elite)

'What?! Since when do I have a gaming account there? What is all this?'

My eyebrows knitted and a weird smile was on my lips. Completely confused, I looked at her and thought, 'Let's just show it to her. What could go wrong?'

I gave her my phone and she looked at it again. This time her face remained expressionless and she gave me the phone back again.

"Welcome to Shamo City – the city of sand and fire," she said and moved with her two guards to the side.

I put my phone back into my pocket, pulled the horse's reins, and strode into the city.

The houses and building were all made of sandstone, even the floor was made of sandstone. People littered the streets and the atmosphere was deafening.

Merchants screamed to advertise their products on the edge of the street, and people flocked over every market tent.

Next to one shabby looking market tent, looking as if it would break down at any moment, I bound my horse to a pole and went to the entrance of the tent where no people waited.

I grabbed the dirtied curtain of the tent and slid it to the side. Ducking my head, I went in and saw a completely empty tent where only one girl sat with crossed legs at the end of the tent.

She wore polished, grey armour, covering her entire body. Beautiful carvings in gold were engraved on her armour, depicting winged beings and ivy. Two pointy ears stuck out from the helmet's holes and ruby-red hair flowed out from under the helmet.

But the most eye-catching was the halo. It was a ring of pure iron and four prongs, floating above her head as if gravity was nothing to it. This was something I never saw before.

Her heavenly figure was accompanied by a peerless face. She opened her sharp eyes and raised her slender eyebrow.

Giving a slight smile with her sweet lips, she asked, "How can I help you?"

Her angelic voice woke me up from my daze and I pulled my phone out. I showed her my profile page and pointed at my HP which stated: starving.

The girl lifted her hand and tipped onto the screen of my phone.

*ding*

A message notification rang out on my phone and I looked at it again.

[Message]: You received (3) Bread Loaves from Anauel.

'Is she kidding me? I want food for me and not my game character!'

I showed her the phone again, pointed at the word 'starving', and then pointed at myself.

She tilted her head and asked, "Are you new here?"

She took my phone away and pressed on the inventory app. She selected the bread from the inventory and a white card came out from the phone like a printer.

The card was nearly as big as the phone and as thick as a fingernail. The white card had a silver circle in the middle where an image of bread was depicted.

*crack*

With a cracking noise she broke the card like a cracker in two, and under a silver flash of light, the card turned into a loaf of bread.

Dumbfounded by what just happened, my pupils enlarged and my mouth gaped open.

'W- What?'

"A newbie should read the tutorial. I would advise you to do so," she said to me and pointed towards the exit of the tent.

Still confused about what just happened, I grabbed the bread and my phone and left the tent.

'What is this game? …I think I will give that tutorial a read,' I thought, sat beside my horse on the scorched sandstone, and stared on my phone screen.