The Final Frontier
By: Arahito
Chapter 2
The bright light slowly dimmed down and he opened his eyes. He was standing in the middle of a big square right next to a fountain. The fountain was formed like a beautiful mermaid holding a jar over her head from which water was pouring out and streaming into a basin the mermaid was standing in. It was a magnificent piece of art.
Around the fountain there were countless stalls where merchants exposed various items for sale. As far as he could see there was nothing you could not buy. Most merchants were either selling weaponry or armory, but you could also buy accessories, casual clothes, jewelry, food, potions, crafting materials and other items he could not even identify. Besides merchants there were guild promoters trying to talk people into joining their guild. Priests that were persuading starters and luring them to their respective churches. And at every corner of the square there were guards maintaining the city's peace.
Every now and then people appeared in flashes of light. He inspected everyone of them looking for a familiar face. One of the persons that appeared shortly after him was a woman with blond shoulderlong hair. The tip of pointy ears peeked out of it. Although she was facing the other way he recognized her immediately. She was a little shorter than in real life but he had also altered his appearance a little. He smirked and approaching her from behind he grabbed her hips and pulled her close to him. "What is such a beautiful woman doing here all alone?" He whispered in her ear.
She spinned around faster than he had expected, freeing herself from his grip and slapped him in the face while she was turning.
You lost 5 HP!
"Keep your hands to yourself, creepy ba...?!..Francis?"
"..Well, yes.."
"I am so sorry, I didn't know it was you! Are you alright?" Celeste asked him anxiously.
"It's fine. It's my fault after all" he answered with a weak smile and rubbing his cheek where she had hit him. "But don't call me Francis here, my name is Shendar." Shendar continued.
"Eh..?! Why did you change your name?"
"Well, it's a game after all, isn't it? Didn't you change yours?"
"Of course not, why would I do that..?" Celeste replied surprised.
"Anyways it doesn't matter that much, but let's call each other by our ingame names when we are gaming. So other people don't get confused." Shendar stated and put an arm around her "Come let's explore the town first of all. As far as I know, we cannot leave the city for the next four weeks anyway."
"Before that: what did you do with your hair?" Celeste asked reproachfully.
Shendar let go of her and walked to the fountain. The water was clear and he could see his reflection in it. The short hair he had in real life was gone. He had chosen a mohican hair style. The sides of his head were completely shaved while the rest of his back long hair was styled in dreadlocks that were combed back and hold together with unobtrusive cords. His beard on the other hand he had not touched. It was the same as it was in real life. "Beautiful, isn't it?" He said with a faint smile "It should go along well with the plans I have for this character."
"I am not sure, whether I can become accustomed to it" Celeste said but her tone indicated that she wasn't too repelled by the new style.
"Come, let's take a look what the vendors have on sale." Shendar took Celeste by her arm and they started roaming the square. While Shendar was drawn to the merchants that were selling weapons, Celeste had a weakness for the stalls where you could buy clothes and dresses. Soon they had seen all the stalls and found themselves walking through the city's streets. Not long and they knew where most guilds were located and where they could choose different professions. When they came across a huge building Shendar stopped.
'Training Hall' it said in big letters above the entrance. "Hey, let's take a look" Shendar shouted out to Celeste who had kept walking.
They entered the building and were welcomed by a dark elf. While most dark elfs had a tall and skinny appearance this one was huge. He was at least 5 inches taller than Shendar and unnaturally muscular. "Welcome to the training hall young adventurers. My name is Baren. I am the instructor of this city's training hall. To train and hone your fighting skills, just pick up a wooden sword that is placed in front of an unattended scarecrow and practice on it. If you need any help, let me know."
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"We should take that opportunity" Shendar said towards Celeste "I read that when you hit the scarecrow you can improve your stats, which would give us a big advantage when we can leave the city in four weeks."
"Sure..just..what was a stat again?" Celeste asked tentatively.
"Your character has different values such as strength, agility, vitality and so on. These are called stats." Shendar responded with a lecturing manner. "Your friend is right, it will greatly benefit you" now the instructor barged in.
"Ok, fine with me, but are there other weapons than swords?" Celeste gave in.
"Since you are a wood elf a bow might be suitable for you. I can bring you one and even teach you how to use it, my race also has a certain affinity with long-ranged weapons. Although I do not prefer them I am.. acquainted with bows" With this Baren turned around and started moving in the direction of a small door across the hall.
"Go with him, I'll start with the swords for now" Shendar said to Celeste. She gave him a kiss and then hurried to catch up with Baren. Shendar walked towards a scarecrow and picked up the sword that lay in front of it. Then he went to the next scarecrow and also took the sword lying in front of that one. The hall was more or less empty, so he didn't have to worry that he might take away someone else’s weapon. The only ones that were also training in the training hall were a few single individuals soaked in sweat that didn't pay any attention to the world around them. Now Shendar also focused on the scarecrow in front of him. He was armed with two swords and took a stance he had learned from his brother who was doing kendo on a national level. Then he stroke the scarecrow for the first time.
After six hours of consequent training and hitting the scarecrow a message popped up in front of Shendar.
Strength has increased by 1.
'Finally' he thought to himself 'it takes longer than I thought'. The only thing he had gained before was a skill called Sword Mastery. It had increased slowly with each hit he made, but it was still on [Beginner lvl 1]. He dismissed the message window and wanted to start hitting the scarecrow again, when he heard someone calling his name behind him. He turned around and saw Celeste walking towards him. She was running with sweat and seemed utterly exhausted. "Hey, how are you?" Shendar called out to her.
"What do I look like, huh?" the annoyed answer came "I have been shooting arrows for six hours now. And all I got was one point in strength and a skill called 'Archery'!"
"Oh, you too? I just received my first point in strength myself."
"Can we please go and do something else? I am sick of it." Celeste begged.
"Fine, we should not only concentrate on raising our combat ability. We also need some strategic skills, such as cooking. By the way, my satiety bar is almost completely depleted. I looked in my inventory before and only found some dry bread. When we sign up in the kitchen of a restaurant we should be able to learn the cooking skill and get to eat some leftovers that should be tastier than this bread."
"Oh, but I hoped we would have some time just for the two of us to enjoy ourselves." Celeste said disappointed.
"We will do that, too" Shendar said with a smile "Don't worry. After all we are here to have fun." Shendar lay down the swords, took Celeste by the hand and they left the training hall.
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