Lucas and Aysha were both dazzled as they walked through the busy street, peering at every store and establishment they encountered.
Along the way, they saw a lot of NPCs moving about, displaying a variety of colors, shapes and forms. For instance, they spotted an old lady walking hand in hand with a little girl, both NPCs. After some time, it became relatively easy to tell NPCs from real people. Basically, NPCs just seemed way more adapted to life in the city and often didn’t even seem to look at the places they were going. But Lucas imagined it would become harder to tell them apart once everyone got used to their surroundings.
Despite their urge to explore everything around them, Lucas began to feel even more self-conscious about his appearance. The majority of the NPCs looked pristine compared to him, even if a few were wearing drab clothes. And even the others who recently arrived in the city looked better than him. Nothing could be worse than his torn vest and dirty pants.
Aysha, too, wasn’t in her best condition, and Lucas noticed that she walked with less confidence than before. For her, it was even worse, because as soon as people noticed she was an elf, they started staring at her even harder. So, as soon as they spotted a clothing store, he stopped. He had his necromancer clothes, but he could only use those when he reached level 25, which might take a while. So, he decided to buy a few clothes first.
“How are we going to pay for this? I don’t even know what kind of currency they have here,” she voiced her concerns, and Lucas smiled mischievously at her.
“Don’t worry, I have money. Pick anything you like; it will be my treat.”
She stared at him with an inquisitive look. “How do you have money? Weren’t you in the forest before?”
“Let’s just say that I had a lucky encounter.”
She sighed. “You and your lucky encounters… Fine, but I will pay you back later.”
Lucas was going to protest, but she had a look on her face that said this was not up for debate, so he dropped it. Lucas didn’t mind sharing a little of his money. If he thought about it, she was his only friend in the world, and besides, the money was handed to him. He looked once again at the pile of coins that the necromancer had left on his ring. He had no idea if that was a huge or small sum, but it was probably enough to buy a few clothes.
“Hello! Welcome to Paradisus, where all clothes meet their match!”
They heard an NPC woman, with a very wide smile, greet them.
“Hi, we are just looking…”
“Maybe I can help you. What kind of clothes are you looking for? Are you looking for those that can give you stats points and whatnot, or just regular clothes?”
Lucas was very curious to see what kind of stat upgrades clothes could give him, but for the moment, he chose to pick the simplest ones. When he mentioned that to the seller, he noticed her visibly deflate a little, making him wonder about the prices on those more special items. Do NPCs work on commission? Despite her visible disappointment, however, she continued to be pleasant to them as she showed them various sets of clothes.
He picked up pretty quickly that Ponos fashion was a little different from Earth’s. They only seem to have light fabrics, even for pants, and only the cold weather clothes were thicker. Options like leather were few and far between, and jeans seemed nonexistent. Which was fine by Lucas; his jeans had been an annoyance ever since he arrived on this planet, as they were terrible during a fight, but he still felt weird when he put the new ones on. He had said to the seller that he was dirty, but she said that was not a problem; the material had self-cleaning magic applied to it. Lucas was very pleased to hear that.
In the end, he chose two sets: one mainly black and the other with a dark-green shirt. Aysha chose only one set, with light colors and a fabric that seemed good for fighting.
“It’ll be five,” the woman said.
When Lucas went to pay, he hesitated a little, thinking for the first time how the necromancer was originally from another planet. Was the currency different? He would look like an idiot if the money was worthless after he bragged about how he would pay for Aysha. But as soon as he took some coins out, the seller accepted them and gave him his change back. Moreover, he realized the amount it took to buy these clothes was like a drop in the ocean when compared to the necromancer’s savings. His smile widened seeing this. He was rich!
“What?” Aysha asked, seeing his maniacal smile.
“Oh, nothing,” he said, but he couldn’t contain the happiness in his voice. For the first time in his life, he had money to spend, and it was no small amount. “Let’s take a look at the other stores.”
Lucas and Aysha spent the remaining time going from place to place, eventually finding one of the notice boards John had mentioned. There was one right in front of a park that described several quests and their respective rewards, mostly coins. There were even a few job applications spread around.
The one that stood out for Lucas, however, was one that said it would give a reward to the one who was able to find an old lady’s missing cat. That caught his attention for two reasons. First, it was such a mundane thing to find a missing cat that he had to believe there was more to it than just that. And second, it was one of the few quests on that board that didn’t specify the reward.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
After a while of thought, he decided to take it. That was something he could do while exploring the city, and while he didn’t need the money, he was curious about the reward and the whole mechanic of a quest.
The moment he picked up the paper from the notice board, it disappeared and a quest screen appeared on his line of vision. After a few moments, it also disappeared from there, but when he opened his status screen, there it was. He could access it any time he wanted, and in the description of the quest, it had specifics of the cat and the last place he was seen, along with the address of its owner.
Aysha gave him a weird look when he selected this quest, but went on to pick up a few hunting missions for herself. One of the reasons was that she could use this quests to help raise her level, and the other was the most obvious one: money.
By now, they had already realized how important money was in Zoria. It went above the regular stuff like clothing and weapons. There were whole training rooms that you could rent, and even a few classes with specialized teachers in things like martial arts, and one thing that interested Aysha greatly: Archery.
Later, she told Lucas that she had learned how to use the bow in one of her classes as a child. All the royal children were expected to learn one of the classic fighting arts, and she had chosen the bow. So, that was the first thing she made after arriving in Ponos. Despite Lucas’ compliments she still believed she could improve.
After many hours of exploring, they stumbled upon a place called Alchemy Emporium, that immediately caught Lucas attention. He and Aysha walked inside. What they saw was a display of a variety of potions in various colors and flask shapes. No one came to greet them this time, so they started looking around on their own.
Lucas noticed the price tags on those things were crazy. The smallest amount he saw was five hundred, and it was for a small flask that promised to restore fifty Health Points.
Despite the prices, however, Lucas was very interested in those things, especially the health potions, that could allow him to use his death aura again. He went to the counter, where a twenty-year-old attendant was waiting for him.
“Hi. What kind of potions do you have here?” Lucas started by saying.
“All kinds. We have health and mana potions, stamina potions, poisons, and more specific types. We also sell a few ingredients for alchemists if they are willing to share 25 percent of the products they make with us. Do you have an idea of what you’re looking for?” the man said quickly.
“Yes, what is the best health potion that you have?”
“The most potent product that we sell here can recover three hundred Health Points. And it costs 5,000 coins.”
Lucas was shocked by that price, but he had to admit it was a pretty good potion. It could bring someone out of the death’s door and back into the fight, so he understood why it was so expensive. However, that was too much for him, as he had no plan to leave the city anytime soon.
“Can you buy two of the cheaper ones for me?” Aysha asked shyly. “I’ll pay you back once I complete my quests.”
“Sure,” Lucas answered, but the attendant intervened.
“I must add that all health potions have a waiting period between doses of about two hours, so keep that in mind.”
Seeing as Aysha had no problem with it, Lucas bought it, and after the man gave Aysha her potions, they left again.
They had realized during this time that the city was huge, and without proper transportation, it would take them many days to see everything. Lucas chose not to buy many tempting things; he still wanted to go to the library that he had seen and learn more about this world before beginning to buy stuff.
However, he did buy a spatial ring for Aysha, as it would be better if she had her own ring to store her things, especially after she began hunting. She thanked him and like before, promised to pay him back, and did the same when he proposed that they spent the night in a hotel they had found on the way.
They were excited by this because there they could use something they were very much looking forward to: the shower. Lucas couldn’t wait to clean himself properly and only stopped to ask for a toothbrush, a razor and a pair of scissors at the counter before he rushed to his room. Aysha followed suit.
He had obviously booked separate rooms for both of them, and as soon as he closed the door behind him, he got rid of his filthy clothes for good, only keeping the vest as a gift that he had received from Tina on his second day on this planet. That was something he treasured, so he would keep it. He just couldn’t wear it anymore, as it made him look like a crazy hobo.
The hotel room was pretty simple, with only a bed and a bedside table, but it had electricity, and that was all he cared about.
Lucas darted to the familiar shower and spent more than an hour getting rid of all the filth on his body. After the bath, he took the razor and scissors along with him to the mirror and made himself look more presentable with a nice shave and a new haircut.
After he was finished, he looked at himself again and thought that the result was pretty good. He believed he had never looked so good on Earth, even if his appearance was still average. Now, he had vitality behind his eyes and a newfound confident demeanor.
Once that was done, he put on his new clothes and walked out of the room, feeling much better.
They had agreed to meet up later to look for a place where they could have dinner. Half an hour later, they were strolling through the streets.
The city looked much different at night, with various lights making the place even more beautiful. After a while, they arrived at a busy street that resembled a street market, with multiple foods stalls offering various kinds of dishes. The aroma was an odd mixture of all the different flavors from the stalls.
After browsing for a bit, they ended up choosing a stall that served food that looked a lot like a hot dog, but tasted widely different. Aysha seemed very giggly the entire time, and Lucas found out later that as a princess, there were many things that she wasn’t allowed to do, and eating street food was one of them.
Hearing that, he ended up, without even noticing, breaking his rule and sharing with her the story about his disease and how he wasn’t really able to do much back on Earth either. She heard the entire thing without saying a word, but Lucas didn’t see the usual look of pity when people heard of his disease, and he was grateful for it. Instead, there was something else in her eyes that Lucas couldn’t identify.
Lucas looked around and saw a lot of NPCs eating and chatting with one another, which made him wonder. It seemed like they had entire lives beyond their roles as NPCs. Lucas couldn’t understand what was the purpose of it all. Even Rick who he had met in the Dark Forest seemed to have a back story with a wife waiting for him at home. Why did the System go to such lengths?
It was already late, so they decided to return to their rooms to rest and agreed to meet the next day. Sleeping in an actual bed after spending so much time sleeping on the ground or on a tree was incredible. If it were any other day, Lucas might have felt like he could stay in his bed forever. However, that day, he would finally get his class, and he couldn’t wait!