It occurred to Kya that she may not have fully appreciated the library when first entering. Looking out the grand window beside her surprisingly comfortable armchair, she watched the twin suns break over the horizon.
She had started off small, with books labeled for basics of magic and introductions to classes and whatnot. Now, several hours and several books later, she realized she had gotten totally and completely lost in the simple process of reading.
She could tell, though she had spent a full night reading, she had only barely scratched the surface. For example, with her class, she had awakened an ability.
- - - - -
- Ability {Push and Pull} 1-Star - 0%
- Description: Through your experience and understanding of space, you are able to moderately affect any object, directing towards or away from your center of mass.
- - - - -
However, it wasn’t a guarantee that she would have gotten this ability. From her reading, she knew that this was the most common ability to unlock with any class, but there were others, and they were semi-random. The same went for each ability she unlocked from here on out. Which brought her to the next topic of advancing her class. More or less, it seemed she simply needed to use her abilities in a “valid” way. What valid meant was frustratingly arbitrary, but was just as frustratingly critical to her advancement. The books she’d read so far had all been extremely vague in their descriptions. Either not a lot was known on how exactly these things worked, or the more informative and useful information was in restricted books, and given out sparingly.
The latter seemed far more concrete than the former, as she had been in the world for only a week and had at least a rough grasp on how this worked.
The orange and yellow glow stones set in the walls and hanging from the ceiling began to dim slightly with the rising of the sun as she stood and stretched. She went about returning the eclectic collection of novels and scrolls she’d acquired throughout the long hours, and again simply took in the architecture of the building.
Since coming to this world, she had gained a newfound appreciation for building design. The temple in which she’d first awoken had been an absolute marvel, only belied by the passing of time. The guild hall, however, was in its prime.
The floors were a beautiful gilded marble, pearly white with streaks of gray and black running throughout. The perimeters of the large stone blocks were lined with a fine maroon wood, cut into elegant swirls and inlaid with darker black woods, contrasting wonderfully with the floors.
Between the large shelves of leather bound novels were large voluminous pillars of black, with gold at the base and peaks. Joined by enormous arches supporting the domed ceiling above. The ceiling itself would put Michelangelo to shame. It had wonderful images captured in mosaic tiles of art and music and poetry, all of it illuminated by not only the glow stones of warm colors intermixed with the gold caps on the pillars, but a glass iris at the center of the largest dome letting in a single ray of morning light.
How in the world this was possible, when by all accounts there were still two floors above this one, Kya had absolutely no idea. But it did make for what could only be described as a temple of learning, and it was magnificent.
With reluctance, then, she left the grand hall and made her way down the stairs to the first floor. She had read that she needed to advance her abilities, and as she did so, she would not only get stronger, but get a slew of other benefits. The most prominent to her, and the one most difficult to swallow, was an extended lifespan. Right now, just by taking her class, she’d already slowed her aging enough to live easily over a hundred, which was just… mind boggling. And the more she went up in power, the slower and slower she would age.
She just couldn’t fully wrap her mind around it. She knew that Rory, who appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties, had claimed to be running the clinic for more than a decade. How old was he really? He could easily have been in his fifties and simply not shown it due to magic flowing in his veins. This was absurd.
Regardless, Kya shook her head and refocused on the new room she was entering: The contract hall.
She had, in addition to reading about magic in general, read briefly about the different countries of this new world, and the guild itself. The guild was like how people would say ‘the united states,’ it could, for most discussions, be classified as a single entity, and was often treated as such, but it was actually made up of dozens of smaller factions all working together.
There was the research guild, dedicated entirely to study and experimentation, the crafters guild, who built and created magical items, the merchants guild, who bought, transported, and sold the items, and on and on. The most prominent and well known guilds were the quester guild and the fighters guild. The former was the most popular across the world, as they were the face of the guild to an average person. They would accept contracts to aid in society, and in return were paid fairly well. This could be anything from guarding a trade caravan, to helping dig irrigation trenches, to killing and slaying monsters.
The fighters guild, on the other hand, was more interesting to Kya personally. It was like an entire genre of sports for this world, and while an everyday person respected and was familiar with the questers, it was the fighters whom they adored. Like how Kya would absolutely be thankful for a fireman saving her home, but would know the names of NFL players. There was one on one combat, team combat, scenario duels, build offs, talent shows, and on the list went. This was, of course, heavily monetized and was extremely lucrative for the User who was able to do well.
But all of that, or at least almost all of that, was arbitrary at the moment. She was as new as a novice could possibly be to magic and its applications, and had absolutely no fantasies at walking into a one on one duel and immediately being the best. If she faced off against any other competent user, she would get demolished. Which meant before anything else, before confronting the weird situation surrounding her arrival, before competing for money and experience, and before having fun exploring the city, she wanted to be stronger.
Strong enough that if some bastard wanted to try and take her with him, she could simply shrug him off without needing some nebulous threat of guild retaliation or whatever. She would stand on her own two feet, without relying on any other damn person in this city. To do that, then, she would need to get stronger, and quickly.
Scanning the contract hall, she went from posting to posting until she finally found the one she was looking for… only to be greeted by the wonderfully and aggressively enthusiastic voice of her narrator.
- - - - -
- NEW QUEST!
- Guild Contract - Hellhounds on the Farm - 1-Star - Rare
- A local group of farmers are being plagued by a roaming pack of Hellhounds. The size of the pack is unknown, but they certainly do leave their marks burned into your memory!
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
- Objective - Slay all hellhounds surrounding the farmland.
- Time Remaining - N/A
- Guild Rewards - Five curen for each slain Hellhound
- Quest Rewards - Hellish Leather Armor - 1-Star - Uncommon
- Accept Guild Contract? (Yes)/(No)
- - - - -
This was the quest the man in line yesterday had been putting in. She had wanted to go check out his farm anyway, and being able to do that, get paid to do that, get experience to do that, and likely get a home cooked meal to do that were all too many benefits to ignore.
Taking the contract to the attendant at a heavy desk near the entrance, she asked “Good morning, I’d like to accept this contract, how do I do that?”
The man at the desk looked tired, with noticeable dark circles under his burnt brown eyes. “Are you new? You don’t need to tear the whole blasted thing off the wall” His voice was groggy, and he seemed a little short tempered “Go put it back and simply touch your star seal at the bottom. That will claim the contract as yours for forty eight hours. After that, it will reopen for someone else to take it if you still haven't returned successfully.”
“Right, thank you for your help” Kya said, a slight blush creeping onto her cheeks. She always hated to feel like the fool in any situation, let alone one that was apparently so obvious to most.
Focusing on her left hand, and calling up her star, she touched it to the paper and immediately the words describing the contract went from black to muddled gray, and in large letters at the bottom under a section titled ‘active participants’ her name appeared.
- - - - -
- You have accepted {Hellhounds on the Farm}
- - - - -
Returning the Contract to its original position, she walked out of the contract room, out of the back area, and returned to the main reception area with only a couple of people waiting for the desks to open for the day.
The enormous gilded hour glass behind the counters poured sand ever downward, and in the absence of all the noise from yesterday, she could hear the light rustle it made as it piled up below. It was an oddly soothing sound, like leaves rustling in the wind, or ocean waves against the beach.
At the moment, it looked roughly at about a one thirds/two thirds point, with most of the sand still sitting above, but already a large mound building up below. She decided then and there, before the hourglass ran out, she would be a 2-Star. She still didn’t have all of the context on what exactly that meant, but she knew the dramatic increase it would have on her capabilities, and her standing in this new society. She estimated if that was a full year when full, she had around seven months until the monster wave would come. She knew it wasn’t an easy task, or else everyone would be powerful already, but she was determined. She would make it happen through blood sweat and tears.
However, as she stepped back out into the morning light from the guild hall, she had two quick realizations. Firstly, she had just spent all night focusing entirely on absorbing as much information as possible, and was therefore, rather tired. And secondly she was still wearing the dress in which she’d awoken from Rory’s clinic. This was far worse than the sweatpants and shirt, this was nothing. Any monster worth their salt would tear through this without a second thought.
Sighing, she altered her course. She couldn’t leave for the contract just yet. She needed a new wardrobe, and a place to take a nap.
Quickly deciding the nap would come first, she began to explore the area around the capital circle, as it was apparently called.
There were extremely lavish hotels and boarding rooms, but they cost outrageous sums for a single night, one costing five whole aurens, or roughly half of the money she currently had, for one night. That was not only absurd, but well and truly too much for her. She knew that the area by the lords manor and guild hall must be prime real estate, so would of course be for a wealthier clientele.
Crossing over a large bridge, she found an immediate difference in the buildings and people. No longer early morning, but still early, the capital circle had been sparsely populated with a few well dressed people walking briskly here and there. But just on this side of the bridge only a quarter mile away, was a completely different place.
It was probably more of what Kya would call a middle class area. There were nice shops, not extreme works of art, but still well built and clean. The buildings were shorter, only being two or three stories, and while they still had grass and trees dotting the spaces between, it was more densely built than the upper class area across the river.
She stopped in the first place advertising rooms for rent, and found it would cost a single auren for a one bedroom with a balcony, and seven agrens for a smaller less desirable room. This was certainly more reasonable, and the area was more to her liking than the ostentatious area, but she wanted to keep looking.
The farther she got from the Lords manor, the more dense and less opulent the area became. Finally she found what must have been a five or six story building, faded red stone with tan and gray accents around each floor and window, reminding her of literally every building on any military base in the U.S.
Immediately drawn in, she walked up and talked to the bored looking man behind the counter.
“Good morning miss” he said, his voice shockingly deep for he looked like a spindly twig himself “what can I do for yah?”
“Good morning. I was wondering what the cheapest room you have would cost me? It doesn’t have to have a nice view or come with any perks, I just need a room and a bed.” pausing she added on “And a shower would be nice too.”
Chuckling with the sound of crashing boulders, he said “The third through sixth floors are dormitory style. You’d get a simple room, bed and desk, but you’ll have to share the showers with everyone else on the floor. The plus is it only costs an agren and three curens a night, or seven agrens whole if you pay by the week. Fifty agrens if you pay for the semester.”
“Semester? Is there a school nearby?”
He gave her an odd look, that she was getting rather sick of seeing people's faces. The ‘I must have misheard the very stupid question you just asked’ look.
“Yes, down the road a ways in the heart of the city is the Lyran Academy. Mostly cater to rich fops who wouldn’t know the difference between their ass and a hole in the ground, but they pay well for the private rooms on the top floor so I can’t complain.”
“Interesting, thank you for your help.” She said, as she willed seven silver coins to appear in her hand. “For now, can I take a dorm room for a week? I might extend it later, but this should do for now.”
Swiping up the coins more quickly and smoothly than she would have thought even possible, he said “Sounds good to me.”
Reaching below the desk, he brought out a simple metal key with a little crystal embedded in the handle.
“This will unlock your door for the next week, after that, it’ll appear back here unless you come to extend your stay. Well give you a corner room, number 330. Your entire floor is for women only, but we aren’t your babysitters so do as you please. Keep the area clean, and no magic indoors that risks structural damage, or you’ll be kicked out and fined on the spot. Any questions?”
Shaking her head no, the man nodded, and she was about to turn away when he said “Oh yeah, I’m Wave. If you need anything else, don’t hesitate to wait until morning. I won’t fix your problems if both suns aren’t well into the sky.”
Laughing, Kya turned and made for the stairs.
Her room was… well it was as he had described. It was moderately sized, just big enough to not feel cramped. The brown stone floor had been crafted to seem like wood, and a thin rug was placed under the bed, which donned a single pillow and light yellow sheets. The desk and chair were both simple, but would be more than fine if she needed to use them, and the wardrobe was big enough to hang several pieces of clothing, and store some random objects besides.
She was, however, grateful for the corner room. Instead of the single small window at the far side of the narrow room, it had two small windows, one at the end of the room, and the other on the exterior wall. It wasn’t luxurious, but it would be more than enough for her. She looked out the window and saw the river separating her and the capital island, several small boats sailing lazily along in the current.
She had a lot of work ahead of her, and she would need to figure out where to get some good equipment to begin her journey, but at least for the next week, she had a-
Sitting down, the mattress was firm and a little lumpy. Well, she didn’t have the softest bed in the world, but honestly, who cares. This place would be her home for a little while, and that alone made her feel profoundly better about the situation.
No matter what else happened, she had a place to return, a place to rest.