Of course, that was on the off chance they didn’t run into any trouble.
Which they did.
While it was rare for monsters to appear on the road, Adam made it a point to fight some on their journey. He needed to constantly grind his level so he’d have a leg up on all the other players when they arrived from the Village of Beginnings. So far, his level had increased to 13, Kureha was at level 12, and Titania was at level 14. He felt they were doing a pretty good job of leveling up, but now his ability to level up was progressing slowly because he required more than a million experience points to reach the next level.
“I feel like it’s going to take forever to reach level 14.” Adam sighed as he began running again. The wind whistled through his hair. While the world around him blurred because he was moving so fast, he didn’t feel like he was exerting himself very much. His breathing remained even and steady as he breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth.
Titania was sitting on his shoulder, her small hands gripping his shirt as she swung her legs back and forth, and Kureha was riding on his head. He thought she could have run alongside him. Her Speed and Movement stats were better than his, but she chose not to, and he didn’t really feel like there was a problem, which was why he let it be.
“Were you expecting it to be easy?” asked Titania, snorting. “Listen, it is extremely difficult to level up. It normally requires joining with a party and taking on high level quests or raiding dungeons to level up quickly. When I was leading the Fairy—erm, when I was with my friends before becoming the Guardian of the Spear, we would join up with a lot of human adventurers and act as their healers to gain experience and level up. Back then, we would raid dungeons and help defeat dungeon bosses. That was how I reached level 90.”
“Level 90, huh? Reaching that level seems like a pipe dream to me,” Adam muttered.
Titania shrugged as if to say, “That’s just how it goes.”
The Age of Gods world featured an extreme degree of realism. Not only were NPCs like Titania and Kureha fully capable of holding a conversation, but the environment felt more realistic than any game he had ever played. The gravel road beneath his feet was uneven and bumpy. He could smell the scent of grass, dirt, and trees. A soft breeze blew across the road, ruffling his hair and clothing, while the clicking of his metal Goddess of Creation Greaves echoed in his ear, mixing with the crunch of gravel under foot.
They didn’t run into anymore enemies on their way to Solum. Adam had considered doing some more grinding, but it was clear that simply killing enemies wouldn’t avail him anything. Titania had said it best. If he wanted to gain more levels, he needed to take on quests or raid dungeons.
On that note, he wondered if defeating the Spider Queen would count as beating a dungeon boss…
“Adam?” Titania suddenly called his name, sounding uncertain.
“Yes?”
“I wanted to… apologize.”
“Hm?” Adam glanced at the woman sitting on his shoulder. “You mean for the other day?”
Titania slowly nodded, her face growing into a frown. “I was rude to you and said some things I am not proud of. But I also want you to understand why I was upset.”
“Isn’t it because you worship the Four Goddesses?” Adam asked.
“That is indeed part of the reason,” Titania admitted. “But the bigger reason is because the ideas that soul remnant spoke of are dangerous. The Four Goddesses are the foundation of our society. Slander against them will not only make you reviled by everyone, but you will be branded a heretic, which will cause a lot of problems later on down the road. If anyone heard you speak of the Four Goddesses like that man did…”
“I understand.” Adam nodded once. “I promise to never repeat what that man said or speak ill of the goddesses.”
It wasn’t like Adam had any problem with the Four Goddesses. Everything he had learned from that knightly soul remnant was just an interesting bit of in-game lore to him. Whether the Four Goddesses were truly benevolent maidens or secretly backstabbing bitches who would betray their own sister was not something he ultimately cared about. His only concern was whether he would have to fight them or not.
“That is good. Oh, look! I can see Solum,” Titania said, pointing at something ahead of them.
Adam looked up to find that, indeed, a large city had come into view. The most prominent object in view were the city gates. It looked like a rampart surrounded most of, if not all of, the city. He could only see a few buildings peeking above the city gates, which stood at about thirty yards high and had crenelations at the top for archers and mages to fire down at enemies from safety.
This was his first time seeing crenelations in real life. While they had been used at some point before the creation of guns, missiles, and other forms of technological warfare, they had not been used in a very long time. There only remained a few historical sites in the European Federation with battlements and ramparts like this.
Several guards stood in front of the gates. There were a number of people coming in and going out. Most had carts being pulled by horses. All the caravans were having their goods checked, while the individuals walking in simply paid a fee. When he reached the gate, one of the guards held up a hand.
“Hold on a moment, son. We need to check your identification before you can pass through,” said the middle-aged man in basic leather armor. It reminded him of the armor he’d seen in pictures of people from ancient Europe.
“Adam,” Titania whispered into his ear. “Show him the [letter of recognition] you got from the Mayor of Watershore.”
“Hm. Right.”
Adam reached into his item pouch and pulled out the [letter of recognition], which he gave to the guard. The man flipped the letter over, saw the wax seal on the back, and handed it back to Adam.
“It seems you’re an otherworlder,” the man said. “Only an otherworlder would be given a [letter of recognition] from Watershore’s Mayor.”
“That’s right. I’m surprised you know what an otherworlder is,” Adam said curiously.
“Are you kidding?” The middle-aged man laughed. “Everyone knows about otherworlders, though I will admit this is my first time seeing one myself.”
This must have been part of the in-game lore, or maybe NPCs were programmed to recognize players through some unknown means. Adam wondered how the coding for that worked.
“Anyway, since you’re an otherworlder, you should probably head over to the training center. Judging by your equipment, your class should be Warrior right now. There are several trainers who can help you acquire new skills or even change your class—for a fee, of course. Keep walking straight and you’ll find a large, cathedral-like building. That’s the training center.”
“Thank you,” Adam said. “By the way, can you direct me to the mayor’s residence? I was told by the Mayor of Watershore to deliver this letter to him.”
Adam waved the letter in his hand for emphasis.
“Ah. After reaching the training center, take a left and keep going straight. You can’t miss the Mayor’s residence. It’s the biggest building in the vicinity and surrounded by a gate. Show that letter to the guards near the front and tell them you were tasked with delivering it to the Mayor. They should let you in.”
“Thank you,” Adam said.
He began walking away, but just before he could get too far, one of the other guards began speaking to the one he’d just finished his conversation with.
“Hey, you don’t think that thing on his shoulder was a fairy, do you?”
“Couldn’t be. Too short.”
Adam glanced at Titania out of the corner of his eye and almost snorted when he found the woman fuming. She had her arms crossed, cheeks puffed out like an angry squirrel, and her face was redder than a strawberry. He almost expected steam to start rising from her head.
“So this is Solum,” Adam muttered as he glanced around. “It’s very renaissance.”
“What? Renaiss
ance?” asked Titania.
“It’s an era from my world. The renaissance era was a period my world’s history known for its cultural, artistic, political, and economic regrowth from what many people call the dark age.”
“Interesting.”
The bustling city was filled with all kinds of people. An old lady was milling down the street. Some kids a few yards off looked like they were playing a game of tag. A young couple walked arm-in-arm like they were out on a date. There were people on horses, riding in carriages, and others who chose to walk. Not only were there a lot of people, but it was easy to tell someone’s social status by the extravagance of their clothing and mode of transportation.
Adam sniffed the air as the scent of grilled meat wafted through it. He looked over and found a man kneeling behind a stand, grilling a giant boar on a rotisserie, fat dripping off the meat and into a tin bucket, which he scooped back up and used to baste the meat again. Even though he knew this was a game, his stomach still gurgled.
“Let’s find the Mayor and deliver that letter,” Adam said, shaking his head to dispel his hunger.
“Sniff… sniff sniff…”
“Titania?”
“Oh. Er… Yes, let us speak with the mayor,” she said.
“Are you hungry?” asked Adam.
“What? N-no. Of course not. Why would I be—”
Titania’s words were interrupted by a loud gurgling sound, which came from her stomach. Adam stared at Titania. She looked away. Her cheeks were glow in the dark red.
“Yip, yip!”
Titania wasn’t the only one who was hungry. Kureha was drooling on his head.
Since it looked like all of them were hungry, Adam went up to the guy selling roasted meat and ordered a couple of meat skewers. It cost one gold coin per skewer, and he ended up buying three.
Since Titania was currently too small to hold a skewer, Adam placed a slice of meat on a toothpick and gave it to her. She didn’t eat much, being so tiny and all. On the other hand, Kureha got a whole skewer to herself, though she couldn’t hold it because her paws did not have opposable thumbs. He had to hold the skewer up to his head for her to chow down. Meanwhile, he ate two skewers himself.
Just like the guard had said, the mayor’s house was large and far more intricate than the rest of the buildings near it. Surrounded by a gate was a mansion that resembled classical Roman architecture. It had a square, symmetrical appearance in which the proportions of the building was based on a module. The primary features were facades, columns, and a pilaster. Sitting atop the structure was a dome. Adam had once read that domes like this were an indispensable element of architecture during the Renaissance era in Europe. It seemed like this building was a strong mixture of various elements from historical time periods in the real world.
There were two guards at the gate. Adam was about to wander over and ask to see the mayor, but a soft ringing alerted him to someone on his friend’s list calling.
“Fayte?” Adam asked after accepting the call.
“Adam. Me, Susan, and Lilith just reached level 10. We left the Village of Beginnings several hours ago. Currently, we’re in a port town called Watershore,” Fayte said, getting right to the point.
“That’s great,” Adam said. “Are you three the first to arrive?”
“No. Several players arrived ahead of us. They were all the top players for big guilds. I hear Levon Pleonexia was actually the third person to leave after Lin Akamine and the Spear God.”
Adam bit his lip for a moment as he realized he’d finally run out of time. It looked like the other players would be arriving soon.
“In that case, the first things you should do is get a map and then talk to the mayor of Watershore. He should give you a quest to do. After you complete the quest, he will give you a [letter of recognition], which you can use to enter Solum.”
“And Solum is…?”
“It’s the first major city in a player’s journey. That’s where I am right now.”
“Got it. We’ll buy a map and talk to the mayor.”
Adam finished his conversation, gave the curious Titania an apologetic smile, and scratched Kureha behind the ear as he walked up to the gate guards.
After giving the guards his envelope and stating that he’d been tasked with delivering it to the mayor, the guards opened the gate and escorted him inside. He was asked to wait in the entrance hall while one of the guards went with an old butler to speak with the mayor.
The entrance hall featured many Corinthian columns and a ribbed ceiling. The hallways leading out of the entrance hall featured high arches. He tapped his foot against the tiled floor, listening as the clang, clang of his steel tipped boots echoing through the large interior.
Adam did not need to wait long before the butler and guard reappeared with an older gentleman in tow. Gray hair. A dignified face lined with age. The man was dressed in an elegant doublet crafted from fine cotton, with a body of rich silver and a black cotton brocade. His pants and long-sleeved shirt were made of glimmering silk. Attached to a belt at his side was a basic but finely crafted fencing sword.
“I take it you are the otherworlder my butler informed me of? I did not expect to see an otherworlder so soon. Welcome to Solum. I am Bromley Paxton, the Mayor of Solum,” the man introduced himself.
“Adam Lancer. I’m an otherworlder,” Adam introduced. “This right here is Kureha.” He pointed at the fox yokai on his head. “And this is Titania, a fairy.” He pointed at Titania. “Also, please do not mention her height. She is very sensitive about it.”
“I am not sensitive,” Titania muttered bitterly. “I just do not like people commenting on my height. It is not my fault my level is so low. We fairies are always born above level 50, which means we often have the same height as a regular human. It is absolutely ridiculous that my level has fallen so low my height has decreased.”
As the woman rambled about the terrible fate that had befallen her and her height, the mayor wiped some sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. He seemed a bit nervous about being in the presence of a fairy.
“An otherworlder who has managed to gain a fairy companion,” he breathed as though in awe. “You must be an extraordinary man. You may not know this, but we have not seen a fairy in this world for over five thousand years. They disappeared during a time of great strife. Some people believe they died off, but many think they simply grew tired of the constant fighting and chose to isolate themselves from the outside world.”
Adam glanced at Titania after Bromley had finished speaking. She had been sealed about five thousand years ago after becoming the Guardian of the Spear. He wondered if her being sealed had something to do with the Fairy Clan’s disappearance, but it didn’t look like she would be telling him anytime soon.
“I have a letter from the Mayor of Watershore,” Adam said.
He handed the envelope to Bromley, who undid the wax seal, removed the letter, and began reading. While he was busy reading, Adam took a quick look at his status.
Name: Bromley Paxton
Title: Mayor of Solum
Lvl: 30
Health: 12,000/12,000
His basic stats didn’t tell Adam much. He could probably get more information if he asked Titania to use [scan], but he didn’t think knowing this man’s stats would matter. It was unlikely the mayor of a city would ever become his enemy. That would be impractical.
Bromley finished reading the letter and handed it back to Adam, who placed it inside of his storage pouch.
“It seems you did a great deed for the Mayor of Watershore,” Bromley mused. “I can see why he would personally write a letter for you to deliver to me. He also says that you are quite capable and would be perfectly suited to quests I cannot ask my own soldiers to perform.”
“I will certainly welcome any quests you have for me,” Adam stated.
Bromley nodded as a pleased smile stretched across his old face. “Good. Very good. I do have a number of quests for you, if y
ou feel up to the challenge. I will warn you, however, that all of them are quite hard. These are all quests I originally ordered my soldiers to complete, but every person I have sent off has not returned. I believe they have perished.”
“What are the quests?” asked Adam, now curious.
“The first quest is to journey to the Deadlands and find out why the dead keep rising there,” Bromley said. “I have sent over a hundred people to discover what is happening, but none of them have returned. There is apparently a strange type of fog that permeates the entire place and makes it impossible for anyone to see through it. This fog has also been rumored to steal your soul… but because no one has returned, none of us know if that is true or not.”
Ding!
[You have been offered a new quest: [Journey to the Deadlands!] Do you accept? Yes or no?]
“Can you tell me a little more about the Deadlands?” asked Adam, ignoring the screen that appeared before him.
“The Deadlands is a large section of land that died thousands of years ago. Legends state it was the site of the last battle between the Demon Lord, the Lords of Chaos, the four goddesses, and their chosen hero… but no one knows whether that is true or not. What we do know is that it’s a land controlled by the dead. While we cannot see beyond the fog, many undead monsters have been emerging from there for centuries. Most of them are weak, but sometimes a more powerful monster will emerge that wreaks havoc on the surrounding villages.”
Adam crossed his arms and absorbed the information. It was all pretty standard stuff. Even someone like him, who had only played a few virtual reality games in the past, could recognize this type of quest.
“I have a few companions who are on their way to Solum. Do you think they can join me?” asked Adam.
“If you think they can help,” Bromley said with a frown. “Though I will warn you that if their levels are not very high enough, they will only be a liability. The weakest undead monster to emerge from the Deadlands is the [wraith], and they are all at level 15.”
A level 15 monster shouldn’t be a problem for him, though he did wonder if weapons would have an effect on undead monsters like a [wraith]. There were some games where [wraiths] and other spirit type monsters could only be killed with magic. Well, even if that was the case, he could just rely on Kureha.
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