Auron couldn’t sleep, no matter how hard he tried. The shaking of the carriage and the sounds of the luggage rustling beside him made it impossible to rest.
Instead, he chose to yet again look at the jewel he got as a reward for leveling up. This wasn't something from the game, he was sure. But if there were differences like this, maybe his life here wouldn't be as expected.
Trying not to think pessimistically, he got up carefully, trying not to wake the sleeping Melina, and moved to the front of the carriage where Lizzy was driving.
“Do you mind if I sit here a little?” he asked.
“No, I don't,” she answered, her tone very different compared to back in the village. But the same could also be said about him.
As he sat down, he couldn't help but admire the clear sky. Without light pollution, the stars shone bright and clear, the moon illuminating the road they were on.
“I heard you are an adventurer?” Auron asked, trying to break the ice a little.
“I guess my sister told you about me,” she answered, a warm smile forming, which Auron didn’t notice.
After a moment, she added, “And yes, I've been an adventurer for three years now.”
“That’s impressive, making a living as an adventurer and helping the village, I mean,” he said.
“You think so?” she asked.
“You don't?” Auron responded with a question.
“I honestly don't know. I'm not really high rank or anything. What about you? Are you an adventurer too?” she replied.
“No, I'm not, but I plan to sign up to become one when we arrive at the city,” he answered.
He had been thinking about it for a while and decided that it was what he wanted to do.
“Do you mind me asking what your skills are?” Lizzy asked curiously.
Auron sighed quietly before answering, “Right now I only have Sword Slash.”
“You're kidding! You're gonna get yourself killed if you sign up now,” she said, a little louder than before.
Auron winced at the raising of her tone and replied, “I'm gonna be fine. I'm not planning on overestimating myself.”
“No. Seriously, it's dangerous!” she said, a hint of desperation in her voice.
Had she experienced something that bad? Auron asked himself, but he stayed silent.
After a few minutes of heavy silence, Auron spoke up again.
“I'm gonna head back inside now, try to get some sleep.”
“Okay… later,” was the only reply she gave.
---
So normal people don't level up? Auron thought as he sat down again.
If they did, either Lizzy or Lola should've brought it up in conversation by now.
He was too tired to think further and soon fell asleep.
The next day passed pretty much the same: little sleep, little conversation, and much thinking at night. He had grown a little more comfortable with Lizzy because talks like the night before also happened that day. They talked about lighter topics, however, like that she would be trying to attend a school in the future and that Auron should try that too before becoming an adventurer.
---
“Wake up.”
Melina shook the sleeping Auron lightly.
“We're here.”
As Auron woke up, he noticed that the shaking was gone and they were moving slowly.
He got out of the carriage and, after his eyes adjusted, he saw it.
Kingdom Vetra's capital: Verta, named after King and Queen Verta.
The gates loomed tall in front of Auron, blocking the city off. But the sight of the walls and gates alone made him excited.
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As he looked around, they were in a small line of carriages, only a little away from where guards checked people for entrance permits.
The line moved quickly until it was their turn.
“Entrance permits or other forms of identification, please,” a guard said in a monotone voice.
Melina and Lizzy gave them their cards, and Auron followed suit, handing him the permit from his pouch.
“You're good,” said another guard, waving them through and handing back the permits.
“What did you give them, Auron?” asked Lizzy.
“What do you mean what? A permit like you,” he answered, confused.
“Do you mind showing me for a second?”
“Yeah, here,” he answered, handing over the permit.
“Woah! That's a permit for every capital! How did you get that?” she exclaimed.
Auron thought he had messed up showing her and quickly took it back.
“It's a secret.”
He didn’t know what else to say.
“C’mon, tell us!” Lizzy pressed.
“Can you tell me where the guild hall is?” he asked, trying to change the topic.
“Then don't tell me…” she mumbled before adding, “Just head that way and you'll find it. Don't you come from the city?”
He messed up again.
“Thank you for taking me along, and good luck trading,” he said. He bowed slightly and shook both their hands quickly, ignoring Lizzy's complaints about not answering her questions.
“Goodbye!” he yelled after them, waving.
“Goodbye!” Both Lizzy and Melina did the same before vanishing in the crowd.
---
As he now stood alone, he let his jaw drop.
The city was amazing.
Small and big houses everywhere he looked. Shops beside the road. People buying and selling items. The smell of food from a tavern. The repeated clinking of metal on metal in the distance.
But most of all—
The castle in the distance, higher than the walls surrounding the city, visible from every point in the city, even if he stood at the opposite end of it like right now.
Auron dazed off for a moment, wandering aimlessly around before shaking his head.
I have to go to the guild hall, he thought.
He had to make money today or he couldn't pay for a place to sleep or even food.
So he made his way in the direction Lizzy had pointed, through lots of shops and crowds, until he saw a big building on the left side of the road.
It was mostly white, with accentuated gold parts around the huge windows and on the double doors.
He entered and was greeted by a lot of sounds and shouts, along with the sight of people—no, fighters and mages—dressed in robes or armor. Wands, swords, and other weapons hung by their sides as they stood in front of the quest board, sat at tables eating and drinking, or waited at the counter where attendants—strangely only female—helped them out.
Auron sighed, uncomfortable in such a public setting that made the room feel cramped even though it was huge.
Despite that, he made his way to a counter, waiting in line. The man in front of him was flirting with the attendant.
“Sir, can I help you?” a different woman next to the one he was waiting for called out.
He walked over to her, smiling politely.
“Yes, hello. I wanted to sign up as an adventurer here,” he said uncertainly.
“Okay, then please fill out this form. If any questions arise, please don't hesitate to ask,” she said, handing him a paper form with lots of things to fill out.
Name, class, and so on.
It was all easy enough until he stumbled on something that read: Mana-Purity or Iron-Blood.
“Uhm… excuse me, how do I know my ‘Mana-Purity level’ and ‘Iron-Blood level’?” he asked the woman.
“Oh, you just have to open your ring menu and it will show it,” she answered.
“…Ring menu?” Auron asked carefully. He had never heard about something like that until now.
“Yes… Oh! You don't have a ring yet, right?” she asked.
“No, I don't,” Auron replied.
“That's not a problem. You can buy one here. It's only one two silver and fifty copper. But first I will have to see identification,” she said.
Shit! I don't have any money! Auron thought, but gave her his permit anyway.
“Oh! M-my a-apologies! I didn’t k-know y-you h-had a—”
She stammered before quickly adding, “I'll pay for the ring. D-don't worry!”
She hurried to the back through a door. Halfway there she suddenly froze, walked back, handed over the permit quickly, and then practically sprinted to the back again.
Auron just stood there, wordlessly looking at the permit.
Just what is this thing? he thought.
Sure, it was apparently a permit for every kingdom and their capitals, but he didn't think much of it because he had it along with bread and water when he first appeared here.
The woman came back a few moments later, handing him a golden ring with an empty socket.
“J-just put it right on and I will help you find your stats,” she announced.
Auron followed suit after finding out it could go on any finger. He decided to put it on the ring finger of his left hand.
A searing pain rushed through him moments later and he winced, but it soon subsided.
“Just focus on it and it will show you everything,” the woman instructed.
He focused on his stats and immediately a glowing window appeared in front of him.
It showed his name, class, skills and their proficiency, skills in progress, and his Mana-Purity at D and Iron-Blood at D.
As the woman overexplained everything, Auron just spaced out until she finally told him to sit down somewhere until his card was ready.
---
As he sat on a bench to the side of the room, he felt a pull from his pouch.
When he opened it, he was greeted by the jewel practically jumping into his hand, glowing brightly and pulling like a magnet downward.
No— not downward, Auron realized.
Toward his left hand.
Toward the ring.
As he carefully brought the ring closer, the pull grew stronger and stronger until he lost his grip and the jewel flew freely toward the ring, embedding itself into the socket.
For a moment Auron just stared dumbfounded at the jewel in the ring.
Then pain began searing through him again, just like when he first put on the ring.
But this time the pain grew stronger instead of fading.
He had to bite his lips to keep from screaming—so hard that it drew blood.
Just as he felt he couldn't keep his composure anymore, the pain suddenly stopped.
Before he could even think about what had happened, the attendant approached him and handed him an adventurer card that read:
Auron
No surname
Rank: D
Along with his Mana-Purity and Iron-Blood ranks.
He thanked the woman, and she kept apologizing for her behavior.
Auron only brushed it off, wanting to open his ring again.
After she finally left—though not without bowing deeply, which earned even more looks from other people than her earlier apologizing—Auron took a breath before opening the window again.
At first only the standard menu appeared.
But after a moment, other tabs appeared at the top, each popping up with a sound and an exclamation mark next to it.
After all the tabs appeared, he wanted to move to the first one, but then the tab he was currently in also changed—not just in color, but in the amount of information.
Suddenly his level—Level 1— appeared alongside his stats:
Vitality: 10
Strength: 8
Intelligence: 8
Agility: 6
Perception: 5
The starting stats for the battlemage! he realized.
And one point was available to distribute.
He decided Agility would be a fine choice and increased it by one.
Next to his level, a bar could be seen—half full.
His progress to the next level, he was sure.
His skills were also showcased, but that had been the case before the changes.
He then opened one of the new tabs simply by intending to do so.
It read:
INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORLD
Inside were multiple book icons. Some had locks over them, but others were open.
The ones that immediately drew his attention were:
MANA-PURITY
IRON-BLOOD
CLASSES
He opened the first with a mental nudge.
It read:
Mana-Purity is this world's ranking method for magic. It goes from rank E down the alphabet, and after A follows S, S+, SS, SS+, and SSS.
It then went on about the differences in each rank and that it became progressively harder to climb the ranks.
Iron-Blood was pretty much the same, but instead of measuring mages, it measured fighters—people who wield weapons instead of magic.
At the end of both books it said:
More information will not be permitted.
The next book, CLASSES, simply named specific fighting styles. For example, someone who fought with lightning spells would be a Lightning Mage.
It also explained that people often chose similar spells in this world because the increased understanding made forming new spells and improving proficiency much easier.
Auron slowly began to understand what was going on.
But despite this good news, he had a bad feeling when looking at the very last tab.
It was red.
He ignored the others for now and took a deep breath.
He wanted to make sure this was good news before jumping in joy, so he had to read every tab—but not the suspicious-looking one first.
He opened the red tab and was greeted with a pop-up.
OPENING THIS TAB WILL START A VISION.
ARE YOU CERTAIN IN OPENING IT?
YES????NO
He paused.
This just got way weirder.
But he couldn't press NO now.
So he adjusted his sitting position on the bench and chose YES.
