The Orc nodded and after getting the payment from Adam he activated the array. Adam and Thalia disappeared from the city.
When they got out of the space tunnel, they were back in Yam. Looking up, Adam noticed that although it was already night here too, it wasn't as dark as in Everburn City.
Thalia looked at Adam and asked "Are you going to see Morbash? Can I come too?" Adam shrugged and said "You can follow me, but it depends on whether he wants to see you or not."
Thalia beamed hearing him, and the two headed for Klint's Workshop. On the way, Adam also looked at the quest he had just finished, 'Mercenary'. Apart from the [Innate Strength Potion] Thalia had given him before going in, he had also gained some XP and an improved relationship with Thalia.
Soon, the two reached Klint's Workshop, but it was closed. Adam scratched the back of his head, he hadn't thought of that. But before he could say anything Thalia said "Can you help me book an inn?"
Adam asked "Why do you need my help?" Thalia replied "Some Inns are exclusive to Orcs or people of high rank. If you use that badge of yours I can pay for both of our rooms."
Adam nodded and accepted right away. With the new update, being disconnected meant the avatar would be asleep, and so he couldn't just disconnect in the middle of the street.
And staying in a good inn had it's advantages. While the night would be costlier, the safety would be better, and more importantly one would gain an XP boost for the next day if they slept in a good inn.
Now that Adam had opened his 4th Gate, and that he would get a custom made armor for Level 50s, all he needed was to reach Level 50 to get his Promotion Quest and be promoted to Silver Rank.
Adam and Thalia went to the best Inn in the entire city, called the Slumbering Dragon, and they were able to get a room each. Thalia was actually quite rich, but Adam didn't know whether it was because of her job as an Alchemist or if it came from the Clan behind her.
Before separating, the two agreed they would meet early in the morning tomorrow, and only then did they enter their rooms.
Once in his room, Adam took off his cloak and immediately reached for the bed, laying comfortably against it and then logging off.
Back in the real world, Adam got out of his cabin and stretched his body. He had been in the cabin for two days non stop, and although his body could take much more than that, his muscles were a little stiff.
While he stretched, Adam also felt the difference from the last time, with his 4th Gate now opened. If anyone else knew that he had gone from no Gate opened to the 4th Gate in slightly more than a week they would probably beat him for telling lies.
Adam wanted to try his cultivation technique in the real world, but from what he could smell dinner was about to be served, and if he wanted to eat he better join them now.
Adam left his room and saw his father sitting at the table, his mother had a tray in her hands. Lasagna.
The two turned to look at Adam, who said "Sorry for yesterday, something happened in game." His father nodded and said "We saw, the update. I didn't take a plate for you, I thought you wouldn't join us."
Adam nodded and took out a plate and cutlery before sitting at the table with his parents. Soon, everyone was served and they began eating.
After a moment, Elizabeth said "We are really proud of you Adam." Adam looked at her surprised, but then his heart warmed. His father nodded too and said "You did something great."
Adam smiled and said "You could join the game too you know." The two laughed but shook their heads "We don't have the time with our jobs."
Adam replied "But you don't need to work anymore, I can earn more than enough money for all of us. If you are ever tired of working, you can stop whenever you want. And if you join the game, I can help you have a nice start."
Elizabeth took his hand and said "Thank you honey, but we're fine for now, we like working at the restaurant. Maybe in the future we will change our minds though. But for now, I think you should think more about your brother, he will definitely join once he is old enough."
Adam nodded and said "It's fine, I still have slightly less than two years. I will have achieved a lot of things in two years."
His parents smiled at him, for two years they had seen their son struggle to earn enough money to buy himself a cabin, those were two dark years. But now, everything was going well, and the more time passed, the more stable and unshakable this happiness was becoming.
Once he finished eating, Adam went to take a bath, something rare for him. But it was because he wanted to try a few things.
Before going in the water, Adam activated his cultivation technique, and immediately noticed something was wrong.
His cultivation was feeling different than from in game, slower. He immediately stopped and checked his inner condition, to try to understand what was going on.
Adam checked his meridians and after a few minutes of searching, he believed he found the answer. His body was different from in game.
Not just in term of strength, but the width and arrangement of his meridians were a little different. Nothing major, he could activate all his skills like in the game and they worked in the same way as in the game.
However, in the game the meridians related to water were twice bigger than the ones related to the other elements because of his affinity with the water element.
But in his real body, he found out that his water meridians were actually of an average size, and that it was his fire meridians that were bigger instead.
This meant that Adam's cultivation with a fire cultivation technique would be twice as fast as one of another element. This also meant that he would have an easier time using and mastering fire skills compared to the other elements, in the real world at least.
Of course, he wouldn't have the same resistance and bonus in damage for fire which he has in game for water, because those bonuses came from his Class.
Despite learning he had to use another cultivation technique, this didn't trouble Adam too much, the cultivation technique he had created, the Flowing Water Art, could easily be changed into a fire version of itself thanks to his knowledge about his meridians.
But Adam didn't start working on that right away. Instead, he wanted to experiment something. He entered his bath, and sat in the middle of water before activating his Flowing Water Art once again.
This time, his cultivation was much faster than before, he could feel he was absorbing Qi much faster. He stopped and smiled to himself. As expected, the environment did influence his cultivation.
While surrounded by water, his cultivation was faster than when used in water than outside of it. This meant cultivating next to a fire would probably be more efficient for Adam if he wanted to cultivate in the real world. But he didn't know how he was going to do that, he could just lit his room afire just to cultivate faster… right?