Seth wanted to curse. To have squandered so much time here! Now the Sun was setting and the young man had to decide. Would he stay in the city? Or just walk through the night?
Checking his map he guessed that the satellite city wasn't too far away at this point. Seth had been travelling in a straight line ever since he left the 'Hanging Tree' behind.
The town was actually a good indication. The priest had told him, that the coordinates for the frontier villages were chosen based on the available resources. They were after the same stuff, Seth hoped to find in the city.
When he thought about all the trouble that came with staying in the town, like finding the inn, paying without money... In the end he decided to use the night and make some distance.
With a last flickering the sun vanished behind the flat horizon and left the world in twilight. A chill came as the sunlight left, but it wasn't cold. The ground was smooth and the grass soft below his feet, so he could comfortable run along.
The system announced it´s existence. Another welcome bonus of travelling on. The twilight soon faded and left Seth with a breathtaking view. Surrounding him on this flat plain was a brilliant starry canopy, shining brightly in the night sky, illuminating his way.
It was his first time seeing this kind of view. Urth´s skies had long been darkened by light pollution and smog. And the last few days were spent in dense woods. Running along the plains surrounded by stars... he understood when people described something as "swimming among the stars".
On the opposite side to where the sun had sunken, rose the moon like a polished silver coin. It even outshone the stars like a white sun. Was the moon always this bright?
All this together with the breeze in the night felt very magical, washing away his fatigue. Using the light of the stars and moon he could see almost as clear day and thanks to his map, he easily found his way.
Still, sometime close to midnight the fatigue caught up and he had to take a break. He wanted to check his smartphone for the time, but it wouldn't turn on. Maybe it was damaged during the explosion? With a shrug he put it back in his backpack. even if it was broken, he did not feel like letting go of it.
" Summon Spirit Smithy!"
The best remedy for fatigue was still food, that was what he had learned in this short time with the system. So he heated up one of his remaining canned soups and ate it with the a piece of bread from the bag he bought. Afterwards he dismissed the spirit smithy and sat down in the grass.
Seth enjoyed the feeling of his filled belly and the view of the starry skies, when all around faint glimmers started to light up in the air,like fireflies. Fireflies? Remembering his new skill, he concentrated mana into his eyes.
<
Name: none
Level: 4
Race: Fairy
Affiliation: Fair Folk
>
Seth´s eyes widened astonished. With the skill he could actually see the details of the small fairies. They were actually shiny little humanoids all around lv.4. With about 5 cm height they were smaller than Seth would have imagined, but the wings of butterflies or dragonflies on their backs were just like in fantasy.
The fairies were dancing and laughing across the night sky and even enhanced this incredible sight. As terrifying as the world had become over all, one had to admit that it also became very magical and interesting.
When they noticed the young human sitting on the ground and watching them with a dreamy smile, the fairies became curious. They came closer and started dancing around him. The little pranksters touched him and flew away laughing as if playing a game of dare.
They noticed that Seth only laughed and played along, but didn't act hostile, so their confidence grew and the Fairies even landed on him and started nosily touching his damaged clothing.
It still had durability and defense, so Seth had not bothered changing to something nicer. While Seth worried about his ragged appearance, the fairies wonder about the fine fabrics his rags were made of.
On the other hand the little guys also made some offensive gestures pointing out his smell. Finally they could not hold back anymore.
"Hey, Human! What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?", said one.
"Yeah! Don´t you know it's dangerous out at night?"
"Hmm?", Seth looked at them startled. He had not come across any dangers yet.
"What dangers are you talking about? All I saw were goblins and such. You guys are just lv. 4 yourselves!"
"We can fly!"
"We have super strong magic!"
"Our name is legion, for we are many!", wasn't what the fairy said, but Seth joked about it to himself.
Others interjected to count up the dangers that could lurk in the dark.
"There are vampire bats at night!", one said.
"Have you never heard of evil ghosts?! We defeated one just yesterday!", another said with a smug smile and pushed out it´s meager chest.
"Evil ghosts? As if things were not bad enough already..", Seth thought, but he said,
"Evil ghosts? I have never seen one in the last few days..."
"hah! Of course you didn't!", the little one said.
"Of course you didn't! Of course you didn't!", the others chortled.
"It´s because we get rid of them! ", they proudly stated.
"So contrary to what you said, there is no actual danger since you got rid of it?"
"Yes! Err...", it mumbled perplexed and rubbed it´s head embarrassed. Seth grinned at the suddenly speechless little creature.
He talked a while longer with the fairies until he felt recovered enough to continue on his journey.
"oh yeah!", he turned around,"Now that i think of it. Do you guys maybe know about the city north of here? Is there anything i have to know?" he asked them.
"North?" "North?" "North?", they went in a chaotic choir.
"Ah yes, i know! Aren't there abandoned ruins in that direction?", one of them roughly gestured north.
Some of them shuddered and others rushed over to make it shut up.
"Don´t talk of that place!" "Don't talk!" ,many of them looked very frightened upon the mentioning of the ruins.
"Don´t go there, Human!", one of them came forth, "In those ruins opened a portal to- to a dark place! Corpses raise up and walk around and plants withered away and turned to dust. It´s a wasteland of-"
"Perfect!", Seth interrupted.
"What!?""What!?""What!?", they went.
After his experience with the forest, a place without any plants at all sounded like paradise! Undead sounded a hell of a lot better than skull-penetrating vines. Not to mention those fucked up griffins!
"Thank you guys for the information! Maybe we will meet again!"
Before they could stop him, Seth waved at them a last time before he fell into a comfortable running pace, heading towards the satellite city. "Wasteland of death! Here i come!"