As he continued to walk he stopped along the forest to crouch next to a bush. Watching it as he continued to examine it, after confirming he pulled a berry from the bush and ate it directly. He slowly chewed it before he nodded. ''Taste good, non-poisonous, forest life loves it. I love it.'' He began to pick berries off it, placing them into a pouch at his side. He didn't pick all of them, leaving some for the wildlife as he was about to stand before he stopped, looking at a planet just a few feet away. He began to shift like a crab towards it as he crouched before it. Watching it a long moment before he nodded. ''Don't taste, toxic. Doesn't say how toxic though.'' He summoned his sword and turned it into a dagger. Being extremely careful he picked the toxic herb up, once he did he sent it to the storage, in a far-off corner what he decided as his ''Bad juju'' area. Once he did he washed his hands and the dagger became a sword before vanishing again, putting the canteen back he stood and continued walking.
It was about an hour or more later before he stopped to crouch down once more to pick up some round rocks. ''Nice rocks, no special value, good for distractions, also an idea.'' He took one of his new rocks and began to channel aura. As he did the rock glowed with that same colorless liquid before he threw it, like an arrow it flew towards a tree. He considered himself skilled at throwing things since he used to take many classes and courses for it, and as he aimed it hit the tree all be it a bit off target due to the strength the rock blew apart of the tree away in a rain of splinters. He grinned at that as he put the rocks away. ''Goin' name them danger rocks.'' He then continued traveling.
He was only about an hour give or take a few minutes from breaking from the forest line and being able to see the town, however, he had stopped, crouching low behind shrubbery and pressing himself as quietly as he could against a tree to steady himself, he kept his breathing slow and steady. In front of him was a group of creatures standing about three feet tall, the tallest one only a few inches taller than the rest. All of them had green skin but varying shades.
'Goblins, simple creatures, despite how they are portrayed from my previous life, they do have intellect, just not enough to be considered an adult... Normal goblins are pretty much just dangerous children. The purer their color to their nature depends on how strong they are, these ones are green, so their forest goblins, but all their skin color is pretty muddy so their purity is low and that means they're weak. Their and F to E rank creature, my rank is F technically, but I'm pretty sure I could non-lethal subdue an E rank adventurer, and lethally subdue a lower D rank if I'm smart. Let's try our luck.'
Thankfully he had no metal pieces on his armor other than a buckle that was tightly pressed to hold pieces together on his chest and arms so they made no noise as he very slowly moved to take out a rock. He didn't imbue it with any Aura or Mana, he simply tossed it with a flick of his wrist, having it go above their heads and hit a tree behind them, they released a sound of a growl as they turned around. ''WATS THAT?!" They had crude weapons and they were drawn towards the sound. Summoning his sword and shield caused no sound as he gripped them. He felt calm as he could be, but his blood was pumping. His heart beating strong as he pushed off the tree with his shoulder and using his crouched position and leaning forward he flew through the shrubbery.
They heard the sudden burst of movement behind them and they swung around, however by the time they did a sword had slid through the skull of one of the goblins like butter before with a simple flick, the dark black blood and brain batter scattered towards the rest of them, the blood got into one of their eyes and it screamed loudly as it dropped it's weapon and began to rub at its eyes. One with a club began to swing but with a turn of his wrist, he deflected the club with the flat of the blade before turning the blade and thrusting it, once more through the head. Again a second goblin dead in a flash. The third swung its cheap and rusted sword, angling the shield around it slid across it before he swung out the shield to throw open the goblins arm. The arm holding the sword flew outward to smack into the blind goblins' face with his knuckles as his guard was left wide open. Tightening his stance he stepped forward and slammed the sharper edge of the kite shield forward in a quick movement as he bashed the goblin's chest in, throwing it to the ground as it spits blood from the impact, it's small rib cage definitely shattered into its organs before he turned and in a simple slash beheaded the remaining goblin who was only now opening its eyes again.
Standing straight he stepped forward, channeling aura through his leg he stomped down on the fallen goblins head, the head exploding beneath the force of his strength as he ended the suffering for it. He stood still a moment before his entire body shivered hard as his muscles bulged as he suddenly roared towards the skies. Animals in the area suddenly fleeing to the loud noise that held power. He continued to roar before he stopped, slowly his muscles relaxed as the weapons vanished as he seemed on cloud nine, grinning towards the clouds. He stayed like this a moment before his eyes seemed to focus again. He then looked down back to Gaia and stared at the goblin corpses.
''Fuck that felt better than I planned, 25 years of holding back, and finally being able to end a life with my skills gave me a feeling of pure bliss.'' He lowered down to crouch as he began to rummage the goblins, summoning his sword in a dagger form as he began to carve them. ''I'll need to learn to control that, I enjoy battle, but I can't become a junkie off the high.'' He carved into the goblin's chest three of the four had a small bead-like object in their chest, the fourth one had one but it was cracked. Due to Alex's excessive use of force, they were monster cores, all beings had a core that could be used for all sorts of things, they were basically just mana crystals, but for creatures and people. Humans had cores as well, but it was illegal to use them for crafting and were usually used as a form of identification for kills such as bandits and criminals since everyone had a core signature that was basically just a thumbprint of mana. He also found some copper coins, storing them and cutting off both ears on three of them, the fourth one... Well, we'll just say he wasn't going to try and look around the forest floor just for a few coppers just because he decided to mortal combat finish a weak goblin.
After he collected his bounty he stood and continue to walk off, eventually, the bodies of the goblins would decompose and return their energy, nutrients, and mana to Gaia, even the mana cores he took would eventually return to her after a while. Another hour and a half of walking and an hour or more of hunting goblins, and eventually a ''Rock Elk'' which was just a normal creature that was known for it's pass time of using its antlers to toss around rocks. It was a bit large than Earth's Elk's, and a few times stronger but that was about it
He soon came out of the forest to see a large open area, a town resting in the middle, seeing it he grinned. Walking around the edge of the forest he made his way to the road and began to travel it. He passed a few people giving them a general greeting as he did. He needed to become a positive presence in the town if he was going to use it as a base for now until he trusted himself to step into the stronger areas. Soon he came to the entrance to the city, as he got to the line he popped a few berries into his mouth and just stayed patient.
About ten minutes later it was his turn, the guard inspecting him stopped him. '' 'Haven't seen you around? You new?''
Raising a hand he focused magic to his palm, and even despite the glove a small sigil rose. ''Newly appointed F-Rank adventurer, names Alex.''
The guard took a look at him, and the sigil before he nodded. ''You know the process then?'' With that Alex nodded before the guard pulled out an orb. Alex placed his hand down and after a bit the orb glow green before flashing blue.
''A new Adventerur and you already have a storage artifact? You don't look rich like those nobles priding around in their shiny armor.'' Alex laughed at that as he handed a copper to the guard, the guard took it and put both it and the orb away. ''It's only a small one sadly, but it's a gift from the village elder from when he was an adventurer. I'm due to get it repaired soon.''
The guard nodded. ''Entry fee obtained, and the orb said it didn't have anything suspicious in the storage device wherever it is, so you're free to enter. If you need magic trinkets or repairs, Dalis has a magic shop on the main road, you'll see the sign. A good inn to stay at is Rosie's Bread and Mead, cheap and the food and liquor good. Though I got to ask, you're an adventurer but you don't have a weapon?''
Alex chuckled before he nodded. ''It's my blessing, I'm able to conjure simple weapons.'' With that said he summoned a simple shortsword.
The guard grumbled a bit. ''What a blessing! All I got was a simple strengthening blessing. No wonder you were picked to be the adventure they put their hopes on.''
Alex gave a nod before moving past the guard and into the town. Walking along the street he looked around, the place wasn't that bad actually, even the 'slums' seemed pretty well developed, seems the town wasn't lacking trade and since there was a minor magical forest around, it was easy to get strong materials for proper buildings.
Everyone seemed pretty well-fed, and even with his increased senses, he didn't see any children starving or hiding between houses and shops to stay out of sight. The town was in good financial as well it seemed. Though he did notice how many people seemed tired, some worse than others. He took note of it but he continued walking.
After about fifteen minutes of walking, he made his way to the middle of town, which was common knowledge that the guilds and better shops would be near the middle of the city. Stepping into the adventurer's guild first he took note of the rowdy crowd and made his way to the counter. The smell of booze coming strongly from the many adventurers lounging around. Once he was at the counter he was greeted by a beautiful elf with an award-winning smile. The Staff uniform for the guild did little to hide her slender and beautiful body. ''Hello, welcome to the guild how can I help you?''
Alex made direct eye contact with her, not letting his eyes linger on her body, though even without directly looking, he could still see it due to his memory, all it took was a single look and it was like a crystal clear picture forever. ''Alex, F-rank. Wanted to turn in a few goblin cores, and ears along with a few random pieces of equipment I got off them.''
The staff member seemed a bit surprised at how handsome Alex was, and even more so that he didn't harbor any lust in his gaze that she could see, and was staring at her as an equal even if she herself was weaker than an F-rank member. She smiled cooly now as she relaxed more into him. ''I see, please use the counter to unload your storage.'' He nodded before he first took out the random bits of equipment, it was mostly rusty weapons, but a few were in decent condition, leaving those to one side he let the mana cores in a small pile, the eyes of the Elf widened a bit by seeing the amount, and only more so once he dropped off all the ears. Another staff member came over and began to sort the equipment. Alex waited patiently as he stared off toward the quest board, even without having been close, he could still read it from there. His senses were always good, but now with the buff from the so-called God, it was even better.
''Thank you for waiting so patiently, most of the weapons are pretty much useless so we can only give a few coppers per piece, and the armor as well. There is a weapon there however that has the initials of an adventurer we lost a few weeks ago. So for returning his weapon, gauntlets, and boots we can give you 10 coppers in thanks. As for the ears, it's customary we give you a single copper per ear. You had an odd number of cores compared to ears. They're all in good condition as well so the cores can fetch you, four coppers, for the better quality ones, 2 for the lower quality ones. With everything together, your total comes to 3 silvers and 10 copper. '' With that, his total was placed onto the counter, and with a hand, his hand closed over the coins and they disappeared. Some adventurers looked at him with a slight hint of greed in their eyes. The payment was nice, but what they seen is that he owned a storage artifact.
"Thank you, also a question. I'm new in town but I've noticed that there are a lot of tired people? A few are fine but most of the humans and some dwarves seemed affected as well. Is something going on?'' The Elf nodded gently before she spoke.
''We're not sure why, but many people in the town are having troubles sleeping recently, but it only seems to affect those with less talent for magic, it's worse for those who are still young. We're paying for any information that could be useful so if you find out anything, please let us know.'' He gave a nod to that before leaving the counter and making his way to the board. He channeled the sigil to his hand that was basically an adventurer card in this world. Using the hand with the floating sigil, he poked at a few. Mostly gathering ones, a goblin quest, and a wolf subjugation. He stopped to look to the side of the board where a list of dungeons was listed. He tapped the first on the list since it was the only one he could get to with his current rank.
Once he was leaving someone stopped him, offering their hand it was a large man, Alex stood about 6' 3, but this man was an inch or more taller and looked like a heavily armored wall. ''Nice to meet you, heard you were new in town, and I seen that you signed up for the dungeon, what about joining me and my party to go through it a few times? Names Jared.''
Alex looked at him in the eyes, his eyes had already taken note of his body and armor, despite how the man looked, Alex had a feeling about something. When he took the man's hand he shook it firmly. ''Alex, a pleasure to meet you, Jared.'' The moment he finished his sentence, he felt a small wisp of energy. A very, very small breath of Aura was trying to enter him as if propping at him.
Alex knew of this, it was a method to see if people had any Aura or Magic energy depending on what they did. It was a test, this was to see if Alex could feel the energy, or even return it. Though something that they had not realized, is even if Alex was only a half step to the 1st Tier due to his previous life's achievements in martial arts of all kinds. Alex had a huge advantage, usually people didn't even start to have Aura energy until rank D, and the first tier was usually rank C. Even just this small breath was enough to show that Jared was in rank E.
Alex kept the grip and returned with not only Half step Aura, but also the slight magical energy. The moment he did there was a gentle crack of metal as the gauntlet he held of Jared's snapped a bit beneath his grip. The moment Jared felt the crack and sudden source of power he seemed to straighten before he quickly released Alex's hand. ''Ah, I just remembered we already had someone, sorry to bother you.'' Before Alex could even respond the man had quickly turned away and made his way back to the others, as others seen this they immediattly stopped looking at Alex with greed and simply look away. Jared was the worst of the bad eggs here, and seeing Jared run away with his tail between his legs was enough to show that Alex wasn't someone to fuck with.
Alex left the guild and moved to the inn he had found out about earlier thanks to the guard at the gate. He entered and was greeted by a little girl with the biggest smile as she spoke, her voice like a little gentle ring. ''Welcome to Rosie's Bread and Mead! Are you here for food or a room mister?" Alex inwardly smiled, he was always gentle with kids, even despite the need to harm, to kill in such a peaceful time, he had learned that cute things had a soft spot somewhere in his heart. So seeing such a cute little human girl made him smile. ''Both, but first a room as I'm tired.'' The girl beamed at him before she rushed off behind the counter and into the back where the kitchen also was. He felt his heart hurt a bit as he thought.
'Guess even now I am weak to the smile of a child, I worry that I might spoil any future children I have simply because I am weak to their charm.. It's like a cute puppy.'
His thoughts stopped as he seen the woman who came out of the kitchen. His eyes lingered only long enough to make SURE he saved a picture of her in his memory. She was the definition of a good milf. A large enough bust to look comforting to burry yourself into, but not big enough that the weight has already made them sag, a body that spoke of a working woman, and hips and ass that was made for rough sex and child birthing. He focused though on her eyes that were a gentle brown, unlike his very clear and vibrant silver gaze.
Seeing him the woman stopped a moment before putting on her smile for customers. ''Hello, I heard you wanted a room and eventually food? It's five coppers a night including food, is that okay?'' Alex gave a nod before placing a silver coin onto the counter for her.
"I'm not sure how long I'll be staying, but if that's ever not enough let me know.'' Seeing the silver coin her eyes fluttered a bit, she has seen silver, and even gold before. But she was used to people paying with a large number of copper coins instead of just a silver piece. Taking it she put it into her sash where her money purse was already hidden, pulling a key ut from the other side. ''Your room number is 4, and it's on the second floor to the left side of the stairs." Alex gave a nod before taking the key and leaving her there, making his way up the stairs and into his room he unlocked it, then locked it behind him. Putting the key into his storage along with his armor, the moment he was out of his armor and in simple trousers and a loose shirt he looked to himself in the mirror and stopped. He wasn't always this handsome, he wasn't bad looking, sure. But now he was handsome, and he admitted it. He had raven locks and slightly greyed skin, and deep silver eyes much like the man who claimed himself a god. He looked good, real good. Examining his features a bit he took note of them.
'I look like a mutated human, I'll have to keep that in mind incase anyone asks.'