It was a memory of when he first entered the capital of Alora, Reverie; He had only left his home village a few weeks back and had tirelessly travelled but walking and hitching rides on passing caravans, he may have had 30 or so years under his belt from his previous life but only in this one did he feel alive, the experience of seeing all these things that existed in fantasy in front of him and the fresh feeling of travelling gave him a sense of youth he never had before.
As he was riding on a trade cabin that stocked fresh fruit, he stared at the grand gates that were appearing in front of him bright eyed, the difference between seeing an old decrepit castle kept for preservation and a clean, active castle city were like night and day, the pure white stone walls reflected the bright sun as the colourful wooden crests they depicted the royal families symbol lined the outside screaming pride.
When he approached the entrance, he hopped off the cabin before waving in thanks towards the driver, a middle-aged man that gave him a warm smile in return before he rushed off towards the waiting line to enter the capital.
The young Seth stood in line eagerly among the masses, many visiting the capital for the first time, others returning adventurers and some hoping to strike rich with their business, it took about an hour of waiting until he got to the front, the guard taking notes of visitors and questioning them took a look at him, simple clothes with a brown cloak and a barely used sword hanging at his waist, taking one look at high eyes told the guard what the kid was here for yet he still had to ask.
"Welcome to Reverie, if this is your first time here, you'll have to pay for an identification medallion which you can do at the building to your right after you enter, but I will need to know your reasons for visiting?"
As if the 'kid' couldn't wait he immediately answered with no hesitation.
"Ah, yeah it's my first time, I'm looking to join up at the adventurer's guild, I just came from my village after weeks of travel"
The guard gave a slight nod, these types of youngsters were common since a lot of them couldn't avoid the allure of travelling as an adventurer.
"Very well, that should be fine, as I said before you'll need an ID so enter the line over there; it will cost a silver to get a medallion and you'll need to pay up again if you lose it so make sure you take care of it!"
"Got it"
Seth rushed off after getting access and hopped in line, after a few minutes of waiting he got to the front and had a medallion granted after passing over a single silver coin, it was a bit expensive, but the medallions are useful and are needed for official work in the capital including registering for the adventurer's guild, so he needed one.
They were about half the size of his palm and made of steel in a circular shape but had a hole in the top for string so it can be hung from the neck or anywhere else, the most important thing is that they are magically inscribed with the users information such as name, age, origin and if they have a job, that too, it will also include more minor information if needed, it is then signed with a unique signature by the specific office that can't be faked so one will know the legitimacy behind it.
After getting one he quickly rushed around finding a place to stay, settling for an inn in the outer areas of the capital for 5 copper pieces a night; he had a few silvers saved up and some extra given to him by his parents, so he was fine for a while, but he need to find work quickly thus he ran straight for the adventurer's guild in the western district.
Unfortunately, this place was much bigger than he thought, and he got lost countless times, though asking a few people along the way he eventually got there, he ecstatically entered the guild opening the fairly expensive looking wooden door with dragon carvings decorating it.
Inside was a fairly spacious building that smelled of polish and wood, plenty of standing tables were littered left and right with no chairs, the place wasn't made for lingering or such people using those were mostly waiting for party members or waiting on information or items from one of the receptionists.
He approached one of the free desks and quickly applied to be an adventurer, paying another 20 copper he obtained a wooden circlet which fit around the edges of his medallion, and got it updated with his rank, that being Wooden.
Ranks represented the reliability of the holder, ranking from Wooden which basically shows you're a beginner to Gold and above, though above Gold the number of holders is a lot lower since they're considered 'exceptional'.
After grabbing his rank he stepped on over to the requests board, there are two sections here, free quests and specific requests which are split based on how they work, free quests can be taken by anyone freely but have ranking suggestions, these usually are hunting quests or pest control, or just minor quests like finding lost items or such; The specific quests on the other hand have minimum rank requirements, and a meeting with the poster is needed before taking it on, usually these are a lot more important, are high risk and the poster needs a strong or trusted person to perform them.
Being new to the capital Seth decided to not take any hunting quests or such yet but decided to take on a simpler quest within the confines of the capital to familiarise himself with the area, thus he picked up one for a missing cat.
He quickly went to the area that it was last seen, scrounging high and low for hours on end to no success, after another hour or so he even went to the point of climbing houses to see if it was stuck up there, it wasn't long before he heard a quiet meow and rushed over to find it stuck between broken tiles on top of a house, breaking the tile to get it out he picked it up and took it home since it seemed a bit weak from not eating for days.
The face of the family that he returned it to would be burned into his memory, he got 20 copper for the task but the smiles and joy on their faces gave him a warm feeling inside, something he never got when working as an office worker for many years in his past life.
As the sun started to set, he started to make his way to the inn he picked on the outer district but as he was, he passed the gates once more and witnessed a procession, led by a blonde man on a large black horse donning red armour there were about 100 soldiers following him.
Seth watched as they passed and witnessed the pride on their faces even though they were covered in wounds and had tattered gear, their eyes burned brightly and exuded a sense of fulfilment, that combined with their matching gear and uniformity gave even Seth a sense of belonging and unity.
'Who are they?'
"First time seeing them kid?"
A young man standing next to Seth could see they question filling up his face and nudged him, asking him at the same time.
"Uh, yeah are they…?"
"They're part of the royal army, the one at the lead is the first prince, Lloyd Reverie."
'Lloyd Reverie… he looks strong, yet it looks like him and the army were put through a mixer!'
"I hear they went ahead and subdued a behemoth that was wrecking villages left and right in the western regions, with only a hundred or so people at that, they only lost one or two men which is quite an achievement, looks like we have a great ruler growing for the next generation ahahahaha!"
'A behemoth?! I've only read about them a bit but from what I know only creatures grown way beyond their normal size are granted that name and usually thousands of people are required to take them down over a few weeks, yet they only did it was about 100?!'
He was exasperated, he was only in the capital for a day, yet he witnessed such a display of strength, the potential of humans in this world was amazing, he burned the sight into his retinas so he wouldn't forget it ever.
After watching for a few minutes, the small army passed, and Seth decided to go on his merry way-
As he did, he felt lightheaded.
'What? I feel off…'
His conscious shook and soon went black.
...…
Soon his eyes lit up and he pushed himself up in panic before grabbing his head.
"Ugh… How much did I drink?"
His mind hazy he took a quick look around and saw debris everywhere.
'Wait where am I?'
"… Oh, right yeah"
He realised after seeing the fallen skeleton near him smashed to pieces.
"Haah, so [Core Overclock] knocked me out, I guess? I thought not being able to use mana was bad enough, but this is even worse, I won't even be able to run away; better not use it unless I know I'd be safe afterwards"
'Anyway…'
Once more glancing at the smashed skeleton, or more accurately the broken shield fragments and the tattered pieces of cloth and metal hanging on its bones.
'Did I have that dream because of that? I'm almost sure of it, that body belongs to someone from the royal army!'
He almost felt sweat dripping down his back as he thought back to how he recklessly challenged it, if it was anywhere near as strong as it was when alive, based on what he knew, he had no chance as he was now.
Seth pulled himself up shaking every now and then, he checked his status and used [Lesser Reconstruction] to restore his missing health and then walked over to his fallen enemy.
'The shield is a goner, armour beyond useless but this-'
He grabbed the short sword that was resting in the fallen skeletons hand without resistance.
"This is good stuff!"