'Man, this is so awkward.'
Currently, Kai and the young teen were walking through the streets, making their way to the Adventurer Guild.
Kai wanted to run there, but unfortunately, the streets were too busy.
"I'm Ruvyn, by the way. And uh, thank you."
"Mhmm." Kia nodded.
"So Ruvyn, did you try to stay at the inn?"
Kai already figured that was what happened. After all, why would Floo go out of his way when people came to him?
Ruvyn had a grim face, "Yeah, I mean, the price was just so low. I thought it was too good to be true, and well. It was. You see, I came to this city because I heard it was a good place to start leveling up."
Kai didn't respond but nodded.
Only a few minutes later did they arrive at the Adventurer Guild. Walking through, Kai barged through the line with Ruvyn behind him.
The adventurers in line looked pissed, and every one of them was gonna tell Kai off, but before they could, Ruvyn spoke, "There's a dark cultist in the city!"
Everyone who heard what Ruvyn said went silent. The receptionist even went pale, clicking a button on the desk, a door from upstairs flung up.
A big macular man walked out; he had short black hair with a long beard. Scars covered his body; his left eye was closed, while his right brown eye started down at Ruvyn. The middle-aged man was wearing a fur chest piece with sharp spikes protruding from his shoulders.
He also wore fur gauntlets with the same black spikes. His legs were covered in a dark leather material. A long fang hung around his neck.
Kai's first impression was, 'He's strong, real strong.'
Looking at the fang to the fur, Kai noted it all probably belonged to the same creature, besides the pants.
In a deep voice, he asked, "What did ya say? Boy!"
Shaking slightly, Ruvyn repeated himself, "There was a dark cultist."
Ruvyn wasn't scared of the man. He just couldn't breathe properly with his aura.
"What do you mean 'Was'?" The guild master asked.
"Ahh, y-you see, this guy killed him," Ruvyn said while pointing to Kai.
'This is wasting time.'
Sighing, Kai spoke before the guild could, "Yes, I killed him. There are still 19 people who need help, they were all captured by him, and some are too injured to walk."
Hearing Kai, all the people in the guild looked at Kai in a new light; it wasn't easy to kill a dark cultist, especially alone. Dark cultists don't care for their own life, so fighting them can be extremely hard and dangerous.
Rubbing his bread, the guild master spoke, "'Dream Walkers' follow these lads to the dark cultist base and help them."
'Dream Walkers' refers to a party; each of the five members is mid-tier 1.
Because the guild master himself told them to go, they couldn't say no. If even the guild master didn't ask them, they would have offered to go anyway; each one of them hated dark cultists and wanted to help the victims.
"Follow me." Without another word, Kai turned around and headed toward the Horse Inn.
Quickly following him was Ruvyn and the 'Dream Walkers' party.
Kai wasn't trying to be rude, but there were people needing help. Sitting around chatting was only wasting time.
The 'Dream Walkers' caught up to Kai and asked about the situation.
Kai briefly explained that he killed the cultist, and 19 people were injured. Kai avoided the fact that Floo mistook him as a 'brother.'
'Dream Walkers' was a party of five; two were girls, while three were boys. All of them looked to be around their early twenties.
Each was equipped with long robes that scraped the floor. Each robe was a different color, but they all had an emblem of a man leaning on a tree, with stars above all inside a circle.
Kai couldn't see any weapons, but he was sure they had many.
As they followed him, Kai noticed one of them was in the lead while the others stayed behind him.
He looked to be around twenty, though Kai couldn't pinpoint his actual age. He was wearing a long red coat, with black clothes under it. He had long brown hair and brown eyes that shined with youth and power. He also had long, pointy ears. He was an elf.
'Might as well try, {Inspect}.'
{Rathal Inaven}
{???}
'? I didn't expect them to be at a high level, especially in this city.'
Kai hurried through the streets, arriving at the inn. Without saying a word, he entered, going for the first metal door.
The rest followed quietly; no one had said a word since Kai explained the situation. Descending the stairs, the members of 'Dream Walkers' shared a look, feeling the heavy aura around them.
Arriving at the cell, the 'Dream Walkers' moved quickly to help the injured.
"Edea, this one needs healing!" Rathal motioned for a girl in a yellow robe.
She had long blonde hair and green eyes full of determination. She, too, wore black clothes under the robe. Equipping a staff out of nowhere, she used a spell that caused a small white light to appear on the boy she was helping.
'If she's a healer, I wonder what the others are. Also, those robes can't be normal. Maybe they are made of some unique material.'
Kai couldn't believe a party of tier 1's would use normal clothing.
After a while, the 'Dream Walkers' managed to clear everything up.
Rathal walked up to Kai, "Thank you for your help. We've got the rest covered, but I've got to say I'm surprised; I've never seen such a young tier 1 before. What's your name, kid.
Kai wasn't surprised they knew his level. After all, if he used {Inspect} on others, it would make sense for them to use it too. What did surprise Kai was that part about being a tier 1. But why did he ask for my name? If he used {Inspect}, he would have seen it.
"I just got lucky in both finding this place and getting to tier 1. I managed to catch the dark cultist off guard; otherwise, I would have been in that cell too. Oh, and I'm Kai, a beginner adventurer."
Rathal raised an eyebrow, "Beginner? Haha. Are you not part of a party? You know dungeons only get harder; it's best to build trust in a party early on. I'm Rathal, by the way, leader of 'Dream Walkers.'"
"Mhm. I'll think about it."
Of course, Kai didn't want to join a part; he only said that to stop Rathal from bringing it up more.
During this time, Ruvyn was also healed by Edea; after being healed, he sat in a corner watching Kai.
Kai thanked 'Dream Walkers' one last time before leaving; he couldn't help out anymore. He also had to find a new inn now.
Leaving the Horse Inn, Kai wandered over to the bakery he found the previous day. Walking in, he saw a large glass case going from the wall to a door on the right side.
Many small planets were used as decorations and even a small black couch.
~Ding~
A bell rang as the door behind him closed.
"Welcome"
A quiet voice came from the wall behind the glass case. Walking through the back door came an old lady wearing a pink apron.
"How can I help you, young man?"
"Uhmm"
Looking around, Kai didn't know what to get.
There were many different kinds of bread, cookies, and pastries. Kai wasn't sure what was good.
The old lady smiled, seeing Kai indecisive, "This must be your first time; I recommend this bread here."
Pointing down to a loaf of bread with three marks across the top. It had a golden color with a sweet aroma.
Looking at it, Kai had to admit it looked good, and he didn't know what else to get.
"I'll take a loaf then."
The old lady took it out of the case and put it inside a plastic sleeve.
"It's called sun bread, dear, and it will be 15 copper coins."
Giving her the money, Kai once again felt like he'd been robbed.
Thanking the old lady, he left.
Taking a bite of the bread, Kai couldn't be mad. It tasted like the sun berries the farmer gave him; it was delicious.
'Maybe I'll try a different bread next time.' Kai thought with a smile.
Checking the time, Kai wondered about looking for an inn.
{1:32}
'Graveyard Inn'
'What is with these inn names?' Kai thought, looking at the brick building in front of him.
Unlike the other brick building Kai had seen, this one was dark brown instead of the usual red.
The inn was close to the 'Tombstone' dungeon, which was also close to the Bakery and Adventurer Guild.
Walking in, Kai could feel the air turn cold, not a dark cold but like a summer breeze.
The lobby was dark with little light but enough to know where you were walking. There were a few chairs made of some white material that resembled bones.
"How much for a room?" Kai asked the ghostly white man behind the counter. He had greasy black hair with bags under his dark blue eyes.
"10 copper coins a night, including breakfast."
'Not too bad; I'll only need another week here.'
Taking out 70 copper coins, Kai handed them to the man.
"I'll take a room for a week."
~Cling~
Grabbing a key from his desk, he handed the long black key to Kai.
"First room on the right, down the hall."
Thanking the man, Kai looked to his right, entering the hall. The hall had gray brick walls and a black carpet, and many candles were lit on the walls.
Opening the black door, Kai was happy to see his room almost double in size. A long white bed was in the corner from the door.
Walking in, Kai saw another black door to the left of the bed.
Entering the door, the room was small, with lit candles in the corners and on the table across from the entrance. A large metal tub similar to the one back in the Horse Inn though slightly bigger, was located to the left.
On the wall above the table was a large mirror.
Overall satisfied, Kai got the tub ready for a quick bath before heading out to the Adventurer Guild.