Drake spent the rest of the night in the inn's tavern watching a bunch of drunk adventurers fight. When the sun had risen, he went outside to get fresh air and buy new clothes. His money was running out faster than he expected, and in his mind, he was cursing the knights that lied to him and his classmates about them being taken care of for the rest of their lives. "What a fucking cons." However, he understood that this lie was the only way to keep the students' opinions well about this kingdom.
"Tsk." he huffed, turning around after not finding a tailor shop. He'd been looking all over, but he couldn't find any clothing shops open at the moment. He decided to ask the people for its location. He walked over to a couple of young men standing by the edge of town. It looked like they were waiting for something. He cleared his throat to gain their attention. "Excuse me?" The pair turned around, looking confused and annoyed. One of them pointed at himself with an angry expression.
"I'm asking if there are any clothing stores around here," Drake said as politely as he could. Both of them sighed, rolling their eyes.
"Yeah," The one on the left spoke first, crossing his arms. He wore a white tunic underneath black trousers and boots that reached up to his knee. His short hair was light brown, and his brown eyes looked tired. He glanced at his friend before replying.
"Just go that way." He pointed behind Drake.
"What?" Drake looked behind him, seeing no town. "Where is it then?"
The two boys shared another look before speaking again.
"Just... walk east from your current position." The shorter man shrugged. "If you don't find anything, just head back to where we were sitting." He turned and left, leaving the other man beside Drake to take his place.
"Thanks," Drake said as the other man approached him from behind.
"Clothing shop? I can take you there!" the man said and introduced himself. "Oh, and my name is Ral."
"Drake."
Drake replied. They began walking towards East when Drake heard someone shout.
"Hey, wait!" Someone called, running towards them.
Drake wanted to stop and turn back to see whats going on, but Ral grabbed his hand and pulled him forward.
"Run!" Ral said, taking off down a street and away from whatever trouble awaited them. Drake didn't know what was happening and began to feel suspicious about Ral. However, he decided to play along. Drake ran until he lost sight of the other man and slowed down slightly. He stopped and looked around. He thought he would lose his breath. However, he realised that after getting the system, his body evolved and was much more efficient now.
When Drake looked around, he realised they were in the slums of town, and the bandits began surrounding them. He looked at Ral and frowned, "So this was where you were taking me, huh?"
"Yeah, and that knight almost ruined my plans, haha!" he laughed as he walked toward the bandits and gave them a slight nod. After joining them, he smirked and said, "You know, usually in this situation, we say, give us your belongings, and you will live... However..." before he could finish the sentence, he burst into flames, leaving the rest of the bandits speechless. Drake stood shocked at how efficient his flames were.
"AHHHHHHHH!" Ral began to scream, and the rest of the bandits stepped back.
"However?" Drake sarcastically asked. " he added as he pointed his palm at the small group of bandits and created a fireball.
"Ral brought us a mage?!" the short bandit stared daggers at burning Ral, who was rolling on the ground and screaming in pain.
"And a high-ranked one!" another bandit added.
"Shit! Ral, this is all your fault!" One of the bandits shouted and turned back to run away from the slums. However, soon a fireball hit his back. He fell face-first to the ground, exposing his burnt back to the point that even his backbone was visible and dead.
One of the thugs raised his sword and rushed forwards. With a flick of Drake's wrist, a stream of fire struck the attacker on his side, causing him to fall.
"Fire is fun," Drake smirked. He turned to the rest of the bandits. "Anybody got ideas for escaping?"
The remaining bandits were silent. Cold sweat rolled down their backs.
"Hmph, well, guess I could let you go." suddenly, Drake had an idea. "Do you want to go?" his face turned evil, and a smirk formed on his lips.
They looked scared. "Y.. y.. yes, please!" One of the bandits answered while trembling.
"Do you have money?" Drake asked while holding out his hand. They quickly dug in their pockets and produced four handfuls of coins in total. It wasn't only bronze coins but a mix of bronze and silver, and even one gold coin.
Seeing this much money made Drake gasp in awe. However, the bandits misunderstood and thought Drake was displeased and began to plead. They believed such a high-ranking mage would be a high-ranking adventurer, or even a royal mage, who would see this much money as pocket change.
"We're sorry, we don't have more!" one bandit pleaded for his life. "Let us go!"
"Please! We will not harm another person again!"
"No! Do not kill us!" A short bandit scream almost sounded like a girl's.
All of them pleaded for their lives and continued to apologise. Drake took out his gold bag and all the coins they had.
"Now go!" Drake commanded. They immediately fled from the slums.
Drake turned to look at Ral, whose clothes melted together with his skin. "Auch!" the scene itself looked painful and made Drake frown, and as he walked past two dead bodies, he heard a notification sound in his head.
*Ping*
[Quest complete: First blood!
Quest description: Draw the blood of your enemy.
Claim your reward: SSR gift box.]
Next, he heard another ping, and the notification showed up, asking whether he wanted to turn in the quest now, making Drake chuckle at how similar this was to video role-playing games.
[Do you wish to turn in the quest?]
"Haha! Just like in the games," he smirked and answered. "Yes, give me the reward."
Suddenly, his head felt a little dizzy, and he noticed that in front of a levitating bubble showed and inside it was a small box. Drake reached out for it, and when he took it, the dizziness disappeared, and the bubble vanished.
"This is it?" he looked at the small black cube. "That's not even a box, though."
Drake examined the cube closely. No letters were written on it at all, nothing. Just a plain black cube. He tried opening it, and the next thing he knew, the cube cracked.
"Huh?!"