Volume 01: Start Again
Chapter 16: Out of Town
As I made my way behind the tree man we quickly arrived at the end of the alleyway where we now stood before the large stone wall of the town. As the tree man was about to step out onto the outer street of the town something seemed to stop him in place as he began to stare in front of him as if reading something.
Wondering what he was looking at I also looked over toward the wall until a couple of notifications popped up in front of my face.
[Quest Completed]
[Roots of Nil | Gold Quest]
[The last survivors of Nil are relying on you so they may achieve their freedom. Create a large enough diversion to allow all 47 survivors to escape out of Nil.]
[Reward: +25 Rose Kingdom Reputation, 10 gold pieces, and +5 levels]
I was mentally celebrating seeing this completed quest notification as I knew all the NPCs must have made it out of the town safely. As I was celebrating, I turned to look at the tree man only to notice he was still staring off into the distance.
'I wonder what quest he completed.' Thinking this was the only reason he would be staring off into the distance I just stood to the side waiting for him.
As I waited for him, I opened up my player information to start adding my stats.
[Name: Mikael Walker | Race: Undead Timekeeper (Human)| Core Class: Chrono Wizard
Tier: Jade
Level: 11
Power Level: 246
Occupation: None
Title: Sir of The Rose Kingdom
Subclass: None
Stats|
Health: 210/210
Constitution: 42
Strength: 35 (34+1)
Agility: 34
Intelligence: 125
Mana: 118/500]
Looking over my stats I nodded my head in approval as I was leveling very quickly even when compared to most professional boosting companies and all I did was risk my life multiple times today.
Passing back up my stats with my eyes I looked toward the one line named 'Title' stopping my eyes on this line I looked over it and was excited to see that I now had a small title in its place. After closing my stats, I looked at the tree man and noticed he was petting the cat on his shoulder as he was now watching me staring into the distance.
"Shall…we…go." The tree man spoke out slowly.
Nodding my head in approval the tree man turned and began walking out of the alleyway towards the town's wall. Following the movements of the tree man I walked closely behind him and as we walked along the inside of the wall we soon arrived near the eastern gate.
Looking up and down at the large gate I could not help but feel rather relieved knowing I would be getting out of this place where I was almost killed a couple of times. Stepping through the destroyed gate we walked out of the town.
Still just following the tree man he lead me further out of town as he was following a natural dirt road that lead out of town. As we slowly made our way down the road we arrived in front of a forested area. As we stepped into the dark forest area the tree man spun around towards me.
"I…will…leave." These were the only words of the tree man before he turned and ran into the darkness.
Before I could even say any words of thanks to the tree man he was already completely gone into the dark forest. Staring off into the direction he disappeared into I just shrugged my shoulders and walked out the way we came.
Coming out of the dark forest I could once again see the destroyed town again as large clouds of smoke came from its center. Turning away I walked along the outside of the forest's tree line.
'There is no way I am walking through that dark forest who knows what level a monster zone may be in there.' Shaking my head, I walked along the tree line of the forest heading south as I knew heading towards the train tracks and following them would be the safest option and will guarantee me seeing another town or city nearby.
After walking for twenty minutes I could finally see the southern gate of the town in the distance. Seeing this I knew the train tracks were just southeast of where I was just behind the hill I had stood on before. Moving towards the hill I took one last glance at the decimated town.
*sigh*
Seeing all the destruction I thought to myself, 'Man-gaining levels is no joke no wonder I never made it to my first class upgrade in my last life. I escaped a wyvern, saved 40 villagers, and burned an entire town to the ground, and I only got 5 levels. What is that?'
Arriving on top of the hill I turned to look off into the distance to see the railroad tracks that were now empty. Walking down the hill I made my way over to the train tracks. Now before the tracks, I moved up the small grassy slope and then crouched down to lay my ears over the metal rails. Listening closely, I tried to hear or feel any vibrations within the metal.
'Nothing.' A bit disappointed I got back up and continued west along the tracks following in the direction the train had been going in before.
Following the tracks severed two purposes the first one was protection and the second one was a possibility. Protection due to the nature of the creatures as they usually did not come near the tracks as they knew they may get killed either by the steel monster that was the train or the many players that hid within them. So, with this, they usually steered clear of them. The second reason. The possibility was a bit more helpful as it narrowed down the time of me finding another town or city as the railway was established in each kingdom as a fast way for players to move to other archways that lay near NPC cities. These two things pushed me to this choice as my level was still low and my abilities that could save me were all still on cooldown.
As I walked along the tracks, I turned to look up at the white moon that was lightly illuminating the world around me. It was a beautiful sight and something that was almost impossible to see in the real world. Thinking about the outside world made a sad smile fill my face. 'This was our new world and our new reality. A chance for everyone to have a new life and change their fate.' But having lived through my last life I knew this did not apply to everyone.
As I grew up underground in the outskirt slums of the so-called megacity without any parents I was always at the bottom of the flagpole. I grew up in the underground doing odd jobs for people until I was able to save to take out a loan to try my hand at what everyone called a life-changing opportunity. Thinking back to that time it really was life-changing as my poor background and fate allowed others to bare down on me for the rest of my living life pushing me to be nothing more than a dog. That was my reality but not this life as I was given a second chance to change that stupid fate and for once live for myself.
'In this life, I will stand at the top.' Thinking this I reached into my pant pocket to squeeze my jade pendant, but as I did this, I noticed there were now a couple of other things in my pocket besides the pendent and picture.
Taking out one of the circular objects and holding it before me I could not help but smile as the moonlight glistened off the gold coin in my hand.
'Good I will need some money if I plan to get to the capital quickly.' Thinking this I stuffed the coin back into my pocket and continued down the tracks.
Still following the tracks, I walked for another two hours with nothing more than rolling hills on either side of me.
'How boring. At this rate, I am going to end up sleeping near the tracks if I don't find anything in the next couple of hours.' Rather annoyed by the absence of civilization I was about to give up and just lie on the lower part of the grass slope until I felt a slight buzzing of the tracks below me.
Feeling this, I immediately got excited as I knew a train was coming toward my position, but the more I thought about it the more my idea seemed to be stupid.
'How the hell am I going to get onto the train? There is no way it will stop for me as it is going too fast, and I can definitely not jump onto it as the impact would most likely kill me.' These thoughts flowed into my head my previous excitement was instantly extinguished.
'Think. Think. Think.' Rubbing my hands against my head I tried my best to come up with a solution.
*vrrrrrr*
Off in the distance behind me, I could hear the sound of the incoming train roaring into the darkness.
'Fuck me.' Turning to see the large front light of the train I knew I was running out of time.
*bvrrrrrRRRR*
'I have no idea.' Looking at the speed of the train coming in the distance I merely shook my head and hopped off the tracks. Sliding down the side of the grassy slope I just stood off to the side of the tracks watching the speeding train whiz by.
*BVVRRRRRRRR*
*SWOOOSH*
The train passed right before me and the only thing I could do was watch. I just looked on at it as the many lit windows zoomed past.
*SWOOOOOSH*
*BRRRrrr*
The train sped away leaving nothing behind for me besides the slight cold wind its speed had brought with it. Watching the train speed away into the distance I could not help but shake my head at how idiotic my idea had been thinking I could just catch a ride on a train in the middle of nowhere.
Climbing back up the small slope I got back onto the train tracks and continued my boring journey west. Still, nothing for the next hour as my surroundings remained lightly lit rolling hills and the only thing creating any light was the moon.
*CRSHHH*
Slowing my steps to turn my head in the direction of the loud noise I watched in case of anything unexpected. Stopping in place on the tracks I began to stare out into the dark fields to try and gauge the situation as I could now see smoke rising into the air from the distant patch of trees.
Bending my neck forward I tried my best to see anything in the trees, but I couldn't. The most I could see were the dark hills at the entrance of the tree line. Giving up on the search I turned and began walking down the tracks again.
"AHHHH! HELP! HELP ME!" A loud boy's voice screamed out from the direction of the previous loud noise and smoke.
Hearing these words, I now knew the sound I had heard earlier must have had something to do with the sound of the boy. Thinking about all the situations the person could be in I stopped looking in that direction and continued back down the tracks.
'Not my problem.' Pretending not to hear anything I continued down the tracks as I did not want to be dragged into anything that may get me killed or worse marked by some large organization. So, minding my business, I kept walking.
"Pleaseeeee…someone…HEllllp." Listening to the words of the boy becoming muffled and quiet I now knew my previous thoughts were correct and the boy was being abducted.
'No shot.' Once again ignoring the cries of the boy I continued on the tracks. That was until I heard some screams coming from the area behind me where I had heard the boy screaming.
"YOU THERE HELP ME. PLEASE. SAVE ME." The cry of the boy now sounded awfully close to me as I heard him coming from behind me.
'No please no.' With an ugly look came over my face almost instantly as I turned to look over my left shoulder. Peering over my shoulder I caught sight of a little boy running through the grass fields towards me.
Looking past him, I could see he was being closely followed by a single dark figure in black armor.
*sigh*
'Maybe I should have just tried my luck and jumped at the train.' Watching the small boy run directly for me I could not help but shake my head at the sudden situation.
As the pair closed in on my position, I could now see that the little boy was a human while the shadow that was chasing him seemed to be of the frog race. Analyzing the dark armor of the frogman and the little boy I now knew whatever was happening was very important as the only thing on both the frogman and the little boy that drew my attention was the large rose insignia that was on the boy's chest.
'Rose Kingdom.' This was the only thing I thought as I watched on from the top of the tracks.
[Instance Quest Found]
[Save the 5th Prince | Diamond Tier]
[The 5th prince of the Rose Kingdom is under siege and is being abducted by a mysterious organization. Save the 5th Prince and return him to the Capital of The Rose Kingdom safely.]
[Reward: Unknown]
[Failure: Death of the 5th prince of the Rose Kingdom and a possibility of being charged with the murder of the prince.]
[Accept]
[Decline]
'Decline.'