Abel had been traveling for more than an hour after leaving the eastern gates. The city of Velskryn was surrounded by the Hollow Forest from 3 different directions, with only the north city gate leading you straight to a different area. Although there were a few monsters that tried attacking him, he would simply squeeze his calves indicating for old geezer Gallopington to speed up.
He had named his rented horse old geezer Gallopington, though the horse didn't seem to like its temporary name as it would neigh in protest whenever Abel spoke its name out loud. He had to pass the time doing something so he would talk to the old horse as though the latter could understand him. It seemed like it kind of did though since it had such objections to it's current name but that only spurred Abel to carry on talking.
He told him of his best friends in life, about his aspirations to become super rich so he doesn't have to worry about money ever again, he even mentioned the weird experiences he'd been having lately. Though he didn't go into too much detail as he was afraid of being overheard by passing players or even worse, the game moderators.
By the time the sun was at its peak, Abel passed through the Hollow Forest and finally saw something different.
It was a wide open plain with tall grass and some smaller mountains in the distance, Stormwatch city was located right on the largest mountain far off in the distance. It overlooked the eastern coast of the island and had a large cliff with crashing waves that were slowly eroding the city's foundation. He had read that the kingdom actually reinforced the cliff with magical formations and arrays to prevent the city from falling into the sea. It was much cheaper than relocating an entire city and besides, the city was built there for a specific reason.
Neeeeeeiiiighhhh~
"Fine fine, I'll stop calling you old geezer. How about Sir Gallopington? Sir is an esteemed title that only nobility can make use of. I doubt you were ever ridden by a knight or even into battle for that matter."
Neiighh~
The old horse actually nodded, as though finally pleased with being referred to as Sir. Abel chuckled in response and pat the old horse on its neck. He was just about to speed up his trot when he pulled on the reigns. He spotted something from the corner of his eyes.
'Was that a monster… I hope it's a Wood Viper, but it's definitely some type of snake.'
He got down from old Gallopington and slowly pulled out his sword, he couldn't allow him to come to harm, otherwise he'd lose some coin! If the horse was injured but survived then he would lose a part of his deposit, depending on how bad the injury was.
He couldn't afford to take the risk, this wasn't like the Hollow Forest. It was easier to lose track of monsters chasing you in the woods but it would prove near impossible to do the same on an open plain. Besides, he couldn't keep urging old Gallipongton to keep running fast, the horse was too old and simply didn't have the stamina for such a thing.
'Sturdy Defense'
Just as Abel activated his defensive skill, he saw an elongated form strike out from the tall grass at the side.
Clang
-134
He barely blocked with his sword and slashed in quick response, dealing the first blow to this sneaky enemy. He quickly used the inspect skill to get the monsters stats,
"Inspect"
[Emerald Creeper] (Normal Monster)
Level: 12
Attack: 80-85
Defense: 39
HP: 1000/1000
'Damn it, it's not a Wood Viper, Emerald Creepers are known for their sneak attacks and strangling its enemies.'
-35
-7
-7…
The snake struck again when Abel was taking a look at its stats. It was a high agility and high attack type of monster with decent health but low defense. It specialized in stealthy attacks and wrapping around foes to strangle them while dealing damage over time. He used the same tactic with the Rat King and kept slashing and stabbing at the monster as it tried to strangle him.
-100
-105
-110
-100…
The monster seemed to realize it would lose out in this confrontation so it let go when it's HP dropped down to 50%. Just as it was about to slither into the tall grass again, Abel struck out with his sword skill and followed up with another slash.
'Ecliptic Slash'
-400
-128
*Ding*
+180 EXP
'What an annoying monster…'
He quickly got to skinning it, gaining an emerald skin x2 and snake meat x3. He kept all the loot and planned to try cooking the snake meat to test out his new cooking skill. He had gotten a bunch of supplies such as salt, pepper and other spices along with some skewers. Although his cooking skill was currently at 0% of greenhorn, he was confident in leveling it up quickly. It beat trying to cook without the skill, at least he was confident in making something edible now.
"Alright Sir Gallopington, let's take it slow in these grasslands. Just like you saw, a monster could come jumping out of the grass any second. We should be careful till we get out of the tall grass at least, we wouldn't want you to get strangled to death."
~Neeeiiiighhh
The old horse seemed to agree with Abel and slowly walked alongside him as the latter led him on foot. The tall grass area was a few tens of kilometers but would shorten significantly and give way to farm lands as he approached a small village. The village was beside the Mirror Lake and also named Mirror Lake Village, it was a source of grain for the capital city and had a small garrison of soldiers posted there as both a sentry as well as guards to watch over the peasant farmers.
Abel continued forth for another hour, only pausing to take care of the Emerald Creepers that would pop out every now and then. By the time it was approaching late in the afternoon, he had finally passed the tall grass area and hopped back onto old Gallopington.
"Alright boy, let's head to the village. You can get some rest and some food while I log out to have lunch."
As Abel got onto the horse, he spotted some soldiers patrolling the area, they were tasked to deal with any monsters that might come towards the crop fields and attack the farmers. Although he got a few cursory looks, none of the soldiers stopped them or asked any questions. They were quite disciplined and wouldn't deviate from their orders.
They continued on the dirt path uninterrupted and 20 minutes later, they finally reached Mirror Lake village. The grass on the sides had long given way to wheat fields and other crops growing in the distance. He could vaguely make out Mirror Lake on the horizon, but he was barely seeing its edge as the lake was situated on the other side.
When he approached the village entrance, he was stopped by the guards on duty.
"Halt, foreigners have to pay a toll upon entry. Unless you have an adventurer's badge on you."
'Ah shit, I forgot to get that before heading out. I guess I'll have to get it from Stormwatch city.'
Players would be exempted from paying this toll in their starting city but would have to pay it upon entering a new location with the entry fee being more expensive as the settlement increased in size and importance. The only way to bypass this expense would by showing an adventurer's badge but Abel had forgotten to get one before heading off.
"I don't have the badge sir; how much is the toll?"
"30 copper coins, 25 for you and 5 for the horse."
Abel handed over the payment and was permitted entry. Once he stepped into the village he headed straight to the only inn available and asked the servant boy to feed and water his horse, giving him a bundle of hay and a few copper coins. Once he stepped inside, he asked for a room. After paying another 40 copper coins for a small but clean room, he declined any solicitation for food and logged out after stepping inside.
Whoooooosh
The cascading colors receded after choosing to log out of his user home. He stepped out of the pod and headed to the bathroom. After a quick bathroom break, he made his way to the main house and found Frankie lounging around in the living room.
"I totally forgot its your day off. Did you come back after filling out the paper work?" Abel recalled Frankie heading out with Melissa but when he saw him at home he remembered it was his day off today.
"Yeah, that slimy bastard was pissed but he still accepted our paperwork. I already ate lunch, I wasn't sure when or if you'd come out to eat." Frankie chuckled as he replied, probably reveling in pissing off the sleazy manager.
"If I don't eat, the system will keep pinging me to log off. I'm in the middle of the journey to Stormwatch so I'll fix myself a sandwich and head back."
Frankie waved him off and continued watching TV, he was viewing the gaming channel, probably trying to learn as much as possible about what's happening in Faeron. Abel headed to the kitchen and fixed himself a simple sandwich, he then tidied up after himself and headed back to his room.
Once he logged into his user home, he clicked on the Realm Quest portal and got back to the game.
Whooooooosh
*Ding*
EXP increase +150%, Stamina regeneration +150%
Duration: 59 minutes 58 seconds….
'So this is the buff you get for resting in a bedroom when you log off huh'
The reason Abel chose to log off at an inn was because he was curious about this buff you would get upon logging out in a bedroom. He didn't have a bedroom back at old man Rye's place and he was too cheap to spend coins back in Velskryn, the inns there were much more expensive so he tested it now.
'I bet I can get a longer buff if the room was higher grade or maybe if I spent longer offline, but it's not too bad for 40 copper coins…'
He pulled up his satiety level with some black bread and water then headed out of his room. He wanted to walk around the village and see what it had to offer.
After 15 minutes, he returned to the inn in disappointment, villages really didn't have many things they could offer. Especially since he came from the kingdoms capital city, the village was like a backwater area with a few shops for some goods and even then, that was impressive for a village. It probably had these shops due to the soldiers stationed here and their close proximity to the capital.
'Although I'm sure I can pick up some easy quests if I mingled with the villagers for a little longer, it's not worth it. Especially when I have a much more impressive quest on hand already…'
Once he got Sir Gallopington out from the stables, he cut through the town and left from the opposite entrance, continuing his journey to Stormwatch city.