After a bit of a shopping splurge, the burlap bag that Zero carried now felt a bit lighter as he transferred the remaining gold coins into a smaller black velvet purse. Which he tucked away inside his clothing.
He wore a black tactical scarf which was wrapped loosely around his neck which increased the duration of dark related abilities by +15%. He had also swapped his beginner tunic for a more decorative dark blue one with better physical armor attributes that came with black pants with hidden holsters for weapons.
And of course, he bore the Shade's Helm on his forehead which helped cropped his stark white hair back some.
[Armor: Shade's Helm
Grants the ability Shadow Walk. User will be able to move between shadows undetected. Ability will end if damage is received.]
"We should have enough left to last us a bit." Zero stated as he looked over to Kai.
He had traded out his black cape for another one of the same color that had slight gold trim , but also had a hood to it that he could use. It increased his agility by 10% during the day and by 20% at night. They also went to a healer in town as he was still kinda banged up with his broken ribs from the fight with Askook.
But he didn't want to splurge anymore than that as dragon eggs didn't just land in their laps everyday.
"Yeah." The two stood just outside the gate after having the seals on their hands removed by the guards. "I guess the issue now is, where do we go from here?"
Zero waived his hand to open his HUD and went to his map. The map only showed what they had discovered so far, so the rest was mainly blank.
"Is your map more filled out than mine?" He asked Kai.
Kai brought up his map as well and sure enough, there was more mapped out than Zero's. But not enough to be helpful unfortunately.
"Are you trying to find the next settlement?" One of the guards asked from several feet away.
"Yes. Can you provide any guidance?" Kai answered as he turned to the man.
The guard walked towards them and then pointed to the trail leading basically Northwest. "Well, if you take the road that way you'll eventually hit a small town that is known for their famous forge, Haven Falls. But players like to revisit this place for that very reason, so might not be the best choice."
He then pointed to the trail on the opposite side that was veered to the Southeast which was almost in the direction they came from prior.
"That road will take you around the Midlands, but the next city is at least 2 days walking from here. However, that would be Bravia City which is the host city of the Champion Cup. But that's not usually held until later in the game cycle."
Game cycle? Zero thought.
Kai rubbed his chin as he thought about the two options. Meanwhile, Zero was pondering about the Champion Cup. That has to be some sort of tournament players can fight in, he thought. I'm sure that red headed player Eva would be there..
Zero felt like he needed to see her again and ask her how they knew each other - something was clawing at him that this was somehow really important.
"I think...we should head to Haven Falls." Kai said.
Zero raised an eyebrow. "Why not Bravia City? Would a forge really-"
"It could be a great time to get you a dagger crafted until you have a more offensive system option."
Zero felt like an idiot - while he was thinking about some other player, Kai was thinking about him. With a specially forged weapon he could finally hold his own in a battle. And they had the money to do just that.
"We could always go to Bravia City when the Champion Cup starts. Which is?..." Kai trailed off looking at the guard.
"In 3 months time." He stated.
"Yeah. In 3 months."
Zero nodded. "I agree. Let's go to Haven Falls."
Kai thanked the guard and the two headed Northwest down the dirt trail. As they disappeared from sight, the guard's partner bumped him on the shoulder as he retook his post.
"Oi, why didn't you warn them about the Marybell Flowers down that trail?" He questioned. "They probably would wanna know about that."
The guard shook his head. "New orders from above - we're not to warn them anymore. Something about they want to keep the player population under control or something."
"Well. I don't envy them."