"So where you are heading?" Arun asked the old man. He figured that while he was at it, he should try to enquire about the old man and find out who this guy truly was.
Without turning around, the old man replied, "Flosina," he said, "Going to my grand-daughter and her family,"
"Oh," he simply replied.
"Yeah. She gave birth recently. I have become a great grandfather." The old man said with a smile.
"Congratulations," Arun said.
"And where are you heading?" the old man asked.
"Lando. I hear that it is rather beautiful this time of year," His words made the old man chuckle.
"What so funny?" he asked, feeling that something was off.
The old man finally turned around and asked, "What batch do you belong to?"
Immediately he jumped up on his feet and jumped out of the cart. Landing on the hard rocks of the road, he did a barrel roll and stood up. He took his axe and got ready to fight. He started hearing the maniacal laughter of the old man, the cart stopped and the old man stepped out of the driver's seat.
The old man faced him, and asked, "Am I that scary?" he said while gesturing towards his axe.
"No." He said, "But it doesn't hurt to be extra careful,"
The old man laughed, "Do you know, you are the first Earthling that I have come across that has a little brain,"
"Stop talking old man," Arun said firmly, "Just let this over with,"
The old man swiftly raised his hands, "Woah woah… I am not interested in fighting. I am just a traveler."
"Do I look like an idiot to you?"
"I am telling the truth," the old man said while putting his hands in his pocket, "Also, if I wanted to kill or capture you, there was no way in hell that you would be standing before me?"
"Is that so?" Arun said in a rather mocking. His whole focus was on the silhouette of the old man. But then he winked, and suddenly found that the old man had vanished, "Yup." He heard the old man's voice from his right side.
As quickly as he could, he turned right while swinging his axe. But a punch from the old man, on his stomach, made him puke and pass out…
When Arun finally regained consciousness, he saw that he was lying in a cart. The same one in which he was previously traveling in. His axe and other things were by his side, visibly tucked in a corner. He sat up straight and went for his axe. While doing so he noticed that there were no sorts of restraints on him.
The old man doesn't want to kill me. That is for sure. And as their is no restraiints.. Either the old man wanted to sell me or he was telling the truth and he couldn't care less about me.
With his axe gripped in his hand, he came out of the cart to see the that sun had long set. And from the surrounding, it seems that they were sitting in a clearing along the People's Road. There was a campfire lit in the clearing and the old man was sitting by its side, making dinner. Not only that, he noticed that the whole clearing was surrounded by some sort of transparent dome.
"Oh," the old man exclaimed, "Awake? Do you want some food?" the old man then gestured towards the food.
He understood that he needed to assess the situation further to come up with a possible conclusion. So he went and sat down by the fire. The old man then passed him a bowl of what looked like some sort of stew. "Here."
Arun was a little suspicious about whether there was something shady mixed in the stew, but in the end, he threw his worries away and dug in. He was very hungry at that moment.
"What is your name boy?" the old man asked.
"Arun," he said, "What is yours?"
"Adam," the old man said.
Wait.. Adam? Arun then looked up, "By any chance… Are you the Platinum Rank Adventurer?"
"So you have heard of me."
"Who in this world hasn't heard about Adam, the Great? The most powerful Adventurer out there,"
Adam scoffed, "Worthless titles."
"Why am I here Adam?" he decided to be direct about it. "What am I doing here? Do you want to sell me or do you want something else from me?"
"Do you believe in destiny, boy?"
Arun raised his eyebrow, "What do you mean?"
"Destiny," Adam repeated, "You know what that means… right?"
"I know what Destiny means. I want to know what this has to do with me…" Suddenly a chill ran down Arun's spine. He figured that Adam was saying that he was his Destiny. The only problem was, he didnt know how he would be able to tell this man that he was into dudes.
Wait, will I be able to refuse? Like… he is stronger than me… So if he wants to do the unthinkable with me.. I wouldn't be able to stop him.
Adam didnt know what he was thinking, and continued, "I was looking to buy an Earthling. For me of course." The old man then pointed up, "Everything under the sky is explored by me. I have even gone to the unhabituated quadrant and come back. I have seen everything and anything there is to see in this world."
The old man then closed his fist, "… But when I hit my current Rank… I thought that there was nothing for me to see here. But then the first batch of Barbarians came from the Spawn City. And they brought promise of a foreign land, to my ears. And I was energized after hearing their words."
The old man then jumped on his feet and brandished his sword in the air, "My sword, which has not tasted blood for so many years started calling for me. And I started feeling young again,"
Arun sighed with relief and then asked, "So what do you want with Earthlings?"
"I want them to point me the way to the next floor, or so you call it."
Arun started giving out a small chuckle, "You do realize that no Earthlings know the way to the next floor. That is why we are stuck here,"
Adam sighed, "I know. Which is why I was thinking of getting someone to join my party. And then together would look for clues to get to the next floor."
To test his luck, Arun asked, "And what if someone can tell you something about the clue about the next floor? What would you give for such information?"
"I know everything that a Barbarian knows." Adam said with a sly smile, "So if you are trying to dupe me, then dont bother."
"You know everything?"
"Yup." He said proudly, "I had a long talk with one of the Barbarians that my friend owns."
"So you know the riddle as well?" he asked, once again trying his luck.
The old man was about to say something but stopped midway. "What riddle?"
"The one that tells Players how to get to the second floor."
Adam scoffed, "There is no riddle…" But stopped midway seeing the sly smile on his face.