Owen held the map with his hand and his left forearm. The hatchet was laid flat so that the goatskin map wouldn't fall in an awkward position.
The map was written with oil. From this alone, it seems whoever their client was, they provided the bandits a detailed map because they truly wanted to make sure that the valuables reached them.
It was great that it not only failed, it failed miserably under Ixila's hands. Someone they couldn't take down with what they have.
The sun was now high up in the sky for everyone to see. It's not recommended to look at it directly unless that someone or something has the masochistic desire to burn their eyes out.
Or that they might not have eyes to begin with.
Owen saw the end of the forest. What entered his line of sight were wide plains of grass.
"Finally, I made it out.." Owen heaved out in relief.
He continued on his way.
The map clearly shows a town which was quite far off from the trail of the bandits. Owen put the map into his inventory and began running.
*Vhoom..*
==========
(Debuff) Fatigue-2
(1) Prevents energy regeneration
(2) Slows any type of movement by 15%
Duration: Until the energy bar is filled by half. Condition (1) will only persist if the character does not rest.
(Class Ability Activated)
(1) Continuous energy regeneration
(2) Speeds up any type of movement by 15%]
==========
Owen's brain had adapted to seeing negative effects instead of buffs. Although it was definitely weird to see at first, Owen just treated it as a new feature of some sort.
In games similar to Garden of the Gods, it was a rudimentary skill to be able to move out of danger's way. If you can't dodge and get hit, get ready for a whole lot of pain.
Humans are born with limitations, implementing actions while heavily injured alongside with subpar physical ability would be a challenge. This limitation didn't apply to Owen because of his class ability.
Adding to the fact that the only reason why he won against Ledasdore and Yuhmbir was because he either sneak attacked them, or because they weren't watching out for his knee.
If Owen were to fight Drulg in his current state, he would lose.
And Owen clearly knew that.
He had the ability to judge what his current predicament was. If it was in his favor, why not take advantage of it? If not, just run.
All of those points were the reason why Owen was still alive until now.
At this moment, Owen narrowed his eyes as he used his hand to cast a shadow over his face to see clearly against the sun's glare.
The land that he was standing on top of was an elevated area. Down below, he could see a river and the town that the map depicted.
The town was huge, a 3 meter thick wall with a height of 15 meters surrounded the entire town. Metal gates were built all around it to allow entry or exit.
Guards wearing medium amounts of armor consisting of chainmail, leather padding and some plate armor frequently circled the walls.
They were armed with bows and iron swords. All with the intention to ensure the safety of those who lived inside. In the middle of the town, Owen saw a large towering building meant to provide a place for guards to rest and feed themselves. That meant this town is the territory of a high ranking noble.
"Finally." Owen's expression eased significantly.
He descended from the hill and started walking towards the town.
The only thing blocking his way was a river.
The river was about 13.2 meters wide. It would be a bit difficult for Owen to get through it if he went to the deeper parts where the water would be rushing rapidly.
On the other side of the river, a man wearing clothes made of wool saw him. The man looked to be around twenty-four years of age. He had wide shoulders, large arms and legs. His eyes and hair were black, he had a tall nose bridge and thin lips.
Nearby his vicinity were a bunch of teenagers both male and female in an even formation. Each of them held a training sword made of wood.
The man was relaxing on the riverside as he watched them train.
The teenagers were sitting in a circle as they watched a boy with pale brown hair sparring with a dark red haired girl in the middle.
It was obvious that the boy was having difficulties trying to keep up with the girl.
The girl with dark red hair was easily countering the boy's swings. Her expression was serious, while the boy fought with furrowed eyebrows and clenched teeth.
Suddenly, as the boy tried to attack with a downward swing of his sword, the red haired girl responded with a powerful swing of her own.
She twisted her hips and struck the boy's sword with as much power that her arms can leverage off the circular motion of her footwork.
*Bam!*
The boy fell on his back after receiving the strike. He could feel that his wrists were numb when he received that strike.
The man laughed. "Oslan, what's wrong? Did you trip on a rock?"
The other trainees laughed as well.
"He couldn't even block that? Pathetic." A boy holding his training sword over his shoulder sneered.
"I know right? I seriously can't believe that even after all our training, he's still on that level." His friend beside him shrugged.
The dark red haired girl helped Oslan stand up and glared at them. This shut the two up instantly.
The kid named Oslan stood up with the girl's help as he ignored the receding laughter. He shook his head, pointed across the river and said, "Teacher Tiduer, there's a man over the river."
Tiduer turned around and saw Owen.
Owen was looking at them as well. He had already hidden his weapons in his inventory just to seem less threatening.
Tiduer stood up and grabbed a wooden pole next to him.
He then placed his left hand next to his mouth to amplify the volume of his voice and shouted:
"Hey! Who are you? What are you doing here?"
Owen waved his left hand.
Owen cupped his right hand next to his mouth to amplify the loudness of his voice. "I'm just someone who got lost! I promise you that I have no bad intentions! All I need to know is where the nearest city is located!"
Tiduer seemed a bit unconvinced. But since the person was just asking a harmless question, he replied, "Mysteriea City is the nearest from here!"
Tiduer's students all gathered together as they looked at Owen with apprehension.
Owen nodded and shouted back. "Which direction is it?!"
"Right about there!" Tiduer pointed to the northeast. "If you continue walking in the current direction you're facing, you'd run into it!"
Owen was relieved to hear that.
"Alright then, thank you stranger!" Owen began to cross the river.
It was deep enough to reach his waist. The fast current wasn't helping as well. But overall, it was manageable.
Tiduer looked surprised when he saw Owen walking through the river.
"Hey, hey, hey!" He shouted for Owen to stop.
"Hm? What?" Owen turned to look at the man.
Tiduer seemed a bit conflicted about whether to say what he had in mind. But he gathered himself together and said it anyway. "I'm sorry for being rude but, I cannot let you pass. You look too much like a bandit and it's too irresponsible of me to let you pose any possible harm to my students."
Owen frowned slightly.
He rebutted, "Do you see any other bandits? Why would I go alone? Plus, I got my stuff through hard work, it just happened to look like it belonged to a bandit."
Tiduer shook his head. "How can I be so sure that you're not lying? Your comrades could be hiding somewhere ready for ambush."
He was still suspicious of Owen. He was not willing to take any chances.
Owen scratched his head with his right hand.
This man was just too stubborn.
"You have a real spear next to you. The hell can I do?" Owen pointed to the spear lying down next to Tiduer.
Tiduer dropped the wooden pole and took the spear.
"Fine then, I will trust you for now… But if you try anything, I'm going to stab you without hesitation." Tiduer said bluntly.
It was quite obvious that he was just acting tough.
"Yeah, go ahead.." Owen sighed because of how overly cautious the man was.
Although Owen looked vulnerable right now, he wasn't struggling with the water currents despite how it looked.
Owen had to be careful as well. If the man in front of him had ill intentions, he will not hesitate to pull out his sword and hatchets to deal with him.
He wasn't someone stupid enough to trust someone for his life.
Owen crossed the river and reached the other side with a spear pointed at him the entire time.
Tiduer watched Owen's every single move. If he ever saw Owen reach down for anything in his clothes, he was not going to risk the safety of his students.
Owen reached the other side of the river. He planned to climb up by himself, but surprisingly, Tiduer took the initiative to offer his hand.
Looking up at him for a brief second, Owen grabbed his hand and climbed out of the water.
When Owen stood up, Tiduer could see that there wasn't anything hidden in Owen's clothes since it would be easy to spot a protruding weapon within them.
Tiduer sighed in relief. He held his spear upright and smiled brightly, "I'm sorry I doubted you there, my name's Tiduer." Tiduer extended his left hand towards Owen.
"Owen." He reached out with his left forearm.
Tiduer realized what he had just done and his smile slowly shifted awkwardly. "I'm sorry about that, I didn't realize."
Some of his students behind him chuckled.
Owen laughed in a lighthearted manner. "I don't mind it.."
He quickly looked at Tiduer discreetly. "You seem to be their teacher…"
"Oh yes, I'm a combat instructor here to teach the teenagers of our town to defend themselves using a weapon." Tiduer's disposition was that of a kind instructor who would be more than willing to help a student become a great fighter.
"Self taught?" Owen asked to probe his background.
"No, I was taught by my teacher Jiun Vertesi while I was working as a town guard…. Whenever it's not my shift, I use some of my earnings to fund this small place I own."
"But speaking of my teacher, he's an amazing martial artist who teaches anyone willing enough to put in the effort. He's a magnanimous and wise man. I can only imagine the struggles he went through to gain that much experience." Tiduer seemed very proud as he talked about his teacher.
Tiduer rubbed his nose. "Although I say that I'm his student, it's more of him just teaching random people basic combat skills…. I just happened to grasp the core meaning of most of his lessons."
The person named Jiun Vertesi definitely had a huge impact on his life just by judging from his tone.
Meanwhile, Owen tried to connect this name to anyone he knew in the story of the original game.
'Jiun Vertesi? I haven't heard of him at all before.' Owen racked his memories for any information about the character named Jiun.
"He must be a great man from your words.." Owen replied to Tiduer.
"Indeed, but don't just believe my words, it's better for you to see him in action for yourself." Tiduer gave out a manly laughter.
As the two of them conversed, a woman that had the similar facial features as Tiduer, albeit more feminine, approached the two of them. She was wearing a long wool skirt, so she ran carefully.
"Tiduer! It's time to eat, let's go!" The woman waved her hand towards herself, beckoning for him to follow her.
Tiduer's students looked happy seeing her.
"Sister Ezella!" A girl with short brown hair looked at Ezella with glittering eyes.
"It's lunchtime already?" A gloomy looking boy slumped his shoulders. He was pumped up for training and didn't want to rest yet.
"Ooohh, I wonder what big sis cooked for us today…" A boy with sharp teeth was looking forward to it though.
Ezella smiled at the students. "Don't worry, I promise you all that you will like it."
All of them looked excited. Oslan however, stood there silently and looked at Owen.
As Ezella happened to glance at Oslan, she subconsciously turned around and asked, "Eh? Who's this?" Ezella approached both of them and rested her elbow on Tiduer's shoulder.
The woman was very tall. She was a head taller than Tiduer. That was quite shocking already since he was already around the same height as Owen.
Tiduer gestured towards Owen and said, "He's Owen and he told me that he got lost. He asked me for directions to the nearest city."
"Ah, I see." Ezella's mouth curled up into a friendly smile.
"I'm Ezella, Tiduer's older sister. Why don't you come with us? You must be hungry."
Owen rejected her. "Ah, there's no need for me to do that. I just want to go on with my way, I don't want to trouble you guys."
Tiduer wanted to convince Owen, so he said, "It wouldn't be much trouble for us at all. It's fine, just treat it as my apology for earlier.."
Owen thought about it for a while. It wouldn't hurt him to rest for a while and eat. His only concern was that resting would reset his fatigue to zero, so he has to tire himself out again for him to get the debuff. That goes the same for [Hunger] and [Thirst].
But to be fair, they were only level 1 and [Fatigue] can be regained by just running around without a purpose.
With that in mind, Owen agreed.
"Sure, why not. I'll have to thank you two for your kindness." Owen raised his right hand and ran it through his hair.
As the three started to walk back to a large wooden house, Owen suddenly remembered something.
"Wait, where's my map?" Owen began checking his person for the goatskin map.
Tiduer turned around and tried to spot it from the grass. "You have a map?"
He then looked at his students.
"Hey! Did any of you take anything?" Tiduer's eyes began scanning through all of them.
But his students appeared clueless.
"Teacher, we didn't even get close to him.. It's likely that it fell down the river." The girl with dark red hair named Riang raised her hand and spoke.
She appeared to have a serious and straightforward demeanor. She was also Tiduer's best student.
She was the one Oslan was sparring against earlier as well.
Tiduer sighed. "I'll help you find it.."
"There's no need for that.." Owen shook his hands as if it wasn't a big deal.
He was more focused on the name tags of the people around him.
Owen also noticed that at first, Tiduer's name tag was yellow, but when he showed Tiduer that he wasn't a threat at all, it turned green all of a sudden.
==========
[Tiduer Feos - Level 17]
[Affiliation - Wiunlen Town]
[Skills - Unavailable] (You do not have the necessary detection skill/s to view the following information.)
==========
'For his appearance, he's quite high leveled.' Owen thought to himself.
"You're still drenched in water… don't you feel cold from that?" Tiduer pointed out. He noticed that it was quite windy so he said that out of concern.
"Don't worry, I got this.." Ezella held her palm towards Owen which caused a red and orange mist of soul energy to gather into a circle on her hand.
[Heating Aura]
*Tssss…..* The water on Owen's clothes evaporated into steam.
"You know how to use soul energy?" Owen was actually surprised. He checked out her information and saw her level.
==========
[Ezella Feos - Level 15]
[Affiliation - Wiunlen Town]
[Skills - Unavailable] (You do not have the necessary detection skill/s to view the following information.)
==========
Owen's eyes sparked with surprise.
His attention was grabbed back when Tiduer spoke.
"Yep, she learned how to use magic from Teacher Jiun. Not only is he a martial artist, he can also use soul energy proficiently." Tiduer proudly proclaimed.
"Impressive." Owen replied accordingly.
As the three of them walked back to the wooden house, Ezella curiously asked Owen a question.
"Hey uh, Owen? Where did you come from and why are you looking for Mysteriea City? Looking at you, you don't seem to be doing so well." Ezella saw that Owen was missing a hand and half his face looked like it survived being scorched.
Although he wore armor, they were all in varying degrees of damage. It made Ezella imagine what kinds of situations Owen possibly encountered for him to look like this.
Owen answered with a fabricated story. He delivered it quite naturally, so all of them didn't suspect anything.
"I came from Silmoun Kingdom, so you can say that I am an immigrant. As someone who needs to feed themselves, I need to earn money. My original objective was to hunt down a couple of Emerald Grasshoppers, but I ended up getting kidnapped by slave traders."
"Oh dear…" Ezella gasped and covered her mouth after hearing his story.
Tiduer looked at Owen with raised eyebrows.
Some of the students whispered amongst each other.
"How far is Silmoun Kingdom?" A short haired girl whispered to the boy next to her.
"I think it would take months on foot just to get there.." The boy answered.
Silmoun Kingdom is indeed a true kingdom that existed in the world of Garden of the Gods. That's why Ezella and Tiduer believed his story.
"But how did you end up here?" Tiduer wanted to know how Owen managed to escape.
Scratching the side of his cheek, Owen replied, "Of course, I tried to find a way to escape, but because of my repeated attempts, I lost my hand and I got my face burnt…"
The two of them listened attentively. They felt really sympathetic for Owen. The students also changed their perspective on Owen after hearing what he said.
Riang on the other hand, didn't believe it entirely.
She sensed something off with Owen.
That's what she thought to herself.
"... However, I caught them by surprise one night. I killed two bandits and stole their food, some weapons and armor. After that, I have been traveling everywhere, trying my best to get back home." Owen finished his story with a self deprecating smile.
This made the siblings feel bad for Owen even more.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'd be able to go back home soon enough." Ezella started to comfort Owen.
"I hope so too…" Owen seemed to be distracted with his thoughts.
"Hey, the fact that you're still here is proof that you're strong. Why give up now that you've come so far?" Tiduer spoke up in an attempt to comfort Owen.
Some of the students nodded.
"Hey, what's the name of this town?" Owen shifted the topic into a question of his own.
"Our town is called Wiunlen. We're quite known for our high yields of wheat, vegetables, wool, fruits, and meat." Ezella found the topic shift abrupt, but if Owen didn't want to talk about it anymore, she was more willing to go with the flow.
"This town is bigger than what I first thought…" Owen said while looking at the town from afar.
"It is an honest town. When I was a child, it wasn't this big." Tiduer spoke in a tone that was reminiscing about the past.
When Owen played Garden of the Gods back then, the towns weren't this big. But that's to be expected. After all, you can't hope to run an earth sized game with every entity with their own unique interactions always active on a gaming PC from 2010.
Owen felt that it was logical.
It seems that this world has been scaled up to match what it would really be like in real life. Owen was trying to wrap his head around the idea.
But hey, since he's seen it for himself, it's probably true.
Amidst Owen's thoughts, Riang suddenly asked him, "May I ask where exactly in the Silmoun Kingdom you lived? I want to know more about the culture there."
Her eyes had an underlying glint as she looked at Owen. She wasn't asking a simple question.
"Lerdrom City is my home. What do you want to know about? You can ask me." Owen raised his eyebrows expectantly at Riang.
Riang mused to herself before asking. "Lerdrom City? What music festival happens there during the tenth day of Third Months?"
Third Months is this world's equivalent of March.
"Ah, it's the Horned Owl Song Festival. We eat a lot of sugary apples with bread during the festival with cheese stuffed geese." Owen answered as if he was truly a local.
Riang nodded. "Thank you for answering my question, I don't have anything to ask anymore."
"You're welcome." Owen smiled at her. But deep inside, he felt quite wary.
'This girl…. She's verifying if I was truly telling the truth.'
Owen narrowed his eyes.
Owen was sensitive to certain details.
He knew that her question about his 'hometown' wasn't a thoughtless one. It would've worked to some people who aren't knowledgeable, but Owen knew parts of the stories and customs of Silmoun Kingdom.
This is also because the girl named Riang was different. Much different from all the other students.
In what way?
Owen recognized her name from the original game.
The reason why he picked Silmoun Kingdom as his cover story was because he knew the most about it than other places.
And he was right. Riang was indeed trying to figure out if he was lying.
'His knowledge of Lerdrom City is spot on… However, I feel that it's too early to trust him.' Riang fixed her gaze on Owen. Her eyes narrowed with slight suspicion.
After Riang asked Owen a question, the other trainees began asking him as well.
"Do you know how to fight?" A chubby boy asked.
"More or less." Replied Owen.
A girl with sharp eyes looked at Tiduer before asking Owen, "Wait, can you beat our teacher?"
Owen turned towards Tiduer and shook his head.
"I don't think so."
A boy with a curious expression observed Owen's left forearm and asked, "Can you feel your hand?"
Owen was taken aback by the question. "Pardon?"
The boy quickly fixed his meaning. "I mean, can you still feel it as if it's still there?"
"Ah, no." Owen held his forearm as he said so.
"Hey, that's not a nice question to ask." Ezella scolded the boy.
"It's alright. He just wanted to know." Owen made it clear that he didn't take it to heart.
This went on until they arrived at the wooden house.
As they all entered the large wooden house, Ezella walked towards the large stone furnace with a huge pot containing hot mushroom soup.
She grabbed wooden bowls and scooped up portions for all of the 40 students. They all lined up for their meals and left to find a seat for themselves once they got their soup.
One by one, Ezella poured the soup in each of their bowls.
When the last trainee had their bowl filled, Ezella scooped some for herself and found a spot for her to eat in.
Before eating, Tiduer stood up and closed his eyes.
"Students, let us pray to the Heavenly Mother, Heva'Oern Mlyeht."
They all closed their eyes and clenched their right fist with their left hand wrapped around it as they held their hands close to their chest.
Owen didn't know that Heva'Oern Mlyeht was the one who chewed off his throat before, so he prayed along without knowing.
If he knew, he would surely feel strange.
After they were finished praying, Tiduer sat down and began eating his meal.
There weren't any tables inside the wooden house so they all sat down while eating.
Owen sat by himself in one corner of the house and looked at the delicious bowl of soup. He used his spoon to scoop up some mushrooms for himself.
When he ate it, his eyes widened slightly.
Owen swore inwardly. 'Damn, this is delicious… I'm going to miss eating food.'
His gaze shifted to the door of the wooden house that was opened wide. He saw Riang sitting alone, her view was focused on the river as if she was watching out for danger.
'Riang…' Owen's eyes looked at her name tag above her head.
The borders of her name tag was the color green but the text for her name was blue.
==========
[Riang Beisena - Level 7] (Main Storyline Character)
[Affiliation - Silmoun Kingdom, Thelem Beisena]
[Skills - Unavailable] (You do not have the necessary detection skill/s to view the following information.)
==========
She wasn't part of Owen's original plan, but now that an opportunity presented itself, who was he to reject it?
'Riang Beisena… I still remember your story.' Owen wasn't expecting to receive such a pleasant surprise.
He had a plan.