Owen looked at his hand.
The fact that soul energy is something that he has to live with isn't bothering him at all. In fact, it felt empowering in a sense. Magic isn't a thing in his world, it was natural to be curious and be amazed by it.
He examined the red magic circle out of an analytical drive. His brain was trying to wrap around the fact that what is in front of him is real.
After a brief moment of internalization, Owen cast his gaze upon the panel next to him.
==========
[Firestrike: Level 1] - An offensive type spell that conjures a messy blow of pure flame and terror! It's a spell that tends to scatter, but it packs quite the punch.
Range: Small
Damage: 5-7 (Physical), 0-1 (Flame Damage)
Cooldown: 0 Seconds
Consumption: 2 Soul Energy
==========
*Vhoom..*
[You have unlocked the Skill Tree!]
*Vhoom..*
[You have unlocked extra features in the inventory!]
Owen looked at the panels in front of him and called out,
"Settings." Owen called out in his mind.
Once the settings panel appeared, he went to edit the keywords.
==========
---[Set Keywords]---
[1 - Status Screen]
[2 - Inventory Screen]
[3 - Attributes Screen]
[4 - Armor and Equipment Screen]
[Skills - Skill Tree Screen]
[Appear Using Thoughts - On]
[Appear Using Speech - Off]
[Appear By Sound Implication - Off
[Edit Keywords]
==========
He edited the keyword for the skill tree into the number 5.
Numbers are easier to remember than the words. And if Owen ever forgets what number does what, he could just open all of them through trial and error.
Now that the skill tree is unlocked, it would be natural to check it out.
However, Owen knew that it requires skill points to make use of. Something that he currently didn't have, so there was no point to do so now.
Skill points are only gained after leveling up 5 times. Although you technically didn't level up as you start with level 1, once Owen reaches level 5, he will still receive a skill point. It was something that all players of Garden of the Gods were used to.
"2." Owen called out under his breath. He then watched as a panel appeared in front of him.
==========
---Inventory---
[Woodcutting Hatchet]
[Iron Battle Hatchet]
[Leather Belt]
[Black Scarf]
[Simple Knife]
[Plunderer's Iron Sword]
---Acquired Spells---
[Firestrike]
==========
Owen's eyes showed some interest.
"Strangely enough, there doesn't seem to be a limit to the acquired spells." Owen saw that there weren't slots for each spell.
This wasn't the case in the original game.
In the original game, you start off with only three slots for spells. You can unequip the spells at any given time and replace it with a spell that you currently have.
It made sense to limit the game to prevent an overload of key inputs for every spell. But since this isn't the case now that the world entered a state of realism, Owen could hypothetically use as many spells as long as he has learned them.
"Sadly I can't regenerate soul energy yet.." Owen looked at his dwindling soul energy with a morsel of disappointment.
It used to have 5 points of soul energy to just 3 after Owen's activation of the [Firestrike] spell.
Looking at the red glowing magic circle rotating in his hand, Owen aimed it to the sky and shot it.
*Fwooooosssh!*
===========
[Firestrike: +10 Mastery]
[Mastery Required To Level Up: 10/1000]
==========
The moment the spell was launched, it was like a fireworks display. Although it wasn't that high at all.
"…"
— At the training grounds…
Four trainees were in a line, doing push ups in front of Tiduer. As their instructor, he watched their forms carefully. He walked from one trainee to the next until he noticed a girl whose form was clearly off.
Tiduer held his wooden pole and pressed it down the girl's back. "Lower… You're not going to achieve anything through poorly tied ropes. Your foundation would only stay strong if you went through pain and muscle aches to tie it."
The girl's struggle was clearly plastered on her face. "Y- Yes Teacher!"
"Good." Tiduer nodded as he continued to monitor them.
From the side, the other trainees were amongst themselves. Some were sparring with each other, some of them were stretching, some of them were chatting and some were doing something worthwhile like the male trainee with a dark complexion and freckles who was doing one handed push ups in one corner.
What's more striking about the trainee's appearance was his pale brown hair.
Indeed… This trainee is Oslan.
Oslan was more or less the solitary type because he felt cursed. Cursed in the way that despite his diligence in training, despite his best efforts to keep learning, his body just couldn't keep up.
His strength among the trainees was abysmally low. However, Oslan didn't give up.
His persistence was the only thing that gave him the feeling of importance. Because even if nothing truly works out in the end, he could say that he never gave up.
'Forty-seven… forty-eight… forty-nine… fif- fifty…' Oslan counted in his mind, completely disregarding his exhaustion.
In the middle of his exercise, he heard footsteps approaching him.
Oslan stopped and rolled on his back. The figure was standing before him. Their face was obscured by the sun's glare for a moment before it cleared up, revealing a young girl with red hair.
"Oi, working hard I see?" Riang was casting a shadow as she leaned over Oslan.
Smiling at her, Oslan sat up and exhaled. "Heh…. You know me.." Keenly following his intuition, he could sense that Riang didn't just come to him for no reason. "Are you just here to talk?"
Riang scooted over to his side and sat down as well. "Yep, I'm bored… And because I- I just want to tell you something personal." She felt around with her hair, speaking with a tone laced with hesitation.
Oslan's eyebrows furrowed. "Why all of a sudden?"
"I talked to that guy named Owen.." Riang didn't look at Oslan. Her eyes darted somewhere towards the grass below her.
After hearing the reason, Oslan wanted to say something similar. "Ah, well…" He coughed once. "Can you please tell me that you wouldn't get mad?"
His tone grew weaker as his sentence finished.
"Why should I be? It's not like there's a reason, no?" Riang decided to give way to Oslan first. She looked at him, finding the guilt on his face as strange.
Oslan clenched his fist and knocked it down to the ground.
He wasn't sure whether he should just tell Riang straight away. But because his courage was superior in his internal tug of war, he sighed softly and spoke in a quieter voice. "Just… please.. I also want to talk to you about something serious."
Riang narrowed her eyes. Oslan wasn't someone who acted like a rabbit too often.
"Hmm, fine.. What is it about?" She asked.
"It's just that I happened to eavesdrop on you and Owen." Oslan's eyes locked on Riang's, seemingly expectant and afraid of what her reaction will be.
Riang rolled her eyes inwardly. To think that it was all there was to it.
She prepared her heart to tell Oslan something about herself anyway, so she didn't react out of line in regards to Oslan.
"Is… Is that so?" Riang didn't break away from his gaze. "Huh, you must've learned a lot then? A lot of questions you want to ask about me?"
"How did you-?" Oslan felt like a child whose antics were exposed.
"Oslan, you're like an open book." Riang grinned.
"I- uh…" Oslan was about to make excuses for himself when he decided to give up. "Fine, you got me.."
He then spoke out his grievances. He just felt that as her friend, couldn't he at least be told about something that serious?
"I just don't get it… why did you lie to me about being an Eslahan? I may be incapable in most things, but a secret is something that I can keep.."
Riang placed her hand on his shoulder and pulled him slightly closer.
"Don't misunderstand, I trust you as my friend… And, if Owen didn't tell you yet, I'm being chased down by people that I don't even know for whatever reason." Riang let go of her grasp as she revealed a rare expression of genuine fear.
"It's hard for me to just say those things out loud.. I'm sorry, I'm scared for my life too… and I guess it's my fault for being immature and cowardly that I couldn't even trust someone so close to me.." Riang's voice began to sound fragile around the end.
Oslan's eyes seemed clearer at this moment. He assured her, "Riang, you don't have to explain anything to me.. I'm more than smart enough to understand why you did what you have to do."
Riang met with his sight, her gaze softening.
She heaved a huge sigh of relief.
"Hahh- I've worried too much then…"
Right at this moment, a red fume of fiery sparks rose up from the ground accompanied by a series of crisp popping sounds.
It originated from quite a distance away.
Naturally, Tiduer and his students looked at the bright body of fire in the air.
As youngsters, their attention was easily caught by the small spectacle. It was quite heartwarming, actually… Seeing that youthful flame still burning brightly in their eyes.
A boy leaning on his own training sword spoke aloud in an amused manner, "Woah, is that fire?"
"What else could it be?" A friend of the boy looked back at him.
"I sense magical energy from it.. It's a spell of some sort." A girl said after careful inspection.
Oslan and Riang on the other hand, looked at each other before looking at the dissipating flame. They both knew who caused it without even guessing.
"Alright, don't be distracted! Continue practicing the stances I told you!" Tiduer held the wooden pole in his hands upright. "And you, fix your legs.." Tiduer used the wooden pole to hit a boy's thigh that was holding his position a bit too low with his sword.
"Ow." The boy's face winced in pain as he quickly fixed his position.
As the students continued exercising, Tiduer walked up to Ezella who was admiring the fireworks show just now.
"You taught him fire magic?" Tiduer asked her with a complex expression.
"I sure did. But that spell was more of a gift than me teaching anything." Ezella looked Tiduer in the eyes, her lips lifting to show a smile.
Tiduer seemed like he wasn't in favor of what Ezella did. "Yeah, I can really tell… This Owen guy doesn't seem to be a normal person. I'm not sure if you saw, but I could've sworn I felt that he isn't any good-"
"Are you sure that's the right word?" Ezella cut him off with a stern look.
Scratching the back of his head, Tiduer continued. "- I could've sworn that he is special. I believe he already knew how to use magic and isn't someone ignorant about those things."
"I thought so too… And from what I can see, he's here for Riang." Ezella may look like she's just a nice person. But she is the type to pay attention to her surroundings. "I even asked him about his strength so that I would know if he's a danger to all of us."
"Well, did he say anything?" Tiduer asked.
"What I got wasn't as useful." Ezella sighed, knowing that her attempt wasn't foolproof.
"Let's go back, why would he want Riang? She's the girl who works nine different jobs every day, right? I've seen how talented she is with swords and fighting.. Maybe that's what Owen is after?" It then came to Tiduer's mind that she is indeed special.
Ezella shrugged as she was unsure herself. "She's also quite wise for her age and knows how to cut out unnecessary expenses… I've seen her working in the fields, or on some days, she could be cleaning in restaurants or taverns."
"Actually, there was one time where I talked to her, she said something about managing her savings just so that she could get through a day." Ezella added.
She recalled that time when she saw Riang sitting alone by herself. An imaginary cloud floated above her head as she thought of that scene.
— Sometime ago...
Riang sat down inside the hut while counting coins.
"What'cha doing there?" Ezella looked at the copper coins that Riang was counting on her hands.
"I'm just trying to figure out how much I could spend for the day and how much I have left for tomorrow." Riang seemed to be laser focused on what she was doing.
"Oh, but why are there so many small piles of coins?" Ezella pointed to the neatly stacked coins on the floor.
Riang answered with a tone that somewhat sounded like she was lecturing someone.
"Well you see… I have to allocate ten coins for this day, figure out what my earnings would be so that I can allocate that as well to the next day and so forth. I made a system to organize these by placing them in different days represented by a box that are separated by-"
Ezella stopped trying to remember that memory of hers.
The imaginary cloud above her head quickly dispelled the image of that encounter.
"I really don't like counting big numbers.." Ezella shivered.
"You can't even count that well." Tiduer grinned before laughing at his sister's inadequacy.
"Shut it." Ezella chopped his head with her hand.
"Ouch." Tiduer rubbed the top of his head with a look that was as if he was wronged.
Ezella rubbed her chin and after she seemed to remember something, she snapped her fingers. "Speaking of Owen, didn't Oslan speak to him?"
Oslan's name stood out to Tiduer.
"Oslan… He's a diligent boy but he's really weak." Tiduer realized that he may have said that a bit too harshly. "No no no, I meant that he is physically weak but he doesn't get exhausted fast. I've even noticed that no matter how hard that kid trains, there's barely any improvement…"
"But I can say that he's the most durable. In the five months he's trained under me, he has never gotten a bruise despite the tough exercises I put them under." Tiduer also acknowledged Oslan's good sides.
Ezella turned his head to look at him. "But you're not going to give up on him, are you?"
"Nah, I wouldn't do something like that." Tiduer held the wooden pole like a spear as he fixed his gaze onto it.
"Teacher Jiun told me to never give up on anyone like he didn't give up on me. He taught me all the basics of how to use a weapon and told me to follow my own path."
"Giving up on Oslan would mean giving up on the path that I set for myself. That's the whole reason why I began teaching these children to learn how to defend themselves. I took them in no matter who they were. And Oslan strived to be better. I cannot just abandon his hope like that." Tiduer's eyes looked like a serene lake without any ripples.
Ezella wrapped her arm around his neck and held him close to her.
"Hehehe! Since when did my brother turn into a wise man? Hah? Where's the dork that was standing here earlier?" She laughed quite like a cheeky older sister.
"Haha, alright… you can let me go now. I'm going back to teach these kids." Tiduer broke free from her grasp and was on his way back to what he was doing earlier.
"Just remember, make sure to pay attention to Owen… I'm sure you wouldn't want anything to happen to your students." Ezella shot him an important reminder.
Tiduer raised his hand to gesture that he understood.
Tiduer then clapped his hands together while shouting, "Attention everyone! Let's get back to training! First form quickly!"
After hearing this, all of the trainees, whether they were sitting down or busy talking with someone, rushed in front of Tiduer like ants who caught a whiff of sweets.
Assuming a neat formation wasn't hard for them as they have been doing this for a long time now.
"First form!" Tiduer shouted, his voice was like a deep bell that even Owen from far away had to acknowledge that it was loud.
"Hah!" The trainees held their sword forward with their right leg stepping forward.
"Second form!" Tiduer's loud voice rang out once more.
"Hah!" The trainees simultaneously raised their sword above their heads while taking a step with their right leg this time.
"Third form!"
"Fourth form!"
…
The training went smoothly as usual until it was afternoon.
All of Tiduer's students all left to go home.
"Stay safe all of you! I'll see you guys tomorrow morning!" Tiduer began to wave them goodbye.
He had the same enthusiastic smile on his face just like he went on a summer vacation doing nothing but eating sweet fruits and drinking plenty of refreshments.
His students however, they weren't in the mood to smile. Only groans could be heard as replies from them.
"Ughhhh… my knees hurt." A boy with long curly black hair said as he walked with a back bent forward.
A girl with thick bangs beside him clicked her tongue and responded with a tone of dismay, "What a weakling."
"You say that as you limp while walking." The boy retorted.
"At least I don't complain about it." The girl shrugged.
Not too far from these two, Riang ran up to Owen who was just sitting around and patted him on the shoulder.
Owen was aware of her approach before she could even touch him.
"Hey, we can go now." Riang said while pointing backwards with her thumb.
She then cast a glance towards Oslan who was waving goodbye at her from afar.
Riang smiled and waved back.
"Finally." Owen stood up with a grunt from him just sitting around the entire time.
"What's with the grunt? Sitting around all day exhausted you?" Riang scoffed slightly as her hair waved back with the wind.
"Doing nothing hurts more than doing something." Owen replied.
"I didn't know you had some likable qualities." Riang intentionally made her tone more obvious.
"..." Owen didn't even feel like responding to her.
The two of them went to the town of Wiunlen.
The architecture was quite impressive to Owen who came from a modern world. He wasn't expecting the town to be this big.
Although it was already amazing from afar, being inside the town was a different story.
Why was it interesting?
Owen wanted to ask himself that, but he already had the answer.
After being in Hemptonburg for his entire life, he wasn't able to experience other cultures and appreciate the sights in the world.
That makes the humble town of Wiunlen a breath of fresh air.
Riang saw Owen looking fascinated at the scene.
She gave out a laugh, "Why do you look like a chicken who keeps turning around? Haven't you seen anything like this before?"
"You act as if appreciation is a bad thing." Owen shot back.
"You can appreciate something without looking silly. Now come on, didn't you say you wanted to find a job? I know someone who's looking for a competent worker." Riang began increasing her pace.
"What kind of job is it? If it's to be a farmer, I'd be more willing to do that than to clean sewers." Owen was already trying to ascertain what his situation would be.
"Oh it's none of those…" Riang didn't elaborate at all as she kept it obscure.
"Mhm…" Owen wasn't in the mood to ask any more questions than he needed to.
But to be fair, he was still curious about what the job was.
He didn't have to wait long for the answer when he saw that Riang was bringing him to a construction site.
A short old man with a white mustache sitting above his mouth was ordering the workers with his loud voice. However, despite this, the workers were doing their jobs quite orderly.
"You there! Keep moving and drop down the stone bricks there! We can't build this without proper foundations, move!" Despite being an old man, he had the authoritative attitude that would be reflected by a military commander.
He was totally oblivious to the red haired girl approaching from behind.
"Old man Fritsen, I have someone willing to work for you for just 5 copper." Riang walked up to the old man and announced with a wide grin.
The old man named Fritsen turned around and saw Riang.
"Hrmm." Fritsen faced the two of them and saw that it was someone he recognized. "Oh it's you little girl… and I suppose this man next to you is your ermmm…" He wasn't sure what word to use.
"... Friend? A friend who's trying to find a job?" Fritsen's eyes were carefully scrutinizing Owen up and down.
He frowned the moment he saw that Owen only had one hand.
Under those wrinkles was the face of unconcealed doubt. "Are you sure he's up for this? I'm not the one to discriminate against people like these…"
Owen looked at Riang questioningly. "Is there any other job you could've brought me to?"
"What's with that look? You agreed to take any available job, right? This is what I got." Riang said as if it was a matter of fact.
"Fine…" Owen shifted his attention to Fritsen. "Do you have any tasks for me that you lack people on?"
Fritsen stroked his chin. "There is one… Our building materials are brought here by wagon. However, it is far away from here and the materials are delivered right over to our warehouse."
"There lies the problem. Since the warehouse is far away from here, I asked two of my men to gather as many materials as possible from the warehouse to this place. Of course, I have to maintain the workforce here so that the efficiency stays up."
"Why not just hire people to bring them by horse?" Owen didn't see why they had to do it the harder way.
"The Ichor Construction Guild who I'm working for isn't going to let that happen."
Fritsen sighed as he rubbed his face with a piece of cloth.
He continued explaining.
"Erhmm.. and that's the thing. We have our own horse drawn wagons. It was bad luck that our horses have been struck by disease. And your suggestion of hiring other people with horses to help us is out of the budget."
"I can't just spend more than what's allotted to me. That is why we're left with no choice but to do it this way. If you're willing to help, then that would be wonderful. I'll be generous enough to give you 20 copper as well if you do well." Fritsen gave Owen a gentle nod.
"Ichor Construction Guild? Now where have I heard that from?" Owen expressed his thoughts out loud.
Fritsen and Riang both looked surprised, but Riang had a mix of amusement alongside her bewilderment.
"Aren't you from Silmoun? How come you haven't heard of Ichor Selenkyr?" Riang asked.
Owen's memory was jolted. He snapped his fingers, saying, "Ichor Selenkyr? Ah.. the famous engineer?"
Fritsen laughed, acknowledging Owen's lack of information. "Not just an engineer, he's well… The richest man in Adhaesit. That just means he's the man with the most money in the entire human continent."
"The Ichor Construction Guild is a large superpower that belongs to the Selenkyr Union along with other guilds that is owned by the businessman named Ichor Selenkyr. Basically, the Selenkyr Union is a massive joint force of guilds all owned by one person."
"My group is their branch in Wiunlen. Me and my men's efficiency when it comes to building houses slowed down because of the horses getting sick. They couldn't keep up with the construction schedule of houses, bridges, walls and commercial buildings." Fritsen finally finished explaining.
Owen was startled.
This was never the case before in the game!
Ichor Selenkyr was just an engineer who owned the Ichor Construction Guild. There was never a Selenkyr Union in the original game of Garden of the Gods.
Fritsen was oblivious to Owen's internal confusion and asked,
"So, are you going to work and pull the wagons?"
Owen was just standing still, contemplating what he just heard until a panel appeared in front of him.
It was so abrupt it actually startled him a bit.
*Vhoom...*
==========
[Level 2 Quest: Transportation Issues]
Objective: Help Fritsen gather all the construction materials as quickly as possible. Preferably under four hours.
Failure Condition: Destruction of materials and taking too long.
Consequence For Failure: N/A
Rewards: +5 EXP, +20 Copper Coins.]
==========
The experience gain was lower due to the EXP penalty that Owen received. It was originally 12, but that's just how it goes.
Owen didn't expect to see a panel appear right before him. If he had to be honest, he never expected one to appear to begin with.
He was even prepared to throw a punch because he was startled by it.
'A warning would've been nice….'
Owen didn't know what to do with the wasted adrenaline in his body, but he accepted the quest nonetheless.
He focused his mind on the panel with the intention to accept the quest, and it did… nothing.
'Nothing?'
'Wait what?' Owen tried again, but there wasn't a way to accept the quest.
Riang's lips opened weirdly upon seeing Owen narrow his eyes in the air. She knocked his arm and quietly told him, "The hell are you doing? Fritsen's waiting for your answer!"
"Ah?" Owen then looked at Fritsen who was also unsure what he was doing with his face earlier.
"I apologize for the pause, I am eager to work right now." Owen didn't feel embarrassed at all.
In his mind, he didn't see why you should be embarrassed in front of a person after making a simple mistake. He's just that dense when it comes to social scrutiny.
*Vhoom..*
==========
[Level 2 Quest: Transportation Issues]
Accepted.
==========
'Ah, no wonder…' Owen didn't know what to feel about seeing the panel.
His attention was brought back to Fritsen as he spoke,
"Heh, alright then." Fritsen then shrugged, he didn't care about Owen's weirdness.
Riang raised her right hand to her shoulder's level as if wanting to ask something.
Noticing this, Fritsen asked, "Anything wrong, Riang?"
"That's a bit too generous, don't you think so? 20 copper for someone you met for the first time?" Riang's eyes then focused on Owen.
"Urmh…" Fritsen scratched his beard like he was in deep thought. "I forgot the word, but all I want to say is that, for someone like you who wouldn't trust anybody easily, a person that you recommended shouldn't be treated badly."
He snapped his fingers a second later. "I remember the word now.. you are a cautious person."
"Ahhh, so I have credibility?" Riang showed an expression that meant she understood.
"Exactly." Fritsen nodded.
"That's nice." Riang gave a short response.
"Now then…. " Fritsen turned to look at his workers to find anyone who wasn't busy.
His eyes spotted two men who sat on a stack of wood. They were talking to each other and were even laughing at whatever they might be talking about.
"Those two again...." Fritsen didn't like to see slackers. "Udehr, Cirnt! Come over here and get your lazy bums right this instant or else you're getting your salaries cut!"
Udher was the one who had messy auburn hair reaching his neck with his clothes being a gray and blue colored shirt paired with pants made of a special plant fiber from a strange grass-like plant called Inkhair Weed.
The one named Cirnt wore clothes made of thick wool to warm him up from the cool winds. He also has long hair, so he tied them into five short braids that he again tied together behind his head. It's quite a unique hairstyle.
Braided braids? That should be the term for it.
The two of them hurried over without delay.
"What is it now boss? We just finished our task earlier. We weren't slacking at all.." Cirnt understood that they looked like they were indeed being lazy, so he wanted to defend their innocence.
"Yeah boss, I'm sweating over here.." His shirt's buttons were loosened so that it would let more air in. Indirectly supporting what Cirnt had just said.
"Alright, alright. You still have work to do, so don't waste your words on me." Fritsen pointed behind him using his thumb. "This kid is going to help you two get the materials here faster. Bring him to the warehouse and start transporting the materials here."
"Also, where's the token so that the guards will let you in? If you lose that, you both have to pay for that piece of metal!" Fritsen shot a look towards a Cirnt.
Cirnt sighed, pulled something out of his pocket and showed that the token wasn't lost.
Fritsen gave him a grunt, signifying that he was now assured.
Cirnt then looked behind Fritsen and saw Owen.
"This kid?" Cirnt ran his hand into his hair. He was doubtful when he saw that Owen was missing an important part of himself.
No, not that part, he was referring to his hand.
Owen understood their doubts. "Do not worry about me, it's just pushing wagons. Maybe I can push more wagons than you two if you keep slacking. Who knows?" Owen showed his attitude towards them very clearly.
Although Owen might have sounded rude, Cirnt interpreted it as a lighthearted remark.
"Is that a challenge?" Cirnt laughed. "Alright, let's get to work then. I want to see if you can truly outclass the one and only."
He then started to leave to go to the warehouse.
"Excuse me boss, we'll be on our way." Udher lowered his head to Fritsen as he followed Cirnt to get their wagons.
Owen was about to follow the two when he suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder.
He turned around, and it was just Riang.
"Alright, I'll be out for now. If you want to find me, ask for a red haired person around here. They'll point you to where I am." Riang's tone carried a feeling of ease towards Owen.
Probably because he was 'from' Silmoun and it gave her a sense of familiarity.
Tiduer and the rest always saw her as an overly serious person who doesn't meddle in others' agendas.
"I can see how confident you are just because you're the only one with red hair in this town." Owen pointed to a lock of hair on her shoulder.
Riang fixed her hair on her shoulder as she replied to Owen. "We are in the Eslahai Kingdom. Everyone's hair here is either black, dirty blonde, or auburn. You and I are the only ones who have a strange hair color."
"Why am I weird? My hair's black." Owen knew that he looked at a mirror quite recently, so in his mind, he should've blended in with the people of Eslahai.
"Yeah, but no one here has hair that shiny. If you were a girl, many lower nobles would find you attractive… Sadly, it's wasted on a guy like you." Riang smirked.
Owen raised an eyebrow. "There's a thing like that? Then surely women would find me good looking then."
With a shake of her head, Riang denied. "It's actually the opposite. Here in Eslahai, women don't find men with feminine features attractive."
"So it's just the hair? I can work with that." Owen shrugged.
He then turned to look at Cirnt and Udher who were both quite far away now.
"Argh, I'm getting distracted.. Do whatever it is that you were about to do." Owen ran to catch up with them.
Riang watched Owen's departing figure for a moment before leaving.
As she walked towards her usual job, she thought to herself deeply.
'What should I have for dinner…?' Riang began to count her savings in her mind. She resisted the temptation to buy something for her enjoyment.
— Meanwhile…
Udehr and Cirnt was having a thoughtful discussion as they pushed the empty wagons to the warehouse.
"... No? A dragon has enough space for a structure on its back. If you want to make the most out of a dragon, you should mount a carriage of some sort on its back filled with skilled archers who have the Allsight Archer constellation. And of course, position some knights with a variety of constellations in there as well if it ever gets invaded." Cirnt felt that his idea was almost foolproof.
"We're talking about increasing the attack power of a dragon. People who are actively helping the dragon literally go against that concept. I'm feeling that to make a dragon more powerful, equip it with magical armor and train it to use the gemstones and runes on the armor so that it will become almost unbeatable when it comes to defense and attacks." Udehr made sure to look at Cirnt while he made hand gestures to make his argument more convincing.
Cirnt shook Udehr's hands off his face. "But that's expensive. My plan is the most cost effective and it's the most viable one for war. Yours is just too hard to achieve."
"But it works doesn't it? We're not talking about the costs but the sheer firepower." Udehr rubbed the palm of his left hand using the thumb of his right hand.
As they talked about how to make a dragon stronger, Cirnt heard footsteps from behind.
He saw Owen and was pleasantly surprised, "Hey kid, you finally caught up."
"What were you guys talking about?" Owen slowed his pace down and walked beside Udehr.
"Eh, just about the most effective way to increase a dragon's strength." Udher chuckled. "I know it's a childish topic to talk about for people of our age, but sometimes you have to act like a child sometimes."
"How old even are you both?" Owen could see from their tall stature and built bodies that they should be adults by now.
"I'm 26, Cirnt is 25.. He just became an adult a few months ago." Udehr then pointed at Cirnt.
"Wait, 25 is the age where you're classified as an adult?" Owen was slightly culture shocked.
"Why? Where do you live? That's just how it is here in Eslahai." Cirnt could see Owen's reaction from earlier.
Owen replied, "Silmoun Kingdom."
"Wait what? So you're a foreigner? Tell me, what is it like in Silmoun?" Cirnt asked with a keen smile.
"I'd say that it's alright.. Wiunlen is not that different except for the people's appearance." Owen answered naturally.
"..." Udher carefully looked at Owen's face who looked like it was burnt and his left forearm missing its hand. "Hey…. Your name's Owen, right?"
"Yeah, and you guys should be Udehr and Cirnt.. Why?" Owen narrowed his eyes slightly in a curious manner.
"If you do mind telling, how did you lose your hand and what caused that… thing to happen to your face?" Udehr gestured with his palm open to one side of his face.
Owen looked at his left forearm and exclaimed, "Ah this? I got captured by bandits and got punished for trying to escape. But at the very least, I'm alive and I am free."
"That's horrible…" Cirnt looked at Udehr in the eye and silently communicated with him through eye movement.
Understanding what he meant, Udehr turned to Owen and took something from his pocket. "Here, you need this more than me…" He had a look of pity on his face.
Cirnt also took something from his person. "You can take this too." Cirnt passed whatever was in his hand to Udehr.
Owen took what they gave him and saw that it was 40 copper coins.
'Wow, people here sure are nice..' He found it quite generous of them to give him something this much.
For citizens of Wiunlen like Cirnt and Udehr, 40 copper coins isn't a small amount.
"Are you sure that you're fine giving that off to a guy that you just met?" Owen didn't take it immediately and asked first.
"Why not? If it ends up helping, I don't see anything wrong with it." Udher was still passing it over.
"Same here." Cirnt added.
Owen sighed.
"Alright then, thanks for this.." Owen gratefully accepted the coins.