Time passed in the blink of an eye and soon it was evening. During the entire day, Eldric kept on waiting for someone to show up to buy some materials, but to his disappointment, there was no one. Not only him, but the other shopkeepers in the area didn't have that many customers. After all, this was a rather rural area, and people who could afford materials certainly wouldn't come here to buy. And, the only people who come to these markets are people who either have been saving for a long time or are in urgent need of materials.
During the day, Eldric was tempted to go into the zone to earn a few tokens, but after thinking about it, he decided against it. It would be bad if someone arrived in his absence. So, the only thing he could do was to doze off.
Seeing the sun slowly setting on the horizon, Eldirc didn't wait to close his shop at the usual time but instead chose to do it early.
After taking back his three Green Bull Horns, he closed the shop and walked towards the closest cloth shop.
Entering it, he was soon greeted by a middle-aged woman with a smile.
"Well, this is a rare sight to see." Seeing Eldric looking around as if he wanted to make a purchase, the woman spoke with a smile.
It's been more than a week since Eldric started working here. So, he was somewhat familiar with the people here. After all, with less than ten shops, there weren't that many people around.
"Aunt Seini..." Nodding at the somewhat obese middle-aged woman with a round face and a smile that almost hid her eyes, Eldric looked around for a bit before asking her.
"Do you have any warm clothes?"
"Warm clothes?" The woman tilted her head before asking "It's still summer isn't it?"
Thinking for a while, Eldric decided to tell her about the map he was going to go to. Even though it was a long shot, perhaps the woman in front of him might give him some guidance.
"I actually accepted a mission in Freezing Tundra and was hoping to get some warm clothes for there."
It was now that the woman looked at Eldric before giving him a nod.
"In that case, I would suggest you buy a Warm Potion. It will keep you warm for the next twelve hours after use."
As soon as she said it, Eldric let out a helpless smile. He would have done so if he had tokens. But with his remaining balance of five, there wasn't anything he could buy at the moment. He could complete a few other missions before buying the potion, but that would be way too tiring. He prefers to undertake a major mission rather than tackle multiple small tasks.
Seeing him smiling silently while shaking his head, the woman understood his meaning before letting out a chuckle.
Walking to the back of her store, she searched for s while before coming out with a long woolen robe.
"For you, this is perfect." Looking at Eldric for a while she spoke further "This might not give you complete resistance to cold, but it will still be enough to block out most of it."
Eldric picked it up, looked at the grey woolen robe for a while, and nodded in satisfaction.
Placing it on the table he didn't ask for the price but spoke softly. "Aunt Seini, this is my first time doing a mission. Do you have any suggestions?"
Even though he had already completed a mission, Eldric was still a complete novice in terms of knowledge. He wanted to know if there was something important that he missed or needed to know.
"Hmm..." The woman thought for a while before poking her head out and looking around. Seeing that no customer in sight, she pointed Eldric to sit at the nearest chair before sitting on the opposite chair.
"Since this is your first time, there are a lot of things that you need to know."
With Eldric now in charge of one of the shops here, she knew that this guy failed to get into any university and had no one to guide him. Thinking about how she had been through the same thing, a sense of pity arose in her heart as she began to teach him some basic knowledge.
"The first thing is to save your tokens." With a serious face, she spoke "You and your teammates might teleport there directly from the zone, but I would suggest you against it."
"After selecting the mission, find the location of the place. If it is nearby, then use the City's teleportation to get there; even if it takes days. But if not, then and only then, use the tokens to teleport."
"The second thing is not to trust anyone blindly.
Remember, you are not completing a trial, but are doing a mission in real life. If you die, then you won't be revived like in the trial, instead, you will be really dead.
So, be careful of the people around you. Even your teammates."
Taking a small pause, she looked at Eldric who was quietly listening with a serious expression, and nodded.
"The third thing is to protect your identity. Remember, not to mention anything personal about yourself. If possible, buy a mask to hide your appearance.
The real world isn't all colors and rainbows like your school. One misstep, and you are dead. There will be times when you have to take action against someone whether you like it or not. So, at that time, hiding your identity will be the only difference between a peaceful life or chaos."
"The fourth and final thing... Buy the potions that have a chance to increase attributes. For yourself... buy the red power potions. They have a two percent chance to increase an attribute by one, so you might get lucky."
After speaking, she stopped and silently took out a small white full-face mask and placed it above the robe.
"Consider it a gift from me."
After paying her for the robe, Eldric headed back home, but the entire time, his head was filled with what she just said.
"Seems like I was too hasty." Thinking about how he was killing those bulls effortlessly, Eldric couldn't help but take a deep breath. It was a good thing that there was no one else who saw him. Otherwise...
He didn't dare to think about it.
But now that he knew the risks, he wasn't going to do something this stupid again.
.
.
.
Reaching back home, Eldric placed the robe and the mask in his room before preparing the dinner.
Looking towards Aria's room, she seemed to be back to her usual self, with no intention of coming out of her room.
Almost an hour later when everything was done, Eldric headed back to his room, put on the robe and mask, and entered the zone.
This time he didn't waste time roaming around or choosing the mission. He had already accepted the mission yesterday, so he just chose the last map before disappearing.
.
.
.
"Again?" Inside the room, Aria frowned while looking towards Eldric's room and sensing his disappearance.
"Is he going to waste all his tokens constantly teleporting to random locations?" The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she got. After hesitating for a while, she waved her hand and took out a small piece of paper. Bringing it close to her red lips, she spoke softly.
"It is time. I need you to do something for me."
With this sentence, she tore off the paper which soon turned to ashes.
"Let's hope you won't disappoint me." No one knows whether she was talking to someone else or Eldric.
.
.
.
.
"It's bearable." Eldric who was feeling a bit stiff after putting on the robe and the white mask, stretched his body.
Looking around, he tried to see whether there was someone else or not. But to his disappointment, he didn't see anyone else besides himself.
Without wasting another moment, he took a step forward and entered the vortex in front of him.
.
.
"This is..." The moment Eldric opened his eyes, he was awestruck by the sight in front of him.
As far as he could see, the entire world seemed to be covered in snow. Bending down, Eldric touched the grass only to discover that it wasn't frozen, but was made out of ice.
"....." Narrowing his eyes, Eldric looked around.
Instead of saying that this place was covered in snow, it would be better to say that this entire world was made out of snow.
From the trees to the grass to the flowers to the ground beneath him... Even the butterflies in the distance were made out of ice.
This all, when reflecting the sunlight, seems to create a surreal world with rainbows and sparkling treasures. And the more Eldric looked at it, the more he seemed to be at a loss for words.
He didn't say anything. Even his plans of hunting and exploring came to a halt. He just stood there in silence. Perhaps, for the people of this world, this might not be something special. But for him, who came from a modern world, always imagining about something like this... It was a dream come true.
Sitting in silence, Eldric didn't even feel the passage of time.
It wasn't until more than three hours passed and his legs began to numb that he stood up with reluctance. Though the robe gave him some protection against the cold, it didn't protect his hands and face which were turning red.
Rubbing both his hands and then placing them on his nose and ears, Eldric tried to give himself some warmth. It wasn't until a few more minutes passed that he stopped and took out the Potion Of Enlightenment before drinking it.
"Behh..." It was a bitter taste, but he still forced himself to gulp it down. After a few seconds, he began to feel numbness in his eyes.
This potion cost him fifteen tokens. Now he could only hope that it works like it says.
After the numbness was over, Eldric looked at the scenery in front of him, deciding his next course of action.
In front of him was a large forest made up of snow trees with no leaves on them. A bit further, he could see the massive ice flowing constantly, giving it the appearance of a river that was made of ice instead of water.
Further away, in the distance, he could see massive mountains reaching as high as the sky.
Turning around, there was the exit vortex behind him, and a bit further was an empty ice land with nothing on it.
It didn't take long for Eldric to decide to take the route toward the mountains. After all, he was here to collect materials, not roam aimlessly.
Slowly walking towards the icy forest, Eldric finally came in contact with the first creature.
In front of him was a small rabbit the size of his palm that kept on nibbling the Ice grass. And just like everything in this place, the rabbit too was entirely made up of ice.
[Frost Hare]
[Ordinary Creature]
As soon as Eldric saw it, a small window appeared in front of him, listing about the hare.
"What does it mean by ordinary creature?" Just when he was wondering about it, a creature, the size of a dog rushed towards the unsuspecting hare and bit it on the neck.
Narrowing his eyes, Eldric looked at the fox which was holding the hare by its neck and looking towards him.
[Glacier Fox]
[Vitality: 1]
[Strength: 1]
[Agility: 1]
Looking at the attributes of the fox, Eldric narrowed his eyes. This was the first beast he met and its attributes were similar to what he had before awakening.
Taking a step back, Eldric readied himself. Bending his body, he touched the ground with his right hand before activating his skill, surging leap, and jumping toward the Glacier Fox.