Four hours.
That was the time they spent IRL to eat and sleep before logging into Horizon Online again.
Day cycle had arrived in the game, a perfect time to explore the new city.
Rudina City.
It was easily 10 times bigger than the Newbie Village, although the layout of the city was no different with that village. But the area was packed full with people.
Like most of the cities, Rudina had three layers with the outer layer being the biggest with most public facilities available. As it was the safest location for the players to stay in during night time, most of them stayed on this layer.
There were the middle and inner layers too, but they were strictly for residential houses and Nobles, respectively. Only important people or players with sufficient reputation could enter there.
Aside from this, Rudina was pretty normal. The city was made with concrete and bricks. The roads were straight and connected to each other in a grid-like shape while there were houses made by stone and woods located near the walls to cover up the empty spaces in between them.
What distinguished Rudina from the Newbie Village was that it was a city full of players and had more facilities that included bars and cafes.
On the sides of the road, Blacksmiths where they could buy higher level weapons and armors as well as a clinic in case players had sustained heavy injuries could be seen. There was also an auction house located in the center of the outer layer to trade with other players.
Naturally, not all locations were opened yet. For example the auction house. It would only open three days into the game. Players couldn't buy or sell anything yet for Nar in the auction house right now.
"Wow!" Ferin exclaimed as she walked beside Atlas, looking at everything while they walked around aimlessly. "We just logged out for 4 hours and there are many players reaching level 10 already! Looks like there are a lot of ambitious players around this time."
"Well, this game is hyped after all. And it's also advertised by famous streamers." Atlas answered, looking around. "Besides, it's quite normal for those people to reach level 10 in 10 hours. The EXP needed to reach level 10 is low. The real challenge is reaching level 20."
"Class advancement." Ferin nodded in understanding.
"Let's just enjoy our day off and explore the city first." Atlas walked a little faster and spoke, "While we're at it, should we find a hidden quest for my Class advancement? You are already settled with that silver hay, after all."
"Hmm? Are you going to become a Poison Mage like before? Or do you have something in mind?"
Atlas thought for a moment, contemplating about what would be better for the future, and decided to speak his mind.
"Poison Mage is good and I can advance it to Corrosion Mage in the future. However, that play is too risky and I don't like it too much. I was thinking of getting something more all-rounder this time."
"Is it that class?" She looked at Atlas excitedly, her ears twitched in anticipation. "The one that bastard has?"
Atlas nodded his head in affirmation and spoke, "Yup. I'll become that. We will be able to cover each other better with this. Besides, only one person can get that Class, so it's also to spite that bastard."
Ferin laughed boisterously upon hearing the last part of his answer while Atlas continued talking.
"Great! Let's find the hidden quest for your class advancement. Screw leveling up, you need that class!"
Indeed, they had all the time in the world to level up. They also didn't need to get all the 'First' titles because two of the most important ones were already theirs. This was still according to the plan.
The problem was…
"I have no clue how to get the hidden quest." Atlas said as he hummed in trouble.
Unfortunately, their relationship wasn't really good where they could exchange the details of their hidden quest. All he had was a clue when that guy bragged to him.
"I only know that he stumbled upon this NPC when walking around the slum to find a hidden quest."
"Ah, when he mocked you. I remembered he said, 'Go to the slum and try your luck like me, hahaha!'" Ferin imitated the man they talked about, making her voice lower and more annoying than usual.
"Hahaha, that's how he said it, yes." Atlas laughed and they began to walk to the said slum.
No matter what happened, he had to get this unique class advancement. After all, it was really strong in the long run and, once again, he wanted to spite that man too.
They walked around the outer layer slowly with a few stops here and there. Once they arrived at the slum, they went deeper and tried to talk to every NPC they found, but nothing worked.
It was hard to find a certain NPC when they didn't even know where to look or what to look for.
"Dammit." Atlas cursed in frustration after they failed for the 9th time. "Why do I feel like I'm playing an adventure game in an unknown world now? Finding one NPC among hundreds in the slum and triggering the quest is just... I don't know. Isn't this impossible without a God level luck?"
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Ferin replied, patting his back as she sighed in exasperation. "What's their requirement for triggering the hidden quest anyway? Is it just RNG? Or do we need a certain item like when we got Elder Jie's quest?"
"Haa, if only that guy could brag more. This knowledge would be ours and we could get many things without experimenting." He groaned, thinking about his past life and how stupid that man was back then, "Let's just level up now. We can just come back later if we're lucky enough."
"Un, agree." She nodded with a cheerful smile on her face, "My nose is about to bleed from this pungent smell in this slum. It's disgusting!"
Atlas agreed with her words, especially the last part. The slum had a disgusting smell with smoke from the houses and the shit from people they walked past by. Even Ferin couldn't stand it, so Atlas couldn't imagine how he would feel if he had her sensitive nose.
They left the slum and went to the outer layer's park where there were more people around and smelled much better.
"So, what's the plan now? Do we leave the city or get a quest?" Ferin asked as they stopped to decide their next destination. "I have no problem with anything, At."
Atlas thought deeply and responded to her, "Let's get some quests. We need money to buy higher level items after all. I also want to explore more places and try fighting other monsters."
"Alright! So, going to the Hub? The Guild Hall in the middle layer?"
"Let's visit the Hub."