[IC] Elder Tale. (Sanquin / EveIris)

[EveIris]

Kali blinked not really catching on with what the issue was. "Yeah the same room, it'll be cheaper since they are charging money for it." She was completely fine with sharing a room since there was a period of time where she and her younger brother had to share a room. It was inconvenient since his room had a nasty leak. It was only for a night though so she was sure Alakai could handle it. "It's fine, we shouldn't have too much of a problem unless you try to something." She said before turning her attention back to the inn keeper. "We will take one room then, two beds. Oh yeah I have these spider legs, hairy things. Can we sell them?" she asked him though he laughed. "Of course, any vendor can take those items off you, however do take note that there are some vendors that'll pay more for a item when it can be of use to them. There's also a auction, you can put up items for other players to buy and online market whereby you can put items up for sale for other players to bid or purchase them, especially rare ones." He explained, Kali had pretty much gathered that information when she first started playing but she still thanked him.

Since the spider legs were useless to her she figured it'd be the same price everywhere else. "Hey, want to sell your stuff now?" she asked him. She figured she'd get about maybe 50 gold from it, it would be enough for a room and maybe a few drinks.

[sanquin]

Alakai gulped, but then slowly nodded. She was fine with sleeping in the same room, so he was too. What kind of guy would refuse something like this, after all? "O-of course I wouldn't do anything..." He mumbled softly, still not sure how to think about the whole situation. Though the subject was then quickly changed to their items. They had spider legs to sell. Not worth much. Only 1 gold each. But it would at least cover their stay at the inn for the night. "That sounds good. We probably can't get a better price for the legs anyway. The other items we can sell in better places though. The silk we could sell at the tailor, for instance. Or we could save them for you to make something."

Once the exchange was made Alakai ordered himself a bottle of mead. He had never really liked beer or wine. But the taste of honey in mead was great. Then again, the drinks didn't have any taste. Just like drinking water. So it didn't really matter what he ordered. "Let's have a few drinks first. We can go over what we'll be doing after resting in the mean time. As right now, we probably have three different area's we could visit. Two of them being close together." He knew of a goblin camp close to the lake to the north in the mountains. The enemies there were stronger than the goblin scouts they had encountered earlier in the forest. Between level 15 and 18. So around their level. Which meant they could farm them for a while with ease. Plus in the game there were several quests for the area as well. Two involving the goblin camp itself. So with a bit of luck he could get to level 20, and Kali to level 18 at the very least. Maybe more if they worked on it for most of the day. And then there was a partially submerged cave on another side of the lake which could give good loot and also had a quest or two. And once he was level 23 they could go to the beach town of Buka to the west or travel even further. As the places to go grew exponentially after level 20 to 22.

[EveIris]

Kali quickly took out her spider legs and handed it over. With the money she got she then purchased a room. The inn keeper gave her a set of keys thanking them for their patronage. Placing the key into her inventory she nodded to him. "Keep the silk, I think I can use it to whip up something it'll help me level up my sewing too. Eventually the stuff I make if we can't use we can sell." She said knowing that was one way to make easy money. They would get more compared to just selling the silk alone. She ordered herself some beer though she was greatly disappointed when there was no taste. At least it was cold and refreshing, something that she was most grateful for considering how they had been out all day.

"Alright, let's go that tomorrow. We'll leave early in the morning, I think I'm going to go full healer. Figured that it would help you more, besides me going damage will only be if I'm alone. As long as you don't decide to ditch me, me spending all my mastery points for heals shouldn't be a problem." She figured that eventually they would join a guild so her being a full healer would be useful in dungeons and large raids.

[sanquin]

Once they sat down Alakai started explaining his plans for when they woke up. "So, I was thinking we should go to the lake up north. It's around level 15 to 18 there. Two small area's for level 20 which we can avoid at first. We can hopefully do some quests for a goblin camp there, or head to a partially submerged cave system. Lastly we could go deeper into the forest. I don't know the exact location, but there's an area with level 17 to 19 corrupted ents that drop a good amount of early crafting materials and about 15 to 30 gold each. What do you think?"

He wasn't entirely sure which one he preferred. At the lake they could rest with a nice view on the shore, and the area gave better exp because of the quests. But the ents dropped silk and enchanted leaves for Kali's tailoring, and tree sap and berries for his cooking skill. Training their professions would help them in the future with faster leveling. Or they could first become higher level, then return to the ents to farm them far more quickly.

[EveIris]

Kali nodded as she drank from her glass. She thought about it for a moment however she figured that it would be possible to do two of them. "I know, we can do the quests for the goblin camp, it'll help us level up, not sure if you're aware of this but I know that the ants are are more active at night. It's almost double compared to the ones during the day. We can just go there during the night and collect the crafting materials. It should be okay after we level up we should be capable of handling it I think," she suggested. It was a risk, because there were double the amount they might die from the amount of them, but if they played it right they could do both of them in a day and level up their crafting abilities. "Oh but we'll have to invest some money oil lamps for light. So we can see better, it isn't too expensive. I have about 20 gold on me but I can sell my old staff. Should give us 30 gold, enough for three oil refills," she said before pausing.

"Oh but the actual lamplight is 100," she mumbled before wondering if there was anything she could sell for it.

[sanquin]

"Hmm, I have pulled all-nighters plenty of times before..." Alakai mused, then nodded. "We'll go with that plan then. Two birds with one stone. Or rather, two things in one day." Kali then mentioned needing lights. And indeed, they could use at least one lantern before going into the night. When this was just a game, lights weren't much needed. Day or night, the player would always be able to see enough. But there was no brightness option now. So they would have to do with actual light sources. "Selling your old staff is a good plan either way. But don't worry about the money. I still have just under 300 gold left from when this was a game. So I'll buy the lantern. I knew spending that bit of extra time to farm for a bit of extra gold would pay off. I didn't think it would pay off in this way, but still."

For the first drink, Alakai didn't notice anything different. And it tasted just like water, so it didn't exactly feel like he was drinking alcohol right now. Though once he was half-way through his second bottle of mead his head started to swim just a little bit. "H-huh...I...think I'm starting to get tipsy? Kinda strange that this stuff works, since it tastes like water." He mused, taking another sip. He was luckily no stranger to alcohol. So he could probably drink two or three bottles more before actually becoming drunk. Though he wasn't willing to go that far. Mostly because he didn't want to deal with a hangover if they were going to travel and fight somewhere during the next morning

[EveIris]

Kali grinned with his reply, it was exciting for her to know that they could get so much done. "Yeah that sounds good, I'm glad we can get it done." She said before she took another sip. She thought about the things she could make, the first few levels were simple accessories, if she wanted to make anything more it would take more items and probably skill. She had to wonder if she would actually feel like she was getting better at it with the more levels she gained. Turning her head she blinked with surprise, "What? Really? But it just tastes like water," she wasn't feeling anything yet then again she wasn't drinking at a fast pace.

"You should keep trying to cook, you managed to make it taste amazing, I want to have that again," she mentioned before smiling at the thought. They could live an enjoyable life here without the worries of their responsibilities they had back in reality. She focused on her drink figuring that this one would be enough before they headed up to get some rest. Once she finished she was finally feeling the effects of the drink that he had mentioned earlier. "I do feel a little light headed," she brought up.

[sanquin]

"I'll definitely continue cooking." Alakai mused, opening his skill window to look at his cooking skill. "I gained a skill level from cooking like that, so I have a feeling that the skill and real life cooking are connected somehow. Maybe more difficult recipes also require a high cooking skill level or something." The dish he had made at the npc house was a very simple one, so that wasn't good enough of a test to be sure. Once again something that needed further testing in this world.

Just as Alakai wanted to head to bed though, a weak flash of light slightly lit up the sky for a moment. The man immediately turned his attention to the outside as his mind raced on what this could be in relation to the game world. He frowned, unable to come up with an answer for a few seconds before it suddenly dawned on him. "The church! I think someone just got resurrected in the church!" He exclaimed, jumping up and rushing to the door outside. He wasn't the only one that had noticed either. Adventurers from all over town had seen the light, and were quickly spreading the news. "We can resurrect in this world!"

[EveIris]

Kali nodded with understanding, eventually she would reach a level where her clothes would look good and give great stats. Kali was surprised by the spark of light, turning her head towards the window she could see where it had resonated from and it had taken her a moment to realize where it was coming from. "What?" she repeated with shock at the news. "For real?" she asked only to hear everyone quickly spreading the news. This was good, that meant they wouldn't have anymore close calls, but at the same time Kali wondered why. How would would they be stuck here? If they could re-spawn did that mean all of them were stuck here? "I don't know why but it kind of worries me to hear this," Kali admitted.

[sanquin]

Alakai came walking back to the table after only a few seconds. He had the information he needed, no need to stay and watch. Especially since they were planning to go to bed to start early tomorrow. "You're worried about not being able to die?" Alakai asked, wondering what the problem was. "From what it looks like so far, we're stuck in this world. Since we got here, it's definitely also possible to leave again. But we don't know how yet. So I see it as a very good thing to know that we can't actually die in a world as dangerous as this. At the very least it gives us more opportunity to explore this world, and maybe find out what happened."

He personally didn't mind staying in this world. So far it had been more interesting than his normal life. A shut in no-lifer, living off of welfare, playing games, and being afraid of the world. Doing groceries was always pretty stressful for him. Even that had improved in this world. He was sitting in an inn right now, with a few dozen other people, yet he didn't feel that stressed. "Though to be honest, I could get used to staying in this world..."

[EveIris]

Kali hadn't really bothered moving from her spot, when Alakai returned he asked what the issue was. It wasn't death that worried her it was mostly being stuck in his world. She loved gaming but she was sure that something was wrong, what if they were all being watched and used for research? Still she hadn't any evidence to really back up her theories. Not dying in this world would be a great advantage for them, now that they knew this they didn't need to be as careful during battles. "Yeah you're right," she agreed with him before she stood up. "We should still be weary, there is a lot we don't know about this world and how it works." She reminded before she stretched.

"Anyways let's head upstairs. We should rest," she said. Making her way upstairs she went to the end of the hall to the room the innkeeper had given her. Opening the door with the key she saw the two single beds. Smiling at it she made her way over diving as she bounced slightly. Letting out a yawn she buried her face against the pillow. "It seems clean enough," she mentioned over to him. The room was pretty simple, it was lit by the candle that rested on the nightstand. She spotted two simple chairs along with table with another oil lamp. "I want to get up early," she said with a grin. She wanted to get ahead in the game.

[sanquin]

"Of course we should still be careful. We don't know what resurrection does to you yet. Going by game logic, there will be some kind of barely noticeable penalty. Though dying too often would make it culminate, resulting in a harsh penalty in the end. So at the very least I want to keep dying to a minimum." Alakai mused as he followed Kali upstairs. Would it still be an exp penalty like it was in the game? Or would there be more tied to it? So far, not everything had worked just like in the game. It was more of a weird jumble, like their world and the game world collided and made a big mess. So he wanted to be careful with pretty much anything new until they had more information on how this world worked and what was going on.

Once in the room though, Alakai's thoughts went to a completely different topic. Kali sleeping in the same room as him. Luckily the room was only dimly lit by some candles, as that meant she couldn't see his face turning red. The man picked out on of the beds and sat down. Surprisingly they were quite soft. He had always kind of expected the beds to be harder in fantasy games. More like medieval times. But these had proper mattresses filled with sheep whool. Kali spoke again, and he quickly nodded. "U-uh, yea...a-as early as possible." He stammered slightly as he took off his robe, socks and shoes. He kept his pants on though. They were very thin anyway, and somehow it felt wrong to sleep in only his underwear when Kali was there as well. "Well...see you tomorrow then." He spoke softly, trying not to look in her direction too much. "Or...you know, if this really was all a bad dream or something...maybe see you in the game again some time soon." There was no way this was all just a dream or something weird like that. It all felt too real. It really felt like this was their life now. But still, maybe...just maybe they would all wake up in their own beds tomorrow morning.

---------------------------

Alakai hadn't been able to sleep for the first hour. Just the mere thought of a woman sleeping next to him had kept him awake. Though finally the mental exhaustion of everything that had happened took over, lulling him into a deep sleep. The next morning however, he was already awake again at 4 am. A mere 5 and a half hours of sleep. Then again, he had gone an entire week on just 6 hours a night once, during the beta of the game. So he felt he would be fine for now. Kali was still asleep, so the man just laid there for a bit longer, thinking to himself about what lied ahead, and how he wanted to progress and investigate.

After a minute or two he finally had an idea on how to start. Meditation. In the game, monks had a social skill called Zen. It didn't do anything useful. Just a bit of lore about monks meditating to search for their inner self. A way to improve themselves during times of rest. Alakai had never tried such a thing before, but it was at least worth a shot. Maybe something would happen. And if not, it wasn't like he had much else to do until Kali woke up. So he sat up on the mattress, crossed his legs and closed his eyes, trying to clear his mind.

[EveIris]

Kali had dozed off rather quickly, it was somewhat of a surprise considering how she usually struggled to sleep, she would remain awake for at least an hour struggling to doze off. Perhaps she was worn out and hadn't really felt it? Whatever it was it was nice to sleep on command. Her dreams however were pretty empty. She didn't have any dreams, instead it was blank and she only felt herself getting rest and recovering from the day.

When she woke up she realized that it was still dark from what she could see outside the window. The candle beside her had gone out and slowly she sat up feeling the need to use the bathroom. It was probably around six, glancing to her side she saw Alakai seated upon his bed unmoving. Sliding off her bed she decided on using the bathroom before checking up on Alakai, perhaps he had trouble sleeping. When she returned she ran her hand through her long hair as she sat on his bed and poked his shoulder. "You alive?" she questioned noticing how he was still in the same position she had left the room. She wondered if he had gotten any sleep, hopefully he had since they had a long day. They would be finishing up at night if everything went well.

[sanquin]

Alakai noticed that Kali woke up, but he kept on meditating for a bit longer. Only when she returned and spoke to him did he slowly open his eyes. The man had looked very peaceful, and even now he felt very calm and actually more rested than before he started meditating. "Of course I'm alive." He spoke with a slight smile. "I woke up a bit too early. So I decided to try meditating. It was a social skill in the game, and I figured that since my class is monk, meditation might help or something. Either way it seems to help me rest a little. So it's a good way to rest while in a place where I can't let my guard down. I doubt I could fully replace sleeping with it though." That would be incredibly useful. Being able to stay awake and aware of your surroundings, while still getting the full benefits of sleeping. Especially if they were out camping in nature while on their travels. It was unlikely that it worked that way though.

"Anyway...I guess it's time to go then. I'll have to use the bathroom first, and I'm thinking we can get breakfast that we can eat while travelling." He moved from the bed and started stretching his arms and legs. Alakai still wanted to return to the normal world, but at the same time he was starting to like this world more and more. His body felt better than what he usually felt like over there. And this world seemed so much more interesting than the boring 'real' world.

"Ah, one more thing. I've been thinking... Would you want your own mount? The tiger was a pre-order bonus, so I doubt you can get something similar any time soon. But a horse isn't that expensive. We could probably buy one after today's farming session. Or...you know, we could ah...save the money for something else and...you can keep riding with me." Alakai's cheeks turned a tiny bit red as he said that last part. Secretly he wanted her to keep riding with him. He had tried to imagine what it would be like to have a girl sitting behind you on a bike or motorcycle in the past. But having said girl hold on to you while riding a badass tiger like some kind of fantasy hero, definitely exceeded his expectations.

[EveIris]

Kali chuckled at his comment, she had only been messing with him. It didn't seem like he was sleeping whilst sitting up, though he explained to her that he was meditation. "Darn that sounds pretty good, I don't have anything like that," she mumbled.Instead she had a levitation spell as her passive. However that was only unlocked at later levels. It didn't seem like much but it could save her from fall damage. She laid herself down on his bed as she watched up get off. "Don't take too long, we've got a long day," she reminded him. Though the thought of eating anything wasn't too pleasing. The food here at least when it was bought tasted plain, nothing like what it actually looked like. If he planned on cooking though, that was a different story.

When the topic of the mount was brought up she arched a brow. "I should be getting mine soon," she had planned on getting one of the rarer mounts which could only be picked up from another area far off from here, and it was fairly costly too. "But now that you mention it, I think we should save the money, I don't see a problem sharing with you as long as you don't mind me." She said, her thoughts were mostly focused on their money though. She was mentally thinking of all the things they needed to buy, there was a lso the need to level faster and explore the lands. She wanted to get ahead, because there were bonuses for sure. The thought of getting ahead of others was pleasant as well, she wouldn't have to worry about eating, sleeping or the usual things she did back in reality. She had all the time to pour into this. "Anyways go ahead and use the bathroom," she urged. "I'll be downstairs when you're down, so I can return the key," she added on as she got off the bed and made her way over to the door.

Downstairs was pretty empty, much to her surprise. She returned the key to the man thanking him for the room. It was likely that they went out to train, now that everyone knew they could be resurrected there was nothing to hold them back from grinding. When she caught sight of Alakai she made her way over to him. "About breakfast, maybe we should skip? I don't feel like having plain biscuits," she whined softly.

[sanquin]

Once he was done he headed downstairs to also notice that the place was empty. He raised a brow, worrying a little bit about others going out there even before them. Even though they had gotten up pretty much at the break of dawn. "Inkeep, did the other adventurers already leave?" He asked, since apart from half a dozen adventurers, he was the only one he could ask, and he didn't feel comfortable with suddenly just starting a conversation with a random stranger. "Hm? You're one of the first actually, sir. Only a few people went out before you two."

"I was more thinking along the lines of some apples for breakfast, and buying some raw meat to cook on a fire when we take a break. Since only food prepared with the skill seem to have barely any taste." He spoke as they headed to the door. He didn't want to go out and farm on an empty stomach at least. It might not even matter if they ate anything. Maybe they didn't go hungry in this world. Something to test once they took a break of a day or so, maybe.

Outside things were a little bit more busy. There were a dozen or so stalls from people living in the area, like farmers and hunters. In the game they were just npc shops where you could buy some random supplies like apples, bread, fruit juice, and other basic food. For some reason every game seemed to have these npc's, even though they were usually only used to sell junk items. First things first though. The man headed to the stable and took his tiger out, deciding to just have it follow while they were on foot until they were outside of the city. Then, as they walked he quickly bought 6 apples and 2 pieces of two different kinds of meat. One was apparently rabbit, and the other deer meat. The deer meat was normally meant for a slightly higher level of cooking skill than he had, but maybe using the normal method would still give results. Plus he needed at least a few pieces so he could experiment a little. There were still a lot of unknowns about even his own crafting skill, after all.

[EveIris]

Kali couldn't help but grow excited when he brought up the topic of having apples and raw meat. That sounded fine by her especially since he had seasonings on him as well. Licking her lips she nodded with agreement. "Let's get going then," she said as she made her way out of the inn. The sun was up though it wasn't very hot thankfully. She followed by his side though she was easily distracted by the things around them. She couldn't help but move over to the stalls to take a look whenever something caught her eye. She eventually found herself at a stall that sold a variety of cloths and silk. Touching the fabric she couldn't help sigh with content. It was incredibly soft on its own but it was pricey and required a higher level to use. Still she couldn't help but imagine how it would feel against her skin when she managed to make it wearable for her class.

Once they had gathered everything they needed she found herself walking towards the gates which led out of the city. "I think we better get going, I'm not feeling too hungry now and I'm worried about how long it might take. We're planning to grind tonight as well so," she brought. For some reason she felt the urge to start grinding. She wanted to quickly gain the levels and unlock all her skills not to mention get ahead. Higher levels meant they could explore further which in turn also meant different cities. Grabbing onto his wrist she pulled him towards the gate with haste. "Can lead him?" she asked as she motioned to the animal though she wasn't sure if the game would allow since it's owner was Alakai.

[sanquin]

Alakai smiled a little. Kali was certainly eager to get going. And in real life he was exactly the same. When he woke up, the very first thing he would do was to log into a game and start playing. Breakfast only came an hour or two later when his hunger became too much to ignore. Yet now, he didn't feel that much of a rush behind it. Sure, he wanted to get ahead as far as possible, but it was still a different kind of feeling.

"Lead Chronos? Well, sure...if it's possible. I'm not sure of this world's mechanics allow it though." He spoke, letting her pull him along. It didn't seem like he had much of a choice anyway. Once outside of the city he allowed Kali to get up first. Then he hopped on behind her. So far so good, no problems. "Er...uhm...is it okay if I...put my arms around your waste?" He asked timidly, already feeling his face turning red. Holding a girl in his arms was something Alakai had never dreamt about. And now he got to do it fairytale style, no less. Well, almost. Since Kali would be the one leading his mount. He hesitantly put his arms around her waist, immediately noticing how soft she felt. And her warmth wasn't so much heat as...a different kind of feeling. "I could get used to this..." He thought to himself, just before the animal started moving. He was too distracted to completely realise that, indeed, other people could ride your animals though. As he was focusing on trying to hide how he was feeling both great and incredibly awkward as her body slightly pressed against his whenever Chronos pushed off with his hinds legs.

[EveIris]

Kali nodded, "Let's check it out then." She said with obvious excitement. Since she didn't plan on buying a mount she figured it was only fair she get to try and lead him. She hoped the game would let her. Once they passed the large gates she tugged on Chronos as she climbed on, she was feeling rather nervous. This was a wild creature, one that was unpredictable and dangerous, but it hadn't snapped at Alakai. "Oh yeah sure," she said not really focused on him holding onto her. She as more concerned over the mount than him. She started off slow, getting used to the speed and feel of it, "I can't wait for the flying mounts," she mentioned to him knowing that they were rare but not impossible to get. It would also help them cross deep waters filled with monsters.

"Since this is working out well, lets see how fast this baby can go!" She shouted as she motioned for it to go faster. Chronos' pace increased until he was sprinting, this was also his full speed so they couldn't go any faster but still Kali was enjoying it greatly. They ran passed the lower level creeps and headed north towards the goblin camp where they would level up for the day. Once they were done there they would have to head to the ant hills for crafting materials and to level up their secondary skill set. The journey was a little long, taking up to about 10 minutes to reach. However once there Kali picked up on the retched smell. "It smells disgusting," she stated as she saw a small village up ahead, there were bones everywhere a long with bits of meat that she assumed contributed to the smell. "We should probably go in slow, taunt a few and pull them out so we don't grab the attention of others until we're a high enough level to take them," she suggested. They were nasty little things, a few of them hit harder and others tanked better so she would have to ensure she kept her heals up on him since she didn't have the damage.

[sanquin]

Kali was definitely enjoying the ride to their destination. And who could blame her? Normally, you wouldn't get to ride an overgrown tiger like a horse. But in this world they could. Though the ride was also over before it even really began. Their destination was closer than the village they had gone to the day before, though this one was deeper into the forest. Once they arrived Kali spoke about some basic tactics. Any mmo player would know about them. Recklessly running into an area with so many spawns was suicide. But he didn't say anything about how obvious it was, and instead looked around the place as he was unfamiliar with it. He hadn't done this area back in the beta, as there were better places to get exp when playing solo. But now it was a perfect spot to go to for the two of them.

"Looks like pulling only two or three might become impossible after a few times. The others seem to be closer together." He spoke. "Though on the upside we can probably take breaks in between this time, to let our health and mana regenerate. That is, if the goblins still act like ingame characters. They might just all come at us for all we know..." That was a slightly scary thought. Having to fight a few dozen goblins at the same time would be highly difficult at the very least. "Let's see if luring a few out is even possible." He thought out loud as he picked up a stone off the ground. "Let's find a good location near the entrance and see what happens."

Finding a good spot wasn't hard. There wasn't much of a road leading up to the goblin village, so there were plenty of bushes and trees to obscure the line of sight from the village. Once Kali was also ready Alakai threw the rock towards the two guards standing at the entrance. And, as planned, it hit the creature right against it's shield. Immediately their attention was turned towards where the rock had come from. What sounded like curse words came from their mouths as they headed towards where Alakai and Kali were.

"Seems like they at least have the intelligence of goblins at least. Once they're out of sight of the village we'll fight them. And hopefully we can thin the place out enough for us to go inside." He spoke quietly, not wanting to alert the goblins just yet. Once they had taken down a dozen or so goblins like this it would be safe enough to go inside without them getting swarmed. And from then on, they could really start to get a good amount of exp. But they had to start carefully for now.