Starting The New Journey

Pastel led me into a Tavern and I noticed all the other Captains and Adventurers. I sat at a table and Pastel grew in size and sat in front of me. "Alright!~ This is where I tell you about what a captain does to be exact."

"Yeah, I've been wondering that." I said.

"So as a Captain, your job is to travel the universe, growing stronger and Ranking up your Captain Rank! Right now you're an F Rank captain meaning you can't even go into any Dungeons or Towers. Since Gacha doesn't exist in this game, you acquire Celestias by completing Dungeons and Towers, some even join you while you're adventuring around." Pastel said as a waitress set down two large glasses of root beer.

"I see. Is there a plot?" I asked.

"Mmph...not really. I mean yeah there are Quest Lines you can accept which works as its own miniplot, but as far as a plot of the 'game'...Nope!" Pastel smiled and began to chug down her root beer. She slammed the glass down on the table and exhaled and sighed happily. "That hits the spot! Oh yeah, I should probably fill you in on a secret."

"Hm?" I looked at her as I drunk my drink.

"Mmm...nah I should probably wait for when you actually get out there. But I will tell you how the Rankings work. The Captain Ranks work like this. F, F+ D, D+ C, C+ B, B+ A, A+ S, S+ and Celestial Rank, also known as the Star Rank." Pastel said.

"Seems like that's doing a bit too much right?" I asked and watched the waitress set down two plates of spaghetti down for the two of us.

"It's meh, it isn't my ideal Ranking System, but whatever Cestia what's her face says goes." Pastel shrugged. "Which brings you to my next point!~ I will be joining your Team!~"

"Eh?! But you're a Star Guide..! You can't join!" I said.

Pastel puffed her cheeks and frowned at me. "I make a pretty mean healer Celestia thank you very much! Besides I'm temporary anyway, I'm a Guide so I can't really do much other than get you through your actual first steps."

「Pastel has joined your Party!」

"Alright, just gonna force yourself into my team. Okay then." I said then checked Pastel's stats.

Celestia Name: Pastel

Class: Cleric

Ability: Pixie Miracle [Boosts Resistance to status ailments, boosts recovery of Stamina and Condition by 50%]

Level: 2

Attack: 9

Defense: 7

M.Attack: 14

M.Defense: 12

Speed: 15

Luck: 19

"Alright, I should tell you how a party will work as well. In a party you can only hold four members, including yourself, where as a Guild can hold up to 20 people. People much prefer a Guild because of the number of people you can hold, but also it's just a lot better that way when exploring Celestial Dungeons and Towers." Pastel explained.

"And how about your ability?" I asked.

"Oh you can get those at the ability shop, but you'll need things called Ability Stones which then gets crafted into abilities, but the effect of the ability is random so unless your Luck Stat is high, you'll probably be getting a trash ability. On the bright side you can name your ability whatever you want." Pastel answered.

"I see." I nodded.

"I'll tell you what. Let's go outside the town and get your adventure started! The best way to learn how to be a captain is by first hand experience. You'll first want to accept some Quests first unless you wanna do free roaming which doesn't allow you to earn Rank Points but will be good for just grinding for levels and drops." Pastel said.

"Alright, sounds like a plan." I nodded. It all still felt surreal to me. Pastel is literally talking to me like a human being. I looked around and noticed that all the once NPCs were now more human, more aware, more real.

After eating and paying for the meal, Pastel and I left the tavern and something hit me.

"Wait a minute...I don't have a home!" I said in shock.

"Hm...that will pose a problem. Without a home, you can't get proper rest. Oh! I have an idea! Follow me!" Pastel flew off and I followed her.

...

"Seriously..?" I asked as I looked at the old run down abandoned mansion.

"Come on it's better than nothing! Plus the housing in town is like ultra mega expensive and the inns are way too crowded! At least here we get some form of privacy." Pastel said and placed her hands on her hips, looking at me.

I groaned and looked down. "I guess...Beggars can't be choosers.." I sighed softly.

"That's the spirit!~" Pastel giggled and flew towards the building and walked in.

I walked into the building after her and rubbed the back of my head. I looked around and noticed how dark it was inside.

Pastel grew to human size and flopped on the old couch and stretched. She looked at me and sat up. "Come on, lay down!~ There's a couch there!" She pointed at the larger couch.

I walked to the old, dusty couch and decided to lay down on the couch. It was uncomfortable but it was the best we had at the moment.

"Good night!~" Pastel smiled and laid back down and closed her eyes.

"Goodnight." I said then closed my eyes and tried to sleep. It was hard trying to sleep for the first few minutes but I managed to fall asleep.

Eight hours went by and I woke up to the sound of the birds chirping and the sound of walking around. I sat up and noticed Pastel walking around, getting ready for our first quest.

"Good you're awake! C'mon get your butt up and get ready!~" Pastel smiled.

I grunted softly as I stood up and stretched. I did what I could to get ready for the day. After getting ready, I met up with Pastel outside.

"Heya, Captain! Ready to go?" She asked.

"Yeah, wasn't much to work with so I did what I could." I said.

"Alright, I promise you the home will get better. I mean we got a free mansion to do whatever we want with. Sadly we will need a lot of money to fix up our home, but that's where our Quests come in. Follow me." Pastel smiled and flew ahead in her pixie form.

I followed her and looked around. We were still in Erstonia Town and had to take a forest path to get back to the main street. Once we made it back to the main street, Pastel led me to the Erstonia Adventurer's Hall. We walked into the building and we walked forward to the front desk.

A woman with long orange hair, lime green eyes, and a beautiful smile looked at us. She wore a white button up shirt with a black tie, a navy blue skirt, dark colored stockings, and black high heeled boots. She had a technological floating device beside her and the bionic eye looked at me and Pastel.

"Hello, is this where I can obtain Quests at?" I asked.

"You're the handsome guy who came crashing from the sky aren't you? You must be a new Captain." The woman giggled softly as she looked at me.

"Ahh...well...Yeah, my name is Axel." I blushed slightly and cleared my throat then rubbed the back of my head.

"My name is Marella. I'll be your Quest, Guild, and Rank Manager. As for your question, yes I can search for Quests for you to complete. Some Quests are available through a request of other Adventurers and the locals or outsiders, other Quests are your typical defeat an enemy ten times type of Quests and other Quests are pretty long and out there." Marella said.

"We want a beginner quest!~ A Quest that allows him to get on his feet and learn the ropes!~" Pastel said. "Whatcha got for us lady?~"

"A Beginner Quest huh. Well there is a Quest all Captains must complete. Here it is." Marella said then sent the Quest to me.

「Quest: Clear the Green Grasslands!」

"Green Grasslands, the starting area. Alright. We can do this one." Pastel smiled.

"Alright, your target enemy is a High Kobold. To clear the Green Grasslands you must defeat it and you're done. The Quest is long enough for a new Captain to learn all the possible basics and everything. There are enough enemies in the area to grind up as well, enemies do tend to respawn quickly so be sure to prepare accordingly." Marella said.

I nodded at her and smiled. "Alright, thank you!"

Pastel and I hurried off to the general item shop and walked into the shop.

"Welc- ACK! You're the guy who crashed through my dad's apple stand!" The girl pointed at me. She had brown hair which was styled in a side ponytail, green eyes, and she wore a sailor schoolgirl outfit and a cat bow on her hair.

"Geez...I am sure famous here all of a sudden today.." I rubbed the back of my head.

"It was pretty funny seeing you crash through his stand and hearing him scream 'My Apples!'." The girl laughed then leaned forward against he counter. "What can I do for ya? Oh and by the way, the name's Inari."

"Oh, nice to meet you Inari. My name is Axel. I'm here to stock up on items for my first Quest." I said.

"Ahh, well everything you need is all on the shelves and tables. Shop until you're satisfied." Inari smiled.

"This would be a good time to tell you about currency. There are two, Stars and Zil. Stars are typically earned by completing Special Quests or obtained by drops from extremely rare monsters. Stars are used in special shops found across the universe. Zil is your basic everyday currency earned by completing quests and selling items or can be earned by cashing in drops to the Adventurer's Hall." Pastel said.

I nodded as I walked around and listened to Pastel. "Seems like an efficient way of earning some good cash for items and equipment. So are monster drops not used for forging equipment like they are in other...universes?"

"Nope. Monster drops are only used to sell in exchange of money. Dungeons are the best source for monster drops as Dungeon Enemies are generally more valuable and higher in numbers." Pastel answered.

"Ahh." I said, looking at the box of potions and elixirs. I decided to buy the box of potions and elixirs. I carried the box to the counter and Inari checked it.

"That'll be 6,400 Zil." Inari said.

I paid her the money then the potions and elixirs were sent to my inventory. After buying the items, I turned around and walked out of the shop with Inari waving goodbye to me.

"Let's head over to the quest areas." Pastel said then flew ahead, leading me outside the town.

The Guards of the Town let us through the gates and we were now outside of the town and I looked around then took a deep breath and exhaled.

「New Area Unlocked: Green Grasslands (Fast Travel Possible)」

"Here we are. Green Grasslands, The Land where all adventures begin. Look at how beautiful the lands are. So many areas to explore here. You can check your map to see what's nearby. I kinda wanna travel around!~" Pastel said.

I opened my menu and selected the Map option then an interface appeared in front of us then we looked at the area map. "I see some waypoints where we can save our progress at and fast travel to...uhhh...some Temples we can explore. I see the town behind us and that's just about it. I don't think enemies are shown on the map or at least some of them aren't."

"Hm. Alright, we are heading to this specific waypoint." Pastel pointed and marked it then a blue beacon of light appeared in reality.

I looked at it then looked a bit surprised. "Whoa."

"Let's get going~ Let's start our new journey." Pastel smiled as she looked at me.

I looked at Pastel and smiled. I nodded and closed the map and she flew ahead quickly and I ran after her. I was officially starting my new journey as a Captain and Adventurer.