Orario

Walking on the road was a rather peaceful option now that he was on it for quite some time. He hasn't even remotely seen any monster until now.

But his general excitement over the fresh scenery and air slowly faded the longer he walked. Having been a city man nearly all his life slowly got the better of him.

To let some time pass and get himself distracted Azrael still tried to figure out the cheatboy. That is how he started to call the device by now.

Currently, he was fiddling around with the cheat options.

'Hmm, was it actually such a good idea to choose this race? I wonder if I could also have just taken some supernatural one like a vampire?'

He tapped on the screen of the cheatboy and a message popped up.

*-Major Cheat- already used up for this adventure*

'Also it looks like there is a major cheat in each of my so-called adventures. Is it random or did I really press on my race at that time?'

He was still pondering about the cheatboy's power. But there is something else he already has figured out.

'Well, at least it looks like I can change simple values with the things I have in my inventory.'

That said he was able to manipulate the number of items that he had on himself. He still had no real infinite space inventory or the likes.

So if he picked up a stone and then searched for the value 1 and then picked another one and repeated this cycle he could find the amount for stones in his possession.

But finding something like that was rather useless if it wasn't something like diamonds. And finding those would not be easy and probably would take time in between one find and the other.

If he ever wanted to manipulate something else in that time he would lose his previous searched value. So it was simple but bothersome.

And if he actually changed the value after finding it to 10.000 he would end up being crushed by a mountain of stones.

So there were certain limits to the usefulness of the value manipulation. Of course, if used right it would make his life much more comfortable.

Just thinking about the money he could generate with it was ridiculous. The problem then would be not destroying the economy. But who gives a shit about that when this is basically like a game.

One thing he should still be careful about is if he used this it would raise suspicion. Especially if he was still weak that would mean his death...or worse.

'Well, better keep it unused for now. I also don't see how I could manipulate my stats yet.'

Naturally, he already tried to make himself stronger but since his status was static numbers it was futile until he could see changes in the numbers.

Of course, it could be worse and the numbers could be everchanging without seeing the value.

That would make the Familia he would be under even more important since he could only cheat right after the value update.

'So bothersome. And here is even my confirmation.'

*Special Falna Status can only be progressed with Exilia. Please contact a God/Goddess.*

That was the message that appeared when he tried out screen manipulation. It was a method to change values via text search.

But that obviously didn't work out as seen with the message.

"Alrighty, stealth mode activate..."

A clear ding was heard and the device became somewhat transparent. It was an option for him to hide the device from the eyes of others.

He found that under the options menu. There was also some other small useful stuff.

He himself could still somewhat see and use it in that mode but it would look like he was playing around with air to others. In this world, it was better kept that way.

Then after putting it away in his small backpack on his back, he went onward.

Come to think of it. He had rather nice clothes out of linen. Some comfortable black colored pants that looked nearly like jeans coupled with a blue coat with a hoodie at the top and a normal white linen shirt underneath that.

His boots were actually rather bright with light brown leather material and were a little bit past his ankles in length. They even wrapped a little bit of length of his pants.

The surprising thing was that all these items still felt amazingly comfortable to wear. He thought medieval clothing would be incredibly uncomfy.

That his clothes actually changed in the first place was a rather surprise to him. While still wondering about his clothing he suddenly could pick up some sound from behind him.

Looking back he saw a cart traveling the dirt road. It was pulled by some animal that was not really a horse but at least looked very similar to one.

It was probably some sort of sub-species that was normally used in this world.

When the cart with its driver reached him they actually stopped.

"Hello there, young friend." An old man smiled and called out to him. He had brown hair with patches of white in it.

Azrael was still examining the cart a little before he looked at the man. "Hello."

"Where are you headed to, lad? You know, traveling alone is rather dangerous, right?"

Azrael chuckled a little. The inhabitants seem rather curious in this world, friendly even. But he knew better not to keep dwelling on first impressions, even if they seem good.

"Not sure. I am just following this road. Been a while since I was at a village. Do you perhaps know where this road is leading to?"

"I sure do. It is one of the main roads toward the city of Orario."

"A city? Well, that is a surprise. Those are rather rare. Its been months from the last one." - ´Nice, no searching for the only city with a dungeon.´

The old man snickered lightly. "If you traveled that long then you are from pretty far away, huh? Want me to give you a lift?"

"I'm afraid I don't have any coin to pay for that."

"Nonsense. Of course, it's free of charge. Hop on."

"Well, then I will say thanks in advance." Azrael hopped on and sat beside the old man on the driver seat.

"Grandfather, is it really alright to pick this person up?" A female voice came from behind them out of the interior of the cart.

Azrael already noticed that this cart was one that nearly came straight out of a western movie or something. That white cloth enclosed the interior of the things on the cargo space.

Looking back, Azrael then saw two blue eyes staring at him. The girl's frown was also deep and she obviously felt suspicious about him. Her snow-white hair was cut short and one could tell that she was a rather tomboyish girl.

She also lacked somewhat in the chest department. Not as flat as maybe someone like Loki but still rather unnoticeable and if it weren't for her voice and soft facial features he would have guessed her to be a boy.

"Uhm...Hi?" Azrael greeted her with a wry smile. He felt the hostility from her as if a pointy stick was constantly poking his back.

"Don't be like that, Anya. He is a friendly young man."

"More of a freeloader." She rebuked back instantly.

Azrael still smiled. "Right, I haven't introduced myself yet. I am called Azrael Locke."

"Hmpf." Anya just ignored his words. "Just look at him. I never saw a beast person without ears."

"Enough! You do not behave like that in front of others!" The old man lost his friendly demeanor and slightly raised his voice.

The girl became quiet and returned inside the interior of the cart.

"Excuse her, please. She isn't usually like that..."

"It's alright. No offense taken." - 'Besides I never was addressed as a beastkin before. Is it the tail?' - "But I am curious now. What did she mean with my ears? I do have ears after all?"

The old man looked at him with a raised brow for a short moment.

"See! He is completely weird!" Anya came out again and started to accuse him once more.

The old man started to feel wary as well. "Did you never see other demi-human from where you are?"

"Well, I guess you humans talk about beastkin when you mean people with tails. No, where I come from there is only us Saiyans and just normal Humans. From your reaction, it seems there are more races with tails?"

"Hmm, yes. There are many demi-humans with such traits. But Anya is right. Most of them do have ears that match their tails."

"They do? So something like cat ears?"

"The cat people have those, yes. So...Saiyan is it? You really never met other demi-human? Not even on your travel?"

Azrael looked at him and thought about his question. By the look, he was still wary and remained on his question.

"No, there were only humans in the villages I came across."

The old man smiled again. "Huh, then you will get a cultural shock if you arrive at Orario. There are many other races besides humans living there."

"I see." Thinking about it, he got a smile on his face as well after the thought of seeing real elves or other beastkin. "I am actually kinda excited."

"And to answer your question on where my ears are." Azrael looked at Anya while saying those words. "My guess would be that because our animal side is very close to humans we don't show any different ears. My race has the ability to turn into big apes... And apes don't have that much of different ear shapes."

Then he slightly shrugged his shoulders "But maybe if you look closer it is a bit different? Never really bothered looking at them."

Azrael then slicked some of his black hair on his left side back and showed his human-looking ears that were in the same position.

Anya came closer and looked at them. "They are a bit pointy at the end but otherwise like ours..."

´They are?´ - "Are you always so brave? Getting so close to others now.", he answered with a smile.

Then she distanced herself again. "Sorry..."

"Don't worry about it.".

"So its a monkey tail?", she asked now. "May I touch it?"

"Anya..." The old man tried to stop her.

"Actually I would prefer not to. Its a rather sensitive spot...Probably for other races as well." Azrael denied her that action. He knew it would nearly paralyze him if his tail gets touched. That is actually something he should at some point start to train enduring.

"Well, speaking of the devil. Look, we can already see the tower of Orario." The old man pointed toward the vague silhouette that started to appear in the blue sky. It was still daytime so it was clear enough to see.

"Wow, that´s huge. Wait, I think that is actually my destination. Is that the tower with the dungeon?" Azrael saw a big tower stretching itself into near infinity by the looks.

"Yes, it is. So you want to go and become an adventurer?"

´Come to think I don't know what my goal in this adventure is.´ - "Yes. That is right."