Geldion

Frost spike!

A singular large ice spike manifested itself from the ground up, impaling the stray forest wolf i came across on my way back. Forest wolves are another type of monster. Although weak individually, when in a pack, they can give even bronze class adventurers a run for their money.

I swiftly cut down the carcass of the wolf, taking all the sellable materials like the pelt, the fangs and the monster's magic crystal. These crystals come in all sorts of shapes and colours and are essential for everyday life, one of its' uses being to convert magic within the crystal to other forms of energy such as light. The one i cut out from the wolf corpse was on the smaller side and had a copper hue to it. The adventurer ranks were derived from the different shades these crystals came in. Mythril crystals coming from the strongest monsters and copper from the weakest. Even copper crystals go for a decent sum. Market price being around 1 silver coin which is enough money for an individual to survive with renting an inn, along with 3 meals a day for about 2 days. I had my own house so i didn't have to worry about rent.

Though i was pretty much itching to use my magic on more powerful foes, i was able to stay sane enough that i didn't go running off to fight a battle i can't win and made sure to avoid the stronger monsters. The stray wolf was probably seperated from its' pack and i was fortunately able to finish it off without much trouble before it could howl for help. If it did, i would have had to make a run for it and even then, it would be unlikely that i would be able to get away. Wolves have a stronge sense of smell after all.

I was about 90 percent sure i could one shot it but nothing is ever certain in the life of an adventurer. Now that i think about it, i've been extremely lucky to have survived these past 5 years. I could have easily bit the dust with just a bit of misfortune but my luck had to run out eventually and i died...

Oh well, it all worked out in the end, no use recalling that terrible experience. I've got more important matters to deal with, like leveling up! I walked for a few more hours and finally set my eyes on the tall and familar walls made of stone. These were the walls of Geldion, built to keep both monsters and attackers at bay but also to contain the inhabitants of the place. This makes it easier to keep track of who comes and goes as the walls prevent anyone from sneaking in, making the only available entrances and exits the 4 gates to the north south east and west.

Almost anyone is allowed into the city. Only exceptions are criminals. There are also bandits but it's almost impossible to tell them apart from the rest so it's not completely safe in the city. However, there are rarely ever any bandit attacks since doing any bandit activity inside the city can very quickly end up with an arrest. It's basically suicide for them since bandits are bandits because they're weak in the first place with nowhere to go, looking for a fast and easy way to profit. The average city guard is about on par with an iron or bronze class adventurer in terms of combat power while the strongest bandits can at most barely stand up to bronze class and bandits of that strength are few and far between.

In due course, i reached the nothern gate of the city. To the north is a forest with the abandoned mine i just came from, the west are hills and east are plains. To the south is where the ocean is and the southern gate leads to a port for boats and ships for travel. Fortunately, i've been able to get by just fine without selling the boat i first set out with so i can still travel freely around the continent.

In front of the gate was a long queue. Villagers, farmers, adventurers, merchants, all kinds of people with different professions filled up the line. Be if coming back to complete requests or sell their wares, the city was the place to do our business and earn some cash.

After waiting for a few minutes, i got to the front of the line, taking out my identification card to show the guards for inspection. When i first arrived at a city i had to answer a series of questions such as where i came from before i was allowed entry. It was best to get an ID card for future use, otherwise, one will end up being questioned everytime they want to enter the city and it's just a hassle overall.

I got the process over and done with in a matter of seconds and entered the city. I'd been living in Geldion for 3 years now so i was fairly familiar with the layout of the place. I made my way to the adventurer's guild building, intending to hand in the fectiven i collected from the mine.

Entering the guild building, i'm greeted by the familiar sight of the hustle and bustle of adventurers celebrating and drinking after finishing up with request submissions for the day. It was already evening by the time i got to the city.

I brisk walked towards the usual receptionist who tended to me.

"Good evening mr Dalus, welcome back to the guild. I was starting to worry since you didn't return yesterday."

Oh so i've been out for an entire day? No wonder i was so hungry when i woke up. I brought a decent amount of food with me when i left. The request seemed fairly simple but i had to learn the hard way that things may not always turn out so easy and i was right this time. My magic bag could contain around 5 bodies worth of space so i still had some space left to spare. I had to choose food that could last for a long time without spoiling as well.

"Well the thing is that i died yesterday."