2 Your Heaven
"Welcome to Azure Haven, your heaven!"
I don't know who said that but it's still echoing in my mind. The echo is starting to fade while being replaced with various noises coming from different directions and I start to feel my body shaking in a rhythm like I'm in a moving train.
I slowly open my eyes while thinking, 'Wow, what a nap!' I feel like a vampire rising from a decade-long slumber 'As if I know what that would feel like. Anyway, where the hell am I ...?'
I just realized how absurd my surrounding is, I'm sitting in some kind of a passenger cart pulled by horses moving on a dirt road surrounded by green planes. The cart is accompanied by other carts, some are carrying baggage and others are -like mine- carrying people.
In the cart, there are 8 persons including myself split evenly on two benches facing each other. I examine their faces to see if I can recognize any of them, then I notice that two of those people have facial hair that looks weird.
'Are they wearing some kind of costume mask?' wait a minute 'they are ... ANIMAL PEOPLE?'
Am I dreaming? Is that what they call "lucid dreams"? I've never had one before. But it doesn't feel "lucid" to me, it seems much too physical, the cart just jumped a rock and I really felt it in my back, no ... dreams can't do that.
Now I'm starting to freak out, 'Where the hell am I?' okay… okay, Calm down. 'What is the last thing I remember?'... 'Nothing?' okay, I know that I'm Rick Stark, a college student, a loner with no real friends, and a huge weeb.
After that... no clue ... Oh, I remember one phrase though: "Welcome to Azure Haven, your heaven!"
'Am I dead? Is this afterlife? No... No this doesn't make sense and I didn't die. It said "your" heaven, does that mean it's something I would like?
Then I hear it,
"I wonder what the labyrinth city of 'Orario' would look like?" a young boy sitting on the other end of the cart says that to a woman that seems to be his mother. 'Orario... did I hear that right?' then again,
"When I grow up, I wish to join a grand Familia and I will become the strongest adventurer".
The man 'a middle-aged cat person' sitting opposite of me suddenly starts a conversation with me,
"Hey you, you're finally awake".
"Huh?"
"Well, I can't blame ya. traveling this long road with nothing to look at but fields can bore anyone to sleep". He says with a friendly tone.
"Um, how long before we reach our destination?" I ask him trying to get a clue.
"We will arrive at the city by dusk".
'Not that helpful, hah' I wished to confirm it without raising any suspicions. It's not normal to be on a ride not knowing its destination. 'I have an idea ...'
- "Is the 'guild office' near the gate?"
- "Oh, you have business with the Adventurer's Guild? um ... with our current route we will enter the city through the west gate, The office is in 'Northwest Main' ... You would have to go north through the back streets, but as a stranger, you would get lost ... So you should follow the main street until you reach 'Babel Tower' then enter 'Northwest Main'.
- "I see, thank you"
I continue my chat with the man for a while, I get to know that he is a trader and he has been traveling these roads since he was a child.
I finish my chat with the cat person and think 'so, I'm really in the "DanMachi" world... actually, I can call that "my" heaven.'
So, how should I act after knowing the fact that I'm going to "Orario"? First, I should know whether or not the story of "Bell Cranel" exists in this world, if so, how much of the story has advanced.
The problem is that "DanMachi" isn't a completed story and there is a lot I do not know, so if the timeline has advanced too much, I would be in the dark.
Plus, I read the novels a couple of years ago and there is a lot I don't remember.
Well, first things first, in order to survive I'll need "Falna", that means I'll have to join a Familia. The safest option is to join "Loki Familia", as one of the strongest Familias I will be provided with equipment and protection, I will also be in the middle of the events of the story. But them being THE "Loki Familia" I don't know if I would fit their recruitment criteria.
I have no qualification and I always thought of myself as 'The Average Dude'; black hair, brown eyes, average height, average body, and an average face.
So what about joining "Hestia Familia" and share the main events with "Bell Cranel"? That would also be interesting, oh, and be under the high-maintenance loli goddess? ... Hell no, not an option ... 'farewell Bell, I can't be with you'.
"Loki Familia" it is, and if I do not get accepted, then maybe I'll join a small Familia and have my own adventure of raising my Familia's position.
There is also a... WHAT THE ... how could I not notice that until now?
Floating just above my head, there are words written in a blue frame,
[You have unread messages].
There are people around me and I can't just touch the air, I would look crazy. So I faked a yawn and stretched my hands and touched it, but my fingers went through it.
'Not a touch screen, huh... is it by voice command?' It would be weird if I just said out loud 'view unread messages' the uh... oh!
Ring~
[You have 2 unread messages.]
[Welcome to becoming a "Player". (Unread)]
[Daily Quest: "The Preparation to Become Powerful" has arrived. (Unread)]
So, It's by thinking? I wanted to view the messages and they opened? Wait ... these messages! Oh-ho ... Is that what I think it is?
'Open the first message'
Ring~
[This System will help with the growth of the "Player".
Non-compliance with this System's instructions may result in a penalty.]
'... Open the second message'
Ring~
[Daily Quest: "The Preparation to Become Powerful"
Do 100 Push-ups: (Incomplete) (0/100)
Do 100 Sit-ups: (Incomplete) (0/100)
Do 100 Squats: (Incomplete) (0/100)
Run 10 kilometers: (Incomplete) (0/10)
*Warning: Failing to complete the Daily Quest will result in a Penalty Quest.]
'Let's not be hasty here ... open character window'
Ring~
[Name: Rick Stark
Level: 1
Class: None Title: None
HP: 100 MP: 10 Fatigue: 0
Stats:
Strength: 10 Endurance: 10
Agility: 10 Intelligence: 10 Sense: 10
(Available stat points: 0)
Skills:
Passive Skills: None
Active Skills: None]
'Hell yeah... this is "my" heaven'
Wait a minute, if I have this "Solo Leveling" system, does that mean I can become the "Shadow Sovereign"?
Ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum.
'I can't calm down now, can I?' oh shit, if I become the "Shadow Sovereign", does that mean that the other sovereigns would emerge in this world too? And then, what would happen to DanMachi's plot story? Will the two of them merge together? Will there be a third world merged in here?
'Damn, why isn't this system more helpful? ... Oh... haha, I sound like JinWoo now'
Anyway, having this system means I don't need "Falna" anymore, right? I can level up on my own now.
But still, I don't know if I can become an adventurer without being in a Familia, 'does the guild allow that?' Do I even need the guild?
There are no checkpoints in the dungeon, I remember that Hestia and Hermes entered the dungeon, and gods are not allowed in the dungeon. But then, Can I sell Magic Crystals to the guild while I'm not an adventurer?
I don't know how much time passed after that while I'm thinking till I heard the boy from before is yelling while pointing forward, "Mom, look it is the Tower of Babel!"
I turn to look and I see the city wall and the tall white tower standing high behind the wall.
'Yup, this IS Orario'.
***
After we went through the gate, people started parting ways. From what I understood it was a trading caravan, and travelers 'like myself' paid the caravan master to tag along.
And also, I got to know that I have no baggage. I have no money, no food and no equipment, just my plain clothes 'and my system'.
