15 Civilization

A light peck at his cheek woke him from his sleep, a small bird pecked at his face while he slept in the sunlight. The suns had risen. 'was that a dream.' The words wanted to come out of his mouth, but Errit saw the tattoos on his arms and shoulders. Removing his armor, the tattoos went across his chest and down his back. 'Whoa' Errit put his armor back in place and searched his belongings.

The Phoenix Lord feather was gone, the muck under his body still stained the ground. 'I don't get it.' Sleeping on the crystals in an awkward position didn't do anything good for his back, but looking down he could see an abundance of plants matted against the ground near the crystals he was laying on.

'Breakfast?' Errit grabbed one of the plump vegetables without thinking and bit into it.

It was hard, very hard. He took out the dagger and split it. "This looks tasty." The heat from his hands increased and grilled the vegetable in his hand. "huh?"

Errit tried throwing out the root but it didn't happen, instead, a light green and thin chain flew out. It sounded like rocks clinking together, metallic and earthy. The chain kept going.. 20 feet, a hundred feet.. it stopped and felt around, nothing was nearby.. it sharply recoiled and went back into Errit's body. "What the fuck. That. Was. Awesome." Errit started to pick up the crystals and plants nearby using the Chain, it was oddly obedient.

He studied the chain with the Mask and found that its aura had completely changed. It matched his own. 'so its evolved?' Errit wasn't a complete oof, He had watched his brothers at home play video games all throughout their childhood, it left him puzzled.

A Golden Glow in his field of vision caught his attention. A lizardman sitting on a rock in the distance was eating. There were a few animals placed on the rock beside him, heating in the sunlight. Errit stayed a small distance from it as he passed. The lizardman seemed to get stronger as it ate, the golden glow increased and radiated a popping sound. His body grew larger, his tail grew spikes.

'Evolution? Was that a Level up?' Errit did his best to wrap his head around what he was seeing, too many cooincidences had left him with many questions. And, If he had evolved, possibly even leveled up, why didn't he see the glow on himself?

The day was young, a Town could be seen in the distance. People flew in from all over, some close to the ground, others speeding through the clouds. There seemed to be a festival, carnival or parade going on. Everyone was in colorful outfits and music was blaring over a loudspeaker.

"Speakers?" Errit was confused and rushed to the City.

Inside, he saw humans, goblins, wolf-men, cat-girls, lizardmen, minotaurs and birdmen all over the place. Large winged Lizardmen that looked more like dragons than lizards were standing guard. Errit held his breath and walked around. He heard English and smelled BBQ. 'No way.'

Errit's eyes couldn't believe what he was seeing. There must have been thousands of humans, beastkin and Espers flowing through the streets like it was nothing. Carts and beasts lined the streets. Strange aromas filled the air and Errit found a place that looked like a restaurant.

He sat down inside and a Nyankin woman walked up. She noticed the mask and didn't ask questions, the Masked Villages tended to be disinterested in the matters of the World. "Would you like anything to eat? We have Dragon Eterser with grilled onions, Freyad Gobs and Reginsa on special. Would you like anything, maybe a drink?" She was nice, polite even.

Her facial expressions were catching and pleasing to the eyes, Errit seemed interested in her but let it pass. Outside and on the streets, dozens of species of humanoids passed by. Auras that he couldn't identify were everywhere. "Excuse me Miss, where can I go for information?"

"Adventurer guild is down on the other side of the City near the Magistrates office, look for the Purple Buildings. It will be easy to find after that. Have you decided what you'd like?" She asked again.

"I'll have your special, how much is it? I'm afraid I don't have much money." Errit fumbled through the ring and pulled out a bag of coins. There were a few types of currency inside, cut coins were stamped with various figures, faces and designs.

"Its three gold coins.. If you don't have gold, we'll take herbs in trade. Depending on what you have, of course." She winked and her tail flipped from one side to the other while she waited.

"I'll have that then, here." He passed three gold coins over and then asked "What can I get for these?" Pulling out several herbs and vegetables from his ring and placing them on the table, Errit could see her eyes bulge.

"Wait here." She disappeared in the back for a moment and returned.

'okay, i guess i'll just wait then.' Errit played with one of the crystals in his hand, it looked like a giraffe. he pulled out the Dagger and started to carve at its surface, giving it face and tracing out spots along the backside of it. The other patrons in the Diner took notice of its size, some were quite jealous with their gazes. He put it away and saw the waitress return with her manager in tow.

"Milly says you have herbs for trade. Can I see what you have to offer?" Errit wasn't sure what to think, but he had collected a lot of herbs. The manager seemed rather interested.

Errit left the few he had on the table and said "this is what I have, what do you think its worth?"

"These Gerase are exquisite and I'd like that Jinko. This will make some good food, where did you find them?" He tried prying for information but Errit knew better.

"East." Errit tried mislead the manager but he could tell something was wrong.

"These aren't stolen are they?" The Manager's tone changed, he was starting to get offended.

"No, but giving away my secrets is about as stupid as asking for them." Errit stood up and was preparing to leave.

The Manager stopped him. "Sorry, I really want those herbs. How about a trade, I've got three Derroga Roots and sixteen Lemons."

"Lemons?" Errit laughed and wanted to see them. Sure enough, they were lemons. Straight up yellow, plain as fuck Lemons. "You gotta be kidding me, what good are lemons to me?"

'Hmmph' the Manager scoffed, "Child. Lemons help with spell reflection and creation of barriers. I guess maybe you don't have a use for them.. okay. how about these Pink Spotted Chestnuts?"

"Chestnuts now? What's the deal with Chestnuts." Errit didn't understand much of it, but he had a feeling that everything in his ring was more interesting than he originally thought.

"These give you a speed boost, but there are drawbacks. It speeds up your digestion and metabolism. Weak stomachs cannot handle them. If you're not interested in the chestnuts I have a Ghost Flower but i'm afraid that's the limit of what I have to trade. Before you ask what it does, Ghost Flowers help recovery from crushing wounds. Bone fragments that are crushed into powder don't heal, but Ghost Flowers revert the body to a previous state when ground into paste and applied to the affected area. I'd use it for cooking if it didn't have such a high pricetag. Some young adventurer traded it to me a while back before I got the Herbalism Books from the Lunaris's Library." The Manager had said a lot, and shown a lot. The food was starting to fill the room with its aroma, he walked away to grab it and returned.

"Well, what do you say? Oh, my name is Pirsen. Its nice to meet you." Pirsen stuck out his hand to greet Errit, albeit late on its arrival.

Errit stared at the strange hand that was outstretched. "Deal. I'll take the Ghost Flower and one Lemon." He didn't care about the herbs all that much, he had dozens of larger specimens in his ring. "Where is the Library you spoke of?"

Errit grabbed the lemon and squeezed it into his water. The act almost caused those around him to spit their food out. No one in the City would use them as such. 'what's their problem?' Errit drank his lemonade and started eating the prepared food. It was delicious and crunchy. He took another drink to wash it down.

"Here is a map of the City, I'll sell it to you for the leftover lemon you have sitting there." A man in rags came up to this table and started begging. He held out the map in his hand.

"Deal. Bye." Errit placed three gold coins on the Table, looked at his waitress and then left with the Map. "Enough of this shit. I've gotta figure stuff out on my own."

Following the Map, he located a large marbled building, gargoyles roosted on its roof and exterior.

"I have way too much to learn" Errit walked into the Library, the familiar smell of Books wafted into his nostrils. "I hated reading, at least public school was good for something." He located a sciences section and found the basic herbalism books at one end.

[Kink, the Story of Errit - IS PUBLISHED ON WEBNOVEL.COM (SINCE MAY 2021). IF YOU'RE READING THIS ELSEWHERE, IT IS NOT AN AUTHORIZED OR EVEN A COMPLETE VERSION. PLEASE REPORT IT AND VISIT THE NOVEL'S OFFICIAL PAGE - https://www.webnovel.com/book/19822575806497305

AUTHOR - OOMTOWN