14 Chapter 13 - Travelling to Stonehead Town

*Whack!*

A gleaming spear soared through the air impaling a tiger shaped creature as it was sent crashing into the ground.

The beast roared in the pain it's strong vitality keeping it alive after having its internal organs skewered from the attack.

A sharp glint appeared in its eyes at it viciously stared at the one who struck it, as it opened its jaws chomping at them in an attempt to take down the person with it.

However, the figure easily evaded the injured creatures slow attack as a fine-looking blade was wielded by the person, and was used in an efficient, practised motion as the creature's throat was swiftly pierced by the weapon, causing the remaining light in the eyes of the creature to dim, as it now laid motionless, dead.

'After using the newest addition of spells from the Magic Tome on the beasts which I have passed on the way to Town, I believe I very am satisfied with the results, as it had defiantly made my attack options more diverse. The Ice Spear spell is defiantly effective in crippling the larger beasts which are difficult to take down in more than one blow, although I will need to increase the skill level in the future to retain its effectiveness on the stronger creatures, it is definitely a spell which can accompany me for a long time, even at the higher levels.' Talia after dealing with another beast which has crossed her path in the last few couples of hours since leaving the Village.

Knowing that she will be journeying away from the Village she thought it was a good idea to practice her newest spell additions on the monsters which she will come across on her way to the Town.

And although she had not actively sought them out, she had come across numerous creatures since leaving, all of the various levels with the highest only being of a similar level to her, which had caused her the most trouble to dispatch, but it had also allowed her to test the defensive spell Ice Barrier, which easily warded of the beasts attacks. This netted her a fair amount of experience, but it still wasn't enough to level her up once again, yet it provided her with a noticeable chunk towards the next level.

Her constant use of the spells had also enabled her to increase the skill level of both 'Ice Barrier' and 'Ice Spear' to Lvl 2, giving the spear a slight increase in damage and the Ice Barrier a stronger defensive ability, with the both of them having a reduction of energy cost.

Therefore, she felt that the time spent travelling to the Town was not wasteful, and had allowed her to familiarise herself with her newest additions in terms of spells, which she decided to use in her human form, as she felt that it was also necessary to get used to fighting as a human as well if she were to pose as a Princess of a Kingdom, she felt that she will be battling majorly within her current form.

Her beast soul form could only be used as a last resort because she had no idea what outsiders would do if they found out what she can accomplish, as she wasn't sure if there was even a familiar skill such as that within the World yet. Also, what if they believe she was some sort of beast posing as the Princess, even if she could convince others that it was only a skill, she knew that the Governor would definitely take the opportunity to execute her with an air of righteousness.

Thus, she will only use the beast soul form if she knew she could get away with it, and to also carry out tasks which she could not get away with in her current body, for instance, what if she grew strong enough to just deal with the Governor, she could just use the excuse that a 'beast attack' was the reason why his life was ended, allowing her to be completely blameless. Of course, she would only do such a thing if she was sure that he was the one behind her poisoning, after all, she wouldn't want to end the life of a man, just because she didn't like the guy and that he had an imbecile for a son.

She threw those thoughts to the back of the mind, she found that after travelling for around three hours from the Village, that the view of Stonehead Town was finally in sight. Although she could see the outline of the Town at the moment, the closer she had gotten to the Town, the more it was revealed, as she could now accurately view its appearance.

The Town had a striking resemblance to the ancient European Towns she had previously seen through her studies back in her previous World. The Whole Town was surrounded by a wall around 25ft tall and was built with dull, dark grey stone. The wall seemed to be fairly thick, with guards stationed at the top of the wall. A four meters tall gate was opened, and at the end of the road which leads up to the entrance was heavily guarded by guards who were wearing an emblem with the crest of the human Kingdom which she was currently in the territory of the 'Skylight Kingdom'.

Compared to Thornrock Village, the soldiers were a notch higher, in both equipment and standard. She wasn't an expert by any means at discerning such things, but it was even noticeable to her, that the men manning the walls were well trained and experienced by the way they carried themselves.

"Halt! Please identify yourself, ma'am, before we permit you to enter, you do not seem from these parts, so this is only standard procedure." Announced the leading guardsman.

Li Fen didn't find this unusual at all, as it was known in the game that it was common for Towns and Cities to have a look into your identity before entering, it was a precaution to prevent spies from finding their way to infiltrate to easily into the territory belonging to members of the 'Light Faction'.

As a player, this usually would be automatically done upon entering the Towns and Cities, but obviously, this was no longer a game, and she would have to do so herself.

Luckily, as apart of her choosing the 'Light Faction' she automatically spawned with her own identification papers, which matches the identity of her 'characters' backstory which was conjured by the game system.

Handing them over to the guard from her pouch, he looked them over for a moment to see if everything was in order, only to nod afterwards to signify his satisfaction.

"Welcome to Stonehead Town, there will be a small toll on your way in, but it is only a couple of bronze coins, and going by your gear, that shouldn't be a problem. Also, don't go causing trouble now, be mindful that the Major doesn't appreciate adventurers brawling in his streets, so if we catch you doing so, you'll be chucked out by the guards and barred from entering for a week." The Guard said before bidding farewell.

A slight smile appeared on Talia's face at the comment of the guard as she was very familiar with the Majors strict control of adventurers, which also ended up including the players, she knew there was plenty of cocky players who were sent sprawling out of the Town after believing the guards warning was only a bunch of bluffs, they soon found out the hard way of how big a set back being banned a week out of the Town would be, causing them to beg for forgiveness outside the city gates after losing access to the area for a week.

Talia was not one of the players included who wanted to make such a foolish decision to test how serious the guards were about the stringent rules, and she was going to make the error again, in a real-world version of the game she played.

Walking into the Town, she easily entered past the gates after paying the small toll, which to the current her was nothing much, she would only have to pay such a toll once as she was now registered into the Town.

She would still be taxed on certain goods if she were, for instance, a merchant who brought their wares into the Town to sell, but she would not have to pay the same entrance toll every time she entered, for three months, that is, the Town does this to mainly not off-put adventures who leave and enter frequently, as although it is not much on a one-off payment, frequent back and forth visits will cause it to add up, so it is mainly for first-time visitors, and people who come back, forth travelling a long distance doing so.

Talia soon found herself in a bustling market place, around her were stalls which were ran by different merchants who were yelling about their wares.

There were many people of diverse backgrounds, including Dwarves, Beast people and other races which make up the 'Light Faction'. Elves were a rare sight, and she couldn't see any here, which was to be expected really, as they were a neutral race, in which not many of them really travelled outside of their territory.

However, it was still an amazing experience for Talia, as it was truly her first time seeing members of other races within the flesh, as none of the people she saw at the Village was non-human, so it was truly her first time witnessing what they look like.

Although the game was incredibly realistic, she felt it couldn't compare at all to seeing a living, breathing members all of those races walking around the square as they chatted and haggled with the merchants selling their products. She even saw a few Dwarves who were presumably blacksmiths, presenting weapons which they have crafted, as they demonstrated the quality of their equipment to potential buyers.

Passing the market place, she explored more and more of the Town enabling her to see much of what the Town had to offer, apart from the obvious off-limit areas such as the Majors residence.

Taking in the atmosphere of the Town, Talia felt it was amazing as it was a unique experience to her and something she found greatly refreshing.

However, although she wanted to appreciate the scenery more, she knew that she had a limited time frame at hand, and had already lost a bit of her time already wandering around the Town.

Therefore, she headed to the location of the branch in which the Order of Templars was located, which unlike the one in Thornrock Village which was hidden in plain sight under the guise of an Inn, this building was a Church, which very much fit the Order of the Templar style with it appearing very plain and modest, in comparison to the lavish buildings of the other Religions Churches.

Upon entering the building, she was immediately greeted by a young man who appeared to be a Priest in training for the Church. Similar to other Religions within the game, the Churches would recruit potential members with talent in cultivating energy known as divinity.

Therefore, to be a Priest you must at the very least be able to use divinity, which in this realm was considered mysterious energy, as they do not really understand it. They also do not what determines a person talent with harnessing the energy as the theory that it is affected by a person's moral character was immediately thrown away, as more than half the priests within the world would be talentless in that case.

A talent in divinity was how quickly an individual can cultivate the divine energy in of their chosen God, there were a few factors which determined an individuals capabilities whilst using divinity, one of them was how to devote that person was to their chosen deity, as the stronger belief they had the easier they progress. Yet, this wasn't the only factor as some individuals seem to be able to contain and absorb divinity far better than others, no one truly knows why, maybe only the Gods themselves can answer such a question, but because the Order of Templar had a belief system which involved virtually every God included, the divinity they cultivated was a bit different.

Usually, certain Priests of Religions divinity will resemble their deity, for instance, the Goddess of Life and Earth priests is undoubtedly known as the best healers within the world.

Even light mages are usually inferior to them, there are some exceptions as it is possible for a Mages understanding of light and their high power level would allow their skill to be beyond what the amount of the Goddesses transmitted divine energy a Priest could handle in terms of healing, this doesn't mean that the Mage would be superior to the Goddess capabilities in healing, it just means that the Priests talent in divine energy is not enough to compete with them.

Though, theoretically is a Mage is strong enough, they could eventually even surpass the Goddess expertise in healing, but that is a massive if, and would take someone who is both ridiculously talented in both cultivation, their comprehension and additionally had the resources to match. Something believed to be virtually impossible.

So why is the Order of Templar so different? As explained because they do not have a sole God, their beliefs vary, some feel a stronger connection to other Gods, meaning that the Priests within the Order of Templar are very diverse, and often control different divine energies.

This means that a team of Order of Templars holy knights would contain Priests with different specialities such as healing, divinity with more offensive orientated attacks and various other specialities, making them very formidable. They are the only Religious organisation that is accepted by both the Gods of other religions and the religions themselves but are not considered as close to the Gods as compared to the religions of those Gods.

It is why she instantly recognised that the young man before her was a newbie because she could tell that he had not cultivated divinity yet, as he is not wearing what an official Priest would be if they were a qualified one in the Order of Templars, something which would be compulsory when they are based within the Church. It was also noticeable that he was a greenhorn at first glance.

"Hello there, how may I help you?… I mean we…the church help you." Stumbled the young man as he couldn't help but blush a shade of red as he shyly looked at her face.

Speaking as if she didn't notice his earlier blunder, "I'm here to speak to Priest Omar, I have an important message from Priestess Anita and she told me to deliver it to him."

The young man faces completely changed upon hearing Priest Omar and Priestess Anita, without much hesitation and delay, he informed her he was going to fetch Priest Omar right away.

A moment later he returned with a middle-aged man with a kindly face, which seemed to have a constant warm smile.

"So, are you the young girl which Roger told me has a message for me from Priestess Anita?" Priest Omar said with a hint of suspicion.

Upon hearing the name Anita, he knew that it must be important news if she had sent it because she had gone undercover on a mission by the order, it was also why he was fairly wary as he knew that she was hidden away under a secret identity.

So it was fairly strange that an unknown person would come saying that they have brought a message from her, as it was unusual for someone as cautious as Anita would trust a stranger.

"Yes, I may as well hand it over straight away, as the object and letter explain itself," Talia answered, knowing the old man's doubt, she just handed over the goods straight away for it to explain herself for her.

Receiving the items from Talia, the old man gaze grew stern as he observed the eerie black crystal in his hand. And after he opened the parchment and began reading it through, his face turned even more serious.

"I apologise for being a tad weary of you girl, this is definitely Priestess Anita alright a letter with her seal cannot be faked. From the letter she said I can entrust you with a task, we are short of hand here, and I have to remain in the Church, so I will have to entrust this to you." Priest Omar said.

Talia felt the sudden notification that a quest was completed, the one which was given by Priestess Anita to hand over the black crystal and letter to Priest Omar was now indicated as complete.

Whereas a brand new quest popped up involving what Priest Omar was going to tell her, although she now knew what job awaited her, she continued to listen to Priest Omar.

"There is something strange going on in the sewers of the Town, upon doing investigating I found that Fishkin has nested there. At the moment commoners in the district are going missing, and I believe they are responsible, but their behaviour is also strange, they are far more aggressive than common Fishkin. At the same time, they are stronger, I sense it myself that something dark, and twisted is located down there, I reported this to the Mayor however he does not want to act because so far only the commoners are being targeted, the people in the noble district have remained unaffected. At the same time even if the Fishkin is removed, another monster race will replace them as seen before, so he feels it is not worth the cost. Additionally, only the slum areas are taking losses, and because it would take a great deal of man power with little to no gains, he is reluctant to do so, because he feels its not a bad thing for the homeless, and members of the lowest rung of society numbers are being reduced, whereas I'm afraid he does not truly understand the gravity of this situation. I want you to deal with it and find out what's responsible for emitting such a feeling of corruption, I feel it will unveil some answers on which the order is seeking." Priest Omar said.

Looking at the description of the newly given quest, it resembled what Priest Omar just said entirely, the description was 'Investigate the cause of the disturbance in the sewers behind the recent strange behaviour of the Fishkin and clear the sewers of all remaining Fishkin so the City is no longer plagued by the threat of the monsters.'

Talia accepted the quest, and said, "I welcome the mission, and will aim to complete it right away."

Priest Omar continued their conversation for a bit before he said that he must now leave to carry out his duties, after thanking her he left the room, leaving her and the young man from earlier.

The young man, who's name is actually Roger, stood there awkwardly for a bit, not knowing what to say, so Talia decided to just go ahead and break the silence and said, "So ugh… I should get going, you know, the task from Priest Omar and all, nice meeting you though. And I guess I'll see you again after I return."

Roger just said, "Yes… Nice meeting you too, well ugh see you then."

Talia just nodded in acknowledgement and left the room, while Roger noticing her departure slapped himself on the head having a go at himself for his stupidity.

Leaving the Church, Talia walked down the road heading towards the sewers, whilst thinking, 'Ah, I'm not sure if I will be able to complete this quest before my time allocation has run out, but I will sure give it a try, if I'm unable to, I will need to quickly find a safe place to leave, I don't want to spawn in the middle of a monster infestation or something.'

But, she put that idea to the back of her mind as she rushed towards the sewers hurriedly in an effort to ensure she manages to complete this quest on time.