Adel's Hesitation

"Sorry, but I think that elf's words make sense. You guys can continue to do your thing, I'll mind my own business." Elgin said with a bright smile.

"What..? But!" Adel tried to dissuade Elgin from leaving, but stopped in his tracks. There were clearly more important matters to do for now.

Elgin continued walking into the town without any restraints.

After he was out of their sight, Adel sighed before turning to the others.

"..Alright, let's start our discussion now, shall we?"

He didn't expect that two people would be leaving right away.

Adel was a man with inborn leadership skills. He controlled the worried crowd very well, and soothed the atmosphere down.

After that, he grouped everyone up and began to take notes of their identity. building solidarity with them.

Everyone pitched in their own ideas. Before long, Adel, who had an inkling suspicion that since this was a fantasy world, called out the command 'status'.

He was the first to open his status window, which of course was only visible to him. From there, the mission to raid Yggdrasil was exposed, and things seemed to be going in a good pace.

They realized that they were all Players with the same mission, which cleared things up even further.

"This is great! We're making progress."

"Yes. We have a clear goal now. Our answer as to why we're here.. must be in this Yggdrasil Tower. Everyone, let's keep up this momentum and continue!"

"Umm.. What about the two who left? Are we not going to look for them? Perhaps we should try to convince them to join us.. I think having more people to stick with is better!" A woman gave her opinion.

"Hah? They're the one who chose to leave. They acted so high and mighty, but I bet they're gonna die first!"

"Yeah, forget about them! Those two are so arrogant, they probably don't know what is even happening!!"

"Miss, it's their decision, we shouldn't bend our backs just to bring them here."

"Yeah, yeah!"

The woman sighed and followed their words.

Laughter ensued, and the crowd marched into Ulya with high spirits.

Adel, however, was a bit hesitant.

"I've observed you all, and the only one who is 'worthy' of continuing is you."

Those words came from the hooded person.

She hadn't spoken a single word ever since they got here, ignoring everybody who tried to approach her. Only through her voice was Adel able to tell that she was a woman.

Adel furrowed his brows.

"Those guys are worthless, and you should know that too. They're rowdy, uncouth, and don't even know what they're getting into. The more you mingle with them, the more you're going to put yourself at a disadvantage."

"What do you want me to do?" Adel's suspicions were raised.

"If you treasure your future, then leave them and go with me. The other two who left were smart, but they are too self confident. The Tower's challenges clearly aren't as simple as just beating some monsters. You seem to be much more reasonable."

She lowered her hood and revealed herself to be an extreme beauty. Her platinum blonde hair and clear blue eyes glistened under the exposure of sunlight. Her skin was as pale as snow, and there were no blemish on any parts of her body. Her expression was completely stoic, making her look like a doll.

"You.." Adel was stunned.

She looked so majestic and ethereal, almost unrealistic.

"I come from a world where magic already exists. In that Tower, there is bound to be endless fighting until we reach the end. Although you have no experience in fighting, you have potential. What do you think? Join me and I promise you that we will be the winners on top in the end."

"..I can't. I can't just leave those guys alone, we are all in the same boat." Adel shook his head and refused the offer.

His conscience was weighing in on him.

The blonde woman clicked her tongue. "I waited here to recruit you, but it turned out to be useless. Then, this is where we part. Although... it won't matter in the end. I can guarantee you right now. From that bunch, the only one who will come out to be alive will be you. That is, if your savior complex doesn't get in your way and endanger your life."

After saying that, the woman hid herself using the hood once more and went inside Ulya, leaving Adel alone.

Adel pursed his lips. "Did I make the wrong decision..?"

He was eventually called by one of the group's men, snapping him out of the conflicting thoughts he had.

He, too, entered Ulya and saw that the beautiful woman was no longer in the group.

She had departed, and there was now only eight people left in the group.

______

To their disappointment, Elgin was now doing far better than them.

He had discovered his status from the get go, so he was now heading straight towards his first fight after picking up some items in the town.

Each Player was given an item box that was connected to themselves. It didn't show a limit in how much it can hold, making it an incredibly convenient perk.

Inside the box, there was already a money counter set up. He had a total of 10 gold coins, which he could freely take out just by thinking about the desired amount.

One gold coin amounted to 100 silver coins, whereas one silver coin amounted to 100 copper coins.

The price of staying overnight at a good inn was ten silver coins per night, so he had quite a lot of money to sustain himself.

However, he didn't plan to stay at inns, at least not for now. He wanted to be able to train continuously for days in order to boost his progress as much as possible before reaching Yggdrasil.

'Rations for a week.'

'A map of the area.'

'Health and mana potions...'

'One sword, one bow, and one magic staff.'

His little shopping spree cost him two gold coins, but it was worth it.

[You're all set. Let's go!] Cecily cheered.

Elgin stored all the items into his inventory.

With that, he was ready to set off to the first monster hunting location: Rudis Forest.