Where the Game Leads Them

"We'd like to consult with the crystal." Erik said, brushing past me and approaching the table. He opened his status panel, then switched to the party panel and showed her our names.

"A moment, please." The Ereth said before checking a small leatherbound book. "Ah, you're Erik." She said after a short moment. "Of course, please proceed to the elevation sigil."

"Thank you, ma'am." Erik said with a half smile. "Let's go," He said, turning to us.

We headed to the elevation sigil, which turned out to be the magical version of an elevator. It was basically a round, stone platform that floated in the air. As soon as we stepped on it, the runes on it lit up and the platform started floating upwards.

"This is neat." Vincent said with a chuckle. "I was afraid we'd have to climb all the way to the top."

Soon, we arrived at a higher floor. Erik was the first to step off the magical elevator. We followed right after him and found ourselves in a large, spacious room.

"Whoa." Alina said with glowing eyes. "This is beautiful."

Light brown floorboards covered the floor. The walls were white, as was the ceiling. There was nothing of note in the room except for the very familiar sight of a floating crystal.

It floated at about chest height, at the centre of the room. The pink crystal shone softly, it was almost as if it were calling us. We approached it hesitantly.

Erik took a deep breath and placed his palm on the smooth surface of the crystal. A few seconds passed before the pale blue interface appeared.

"Two extermination quests." Erik said after a short moment of hesitation. He was clearly disappointed. "I expected more. We didn't even get a reward for fighting the phoenix or killing the sea dragon and the spider."

"That's a bummer." Vincent mumbled. Joshua just sighed. Unlike them though, Alina just shrugged. "What do we do next?" She asked with excitement in her voice.

"We should finish the quests." Samantha chimed in as we returned to the magical elevator. "I'm sure they'll give us some clues."

"Why do you think so?" Vincent asked with confusion. I also wanted to ask the same thing – what she said made no sense at all.

"Well, this is a game, right? Games naturally try to push players to the next big goal. So, all we have to do is make sure we finish our quests and it'll eventually lead us to whatever we need." She sounded awfully proud of herself as she spoke. Her eyes gleamed with happiness, almost as if she'd found the secret to our dilemma.

I wanted to say she was wrong, but I decided to stay silent. I just didn't want to erase that hope from her expression. Instead, I changed the subject a little. "I want to walk around in the city a bit. You guys can go ahead and finish the quests if you want to, it'll help make you stronger too."

Alina's cheerful expression shattered as Erik nodded. "But wait," She said with a worried tone. "Kai's the strongest of us. Is it really ok to leave the city without him?"

Vincent chuckled. "We'll be fine as long as we stay aware of our limits." He glanced at me. "Am I right?"

I nodded. "As long as you're careful, you'll be fine." I was pretty sure they could take on a few small-time monsters on their own and I needed them out of my hair so I could check the artefact store Asher had told me about. "Just make sure you always put some distance and preferably someone else between you and the enemy." I smiled in a reassuring way, or so I hoped.

"I'll try." Alina said with a hesitant voice. I reached out and lightly squeezed her shoulder. "You'll be fine."

The magical elevator finally reached the ground floor again and we got off. As other groups slowly approached, we quickly moved out of the way.

"Alright, Kai will check the city while we take care of the quests. Any objections?" Everyone shook their heads and thus, we agreed on Erik's half-baked plan. We left the guild building and bid each other our farewells.

I watched the group as they headed to the city gates and, once they were out of view, opened my map. The entire layout of the city was before me. It didn't take me too long to spot the shop Asher told me about.

"Well then," I mumbled as I started walking in that direction. Both Ereth and others shot me odd glances as I walked by them. With my dark green cloak and clothes, I looked completely out of place. Despite feeling the anxiety of having so many eyes on me, I somehow made it to the artefact store.

It was a large, three story building at the very edge of the city. It had a large garden completely closed off by a tall wall. The building itself, as well as the wall were white, with golden embellishments. I had gotten used to the colour scheme by now, though I still disliked it.

What I found surprising was the lush green grass covering the garden. The only piece of nature I'd seen in the city was here. I took a deep breath before stepping through the golden gate, onto the golden brick road that led to the building. I couldn't help but feel nervous – the man or woman who owned this place had spied on us.

I considered contacting Asher but decided otherwise. I could feel the magical aura covering the entire estate. I knew the chance that they'd be able to detect telepathy was close to zero, but I didn't want to take any unnecessary risks.

I finally passed through the garden and arrived at the golden doors of the three-story building. I climbed the few steps that led to the door and raised my hand to knock.

Right as my knuckles were about to touch the metal, the door creaked open.

"Welcome,"