Pearl

It wasn't his first time, but Felix found night to be the most relaxing time in Epoch.

Most players would disagree, because with the night came dangers, one had to rely on the light of the stars and the moonlight to see around themselves while in the wilderness, and it wasn't a rare occurrence for the sky to be covered.

Yet, Felix always found night to be special. Of course, the night sky was a sight to behold, but even tonight, as it was covered by dark clouds and the sky wept, turning the road to mud, Felix had a smile on his face.

Despite the low visibility, finding the way to Fìrma wasn't hard, as he simply had to follow the road. Because he took his time, it took Felix around an hour and a half to reach the city, and he had managed to avoid any encounter with wildlife on the way.

The Eastern Gate of the city was closed, but even as he approached from a distance, Felix noticed torches moving on top of the wall, meaning soldiers were watching over the city gate.

As Felix was walking along the road, he easily made his presence known before arriving at the gate itself. The guards would be more easily unsettled by someone they didn't see coming.

As he arrived below the rampart and the gate, where the ID of the guards became visible to him, Felix expected he would have to explain why he came so late, but as soon as the captain of the guards, a man whose level showed as unknown to Felix, saw him, he raised his hand and ordered for the gate to be opened.

While surprised by the easy entrance into the city, the captain of the guards jumped down from the ten meters tall rampart, landing next to Felix.

[Captain Leopold, ?, Chieftain]

Not only was Captain Leopold of a high level, he was even a Chieftain. With the governor of the city, Earl Eric, being a Lord Rank human, this put Captain Leopold right below him, meaning he had to be somewhat important.

The Captain of the guards beat his fist against the left side of his chest, his leather glove making a strangely metallic sound as it hit his armor.

"Sir, I have been tasked to await your arrival by the Earl. I was also tasked to lead you to him."

Not really sure of what to do with his hands, Felix decided to let them hang at his sides as he replied, "Lead the way then, Captain."

The man nodded sternly before making a clean 180 and stepping towards the inside of the city. Felix felt a little amused at the rigidness of the man, but commenting on it would be rude, so he silently followed.

Felix would normally have felt awkward about walking silently in the night with someone else, but his attention was to the city.

Fìrma was built slightly below the rest of the surrounding terrain. Much like the Mountain Pass, Fìrma was built into the middle of a small rocky desert, and the city itself looked like it had been built into the ground.

The city was circular in shape, encircled by the ten meters tall ramparts, which themselves were built around 8 tall pillars of rock, each around 50 meters in height. But there was also a ninth one, erected in the very center of the city, and twice as big and tall as the other eight.

And it happened to be right where Felix was being led.

As for the city itself, while one might think it would be bare of green life because of the terrain, Felix found a surprising amount of plants, not to mention the temperature in the city was largely more bearable than the outside.

The day in the Mountain Pass was sweaty while the night was chilling, but the night was much tamer within the city, and Felix suspected the same would apply to the day.

The closer he got to the center of the city, the bigger and more impressive the infrastructures got. Close to the ramparts, one would mostly find small shops and houses for the inhabitants of the city.

However, deeper in was the more corporate side of the city, or so Felix described it. He spotted several buildings that looked like they belonged to larger organizations, mainly those that were still opened and lit up at this hour.

Being next to one, Felix decided to ask his guide, "Hey, what's that building?"

The building itself was built mainly of metal and wood, the metal having a particularly dark shade to it, making the building look more mysterious.

Captain Leopold did not even look at the building as he replied, "This is a branch of the Alchemist Guild. You may find any of the common potions in there, and commission for rarer ones to be made. If you would like to learn the way of the Alchemist, this would also be the right place."

Felix nodded, and continued walking behind Captain Leopold, who took the initiative to introduce several of the more important buildings as they passed by them.

One of them particularly interested Felix, and it was one of those they did not walk by.

"Near the Western Gate is also the Adventurer's Guild. There, you may get certified as an adventurer, and take jobs posted by clients. Of course, if you have a request yourself, you may post it there. As for the limits as to what kind of request can be posted and how adventurers work, it would be better to head there yourself to learn them."

Felix certainly was interested in the Adventurer's Guild, as were any other players. This represented the easiest way for players to find Quests, and subsequently level up. It was also massively interesting to other players as this was where Guilds would be able to form.

However, from what Felix had read, to create a Guild with more than 1000 Players, one needed to be at least Tier 1, and that was the bare minimum. For the larger Guilds, they would have to reach even higher levels of powers to take everyone in their Guild in.

Of course, there were several ways to circumvent this, and such a solution was Divisions. Although they would be limited to 1000 Players, nothing stopped them from making a hundred Guilds, all affiliated to the head Guild.

But those matters were far from Felix. Not only had no one yet even reached Level 50, even when they did, Felix held no interest in joining the Guilds.

He had told Zara that he wouldn't join their Guild because it did not align with his goals, and it was true, but another reason was simply that joining them held a certain level of responsibility he may not be able to meet.

If he joined a Guild and they poured resources into him, but he ended up never getting beyond Level 50, it wouldn't sit well with Felix. That was a total dick move, and while Felix wasn't a paragon of virtue, he certainly didn't want to take advantage of other people for a little money and momentary fame.

Felix had to stop his internal inspection of his values though as he and Captain Leopold had arrived before a large mansion. It was surrounded by an inner wall, around three meters tall, and was guarded by Elite Guards.

Upon seeing Captain Leopold, they made the same salute he had made when he met Felix, and they were allowed entry.

Felix wasn't sure as to what exactly he should expect from the inside, but he still found it surprising when he was greeted by a very Roman-like architecture.

Extending from the guarded inner wall to the entrance of the actual house extended a long and shallow pool. Looking around, Felix realized that behind the inner wall was actually a rectangular formation of buildings, built in white stones, presumably marble.

Walking alongside the pool, Felix entered the main residence, Captain Leopold stopping at the entrance.

The insides of the villa were luxuriously furnished, and Felix noticed a particular interest in books, as filled bookshelves littered the walls. As for whether it was off of a genuine interest towards the books or to show off, Felix had no idea.

The villa was large, but Felix didn't have to find his way through it as Earl Eric had apparently somehow known he was coming, as he stood in the middle of the first room in the main residence.

"I must admit, I did not think you would be done in only a few hours. A Runefather really is something else. Also, I hope you were not too inconvenienced by that Elven woman, but matters pertaining to her surpass me."

Shaking his head as he looked at the room, particularly at the rather well hidden Runes, Felix said, "No need to worry, she was rather helpful, and nice to exchange with."

Earl Eric's smile twitched ever so slightly, before he seemingly realized, "You must be confused, as to my attitude towards her. I heard about some conflicts in the city regarding the difference in views of foreign races."

He made a pause, and gestured toward a window as he asked, "What do you think of this city?"

A little confused, Felix replied, "I haven't had much of an opportunity to visit, as this is my first time here, but I figure it is a peaceful city. At least, it is silent at night."

Turning to look at the window, Earl Eric snorted softly, "Peaceful. I like to think so too. But it wasn't always this way."

Earl Eric grabbed his sleeve, and pulled it up, revealing an expected sight. Felix hadn't really picked up on him wearing gloves, because everyone did. After all, they granted Stats and skills, for the better ones.

However, Earl Eric's arm was different from a normal one, because it was made of metal. It was a prosthesis, Felix realized.

Moving his fingers, Earl Eric asked, "Do you know where the name of our Kingdom comes from?"

Felix shook his head, as the first time he had heard about it, the first thing that had come to come was the drink.

Earl Eric explained, "In the Old Tongue of the Empire, it means 'Pearl'. Because until twenty years ago, our Kingdom was known as the Pearl of the Empire. Naturally, we abided by their rules, and accepted all kinds of foreign races in our midst. 'Paragon of Virtue', some would call our King."

Snorting, Felix said, "Sounds good, but I guess it wasn't?"

His voice dripping with sarcasm, Earl Eric praised, "Very perceptive of you, young man."