Getting Situated

James took the meat and began to wolf it down, somewhere in the conversation he 'began to feel the hunger that was the cause of the bodies prior owner's death. He felt like he had died himself from the torturous pain in his stomach. It made him feel like he was going to throw up what little was left in his stomach.

With his immediate problems sorted the system decided to nudge James into asking for some info about the world in which he was currently residing.

[System recommends the current list of Questions as hosts priority]

[Who is the Current King?] [ ] Reward: +3 Exp

[Where is the nearest market?] [ ] Reward: +1 Exp

[Where can I find a map of the City?] [ ] Reward: +0.1 Int

'Wait, I have stats? Why didn't you show them to me?'

[System is aiming to remedy the impending demise of host]

'Oh well that's fair enough I guess, I'll try some of these questions then.'

After asking the man the questions and getting an idea for the layout of the city called Angaria, he headed towards the outer district's market.

Hearing the ambient shouts of men selling fruit and other wares James found a small building on the border of the market with a sign reading 'Roland's maps'. The man had told James that although these maps were a bit outdated and mostly discarded from the nobles or professional map makers from the inner districts. At least they were still more than good enough for navigating the city.

"Stop right there, what are you here for?" A man was staring at James with deep suspicion; he apparently thought that James was here to steal something as there was no way he had any money to buy a map.

"I want to look at a map of the city; please, I don't know where anything is. You can stay with me the whole time to make sure I don't steal anything." Although James naturally detested begging from people and acting like an innocent child as a mid 40's man, he realised it was necessary to work like this for he had no other options.

"Alright, kid you have 3 minutes to look at a map, so you better make it count" The man escorted James into the small store full of shelves littered with pieces of low-quality canvas.

James approached the counter to see the proprietor of the store "Excuse me mister are you Roland?"

"Yes I'm Roland, what's it to you?" A wizened old man as thin as a twig asked James with a strange look.

"Which of these maps is the most detailed mister, I only have a few minutes to look, and I would like to see the best one if that's possible" James tried his best to mimic the expression of puppy dog eyes to the man.

"Hmm, yes I suppose that makes sense, you want that one over there 3rd in from the left" The man pointed a crooked finger to one of the shelves at the back of the store.

The system highlighted the correct map and James headed straight to it; intent on memorising it completely.

[System reminds the host of the scanner function. The scanner is capable of compiling the map data into a map in the system.]

For the next couple minutes, James feigned intent concentration watching the system compile a mini-map in the peripherals of his vision.

"Thanks, mister, you've been a great help, I promise to come back and buy your best map when I have lots of money in the future." James placed the map down and walked straight out of the store headed to the pawn shop he had now highlighted on the map.

The necklace he had around his neck was not some family heirloom but something he had found on a corpse when he was five years old and had kept hidden ever since hoping it would bring him some luck eventually. It turns out this luck had been waiting for James and was now his to take.

After walking for what felt like hours, he finally came to a small shop right on the border of the outer and inner districts; It seemed that the closer James got to the inner district the better quality the clothing and buildings got. The architecture reminded James of the Tudor style with many buildings lining the sides of the street made mostly with wood and minimal metal. According to the system, the previous host had never ventured that far from the alley James woke up in so was indeed closed off from everything in the city, let alone the World.

It was safe to say the memories of the deceased owner of his new body weren't much help at all, but at least he was able to tell that he didn't know anyone so they wouldn't be able to notice the change in behaviour from James.

Upon entering the shop, he saw some trinkets he couldn't recognise most of them working around some form of crystal resonance to produce little melodies. He had no idea how they were creating the vibrations in the crystals, but he was sure that he would love to research it and play around with them.

"Excuse me, I was wondering if you could tell me what this necklace is worth?" James was looking the lanky man with a crooked nose straight in the eye wondering if he was about to be scammed for the first time in his new life. It was a shame he honestly had no standing even to be able to argue if the man just straight up took the necklace.

"Hmm, I would say this necklace is mostly worth the crystal fixed in it and then maybe the metal chain would be worth something I could give maybe 13 Leones for this if it were in perfect condition however the crystal has many scratches, and the chain has some notches in it as well. I can give you at most 9 Leones for this" The man although he looked guileful seemed to be telling the truth, the necklace was in terrible condition.

"I don't suppose you could throw in a small pouch for me as well by any chance mister? I truly have nowhere to store the coins." James decided to push for slightly more benefits, his time living on the streets had taught him that as long as he didn't ask for too much when haggling people would be fine with accepting it, it was only when you harmed the bottom line they would be rid of you.

"Yes I suppose that would be fine it's not much but here is a small pouch to hold some items as well. Be sure to come back to me if you have anything else to sell or want to buy something; and I'll be sure to give you a good price" The man had clearly sensed something about James that was different from the ordinary commoners so decided to concede a small loss to build a relationship with him. It is rare to see such an eloquently speaking poor boy, especially at James' age.