Other Side
It was early in the morning, and Adam was waiting in line behind an already long queue of people wanting to cross the border. At the very end of the queue was a small building made of polished stones and integrated seamlessly into the wall. There were two three doors, one that was big enough to fit a house and two small ones wide enough to fit four people at the same time.
Each entrance was guarded by people wearing full plate armors and holding halberds.
Some flags were hanging above the building and had a red rose surrounded by golden leaves and with a black background.
Adam thought that every village or town he'd seen until now were related to a flower or something of the kind, even the kingdom had a rose in its name and flag.
He went and stood behind the last person in the queue before any more people joined.
Adam was wondering if these people had been waiting here since yesterday...it wouldn't have been strange if they had done so, in fact.
There was nothing he could do but wait...
Minutes changed into hours as Adam tried not to fall asleep from boredom as he waited and waited. At long last his turn had come and he stepped inside the building.
Once inside, he saw a big room with a door immediately at his right that was closed. Up front were two tables and a few chairs.
Against the walls were storage compartments and chests, most of them were filled with random items and many of which were packaged, closed or covered.
From the ceiling hung a chandelier that had sun stones attached to it, so the whole room was very well lit.
The ground was made of stone tiles with some metallic patterns embedded in it. Adam guessed it was some kind of magic formation like the one he had seen at the temple of the path.
Next to the two tables were four men who were looking at him. Three were standing and one was sitting on a chair with a huge book in front of him. He was holding a quill and was waiting. All four of them were wearing the same uniform, one of them called out to Adam.
"Next! Come closer and we'll start."
As Adam approached them one of the four men went and sat on a chair on the side and started drinking something and from the way he was sitting, he seemed to be tired.
"Please put your backpack on the table and this officer will inspect it. Present your ID to me and while I write down your information, this officer will perform a body check on you.", said the man with the quill who then added "Please do not resist as we will only use a magic tool to scan you and your belongings."
Adam didn't really hesitate and put his bag on the table, gave his adventurer's ID to the man with the quill and stepped back. One of the guards took a ball from his pocket and it started to emit light, he waved it around his backpack and nothing happened. While he was doing so, another man approached Adam with the same ball and the result was the same.
The man in charge finished writing down something on his big book and turned to Adam.
"Where did you come from? Why are you crossing the border and are you planning to return?", said he.
It took a moment for Adam to think things through and said "I'm from a small hunting village in a mountain not too far from Black Lilly. I want to travel and see the world and I will certainly come back once I'm done."
"That'll do. Be careful out there and make sure you don't lose your ID or you might not be able to cross the border again.", said the man as he gave Adam his adventurer's ID back.
Adam picked his backpack and was led to a door in the back of the room. Once it was opened, Adam saw a long tunnel with sun stones attached to the walls every few meters.
He couldn't see the other end but he thought that a wall that tall had to be this thick.
"People take two hours on average to reach the other end, but many take a lot less. Knock on the door when you reach the end. Be on your way then.", said the man who had opened the door for Adam.
Not wasting any time, Adam started walking in the tunnel. The door was closed behind him but he didn't really care as he walked forward.
The tunnel was very well made and had a ceiling high enough and was wide enough for two people to walk shoulder to shoulder comfortably. The walls were very flat and looked very sturdy, while the ground was tiled with rock slabs.
The air wasn't any different from the outside, which kind of surprised Adam.
After finishing his inspection of the place, Adam started walking faster and faster until he was running. He met people soon enough and they barely looked at him as he overtook them and continued to run.
Half an hour later, Adam was facing a sturdy door very much like the one he had crossed to enter the tunnel. He knocked on it and it was opened by a guard.
As soon as Adam walked in, the guard closed the door again.
Adam was now in a room very much like the one he had been searched at, but this one was almost empty. Not wanting to waste anymore time, he walked outside only to be faced by an unexpected view.
In front of him and until the eye could see, laid an extraordinary...slum!
Small houses built with wood sticks or stacked rock, some with doors and some without. Most were standing, some were leaning and many were destroyed. Not a single tree could be seen and mud covered almost everything!
What shocked Adam the most were not the shacks and huts and tents until the eye could see, it was the sea of people in the area. He had never seen that many people. His great eyesight allowed him to see almost every detail up to a great distance, but he could not see through things and walls.
The only reason that he could see that far was that him and the wall behind him were atop a hill.
As Adam was contemplating the sight in front of him, he heard footsteps behind him which soon stopped.
"Shocking, right? They all come flocking to this wall, hoping to cross it and get to safety. Most of them end up starving to death or something like that though.", said an old man with a huge backpack on his back.
"Why...", asked Adam.
"Well, The Rosenwuld kingdom is one of the safest places to live and I personally understand them. Merchants are allowed in but we have to leave after three days.", added the old man.
"No, I meant...why are you talking to me?", asked Adam.
"Oh, young people nowadays are kind of funny haha. Well take it as an old man talking a bit while taking a break. The name's Lucas Dulin, a merchant. If we ever meet again, we should have a drink!", said the man as he started walking away.
Adam found the information quite useful and he would have been thankful if the old man hadn't been looking at him in a weird way. He waited until the old man was quite a distance from him, then started walking in a round about way to avoid him.
His destination was someplace he had seen from the top of the hill. It was quite far away but he had noticed it because among the sea of shacks and huts, there stood a big and refined building.
While walking among the slums, Adam saw acts of violence and people dying either from hunger or from being stabbed with a knife. This made him realize how unlawful and insecure this place was.
He avoided everything as he couldn't really bother. Other people's problems were not his, and he wasn't the type to act like a hero.
Soon enough, Adam had arrived at the nice building and the familiar adventurers' guild sign greeted him.
He opened the door and walked in.
Once he was inside, he was met with the sight of a group of bandits...no, wait! Adventurers! But they looked so disorganized and so messy that he couldn't differentiate them from thugs.
Some people turned to look at him, then went back to their business.
Adam went straight to the mission board, and after a few minutes chose one. He went to counter and confirmed with the clerk that he had gotten the mission and received directions on his first delivery mission as well as for the new one he had just accepted before turning around to leave. He had noticed something strange though.
The clergy had reacted weirdly when she saw Adam's ID, she looked a bit surprised. This reminded Adam of what he had been told when he first registered.
As he was walking out, Adam had a very bad feeling that he couldn't quite describe. The feeling disappeared as soon as he got out of the building, which was very strange.
Adam looked up at the sky, and saw that it was somewhere in the late afternoon and it wouldn't be long before dark. He remembered the details of the new mission he had taken and thought that it was strange for someone to request something like that, but he didn't care as long as he got paid.
He started heading north, which was the opposite direction from the wall.
After walking through broken houses, wooden shacks and many tents for a while. Adam started getting used to the desolation in front of him, but he still couldn't get used to the horrible smell. He could sense the smell of blood from many places, he could also smell rotting corpses and the fact that people used the ground as a literal public toilet didn't help at all.
Soon enough, Adam saw an old tree with an old wooden house next to it. The tree was long dead, but it still stood strong.
He approached the house and knocked on the door. Soon enough someone asked from behind it.
"Who's there?", said a weak voice.
"I'm from the Adventurers' Guild, and I'm here for your request.", answered Adam.
"Oh right. Come in.", said the man as he opened the door.
Adam saw an almost empty room, with a old bed on one side and a stool next to it.
Walking towards the bed was the person who had just opened the door, an old man wearing surprisingly clean clothes.
His head was full of white hair, and he had a short beard. He was also the very image of health.
This was not what Adam was imagining when he had picked the mission from the wall. The mission said that an old man on the verge of death was looking for someone to burry them in exchange of twenty silver coins.
This was quite the generous reward for something as easy as digging a hole, and Adam was happy to have picked the mission before everyone else as it seemed to have had only been put up on the wall a few minutes before he had walked in.
"You don't seem like a dying old man, old man.", said Adam as he went in and stood in the middle of the room.
"Well, it is my time to go nonetheless.", said the old man as he smiled, his expression was serene and very calm.
"Let me tell you a little story before we get on to our business. Take it as a part of the request, and a favor to this old man. Please make yourself comfortable.", said the old man as he pointed towards the stool.
Adam did not mind and sat to listen, as long as it didn't take too long.
"My name doesn't really matter, for I have no desire to be remembered after I am gone. You see, a long time ago, myself and a few people settled here in front of the great wall of Rosenwuld. I remember very well when we were denied entrance to the kingdom. The border was much harder to cross, back then. They wouldn't let anyone through!", said the old man as he took a pipe out of his pocket and started cleaning it.
"I used to smoke the pipe back then, haha never got rid of this old habit...anyway! It used to be a lush forest full of life in those days and since we had nowhere to go back to, we decided to settle here. We all had our own circumstances."
The old man then took a small box from another pocket and filled the pipe with some powder. He snapped his fingers and a small fire appeared on the tip of his finger. He then used it to light his pipe that soon started to release white smoke.
"More and more people started to appear and the settlement that only consisted of a few wooden houses started to grow bigger and bigger. It was then, that we found it. The heart of the forest...the very tree standing outside of this house.", said he as he put the pipe to his mouth and drew in a mouthful.
The room started getting smoky as the old man started breathing out, but it didn't bother Adam.
"There's a hole in that tree, and in that hole used to be a literal beating heart. We didn't know what it was back then, but we decided not to touch it.", said he as the smile from his face started fading out.
"I was still young, and was very curious. But more than that, I was greedy...I had heard that magicians liked those strange things and wanted to sell it....", said the man as his gaze became distant as he stared at the ground.
"When I took the heart of the tree, nothing happened at first. I put it in a bag and silently left. I was yet to leave the forest when the trees started to wither and the grass started to die...I was scared so I ran away.", paused the old man before he continued.
"The forest died everywhere and I lost my sense of directions, I don't know how I ended up in that situation, maybe it was my punishment for what I had done...but I fell in a crevice after losing my way. I broke my leg and almost starved to death. Having nothing to eat, I ended up eating the heart...", said he as his eyebrow formed into a frown.
"I never awakened to the path, so I should have lived a normal life by all means. But since that day, I have never suffered illness, nor has any injury lasted more than a day before completely healing. I have now lived longer than I should ever have, for I have seen eighty winters. All those I knew are dead, and yet I feel as healthy as ever...", said the old man as his frown disappeared.
He looked at Adam in the eyes as he started speaking again.
"I have come back to this place again, and this time I will not be leaving. I want you to end my days and burry me under the tree. Maybe the tree will get nourished by my body and the forest will grow again. This is my last regret...", said the old man as he started smiling once again.
"I will have no more use for money once I will be gone, so I used all my money to put up the mission. Will you fulfil the wish of an old man?", asked the old man with his eye wide open and his eyebrows raised high.
Adam had quietly listened to the old man without a change in his facial expression. He didn't need to speak and simply nodded to answer him.
The old man burst into smiles; he had a last puff from his pipe before emptying its contents into a small metallic box. He stood up and opened the door.
"Come now! I'm ready.", said he as he walked outside.
Adam stood up and silently followed behind him. They went behind the house and leaning against the tree was a shovel.
It was then that both men's eyes met and the old man, grinning from ear to ear, said to Adam.
"That's part of the job haha. I'm an old man, after all."
Adam picked up the shovel and started digging.
Soon enough, a grave was dug and dirt was stacked into a small mound next to it. Ready to be thrown back into the hole and fill it up.
"It's time, isn't it? Well, I've been waiting for this moment for a long while now. Just make it quick, I don't enjoy pain very much.", said the old man as he extended his hand to help Adam get out of the grave.
Adam grabbed the old man's hand and got out, he picked his spear and turned towards the old man.
"Here's the proof that you have completed my mission, I have already signed it. Here's a little bonus for listening to my story.", said the old man as he gave Adam a piece of paper and a small back filled with coins.
"I would rather not see your face as I do this.", said Adam as he accepted the piece of paper before putting it in his pocket.
"I understand.", said the old man as he turned around.
The old man's breathing started getting faster and sweat drops started forming on his forehead. He had prepared mentally, but death was still death.
He closed his eyes and breathed in one of his last breaths. He heard a footstep and braced himself.
The pain came a little bit later than he expected. It also came at a place he hadn't expected.
His eyes opened wide as he felt two stabs on his neck, followed by a draining feeling of weakness.
Adam drained the man of every drop of blood he could, then threw him down the hole he had just dug.
He felt a strange energy being absorbed when he used his skill [Lesser Life Essence Drain], and as soon as he had finished a notification appeared in his mind.
[Unknown energy detected]
[Unknown energy has been fully absorbed]
[Unknown energy can be formed into a skill; would you like to proceed?]
'Yes'
[Passive skill [Regeneration lvl 1] acquired]
[Excess energy has been converted into life essence by skill (Lesser Life Essence Drain)]
[Host has levelled up and reached level 2]
[Status updated]
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[Name: Adam]
[Race: (Newborn) Vampire/ ????????]
[Level: 2 - 1%] [Class: None]
[HP: 62/62] [MP: 60/60] [Bloodline Energy: 200/200]
[STR: 24]
[END: 21]
[AGI: 21]
[INT: 20]
[Spells]
- [Lesser Life Essence Drain lvl 1 – 17%]
- [Lesser Mana Drain lvl 1 – 0%]
- [Lesser Shadow Stealth lvl 1 – 13%]
- [Lesser Charm lvl 1 – 0%]
- [Regeneration lvl 1 – 0%]
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Now this was a great surprise. He didn't want to let good life essence be wasted, but he ended up gaining much more than he had expected.
He didn't know anything about that weird energy, but he had gotten a skill out of it.
Adam picked the shovel again and properly buried the old man after searching through his pockets. The pockets were empty, but he had gained quite a lot from the man already.
He looked once more at the tree before turning around and leaving the place and going to get his reward from the guild.
He made a detour to deliver the package from the first quest he had picked and was quickly done with that mission as the guild clerk had given him very clear instructions on where to find the client.
It had now become dark, but Adam could see quite well. He was also sure the guild would be open this late as it also acted as an inn from what he had seen of the place.
He was walking among the huts, tents and shacks on a dirt road. The smell was still bad, but it was now silent everywhere. It was very dark as there was no fire lit anywhere near him.
Adam was almost at the guild when he once again had the weird feeling he had felt earlier today. The feeling didn't last long before it was replaced by horrible pain in his back. He had been stabbed!
Adam tumbled forward and before he would get stabbed again, he activated [Lesser shadow stealth].
He heard someone speak behind him "What the hell? Where'd he go!"
Adam turned around and saw a skinny man wearing black leather armor from head to toe. It was too big for him, but that didn't matter right now.
The pain had been intense, but he felt a lot better now...
Adam thought about his status and to his greatest surprise his health was [26/62].
Had he still been a level 1, he would have died!
The skill he had acquired earlier was working right now as he saw his health refill at an alarming pace as it was already at 30.
The shock and surprise were soon replaced by anger.
Adam started heading towards the man who had now lost sight of him. He readied his spear, but he couldn't attack. The man had started escaping and ran in between tents.
Not wanting to let him go, Adam ran after the man who had just stabbed him. He couldn't let this last for too long as his stealth only lasted 5 minutes.
Both of them ran fast, but Adam was much faster than his assailant.
He ran past the man and coming to a halt, he turned and stabbed his spear at the man's face...and to his greatest surprise, the man dodged!
He had scraped his cheek and left a bleeding wound, but that wasn't enough to harm the man.
Adam tried to follow up the attack by hitting him with the blunt side of the spear but the man stumbled forward and it missed.
Having stumbled forward both men knocked into each other and Adam's first reflex was to grab the man by the shoulders and bite him in the neck.
He used both [Lesser Life Essence Drain] and [Lesser Mana Drain], and being unable to resist, the man got completely drained.
The fight had ended in an underwhelming manner, but it was better than dying.
This made Adam understand two things. First was the fact that he had been too relaxed and not careful enough. Second was that Adam wasn't very good at using a spear and needed to learn how to use one or he would end up dead.
Hopefully, this man had tried to use the darkness of the night to ambush Adam, but little did he know that he was facing a child of the night.
Adam searched through the man's body and found some money, and an Adventurer's ID. This confirmed that he had been targeted since earlier today, and that he couldn't trust the guild branch in this area.
Looking at the leather armor, Adam thought that he didn't have any kind of protection right now. Thus, he took it off the man and wore it himself. It was a bit bigger than himself but he was tall enough to use it without any constraints.
Adam searched for an empty tent and tore enough cloth from it to cover himself with a makeshift cloak.
The owners of said tent wouldn't be very happy once they came back to it later, but he didn't really care.
After his health got back to full, Adam went back to his original plan of going to the guild to submit both missions as completed and receive his rewards.
After reaching the guild, Adam walked in. It was now a bit late and very few people were in the main hall.
Adam went to the clerk and put both mission contracts on the counter. The clerk welcomed him, took the two contracts and after a little while gave him his money. A total of one gold coin and ten silver coins.
Having no trust in the guild branch at this place, Adam took his money and left.
He stealthily moved away from the guild building as he made his way to the old man's wooden house.
Adam was sure the old man wouldn't mind. He locked the door and window, and went to the bed. Today was quite a long day and he was mentally tired, but he still did not forget to meditate.
Once he was done with the meditation, he fell into a state of fatigue and soon enough went to sleep.