Chapter 48 part 1 – Leaving Sacred City
"2,500 short swords…. 125 short swords with a notch… What are these daggers? Holy Light Dagger… single use?" Jack is mumbling to himself as he makes a mental catalogue of all the items within the storage ring.
There aren't just weapons contained within the filled storage ring; there's all sorts of armour such as plate mail that the guards were wearing and light chainmail imbued with holy energy, potions that cure demonic 'infection' and to be thrown like a poisonous AoE item from a game.
There even holy element items such as formation flags and a strange looking rock, a book within the storage ring gives information on how to lay out an 8 point Holy element defensive formation and barrier that will convert the heaven and earth energy into holy element over a large area using these items but a quick flip through the pages causes Jack to develop a headache from the information he can't understand.
It seems that there needs to be an array master to utilize these formation items, Dragon - Phoenix village currently lacks an array master or someone to lay down formations. Jack previously experienced formations with Arwen as he was able to lay some crystals down resulting in a simple killing formation that gave him some protection in the wilds but those crystals were designed to be used easily, these holy element formation flags look very complicated and delicate.
Jack stops going through the storage ring as there's nothing he wants for himself and just quietly watches the scenery roll by as his carriage is making its way through city, the city itself looks like a boring old European city, the city itself is partially built up an incline and the further inside the city you go the higher up you will go.
Standing at the very top is an imposing yet ancient looking grand cathedral, the Holy Heavens Cathedral looks like a tiny chapel compared to this ancient looking building but even from a large distance the ancient cathedral looks damaged filled with pock marked from objects being thrown at it, the outside is almost completely black from burns and ash.
Even with all the damage and worn-down look, it still belays a feeling of majesty.
"What's that building at the very top?" Jack asks the carriage driver.
"Sir, everyone knows about Demon Suppression Palace, did you just newly start playing the game today?" the carriage driver looks at Jack strangely.
"Let's just say I did, why is that building so damaged yet no one wants to repair it?"
"Sir, that's a long story but everyone knows Demon Suppression Palace, they're the only force truly stopping demons and devils from entering our world"
"What do you mean?
"If you want me to tell the full story I can but it's long and I'm just a carriage driver so don't know everything, but everyone respects Demon Suppression Palace after the night of silence and you should pay your respects at the Cathedral if you want the best version of the story"
Jack is intrigued as it sounds like they might be very helpful during these times, "How long would it take to get there?"
"It'd take around 4 hours to arrive there, would you like to go there now?" the carriage driver has clear excitement in his voice.
"Oh, then no I have some things I need to do so maybe another time"
"No problem sir" The carriage driver closes the window to indicate the conversation is over.
Jack is left alone again, this time he spends the time trying to recall the exact postures and positions of the vision when he acquired the Heavens Piercing spear technique, the first level of the technique doesn't have very much power but it gives him better combat options than just wastefully waving sword lights around or running away.
The carriage proceeds through the streets for 10 more minutes before a tapping at the window can be heard, "Sir we've arrived" the carriage driver announces.
Jack looks out and it's another large area filled with wooden buildings, stalls and thousands of people, many with a distinctly different look to the others indicating they're players or from outside this region.
The teleportation plaza at Horse City was a simple stone area with a large purple diamond-shaped crystal sticking out of the ground, there was no huge market place around it.
"Where is the teleportation plaza?"
"Inside there" the carriage driver points in a direction but the view is blocked off by the wooden buildings and stalls.
Jack frowns but before he says something, the carriage driver speaks up; "There will be someone to ask in the free-trade market area, this area is new and always changing so I don't know exactly" as the carriage comes to a stop.
It's a market area laid out in small lanes with simple wooden buildings adorned with advertisements. Out the front some buildings there are simple wood stalls, it looks like an open-air shopping centre or mall from the real world but very primitive. There is even a dedicated area to pick up and drop off passengers, it feels like something people from the real world created.
Jack opens the door taking a quick look but not seeing anything that looks like a sign to indicate the way to the teleportation crystal, taking in the surroundings he takes a few steps out of the carriage when someone else brushes past him and takes his place inside the carriage, it feels very busy here.
Looking to his left Jack can see a street filled with food related stalls and some raw good stores that would suit people living here, looking to his right he can see some clothing stores that seems filled with residents but very few players.
Jack is tempted to go to the food related area to see if he can find something to eat and check out some of the raw goods stores, even from a distance he can see there are some interesting herbs on offer but his storage ring is nearly filled to the brim with goods acquired from the White Flower Church and it's doubtful he will find any good deals here.
Choosing the less crowded route, Jack takes the path of the clothing stores with no stalls outside, peering into some of the clothing stores, the goods look rather shoddy but in the fashion stylings of the real world, some players must be involved in the design phase but it seems to mostly be residents selling to other residents going by the customers appearances.
Jack yawns as he passes by these stalls looking for a sign or someone to ask where the teleportation crystal is, walking by one stall he can see an interesting looking scarf and reminded that he has had a run-in with some people already within this city, he purchases it just for an added layer of protection wrapping it around his head and placing a wide-brim hat completing the cloaking.
"Do you happen to know where the Teleportation Crystal is?" Jack asks the stall keeper.
"That way, walk about 3 minutes and take a left you can't miss it" the stall keeper points down the road Jack was already walking but he can't see anything.
Jack passes a coin and thanks the stall keeper before walking down the street further, Jack passes by many side alleys filled with poorer looking stalls but he bypasses them all without taking a look.
Suddenly he feels a tug at his arm as the little snake that is always wrapped around his bicep is moving towards his collar, Jack pauses for a moment as the little snake's head pops out of his collar.
Jack strokes the little snake's head for a moment trying to settle it down but it's just looking at a particular direction.
This is the first time the little snake has shown an interest in anything before, most of the time it's either sleeping or within the city-lord weapon.
Jack sways his body looking quite weird to bystanders but the snake's head is always pointing in the same direction, down the alleyway he's standing by.
Shrugging his shoulders Jack follows the direction the snake is pointing, it's similar to the other alleyways where there are a few small poor-looking stalls, the owners are all older people but content looking people, walking down the alley and past a few stalls the little snake turns its head towards a particular stall causing Jack to stop.
Looking at the stall, there's just various old jewels and a couple of dragon statues sitting on the table with an old man sitting there reading a book, upon hearing Jack stop before his stall the man looks up and gives a friendly smile, "See something you like?"
Jack looks down at the table while watching the little snake out the corner of his eye, the table contains various objects Jack isn't able to identify but they have a theme; a dragon. Three small statues of an eastern looking dragon, various little stones with a character marked on the back and a pile of colourful rocks and shells many which have a damaged dragon face on them.
Jack runs his hands over a few of the objects but none of them have any reaction from the system indicating there's nothing special. Not wanting to waste much time here, Jack looks toward the stall keeper.
"How much for everything?"
"Everything? I've been trying to sell anything the past week and no one bought anything, suddenly someone wants to buy everything!" the old man speaks out, the other stall owners can hear it over the mostly quiet street and laugh as if it's a funny joke. Jack is just left standing scratching his neck awkwardly.
"That'll be... 160 gold coins but you need to listen to my story for a moment" the man takes a cloth bag out and starts to load the marked stones one by one.
"These items are all important items from the Holy Dragon Temple and all contain an important meaning, I don't know as these were just items my old friend asked me to sell and pass the money onto his kin" the man finishes speaking and closes the first bag before loading up the various rocks and shells in another.
"The Holy Dragon Temple was spread across the land at one point but they were destroyed quickly once they lost their Sacred Vessel, this happened about 40 years back but lots of rumours still float around about the Holy Dragon Temple, they still have some members and they're searching for clues about that night" the man closes the second bag placing it on the table, the little snake twitches as the bag lands.
The man picks up a dragon statue and starts to wrap it, "So if you happen to find anyone else selling items like these, perhaps you might lend them a hand as I see you little snake there might see something it likes" he gives a mysterious smile to Jack.
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing, I just feel sorry for them as my old friend always suffered for no reason" the man finishes wrapping the first dragon statue in cloth.
"What destroyed the Holy Dragon temple?"
"We don't say their name but you're probably a player and don't know..." the man finishes wrapping the second statue and starts the final one.
"Silent Night" the man frowns while he finishes wrapping placing the three statues in a bag carefully remaining silent.
The rest of the street is eerily quiet upon saying that, Jack feels an odd tension enter the air.
"Of course, you probably won't come across them" The man speaks up in a cheerier tone, pushing the bagged items towards Jack.
Jack waits patiently for the quest notification, that was enough of a flag for him to call but nothing happens. The people in the rest of the street all have serious expressions on as if they're recalling something serious.
Jack reaches down at the bagged items, pulling the coins out of his storage ring and putting all the items inside.
The little snake starts to get agitated but Jack strokes its head for a moment whispering, "It's ok you can look through it later, it's not the right time now", the snake flickers its tongue towards Jack's finger and withdraws back into Jack's robe returning to its usual spot.
"Thanks for the items and the story" Jack cups his hand toward the old man.
"It's no problem young man, very few people will want to stop and listen to my stories and you have saved me the trouble of trying to sell each item one by one, my friend shall be smiling from the afterlife upon learning his family will be able to survive from the random junk he has collected over the years"
Jack nods his head and turns around leaving the little alleyway and returning to the main street continuing his short journey, not noticing that people close by are quietly passing a few sheets of paper between them, some of whom have a familiar yellow snake embroidered on their robe.