Chapter 5 - New friends?

Luna woke up in a cold sweat. She was back in Undine Forest in a pool of beetle blood. Thankfully she was back at the entrance of the forest. Although now that means all the other users in the area could see her current appearance. She was covered in sticky blood and smelled horrible. Her face reddened in shame. "I wish I could take a bath." Luna said sadly.

Luna's eyes almost popped out of her head when she heard that voice again. Looking down, she found herself face to face with a black ashy figure. It was so small it could now fit in the palm of her hand.

"What are you doing here?!" Luna screamed. Attracted by the noise, more and more users started to look at her. But Luna didn't care. Because for her, now what she once thought was a dream, was real. "I thought you said it was a dream?!"

The figure answered.

She turned her head in confusion. "Your dream? How was I inside your dream?" Luna thought her head was about to explode from all this crazy talk.

The figure circled around Luna. Observing her and trying to piece together any details from her. And something did peak it's interest.

*Sigh* "...Let's go" The two left the forest with a trail of blood following behind them. On their way back, they were spotted by multiple passerby. There were quite a lot of stares and many quiet comments. It was an embarrassing experience to say the least.

After finally reaching the city gates, a guard came up to her. He was wearing full silver plated armor with a sword strapped to his waist. A symbol of a blue and golden lion was carved into his sword's sheath. The guard then spoke to Luna. "Ma'am, I hope you can appreciate that our city has a wide range of accommodations for adventurers like yourself. So if you are unaware, the bathing hall and inns are just a short walk west, after reaching town square."

"T-thank you" Luna said quietly as she entered the city. During their walk to the town square, Luna and the shadowy figure started talking to one another.

The shadow asked.

"This place? I think it's called... Cerverstein?" Luna said, not entirely sure if what she said was right.

The shadow looked to the homeless people lining the streets.

"Well... Those people are currently living out on the street because they are homeless." Luna felt the question was a bit awkward to answer. It was like a child was pestering her with questions for different things. So she tried to change the subject. "It seems there is a lot that you don't know when it comes to humans. Is there a reason?"

"Okay? So why were you locked up in the first place?" Luna asked.

A wave of silence came after their conversation. Luna hadn't talked to anyone other than her parents and doctors for the past 6 months. So creating a common ground between them was needed. But this thing doesn't know anything in the first place. For now it was looking like Luna was going to have to take the role of a teacher.

The two of them finally reached the town square. Engraved in the stone paved streets was a large compass. Luna followed the western street and after walking for a few minutes was already noticing a couple of things. First was that there were barely any shops that sold general goods on this street. The second thing was that there were so many more bars than anything else. The night filled the skies and it looked like the bars were filling up with tons of other adventurers.

Luna was underage and didn't plan to go drinking anytime soon. So to ignore the atmosphere, she tried continuing her conversation with her new friend?

Starting it off slow. Luna asked a simple question. "Hey, I don't wanna sound weird... But do you have a name?"

"Noll? Alright then Noll, I'm Luna!" Luna stuck her hand out for Noll to shake. But Noll just looked at her without shaking it. Another wave of silence hit Luna as Noll wasn't speaking.

<…I do not have hands>

"Oh yeah... I forgot, sorry." Luna awkwardly scratched the back of her head and kept walking. Unlike the south part of town, this place was brimming with life. Each bar was filled with people drinking and partying. 'It must be some kind of special day.' Luna thought aloud. Holidays were common in the real world, so who's to say they couldn't celebrate their own here.

Finally Luna reached the baths. Or at least that's what the sign said. The bathhouse looked old and in need of some serious repairs. When entering, a bell chimed as the door slid open. A beautiful woman came out from the counter. She looked to be in her mid twenties with striking black hair.

"Welcome to the Cerverstein Moonlight Inn. How may I help you?" The woman spoke to Luna as she smiled. The woman almost looked a little scary from how good her smile was.

Luna turned and whispered to Noll. "Didn't the sign say bathhouse?"

"Dear customer, this is, in fact, a bathhouse for adventurers."

A shiver went down her spine. 'I didn't think she could hear us.' That scared Luna.

"Just to be sure. How much is it for a bath?" Luna asked.

"It's five bronze for a one night stay and bath." That same happy smile formed on the woman's face.

Her expression brightened. "Alright, thank you. I'll stay one night please." Luna reached into her pockets. 'There's got to be some starting money for new users, right?' A menu came up when Luna reached into her back pocket. It was her inventory. The only thing in there was 50 bronze coins. So thankfully the game devs set up some starter money.

She was pretty awkward when entering them at first. She didn't let Noll enter with her after all. But it was a pleasant experience to say the least. The bug blood was cleaned off before Luna decided to take a seat in the steamy bath. It felt really satisfying. The heated water warmed her up. 'This is like paradise.' Luna thought aloud.

Suddenly someone spoke to her. "The warm baths are really nice here, right?" Luna looked over and could barely make out another girl. She didn't know she would be bathing with other people. Her face blushed as she realized the expression she made before when entering. Luna replied "Yes..."

"Too bad they're going out of business."

That didn't really come as a shock to Luna. After all, she had seen the Inn's current state earlier. "Why?" She asked.

"It's Lord Cerverstein. He's kind of garbage when it comes to keeping track of his land. As the lord, he gives out loans to small companies or groups with high interest rates. Mostly due to the recent war loss which affected the entire kingdom. But a big part of it is his greed. He even caused the tutorial NPC to retire. I'm not sure why the devs won't just fix the problem. It affects a lot of the beginner players as well." Luna was a little impressed. The girl seemed to know a lot about the game. It also looked like she was another user. There was no way an NPC would use the term game devs.

There was a lot Luna was curious about. But she asked her biggest question first. "What's a tutorial NPC?"

Silence came from the girl. She didn't know how to respond. A slap noise came from the other side of the room. "You really are a beginner aren't you?" The girl sounded troubled.

"Yeah... this is my first time playing a game like this after all." Luna said embarrassed.

"Alright, well then I only have two words for you.... G.a.m.e W.i.k.i." "I'm going to go log out now. I'll see you tomorrow when you hopefully know a bit more about the game." The girl then left the baths. But before she left the room. She said one last thing. "Oh yeah, my name's Jasmine."

"I-I'm Luna! T-thank you!"

After a good 15 minute soak. Finally she was clean. She changed into her newly washed clothes and went to her room upstairs with Noll. It had almost been 24 hours of in game time and it was time for her to log off. Most of her time was spent in a forest being lost. But she still had a lot of fun.

She slayed tons of beetles. Found a new friend in a dream. And had herself a nice bath. It was a fulfilling day to her. Swiping her finger downwards brought up a console. She pressed the options button and logged off. Sending her into the real world.