Hired and Hungry

Liu Ming walked for hours, fatigue slowly creeping up on him. His new body was dreadfully weak.

"Hai, after walking for a few hours my body is sore all over. I guess this is all the more reason to try and gain more power." Liu Ming mumbled, sighing. He had been following the drag marks from the weird elephant-rhinoceros looking beasts.

'Man, these people sure do have good endurance. They've been walking for hours without stopping, not to mention they're carrying those HUGE creatures.' Liu Ming thought.

Liu Ming approached a small hill and looked around. The tracks ended here. His stomach grumbled. Liu Ming sighed and sat under a nearby tree.

'Looking at the map in my head, there are a few places that would look like they would have cities. Namely the open plains. I would have to gamble and choose a direction to walk to. If I mess up I'll die. Also, where did the tracks go? Do they have airships on this planet? Maybe not, but it would make sense for long distance transportation of food. It would also explain how the tracks end here.' Liu Ming thought to himself. His stomach grumbled once again and he pushed himself up off of the ground.

"Time to walk some more I guess." Liu Ming said, walking towards a distant valley.

Hours turned into days as Liu Ming trekked on through the plains. His stomach groaned wildly as a ravenous hunger tore through his body. 'At least I found a pond, I would've died of dehydration long before starvation.' Liu Ming thought to himself. There were no fish in the pond, but Liu Ming did feel a little better after deeply drinking from it.

Off in the distance Liu Ming finally saw stone walls and a well-worn path. Liu Ming inwardly cheered and picked up his pace. The path itself wound off into the distance and had what appeared to be recent tracks. People!

Another hour passed as Liu Ming continued walking down the path. Small cottages started to appear as well as the occasional person. Liu Ming sighed, 'At least I chose the right path.'

Large city walls appeared in the distance as well as numerous flying vehicles. It was a sight to behold. Large crowds of people came in and out of the main gate. All sorts of people were there, some with green skin, others looked like insects, some even looked like elves! Liu Ming had never had the time to indulge with fantasy books in his last life, but he had heard about elves.

Liu Ming sighed with delight. 'I can finally get something to eat.'

Liu Ming began walking towards the gate, eventually having to shove through numerous people. The gates were well guarded, the power of the guards more than dwarfed most of the people in the crowd. The guards payed no attention to Liu Ming and he quietly entered the city. All sorts of smells bombarded his sense and numerous stalls appeared on the main road.

"Woah." Liu Ming couldn't help but say. His last life had stores, but nothing of this scale, aside from the many auctions across the old city, but they couldn't hold a candle to this. Liu Ming made his way through the crowd and looked for a place to eat. However, a sudden thought entered his mind. He had no money!

"Tsk, I don't want to steal. Maybe a guard could point me in the right direction?" Liu Ming said to himself. Liu Ming spotted a guard and walked up to him, passing various vendors enticing him to buy their goods.

"Mhm, sir guard, if I could possibly ask some questions? You see my coin purse was lifted recently and I have no way of paying for my lodging or other services, is there anywhere where I could make some coin?" Liu Ming thought of a lie almost immediately, and tried to convince the guard.

The guard gave him a weird look, "We don't use coin here. I'm assuming you're a foreigner correct?" Liu Ming nodded. "Well, the most I could do for you is to suggest you over to the foreign affairs office, or the adventuring guild. Both provide these," The guard took out a small jade slip, "At the cost of you providing them something in return. Whether it be joining the adventuring guild, or helping take care of some matters within the foreign affairs office." The guard said, giving out a smile.

Liu Ming nodded his head, "Well I thank you for your help. May I ask your name so I can remember this favor?"

"Zheng Yu." The guard replied, giving a small nod. Liu Ming took his leave and looked for the foreign affairs office. The work there might be tedious, but Liu Ming needed to increase his gate level before attempting to join the adventuring guild.

In a small corner of the city a small, worn down building stood. Liu Ming approached this building after getting some information from a vendor of its whereabouts. "Looks a little worn, but it's better than nothing." He said to himself.

Liu Ming opened the door to the foreign affairs office and walked into the building, a small bell ringing above the door. The smell of old paper and books met his nose. Quite a pleasant smell. "I'll be right there, give me one moment!" A voice near the back of the building said loudly.

Liu Ming waited patiently at the front counter. The counter itself was covered in books, paper, and an assortment of writing utensils. Liu Ming picked up a book and looked at its cover. It was written in a language unknown to him.

Thump...

Liu Ming heard a small thump near the back of the building. "Ow... that hurt." The voice said. Liu Ming set the book down and approached a slightly ajar door that led to where the thump came from. He knocked lightly on the door, and opened the door. The door rammed into a small person knocking over the stack of books that were precariously stacked in their hands.

"Ah, c'mon. Look at what you did!" A short woman said, scolding Liu Ming. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were behind the door." Liu Ming said, offering his apology. Liu Ming looked at the woman. She had brown hair that stretched down the middle of her back. Her eyes were an emerald green and they had an air of knowledge. Her ears extended out and had a pointy end. She was an elf! But for some reason she was quite short.

"Are you going to just stand there or are you going to help me pick up these books?" She asked impatiently. "Of course." Liu Ming said, bending down to pick up books.

After gathering up the books and helping the short elf carry them to the front of the office, they set them down and the elf went behind the counter. "So, what brings you into my office?" The elf asked. "Ah, my coin purse was lost before I could exchange it for this provinces currency. More accurately stolen." Liu Ming said, shaking his head.

The elf frowned. "The nearest country that uses coins is across the Vast Seas, why are you over here?" Liu Ming coughed. "I uh, came out to adventure." He said dryly. The elf looked at him for a moment. She then proceeded to write on a piece of paper. "Here, since you're short on funds, and I'm in need of an apprentice, consider yourself hired. These are your daily jobs that need to be done." The elf said, handing him the paper that she had been writing on a moment ago. "Oh, my name is Yan Bao, remember it." She said.

"Liu Ming." Liu Ming replied. His stomach also let out a roar. Liu Ming's cheeks flared red.