Unexpected Healer Book 2 -- Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The closer he came to the walls of the enormous city in the mountain, the larger it seemed to grow in his sight.  Walking up to its walls, he felt absolutely dwarfed by its sheer magnificence, to the point where it almost put off a physical pressure that bore down on him until he learned to ignore it.  That didn’t deter the grand scale that it held in his view, of course, because it was, frankly, as impressive of a structure that he’d ever seen before.  With most of it carved out of rock, it was like looking at Mount Rushmore times ten thousand – though it didn’t have nearly the same sort of detail as the monument back home.  Instead, the lines of the walls, buildings, and even the military castle toward the back were mostly straight, uniform lines with very little variation. 

In the end, it didn’t matter that it looked like something that would’ve fit right in with a certain kids mining and crafting game that he’d played back on Earth; it was just that monumental of a construction project that its final appearance wasn’t a factor in the awe he felt when he stood near it.

He felt himself looking at it with such wonder that he was starting to slow down and stare at it gape-mouthed, but as soon as he realized this was happening he shook himself a little to avoid it happening anymore.  While he didn’t think anyone had seen him, he didn’t want to take a chance that people would notice that he was like a country bumpkin that was visiting the big city for the first time, as that would surely make him stand out more just as much as shouting, “I’m new here!”

Fortunately, he was just one of many people walking toward the city, as there were hundreds or perhaps thousands of people everywhere in front of the city walls.  He saw Charee merchants with long caravans of goods going in and out of the gates, farmers who were harvesting a few the fields to what he guessed was the eastern part of the plains leading up to mountain, and a bunch of others that were walking around without any purpose that he saw.  It was only when he was close enough that he saw that they were actually City Guards, though what they were doing outside of the city was a mystery to him.

But those Charee were only a portion of those outside the walls.  Hundreds of Contenders could be seen moving in and out of the city in parties, pairs, or even solo, running in nearly every direction except for directly north and south, where Thaden was coming from.  He saw some scattered low-Level monsters about a half-mile from the city walls, but there were only a handful of Contenders killing them; unlike what he’d seen at Hewndar, they weren’t Level 1 or even Level 2, but were anywhere between Levels 4 and 6.  He figured that they were doing what Thaden had for the Adventurer Coalition, which was essentially farming either kills for Quests or materials from the monster corpses.  Doing so would probably provide them with a little spending money as well as potentially some Rank Progress, though it definitely wouldn’t be much with the Level 1 or Level 2 monsters they were eradicating.

As for the rest of the Contenders he saw, Thaden could only assume they were heading off to complete other Quests, or possibly to delve through some dungeons.  While he couldn’t see the Levels of all of them he witnessed passing by, as there were either too many or too far away to see clearly, he saw that many of them were fairly high Level, with some being Level 14 or 15.  The higher Levels he saw was exactly why he had gradually increased his own displayed Level to 12, which wasn’t too high, but it also wasn’t low enough to really stand out.

It had been a couple of weeks since the Rankings had come out, and while they weren’t updated, he wouldn’t be surprised if there were some people out there that were nearly Level 20 or higher.  He wasn’t exactly sure how difficult earning PICK was after a certain point, as his own experience was a bit of an outlier, but from what he’d inferred from overheard conversations in Ashcleft, he understood that after Level 10 it was a bit more difficult.  Despite that difficulty, it seemed as if very few people were slacking off.

His Level of 45, which at first seemed abnormally high compared to everyone else, wasn’t looking as impressive.  He didn’t really care all that much about how impressive it looked, though he still wanted to keep his place at the top if he could.  Coming to this city was just the next step in that process, as his goal was to blend in with all the other Contenders, learn more information about the area and the world… and then see what he could do to finally advance his Level some more.

But first, he had to get into the city.

A quick look at the different gates leading into the city was all he needed to determine that the easternmost gate had a line containing large wagon trains and was likely designed for merchants and the like entering the city, while the westernmost gate seemed to be the same, but for those exiting.  He supposed that made sense in a logistics sense because then the city wouldn’t have to worry about two flows of traffic going through one gate, even if it meant there were miles of distance between the two gates. 

As for the other gates, the centermost gate seemed to be for departures only, as he didn’t see anyone going inside from that location, while the other two had lines of people waiting to get in.  Thankfully, they seemed to move fairly quickly and one didn’t seem any different from the other, but he picked the one that was more toward the east because it appeared to have more Contenders waiting in line.  That, and it was closer to where he was already walking by about a half-mile, so the choice was fairly easy.

Nervously getting in line that spanned at least two hundred people or more, he wound up behind a group of Contenders that were all Level 14, appeared to be exhausted from whatever they had been doing, and had clothing and armor that was cut up and bloody.  He wasn’t sure if it was all theirs, however, as the Fighter Class individual almost appeared to have waded through a knee-high pool of blood with how much was splattered over his metal-plated leather pants.

Best of all, they barely even glanced back at him and didn’t seem in any mood to talk.  While he probably needed some more social interaction after traveling alone for weeks, especially as he was trying to be more personable toward other Contenders to blend in better, he didn’t think striking up a conversation with these people would be prudent.  The fact that the party didn’t even talk amongst themselves was an indication that they weren’t in the mood… and as he counted them he realized that there were only four of them.

And one of them appeared to be a Support Class; if that was the case, then it was possible that they were missing one of their number.  It didn’t take a genius to deduce the possibility that the missing party member had died; this was a dangerous world, after all.  If that was the case, a friendly chat wouldn’t necessarily be the first thing on their minds.

“I’m telling you, these Humans eat so much more than I expected,” said a soft voice from behind him.  It was pitched low not to carry, but Thaden was close enough to hear it; he’d been around enough Charee to recognize the particular cadence to their speech, so he didn’t bother to turn around to check if he was correct.  “We’ve had to double the output from the Gordeton farms nearby to keep up with the demand.”

“Seriously?  I thought the city had planned better much better than that.  Forgestone was supposed to be the shining example of excellence for this whole region.”  This came from another hushed voice near the first one.

“They were, and had been, but the development of the new Contenders has been unprecedentedly quick,” the first replied.

“So?”

The tone changed to one that was laced with exasperation.  “So as they Level-up, they are starting to travel from their starting towns.  And where do you think they’re going?  Forgestone, of course.  It’s like they’re all congregating toward the largest areas of population, as if being all bunched up with each other will help them.  Don’t they know that it’ll just increase competition for Quests and dungeons?”

“Probably, but it’s also a better place to find just about anything they might be looking for.  I’m sure they’ll eventually understand that sticking around cities won’t be as beneficial for their development as it could be, but there’s no way I’m going to be telling them that.”

Listening into their conversation as they began to talk more about inventory levels, food stores, and other tidbits of information that weren’t quite as useful to him, Thaden latched on to what he’d overheard at first.  It seemed as if he wasn’t the only Contender that had been traveling, though he had probably traveled the furthest.  He also gained the knowledge of the city’s name, which seemed to be Forgestone, as well as the name of a town nearby.  It was valuable information to have, especially if he wanted to seem like he knew what he was doing – which of course he didn’t.

But the conversation also served another purpose, which was to pass the time while the line inched forward.  While it only took about ten minutes to get up to the front, it felt like no time at all before he saw the group ahead speaking to a City Guard near the gate.

Gradi – City Guard

Charee

Level 85

Wow.  That’s the highest Level I’ve seen; even higher than the boss of the Maximal difficulty Mausoleum of Despair.

“Was your expedition outside the city successful?” the Charee Guard asked, his tone bored but professional.

“Yes… and no.  We… lost Daniel.”  The same blood-covered Fighter Class he’d looked at earlier answered hesitatingly, and Thaden’s suspicions were confirmed.  He was glad that he didn’t try and speak with them.

“I’m very sorry to hear that.”  The Guard sounded somewhat sincere, though the Lifewarden had a feeling that he’d heard something similar at least a few times every day.  “Be sure to inform the Adventurer Coalition of his passing.  For now, please display your Badges and—thank you,” he said as he waved his hand over the party’s Badged stuck to their fronts.  “Again, my condolences for your loss.”  The Guard bowed his head shortly and then dismissed the group, who were already moving into the city.  “Next!”

Thaden stepped up and removed his Badge from his Inventory, where he’d been keeping it lately, before sticking it to his shirt.  If the Guard saw this, he didn’t say anything; instead, he asked, “New arrival?  Or are you returning?”

Having seen Gradi wave his hand at the Badges belonging to the party ahead of him, he hesitated on trying to pass himself off as being from the city.  Encouraged by what he’d overheard from the Charee behind him, he said, “Uh, new arrival.”

“Another one, huh?  We’re going to crack our walls with how many new Contenders are arriving—” the Guard started to say with exasperation, before his eyes fell on Thaden’s Badge.  He immediately clapped his mouth shut and cleared his throat, before straightening his shoulders.  “I apologize for my words, sir.  You may go on in,” he said abruptly after a quick wave of his hand over the confused Lifewarden’s Badge.  “If you’re new here, there are five separate Adventurer Coalition locations inside of Forgestone, which are all easily found by following the signs.  Have a wonderful day.”

Huh?  What was all that about?

His feet carried him through the gate almost without his own volition as he left the City Guard behind, before he looked down at his Badge.  The change that came over the Charee had happened as soon as he actually looked at it, and seeing the shiny bronze metal of it made him realize what it might be.  Of all the other Contenders he’d seen and largely avoided, only a few of them had a Copper-colored Badge, which was two Rankings below his own.  Most of them were Wood or Leather-Ranked, and with his own Bronze-Ranked Badge, it stood out quite a bit.  Quickly taking it off and stashing it back into his Inventory, he realized that having such a Ranking would look extremely out of place on a Level 12 Support Class Contender; it was almost as bad as walking around with his real Level on display.

What was even worse was that he had enough Rank Progress to reach Silver Rank, at least, but he hadn’t been able to get that done by the Coalition leader back in Ashcleft.  He was planning on getting that done when he got to the city, but now he was beginning to think twice.

No, I’m going to do it.  I earned that Rank Progress, so it’s about time I get rewarded for it.  I’ll just make sure to keep it out of sight as much as possible.  It probably wasn’t the smartest idea, but if he wanted to be able to take on any Silver-Ranked Quests in the Coalition, then it was necessary.  From his experience at the Ashcleft branch, which only had up to Bronze-Ranked Quests, he would likely need at least Bronze-Ranked or Silver-Ranked Quests to make it worthwhile for him to complete them.

Besides, keeping his Badge out of sight was easy enough, as he’d seen many other Contenders keeping it safe in their Inventories.  The only time he saw them displayed back in Ashcleft was when someone managed to increase their Rank up to Leather and they wanted to brag a little, but it disappeared quickly into their Inventory when they left town.

Shaking his head at the bizarre nature of the City Guard, he looked around the city for the first time – and wasn’t exactly in awe of what he saw.  That was mainly because in front of him was a huge stone building that blocked most of his view, but it also contained a large sign that had a multitude of different destinations listed on it, with arrows pointing the way that he needed to go to reach them.  It was so completely unlike the towns he’d been in that it felt like he was visiting a foreign country.  Only when he saw the Adventurer Coalition destination and followed the arrow around the building did he get a better understanding of just why the sign was so important:

The city was huge.  Seeing it from the outside was one thing, but actually being inside the carved-stone metropolis was something else entirely.  The gate he’d entered was on a slight rise in the flat ground, which meant that he was able to look out over the city as it receded into the shadow of the mountain, and there were so many buildings that there was no way for him to count them all.  With it having been a long time since he’d had to navigate his way through such a large city without access to the GPS on his phone, he realized that without the sign – and even more signs he noted scattered throughout the streets – that someone unfamiliar with the city would become immediately lost. 

And with the Contenders arriving a few weeks ago, all of whom were new to not only the city but the world, such directional information was vital to getting them where they needed to go without wandering around for hours. 

Regardless of the reason behind the signs, he didn’t hesitate to follow them to his destination.  Along the way, he stopped by a few food carts and filled his dwindling stores of sustenance, as well as stuffing his face with delicious different food that weren’t meat pies; they had been good, but that was all he’d had over the last few weeks and he was more than ready for something else.  Now he had some mystery meat skewers, a dozen loaves of bread, jars of butter, and a few steaming hot bowls of stew that would be good while he was on the road. 

He stopped after buying the last as he realized that if he managed to hide in Forgestone, then he hopefully wouldn’t be on the road all that much.  At least, he hoped so, but he still saw the acquisitions as beneficial – even if they cost him about 50% more than they had in Hewndar.  The overheard conversation about “Humans eating more than expected” came to mind, so he figured the difference was a simple matter of supply and demand. 

Eventually, after walking for what felt like at least an hour, he followed the signs toward a much larger stone building than the others he’d passed by.  It was actually so large that it reminded him of a mall back home, with different wings and protrusions – all fairly uniform and box-shaped – that could’ve been “anchor stores”.  There were no other doors that he could see around the sides, only a central one that had hundreds of Contenders going in and coming out, all of them occupied with their own business to the point where not a single one was even looking at him as he slowly approached.  The flow of traffic moved quickly enough that he didn’t have to wait in line to get through the massive stone doors that appeared as if they were perpetually propped open, and just like they rest of the city, they were of such a grand size that he felt like a mouse going through a hole in the wall. 

He caught his breath as he walked inside and was nearly bowled over from behind as he stopped and stared, but he managed to move out of the way and out of the constant flow of people.  Compared to the Adventurer Coalition building in Ashcleft, the entryway into the one in Forgestone was like a posh, swanky Las Vegas hotel on the strip, as the high ceilings with delicate-looking sculptures hanging from them and the polished stone floors indicated, but it was also clear from the wooden desks lined up around the ovoid-shaped room that they had taken the inspiration from a Vegas hotel lobby. 

Magical lights lit up everything, and there was enough illumination for him to see everything in the fully enclosed stone building – which was filled with thousands of Contenders.  Some were moving off into what appeared to be different wings, which he could only assume were rooms for them to stay, while the majority of them were split between the central lobby and an adjoining room that looked like some sort of restaurant mixed with a night club, as the lighting was dimmer than the lobby and a wave of laughing, conversation, and the clink of glasses flowed out in a wave.

What the—?

It was a bit overwhelming, to say the least, but as he looked around a bit further, some familiar things brought him back to some measure of normalcy.  The desks around the perimeter of the room were similar to the ones in Ashcleft, and he saw the strange alien-like Class Representatives standing patiently behind a few of them.  Hundreds of Contenders were lined up in front of all but the Representative desks, as none of the people were a high enough Level yet to evolve their Class, evidently.

But what caught the most of his attention was the Quest board, which was plastered against one whole wall.  A quick estimation put it at the equivalent size of 10 to 12 of the Quest board he was familiar with, and almost as soon as one Quest was taken down by the Adventurers arrayed in front of it, a Charee would put up another one to take its place.  There was a veritable army of Coalition workers operating behind the scenes of this chaotic building, moving with a speed and rushed expectation that was almost scary to witness. 

Hmm… I don’t think I’ll have too much problem blending in here.  There’s too much going on for anyone to even notice me.

Just as Thaden was about to step closer to the desks to see where he might be able to start establishing himself in this particular Coalition branch, he heard a voice coming from behind him.  

“Hello, Christopher.  How may I help you today?”