“Essence veins?” the barkeep said. Or so Sage assumed she said; he questioned his ability to make out the young woman's quiet voice over the rumbling of the conversations behind him. 

“What is some F-class adventurer looking into essence veins for?” the barkeep said again. 

Sage hoped he had heard her wrong— not the words she said, but the condescension in her voice. 

“And why would it be a problem if I was looking into them?” 

The barkeep sighed. 

“You saying that just shows that everyone isn’t meant to be an adventurer. People like you who do it for fun but know nothing of anything are the first to get killed. Essence veins don’t even exist in the outer ring, perhaps they do in the floating islands, but you have no chance of getting up there.” 

Well, he did have a chance, actually. Had these words come from anyone else, he would’ve taken them with a grain of salt. But it’s written in stone that tavern owners know best— in games, that is. From all the adventurers and travelers that frequent their establishments, they’re bound to hear of stories and truths far from their humble abodes. Because of this, Sage bit his tongue and held his words; whatever that woman said should be taken as a fact.  

“Take my word for it, kid. You’d have to make it to the middle ring first before you even started seeing signs of their presence; finding them would be an even greater ordeal. So for now, just focus on questing around this town, ok? Maybe go find a trainer or something, get yourself situated,” she said. 

Sage backed away from the bar, nodding his head. The weekly quest wasn’t going to be completed for a while, probably not even during the week. That would make him fail it, right? If the veins only existed in places akin to the islands, then he’d need to be able to fight a horde of those scorpions before he could find one. 

“Thank you for your help,” he said to the barkeep, she nodded in response. 

That only left him with finding a trainer. He could ask them all the questions he needed to, without coming across as suspicious, of course. It seemed wise to avoid revealing that he wasn’t from this world. After trying it once and being taken hostage, he vowed against doing it again. 

“Hey,” a voice said. Sage continued walking, assuming it wasn’t for him. 

“Hey, you, in the strange clothes.”

It was definitely for him. 

With rolling eyes and a deep inhale, Sage looked over his shoulder at the voice’s owner. A young boy, probably around Sage’s age, sat with his elbows propped on the table, and a wide smile plastered on his face. He looked like a golden retriever and had the hair to match. 

“Yes?” Sage said to the boy who sat alone. With excitement, his caller waved him over and pushed out the chair in front of him with his foot. 

If he just left, what would happen? Would the guy follow him? That wouldn’t be very favorable. Sage decided to take a seat. 

“I heard you asking about essence veins, my name’s Felix, by the way.” 

Was he an owl? How’d he hear their conversation?

Felix continued. “I’m looking for the veins too. Just like you, though, I’m far too under-leveled to make it anywhere near those places.”

Sage nodded his head and waited for him to continue. When Felix didn’t start talking again, Sage did. 

“Is...that it? You called me over here to tell me that?” 

Felix smiled, “It’s fun having someone who’s the same as you, isn’t it?”

Alright. A deadpan expression coated Sage’s face and he was halfway through tucking in his chair when Felix grabbed him by the arm. 

“Wait, where are you going? You just sat down, let’s talk some more. Here, I’ll buy you a drink.” 

Felix signaled for a waiter. 

“I’m underage,” Sage replied unknowingly. 

“Underage? What do you mean by that?”

Sage clenched his jaw. He needed to be more careful. 

“Let go of me, I need to leave,” he said.

Felix regarded his hand latched onto Sage and released it, giving him an apologetic look. Now free, Sage fled from the tavern as quickly as walking could take him. What he heard behind him, however, was less than pleasant. 

He hadn’t even been out of the tavern for five seconds before Felix came running out to walk at his side. 

“You’re from the outer realm too, right? Most of us don’t go off to become adventurers so it’s rare to see another like me. Oh, I didn’t notice you because of the stereotype or anything, I just had this feeling that you were like me.”

Stereotype? Sage couldn’t see how he’d fit into a stereotype of this world.

“What stereotype?” he asked.

Felix paused and rustled his hair before sighing. 

“It’s because you were asking about essence veins despite being such a low level. They say us out-ringers are the least knowledgeable about the world, seeing how far we are from all the action. They say we never become adventurers and stick to being merchants or farmers or other typical occupations; jobs we’re more familiar with.” 

It then clicked that these rings both Felix and the barkeep were referring too weren’t just towns or cities somewhere in the world. Sage had brushed them off assuming them to be, but he couldn’t any longer. 

“What do you mean by the outer ring? What is it?”

Felix dropped his shoulders in exaggeration. 

“I said I didn’t notice you because of the stereotype! You don’t have to pretend you’re not from the outer ring. Us out-ring adventurers need to stick together or else no one will have our back.” 

“No, listen to me, Felix. I don’t know what the outer ring or the middle ring is, just tell me what they are.” 

Felix looked at him apologetically again. 

“You don’t have to play into the stereotype so hard. I swear that’s not the reason I noticed you; it’s because I felt like we were similar, that’s all.”

This guy was useless. 

“Is that so? Thanks for your help, let’s not run into each other again, ok?” Sage said. He walked off, hoping to lose Felix in the coming storm that was the crowd. 

“Come tryout for an expedition team with me! Let’s level up together and go find the essence veins!” Felix called from behind. 

Sage ignored him and disappeared into the crowd. 

With the sky darkening quickly, Sage needed to find a trainer. He reprimanded himself for not asking the barkeep or the receptionist where to find one. Going back to his world without reaching level ten was what he was trying to avoid. If the islands were truly his spawn point, he would have no way of getting down from them when he came again. 

Sage stopped, earning many insults from the people around him. Since when did he decide he’d be coming back here? At what point did his curiosity change to necessity? He needed to go home. If he let himself get too invested here…

Jessica passed through his mind. Yes, he needed to be there for her. He needed to be at her side and aid her. Getting caught up in this place and forgetting what he’s meant to do was unacceptable. What right did he have to all this freedom after what he caused? It was time to go home. 

As Sage went to open the menu, his eye was drawn to a figure in the same hooded cape from the tavern. It was a strange feeling, similar to when his eyes couldn’t leave the card. That person felt so...familiar. Sage pushed through the crowd while he kept his eyes on the person. His eyes went wide when they looked over their shoulder at him, as if they too felt his presence. The hooded person turned and started walking away from him. 

Who were they? Why did he feel like he needed to follow them? His body moved like it was being controlled by another. Reach them. Reach them. Reach them. 

He sped up, not caring for who he ran into. 

Suddenly, a hand grasped his shoulder, ripping him from his daze. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to try for the expedition team? There’s so much you can learn: skills, add-ons, history, crafting. Whatever it is you want to know about, you’ll be able to find it.”

In his entire life, Sage had never felt the desire to kill someone; he did now. The desire, however, quickly vanished. His mind felt clear again. Was he being drawn to the person against his will? A bizarre thought, but he couldn’t help but feel that way. 

His eyes fell on Felix. The fact that this guy followed him through the crowded streets despite Sage’s adamant refusal of his proffering was enough to reproach him, but something vouched against it. Saving him from the daze that abruptly took control over him was deserving of appreciation. That didn’t change how annoying he was. 

“Thanks,” Sage said. “But can you stop grabbing me? This is the second time, and we literally just met.”

“Oh, my bad,” Felix said, removing his hand. He then squinted his eyes and paused for a moment.

Before he could question why he was thanked, Sage spoke. “I know you’re trying to look out for me because I’m an out-ringer too”— he had decided to play along—“but I have my problems to deal with. I don’t have time to head to this team or whatever. I need to find a trainer, and then reach level ten before the sun rises.” 

Sage sighed. 

“Or at least that was the plan, I don’t know about now.”

The experiences he had today were enough. When he returned home, he’d try his damnedest to forget about all this. It was for the best.

“What do you mean that was the plan? What made you change your mind? If you wanted to do it at one point, I bet you still do.”

Sage shook his head. 

“It’s not something I should be doing, I have other things to worry about.”

“But you want to do it,” Felix said.

Ignoring the annoyed crowd around them, Sage placed his curiosity filled eyes on Felix. 

“What do you mean I want to do it? I just said that there are other, more important, things I need to worry about.”

Felix shook his head and smiled knowingly. “Just because something is more important, or should be done, doesn’t mean it’s what you want to do. I should be back home helping my father with the farm, not abandoning him to become an adventurer.” 

He leaned in close and whispered like a child who wanted to add dramatics to their words. 

“I shouldn’t be an adventurer, but I want to be one. It calls to me, the thrill of adventures,” Felix said. He then backed up and his smile widened, “Isn’t it the same with you?” 

The accomplishment when he completed the task and the thrill of making it down from the islands filled his mind. The enjoyment, he could not deny, despite his best efforts, was real; he wanted to feel that way again. To feel as though he were making progress in life, to not be bogged down by responsibilities— did he feel that way? No. He wasn’t like this kid who ran away from a farm. His worries weren’t so simple, and he didn’t wish to do something other than what he needed to do. He didn’t. 

Sage smiled. “Well, I didn’t run away from a farm, so I can’t neglect my issue like you do. And I don’t want to be an adventurer. I’m just...curious. I’ve gotten to see things I could’ve never imagined, but I think I’m done now.” 

“Done? You haven’t even started,” Felix said, following Sage out of the crowd and into a side street. 

“Your curiosity should be enough to warrant adventure. Go explore, where’s the fun being locked away and having duties and orders forced upon you?” 

Sage inspected Felix. He didn’t speak like someone from a farm, nor did he seem to act like one. But delving into his business wasn’t something Sage sought to do; partly from his respect for privacy, but mainly because he didn’t care. 

“It should be, but I don’t want it to. Are we good?” Sage went to walk away but sighed and turned back to face him. 

“If I’m being honest, I want to at least reach level ten. There's something of interest to me and I need to get there for it. So I need a trainer, I need a skill, and I need two more levels. After that, I’m done,” Sage said, scratching his head. 

“The only problem is, I don’t know where to find a trainer.”

Felix shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. 

“No one gets trainers at this low a level unless they’re royalty. No one starts with skills this early either,” he tugged at the shortsword strapped to the back of his waist. “We use these and we make money, small money; you need to start somewhere. Don’t go jumping into things that are over your head, which trainers definitely are.”

“Then why did the receptionist tell me I needed to get a trainer immediately, something about skill crafting.”

Felix tilted his head and stared confusedly. 

Almost cursing out loud, Sage corrected himself, “The woman behind the desk at the adventurers guild.” 

“Ah, the guide. Yeah, they always say that. They don’t mean right away though, the chances of finding the skill crafting add-on this early is low anyways, and skill gems...we won't be having enough for those for a long while. We just gotta grind up stats, buy better equipment with quest money, and repeat.”

So skill crafting is an add-on, noted. Sage felt the card in his pocket, now realizing that it was truly something special.  This guy was saying “we” a lot; what exactly was this outer ring place for him to already be acting as his friend? 

“So no trainer? This place is so confusing. I don’t have a weapon either, unless these count,” Sage said and he held up his fists. 

Felix chuckled, “I’ve never seen someone bunch a boar or goblin in the face so I’d say let’s get you a weapon of sorts.” 

Sage opened his menu and went to items. He reached into the screen and took out his pouch of ten bronze coins. “I don’t have much though; I doubt there's anything I can buy with this little amount.” 

Felix patted him on the shoulder. He was still putting his hands on him despite what Sage had said; he was proving to be useful though, so he allowed it. 

“There’s a reason they give you that for your first quest. You really want everything handed to you on a silver platter, you sure you from the outer ring?” Felix teased. 

No, he’s not sure. Because he’s not from the outer ring. 

‘Neir’s Used Weaponry’ was a shop that obtained and resold used weapons, or so Felix informed Sage on their walk there. Not to his surprise, the other side of the river, where the shop was, had been just as populated and bustling as the main side. If this was a starter town, Sage couldn’t imagine what a densely populated city would be like. 

“Pick what you like, or don’t, not like I care,” the owner mumbled from behind the counter.

The walls were lined with precariously crafted racks that hoisted rusted and worn weaponry of very limited kinds. The same racks were positioned haphazardly around the store and carried the same wares: short-swords, hatchets, daggers, and maces. And a single arrow in a barrel. All were iron, which was clear from the refurbishment done to them. The store was shabby, but the owner seemed serious about his trade. 

“What if I wanted to be a bowman, I wouldn’t be able to find any of those supplies here,” Sage said. 

“Do you know how to shoot a bow accurately?” Felix replied.

Sage shook his head.

“Do you know how long it takes to learn?” 

Second shaking.

“Well, that's why. You need to level up quickly, not spend a couple of months learning how to knock and loose an arrow.” 

Felix tossed him a sword covered in a torn, leather sheath with a blade the length of his forearm; it seemed to be in between a dagger and short-sword. Although Sage wouldn’t admit it, Felix earned some respect for what he said. 

 “That should do you fine, especially if your strength is decent. A couple of boars should be manageable with that.”

The leather was nearly falling apart, but it wasn’t what made holding the sword feel strange. Coming from a world of technology and modernization, he never expected to be holding an actual sword— yet here he was. It was surreal, and, undesirable to him, exciting. 

“My strength is 29, is that high enough?” Sage asked while fiddling with the sword. 

A loud thud followed by crashing erupted from where Felix stood. 

“You break it, you buy it,” the owner said. Not that a sword could be broken by dropping it. 

“29 strength? Did you...not put stats into anything else? How low are your other stats? You said you were level 8.”

Sage nodded his head confusingly. 

“I am level 8. I wouldn’t say my other stats are that low, though they could be balanced better. Endurance, I believe that’s what it is, 19, and agility is 21. The other two are kinda negligible.”

Had he been holding something, Felix would’ve dropped it, again.

“Screw boars, let's fight goblins. Those stats are ridiculous for your level, you must be a natural-born talent.”

Sage recalled the twenty stat points he gained from the special task. 

“Yeah, I must be.” Sage chuckled nervously after talking. “But even so, let’s still take on boars, this is my first...well, it’s not my first time fighting monsters, but at the same time, it kinda is. I wanna do something simple first.”

Felix nodded. 

“You seemed to be in a rush and goblin quests would give much more experience, but you’re right, let’s do boars.”

“Let’s? You’re coming with me?”

“Of course I am! What an awful thing to say, we’re comrades now.”

Sage shook his head and laughed slightly. 

“You don’t have to worry about time, by the way, I got till sunrise. So as long as these quests don’t take hours to do, we’ll be fine.”

He held the sword firmly in his hand and drew the brown and grey sword from its sheath. This is what he’d buy, this is how he’d start. 

“You ready? Let’s hurry and go get your first quest!” Felix said. 

Sage stared at the blade. Let’s go on an adventure. 

With no coins in his bag, and with a new, but old, sword strapped to his waist and dangling at his side, Sage scoured through the plethora of quest forms on the guild’s board. They needed to find a well-paying boar quest that seemed like it would give a good amount of experience. 

“What about this one?” Sage asked. 

It paid 140 bronze coins which seemed ridiculous for killing a couple of boars. Felix ripped the paper from his hand and slapped it back on the board.

“Did you even read the request or the title? It’s requesting for the boar king to be defeated. Not the typical, hairy pigs, but their king. I’ve heard rumors of that thing. Why would they put it as an F...it’s a D-rank quest, Sage! We barely even count as F-class adventurers, don’t go grabbing any papers.”

This guy was talking quite openly with him. A little respect didn’t earn him this. 

“Then you find the quest,” Sage replied. 

Felix was already searching for one when he had said that. 

“The boards are getting overrun by the D and C-rank quest’s lately thanks to those islands showing up,” he said. 

Showing up? They weren’t there to begin with? Before Sage could inquire about what Felix had said, the eager boy yanked a paper off the wall. 

“Let’s do this one,” Felix said and showed the paper to Sage. 

Dang Pigs!  F-Rank

Dang pigs are wrecking our fences! Kill all of em so we don’t gotta keep rebuilding.

Dear adventurers,

Only five boars need to be killed to complete this quest, not all of them,

Sincerely, Cerando’s Free Guild.

“There’s a ton of quests with the same name and description. ‘All the boars’ is quite a ridiculous request. They must’ve split it up so many of us could handle it. Let’s both take one so we can get the full reward.” Felix said. 

It seemed easy enough. Five boars were manageable, in his world standards. Who knew what the essence in this world did to them, they could be like those scorpions. 

“How do I accept it?” Sage asked. 

Felix rolled his eyes. Was he starting to see Sage wasn’t just playing into his suggested stereotype? 

“Accept quest,” he said. The quest paper in Felix’s hand disappeared and formed a ball of energy, entering his head— just like how Sage’s information went into the guides head earlier. 

Sage wore a face of awe. Although he expected it now, there were still so many things that wowed him. 

“Accept quest,” Sage parroted. The paper turned into light and entered his head.

[Quest ‘Dang Pigs!’ Accepted]

[Quest progress: 0/5]

“Boars are south of the town, right? Near the forest, I believe.” Sage said. 

“Yeah, they are. You can find boars anywhere around this town though. Do you want to head to the forest down south? I wanna be there when you kill your first creature.”

With a nod of his head, the two left the guild, heading towards the forest that Sage had avoided not too long ago. 

Despite the sun’s presence being long gone, the nighttime landscape was anything but darkened. There were no lanterns nor street lights, but they only needed the dazzling moonlight emanating from the blue and lilac moons. 

The lilac one, the larger, prettier one, as Sage had noted, was far ahead of the smaller blue one, as if it were running away. Even nighttime here was beautiful. 

The two had been wandering the open fields, avoiding the forest as the king was said to reside there, for a handful of minutes.

“We’re in the sibling’s hours right now, so we’ll have enough light to guide us through this quest. I just hope boars aren—” Felix halted his words and cast his eyes into the distance. 

Following them, Sage felt his heart pick up when he focused on what lay two hills over. Three boars grazed the grassy hills with diligence. 

“I guess I won’t be seeing you off your first one, I’ll have to handle the other two,” Felix said. 

“How will you get both of their attention though?” Sage said. Something then clicked.

Sage opened his menu and checked his skill tab. 

{Creative Thinker} Buff | 63hrs

When faced with impossible situations, many shy away and give up, you do not. For your impeccable problem-solving capabilities, your plans have their success rates greatly increased. 

It was time to see if this worked. 

“I’ll go over there and draw only one of the boars’ attention, the other two will ignore me and head directly to you.”

“That’s the same thing as me saying I’ll draw the two’s attention; how is your idea gonna work any better?”

A smile forced its way onto Sage’s face, belying how he felt inside. 

“It’ll work because it’s my plan.”

Before Felix could respond, Sage ran to the bottom of the hill so he was in-line with the one, leaving the other two higher up the hill. He made his way towards it, his heart beating in his chest. The boars, from a distance, looked normal enough. But three normal boars could kill a tiger, he didn’t want to find out what they’d do to a skilless, F-class adventurer. The plan, the buff, needed to work. 

After closing the distance, the boars all seemed to take note of him. They lifted their heads from their grazing and began approaching him. Felix was uphill, slightly behind Sage’s position. 

The boars began to charge, and they all targeted Sage; he didn’t run, though. Feet planted to the ground and sword drawn, Sage trusted in his buff. They grew closer. Felix started to run towards him, assuming the plan was a bust. As he did that, however, one boar noticed him and changed directions. Soon after that, a second one stopped in its tracks, gazed at Sage and then Felix, and began charging the latter.

His excitement showed on his face. With a grin, Sage welcomed the single boar and the credibility of his buff with delight.

“We fight!” he heard Felix roar from the distance. 

Sage sidestepped the boar right before it made contact with him, and sliced at its hind leg with a speed that surprised him. The blade made contact and immediately severed the hoof from the animal’s leg. It felt like butter; the sword sliced so effortlessly through it. This was the power he had obtained from his stats, and he was mesmerized by it. 

The boar was slower on its second approach, and he didn’t even need to dodge. In fact, it was the boar that fled out of the way, avoiding a head-on slash and only getting a mar on its left side. Fled seemed to be the wrong word with maneuvered being more suited, for when the creature hopped to the right and planted itself into the ground, building power in its right legs, Sage realized it wasn’t a mindless creature. The boar launched off the ground and torpedoed into him. 

With reflexes that matched his enhanced speed, Sage swung his sword while falling backward, pulling it with one arm to sever the boar’s head from its body. He fell onto his hands and dropped his sword. With his arms spread behind him, and his chest rising and falling in slow, deep motions, Sage stared at the bleeding, headless boar. 

[Boar defeated | Exp Obtained: 65]

No essence? Perhaps it’s due to the boar being a regular animal. 

Despite what he expected, there was no sickness, only triumph. If this was the feeling one got when hunting, he should’ve done that long ago. It was small, but he felt as if he had just taken a step, his first step.

While wiping his blade in the grass, Sage heard Felix cheering for him. 

“I saw it! It was hard to do, but I watched while fighting! Congratulations on your first kill!” His dog-like appearance only grew stronger with his waving arms and overexcitement.

The two boars lay at his feet, and he seemed to have been unbothered enough to watch Sage as he did battle. Felix was cool, Sage had to admit it. 

He waved back to him. “Let’s finish this quest and go get another one!” Sage said. 

“Agreed! Oh, don’t forget to loot after killing them. I’m sure you didn’t know you could do that, but you definitely know how to by now. Alright, I’m off to find three more!”

Of course you could loot creatures. How foolish of him to not think of that. Sage looked at the boar and scratched his head. 

“Loot?” he said.

[Boar looted | 2 Bronze Coins | 1x Torn Boar Hide | 2x Boar Tusk]

A smile crept onto his face. Four more boars to go. 

Under the guidance of the fleeing moons, Sage defeated his four boars with ease. Right after the first encounter, he had discovered two together and, riding the adrenaline, fought them both head-on. Aside from a cut on his left leg, and his now ruined track pants, he was fine. Better than fine. His heart was racing and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t control the grin on his face. 

Laying on the grass, he received the notification for completing the quest.

[Quest completed | 35 Bronze Coins Obtained | Exp Obtained: 240]

[Level Increased: 8-9 | Stat Points Available]

One more level to go. Just one more and he would’ve met his first goal. And then he’d go home. Something tried creeping from the back of his mind, some emotion, but he stifled it. He was set on going home afterward. 

Sage sat up and peered across the fields, looking for Felix. How far had he traveled? When he rose to his feet, something he never expected popped up in front of his face.

[Special Task Now Available]

Again? Two to three in a lifetime didn’t appear to apply to him. If he at least had a skill that increased the appearance of special tasks, he’d understand, but he couldn’t wrap his head around this. 

He opened the menu and passed through all the submenus, reaching special tasks; courage task was what lay in the tab. He read the description. 

The greatest trainer of warriors is adversity. It forces even the meekest individuals to evolve and come out of their comfort zones. You are currently giving off a specific pheromone. It will make boars avoid you, but will attract the Boar King. Defeat it. You will be awarded 20 stat points, Thrust skill gem, The Kings Chest, and The Kings Gloves.  Task has already been accepted. 

What? There wasn’t even any time for him to process what he had just read. A roar shook the trees and sent birds flying from the forest a short distance away. The roar of a king.