I'd been walking for what felt like the better part of a day, before I stumbled upon something that made me do a double take just to make sure I wasn't seeing wrong. There was a door. A normal sized door made out of wood, slowly coming to an arch at the top and a doorframe of stone bricks. Circling around the door revealed that there was absolutely nothing on the other side, it was just a standalone door in the middle of a forest. Turning my eyes from the door to the forest I'd just walked through, I yet again had to do a double take. There was something resembling a forest there, but the size was absolutely abysmal in comparison to what it felt like walking through it. I could see the square shaped building where I'd been a captive slightly above the treetops, somewhere around 200-300 meters away. I looked back at the door, and then to the building again, only to realize there must have been some sort of illusion magic at play. I didn't yet know how powerful magic was in this world, or how it worked, but apparently it could do some impressive things.
What met me on the other side of the door was something I should have expected, but the amount of confusing things happening over the last day. The first thing I saw was people, and buildings. Lots of them. I slowly took in all the hustle and bustle of a city that reached as far as my eyes could see. The people looked like regular humans for the most part, but what I assume was the defining characteristic of some sort of Phoenix-kin was the crimson red eyes that everyone seemed to have. There were a lot of variations of different shades of red and orange hair aswell, although there were black, blonde, and some blue haired people walking around.
Looking back at the door I had just walked through I realized I had come out of a completely normal building, and again I could only assume it was some form of illusion or spatial magic at play. I thought those were supposed to be pretty difficult? Maybe NPC's of this world had some advanced mages? Also, why were so many people staring at me? I looked down at myself and realized my clothes pretty much consisted of a low-quality white dress, that was a bit stained after wandering through the forest and days of captivity. There was also no footwear, so I was walking around barefoot.
Realizing I needed some form of income, I started looking for the one thing almost all games had in common, an adventurers guild. Turns out it doesn't exist. What I did figure out is that I can learn about the monsters in the area around Xylius from the town hall, and after asking around a bit from the not-so friendly citizens, courtesy of my attire, I was on my way towards the town hall.
Looking around I found an elderly lady sitting behind a desk that I assume would be some sort of receptionist, with a bit shy and quiet footsteps, I slowly found my way standing in front of her.
"Um, excuse me?"
After a few seconds of writing on a piece of paper, she raised her head and gave me a once over with her eyes before responding with a half exasperated half customer service voice, with a smile to fit. "Yes, how may I help you?"
Not quite amused with the obvious signs of annoyance, I wanted to answer with a tone a bit harsher, before I realized that I needed her help, and information, especially information. "I was told that you had some basic information about the monsters in the area?"
Taking another look at my attire, with now a visible hint of annoyance on her face she responded in a tone just a few degrees colder. "Yes, but what would you do with that information? It's quite obvious you're, not geared for monster slaying."
Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I had to take a deep breath to calm down and respond with a faint smile. "Yes, you are quite right in that at the moment I am not in the correct attire for battle, but there aren't really that many options for me, which is why I'm trying to gather information on the attributes on monsters in the area so I can figure out if there are any I can defeat with strategy and traps."
Obviously done with talking and seeing that I wouldn't really give up, she turned around towards one of the shelves behind her, grabbing some sort of pamphlet and giving it to me before shooing me out of the building.
After walking away from the town hall and to the outskirts of the city, I found a raised wall with a flowerbed that I could sit on to study the pamphlet.
Low level monsters in the area of Xylius
Boar: Known for their straight charge ability. Bad with movement. General attribute range of 10-15, with STR and END 20-25. They are not a pack creature, but are territorial and attack on sight. Non-magical.
Wolves: Pack animals, often shows up in packs of 5-10. Mostly keeps themselves in the outskirts of the woods and rarely wanders before dusk. Mainly uses claws and fangs as means of attack. General attribute range of 12-17, with AGI being 25-35. Non-magical.
Horned Rabbit: Wind attributed animal. Mainly uses magical abilities which extends or projects their fangs and horn. Being hit by 1 ability is generally not deadly, but will most likely incapacitate you. General attribute range of 15-20.
Yeah I don't think I can do any of this unarmed, guess it's time to learn some magic.
It's interesting how the whole adventure's guild troupe doesn't exist here. I wonder how she'll go about gaining power and w/n, since the difficultly level in doing so seems to be raised a bunch for people with no resources.
oh my god, yeah. I ran into an issue with that, hence no chapter 5 as of yet xD.
I'm rewriting a lot of my thoughts on this series, as i realized i went WAAAAAY too technical on the "game aspect", and I needed more experience to write this series in a way that I wanted.
Next fwe chapters are in theory going to deal with exactly that aspect, atleast the very beginning of them.
@Melimelidh I mean, having all that thought out is good, just seems like you overshot on the whole 'story' bits from what I'm gathering from your comments. On the upper hand, it does mean ur mechanics and other related worldbuilding stuffz is gonna be solid.