Equinox kept an eye on Wyntir until her distinctive hair disappeared amidst the crowd before fully turning away.

 

He looked around briefly, sighted the School of Invocations in the distance and set off.

 

Assuming the path was a straightforward one, it should take him around 10 minutes to get to his destination at a walking pace.

 

Dodging past other ‘otherworldly foreigners’—obvious from their hurried paces—and native Golden Trees village folk—recognisable by apparel and equipment far less basic in terms of either quality or variety—Equinox unconsciously eavesdropped on fragmented bits of ongoing conversations as he strolled along.

 

“…is going for the cheap today. I heard Old Man Anders baked too…”

 

“…of rabbits are on the rise. The fucking hunters need to stop hunting…”

 

“…emissaries from Goldrock will be arriving any day…”

 

“…foreigners are finally here! Let’s hope they contribute to…”

 

“…give to spend a night with Lady…”

 

……

 

Equinox was sorely tempted to stop and listen to that last conversation but managed to strangle the urge in its infancy and continue on to his destination.

 

A cooling breeze lazily wound around thick trees lining both sides of the gravel path, wide gilded canopies set to a rustling and causing sunlight and shadows to sway along.

 

While the golden-leaved trees were a marvel, Equinox only shot them an occasional, thoughtful glance. With the number of fantastical things he had seen in previous VRMMORPGs, trees sporting golden leaves didn’t even rate a spot in the top 100 of his wondrous virtual sights list.

 

Stopping and picking up one of the leaves in question, Equinox absently rubbed it between his fingers before setting off once more.

 

If the leaves were real, actual gold, however… that would be an entirely different matter.

 

Subtly palming his pocketed spatial pouch, he stored the gold-coloured leaf in one of the sixteen remaining Inventory slots and checked its description.

 

Pyrite Tree’s Leaf | Grade: G+
A not-gold leaf good for decorating one’s abode and crafting alchemical concoctions.

 

While expected, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed that the leaf wasn’t made of actual gold. At least the leaf wasn’t completely worthless.

 

Wanting to test something out, Equinox stopped for a second time and picked up another pyrite leaf before storing it into his spatial pouch. Unfortunately, it failed to stack, taking up an entire nother slot; something he had regrettably expected.

 

Taking out both leaves, he pressed them together and tried storing them as a unit but failed to do so. Unable to think of anything else to try, he discarded one of the leaves and stored away the other before setting off, once more.

 

While he was curious about the inability to stack items in the Spatial Pouch, there was no point in dwelling on it.

 

After all, it wasn’t like he had an expert on hand to ask about such matters.

 

Each time he passed by a dirt path winding away from the main gravel thoroughfare, Equinox forced himself to keep on walking to the School of Invocations and not explore.

 

He did, however, file away what and where those paths led to; a task made infinitely more easy by the Minimap hovering in the corner of his vision.

 

Unlike when within the Hall of Ascension, a fair amount of the fog caging in the blinking, green dot had vanished, only to be replaced with landmarks he passed as well as roads—represented by lines—connecting them to one another.

 

At this point, even a brainless lackwit would have understood the blinking green dot at the centre of the panel represented oneself.

 

Equinox was just glad to have something to refer to once he went off exploring proper.

 

The closer he drew to the cloud piercing tower, the more people he encountered. Although some were other otherworldly foreigners, most were natives.

 

From clothes and armour clearly sewn from hide and fur, to silky robes ornamented with colourful feathers and sparkling jewels, the villagers were decked out in a wild array of styles and fabrics.

 

Along with skin complexions ranging from a dark mocha to those as pale as milk, as if they had never spent a day under the Sun in their lives, it was clear Golden Trees Village was home to natives from both the local area and further afield.

 

Of note was the fact that, while he could understand a large majority of those speaking, a respectable number spoke in incomprehensible tongues; both familiar and unfamiliar to his ears.

 

Strangely enough, the languages that did sound familiar were ones used in reality.

 

All those living in lands governed by the United Government spoke a common tongue, dubbed as Old World English by scholars. However, ethnicities that had survived after the end of the Champions’ era and even existed before that did have their own particular languages.

 

Though the paperbound instruction manual hadn’t mentioned it, Equinox had assumed translation software was in-built into the freely given neuro gear, much as it had been in earlier iterations used for other VRMMORPGs.

 

He supposed he was wrong on that front.

 

In the meantime, Equinox’s booted feet brought him closer and closer to the School of Invocations’ base, hubbub growing louder and louder as he quickly neared the gleaming blue stone.

 

It was only when gravel underfoot changed into polished stone did his attention return back to the here and now. Quickly looking around for a way to enter the School of Invocations, he was forced to step out of the way as a dishevelled man barrelled past; finely ornamented robes loudly swishing about his curly-toed, booted heels.

 

“…damn foreigners… no means no… know their place…”

 

Equinox made sure to remember the robed man’s features in case he bumped into him in the future. With an attitude as foul as that, it was best to be as polite as humanly possible if their paths crossed in the future.

 

The evasive movement did, however, reveal where the entrance to the School of Invocations was. With a large set of wooden double doors thrown wide open and people constantly streaming in and out, it couldn’t have been any more obvious.

 

It just so happened that one of the Pyrite Leaf trees was in the exact right spot to block his view of said entrance on his initial approach.

 

Without hesitation, Equinox walked to the School of Invocations’ entrance and seamlessly merged with the crowd, slipping into the cloud piercing tower without a fuss.

 

Unlike its exterior, its interior was lavishly furnished.

 

Plush carpets covered its floor while a shining crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. Gentle notes from an instrument he didn’t recognise drifted on the inexplicably cool air, a pleasant accompaniment to the soft sounds of conversations tickling his ears.

 

At first, Equinox wondered how people were getting up to higher floors. With the height of the School of Invocations, there was no way this greeting area was all there was to it. However, at a glance, he failed to find any stairs up, or any obvious ways to go upstairs for that matter.

 

It was only when he noticed a subdued, if still eye-catching flash of light behind a long, black marble counter at the far end of the space when he got an inkling of it.

 

Appearing from the flash was a group a dozen or so strong, consisting of people dressed in a wild assortment of clothing and styles. While he wasn’t sure what was responsible for said flash of light, there was certainly something there – as another group of people vanishing into thin air after taking the place of the recently vacated group in an identical flash of light could attest to.

 

Equinox walked to the side of the chamber and stopped in an unobtrusive corner, content to wait and watch before actually acting.

 

Minutes passed by as he did. While not as noisy as the world outside, everyone within the School of Invocations was busy doing their own thing. As such, he wasn’t harassed even though he wasn’t doing anything.

 

Much like him, some of the other players hung around in unobtrusive corners, observing the goings-on’s. Others, in contrast, brazenly went up to people who were recognisably Gold Tree village folk, asking questions to gather information.

 

It was from that latter bunch where he obtained his information.

 

It quickly became clear that approaching people robed in finery and feathers was a bad, bad idea. Most brushed the players off with disdain and mockery, but a fair few employed more… aggressive means.

 

To be fair, those who employed such means had been pestered by players who clearly didn’t understand the phrase; no means no.

 

He greatly appreciated their thick headedness and subsequent humiliation, however. It did let him observe the powers available to those who learnt from the School of Invocations, after all.

 

Much like the armoured man, it looked like those from the School of Invocations employed skills and techniques that would give off blue-tinted special effects.

 

From shockwaves to barely perceptible wisps to even a soft haze radiating out from their bodies, it looked like there wasn’t a hard limit on what it could do; especially after attacks made of fire, water, earth, and much, much more were conjured out of thin air in the wake of such special effects manifesting.

 

Equinox observed the goings-on’s for a minute more before confidently striding up to one of the queues leading up to the black marble counter, seeing he would have to interact with one of the personnel stationed there to proceed any further.

 

“Can I help you, sir foreigner?” The lady behind the counter asked, once he had reached the front of the queue.

 

He hesitated for a beat, surprised she recognised him as an ‘otherworldly foreigner’ at a mere glance, but said, “Good afternoon, Miss. Do I have access to the upper floors, or must I do something before that?”

 

“One moment, please.” She said before ducking underneath the counter, resurfacing with a small, recognisable prismatic crystal mounted on a marble slab. “I will need you to grip the Exoene Lodestone fragment firmly before I know if you will be given access.”

 

“Sure.” He unhesitatingly agreed and firmly gripped the prismatic crystal – evidently a fragment of an Exoene Lodestone. “What does it do though?”

 

Meeting his eyes briefly, the chestnut-haired lady flashed him a polite smile before looking back down at his occupied hand. “It is checking your chosen Foundation and current loadout. Only if both are suitable for making use of Mana can I grant you access to the School of Invocations’ higher levels.”

 

Equinox’s ears perked up at the word, ‘Mana’. Assuming the New Age of Champions hadn’t altered something that was a hallmark of every single fantasy-type game, it looked as if he had found his magic tower!

 

Before he could ask after what the lady said, however, a muffled chime emitted out from the crystal in his grip; a subdued beam of multicoloured light flashing out from right in between his fingers and lancing right in between the lady’s calm brows, vanishing without a trace.

 

“You can let go of the Exoene Lodestone’s fragment now, sir.” She offered distractedly, eyes darting from side to side as if she were reading something he couldn’t see.

 

Letting go as instructed, Equinox shoved his hand into his pocket and idly toyed around with his spatial pouch, patiently waiting for the chestnut-haired lady to finish with whatever she was doing. It didn’t take long.

 

She sent him an apologetic smile the instant her dark eyes stopped moving.

 

“I’m sorry, sir foreigner. I won’t be able to grant you access to any of our higher levels. Do feel free to come back once you have reached the limits of the G-rank and have acquired the appropriate set of GSFs, however.”

 

He nodded dejectedly. “I understand. Would you mind if I asked you some questions?”

 

While he had expected the rejection, Equinox couldn’t say he wasn’t disappointed by it. The moment he heard the term ‘loadout’, he had a sinking feeling that he didn’t have the necessary qualifications to enter the School of Invocations proper. The reference to ‘GSFs’ only clinched things.

 

The chestnut-haired lady sighed imperceptibly. “Go ahead. I don’t have the time to answer many of your questions, however.”

 

“Thank you.” He said with a slight dip of the head. “Can I know what you meant when you said it was checking for my chosen Foundation and current loadout, what that has to do with Mana, and whether GSFs refers to Gems, Shards, and Fragments?”

 

“You certainly have many questions.” The chestnut-haired lady smiled with amusement. “Although I don’t mind answering your questions, please understand that’s all I’ll be answering at present. I’m afraid my supervisor will… not be pleased if I hold up the line.”

 

Equinox glanced over his shoulder, seeing the impatient line of people waiting right behind him. “Got it. Thank you again for your time, Miss.”

 

“Please, call me Eleanor.” The chestnut-haired lady smiled slightly. “Now, in answer to your questions…”

 

Eleanor immediately launched into a quick, enlightening lecture.

 

Like he assumed, GSFs did, in fact, refer to Gems, Shards, and Fragments. Such items, more colloquially known as Essence Condensates, were the world’s way of giving humans and other races—a throwaway comment Equinox filed away—access to supernatural powers to combat the threat of monsters more effectively.

 

Evidently, GSFs had further sub-categorisations attached.

 

Namely; Primary Gems, Secondary Shards, and Tertiary Fragments, each one attuned to a specific energy source as an extra cherry on top, those being Mana, Qi, and Sol.

 

Mana-attuned GSFs were blue; Qi-attuned ones’, red; and Sol-attuned, green.

 

When Eleanor referred to loadouts, she was talking about the GSFs equipped in one’s chosen Foundation. Only if every single Essence Condensate was homogeneous would one be allowed to break past the G-Rank and delve into their respective energies; whether it be Mana, Qi, or Sol.

 

While most of what she said was good to know information for the future, Equinox, did in fact, come away with one piece of good news for the now.

 

It looked like his gut instinct of selecting a 5-point Foundation was the most suitable fit for treading the path of mana users.

 

Though the chestnut-haired lady hadn’t had the time to explain the whys of such, it was good enough for him to know he was on the right track – even if it had been by accident.

 

……

 

Equinox unhurriedly walked out of the School of Invocations, warm humidity causing him to immediately break out into a sweat even as he shielded his eyes against the rays from the blazing, mid-afternoon Sun.

 

While letting his eyes reacclimatise to the outside world, he focused on the Minimap in the corner of his vision; unerringly zooming in on the most recently defogged part of Golden Trees Village.

 

Seek out the militia’s training grounds, Eleanor had advised just as he took his leave. They’ll train you in the use of weapons so you can venture out of the village and hunt for your own Essence Condensates.

 

Though he hadn’t gotten all he had initially wanted from the School of Invocations, he was glad to have found a direction to pursue, moving forward.

 

Equinox blinked once, twice, and then instantly set off back to from whence he came, hoping that Wyntir would be waiting for him at the Hall of Ascension when he got there.

 

He had important information to share, after all.