Chapter 4 Instead of Becoming an Adventurer I Chose to Fish

The first thing that I noticed was that I felt lighter. Blinking my eyes, everything finally came into focus. Looking around, I seemed to be in a courtyard of some sort with the system obelisk being in the middle. There seemed to be people around, most of them wearing leather armour with a few metal reinforcements. They seemed to have crossbows for weapons.

Before I could do anything else, almost all of the crossbows were now aimed at me, with two of the guards approaching.

“State your business.”

“I was sent here from a refugee camp by the Adventurer Guild.” They both looked at me, confused.

“Look at how he’s dressed, probably a refugee,” one of them said to the other.

“Oh, you’re right.” He then looked at me. “You should be able to understand this perfectly well, but you are currently speaking your own language. Coming through that system obelisk imparted you with the common language. If you think about it, you should now be able to speak another language so we can communicate.”

I knew a few other languages a bit, but when I now tried to think about all the ways I could say hello, there just seemed to be another language there. It was like flipping a switch, and I could feel myself now thinking in this new language that seemed perfectly natural.

“I just came from a refugee camp. I was sent by the Adventurer Guild. Oh right, the bracelet.”

I started to roll up my sleeves when I noticed that I was still holding on to the broken fishing rod. Hopefully, that wouldn’t be a problem that I got it, I didn’t really want to lose it.

As soon as I started to roll up my sleeve, one of them refocused their aim at me. The other guard glanced at him, confused.

The one that refocused their aim spoke in a commanding tone. “Drop that weapon!”

I was confused. Wait, does he think that the fishing rod is a weapon? Before I could do anything, the other guard slapped the back of the head of the one who spoke.

“That’s a fishing rod, you idiot. Stop acting like a scared child. You heard the news, there are most likely more of them coming in the following days and weeks. If you can’t act normally, you’ll be getting wall duty.”

All of them lowered their weapons fully after that, with the one being reprimanded seeming abashed.

“Sorry about that. Can you show me the tattoo?”

I was a bit confused but realised that the bracelet was indeed gone, replaced by a light dark tattoo with quite the intricate design.

He waved some sort of wand towards the tattoo. Then there was silence for a while before he nodded to himself.

“You are confirmed to be a refugee from Earth 85C. You have a full ride paid by the Adventurer Guild. Please go through those doors and continue until you reach the reception area.”

“Thank you,” I said to them, and started walking towards where I was supposed to go. I took my time, not walking fast, just looking around. When I looked up, I saw a blue sky, though the sun did seem to be a bit more distant than I was used to, and a bit colder.

It was still quite a nice temperature outside, which was good. While I did like winter, right now I think that would be a bit too much. Warm weather and a lot of sunlight always helped me deal with shitty situations.

The hallway was lit by what seemed like torches, but they didn’t seem to have a real flame. I kind of wanted to look at them closer, but my feet continued to walk. Everything here looked like it was made somewhere between the medieval and early industrial era.

Shouldn’t they have more modern technology? Come to think of it, the refugee camp didn’t have anything close to what we had back on Earth either. At least I know that they have bathrooms with flushing water and toilet paper, because without that, life would just be worse.

The reception area was more brightly lit. There were large chandeliers that held those fake torches, so perhaps that was the wrong word. I didn’t care much. The people here, as soon as I stepped into the room, looked at me, some of them whispering to each other.

There were five reception desks, with only one of them having a person behind it. I walked up, but before I could say anything, a bubbly, happy voice came from the receptionist.

“Hello there! We are pleased that you have chosen the Town of Pristine Beginnings as your beginner town. Let me just go over all that we offer in case some of it has slipped your mind.”

“We offer training in all the 20 beginner professions. Our profession facilities are top-notch, guaranteeing steady progress and extremely fast leveling towards your first milestone. We also offer more advanced profession workshops. We have many experts in our ranks who, combined, give over 200 different courses and lectures.”

She continued like that while preparing paperwork. This was all a bit too much for me. She didn’t seem to stop talking, continuing her sales speech, but I’m pretty sure normally whoever reached this far should already have known all of this.

“You arrived a bit late, but that is completely fine. You will just have to catch the afternoon beginner orientation. After that, you can start with the recommended profession. I am sure you will hit level 5 before twilight hits.”

All of this was quite overwhelming.

“Please stop,” I said, and that finally made her properly look at me. The color seemed to drain from her face, and it took her a few tries to get any words out.

“I am sorry. Please, I need to see your identification.”

I showed her my wrist. She quickly took out some device and placed it near the tattoo. She tried to say something a few times, but she seemed unable to make up her mind about what to say.

“Is it mandatory for me to go to the beginner orientation?”

She immediately spoke before I could continue. “No, no, it’s up to you when you want to go. You have a full ride, that means you do not have any deadlines, and you can do things at your own pace without ever having to worry about being kicked out.”

“That’s good to hear.” And I really meant it, because right now I didn’t think I could focus on a lecture.

“Is there a place where I could sleep and get some food?”

“Yes, of course! Let me get you your room key and the floor plan of this compound. No, I need to give you more stuff, you do not have to look at those yet, these are just for when you feel ready. These would be small information pamphlets and a few other documents.”

It seemed that she had been preparing my introduction paperwork. She worked fast, and soon I had a small stack of different sizes of paper in front of me. On the top was the map of the compound, showing a few dozen different buildings.

“This building here is where your apartment is. Let me go get you your keys. There’s always a staff member there ready to answer any of your questions. There is also a small café in every apartment building, so you can just get whatever you want. Oh but they do not actually serv any coffee, sorry.”

She went through a back door and soon returned with a key. She handed it to me.

“Please be careful with this. We have strict rules about thievery here, but it’s always better to be safe. Also, I have to warn you that we only have basic food here on the compound. It is free, and you can eat however much you want, but if you want something more refined, you would need to go into one of the restaurants in the town.”

“I assume that would cost money?” She nodded to that. “Do I get some sort of stipend?”

“A small one every month, but I do not recommend using that for food. You will learn that it’s better to keep it to get better gear. And I’m sorry again, I should have noticed.”

She looked properly ashamed. I didn’t think that she did anything that wrong. “No problem. Thank you for all of this,” I said, and then, using the map, I started to head towards what was probably my future home for quite a while.

All of this still felt like it happened too fast. Just a day ago I was still on Earth, enjoying my life. Now I had traveled to two different planets, and people talked more and more in gaming terms, which I was still confused about as to why.

As soon as I left the building, noise hit me. There were people constantly talking and moving about. All of this reminded me of my school days. This seemed too normal. I really didn’t like it. Fortunately, the way everyone was dressed helped with that.

There seemed to be some sort of uniform, as a lot of people were wearing similar clothes, but many were also wearing leather armor. Almost all had some sort of weapon. A lot of them seemed to have swords on their hips, but some walked around with spears.

No one seemed to have anything modern. It was so bizarre seeing no one have their phone out. Was there really no modern technology? No phone was going to suck. My stomach growled, which made me move.

A lot of people I passed looked towards me. Not everyone had a kind look. No one, however, seemed openly hostile. No one paid attention to me for long and got back to whatever they were doing before.

That suited me just fine. There were many buildings around, but most of them seemed to be open to the air. Only a few buildings had proper roofs over their heads. Fortunately, the apartment building did have a roof. It was four stories high and just a simple rectangle.

There was a small reception area with hallways leading to the left and right, and a large staircase upwards. The receptionist noticed me and smiled immediately. As I started to walk towards him, I smelled the scent of freshly baked bread.

Behind him there were multiple baskets full of fresh bread. “Can I please have one and water to drink?”

“Of course.” He pulled out a glass and filled it from a tap. They seemed to have proper running water, which was nice to see. He then placed the glass in front of me, and I drained it. He chuckled and filled it up again. “How many slices would you like?”

“Can I get the whole loaf?”

He laughed a bit at that. “Yes, you can. What’s the apartment number you’re in?” he said while handing me the entire loaf.

As soon as I had the loaf in my hand, I just took a big bite. It tasted so good. In between mouthfuls, I answered him, “17D.”

“Oh, that’s a good one. You’re on the 4th floor, so no noise from upstairs occupants. Also, you get a pretty good view of the lake. Would you like another one?” he said, pointing at the loaf.

I shook my head, finished the glass of water, thanked him, and then headed up the stairs.

“Take the left corridor when you get to the 4th floor and keep going until the end.”

“Thank you,” I said over my shoulder. The walk up the stairs tired me out more than it should. I’m probably just exhausted from all that has happened.

I took the left corridor and walked nearly to the end. There I saw on a door with a number 17D on it. The key went in smoothly. It took three turns for the door to open up. Basically, everything here was made out of wood, and so was the entirety of my apartment.

It wasn’t a large place, but there were two windows, a large bed, a large desk, a huge cabinet, and another door. There was also a decent amount of floor space that was just open. That was nice, as I liked the feel of an open floor.

Closing the door behind me, I also locked it. When the final click sounded, it was like a shield against the outer world. The madness of what I experienced seemed to be one step further away, and I felt my shoulders relax just a bit.

A few steps took me to the other door that opened up easily. There was a window here as well, but no extra light source. Although there seemed to be something on the wall that looked like a candle holder.

I almost started to cry as I saw a toilet that had flushing water. There was a sink as well with both cold and hot water, but best of all, there was a bathtub. The entire place was tiled too. It reminded me so much of home, even though everything was a bit strangely designed.

Then I looked out the window. The end of the town was close by as I could see the wall that must go around the entire town. There were even a few guards walking on top of it.

Beyond the wall was a bit of grass countryside with a lake and farm fields after that. In the far distance I was pretty sure there was a forest. The lake looked a bit weird. It took me a moment to realize why.

The first weird feature was a large semi-circle canal where people were fishing. There were large bars separating the canal entrances from the lake. The lake itself also looked too perfect. Then it hit me, it was entirely artificial. I wonder what fish they are catching.

I searched around a bit, finding that in the cabinet there were multiple sets of clothes. They were all made of fabric that seemed quite durable but decently soft. There was also an empty spot with a ticket attached to the extremely rugged clothes hanger.

Picking up the ticket, it seemed that I was able to read what was on it. It seemed like I could speak and write what they call the common language. This seemed to be a redeem ticket that I could use to get leather armour.

I continued to search around, finding shoes, socks, underwear—basically everything I needed—and all of them were roughly the correct size. There was an oil lamp and two dozen candles with matches to light everything with.

There were some basic writing supplies as well. I had everything I needed to live here except food. Finally, I sat on the bed, which seemed so wonderfully comfortable.

All of a sudden the ambient light dimmed. As I looked outside, I saw something huge rising from the horizon. Oh my, is that a gas giant. Transfixed, I just stared for hours as the sky was now dominated by a huge gas giant. It never truly became night the light level stayed at twilight levels.

After lighting a candle, I went through some of the pamphlets. There wasn’t much information here, just about what services they offered here. A lot of it seemed to be geared towards combat training and profession workshops so you could level up your beginner professions.

A lot of it went over my head, but I guess that’s why there were instructors here. I didn’t want to jump immediately into learning about this new world I was in and how things worked. Honestly, I just wanted to stay in my room and do nothing.

So that’s what I did for the next three days, I did nothing but stay in my apartment, only going downstairs to get fresh bread. There was a mess hall that served meals that weren’t just loaves of bread, but I didn’t want to speak to anyone. I just needed time to accept what happened.

There didn’t seem to be any pressure to start any of the lectures. No one came to talk to me, but I bet they would have if I had locked myself in my room. But since I went out to get some food, I was able to just stay by myself.

It seemed that I had quite a lot of privileges thanks to the level of access the Adventurer Guild paid for me. In fact, if I understood the pamphlets correctly, I could stay here like this until I died of old age.

Not that I wanted to do that. In fact, this morning when I woke up, I no longer felt the need to stay in my room. It seemed that it was time to stop sitting around being depressed and figure out what was actually going on.

So, for the first time, it was time to get some proper food. Now that I had on the beginner town uniform, no one looked at me twice. The mess hall was emptier than I expected, but I soon figured out why.

The food that I got was a few simple pieces of meat and porridge. It didn’t taste awful, but everyone still complained.

“I can’t believe that this is all they serve. It should be illegal!” Those complaints made me smile. It brought me back to my school days when we all complained about how bad the food was.

Most of everyone here were humans, but there were also other species. None of them were looked upon weirdly, but it was hard not to stare. I think I managed well enough to not draw attention.

Because of all this, everything felt familiar enough that I could accept it. I still wasn’t 100% sure that I wasn’t dead and that this wasn’t just some dream I was having. But every day that belief faded more and more.

It truly seemed like I was in some sort of fantasy world with game-like elements. Just thinking that made me feel crazy, but I guess that’s the new normal. Time to see what that beginner orientation was about.