Both Michael and Tina then arrived at Calderock Village, where they were once again met with the hubbub of players in the village, which really surprises Michael as this place is just a small village, but the liveness inside is like a huge town with players and NPCs moving here and there.
Tina then separated from Michael and went somewhere else, and Michael being left alone noticed that some Hunters are being accompanied by their own pets or more like tamed beast that they had tamed by using a specific class skill that's unique to their class called [Capture].
It's a skill that could let a Beast Tamer, one of the options for a class advancement of a Hunter, and let them tame any monster in the wild except for some monsters like some Bosses.
Michael roamed around the village as the sound of people hawking their wares and advertising themselves filled his ears.
"Apples! Apples! Come get your apples for only 3 Coppers!"
"Cleric here! Looking for a team to go level grinding!"
"Level 22 Champion! I need a team who wants to grind at Kuberun Swamp!"
'A Champion? Interesting'
A Champion... is another path for the second advancement for the Barbarian class aside from becoming a Monk. Champions are warriors who wields either swords, sabers, or spears along with a shield. Their job is literally being the meat shield of a team, or most commonly known as a Team's Tank.
For those that doesn't know what a Tank does, their job is to protect players that are low-armor or low-health classes such as hunters, priests or wizards, and to survive an oncoming attack, and then ensure that they are the target of the incoming attack.
The Monk path is also another path that a Priest can take.
Michael walked over to the person that sells apples, and said, "Give me three"
"Here you go, dear customer," the woman said smiling to him as she politely handed three apples to Michael, who gave her nine coppers in exchange.
[NPC] Villager
Level: 5
Health: 300/300
'An NPC huh?' Michael thought as he rubbed an apple with his hands and bit into it, and the juices of the fruit immediately flooded his taste buds.
'Delicious! Even more delicious than the ones in the real world! This game is really awesome!'
'This place is really lively' Michael thought as he continued walking around the village, he even gave an apple to a kid who was crying on the side of the street who was being comforted by her mother. The kid then immediately stopped crying when Michael gave her an apple.
Michael waved at the mother and daughter, and continued walking around the village.
And without Michael noticing it, he suddenly arrived in front of a spacious garden..full of flowers of different kinds, and beside that garden is a small house, with an old lady currently trending at the flowers carefully.
Looking at the beautiful scene in front of him, Michael was suddenly reminded of something.
There was a beautiful woman running along the field of flowers while laughing heartily, and would glance at Michael from time to time with a smile on her face, and would dance around the field of flowers laughing while Michael followed after her with a huge smile on his face.
Then the woman bent down and plucked a beautiful purple flower and ran over to Michael and said…
"Isn't it beautiful?" an amicable looking and a little humpbacked old lady suddenly appeared in front of Michael, smiling at him.
"Yes...Ahh? Ohh...Hello auntie" Michael finally broke his trance like state and noticed the person in front of him who was the lady taking care of the flowers at the garden earlier, and so he immediately greeted her politely with an embarrassed look on his face as he didn't expect that he would be like that just because of a memory.
"Hohoho...I haven't been called an Auntie for a long time now. Tell me young man, how did you end up here?"
"Ohh, I was just walking around Calderock Village and...suddenly ended up...here without me...noticing it" Michael's voice suddenly became confused when he looked at his surroundings and didn't even see the shadow of the village he was just at earlier.
"This...it seems I'm lost" Michael laughed, and a gleam flashed past his eyes when he finally noticed the information floating above the amicable looking old lady.
[Sage ???]
Level: ???
Title(s): ???
'Shit, did I stumble inside a Sage's territory? And how the heck did I ended up here?' Michael thought, as his muscles became tensed, and looked at the person in front of him with wariness, and he had already prepared himself to escape the moment the old lady shows the signs of wanting to attack him...but doubts if he could even escape if she decided to attack him.
"Relax dear" The lady laughed when she noticed his muscles tensing, and then continued, "Come, follow me inside my humble abode"
The old lady then gestured for him to follow her, as she turned around and started walking towards the direction of the small house that Michael saw earlier.
Michael hesitated for a second before deciding to follow after her, knowing that it's useless thinking so much right now because he really doesn't have much of a choice but to follow her, knowing that planning on trying to escape is useless in the face of true might.
So he just followed after her, and entered her house carefully.
Once inside, he first noticed that the place has a nice scent around the house, probably from the fragrance of flowers around the house, and the place is really simple without much furniture inside.
"Take a seat" said the old lady as she headed towards her kitchen, and started boiling some tea, and Michael on the other hand, just stood there and didn't dare to even take a seat, and just kept his eyes on the lady, wondering about something.
'A Sage...I wonder how they are compared to a Hermit' Michael thought, curious on who's more powerful from the two.
"A Sage is more powerful than a Hermit" an aged voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.
"Huh? Can you read minds?" Michael suddenly took a step back, his back filled with cold sweat when he saw the old lady glancing at him for a few seconds.
"Hohoho, of course not. Everything is clearly written on your face" the lady laughed, and brought tea, and put it on top of her table.
"Really?"
'But I'm certainly keeping a poker face right now' Michael had different thoughts inside and out.
The lady just smiled but didn't answer him and instead gestured towards the opposite chair in front of her, "Seat"
"Yes" Michael said, as he carefully took a seat opposite of her. It was the first time that Michael felt scared in many years, he wasn't even this scared when he met Zero face to face before. It was because Michael could feel an invisible pressure bearing down on him even though the old lady is not doing anything, and Michael knows that the lady doesn't mean him any harm, and it's just the person's instinct to feel small or threatened in front of a mighty figure.