As Marcus sleeps, he dreams of his life on Earth, he dreams of his twenty first Birthday where his family threw a large party for him. He dreams of how he tried dozens of different types of liquor from beers and wines to even a sweet sake. He dreams of the horrible hangover he had the next day which caused him to skip his college classes. His dreams continue and feature many of the happy memories he had on Earth, before shifting to something else. His dreams begin to feature the memories of Irene, focusing on her love for her sister. Marcus can feel how deeply Irene cared for her sister, and when the dream features Irene's final memories, he can feel her misery, fury, and helplessness. Marcus then wakes up with tears running down his face the dreams overpowering his emotions.
'Damn my chest hurts I miss my family so much and I can feel the fragment of Irene's soul crying out for her little sister as well. I really can't afford to let her down I have to find and save Lilia no matter what for Irene but also for myself.'
Marcus then got out of bed and changed into the set of clothes he was given the day before. He checked through his supplies and figured he would have to restock in a day or two.
'I guess I am ready to head out, I will give my thanks and farewell and be on my way.'
Marcus walks out into the main room and is greeted by the village chief and Marianna. The two of them had been waiting for Marcus and were each holding something to give to him.
The village chief then said, "We figured that you might need a bag and an extra set of clothes for your journey, so we scrounged something up. It's an old bag but it was made well, and I have filled it with some food and water."
The village chief and Marianna hand the bag and extra set of clothes to Marcus with a smiling faces.
Marcus responds saying "Thank you again you have shown me a great deal of help and generosity I will not forget; I know because of the help you have given me I will be able to save Lilia."
"It is only natural that we show our neighbor some hospitality in their time of need, also Amos would have been here to see you off, but he had some urgent work to take care of this morning."
Marcus nodded towards the village chief and then headed to exit the house. The village chief and Marianna walked Marcus to the edge of the village where Marcus saw Amos had gathered a large amount of the villagers to see Marcus off. As Marcus left, the villagers gave shouts of encouragement and wishes for safe travels, giving Marcus a fuzzy feeling in his chest.
Once Marcus was out of eye shot of the village, he stored the bag into his item box.
'I guess it would be weird for a person traveling on foot to have no bags of luggage of any kind, but those people really were too nice, I promise I will come back to visit one day.'
With one last look in the direction of the village Marcus begins his long trek down the road.
…
While most people would be slowed down by many factors during travel Marcus was able alleviate many of them. With his item box he was not encumbered by any heavy bags filled with supplies and with his dark vision skill he could travel even at night without the need of light. After traveling for six days and only resting around four hours a day Marcus acquired a skill called endurance that allowed him to stave off exhaustion for longer. On the seventh day Marcus saw a unit of soldiers heading up the road heading north.
'Those must be the soldiers that the kingdom sends every summer I heard about in the village. I should probably avoid them since I really do not want to end up in any unexpected trouble.'
Marcus veered off the road a few hundred feet and hid in some bushes waiting for the soldiers to pass by. After they were out of view Marcus got back on the road and continued his journey. Marcus had made exceptional time and the journey had been relatively peaceful, with Marcus being attacked only a few times by some low-level beast. Then coming up over the top of a large hill Marcus saw the large town of River Landing nestled on both sides of the river connected by multiple bridges.
'Wow that is something, it is much larger than any of the villages I have passed through on my way here. It kind of reminds me of Montreal with it being connected across a river by multiple bridges. I guess I should go get into the line of people entering the town hopefully it will not take too long.'
As Marcus approached River Landing, he noticed that the long line of carts, carriages and people had certain individuals that were not human. He saw many people with animal like traits such as furry ears and tails, short and stout people that were obviously dwarfs, and there was one coach with a driver who had pointed ears.
'I knew that there were intelligent races other than humans in this world, but this is my first time seeing any in person. This really hammers home how this is a fantasy world. It is too bad that I am on a pressing mission right now and do not have more time to explore the cultures and areas of this world right now.'
Marcus soon gets in line and waits his turn to be admitted into the town, after waiting for around thirty minutes and being near the front of the line, he see a for ornate carriage go past the line to the front gate. The carriage only stops for a few moments and flashes what looks like a meatal plate before the guards swiftly let them in.
'I guess they are probably a noble or someone with a high status since they did not even give a cursory examination of that carriage or take the entry fee.'
After a couple more minutes Marcus made it to the front of the line.
The guard then asked Marcus "Two copper coins and your ID."
"I am afraid I do not have an ID, but I heard that I can have one made here for twenty coppers."
The guard frowns at Marcus before responding "yes you can have an ID made in the guard station to the left however the price is thirty coppers, if you do not have enough money you will have to leave."
Marcus nods his head at the guard and says, "I do have enough money thank you for directing me."
Marcus then walks into the guard station where another guard is lounging about until he sees Marcus and promptly gets up and asks, "Yes miss how may I help."
"I need to have an ID made so that I can enter River Landing can you help me."
After hearing Marcus' request and staring at him for a little too long the guard directs Marcus over to a podium in the center of the room.
"Here you go miss please place your hand here on this podium, ah but first I need to confirm your payment of thirty coppers."
Marcus nods and takes his coin pouch out of his item box eliciting a surprised reaction from the guard.
"You have an item box miss, that is an incredibly rare skill!"
The man stares at Marcus in awe for a very uncomfortable amount of time before Marcus coughs to refocus the man and hands him the money. After the man takes the money, he once again beckons Marcus to put his hand on the pedestal. Once Marcus places his hand on it the pedestal begins to light up and displays his status. For an instances Marcus has a heart attack as his full status is on display before it suddenly flickers, and certain information is changed.
Name: Irene
Age: 28
Race: Human
Kingdom: Borealia
Level: 9
HP: 430/430-290/290
MP: 380/380
STR: 30
AGL: 32
VIT: 29
INT: 38
SPR: 43
Skills: Small Item Box, Lesser Regeneration Lvl 1, Digging Lvl 1, Fighting Lvl 2, Magic Circulation Lvl 2, Iron Magic Lvl 2, Disassembly Lvl 2, Stealth Lvl 2, Lightning Magic Lvl 1, Creature Appraisal Lvl 1, Fire Magic Lvl 1, Danger Sense Lvl 1, Darkvision Lvl 1, Endurance Lvl 1
Blessing of Iron
Luckily, the guard was too busy staring at Marcus to notice that his displayed status suddenly change and when he did look at it, he was once again flabbergasted. He stared at Marcus' status for a good five minutes wondering how this random commoner had such impressive stats and skills for a level nine.
'This does not make any since, other than digging, disassembly, and endurance she has incredibly difficult skills to obtain not to mention having three magic skills one of which is level two. She surprisingly also has a blessing, even the children of nobles around this level do not have stats or skills this good.'
Once the guard finishes looking over Marcus' status, he chants a few words, and the pedestal spits out a piece of parchment which the guard then hands to Marcus.
"Here this is your ID be sure not to lose it otherwise you will need to purchase another one. Also, since I assume this is your first time here, I would recommend the Livelily Goose Inn, it is a few hundred feet down the main street on the left you should have no trouble spotting it."
After thanking the guard for helping him Marcus exited the guard station, paid the entry fee, and finally entered the town of River Landing.