Chapter 28: Jarxos

Colt filled them in on the basic mechanics as they wandered towards and into Valheim. He did not share everything that he had learned but enough for the girls to understand the importance of Authority. The girls were quite happy with the information.

Which, of course, was natural. Since they had lied about not playing RPG's. It was just that they usually played warriors or other physical classes. They just wanted to understand if Authority might be helpful to them. The best way to get some information was usually to pretend to be a noob. Especially if you were a girl.

"Oh, this way." Beans chuckled as Colt was about to walk past the street that they had to turn in to.

Colt chuckled and shrugged it off as being too caught up in their conversation. Which the girls seemed to accept. After a few minutes of walking, a small temple building came into sight. 'I guess this is where we can regenerate our bars.' Colt raised an eyebrow as he committed it to memory.

"Hey! Did you hear that Kalion's team was ambushed and wiped out while hunting wolves?"

Colt listened to the random discussions of those who were leaving the temple. It seemed like word had already spread of what had happened, but the other side had twisted the narrative to suit themselves. 'Hopefully, it doesn't become a big deal.' Colt frowned as they entered the temple.

There were five pedestals spread out around the room inside. Three of them were empty, while another two had statues that resembled the player standing in front of them. Beans and Donna immediately moved to an empty pedestal, and a figure of each of them rose from their pedestals. Colt followed their example and found himself face to face with a miniature marble version of himself.

[Connecting with Prayers in the Mortal Realm. You currently have 15 stored prayers. Please adjust how many you would like to absorb.]

[HP = 0/1]

[DP = 0/4]

'Ok, it's just like the shrine in Eraldsfen. I have to spend the prayers that people made to recover. I guess this place allows a player to access every shrine's prayers and gather them in one place. But… This mechanic is going to make things difficult. The further you travel from the city, the harder it will be to recover and survive. Players will have to plan out how much HP and DP they need to reserve for a safe journey back.'

Colt frowned at these thoughts as he spent 5 Prayers to fully recover. Bringing his HP and DP back up to full.

[No Quests detected… Exiting Shrine Interface…]

The girls seemed to be finished too, but their expressions were not all that great. Colt sensed that neither of them had fully recovered, which probably meant thatchy did not have enough prayers. 'To be fair, if I had taken more damage, I wouldn't have been able to fully recover either.'

Colt sighed. To make their grinding more effective later on, he was sure that he would have to spend his DP to help them recover. 'Maybe my spells aren't that bad after all…' Colt's mind wandered to how many Prayers he could save by exchanging his DP for HP. Bringing the overall cost down significantly.

"Shall we head the store now?" Beans asked when she saw that Colt was finished.

"Sure, I'm done here," Colt replied while noticing the other two players in the temple looking at them with strange expressions.

Colt casually checked behind them a few times as they navigated the streets under Donna's lead. Sure enough, one of the players from the temple was following closely behind them. He was not even bothering to hide the fact that he was tailing them.

"This is it." Donna suddenly said as she stopped in front of a small, unassuming building with golden doors. There was a sign above them that had a word that he could not read on it. But the word Store was clear beneath it.

"Where're the items you want me to sell?" Colt asked with a raised eyebrow.

[Player DonnaThaGreat has initiated a Trade with you. Do you accept?]

Colt accepted the request and a window appeared in his mind. He quickly checked the contents and accepted the trade. 15 Wolf Furs and 18 Wolf Fangs entered his Inventory. He had to make sure and not make a mistake when it came to splitting the money later. Colt stepped forward and touched the doors of the store.

[Player check initiated… Player Level 3… Welcome!]

The door slowly swung open, but there was a green translucent barrier in its place. 'I guess this to prevent anyone else from sneaking in while it's open.' Colt hesitantly stepped through the barrier. There was a green orb floating close to the ceiling, lighting up the store's interior. Marble shelves had display cases lined up on them. However, they were all empty.

A staircase stood to his right with another green barrier blocking it. This one appeared more solid, and Colt guessed that it was meant for higher levels. 'I should focus on finding out how this place works.'

Colt walked towards the counter up ahead, but he could not see anyone. 'What the hell is going on here?' Colt wondered as he continued to glance around. Suddenly, an old man wearing a toga appeared behind the counter. However, he was made entirely of translucent golden light. Making him appear ethereal.

"Oh, a customer? It's been such a long time. Welcome! How can I help you?" The man asked as he eyed Colt.

"Can you tell me who you are? What do you sell here?" Colt asked in the hopes of gaining some information.

"I'm Jarxos. And this, well… Was my store. I'm nothing more than a will left behind after the Fall." Jarxos showed a sad smile.

Colt frowned as he realised from the explanation that he was not dealing with a fully thinking NPC. This one was more like a recording that could only respond to certain things. "What's the Fall?"

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