Chapter 39: Chapter 39. Toll Fee

The next morning, they continued on their journey. After yesterday's bonding exercise by Bowler, Fierce Flame no longer walked at a distance. She, however, was still mostly silent throughout the journey. Bowler, on the other hand, was chattering non-stop. Flame warned him several times to keep his voice down, fearing that his noise would attract nearby monsters.

Jack, however, ignored him. Jack had his radar which would prevent him from being ambushed. Even if Bowler's babble did attract monsters, they would just become experience points for Jack.

They did meet two groups of monsters that morning, which the three of them dispatched easily. Although Bowler could be considered weak, if compared to Jack and Fierce Flame, his coordination and timing in assisting them were accurate. Jack reckoned him to be the type that performed much better in a team rather than solo.

When they took a break for lunch, they realized the light beam was now much larger in perspective. Their destination was close already, probably only a few more blocks over. They should be able to reach the place before the end of the day.

Jack had also noticed several blue dots on his radar since they began their journey that morning. They were all moving in the same direction. Jack didn't bother to go meet with other players anymore. If he kept on picking up stragglers, he would just wear himself down.

After another two hours of walking. They came to a large river. Beyond the river was a large open field that was the City Park. In the middle of the park was an abstract sculpture that was a well-known monument of the city. At one side of the park was a large white building, the City Hall.

The light beam coming down from the sky ended in a light dome that encompassed the entire field, ending just past the river. It looked like they had finally arrived at their destination. There were two days left on the time limit, so they could relax now.

There were hundreds of people loitering around on the field. Many more were still coming from every direction. Jack figured, with the rate it is going, there might be over a thousand people by the end of the day. Jack was astonished to find out that so many people were around, considering that he had only met a handful of people since the incident that put him in this game world.

The three of them admired the view, although it was common enough to see people gathering at the City Park, it had been some time since they had seen a crowd.

They looked for a bridge to cross the river to get into the park. There were several bridges along the river. The closest one was at the southwestern side, less than a hundred meters from them. They walked over there.

They could see several people who were also heading to that bridge. One group was being chased by a pack of Goblins, but once they crossed the edge of the light dome which circumference included a few meters of land on this side of the river, the goblins stopped. They just stared and jumped in frustration without going through the wall of light.

Jack realized, apart from marking their destination, the dome light also created a safe zone that prevented the monsters from coming in. No wonder he didn't see any monsters roaming in the City Park despite its covering a massive area of land.

When they got near to the bridge, they discovered a commotion on it. People were clustering in the middle of the bridge. Jack wondered what the issue was. They approached and found that a group of people with their weapons drawn were blocking the path, preventing the newly arrived people from crossing the bridge.

The spokesman of the armed group, who held a hatchet, yelled, "I told you already, if you want to cross, then pay 10 copper coins. Otherwise, scram!"

"Are you crazy? I don't even have five copper coins, how am I supposed to pay?" said a middle-aged man.

Jack scanned the group using his God-eye monocle. The gangsters blocking the bridge were mostly level 9 and 10. The largest man, who held a broadsword and appeared to be the leader of the group, was level 11. The people on the bridge who were being blocked were mostly level 6 to 8. The middle-aged man was even worse off at level 5. No wonder he didn't have coins. He had probably spent the past days hiding from the roaming monsters instead of fighting them.

"What? How can you not even have 10 copper coins?" the gangster commented. He then turned to one of his comrades who stood by the side. "What level is this man?"

This gangster, who was wearing a white Magician robe, stared at the middle-aged man for a while before answering, "He is just trash, level 5."

"What a piece of trash! Get the hell out of here. This is no place for you!" The hatchet wielding gangster bellowed and shoved the middle-aged man away.

"You can't do this. We need to get to the other side!" The group protested.

As the outcry continued, a man and woman in well-equipped armor approached. They were similarly confused by the event, as they slowly made their way through the crowd. The gangster leader with the broadsword made a gesture to the Magician, who then observed the pair for a while. Jack reckoned he must be using his Inspect skill. Jack himself used his God-eye monocle on the pair. The man was level 11, while the woman was level 10. The magician whispered something to the leader, who then gave a sign to let the pair pass.

When the crowd saw this, they immediately protested the injustice, "Why were they allowed passage?"

The man with axe replied with disdain, "If you are strong enough, we will also let you pass. Since you are only a bunch of weaklings, then either pay or get the hell back!"

A young man among the group being blocked exclaimed with rage, "This is extortion! Why are we allowing them to treat us this way?" He pulled out his short sword and tried to rile up the crowd. "I don't believe we can't take them down if we work together. We outnumber them two to one!"

Many of the people among the blocked group expressed support for the young man, they pulled out their weapons. Suddenly, a blue ball sped through the crowd and hit the young man squarely in his face. He stumbled backward with critical damage appearing on his head.

The young man was only level 6 and the attack had taken out almost half of his HP bar. The crowd turned and looked; a woman in a black robe, standing beside the gangster's leader, had cast Magic Bullet at the young man.

The leader then stepped out. He waved his large broadsword and bellowed, "If you weaklings want a fight, we will be happy to comply! Don't imagine that this world is the same as the old world where numbers determined strength. Here, individual strength rules! Even with twice of you lot, we are strong enough to easily cut you down and feed you to those Goblins!"

The leader's overbearing tone and demeanor intimidated the group. They looked at each other, hoping that one of them would rise up and led their resistance, but everyone was silent with their heads hanging low.

"I didn't think so," the leader thrust his sword into the ground; the tip of the blade went easily into the sturdy pavement. "Now stop making a fuss and follow the rules! Either pay up or drag your sorry asses away from here!"

The group was red with anger and felt indignant, but they realized there was nothing they could do. One of them finally proposed to the others, "let's go to the other bridges. There are many along the river. It's better than letting these assholes have their way."

The man with the hatchet laughed hysterically, and said, "Go ahead! You think we would be so dumb as to charge a toll here if the other paths are free? There are other gangs holding the other bridges too. Go ahead and look for yourselves if you don't believe me. Oh, right, you can also try swimming. There were some idiots who did that at first, only to find out that there are river monsters in the water. I guess the river isn't considered part of the safe zone. Do try it, though, it's a great show for us, while it lasts!"

The group turned pale after hearing the man's words. They simply had no way out. Some were starting to take out their coins, intending to pay the toll, when a loud voice bellowed.

"You bunch of bullies! I really can't stand you. How dare you take advantage of this situation to extort people? Don't you feel any shame?"

Jack turned to the source of the voice and saw Bowler who was fuming with rage.