บท 6: Mysteries
"That food was amazing! Great choice, Morrom!" Eisen exclaimed after finishing his dinner and leaned back in his chair, looking over at Morrom across the table. It's been a while since he's had food this good, even though he had no idea what he even ordered since he left that up to Morrom.
The Dwarf-Elf Magician nods in agreement and crosses his arms smugly. "I know, it's amazing, isn't it? They have the best food in town!"
"Do they? Then it's good that I'm staying here for a while haha!" Eisen laughed loudly and rubbed his stomach in delight, calling over the Waitress to pay. After giving her a generous tip, Morrom and Eisen stood up and decided to head for the bar. On their way, Eisen curiously turned to his younger friend.
"Say, lad, what actually was that meat? Was it a type of poultry?" He asked curious of the source of this delicious white meat he had never tasted before, and Morrom shook his head with a laugh. "No, no, Eisen, that was Ankheg meat. They don't usually have nests around mountainous areas, but since we're at the edge of the Mountain range, we can get it easier than other Towns in the area."
"I see. Well, either way, it tasted amazing, so good choice." Patting Morrom on his back, Eisen sat down on one of the Bar Stools, quickly ordering Beer for him and Morrom when the Bartender, who was coincidentally also the Innkeeper, came around.
After receiving the jugs, he took out his leather bag and paid him a copper coin, the money in the bag clinking around, the sound of which seemingly attracting a cat that was lying on the floor near the bar just a few seconds before.
"Oh hello there, little cat! How are you~?" Noticing the yellow-furred cat that just jumped onto the barstool next to him, eyeing the leather bag, Eisen extended a hand to pat the small animal with a big smile on his face. Reacting to this heartwarming scene, Morrom chuckled slightly before taking a big sip from his beer.
Shortly afterward, Eisen noticed that the cat was looking at his leather bag, and decided to confirm it by moving it around. Since the cat was following the bag with its eyes, he decided to take out one of the copper coins and placed it on top of the counter. Immediately, the cat jumped up and looked at the coin, then back at Eisen, as if suspicious about something.
But a few seconds afterward it didn't seem to care since it started to play around with the coin a bit.
The Innkeeper noticed that the cat was sitting on the counter next to Morrom and Eisen and sighed.
"Oi, Cat, stop bothering our customers will ya?" The Red-Haired Dwarf laughed out, and the Cat lifted its head before laying back down with its face directly on the coin.
Eisen turned to the Innkeeper and asked, "Ah, is that your cat?"
He nodded apologetically, "I hope he didn't annoy ya. And not really, I guess he doesn't belong to anyone, really. Just started appearing in front of the door a few years ago for a few days at a time, but disappears about one or two months in between. The odd son of a bitch annoyed me a bit at first, but I guess he ain't so bad after all." The Innkeeper smiled softly, even though the cat hisses at him for a second after he called it a son of a bitch.
After that, the Innkeeper went back to serve other clients, leaving Morrom, Eisen and the Cat alone.
Taking the time to maybe improve on the Skill by leveling it up, Eisen used Appraisal on random things and people around him while only paying attention to it half-mindedly so he could still talk to
[Dwarf-Elf Halfling]
[Jug]
[Dwarf]
[Plate]
[???]
[Spoon]
"Eh?" Eisen muttered out, only noticing afterward what just happened. He was using Appraisal on random things, but what was it that caused question marks to appear. Guessing that Morrom might know, he turned to him. "Hey, lad, I've got a question for you. Do you have the Appraisal Skill?"
Confused, Morrom tilted his head and nodded, "Yeah, of course, I do. It's only a rank 2, but most people get the Appraisal skill early on in their life. Why are you suddenly asking, though?"
"Ah… Well, I thought you might know what it means when you only get question marks after an appraisal."
Morrom crossed his arms and closed his eyes in thought, "Usually that only happens when trying to Appraise something that's way out of your… range? Not distance wise of course, but something that is way above you in existential terms. Sometimes if something has a level that's way above yours you can't appraise it, and if you try and appraise a high-ranking item you may also only get question marks as an answer. Why are you asking, though?"
"Oh, erm, seems like I appraised something in town that I wasn't able to appraise, although I'm not really sure what exactly it was. I mainly remember the question marks, and I just remembered it for some reason, haha." Eisen laughs loudly, scratching his beard while telling Morrom to keep drinking since tonight was on him after all.
While the young man was busy ordering more drinks on Eisen's tab, he looked around to see what might be the reason for the question marks, then laid his eyes on the cat again. It couldn't have been this cat, right? But what else was there..? It definitely wasn't one of the bottles of booze. Thus, he tried to appraise the cat.
[???]
Eisen stared deeply at the cat, lowering his head down with his chin pressed against the counter, his face mere centimeters away from the cat's. "Nah." He muttered to himself and shook his head, turning back to Morrom and finishing his drink.
----
After a long night of drinking together with his new buddy, even though they have an age difference of about 50 years, Morrom drunkenly waltzed out of the Inn and Eisen decided to go up to his room, also feeling quite drunk himself, which was a sensation he hadn't expected from a game, especially after the low amount of alcohol he did actually drink, at least to his standards.
He stumbled through his door and locked it behind him. Eisen slipped his shoes off his feet, and took off his clothes up until the rough linen underwear, placing the Guidebook from Ari and the leather bag with his money onto the nightstand. The moment he dropped onto the bed which was very barely large enough for himself, he fell asleep.
Then, another thing happened that he didn't expect: He dreamt.
But it wasn't a normal dream since he felt completely conscious in it. He was in a dark cave with nothing in it bot stalactites and stalagmites. Suddenly, he heard a deep and raspy voice from all around him, that sounded as if it was filled with immense wisdom, but still with a hint of curiosity.
"Hello, dear Eisen. You seem truly extraordinary, young man." The voice spoke out, causing Eisen to simply laugh.
"Young man? Haha, are you sure you don't need glasses?" He asked and began walking around the cave to find the source of the voice.
"I do not, but I understand how you may be confused. You may be old for those of your kin, but to mine, you are nothing but a mere Wyrmling."
Somehow hearing the voice louder from one corner of the room, Eisen stepped in that direction. But before then, a small shadow jumped onto a rock, which Eisen could only see from the corner of his eye.
He turned around immediately to stare at the creature in front of him. It was the cat he saw at the Bar.
"What is it? You're staring at me like I'm some kind of monstrosity." It muttered out in the deep voice from before, tilting its tiny head to the side.
"Well, you're a talking cat that said it's many times older than me, which is definitely not normal from my perspective," Eisen answered, slightly confused at what's going on.
"Nevermind that. You are unusual. Your aura seems like that of this world, but at the same time otherworldly. Your smell is one that I recognize, but I do not know from where. Usually, I always remember. You are a Dwarf, but yet you are one of the Giants. Which clan do you descend from? The Cloud Clan? Nay, you were way too benevolent to your mixblood friend. You have the soul of a craftsman, so maybe you are one of the Fire Clan… I truly do not know." The cat spoke out, jumping off the rock to step around Eisen and get a closer look at him.
Eisen takes a few steps away from the cat and looks at it suspiciously. "What are you, cat?"
"Cat? Ah, yes, the form of this body. This form is one that is best for navigating amongst the populace, at least from my experience. This is not what I truly look like, though. I can not show you my true body, however."
"Then why did you even call me to… wherever this place is?" Eisen asked and looked down at the Cat-shaped thing that was looking up at him with a cold gaze.
The cat tilted its head and then lowered it as if trying to think of what Eisen is talking about. "This place? We are currently inside your dreamscape, although I took the liberty of turning this into a more suitable place for conversation. And it was a truly easy thing to do. Maybe you should consider increasing your wisdom."
While holding his hand to his forehead because he was slowly getting frustrated, Eisen shook his head, "I rather wanted an answer for the reason why you called me, not where this is."
"I called you out of curiosity, was that not clear? I wanted to see what kind of person you truly are. Many others would have become defensive, or even tried to attack me, but you stayed calm and talked to me as if meeting an old friend again. Your soul is that of a great man's, but your body still needs to change. Seek me near this town atop one of the smaller mountains at the edge of the mountain range within a month. However, if you still lack strength at that time or you do not manage to see me, you will face the consequences."
[New Quest - A Mysterious Cat's Request]
[Description]
You found yourself in your dreamscape after being called there by an ancient being whose identity you do not know. He requested for you to come to see him within a month after developing your body. You don't know what will happen if you don't follow his request, but you don't want to find out either.
[Requirements]
Get all of your base Attributes (STR, END, AGI, INT, WIS) to at least 100
[Reward]
???
[Failure]
???
[Time Limit - 1 Month]
"Heh? What do you mean?" Eisen asked, but before he got an answer his consciousness faded away from his dreamscape and he woke up back in his bed.
He jumped up and looked around, and seeing the light from the early morning sunshine through the window stood up to get dressed. "What the hell was that?" He wondered and scratched his beard.
"The only hint I got was one word he said, huh? 'Wyrmling'… Maybe I'll ask Morrom or Belrim what a Wyrmling is. Before then, guess I should begin with what I'm actually here for."
Dismissing his dream for now since that wasn't his priority at the time, Eisen left his room and went back down to the reception.
"Ya sleep well, old man?" The Innkeeper asked while receiving the keys and placing them onto the key-holder behind him. Eisen nodded with a smile, "I slept great! It might have been the alcohol from last night though, haha!" He laughed out loud and decided to go to the restaurant at the Inn for breakfast.
When the waitress came to ask him what he wants to eat, he ordered a soft boiled Harpy-Egg and a light soup as well as some simple toasted wheat-bread.
Since he felt pretty satisfied after that, Eisen paid for his food and decided to go out into town to start working on the reason he even started playing World of Magic.
He would begin crafting.
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