The walk to the Flying Dragon really set in stone that I am no longer on earth anymore. or even in the same universe as Earth. I saw people riding all kinds of beast while flying through the sky. Flying cars like contraptions that I could just feel relied on some kind of new technology that i'd never seen before.
The city turned out to be even more awe inspiring than I'd initially thought. Above the ground level of the skyscrapers there were many walkways that connected to almost every other skyscraper. There were even numerous places where people could house whatever flying creature they had been flying on to be stabled on just about every floor, that way they could go into the buildings to take care of whatever business they were there for.
The amount of different species of intelligent creatures was staggering. I still found myself being able to understand them regardless of the language they were actually speaking. I knew they were speaking in different languages because the words they were speaking didn't match up to the way their mouths were moving. If it was just one or two people speaking in such a way then I would've thought I was mistaken, but it happened with everyone. The most curious thing though was when I spoke to other people. It seemed that even though I talked to several people while asking for directions, everyone I spoke to were able to understand me, and if they noticed it was weird that my mouths movement didn't match up to what I said then no one said anything.
After asking directions from numerous people, and about an hour of walking I found myself before The flying dragon. The building itself was situated at the ground floor of a massive skyscraper, it was made out of multicolored glass with a mixture of plants thrown in, just like the rest of the buildings in the city. The front looked unassuming, especially compared to the grand storefronts I saw at other businesses I had passed. It just had a plain wooden sign which had Flying Dragon etched into it.
Taking a deep stabilizing breath, I reach for the handle and go inside.
I was expecting some kind of lobby for a hotel, but what I found was definitely not that. The inside resembled a bar much more than a hotel. The fantasy novels I would read would definitely describe this place as tavern or inn. There were many people sitting at around tables talking and drinking, as well as at the bar itself. The smell of alcohol and what I assumed was some kind of tobacco type substance, dominated the room. I almost gagged from all the second hand smoke before I even made it to the bar.
I sit down at an empty seat at the bar and begin trying to get the bartenders attention. A few minutes go by before I succeed in doing so. The first thing I notice as the bartender approaches me is that he has the head of a pig atop his portly body. It didn't take up too much of my attention though, I'd seen many people stranger than him on the walk there.
"what can I do for you young lad?" the bartender asks as he stands across from me.
"I'm new in town and someone told me that I could rent a room here" I say with what is supposed to be an endearing smile.
The man before me gives me a strange look before responding "I don't swing that way lad but I'd be happy to rent you a room while you take care of your business in the city. I charge sixty-five copper coins a night. That includes one meal a day and access to the communal baths."
While I was confused by his first comment I was happy about the price and the fact that it included a meal. It seems that housing and food wouldn't be a problem as I still had ninety-nine gold coins I looted from the man I killed. Thinking about the incident though put a shadow across my face and lowered my enthusiasm quite a bit.
As I fish out a gold coin from my spatial bag I see a tall mug of some kind of frothy liquid being sat in front of me.
"I could tell that the look on your face wasn't because of the price for a bed. i figured you'd had a tough journey here and could use a little alcohol to pick up your spirits. My name is Hogan, if you need any information on the city while you're here I wouldn't mind providing my insight. That only counts for general information though, anything valuable is going to cost you." Hogan says with a slight smile that shows his canine teeth.
The comments put a slight smile on my face as I pay upfront for a five day stay, then reach for the mug of foreign alcohol hoping that it is not to strong. "Aye my journey here was unexpected and filled with danger. I'm just happy I made it here."
After saying my piece I take a big swig of the mug to find out that it tasted like beer, though it did have the slight taste of apples. Overall it was so delicious that I downed it in no time and found myself ordering another one. That began an unexpected night of drinking.
I learned many useful things from Hogan that night. It seems that the whole city is run by a council which consists of the most influential businesses in the city. The council didn't just run this city, they ran all the cities on the planet which is called Endora. Which meant the council's businesses stretched across the entire world.
It turned out that there are only ten cities on the planet. That's because the whole planet is used as a wildlife preserve for rare beasts and plants. Apparently the most lucrative way to make money here was by hunting beasts for what was called beast cores. Beast cores are what most planets technology is derived from. At the heart of every piece of technology i have seen since coming to World Game was at least one beast core, most probably used multiple. Each beast core has different properties, when used alongside certain ores or other materials it creates a host of reactions. Hogan didn't know anything specific since he was not an artificer. Artificer is the job title of people who develop such machines.
He told me that if I was looking to stay here indefinitely, as in becoming a citizen, I would have to show I was an asset to the economy of Endora, otherwise I would have to pay a fee every month I stayed after my first three months.He also told me to go to a government office to get my I.D card asap because being caught without one was grounds to straight up deport you from the city. The I.D recorded how much time you still had left in the city among other things. Hogan said the easiest way for me to become a citizen was to complete jobs for the Adventurer Guild.
The Adventurers guild was an organization that was spread all throughout World Game. They provided a place where people could hire others to take on jobs that they couldn't do themselves. Some, and depending on the place, even most of these jobs could be offered by the world's government. These jobs could be anything from finding lost or stolen property to participating in wars. Most of the jobs provided at the adventures guild in Endora were based around hunting beasts for their cores and collecting valuable plants.
The most expensive jobs available were for capturing certain beasts alive. Some of the captured beasts were used to create breeding farms for a particular species if their beast cores were especially useful. Anything that artificers created that were mass produced typically had their beast cores come from one of these farms. While other people put up these jobs because they wanted to make said beasts their mount.
Hogan said that the easiest way to become a citizen was to become a D rank adventurer. That was the easiest way for foreigners to prove they were an asset to the economy without having a lot of money. The ranks at the adventures guild started at E rank and went to A rank. Past A rank was S rank and then after that was SS rank. An adventurer was allowed to challenge jobs one rank above their own rank. To become a D rank adventurer one must complete at least ten D rank jobs in a year. At first I thought that sounded too easy, but Hogan told me that in Endora there was a seventy-five percent mortality rate among E rank adventurers who challenged D rank jobs. It felt like Hogan poured a bucket of ice water over my head when he announced that piece of information.
Trying to assure me, Hogan said that there were a lot of perks to becoming a high level adventurer. The perk of being considered a citizen by becoming a D rank adventurer was not just the rule on Endora, but was the rule wherever the tentacles of the adventurers guild reached. You also got access to exclusive auctions and businesses that were geared towards adventurers. You even got discounts from businesses that were associated with the Adventurers guild.The perks only got better and better the higher up to ladder you climbed as well.