"Do not go to that place.", spoke Mark.
'Is there something wrong with that place?' Kain narrowed his eyes as he looked back at Mark.
"Where is this carriage going then?", asked Kain as he decided to collect information on his own.
Mark's face changed back to a normal smile of a cheerful man. He then spoke,
"Haha, this carriage is going to Carmine City. It's a city a bit far from The Arcane Citadel. Sorry for making you scared, actually you do know the story of that place? Nobody wants to live in that place..", spoke Mark as he turned his head back to focus on driving the carriage.
The carriage only had some grains and a few accessories.
From the looks of it, it seemed to be a merchant's carriage.
"Are you a merchant, Mr. Mark?", Kain asked being respectful.
"Haha, your eyes are sharp boy, yes I am a merchant.", spoke Mark.
"Then can you tell me Mr. Mark if there is a place where warriors can work in Carmine City?", asked Kain.
"Warriors? A pale thin lad like you? Well there is a job yeah...", spoke Mark.
"What's the job Sir Mark?", asked Kain, he needed to earn some money to function in this city.
"You would need to work as a..."
...
Currently, Kain was in front of a building.
There were various different kinds of people going in and out of this building.
An hour ago,
Kain had arrived at Carmine City.
It was a city in the setting of medieval European buildings all around.
Kain had to pay 1 copper coin as entry tax, which Mr. Mark had to pay since Kain did not have this world's currency.
Kain decided that it was best to first earn some money, settle himself, and collect information.
This was the perfect way Kain could derive to start off in this new and foreign world.
Hence, he was currently standing in front of the Adventurer's Guild Carmine Branch.
Soon he went inside.
Before registering himself in, Kain decided to look around.
Quickly he came across a softboard on the side wall. It had various documents on it.
But what was most important for Kain right now was the map!
Yes! A map! The softboard had a map! And not just any map! It was a well detailed world map.
Kain rushed over to look at it.
"Elodria." Kain spoke as he started to observe the map.
Eldoria.
This was the name of the planet Kain was currently at. Yes planet.
As the Celestial said before, each floor is a different universe in itself.
This means, that this tower is definitely not so simple.
Eldoria had only one single pangea like continent, it was but a lot smaller.
The world was 20% land and 80% ice on surface.
There were three surviving powers left in this world which housed what was left of life.
- The FrostVeil Empire
- The Flareheart Kingdom
- The Arkana Union
The FrostVeil Empire was an empire which emerged after the descent of ice.
The Flareheart Kingdom was a fire magic based kingdom, since it was located near volcanic regions.
The Arkana Union was a union of mages, a power which hosted every other kind of magician.
The Arcane Citadel was also in the capital city of the Arkana Union, the city where their Union's Chamber members lived.
There were also nomad tribes that live all around the continent called the Windora Tribes, but no one knew where they lived as after all, they were nomads.
This was it. This was all what was left of humanity.
Not even a population of 200 million of humanity was left in this world.
Soon, Kain decided to register himself.
"Good morning visitor, this is Carmine City's Adventurer's Guild. How may we assist you?", the receptionist spoke in a polite tone.
"I would like to register myself as an adventurer, I would also like to do some jobs.", spoke Kain.
"Okay, please fill out this form and we would be done."
...
After registering,
"Since Mr. Kain would start as a F-Rank Adventurer, you will only be able to take F rank to E rank quests.", spoke receptionist.
"Okay Miss Emily, thank you for your time.", spoke Kain as he slightly bowed.
The receptionist also bowed and left.
Kain turned over to look at the quests on the board.
There were many quests in F rank.
From collecting some woods in a forest, to hunting a few monsters.
There were also some chore quests like helping an alchemist procuring an item or helping someone with this or that.
Kain was not interested in doing any chores, so he decided to hunt some Snow Wolves.
Kain extended his hand to grab the quest pamphlet but then,
Another hand also came over as it also held the pamphlet.
"Ah! I'm sorry! Do you also need this quest?", came a soft yet beautiful female voice.
"Yes, it's my first time adventuring and I decided to get this quest.", spoke Kain as he turned to look at the girl.
She had long beautiful sky blue hair, along with a beautiful pair of matching eyes as well. She looked like a frost goddess, but Kain couldn't care less.
After leveling up and climbing towers, people used to get beautiful a lot. So seeing another beautiful girl was nothing to him.
"Um what to do..what to do...", the girl pondered.
At that moment, the receptionist Emily came over as she spoke,
"You both are newbie adventurers Mr. Kain and Ms. Ivory. You both can form a party to have each other's back.", she said with an angelic smile.
"No-", Kain was about to retort when Ivory spoke up.
"Mr. Kain! Please I need to go on this quest! Why not do it together! It will only increase our efficiency!", spoke Ivory.
She also had a low quality armor kit along with a bow and a few arrows.
"Uh...Fine, but I'm the leader. If you die while not following the orders, then don't come back haunting me.", spoke Kain as he shrugged.
He preferred working alone. After all, working with others could cause losses which he didn't have energy to bear.
"Yes! Miss Emily! Please register us as a party!"
[!Ding]
[A Party was created!]
[Party Members:]
- Kain Umbrosia (Tower Climber)(Leader)
- Ivory Vale (Tower Native) (Member)
'Ooh? So a party can be created with the world's members as well? That's interesting...'
"Miss. Ivory, Mr. Kain, your adventurer IDs are here, please take them. You can start taking missions now."
"Okay.", spoke Kain as he left the hall.
"Thanks!!", Ivory spoke as she shook Emily's hand and left.
...
Currently Kain and Ivory were walking through the streets of Carmine.
"So.. Mr. Kain, if I'm not rude to pry over, you are not from this city right?", her head bent slightly downward, hands behind her back, intertwining her fingers.
"Why you ask?", asked Kain, raising his right brow to the Ivory on his right.
"Well, that's because of your eyes...", spoke Ivory as she stared in the eyes of Kain, Kain looked back at her.
'...'
After a few seconds of eye contact, Ivory broke the contact as she straightened her back, her eyes closed as she spoke, "Well! I was just curious! Do not answer me if you do not want to!"
'His eyes are beautiful... and so unique!', she thought, she felt a little embarrassed with the moment.
"Yeah, I'm not from this place..", spoke Kain with a slight smile over his mouth.
Seeing the smile over Kain's face, Ivory's face lit up as she smiled back with a wide smile as she spoke,
"So mister can smile as well.", she teased slightly.
Kain composed himself, calming his face back to his usual cold demeanor. He decided not to respond with that;
Seeing this, Ivory pouted a bit, as she looked back in the front.
They quickly passed by the city's doors as they arrived at a forest nearby.
...
Even if the world was covered with ice, there were still forests near areas with even slightest bit of heat or moisture.
And in some locations, there were mutated plants that could thrive in these harsh environments as well.
And due to such plants, humanity was also able to survive with the help of their heat.
Currently Kain and Ivory were hunting in the forest.
Kain had meditated a lot in the carriage, so his Sin of Gluttony was under control, he could even feel that the sin was already at 1/4th distance to level 2 in its mastery. At that time he could possibly gain a new skill.
Kain's current status window looked like this:
[The Cardinal Sin 'Greed I' has been unlocked.]
[Path 'Greed' Abilities:]
- Golden Touch (5 Minutes): Everything you touch becomes gold.
- Treasure Sense (15 Minutes): You can detect hidden valuables.
[More abilities will unlock with Path Level-up.]
[Next Level-Up Requirement: Quest will be assigned when the user is deemed worthy.]
[Penalty:]
- Slowly drains life force.
- Excessive use increases uncontrollable Greed.
[Vampire Status]
Name: Kain Umbrosia
Rank: True Vampire
Family: Head of Umbrosia
Titles:
- True Vampire
- Family Head
- The Last Survivor
Talents:
- Retain (Unique)
[Stats:]
Level: 2
Agility: 25
Perception: 16
Intelligence: 13
Strength: 13
Vitality: 100
Blood Points: 100 (used for Blood Magic)
[Path Abilities:]
- Sin of Greed (Level I, Unlocked)
- Other Sins (Locked)
[Bloodline Abilities:]
- Blood Manipulation (Blood Swipe)
- Blood Ritual
- Meditate
Yes, these extra stat points? They were all earned through the help of blood packs that Kain had used.
He was still not comfortable with drinking the blood directly from humans, probably because it hasn't been long since he became a vampire.
He also needed to research over his own powers which he decided to do on a later date.