They walked for what felt like forever when Atem finally announced that he could see it. By now Yugi could almost make out barrels and people walking and Joey claimed he could only see the faded silhouettes of the buildings now… this was weird how their line of sights were so different. Why could he see so far but Atem couldn't? It was strange considering how much sharper his senses were.
"I can't believe you could see this from back there." Atem said quietly. It was more a thought than a prompt for conversation so Yugi ignored it, also wondering the same thing.
They finally got to the town though and immedietly felt very underdressed. Everyone was in light clothings such as coloured tunics, loose pants tied with rope or cords, the women wore brightly coloured dressed with aprons on and even the children wore proper clothing. The guards stood tall and patrolled the dirt streets in their plate and leather armour, carrying spears, swords, shields and bows. The town wasn't rich, but nor was it poor either. Everyone moved about their business, trading with one another, swapping gossip or barking commands, but not a single one looked homeless or unemployed or without purpose. Yugi, Joey and Atem though fit that bill perfectly as they walked around the streets, taking in the sights and smells with no other business of their own to mind. One thing stood out to Yugi though; they were newcomers, tourists, strangers dressed in rags, covered in sweat, mud and blood… but no one spared them a second glance. They moved out of their way if they saw them coming but otherwise acted as if it were normal to see strangers dressed in rags in their town.
"Maybe we should ask around?" Yugi asked them.
Joey walked off to a couple of people talking by a bakery and when he approached they stopped their conversation to look him up and down, assessing his intentions.
"Hey folks! I was wondering if you could help me." Joey said happily.
"We dont have any coin to spare boy. If you want to beg you're best to do it away from here." The man in the shop window said gruffly, turning his nose up to him.
"What? Oh no! I dont want food. I want to know where we are. See my friends and I are new here and -"
"If your not here to buy then I'm not here to chat. If you have questions you can take it up at the visitors center." The man said as he pointed off down the road. They saw a building with a blue roof and a sandwich sign on the road that read "ye older visitors center".
The Baker then slammed his window closed and other person walked away with a loaf of bread in her basket.
"Thanks…" Joey said grumpily as he returned. "He was rude. See if he'll be getting my business any time soon."
"Unless we find out how to get money no one will be getting our business. Come on, let's go." Yugi said and lead the way down the road.
They entered the visitors center which had a few people standing around looking at news papers and flyers, others were in the midst of their own conversations, but what they wanted was to see the person behind the barred counter.
They stood in line waiting to be seen but the person never looked up from their desk until Joey cleared his throat and they were asked to come over.
"Hi, sorry. We had some questions and we were hoping you might be able to help us."
The person looked them all up and down, judging them by their appearance before nodding to herself. She ducked down under her desk for a while before eventually coming back up with three backpacks, large enough for a stack of pamphlets each and what felt like various other items.
"Your starter kitsch. Inside you'll find everything you need to get started. If you have any further questions and would like to speak to a game master come back and take a ticket." She said, pointing to the ticket box by the door. She then closed her window and they were left on their own.
"Hmm. Well if I had to critique I'd say the people here could be more friendly." Joey complained as he hitched his bag over his shoulder.
"She said game master, so this is definitely some kind of virtual reality game then." Yugi stated.
"It would be nice to get some kind of explanation." Atem complained.
"Yeah theres absolutely no hand holding here. Let's go look at what we got." Yugi said.
They walked back out of the visitors center and stood to the side so they wouldnt be in the way.
Inside Yugis bag he found a couple of different coloured potions, a loaf of bread, a map and a loosely bound book. Atem and Joey had the same thing in theirs.
Joey opened his map and immediately found the town with their names on it outside the visitors center.
"Hey cool, it shows us where we are." Joey said excitedly.
"Does it work in real time?" Yugi asked. He jogged over to the other side of the road with his own map and saw his little circle move away from Atem and Joey's. "Cool! I dont see anyone else though so I wonder if it only works if we are in a party." Yugi said as he came back over.
"That will be useful when we find the others." Atem said as he opened his own book.
"These look like tutorials, info about the game. Finally." He said as he poured through the contents.
"What does it say about leaving the game?" Yugi asked.
"You want to leave?" Joey asked.
"Not until we find the others but its be good to know right?" Yugi said.
"It doesnt say anything about leaving." Atem said as he skimmed through the pages.
"Yugi? Atem! Joey!" They heard the happy voice of Tea behind them. She was accompanied by Tristan, Duke and Mai who like them all wore the same low level clothing.
"Mai!" Joey said in excitement. He ran to her picking her up by her hips and spinning her around.
"Ah! Joey! Dont pick me up!" Mai squealed. When he put her down she raced to fix her skirt while glaring at him.
"These skirts are so short!" She complained.
"I'm not complaining." Duke said, whistling away his innocence as Tea smacked his arm.
"I'm so glad you guys are here!" Yugi said happily.
"Did you have any trouble getting here?" Atem asked.
"No. We woke up just outside town." Tea said. "Yugi! You're hurt!" She squeaked.
"Huh?" Yugi looked to his clothes then and realised she had seen the dried blood. "Oh, no I'm fine. I was attacked earlier but I'm okay, really."
"Yeah Yugis got some kind of healing ability. As well as some sweet fire moves." Joey said happily.
"Fire?" Tristan said in surprise.
"I dont know how it happened though." Yugi said bashfully, blushing slightly.
"Oh it says here you just need to concentrate. To use magic abilities that is you just need to will it to happen, assuming you know the spell that is." Atem said as he continued reading the book.
"Oh! Well I probably shouldnt try it in town." Yugi said.
"Sweet, so you must be some kind of mage then Yugi." Duke said.
"A mage?"
"Yeah. Weve already read through some of the book. There are 4 different types of players and they're separated by various classes. A mage is obviously a ranged damage type of player." Duke explained.
"Do you know what you guys are?" Atem asked.
"I'm a kind of rogue. I can sneak, pick pocket, eaves drop… there are loads of useful things I can do. Tea's a healer. I don't know what Mai is and Tristan seems to be some kind of NPC…" Duke said.
"Hey!" Tristan snapped to which Duke laughed.
"Is there a way to find out what we are?" Yugi asked.
"Yes. We were just on our way there now. Theres a class trainer nearby which is where we go to start leveling up. They can put us on our first quest and tell us what we are." Duke answered.
"Yeah, so let's go! The quicker we level the sooner we will get better gear and out of these skirts." Mai complained.
Together they followed Duke down a street and into a large stone building with guards, training dummies, sparring soldiers, various weapons on display. Inside were tapestries and bookshelves, weapon racks, armour racks, display cases with medals and trinkets inside them. It was very cool to look at but they kept walking until they met with a stocky man, taller than all of them. He had grey hair, a scratchy beard and an eye patch over one eye. He looked intimidating and if they're experience with the other townsfolk told them anything he was not a man to mess with, but upon seeing them all his hard demeanor changed to one of joy and excitement.
"Oh! You must be the fresh blood! Captain Graywolf at your service. I've never seen you kids before so you must be here for initiation. But I'm afraid you wont be able to proceed with my training until you've undergone evaluation. So! Turn around, march up those stairs and talk to Madam Seer! When your done with her return to me your sigil and I'll get ya started!" He said loudly, his voice booming but happy. He was surprisingly pleasant which shocked them all.
They did as he said without even thinking about it.
Up the stairs they were met with a dim light. The windows were blacked out, the chandelier broken. Only candles lit this floor and there were few of those. A woman dressed in coloured robes and jewellery sat at a single table and beckoned them over once she saw them.