Cinuel Dunmi
"No way, a real forge!"
"Interesting weapons..."
"You two certainly are beginners here!"
The two newbie Summoners had arrived near the entrance of the village of Persis, a very recent establishment full of refugees from Elgaia until Lucius's agents found them.
More on that backstory later, Fwahl acted as their tour guide, clearing enjoying their reactions. It made Maxwell wonder if the past Summoners were like them, goofing off and being amazed by all the sights presented to them.
Well who wouldn't be? As a rookie who until recently had nothing to do with fantasy and magic, believing it to be all a big dream, hidden somewhere no one could reach (although Maxwell thought there were a few who did), here they were now, standing in the middle of a traffic of Summoners and townspeople.
"Mister Fwahl," Midnight politely asked, "do you know where we can find good equipment for us beginners?"
"Well, first of all, Fwahl could have meant you referring to many of my brethren. Call me Saxo instead," Fwahl re-introduced himself, puffing out his flashy blue silk band around his crown.
"Like saxophone?" Maxwell inquired.
"Why yes. A friendly Summoner had given the name to me when I never had one in the first place, because I happened to be playing a trumpet on my first day!"
"But I digress," he... it(?) said. "Now, the ever-popular blacksmiths - the Industrial District - can be found over there~" He pointed to their right.
They were standing at a crossroads, although it looked like a garden rake from where Maxwell was looking, with the path behind them as the shaft, and the three others as the prongs. In the middle of the crossroads was a signpost that told of the places reachable in all four directions. To their right, as Saxo pointed out, Maxwell could see smoke rising above the trees. Many people coming to and from that direction were lugging bags and carts full of materials, armor and weapons, presumably to supply their friends and allies, wherever they are.
"And to your left, we have the Commercial District."
Past the wood, Maxwell could see glimpses of a few buildings and less smoke over the trees than he saw coming from the Industrial District. The people who came from the left looked like they had been enjoying themselves, or had backpacks padding their backs, making clink and squish sounds as they walked past them.
"Finally, in front of you is Persis's Residential District and Central Hub. There, you will find an adventurer's guild that distributes missions available in this world or others, and interesting information concerning your world, Cinuel Dunmi, and Elgaia, Grand Gaia and more. Furthermore, you can find a few more... 'unique' services there than in the Commercial District."
Saxo did a dramatic twirl in the air and faced the two. "Before you run off and explore every nook and cranny of this place, which I don't recommend, I need to brief you on the main rules everyone has to abide by."
"First" -he held up his point finger- "Glaives and Gauntlets, assuming they do recognize who is on whose side, are not allowed to attack each other in this world, where its inhabitants do not appreciate war or any more violence in this time. If there are any conflicts between Summoners that need to be solved, they can take it to an arena just outside of town."
"Second, like I said before, any 'violent' issues between any person can be settled in the arena outside, where a town official will oversee any matches. As for other, less physical issues, they can be taken to the Town Hall."
"Third, and most obvious, there will be the elite town guard who will arrest any person committing any crimes, ranging from theft to trespassing to murder, as listed in the more official laws. A bounty will be issued on the renegade(s) responsible."
"Lastly, all travelers are welcome to the many villages and towns that riddle Cinuel Dunmi. There are several teleportation areas or gates that lead to other places in this large world, but take care of going too far. The Rift you came through is your only way back to your home, so long as you have registered it on your devices. The phones will remember the Rifts you came through, which will be brought up on a menu once you are near a Rift, but multiple Rifts from Earth can lead to a larger, but same one, like the one you came through. Any other Rift from here, and you'll be lost in a different place on Earth, or even worse, another world. See the board that you saw on the way in for a map."
"Now children, if you need any help, come see me at the Town Hall, just by the Noticeboard. If I'm not there, then my assistant Namel will take my place. I wish you an enjoyable time here in Persis!"
The green imp flew off, leaving Midnight and Maxwell to do whatever from there.
"Soooo..." Maxwell said, looking up at his tall partner. "Equipment?"
The Chinese girl nodded. "To the blacksmiths. I hope not to be disappointed."
"What's there to be disappointed about? I mean, this is a whole new world we're in!" The two started walking as they talked.
"It is, but there are dangers you have already encountered." Midnight looked up at the purple-tinged orange skies. "Although, there are some silver linings."
The further they walked, the more crowded it became. Maxwell had noticed several people in gear and flashy armor from the path to the Platform (how are they going to hide it on Earth is something Maxwell may find out later), but many of the people here wore even better clothes and equipment. As if they did not look any more intimidating or cooler, they had weapons at their sides that may well obliterate Maxwell with one swing. His bokuto is definitely like a toothpick to a chainsaw here.
The two rookies looked around together, deciding to get simple weapons first if they couldn't afford full sets of armor or anything else. The shopkeepers and smiths sold stuff for zel and Gems and a few other interesting things, while the rookies had only some zel and precious Gems from their previous battles and Quest to use.
The main problem at the moment though were the low stocks. It seemed that a few big Guilds and Summoners had bought nearly all the equipment many of the smiths had, so people were hard-pressed to find some things to support their respective groups with.
"Huh, that guy said there were Guilds," Maxwell noted, albeit a little down at the imposed difficulty of finding equipment.
"There are." Midnight continued to look around as they talked a little. "These Guilds are more or less what you would expect in most MMORPGs: large groups of allied players working together towards a common goal. As far as I know, this helps to identify who Summoners are working with, and receive special Quests. The system had been implemented in the game recently. The app, I mean."
"Do you think we can-"
Midnight shook her head. "A Guild requires a minimum of five people, and besides, I still do not consider you as a friend anyway."
"What!?" Did he come off like that? Or did he act too sincere? "I'm not weird or... bad or anything."
"It's trust that matters now Maxwell, if I want to consider you one. But you can still hope that perhaps one day, we can enjoy a good relationship with each other."
They soon found a small wooden shack with stone brick supports, although it looked pitiful compared to the other stalls and buildings around it. Hanging by chains to a wooden pole was a wooden sign that named the shack: Sergun's Monster Wares. There were bone-like weapons and furry armor displayed in racks under a stretched canvas roof though, so that was a good sign.
Inside, behind the counter, was a russet-haired and tall young man, maybe several years older than them, sorting a few pieces of what looked like milk-white teeth on a table, illuminated by the sunlight pouring into a window in the moderately high ceiling. More racks of blades, clubs and long club-like horns that looked like something out of Monster Hunter lined racks and filled barrels. All of them had one thing in common though: they were made of wild monster parts.
The man was still fussing over the workbench, muttering things like 'adjustments' and 'cheap stuff' until Maxwell made themselves known.
"Uh hey there sir?" he asked politely.
"Heh?" The man whipped his head around. He stared at them for a moment and blinked.
"O-Oh customers!" He quickly walked over to them, dusting white and green dust off him.
Up close, he looked a little tired and weary, but clearly looking like he was twenty. The shopkeeper/crafter wore an apron made out of raw, wrinkled blue hide, red tunic, leather pants and boots. There was still plenty of the dust on his apron, and his shoulders looked like they were recently soaked in blood, but he still grinned.
"My name is Fenkis. Welcome to my workshop! Not exactly many shops around here sell things made of raw monster material, and I don't have much to promote my wares, but there's plenty of equipment you two can peruse."
The two spread out, determined to find the most suitable weapon first before armor, but most of the items here were mixed up. But Fenkis's stuff always interested Maxwell no matter what, like an eye painted over a staff, spikes protruding out of bone clubs; everything clearly came from something that was living and tough.
"Mr. Fenkis?" Maxwell asked, realizing he won't be able to sort through everything.
"Call me Fenkis."
"I'm looking for a katana." He then thought of Monster Hunter again. "A bone katana, or something like that."
Fenkin scrutinized Maxwell's body. "You're not exactly well-built, but you carry that bokken with experience. May I see that?"
Once the crafter finished examining the given sword, he said, "Pretty balanced. Long enough to be like an ordinary broadsword, but not too long obviously... Not too much power because of that, yet weight compensates for it..."
He snapped his fingers. "I'll be right back," said the crafter, who went behind the counter.
Maxwell picked up a katana once he was gone. He unsheathed it smoothly, just like he usually did with his bokken, observing the ridges on the blade. It was uneven on the surface, rough when Maxwell straddled it, but he knew it would feel more like a cleaver if he used it in battle.
He then remembered Elle telling him it's dangerous to play with sharp things, so he carefully placed it back as it was.
Midnight was examining a pair of purple daggers, placed them back on the shelf they came from, then moved to another section of shiny blades.
Maxwell walked over to see her lifting a knife, swinging it at an imaginary enemy. "Do you think that's a good one Midnight?" he asked once she was finished.
Midnight twirled the blade. "...No. Not quite right." She put it back on the shelf.
Maxwell heard something hard bump against wood behind the counter. He turned to see Fenkin holding something katana-shaped in his arms, wrapped with white fabric.
"Here it is..." Fenkin placed it on the counter and unraveled it.
The bone katana was a little longer than the bokken, like an o katana*, except it had a much sharper edge. The one-sided blade had a yellow-brown hue to its white material, most of it gathered on the back. A grip with brown leather wrapped around concentric bones allowed Maxwell to hold it safely, with a bigger cylindrical bone acting as a counterweight at the end.
It looked amazing. Maxwell lifted it up and held it, testing its weight. "Fenkin, this is... awesome!"
"By the way," Fenkin said as he brought up another white bundle, "I think you might be interested in this Miss."
A pair of identical katanas were laid out before Midnight. They were both shorter than the bone katana, like chisa katanas*. Their blades were much whiter than the one Maxwell had, with green scales wrapped around the wooden handles.
She picked them up and immediately did a spin on her toe, a little like a ballerina. While she didn't reach out with her blades, which would've caused quite a storm in the cramped shop, she seemed very satisfied once she stopped.
"I - or rather we - will take them. Thank you Fenkin. How much do they cost?"
Residential District
Yume Airi, once again, thanked whatever gods of the universe that the people in this crowd stood out even more than she did. The clothing back on Earth would have had nothing on the style here. Still, some Summoners wore normal clothing anyway, so no matter what kind of clothing she wore (except revealing or awesome ones), no one would look her way twice in a crowd like this.
The sixteen-year-old Japanese girl took care to keep to the side of the street. It seemed that today was not a particularly busy day, and there were more people at the Industrial District. Even so, she might attract too much attention if she fidgeted around people.
A habit she could never get rid of, even after she faced so many dangers before, lost so many friends in the First Global War...
Harry... Mei...
She balled her fists and kept walking.
She was dressed casually: a black button-up T-shirt with long sleeves, fingers just poking out of the sleeves, black jeans and matching padded shin-guards, and black high-top sneakers with moonlight-silver buckles. With waist-length, curly, chocolate brown hair almost as dark as her ink black eyes, she would have passed for an emo, except she was cute, and without the horrible makeup.
Her short side bangs were swept to the left, covering that side's eye and reaching a little past her perky nose, so her right eye did all the scouting she needed. She was very used to being alone and alert for the first sign of social trouble, including being hit on by guys.
Yume turned her head to see a large group of Summoners who returned from the Vortex, laughing about some joke, after a long day of hunting down golden ghosts. There was a girl she recognized at her academy though, and she didn't want to be caught by her and the other girls in the group. What if they recognized her? She couldn't afford being the center of attention.
She hurried, eager to meet her Gauntlet partners.
Currently the Gauntlets had set up a camp in the woods for their forward base of operations. It was very far - over a kilometer probably - from the village, as stated in the rules for base-building in Cinuel Dunmi, in order to preserve the villagers' safety. The point of this base was to gather resources for the next Global War, so it was more of a... supply base than one fit for command.
The darkness of Yume's surroundings seemed to reach out for her though once she was weaving around trees and bushes. The trees here were thick enough to block plenty of near-eternal predawn light, and despite the gunner's affinity to Dark elements, something about this particular spot disturbed her very spirit. Running for miles was much more preferable than sticking around these spooky woods.
Unfortunately, she was doing both, and she had a job to do and her life potentially on the line. That wish could bring everything back to the way they were...
"Tell me, how was the past year?"
"P-Past year?"
"I mean, well, you obviously went through so much."
"I ... I went through a lot. I got to make new friends. New memories. A-And lost a lot of them..."
"The rules of this game allows you to find your friends, give them their memories back once you hand them their phones, essentially reviving them. Although, they were not dead in the first place. What is stopping you?"
"I already found them all but... they're all... sad. Sadder than I've ever heard and seen before.
"Sad? Oh, you mean they died several times already, thus piling up their 'bad luck' and leading to their more difficult lives."
"A-And I don't want to lose them all...! They were having enough bad times before they got into this fight over wishes and survival, a-and I don't want anymore of them to suffer!"
"Well then... you're still here, and I can help with that."
"Wh-What are you talking about?"
"What if I said I knew how to take care of all the bad things in their lives and return their memories of each other and you?"
"Huh?"
"The wishes we grant can only be within reason. Resurrection? Too extreme. But riches? Memories? Extended lifespans? Good fortune?"
"And you can help my friends...?"
"Yes. And to do that, you need to win a war."
Sorry for being so late. Occupied with my new story (and other ones) and writer's block are all hard things.
At any rate, Yume Airi belongs to Curiously A Theory.
O Katana - Basically a katana with a longer blade.
Chisa Katana - A katana with a shorter blade than the normal one.