Chapter 9：chapter 8

A slight touch on my shoulder woke me from the light nap I was taking in the tub. Turning around I see that Nathan is through with his bath and the water in his tub is murky to the point of looking brown.

After the bath Nathan and I sat down to the freshly cooked meal. "So is there a blacksmith around here or a shop that sells weapons" I ask Nathan as I drink a cup of honeyed wine that came with the food ."Yes sir, there are the shops at the market center where most people forge or buy their swords" Nathan replies before he stuffs the leg of a chicken in his mouth.

Finishing the food I drop my backpack beside the large bed "take me to the shops that sell finished weapons first" I say to Nathan who has long reached the maximum capacity for his stomach.

Leaving the Inn Nathan leads me back to the city center where there are numerous shops catering to players and npcs alike. After some minutes of search we find a shop with a large sign of a sword hanging by the door.

Pushing the door open I notice that there is a bell that rings as a person enters the shop. Looking around the large shop I can see different weapons hanging on the wall. From axes to swords to the occasional spear there are even some in a glass display by the counter where an old man sits.

"sir, I would like to buy a weapon preferably a sword" I tell the old elf as I near his station."hmm what is a human scum like you doing in our great city" the old elf replies."I came to visit the Elven continent and heard of your shop from one of the people I met on my journey" I lie to the elf.

"I guess you think flattery will make me sell to you; leave my shop before I have you arrested for stealing from me" the elf yells at me in anger."I guess he didn't like your face" Nathan says to me as we enter the streets once more. "You don't say" I reply sarcastically. "Don't be upset I get treated like that most of the time" Nathan says to me with a smile missing the sarcasm in my voice entirely.

We spent the whole day getting chased away from shops one of the shop keepers even tried to attack me, tried being the key word cause as soon as the elf had picked up a sword to attack me I had stunned him with a small bolt of electricity effectively paralyzing him .

Back at the Inn Nathan and I had decided to have our dinner in the room so with the echo of the music been played in the main hall of the Inn we ate our meals and while Nathan went to bed I logged off.

When I got back into the game Nathan was already awake and was almost through with the soup bowl before him."I didn't know that the goddess children could disappear" he says to me when he notices me in the room.

"well we do, is there anything like a black market n the city" I ask."No there isn't the nobles have stopped any attempt to make one in the city" he replies."So is there a black market outside the city" I ask.

"yes just east of the city" Nathan answers."Why didn't you tell me this since" I ask him with a frown on my face thinking of all the time we have wasted going around.

"You didn't ask me about a black market".

We leave the city and walk into the forest just beyond the eastern gate of the city and find ourselves in a bustling market. This place is even more crowded than the market in the city and is filled with different races of elves with a lot of humans buying things.

Moving to the first shop I see with weapons displayed I ask the dark elf manning the shop "how much for that sword" pointing at a sword that gives off a green glow.

"Oh that my friend is a poison sword good for fighting and its poison is strong enough to kill a strong elf in about a minute" the dark elf replies. "What of that large sword" I ask looking at a sword that is almost thirty cm in width."ah yes the heavy sword, I am not sure you can use that but it's good for pummeling opponents to death and it had a fire stone embed in it so can give fire damage when used with mana" the elf answers.

After going round the market I discover that most of the shops have similar sword and there are no blacksmiths around. Walking back to the first shop I pay the elf twenty gold coins for the poison sword and we head back into the city.

"My lord where do you want to go to next" Nathan asks when we enter the city that evening.

"Take me to the city library tomorrow for now stay in the Inn I am going to hunt monsters" I reply.

"Can you take me along" Nathan asks. "you are not strong enough to fight monsters and have no weapon" I reply."I wasn't talking about the hunt but f when you finally leave the city for good" he says looking at me."Let me think about it" I say as I walk away from him.

"You have been quiet all day" I say to Tusker as I leave the city with the sun almost through with its descent into the horizon. "That's because I have been working overtime here while you went looking for swords you don't need" he replies.

"What work were you doing" I ask. "Remember that elf that wore dragon scales" Tusker says "she specializes in killing dragons and is always hunting them or in this cases you because I felt someone trying to use magic to find you".

"wow if that's so I need to leave this city quickly" I think to myself. "What should I do about the young elf" I ask my companion."Take him and mold him into the most loyal elf ever, who knows you can form a guild with him if layers don't work out for you" Tusker answers.

Moving into the forest I pass people most likely players trying to level up hunting wolves and foxes, as I go deeper into the forest the amount of people reduce drastically. With my poison sword equipped and at my waist I hold a standard orc sword in my right hand as I make my way deeper into the forest.

Walking up to a group of three female elves and a male elf I ask the male wearing armor looking a knight with a sword strapped to his waist and a shield on his back "please is there a boss monster around here".

"I am not sure but there are a lot of were animals farther in" he replies."You can come with us if you want" a female elf wearing robes and holding a staff says to me.

"Jane stop inviting him we don't even know who he is" a female elf dressed like the male says to the elf with a staff."Stacy stop being rude, besides the four of us are in the mid 70 levels so we can take care of ourselves" the last elf dressed in leather with a bow slung across her back says to the female knight.

"It's ok I don't want to follow you guys" I say to the group as I leave them moving farther into the forest. "You should have killed them" Tusker says to me. "Wow can you try to not be so bloodthirsty" I say smiling in the darkness of the forest.

"What can I say I am a dragon and I hate elves" Tusker replies."I didn't hear you complaining about Nathan' I tease the dragon. "That's because he is young and hasn't been introduced to their ways" Tusker says with a huff.

"we are being followed" Tusker says to me ten minutes later."I know those elves are noisy" I reply as I listen to the faint foot falls around me. "You can come out I know you are there" I yell.

Seconds later the group from before emerge from the forest. "Sorry about our behavior, lets team up for the hunt" Jane says. "you can follow me but we are not hunting together" I reply coldly."See I told you not to look for him" Stacy tells her friends.

Flashing directly in front of her I grab her throat and lift her off the ground" don't try me I should kill you for disturbing me, I don't need your voice alerting the monster of our presence" I threaten in a low vice.

Dropping her I leave as she tries to regain her breath, drawing her sword she takes a step towards me and stops when I flare the mana from my body into the surrounding making my body glow red as my clothes flap from the force rushing out of my body. "Are you sure you can take me on, I am on level 84 just by level alone I am above you" I say to her. "You sneaky liar you are on level 94" Tusker whispers in my mind.

Hearing the gap in levels Stacy sheathes her sword in anger and stomps away from the group. It seems my show brought an audience because soon a group of three werewolves enters the small clearing we are standing in. Not waiting for the others I charge at the closest monster with my sword raised.

The werewolf raised its claws to block the swing that came from below but the force I use in the swing pushes him off the ground."Show me your strength" I yell at the werewolf as I jump up bringing my sword down on it.

there is no chance to block for the monster as I cut it in two at its waist .dropping to the ground I look at the second werewolf that is keeping Jane and the archer are busy fighting while the knight is in a slug fest with the third werewolf.

Running to the girls I say to them "leave this one for me, go and help your friend". Nodding at me they leave and within a minute the werewolves are dead. Just as we settle down a scream comes from within the forest."Stacy" Jane yells as she takes off after the voice.

"Sarah we have to help them" the knight says to the archer."I know that Stefan" she replies "I know she is rude to you but your help will be welcomed". "One monster killed is five gold coins choose quickly" I say to Sarah. "No problem" She answers.

Running with Sarah in lead and Stefan in the rear we enter a large clearing. The first thing I notice is Stacy propped on a tree trunk with a her sword in pieces beside her .I can see why even her armor is in tatters as I look round the clearing and see Jane backed into a tree as she uses a mana shield to block the two were tigers attacking her.

The bodies of two were tigers were on the floor. Seeing the new opponents one of the remaining monster let out a loud growl and in seconds there are were tigers entering the clearing. After a minute there are fifteen were tigers and it seems that is the extent of reinforcements here.

"Fifteen times five is 75 gold coins pay up front "I say to Sarah as she shoots an arrow at one of the monsters. "Please help promise to pay you" she pleads as the monsters have now noticed us and are running their meal.

This time I charge a bolt of lightning and shoot a monster but it burns him to a crisp killing him. "too much mana output" I mutter as I charge another spell this time a I use earth magic erecting cells made of rock around ten of the were tigers ."I think you can take care of the remaining" I ask Sarah as my help has reduced the monsters.

"Yes we can thank you" She says as Stefan stabs his opponent through the heart making his kills excluding the first fight two. On the side Jane has impaled a weretiger in front of her with an earthen spear.

Sitting down I push mana out of my body towards the ten cells and their prisoners. The act of sending living things to another dimension is stressful but I have enough experience from doing it to the orcs so using my mana to draw glyphs and sigils on the cells are easier though it takes more than half of my total mana."What of the monsters in the earth prisons" Stefan asks as he sits beside me. "They have been taken care of" I reply crumbling the cells as if I killed them and disintegrated their bodies.

"Now that has been taken care of pay up" I say to the group. Grumbling Stefan opens a pouch tied to his waist and pays me 65 gold coins. Pocketing the money I say to them as I leave them it was good doing business with you don't see you later".

Leaving them I spend three hours hunting all types of were animals but I don't come across one that can be labeled a boss or even a mini boss. Leaving the forest I make my way to the inn where Nathan is waiting for me "we will be leaving this city tomorrow morning and if you ever betray me I will torture you till you can't even think straight" I tell him as I drop to the bed and log out.

When I wake up in the real world it's already morning so I quickly bath and prepare for school. Honestly I could do without college but I need to feed myself and I can't do that by playing games. Reaching my school I attend classes but my mind is on the Blood Rose that is in the city.

At least she has to be about level 190 to 200 for Tusker to caution me about her, if I am unfortunate she might even be in the mid two hundreds."Hey, dude class is over" Ryan my only friend in this prison says to me bringing back my attention to the surroundings. "So are you ready for Matt's party today" Ryan asks. "No I have things to do" I answer as I get up from my seat and make my way home.

Checking my mail I see a message from Leah asking where I was in the game. Typing a reply I tell her that I am about to leave Erin when I log in and ask if she has made contact with any recruits. Closing my laptop I eat a light lunch and wear my nerve gear entering the world of Terra Online.

As I appear in the room I see that it's already close to noon but that doesn't bother me. "You said we would leave by morning" Nathan says from his spot on his bed. "Well you can leave if you can't wait for me" I say as I pick my back pack. "No need I can wait" Nathan says as he follows me outside the Inn.

Walking down the street I notice that the amount of people in the streets are small compared to yesterday but I don't see any other thing suspicious I grab Nathan" use another route to leave the city and head to the edge of the forest there, if I delay head to the mountains with this so I can track you" I say pushing a blue gem into his hands.

I make my way to the gate on the east side of the city. As I am about to pass through the gates I sense something coming at me with speed and do a back flip as where I was moments ago explodes. Landing on my feet I see three elves coming into the city with staffs raised and pointed at me.

All of the elves are from the group that rode in previously with the Blood elf.

"Michael for crimes against Elves and aiding dragons "the elf in the middle yells. Casting fireballs I begin bombarding the elves blocking the way but before my spells can reach them a wall of water rises to quench them. "This is bad' I say to myself as I unsheathe my poison sword and charge at them.

Spells move past me as I close the distance between I and the elves dodging fireballs and the occasional lightning that is until an air bullet hits me in the shoulder breaking the bones in my left shoulder.

"No time for half measures release all were tigers" Tusker yells in my mind. Even though I haven't tamed the monsters I bank on the fact that they hunt elves and summon all of them buying me enough time to heal my shoulder.

By the time I finish healing the last of the monsters falls with only one casualty on the other side. "You are very resourceful for a human" a voice says behind me. Turning I see the npc that has been plaguing my mind for some time standing with someone I never expected to see with her."Leah with are you doing with her" I ask the shock showing in my voice and am sure my face.