Chapter 29: A trip to the barracks

Eldrian returned home after class and prepared himself an extra-large meal. He wanted to ensure he could stay on for the most time possible, since he didn't know how long the quest will be.

After eating a hearty meal Eldrian changed into comfortable clothing. He had learned that if he didn't change into comfortable clothes, then the next morning can be quite uncomfortable.

Just before login into the game Eldrian first went onto the forums. He didn't want to look for more information about the quest, since he felt certain there would be next to nothing. He wanted to look at his account.

Eldrian hadn't looked at his balance since the day he had posted his own thread. If one wanted to see their account wallet, they had to go into their account details, it didn't just show on the forum. Eldrian had become curious what his total gain from it was now that a week had passed. He was sad to see it had only grown to a 100 dollars, which meant he only received 40 more dollars during the week from tips. Still he was in no way disappointed since it was a good amount of cash earned for next to nothing.

'Seems like this is the most I will make from that bit of information.' Eldrian mumbled as he went to look at the leader board, curious to see if any major changes had happened.

Eldrian was still surprised that no player had claimed the top of the level list, since everyone was still level 1. He himself was only 200 XP short, but he had gained no extra XP through the entire week. There was also no one on the item list who had a magic item yet. Eldrian didn't want to boast of his, since it would ensure his persecution.

He didn't have a guild to protect him, so he was certain he would be forced to give in or at the least harassed. He felt it was not worth the trouble for a bit of vanity. From this he also reckoned that he might not be the only player with a magic tiered item.

After a bit more of a gander over the leader board, Eldrian went and lay on his bed to log into the game.

As he awoke in the game Eldrian first looked around the room, he had become accustomed to waking up in this manner. Looking to see if anything had changed. Eldrian had no idea why he started doing it, but he had been catching himself doing it more and more.

After confirming that everything was as he remembered Eldrian stood up and started heading to the top of the tower. He wanted to ask Dave where he would be able to find a captain who would be able to give him the quest. Naturally he would not bring up the quest part, just ask about a military event.

Winded Eldrian finally reached the top floor. 'God damn, that is sooo many stairs.' He complained to himself as he leaned over the railing to catch his breath. At the same time, he enjoyed the view of people moving about in the morning.

The people seemed little more than ants, but the sight of so many scurrying about was quite nice to watch. By now the sun had completely come into view, if you can look over the wall that is. Thus most people had also woken and started their day.

Rested, Eldrian turned around and knocked on the only door of the only room on the floor. He had no idea if Dave would be here or not. Since it was still early and there was a great many stairs to the top. Eldrian felt certain he would take a late morning quite often if he had to work on top of this magic tower, with no elevator.

Eldrian waited for a couple of seconds, hearing no reply. He then knocked again and waited some more.

After almost a full minute of not receiving any reply, Eldrian felt certain that Dave wasn't here yet. He turned around and started heading back down the stairs. He felt the next best option would be a barracks and he did know where one was. He had spent quite some time there and knew the people, so he felt they should be able to help him.

At the bottom of the tower, Eldrian sat down onto a stair to rest. 'Really too many stairs.' He complained as his legs felt quite stiff.

Eldrian had started realizing that he was feeling symptoms of exercise more often as he played more. In the beginning, he would just feel tired, but now he started feeling sore after training. Indeed he felt sore after climbing the stairs up and down.

'Let's go, can't laze around too much' Eldrian told himself as he started walking to the barracks. He only had under 3 hours to get the quest, he didn't want to end up being left behind due to not getting it done before anything else.

As he left the magic tower Eldrian looked over his map. It was still mostly black or rather in a state of fog of war, but he had opened a weird triangle shape thus far. With the corners being the training field, magic tower, and Boran's shop.

Seeing this Eldrian felt he certainly had to take a day to just explore the city, since this map was quite useless as it was. Except for going to Boran's place, as he hadn't gone there since Vivian took him. He felt he would need the map's help once or twice.

Eldrian found himself at the barracks after around 10 minutes of walking. He had also grabbed something to eat, since his avatar was quite hungry. He had also started feeling hungry more often in-game. Eldrian felt certain it was because he was becoming more immersed in the game.

Most of the soldiers were outside, doing drills as they always did in the morning. Their routine was to build stamina and strength during the morning, via exercises and training with dummies. They would then spar against each other, either one on one or many versus many in the afternoon.

Seeing this Eldrian decided to approach one of the training sergeants who he had sparred against. He and Vivian had barely been able to win against him when they had fought against him two versus one.

"Hi Robert, can I ask you something?" Eldrian asked, he was quite respectful since he knew Robert was strong.

Robert didn't look like much. He looked to be in his late twenties, had short brown hair and a short rough beard. Currently, he was just dressed in a mail shirt for stamina training. He would normally join the recruits on runs or drills. But not when they were practicing against dummies, since he had to help improve their stances and strikes. Thus he needed to observe them with more attention, and not just cast an eye to see if they were doing what they should.

"Sure Haru, what do you want to know." Robert replied, before he turned to the recruits, "After finishing do two laps!" He shouted at them since he didn't want them to slack when he was busy talking.

Eldrian and Robert then walked a few meters away so that they could talk without having to shout over the noises coming from the recruits.

"Robert, have you heard of any events which are going on? I heard a rumor of a military expedition or something like that." Eldrian asked, after they had both found a comfortable standing position. Eldrian never liked talking while he was still fidgeting with his position.

"I have, but this barrack isn't going to be part of it," Robert answered.

"Why not?"

"Because we mostly have fresh recruits here. I mean, I am one of the strongest people here at the moment." Hearing this Eldrian was quite surprised since he didn't think Robert was all that strong. He was certainly decently strong, but not at the level of what Eldrian expected the top of a barracks to be at. Eldrian also felt certain this barracks was one of the bigger ones.

"Why are most of the soldiers here recruits?" Eldrian decided to ask first, as he was now very curious.

"Oh, that is because the rest of the soldiers had gone on a scouting expedition. In fact it had been them who had informed us of the monsters passing into our border." Robert replied.

Eldrian took down the fact that monsters had crossed the border. The post by the developers had been very vague, since they had said every kingdom would have a different situation. At least they said it would not be the exact same situation everywhere.

"Do you know where I can ask about joining the expedition?" Eldrian asked next. He felt certain Robert would know.

"Sure, I would suggest you go to the gatehouse from the nearest main road. There is always a captain on duty at the gate and he should be able to help you more. If the guards give you a hard time, tell them I told you to ask" Robert added the last part after a few seconds of thinking.

He had heard that most soldiers had become mean to Chosen. This was because the Chosen wanted to do as they felt, ignoring common rules and standards. While the Chosen hadn't broken the laws yet, they were very undisciplined and unruly, which soldiers generally don't like. This was the same reason why adventurers and soldiers couldn't really go on missions together.

"Also, I think I heard that they were going to group at the same gate for the expedition. So even if the active captain there can't help you, then you should be able to just ask the soldiers who are gathering." Robert added after a few more seconds of thinking. Eldrian had seen that Robert wasn't done thus he hadn't replied immediately.

"Thanks that helps a lot. Well, I won't keep you any longer." Eldrian said as he shook Robert's hand.

"No problem, I just hope you will be careful. You never know what can happen on the field of battle." Robert said as he pointed to his right cheek, which had a nasty scar.

"I will, thanks," Eldrian said as he left. He was now curious how Robert got the scar, thus he told himself to ask when he got back.

Eldrian quickly found the main road and started following it. A good half an hour later he finally reached the gate.