Starting from Zero

Chapter 15

Book 4, Chapter 15

Inside the Grand City

            I appeared at the gate of the Lost City thenext morning. Everyone arrived except for Yuri. Rose would come too but both ofus are red name, and the bracelet can only hide one person so she chose to go attend her research instead.
　　
　　    Yurishowed up a bit later. We all moved out towards the city. Oh this gonna be fun.

            It"s a pity thatRed Moon tailed me as well.

            Actually only me, Yuri and Razor are waiting tosee the cities. The others have been to the places countless times. I wastrapped in the dungeon quest and then got red named. Yuri has been isolated inthat garden. And Razor is like a sting in everyone"s eyes, n.o.body would listento him. He had no choice but to avoid any places with dense crowds.
　　
　　    Nowfinally, we can go enjoy ourselves! As our first destination, we chose one ofthe three biggest system cities--the Celestial City. The place is quite eye-catchingwhen we"re still a good distance far away. It"s 5 times as big as the Lost City,and I heard the city has two levels, the other half is underground! Really unimaginable.Such a huge city, comes with its own dungeon village! There"s no way to buildsomething like that in real life.
　　
　　    Wesee more and more players as we get closer. Some small groups rush around fortheir own business, and some are simply enjoying the sunlight on the gra.s.s. [Zero]is not just a hack-n-slash mmorpg game. It got more playable content thananyone can imagine. To attract more players, those developers tried very hardto copy all kinds of concepts from real life. There are many casual playershere who enjoy the game in ways other than fighting, such as hunting. Obviouslyyou can"t carry a gun and shoot at animals as you like, but here, theyget to hunt however they like. Many came to this game to realize their dreamstoo, such as climbing a high mountain. The game even set up some safe mountainswithout monsters on them, just for these players.
　　
　　    Wesaw a group of people sitting along the city moat, each holding a fishing rodin their hand. There"s a flag beside them, the...Angler"s Fishing Club?
 　　
　　    "What"sthis?" I"m at loss. This is totally new to me.
　　
　　    Wayneexplained: "They are non-fighting players who loves fishing. Normally you need totravel to watersides right? Well, you don"t have to do that here in the game. Theonly problem is you can"t actually fill your stomach in here, but no one cares!If you want to eat fish you buy them at the market. Those people simply enjoythe process."
　　
　　    Yuripointed at one of those people. "What"s that mark on their back? Theirguild emblem?"
　　
　　    Elfy:"No. That"s a combat-free protection mark. People who don"t fight can goapply for the combat protection system, that"s when you get those marks on you.They can"t fight with us and we can"t do any damage to them either. They canchoose to disable the mark if they want. You can switch that protection on andoff how many times you wish but...you need to wait for a week to change your status, and each application costs quite a sum."
　　
　　    "Sothey are invincible against any attacks!" Razor is surprised. "That"sa lot of advantage!"
　　
　　    Hawk:"Not really. They"re invincible but they don"t have any damage either. Theycame here to enjoy their lives in another way. Ordinary players usually don"thave any interactions with them."
　　
　　    "Makessense." Yuri nodded in understanding. "So they cannot fight, arethere any other restrictions?"
　　
　　    "Notthat I can think of. They can usually open up a shop or something." Elfycontinued. "Normal players sometimes apply for this system to grind theirside cla.s.ses too. One of my blacksmith friend just did it recently. He built abig weapon shop in the city so he can develop his forging skills!"
　　
　　    "Thesedevelopers are so creative. They actually merged some game systems like theSIMS in here." Razor exclaimed.
 　　
　　    "Let"smove! Into the city already!" Yuri urged us.
　　
　　    I"mwaiting to see the biggest city in the region too. The Celestial City also hasa city moat but it"s not wide, not as big as the Lost City at least, so thestone bridge leading to the gate is relatively short. But the bridge is reallybroad in width--I would say it"s more than three times wider than the Lost Cityone. Understandable, since the Lost City acts as a fortress so it doesn"tneed a wide bridge to increase its defense difficulty. The Celestial City onthe other hand looks like a commercial city, it needs to look good.
　　
　　    Wereached the gate after pa.s.sing through the bridge. There are many NPC guardsstationed under the three gateways. Three guards carrying broadswords stand oneach side of the big middle gateway, while only one stands under the smaller, sidegateways. I also see two riders watching the main gateway on their horses. Theirequipment looks really shiny but...I don"t think these guys are coming to thebattlefield when there is an actual war.
　　
　　    Ourview opened up when we went through the gateway. The central road in front ofus looks well maintained. There are many structures around us but they"remostly low buildings without any fixed patterns or unified styles. In comparison,all buildings in the Lost City look like temples and some religiousarchitectures. I like the look in there way better.

           Countless vendors areselling their stuff on the roadsides, either on the ground or on simple stands.

            "Are these NPCs or players?"
　　
　　    "Both."Hawk explained. "Those on the ground are players, NPCs don"t do that. Butthose with stands or bars can be players too. You can"t see it from here."
　　
　　    Iscouted the area and wow, that"s tons of stuff. I don"t even know what most ofthe items are used for.

            "How do you use these? Or, are they usables at all?"
　　
　　    "Ohthese." Elfy looked at the counter I"m pointing at. "Those aredecorations. You can put them up on your house if you buy one."
　　
　　    "House?"Me, Yuri and Razor asked in unite.
　　
　　    Wayne:"Well didn"t I take you to my house last time?"
 　　
　　    "Butwhy would anyone buy a house?" Razor asked.
　　
　　    Waynebegan to lift his finger one by one. "For many reasons. First, as astorage. You can also put your items into the bank but that comes with a small service fee. Second...You regenerate your HP and MP several times faster when inside your own house. Next,as shelter. A private house is non-destroyable, and no one gets in if you don"tallow them to, no matter it"s police or city guard or city mayor or whatever. Youcan also sleep in there. Sleeping in your house grants you a better buff thansleeping outside. Private waterbeds and air cushions are also a lot cheaper thanthose in hotels and inns. Of course, the most important..." Waynewhispered into Razor"s ear. "You can do "business" with your girl in therewithout being seen."
　　
　　    Ilooked at the dense buildings around us. "These are all private houses?"
 　　
　　    Waynenodded. "They are. But don"t judge them from the outside. The s.p.a.ces inthere are individual and can be a lot smaller or larger than what you can seehere. You can also set your preferred styles and patterns, or choose fromexisting ones if you"re lazy."
　　
　　    "Soundsgood. But this is too crowded. It"ll be better if I can get a houseoutside the city."
 　　
　　    "Youcan." Wayne continued. "As long as you can pay for the land and theconstruction work, the system will build your house where you point. You can buildthem anywhere as long as it"s not any irrational places like on top of water orinside volcanoes. But still, you"d better build one close to a city or you"llhave a hard time traveling around. There are some restrictions. First, housesoutside cities cannot use virtual s.p.a.ces, so the interior size equals to howbig it is on the outside. Each player can buy up to five field houses, eachhouse can be no larger than 50k square meters and the total size of five housesmust be within 200k SQM. Each house can have two levels of bas.e.m.e.nt below andsix levels above, but house towers and cabins can reach all the way to the 10thlevel. A single level must be lower than 8 meters, while the whole buildingcannot go beyond 50 meters, bas.e.m.e.nt not included. As long as you follow theselines you can design your house however you like, or ask the system to make onefor you. If you can make the full payment in one go for both the land fee andconstruction fee, you get 10% off. Or you must pay 30% of the money as downpayment, and at least 10% each following month if you go hire."
　　
　　    Whenhe finished he found us all staring at him with our mouths open.

           "...I don"tknow, are you their salesman or something?"  I joked.
　　
　　    Waynethough, answered in surprise: "How did you figure that out? I have aquest here asking me to sell 10 villa houses. I mean non-city houses. If I canfinish the quest they"ll give me one for free!"
　　
　　    Everyonerolled their eyes.
　　
　　    Ididn"t show it but I"m actually interested in a field house now. It will feelnice if I can build a home somewhere!
　　
　　    "Whatare they doing? The crowd over there." Yuri dragged on my clothes. "Let"sgo see it Ziri!"
　　
　　    "Uhm.Alright!" I saw it too. Curious.
　　
　　    Wesqueezed across the crowd and found a player selling companion eggs on theground. Most people around are non-combat players, which means they mainlyraise companions as pets, so low-level companions with cute looks are wellaccepted here.

           Yuri picked up a sample companion--a bunny with really long ears---andstroked its fur. "She"s adorable!"
　　
　　    Elfypicked another one. "Indeed. Too bad I will need a companion who can help mefight."
　　
　　    Thevendor turned to Elfy. "Oh pardon me lady, but there is an auction centerin the middle of the city. The very first companion auction sale across the land will be heldthere later today. You can go have a look."
　　
　　    "Really?"Elfy jumped. "Let"s go!!"
　　
　　    Elfydashed ahead while we followed her behind. For some reason I can see quite alot of people gesturing at us.

            I approached Wayne. "Why are those peoplepointing at us?"
　　
　　    Waynelooked around. "Huh really... I don"t know."
　　
　　    Hawkand Razor joined us, while Razor asked in worry: "Is it because of me again? Oh no..."
　　
　　    Hawklooked at him. "I"d say so, with that look of yours."
　　
　　    RedMoon nudged between us. "Oh come on idiot. Look at what you"re wearing forG.o.d"s sake! And look what the others are wearing! Are you blind?"
　　
　　    Shespoke that aloud. I gave her an angry look.

           "Don"t give me that look. I"mtalking about you! Hawk and Elfy are just beyond standard, but yours are beyondcommon sense! Look at yourself, all black, and shiny, and is that an antenna onyour head?" She pointed at the horn on my helmet. "Those wings! Canyou at least try to hide them? Now everyone knows you can fly, rich boy!"
　　
　　    She was pretty true but I"m still getting annoyed in the way shesaid that.

           She didn"t stop though. "How about you call your eye-catchinghorse and ride on the road? That"s will draw more attention, mister."
　　
　　    Isummoned Night Shade in frustration. "As you wish!" I intentionallytried to make the scene showy. "Get on. The city is big. It"s too slow to run."
　　
　　    "But...wedon"t have enough horses?" Yuri asked.
　　
　　    Elfywaved her hand. A snow-white pegasus wearing silver barding appeared, whichcaused a lot gasps from the bystanders.

           "I logged on too early thismorning so I took it and went for some grinding. Now it"s grown enough. So, withZiri"s mount and Sunshine, we have three horses. Oh, we have seven people? Nowthat"s a little..."
　　
　　    Ijumped onto Night Shade and gave orders. "Razor, you take pegasus withWayne. Elfy and Hawk take Sunshine as usual." Then I picked up Yuri andput her in front of me.

           "What about me??" RedMoon yelled from behind.
　　
　　    I released my dragon cord and caught her wrist, then I tied the other end onto mysaddle.

           "You walk!"
　　
　　    Wereceived even more glances along the way. Well, let them stare. They"re not doingit for any bad reasons anyway. 

           Wayne isholding the bridle while Razor is standing straight on the pegasus" back. Hesays he can see farther this way.

           The couple is riding on Sunshine as always, withElfy sitting on Hawk"s shoulder. She"s almost as tall as Razor.

           I"mpulling on the bridle in one hand while keeping Yuri in front of me with theother hand. Red Moon is trying to get rid of her restrains, without anysuccess, so she can only get dragged in the back like a prisoner.
　　
　　    Mostpeople would get astonished by our bizarre group. I think the majority are justamused by how I"m dragging a beautiful girl behind a horse. But for now, no onestepped up to stop us. Probably because we look pretty strong. Red Moon mumbledall the way in the back. I can"t hear her clearly but I"m sure she"s cursing myfamily.

           Don"t care. You"re the one pestering me. Let"s see who loses patiencefirst.
　　
　　    Wereached the auction center. Hawk asked me to go with him but I refused.

           "No,nono. You know my companions are probably better than anything they may sell. Besides...I"min the red now. I still owe someone over a hundred thousand Crystals! Even if Isee anything good I won"t be buying it."
　　
　　    RedMoon looked at the sky. "Humph! So a cheaptard was just acting rich!"
　　
　　    Ipulled on the cord in anger and dragged her close. "What did you say?"

           She didn"t repeat it but started to scream instead. "Help! I"m beinga.s.saulted! There is a pervert!"
　　
　　    d.a.m.nit. This is the city center, tens of thousands of people are waiting to getinto the auction zone. Now they all heard it.

           A crowd soon gathered around me. They aren"t doing anything yet but I"m afraid it will happen sooner or later.
　　
　　    "Oiyoung lad, now you shouldn"t do that." An old man wearing the combat-freemark walked to me. "Do ya feel ashamed, hara.s.sing such a fine young ladyon the street?"
　　
　　    Ok,there"s no way I can explain myself out of this. The circle is getting smaller. Someoneis already reaching for their weapons.

           Yuri suddenly pulled off my helmet."Stop it sisters! The auction is starting! Let"s get inside!"
　　
　　    Allpeople around looked between our faces and gave out an "Ohhhh!" beforethey scattered away. Someone"s still looking back but I don"t seeaggression anymore.
　　
　　    Theold man said gladly: "Ah, so it"s just two ladies having fun. Sorry forthat."
　　
　　    "Ohdon"t worry." I answered. "Your intention is good sir, and we shouldlearn from you."  I can still remember to respect the elders.
　　
　　    Afterthe scene cleared up we decided to split. Razor, Hawk, Elfy and Wayne willbe attending the auction, while Yuri and I will visit somewhere else. Yuri"scompanion slots are already full so there"s no point for her to buy any more.

           Asfor Red Moon...She won"t leave me alone.
　　
　　    Weare seeing around the streets so I un-summoned Night Shade. We first askedaround for the entrance where we can reach the underground part.

           It"s a wholebusiness street, everyone here is selling their merchandise.
　　
　　    Yurichose a grand-looking clothing store first. The owner is a slim, middle-agedgentleman. He came to us when we entered the door. "What"ll it be, myfriends?"
　　
　　    "Ohuh, first time we came to a store like this. Are these all equipments?"

           Allthese colorful garments don"t look like they can offer much protection.
　　
　　    Theowner smiled. "They"re decorative wears. You can equip them over yourarmors."
　　
　　    Ichecked the blades and spikes on my armor. "...Are they not gonna tear upif I wear them?"
　　
　　    "Well,try it on!" He picked out a scholar uniform and put it over me. It...completelycovered my armor outfit! The uniform doesn"t have a headwear but my helmetdisappeared. The most important part is that the clothes suit me just fine, my broad armors didn"t puff it up as I expected.

            "Looking good, sir!"
　　
　　    "Ohhthis is neat!" I looked at myself in the mirror. "Now I don"t need toworry about getting salutes from people because of my equipment!"
　　
　　    Yurirushed to the lady"s section and began to dress up. They don"t even need afitting room in here, you simply equip the clothes and it will fix on you. RedMoon was just having a staring contest with me but she"s now enjoying thedressing up with Yuri as well. Sigh. No girls can resist pretty clothes.
　　
　　    Lookslike they totally forgot about me so I chatted with the owner. "Will theseclothes break up?"
　　
　　    "Yesof course, or I"ll lose a lot of business! They"ll break after you"ve wornthem for 500 to 1000 hours, depending on its price. Expensive ones break slower.You can come buy another one, or buy the same one you like as long as youremember the serial number."
　　
　　    "Sothe Durability decreases over time? Will it break faster if I go into combat?"
　　
　　    "Nope.It only wears with time, in a fixed speed. The attributes and durability ofyour original equipment still apply."
　　
　　    "Thatsounds good!" I browsed over the stalls. A wizard robe caught my eye, Iwonder if I can wear this thing to pa.s.s myself as a mage so I can play somedirty tricks on enemies.

            "How much is this one?"
　　
　　    "Thisone?" He seems somewhat troubled. "This robe has some bonuses."
　　
　　    "ButI thought they"re merely decorative?"
 　　
　　    "Well,normally yes. But this one is special, and it is the only special one I eversold."
 　　
　　    "Whatkind of bonus?"
 　　
　　    "Apartfrom hiding your equipment...There"s a [Demagogue] skill on it. But there"s noexplanation about the skill. You sure you want to buy it?"
　　
　　    "Whynot? An extra skill isn"t a bad thing."
 　　
　　    "Wellthis stuff"s expensive!"

            He"s doubting me!
　　
　　    "Howmuch is it?" I"m already taking out my credit card.
　　
　　    "Tenthousand Crystals." 
　　
　　    "What??"I dropped my card onto the floor. "No kidding? As in, 15k dollars??"
　　
　　    "Toldyou. Normal people don"t spend so much money on this kind of item. Theprice is determined by the system. I only sold two of them since the beginning of thisgame."
　　
　　    Wellthis is embarra.s.sing. I only have....7349 Crystals on me. But I already--

           "Ziri! Oh? You want this robe?"
　　
　　    Inod. Darn it they"re back.

           "I don"t think I have enough money though."
　　
　　    RedMoon seized the chance. "Ah ha! Poor guy. Beg me and maybe I can lendyou some money!"
　　
　　    "Never. I"d rather go find a prost.i.tute job than borrowing money from the likes of you."
　　   

           Yuricame up: "How much you need? I"ll pay it."
　　
　　    "No,no. Now I shouldn"t do that."
　　
　　    "Um,I haven"t thanked you for getting me out of that garden. I saved upsomething in there so I can just pay for you this time. But you"ll have to payme back!" She giggled. "If you really don"t want to borrow my moneyfor free, you can pay me some extra interest later."
　　
　　    Ugh.Now I can"t refuse that.

           "Alright!"

           Arrrrgh I got myself even moredebt now! I need to think up something to earn money really quick. I"d be inserious trouble if this keeps on.
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