Chapter 255 The Hanging Gardens Part 3
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"..."
Sitting at the edges of a fountain, Dale waited patiently for Ermin and his sisters to arrive, having shared his location with them just a few minutes ago.
'... I'm quite rich now huh… I already have 152 thousand Favor.'
'The question is what should I do with all of this?'
'I also quite like the naming choice for the resources, Favor, Recognition, Boon Shop... It's literally as if I'm here to get someone to give me things and get their attention.'
/Step step…/
/Whispers…/
"Hum?"
Thinking about what to do next, his thoughts were interrupted by the whispers of a small group of three walking in his direction.
"... Are you sure he's here? I feel like we've been here before already." One of the girls, the younger of the three asked as she looked around, confused the inside of Babylon was full of repetitive sights
"Just look at the signs above us, we're all in the same zone… So he can't be that far." Ermin replied as he looked at a small map floating in front of him
"Does any of you see him around?" He asked as he looked around
"..."
'Really? I'm right here…' Dale thought as he looked at them act like lost tourists
They were all rather well-equipped, and their positions in the group seemed pretty clear.
The older sister wore Medium armor with a chest plate and a few other armor pieces that did not compromise her mobility at all, together with a double-edged long sword on her back and a small circular buckler on his left wrist.
The younger sister wore light armor made mostly of leather, she had a longbow on her back together with a pair of sharp knives on her waist.
Ermin wore a mix of many things, metal boots, a leather helmet, a cape around his body... He didn't have even a single bit of care about his overall appearance, likely trying to maximize Stat and Skill gains.
He had what seemed to be a wand on his waist, but he also had a sword and shield on his back for some reason.
It was the traditional Tank, Archer, and Mage composition, the only thing that could make this better would be to have a healer, maybe even a Paladin that could also fight on the frontlines.
'They don't look that bad.' He thought as he got up from his seat, going in their direction.
…
"Hum… Maybe we got lost or… He went somewhere else?" The younger sister pointed out as she looked around
"It's hard for either to be the case… Dale wouldn't leave like that." Ermin replied to his little sister as he scratched his head
"How about we stop here and call him over… Hum?"
The older sister was about to say something when she furrowed her eyebrows as she saw someone approaching them.
"Does anyone… Know that person?" She asked as she turned to them
'Was he there this entire time? I swear I thought...'
"I… Wait a minute." The younger sister said as she squinted her eyes
"Heh… That's our guy." Ermin said as he took a step forward
'There's only one guy that can farm such cool armor at this point in the game's lifetime.'
'But damn! What an entrance!'
…
/Later…/
"... It seems there was a little misunderstanding due to my item set, I apologize for making you all wander around the place." Dale said with a small smile after meeting with them
He turned to the sisters, giving them a nod.
"Eleonora and Erminia, right? It's a pleasure to finally be able to meet with you two, you're even more stunning in person."
"My, thank you! You on the other hand are much taller than I originally envisioned." The older sister, Eleonora replied with a smile as she looked up slightly
'I didn't expect him to remember our names, they aren't easy ones to remember, especially for someone as busy as him.'
The younger sister nodded lightly as she said: "... And cool…" in a very light tone.
"... It must be the armor, though I'm pretty tall myself, I'm over 1.90 Cm without it." He said as he scratched his chin, only to fail due to metal in his way
It's almost impossible to scratch oneself while in full heavy armor.
"We almost didn't recognize you while you wore it, you sure made it harder for us to find you." Eleonora added with a chuckle
"Once again, I apologize for that."
"Why wear the armor now? Isn't it uncomfortable?" Erminia asked as she approached him
Even though she was older than his younger brother, she was considerably smaller than him, standing at about an impressive 1.60 Cm or around 5.3 feet tall.
"Speaking of that… Aren't you hot while in that?" Ermin asked as he tried to look in between Dale's visor
'His armor also doesn't cause his voice to distort much... Interesting.'
"Hum… It's certainly a bit… Stuffy, but hot? Not at all, I'm comfortable even." Dale replied calmly
"The biggest disappointment of this armor for me is the fact I can't scratch myself whenever I have the urge… On that note, the armor is way too good at keeping my fingers from my skin." He said with a chuckle as he looked at his own hand
"As for why I keep this on, due to some reasons I'm trying to not show my face around, I hope you understand."
""...""
"Is this because… Of your supper dupper secret?" The younger sister asked after she looked around, turning to Dale as her eyes sparkled
She seemed super excited, maybe it was the feeling of being part of a celebrity's secret life?
"Haha… Yes, it is due to that."
"I don't want my character to break yet, so until then… Can you two keep it a secret for me?"
"... You underestimate us, we never had any intention of sharing anything, to begin with." The older sister said as she smiled slightly
Even from Ermin's words, his older sister had always been the nature type, from her words to her actions due to her job as an Office worker.
And from Dale's perspective, she was indeed very mature.
"Yes!" The younger one said as she nodded excitedly
The younger sister on the other hand was very immature, but the good kind at the very least.
So far, their actions when compared to Ermin's words seemed like night and day, were they even the same people?
"... What? Don't look at me, as if I would ever say anything." Ermin added as he looked at his sisters
"In any case, since introductions are over, how about we go over what truly matters?"
""...""
/Nod/
Even though the sisters still wanted to talk a bit more, they all knew that time wasn't on the side.
It would be better to speak as they walked, so they put their foot on the road, going deeper into the center of their zone.
…
/A minute or two later…/
After walking and talking about meaningless things for a few minutes, they arrived at their destination.
"Here… This is the place." Ermin said as he looked at a massive plaza full of tables and seats, most of them being occupied
"The central plaza of our zone, this is where we can take on tasks and accumulate Favor."
Due to the massive scope of Babylon's player count, the entire tower was divided into thousands of small servers just like the Tutorial zone, each containing a set number of players, usually people from the same region and who spoke the same language.
But different from then, all servers coexisted in one singular physical place, so they couldn't even be called servers as they were more like rooms.
It was possible to move between rooms by foot, but unless someone used specific means, they would only wander around aimlessly, after all, there were tens of thousands of rooms, how would you find the correct one to visit?
"... While on the way here, I did some research by reading the forums, and from the looks of it, you just need to sit down and activate a small machine to get access to the list of activities of Babylon."
"Since we're in a party, we need to find an empty table with four seats, there should be many like that." Ermin added as he pointed at the plaza
"Preferentially one with ONLY four seats." Eleonora reaffirmed as she crossed her arms
"True to that, it would be a bit awkward to mind our words around a stranger, though it shouldn't be that big of a deal since we're only using the table to choose our activity so we won't be in it for long anyway." Ermin replied as he pointed at the tables where many players could be seen vanishing from time to time as they went on their journeys
"There are many Solo activities as well..." He said with a light cough, after all, he knew very well that Dale would likely be unable to play with them all the time
They may even end up holding him down, so he had to start raising some options so he could leave with some justification.
"... Before we sit down, I would like to pass by the shop." Dale interjected as he tapped Ermin's shoulder
"The shop… Yeah, we should go there at least once." He replied with a nod
"Why?" Erminia asked as she turned to them
"So... We need to have an idea of what the end rewards are before we start going after the tasks."
Before his sister could even reply, he interjected, saying:
"It's all good to go after things that are fun, but we still have an entire game to play, we can't focus all of our time in this unique event doing fun activities with a low payout only to regret it later when everyone else is full of incredible gear and starts outpacing us." Ermin explained as he turned to his sister
"... You didn't have to go into such detail… Even I know we need to strike a balance." She said with a light pout as she looked at her brother
She had the urge to tickle him but given she was in the presence of the 'red knight', she held herself, acting more like a lady… Or whatever she thought one was.
"Where's the shop though? I only see the players and the tables." Eleonora pointed out as looked around
"That's simple." Dale replied as he opened his system Menu
"While I waited for you guys, I did some research…"
He pressed on his Golden Card, and series of options appeared.
He quickly scrolled past them, finding his target.
[Teleport to Boon Shop]
[YES/NO]
"You just need to open your Entrance Card Menu, from there everything becomes clear."
"I think... I found it." Ermin replied with a nod
"But I have a question... Why is your Card Golden while mine is just white?"
"I noticed this too..." Erminia said as she looked at her white card with a sad expression
"Well... It's a simple explanation." Dale said as he started narrating what happened to him before, while leaving behind some details of course
Once he was done and they exchanged a few more words, he pressed on the 'yes' option.
/FLASH!/
And he vanished amidst a torrent of golden light.
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Notes
I left behind many details as I'm trying to change the way I pace my stories, and I still think I added too much.
I'll see you all tomorrow, peace!
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