Cyberserk

Chapter 32 - Elves and Orcs

The requirements to enter the city of Grossroads were manageable. Completing the minotaurs' dungeon brought over 20,000 experience points into Dan's piggy bank. The player opened the attribute panel and upgraded his level to 10. He was sad to see how few experience points he had left. His 2,300 experience points were not enough to buy a new phantom a full set of armor and weapons. On the other hand, Tom was now busy getting new experiences and he was still alive and killing monsters somewhere.

Dan Raven didn't allocate a free item to the Strength attribute. He thought that the question of character development should be dealt with in Tom's presence. The overall picture was not happy. The epic ring had absorbed a tremendous amount of experience for its development. But it was foolish to be upset by the demands of an epic artifact.

[Character: Dan (Human)

Affiliated Location: Earth

Title: None

Profession: None

Level: 10. 2321/72200

Attributes: Strength 2, Speed 2, Intelligence 5, Body 3.

Free Attribute Points: 1

HP: 300/300

MP: 50/50

Weapon Mastery & Skill: Weapon Mastery: 7. Magic skill: 5. Expand Skills.

Free Skill Points: 9

Profession Talent: None

Achievement: Boss Killer Rank 2. Dungeon Explorer Rank 1]

"Greetings, Wanderer," said one guard. "Are you ready to pay your entry to the city of Grossroads?"

"Yes. I'm willing to pay one gold coin," Dan pulled a coin from his inventory and held it out to the warrior.

The gate guard took the coin and reached for his wallet on his belt.

"You may pass into the city. I wish you a pleasant life and good adventures," smiled the second guard.

"This gate leads to the western part of the city. I always come out of this gate to pick berries. Snotty Mouse's establishment is near the gate! I'll show you the way," mousey Snif smiled and showed genuine joy that the new wanderer could join the citizens of Grossroads.

Dan had expected the entrance to the city to be as unusual as the portal. But it turned out to be simpler than that. The gatekeeper turned and pounded on the gate with his fist. A small door near the edge of the gate opened in the huge gate. Dan realized that he could get inside the city through the small door.

"Too bad Tom is busy hunting monsters right now. We could have met Grossroads together," Dan whispered. He shook his head and stepped into the town grounds.

The atmosphere of wonder and brightness!  It gripped the player from the first moment he was in the new place. It seemed to Dan that even the rays of the sun shone brighter over the huge city. A lot of unusual details and interesting aspects of the life of the citizens caught his eye.

A group of children ran by and stopped. All the children looked like little angels! They were all blond and had smiles on their faces. The big eyes in particular stood out, glowing with excitement and anticipation of something extraordinary. Then Dan suddenly noticed that there were pointed ears sticking out of the disheveled blond hair. They were baby elves!

"Bows to prepare! Now we'll show our abilities to the green-skinned piglets," the little elf shouted in a high-pitched voice. All the children immediately armed themselves with small bows and drew arrows. The children began to wait for the other participants in the strange game to arrive.

"Beat the big-eared ones! Tribe after me! They're caught," a group of little orcs jumped out into the small square in front of the West Gate of Grossroads.

The little elves were dressed in neat and pretty colorful jackets and pants. The children of the orc tribe were dressed only in leather shorts. Their dark-skinned little bodies were already showing muscle. The orc babies were black-haired and shaggy-haired. They didn't look like piglets! Orcs had slightly flattened noses. But they didn't have piggy noses! Dan got a good look at the little fangs in the orcs' mouths. The orcs rushed at the elves with shouts and laughter. The little orcs had small clubs in their hands. Arrows flew toward the orcs. The clubs flew toward the elves. The square was filled with the screams and shouts of the little ones of the two wondrous nations.

Dan froze and could not take his eyes off the unusual entertainment of the local children.

"Human Dan let's hurry up. First I'll take you to Snotty Mouse's establishment. Then I'll show you the way to King Arador's palace," the mousy pulled the player by the arm away from the city gate. "Human Dan must register and then he will be a true citizen of Grossroads."

"Let's go Snif. I didn't expect them to be so wonderful," Dan turned and walked down the wide road along the city wall.

Small houses adjoined the wall. The curious faces of the citizens peered out of the windows. Elves and orcs were happily watching the children play and cheering their acquaintances on. Dan saw new representatives of the wonderful folk walking along the road. Short and bearded gnomes walked unhurriedly. These creatures were dressed in beautiful clothes made of monochrome, colorless materials, and fabrics. All the gnomes were calm and gave the impression of solid and confident individuals. Next to some of the gnomes walked children. The little gnomes also walked with a proud and important appearance that demonstrated the decent behavior of well-mannered children.

The children's shouts and cheerful cries were complemented by the loud voices of the adult vendors.

"Selling snake meat from the Valley of Fire! One gold coin for ten pieces. There are snake pelts for crafting!"

"Trout! Fresh trout! 1 gold coin for 10 fish!"

"Valuable herbs from the Forest of Green Wolves! I sell valuable ingredients for apothecaries. 1 gold for a bundle of valuable herbs!"

"Gathering a group to complete the Adventurers Guild quest. Level 15 is required. Noobs are to pass by. Walk by the city walls and gather mushrooms!"

Dan's eyes suddenly noticed that there were a lot of people outside. People weren't wearing armor and were dressed in colorful shirts jackets and pants. Players waved samples of merchandise in the air and called loudly for customers.

Dan noticed that most of the fairy folks tried not to pay attention to people.

"Tell me Snif. Why don't people sell their products to the stores?" Raven didn't understand the meaning of street trading.

"Good humans contract and get their assignments from shopkeepers. The no-good humans don't respect the laws of Grossroads. Humans are very fond of money," sighed Sniff. " Humans are a lot like gnomes."

Dan laughed. Mousey was right. People did look like gnomes but the men hadn't grown long beards yet. The elves looked too beautiful and charming. Dan could hardly bring himself to divert his brazen attention to another beautiful woman's face. He had never seen so many gorgeous girls and women in one place.

Gnome women looked like normal, non-tall women.

Orc women had lighter skin. Orcs had a rich palette of shades of green and darker skin colors. The beauty of Orc women was aggressive and enchanting in its belligerence. Orcish women's long black hair was braided into beautiful braid hairstyles. Orc women's hairstyles were adorned with small ornaments of gold and shiny light metal. Most of the citizens wore jewels of multicolored gems.

Dan Raven walked beside the mousy and felt that the city was beginning to press on him with its plenty of new impressions. Suddenly the player wanted to be in the silence of a forest or a location where the only troublemakers were the monsters with their roaring cawing and howling.

"There! Human Dan, you are standing in front of the most glorious establishment in our neighborhood! I am glad to welcome you at the door of the Snotty Mouse," exclaimed Snif.

"Human! You stand in the company of the most insolent cheater! Sneaky Paw's establishment has a long reputation on this quarter," shouted the mouse who was passing by.

"False! Mistress Sneaky Paw is a great master, but Master Snotty Mouse makes particularly delicious and wholesome dishes," shouted back the mousy.

"Lies! Little Snif you'll never be a master. The stench of your lies permeates all your attempts to make a dish with a new recipe!"

"Envy me in silence, you vile loser! Human Dan, we need to go inside to rid ourselves of the company of this insolent and bad-tempered Mouse," Snif pulled Dan by the arm toward the entrance.

The player didn't resist. He didn't like the fact that creatures with such a natural and vivid personality lived in this city. Such an obvious display of emotion alarmed and slightly frightened the shy young man.