For all of its supposed greatness, I did not see much benefit in living here. Sure, I could see some benefits, but the whole thing just looked a lot more crowded than it had the right to be. The building were just pressed too close to each other, making the streets appeal small for no reason. Half of the buildings were completely destroyed, their walls lying broken on the ground. Who did this? Was it Xila?

  They were artificially crowded, though I could imagine that there weren’t that many people at all. Or better said, crowded until we came by.

  The feeling of being watched receded as we entered, but never left completely. No matter how many times I looked behind or scanned the surrounding area, nothing showed. Literally nothing. It was making me feel like I was crazy. I knew the gods watched me, but this was different. Sighing, I decided not to focus on it, and focus on the situation at hand, instead, moving my eyes to the humans.

  There were still some weird people walking around, apparently not as fearful of us as the others, and they made the town feel at least somewhat lived in. Some of the vendors stayed at their carts too, though the looks they gave us definitely were not pleasant. The system, once again, didn’t offer any information about the humans here, even though they were clearly not natural.

  They did look human, but something was just wrong with them, as if what made them was trying to tell me that these people just didn’t come to be in a natural way. Sure, my only points of comparison were Mark and Talisha, but I reckoned they were enough to be able to compare.

  Although they were almost as tall as I thought humans should be, they looked more squished together. As if whoever made them got bored halfway. I shivered at the thought of the gods making my body look like that too, and felt a bit of thankfulness for the fact that I looked pretty darn handsome. Though it made sense - who wanted to watch folks who looked like that for hours?

  “They look like some of the people I watched in a TV show.” Talisha smirked as Mark raised an eyebrow. “Oh, don’t give me that look, Mark! You never watched weird shit? It was about some Alabama families, if you have to know.”

  The point of the joke was completely lost on me, but Mark actually chuckled. I just rolled my eyes and walked on.

  Crudia, for all of her excitement, did not even seem to care about the weirdness. She looked like she was happy that we were here, sniffing at the air, looking at every vendor shop that we passed. “Hey Shrimpie, do we go shopping first, or do we try to find some other players? Oh, I know, how about we get some new trinkets? My equipment is still, like, half-full! Oh, or we-”

  “We’ll buy what we need, Crudia.” I said, giving her a smile. I wasn’t against the excitement, it made the whole experience better in fact. But our funds were limited. We couldn’t spend just everything as we pleased, as much as it pained me. I’d have to save up some funds for cosmetic items as well. Necessary for survival. “Let’s ask Mark. I reckon he’ll know what to buy.”

  “Of course I do.” Mark popped in, looking as if he was pleased to be back in civilization as well. His usual stoic or nervous expression was nowhere in sight, instead replaced by a light-hearted expression and curiosity. “We need more materials for potions. The Vasdi flowers were a lucky find, and so was the moss and guidal dust, but those are just the tip of the iceberg.”

  “I am not buying things that require me to spend more time in the crafting menus.” I groaned, already imagining the nightmare.

  Crudia didn’t seem to agree, though. “That’s fine. I’ll do it! It feels like doing jigsaw puzzles. Or, how I image doing jigsaw puzzles must feel like.”

  We continued walking, constantly watching the people there. Though we expected to find some players, there were none to be seen. Either the others just couldn’t find this place for some reason, or everyone left once whatever happened here… happened. I tried asking around, but nobody wanted to answer my inquiries about the conflict that resulted in this tragedy.

  After the tenth person told me to bugger off in a not so nice way, I felt like giving up. What could I do to learn anything? The shopkeepers mostly offered stuff that did have a use, sure, but they weren’t what I was looking for either. Food of varying qualities, rocks that apparently gave magical protection, which [Analyze] told me was a complete sham, and many others.

  But then I saw it. A cart and a table, both loaded with items of many qualities. But most important was who stood in front of it; a player.

  Player - Martin

  Species - European Pine Marten

  Level:17

  Class: None

  This was it. This was my lucky break. The man looked young, like all the players did as far as I knew, but he had some properties that distinguished him from the humans. Firstly, he was tall, and looked too handsome to be mistaken for a local. But he also had fur - deep brown on his face and neck, crossed by a white stripe that arrowed out of his chest onto his neck.

  I could not see his weapons, of course, but his armor didn’t look shabby either. Rare quality at least, leather interwoven into several parts, thick as a thumb. And he was actually talking with the locals. Dusk must have seen him before I did, since he was already hastily trying to get to the small shop. Crudia and I hurried to follow.

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  The Marten saw us before we had time to say hi, smiling and gesturing with his arms. “Hello there! Hello! Finally, some players! Maybe I’ll finally sell something! Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve seen any of our kind?”

  “Not as long as we, I reckon.” I returned his smile, and came as close to the cloth-covered table as I could. The thing was littered with so many items that using [Analyze] just made me completely blind with the colors for a bit. But for what it was worth, I was surprised by the quality. There were a lot of rare items, and I thought I maybe even spotted an epic!

  “How the hell did you get so many items?” Talisha said, reflecting my own thoughts. Wait, where was this guys’ guide? I could not see the blue transparent figure that accompanied every player I’ve seen so far.

  “You know, here and there! Seems I’ve got a knack for trading, and having a high charisma stat definitely paid off! Anyway, enough chit-chat. I’m not gonna make enough money for my pups just by talking, am I? So, what’s it gonna be? You buying?”

  Wow, straight to business, huh? Dusk was the first to speak, cutting off my question about how he could have pups here. Wasn’t there just one of every animal type in this tournament? “We’re looking for some information. What happened to this city? Is this Xila’s doing?”

  Martin scratched the back of his head, his smile never leaving his lips. “You mean the scary Mantis lady? Nah. Not her. Ain’t getting more info without paying though.”

  Crudia seemed ready to just take out all the gold she had, already scanning her inventory. That wouldn’t end well. So, in my moment of clear wisdom, I took out all of the gold I had in my inventory, and put it onto the table. It appeared in a leather bag, which was nifty, though confusing. Where the hell did the bag come from?

  “We’ve got plenty. Willing to talk?”

  He looked over the bag, and nodded. “100 gold for each question.”

  “A hundred? You’re scamming us!” This was a daylight robbery! Who was this man to treat us like this?

  “Hey man. You either buy, or not. Doesn’t matter to me at the end of the day - I can make money in other ways, as you can see.” He motioned to the crowd of people that dispersed with our arrival. “Plus, you are all almost max level! Surely you can spend a few hundred!”

  I sighed, looking at Mark, who seemed to be as exasperated as I was. We shared eye contact, and he nodded, the pain of doing so visible.

  Turning back, I locked eyes with the Marten. “Fine then. Have it your way. Since Xila didn’t do this, who did?”

  He laughed. “Why do you care? It’s not a city you’ll spend a long time in! But sure, since you’re so nosy. One of the local bosses moves around a lot. An intelligent one. Rallies the horde and attacks this city, amongst others.”

  “Whoah, so it’s a strong monster? With a big territory?” Crudia asked excitedly. I followed up by putting up a hand on her mouth, lest she cost us even more gold.

  The Marten’s eyes shined with greed, undoubtedly already imagining the gold going into his own pockets. “It’s a strong one, yes. Haven’t seen it, but the average guard here is about level 15, and they’ve had no luck in fighting the monsters off. And yes, its territory is huge! This biome plus the two more to the north.” He extended his palm now. “Payment, please. I’m not taking chances on you running off.”

  The thought of just not paying him definitely crossed my mind, but the info was worth it so far. I sighed, and counted the coins as they dropped into his palm. Each coin lost pained me, but I’d better get used to it.

  I turned away from the Merchant, grabbing Crudia and Dusk by the shoulders, making a small circle. Our guides levitated above us, turning their heads down so they could hear as well, though they remained silent. We needed to approach this more smartly. “Okay, he’s pretty knowledgeable , but what else do we need to know? We can’t just ask…”

  Dusk hmm’d, stroking his chin, his blue eyes watching the ground. Like, dude, there’s nothing interesting there. “Maybe we ask for the location of this beast? Hunting it down would certainly be worthwhile, as far as we know.”

  “Unless Xila left to hunt it already.” I added. We had no info on her location, and meeting her again would be a terrible stroke of luck.

  “No. This one sounds dangerous, even for her. She’s killed bosses, yes, but she went for the easy pickings only.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “Common and uncommon bosses. This one’s territory is too large. Rare at least.”

  “What are our chances of beating it then?”

  He laughed at that, shaking his head. “As we stand? Hopeless. But we still have eight days. We can manage.”

  At least he had his head in the right place. “Of course we can. I don’t lose fights. So it’s settled? We ask for the location?”

  “And buy items!” Crudia added, bouncing on her feet. “I saw some earrings that would go nicely with my fur!”

  Smiling and nodding, I turned back to the Marten. “Okay, next que-”

  I turned around, opening my mouth to ask the question.

  Only to see the damn Marten wasn't there. Neither was my pouch of gold. The items which I inspected a few minutes ago were all shimmering, turning to dust. What remained on the table was just rocks. ROCKS, of all things!

  I looked around, trying to find the damn thief. How dare he! And here I thought that he was a good man, if only a little bit greedy. I even kind of liked him! Sure, it felt bad to be paying so much, but I didn’t think I’d do it any differently if I were him. But to steal? The audacity!

  Dusk, Crudia and our guides seemed as surprised as I was, and we immediately started looking around. Wherever he went, he couldn’t have gotten far. We were turned away for less than a minute!

  I looked at the buildings, trying to see if he was hiding in the debris, and felt a pang of pain for the citizens. This wasn’t their fault. They didn’t want to be here, didn’t deserve to be a toy for the gods’ pleasure. They didn’t even opt into this tournament willingly, most likely. We were similar in that regard.

  What I felt then wasn’t even pity. Or it was, but it was replaced by something else. Rage. Not the same kind as before, the type that exploded and blanketed all of my thoughts. No, this was different. It was the kind of rage that made my thoughts clearer, sharpened my focus. The kind that remained simmering in the back of my head.

  And then, as I processed this feeling, something clicked in my thoughts. It was a weird feeling, as if a piece of a puzzle clicked into another, and something unblocked.

  A new message appeared in front of me then, surprising me. Mark, right behind me, half-shouted from the shock as well.

  [New Quest Unlocked!]