413 Traveling to Drulgen (1/2)
Jack walked calmly through the guild, waving to a few lucky members who were confident to greet Jack as he passed. That didn't last for long though as he eventually entered the restricted area and sought out his own courtyard. Once he was there, Jack was tackled to the ground by Lina.
”Big Bro… Are you really leaving without me? Not again…”
”I'm sorry Lina, but I won't be gone for too long,” Jack replied, rubbing Lina's head. ”I'm going to visit Uncle Rikko. Though he'll have me steal something, I'll be back sooner than you think thanks to teleportation.”
”But you promised last time and we still haven't gone to Estonya…” pouted Lina, not giving up so easily.
”Well, what can I do instead? I can take you there once I get back with Uncle Rikko.”
”Okay, but you better be back soon!”
Eliza laughed, along with Daliea and Maura. Seeing Jack go was a bit harder on Eliza after their recent decision to have a child, but it was comforting to know that Jack could always teleport back to them.
Jack stood up and embraced each of his wives one-by-one. They remained silent, though, as the four of them had already spoken about the matter the night before. Each of Jack's wives was confident that Jack would be back sooner than later, mostly because Rikko would most likely ask Jack to steal something and not fight an army.
A knock was heard at the courtyard door but they invited themselves in. Both Argyle and Tralon walked up to Jack.
”You'd better not die while you're away. If you die, then I'll kill you for making my daughter a widow,” Argyle verbally jabbed Jack, getting the hero to chuckle.
”Are you ready?” asked Tralon.
With a nod, Jack sighed and waved goodbye one last time while a spatial rift opened up. Jack walked through it with a proud smile on his face.
Stepping into what seemed like a new world, Jack scanned his new environment with his eyes as the rift closed behind him.
He stood in a strange forest filled with twisted trees of all heights. The ground beneath his feet wasn't level at all, varying from small patches of flat ground and small rock formations jutting out of the ground between the trees. There was a slight incline, showing Jack that he was indeed within the small mountain range of Drulgen.
It was the first time Jack had stepped foot there, but it was also one of the few times that Jack felt true nostalgia. The view of the forest matched the in-game perspective perfectly. It felt good to find a place that hadn't changed much since his game-playing days.
Letting out a long sigh of satisfaction, Jack pulled up his map tab and opened up the locations of the gods.
”Pestro…” Jack mumbled quietly to himself, recharting his path to best avoid the Demon God of the chaotic gods.
Jack then equipped the low-level bracer. With it, he became invisible and started creeping through the forest.
Further in the mountain range, one of the goblin settlements was currently on high alert. Though more than a hundred goblins resided in that village, they all hid and kept their distance from an unknown visitor.
The visitor's ugly features were startling but the sense of power given off by the creature's massive two and a half meter build was enough to frighten the goblin residents. That visitor sniffed about with his pig-like nose, taking his time and checking every corner of the settlement. Whenever he stopped sniffing, he would frown and groan while moving on to another part of the village.
Some younger goblins tried to make a ruckus and complain to their parent for cutting into their playtime, but they were quickly gagged or silenced. No one wanted to offend that hulking stranger wandering through the village.