She had a constant barrage of patients to attend to and weekly journal articles to submit in a never-ending cycle of monotony.
“Boring. Dull. Tedious.” These were her daily complaints. But despite her desire to escape it all, she simply could not bring herself to just abandon her responsibilities.
Hence, she now found herself in the midst of a counseling session with a middle-aged woman.
“I’m truly sorry about your daughter’s circumstances,” Dr. Cha said, blinking away the moisture in her eyes.
“I know it’s already been 5 years.” The woman smiled sorrowfully as she confided in Dr. Cha.
“But ever since that child tried to throw her life away, I haven’t been able to concentrate on anything.”
“It’s time for you to tear your thoughts away from your daughter’s well-being and begin searching for your own purpose in life.”
“Actually doctor…” the woman asked, grasping Dr. Cha’s hand tightly.
“… I believe that she’s trapped in there somewhere… She’s…”
*****
The Heavenly Tree randomly extended skyward but soon began shooting towards a specific direction.
Weed and his companions held fast onto the trunk as it sprouted towards its target at some speed. The buffeting wind left them battered and the ground below was a distant memory.Within seconds, Baran village had disappeared from sight.
They passed through the clouds and arrived at a seemingly huge island. An island floating in the sky! Riding the growing tree stalk of the Heavenly Tree, Weed and his companions rose above the fog blurring the area.
“This is the City of Heaven!” the party exclaimed, feasting their eyes on their surroundings.
A maze of buildings sprawled out before them. In the center of the extensive labyrinth rose a massive tower with a myriad of birds perched on top of it. Beyond the large tower were rolling hills and lush fields.
“Oh! The tree’s withering away!” shouted Irene as she glanced back at the tree.
The Heavenly Tree’s trunk withered and splintered before their eyes. The fragments disappeared into the clouds, severing the floating island from the distant ground below.
“Our way back has been destroyed. What do we do now?” Surka fretted. Her companions, on the other hand, did not seem particularly concerned.
“The real adventure starts here. Since the tree is gone, we’ll worry about returning when the time comes.” said Pale.
“But, Pale-nim…” Surka was on the verge of tears, already missing the solid ground.
Weed attempted to cheer her up, “If there’s a will, there’s a way.” But Surka seemed unconvinced by Weed’s words of encouragement, at which point Weed nonchalantly said, “Well, if we can’t find a way we can always jump right?”
“B-but…”
“Well, you’d surely die once, but you’d definitely end up on the ground.”
Surka’s face went white. Truth be told, she had always been terrified of heights.
As the Heavenly Tree grew, she had held on for dear life, afraid of plummeting to her death.
Perhaps she would have passed up on this adventure if she had known it would take her all the way up here.
The party continued on, consoling Surka along the way.
*****
The City of Heavens was home to a unique species.
“They look like birds…”
Standing on two legs, with their small beady eyes, pointed beak, great wingspan, and rounded cheeks, they resembled sparrows.
The old birds seemed to have white beards around their beak.“Kyaa! So cute!” Surka exclaimed, her affection for the birds overshadowing her acrophobia. She was no longer trembling in fear, but excitement.
The old bird slowly walked towards the group, ignoring Surka’s unwelcomed affections.
“Greetings travelers, welcome to Lavias.”
The whole party shifted their gaze to Weed.
Based on previous experiences, Weed was deemed to be best suited to lead.
Furthermore, it had become clear to the party that Weed’s every move was calculated, since he was the type to sweet-talk any NPC into giving him what he wanted.
“Thank you. We’ve endured a perilous journey from distant lands before setting our weary feet on this beautiful place. But in the face of such unimaginable splendor, our fatigue has all but dissipated. Is this place Lavias?”
“Indeed! Our city is home to the noble and dignified Avians. Only here will you find the sun so brilliant, and the air so fresh!” The white-bearded bird gushed with pride as he shook his wings. Even his feathers quivered with excitement at the praise.
“The air here is indeed the freshest and the sunlight most impressive. No doubt the passing clouds paint a beautiful picture. But what are the specialties here in Lavias?”
Weed jumped at the chance to learn about the city’s specialties. If there were items exclusively found in Lavias, he would make a lot of money by purchasing them in bulk and reselling in Rosenheim Kingdom.
“We are not on familiar terms yet to permit you to ask such an impertinent question. You need to get better acquainted with me. It would help if you could bring me some delicious treats. In fact, I would like that very much.”
The bearded bird flapped his wings and hobbled away from them.
Weed tried to chase after the bird but soon gave up and returned to his party.
“Okay, let’s split up to explore the city from here on.”
If all five of them explored the city together, it would have been too time-consuming.
Therefore, they decided to split up in order to cover more ground.
“The city seems to be safe since there are no hostile zones.”
“Still, Lavias seems to be too big a city to explore alone. Let’s all meet back here in 2 hours.”
“If you come across a good quest during your exploration, just come back for the time being, and share it with the rest of the party. We’ll decide together as to which quest is best. Now, let’s get started.”
“Okay, got it.”
And thus they set off to explore the city.
To begin with, Weed proceeded towards the bustling city center to see if there were any shops.
Merchants were waddling like ducks through the streets, hawking their wares to the pedestrians.
As the name suggested, the residents of Avian City possessed traits common to birds and chubby torsos and stumpy legs were the norm, their heads ranged from those of owls to hawks.
‘To think there’s a city like this, amazing...’ Weed thought.
Opening a chicken restaurant here would definitely be the wrong move here, since the locals could misinterpret it to be cannibalism.
Unlike human cities, carriages did not exist since the birds themselves were big enough to carry the horses. If the roads were blocked, all they had to do was spread their wings and fly away.
From all the stares he received, Weed felt like a monkey in the zoo as he walked amongst the Avians.
Weed entered a weapons store.
“Good day.” Weed said as he entered.
“Ah! A human traveler! Is there something you need?”
“There are many things I need. However, I’m not familiar with the items on display. I’d like a closer look.”
“As you wish”
Weed inspected some of the items.
*Ting*
————————————————————————————————
Item: Baravo’s Steel Beak:
Durability: 90/90
Damage: 21-23
Equipped:
Ability to grasp food items that grant bonuses.
The long length makes it easy to reach buried worms.
Price: 100 gold
————————————————————————————————
Weed sighed and turned his attention to a different item.
*Ting*
————————————————————————————————
Item: Silver Pitchfork of Saigon:
Durability: 30/30
Damage: 17-19
Part of a set. Low durability since it is made out of silver.
Good for snatching the heads of the undead while flying low.
Price: 70 gold
————————————————————————————————
*Ting*
————————————————————————————————
Item: Feathers of the Goddess:
Durability: 15/15
Restriction:
Females only
Effect: Enchantment.
The brilliant and sparkling multi-colored feathers grant relief from enemy attacks when equipped.
Light enough that you can’t even feel it. Allows for unrivaled gliding, guaranteed to prevent a fall.
Price: 45 gold
————————————————————————————————
The items ranged from pitchforks and telescopes to peculiar, hollow weapons that were conical and tapered towards the tip. These seemed to be the Avians’ weapon of choice.
“Do you have any weapons suitable for humans?” Weed asked the shopkeeper, who greatly resembled a badger.
“Of course I do! Just wait a moment. Since human customers are so rare, I had to put them in the warehouse.”
As Weed waited, he felt intense stares from outside.
One by one, the passing Avians stopped in their tracks to again watch Weed like an escaped monkey from a zoo.
“I hear this guy is a human!”
“How odd. Must be difficult to eat with a flat beak”
“Look at that. No feathers, either. He must freeze during the winter, the poor thing.”
No normal bird could ever enjoy the cold. From their perspective, Weed seemed like he would easily freeze to death.
An Avian in Rosenheim, or any city in the Continent below, would draw a staring crowd as well. But in Lavias, the Avian City, Weed the human was the spectacle.
“Here are the things you asked for.”
The shop owner set out some armor, a shield, two hammers and five different blades. Weed had no use for the shield, so he immediately moved on to the blades and armor. After all, he only had 70 gold from selling the items looted from the Lizardmen.
*Ting*
————————————————————————————————
Item: Clay Sword:
Durability: 90/90
Damage: 23-25
A magic sword imbued with the spirit of ice.
Does 2~5 bonus damage to armored target and decreases movement.
Restriction:
Level 60
STR 200
Equiped:
Grants additional 2-5 Ice Elemental damage.
Price: 188 gold
———————————————