The water bucket filled with ice was poured right on Starter’s chest, waking him up like thunder would’ve struck him.

“I’M AWAKE, I’M AWAKE!”
He yelled, standing still, shocked by the coldness of the water.

The lady that poured the water on him, held the bucket under her arm and decided to not scold him for standing on her neighbor, just sleeping on the ground.

She narrowed her eyelids with an upset and hurt expression on her face, talking with a slow voice.

“Crazy boy, go home, this world is not made for you. Look at you, what would your momma say if she would see you like this”

“There is one man in this world that I must impress and become one of the two. Beat me to a pulp, I will still crawl to my goal. But thanks for the tip lady, and for the  cold shower!”

Said Starter, jogging away through the exit of the alley, which was brighter than before.

The lady chuckled then turned around, heading her way into her home

“This one could make it, Reddy”

Walking through the village, he started noticing different ornamental placings made out of stone, of different creatures or monsters. Maybe a statue of the slain beasts by someone that was born in this village? Is what he thought, admiring the very detailed and realistic sculptures.

Going past the long and extended placing of the stone statues that were around ten meters in distance one to the other, a long park with different shapes and colored flowers were growing near some orange colored concrete benches, covered with fine, carved wood, placed on the sitting place.

Over the park, the brick path continued towards a climbing path, where people from behind and in front of him walked. In the village there were lots of adventurers but simple people too. Out of curiosity, Starter followed the same exact path. One left, two to the right and one down-walking on a few stairs covered in thin, white wool.

The place that they arrived was as big as it could get, with many different sized stalls. The whole flat place was covered in tall buildings. Most of the people were on the right side of the stalls. On the left, there was only one stall, with two people looking at the items put near it.

Narrowing his eyes, and confused as he was, Starter walked up to the only stall on the left. There was a shirtless, bulky man with a black helmet made out of leather and an emblem of golden color, covering the top part of his face, covering his eyes so that light won’t bother him in his sleep.

“Is this guy sleeping?”

“Let’s go the others”

“I remember, he’s with them”

“Go, don’t look back”

Starter looked at them, weirded out by the conversation of those people, not knowing why they were talking like that to the sleeping person.

“Go away, we’re closing in ten seconds”

Said the sleeping person, in an annoyed manner and a deep voice.

“Go away? … Did he know that I was here, but how? I didn’t even move!”
Monologues Starter, amazed and at the same time, shocked.

An interesting idea came to Starter’s mind, about how to act in this situation.

Breathing in deeply, through his wide open mouth, Starter let out an exhale, along with a shout

“I’M SORRY, IS THIS STALL OPEN?!”

The Shout has woken up the bulky person and caught the attention of everyone from the left stalls.

“What are you doing, you damn idiot! Don’t get everyone’s attention like that, we could get punished for this, you know?”

Whispered the bulky person, trying to hide himself over the counter of his stall, looking at all the people staring at the both of them.

“Free advertisement”

Smiled Starter, chuckling and pointing at the bulky person’s items.

“Look at that idiotic smile, who’s this guy, it’s the first time I’ve seen him”
Monologues the bulky person, trying to read Starter’s body language.

While he stood on his thoughts, Starter left to analyze the items that were put out for sale, touching each of them and trying on some of the armors.

The swords were made out of different materials, ores and they were different shapes and sizes, just like the armors.

“Heavy!”
Gasped Starter, falling on the ground after trying to resist the weight of a golden glove in which you had the freedom to curl your fingers in.

“IDIOT! Stop touching my stuff”
Shouted the bulky person, jumping over the counter to take off the glove off Starter’s hand. After taking it off, he gently placed it back into an entire golden outfit.

“Hmm… I think all of these will be good enough for my quests”

Continued Starter, looking at all the armors and a few swords that he pointed out in his mind, thinking intensely, already seeing himself fighting monsters and creatures like a hero or a villain.

The bulky  person started laughing lively, holding his belly with both of his arms.

“What Progression are you, like eight?”

“Eight? These items are worth thousands of gold, made out of the rarest ores from the world and high-class smithing. These items are used to slay monsters that can swallow the clouds and spit with ice that will freeze you in less than a second!”

Checking his inventory from inside his notebook, Starter nodded with a serious look on his face.

“This should do it”
Whispered Starter, reached for his coin pouch, wanting to take it off his belt.

Starter wanted to pass the coin pouch to the bulky person, with a loud smile on his face

“Here, take it. Twenty four silver coins”

When the beefy boy saw what Starter had to offer, with such a smile along it, it almost made him want to throw Starter away in the distance and spit on him.

“What, do I have something on my face?”
Asked Starter, slowly retracting the pouch with coins

“Get lost, guy, you’re just messing up my thriving business”
Said  the beefy boy, proudly

Starter looked towards the left, empty. On the right, empty. Behind him, empty. And behind the Stall, there was a dead bush blown by the wind.

“Ah, come on, that dead bush is a paid actor!”
Exclaimed the beefy boy, annoyed

He looked at Starter once more, loosening his expressions and asked him something that would be helpful to both of them.

“Hey, want to see something really awesome?!”

“Awesome?!”
Asked Starter, having his entire attention catched by the person’s words.

“That will be five silver coins”

“What, come on, I only got… (checks pouch). Fine, alright, here (hands coins to the other person)”

“You got off really cheap, boy. Adventurers usually pay me ten times the amount that you gave me, just so that they could see this next scene”

The beefy person jumped inside his Stall and searched for something that turned out to be his own notebook, which had a metal covering, with a few letters engraved on it, “Chester. B.S”

“You’re an adventurer too?!”

“No”

“Chester, that's your name?”

“Maybe, what do you care”

He ripped a page from it and slammed it into the ground, slightly pushing Starter away, making room for the piece of paper.

“Get behind me… and enjoy the show”

He smirked, reaching for his longest and most detailed weapon from his Stall. It was a light-blue weapon, with a rope handle and thin as a finger.

Suddenly, the piece of paper ripped open in the middle with a loud scratching and ripping sound, and from inside it, a huge red paw emerged from it, along with it, the body of an entire four meter fire-bear. On its roar, saliva made out of magma was flying everywhere. 

“Chester, what’s that?!”
Exclaimed  Starter, having a wide stance, keeping his look in the bear’s eyes, then targeting the cracks all over his body, which were filled with red fire.

“A magma bear, it costed me five silver coins to summon him”
Said Chester, dragging the sword behind him, in a narrow stance.

“How did you do that, can you teach me how to do it too?”
Asked Starter, not being able to hold back his excitement.

“Hold that thought!”
Exclaimed Chester, running towards the bear, which did the same thing with its four paws, burning the ground with each step taken by its burning claws.

Before the collision, Chester slammed his left leg in the ground, evading a claw to his neck, which left a fading blur in the air. Then, as his tricep flexed and his back as well, Chester turned around in a quick three-hundred-sixty movement, cutting the bear in half, letting the upper, cut part of the body, which was filled with magma and fire, fly in the air for two quick seconds, after which it fell into the ground, transforming itself in a pixelated form that reached into Chester’s forearm.

He turned back at Starter to see if he was still interested, but he wasn’t expecting what came next.

Flabbergasted and confused, Started accidentally watched with his mouth wide open, that’s how caught off guard he was, by this whole fight.

“How was it?”
Asked Chester, slowly putting the weapon back on its rack.

“That was… INCREDIBLE!”

Chester’s eyes widened, not believing Starter’s used word.

“You were like, dash, then turn and waBANG! I was like DANG!”
Exclaimed Starter, explaining his sentence with the use of his hands and leg movements used for context

“This guy is weird, but… he’s different”
Monologues Chester, giving away a slight smirk on Starter’s comical explication.

“THERE THEY ARE! CHESTER OF HAKE BLACKSMITH STATION, STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!”

Yelled out a guard from tens of meters away, using a device that was amplifying his voice tone.

The guard was coming along with more people behind him, all riding on horses, with two stone golems and one kid standing with a white opened notebook in front of him, laughing after seeing both Chester and Starter

In a blink of a moment, Chester put half of his items inside his Stall, in a nervous manner.

“What’s going on, why are you packing everything?”

Asked Starter, changing his look from Chester to the guards coming on horses, along with the stone golems

“Let’s say that I didn’t really pay the tax for this place, to hold my sells”

Starter looked at him with a judging look

“Don’t look at me like that, rent’s high and sales are low, okay?”

After packing everything up, he hopped in the left part of his Stall and dragged back the roof that was extended backwards, high in the air.

Taking out his head on the window, he quickly asked Starter if he was coming or not

“Me? But I didn’t do anything”

Said Starter, narrowing his eyes

Chester sighted, then got out of his Stall, pointing towards the guards.

“Do you see that kid, dressed in white over there? The one sitting on the Golem’s shoulders? He’s Progression eighty five, and also the son of a wealthy family that rules five villages like this. If we get to his hand, then we’ll have to live like butlers for the rest of our lives!”

Chester turned around to look back at Starter, seeing what he had to say, but he already was inside the wooden Stall with four rubber wheels and two long and open windows.

“You coming or what?”
Asked Starter, with a tone like he would want Chester to hurry up

“How did you get there?!”
Exclaimed Chester, running towards the Stall.