Ball of Nothing

Truen eventually found his work tempo after spending a week in Half Moon Village. The adventuring party was nice enough to delay their set off to accompany the lost wood elf and help him settle into life on Earth.

Olaf was amused that the powerful founder of the Onion Union still struggled with some human concepts. As a Frost Dragon, he didn't take particular interest in the affairs of power-hungry monarchs. However, Truen tried to understand these fickle factions that were forever changing. His ignorance stuck out painfully like a sore thumb and the adventurer's guild almost tossed him out. If not for Vrald and Gerlad's support to vouch for the wood elf, the humans would never have accepted the weirdo to register.

After all, humans and elves were currently at war with each other over a piece of forest.

Truen didn't think that his appearance would cause such a fuss over the registration counter. He certainly didn't belong to the long-eared elves that resided in the Great Forest of Altear.

Earth was split into nine main domains and powerful factions each belonging to a different race. Truen learnt that as an elf, he should look out and avoid conflicts with humans and the supernatural. Altear was currently at war with the humans who burned down a portion of the forest without permission. The elves were also busy guarding against the necromancers of the United Nation of the Uncanny who have kidnapped many of their kin to perform rituals. These necromancers didn't just kidnap elves, they kidnapped anyone they could lay their hands on.

Nine Factions:

1. Smargdas Kingdom - Human faction and smallest faction, severely politically unstable

2. Great Forest of Altear - Elf faction and most ancient faction, rich with history

3. Derby Desert - Gnome faction and most scientifically advanced civilisation

4. Indra Seagloo - Merfolk faction and the most politically uninvolved faction who prefer to be mysterious

5. Rocket Mountains - Dwarf faction and the most economically advanced faction with great skill sets

6. Magnus Hilda - Giant faction and the most neutral faction, currently facing a huge internal crisis due to a plague breakout threatening the race's extinction

7. Lycantopia - Beastfolk faction and with the most warriors, constantly at war against humans who capture them as prisoners of war to be sold as slaves

8. United Nation of the Uncanny - Supernatural creatures faction and currently having a severe civil war

9. Mystic Meadows - Mythical folk faction and is under the protection of all other factions after a peace treaty has been signed with them, is currently the ruling faction with the greatest power over all other factions

From the small talks he made, Truen came to a conclusion that those from the Mystic Meadows were treated with great respect ever since the great Faction War three hundred years ago. Back then, the Mythical folks caused blood to rain from the sky. Fairy queens, dryads, centaurs, wyverns and all the scary beasts fought hard and pushed the other factions back to almost extinction. In order to appease them, they were given a vast territory and signed the peace treaty that the mythical folks could be the ruler of all factions if they didn't initiate attacks to any factions. No other factions dared to launch an attack on them in fear of getting wiped out so the peace was preserved with the treaty after the world war.

At the same time, Truen learnt that humans had bad blood with beastfolks, elves and the surprisingly elusive sea folks. The sea people didn't bother any other factions simply because nobody attempted to travel across their territory. Humans have created ships and had many sunken during the voyage to trade goods. Unlike the other factions who either stuck to themselves and minded their own business or used magic to travel and transport items, humans were at a disadvantage without superior strength, technology or magic.

Most people would try to avoid taking quest jobs that went to the United Nation of the Uncanny simply because it was a land with no rules. The races that lived in that land often fought and killed each other. It was so divided that literally no traders travel there. Due to the poor conditions, there were often many quests for cargo escorting but no sane adventurer would willingly take on the job of an escort especially if they weren't above A rank with good resistance against magic.

Truen looked at the quest board. He was currently an adventurer of the lowest rank and had to complete eight quests to move up the ranking ladder to a Rank C adventurer. Unlike Vrald, Gerald and Olaf who were registered as S ranked adventurers and above, Truen had to start from the very bottom.

\"I guess this is where we part,\" Olaf told the elf who nodded.

\"Thank you for accompanying me so far. I won't hold any of you back now,\" he said.

Vrald grinned. \"That crazy seamstress is somewhere in the area. You should search the alleys and leave the signal I told you about if you want her to appear. She's your best contact point if you need something from Half Moon Village.\"

Gerald pushed a small pouch into Truen's hands and told him to use it wisely. The wood elf didn't have to look to know that it was money on the inside. He was very thankful to the dragon warriors who departed to begin their journey.

Still, the atmosphere in the adventurer's guild lobby turned hostile as soon as the party left. Truen was no fool. He knew hostility when he sensed it. These seasoned adventurers were definitely going to make life difficult for him.

True enough, as he stood at the quest board looking for some easy quests he could complete to move up the ranks, someone approached him with bloodlust. As an elf, it was difficult for Truen to justify his actions if he beat someone up. While it wasn't against the law for adventurers to fight each other, if an adventurer had some connections with the higher-ups in the human society, Truen could easily be framed for something he didn't do and locked away.

Thinking fast, Truen turned around with a smile and tore a quest from the board.

\"Howdy. I see that you were approaching me with interest. I'm currently on my own and need a party to do some quests. Would you like to join me on this one?\"

The warrior who was approaching Truen with the intention of roughing him up paused in surprise. The quest that Truen held up was a quest to slay some ferocious monsters lurking at the foot of Endow Hill that disturbed the villagers in the outskirts. He grinned evilly.

What an opportunity! The elf before him had to be a fool. The warrior gave his friends a side glance with a crooked grin and pretended to be friendly with the wood elf. Mentally, there was no doubt that they were thinking about how to kill the elf on the quest.

Truen smirked inwardly. The intentions of these warriors were too obvious. It was frightening how great minds thought alike. With such a dangerous quest, Truen was hoping to get rid of the pests in the name of an accident.

The two men shook hands and registered to start on Truen's selected quest. The party of five agreed to meet at the guild hall's entrance tomorrow morning to set off together. When that was settled, Truen loitered around dark alleys after the sun had gone down and left some magic signal trails so that he could find a way to contact Mitchnew the ex-assassin.

At the same time, Truen visited several Taverns to gather information about the land of giants as well as the other factions. From what the people told him, the wood elf decided that it would be best to start their adventure with Magnus Hilda. The other factions had rather complicated histories that Zero might struggle with if he wasn't accustomed to the culture on Earth.

After downing two mugs of ale and having a simple dinner, Truen rented a room at a nearby inn and sighed. For his first night as an adventurer, things weren't looking too bad. Truen looked up to the night sky after putting out the lights and checked his communicator, wondering how Zero was faring. As his thoughts drifted from his worrisome friend to his scheming party members, the archer found himself falling fast asleep and soft snores filled the quiet room.