Second Life: Welcome to Gaia

Chapter 41: Tientsin

When the light on the array disappeared, Ye Yan was already in Tientsin City. He looked around and noted that the Teleportation Hall in this city is very similar to the City of Ji, except this Teleportation Hall is almost empty compared to the one in his starting city.

Ye Yan went to the wall next to the entrance gate, on the right side. On the wall, there is a map of the city's region, showing all the locations known to the NPCs of the city. Ye Yan looked at the map, trying to memorize the city's configuration for him to find the places he needs to go later.

When he left the Teleportation Hall, he saw the city bustling with activity. There are many players and NPCs on the street, coming and going everywhere, some in front of stalls buying delicacies exclusive of the city, and many of the other items being sold.

On his way to one of the Auction Houses of the city, he passed for a stall selling fishing rods made of bamboo. He decided to buy it because you never know when you would need to use such a tool after all, and it only cost only 1 silver per unit. Ye Yan never experienced fishing. The rivers and lakes near his home are polluted and even with the new regulations and even with the government of many countries working to keep the water of rivers and seas clean, the pollutants dumped on them through many years are too much to be clean in just a few years. At least, now, people are aware of the importance of preserving water resources and stopped throwing trash and chemical in the sea and rivers.

Near the stall selling fishing rod, there is a shop selling all kinds of potions and consumables. This shop had water-breathing pills selling for only 10 silvers each, the same pill he brought from the gnome manager of the Alchemists' Guild for 20 silver coins. He knew that gnome couldn't be trusted.

He thought that buying some pills and selling them in places far from the coast later, could help him make some money. He purchased 10 pills and went to the Auction House. There, he looked for the items he needs to gather for his quest but found none. The items available in the Auction House are basically common goods that he could found in the City of Ji, except by water property' spells and skills. Luckily they are cheap, so Ye Yan purchased three units of the spellbook [Buble] and three [Water Strike] for 20 silver coins each.

On his way to the dock, he stopped by the Post Office to mail the spells to his mage friends. He spent 30 cooper coins to send three mails. Soon, the couriers will deliver the spells to his friends. Every courier has a tracking tool that enables them to find people whenever they are. Gaia has the most efficient courier the world has ever seen. They do the deliveries anywhere, except in dungeons and quest maps, and in these cases, the courier will do a second try three hours later, and a last one, after another three hours. If, after three tries, he still can't do the delivery, the player will have to get it in the Post Office of their starting city.

Afterward, Ye Yan finally went to the docks. There, he went under the wooden pier and entered the water. It was so cold that he started to shiver, but he endured it and looked around the wooden pier pillars for tunicate.

They are basically barrel-shaped sacks with two openings that water passes through and lives attacked to rocks, docks, and other superficies.

He used his Beginner's knife to kill and harvest it. They are like the mushrooms that he killed at the beginning of the game, having high health points and defense, but are immobile and can't attack.

Ye Yan's attacks, even with his fan, didn't surpass the tunicates' defense, always dealing 1 damage. Then, he used his knife to kill and remove them from the pillars.

When he thought to have harvest enough or that he could become an ice cube if he continues in the chilling water, he left the underside of the pier.

He walked in the docks, shivering, and soon started to run, trying to get warm but it proved almost ineffective.

When he was looking like a crazy person, running from one side to the other, a charitable soul cast [Warmth] on him. The spell dried his clothes and warmed him up.

He looked at the person that helped him and discovered that it is a cute kitty girl. She is not a werecat like I Love Skooma, that has a feline appearance, but is a normal girl with a pair of cat ears and a long cat tail. He thought the girl looks very cute and pretty like that but soon, he started to get worried.

[Thinking she is pretty like that make me a furry? No, no, no.] Ye Yan thought and shook his head to put the thought away.

"Thank you." Ye Yan thanked the girl for her helping him and looked at her friends after, nodding at them as a way to extend the thanks.

"It's ok. You looked like you need some warmth." She said smiling, but soon, she got red because she noticed the way she phrased it.

"Why you need to mind about this noob. Anyone knows that the water is too cold to simply enter it without any kind of cold resistance. If you try to help any idiot we meet, it will just waste our time." An elf swordsman said loud enough for Ye Yan to hear.

At the beginning of the game, the scene of people running to warm themselves was a common currency because they didn't know the water was so cold. But now, everyone in the city has this knowledge and the elf didn't though Ye Yan could be from another city because it is very rare for players to travel far away at this stage of the game, after all, most of the players are level 5 or lower. Players with a class badge on their chest are still a rare sign.

Ye Yan stared at the five players team. There is a male fighter Dragonborn, a cross-gender female doctor elf, a female archer harpy, the arrogant male swordsman elf that called him noob, and the mage catgirl that helped him by casting [Warmth].

Soon after the elf speaks badly about Ye Yan, the other members of the team look at him frowning. The guy is always too arrogant and likes to call others noob, while he is slowing people down because he is the less skilled of them and makes many mistakes that got them wiped before. This and the fact that he is always acting haughty, making them want to kick him out of the party. They have tolerated him until now because his family is close to the dragonborn's family, but their patience is running out now.

When Ye Yan was pondering about what to say because, even if the elf was rude, one of his team members helped him, the dragonborn reprehended the elf.

"Stop it. Do you need to act like that all the time?" The dragonborn said sternly.

Ye Yan could notice the dragonborn's seriousness by the tone of his voice because his reptile face doesn't have many expressions. The dragonborn is one of the races in the game known for having a poker face.

"I'm really tired of you. Because of this behavior of yours, many handsome guys are keeping away from me." The doctor elf said with killing intend directed to the swordsman elf.

"How is it my fault? You are obviously are a trap!" Elegant Sword, the elf swordsman, yelled at the doctor.

"If there is any trap here, it's you. You are a jerk that always pretends to be a good guy in front of the girls. Disgusting!" My girl, the elf doctor, yelled back and started to beat him up.

The elf swordsman really sucks. He can't even beat a doctor. Ye Yan wondered how he got to level 5 and completed the job change quest, but after observing for a while, he found out that the equipment he is wearing is top-notch at this stage of the game. He probably is a money warrior that completed his quest because of his good equipment brought by money.

"Hey! Aren't you going to stop him?" Elegant Sword yelled to Ashardalon, the dragonborn.

"Not this time. I'm tired." Ashardalon said. He is not lying, he really is tired. He is tired of this snobbish guy that is always getting into trouble. Ashardalon's mother asked him to take care of Elegant Sword in the game and he feels that he should be canonized already for having endured him for a whole week. But he is no saint and not even his mother can make him tolerate Elegant Sword for one more day.

"You! You will retreat it!" Elegant Sword said, ripping his [Party Scroll], and left. When a party scroll is ripped, the player will automatically leave the party. And, as it will not count as a friendly fight anymore, My Girl stopped hitting him or the guards would notify her, or worse.

Ye Yan never imagined that he would witness team infighting out of nowhere. But for the way that guy was acting, they are better without him.