The light turned out to be emanating from a window. Alto luckily, stumbled across a town. The houses were hard to see. Though they were made from some sleek wood. They also had roofs with piles of snow on top. They seemed to also have glass windows.
Now that Alto thinks about it, the town on the turtle was rather strange. How exactly did they get glass? Dismissing that idea Alto quickly opened a door leading to some kind of pub.
The large wooden door slammed on the wall. Producing a large bang. A lively atmosphere inside quickly stopped. People were drinking beer, wearing snow gear, and seemingly having a good time. There were a lot of people too.
They all turned to Alto, staring at the figure in white rags, covered in snow. Entering during a blizzard. He seemed tired. With large bags under his eyes. His breathing was somewhat heavy.
Then they all turned away. The tense atmosphere quickly turned back to normal. It seemed like everyone immediately dismissed whatever ideas they had in an instant.
Loud laughter erupted in the hall.
Alto walked up to the bar. Asking a wide bartender a question.
"Do you guys have any food?"
"Depends, do you have any money?"
The sounds of talking and laughter erupted in the background.
Alto hesitated then summoned one of his magic stones.
"We don't deal with those honey, if you want to trade it in. Then go down to the guild."
'A guild huh.'
Alto pointed to his right.
"That way?"
The bartender gave him a strange glance.
"Yes, you want to take a left at the road."
With that Alto stepped back.
"Thank you."
"Have a good night sweetie."
Alto quickly turned around and walked back into the blizzard. Waving on his way out.
The guild wasn't that far away. It was much bigger than the ball. The entrance even had two doors instead of one. Alto stared at the doors then they swung open.
"Owch."
The force sent Alto into the snow.
"Oh, sorry about that. It's hard to control my strength."
Alto looked at a massive dude with massive weapons. The dude had to be at least two meters tall. His bicep was half the size of Alto's chest. If anything, he looked rather ridiculous.
"A body builder?"
"What was that?"
"Nothing, I'll just be on my way."
With that Alto quickly got up. The strongman, was nice enough to hold the door open.
There were dozens of tables in the large room. There seemed to be a reception office at the end of it. The girl standing behind the counter, had brown tied up hair. The room itself could house around double the amount as the bar. Yet only around five people were visible. There was also a staircase leading up.
Alto gave the other people quick glances. Then approached the reception office. Her smile lit up and she asked in a calm voice.
"Are you an adventurer?"
"No, but I want to register as an adventurer."
Glaive told Alto many things about adventurers. They apparently didn't have a guild in the sky city. Though his dad went on many adventures.
It was surprisingly easy to register. Alto just had to write his signature on a card. In fact, it seemed like just anyone could register as an adventurer. Or at least as the lowest ranking adventurer.
In order to not drag down other parties there was a ranking system. Copper, Silver, Gold, Ruby, Diamond, and Master.
Parties tended to team up with similar classes.
Alto then turned in his magic stones for an exchange of seven copper coins. These coins had a castle on one side and a strange man on the other. It seemed to be an entire different currency from the sky people.
The guild, strangely enough, also served food. Most of the food cost a single copper coin. So Alto got a large hot soup.
The soup itself had noodles and all kinds of green stuff. It also had some meat in it as well. It was delicious.
Then Alto went upstairs and got accustomed to his temporary room. It had a bed on the ground. With a desk in the corner. There was a wooden chair right next to the desk. There was also a window, there wasn't much to see in the middle of this blizzard however.
Alto fell on the mattress, immediately drifting off to sleep.
—-
When Alto awoke, he took on a beginner's quest. He just had to return with three magic stones of any type. Before he left, he went to a local library. Reading a book about the local creatures residing here. Their weakness, habits, etc.
Then Alto left. The blizzard stopped last night, it was no longer snowing but the sky was filled with clouds.
Alto went in search of a strange flower. The flower itself couldn't move but it was a meter tall and could shoot beams of ice out of its pedals. It was a rather weak creature, it relied on touch in order to know where to shoot. The thing was, that if you cut their stem then they were rendered helpless immediately.
Alto found one of them and used slash on the bottom of its stem. Then dug out its stone from the head. It was rather dim.
Alto continued this then returned with five crystals. They all exchanged for a single copper coin each. It seemed like the dense ones he sold had sold for around three point five. The flowers also gave him very little xp. Less than the baby worms in fact.
Alto made it back to the village. This was much easier than surviving on the sky island. There were some powerful creatures here but Alto had no reason to fight them alone… for now.
With a smile on his face he walked across the world. He saw a little girl with dark grey clothes sitting in the snow, leaning on the back of a house. She had deep bags under her eyelids, and her skin was pale.
Alto continued walking, then he froze and looked back.
'No, no no.'
Her lips were purple and she was very skinny. Her hair was a mess. She looked like a corpse.