Alex was expelled from the unusual realm, felt like he was passing through water; it was a pretty unique sensation yet short-lived as soon he found himself before what appeared to be a town. Alex quickly got up and looked at his surrounding. A town surrounded by tall walls stood before him; he was not too far from the entrance where three guards guarded an iron gate.
Walking toward them, Alex greeted them.
''Hello, I'm new. Can you please tell me what town this is?"
The first guard didn't answer, while the second glanced at the last one before sighing.
''Welcome, outsider, this the Restart town. To learn more, I suggest that you head to the mayor's residence.'' The second guard explained.
''I see, thank you. By the way, where is the mayor's residence?" Alex immediately asked another question, to which the first clicked his tongue and pointed behind him and said.
''Head straight, you will see it; it's the biggest building after passing the square. Pay the entrance fee, 20 Fame points, and scram.''
Facing the first guard's unfriendly tone, Alex only chuckled and paid the entrance fee.
Immediately after entering the town, Alex saw lively scenes like when he came to Eria.
''Oh! Finally, a new player arrived.'' A person who was probably another player shouted upon seeing Alex, immediately all eyes gathered on Alex.
Being stared at by so many eyes made Alex feel nothing; however, he noticed something from the residents of this town; they were unfriendly toward players, as for why Alex would find out once he met the mayor.
Alex followed the first guard's instruction and soon saw the mayor's mansion; it was the biggest building in the surrounding, it was painted white. Alex walked toward the mansion, he was stopped by the guard, and after stating the reason for his visit, the guards authorized him to go in.
The maids asked Alex to wait as the mayor was entertaining a guest; they would inform the mayor first. Shortly after, they came back, asking Alex to follow them, and he followed them.
Knock! Knock!
''Mayor, I have brought him.'' One of the maids said.
Unexpectedly it was a woman's voice that came from the other side.
''I see, good, let's him enter.''
Alex walked in, and the door was closed behind him; he checked his surrounding, the room was not too big, there was a round table in the middle of this room, and sitting across from each around this table was two women, one mature around thirty and the other young. Alex was able to identify the mayor but what shocked him was the other person present in the room; this person was none other than Eri, with whom he entered Exodus, normally she should have been in Luna's group but seeing her here meant that they were separated.
''You!" Eri immediately pointed her finger at Alex after discovering that it was him.
''Oh! So you two know each other? This is good. Sit, boy. I'm Celestine, the mayor of this town.''
''I'm Alex Grim.'' Alex introduced himself while sitting opposite Eri; he ignored her completely and looked at Celestine.
''By the way, can you explain a bit about this town and-"
As if she could guess what Alex was about to ask, Celestine, cut him off and said.
''And the floor, I'm right?"
Alex nodded while Eri pouted but caused no further trouble.
''I see; I will continue from where I was with your friend.''
''We aren't friends. Who will befriend him.'' Eri immediately refuted Celestine words making the latter smile, thinking that Eri wasn't being honest; she remembered her saying that she hoped that Alex and others were fine, yet when she saw him, she started to behave unusually, outsiders are fun, Celestine thought before shaking her head to continue her explanation.
''You two must have seen the hostility when you came. It's natural; we don't like outsiders.''
''Outsiders?'' Alex frowned upon hearing this.
''Yes, those who came from the outside world are referred to as outsiders.''
Another interesting word came out. Celestine chuckled when she saw the confusion written over their faces; she decided to explain things more for them to understand as they seemed not aware of how Exodus was structured.
''Let me explain this to you. Where you came from is called the outside world here, the continent outside is called the outside world, have not found it strange that such big world only has one continent?"
Facing this question, Alex and Eri exchanged glances and thought that Celestine's question made sense; back then, they didn't think deeply of Exodus having only one continent; maybe unconsciously, they thought that it was because the other continents had not been discovered yet, however, judging from Celestine words it was more complex than that.
''Let me tell you the real Exodus is this tower, the world inside this tower, each floor is like a continent. The reason why you end up separated from your comrades is that you might be sent to other parts of the continent; sometimes, there's an exception; some are directly sent to upper floors without the need to climb up from lower floors. This town is on the upper level of the first floor; by clearing request here, you will be sent to the next floor.'' Celestine explained; she stopped to drink tea served a minute ago.
''I see. We understand. Can you tell us why people here are hostile to outsiders? Could it be that one of our predecessors did something?" Alex raised a question after learning more about Exodus; he calmly drank his tea while waiting for Celestine's explanation. It didn't take long before she explained the reason behind the resident's hostility.
''One of your predecessors, a lunatic, created some dangerous after experimenting on the people here; he created a dangerous beast that only appears at night to cause destruction.''
Strangely both Alex and Eri had the same idea on the identity of this monster when they hear that it only shows up at night.
''Your mission will be to help us decrease the amount of beast. Once you complete this task, I'll give you the token to the next floor.'' Celestine's words just ended when Alex and Eri received a notification.
[Congratulations, you have received your first quest to begin your ascension.. Vampire hunt.]