No longer laying on the floor like a weirdo, Flo is currently kneeling by the side of his bed with a horizontal piece of paper in front of him.
On the map is a drawing of the continent—Titanmere.
Each Kingdom and Empire is drawn on the map.
Currently, Flo is in the Grimsway Kingdom at the bottom of the map and is one of 5 human kingdoms.
All of the human kingdoms share the same space together.
The other human kingdoms are: the Aurelias Kingdom, the Westvale Kingdom, the Eastvale Kingdom and the Ironfield Kingdom.
Directly to the top of the top human kingdoms who were all curled into a ball together, the Grimsway Kingdom being the most northern of the five is the Flametide Empire, ruled by a draconic royal family and close allies but not ruled by the Sun Church/Cult.
The dragon empire is a more fitting name.
The Sun Cult or the Sun Church as it is called in the Empire holds most of the power and is the core of the Empire.
But the Flametide Empire and the Church use separate armed forces.
East of both the human kingdoms and dragon empire is the Noctis Empire.
Ruled by vampires though very little is known about the Empire, they have been in a long stagnant war with the Sun Cult.
Covering the biggest range lies in the west and shares a border with 3 of the human kingdoms and also the dragon empire is the Myriad Forests.
A long expansive range of thousands of forests, where many have died and trying to conquer the forests is practically impossible.
And finally, just beyond the Myriad Forest lies the Kingsfall Empire, only sharing a border with the Flametide Empire at its most northern point made up of a covenant of beasts where no king’s or queen’s reside.
Also drawn on the map, is a rather long line made by Flo, one that sets out his journey, the line from around the middle of the Grimsway Kingdom, into the Myriad Forests, into the Kingsfall Empire and then into the Flametide Empire.
Rolling the map away and leaving tucked under the bed, Flo stood up, gathered his things and left the room.
Bil noticing him leaving waved goodbye as he continued to chatter away with his customers.
Turning round the corner of the shop, he saw the same wall where the boy vanished, where now a group of scruffians took up the place.
Deciding to come back later, Flo departed from the corner.
Arriving at his next location, Flo found a gun shop.
There were thousands of guns laid out in ordered rows across the rich red shelves ordained with golden cases where the guns were set.
Not taking much time, Flo directly went to the shopkeeper.
“Excuse me, do you have a marksman rifle without a scope?”
A man with a rough voice replied:
“Yes, right this way,” he guided Flo through the shop until they came upon the target weapon.
After explaining the details of the gun such as being able to increase the power of an e-bullet by 10%, Flo wanted to buy it.
“Can I buy now and pay in three months’ time?”
The shopkeeper looking slightly fed-up agreed due to poor sales.
The bearded man had his plink (his ring) tapped against Flo’s plink.
[Currency – 6 Shards 0 Sols 0 Eclipse Shards (Owes 35 shards to Blake Hospital to be paid in 28 sunrises and 250 shards to All Gunnery to be paid within 89 sunrises)]
Grabbing the rifle and slinging it around his arm, he left the shop.
Walking along the now more crowded street than before, the large gun decorated his back.
Fine leather covered most of its parts but some areas like the barrel had the gleaming silver exposed.
Along the leather wrapping around the stock, finely knitted in golden lace is the shop’s name ‘All Gunnery’.
Diving into an alleyway, he pulls the tiny stage 3 blood core he exchanged for the previous day and eats it.
His core quickly levelled to the 3rd stage of the iron core gathering realm.
Slightly glancing at his plink’s screen:
[Realm Stabilisation – None]
Clicking his tongue at the sight, he left the alley.
In the union building, Flo was gazing at the questboard.
Hundreds of sheets of paper across a large wooden board seemed to stare right at Flo, begging to be taken.
Finding none to his liking he turned to leave until he felt a tap on his shoulder.
A boy, just a few years younger than him and slightly shorter with a not so admirable figure but not a bad body either and moderately brown messy hair along with green eyes that screamed precious.
Nothing much stuck out about the boy but what certainly did stick out was a massive halberd running up his back and a whole head above his head.
The halberd was uniquely designed, a great nab of red mixed with sparks of glowing yellow.
“Do you need something?” Flo started.
The boy only looked at Flo.
“Do you want help with that quest?”
The boy nodded.
Shifting his feet to stand alongside the boy, he read the quest paper in his hand.
It was a quest to grab the cores of the old mechs from the Aurelias Kingdom.
Simple but dangerous.
“Wait here.” Flo swiftly left the boy and went to the desk and found Emily.
“Yeeeeees,” still exhausted.
“Two things, could I take another one of those pistols that you gave me yesterday and also is that boy with the big axe mute?”
“Yes and never seen the kid before,” after a bit of waiting, Flo got his other pistol and attached the holster to his other hip.
Now with one marksman rifle and two pistols, he returned to the boy.
“Let’s go, umm—”
“Max,” he finally replied in a tone deeper and louder than you would think from someone who doesn’t talk a lot.
“Okay, let’s go max,” they set off together.
Just before leaving the city gates, Flo spotted a stand selling cups of coffee.
He bought one, tapping his plink against the wristband of the seller, and carried it in his left hand as Max stood behind him.
[Currency – 4 Shards 0 Sols 0 Eclipse Shards (Owes 35 shards to Blake Hospital to be paid within 28 sunrises and 250 shards to All Gunnery to be paid within 89 sunrises)]
Making it out the city gates, they headed to the eastern side of Greywood Forest, where the mechs were last spotted.
Balancing a coffee in one hand, whilst trampling through the shrubs, Flo attempted to make conversation:
“So, what’s your element?”
“Wind.”
“And is that big axe your innate weapon body?”
“Yeah.”
Taking a pause, Flo sipped his coffee before walking onwards.
After about 10 minutes of travelling and multiple tries at conversation, they made it to their destination.
Flo crouches just behind a bush and Max joins him.
“Hopefully, the mechs are inside that little cave where they usually are, let’s wait here until one of them comes out and when finally one comes out, I’ll shoot it and sprint where we have just walked through, the nice little open patch of space, you understand?” Max nods along.
Flo pulls out his rifle and passes his coffee for Max to hold as he steadies his gun with both hands, aiming it right at the cave entrance.
Max holding the coffee awkwardly with both hands watched in dead silence.
20 minutes later, a large almost 20ft mech steps out the cave.
The mech had already been ruined from past wars as a puppet to the Aurelias Kingdom, now abandoned and free to roam.
The metal now worth nothing covered its many wires and the large core acting as its heart.
The mech’s core wasn’t a typical life core but an artificial core and the mechs only power came from its sheer physical force.
The mech, making a few steps out of the cave, had allowed time for Flo to connect his life essence with the gun.
The blood collecting in the barrel of the marksman rifle, reaching full power in the barrel—Flo pulled the trigger.
A powerful e-bullet exploded straight towards the mech and to his left arm, blowing it into smithereens.
The mech’s head with blue eyes turned red within milliseconds and it began to charge towards the area where the bullet came from.
Flo grabs the coffee from Max’s hand and held his rifle in the other hand as he says to Max:
“Run.”
They began to sprint together, only taking a few seconds to make it into the clearing they walked through before.
The mech arrived only a few seconds later.
The three stood in a triangular shape, Max was the first to move.
He grabbed his halberd and raised it into the sky, then slamming it down into the ground, the wind essence he connected to his weapon flying straight from the impact on the ground and slicing into the mech.
It scratched the mech’s metal but didn’t destroy it.
The mech already enraged didn’t wait much longer and punched straight towards Max.
Whilst this all happened, Flo opened his plink screen:
[Innate Weapon Body – Marksman Rifle]
Flo had a little smirk on his face as his focus switched back to the fight.
As the fight ensued, Max was getting overpowered, his little body couldn’t keep up with the Mechs physical assault as it kept on punching towards him and stomping on the ground so Max could barely keep both his feet on the ground.
Flo took a sip of his coffee and raised his rifle with one hand, gathering his life essence once again in the gun.