Scene: "Just Another Camp" – Milo's First Day
Location: Sector Six – Arrival Grounds to the Animal Holding Pen
---
Milo blinked.
He held up a handful of Mysticoins—small, shimmering currency imbued with faint magical essence, likely dropped during the morning bustle. He raised his hand and looked around.
> "Uh… anyone drop these?" he called out.
A few nearby blue-ranked Travelers glanced his way, some pausing, others continuing to sharpen weapons, chat, or eat rations under the sun-faded tents.
One person shrugged. Another scoffed.
> "Keep 'em, new guy. Everyone's taxed anyway."
> "Yeah," someone else muttered, "that's camp change. Use it to buy a stick."
Milo looked down at the coins in his hand.
> "Huh. More for me, I guess."
He dropped them into the side pouch of his gray utility coat, brushing his fingers off with a little smile. This place was definitely different. Less formal. Less… radiant than the other regions he'd passed through.
But it had potential.
---
Cut to: The Holding Pens
A small field enclosed by vine-wrapped fences and makeshift wooden stables. A few strange beasts paced—mostly horses, a few bug-eyed goats, and two grumpy grass boars.
Milo led his skybird, a massive blue-feathered avian creature with silver eyes and folded wings, toward one of the empty sheds.
His companion, Aden—the brown-haired, bespectacled teenager and party mage—frowned as he assessed the available shelter.
> "These pens are way too small. This is like stuffing a couch into a shoebox."
The bird chirped in agreement, flapping its wings gently.
> "We could ask someone to build one," Milo offered, patting the bird's neck.
Aden pushed his glasses up.
> "Why ask? It's basic stone manipulation."
He knelt, pulling a few loose stones and broken wooden boards from a nearby pile. He hummed softly and focused his sorcery, the particles lifting in the air and gently assembling themselves—stone by stone, plank by plank—into a larger pen. Nothing too elaborate, just a wider space with a shade roof and clean water guttering to one side.
The bird chirped with clear approval, puffing its feathers.
> "There. Luxury skybird suite," Aden grinned.
Milo gave him a thumbs up.
> "Thanks, man. Now we just need a sign: 'VIP Parking.'"
The others in the camp barely glanced over. A few gave confused stares—either unfamiliar with skybirds, or simply not impressed.
Milo didn't mind. He tied down the reins and gave the creature a rub behind the beak.
> "Let's see what else this place has to offer."
He turned, his eyes scanning the open fields, messy tents, rows of beginner ranks, and distant figures he hadn't met yet—like that quiet green-hooded boy from earlier. Or the stoic druid girl standing beside him.
> "Camp of nobodies, huh? That's usually where the real stories start."
---