There were a series of small stalls near the N gate, each of them had a different function but the one Hikaru needed was the one that sold low grade weapons and the ticket to enter the gate.
He entered the biggest stall
There was a beautiful young woman standing behind the cashier desk, her dark hair flowed down both sides of her face, framing it perfectly. She looked up when he entered and offered him a tight professional smile. "Hello there. How can we help you today?"
In her mind, she quickly sized him up. To her, Hikaru looked like he was one of the failed awakeners who had lost their way after the ceremony. This was due to his shabby clothes, his slightly hunched posture…
…. And his negative aura.
Hikaru was oblivious to her thoughts and he cleared his throat. "I came to purchase a sword and also a ticket to go into the gate."
The woman tilted her head in surprise and the smile on her face froze slightly. Are you an Ethereal? She asked him.
"Yes," Hikaru answered. I just awakened.
She blinked in surpised and her cheeks became slightly red with embarrassment and a little fear. Even though currently, Hikaru was a shabby nobody, the fact that he was an ethereal meant in very short time he would become someone powerful and also with a higher social status. She couldn't tisk offending someone like that.
"Of course you are… my apologies." She said quickly and gestured towards the shelves at the far side of the room. "Weapons are over there, take your time."
As he walked off, she thought to herself. 'Wow, don't judge a book by its cover.'
Hikaru went to the shelves and scanned them, looking for a suitable sword. There were many elegant looking swords that he would love to buy, however he couldn't afford most of them. In the bed he had to settle for a low level sword. It's price tag was two silver coins.
He returned to the desk and asked, "How much for the ticket?"
"Ten silver," the woman replied and glanced at the blade "Together with the sword, that would be twelve silver."
Hikaru's heart sank a little as he heard this. Twelve silver coins was all the money he had to him, once he paid now, he would have nothing left to his name.
At the same time he felt that once he entered the gate and hunted, he could sell all the loot he gathered and possibly earn much more money than he had now. This thought made him calm down and he reluctantly dropped the coins on the desk.
The woman took the coins and handed him a small stamped ticket. Hikaru took the ticket, put it in his pocket and then he tested the sword properly with a few swings. The sword was a simple one so he quickly learned to balance it.
As the woman watched him swing, she internally wondered why he hadn't rushed home to celebrate with his family like new Ethereals always do. Then another thought occurred to her that perhaps he didn't have anyone to celebrate with. This thought made her slightly sad. "Mister." She said.
Hikaru turned to look at her. "Huh?"
"Goodluck in there". She said and blew him a kiss.
Hikaru felt heat rise to his cheeks and they turned red. "Thank you". He managed to croak and then rushed out of the stall.
As he walked out he hit his pakm on his forehead and groaned. "Seriously, dude? Acting like you're never interacted with a woman before."
He continued toward the N-gate, it was a shimmering portal framed by two large stone arches… Hikaru could feel the energy radiating from it.
He handed the ticket to the bored officer guarding the entrance, and then he stepped in.
As he entered the world seemed to twist into a whirlpool of sound and light and Hikaru felt for a moment he would throw up, but then it stopped and he stepped out into the astral realm.
He found himself in a dense woodland with tall trees that blocked out most of the sunlight. Hikaru then summoned Nameless. Nameless looked around curiously, realizing this place was quite different to where he had been summoned earlier.
Hikaru chuckled as watched him. "Surpised bu the new environment?"
Nameless nodded sheepishly, he had a faint smile. "This is the Astral realm."
"Yes." Hikaru replied. "Nameless, you'll help me kill as many beast as possible, we need to get stronger and gathere many loot."
Hearing this, Nameless bowed eagerly. "I will kill every monster in the realm for you, Master!"
Hikaru laughed wearily and rubbed the back of his neck. "Uhmm.. maybe not every monster, let's just stick with a few for now"