1 Delightful beginnings

"You're not strong enough to fight in those you know that Sonza if you go to that stupid tournament you'll either die of injury or embarrassment" Sonza didn't even bat an eye at what his mother said instead he was basking in the glow of the 4 suns he had just received word of a tournament where strong contestants will fight waves of monsters for money and glory Sonza has a record for the most near death experiences in tournaments such as these but it's never stopped him from selling even his own bed to pay for the entrance fee he has become a bit of a popular character among the towns and villages not far from moonlight city the place sonza and his mother run a noodle shop and where the tournament is being held sonza looks at his mother one last time and finally acknowledges her "I'm gonna borrow a knife from the kitchen" without giving his mother a second to think Sonza was in the knife drawer and retrieving his trusty knife this knife had nothing special about it just a small butchers knife but to Sonza this was a treasure he killed his first monster with this knife and hasn't used a different blade since he looked one last time at his mother with an expression of guilt before running out of his house and towards the market district where he would be able to purchase a ticket for entry Sonza had finally seen a familiar face after several minutes of walking he ran up and hugged a large woman with a broad stature "SONZA how have you been I've been away on an adventure and haven't gotten to see you still trying to participate in tournaments are we" she noticed the knife on his belt and ambition in his eye "yes I have faith this one I will win don't you worry a tiny bit after all of you're in town I can relax I'll be safe as long as I can call out to you Akita my goddess" her faces turned a pinkish red at Sonza's statement she was used to his way of acting around her but she still got embarrassed when around her friends or party members finally sonza let go and started to walk off before an old lady seemingly apart of Akita's party stopped him with her hand she had a surprisingly strong grip for an old woman and her eyes were a unique shade of purple unlike any Sonza has seen everyone else in Akita's party was surprised as well but didn't question for now as the trusted this woman with their lives previously she simply smiled and said a few words in a language Sonza had never heard before and then simply let go and waved him on.

After several minutes of walking Sonza finally arrived in a booming region of the market district full of people selling and buying equipment for the approaching tournament Sonza had no money and thus no interest in buying but he did however have several baubles to sell so he walked up to a shop he's been to many times and rang the bell and just like always a small gnome walked up some stairs behind the counter and approachs with a happy look on his face "Sonza my boy what have you got for me today" Sonza had a look of excitement and cockiness on his face as he pulled out an entire ring made of silver the gnomes eyes widened Sonza however was shocked just as much as the gnome instead of behind happy to sell the jewelry he instead was shocked "what I never got this where did this come from?" Sonza only had a couple scraps of bronze and copper to sell never would he have had a silver ring he's never had such an expensive item on his person before he instinctively put it on to see how he would feel with such a lavish item on the gnome simply asked "boy do you want to sell that or keep it I'm gonna tell you the truth right now I don't have enough funds to purchase that so you'd have to find someone else" Sonza's Eyes's started to glow causing the gnome to be taken aback and become confused as to what's happening Sonza's eyes stopped glowing as quickly as it started and he looked around after regaining consciousness he didn't see the shop he remembered instead seeing a weird text over everything with a description about them which was new but what was even weirder was the "HP" gauge and "MP" bars in the top left of his visions no matter where he looked they stayed this caused the gnome to stare as Sonza just whipped around looking at everything in the shop as long as the ceiling and floor as if they were the most expensive things ever Sonza definitely finally lost his marbles after a few minutes of scrambling around he eventually calmed himself and assumed his excitement was going to his head instead he took out the scraps he had and sold them for around 15 copper pieces leaving him 5 copper to keep after then tournament entry fee he was most excited about this as he actually had money to buy something for the tournament he didn't have enough for a sword or even a piece of wood but this gnome had a special list of items he sold for an extremely discounted price due to them being stolen good of course Sonza just assumed he was nice and didn't think he had stolen these items "hey Jericho I wanna buy a healing herb" the gnomes simply nodded and reached under the counter for a small tube of pink liquid "this is a watered down extract it's more effective then a plant but it also taste like a hookers ass after a whole day of work" Sonza simply handed him the money and took it his excitement stopped him from being able to care about the flavor or the fact that it was watered down