Ball of Nothing

Zero was very excited. They had finally walked out of the forest and were heading towards the first town Zero saw on the map. Truen didn't say anything about Zero's choice and Camie explained that there was only one town near Endow Hill in the Rocket Mountain area. The town's name tickled Zero when he heard it for the first time.

On Mii's map, Little Stone Town was registered and if Zero really wanted to, he could set up a teleportation array to bring them over at once. The distance to the town was only about a day's walk but Truen was strict about it. He told Zero that he should learn to appreciate the views on a journey during an adventure and not be hasty.

"If you focus too much on getting ahead in life you will miss out on a lot that is important," the wood elf said and Zero was left to ponder over the meaning of those words for the rest of the journey.

When the travelling party finally arrived at Little Stone Town, it was already dusk. The waves guards at the gate were drunk but they still stopped the party and asked them for their purpose of visit. Zero left the talking to Camie who explained that they were travelling to Magnus Hilda but are stopping in town for the night. The dwarf looked at Camie for a while before sighing in pity.

"It's been a little while since I saw one of your kind. Too bad the plague struck hard, even us dwarves no longer go there to trade. I would advise you not to go back but if you really insist, we'll do our best to resupply for your trip."

Camie thanked the dwarf guard who then told them the location of the nearest inn that still accommodated giants. Zero didn't think that there would be houses big enough for giants but he was wrong. Little Stone Town might be small but the inn that was recommended was huge. In fact, the doctor thought that it might be a little too huge for such a small town. It was even larger than the town mayor's house and that was saying a lot.

"Good evening," Truen smiled and greeted the inn's receptionist. "I'm looking for two rooms, one for us and another for her."

All three travellers wore hoods in order to not attract too much attention to themselves even if they still stood out. Before they entered the town, Truen told them to wear hooded cloaks to look like adventurers so that they wouldn't attract the hostility of the dwarves. Apparently, while dwarves were friendly with giants, they had beef with humans and elves.

The receptionist eyed them for a while before handing them their keys for the night and showing them their rooms. Zero wondered if now would be a good time to use his vessel-customising ability and change his height to something more dwarf-like. The receptionist didn't seem to like Truen or him.

Once they reached their rooms, Camie said that she would meet them downstairs for dinner. Zero agreed and waited for Truen to change out of his dusty clothes and unpack.

"Truen, do you think I should alter my appearance?"

The wood elf paused and looked at Zero. "Why do you think that?"

Zero hesitated. He didn't know if he should talk about the judging stares he received ever since they entered Little Stone Town. Zero didn't want to attract too much attention to himself and what he thought was the least eye-catching appearance before was now no longer applicable.

"I don't want to be stared at too much..." Zero mumbled and Truen smiled. Was Zero concerned about how others perceived him? That has never happened before.

"Is it making you shy?" the wood elf couldn't help but tease. Zero immediately turned Scarlet and started hitting Truen lightly on the arm. The wood elf chuckled and took the hits without dodging because he knew he deserved it.

"Don't worry too much about your appearance. However, if you feel uncomfortable about it you can always change it. I heard that you finally got the ability to customise your appearance so you should put that to use from time to time. It might be even better for you to create a new identity with a new look. How about I introduce you as my younger sibling? People in the tavern will surely be curious and ask about us."

Zero thought about it and looked through the customising panel. Truen wasn't quite expecting Zero to change his appearance right in front of him. This time, Zero also equipped himself with a different set of clothes that Truen had never seen before.

"Z-Zero... is that?"

The doctor smiled. "I made gowns for the three gorgon sisters at Ruban x Pointes. This summer dress is something I bought to add to the collection of female clothes in case I ever needed a female identity. Don't worry, I still don't have genitals so nobody will find out that I don't have a gender. How do I look? Will I make a believable younger sister?"

Truen scrutinized the transformation carefully. Zero matched his tan skin tone and black hair perfectly. Even the shade of green eyes that Truen had was copied precisely. Truen's pointy elf ears twitched when he saw Zero's own pointy ears move in apprehension. The doctor compromised none of his previous height but that was alright. Truen was still taller than Zero. The doctor actually looked adorable with his new hairstyle. Zero had bangs and long straight hair that reached his back, framing his small elven face that made his green eyes shine brighter than emeralds.

Truen was very satisfied with Zero's quick thinking and good sense of style. "Is that a healer gown?" he asked. The gown was medieval-styled like most of the clothes worn on this side of the continent. It was made from cotton with a light beige colour. The trims at the neckline and sleeve edges were green and embroidered with yellow thread, making it look sophisticated and classy. The dress was long and elegant while the sleeves flared out at the ends, covering much of Zero's arm so that only his fingers could be seen from beneath.

Zero gave him a thumbs-up. "I was thinking of going by the name Zero Zheng who is a travelling healer. You're the travelling archer and we're friends with Camie the warrior who is on her way back to visit her hometown. How's that?"

The wood elf nodded in satisfaction. The closer they stick to their story the easier it was for Zero. "If they ask where we come from then we will explain that we travel often and just came from the border of Endow Hill travelling from Smargdas. Most of them will simply assume that we come from the Great Forest of Altear anyway."

Zero agreed. "Shall we head down for dinner?"

Truen smiled. He threw a cloak onto his 'sister' and headed downstairs.

Camie beamed when she saw Truen but paused at the unfamiliar face.

"Hello, Camie. It's me," Zero grinned and the giantess took a while to realise that the new elf girl was Zero.

They ate quickly and Truen told Camie to head to bed early to rest. Zero and Truen decided to go to the tavern to see if they could find out more information about what happened to Magnus Hilda. At the same time, Zero wanted to know if there were any maps he could get to update Mii's outdated map of Earth. Earth must have changed a lot since the last time Merlin actually visited it in person. Lovina wasn't able to help out much either seeing as she had been stuck in Half Moon village for a good while too. The land had changed a lot in a hundred years so Zero was determined to buy maps of any sort to compare it.

When they got to the tavern, Truen reminded Zero about the agreement again. "No alcohol. If you have to drink, absorb it instead, understood?"

Zero nodded and they headed inside where they would meet adventurers and other travellers as well as locals who might tell them what they wanted to know. Truen seemed a little too accustomed to being in taverns and Zero wondered if there were taverns back in his previous life that made the wood elf very confident of his conduct. In contrast, the doctor stood out like a sore thumb underneath his hood.

Zero sat stiffly at the table not touching any of the drinks or food while Truen went around to elicit information. With nothing much to do, the doctor listened to the conversations going on around him. Then, someone talked about maps and instantly caught Zero's attention. Truen was still chatting with the barmaid so Zero decided to leave for a while to talk to the group of travelling merchants. As long as he was still within Truen's hearing range and sight the wood elf couldn't complain about him doing what he wanted.

"Excuse me," Zero approached the drunk merchants. "Could you sell me the maps that you have?"

For a moment the merchants were stunned. They never expected to see a dark-skinned elf and a pretty female healer elf in such a small town. These merchants were regulars who travelled from Smargdas to Rocket Mountain to trade for weapons and ores in exchange with clothes and food products that the dwarves needed.

"Sorry lady, those maps are not for sale," the leader of the merchants apologised. "They are to be delivered to Smargdas as according to our client's request."

Zero felt his heart race. From the earlier conversation, these merchants were not just carrying one or two maps. They actually had the entire collection of maps from all over the planet including maps of unexplored forests, rivers and forests. This was exactly what Zero wanted but now that he knew they weren't for sale, the doctor had to think of another way to at least have a chance to study them and commit them to memory.

"T-then can I take a look at the maps? Just a look, I won't damage them. How much would that cost..."

The merchants laughed and the leader waved his hand. "Which map would you like to look at? I don't mean to boast but this client of us had requested for us to gather all the available maps from every region that we can find. You won't get this chance easily but if you're looking for a specific map of any dungeon then you're in luck. Since you're such a pretty lady we won't charge you for it but you'd have to have a drink with us. How about it?"

Zero hesitated. He knew that he shouldn't be drinking but after glancing over to Truen who was still busy talking and mingling with the other customers, he made his decision. "Alright. However, I want to take a look at all the maps you have. Would that be too much trouble?"

The merchant leader nearly fell out of his chair from shock. All the maps they had? They had over a thousand maps, how long would it take for the healer to look at everything? Even if they were willing to assist it was just way too troublesome.

"Pardon me, healer lady. However, I'm afraid the request that you're asking is a little bit too much for even us to handle. As I said, we have every map possible that exists so looking at even one map for ten seconds is going to be impossible to complete at this rate. We actually have to sleep early tonight and leave town tomorrow..."

Zero smiled. "That's no problem at all. I just really need to look at them, you can watch me do it and take turns sleeping. I understand that it is going to be very troublesome for you so as compensation, please take this."

The doctor passed the merchants ten small vials of clear blue liquid. At first, nobody knew what they were but after appraisal, the leader gasped and happily obliged, making immediate arrangements for the 'esteemed healer'.

Zero smiled. Who knew that the mana potions produced using the water from the Spring of Vitality will become such a popular product? With the medical golems helping, Zero was able to produce some basic items for use and for trading. Mana potions, healing potions, anti-poison potions were some of the basic potions he had in stock. The basic pills for common illnesses were stored in a separate inventory dimension that Zero created with the system's help. Unlike items stored in the inventory, the pills and medicine stored in Zero's pharmacy can automatically be crafted within the dimension to replace the preset level of stock required as long as it has the raw ingredients present that should be regularly restocked by the garden golems. That didn't mean that Talias were jobless. It only meant that they were busier running experiments for new medical formulas on Zero's command.

The merchant quickly stored the ten vials of high-grade recovery potions and ordered his men to bring out every piece of map they had to let Zero study it until tomorrow morning. They even leant Zero the use of their room and the doctor happily told Truen the good news.

The wood elf was surprised at Zero's good luck but congratulated him and told him to take care as he left. He remained in the tavern for a little longer to complete finding out about the situation at Magnus Hilda before joining Zero in his map research.