Two days passed since his rather important reveal, it should be pretty clear how such a thing changed the group dynamic. He expected such a thing purely due to what countless evolutions implied.

But it didn’t.

In fact, aside from occasionally aiming for stronger beasts and larger beasts to grant him assimilations, they’d pretty much stopped caring about the specifics. There really wasn’t much else for them to care about, with the exception of Mala who spent hours every day trying to analyse his bloodline whilst walking.

It didn’t take her long to separate all the constituent parts though, finding that the draconic portion comprised around 90% of the result. And her expression showed that she’d figured out the incomprehensible part about him.

“How are you even alive? There’s no way this bloodline should remain stable!” Well, she certainly hit the nail on the head.

“The natural endurance of my bloodline is holding it together… But at the cost of most natural defence, according to the Nexus. Though it should be somewhat more stable than when I hatched.” Even Raccelline understood his words enough to tell that it was a miracle he’d been born, and why the Nexus was so interested only made more sense.

However, what was strange was that Mala failed to locate the dormant Elder guard bloodline, he believed this to be a flaw in the spells she used.

“Anyway, best if you stop that now. We’ve already been seeing quite a lot of people,” Korridan shut down her walking experiments given that the port was no more than a day on foot. It wasn’t uncommon for carriages, other parties, or merchants to pass by at large throughout the day, and very soon they’d reach the port outskirts where more than a few people lived…

Avril Port boasted a population of roughly 8 million inhabitants including those in the outskirts, making it not only one of the largest ports on the continent, but one of the largest cities too.

However, such numbers make protection even more important.

Out on the ocean which often shone from sharp reflections of sunlight, not only did hundreds of trade vessels remain in the area, moving in and out of the port for servicing and movement of goods, but there was a whole system of ships moving about. The port didn’t exist solely for the merchants who made lucrative profits whilst maintaining moderate risk from such ocean trade.

Fishing boats went out as early as midnight, although perhaps it’s best to call that late, and continued leaving the port all throughout the day. The earliest returned in time for a morning market, mostly those buying the largest catches for restaurants and the like, with some using fish for breakfast meals in their households. It was far more common for such locals to purchase their supply in the afternoon though, after a day spent working.

Making use of the ocean wasn’t limited to these large vessels though, as smaller trawlers focused on harvesting a variety of ocean flora. These small boats required mobility to escape potential threats in the water and most of their crew were expert divers as well as warriors, though rarely did Bronze ranks take up such a job. They focused on gathering food, not magical plants or the like.

Such collection is often done by far more specialised groups of those from Bronze rank all the way up to Gold ranks, but their main job was to maintain some underwater patrols.

Of course, the most impressive ships were the grand ocean liners, designed to carry hundreds of tonnes of cargo between the two continents, the only way to get elven and human produce into each others’ lands for the ordinary people.

But the final group held the highest sway in the area. Great cannon ships and spellcasting platforms, built in the bay and even further out into the ocean, designed to repel all manners of threats…

Beasts were hardly the issue.

What they protected against were Messecan’s enemies who’d want the port for themselves. Each ship could single-handedly kill a mithril tier beast the size of a whale, alone an unbelievably expensive feat of engineering. And yet, the nation maintained 24 of these at the port, fully manned and active, for every hour of the day and every day of the year. The port’s prosperity could be felt by the sight of these weapons alone.

The city proper itself also featured roughly twenty-metre high walls of uniform, rectangular stone bricks, all of them a light grey with faint blue tones to give the whole structure a mellow ocean sensation. Along the walls were guards and ballistae at regular intervals, not to mention more important fortifications in the form of arrays and wizards.

It was a city defended to the point where even if a swarm of adult dragons came, beasts all reaching master tier at a minimum, they’d be able to hold off long enough for the nation’s Primordius warrior to save them. In multiple ways, this port alone received more protection than the capital city of many smaller nations.

And it was one of the sixteen or so ports across the whole continent that for ships which sailed between continents.

“Alright then, there’s not much else I can do besides looking anyway. Never focused much on bloodline magic, then again, who does?” While a seemingly innocent question from Mala, he could taste the self-deprecation in those words. She hated not knowing more than the basics on a topic, but very few in any academy poured that much time into bloodline analysis. She’d hardly be faulted for it.

Jaren had his own thoughts to mention, and as often seen didn’t hold them back. “I’m more worried about Icy than Mala’s experiments. What if someone can tell?”

As long as it wasn’t something they had to explicitly hide from Raccelline, it became a lot more common for them to simply talk aloud. This also helped Icy’s Baranot improve considerably. “Most people strong enough wouldn’t want my heart… And honestly, for most Gold ranks they’ll realise mine is useless anyway. Generally speaking.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Really? But you are steel tier… Ah, but if this is specifically your heart I’d guess it’s to do with transformations?” Jaren spoke to himself while trying to figure out what he meant, and actually did come up with an answer pretty quickly.

He gave a nod in return to confirm the guess.

Raises in mana to that of a steel tier absolutely improved his heart, but only through completion of the first transformation was it desirable to Gold ranks or those of similar power.

Before long, they reached a considerable town no more than an hour on foot to the city walls, the hundreds of homes in this place were more than enough to make it seem exceptionally wealthy amongst the places they’d seen along the way, but that was only due to many who earned a decent wage in the city not wishing to subject themselves to lives in the slums. In exchange for an hour's walk from the city, they could easily buy a chunk of land and have a home built, and after years of such practices, resulted in pretty much every town on the outskirts appearing exuberant.

However, the group wasn’t so strapped for cash that they needed to stay here, and moved onwards to the city, joining a small queue leading to one of its 10 large gates.

An adventuring party with some sort of beast companion isn’t strange in the slightest, in fact, some groups with dedicated Beast tamers might have just as many animals as humans in them, however, a lizard was definitely a less common companion… Or “pet” as some phrased it. In the end, many believed it was far more ideal to have an agile beast which reacted faster in battle.

For once they didn’t receive any strange looks about Raccelline at least, everyone made their own specific assumptions, but her fancy dress gave off a noble identity very easily.

“Two Steel ranks, two sprouts, a steel tier, and a Gold rank… We don’t get lineups like your lot very often. I’m sure you know about tracing water, and unfortunately, your dress doesn’t seem to be local so I must enforce the payments.” The group reported their own power, each releasing a bit of mana to prove each case, as the guards jotted down notes as required.

While uncommon to document everyone entering and leaving a city, it was a requirement due to the economic value of the port.

As this happened too, another guard glanced over to Raccelline swinging her legs while sitting sideways on the group’s scaled beast, he said to the young girl, “I hope the journey hasn’t been too hard for the young miss, or too boring for that matter.”

It wasn’t until halfway through the sentence that she realised the man addressed her, but even then her face remained blank in thought before her schooling kicked in and she gave a smile to reply, “It’s been fun with everyone to talk to!”

A basic reply that told little to nothing, well, it hadn’t been a breeze to get to that point. She’d been more than happy to spill pretty much everything when they first met her, and it took quite a bit of time to remind her to use the teaching she’d received.

“Some other basic matters. What are you in Avril for, and how long do you expect it to take?”

“Our main goal in coming was to charter a ship across the ocean, but how long that might take is unknown to us,” Korridan gave an honest reply to avoid any problems in the future.

Such a thing made the group a minority in the city, but news about ships was perhaps the thing every guard heard most. He offhandedly mentioned something that he imagined they’d want to know, albeit nothing classified. “I hear that some smaller Stormbreakers will be back soon, it may be a bit more dangerous, but they might be the only options in the next few weeks. Anyway, it’s not my place to pry, just make sure to visit the central garrison once a week for another dose, if you’re still here.”

There wasn’t much more to talk about as they were each handed a small diamond-shaped vial and removed the stopper to see a couple drops of fluid within. A vibrant blue like ultramarine dyes, and each swallowed it without much fuss.

The risk of a major city poisoning any adventurers, or a noble’s guards as many clearly assumed, was far too low to even be considered.

Instead, the tracing water had a very simple effect, in that after consumption it caused every soul to emit a unique ‘scent’ and made it extraordinarily easy to monitor their movements for a week or so. Obviously, when rogues who could vanish in front of your very eyes, or wizards capable of teleporting around existed, it became easier to get away with murder in densely populated areas. Although, the cost of tracing water is what stops a regular city lord from maintaining such a practice, but sometimes it happens regardless of this.

With six of them drinking it without a fuss, and their unique signals being confirmed, it only took a payment of two black metal coins to gain entry.

Roughly equal to 100 gold coins, for reference.

Though just one month of tracing water for the six of them would cost the city more than that, not much could be done. To produce cheaper alternatives of any existing product, whether medicine or general pharmaceutical, is an expensive and laborious process requiring a great supply of materials and quite a bit of intelligence. But that wasn’t the worst part, as anything produced then has to be tested on those who cannot resist the item.

So, ironically, those who could shrug off any problems with a poor product couldn’t even be used as they might also shrug off any desired benefits as well!

In any case, with the record of their arrival completed, all of them moved onwards without any hassle but now realising they had to complete a few basic things.

To ease transport in and out of the city, their current place by the wall was pretty much only used for roads and houses, although some walkways on either side existed for people walking in and out. Following the flow of people on foot, they stayed to the left side of the road which was wide enough to allow two directions of carriages at all times.

The walk from edge to centre wasn’t tough in the slightest, and before long they passed by a massive intersection where hundreds of carriages passed through every minute. Not only the horse-drawn wagons and carts, but some rickshaws and the like pulled by people, an equally slow method of transport but great if you were too lazy to walk.

Unfortunately, finding a place to stay proved a bit more troublesome in the city due to its status. Those who planned on staying long-term could rent, however, landlords were extremely fussy and required months upon months on contracts without any way of exiting early. Meanwhile, inns and the like were mostly used for a couple days before someone set off once more, whether that was out onto the ocean or back to travelling between cities.

Additionally, Icy wasn’t getting any smaller. With a body length just over 3 metres, only reducing to a still lengthy 2 metres when his tail wrapped up, it became near-impossible for him to walk into most establishments.

Keeping him in the rooms was never the issue, as just speaking a few words in Baranot allowed others to realise his intelligence, but what could they do about his giant figure just trying to move up and downstairs without breaking anything?

Rather than waste more time checking on more inns, they decided to start on their main purpose in the city anyway.

Finding a boat away from this damned place.