The path to one of the larger cities was quite boring and uneventfull, as there were no bandits or monster attacks to liven up the one dimensional experience. Rex knew that most of this job would end up like this, since people were a different game when compared to the deep dungeon adversaries. Sure humanoids were much smarter and way more cunning, they worked much better in groups, and could become a single force if great enough existentional threat appeared and was threathening to end them all. In return they paid with lesser individual strenght. He will eventually find some old geezer somewhere with triple S class or something, but that would mean nothing whne compared with the deep dungeons. He was sure somewhere down there must be dragons or something similar. All he had to do was find the right dungeon that was old enough to have developed that far.
He had another goal on his job here as well, and that was to aquire information on the biggest dungeons in this region, and the depth that people had explored here. Back in Blythe he had just reached floor thirty three, and he had this weird feeling that he was very close to the core of the dungeon.There was no way he could break it, even if he could attain some insane energy by absorbing it, since he quite liked the town, and a well developed dungeon was a must for every large city to properly function.
So with his girls being well aware that he would be away for quite the while, and with nothing better to do, he once again focused most of his mental capacity on exploring the space attribute and ways he could create a teleportation ability. He had a solid referance with the gates, both the ones used by mortal races for long distance travel as well as the gates that were in the dungeon. And while similar, the two had distinctive key differences giving him a solid material to work with and theorize about. Rex figured that he needed to develop a solid skill, so he can travel around and at the same time be home at nights to entertain his women. Men gotta do what they gotta do.
In the peacefull and mostly quiet atmosphere he attained quite the progress in his calculations and theorizing and in a weeks time they reached the great city of Xian-Wu. From what he had heard, this was one of the two main trade cities in the sect-union lands. Grand ten meter high wall surrounded the city, that was encircled by dozens of fields, each growing a different crop. From sky it would appear as a blancket sewn together from countless different shaded patches of cloth. And the stark contrast between the wall and the fields gave the place a unique appearance.
Countless people entered and left the the large gates, and if the man driving the cart is to be believed, there were three more gates like this one- one on each of the four sides of the wall. It had to be noted that only three gates were used regularily, as the fourth ones, the ones in the west were used mainly by dignitaries or military, as such that side was basicly empty. Once they had reached the relatively fast moving row of people entering the city, they did not have to idle around for too long to reach the guards at the gate who were dealing with the incoming people in quite fast manner. As any group reached the guards, they asked a couple questions, if said people felt suspicious, they took a look at their cargo. Once that was done, a small toll for passage into the city, if you were not a local, and in you go. The carriage that Rex was sleeping in went through quite quickly, since they had basicly no luggage and the driver had gone through the procedure a few times. All they had to do was pay the small entry fee, and they were in.
The town showed adn entirely different look from the colorfull patched blanket that was seen outside. It seemed as if someone had gone through and colored it all in the same manner and style. Simple few story buildings could be seen along the streets, all in the same style with some light gray bricks as the base and much darker grey roof. Simple windows and doors. from cheap looking wood, someplaces it looked almost ages old. When Rex inquired about the state of teh buildings, the coachman explained that the buldings here belonged to the less fortunate, but as long as the family was not exterminated, they could maintain their right to the building, and since such families rarely rose out of their situation, the buildings would bet more adn more into disrepair, untill they half collapsed, the family at fault got fined and jailed, and finaly lost their rights, or they would keep them barely maintained. There would be a stark difference if they had entered through any other two gates that operated for general public. This side had the slumms, and the more shady elements of the city in large quantities, but the main street, that they were crossing was still relatively safe. Rex did ask for a proper introduction of the city, and the coachman did just that, as any powerfull man would eventually have dealings with the underworld- willingly or by force.
The next half an hour, he learned of the major powers and players he had to be aware in the city, and a few other important bits and pieces. Being one of the tow main trade hubs in this country, and quite a large city, it obviously had its own dungeon, and as any dungeon it had its own speciality. Blythe had the orcs and lizardmen who were the dominant species in the most of the floors, and that changed once the natural fauna was capable of overtaking and anihilating the humanoids from expanding deeper. That was a recurring theme in a lot of dungeons, but there were quite a few with no such races in them. This was one of such exeptions.
The people often reffered to the dungeon as The Den. Rex learned that this dungeon was filled with all manners of mystical monsters. Goblins, harpies, yetties, trolls, minotaurs, and all manner of monsters from mythologies of earth. Even creatures such as manticores. adn kirins could be encountered in the deeper floors. And from what he learned there are some old legends hydras roaming the deep floors. Many headed lizard like cratures with an insane regeneration capabilities, and ability to use multiple elements as well as quite hard scales and nasty temperament. But of course with the danger also comes an incredibly great possible rewards as countless alchemists would pay insane amount for a few drops of the liquid gold that is hydra blood. Even lesser variants would fetch boatload of money as the best healing and recovery potions were made from hydra blood. The regenerative abilities provided by it could instantly regenerate lost limbs and pull one away from near death. Which of the great powers would not like to move around with personal peak A class healer in their pocket. While capable, only those healers in the peak of A class or above could sucsesfully regenerate lost limbs and the like.
When inquired about any dragonoid creatures, he was told that vyverns could be encountered, close to the deep floors, but if he wanted reptilian experience, he should look elsewhere. Rex made it a point to have Eredar, or Brogni inquire about it once he returns. Dragon girl was in his to DO list, so he had better start working on that goal as well, and better sooner than later. And soon after they finaly left the slumms area. He had learned of the few families that run this city. There were three merchant families, rivals since time immemorial, or so they would like to tell, the city lords family that have been ruling the city for generations, and a couple of mercenary groups that run the slums and underground activities in the city. Luckaly, all of them were proud enough to openly wear their crests and so it was quite easy to avoid conflicts with them, if one wanted to stay lowkey and not create a ruckus. Rex had little interest in them, besides having a general understanding. He would visit a few information brokers, aquire the info he needed on some of the big sects that had quite the aggressive approach, purge them while snagging some asian beauties, since that seemed to be the majority of the population here in these lands, who would have thought - right, finalize his rune of teleportation, so he could come back here at any time, and then return home, once he had done his job. His work on his teleportation techniques was coming along nicely, and there was no way he would not try the dungeon of mystical creatures in the future, so it was a must to mark this place as a possible regular stop in his dungeon diving endevours.
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Eventually the coachman stopped at a rather nice three storry building with a sign 'Silver Coffer', and informed Rex that they had reached their destination. Rex paid the man as they had agreed, with a few silvers as a bonus for the introduction of the city and the conversations they had along the way, and entered the well maintained building. A small room with a counter and a middle aged lady sitting behind it came into his view as he entered, and he could smell a faint smell of the forest inside. He was pleasantly suprised, as it created a rather calming and relaxing atmosphere, and he enjoyed it for a few moments before approaching the counter.
"Hello there young man." spoke the lady in a rather cheerfull, but measured tone "Looking for a place to stay the night?"
"Yes mam, got any spare rooms?" Rex asked with a light smile on his face "Have to admit, it is quite a nice feeling this place gives off." he added as the woman nodded to his previous question.
"We sure do," she reponded with a light smile, apreciating the man for the compliment. Her family owned the inn and they put in a lot of effort to ensure it was as homely and nice as they could. Rex liked the place so he quickly rented a room for a week, noting that he might be staying longer, if his work will not bring him further sooner than expected, and with that he retired for the night, since it was already quite late. He spent the night relaxin and meditating on the teleportation rune, adn he felt that he would soon reach a stage of minor completion- a working rune that could still be improved and finetuned, but with a passing mark at the very least.
In the morning he left the inn, deciding to visit the marketplace and aquire some info on the information brokers in the city, then he would pay them a visit and buy some info on the big sects. He was quite sure there would be some relatively close, since such a big city would entice some large power to want to have it in their grasp to benefit from their prosperity as well. As he was moving through the market he once again thought of a revelation he had come upon during his journey here - while traveling alone was nice and all, it had a few insanely huge problems associated with it. First, he was a bad cook and there were basicly no places outside of the biggest cities that would have even earth grade food, so once he ran out of Aishas pre cooked food, he had to make do with just roasted meat with salt and pepper. He missed the delicacies that were cooked back home. The second and just as important issue was that he was getting pent up. What he had noticed was that the stronger he became, the more his libido grew, adn tha teasily explained his greed for more girls, since they could not keep up with him, and he had no desire to hurt any of them, well maybee Elena when he will be testing her progress with the succubi training, or any other of the holy whores he will aquire in the future.
He then spent a few hours roaming the markets, and inquiring some shady looking people about information brokers. Some unlucky thiefs also happened to help him out when they chose poorly and attempted to steal something from him. Then obviously failing, and to avoid some rather unpleasant permanent injuries told Rex everything he wanted to know. Thiefs did know most of the notable people in the town, due to personal connections or rumors. With his info gathering out of the way, he moved in the dirrection of one of the few brokers he had learned about. He needed that info, and the sooner he aquired it the better. He was feeling the urges to slowly start creeping in at the back of his head. 'Must be some damn horny creature, whose bloodline I have inhereted in this body.' Rex thought as he was on his way.
He spent around half an hour to reach the place he was looking for. It was a rather small two story building with some sort of redwood outer walls, rather large windows that allowed a lot of light to shine in the building, displaying a rather cozy and inviting dining hall. Above the similar redwood doors of the building stooda plaque with words 'The gourmet' in a rather stylistic writing. From what he learned, this place was run by one of the most well informed information brokers in the town, and it also was increadibly high quality restoraunt. And Rex, having spent some time away from Aishas cooking, he could not resist the possibility of satisfying two of his needs right now- both information and thirst for knowledge.
The place was half filled with people, as the place was rather expensive, and the information was doubly so, but Rex cared little for money, since he had spades of it, so he aproached a man in some sort of a butler uniform and spoke
"Would it be possible to aquire a table at this fine establishment? I have heard some rather flattering things, and would like to confirm them myself." The butler looked at Rex, inspected him for a second, and noticing that he wasnt wearing overly expensive clothes, as most other patrons did, he deemed it necesary to forewarn this possible guest of certain truths.
"My apologies sir for the possibly rude question, but I must ask it regardless, seeing as your attire do not inspire confidence, but you are aware that our establishement is of the highest quality, and as such, both the dishes and the prices match that description."
Rex, understanding the meaning of the butlers words, pulled out of his storage a few platinum coins, placed them in front of the butler, and spoke
"Then use this as the innitial wallet for my orders, and if more will be needed, I can just as much as necesarry." Understanding that he is dealing with one of those rich and obscure masters, buttler bowed gracefully, and spoke.
"My apologies for the rude question, but it is my job. Please, follow me" then he gestured for Rex to follow him,and soon Rex was seated at a rather nice corner seat, where he was soon aproached by a lady that served as a waitress. She handled Rex a rather well decorated and neat menu, that he spent a few minutes looking over and ordered a few meat dishes to enjoy. As he finalized his order he also added
"I might also have a need of the other service mister Falcon offers, so if you could be so kind as to inform him, I would be gratefull." The waitress noded and left with his orders.
Rex had to wait a few dozen minutes, that he was leasurely enjoying while keeping his brains active and busy with all maner of theoretical calculations, enjoying a wery refreshing and light snack he was provided with to rouse his apetite for the main course. Soon his wait was over, as the waitress serving him brought over a very enticing piece of steak that was lightly seared, and between rare and medium in its texture. Rex calmly enjoyed his meal and he had to admit it was indeed magnificent, and if he had to compare it to Aishas earth grade steaks, he had to admit, the chefs here had more experience, but they were not wolfkin. There were some aspects that his cheff could enchance better than the masters here. Still, overall this place had teh superior earth grade dishes for the time being, but in a few years time he was sure his sweet master of kitchen would surpass them.
Once he was done with the steak, another dish was brought over. These were nicely rasted ribs with some sort of sauce and what reminded him of potatoes with additional greens. This dish too he enjoyed quite well, and had to come to the same conclusion. He would have to take Aisha with him on a special horizon expansion journey, to allow his wolfkin to expand her knowledge and improve her skills. Once he was done with the second dish, he smiled at teh waitress as she aproached, and thanked for the wonderfull meal, asking her to give his thanks to the cheff as well. Then, once he had paid for his meal, what in essence was the waiter bringing him the leftover money from what he had innitially left with the butler at the door, he asked if it was a custom here to thank for the servive recieved by leaving a small bonus for the people that he was served by, and with a sligh blush from the waitress and positive nod, he left a few more gold coins, and after that was asked to follow another staff member, since their master had agreed to recieve him, and listen to his request.