Eros stopped and wrapped up the meats from the plates in a waxy paper he had in his bag. He pressed each paper with a tiny stamp from his bag. Then we took the first door out of this room of the ruin.
I took a single step through and was greeted by bird song. Wind made the branches above dance. It seemed to be late morning. My hand flew to the hilt of my sword as I swiveled and took in the area.
It appeared as though we were outside of the ruins — far away from the doors.
The others seemed to stumble into reality behind me.
“We’re out? That’s it?” Eros asked. “Lost my bow just for this. There wasn’t even a single treasure chest!”
“We might still be inside of the ruin.” I said.
“We didn’t get a notification that we left the dungeon.” Poppy said, seeming to agree with me. She scanned the area.
“I didn’t get one until I left the area around the ruins the last time.” I said, though I remained on guard.
“You think this is another test?” Anna asked.
“Maybe.” I replied. Then I hesitated. “It could be that we were meant to kill more of the creatures to go farther.”
I looked back at the ruin.
“Then we should come back with better gear.” Poppy said.
“Just that one creature nearly killed us! Did you not see the things behind it?” Eros hissed. “We should turn this place in for the gold its worth and be done with it.”
“What do you think?” Poppy said, turning to me.
“I don’t think… I have enough time to run through the dungeon again. And Eros needs a new bow.”
“Then back to town.” Anna said. “We can make it there by nightfall if we get moving.”
We headed up the mountain and away from the ruins. The notification of leaving the dungeon did appear as we crossed the boundary around the ruins. Then we moved past the goblin camp and down the road.
“What kind of city are we heading to?” I asked, once the tension of the dungeon was left behind. There was a nervous excitement of a completed job between us.
“Spearpoint. The safest place around for miles. Not the most developed city in the savage expanse, but…”
“There’s running water!” Anna practically shouted. “I can’t wait to take a hot bath. I feel like that black sand is everywhere on me.”
Anna rubbed her shoulders dramatically. Despite the calm attitude the ground carried, their faces were sharp, scanning for danger in the woods.
“The city is built like a fortress.” Poppy continued. “Holding back the monsters in the wild. The gates stand open and always guarded. Its the largest settlement this deep into the expanse, home to hundreds of Trailblazers carving their way into this continent. Business contracts for rare goods to be exported are constant. Security work is available plenty. The city is working on expanding a second wall to create more farmland.”
“And there’s no fresh fruit!” Eros said. “The meat is great. But gamey.”
“Does the city have vertical farms?” I asked. “Or just flat ones? It can’t be easy to take out the swathes of forest for farmland.”
“Vertical farms?” Poppy asked. “Do you do that with magic… how does that work?”
“We build a series of shelves. It’s a recent thing. Our agricultural college developed them because of Sandgrave’s lack of access to agriculture.” I started to explain how we produced food.
Poppy gave me a bevy of technical questions that informed a huge background in agriculture. Her own family evidently traded in food and agriculture. It was a hard thing to be uninvolved in for any territory at a certain scale.
The unique circumstances of Sandgrave seemed to have created a lot of innovation Poppy was unaware of. She discussed their own agricultural colleges, which set me thinking.
“So, anyone in this world can gain levels?” I asked.
“Anyone and almost anything.” Poppy said.
“So there’s no mortal underclass? There are high level members at your colleges?”
“Of course there are.” Poppy said, brows furrowing. “High level scholars. But our society is very stratified. Not as much as yours, I take it? Do you call all unleveled people mortals…? Or just those without combat classes?”
I laughed.
“We don’t have levels.”
Poppy’s head swiveled back to Eros and then to me. They must have talked last night.
“Very, very far away. I won’t pry.” Poppy said. “We all have our own secrets.”
“You share a lot of them.” I said.
We stopped for lunch after almost six hours of walking, eating a meal by a stream. Eros refilled his water out of it.
Eros frowned, holding the broken remains of his bow as if he could piece them back together.
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“Won’t be worth the repair price!” Poppy said.
“I know, I know.” Eros replied. “But I liked this bow!”
“Maybe the bowyer can make you something better.”
“It was with me for five levels. Let me grieve!”
“Then you got its value out of it already.” Poppy replied.
After a rest for sore legs and empty stomachs, we continued our trip. Another six hours brought us closer and closer to the city; the roads became wider and wider, even giving way to mud. The treeline thinned; everything here had been cut back sometime in the last few decades. The growth of the trees was all new until it thinned enough to see the city far below.
The sound of ringing bells could be heard from this far away despite the city being so small on the horizon. Farmlands sprawled out around the city. Smoke signals burned from both the city and the watch towers around it.
No one worked the fields. Animals and carts were abandoned or overturned outside the city. Large patrols of men and women in armor circled the city. A river flowed down the mountain opposite our own and under the city’s walls. Tons of housing was pressed up against the city’s wall, spilling out of the city. They were dead quiet and empty.
“What the hell?” Eros asked.
“Those are the city watch’s emergency bells.” Poppy said, staring out.
“There’s no fire in the city. Not enough smoke.” Anna said.
I reached out and sampled the qi in the air. It was hard to discern the many flavors and concepts tied to it; the elemental qi’s were the most plentiful. Metal and earth and life suffused the air; there was nothing akin to smoke or death, or even the rabid hunger of beasts that would signal a spirit-beast horde.
“If something has the guard this kicked up, we should be inside the city and not out here.” Eros said. He didn’t stop and wait for anyone to reply, stomping directly down the hill and toward the city.
We followed behind him.
The guard at the door snorted at Poppy. She stepped ahead of us without any comment, threading between us to take the lead.
“What’s going on?” Poppy asked.
“Trailblazer team spotted a level three-hundred monster a few miles north.” The guard’s eyes passed over the rest of us. “Report in if you’re looking for standard pay. Days guard pay is all that’s on offer.”
The city gate was open despite guards posted both on the outside and inside. They seemed ready to close it at a moments notice. The streets of the city were packed with people; farmers trailed mud over cobble. Most of the buildings, especially here near the edge of the walls, seemed new. Half-finished construction was practically everywhere.
“Move, move!” Someone shouted as they crossed the road, bringing a wagon loaded with lumber and bricks through the throng of people who wandered aimlessly.
Most people moved out of the way for Poppy — dressed as she was in full plate mail.
We carved a path through the city — the group I was with seemed to know exactly where they were going, taking turns and twists through tight alleys to navigate around the crowd. Thatchers tied down straw roofs above us on unfinished buildings. The city felt like it was growing faster than they could build.
The roads grew wider and emptier.
“Almost there. Bath, bath, bath!” Anna said.
“This is only a day trip.” I said. “How long were you guys out there?”
The sun was only now descending in the sky.
“Just two days tracking the goblins down.” Poppy said as she led the way into a back entrance of a building. The door opened into a cramped hall flooded with voices. The scent of food and alcohol practically assaulted me.
The noise drowned out any further attempts at communication. Everyone raised their voices louder to communicate in the cramped foyer. Behind a counter, clerks ran back and forth, taking paperwork and discussing with angry looking warriors.
Poppy shoved people out of the way, practically throwing one man aside before yelling to get a clerks attention and throwing a bag of rotting goblin ears on the desk.
I tried to listen in to the dozens of conversations around me.
“…golem the size of a mountain…”
“…only a silver a day to guard the wall!”
Then Poppy was done at the counter, carrying a bag of silver coins and shoving her way out the other door.
“We should’ve gone around again!” Anna shouted over the crowd that was lined up in the front of the building. I threw a look over my shoulder at the building.
A giant, crude sign spelled out TRAILBLAZERS above the door.
We had to elbow and shoulder our way through the crowd outside, but it immediately thinned beyond that. After two alleys, it was as quiet as cities got.
“So.” Poppy said.
“NO!” Anna and Eros practically shouted at the same time.
“They need the help!” Poppy .
“Do we at least have time for a bath?” Anna asked before groaning.
“What did you sign us up for?” Eros asked.
Poppy turned and gave a pained smiled as she threw the door open into an inn. At first, I had mistaken it for a tavern. Only a few drunks sat in the darkened corners, most of them asleep.
“Messenger duty!” She said.
“Escorting!?” Eros practically shouted, earning an offended look from the giant, burly man who was currently cleaning the counter.
I used [Identify] on him.
[Pence, Level 15 Barkeep]
The old man grunted as poppy walked up and threw a silver coin on the table.
“Only get one room for this. Don’t have enough.” The grizzled old man said. “Can feed the lot of you, though.”
“Does the room come with a bath?” Anna asked.
The old man grunted.
“That’s extra.”
Anna stared pointedly at Poppy who threw another coin down with an eyeroll.
The old man grunted and pulled a key from behind the counter before passing it over to Anna.
Then Poppy led us to one of the tables and sat down. She turned a bag of coins upside down.
“Just silver? You didn’t report the…” Eros looked up at Poppy questioningly.
Poppy shrugged, rearranging the coins. It seemed like they didn’t want to talk about the ruins here. I threw nervous glances at the door.
This entire city was full of warriors. It was like a cultivation tournament was happening here. There were rarely any cultivators of the second realm in the whole of my territories.
With these peoples levels, they should be around equal to a level twenty.
“Something wrong?” Poppy asked me.
I had been staring at the door.
The bar keep had retreated into the kitchen. I could hear him adding fire to the wood.
“Are all Barkeeps so high level? Shouldn’t everyone in this society be… strong, if so? How does the government maintain any control?”
Poppy laughed.
“There’s not really a government here. This is Spearpoint.” Eros said. He looked bewildered at me.
Poppy pushed a pile of thirty coins out from the rest.
“This goes to replacing Eros’s lost equipment.” Then she began to divide the rest of the coins.
“Non-combat classes don’t get as many stats. They get more skills instead.” Poppy said as she continued counting the coins. “Do you want to come with us?”
“For messenger duty?” I paused. “I don’t think I’ll have the time. What does it entail?”
Poppy shrugged.
“Spearpoint is the only city for miles around. But there are dozens of villages and settlements. A few hermits, too, living far out in the woods. The Trailblazers record all their locations. When a monster like this one is roaming, messengers go out to evacuate the villages and protect them on their way home.”
“From smaller things like goblins?” I guessed.
“Yes. We’ll be heading out right after we’re done here.” Poppy said.
She pushed a forth of the remaining coins into Eros’s pile.
“You better go grab a new bow.” She said.
There were only twelve coins left after. She pushed four toward me.
The inn’s owner brought out bowls of meaty stew. I dug in.
Eros stood with a groan, scooping all the coins into his bag. He left his other bag of supplies on his seat before walking out.
It was just Poppy and I after I finished the meal. The sun set outside, but the city was still crowded.
“So, Eros was saying that you had an interesting story about where you were from.” Poppy said.
She must have read the discomfort in my facial expression.
“No, wait. I’m not going to ask where you’re from. Especially not in the middle of a city. I just want to know…” Poppy leaned forward across the table. “This Void Fist skill I got… it’s Old Magic, isn’t it?”