Seated in a position reminiscent of a lotus, my brow creased, and sweat rolled down my forehead and onto the tip of my nose before dropping down onto my sheets, as the strain from circulating mana within my channels began to take a physical toll on my body, my muscles screaming in pain, and my head pounding.

Suddenly, a feeling of revitalization washed over me, forcing me out of the soul plane, and causing my physical body to shudder in pleasure.

No matter how many times my strings’ mana conductivity increased, I still felt just as much joy and euphoria as when I first restored my inactive channels.

Jumping off of the bed, I ran to, and placed my hand into the openings of a metallic orb on my desk, letting the spike within all 5 holes slightly prick the tips of my fingers, a faint, shooting pain running up my arm.

As I kept my hand on the ball, my fingertips still being stabbed by the metal orb, I intently focused, and began to channel mana from my strings into the orb.

Owned by Thalric, and lent to me, the metal sphere was a Level 2 artifact geared towards beginners that allowed for a person’s mana conductivity to be measured.

Successfully absorbing my mana, the magic circle engraved into the metal sphere’s surface began to glow a faint blue, until finally, a 17.2 was displayed in the middle of the metal sphere’s surface.

17.2% mana conductivity, an increase of 0.5% in 2 hours. Compared to the 0.6% from only a week ago, the difference was night and day.

But even still, it was nowhere near where it needed to be.

Feeling refreshed and full of energy despite being awake for the entire night, I exited my room, and stood on my balcony, anticipation mounting at getting to view Thaloria city for the first time in my life, from up in the sky at that.

As I leaned over the railing, I breathed in the crisp, yet not pain-inducing, high altitude air..

Evidently, those inhabiting the rooms below mine had the same idea as me, as they too stood out on their balconies, staring intently to the left.

“Sol!”

Looking in the direction where the voice sounded from, the waving Lunia came into view, and I opened my mouth to greet her, only for me to suddenly discover that it was impossible for me to properly formulate anything even resembling a sentence, as in the far distance, Thaloria City came into view, my jaw hanging open at the sight.

Following my awestruck gaze, Lunia turned, and so too did the wondrous, grand city shock her to the point of speechlessness.

Thaloria City was enormous, spanning dozens of miles end to end, the main, inner section of buildings itself making a 12 mile in diameter circle that was slightly elevated off of the ground.

Surrounded by an incredibly wide, flowing river, a circular, 15 feet thick, 100 feet tall inner wall, and a slightly lower 12 foot thick outer wall, other than an incredibly large and ornate bridge, the city was completely cut off from the main land. If I had to pick a word to describe inner Thaloria, I would use island-like. Walled Thaloria was incredibly wealthy, evidenced by how every building was 3 or more stories tall, adequately spaced from each other, and constructed from pristine limestone.

Beyond the walls and the river cutting the main city off, the outer city covered 10 times the space the walls enclosed, with each building 1 story tall, constructed from dilapidated wood and stone, and so close together there was little to no room for roads, nor streets. If just 1 person contracted an infectious disease, 100 men would be dead within the span of a week. On the branch of the river that actually did the separating of inner Thaloria from the mainland, thousands of vessels floated on the outer city's shores, gently bobbing up and down.

A scent of death and pestilence emanated from outer Thaloria, somehow even reaching the airship and entering my nose.

I grimaced, instinctively covering my upper lip, and looking over to gauge Lunia’s reaction, only to discover that she had disappeared, likely to escape the stench. It seemed increasingly likely that even if the entirety of the outer city’s wealth was combined, it wouldn’t amount to even 1% of inner Thaloria’s.

Though, all the thoughts in my mind faded away to nothingness as I spotted the great megastructures at the edge of inner Thaloria.

4 gargantuan circular towers, constructed from hazy white brick, stood over the inner city, their height reaching a minimum of 800 feet. At the top of each pillar was a golden spire, from which sunlight reflected off, glittering.

A dozen rings constructed from the same white brick as the towers were suspended in the sky, connected to and connecting each of the 4 pillars, each engraved with thousands of elaborate designs, though giving them a cursory glance from the sky, the engravings were more reminiscent of the pattern created by bricks’ cracking from the passage of time.

In the middle of all 4 towers stood an unremarkable, reflective crystalline pyramid that the Frosthelm octahedron would’ve been a carbon copy of were it not floating in the air, but planted in the ground, exposing only its top half.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Hearing a knock, I exited the balcony, and opened the room’s front door, being met with the smiling Lunia.

“Thalric said to pack your things,” she shouted, her excitement palpable, “He’s coming with us to explore Thaloria!”

***

Landing in the outskirts of inner Thaloria, we exited the airship, finding and checking into our lodging for the night, before beginning to explore the city, quickly growing used to the ludicrous displays of opulence and wealth.

At nearly every intersection stood statues carved from pristine marble. Created with such dexterity that they took on an eerie, lifelike quality, the marble sculptures were modeled after figures both mythological and historical in origin, and held a myriad of different golden objects, from swords, spears, bows, and helmets, to the more mundane, including but not limited to the Old Codex, staves, and even a flat, weaved basket.

Where statues weren’t erected, fountains stood instead, from which pure, uncontaminated water continuously flowed. Carved from regular gray stone, the sides were engraved with flowery, naturalistic designs, over which actual moss and flora grew.

Everyone we passed, children included, wore fine silks, most of them imported from the far Western empire through the Northern Corridor according to Thalric. Characterized by vivid, striking dyes and minute details sewn with shining golden string, stealing and selling even just one tunic would likely net me enough to purchase a good sized home in Frosthelm.

Watching Lunia excitedly run down the street, I turned to Thalric,

“Should I tell her to slow down?”

Not even needing time to think, “No, it’s fine,” he immediately responded, “But you should tell her to save some space in her stomach, we’ve got an invitation to dinner.”

I prepared to run after Lunia, before suddenly stopping.

“Why are you walking around Thaloria with us?” I asked, “You didn’t in Slyvenia, or Ebryvian.”

“Because,” he offhandedly replied, “I had business to take care of in those cities. Don’t worry about it."

Nodding in response, I sprinted down the street after Lunia, already turning the corner with a curious glint in her eye at something she had spotted.

Hearing Thalric’s message which I conveyed, Lunia nodded, before she suddenly entered a bakery, emerging moments later with an armful of freshly purchased sweets.

I took the top most pastry from her arms, and sunk my teeth into it, my anticipation mounting, only to be met with disappointment.

It tasted the exact same as the honey rolls Aurelia sold in the bakery in Frosthelm, only with a slightly better presentation.

“How much did you pay for this?”

“A silver,” Lunia answered, her mouth stuffed with bread.

Mouth hanging open in astonishment, I followed Lunia as she continued to browse the different shops, the sun beginning to set as we did so.

As we walked, the scent of metal and grease gradually grew stronger and stronger, until finally, we came upon the source, a series of blacksmithing forges.

Following Lunia, who inspected the steel wares with the same enthusiasm as she did with foodstuffs, I intentionally emptied my mind, rendering it completely and utterly devoid of thought.

If I were to be given the option, I would’ve liked to never have to see a sword or spear ever again in my life.

I knew that the path of cultivation was one fraught with danger, and that it was inevitable that I would have to come to blows with those who would seek to harm me.

Even knowing that, I pushed that inescapable fate for the me of tomorrow to prepare for.

I felt as if I earned at least that.

“See anything you like?”

Startled, I turned to Thalric.

“No,” I awkwardly laughed, “If violence can be avoided, I’ll avoid it.”

Nodding in response, Thalric entered a shop, leaving not even a minute later, and carrying a sword.

Thalric handed the blade over to me.

Opening my mouth to politely refuse, he interrupted.

“Just in case,” he smiled, “This way, you at least get to choose.”

Unsheathing the gifted steel, the blade was shorter than a longsword, while slightly longer than the short sword I’d used in Baron Elef’s army. It was completely ordinary, save for a magic circle etched into the flat side of the blade.

Mixed feelings welling up in my heart, I thanked Thalric.

***

Having changed into formal attire for the dinner we were invited to, I waited for Lunia, staring at my newly purchased sword’s leather sheath as I did so.

A “sub-level 1” artifact, it apparently cost 80 silver.

Not even surprised at his flippant throwing away of money, I asked Thalric what the engravings did, to which he informed me that when the circle was activated, it would cause the sword’s blade to be resharpened, though due to the poor quality of the catalyst, I had to channel my own mana into the circle, and the resharpening could only be done once per day, else I would run the risk of the catalyst breaking down, and thus needing to repair it.

Completely unsheathing the sword, I lightly stabbed forward in a controlled, fluid motion.

Not having a baseline with which to judge the sword’s price, I could only say that it felt good to use.

Light, but not to the point where it felt flimsy, the blade was colored metallic gray, while the magic circle was a dark, almost black, red.

I ran my thumb over the circle. Despite it being engraved, it was rounded at the edges, such that it was impossible for me to cut myself.

“How do I look?”

Hearing the powder room door opening, I looked up.

Wearing an all black colored dress, it matched the shirt and pants given to me by Thalric. Despite the dress she wore being made from silk, the air around Lunia was less one of sophistication, but more of a child desperately attempting to pass themselves off as an adult after stealing their parent’s clothes.

“Normal.”

“Good, I’m starving,” she replied, holding her abdomen, and her expression morphing into one of exaggerated pain.

Snorting at the bottomless stomach given human form in front of me, I resheathed the sword, and left to meet with Thalric before the meal.