"What's this? A city tax? I thought there were no extra taxes in this city! That's what the fight arena is for... What's going on here?"

Sia turns to me.

"The citizen tax is standard. It's only business owners and city officials that are exempt from paying it. However, even for visitors, it's not mandatory. The tax can be avoided as long as you leave the city before the local time hits midnight. Whatever wall you're standing in, you'll get taxed 1 credit of that specific coin."

Max sighs and replies under his breath.

"It's another one of Valor City's new rules..."

He leans in closer.

"They've really been cracking down since last year. There was a big shift in the way the Royal Guard protected this city. It seems like every year they want less and less people coming closer to the inner walls. This tax definitely keeps people away."

Ace talks for the first time in a while.

"I agree, the guards have been getting way too close for comfort in the last few months especially..."

He pauses, staring up at the shimmering purple and white lights for a moment before speaking again.

"You know what? This all started when Monk beat the first stage 7 monster. I don't want to point any fingers, but I never even saw a single guard pass the platinum walls until then. Now they're watching matches in the silver gates."

Sia laughs and responds.

"It's true, but you weren't even a fighter in the ring at that point; were you really paying attention to all this?"

"Hey, I was studying the arena for a while before I entered..."

He crosses his arms and sits back in his seat, fading out of the conversation again.

I speak up.

"How strong were all of you before you started fighting in the ring? You're all pretty young at levels of strength most could never dream of achieving."

Max replies.

"I could ask you the same thing."

He smirks and continues.

"We were all under level 400 when we started; we could hardly pass the 4th stage. Sia and I started around the same time, then Ace joined from the crowd like one of the newbie fighters we saw in the ring today and rose through the ranks pretty quickly."

I turn to Ace, expecting an eye roll or a snarky comment back, but he's checked out. The swordsman either doesn't care or really wasn't listening to Max's remark.

Max continues.

"There are no dungeons free for public use within over a hundred kilometers from here. I grew up in one of the villages near the border of sector 1 and sector 2. It's easy to grind levels and make money from the unregulated dungeons out in the wilderness, but not many of the smaller village dungeons ever pass more than level 200 or so for mobs. It's known that if you have the talents, you have to move to Solara and use their dungeon hub to reach your full potential here in the dark continent. Everyone that passes level 300 has trained in that hub; it's well known."

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I nod, replying again.

"So why aren't there any public dungeons here? Wouldn't it be in the city's best interest to let people farm them? Just using the monsters for the fighting ring seems like a pretty wasteful use of materials and energy."

Max shakes his head.

"It used to be that way. The mountains this city was built on used to be inhabited by farmers, miners, and hunters that respected the land and many men like my father got wealthy off the rich resources."

I reply, remembering what he said earlier.

"Then you said a mercenary guild came in and took over?"

"That's right. Some businessman from outside the continent came in and teamed up with Sector 2 and waged war on the monastery atop this mountain, and took control of all the dungeons and raw resources. Instead of the people in surrounding villages getting resources at premium prices, for the last decade everything is farmed solely by the Royal Guard, and all resources are shipped off to Sector 2 to be crafted into magic items and gear, sold around the world, even outside the dark continent walls."

My eyes widen at this statement.

Unless they have a team of craftsmen working under the Sector 2 leader, my recent escapades may have unknowingly halted an ongoing multinational trade deal.

I gulp, but keep asking questions as Max pours out the final bit of alcohol from the table's 4th bottle.

"Okay... this is all starting to make a bit more sense. The only thing that confuses me is the monastery you keep bringing up. What is this?"

Sia slips into the conversation to answer this.

"It's where Monk lives, I'm sure of it."

Max laughs at her remark.

"Yeah, yeah. I've never actually seen him go in that place, but it would make sense."

I raise an eyebrow.

"What place, what do you mean?"

"There's a huge temple in the Platinum District. It's on the opposite side of town to the auction house. People say it's the remnants of the old monastery that stood on top of this mountain before the walls were put up, but I was too young to remember what it even looked like."

He shrugs, then we clink our glasses together and take a final drink for the night.

The conversation shifts back to what gear they'll get tomorrow morning, or where sales are for collecting mana potions so they can all work on their mana control training like usual before the matches. Then it just falls back to friendly arguing over who is going to beat the 7th Stage first out of all of them. Even Ace joins back in to duke it out.

A long time passes as I ponder to myself about the information I just heard.

The deeper I dig into this, the more complicated things are beginning to become.

Max finally is the one to let out a long sigh and pull up a blue text box on his wristband status.

"Alright, it's starting to get very late. I say we turn it in for the night. We have to be well rested for the big matches tomorrow."

At the click of a button, the slender white-haired woman that greeted us at the door appears from the darkness surrounding our booth with a thin smile. Her soothing voice replies to the summons.

"I'm glad you all enjoyed your meals here, please follow me; I'll gladly escort you to the resting quarters if you wish to spend the night."

The three of them all stand up from the table and stretch their bodies before following the woman, so I decide to do the same.

We walk to the back of the restaurant, leaving our table behind. There are a few customers still finishing off drinks, smoking, and relaxing as the calm music continues to play in the background. However, almost 90% of people have left for the night.

The white-haired woman brings us to a black staircase. As she moves her foot onto the first step, it glows light red to illuminate the walkway. Every step upward lights up red under her feet too, and the lighting slowly fades after she makes it a distance away from it.

We all follow up and are given access to separate rooms with a large comfortable bed along with a shower and a view of the city. There are paintings on the walls and everything is accented in black red and gold to keep the theme of the restaurant.

The woman that brought us upstairs leaves as fast as she came, speaking the same final line as the bedroom door of each of us closes.

"Please notify us from your wristband if you wish for any further goods or services. Your Premium membership extends until tomorrow at noon."

The air in the room feels just as rich with mana as the restaurant below.

I look around for a moment, scanning the walls to make sure there are no listening or recording devices present. Then, once I'm content the place is clear, I take a long hot shower and go to bed with all the new information from tonights talk on my mind.