We stopped after an hour.
There weren’t any cities between the Cathedral and Harror. Most Realms were a single city, or a city and the outskirts. Cities were built around Dungeon Mouths, and sometimes a God would claim it as part of their realm, but there really weren’t many cities that weren’t built out of necessity.
Because of the near-constant state of war, most people lived within the cities as a means of self-preservation. There were some cities, like Zeb where I came from, that weren’t part of a Realm, but those weren’t many.
There were people who chose to live in the Godless zones outside of cities, but most of those were Bandits, like the ones who had raised Rix. It made travel outside of a Realm dangerous, so it was only ever done in a caravan or with someone like Trent, who was one of the highest leveled Adventurers. I hoped that we didn’t see any Bandits just because I didn’t want to see how badly he would annihilate them.
The RV ran off of crystals, and I was sure that Trent would have a supply that would be sufficient to power it for decades. Plus, there weren’t any Crystal Brokers outside the City walls. They’d be too easy of a target for Bandits.
The place where we parked didn’t look like a stop, but there was space beside the road for the RV to fit. I had been surprised when Aelin had only been a slight speed demon. I had fully expected that she’d push the RV as fast as it’d go.
Trent looked over at the woods across the road and the grass behind us. "We’ll stretch our legs here for a while. Once we head out again, Ether will drive.”
“But..!” Aelin began
“You had a turn.” Trent nodded at Ether. "It’s Ether’s turn. Maybe you can drive if we need to go somewhere in the city.”
That brightened the blonde’s face and she began to skip beside the road.
“What are we going to be doing there?” I rubbed my chest, to ease the pain, but that only made it flare, causing me to instantly pull my hand away.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re in the sixties." I motioned at all of us. "We’re level two. There’s no way that we are going to be helpful.”
“Harror has how many dungeons?” Trent looked at Justia.
“Two.” The Brunette seemed reluctant to answer. "A Common one and an Uncommon one.”
“The All-Temple there manages the Common one, while the Dispatchers have control of the Uncommon one.” He looked from the Healer to me. "While we’re there, I want you all to get to the second floor of each.” He raised his hand. "The Cathedral takes all the newly Mantled from Zeb, then fills the remainder of the slots with newly Mantled from the five realms closest to us. The School there doesn’t have as even of a distribution, so you should be able to find a new member for your team while you’re in the dungeons.”
“We get to pick the next woman for Atlas’ harem?” Aelin was suddenly interested in the conversation.
I tried to ignore her and that had gotten a chuckle out of Trent. "I thought you had a request for another team member.”
“I canceled that.” The old man winked at Aelin. "I thought you’d want to have a say in how your…” He motioned at Aelin.
“Harem!” The Blonde laughed.
“Is built.”
Ether was smiling as well, and I already knew I wasn’t going to get any help out of her. I looked at Justia. "Justia! Can you help me talk some sense into them?”
The green-skinned brunette was staring off nowhere.
“Justia!”
She blinked and looked at me. "Atlas, sorry. What did you need?”
“A little help here.” I motioned at the smiling duo. "They want me to pick the next member of the team.”
“Harem!” Aelin corrected.
“Whoever you want.” She shook her head. "If Ether is okay with them joining, then I’m sure they’ll work fine.” She looked at Trent. "I’m not feeling well. Can I go lie down?”
He nodded, his smile turning a little serious as he watched the Healer get back into the RV.
“Is she going to be okay?” I had seen her shocked, but not distant like this.
“I’ll check on her.” Aelin didn’t wait for permission and headed after Justia.
“We should probably get back on the road.” Trent looked at Ether. "You’re driving.” He motioned for us to move. He looked at Rix, who I just realized had climbed on top of the RV and was sitting on the roof. “Rix! Time to pack up!”
The golden-skinned redhead jumped down and beat us inside.