On a spacious terrace, accompanied by the magnificent view of Niamaris, Ethan and Michelle were waiting for their orders to arrive. Most of the tables in the establishment were full, and the people who dine in it were mainly young and high-spirited, causing a zestful background.

Ethan gazed at the biggest free city with people walking on its streets and flying on its skies. It had the same chaotic vibe as Ehrendil, but it was lacking the subtle order the other managed. Though, in order to tell which one he liked most, he needed more time to live in them. Opening his [Void Mute], he covered their table and gave his attention to Michelle. ‘’So, tell me how have you guys been? Have our fellow earthlings started to adapt? Are there any plans for the near future?’’

The barrier of the [Void Mute] was barely recognizable when one checked it with [Mana Sense] intentionally. But Michelle still noticed that his voice sounded rather weird and raised an eyebrow. ‘’What kind of skill is this? What does it do?’’

‘’It’s called [Void Mute]. For now, it only blocks sound coming in or out. Someone with a high tier could still ignore it, but I’d know when the barrier is breached.’’

‘’Impressive! I’m guessing they don’t sell this kind of shit openly?’’ she said and pursed her lips with Ethan’s nod. ‘’Well, much has happened since we settled in this city. People certainly started to adapt, but I don’t know if that’s a good thing. At the start, we were all frightened by being exposed and losing Ani’s help, which caused all of us to be united and work together, but now, everyone found something they are good at and started to question if it was good for them to stick with our group. After all, going back to Earth is not an option for the near future, and even if it was, I don’t think many would.’’

Ethan listened thoughtfully. He didn’t really care about it, but still wanted the best for the people of Earth. ‘’Doesn’t Leo give you enough benefits? Holding the group together with only sentiments and ideologies would only work for so long.’’

‘’The benefits we got are the same as any other mercenary groups,’’ Michelle said, shaking her head. ‘’And he started to focus on the locals even more. A month ago, when Daniel got into trouble with the locals, Leo did nothing to help and said it was a punishment for his foolishness. Everyone knew that it was an excuse, that he was scared and didn’t find it worthy to fight for Daniel. The poor guy is still in prison for something he didn’t deserve. Because of things like that, everyone started to talk about how pointless for us to be still together.’’

‘’Yeah. That ship won’t go far with a captain like that. Don’t you have other people who are worth following?’’

‘’Not really. In this world, someone worth following must be strong as well. Leo has high-grade talent and he is a damn good fighter. In our group, we have only two top talents if you include Pete. Pete works really hard, and after this hunting trip he should also be tier-3, but he isn’t really cut for being a leader.’’

‘’And the other guy?’’

Michelle gave a mirthless chuckle. ‘’It’s our blacksmith, Abraham. He is still in the Niamaris. I’ll introduce him to you soon, and you’ll see why he can’t be an option too.’’

‘’Oh? Is he any good? I also need black–’’ He stopped himself and removed the [Void Mute] before looking at the corner of the terrace where a bunch of young people were talking loudly and some of them even peeking at their table. His [Mana Sense] managed to catch some of the talks.

‘’Stop it, Jason. He looks dangerous,’’ the blonde girl warned her tier-4 friend anxiously.

‘’I told you, he is only a peak tier-3. I don’t believe his barrier could block my rank-2 [Mana Sense]. We’ll soon know where this brat came from, and whether he’s going to be a problem for you or not,’’ Jason said with a confident smile and turned his attention to their table once again.

Ethan locked his gaze with him. A [Shadow Spike] as small as a toothpick rose from inside his sleeve, traveled through a [Fabric Tear], and stabbed Jason’s neck gently. It was just strong enough to draw a few drops of blood and disappeared right after. Then, he offered a sunny smile with a frivolous wave.

Jason’s eyes widened with horror, and he jumped to his feet, his hand holding his throat. When he saw the blood in his palm, his face paled and without saying anything, he hastily left the place. Everyone at their table noticed this and ran after their friend, not sure if his injury was serious or not.

Only the blonde girl stopped by Ethan’s table and bowed deeply. ‘’I’m terribly sorry for my friend’s behavior. It was extremely rude, please forgive him.’’

‘’No worries. I gave my warning. What happens next, is up to him.’’

The girl stood straight and sighed in relief. ‘’I’m sure he won’t do anything stupid. I’ll talk to him again. Um, did you come here for the competition?’’

‘’Competition? Not really. What’s that about?’’

‘’It’s, ah, it’s called Double Moon,’’ the girl said, as she started to play with her hair locks. ‘’Every time the moons overlap, which is a week from now, all of the free cities hold a competition for their youngsters. This time the host is Niamaris, and people under tier-4 are coming from every other free city to participate.’’

‘’Oh? Interesting,’’ Ethan commented before turning to Michelle. ‘’Did you know about that?’’

For some reason, Michelle’s eyes were radiating excitement. Only after hearing that, did they dim a little as she rolled her eyes. ‘’Of course, I do. I live here.’’

‘’What’s the prize?’’

The blond girl answered with fervor. ‘’They stopped giving rewards centuries ago. The chance to bring our families honor is more than enough. Not to mention, if someone with a poor background manages to impress others, he or she could get invitations from the big families.’’

Ethan stared at the girl, speechless, while Beet, who was sleeping all this time at the corner of the table, opened one of his eyes, causing the girl to flinch. ‘’This is my friend, Beet.’’ He introduced, gesturing with his hand. ‘’He is saying, the tournaments are lame, but the ones without any prize are just stupid.’’

‘’Is… Is that so? Uh, hi, I’m Candice,’’ she said, raising a hand warily.

With the message delivered, Beet closed his eye again.

Michelle sent a sympathetic look toward Candice. ‘’I’m Michelle, and this is Ethan. Don’t mind him, he is new around here and doesn’t know much of the traditions.’’

‘’No, I don’t mind at all,’’ she said, shaking her head, and saw that the waitress was coming over with their dishes. ‘’I should get going. It was nice to meet you. If you come to watch the tournament, we can talk more; I know most of the participants.’’

‘’It’s a deal. I might check it out,’’ Ethan said. Lame or not, that’s a perfect place for Ani to gather some data about skills.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

With Candice gone, Michelle turned excited once again. ‘’Tell me, how long are you planning to stay in the city?’’

‘’Not sure, a week or two maybe. Why?’’

‘’I just can’t wait to see the look on Leo’s face when you cause more trouble,’’ she said with glee.

‘’Hey, what do you mean by me causing trouble? It was that guy who caused it.’’

Michelle laughed merrily. ‘’That was exactly what I said about the bar fight.’’

The waitress filled their table with venison steak, bacon chips, baked beans, salad, and many more foods. All was suggested by Michelle and mostly ordered for Ethan. As the server left, Ethan opened his [Void Mute] once again, and they started to eat.

Michelle extended her hand slowly to grab some bread near the sleeping Beet and managed not to disturb the evil prince. ‘’So, you can speak with… Beet?’’

‘’Sure I can,’’ he answered, nodding. ‘’He is also rooting for you and Jasmine. If that’s what you’re wondering.’’

Michelle’s grab on the bread got tightened as her ears turned reddish. ‘’I’m not going to hear the end of this, am I?’’

‘’Not a chance,’’ Ethan replied with a grin.

After eating to their fill, Ethan asked Michelle to bring him to Abraham to sell some of his stuff and order a dagger and armor, but Michelle said Abraham’s specialty is complicated, and it’d be better to go somewhere more popular. And so, they ended up in the blacksmith guild, a giant building with dozens of shops in it. Their first stop was the basement, where Ethan emptied almost all of his storage.

Two more staff had been called, and after an hour of examination, he had been offered 45 mana stones in total. 30 of them were only for his spoils from the 10th floor of the Wish Well, and the rest added up to half of that. While the tier-4 cores sold for only 5 silver coins, the tier-5 ones were worth 2 gold; one could only imagine the disparity of wealth between low and high tiers.

All in all, he now had more than 100 mana stones, and he felt damn good about it. No one below tier-5 had that kind of wealth, except for the ones born wealthy. His trip to the Primordial Realm really turned the tide. Even better, he was considering this money as pocket change because he still had the Aether Bloom. Once he sold the extra elixir, around 500 mana stones would be waiting for him, and that’d be the time to buy the good stuff. Still, with his new finance, there was no need to wait until he reached the Mirasatra, getting some temporary equipment, and one or two common but useful skills, was no problem at all.

After the transaction, Michelle led him to the upper floors to find a blacksmith. As they walked, she leaned toward him, hesitantly. ‘’Did you kill those beasts yourself?’’

‘’Mm,’’ he nodded.

‘’Just… just what tier are you?’’

‘’Almost four.’’

‘’...Those colossal monster parts belonged to tier-5s,’’ she stated, trying to keep her voice low.

‘’Oh? You noticed that?’’ He teased with a slight smile and added after seeing how serious her silent expression was, ‘’What? Thinking about canceling the spar?’’

‘’Hmph. You’re not allowed to use skills in the spar, and we’ll use special bracelets to limit our physical strength,’’ she said, more eager if anything.

‘’Sounds fun. Speaking of artifacts, is there something like a voice recorder?’’

‘’Yep. They are called Memory Recorders, and the ones just for voice are quite cheap. Why?’’

‘’For the job, of course,’’ he said. ‘’We gonna need one since we’ll try to have a confession from the Fickle Neil.’’

‘’Fickle Neil?’’

Ethan sighed. ‘’You don’t even know the nickname of the guy that you've been following for a week. Honestly–’’

The shop they were passing by was displaying a few weapons in the front, and one of them caught his eye. A red-colored short pole. It made him stunned and speechless for a second.

Michelle patted his shoulder gently. ‘’Are you okay?’’

Ethan blinked his eyes and came back to reality. ‘’Yeah. Sometimes… the more you avoid thinking about something, the more life shove it in your face, you know?’’ Without waiting for an answer, he turned to the opposite side and walked to a different store. ‘’Come, I like this one’s vibe.’’

Michelle took one last look at the red pole with a frown and followed him to the store. The place almost seemed abandoned, the broken glass at the window was patched with duct tape, the wooden floor had small areas that started to mold, and there was a blanket of dust everywhere except the pathway from the entrance to the table at the back, where an old man was sleeping with a wine bottle in his hand.

Ethan inspected the old weapons hanging on the wall with interest. There were all kinds of artifacts, some imposing, some wicked, and some radiating mana, but all looked like relics of the old times.

He reached for a dagger and picked it up. Its design was pretty similar to Devi's, but when he tried to send his mana, nothing happened. Curious, he even made a tiny wound on his finger, but it quickly became apparent that it was just a regular cold weapon with a delicate style. Still, the balance was perfect while its weight was even heavier than his old daggers. Getting out a small earring from his ring, he held it close to the dagger and sent his mana in it. With a gentle breeze, all the dust around him started to push away, and he watched in awe as the sorry-looking dagger turned into something magnificent.

Sadly, all that cheap earring was capable of blowing the dust away; in a short time, the store was filled with dust flying around, followed by two consistent coughs, one soft and hushed, the other hoarse and sickly.

‘’What the hell are you doing!?’’ the old man said between coughs.

‘’Sorry about that,’’ Ethan said, covering his mouth with his cloak. ‘’I think this place might need some cleaning?’’

‘’You think? Well, thank you for the observation, genius! Did you come here to tell me this?’’

‘’No, I want to buy this,’’ he said, showing the matt black gorgeous-looking dagger.

The old man narrowed his eyes to look at the dagger and shook his head. ‘’This place is not a store. It’s my workshop. And even if it was a store, why the hell would you choose to shop from here? Are you a dimwit?’’

‘’Oh… I still want to buy it though. It’s time for it to see some action, don’t you think?’’

‘’Definitely a dimwit,’’ the old man murmured. ‘’Alright, it's yours. Now get out.’’

‘’Like for free?’’

‘’Yes for free, you may get the hell out now.’’

‘’But I still need armor.’’

‘’Damn it! What part of ‘get lost’ you don’t understand?’’ the old man yelled as he threw his bottle, which missed Ethan closely.

With no choice, Ethan hastily left the shop with Michelle, but the old man yelled from behind.

‘’Hold on!’’ He went for the messiest corner and after throwing a few items left and right, he picked a small orb-shaped metal. From the entrance, he tossed it to Ethan. ‘’For the little fellow.’’

‘’Thank you. About my armor–’’

The door of the workshop slammed with a bang and the last hanging glass pieces fell to the ground.

‘’What a kind-hearted man!’’ Ethan exclaimed happily, as he started to inspect the metal ball. It didn’t take long for him to figure out that it was a spatial artifact. Quickly removing his mana, he lifted up to his shoulder, where Beet was gazing around, bored. ‘’Send your mana to it, buddy. It’s a gift from the benevolent grandpa.’’

When Beet sent his mana, the small metal ball became liquidated and started to move on top of Beet's skin, until finally taking the shape of a tiny necklace.

‘’What is it?’’ Michelle asked, getting closer.

‘’A spatial artifact. I was afraid that Beet won't be able to use one until he gets much bigger.’’

‘’Why is it only you two are getting gifts? What about me?’’ she asked, sulking.

‘’Grandpa must’ve seen the goodness inside our hearts,’’ he replied, nodding to himself. ‘’He is probably some kind of a sage. Gifting priceless artifacts to the worthy heroes he meets, creating karma threads everywhere.’’

They went to another shop for Ethan’s armor and learned that the old man was the son of the current guild leader. After getting caught by his wife in their bed with seven dwarf women, he got dumped and became a grumpy alcoholic. Ever since then, he stopped creating new artifacts and chose to wallow in misery.

Nevertheless, Ethan believed that it was a cover story for the sage.

From the shop, he ordered two custom-made leather armors with a fortifying rune on them, each worth 10 mana stones, and had been told to come to pick them up in three days.

The trio left the blacksmith guild to go for the hairdresser Audrey recommended, but before that, the boy with the flat cab found them. From the look on his face, Ethan was able to tell that he was onto something good.