In the Dark Noble City Circle of the Dark City,
Within a workshop filled with all kinds of alchemy equipment, a 4'2 feet person with a burly build was standing in front of a silver pill furnace with a solemn expression on his long beard face.
All of a sudden, an electric voice sounded within the lab, "Lord Hallberg, there is a level-1 alert!"
Hallberg's thick brows knit when he heard this and spoke in his husky voice without turning around as his green eyes were still affixed on the pill furnace, "Out with it."
The electric voice rang, "A personal with Type-1 Star Privilege had entered the Dark City just a few moments ago!"
Hallberg finally lost some focus as he mumbled with great interest, "Someone with Type-1 Star Privilege in the Rare Plains? Now that's interesting.
"According to our information network, there shouldn't be anyone with Type-1 Star Privilege in Rare Plains since there's no chance to increase the Star Privilege in Rare Plains unless someone can annihilate the entire Dark Faction from the Rare Plains.
"The only other way to raise Star Privilege is the Trial Plain!"
Hallberg's eyes shimmered in understanding as his lips curled up in a wily smile, "So, the mysterious champion who completed the entire trial in less than six months has appeared in my Dark City, huh? Who would've thought? Really, who would've thought?"
His voice turned sharp as he questioned, "Tell me his name, and did he have contact with our dark city before?"
The electric voice replied, "This person's star ID is Faceless Ancient, and it's the first time he has entered any Dark City."
"Any high-level affiliations with Three Hegemonies?" Hallberg questioned again.
"He's an 8-Star Nightmare Knight."
Hallberg frowned slightly and muttered under his breath, "Then he might've already been contacted by that arrogant prick, Gunnar, and may have already joined the Zodiac Warrior Alliance as a reserve member. I can't approach him as the Dark City Lord, or this might cause trouble."
After muttering to this point, he suddenly looked up and spoke, "Dark Rose, I want you to inform me if he reaches the Lower Dark Noble Rank. For now, ignore him and just treat him like other 'Commoners.' We'll see if he's interested in our Dark City or not before taking any action."
"Understood, Lord Hallberg!" The electric voice or Dark Rose sounded in affirmation before turn silence.
Hallberg couldn't help but sneer, "Let's see if you can escape from the mirage or not…"
However, at this moment, the pill furnace started to tremble violently, and Hallberg's expression instantly went pale.
"Oh, fuck, not again!" He quickly turned around to flee toward the door, but before he could reach the door…
"Booommm…!"
---
At the entrance of the Dark City.
A cable lift carrying a single passenger appeared out of the deep tunnel.
Jacob, who was closely looking outside, was astonished because at the end of the tunnel was a metropolis. He even thought he had come back to his own world.
The only difference was this metropolis was built right in the belly of a mountain, and he had no idea how these people even thought of building this city here. Were they not afraid of burying alive if this mountain came crashing down?
Still, seeing all those buildings and roads, as well as people walking around without any care about their surrounding, give Jacob some assurance. Furthermore, over 90% of these people were wearing masks, while the reaming was wearing black mantles.
'Just like the Dark City in the Common Plains, most of the people hide their identities.' Jacob mused.
But this setting was quite to his liking since he also didn't want to draw any unwanted attention.
The cable lift finally stopped at another station shortly after, and Jacob exited the cable lift and walked toward the exit of the station. This station was usually empty since it was only used to take the 'guests' inside the city. The exit of the Dark City was on the southern side of the city.
As for any workers, according to the guidebook, this place was mostly under the management of artificial intelligence named Dark Rose.
Jacob exited the building and glanced at two guards in silver and white masks standing around the door. They merely glanced at him and didn't utter any words.
A glint of astonishment flashed past Jacob's eyes, 'What a powerful and sturdy heart rate. They should be at least Tier-1 Extraordinaire, if not tier-2, and they are just door guards of this entrance station.'
Jacob continues to walk toward the paved road when he suddenly feels a pair of eyes on him. He had developed this habit of being always on high alert while walking out in the wilderness, and his senses were now terrifyingly high.
It was half because of his new heart and half because of his Unique Endurance. Without them, Jacob would be exhausted within an hour if he was constantly on high alert, especially without unique endurance.
Furthermore, he was no longer in the rank of extraordinary and now has Epic-Tier-1 level physical strength, which should be over 50 Kiloton!
Although Jacob didn't have the measuring scale to measure the strength of the Epic Rank, he had a pretty good guess.
Behind his mask, his eyes were moving around the busy streets, and he was instantly locked on a small figure within the walking mob. But the moment he looked, the person had already averted its gaze and continued to walk.
'Just my imagination, I guess. That person should be someone who has killed quite a lot. Maybe that's why I felt uneasy when he looked at me.' Jacob mused as he felt it was most likely the case, and he was overreacting since no one would be mad enough to pick a fight in the dark city.
Even if some lunatic tried anything funny, Jacob was not a helpless lamb.
Jacob hailed a taxi at this moment. The taxi driver was a fat goblin; despite wearing a mask, Jacob instantly knew it was a goblin because of that long nose cavity in the mask and its claw-like hand.
After Jacob sat on the back seat, the goblin politely asked while looking at him from the front mirror with his astute eyes, "Where to, sir?"
Jacob coolly responded, "Alchemy Guild!"