“Your guess is as good as mine. All we can do is head over and find out.”
This is the response I get after asking Issac how the dungeon break could possibly be nearby when there are no monsters in sight.
I can’t sense any mana disturbances at all…
I’m pretty positive the barrier around this city isn’t interfering with my senses either. It’s a high-level D-Class spell at best, there’s no way it’s messing with my mind.
We continue through the underdeveloped section of town and I murmur to myself while watching the sun completely set over the horizon.
“Impossible…”
This break is a mid-tier C-Class break, minimum. The association wouldn’t have sent us out here if it was any lower, and someone from the town would have surely taken it out themselves by now.
So many things aren’t adding up.
The fatigue of our long travels today is catching up to me too. My mind is getting a bit foggy and my body is more tired than usual.
I scratch my chin, thinking about it, but become distracted as troches begin to light our way and the buildings around us get much larger and shinier again.
There are 2, 3, and even 4-story shops and guild centers that start to pop up and the road beneath our camel’s feet has a much more sturdy feel to it as we walk through this portion of the city.
It’s only been a few minutes and there’s already a drastic change in architecture and neighborhood layouts.
We approach a wide open square with many people out on the streets continuing to go about their nights trading, cooking, laughing, and sharing conversation with one another.
From what I can piece together in my fractured view of the city’s layout, there are 3 sections to this 1km wide circular city.
The main square, where we entered today. That’s the portion of the city with a high-density area of merchant shops, guilds, government buildings, and housing for those that work there.
The portion of the city we just walked through seems to be a lower-income area. Not quite the slums, but much more independent housing and rogue hunters that make their money elsewhere or off a black market of sorts… That’s my guess anyways.
Now, lastly, the third sector of this city is the one we’ve just entered. It looks much smaller than the other two, but very clean, well built, higher income, and there’s not as much worry in these streets as the ones we just left.
Buildings are mostly rectangular, made from either the same red brick that the office building in the main part of town was, or a lighter-colored stone similar to the hue of the desert sand. Most of the cloth and clothing used for decorations and clothing are the same red as the cloaks we’re wearing.
My gaze shifts back and forth, taking in the view of the small town as Issac takes us on a sharp right turn instead of walking through the center square.
I catch a glimpse of a crowd, but can’t make out what they’re surrounding in the center of the courtyard-like town center.
He turns around as we make our way down a more narrow, but well-lit backroad.
“This is midtown. Believe it or not, I lived here for a few years back in the day. Come on, the Inn I usually stay at is right over here.”
At this point in the day, my eyes are practically closing. The thought of a nice warm bed is slowly becoming much more important in my mind than the fact that theirs a near B-class level threat somewhere nearby…
We come across a generic red-bricked residential building with a man standing outside that takes our camels to the back of the Inn. He hands us a small black token to fetch our rides whenever we’d like.
They’ll feed, water, and take care of them in our absence.
I give Issac a handful of silver to check us in using his name and we all go to our rooms and pass out without much delay.
Today was a long day.
We took out an entire dungeon break, traveled 10s of kilometers across the desert, and successfully infiltrated a town that we’re wanted criminals in.
The woman at the front desk pays us no mind and accepts the silver with a smile. She offers us a meal at the bar in the back. I decline and head off to my room as soon as Issac tosses me a key.
I’m too tired to even eat, most of my teammates share the same thought and say no to the woman’s kind offer for food and drinks.
All 5 of us agree to meet each other in the lobby first thing in the morning, right as the sun comes up.
I make my way to my room, don’t bother turning on a light, and drift off to sleep with a million things on my mind slowly fading away into peaceful darkness.
Time passes and the night turns into day.
The hot morning sun wakes me up, causing the once-cozy bed I’m lying in to make me break a sweat.
I jump out of bed and throw my cloak back on to meet the others in the lobby. We decide to eat breakfast on the way from the supplies I’ve brought, not wanting to take any extra steps or human interactions.
As we walk out the front door Issac takes a sharp left turn back to the center of mid-town, in the direction of the square we didn’t get to face last night.
“Come on, let’s walk. No need for those rides if you 4 are going into the break, right?”
I bite my bottom lip as I follow, not responding, just thinking to myself.
This break in town is worth 7 gold… but the one out in the mountains is supposedly 15. It’s probably much more powerful, hence the price difference.
I’d like to head straight for the tougher break… If this one we face is anything like the others, there’s a good chance I won’t have a fun fight.
I want a new skill or new information…. Or another mana control breakthrough. That’s why I came to the dark Continent anyways, to find opponents that wouldn’t be possible to find elsewhere.
Also… of course, to appease the Director and buy more time while I build my strength. There’s no point in disagreeing with power magnitudes above mine. For now, I must continue training, then I’ll have more options.
I mutter under my breath, gritting my teeth while thinking of Brutus’ face…
“I need to get stronger.”
Issac turns around.
“What was that?”
I look up to him with an unnecessarily stern look on my face.
“Nothing, I’m just ready to fight.”
He nods as we walk out of the small backroad and the main town square comes into view.
“Great, it should be… right… about….”
As the fire welder looks around, I do the same, and my teammates follow my gaze.
In the middle of the sandy crowded square, there’s a large metal box with 4 guards all standing around it.
The chatter of nearly a hundred villagers fills my ears as I try to concentrate.
After a quick inspection, I find that the guards are all over level 275 and have decent basic combat skills. These men are all the equivalent of basic low-level C-class hunters.
I use my All-Seeing Eye on the massive mysterious box, but nothing can be found.
Nothing at all…
There’s an absence of space inside the box entirely.
I didn’t notice it yesterday because I wasn’t fixated on it like I am now. I stare further, burning through a few hundred MP to boost my skill’s performance.
Then, the hint of a dense mana signature deep within the box fills my mind’s eye.
I whisper under my breath.
“The break is in there…”
Issac responds without looking back.
“That’s what the quest office worker told me. He said just walk to the center of mid-town and you’ll see it. I guess- this is it.”
We walk forward, with our cloaks covering our faces, and Issac taking the lead.
To make us a bit less suspicious I activate conceal and edit my status to that of a higher-than-average C-Class swordsman, about level 350. My disguise of the middle-aged tan-skinned hunter returns as we walk up towards the supposed break.
People move out of the way as we near to the massive silver box. The closer we get, the less crowded the square filled with merchants, hunters, and villagers gets.
Seconds later, we’re no more than 5 meters away meeting the gaze of the nearest guard.
He places a hand up in the air.
“Hey now, this is DryRock guarded property. Move along before you get yourselves hurt.”
Isaac rolls his eyes and reaches into his cloak pocket to pull out the signed bounty offer for the mid-town break.
The guard’s eyes tighten as he reads the paper then looks up at both Issac and me.
“You sure? We’ve had 4 casualties this week already. What level are you two-“
He peers behind me to see the three figures covering their faces.
“And who are they?”
Issac gulps and turns to me, then I quickly respond.
“Hired help. I’m just trying to get paid and save my village from a drought. I heard there were some bounties for breaks out here. It’s either this or we starve…”
I show him a saddened stare, then end with a more lighthearted statement.
“Wanted to see if I could snag a fight with an Elite while I was at it, looks like I just missed ’em.”
I let out a fake laugh and a grin, but it seems rather convincing to me.
The guard smirks, giving me a chuckle.
“Yeah right. Those two Elites walked through town without any fear. Guards that got close were blown away by some weird barrier, you wouldn’t have stood a chance.”
I roll my eyes playfully.
“I’m kidding, just a fantasy of mine…”
Then pause before continuing.
“Well, at least let us give this dungeon a shot, I hope to clear the one out in the mountains too…”
The guard crosses his arms, staring me in the eyes.
“A confident one aren’t ya?”
He sighs and gives me a nod then calls out to the guard on his right side protecting another wall of the silver cube.
“Hey, let’s let ’em in. We have some new break challengers today.”