The mont the light around Daniel and Eva faded, the two of them stumbled out of the teleport portal.
But what they didn’t expect... the sky was dark.
Daniel held his breath and looked around.
Magical lights lit up the streets, casting a soft glow on the white cobblestones. The distant murmur of voices echoed—sounds of a city alive even at night.
"Wait... wasn’t it dayti just now?" Eva looked up at the sky in confusion.
Daniel glanced around. Unlike Niloreth, this place had at least dozens of active teleport arrays in one large plaza. The crowd was dense, orderly, and each portal was guarded by a stationed officer.
They quickly approached one of the officials—a man in half-tal armor with the emblem of the Adventurer’s Guild on his chest and a stern expression.
"If it’s your first ti entering the city, it’s fifteen silver coins per person. If it’s your first ti entering the country, it’s thirty." The man spoke before they even opened their mouths.
Daniel frowned. Thirty silver coins? He’d paid only seven for a room per night.
It felt like a bit of a rip-off, but there wasn’t much choice. He paid the coins and then said:
"We ca from Niloreth. It wasn’t even noon there... how co it’s already night here?"
"Ti difference. This place is several hours ahead of Niloreth. If you’ve got no other questions, step aside. Next." The officer spoke without even raising his head.
"We wanted to head to the Central Plains. Is that possible?" Daniel exhaled as he asked.
"It’s night. Systems are down. Co back tomorrow." The officer raised his head slightly, glanced at the sky, and replied coldly.
Daniel sighed and tried to persuade him through conversation.
But the officer didn’t even blink.
Eventually, Daniel reached into his pouch, pulled out a gold coin, and held it out.
"Alright... at least recomnd a good inn. Consider this a tip."
"Verona Street, No. 78. ’Sky Crystal Inn.’ Best place in the area." The officer’s eyes glead. Without delay, he snatched the coin and replied with an unusually cheerful smile.
Daniel nodded and walked off with Eva.
As soon as they left the portal plaza, they finally got a proper look at the grandeur of Nwaldor — tall, sleek buildings, clean cobbled streets, glowing magical markers along the paths, and people wearing fancy clothes, wielding advanced tools, and even accompanied by strange creatures.
Niloreth didn’t compare at all.
"I can’t believe this... this city is a hundred tis more advanced than Niloreth..." Eva muttered.
"This place... it’s a whole different world..." Daniel said, half-stunned.
On the way, Eva explained everything she knew about the city. It was a coastal, port city and was said to be the richest in the Elthanor Empire, ruled by one of the dukedoms.
It even had one of the most famous academies for Climbers, attracting people from all over the continent every year.
Right then, the sound of small footsteps ca from behind. Before they could turn, a young girl with bright pink hair ran toward them and suddenly threw herself into Eva’s arms.
"Please... please help !"
"What? Who are you?" Eva asked in shock.
"I’m... an orphan... I stole a piece of bread for and my brother... but they... they got mad... they want to hurt ..." The girl looked up with teary eyes.
"Damn it..." Eva instinctively hugged her tighter. Her heart trembled.
Daniel’s expression grew colder, but a deep frown appeared on his face.
"Who are they?" Eva asked with concern, still holding the girl close.
But there was no need for an answer.
A few large n in dirty clothes, their eyes void of emotion, approached them. One of them spoke in a deep voice:
"Hand over the girl. This has nothing to do with you."
The girl buried her face into Eva’s chest and trembled.
"Aren’t you ashad? Calling yourselves n? You’re going to beat up a lone kid?" Eva took a step back and shouted, eyes wide.
"A kid? Haha, that’s rich... now hand her over, we don’t have ti for this drama." Instead of reacting seriously, the n laughed. One of them said:
They clearly thought it was the dumbest thing they’d heard all day.
Daniel stepped forward. His hands were in his pockets. His eyes, cold and emotionless.
"You better scram."
"What did you say, punk?" The n frowned.
"Forget it." And then... Daniel moved.
With a swift knee strike, he shattered the chest of the closest man, sending him flying. Before the others could process what happened, he drove his elbow into the second guy’s face.
They tried to fight back, but each one was dropped with ruthless precision.
Within thirty seconds, they were all either groaning on the ground or running away.
Daniel took a deep breath and turned back.
"You’re safe now." As he spoke, the girl peeked out of Eva’s arms and said with bright eyes:
"Thank you... thank you so much..."
"Hey sweetie, want a little money?" Eva smiled and said, giving Daniel a aningful glance.
"Heh, works every ti... You newcors are way too easy to fool." Before Daniel could say anything, the girl smirked.
"What do you an?" Eva froze.
"She ans... you got played." Daniel quickly glanced around. His eyes sharpened.
And at that mont, around a dozen people dressed in all-black quietly erged from the shadows. So held swords, others knives, and so just stood there with threatening glares.
"Who are they?" Eva took a step back.
"Probably... her teammates." Daniel smirked.
"Smart boy. I’m the leader of the biggest bandit group in this city." The girl laughed.
"You? How can a kid be a leader?" Eva shouted in disbelief.
"I’m not a kid. I’m... thirty-two!" The girl sniffled and raised her chin.
"What? Thirty-two? But your face... you look like a kid! You’re barely 130 or 140 cm tall!" Daniel stopped in his tracks, eyebrows raised.
"I’m still in my growth phase, okay?" the girl grumbled seriously.
Daniel and Eva fell silent for a mont, then exchanged awkward glances. Eva smirked.
"Anyway, why were those n chasing you?" Eva asked.
"They were a rival group. Now that you trashed them, I owe you one. After what you did, no one’s gonna try to compete with us for a while."
"Well... now it’s your turn. Hand over everything you’ve got. Then you can leave." She frowned and spoke in a serious tone.
"You picked the wrong target..." Eva sighed.
"What do you an?" the girl raised an eyebrow.
"She ans... you and your idiot friends are gonna hand over everything you’ve got... or you’re not walking out of here alive." Daniel stepped forward, gave a dead smile, and said:
"Heh, you’re strong, sure. But we’re stronger." The girl glanced at her underlings and gave the signal to attack.
Daniel sighed and caught the first weapon swinging at him between two fingers, then slamd his other hand into the attacker’s stomach. The shockwave made the ground around them tremble.
The rest hesitated for a mont, but charged in anyway. Daniel, without a shred of rcy, beat them all nearly to death.
"Damn it... I picked the wrong mark this ti..." The pink-haired girl panicked and ran, hoping to lose them in a crowd—sowhere they wouldn’t dare make a scene.
But then she slamd into a... pillar? Wait—there weren’t any pillars here!
She looked up and saw a helted face. In front of her stood a giant!
"No no no please don’t eat ! I’m tiny, I won’t fill you up!" she suddenly started crying.
Azrak looked down at the girl, confused. Was he really that scary?
"Well then, hand everything over and you can leave." Daniel gathered everything into one pile and said with a playful tone.
They looked at each other hesitantly, but the mont Azrak exhaled heavily, his intimidating breath alone made them surrender everything imdiately.
"Get lost," Daniel said, and they ran off right away. There was a bunch of gold and silver coins—but nothing compared to what they’d taken from the goblins.
Still, better than nothing.
Eva had been watching him with her usual expressions the whole ti. Sothing about it felt nostalgic to her. She knew Daniel wouldn’t give her anything, so she didn’t bother asking.
They headed to the inn and rented one of the best rooms for the night. After dinner, they went to their room and slept.
The next morning, they woke up early, had breakfast, and left the inn to head toward the teleport arrays. But right outside, several guards—at least Rank C—blocked their path.
"Sorry, but you’re suspected of murder. You’ll have to co with us," said the leader, a Rank B Climber.
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A/N : Thanks a lot for the Magic Castle, Golden Tickets, and Power Stones! I owe you three bonus Chapters, and I’ll start uploading them from Monday :)
Just one question—has the novel been good so far? I feel like the excitent may have dipped a little recently, so I’d really appreciate so feedback. Today’s Chapters were kind of filler-ish, just to transition into the new arc starting tomorrow.
Hope you’ve been enjoying the story so far!
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