Yesterday was a long and difficult day. It began with the journey to the Silver Beacon, which evolved into the trials of the White Spire, and concluded with a large-scale feast that lasted until late at night.
In addition to a variety of new foods, drinks, and desserts, Adam also learned about the existence of Izardo, one of the monster cities.
Although he had long understood that many monsters thought and spoke like humans, and factions with groups were not surprising to him, he still couldn’t believe that such cities actually existed.
Well, that was his initial reaction, and now he had to make a decision.
Although... Could Adam decide on anything other than one option?
Crack.
The door opened as Adam stepped outside in his long coat, his eyes full of energy. He was ready to move on. He had to find the Hybrids and challenge one of them to a fight, most likely killing them to get the Dark Heart.
Of course, he would need help to do this. Now, as he was about to go solo in Izardo, he was no different from the monster that had gone to the Citadel.
Even if we assu that no one would attack a monster upon its arrival in the Citadel, that hardly made the situation any easier. Any Bastion, and especially the Citadel, was a huge city, with several regions, hundreds of districts, and thousands of buildings.
Sure, Izardo was smaller than the Citadel, but comparable in size to a typical Bastion or even slightly larger than it.
Adam would simply get lost in this city, not to ntion that he would sohow have to find the Hybrids who would be willing to fight him.
Step. Step. Step.
Adam headed further to the edge of the field, where he could see the crimson peaks, and found Norax sitting at a table with Misty, Karso, and Narica.
It was early morning, and dewdrops hung on the tips of the grass, occasionally falling to the ground.
"Just look at him." Norax grinned as he brought a hot cup of tea to his mouth. "You’re ready to visit your first monster city, aren’t you?"
Adam nodded. "Yes. You said you would help . What did you an?"
"Well, I can’t send you to my Hybrid friends, as I said, they would kill you. I can’t go with you to Izardo either. I have more important things to do, and I’m too lazy. But, obviously, a monster like has many connections, especially in the Tarnished Lands."
Sip.
He took a sip as a gleam ran through his eyes.
"The Raven Beak. It’s a tavern owned by a good friend of mine, Helasa. She is a Lord, like . She’s not as powerful as I am, of course, but she has so influence in Izardo and will help you achieve your goal."
Then, Norax took a dark coin out of his pocket and threw it to Adam. It was a simple piece of black iron with a cut mark in the center, but there was sothing unusual about this coin — a drop of blood right in the center.
"This is my token. You can get it either from personally or by killing . As you understand, they are highly valued, and when you show it to Helasa, she will imdiately understand that you are from . But..."
Norax’s voice beca serious, which was unusual for him.
"I don’t advise you to walk the streets showing everyone my token. Just because I’m strong doesn’t an everyone likes . On the contrary, anyone who has a lot of friends also has a lot of enemies, well, at least at my level."
"I see." Adam nodded deeply, clutching the token. "Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind. As for Helasa and Raven Beak... How am I supposed to find it?"
Norax put down his cup and pointed to a chair next to him. "Sit down. Izardo is a real maze, so you’d better rember everything I tell you if you don’t want to spend your first six hours in town looking for the right street."
Adam shrugged and did as he was told.
...
Two hours passed.
"Wait!" Adam exclaid as sweat ran down his forehead.
In front of him on the table were a multitude of maps, nas, and lines he didn’t understand. He was trying to make sense of it all, but for the last half hour, his head had been pounding, and his brain was ready to explode just to stop listening to it anymore.
"Shit! Who even ca up with this?!" Adam grabbed the map with a great frown. He turned it at different angles, tilting his head from ti to ti. "How am I supposed to understand anything here?"
Narica raised an eyebrow, looking judgntally at Adam.
"Don’t you have maps in the Citadel that are way more complicated than paper ones? As far as I know, everyone goes through training, shouldn’t you know that?"
Adam’s facial muscles twitched with irritation.
"Tsk, yes, I didn’t go to school, so what? My family didn’t even have enough money for decent food! What’s more, I’m sure even the most elite academies don’t teach how to read paper maps!"
He put the map aside with a heavy sigh.
"It’s much simpler for us. A dot flashes on the screen — that’s you, everything else has its own nas, paths, and so on. Even if I morize this map, how am I supposed to understand where exactly I am?"
Misty and Norax exchanged glances. Their faces showed that they hadn’t expected it to be so difficult. Although in reality, none of them was to bla. Monsters didn’t have the technology that humans had, and vice versa.
Just because a person knew how to use a computer didn’t an they knew how electricity or processors worked. So, it was to be expected that Adam couldn’t quickly understand paper maps.
"Alright." Norax waved his hand. "It’s ti to play our trump card. Silvana, you’re a keen observer. Join us."
Tremble.
With a slight tremor, Silvana appeared next to Adam.
Norax breathed a sigh of relief.
"You understand everything, right?"
As he expected, Silvana nodded deeply.
"Sure. Your detailed explanations are enough to get to the Raven Beak even with my eyes closed."
Norax turned to the gloomy Adam and grinned smugly.
"At least one of you went to school, that’s good. Hahaha!"
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