Rise of the Devourer

Book 2: Chapter 15 — The Modern Leisures of Magic

Noah walked out of the giant gates of the Lord’s castle, finding himself standing on a giant path paved with neatly carved stones and concrete pathways. Lamplights stood at intervals, oddly Victorian in their design, but the lamp itself shimmered with magic runes running up its length, betraying its nature.

Noah took in the sights, watching carriages move past him without any animals drawing them as they left a trail of mana behind their paths. Taking the footpath, Noah took in the sight as he aimlessly wandered around. Tony flew alongside him, drawing a couple of glances from nearby people, but few found his presence odd, most seeming uninterested after their initial curiosity.

Noah looked at the people around him, noticing almost everyone had silver colored hair, that shone with a near ethereal luster. With the majority having deep blue eyes. Using identify, he could see all sorts of people walking around the city, though few of them appeared to have any combat related Paths. Climbing up an overhead crossing, Noah found his eyes attracted by a central plaza with a gathering of people standing around it. Walking closer, he noticed a water fountain, but the water was held horizontally midair, like a screen, as images displayed on it, with an accompanying spell providing the sound.

“Holy crap, they have Televisions here,” Noah exclaimed to himself, watching the people looking at a beautiful woman with silver hair announcing some kind of news about the empire’s politics that he didn’t understand.

Noah walked around, feeling impressed by just how different this place felt from every other place he’d been to so far. It hammered home the realisation that he had only barely seen this world and all it had to offer.

Walking around the plaza Noah’s sight was caught by the train networks that flew overhead in carriage-like compartments. Following the roads, he soon found the entry station as he made his way in.

A guard stood at the entrance, silver hair and blue eyes like everyone else, but the man had a rotund figure, and a thick moustache, giving him an oddly human like appearence. Noah quietly wondered to himself if he was a half Celestian like Nae.

“Hey man, how much does a ticket cost?” Noah asked the guard.

“Do you have a sky-rail pass?” the guard asked, looking him up and down.

“I don’t think I do,” Noah replied.

“You can buy a ticket at the counter then, but they’ll need to see some documents or an entry permit,” the guard said, losing interest.

“Thanks,” Noah said, walking past the entrance before standing at the counter. A woman stood behind, with light brown hair and green eyes, clearly human. “How can I help you sir?”

“I’d like to get a ticket,” Noah said.

“Sure thing. Do you have an entry permit, or a verification form?”

“Will this work?” Noah asked, taking out his adventurer registration form.

The woman frowned for a moment, taking a look. “Ah… Outerworlder,” she looked back at Noah, staring at him.

Noah smiled, waving at her. “Yup. Nice world you guys have. Maybe a bit too violent though.”

The woman handed him back the form. “Apologies. I have just never met an Outerworlder before. I come from a much more remote place.”

“It’s fine, I’d stare if an alien popped up in front of me and said hi too,” Noah said, chuckling to himself at the image.

“Here’s your ticket. It’s a day pass. If you want to ride tomorrow, you’ll have to get another one.”

“Thanks,” Noah said, grabbing the ticket as he walked further into the station. After reading the notice boards with the sky-rail schedules, he decided to take the one leading to the far end of the city. He was curious where the wall and the bridge led to.

After waiting for around fifteen minutes, his ride came along. Noah noticed the sky-rails were a lot like older trains, with wooden walls and design structure. He saw metallic hinges attached at the top, connecting the train with a magical script that ran along the entirety of the rail track. The doors opened up as Noah walked in, before taking a seat.

“The modern leisures of magic, huh,” Noah murmured with a smile.

There were a couple people already inside. Two Celestians, and one person with blue skin and sharp ears that he couldn’t recognize from any species he knew of. The man glanced back at Noah, making him look away.

In a few seconds, the sky-rail started moving, and Noah watched the city pass by him. Despite the familiarity, there was no denying that this place was nothing like his old world. The magic may have allowed similar kinds of advancements to occur, but the similarities were mostly superficial in nature.

Even so, he still found himself feeling nostalgic for the first time since he had arrived here. Maybe one day he’d be able to go back home and apologize to his friends, and tell them what a crazy adventure he had been on.

As the sky-rail moved through the city, Noah started to see the wall near the other end. Unlike Windrest, this wall seemed to divide the city into two halves with multiple bridges leading the way across from one side to the other.

“I wonder what’s on the other side,” Noah said out loud to himself.

“You’re new?” the man seated next to him asked.

“Yeah, not really from here. First time in the city,” Noah replied.

“The bridge there leads to the Old capital. People just call it the Old Heartillia now. How did you even get inside if you haven’t gone through there?”

"Teleportation. Long range teleportation. So I’m making my way from the inside out.”

“Must have been some impressive magic if it got you through the entire city,” the man said.

“Probably,” Noah replied, glancing out. “What did you mean by old capital?”

“You must be from somewhere really far if you don’t know. The old city of heartillia was where Melior’s first capital was, back during the human empire era. Then the Celestians came and decided to build a new city, but they kept the old one as it was.”

“Huh, so the Celestians took over?” Noah asked.

“No, it was the alliance. When the kingdom changed from a monarchy to a democracy. Well, sort of. The aristocracy still has some power and the king still lives in his palace,” the man said.

“I only see one palace here, and that’s Lord Krios, right? Where is the King then?”

“In one of the central kingdoms. He doesn’t actually live here anymore. Probably not interested in living at the edge of civilization when he can live it up with the rest of the rich folks.”

“Huh, so the council runs the country then?”

“They do. Every city has either a Governor or a Lord, and they form the members of the ruling council. Them and the three churches and the adventurers guild effectively form the ruling body. If you go to the central kingdoms, you’ll also find the mage guild, and the scholar’s guild and many others, but here only the adventurer’s guild runs things.”

“Interesting,” Noah said, listening to the man talk.

“Well, that’s my stop,” the man said, getting up from his seat. “If you’re heading to Old Heartillia, I’ll advise caution. That half of the city has seen better days, and with the recent cult incursions, crime lords seem to run the place.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Noah replied and the man stepped off.

He continued on his ride for about half an hour more before his stop was reached as well. Stepping of the sky-rail Noah noticed this station was a lot less maintained than the one he had started from. Walking out, he stepped onto the streets, before making his way towards the bridge. A small river ran underneath the bridge, and Noah could see some structures below that indicated the place would open up to allow for ships to pass. He glanced sideways, noticing docks in the distance with boats and fishermen going about their day. As he reached the gates, he noticed most of the traffic was coming into the city, with very few walking back out towards the old capital.

“You there, stop!” a voice called out, stopping Noah in his tracks. He turned and saw a guard walking up to a merchant making his way into the city. The guard this time was a human man, with a pale brown uniform instead of the white and blue striped ones he had seen earlier.

“Did you pay for entry?” the guard asked the merchant.

“I have a pass,” the merchant replied, taking out a sheet of paper.

“The pass is different. You need to pay a fee if you want to enter. One E grade mana crystal,” the guard said, growing visibly irritated. Noah could tell something was off by the expression of others watching the scene happen, but none seemed to be interfering.

“I… I don’t have that much on me,” the merchant said.

“Then we’ll take the cart,” the guard said, walking around.

Using blink, he stepped closer, putting an arm around the merchant. “Hey there buddy, long time no see,” Noah said, looking at the merchant who glanced back at him in confusion. “Is something the matter here? My friend here has a delivery for Lord Krios, an urgent one. I’m not sure the Lord will be happy to hear his favorite son’s request was delayed because of you,” Noah said, pulling out the envelope within which he’d received the Lord’s letter as he showed off the insignia.

The guard looked displeased, but grunted once. “Let him go.”

The merchant looked at Noah, and Noah gave the man a wink.

“I knew you were a reasonable man my friend. Now how about I pay you in that man’s stead, and you can let me know where I can find something I’ve been looking for,” Noah said, taking out an E-grade mana crystal from his inventory which he held out to them. “I want a Tome crafter. One who may not have issues about working with some… unusual requests. If you catch my meaning.”

The guards looked at each other, before one turned towards Noah. “The Pit has one, but he works for the big boss. You’ll have to talk to him directly,” the guard said.

“Appreciate it,” Noah said, tossing the crystal to the guard before he made his way across the gates.

The bridge had an incline rising up to the middle before sloping downwards, allowing Noah to have a look at the old capital as he entered. The architecture on this side was a lot closer to what Windrest had been, with stone and wooden houses, and relatively short buildings. The main street was paved but not nearly as well maintained, with a lot more dirt and filth littering everything in sight.

The people were also more varied here, barely any with silver hair or features standing on this side of the track and most wearing far more tamer and cheaper looking clothing. There were also far more people here, the city streets feeling narrower than they actually were, felt much more crowded, with animals, wagons and people moving around in a constant bustle.

Noah walked through the streets, taking his surroundings in. He really should’ve asked where the Pit was when he left, but he figured exploring would not hurt either. He felt slightly apprehensive at just walking into what looked to be a den of crime, yet at the same time his teleport abilities meant it would be hard to catch him if he really needed to escape. Noah had kept some mana stones in his inventory as well, just in case.

Tony stirred in his chest with the desire to help. The Abyssal symbiote had done some reading as Noah was training and gave him the general gist of it the best he could from their bond.

Tome crafters were hoarded. Viciously so. Any and all that existed were under employment of powerful merchants or lords, and were kept a close guarded secret. If Noah wanted to have any chance to get the tomes he wanted, he would need to do it through less than pleasant avenues.

Walking around, Noah noticed more than a few eyes looking his way. He did not wear any fancy clothing, but his white hair likely made him seem like a Celestian walking around in this part of the city. His off-tone skin color also did not help with it either.

It didn’t take more than five minutes before he felt something around his back pocket. Noah would not have noticed it without his aura sensing so he grudgingly thanked Erwest in his head as he grabbed the offending hand.

A teenager gaped at him like an idiot as Noah looked at the boy, using identify.

[Pickpocket - lvl 24]

“I was expecting something like this,” Noah said and the kid tried to pull his hand but Noah’s grip remained firm. A moment later, he saw four other kids come out of the shadows. One of whom took out a knife.

[Thug - lvl 38]

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Noah warned.

The kids jumped him at once, leaping and Noah teleported. People moved away, the crowd separating as Noah appeared behind the kid with the knife. The boy was fast, turning as he swung at Noah, but Noah was much faster. Grabbing the knife he slapped it out of the boy’s hand before kicking him in the gut. Trying not to be too rough, he grabbed the kid by his collar.

Starforged arms moved on his command as they disarmed the rest of the kids with any weapons as well, bringing the knives, daggers and one bottle of some kind of liquid to him. The other kids were already long gone, having abandoned the boy in Noah’s arms. He looked at the items before throwing them in his inventory.

“We’re… sorry. Made a mistake. W-We won’t touch you again. I promise,” the kid whimpered.

“No shit. Unless you want to be kicked again,” Noah said as he saw the kid looking at him with a pale face. “Anyway. This makes things easy. I'm looking for the big boss of the Pit, where can I find him.”

For whatever reason, the boy’s face turned pale at his words, far more so than it had before.

“H-he’s down the street, take the third right and y-you’ll find an entrance with a guard. The pit is there.”

“It better not be a lie,” Noah said, letting the kid drop on the ground as he scampered away like the rest of his crew.

Shaking his head, Noah made his way ahead, following the directions. Time to meet this big boss of the Pit.