Skill Extraction: Exploring Dungeons

Early the next morning

Everyone packed their belongings and left the villa.

They arrived at the Teleportation Station next to the Explorer's House, and Kane asked his teammates to wait outside while he went into the ticket office.

He queued up at a window with fewer people.

Before long, it was finally Kane's turn. This time, the ticket seller was a cat girl.

However, Kane wasn't particularly interested in cat girls, mainly because he'd seen so many of these half-beast races that the novelty had long worn off.

"I need 4 tickets to Kant Harbor."

"4 tickets to Kant Harbor, sure, please wait a moment."

After speaking, the ticket seller started operating the machine in front of her.

It was a rectangular machine covered in countless buttons, something Kane didn't quite understand.

After fiddling with it for a while, she took out 4 tickets, handed them to Kane, and said, "That'll be 120 gold in total."

It seems that teleporting across countries comes with a multiplied cost.

After paying and taking the tickets, Kane quickly returned to his team.

He handed the tickets to everyone; the tickets listed several teleportation points they would need to pass through on their way to the destination.

They would need two more teleportations at stations before reaching their destination.

At the Teleportation Station, everyone handed their tickets to the seller beside them.

The seller didn't take the tickets outright but instead made a mark on them and then allowed everyone to enter the station.

Everyone stood closely on the teleportation platform, disappearing with a burst of bright light.

The surroundings were pitch-black, Kane felt dizzy, and a wave of nausea hit him.

Perhaps due to the long-distance teleportation, it took quite some time before light returned to the surroundings.

Just after the teleportation, Kane found himself a bit unsteady, his entire body swaying.

Long-distance teleportation felt like being tossed into a washing machine's drum, spun around at high speed.

Longbei and Meizike helped Kane down from the platform.

Once Kane finally regained his balance, he began observing his surroundings.

From the environment, it appeared this teleportation station was set on a mountain peak.

All around and into the distance were snow-covered peaks, and the clouds were so close.

There were only a few man-made structures around: the station and a few houses nearby.

Where exactly was this?

Seeming to understand Kane's confusion, Kreya bent down and said, "This is the Misimik Mountain Range, which separates the Heteris Kingdom from the Border City State.

Typically, you need to first reach a transfer station on the range and then head to the kingdom's National Capital from there."

Listening to this, Kane nodded.

Now that he had recovered, it was time to proceed with the next teleportation.

They then returned to the station once more.

This time, the teleportation didn't last long, so Kane wasn't left staggering after it ended.

"Please follow this way after the teleportation, and leave the platform in an orderly manner," they heard the staff call out to them just as they arrived.

This station appeared to be built in an open-air tunnel, surrounded by rock walls lined with various structures.

Kane and the others followed the crowd, moving in the direction given by the staff.

No doubt, this being a kingdom's Imperial Capital, the teleportation traffic was far greater than Lion City.

Jostled by the crowd, they finally made it out of the station.

Once outside, the sight stunned Kane.

The surrounding architecture differed from Lion City's style; it lacked Lion City's refined elegance.

But its atmosphere was grander and more ancient, giving a heavy sense of history.

Beautiful, rustic buildings of various shapes spanned beyond Kane's sight.

The city residents bustling around, their attire and faces full of happiness and vitality.

In contrast, the routine pressures of Lion City's government left its residents somewhat numb.

Of course, these weren't what left Kane astonished.

What amazed him were the countless cylindrical spires floating in the sky above this city.

In the city's center, an exceptionally striking Floating City hovered.

From afar, the Floating City was a blend of white and blue, appearing very noble and elegant.

Sunlight partially gathered atop the Floating City.

The entire Floating City seemed to house the royal family's palace and castles.

The city's environment seemed artificially modified, very suitable for intelligent races to live in.

Strangely, despite it being autumn, it felt like spring: a variety of plants and large trees planted orderly throughout the city.

Compared with this, Lion City felt quite…

Not far ahead was the local Explorer's House, evidently always built around teleportation stations.

Yet they had no intention of going inside.

Instead, they circled back to the station's entrance, queued, and followed the crowd back in.

This would be the last transfer, directly teleporting them to the coast of the Heteris Kingdom at Kant Harbor.

After the ticket collector collected all their tickets, they were instructed to stand on the platform.

In just an instant, they arrived at their destination.

A salty sea breeze swept across Kane's face, carrying a slight scent of the sea.

Around the platform, apart from them, there wasn't another soul in sight.

Following the signs, they exited the station.

Finally, two soldiers were at the door, though they were lazily playing chess at a nearby table.

Seeing Kane and his group emerge from the station, the soldiers looked a bit incredulous.

A freckled soldier approached, asking, "Are you explorers?"

"Yes, what's up?" Kane asked, slightly confused. Was control so stringent here that they were still interrogated?

The soldier awkwardly scratched his head and said, "Oh, it's nothing, just that we haven't seen explorers here for weeks. We're just curious about newcomers."

Kane wasn't surprised, as the nearby Dungeon, Gobi Ruins, wasn't really useful for ordinary explorers.

"Could you tell us which direction the Dungeon is?"

Upon Kane's question, the soldier promptly answered, "The Gobi Ruins are by the coastal outskirts, follow the signposts and you'll get there."

"Alright, thanks, we'll be off then."

"No worries, you're welcome."

After bidding farewell to the soldiers, the group entered the town to observe the surroundings.

The architectural style was similar to that of the Royal Capital's, albeit made with more common masonry.

The small town was quite limited in size, with the town walls visible all around.

The walls seemed no taller than three meters.

The bustling residents appeared to be mostly ordinary fishermen.

Having not seen explorers in a while, they curiously watched Kane and his group, especially Cotton Candy by Kane's side, who drew most of their attention.