NOVEL NEXT Chapter 216: Settling in the City (1)
Chapter 216: Settling in the City (1)
"Excuse me, is this your first time in the Desolate city? You must be from some Upper Cosmos venturing here, eh?"
An orc woman approached Aleron and the group, bearing a jolly grin on her face. She had a muscled physique with green skin and wore a simple garment covering her chest and lower body.
"It's our first time in this city," Aleron nodded with a smile. "We are looking for an Alchemy shop."
"Alchemy shop, eh? Do you want to go to a small Alchemy run by a couple of Alchemists or an Alchemy House that is big with more stuff and skill?" Orc woman asked and followed up, "Give me two Chaos Stones, and I'll tell you which one is better depending on what you want. I'll even take you to an Alchemy that works more honestly than others."
"More honestly than others?" Aleron raised his eyebrows.
"Well, not everyone sells things or does things at the same price, hehe."
Everyone understood what she meant.
"Nice," Aleron chuckled and handed over two Chaos Stones. "Here you go, advance payment since you are not lying."
The Orc woman was surprised, "How do you know I won't swindle you?"
Aleron smiled, "I just know. So tell me, where should we go if we want to sell materials and commission an alchemist to use some of the materials we have to turn them into stats increasing potions?"
"Follow me. We have to walk some kilometers to get there. By the way, my name is Dana," Dana said with a grin. "Our party lost our territory, so we have been homeless since yesterday, haha."
"Oh? What happened?" Aleron curiously asked as the group started walking, following Dana.
"We are a party of ten Orcs and ten Elves from an Upper Cosmos called Dome of Trees. We arrived here a few months ago, but we had our first successful dungeon raid twenty-five days ago," Dana grinned. "So, we spent all our money on some resources, eating food, and enjoying. Just as we were empty, we got a challenge and lost our turf."
"So that's why are you here working as a guide? But this is not a solution, right?" Aleron wryly smiled and asked.
"Yep. Guides don't just guide people, but we can also run some errands for some quick buck to survive a day in the city," Dana grinned. "Gotta pay the daily tax if you don't have a territory. While some of my companions and I are working in the city, the others are finding a location outside to kill some monsters and get some resources."
"Let's hope they find a newly spawned dungeon, and we get to it before others," Dana sighed.
"I see. I also hope they succeed," Aleron grinned. "Good luck."
"Tell me about you, haha. Where are you from?"
Aleron told her the truth that he and others were from the lower cosmos rather than the upper cosmos, shocking Dana.
Usually, people of the lower cosmos ascend to a random Upper Cosmos, so it was rare for her to see people directly from a lower cosmos.
"You guys are powerful, eh?" Dana took a glance at others behind Aleron, surprise in her eyes. "I for sure thought you were from a well-off organization in some upper cosmos, given your equipment and aura about you."
"Haha, we got a bit lucky and met some good guys on the way," Aleron laughed.
Dana wryly smiled and shook her head, "It's fine. I won't pry much."
[Gachapi: Master, don't tell her you raided a dungeon. Even if she doesn't mean harm, the eyes and ears here might capture that and target you. Even if attacking others isn't allowed here, there are still ways to rob and kill someone.]
'I know,' Aleron nodded. 'I can pretty much guess the ways. You can keep an eye on a group until they leave the city and then make a move. Also...'
"Dana, is it allowed to kill during territory war?" Aleron asked.
"Oh, that's a good question. It is indeed allowed to kill, which is why you must make decisions carefully," Dana explained. "Suppose a group came knocking on your door, wanting your home. If you think they are dangerous and you have no chance, you can outright give up."
"Second, you can fight, and if you think you are no match after some exchange, you can give up to get yourself removed from the battle instantly."
"Yeah, that sounds good and safe," Aleron nodded.
"On that note, you must also want a territory, so I would suggest beating the bunch that defeated us," Dana grinned. "Those bastards are only five people, so it was a five vs five battle. We lost, and they took our big territory."
"There not many big territories that can be easily acquired. Since you are a group of sixteen, you would also need a big territory," Dana said as she pointed at some buildings. "Those houses are small for your party."
"True. How strong are those five people?" Aleron curiously asked.
"Each of them has their Mystic Path around levels 8 and 9, so their Chakra Reserves are already better than our strongest members. Aside from them, they are fully equipped, and their stats are around mid-stage of Paragon rank," Dana said and continued as she calculated. "Four Equipment would roughly increase their stats by 30 to 50. Their Divine Bloodlines would also increase stats in percentage, so if they are mid-stage of Paragon-rank, they got a boost of 500 at least from Bloodlines. Well, I suppose they are around 1.1k in all stats with 800 or 900 reserves of chakra. All of them have Chaos Breathing Art of medium-difficulty, but they haven't mastered it, so they recovered around 30 or so Chakra per second during battle if I remember correctly," Dana finished speaking and asked with a grin, "So, can you handle those five?"
"That might be tough," Fang rubbed his chin. "But we have yet to visit the alchemist and chug the potions. We'll catch up or even surpass their stats, but our Mystic Paths are not as high-leveled as theirs."
"We also have to learn Chaos Breathing Art," Yueha said. "Without it, it's suicide to fight anymore, considering everyone would have Chaos Breathing Arts."
"But your Mystic Paths must be more powerful," Dana's eyes glinted. "All of you have a mystic aura that's distinctive for those who have Mystic Paths at a high number of stars. This was the reason I assumed you were from a pretty well-off force in an upper cosmos."
"Is it hard to get higher-starred Mystic Paths?" Enorin asked.
"It's not a matter of hard or easy," Dana ruefully smiled. "It's a matter of multiple factors that synergize with your desire and hard work, but results are unexpected. You don't get a high-starred mystic path just because you want it."
"People destroy their Mystic Paths and rebuild to get a higher-starred one, but the success chance doing that is not defined, and sometimes, you even awaken lower-starred mystic path in your second attempt."
"I see," Aleron thoughtfully nodded. "Well, it doesn't matter, in my opinion. In the end, a higher-starred Mystic Path just means you will progress faster and have more compatibility. The manifesting of traits and skills depends on us and how we hone our craft."
"Oho? You speak as if you have deep knowledge of it," Dana raised her eyebrows.
"Nah," Aleron laughed. "I'm just saying what I felt regarding the Mystic Path I have and how
it came to be."
"So? What star is it?" Dana asked, her sparkling with curiosity as she also stopped walking.
"Ten, of course," Aleron cheekily grinned.
"Hot damn!"
--
The group followed Dana and found out more about the city and some special places in the
city, like Arena Grounds and branches of truly big forces residing in the city.
It took an hour, but the group arrived at their destination at the end.
Goragora Alchemy House.
A medium-sized Alchemy house run by 3 Alchemists who were brothers from the same
mother.
They were from the same upper cosmos as Dana, so Dana coming with them gave them proper
deals.
They sold useless Paragon-rank equipment they don't use on the way since Alchemy didn't
deal with them.
Selling those useless pieces of equipment gave them 477 Chaos stones.
Selling materials not used for stats increasing potions gave them 383 Chaos Stones.
The remaining materials could be used to craft stats increasing potions, a total of 23 potions.
The commission to use those resources and craft 23 stats increasing potions from them wasn't free, and it cost them 1150 Chaos Stones. The fee was 50 Chaos stones per potion crafting with materials provided. Stats increasing potions were the most expensive among other types, so their fee was also the highest.
1000 Chaos stones + 860 Chaos stones after selling items and materials = 1860.
But they already spent 1150 to craft potions, leaving them with 710 Chaos Stones.
Unless they got a territory, they would lose 160 Chaos Stones per day.
As the group left the Alchemy House, Aleron looked at the street and people before saying, "It
seems that we have to get a territory before we lose our balance."
"It will take two or three days to craft the 23 potions, so we'll have to pay 160 Chaos Stones
every day until then," Aleron rubbed his chin. "Should we try to secure a territory right away or after we get powerful by drinking potions?"
"I mean, we are not that weak anyway," Rias thoughtfully said, "Our stats increased since all of us got potions in the Dungeon. If we target a weaker group, we can succeed, but..." Everyone wryly smiled. it wasn't as easy as said.
The city was too big, and they couldn't just find a territory occupied by a group weaker than
them right off the bat.
"We still have time, so let's go to the city mountain park," Aleron said as he looked at the mountain's silhouette far away in the north. "Let's start practicing Chaos Breathing Art first. We delayed it to progress in Concepts on the way here, so we should learn the breathing art
now."