Chapter 396 - Day MDCCCIV

Knocking on my door woke me up, and I dragged myself from the bed, to open up. It was Will.

- Hi. Sorry to wake you up, but we have a gathering to discuss few things, and I think you should also be part of it.

I rubbed my eyes first, It felt like I had sand in them, then I yawned.

- What's it about?

- About our laws. It's time for us to finally put that in writing. We need it, especially when more people soon will be coming to this city.

- Will... I'm no politician. I'm just a guy... I can punch hard and stuff, but you don't need me to discuss laws. Here - I created another coin in my hands, identical to the ones Hatta possessed - If you need me, call me through this. I'll be going hunting in the meantime.

He sighed.

- Where?

- I don't know - I shrugged my shoulders. - Maybe giants, maybe not.

- You should get yourself a hunter's badge.

- Fuck your badges.

- Are you gonna say the same thing when we pass the laws?

- Yep. I'm the law, bitch - and I shadow walked past him.

- Seriously?

I ignored him, and just kept walking, heading towards the bathhouse.

- Hey! Peter! Hey! Damn it...

That was the last thing he said, and I heard.

I relaxed for a few minutes in the water, then swung by the cafeteria. With a full stomach the time to decide where I will hunt came. After I witnessed how much I can earn from hunting ghosts, the giants or any other hunting ground seemed kinda pointless. I could go and look for something new, but it still would hive me way less than even the weakest of the dead Bahumdabars.

I somehow convinced myself that going back to Loistavadvaar was actually a good idea. In the end, if I encounter one too strong for me, I could always run away using shadow walk, and anchor in the city of gates. They couldn't get there.

The lack of a proper weapon was a problem, so actually, the first thing I did, was to go visit Rishi. He looked very tired and was working on the badges. I asked him if he could make me another enhanced pudao, and he agreed if I brought him some crystals in exchange. I promised him something better if he can make me one fast, and I left him with a coin, to notify me when it's ready.

Then I finally moved to Loistavadvaar. The cold, silver light and jade-like buildings made me surprisingly calm. I admired them for a moment, before pulling the weapon gifted me by the great one and scanning through the gates located there. I was looking for a familiar view.

The one with those strange pyramids. 

It took me half an hour to find it, then I slowly approached the portal.

- You are gonna go there, and when you see one, you swill swarm him with shadows, and nuke with fire magic - I told myself, then I took a deep breath, and passed through.

I emerged on a small plaza, right next to one of those gigantic pyramid-like skyscrapers. Everywhere around were the complexes of those cubic buildings. I also noticed drones, throwing a blue light on the streets.

I picked a random direction and started walking. Few streets further the landscape changed. Debris and broken pieces of metal were laying on the streets, all from ripped apart architecture. The building looked gutted from the inside by something of immense power.

Just the view sent chills down my spine. Whatever did this was incredibly strong.

I spent two more hours just walking around, looking for traces of ghosts. I could turn back, and climb the pyramid, to look around, but I was just too afraid that something might spot me.

Then suddenly from the clouds above, a gargantuan eel-like creature emerged. It was made of metal, had a segmented body, and was swimming through the air slowly bending itself, as a snake would. After the initial panic died down, I observed it, slowly making its way through the sky, and vanishing in another cloud above.

I've never seen something this big move before. It would knock buildings in a major city, like domino blocks., and nobody would be able to stop it.

Just this event made me question my decision to coming to this place. I turned around, to look in the direction I came from because a thought of going back appeared in my mind. There was still time to return...

- Fuck it.

I turned again and kept moving forward. I didn't get where I was by running away.

Few more hours passed on me searching the vicinity, but I didn't find anybody. Just the drones. I noticed the furder away from the pyramid I got, the fewer of them were out there.

Eventually, just out of curiosity, I made my way inside one of those torn apart buildings, to see what was there. The one I entered seemed to be some kind of factory or assembly. I noticed heavy machinery, robotic arms, and shole stations dedicated to putting together some alien mechanisms. Only a few were, judging by a glance, still functioning, although they didn't work probably because of lack of energy supply.

I picked up few elements, but for me, it looked like nothing, so I ended up just leaving.

I searched few more buildings. Some were just like the first one. A few in better shape, few in worse. I also found few living quarters. They were surprisingly ascetic. Bed-shaped furniture made of something like plastic, and one small cabinet. All in grey colors.

There were few books, also made out of plastic-like substance. I picked those, and put them in my vault, to read later.

In the end, I didn't find any ghosts, so I just dropped the anchor, and went back to Loistavadvaar, to resume after getting some rest.

The first day back in the city of gates came to an end with 5 677 634 060 regular points and 686 class ones.. Just like when I left.