179 City of Desire

"Your majesty"

Don and Arrora were teleported into a dark room and welcomed by a woman wearing a feather hat.

"You're one of Joel's people"

"Yes, your majesty, I'm Yi Shu"

The woman bowed and motioned them to follow her towards the door.

Don and Arrora followed Yi Shu as she opened the door and led them to the hall where Don could see the festival celebration outside through the window.

"They are celebrating the dungeon opening, your majesty, in a few hours, the dungeon doors will open for the champions, so your majesty, my lord, do you need me to get you anything before we leave?"

Yi Shu had no idea that the youth beside Don is Arrora as Don shook his head.

"No, we don't need anything, should we leave now?"

"Of course, your majesty, please follow me"

The city of Desire was built at the base of a modest mountain called Red gem mountain and was truly an ever growing sight. Its grace was matched by the backdrop of cascading waterfalls which had helped shape the city to what it is today.

The climate these waterfalls brought were of great importance, but they were also influential when it came to architectural designs as the vast majority of buildings mimic the falling waters of those waterfalls, sometimes by having their own man-made waterfalls.

The skyline was sprinkled with elegant towers and there was no place on earth with anything like this. Science and development were flourishing in Desire and it had attracted a lot of attention. New cultures had left their mark not just on education, but also upon the city's identity. What historically was a city of little diversity had grown into a large melting pot and it's this that unites the thousands of zenith people to this day.

Yet the people of Desire were cold towards foreigners and tend to welcome them with annoyance. They feel foreigners could pollute and suppress the city's well being.

Stepping outside the building, Don and Arrora put on their hoods and followed Yi Shu through the crowd.

While following Yu Shu through the labyrinth of a street, Don looked at the tall glass building with awe and astonishment. He had seen many cities in the divine continent but then, he didn't want to build structures like these.

After getting used to being a king, when he noticed the elegant towers, fountains on side of the pavement, and the poles along the road to light the city at night, he wanted Everlight to look like this city or look even prettier than this city. 

As far as he could see, it was not a pipe dream but he had the dwarves, the best engineers in this world to accomplish his wish, plus with the elves, who could enhance the beauty of the kingdom with their landscaping talent, he had the means to surpass the City of Desire.

Strangely enough, he couldn't see a single being from the other races among the crowd, everywhere he turns, he could only see the humans.

"Move out of the way at once"

Don heard someone shouting from behind and a sound of horses galloping towards in his direction. He turned back to see a carriage attached to four pegasus racing through the crowd and a girl and a youth standing on the carriage.

The people who were quick enough jumped out of the way as the people who weren't getting shoved by big hand made of life energy.

Arrora saw the hand sending people flying away and most of them looked badly injured while some of them had broken their hand or leg due to them hitting the wall before falling down.

"Dani"

While the carriage was running at a full speed, Arrora saw a small child in the carriage's path and a woman rushing at the child. Seeing the carriage hadn't slowed a bit, Arrora wanted to save the mother and child but when she took a step forward, she was pulled back by Don. 

"Don't"

Just when Arrora thought the child and mother were going to be crushed by the pack of pegasus or pushed away by the hand, the carriage suddenly stopped.

"Look, it's master Jonathan Coldfield and miss Serena Coldfield "

The crowd pointed at the black-haired youth and the girl who got out of the carriage. The youth seemed to be in his early or mid-twenties and had a toned body. Despite the crowd's murmuring of admiration, Jonathan looked calm and had a smile on his face.

The girl was a 20-26 year-old young girl. She had arched eyebrows and a delicate oval face. She was very beautiful as in this world or in the divine continent, female cultivators were very beautiful because they cultivated purer bodies. She was a charming natural beauty and certainly didn't need to put make-up on.

However unlike Jonathan, her eyes didn't make her look very amicable. Her eyes were filled with flames of anger as she walked toward the mother and child.

"Forgive me, my lady, he's"

Before the mother of the child could finish her sentence, Serena slapped her with a force to leave the hand impression on the woman's face.

The atmosphere had become death silence when they saw this

"Is that how you take care of a child? let him run around like a blind puppy?"

The child looked terrified as she continued

"What if I didn't stop the carriage at the right time? What if he got lost in the crowd? Take your child and get out of my face before I punish you for being such a careless mother"

As she said, Jonathan drew a symbol in the air and touched the child's face and his touch made the child go to sleep instantly.

"He had seen enough for today, he will wake up tomorrow without having any memories of this incident"

The woman nodded and quickly ran away from the scene as Serena and Jonathan hopped into the carriage to continue their journey.

"Weird"

The crowd was still looking at the carriage as Don gestured at Yi Shu to lead the way.

"What's weird"

Arrora asked

"She didn't seem to care for the people they shoved away and injured but she seemed to care for the child's well being"

Arrora also noticed that fact and agreed with Don

"But what would have happened to the child if she hadn't stopped the carriage?"

"The child would have been sent flying away by the hand and someone from the crowd would have caught him"

"What if they didn't?"

"Then the child would have ended up crippled or dead, and like the girl questioned,it would have been the mother's fault for letting a little child out of her sight in this crowd"

Arrora didn't expect him to be so cold about this as she frowned

"It would have only brought me trouble if we had saved him, we must keep our heads down and be low key until we go into the dungeon"

"His majesty is right, my lord"

Yi Shu spoke quietly while leading them to the dungeon opening

"The people here don't like outsiders like ourselves very kindly, even if you had saved the child, you would have ended up being someone who stood in the way of the Coldfield family carriage than the one saved a low born child"

"Who is this Coldfield family?"

"They are one of the big families running the kingdom along with the king, your majesty, also, the two you just saw is the core disciples of the Redland Academy"

"Do you know about their cultivation level? And whether they're entering the dungeon or not"

"They are entering the dungeon, your majesty, and as for their cultivation level, I've heard they were at low grandmaster level when they entered the tournament to get selected to enter the dungeon"

"When was that?"

"Three months ago"

"Everyone seems like prodigies these days"

After following Yi Shu through the alleyways and streets, Don saw a huge stage set up at the distance near the river.

"And that's where the dungeon is opening, your majesty"

"Ah Yi Shi, I don't see any dungeon there"

As far as Arrora could see, there was no ancient booking building or any big structures near the stage. She could only see a bunch of various colored tents and people wearing fancy-looking clothes.

"Because, the dungeon isn't a building, is it?"

DOn asked Yi Shu after seeing the portal gates located at the center of the ground before the stage.

"The people are saying that its a pocket dimension, your majesty, just like Everlight"

Yi Shu whispered the last part for only Don to hear

When they reached the entrance to the ground, Don saw a group of guards in full plate armor, a group of mages and archers standing in front of the gate.

"This is the far as I can come, your majesty, only the champions can enter this area "

"Where will you be?"

Arrora asked Yi Shu

"I will be at the spectator's stand, my lord"

"Alright, go to your place, Yi Shu"

Don said and started to walk towards the gate with Arrora.