After visiting the academy and encountering one of the members of the [Hatred Sect], a teacher there, Alex finally left [Star City].
The moment he did, he received a notification from Alice.
[StarPillow: Finished with my task, but I made a mistake and used an arrow that wasn't a "Blood Arrow", the panel said that was my bonus wasn't eligible because of that.]
[FateBreaker: Don't worry, I'm teleporting to the edge of the Crossroad Plains.]
Thanks to his [World Map], he could see the little dot named "StarPillow" move towards him, and so he simply teleported to the closest point that was available to him.
"Alice!" he shouted, and she was surprised to see him there already, as she thought he would wait in Star City.
"Alex!"
"So what'd you get?" he asked, after all it was the tier 4 advancement task, meaning that it must have given good rewards.
"Hehe~ Not only are my Star Arrows twice as strong, but I also got the [Fallen Star] skill!"
"That's good," Alex nodded, proud, "But let's go."
"Oh yeah, the new city, we need to explore it-" Alice was enthusiastic.
But Alex cut her off.
"No, we won't explore that city, there's no need to right now."
He quickly explained to Alice about the [Golden Star Academy] and how there was nothing else besides the entrance examination.
So she understood perfectly that something ominous.
Every time Alex had told her about a place in such a way, it always meant something bad was there.
"But don't worry," he decided to try and bring the mood back, "There are other cities around here to explore."
"What?!" Alice shouted, "Other cities?!"
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Alex looked at her, surprised, but then realized that to the average player, it indeed was surprising.
This area of the map stretched for hundreds of kilometers, and so it meant that there were a few other cities beside Star City, in fact, there were exactly two of them:
[Flame City] and [Wind City].
People who didn't want to go to the Star City could go to the other two.
Though they didn't have much to explore either, as the main focus of this area was Star City and the Academy.
'Maybe that Mage Tower or whatever is here?' he thought deeply, thinking back on the [Mage Tower Token] he got from his very first advancement task.
Of course, he hadn't heard of any such tower in his past life, but it wouldn't be surprising if it was just hidden from the naked eye.
It was weird in the first place.
[Grand Mages] were supposed to be beings above the tenth tier, meaning above level 1500.
Yet no one had ever spoken about one named [Arceus].
"Of course," Alex sighed, feeling the pressure instantly.
Lights were entities above the tenth tier too, so impressing them would be difficult.
[Come on.]
"Yeah, yeah," he straightened his shoulder, grabbing his staff's handle with fierce intensity, pointing it forward.
"What are you doing, there's nothing here," Alice mumbled, but still gripping her bow, maybe there was an enemy that she couldn't see.
Though that would be hard to believe when she had the [Mutated Eye of the Spider] to help her detect enemies in a 100-meter radius.
Alex decided to use his three most powerful spells for that show.
[Helping Light] pulsed faintly, its green hue glowing brighter as if it anticipated his next move.
And Alice looked at him with wide eyes, still unsure what was happening.
"Alright," Alex muttered, closing his eyes briefly to focus. "[Fire Meteor] first."
With a dramatic flourish of his staff, a massive meteor, blazing with intense heat, broke through the clouds, descending rapidly toward the ground in front of Alex and Alice.
Its impact was thunderous, shaking the earth and leaving behind a smoldering crater.
[Helping Light] bobbed in the air, circling the meteor's aftermath, seemingly observing every detail.
Alex didn't stop. He was just getting started.
"Next up: [Rain of Fire]."
Raising his staff high again, Alex summoned a swirling storm of fire in the skies.
Flaming droplets began to pour down in a controlled radius, engulfing the surrounding area in an inferno.
The heat was overwhelming, and the very air shimmered under the intense temperature.
Anything that was within reach would have surely caught on fire.
[Helping Light] swirled faster, glowing with a curious intensity.
"Finally," Alex said with a smirk, "[Fury of Thunder]."
A surge of electricity crackled through the air as three bolts of lightning streaked down from the heavens, striking the center of the burning crater left by [Fire Meteor].
The ground sparked and hissed as the lightning surged across the terrain, sending faint shockwaves outward.
The light show was dazzling, each bolt illuminating the entire area in brilliant flashes.
"What the hell were you even hitting?" Alice raised her eyebrows, shooting an arrow toward the crater but hitting nothing.
[Helping Light] hovered in front of Alex, pulsating brightly now, as if deeply impressed.
Its voice resonated within his mind once again.
[Alright, human, here's the information you seek.]
"!!!" Alex smirked, expecting some juicy information.