"Cain, the lock on the gate got looser." Lilia stood, "I'll go check it out,"
Cain sighed, "I'll come as well."
"You're leaving?" Asmo stared at him with a sad face.
"Yeah. The gate is kinda dangerous. We can't ignore it," He replied with a smile, ruffling her hair.
As Cain and Lilia approached the changing room, Morena followed them, quickly fading into Cain's body. The maids rushed after them and pulled Cain's clothes from the shelves of the changing room.
Cain extended his hand and patted Lexi's head, "Thank you all, but I'm in a hurry," The clothes disappeared from the hands and appeared on Lilia and his body in the blink of an eye.
"See you later. Get dinner and the rooms ready for tonight." Cain took a step toward the door and disappeared.
****
"Drop the gate!" A guard screamed over Furberg's main gate.
Ash and smoke started rising to the sky from the forest as a massive burning lizard walked out of the woods. Each of its steps burned the ground, setting the graze and trees ablaze.
"When will the adventurers arrive?" The guard growled, turning to the right to pick bolts for his crossbow. His eyes opened wide, seeing Cain walking toward him.
He gasped, freezing in place as Cain's eyes flashed with a blue light. He stopped and looked toward the lizard, "A salamander queen. I'll take care of it. It'll be quick."
BAM! Cain jumped from the wall and ran toward the salamander queen. The guard gasped as he held the edge of the merlons. "He's!" He cried, seeing Cain flying through the flame and cutting the salamander queen in half with one swing.
"Cain Lisworth!" He shouted, watching as Cain walked back toward the city gate.
The guard opened the gate. The guards rushed out to greet Cain with the adventurers who now arrived.
"It's been a while since we saw you around here," An adventurer said with a smile, looking behind Cain's back, "You took care of that thing?"
"Yeah, I have some business here, and having it rampage around would be a bother," Cain walked toward them, sheathing his sword.
He lifted his palm up, staring at them, "I'll be heading to the guild. I don't need any material from that salamander, so it's for anything who can take it. I'm leaving the cleaning to you all," He walked between them, putting all of them to silence.
The raw magic gushing out of Cain's body was so dense they could barely breathe. Forget dragons and demons. They all could feel that he was on a whole other level.
Cain walked through the gate and into Furberg's street, looking around at the horse stable and the houses at the sides. The place has seen a lot and is only now getting back on its feet. It's sad that they'll have to move out soon.
"Doesn't seem that evil?" The little girl wizard stared at the fighter with a grin, "You perceived him as evil?"
"I did, but I shouldn't call it evil. The way he walked and approached us seemed strange. I could feel his gaze on me. It was like I've swallowed a stone." He growled, "He might be a disguised demon or a dragon,"
"I've felt that as well," The little girl nodded, "I doubt a human has that much mana,"
"His holy magic seemed off as well. He could be a demi-god even," The paladin chuckled, "As if that's possible."
Inside the guild, Cain approached the guild's receptionist, who sat in Mary's place. "Yumina, am I right?"
She gasped with a red face, "Yeah, did you need something," It only took her a second to clear her mind and remember who he was, "Cain Lisworth, right? It's been a while since you approached the guild. Have you been sick or traveling,"
"Traveling fits my case best," He nodded, pulling out his old guild card and handing it to her. "Please renew it for me,"
"Of course," She took the card with care and put it on a magic plaque. In the meantime, she pulled a large appraisal crystal, "We need to reassess your stats. Is that okay with you?"
Cain nodded with a smile. "Of course, but that crystal is too small. It'll shatter."
"Don't even joke about it," She giggled, "We bought it for a fortune, and it can assess levels up to 100. We never had an adventurer past level 40 here, but we had to evolve with time,"
"Don't say I didn't warn you," Cain approached the counter.
She pushed the appraisal crystal toward him, and he lifted his hand.
"Just do it. It'll be fine. You can't be..." As she spoke, Cain touched the crystal ball, and it shattered on the spot.
"Haa. It did happen after all," He sighed.
"Wha-wha-wha-what?!" She cried, looking between Arad and the crystal ball, "This shouldn't happen even if you're over level 100."
"The max level has been raised to 1000 for everyone. I should be at level 1000. That's why it shattered. That's ten times its rated power at a minimum." He looked at her with a passive face, "See, told you."
She started crying. "I'll get fired for this. This crystal cost more than my paycheck for three decades." She bawled her eyes over the shattered crystal.
"Are you listening to me?" Cain tapped her head. With his palm, "I'll pay for it. Just get my papers done."
She stared at him with tears flowing down her cheek, "But, it's too expensive,"
"Don't worry about that," Grabbed her by the face, "This is getting nowhere, so I'll make it clear, get my papers done, and you'll be fine. No harm shall befall you."