Chapter 162: A Colossal City

Chapter 162: A Colossal City

Mid Evening - Early Spring : Northern Siratha

After experimenting a bit more with the potions, time quickly passed and Bjørn finally finished fighting off the poison.

"You about ready?" I glanced back at Bjørn who was clamping the spare potions to his waistband.

"Yes Sir! Are you really sure you don't want these potions though? You could sell them for quite a bit." He was actually quite nervous about actually taking them.

"I'm alright, I don't have any need for small sums of money." Although I did have plans to actually earn money in case I needed to buy something expensive, as long as things cost a few gold or less, I didn't feel bad about just making the coins with magic.

"Haha, alright, well.." Likely thinking I was joking he chuckled a bit and finished packing his things. "Shall we get to the road?" He looked oddly excited.

"Lead the way!" I was in a great mood after the cluster of fascinating discoveries. -I have so much I can experiment with now..-

I was smiling cheek to cheek as we finally got back on the road.

-Thank goodness I didn't let him die..- The path was complicated and genuinely awful, it would have taken a crazy amount of time and luck to find the city on my own.

But after several hours of running non stop, morning rolled around and Bjørn started looking extremely fatigued.

"Let's stop here for a bit, you need some rest." I waved away his worry as he propped his hands on his knees and let out heavy breaths.

"Haah.. Im.. hah.. sorry for being so tired.. hah... It seems.. the poison isn't totally.. gone.." His face was pale and with beads of sweat rolling down it.

-I'm impressed you lasted this long, whether you're poisoned or not..- "Take your time and rest up, I'll stand guard so sleep all you like."

"I... How could I let my.. hah.. benefactor do that..” He looked a bit guilty.

"Just sleep man, I don't need to rest like you do." -I’m a tad tired but if I nap, I'll be KO’d for several days so..-

After staring at me with a face of guilt and confusion for a while, he finally calmed down and dozed off.

-These rest areas are pretty convenient..- As I walked back outside, I hung my legs over the edge of the branch and listened to the melody of tweeting birds. -Maybe I should take a break from practicing magic for a bit..-

Laying back on the branch, I thought back to everything that had happened over the past few months.

"Haah.. right.." -I nearly forgot about that weird contract... I probably shouldn't be lazing about in that case..-

After a bit more contemplation, I fell into a deep focus and lost track of time.

Before I knew it, night returned and Bjørn woke back up.

"You all rested up?"

-Right... It's a fantasy world.. anything is possible..- Although I still didn't believe it, I tried to convince myself that I did.

"So, how do we get down there?" All around the clearing there were wide and heavily strengthened rope bridges, but the boards were all idly hanging. -Are they all broken or something?-

"Oh, this must be your first time in a city." Casually reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out a shiny gold medallion. "This is called a city-pass. There are several different types that determine things like weight limit, the size of the platform and the number of people. It sounds crazy, but the artifact engineers here are geniuses when it comes to runes." He spoke with an odd amount of pride.

-What? It uses runes to be that specific?- Assuming it was just coincidental conditions, Bjørn walked over and held his medallion on the railing.

Almost immediately, two runes appeared and the boards in front of him snapped into place and formed a bridge.

*Sm-sm-sm-sm-smack*

-So it is just that.. It's quite smart though..- Simply put, what determined the weight limit and size of the platform was the strength of the connection between the runes. The stronger the connection, the higher the weight limit and size of the platform.

It was a simple but genius way to do it. -I should probably increase the weight of the boards I walk on though..- I was still concerned my sword would turn out to be too heavy for the bridge to support.

"You coming?" Bjørn waved me on with a bright smile.

"Ah, y..yeah." Quickly thinking of a way to increase the weight limit of a single board and not activate the entire bridge, I started following him.

-Gosh.. this bridge is incredible..- I was instantly filled with ideas of artifacts I could make as I walked, even if most of them weren’t practical or useful.

While I was lost in thought though, Bjørn glanced back and got my attention. "Watch your step up here, there is a board that's damaged."

-Hm?- Looking forward again, I saw a board hanging with a broken rune. "It's fine, I can fix it."

"You can wha-"

*Smack*

The board launched into place the instant I repaired the rune on it.

"How did you.." He turned to me with a look of awe.

"What's with that look? All I did was fix the rune on it." I spoke completely nonchalantly.

Stopping walking for a moment, he turned around and looked at me like I was insane. "F..fix the rune on it?!"

"Yeah, it's not like it was that complicated." -Let alone copying it from a different board, I could make a better version from scratch..-

Bjørn's look didn't disappear though. "Are you sure we are the same race?"

Holding back a light chuckle, a playful smile crept onto my face. "When did I say we were the same race?"