For some very odd reason, it took the floor administrator a full 12 hours after Nunu was dead to give Rocky and team their rewards, which was not typical in such quests.
Usually the rewards were supposed to roll in the moment that the quest had been completed, however, for some inexplicable reason the administrator took his own sweet time this time around.
[ Congratulations adventurers for completing the quest and killing the Mayor of this city.
You have gained the right to move onto floor 24 ]
[ Unfortunately, The individual who commissioned this mission has refused to give me the rewards and has instead requested that you meet him directly.
Hence, instead of giving you completion rewards, I am giving you 5 teleportation tokens, that will take you straight to the royal castle of the floor administrator ]
The administrator said, as one token appeared in the hands of each team member.
"Why can't you directly give us the reward? What if this is a trap?"
"This is not fair? This is not what was promised to us!"
"You're the floor administrator, how can someone even defy your commands?"
Buhara, Erin and Kronos complained, however, much to their frustration, no matter how much they complained, there was no response from the other side.
After giving them all tokens, the floor administrator simply withdrew his presence as if he was never there and did not bother with answering any of their questions.
"Wow, that was a first..." murmured Erin, as after completing such a difficult question, he was really looking forward to the rewards they would get, as he had expected them to be proportional in nature.
In a way, just making it to floor24 was a reward in and of itself, however, the team was not happy with just the right to ascend after having put their lives on the line for such a dangerous quest.
The streets of Aerithalor were crafted from translucent, glowing crystal, each step resonating with a faint hum of arcane energy, while floating platforms connected various parts of the city, constantly shifting and rearranging themselves in intricate patterns.
At the heart of Aerithalor stood the Royal Castle of the Floor Master, an imposing structure surrounded by cascading waterfalls that flowed from the clouds, disappearing into nothingness below.
The castle itself gleamed like a beacon, its walls a fusion of stone and magic, with windows that reflected not just the city but otherworldly realms.
Strange flora dotted the cityscape, with floating gardens where trees grew upside down, their roots entwined in the clouds, and luminescent flowers bloomed in midair.
As Rocky stood on the entrance platform, gazing at the majesty before him. The entire city seemed to breathe, pulsing with magic that he could feel in his bones.
It was as if the city itself was alive and watching him.
"Welcome to Aerithalor, the Lord has been expecting your arrival" said a winged human guard as Rocky arrived at the entrance platform, as much to his surprise, he was taken directly to meet the man that he already wanted to meet.
So far, from just observing the city, Rocky already had a brief understanding of Vladimir Stanev, as it was clear to Rocky that the man liked to play god.
There was no man in the tower who would build such a floating city just for himself and his closest confidants, if he wasn't an egomaniac, as the legends said that Aerithalor was a city created not even a decade ago.
'They say Vladimir created this city just so that his people could think of him as the ruler in the sky.... However, I think he did it because it's more difficult to assassinate hum here than on land' Rocky thought, as he followed the winged human guard through the palace gateways, towards the throne room where Vladimir was already waiting for him.
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/// A/N - That's it from my side for September, I hope to see you all in October.
Unfortunately my release schedule has not been the best, and I don't expect it to improve either with me feeling increasingly burnt out in the past few days.
However, to compensate for it, I'm slashing the priv prices on this book significantly so that you guys don't have to pay for my fatigue. ///