I observed the piece of land in front of me for a few more minutes before I moved away and flew even higher to get a better look of everything around me. The higher I flew, the more dangerous and cold the winds became, nearly making me feel the cold even with the many defensive skills and attributes that have already reached rank S
Once I rose at a high enough distance, I looked beneath me as I saw even more of those landmassed that seemed to be floating in the skies. Far off in the distance, there was a large collection of these land masses near one another, with lines of connections apparent among them
On these land masses could be seen twinklings of light, as the land that was actually on the ground beneath them held grand buildings that were surrounded by an expansive walled fortress.
The fortress was a work of art as it sn.a.k.e.d around the huge mountain these buildings were in. Three large mountain peaks surrounded the large kingdom on the ground as more than four expansive land masses floated in the periphery around it
The sheer size of the place took my breath away as I could only observe a portion of it. This was the location that the System said I would begin my journey on. This was the only place where humans held supremacy in this world, this was the Frozen Kingdom.
I moved across the snowy skies filled with sharp winds as I continued to fly even lower and neared one of the doors of the huge walled entrances of the fortified kingdom
I didn't come too close before I could feel movement from the top of the wall. Multiple white winged beasts rose up and met me in the skies. On top of them, figures wearing glistening white armors stood with sharp weapons pointing towards me
"HOLD!"
There were multiple figures on each of the winged beasts, with many of them letting out power similar to rank A or lower, and I could feel at least three that seemed to be rank S. I did as they asked stopped abruptly in the air as I expected this type of welcome
I had spent too much time lectured by the System on the few sparse memories it obtained from the absorbed beasts, and knew how to act when I approached any of the kingdoms in this world
I remained quiet as we all floated in the skies, the humans on the winged beasts checking me out closely as the seconds passed. A thorough evaluation followed in the next few minutes with a few lights landing on my body. Once they confirmed my figure and used specific skills that most likely checked to see if I had any semblance of an aura of a dangerous demon or beast, they lowered the sharp spears they were pointing towards me. A snort was heard from the lead guard
"Mercenaries these days think they can come and go as they please because of their increasing demand."
The leader was speaking with a disdainful expression as he looked towards me, motioning for the rest of the guards on the winged beasts to fly down. This was the environment I was betting on. Due to increased tensions and conflicts, powerful beings acting as mercenaries were more active then ever in this world. Kingdoms continued to look for powerful forces to reinforce their safety. I remained quiet and the guard spoke once more
"Haven't seen you pass by here before so I'm assuming you're a new recruit. Use this badge to confirm your identity when you leave in and out again."
A red badge which had the face of a stern man appeared on the guard's hands and flew towards me.
"Be sure to not cause any trouble, or we won't hesitate to take you down."
His spear was sheathed as I nodded at his words, and at his signal, followed the winged beast he was on to fly over the huge fortress, and step into the Frozen Kingdom for the first time
Chapter 70 - Covert Beginnings
Passing over the tall walls, we went down towards the road that led to the buildings that shined with lights further in. The guards warned me once again before telling me not to break even more rules like flying over the lands. Only people given specific recognition could do this and go from one place to another
If you didn't have that recognition, then even if you were allowed permission to enter the four land masses floating in the sky that people in higher positions resided in, you would have to walk on the long bridges leading towards them
I watched the environment around me as I walked further in, noticing many guards patrolling at every point. My power that only seemed to give off the vibes of rank S did not raise any eyebrows, as there were many guards at rank A and the captains leading them seemed to be rank S
I soon reached the buildings where even this late at night, there was a bustle of activities going on. The buildings were built in a medieval style, looking like grand ancient architecture that shone with the balls of light that were lined up across the streets
I could see various pubs and restaurants, with a few larger buildings that seemed like hotels apparent at every corner. The people walking around looked no different than the humans I have known all my life.
Some had fair complexions and others had dark complexions. Hair colors of all sorts were abundant though, as I had seen a few people sporting radiant red hair, some blue, and others extremely dark shining hair. There were even a few mixtures of humans and beasts, where some people were walking around with tails or others had ears or other facial characteristics of beasts. I marveled at the sight of all these new faces
Many of the people I met seemed to be rank F or E awakened individuals as they let off weak levels of power while the large percentage remained as normal humans. But the number of people that would be considered awakened definitely exceeded the numbers you would commonly see in the Empire or United Federation
I continued walking around and taking in the new sights as I went further in. At the center of this entrance town was a building standing out amongst the many that surrounded it. It had a striking set of words plastered at the front, it was [Mercenary's Hideout]
It seemed like I had found the place to begin my journey in this world as I opened the wide doors into the boisterously loud building. It was a busy scene as people moved in and out
There were seats and tables in one section where people were eating and conversing, and there was another section that looked like a place where official business took place with workers standing behind a counter
The conversations were fairly interesting as I listened in while observing everything around me
"Hey hey hey, how can you drink so comfortably when demons are building their forces to come kill all of us huh?!"
"Bah you worry too much! The Frozen Kingdom has never fallen in the millenium of its creation, you think some ugly mugs would swoop down and do it in a few years?"
"Ugly mugs? You obviously haven't fought against them before, they're relentless and fight with everything they have. Trash like you wouldn't stand a chance!"
A few drunks were trading insults back and forth at the state of affairs, talking about heavy topic with a light hearted tone. From the information I received from the System, the demons they mentioned were the same ones that targeted my world. They were able to set a foothold in the Beast World and are now expanding their forces to conquer every corner of the world
The Frozen Kingdom was one of the remaining kingdoms that stood strong against them. I had found out the identity of the enemies that caused a tremendous amount of pain and death, and I was ready to begin rising up in this world by taking everything I could
So how would I go about it? Nearly infinite mana to play with, but currently only at rank S, and only holding a few rank S skills at that. I haven't even been able to max my attributes while absorbing rank S cores.
From the possible pathways discussed with the System, becoming a mercenary in this world was the fastest way to do this. Mercenaries commissioned by the kingdoms took the role of defending it in the front lines whenever rogue beasts or demons threatened them, and were routinely tasked with forming groups and reducing the size of the beasts populating Nests.
An example of a Nest was one the large landmasses floating in the air that I had seen while flying over here. Nests were a place where large amounts of
essence congregated, giving birth to a multitude of beasts continuously
Were these nests left alone, mindless beasts would overflow and eventually a large amount can rise up to threaten the safety of the surrounding Kingdoms.
From piecing together the memories of the three fairly knowledgable rank S beasts that I took down which the System absorbed half of their essence, the Frozen Kingdom currently had three Nests in its nearby surroundings that were monitored and routinely cleared if needed. I could only imagine the beasts congregating in those nest, as even while observing one more than a mile away, I could already feel powerful presences that I hadn't come across before
They posed high levels of danger, but to me, they were also huge opportunities to rapidly gain more rank A and S skillbooks, as well as skills of the next rank. They were one of the main ways I would be increasing my power rapidly before I found a way to grow my influence and work to limit the expansion of the demon forces until I can move on to the next stage
But currently, I was in a different world that had an entirely different way of living, with no money for anything.
I looked through the many cores I had farmed the few days that I spent in the Blessed Empire before coming over here. The cores that condensed from the beasts that hunters killed under the system of strength that the planetary core instituted were a broken down collection of essences that were more easily absorbable by the newly awakening hunters
Beasts normally had their own essence cores in their bodies, but when killed by the hunters with the system these essence cores would be extracted and changed to smaller cores if they were normal beasts, or into either cores and skill books or items if they were powerful beasts considered as a BOSS or TITAN
The inhibitants of this world were all born differently, with some like the dragons receiving innate skills and energy from its powerful bloodline, or humans training for years taking in the essence of the world while also killing and absorbing the cores of beasts and honing their usage of essence to create deadly and destructive ways of using their energy. People and beastfolk like these usually took the role of mercenaries, adventures, or as soldiers that defended their respective kingdoms.
But the fact that cores were widespread and used universally meant that I had the currency of this world, albeit it was broken down into small portions.
I approached one of the desks that held a stern woman with a business demeanor and pulled out a few cores to exchange for the common currency as the gears in my mind continued to churn while absorbing and learning everything about this new world.
Chapter 71 - Lodging and skill combinations
The woman at the front desk had a stern attitude as she handled all the mercenaries coming in and out. I went forward and laid out a pile of rank B cores to start it off so I could gauge the level of wealth I held
Fifty rank B cores rolled on the table, the woman taking her time to count them all carefully. Her cold voice rang out
"50 decontructed rank B cores, amounting to ten full cores. They can be exchanged for 100 gold coins."
I listened to this conversion from cores to the common currency of gold coins and nodded my agreement towards the front desk. 100 glistening gold coins appeared on the table the next instant and I took them into one of my storage rings
Before I turned and left, the woman spoke again in the same cold tone
"Will you be joining the extermination task force heading to the Skypeak Nest tomorrow? Your power matches the requirements."
A task force that was heading towards one of the nests? My eyes gleamed as I heard about this and I asked for more information
"The task force is made up of mostly rank A and a few rank S Mercenaries that are leaving at 9 am sharp. If you plan to join, here is an identification medal that will keep track of all the mercenaries on this mission. Don't be late."
I grabbed the outstretched medal from the woman and thanked her for the information as I turned away. The medal was very light on the hands and had the symbol of two crossing swords. I placed some energy into it and felt thin lines of connection to a few points in [Mercenary's Hideout] as well as points that extended all over the town
I got used to all of these new things as I became glad at being able to visit a Nest where monsters congregated so soon. There were terrifying presences on just the one floating landmass that I saw on the way here, and I didn't want to risk my life by going there alone while I still haven't acc.u.mulated all that many rank S and rank A skills.
Aside from the collection of rank A or lower mercenaries, a sparse amount of rank S could be seen as I exited the hideout and walked outside. My next destination was a beautifully designed inn that had various women standing outside of it. The few that I passed by called out to me
"Hey handsome, do you need any company tonight?"
"Big boy, are you up for some fun?"
Women of varying ages and sizes were spread out and talking to many of the people that were going in and out of this large lodging. It seemed completely normal as some could be seen heading inside with someone they just began talking to while others left the lodging with exhausted faces
I ignored the calls and comments from the many people around me as I went inside the building, and went in even faster after I saw a guy with a face full of makeup heading my way
The inside of the building was much quiter, with the noise stopping the moment you passed through the double doors. I went towards the counter where a red haired girl was acting as the receptionist and asked for a single room
"A single room for the night will be 2 gold coins sir. We also have the special offer of reserving a room for an entire week, all for the small price of 10 gold coins!"
I nodded towards the girl throwing out the sales pitch as I picked up a sheet that wrote down the different options and their rates. The sheet also had a section below that described the foods they offered in their dining area
"Just the single room works, and let me have the Fiery Soup and Rhino's Special for now"
"Yes sir! It all comes out to a total of 3 gold coins."
The girl cheerfully gave me a bronze key and led to a table in the dining area where I didn't wait too long for the food to be brought out. The dish that was called Fiery Soup was an extremely spicy broth that came in large wooden bowl which had bountiful diced up meats that tasted better than anything I've had before
The spice lingered in your mouth and got hotter the more that you ate, with meat being extremely soft. The Rhino's special was a platter of what seemed like prime ribs, but much larger and much more appetizing
I spent the next 30 minutes enjoying what was arguably the best of the many meals I would be having from now on before I went towards room number 34 that the key took the shape of.
I climbed the sturdy wooden stairs of the hotel and walked through a narrow hallway before finding the room and entering. A simple bed filled with feathers was in the middle of the room, with a door leading to a wide bathtub looking structure and a toilet off to the side. There was a ladle that was likely used for bathing attached to a large bucket that had steaming water in it
I curiously went to check out the bathroom and found the water in the bucket to continue replenishing to a specific level after I scooped some out. It remained the same temperature of warmth at the same time too. The bucket holding the water was attached to the ground with a pipe at the bottom of it
I got used to all these new things I was seeing for the first time as I reflected on every wondrous sight I saw today and then moved on to combine more of my skills. Tomorrow would be the first beginning of my rise from this place, and I wanted to be at my peak.
The only way for my strength to jump crazily was to gain a skill of higher rank, and there were two ways of doing this for me. I could combine multiple compatible S rank skills until they broke through to the next rank, or start off even lower with rank B skills to rank A, and then rank A to S.
The other way was to simply hunt and kill multipl
e beasts and collect the skills the old fashioned way. I would proactively use both ways, as using multiple skills and keeping them active was not a problem for me.
There were multiple rank B skills that I learned more than a week ago as I was leaving the United Federation that had long since reached 100 proficiency. There were also two rank A skills that were compatible that I would be combining. The rest of the rank A skills would also be ready for combination soon, giving me even more things to look forward to
None of the rank S skills were anywhere near a 100 though, as it became progressively harder to raise the proficiency of higher ranked skills.
I used the [Skill Combination] function and was able to produce a few rank B+ skills, as well as a new rank A+ skill by combing the rank A [Frigid Impermanence] and [Permafrost] to bring out [A+ Arctic Zone- Freeze and destabilize an entire area of 10 meters, shattering everything in it].
I learned [Permafrost] as I was leaving the United Federation, so I made the goal to spam this skill a whole lot while I was doing cleanup around the Empire before I left so I could raise the proficiency the fastest. It was a skill that had obvious compatability with the [Frigid Impermanance]
The new [Arctic Zone] skill made me excited to combine another rank A+ compatible skill and put them together to watch for what rank S skill would come out of it.
The rank B+ skills I was able to synthesize were: [Hardened Body Armor], [Strengthened Strikes], [Mirror of Repulsion], and [Emerald Skin].
The moment they appeared on the attribute panel, I activated them and waited for their proficiency to rise once more before I combined them too. It would be a long process, but my power would continue to spike the more skills I combined. I laid down on the feathered mattress as I waited for the next day to arrive, where my adventure would fully begin
Chapter 72 - Wonder
I slept more comfortably than I imagined, the denser concentration of energy in this world made it feel like you were in the best possible location anywhere you went. I went down the wooden stairs to see people already actively moving in and out of the inn.
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