Chapter 94

We were transported back to the No-Man’s Lands. One of the assassins emerged from invisibility and spoke.

“Everyone, move out quickly. There’s a squad of trackers after us. We’ll meet in twenty-four hours at the same bar. Ditch the gifts—they could use them to track you.”

Though I was sitting behind Themis, it didn’t slow her down at all. Using her enhancement, she bolted across the square toward the slums. Convenient, really—no need for a mount.

Holy crap: she’s leaping across rooftops like she has wings.

“If there are trackers, they’ll lose our trail. I’ve escaped pursuits like this plenty of times.”

“What, you get into fights often?”

“Because of the armor. It’s hard to miss, and once the level cap is lifted, the child protection goes away too. That’s when all those creeps tried to take it from me. It doesn’t drop as loot, so they tried to force me to hand it over.”

“Why not just take it off? Why suffer?”—we vaulted over another road gap—“Ow, I’m gonna die like this. Doesn’t your armor have inertial dampeners or something?”

“Idiot, what dampeners? We’re being chased, and you’re cracking jokes.”

I had to heal myself to avoid dying from the impacts against her armor.

“Where are we running to?”

“There’s a flophouse nearby. We’ll hole up there.”

“Not an option. They’ll be watching all the inns and public places. Let’s find a courtyard and stop there.”

We logged out of the game and returned exactly twenty-three hours later. Right now, I’m helpless. I need someone to carry me to the bar, and then we’ll see.

The bar was exactly the same. This time, no one tried to kill me, and I didn’t notice anyone’s presence. They were already waiting for us at a table.

“Well, well, here are our guests.”

The trio was sitting at the table. They were dressed differently now, wearing hooded cloaks, ready to hit the road. The man in the lime-green cape started speaking. He’d been the leader of the assassin group the past two times as well. Two embroidered daggers adorned the cape on his chest.

“Congratulations on joining the ranks of the hunters, Fi, was it? And what’s your name, young man?”

“I think it’s best we don’t share our names. We don’t know who our enemy really is.”

“Smart. You’ve learned from what Uri said.”

“Uri? You mean the host?”

“Yes. I’m one of the judges responsible for overseeing the trial. As you can see, I’m a player too, and my job was to monitor the trial from the participants’ perspective. Quality control, so to speak. These two young folks went through the trial under standard conditions.”

“This just keeps getting more interesting.”

“No kidding. Being a classless mage, casting spells with no cooldown, killing undead five hundred levels above you. And the finale—attacking a god.”

“Let’s get to the point. I’m not here to list my virtues.”

“Why did you refuse the debuff removal and the gratitude buff?”

“Because I won’t rely on anyone’s help. Especially not divine help.”

“And you, Fi, why?”—the guy was determined to dig into everything. What a pest! Though I need something from him too.

“He told me to, so I did,” she nodded in my direction. “He doesn’t do anything without a reason. And I agree—buffs and items are more like beacons or tags. Why carry something like that around?”

The man just nodded, agreeing with her reasoning. With every word Fi spoke, his smile grew wider.

“Let’s cut to the chase. In the Hunters’ League, there’s a division dedicated to training assassins—the best of the best. Class doesn’t matter; it’s about the essence. We teach you to kill, to use everything at your disposal to its fullest: enemy weaknesses, terrain features, your strengths, attack combos, teamwork. Technically, both of you qualified to join. Fi, you can start training whenever you’re ready. You, young man, will gain access to this division once you become a hunter.”

“Are there other roles in the League?”

“Plenty: diplomacy, crafting, cartography, exploration, finance. The League gets tons of contracts, and each one needs its own specialists. But assassins are taught to move efficiently and maximize what they’ve got. Those are universal skills.”

So much intrigue in this seemingly simple world.

“Are there roles focused on gathering intel, finding people, or tracking items?”

“Yes, all of the above. The League offers high-paying, high-difficulty missions. You don’t gain experience from them, just like any mission in Chrysalis. Every city in the world has an auction house. Once you enter it, Fi, you’ll see a tab with League info. That’s where you can access missions. Remember your callsign, Fi—in the League, you’re ‘Death’s Shield.’ That tab also shows your rank within the organization. It’s universal and reflects your strength level according to the specialists who review your profile.”

“But I never showed my stat panel,” Fi said, surprised.

“The trial portal scans your entire profile. Only local judges have access to it. The Hunters’ League itself has expanded access to the portal network’s data and constantly updates your info. Other hunters won’t know specifics about you—just your rank and its numerical value.”

Another reason to avoid portals. I’ve used them twice, and look at the mess—first they scanned my profile, then sent a pursuit squad after me. My silence spoke for itself, and the assassin picked up on my thoughts, offering an explanation.

“Your rank determines the types of missions you can access. Your specialization also shapes the offers you get. Let me be clear: these aren’t ordinary tasks. They’re all interesting and intense. The harder they are, the more effort they demand.”

“Thanks for the info. If I become a hunter, I’ll definitely check out what’s so special about them.”

The guy burst out laughing at that. He slapped the table in a fit of amusement, then, catching his breath, continued.

“Here’s the thing: hunters are people with exceptional abilities or character traits. They naturally attract the unusual and, sooner or later, become hunters themselves. Our missions are a world of raw power. Random nobodies don’t end up with us. I’m telling you this because I’m certain you’ll become one.”

“Thanks for the explanation. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be going.”

We need to leave the city, and I still need to buy a mount. We got one second-hand from a kid wandering the slums. Funny sight: Fi carrying both me and the horse over the tall city wall on her shoulders. Her armor was drinking blood at a terrifying rate, so I had to keep healing her nonstop.

“Oh, crap, I forgot to buy a sword.”

“You’ll get one from mobs, or I can make one. Or do you want to get cozy with the Golden Hand clan? I’m sure they’re waiting for us at the auction house.”

I needed to head south, toward the dwarven highway. Where Fi was going didn’t matter to me. Once we hit the road, I decided to clarify it anyway.

“Fi, where are you headed now?”

“With you. I don’t really care where, as long as I can level up.”

“What if I don’t want you tagging along? Go wherever you want—I’m not interested in grinding.”

“I’m coming with you anyway. You’re helpless for the next two months, so you can’t kill me. I’m not as dumb as you keep calling me. I know damn well I wouldn’t have passed that trial without you. No one would have—our combined damage was an order of magnitude less than yours.”

“Leave. I’ll handle my problems myself. You’ll only make things worse for yourself by sticking with me. I’m a renegade mage—nothing good happens around me.”

“That’s actually a plus, not a minus. Where else am I gonna find a blood mage who can back me up in a fight and heal me when I need it? And you don’t even care about my armor—why’s that, by the way?”

“You just won’t let it go, will you? I’ve seen stuff way better than your armor.”

“And that’s another reason to stick with you. In this whole world, maybe one or two people have a combo of skills that fit me this well as a partner.”

“Fine, whatever. Do what you want.”

I don’t care about her reasons. She does fit me perfectly in every way, and now she’s hiding from the gods too. So we rode south toward the dwarves.

Over the week-long journey, I started trusting her more and handed over most of the items weighing me down. I gave her a set of strength and endurance rings—she’s a melee fighter traveling with me, so they suit her better. Seeing genuine happiness is nice. I may be a kid, but I get that making others happy feels good too. Those rings are a much better match for her than me.

“Where’d you get stuff like this? Did you sink real money into the game and buy up everything on the auction house?”

“Nope. Made them myself.”

“No way! That’s the pinnacle of artifact crafting. Masters pour their levels into every piece.”

“They’re made with blood magic, ritual magic, and sacrifices. They’re perfect for your armor. They don’t give the bonuses of epic, legendary, or unique items, but they grow with your level. I plan to progress fast in this field, so regular items don’t cut it for me.”

“So you *are* going to level up?”

“No. I’m after power to fight back, not to show off. Right now, I’m looking for my parents. Last I heard, they passed through this highway toward the dwarven mountains.”

“Oh, your parents play too?”

“I don’t have real-world parents. My whole family’s in Chrysalis. And I’m searching for them now.”

“What if they’re—”

“That won’t happen. I’ll find them, and they’ll be fine.”

It took twelve days to cross the No-Man’s Lands. We reached the surface dwarven settlements, where the entrance to the underground highway on the other side of the mountains was located.

In my spare time, I trained spatial magic with telekinesis. Other spell types needed an opponent, and I didn’t want to keep hitting Fi. After an hour, she flat-out refused and threatened to kill me if I threw another spark her way.

A full garrison guarded the entrance, and they told us about my parents’ fate.

“I remember them. They had four dogs and were riding horses. They went south through the highway. Paid the toll with two animals—they didn’t have any money on them. These dogs, actually.”

I remember those dogs perfectly—they’re definitely ours. So my parents really did pass through here. The dogs ran up and started licking me.

“How much do you want for them?”

And that’s when the dwarves showed their true colors as the greediest bunch in this world. They haggled, claiming the dogs had leveled up and gained skills, but refused to show their stat panels, citing “trade secrets.”

“Fegeman, I know these dogs inside and out. Their skills were trained on me. They haven’t changed a bit since I last saw them, so they haven’t gotten stronger. Out of respect, I’ll give you a thousand gold for both. And you’ll let us through the tunnel toll-free.”

That’s how I got my dogs back after so long. They remembered me. Now a piece of my home was with me again.

On the other side of the mountains, the dwarves said my parents headed to the southernmost part of the continent, down the road to Kargan. It’s a cold region, and there’s nowhere else they could’ve gone.

Traveling snow-covered roads in winter is brutal. The highway was relatively safe—regular monsters don’t spawn there, and PKers don’t bother lurking in these lands. Who’d camp out waiting for players on the way to the south pole?

The dogs had it the worst, so I sewed them fur suits. It took three weeks to reach Kargan, the capital of the southern human lands. The south only has three cities, united under the state of Ruma.

It took nearly a month to find anyone in Kargan who remembered a couple of travelers passing through two years ago. We grinded city rep to the max for it. Only then did a guard recall a retired garrison soldier who’d been on duty back then.

His house was on a hill outside the city. It was a warm day by local standards. His little home was almost buried in snow, and to talk to him, we had to dig it out. The old man only agreed to tell us about my parents after we cleared his entire house and did some chores for him.

“I remember them. They came at night. I was guarding the northern gate. They were on one horse, holding one dog, with another running alongside. Same breed as yours. We don’t have dogs like that around here—that’s why I remembered them when I saw yours.”

“Yeah, these dogs are from warmer lands. Where’d that couple go?”

“They were waiting for a ship. I think it was the *Invincible*, which runs between us and the floating cities.”

“What’s that ship? What are floating cities?”

The old man wrapped himself tighter in his coat and sipped chicken broth from a mug. Turns out it’s great for colds.

“It’s a big trading ship. It picks up goods from the floating cities and takes them to Ovidius. On the continent, it stops at three port cities, then comes to us if the ice hasn’t set in. It’s deep winter now—the *Invincible* won’t be back for four months.”

“What are these floating cities? Which one did the ship head to?”

“No one knows for sure. Floating cities are like floating slums. One city’s about twenty big trading ships sailing in tight formation, linked by rope bridges. They’re fully autonomous—own land, water, rulers, laws. It’s the last refuge for fugitives, convicts, renegades. They survive by harvesting rare ingredients from the ocean floor and the River of Life in the Sea of Monsters.”

“What’s the River of Life? And the Sea of Monsters?”

“The Sea of Monsters is the sea around Thanatos Island, smack in the middle of the Ocean of Terror.”

I glanced at Fi, but she didn’t know anything about it.

“Can you elaborate?”

“The Ocean of Terror is relatively calm. Monsters rarely attack there, and they’re just babies compared to what’s in the Sea of Monsters. The magical density there is insanely high—that’s where all the world’s monsters spawn. I’ve seen creatures the size of our city with my own eyes!”

“How can a floating city survive in a place like that?”

“The River of Life sits on the edge of the Sea of Monsters. The magical density shifts so sharply that it creates a water current full of glowing plankton. They call it the River of Life for its healing and calming effects. It’s not a river in the usual sense—more like a stream of glowing water circling the Ocean of Terror. That’s where the cities float. Monsters don’t attack there, but go further toward Thanatos Island, and they show up in full force.”

“How strong?”

“Level one thousand and up! Local bosses, raid bosses, natural gods. They say even high pantheon reps are there.”

“Serious foes. How many cities float in that stream?”

“They say ten, but there could be more.”

“Can we find out which city the *Invincible* docked at?”

“Only if you ask the captain or check his logbook.”

With that, we said goodbye to the old soldier and headed back to town. I need the auction house. If I’m right, my parents are on one of those floating cities, and waiting for the ship takes too long. It’s faster to run there across the water myself.

Two hundred thousand gold went into buying water-walking collars for the dogs. When Fi found out how much I spent, she chewed me out, saying I was reckless with money.

“Fi, I’m about to run across the entire Ocean of Terror. The dogs might swim that far, but it’d slow us down and attract predators.”

“And how am I supposed to run? I can’t walk on water.”

“I’ve got some nifty sandals for you.” I had to give up my favorites. I can use a seal for water-walking myself.

“Did you steal these sandals from a god or something?!” Fi laughed. “To use them, I’d have to take off my plate boots, and that’d break my armor’s set bonus. I wouldn’t be able to use enhancement or cleave.”

“You won’t need to. All you have to do is wait out my debuff, and then we’ll set off. You’ll need to ditch the armor too—you can’t swim in it.”

The next three days, we stocked up for the long trip. Feeling strength flood back into my body is amazing. Like last time, I celebrated its return. Two massive fire tornadoes erupted on the ice in the open sea. I’m stronger now! Way stronger than before!

Twenty-five thousand mana, two thousand intelligence, and five thousand mana regen per minute! So? Who’s up for a challenge?

Last time, I sailed the ocean on a ship. This time, we ran—four days on ice, then on water.

The ocean’s gorgeous underwater. But running across it during a storm? That’s a real adventure and test. Storm waves hit fifty meters high, crashing down with such force they whip up a brutal spray. The dogs had it toughest. They couldn’t keep up for a week, and then when they adjusted, the constant storms hit. We entered a massive zone where two atmospheric fronts collided. Cold and warm air spawned tornadoes in the open sea. I saw a cyclone for the first time in my life—probably the most destructive natural disaster in this world. A colossal tornado miles wide sat at the center of it all. Worst part? It was moving toward us, and we had to dodge it to keep going.

I had to carry the dogs—otherwise, they’d get swept away and couldn’t get back up without help. Near the tornado, we nearly died as constant physical damage kicked in and wind gusts started slicing our skin. Fi and her dog fell into the water a few times but climbed back up.

When we escaped that hellish weather zone, we were ecstatic. Chrysalis is incredible, delivering joy in all sorts of ways—like the rush of surviving a natural disaster.

After a quick break, we pressed on. The dogs were happier than us—they were on the greatest walk in the world! So much fun for them.

Then we hit the Sea of Tranquility, bordering the Sea of Monsters. It’s called that because of its eerie calm—dead quiet, but with strong undercurrents. That’s where we met this wonder of nature.

Right in the middle of the sea, a cat sat on the water, staring at us.

*Monster, Malik the One, Beyond Levels, Beyond Ranks*

What the hell? A giant cat just sitting in the ocean, watching us.

“Saji, do we go around or kill it?”

A small lightning bolt struck the water near me in response.

“Fi, take the dogs and back off. It won’t let us leave.”

How do you answer a greeting like that? With a ten-stream lightning bolt! It hit so hard my ears rang.

The cat yawned long and slow, stretched, and started changing. Huge claws and saber-like fangs sprouted, its fur turned black with lightning streaks running through it. An intricate pattern appeared on its back—definitely meaningful. Tassels grew on its ear tips. It swelled to the size of a bear.

*Monster, Malik the One (Mountain King), Beyond Levels, Beyond Ranks*

You furry little punk! You’re a shapeshifter!

The cat summoned six ball lightning orbs and lobbed them at me. They moved slowly, so I grounded them with six rocks. That surprised it. It threw eight more—half got absorbed by my shield, the rest blocked by resistance. The cat paused, then started hurling water blades at me. It can use up to nine streams of consciousness, just like me! The blades sank into my shield.

*Monster, Malik the One (Fire Lord), Beyond Levels, Beyond Ranks*

It shifted again. Its fur and body radiated a fiery aura. The water boiled around it, and it looked like a blazing torch. It grew to the size of a horse. Bad move, kitty—turning on your defense showed you’re weak in close combat. Fire doesn’t scare me. I dropped my shield and stepped closer. I’ve endured worse flames than this! Malik cranked up the fire aura until the water itself burned—we stood in a massive steam pillar. I got within five steps and stopped.

“What’s next, Malik? A meteor? Tsunami? Want me to whip up a fire tornado?”

It shifted again, turning into a semi-spiritual entity—more like a dense ghost with bright white fur and red eyes. Its size shrank to that of a big dog. Yeah, you’re not just a cat—you’re something sentient.

*Damage Taken: 918,900 (Ignored: 1,155,597)*

*3440/3440 HP*

It went for its big gun—close-range mental attacks. That’d crush a normal player, but I’ve been in deserts where the air and ground burn, where reality’s so thin you can see souls drifting in the astral plane.

“Nope, Malik, that won’t work on me. But you’re a damn interesting opponent, so I won’t kill you. You’re weak up close—that’s why you didn’t claw me and just tried to scare me with them.”

I wanted to pet the spooked critter, but it threw up shields and wouldn’t let me near. Its body reverted to its original form—a plain old cat. Fine, Malik, let’s see who’s more patient. I started pelting its shield with tiny sparks point-blank. I’ve got mana to burn—I could do this forever.

It gave up after forty minutes, which marked it as a seriously tough foe. It dropped the shield and lunged at me with teeth and claws. I blocked with my arm, and the terrified little guy tried to bite me to death. It just tickled, though—he was ready to die fighting, but no one was hurting him. I grabbed the scruff of his neck and looked him in the eyes.

“I’m not gonna hurt you. Calm down.”

I set him back on the water and petted him. He stared at me, stunned and silent.

“You’re one weird cat. Attacking people, rejecting affection. Whatever—good luck. That was fun.”

He just sat there, baffled. I rejoined Fi, and we kept running toward the Sea of Monsters. Three more days to go, then we’ve got to find the River of Life and track down the city my parents are in.

We found the first floating city, Vizier, a week later. It was the best part of the trip. We ran across the water at night—it felt like moving along a glowing path. Silence, darkness, just the four of us on this starry trail. The residents greeted us armed to the teeth. I’d probably freak out too if, during a dead calm at night, two people and dogs came sprinting across the sea at fifty meters per second, kicking up a spray trail behind them. It looked badass.

At full speed, we dodged shots from stationary cannons, then leapt onto the deck of one of the ships.

“We’re human, don’t shoot! We mean no harm.”

The dogs growled but didn’t attack. The people kept their weapons up, ready to strike. Oh, they don’t understand us—must be a language barrier.

“Hey, anyone understand me?”

An old man stepped forward, wearing knitted clothes with national patterns. Definitely a renegade.

“What do you want, kid?”

“I’m looking for a couple. They had two dogs with them, same breed as mine. They arrived at one of the floating cities two years ago.”

The old man exchanged looks with the others. They started circling us.

“We don’t give up our own.”

“They’re my parents. The dogs are family. Their names are Arman and Kameliya. Dad’s a fisherman, Mom’s a seamstress.”

Everyone relaxed. Got it—they thought I was a bounty hunter.

“Why didn’t you come the normal way?”

“I didn’t have time or a way to find a ship heading here. I only just learned these cities exist.”

“Fair enough. We thought you were more headhunters. Your parents settled on a small island called Fang, in the River of Life, eastern side of the world. It’s a waypoint where floating cities and ships from the mainland meet. They arrived at another floating city—that’s where I met them. They stayed two months, then left when we reached Fang. I moved to this city recently, so you’re damn lucky I’m here.”

“Thanks for the info. Can you show me on a map where Fang is? And the rough flow of the River of Life?”