"I think we should get a place to stay first," Liam said as he looked over the enormous city stretching before them. "We’re not leaving anytime soon. I have a feeling we’re going to be here for a while."
His words made the others exchange glances, but nobody disagreed. After everything they had gone through to reach this city, rushing straight back into the wilderness would have been foolish. They had finally reached a place where they could rest, gather information and figure out what their next move should be. More importantly, Liam had no intention of leaving until he understood what the goddess had sent them here to find. The map inside his mind had pointed them toward this city and then toward a particular blacksmith, which meant there was clearly something waiting for them here. Whatever it was, he intended to uncover it.
Agatha nodded slowly. "Mary and I will look for somewhere suitable."
Mary immediately agreed, already turning her attention toward the streets ahead. The two witches had become accustomed to handling things like this during their travels, and with the city being as enormous as it was, splitting up made sense. They could cover more ground and hopefully find somewhere large enough for all of them without wasting the entire day searching.
Tatiana looked between them. "How will we find you once we’re done?"
Mary smiled.
"As long as you keep Gregor close at all times, we’ll find you."
Gregor blinked.
"Why me?"
Mary’s smile became slightly wider.
"Because finding you is easier than finding anyone else."
Gregor looked genuinely offended by the answer, but Agatha was already walking away with Mary, leaving him no opportunity to argue. The two witches disappeared into the crowd, their robes gradually becoming harder to distinguish among the endless stream of people moving through the streets.
The remaining group stood together for a moment.
Irina turned toward Liam.
"So, what’s next?"
Liam looked toward the street ahead.
"Now we find the blacksmith."
Irina raised an eyebrow.
She had expected him to say something about finding food or an inn, especially after their long journey, but Liam seemed completely focused on the strange destination the goddess had given them.
"Why are we even looking for this guy?" she asked curiously as they began walking. "I mean, you keep saying we need to find him, but you haven’t actually explained why."
Liam shrugged.
"I don’t know yet."
Irina looked at him.
"You don’t know?"
"I’ll know when I get there."
That answer somehow made the question even more confusing.
Liam continued walking through the crowded street, his eyes occasionally moving over the buildings around them as he followed the directions contained within the strange map that now existed inside his mind.
"But if there’s one thing I do know," he continued, "it’s that this person is going to make us weapons."
Leonid looked at him from the side.
"Weapons?"
"Yeah."
Leonid thought about that for a moment before his expression became slightly more serious.
"And these weapons are supposed to help us fight our battles back home?"
Liam nodded.
"Yes. Once we get the weapons, we can go home."
The statement sounded simple.
Almost too simple.
Tatiana, who was walking beside him, glanced at his face.
There was something in his expression that didn’t match his words.
Liam genuinely intended to return home. Earth was still waiting for them. Dickson and the others were still there, and Liam hadn’t forgotten the reason he had started this journey in the first place.
But somewhere deep inside him, another decision had already begun forming.
He would return home.
He would deal with the vampires.
He would finish what he had started.
But after that?
He would come back.
There were too many unanswered questions now.
The goddess.
The Guardian.
The Aetherial race.
Caelus Vaelorian.
The strange way the Guardian had spoken his name.
The way the Seer had looked at him.
And most importantly, the feeling that something about this world was connected to him in a way he couldn’t yet understand.
Liam didn’t know who he had been before Earth.
He didn’t know why the goddess seemed to recognize him.
He didn’t know why his system had evolved into an Aetherial-Class.
And he certainly didn’t know why an ancient being had called him Caelus Vaelorian as though the name had been waiting for him for centuries.
He needed answers.
And if those answers were here, then Liam had no intention of walking away without them.
The group continued deeper into the city.
The streets gradually became less crowded as they moved away from the main entrance. The magnificent buildings gave way to older structures, and the clean polished stone gradually became darker and more weathered. Shops lined both sides of the street, selling everything from magical jewelry and strange foods to weapons, armor and objects Liam couldn’t even identify.
Every few minutes, he caught sight of something that made him slow down.
There were creatures here he had never imagined existed.
Some merchants had scales covering portions of their faces. Others had eyes that glowed unnaturally. A tall woman with silver horns walked past them carrying a basket filled with glowing blue flowers, while a small creature with four arms hurried after her.
Nobody seemed particularly surprised by any of it.
This was simply normal life in this city.
Eventually, Liam stopped.
He looked at a narrow building squeezed between two larger shops.
"This is it."
Everyone looked at the building.
Nobody spoke.
It didn’t look like a blacksmith’s shop.
It barely looked like a functioning business.
The exterior was old and stained, with faded wooden boards hanging above the entrance. Several pieces of scrap metal had been attached to the walls for reasons Liam couldn’t understand. A few rusty tools hung from hooks near the doorway, and one sword had been placed on a crooked wooden display stand outside.
The sword looked as though it might fall apart if someone sneezed near it.
Leonid stared at it.
Then he stared at Liam.
"If someone told me this belonged to a shoemaker, I wouldn’t argue."
Irina covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.
Tatiana wasn’t even hiding her skepticism.
"Liam, are you sure this is the right place?"
Liam looked back at her.
"Yes."
He said it with complete confidence.
Tatiana looked at the building again.
The confidence in his voice didn’t make the building look any better.
Liam stepped toward the entrance.
Before he even opened the door, the smell reached them.
Alcohol.
Not the faint smell of someone who had been drinking earlier.
This place reeked of it.
The scent poured through the doorway and mixed with the smell of old metal, dust and something else that Liam couldn’t identify.
He pushed the door open.
Creak.
The hinges complained loudly.
Everyone followed him inside.
Liam’s expression slowly changed.
The interior was even worse.
Old tools were scattered across wooden tables. Metal scraps were piled in corners, some covered in thick layers of dust. An enormous furnace sat against the far wall, but it looked as though it hadn’t been lit in decades. Several hammers rested on the floor, their handles cracked and their metal heads covered in rust.
There were shelves everywhere.
Most were nearly empty.
The few objects sitting on them looked ancient.
Liam walked deeper into the shop.
His boots disturbed a layer of dust on the floor.
He looked toward the furnace.
Nothing.
He looked toward the workbench.
Nothing.
He looked at the tools.
Nothing.
It was almost as though time had stopped inside this place.
Leonid stepped beside him, his expression becoming increasingly confused.
"What the fuck is this place?"
Nobody answered.
Tatiana slowly looked around.
"This doesn’t look like a blacksmith’s workshop."
Irina folded her arms.
"Are you absolutely certain the map didn’t send us to the wrong place?"
Liam didn’t respond immediately.
He stared at the old equipment.
Something about this place was wrong.
Not simply abandoned.
Wrong.
The map had brought them here deliberately.
The goddess had given him the destination deliberately.
There was no way this was an accident.
Liam slowly turned his head toward the back of the shop.
Somewhere beyond the darkness and the piles of scrap metal was the person they had crossed an entire region to find.
The legendary blacksmith.
Yet everything around them suggested that whoever owned this place had either abandoned the profession a very long time ago...
Or had never been a blacksmith at all.
Liam’s eyes narrowed.
"Interesting."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"Let’s see what we’re dealing with."
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter