They got up early in the morning, just before the sunrise. Mash had been woken up by Luke, who took the last watch. He didn’t mind waking up early and believed that they could make the entire trip to Krall today. Using inhuman hibernation slightly removed any lingering drowsiness and fatigue. This effect of his skill was one of his favorites, it seemed to heal him regardless of the nature of the damage. They climbed down from the tree, and Mash noticed that his tree house hadn’t decayed at all. He didn’t know if it was decaying slower or would no longer decay. For a quick test he made a simple wooden bracelet and would see if it deteriorated. If his creations remained, he would be leaving potential bases wherever they stopped, and thought that he should strive to make them nicer.

Deciding to use Luke’s buffs, they began their flight. Since they were going for speed this time, Luke was using his mana to improve Mash’s speed as much as possible. His buffs were improved now and would double Mash’s speed for as long as they lasted. They would be able to keep them active for most of the journey since Luke could recover his mana while they flew. His buffs did look different now, and markings of light covered Mash’s entire form, the wood included. He was glowing now and wondered what the people below would think. Well, it would probably be less frightening than his wings normally were. Surprisingly, Jill and Red managed to fall asleep, ignoring the sounds of the wind. Mash made a wall in front of them to block the force of the wind but could do nothing for the sound of rushing air.

Sunrise had changed to sundown, and they kept flying. According to the maps they would see the first of the city’s watchtowers soon and flew lower to the ground. Luke’s buffs now shown brightly against the dark of night, and he thought that was a good thing. With lights like these, he hoped that the city would not see him as a threat. Otherwise, he would need to land a distance out from the city and travel on foot. They didn’t talk much while travelling, both because they needed to yell to communicate, and the silence was nice while observing the sights below.

There was a surprising amount of life beneath them, from the natural movement of the trees and the birds that flew above the treetops, the sight was amazing. It resembled a field of grass, but each blade was instead a leaf, the variety of the trees changing the terrain. The wind blew against the trees, making it seem strangely fluid like a lake. The night had changed the view slightly, but it was still beautiful.

Eventually, they managed to spot the watch tower, and knew that the trip was almost over. Picking up the pace, Mash flew a bit more eagerly. When something slammed against his left wing, causing him to sway awkwardly, he had to focus on correcting his flight. Concentrating on maintaining the flight, he inspected the damage. A metal arrow that was twice the length of a sword, punctured through his wings, and he could feel mana connecting it to the floor behind them. He dislodged the section of his wood around the arrow, letting it fall to the floor beneath. That shot hadn’t come from the watch tower.

“Bandits!”

He yelled the words, but didn’t need to, Red already forming a shield of blood around them. It would drain her mana quickly, but she should be able to last for the remainder of the trip. The bigger issues were deciding where to land. In this situation the decision fell to Mash, and he had to choose between the watchtower and the city. Both would be likely to attack him if he flew straight towards them, so the better option would be to land in the plains outside the city. They would risk some attacks from the bandits if they were close to the forest, but Jill would be able to teleport them to the city quickly. It was the strategy they had for a crash landing but would work perfectly here.

Dashing past the watch tower, he took another arrow in his wings. It was much closer to his body, and he could feel the high amount of mana surging through it. He wasn’t surprised that it managed to punch through Red’s blood shield., having shot through his wing like it wasn’t there. However, that meant he didn’t have to deal with it sticking and only needed to repair his wings. His flight was growing more erratic, as he tried to very his path more. Thankfully, no other arrows managed to reach him, and they made it past the watchtower. There were still no attacks from the watchtower, and he hoped that the town would react similarly. He didn’t risk it though, aiming for a place close enough to the walls to be seen but not be imposing.

He separated from his wings as he landed, letting himself crash to the ground. Falling unconscious for only a moment, he regained his senses as Luke and Red healed him. Jill didn’t stop either teleporting them closer to the city, it turned out to be unnecessary as no attacks were headed towards them. They ran towards the entrance, well everyone else ran, Mash was being carried by Luke so he could meditate while moving. It was not shameful; despite the jokes he would receive for it later. It only took a few minutes to get to the gates, and he made sure to arrive on his own feet.

The walls themselves were made of wood, unlike the stone ones from back home. Noticing it was made from the darker wood they saw on the larger trees. They stood only a little above the height of the surrounding trees and was shorter than the tree they camped on. The gates were enormous too, a set of doors that seemed impossible to open. It would either require magic or a high leveled person. It was probably a security measure, requiring specific individuals to open and close them. They were open now, and he could vaguely make out shapes on the top, but none had drawn their weapons. Obviously, they didn’t consider Mash and his friends a threat.

It didn’t seem to matter to the guards, raising their spears at them once they saw Mash. They were clearly singling him out, most likely due to his appearance, so he pulled out his adventurer badge preemptively. He figured it would work and having Luke around was already making them relax. The soldiers still took up a formation to cut off any escape routes, and he got a good look at them. Unlike the knights from back home, none of the soldiers wore metal armor. Instead, they had a combination of leather and hide, wielding a wide variety of weapons. They were all beastmen, many of which were clearly from different tribes. Two of them stepped ahead of the crowd and approached them, responding Luke took a few steps forward. Mash followed behind, wanting to be close enough to hear and talk if necessary.

“Brother, welcome home. Who are those behind you?”

The man who spoke didn’t look much older than them, and his voice was higher than he expected. It wasn’t obnoxious but didn’t fit his large frame. He wore a full set of leather armor, which didn’t protect much, as he left his chest open. He seemed to have the barbarian class because of the many tribal tattoos that wrapped around his body. Mash knew those markings were typical of the class, but he could be faking it. Taking in his face, he doubted that it was fake since he seemed to be containing his anger. Mash could see a vein bulging on his forehead and was drawn to his beastmen traits.

The man had ears that drooped slightly, and gave Mash an impression of a dog, the other distinctive feature of his race was his tail. It was thicker and fluffier than a dogs, resembling a wolf’s tail more closely. His fur was dark brown, and his hair was cleanly combed back. He was probably attractive, but it wasn’t as obvious as it was for the man from the auction. Mash hadn’t seen many beastmen with tails, even among these guards only three of them had the feature. He wondered if there was an advantage to having a tail and considered testing it later, since doing it now would probably seem offensive. He could grow a tail easily enough.

“Brother? I’ve never been here before.”

Luke was clearly confused, though he sounded a little happy. The man noticed and replied with sympathy in his voice.

“It’s meant to be symbolic. All beastmen have had family here, so we are all considered family. So, why are you here?”

“My name is Luke, and these guys are my friends. We’re adventurers here to challenge the dungeon and explore the city.”

The man was not surprised since they all made their badges visible earlier. He understood, nodding along to Luke’s words. Although, he didn’t fully seem to trust them and continued to look at them skeptically. He introduced himself, trying to act imposing, an obvious ploy to pressure them.

“I’m captain Davin, and this is deputy commander Ellis. You’re free to enter, and your friends will be let in as a show of trust towards you. However, they’re your responsibility and will be watched closely. As for the dungeon, it’s currently unsafe for adventurers of your level. Several bandits have snuck in there, and they attack any low-level adventurers. Did you encounter any bandits on your way?”

As Luke gave him a rundown of their journey, Mash took the opportunity to measure their mana. Both were a lot stronger than him, and he felt Ellis doing something similar in return. Mash glanced at her, and she winked at him. Becoming a little embarrassed at the gesture, he had never been spotted before, at least no one had indicated that they knew. He was impressed that someone could tell and looked over her more carefully.

Almost a foot taller than Mash himself, she wore a full set of hide armor. It came from some scaled creature, and the armor had a bluish hue to them. It covered her entire body but clung closely to her form, and Mash thought that she was attractive. Noticing his heartbeat rising, he used meditation to try gain more self-control. The skill was proving more versatile by the minute and returned his body to its normal state, but he worried that this would also affect his mind. He didn’t know which aspects of the skill would affect him negatively, and it was too useful to ignore. He would need to ask Red about it later but was not looking forward to that conversation. Ellis undoubtedly knew he did something to himself, but either didn’t know exactly what or didn’t care.

Not wanting to let his eyes wander, he kept them on her face. She was pretty and had light brown hair that grew in a messy way. It was cut short and didn’t hang lower than her eyes, which were sharp and narrow and made her seem like she was looking down on him. There was a single scar that started below her right eye and ran down along her neck. She had slightly curved ears that were covered in fur that matched her hair. She didn’t have a tail though, and other than her ears had no noticeable differences. He realized he was staring and decided to pay more attention to the conversation.

“Thank you.”

Luke was thanking him for accepting them, and Mash nodded along. The captain just dismissed the gratitude. He didn’t give Luke time to add anything else and spoke while guiding them to the gates.

“Welcome to Krall. Oh, and by the way we're both over level 150.”

Dropping that information so casually caused all of them to stop and stare at the two. Mash wanted to know how close to 200 they were, or if they already passed that point. Either way, it meant that they were probably a lot older than they looked. He refrained from asking the question, guessing that Davin wouldn’t give them more information. This was most likely a ploy to intimidate them. That didn’t mean that it was untrue though, and he walked a little more hesitantly. It had been effective.