It was obvious to me not to stay within the orks’ sphere of influence. For one, they were not very nice people. They were rough, thought of themselves as superior and worst of all, they were on edge from having a large part of their government wiped out. As nice as the landscape of the valleys was, I felt it was time to move on. That reminded me, I had completely forgotten about the lightning dragon. Originally I wanted to find where beasts like that came from, but I had gotten completely sidetracked. Worst of all, I had completely lost its tracks, even though they were absolutely massive when I left the goblin village through the tunnel. I considered for just a moment to fly north and look for signs of the beast, but I decided against it. I did not feel safe looking for trouble like that. If I ran into it, fine, but I did not have to go out of my way to find it.

That took going north out of the picture. South also dropped immediately. I had read about mountains reaching down into an ocean and turning into watery cliffs and islands. I did not want to get close to water. It simply was too much of a problem for my flight. For a second I eyed my [Eldritch Shift]. Could I fly through a rainstorm, or maybe even dive if I was metallized? Possible, but not something I wanted to try anywhere unsafe. A small pond, or a rivulet maybe, but not a supposed ocean around rocky cliffs.

So, would I fly west or east? Both were definitely possible. Both were definitely dangerous. East had the large forest where even strong orks had trouble getting deeper in. I had taken out some very strong orks, but I had done so through the element of surprise and weird magic interactions. In short, I had gotten very lucky. Which meant east was most likely a no. West had dwarves. That I knew from a book. They were defended very well, the orks unable to get through the fortifications. But orks could not fly. It was definitely much easier for me to just go above or around. However, moving somewhere people lived may not be the smartest. The betrayal of Idiot still was fresh in my mind and I felt uneasy getting close to civilization again. On the other hand, dwarves. The fantasy staple. Superb blacksmiths and craftsmen, fond of alcohol, mining and family. I kind of wanted to see what they were like in this world. I could just observe from a distance and move on to go somewhere else if I did not like their cities. Yes, west it was.

I soared through the night through valleys and mountain passes. I had kept out of the main valley the orks lived in and taken to the sides. It was easy for me since I could just go up. To my left, I kept the central valley in sight following its curves through the mountains. This way I could know when I left ork territory.

Some of the side valleys I passed held small villages and towns. I even spotted a few places without orks. There were actually goblin tribes in the mountains. Once, a show of lights and explosions sounded out through the night beneath me. A patrol skirmish where orks and goblins killed one another. I simply ignored them and moved on. There were definitely some thaumaturges around that had not been part of the Circle but they were getting scarcer the further I travelled. Instead, large wooden barracks and the occasional fortress controlled chokepoints in the landscape. The orks looked to be prepared to defend their lands, even though most of the aggression was emanating from them.

It was great to fly again. It simply felt right to me. It was what I was made for. Since I travelled at night and rested during the days I did not run into any complications. No other birds of prey nor sapients even spotted me. I was completely free. The mountains dropped in altitude the further I flew. At some point, the ork villages disappeared completely and the rocky peaks turned into rolling hills covered in plains and forests. They were still high, with valleys and cliffs cutting through, but no longer as tall as to have no plant life near their tops.

It was here I reached the temporary destination of my journey. A wall. I had heard of the great wall of China and this was almost how I always imagined it. Only, this was fully intact and manned by attentive guards. And it looked far larger. That impression might have come from the soldiers standing on top reaching half the height of adult humans and the magical lamps lighting up the top several metres into the air, nonetheless, it was impressive. Stones were stacked on top of each other with seemingly no mortar, simply fitting perfectly. They had not even cut them, just took the rocks straight from nature and put them together, somehow fitting such an impressive building. On the backside, staircases were placed in regular intervals with a ramp replacing every third. A building stood at every staircase, a larger one next to the ramps. These were the guard barracks, I assumed, the large ones being armouries.

Near every ramp, a set of three ballistae overlooked the land towards the orks. An area where trees had been trimmed and the grass was kept short. It was lit up with magical lights that were somehow directed like floodlights. The dwarves wanted to see the orks coming from afar and shoot them down. The soldiers as well all held ranged weapons. Most of them had crossbows at hand, ready to defend their country. A few had chosen bows, though these were not simple wooden sticks with a string. They had combined multiple layers of materials in a system of strings and pulleys. I could not make out the details from my height, but it still impressed me. Actual compound bows. Did earth not develop them sometime after the second world war? They had to have some serious need for firepower if they used such complicated weapons. And some highly developed technology. I wondered if they had guns. But then why did most of them use crossbows?

At the very least I found no actual magic when focusing my senses. It seemed the dwarves had kept their hands off thaumaturgy. That was very fine by me. The inherent insanity of studying it made for risky company.

Roads led into the distance from the walls, the occasional wagon moving along to carry dwarves and resources. They were not pulled by animals however but instead propelled with some kind of motor. And there I spotted it. Flux. They were using magic. Just not large scale. A tiny cloud of purple gas rose from the wood and metal construction rolling along the street. Maybe they were using mana crystals and somehow transforming the energy in them into moving their cars? Though car was taking it a bit far. Early twentieth-century cars almost looked more modern than these things. They were simply wheels stuck to a metal grid inlaid with wood. Either chairs or a flat surface were used to carry around people and goods respectively. Most of them had a cover built above to protect from wind and weather.

A driver sat in front, turning a wheel to steer the vehicle. They looked like train wagons without rails. The engine simply was too small to warrant a construction specifically to house it. There was a cylindrical box on the back axle exuding flux and somehow turning the wheels. I wanted to take a closer look but decided to play it safe. After all, they were active enough to move through the night. Simple magic lights lit up the surroundings, including the road and the insides of the vehicle itself. They reached maybe five times walking speed. Of dwarves, that was. A human could probably keep up with some fast walking. Truly interesting. I was glad I had come here. No immediate threat to my life and lots of interesting things to see.

In the distance, I spotted more lights. Instead of the small villages and towns I had expected, a huge city sprawled out in front of me. Buildings three or even four stories tall lined wide main streets and created tiny back-alleys. Dwarves moved around everywhere, even though it was late at night. Or rather, early in the morning. It was maybe two hours to sunrise right now. I spotted smoke coming from chimneys, one or two plumes were purple. A few wagons rattled along the main streets to deliver things and people. The whole thing city was built within more walls. Four circles to be exact, the one furthest outside holding still unused land. A few farms sat not too far away and fields surrounded the walls. The buildings themselves were made from all kinds of stone, wood and even metal. The further in, the richer the buildings were decorated. At some point, they started to get glass windows, made in mosaics similar to old churches on earth. I wondered if they were depicting any religious imagery or something similar. From my distance, however, I could not make out any more details.

The centre, different from expectations, was not a castle or palace. There was a large open space, a few buildings sitting against the walls. In its centre, a large node sat. A really large one. I spotted a few dwarves even at this time of day harvesting crystals near the edge of where they grew. Closer to the node they had kept the crystals growing. Either they wanted to harvest them once they reached a certain size, or there was some kind of religious superstition. The node was made of earth, order and light mana. This meant even though I could fly in directly from above, I would be spotted immediately even in the dead of night. The inner walls even had guards watching the central area. They were more concerned with the node itself than with someone trying to break in.

I decided to keep my distance. There were enough forests nearby for me to find a spot for the day. Maybe I could find a place with fewer people tomorrow night and get a bit closer. A small town or village. Just to see if I could learn the language. And maybe level up [Mingling] finally. It had been stuck at level three for far too long.