Jake woke up the next morning to a bird nipping at his hair. Sylphie clearly hadn’t been able to sleep as long as he had – assuming she had slept at all – and had gotten bored. Shaking his head to get her off by scooping her up as she put on a fake struggle.

“You’re a little bully, aren’t you?” Jake teased with a smile as she looked up at him.

“Ree!” she answered defiantly.

“Excuses,” he chuckled as he let her go. She flew a few rounds around the room as Jake used his spatial storage to get on all his armor. Just in time for Sylphie to finish her morning exercise and landed on his shoulder. Apparently, she had decided that today was not a bird-on-head day.

Being up and about, Jake knocked on the wall to Carmen’s room, quickly getting a knock in return. They had no plans of staying in Changlun more than that single night and promptly headed out to meet this boss their escort mentioned. Jake was a bit interested as the presence of a boss contradicted the narrative of a party of five founding the city.

However, as Jake and Carmen met up with the escort and went toward the waterfront, Jake began to understand. He and Carmen were led into a pretty well-sealed-off room where half of it was water, with an underground connection leading straight into the ocean.

“Seems like we will be meeting more C-grades,” Jake chuckled, getting a surprised look from both Carmen and their escort. The escort due to Jake figuring it out and Carmen due to, well, surprise. The archer, knowing the gig was up, said his farewell as he headed out.

The surface of the water within the sealed-off bunker suddenly churned as Jake saw a figure rise from it. A humanoid form of pure water soon took shape as Jake used Identify but got nothing in return. This was just a summon of sorts, or perhaps remote manipulation.

“I welcome you, Malefic’s Chosen and warrior of Valhal,” the creature that Jake assumed to be an elemental said.

“Hello there,” Jake just said, wondering what the presumed elemental wanted.

Carmen just waved, equally restrained. The amount of mana he felt from the apparition wasn’t extreme, but it did carry the faint aura of a C-grade. It only seemed to be early-tier, though, not quite matching up to the Alabaster snake or even the Termite King.

“I apologize if I disturbed your travel plans, but I believed it would be a waste to not at the very least make your acquaintances,” the elemental said. The more the elemental spoke, the more Jake became certain it wasn’t any usual elemental, primarily due to its level of intelligence.

Elementals were notoriously stupid, and even if they awakened some sapience, they tended to be a bit on the childish side, often having the mental age of a child at most. Not in the same vein as Stormild, who just had a childish nature, but more like Sylphie and her general naivety due to her genuinely young age.

So, if an elemental displayed high levels of intelligence, it often stemmed from it either being a powerful variant or related to an affinity that naturally lent itself to high intellect. Assuming this was a water elemental of some kind, Jake assumed it was the previous option.

“It’s all good,” Jake just answered the elemental. They didn’t really get to say anything more as Jake felt six people enter the bunker through his sphere. It was the archer from before walking with five other men. For a second, Jake wondered if this was some poorly planned ambush, but he didn’t feel any sense of danger coming from them, and they clearly didn’t even try to hide their approach.

Carmen and Sylphie also noticed them as the three turned around. The five men all looked to be in their late thirties to early forties, with the one in the middle wearing a white robe. Jake vaguely felt the space affinity float around the man, making it clear he was a space mage like Neil. His level was also pretty good.

[Human – lvl 151]

The four with him were also all between 145 and 150. It didn’t take a genius to guess this was the party of five that had founded the city of Changlun.

“I believe it is only proper we also greet the Chosen and the warrior of Valhal,” the space mage said as he bowed. The others mimicked the motion as Jake nodded in acknowledgment. “I am sure you have questions about why we are working with a C-grade monster, but I assure you it is nothing malicious.”

“No, I really don’t,” Jake just shrugged to the group’s surprise. “But let me guess, the elemental helps protect the city and give you natural treasures and materials from the ocean, and in turn, you assist the elemental through a variety of means. Probably things such as giving land-bound treasures the elemental can’t get due to the restrictions C-grades are currently imposed with.”

In fact, he would argue this fit pretty well with the entire Unusual Unions theme from the World Congress. Of course, to Jake, this wasn’t really unusual but just logical. Why would humans and monsters not work together when it was mutually beneficial?

His deduction also seemed to prove correct as the elemental responded. “It appears we underestimated the insight of the Chosen. I apologize for our hubris, we merely wished to avoid any misunderstandings, and I would personally prefer to not get a mark on my back but retain my and my follower’s friendly relations with humanity.”

“Ah, no worries,” Jake just dismissed it. “You just keep doing you, and as long as you don’t act like an asshole, I don’t see why we would have trouble. Well, some humans might dislike you, but I am sure you and your pals can handle that.”

“I can’t really speak for all of Valhal, but we wouldn’t just begin hunting down an ally of an ally without reason,” Carmen added.

“I thank the Chosen and the warrior for their honesty,” the elemental said. “In that case, I shall not delay your travels any longer. Godspeed.”

With those words, the summoned figure of water was dispelled as the water collapsed and became one with the rest of the ocean once more. Jake wasn’t sure if this entire conversation had been necessary, but he assumed the elemental was just the careful sort.

“Lord Thayne?” the space mage said. “I just want to clarify once more that we are allies with the elementals, and my companion here even shares a Patron god. I believe that such an alliance can bring great benefits to humanity and Earth in the future. Even if we are not directly aligned with Haven or the Order of the Malefic Viper, we have no desire to stand in your opposition. No, we wish to try and remain neutral and friendly with all, no matter what happens.”

“I said it is fine,” Jake said. He hadn’t noticed the shared god, but now that he scanned a bit, he saw one of the men gave off a faint aura similar to the elemental. It didn’t have to mean they shared a Patron, just that they shared some parts of the same Legacy.

Carmen also seemed to honestly not give a shit. They had never planned to make this into any kind of diplomatic mission, so this entire thing was just a sidetrack. This did turn the situation a bit awkward as Jake broke the silence.

“You have made a nice city,” Jake said, doing the most cliché thing you can when visiting someone – complimenting their home.

“Thanks,” the space mage said with a smile. “Now, let me lead you to the teleportation chamber.”

They happily accepted as the space mage led them through the city while making small talk. This particular teleportation chamber was placed underground and quite far toward the sea. The mage explained it was for safety reasons and because they used the powerful mana of the ocean to power the teleportation. In fact, the type of space magic deployed by the mage wasn’t the same branch of space magic as Neil’s.

No, the City Lord of Changlun somehow mixed water and space magic. This led to travel over water being far faster and easier, even potentially allowing underwater cities with working teleportation gates. He even said it would be easier for him to teleport to an underwater settlement through water than teleporting through the air.

The island they were supposed to teleport to was roughly a hundred thousand kilometers from Chunglun, making this the longest teleport they would ever do. This was only possible due to the unique talents of the space mage to borrow the water affinity mana given off by the ocean.

Meeting this man and hearing his explanations was a reminder of the hidden talents all over Earth. He clearly had his head on right and was, without a doubt, a far more talented mage than Neil, at least from a technical standpoint.

When they got to the teleportation chamber, they saw there were only three circles active. One to the island and two leading to smaller cities inland in the other direction than the Grand Mangrove River. The man did explain that he hoped to get past the blockage that was the mangrove, but currently, it was beyond his abilities.

“Thanks for the talk, and good luck with everything,” Jake said as he, Sylphie, and Carmen stepped onto the teleportation circle.

“It was my pleasure,” the man said just before the party of three teleported away.

Jake felt his vision shift, and for a moment, he felt like he was one with the water all around him. An image of the endless ocean flashed in his mind before he suddenly found himself standing on a new teleportation circle. The teleportation had gone more smoothly than expected except for one thing.

“Why are we wet?” Carmen asked.

“Ree!” Sylphie complained as she shook her feathers to get the water off her. Jake was also surprised as they were all utterly soaked from the teleportation. As he began considering if it was a side-effect of the type of space magic used, he had it confirmed.

“I apologize for them still not having fixed the issue with the teleporter,” a female attendant said as she entered the hall they had been teleported into. She was only E-grade and didn’t seem to recognize them at all. “May I know your business on Saint Helestras? It is unusual for visitors to come outside of the travel window.”

The travel window she mentioned was something that had been established to avoid constant people coming through. It was to make administration easier, and there was an hour each day for people to use the teleporters, with it being off-limits at all other times besides special circumstances.

“We are merely traveling through and get to… what was the place called again?” Jake asked Carmen.

“Pebblerock or something,” she answered.

“Puddlerock?” the attendant asked, a bit confused.

“That one,” Carmen nodded affirmingly.

“I will still need to know your order of business and file out a visitor’s pass and register your arrival,” the attendant said apologetically. “This is all following basic protocol and for the safety of everyone.”

Jake sighed a bit inwardly as he knew this was obviously just a half-truth. If the name of this island – Saint Helestras – didn’t make it clear, then this city was one established by the Holy Church. The fact that the Church was in charge of an island that was fast developing into a central travel point between the two continents was a bit concerning, but it was the kind of concern Miranda would deal with.

“No need for that,” Jake just said, in no mood for some annoying screening process.

“I must insist on performing the required interviews or-“

“No,” Jake once more said. “And tell the guards to stop hiding. What are they doing anyway? Trying to cosplay the Court of Shadows? Doing a real shitty job if so.”

He had already felt seven people hidden within a side room behind a barrier and some fancy-ass light magic that naturally didn’t work versus his Sphere of Perception. They realized hiding was useless when he called them out and exited the room with their guards high. Not that it mattered… Jake didn’t even need to use Identify to know none of them were even halfway a threat.

“Comply with regulations, or we will have to take you into custody and-“

“Mate,” Jake cut him off. “Rules apply only to the applicable. Now point me in the direction of the teleportation circle to Puddlerock and stop wasting my time. We will be gone before you know it.”

“Sir… these rules are imposed by the United Cities Alliance, and we have to follow them or-“

“Actually, no need,” Jake cut her off again as he began walking towards a teleportation circle. They had tried to hide it, but Jake had seen them toss it a look when he mentioned Puddlerock. He knew how the teleporters worked already. As he went towards it, he felt the guard take out a token, but Jake tossed him a look as the man froze due to Gaze of the Apex Hunter.

“I wouldn’t,” Jake said as he and the others stepped on the platform and activated it. To the bewildered looks of those present, they were whisked away as finally, the group of three made it to the other continent across the great pond.

The teleportation was as smooth as the last one as they appeared even more drenched IN seawater within the port city known as Puddlerock. A downright terrible name, but what could be expected of a city part of the United Cities Alliance? Even Jake didn’t like the name and found it too damn generic, and that was coming from a guy naming a hawk Hawkie and his own city Haven.

Jake and Carmen were once more approached by people the moment they appeared. A man and woman both wearing what looked like police uniforms very reminiscent of what actual officers wore pre-system.

“May I see your travel passes?” the man asked.

“Ain’t got any,” Jake just said as he and Carmen began walking out of the teleportation building. Jake saw this one was also placed relatively isolated and had plenty of barriers defending it.

“Sir, I need you to cooperate,” the female officer said.

“Never been good at that one,” Jake shook his head as he turned to them. “Fine, I guess we do need some directions. Carmen, where to next?”

“Well, there should be a guy called Clinton who used to travel with the people we are tracking,” she answered.

“Clinton. Got it,” Jake nodded as he turned to the officers. “You guys love your administrative stuff, so where can we go look up where this guy lives?”

The two just stood there frozen, both incredibly tense due to the hawk sitting on Jake’s shoulder, menacingly staring the two poor officers down. Luckily for them, they didn’t need to do anything as Jake felt a new presence approach rapidly.

The man teleported into the room as he appeared right between the two officers with a bright smile on his lips. “Welcome to Puddlerock! Excuse the silly name; I wasn’t the one who decided on it. A pleasure to meet all three of you.”

The young man wore silver armor and had two blades strapped to his back. He smiled confidently as he stood there, and Jake could see why. He was level 157 and didn’t look like a chump at all. Moreover, Jake was certain the guy was blessed by some god. It was just a feeling, but a feeling was good enough for Jake.

“Hi there. I take it you got some clout in this city?” Jake asked the man.

“Considering my old man runs the place, yeah,” he answered as he looked at the officers. “Shouldn’t you two be leaving or at least show some respect? We are in the presence of quite the personages.”

The officers looked frightened as they bowed before nearly running out of the teleportation hall. By now, a few more people had also appeared in the lobby that housed over a dozen teleportation gates. “Go somewhere easier to talk?” the silver-armored young man asked.

“Sure,” Jake agreed as they headed off towards some public office. Jake and Carmen got a quick look at the city but had little interest as they were focused on the task at hand: tracking down Carmen’s family.

And probably a few more Primas along the way. Just for good measure.