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Part 3

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High City of Asgardia

Congratulations.

You are the first player to discover the High City of Asgardia. Known throughout the world as the city of the Old Gods, located on the peak of Mount Valenheim, this city was once the capital of the whole continent. But as history goes, 5000 years ago, High City of Asgardia had closed its doors to outsiders, namely the Lowlanders. No one had ever stepped their feet ever since until today.

Fame +450

EXPs +250,000

Achievement: <> has been unlocked. Your fame within the special group of archaeologists, explorers and hunters and seeker of fame and fortune had risen. There are very few people in this world who discovered more lands than you in such amount of time.

<> has been updated.

Gained Key Words, <

>.

Once we exited the desolate Hall of Valhalla through a stone door, we were greeted with a blinding light. A system message immediately popped up and once I’d done reading it, I turned around and surveyed my new surroundings.

All of us were standing on top of a high platform connected to the ground below by a series of cobblestone stairs. The windy and cold breeze that brushed against our skins and hair made for a wonderful feeling, far from the stuffy and dusty place we exited from earlier. From this viewpoint, I could see the whole city below; shrouded by white clouds as its roof sticking up in between with the clear blue sky serving as its backdrop. It was like how one would always portray a sky island. The only dead giveaway that we were not on the sky was the overlooking shadows of the mountainsides that casted over the Hall of Valhalla.

Behind the building was a large and tall tower that pierced the sky. However, the system message did not give me anything regarding that tower. If that was the case, then there was only one thing that we could now – to descend the stairs onto the city below.

Mimi was very excited as she dashed forward from the whole group. Popo struggled on my shoulder as he tried to rein in his wife’s over-exuberant excitement. I tried to hold him tighter but he was not having it. Locked in our little staring contest, he hissed a little and gave me whack on my head before I finally had to let him go. In fact, the moment I put him on the ground, I gave a kick to his backside and down the stairs he tumbled. Like a rolling sack of furball.

I gave out a snicker as Elly stared at me and shook her head in dismay. The two Bunnians finally disappeared below the stairs, leaving the rest of us here. I took a stroll down with a much-needed relief. I had been edgy for quite a while but this sort of peaceful situation was indeed much welcomed.

But somehow, some part of my senses were tingling. It was becoming too peaceful. It was too silent, like the calm before a storm. And my senses were proven right yet again.

Mimi’s scream from below ended whatever short respite we had. Cursing my luck, the three of us ran downstairs with our weapons unsheathed. Fearing for the worst, we rushed and confronted our would-be enemies.

But what greeted us was something that I would never expect.

Judging from the system message, I could safely assume that I was the first player to be here. In that case, all of these people with wings around us were the NPCs of the city. Yeah, they had wings; white, small and slender built lump of feathers on their backs.

And I could not take my eyes off the surroundings either. Mimi was starry eyes, her jaw was agape and her saliva drooled while Popo tried hard to returned his wife to her calm and dignified self. It was not a scream of fear that came from her that alarmed us. In fact, it was her delighted scream.

Elly too behaved in the same way as I was – like a deer lost in the city. The architectures were indeed spellbinding; majestic white-only buildings made of shiny marble-like stones that reflected the clear sky above. The calmest was Rose who was always within her own world without an inkling care of her surroundings.

And the city’s NPCs too were surprised as they sifted us out like we were some sort of exhibit. Coupled with the scream and the way we came down the stairs and onto the roads, we really did ourselves major injustice – like a group of misfit barbarians setting foot in our very first civilization.

The differences between our party and the whole lot of them were too astounding. But before anyone of us could calm our senses and make reasons for our new surroundings, suddenly we could hear murmurs on the street. But these were not the kind of murmurs that would make anyone feel welcomed.

“W-What are those ugly creatures?! I’ve never seen such ugly wingless creatures before!”

“W-Where have they come from? These creatures are not our natives!”

“They come from the Sacred Hall! But…”

Creatures, wingless one, ugly and many others names they called us. And to make the matter worse, suddenly we heard loud footsteps coming our way. A group of armoured soldier came and pointed their weapons at us; swords, spear, bows and arrows. And each one of them appeared in very hostile and menacing manners.

“Halt, wingless creatures!!”

Being surrounded by them in the new area, what more with my party’s current condition, I’d to admit this was grim instead. Beside of having our weapons unsheathed in the middle of the town, we had made for a very poor first impression. Furthermore, I was afraid that my negative fame had brought us unneeded trouble.

“Such abominations! We have never seen anything like you before!!” One of the soldiers came forward and pointed his sword at Mimi who stood at the front most of our group.

“Please calm down. We did not mean to alarm you. We come in peace.” Realizing what was going to happen, Mimi took the lead and spoke to the guards. She raised her hands up signifying that she was unarmed and meant what she said. However, these guards displayed none of the ethics toward a surrendering and harmless gesture.

“Who gave you permission to speak?!” One of the soldiers tried to hit her with the blade of his sword but Popo quickly pushed his wife away and he was hit instead. Seeing that, I immediately grabbed hold of his arm and twisted it as I kicked the back of his knee. In that instant, I was surrounded by soldiers with their weapons near my neck, while Elly had been captured and Rose had been pinned down before they too could do anything.

“How dare you hurt one of ours!!” Another soldier was threatening me verbally. He was a little apprehensive but judging from his words and of the others, I did not think they were messing around.

“Hurt?! You are the first one who treated us like some vermin, po! You hurt my wifey, po!!!” Popo stood in front of his wife. Though there were weapons pointed at him too, he was snarling and hissing. And once more, I was seeing that weird stance of his again; releasing the Meister’s Edict. Since I could not bear him to get injured so soon, I decided to parley for all of us.

“We are new here. Welcomed or not, we are still the guest of the city.”

“You wingless creatures are not our guest! For millennia, we had never such a guest from the lowlands!”

Looked like talking to these goons would yield no result at all. “I will only speak to your leader. Lent us his ears and I will explain it to him!”

“We will not! You are not allowed here. Your punishment for trespassing our sacred city is death!”

“Death?!” When I heard that word, my hands trembled and I began to laugh. The soldiers who threatened me earlier stared at me bewilderedly. I continued to laugh even louder and this time, everyone around us including the commoners and passersby started to focus their attentions on us. Some of them were in fear, but most of them were in disgust.

“I’m not afraid of death. If you insist on trying to harm us, I’ll destroy you and this sacred city of yours like how I did before I came here.” I spat to the ground and then I twisted the arm of the soldier that struck Popo earlier even harder.

“You could make this a messy death, or you could spare the lives of your men and the people around here.”

I jerked my head and glanced at our surrounding. We were in some sort of city square and there were literally thousands of people around here. Our scene had taken their attention from whatever they were doing. Listening to my words, all of them went pale.

“H-He is a monster!”

“He dares to threaten us within our own walls?!”

“Our city soldier can protect us from them. They are just a bunch of weak wingless creatures!”

“Yeah! Their numbers are just a few compare to our guys!”

“B-But what if he says is true… then…”

“SILENCE!!”

Suddenly, a deep loud voice penetrated the whole square. Everyone was shaken to their core, including the soldiers that were surrounding us. The owner of this voice must be a very powerful figure indeed to have such an effect. All the other voices around us evaporated immediately and the soldiers who threatened us lost their composure. And each and every one of them looked directly opposite of where I stood. The people that were blocking my view suddenly parted away and now, the image of the very person came into full view.

Wearing a regal white robe with gold lining around its edges plus a matching large rounded hat of some kind, a middle-aged man came forward with a few guards on his tow. With one wave of his hand, those who stood blocking his way parted and bowed their heads in reverence.

“What is the manner of this commotion within my city wall?!”

So, this was their leader, huh? Finally, a chance to play parley and get out of this place in one piece.

*****