Aisha’s action puzzled the others, but they didn’t care that much about it. A faint smile appeared on the monk’s lips but no one noticed. Aisha stared at the rock for a couple more seconds. She was trying to memorize the symbols she had seen. Five symbols, five territories. Each symbol represented a player (or NPC, Aisha couldn’t verify at the moment if only players were eligible as candidates for Godhood) represented a part of Hyria and, counting Aisha’s, three symbols had been glowing.

The Taijitu, the name of the yin and yang symbol, was easily recognisable as the western part of the continent’s symbol. It wasn’t glowing. A leaf-less stylized tree inside a circle. A possible referment to Yggdrasil, it was probably linked to the northern section of Hyria. Considering that Aisha “represented” the south, the broken sphere and the aflame one were probably for the central and eastern representatives.

‘And lastly, what was that sound?’

Aisha lightly shook her head, her white hair swaying from side to side, and thought ‘no point in thinking about it.’ She turned around and saw Atlas, Gaea and Electra with questioning looks, while Matagi had a surprised face, she continued to move her gaze from Aisha to something in front of her, probably a system message.

‘I guess the system notified her of my status.’

“Let’s continue our journey.”

There was nothing more for them to do here after a bit of sightseeing, so the group continued onward. In the end, it took them a week to reach Xin Jen, the Yinyue Empire’s largest city. It wasn’t the Capital, but due to its influence as a major trading point in all of the territory, it didn’t lack much power in confront to it.

The city offered wide paved roads and houses (even the commoners’) completely in stone. Many big buildings were also present, one of of which had aspects resembling a britannic castle’s, probably where the feudal Lord resided. The city took after the south part of Hyria’s architectural style has a mean to prevent crime. The enormous amount of territory the guards had to safeguard posed a problem when the citizen’s homes were only made out of paper and wood, like the various villages the group had encountered till now.

The city was divided in four sections by the two main roads, each section was then reorganized for a specific purpose when the entire settlement had been reconstructed in stone. A district for who had money, being noble or commoner didn’t matter, where the Lord resided; a district for merchants, traders, inns, taverns and other organizations; and two district for Xin Jen’s citizens, one in a slightly better condition than the other, which was more or less the city’s slum district.

Then, there was the port. Xin Jen had a wide port and utilized it to its fullest, sending ships all around the continent to trade with the other coastal/port cities. And while for the players this meant an alternate route to other parts of the continent and/or great opportunities for merchants and the like, the main “attraction” was another. Every 3 months (IRL) a humongous ship would be built with the objective to sail past the natural maritime barrier encircling the continent.

Since the launch of the game, three expeditions were made and all ended in failure. Still, the peculiar and strange loot the players managed to bring back made it so that no one lost interest in this “suicide mission,” if anything, the interest in participating rose. Soon, the third ship would be completed and a new expedition will take place.

There is to note that each major coastal/port town of all Empires/Kingdoms/Queendoms in every part of the continent organize this expeditions, with slightly altered schedules, motives, equipment and whatnot.

Aisha, Matagi, Electra and Atlas were tasked to protect Gaea, the official representative of Æsir in this event, and make it so they would reach a foreign continent and establish favorable relationships with the guild. Bathory only asked Electra and Atlas of this as payment for the help they received, Matagi then offered to help the two out and at that point Aisha decided to just tag along.

The city had proper sewers, a drainage system and various water tanks operated with artifacts (machines operated by magic, also generally lumped with the common term magical equipment) to bring water to every house and farm. As the Lord’s family has always been appreciative towards the fine arts, sculptures of men and women of many races were spread out in the city. This sculptures depicted many different themes: the daily life of an housewife, the Buddha in a meditative state, one of the Lord’s relatives as she directed her army to wage war against the Baizen Empire.

Xin Jen didn’t solely rely on trading, it also produces a vast quantity of corn, wheat, rice (in a unique zone especially made for its cultivation), grapes, soybeans, potatoes and cotton. Still its main product remains an alcoholic beverage called “Sheng Jie,” how it is produced is a mystery except for the fact that both rice and grapes are used.

Its colour is pink, but it can be darker or lighter depending on the ratio of rice/grapes used; the aroma is that of strawberries but this fragrance is only present if the bottle of Shen Jie is five years old or more, else there is absolutely no odor. The taste greatly varies based on the previously mentioned ratio, but the light flavor of the sake and the dense relish of red wine are always both present and combined in a paradisiac taste.

Because of its high content of alcohol players aren’t allowed to drink alcoholic beverages unless they are 21 years old or more, making all alcohol taste like pear juice. Though, this function is customizable and you can, for example, change it to taste like coke or water. The reason for Crathos Inc.’s choice of that particular age is because the game welcomes players from every part of the world and thus had to compromise.

Said drink is currently being avidly savoured by Atlas, whom passion for liquors and alcoholics borders on obsession. To be clear, Atlas isn’t a drunkard nor does he have problems with alcohol, he just enjoys tasting a great variety of drinks and foods. Atlas would never even become tipsy, as he experienced first-hand what drunk people can do to others.

Electra was by his side, and, a hearty meal later, happily chatted with Matagi, Gaea and Aisha. The group went at the restaurant they were currently at after their request to participate in the next expedition had been taken and accepted by the commanding officers at the registration desk. The minimum requirement this time was being level 100 and if this expedition failed too, it would once again increase. All them met this prerequisite as, in the order they were mentioned, they were level: 128, 130, 142, 148 and 169. For Information's sake, Maverick reached level 90.

As the ship wasn't ready yet, the five of them decided to relax in Xin Jen and also take a break from the game until the day of the departure came.