They spent two days in the chamber. One to just relax and the second to halfway align their sleep schedule with the path of the sun again. On the third day, they emerged and on the fourth day they returned to Walled Port Pernero.

The city had not changed in their roughly two weeks of absence. Slaves still worked the salt fields and executed the heavy labour, as citizens oversaw and went for the more skilled crafts. Ships drifted through the channels, cut into the reef through years upon years upon years of labour.

‘It would be impressive if it wasn’t so fucking terrible,’ Reysha thought.

A guard recognized them at the western gate. It was much less guarded than the one by the shrine. The many layered structure of the city meant that even a less guarded gate came with a vertical barrier between any assailants and the buildings.

For a moment, the guard considered stopping the quartet. A single glance from Apexus was enough to silence that notion. ‘Was he THAT tall before?’ the guard thought. He did not know, it was difficult to recollect when there had already been a sizable difference between the two. ‘Either my mind is playing tricks on me or adventurers are even more powerful than the legends imply… to change body size on a whim.’

Apexus had looked at the man merely out of curiosity. Attentive eyes wandered on, taking in the grey and reddish browns of the environment. For the first time, they entered the city proper and there was much to see.

Pernero had not been built in a day. Each segment of the city, each of the many plateaus, was its own expansion project. Carved right out of the mountain, the walls and roads retained the same aesthetic and sometimes veins of certain colours moved fascinatingly along the surfaces. The buildings on top of each platform were either carved out of the mountains as well, built from the many rocks that had been loosened during the development, or a mixture of both. The largest structures were almost entirely created from rock and plaster.

As impressive as it all was, it was not flawless. To crack open the mountain and to use slaves to do the labour lovelessly inevitably introduces difficulties. Few things were entirely level. Harder rock formations introduced bumps in the road or had been worked around altogether, ignored due to the time it would have taken to destroy them fully. Here and there the walls bore holes, the signs of lovers or bored kids carved into the rock. Shallow channels along the sides of the road, meant to direct the rainwater into the city’s water stores, had been poorly designed in places. Pools formed in places they really shouldn’t, creating stale ponds that reeked and gave parasites places to breed.

In the higher up, richer parts of the city, these issues were few and far between and often in the process of getting fixed. In the lower parts, where the slaves and those as poor as slaves dwelled, no such attention was given.

The party moved to one of the upper layers of the city. The rectangular, modular layout was all the more visible from higher up. The city rose up the slope, but did not do so in a truly ordered manner. Organic growth and the original shape of the mountainside created rises and falls all over. It was almost nauseatingly difficult to navigate. In the north side of the city, a group of a hundred slaves was chipping away at the next extension.

They found a shop that sold smoked and roasted fish and bought some for Korith. The kobold direly needed a change in her diet and seafood on a stick was right up there. After that, they moved about in search of a few other shops.

“We require new soap, salt, and cooking oil, preferably olive,” Aclysia listed while they walked. “Additionally, I would appreciate a greater selection of pillows and a thicker sheet for our bed. A spare set of bowls may be wise.”

“Don’t forget the shelf,” Reysha threw in.

“C-can we buy some more game stuff? Maybe a proper board?” Korith added.

Aclysia smiled and responded, “Affirmative.”

The metal angel was in as good a mood as being in a slave city permitted. The prices on this Leaf continued to be absurdly low. Their primary difficulty wouldn’t be to pay for things, it would be to find traders who took payment in gold. Either they would have to buy something truly expensive or they would have to hope the trader was willing to part with the rest of his coins in exchange. The party’s own stockpile of currency of appropriate value for this Leaf was sadly limited.

“Let’s find a carpenter first,” Apexus decided.

It did not take long. The carpenter’s shop was visible from a distance, standing out from the stone buildings of this clean and wealthy area due to the wood shavings the owner had used to make the ground around his home a little more pleasant to walk on.

Apexus bowed his head on the way in. For the time being, he wanted to keep the size increase. It had served him moderately well in the dungeon and he noted that people were viewing him as a predator even more than previously. It made them keep their distance. Apexus welcomed that.

The shop area doubled as the workshop. The carpenter was a man in his forties. Wealth and work had combined to make him someone of impressive size, if quite fat. The top of his head was bald, the sides short, his clothes simple brown that he would not mind getting damaged as he worked. At the moment, he was carving decorations on a plank.

When he looked up at the visitors, he froze. From the winged giant to the brown skinned redhead, the group struck an unusual and somewhat intimidating picture. The two less concerning specimens, the blonde kobold and the white haired fairy, stepped forward. “Greetings.” Aclysia bowed her head deeply. “I hope we do not intrude?”

“Not at all, the shop is open,” the carpenter responded, glancing nervously between Aclysia and Apexus. “You must be the adventurers?”

“Affirmative… may I inquire about the rumours spreading around us?”

“Just that you came in, posed around, and then walked off into the Serpent’s Heart… did you… have you returned from that place?”

“We have indeed, with value earned that we wish to exchange for service,” Aclysia reached into her Adventurer’s Bag and pulled out a single gold coin. The eyes of the carpenter zeroed in on the unblemished piece of metal, followed it as Aclysia placed it on the table.

Korith put her hand on top. “A shelf!” the kobold demanded. “We would like to buy a shelf! For books and stuff. Do you have one of those?”

“Not right now… but I have a bunch of planks and such that I could hammer together into one,” the carpenter put the board he had been working on aside and stood up. “Wait just one moment!” He rushed into the backroom. Over the course of several trips, he brought out two long, decorated planks and then a couple of smaller ones. Laying it all out on the ground, he gave the party an idea of what the shelf would look like when it was all done. They talked a little bit back and forth about the drawbacks and advantages of adding more or less boards to the shelf.

When the carpenter got to work, Apexus wordlessly stepped over and helped. Holes needed to be drilled into the wood, to then be filled by small wooden nubs that would extend just far enough from the plank for the shelf boards to rest on them. At first, the carpenter wanted to protest the humanoid chimera’s support, but then he saw the care with which Apexus turned the drilling tool.

“Have you done woodwork before?” the carpenter asked.

“Oh me? All the time, I love working with wood,” Reysha threw in from the background. She grabbed something invisible and stroked it up and down. “Really good at polishing.” Aclysia gave the redhead a smack to the back of her head. All that caused was loud laughter.

The carpenter, for his part, joined. Uproarious laughter filled the room, chasing away any remaining nervousness the man felt. Even while chuckling with amusement, he moved the coal marker precisely, leaving little crosses everywhere a hole needed to be drilled.

Apexus followed the hands of the carpenter. A mild feeling of awe accompanied the way the man’s hands worked. Even if Apexus was faster and stronger, the carpenter did his work at the speed of experience. Aspects of the material that gave the Monk trouble, the learned craftsman used or overcame without difficulty.

“Yes,” Apexus answered, when the last of the laughter ebbed away.

“Hm?” the carpenter hummed, mildly confused. Then he remembered his own question. “I can see that. You have a good basic understanding.”

“Thank you. My teacher always said a broad education is useful. Understand how difficult something is, to understand how much the masters work to make it look easy.”

“Your teacher sounds like a wise man,” the carpenter added.

“He is,” Apexus agreed with a deep nod.

They put the shelf together in less than an hour. The brunt of the work had been done already. To put things together usually took less time than to make their parts. The finished shelf was just taller than Apexus, had a spacious lowest segment and evenly sized ones above that. About a metre across, it wasn’t a large shelf, but that was good. They didn’t have a lot of room to spare anyway.

Everything was given the once-over and the gold coin formally handed over. “I totally forgot to ask… what are you planning to do with that?” the carpenter wondered when all was said and done.

“Put it in our home,” Apexus responded.

“Have you… acquired property around the city?” The carpenter was more confused than before. “I thought it was illegal to sell to non-citizens.”

“We have not,” Apexus responded and, after a moment of consideration, decided to just show the man.

Apexus reached into the inside of his robe. Like the last time they were in the city, he had put the grey article of clothing on properly. He gestured around, as if he was searching for something. In reality, he just made time for the key to push out of his membrane. When he showed it to the carpenter, he was none the wiser regarding Apexus’ true nature.

They stood out enough as adventurers, no need to add the knowledge that he wasn’t god-made like the rest of them.

“Our home is with us,” Apexus said and opened the Change Mansion. The blatant display of magic made the carpenter’s eyes go wide.

“By the gods,” he gasped, when the door swung open. The surprise levelled a bit, when the abode within was humble, even compared to the size of the workshop. “Do all adventurers travel like this?” the carpenter asked, looking around for a moment.

“Very few,” Aclysia chimed in. “My darling’s teacher has gifted him this item. It is exceptionally rare.”

The carpenter examined the wooden walls of the magical structure. “How wondrous. I’m glad I got to see one of God's magical miracles… is it true that magic isn’t rare beyond this Leaf?”

“This is the first Leaf I’ve been to that sees no adventurers and thus so little magic,” Apexus reported. “I have been to four, this one included.”

“Incredible…” the carpenter mumbled. They moved the shelf into the single room, then closed access again. “Thank you for the business and the sight,” the craftsman said afterwards. “It’ll be an interesting story to tell my kid when he complains that woodwork is boring again.”

Apexus gave the much smaller man a mild smile. “Glad to be of inspiration.”

With that, they separated. There was much else to buy and nothing else to talk about. As they hit the streets again, Aclysia asked. “Was it wise to reveal our home, darling?”

“I don’t know,” Apexus answered, having considered it deeply. “I don’t believe it matters much. We stand out either way. Like a new species in an established system, we will either be devoured or fit in.” He watched the duo of guards that, despite their station, walked a huge curve around them. “I do not worry about being devoured here.”

“Pride comes before the fall, darling,” the metal fairy cautioned half-heartedly. It was difficult to advise modesty when they so clearly outstripped everyone around. “What do we wish to find next?”

“I would like to visit a bookstore,” Apexus reported. “I want to learn more about the history of this Leaf.”

“May I suggest we keep the bookstore for last? I deem we will spend most of our time there and a great many smaller articles have to be bought,” Aclysia stated.

“I say we listen to the bubble butt,” Reysha stated.

“Sounds fine to me,” Korith agreed.

With the decision made, they wandered around the city, ascending and descending layers in search of whatever they needed. They bought just about everything. Towels and rags for cleaning themselves and their tools, whetstones and soap, salt and a few other spices, additional eating utensils and so on. They tried to buy additional clothes too, but found nothing in their size and did not care to stay until something appropriate could be tailored. Instead, they bought a few metres of rolled up cloth and sewing utensils. Aclysia had shown interest in attempting to create the clothes herself. Another step up in their self-sufficiency.

They bought Korith a few things needed to play games with more extensive rules. With that, they had just about everything they had wanted besides the books.

Bookstores were one of the rarer commodities in the city. Paper was difficult to come by and most works were being copied by hand. The knowledge of the printing press had been lost generations ago. Still, there was one large store in the wealthiest area of town. After learning about it from a person on the street, they headed there.