The two of them stopped before the absolutely gigantic, closed gates.
"Hey, John! Open up!" the scout shouted.
Shang heard some shuffling coming from the other side of the gate, and a small slit opened.
"Oh, I thought you wouldn't come today," the guard behind the door, John, said.
"I've met a traveler, and I showed him around. Took a bit longer than expected," the scout said, gesturing towards Shang.
The eyes behind the slit moved to Shang.
"That late?" he asked.
"Sorry," Shang said.
Shang heard a groan coming from behind the gate.
Creak!
A small door built into the gigantic gate opened, and a guard in bronze armor stepped outside.
Shang had seen several guards and soldiers from all the different cities and towns, and he had noticed that the lowest-ranked guards always had bronze-colored armor.
However, just because the color was the same didn't mean that all the sets of armor were identical.
The normal guards in the Central Wild had worn normal bronze. It was useful for battle, but it wasn't the greatest. However, these guards also hadn't been very powerful. They had been even weaker than Shang.
Meanwhile, the guards on Blizzard's Edge, who had also worn bronze armor, had been far more powerful. Even though their armor had been colored bronze, Shang had noticed that their armor felt way harder and more powerful.
And now, Shang was confronted with a third kind of bronze armor.
John's armor felt about equally as powerful as the silver armor the commander in Blizzard's Edge had worn.
On top of that, this guard gave Shang a feeling of mortal danger.
This normal guard was far more powerful than Shang.
Shang guessed that the guard was in the middle of the Second Realm, the General Stage. He was about as powerful as the dogs in the Farm Line.
"Fine!" John grumbled as he stepped out. "Put away your coat. Show your weapons, equipment, and valuables."
Then, John looked at the scout as he remembered something. "By the way, William, have you searched him?"
"No," William answered directly.
John frowned. "Why not?"
"Because it wouldn't have made a difference," William said. "If I searched him and I told you that everything's fine, you would've still searched him. So, why should I?"
"That's reckless!" John said with annoyance. "We need to check every unknown person. Otherwise, we'll put the city at risk!"
William slowly looked at Shang.
Then, he looked at John with a raised eyebrow.
They looked at each other for a while.
"Hmph," John grumbled as he averted his eyes. "Fine, fine! You, put your stuff to the side!"
Shang slowly put away his cloak and put it on a prepared counter beside the gate. Then, he took out his sword and placed it on top of the cloak.
Yet, before Shang pulled his hand away, he stopped.
Shang looked at his sword with open eyes.
He looked at his immaculate, black sword.
'Isn't there supposed to be a crack in the sword?' Shang asked himself. 'I'm sure it got damaged in the battle against the Frozen Lake Stag!'
Shang was sure that his sword had been damaged.
Yet, he couldn't see any damage on his sword at this moment.
It was like new!
"Hey, hurry up!" John shouted with impatience.
Shang got pulled out of his thoughts, and he also put his backpack on the counter. Lastly, he put the pouch of gold on the top.
William and John both looked over with surprise when they heard the telltale sound of gold.
William's eyebrows rose in surprise.
Was all of that gold?
John raised an eyebrow when he saw the sack of gold.
Then, he looked at Shang. "You got proof of ownership?"
Shang pulled out the piece of paper that had been inside the sack of gold and handed it over.
John looked at the piece of paper. "Wait a second."
Then, he entered the city again and closed the door.
"Don't worry," William said from the side. "For such sums, we have to get an Adept to verify the integrity of the proof of ownership. When it comes to such sums of money, the proof of ownership is required to have a complex Magic Array on it. That makes it much harder to fake it."
Shang nodded.
"Anyway, how did you make so much money?" William asked.
"I killed a Peak Soldier Stage Frozen Lake Stag in Coldew Village," Shang explained. "The villagers gave me a sled wagon full of Ice Wood as repayment, and I sold it to the Mages in Blizzard's Edge."
William let out an impressed whistle. "Seems like you've showed up at exactly the right moment."
Shang nodded. "Well, it wouldn't have made much of a difference. The village simply would have had a worse harvest next season."
"Pulling such a heavy sled wagon for such a long distance was probably quite annoying," William said.
Shang nodded as his journey shot through his memories.
His hit-and-run on the bandits.
His encounter with that powerful spider.
The beggar bandits.
It sure wasn't easy.
After around a minute, the door opened again, and John walked out.
John handed over the piece of paper. "Checks out," he commented.
John gave the sack of gold back to Shang and looked at the coat with a grimace.
Shang knew why John was grimacing.
First of all, no one liked Pest Cats, and second of all, that coat hadn't been washed in a very long time.
Then, John opened the bag, and his grimace intensified.
Shang felt a bit bad since he hadn't had the opportunity to wash his spare clothes. Also, he was mostly using them as bedding.
John rifled through the bag with a disgusted face and put it to the side after he was done.
Lastly, John looked at the sword. He held it up and lightly knocked on it with one of his knuckles.
CLINGGGGG!
The sword vibrated for a while, and a confused expression appeared on John's face.
Then, he knocked another time on the sword.
Then, another time.
In the end, he scratched the back of his head in confusion and put the sword to the side.
"What's the sword made out of?" he asked.
"I don't know," Shang said.
"You don't know?" John asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't know," Shang repeated.
John frowned a bit, but after releasing a sigh, he pushed everything back to Shang.
"You can enter," he said.
John opened the door and walked through it.
William followed him, and Shang was the last one to walk through.
BANG!
The door was closed behind Shang, and John entered another door without saying goodbye.
"We probably woke him," William said with a smile from the side.
"Woke him? Isn't he supposed to be working?" Shang asked.
"What is he supposed to do?" William asked with a shrug. "He's responsible for checking the visitors, and there aren't many visitors that late at night. We have far more guards than jobs in Warrior's Paradise. That's why everyone only has to do a bit of work."
"Anyway," William said as he stretched a bit with a yawn. "I should go to the barracks and sleep. You can find the Warrior's Academy at the west of Warrior's Paradise. It's surrounded by a huge, fancy fence. You can't miss it. They have a nightshift too, so you don't have to wait until tomorrow."
Shang nodded. "Thank you a lot. You've explained a lot of things to me, and you've made everything easier."
William only waved his hand dismissively. "I'm a social person, and I enjoy showing people around. Also, it's my job to help people as a member of the city guards. Goodnight."
"Goodnight," Shang said with a slight, polite bow.
Now, Shang was alone again.
Shang took a deep breath as he looked at the city around him.
The buildings were tall, and there was little space between them. The roads were narrow, and many tiny alleys led to different parts of the city.
When Shang saw these alleys, he got reminded of his home on Earth.
The alleys specifically reminded him of his last moments on Earth.
What surprised Shang were the sounds in the city.
There were none.
Shang couldn't hear insects, animals, or anything living. He could only occasionally hear some guards walking around.
The streets were deserted.
Luckily, the braziers on top of the towers illuminated the city enough so that Shang could see where he was going.
Shang looked at one of the alleys to his right. At the moment, Shang was facing south, and William told him that the academy was to the west.
'Should I go through the alleys?' Shang thought as he scratched his chin.
In the end, Shang decided to continue to the south.
He had lived in enough cities in his previous life to know how cities were built. If this city followed the concept of Earth's cities, he should…
'Knew it!'
Shang reached a big intersection in the middle of the city. There were big roads leading to all cardinal directions.
Shang looked at the intersection, and he realized that this was probably a huge bazaar or marketplace during the day.
Right now, no one could be seen here, but Shang saw many smaller stalls and shops with large windows.
Shang followed the big road to the west. William said that the Warrior's Academy took up a huge portion of Warrior's Paradise. So, it shouldn't be difficult to find it.
After walking for a bit, Shang saw a huge fence made of shiny, silver metal.
In the middle of the road was a fancy gate with plenty of decorations.
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ When Shang saw the gate, his heart began to beat faster.
This was it!
This was the place where he would become more powerful!
He had lived for over half a year in the wilderness, and Shang hadn't learned from any human warrior in this world.
There had to be an incredible number of unimaginably powerful techniques in this world!
This was where Shang would join the true rank of the Warriors!
The Warrior's Academy!