Edge of Night constructed their teleport station on top of the Evernight Mountain instead of directly inside their headquarters.
This mountain was a new transportation port set up by Edge of Night during recent years. To the public, they claimed that the place was meant for all friendly organizations to conveniently set up their temporary offices. However, most people believed that they simply did this to upset their biggest rival, the Sleepless City.
This might seem a bit childish, but wizards didn’t care as long as they could frustrate their opponent, even if just a little. Besides, the Evernight Mountain did a pretty good job of gathering traveling wizards until now.
Angor arrived at the mountain and realized that it was rather crowded with passengers who sought to use the teleport station.
Under the effect of Infinite Reticence, he carefully blended into the crowds.
From the occasional conversations he heard, he could tell that there were so many people here because of the new “black dome” that was looming not far away from here. Wizards and apprentices alike were smart enough to tell that Edge of Night was no longer a safe spot to stay. Even if there was only a slim possibility that Edge of Night would be affected by the crisis, people would choose safety over everything else.
Angor got a feeling that should the nightmare monsters choose a new target to attack, Edge of Night would be the obvious choice since so many vulnerable people had gathered here.
Soon, it was his turn to use the teleportation array. Following the instructions of an apprentice on duty, he stepped into the array drawn on the floor.
Lucky for him, there were many wizards trying to leave Edge of Night as well. Angor easily found a wizard who was heading to the same destination as him—the White Clam City. As such, he could ask the wizard to “escort” him.
This wizard seemed to be the insociable kind who didn’t like to speak with apprentices, but as long as Angor paid enough, he had no problem bringing an apprentice along.
The wizard asked for a hundred crystals, which was quite a high price. However, it was still worthwhile as an apprentice always needed a wizard’s help to stay alive during long-range teleportation. It was money for life.
As soon as enough people had stepped onto the array, Angor felt his eyes blinded by a flash. Shortly thereafter, he felt a sense of weightlessness taking over.
In the next second, he smelled seawater.
The dim mountaintop settlement had been replaced by bright sunlight and the sound of tides, which meant they were at White Clam City.
While most of the apprentices were trying to recover from teleportation-induced nausea, several wizards were already leaving the area unaffected.
The wizard who protected Angor raised his eyebrows when he noticed that, unlike the rest of the apprentices, Angor seemed fine from the teleportation.
“Huh... maybe this one is studying dimension-related art?”
Then he left without caring about Angor’s condition. It wasn’t worth the time.
Similarly, Angor quickly left the moaning apprentices. He found somewhere more private and used Glamor. Slowly, his handsome look turned into a common square face that would not arouse any attention among crowds.
He didn’t believe that Centipede Guild would come and bother him so soon, but he still acted cautiously by using both Glamor and Infinite Reticence to hide, just in case.
White Clam City was a middle-sized coastal wizard fair inside the Goman Kingdom, which did not usually have many visitors. The city belonged to the Goman Kingdom in name only; it was actually controlled by Floating Mech City.
It was located along the southernmost shore of Fey Continent and was a perfect spot for travelers and traders to enter the southern seas as well as the other continents across the water. The “other continents” were mostly mortal lands, but they still possessed various valuable resources, and Floating Mech City regarded White Clam City as an important hub that transferred these resources.
This was why the city was highly valued despite its moderate size.
While casually walking around the streets, Angor found many souvenirs, which obviously originated from Heylan Imperial—an island nation next to the Goldspink Empire. Three years ago when he left home, these two countries were still at war, and Padt Family was responsible for providing provisions to the front line.
Even if Heylan Imperial was the enemy of his home, he still felt a bit homesick when seeing their products in this foreign land.
Without tarrying too much outside, he quickly arrived at the office of Brute Cavern.
There weren’t many offices of other organizations here because the city didn’t provide much profit to outsiders other than those from Floating Mech City. Still, a number of organizations left their members stationed here so that they could scout for talents.
Floating Mech City only dominated the production of raw materials. They did not dominate human resources. They knew that being too imperious over everything would easily attract enmity.
While it was true that Floating Mech City had what it took to rule every minor city, they wouldn’t do this because they preferred to remain a resourceful trading partner with everyone. They had established friendly relationships with a lot of wizard organizations. It would be troublesome if one of them suddenly decided to become hostile.
Brute Cavern also had a department located in White Clam City. Soon, Angor saw the emblem that showed the Tree of Eternity on a round-domed building.
He found no wizard inside. There were only several apprentices managing the building, among whom a white-bearded elder, who had just reached level-3, was the strongest one.
Angor’s arrival immediately attracted everyone’s attention.
As he wondered why people were staring at him so openly, the old man slowly walked toward him with the help of a walking cane.
“I’m Boro. May I know your name, Mister?”
“Padt.” Angor bowed politely, following his nobleman manners.
“Mister Padt. What is it that you want, if I may?”
A young man suddenly approached them and interrupted, “Hey, old man, what’s with all the mishmash? Just ask him which quest he’s handing in and make our job quicker.”
This young man had uneven eyebrows, and the right one had a strange angle that looked funny.
He saw Angor looking at him and grinned. “Call me Hami. But I prefer that people use my title ‘Right-Eyed Devil’. I got it approved at a Sky Tower!”
Angor showed a hollow smile. “What’s this ‘quest’ you mentioned?”
Hami and Boro exchanged a confused look. Hami then questioned, “You... are not from the HQ?”
As they explained, Angor learned why he received the strange treatment.
Brute Cavern rarely sent any members to White Clam City. Each time they did send someone, they were either recruiters who would go and seek new talents across the sea or were appointed to replace someone in the office.
Recruiters usually came in spring, when most sea routes were available so that they could travel through more destinations. However, there were very few apprentices who were willing to take this job because it was so time-consuming and would always ruin their own training plans. This was why Angor was considered to be someone for the second job, meaning, he was sent here to work at the office.
Workers here were usually compensated well, but they couldn’t receive proper training from a wizard all the way here, nor could they find enough resources to undergo other forms of training, so they were all eager to see a “replacement”.
This was the reason why Angor instantly became the center of the spotlight.
“Hey you, you’re from the HQ, right? And you’ll work in the place of one of us? Come here, let’s talk. I’ve had enough of this pointless post.” Hami was raising his right eyebrow so high that it almost sank into his hair.
“Quit it, Hami. You came way after I did! If someone’s leaving, it should be me!” another apprentice protested.
“Oh, really? How about we duke it out, huh?” Hami stared at the opposer and raised a fist.
“But Mister Right-Eyed... Can you please give me the chance? I’ve been a level-2 for years, and I don’t even know many level-1 cantrips!” Someone started to fake crying.
Hami spat on the floor.
Angor found the sight to be quite funny and looked at the old man, Boro. “Aren’t you going to compete with them?”
“I... do want to go back. But as you can see, I’m approaching my limit now. And I’ve already learned what I can from my teacher. The organization won’t provide me with much. I might as well remain here and wait for destiny.”
“You can find destiny in this city?”
“This place is very close to the Devil’s Water, and many strong wizards would travel through. If I look hard enough, I might find their leftovers one day. Do you know Phantom Master, one of the most powerful fighters in our organization, Mister Padt?”
“Of course,” said Angor.
Not only that, we know each other reaaaally well, he thought.
“Last time, Phantom Master entered Devil’s Water on a cloud whale and killed a giant squid monster on his way. He took the core of the monster and tossed the corpse in the sea. The corpse of a powerful monster! I heard that many people earned a great fortune from it. You see that? Sometimes you just pick up destiny like that.”