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Forgotten Lands - Chapter 23 (Book 2)
🕑 Added 2024-04-24 10:00:04 +0000 UTCLevi Zenot didn’t gift him a good piece of land. It was only apparent that Zayn had to pay the price.
The only advantage on his side was that Levi Zenot gave him better conditions than the Guild Association would. First, the Merchant Guild’s manager offered Zayn to purchase the land. The Guild Association wouldn’t allow that until Golden Age reached a higher rank. By then, several years would have passed under normal circumstances. They would have wasted a fortune renting a place instead of buying it immediately.
Fortunately, Zayn wouldn’t have to rent a place.
Second, Levi Zenot's piece of land was good enough to make nobles jealous. It was big enough to add several buildings, such as smithies, Alchemy towers, barracks, and training grounds. Spyro was a big city, but it had only a few plots big enough to house several large buildings.
Lastly, the piece of land was located near Spyro’s inner walls. They were close to one of the spires where many markets and shops were located. The energy density was the highest near the spires. That brought various benefits for Craftsmen as they produced goods and Soldiers as they trained. Improving one’s Card Level was bound to be easier near the spires. Therefore, the piece of land offered by Levi Zenot was perfect.
After some back and forth, they agreed on a price for the land. Zayn would have to pay a hefty sum of gold coins, but that was only a part of the whole deal. Igor Brecht would have to forge many weapons specifically for Levi Zenot. In exchange, the plot, a large smithy, a Guildhouse of decent quality, and priority for all relevant missions with the Merchant Guild were given to Golden Age.
The benefits outweighed the price by a large margin. Nonetheless, Zayn couldn’t help but feel a sting in his chest. His savings and the remaining Credits Millenia gave him were converted into coins. Zayn even had to take an additional loan from Millenia to pay for everything.
He would have to release dozens of videos and guides to repay Millenia. Fortunately, the merchant was a good guy and trusted Zayn. Zayn would lose this golden opportunity for a perfect Guildhouse if not for that.
Finishing his business with Levi Zenot didn’t take too long. Levi Zenot promised him to finish everything in the next few days and that the Golden Age members would be given an insignia from the Merchant Guild, granting them priority right in the line to enter Spyro. They wouldn’t have to queue up like the others and could enter Spyro instantly.
The insignia was great, but Zayn did something else. He went over to the piece of land transferred to his name and created a temporary anchor as Golden Age’s Guildmaster. After that, Zayn returned to the Guild Association, where he obtained a bunch of Return Tokens.
One of the many reasons Zayn was adamant about purchasing a proper piece of land instead of renting a place for Golden Age was the Return Token. A Return Token was a small item, a consumable. Once broken, it would return the guild member to the anchored location. Anchors could only be set in safe zones like towns and cities. One of the most important requirements was that the anchored location belonged to the Guild. Renting a place was not enough. The guild had to be the rightful owner of the said location.
Return Tokens were costly, yet Zayn didn’t pay a single copper coin to obtain dozens of Return Tokens. The Guild Association distributed Return Tokens every two weeks to the Guilds with a piece of land in their town or city. It was a mean to keep guilds in ‘weaker’ towns and cities. After all, Guilds were required in every location to keep the surrounding wilderness safe and sound. They completed the tasks Guards weren’t allowed to do in exchange for benefits.
Return Tokens were one such benefit. Zayn obtained a few dozen Return Tokens because Golden Age’s piece of land was enormous. The larger the plot, the more Return Tokens were put aside for your guild. After all, a Guild’s size was usually a sign of their wealth, background, and power. No newbie guild could purchase large land without the necessary financial status and connections.
Zayn ignored the stares of the Adventurers and Staff as he left the Guild Association. This morning, he entered the Guild Association to relocate his rookie guild to Spyro, and merely a few hours later, Zayn returned demanding dozens of Return Tokens.
He was very content with his achievements, but that didn’t mean Zayn was done. Zayn was just getting started.
He had a bunch of guild members to pick up in an extensive underground cave system.
Leaving Spyro and the volcano was simple. The sentient volcano sensed his desire to leave when he appeared outside Spyro’s walls and opened a path for him to take. It didn’t take very long before he reappeared outside the sentient volcano. The Magma Prairie stretched out far before him.
The temperature around him skyrocketed, and the smell of molten stone and burning grass struck him. Fortunately, he was already mentally prepared for the sudden changes.
He stretched his body lightly and chose to jog lightly to one of the entrances to the underground cave system. The Magma Magma Goblins and Golden Age’s guild members were already waiting for him.
On his way to the underground cave system, Zayn encountered no monsters. That was for the better because Zayn was busy thinking about Levi Zenot and the things the Merchant Guild’s manager had said.
‘He wanted Igor Brecht back. Not as a prodigious blacksmith, but in a different way. The tension was…weird.’ Zayn thought.
‘Igor Brecht didn’t feel like this, or maybe I just missed it, but Levi…Levi seems to hold a very…very high opinion of Igor.’
He didn’t have any problems with business partners being in love, but Zayn could tell that this might cause problems in the near future. He hoped that it wouldn’t cause any issues. Unfortunately, love was never simple. It was only fortunate that Levi seemed reasonable enough to understand that business and private matters had to be separated – to a certain extent.
‘Igor won’t cause any trouble,’ Zany told himself, trying not to jinx anything.
He reached the nearest entrance to the underground cavern system and entered it without delay. The Verdant Saber appeared in his hand, and his focus skyrocketed. Zayn perceived everything around the cavern entrance, including the small group of Magma Goblins hiding in a small pit at the end of the cavern entrance. They would attack him the moment he walked past them.
‘You better give me enough Soul Essences to initiate the Class Path integration!’ Zayn demanded in his mind before strolling through the cavern entrance until he reached the tunnel leading downward.
The first Magma Goblin screeched aloud and emerged from the small pit. It was faster than expected and swung its longsword at Zayn. Since he'd entered the cave, Zayn was ready to deal with the Magma Goblins. He lifted the Verdant Saber lightly and twisted the blade to block the incoming longsword. The longsword’s trajectory was altered slightly to avoid getting cut.
The Magma Goblin tried kicking Zayn after the sword strike failed, but Zayn was faster. He twisted the Verdant Saber as it began glowing. The Verdant Saber transformed into two daggers. One of the daggers went for the Magma Goblin’s sword arm while the other Verdant Dagger sliced downward, cutting deep into the Magma Goblin’s foot.
The Magma Goblin screamed aloud as the Verdant Daggers hit their targets, but the attack wasn’t over yet. Zayn twisted the daggers in the Magma Goblin’s wrist and foot before releasing Double Impact. The Magma Goblin’s wrist burst open, hurling shreds of flesh in all directions. Meanwhile, its feet cracked loudly as several bones in the monster’s feet broke the instant Double Impact was released.
Zayn pushed further, ripped the daggers out of the fleshly wounds, and pierced one dagger into the monster’s chest.
The Magma Goblin tried biting into Zayn’s neck desperately to survive, but the other Verdant Dagger pierced through the monster’s mouth, finishing the pesky prey.
Magma Goblin(Elite) has been slain.
+3 Soul Essences.
That was better than expected, and it was only fortunate that the hunt didn’t end there. The Magma Goblin’s colleagues witnessed how their impatient kin died at Zayn’s hands, yet they didn’t even think about escaping. They charged Zayn together, their weapons brandished to cut the disgusting human into little pieces.
Zayn changed his stance and used Blink right before the closest enemy was about to cut him. He appeared behind the last Magma Goblin and moved fast using Lifeforce Conversion. His power skyrocketed as over half of his Lifeforce was drained to support the Card. A single precise strike was all it would take to kill the Magma Goblins, but Zayn didn’t want to be left with only half of his Lifeforce after the battle.
He applied Draining Touch to the Verdant Daggers and cut deep into the closest Magma Goblin with a rapid strike. The Magma Goblin couldn’t even turn around to defend against the incoming attack when his lifeforce and energy were drained rapidly. The cuts inflicted by the Verdant Daggers didn’t even hurt that much. However, being sucked dry while alive was anything but superb.
But it was not like Zayn cared about that. He needed Soul Essences. His Class Path was waiting for him!
