Chapter 7: Sky City

“Two acorn ales, please.”

Zong Mi placed several gold coins onto the counter and accepted two bubbling mugs of alcohol from the bartender. Carefully avoiding the crowd, he brought them over to the small table where Eric was seated.

As he walked, he quietly observed the surroundings.

He wasn’t sure whether it was merely his imagination, but something about the atmosphere felt deeply off.

Still, he had no intention of showing it.

Zong Mi sat down opposite Eric while the assassin stared at him without blinking.

This person truly had not changed.

Neither his strength nor his appearance.

It was as though ten years had left no trace on him at all.

Time itself seemed frozen upon the blond man.

The tavern buzzed noisily with life beneath dim yellow lights.

Rather than choosing a private room, they sat openly in the main hall.

After all, taverns were one of the defining features of western fantasy games—places where players gathered information, formed alliances, and exchanged rumors. Because of various reasons, Zong Mi had spent plenty of time in taverns before. This was far from his first visit.

A wandering musician played an accordion nearby. The sounds of clinking cups and hushed conversations blended together into a lively blur, making Eric unconsciously frown.

He disliked noisy environments.

The assassin glanced at the drink in his hand before returning his gaze to the blond man across from him.

Ever since becoming the Hall Master, he had rarely touched alcohol.

Alcohol was not a good thing—especially for an assassin.

“Drinking ruins judgment” was a famous proverb across the Descending Continent.

But now—

The assassin suddenly lifted the mug and took a long swallow of the bitter acorn ale.

The cold liquid slid down his throat and dropped into the hollow ache within his chest, chilling him enough to make his throat sting faintly.

“How does it taste?”

Zong Mi had just been considering how to start a conversation. Seeing Eric drink so decisively, he blinked in exaggerated surprise.

“…No feeling.”

“Hahaha, that really is such an Eric-style answer.”

He chuckled softly, raising his own mug toward the assassin before draining the acorn ale in one go as well.

The Eric of ten years later gave him a rare sense of unpredictability.

“Back then, there really were unavoidable reasons… Though saying that now probably changes nothing. Brother, no matter what, I’m truly sorry.”

Zong Mi had always been skilled at understanding people’s hearts.

As the bitter alcohol spread across his tongue, he carefully considered his next words.

Eric was a very pure person.

Though he appeared to be a cold and decisive assassin, he unexpectedly possessed an honest heart.

Zong Mi was certain that no matter how much time passed, a person’s fundamental character rarely changed completely.

Their emotional foundation had once been strong enough.

Forgiveness should not have been impossible.

So he decided to speak frankly.

“Recently, I’ve still been taking commissions. Mostly just continuing to travel across the continent without a permanent home.”

As he spoke, he quietly observed the assassin’s reactions from the corner of his eye.

“But I’ve still been searching for information about the Divine Relics.”

“You know…”

He released his grip on the mug and folded his hands together on the wooden table, thumbs lightly touching. His gray eyes curved slightly as he smiled.

“Only by gathering all seven Divine Relics… can I ascend to that throne.”

There existed a widely spread myth upon the Descending Continent known as the Ancient Gudard Mythology—a legend passed down from the Age of Gods ten thousand years ago.

The myth clearly recorded the existence of a legendary city within the Inner Central Continent: the Sky City.

A city built by the gods themselves.

It floated high in the heavens, with a divine obelisk standing at its center—the kingdom of the gods.

After Ragnarok, the entrance to the Sky City was forever sealed, and no one knew whether the city truly existed anymore.

According to the Ancient Gudard Prophecy, the gods would one day return to the continent.

Before leaving, each god entrusted a Divine Relic to their chosen followers and left behind divine trials.

Whoever gathered all the Divine Relics in the future would reopen the gates of the Sky City and be crowned king.

Although the myth sounded somewhat absurd, nearly everyone on the continent believed it wholeheartedly.

It was practically regarded as the inevitable path of the chosen king.

The story was so widespread that almost every wandering bard could sing the songs of the Ancient Gudard Mythology. Much like the hymns of the Temple of Dawn, they were melodies familiar to every commoner on the continent.

However, gathering the Divine Relics was extremely difficult.

Among the seven relics, some were hidden within the treasure vaults of powerful factions or races, while others had vanished entirely.

As treasures left behind from the Age of Gods, they all shared one thing in common—

Every single one was a legendary artifact carefully preserved by later generations.

Because the Divine Relics symbolized entire races and powers, no one had ever successfully collected them all.

Naturally, no one had ever verified whether the myth itself was true.

But Zong Mi wanted to become that person.

In fact, his ambitions extended far beyond merely becoming king.

The moment he entered this world, he had received a hidden continental main quest from the blacksmith in the beginner village.

The quest contained no instructions whatsoever. Even the quest panel stated that additional conditions needed to be activated before the full main storyline could unlock.

In other words—

Zong Mi had only received a fragmented version of the world’s main quest.

Humanity might lag behind the Descending Continent in theology, but technologically, humans were still formidable.

When two civilizations collided, the result would either be cultural integration—

—or war.

And humanity possessed many elites.

Besides Zong Mi, there were likely other human players who had also received fragmented continental quests.

Since he still didn’t know whether the questline was unique, he needed to accelerate his plans and tighten the net.

“Enough about that. Being reunited again shouldn’t be spent discussing these things.”

Zong Mi selectively revealed only a small portion before lifting his mug again.

“Come on, brother. Cheers.”

The blond man smiled as the tavern’s warm light shone down upon him, making him seem almost faintly illuminated by divine radiance.

After disappearing without a word for so many years, it wasn’t as though Eric had never resented him.

But now, seeing this person again, every complicated emotion seemed to calm naturally.

Back then, he simply lacked power.

Things were different now.

Eric watched the blond man beneath the hazy tavern light, noticing the faint redness at the corners of his eyes, and something stirred within him.

“Cheers.”

The assassin heard his own low voice respond.

But ten years could change far too many things.

Certain emotions no longer remained vague and unclear like before. Instead, with time, they carved themselves deeper and deeper into bone and blood.

For example—

At this very moment, Eric was thinking about how to completely bind this person to himself.

Though he did not understand what this obsession truly was, it did not stop him from wanting to place chains upon this man and keep him forever at his side.

To possess him.

Zong Mi drank quite a lot.

By the time he left the tavern, his head felt pleasantly dizzy.

Only after the cold night wind struck his face did his thoughts clear slightly.

Gazi’s nights remained brilliantly illuminated, floating magical lamps casting soft glows across the streets.

Before stepping outside, the lights had even appeared doubled in his vision. The wind helped considerably.

Still, he felt he had not actually drunk that much.

Eric had mostly remained silent while listening to him speak, continuously pouring drink after drink into himself.

Thinking of that, Zong Mi deliberately stopped walking and glanced back at the assassin behind him.

“?”

Eric furrowed his brows slightly.

Zong Mi immediately understood that this meant the assassin was not completely drunk yet, causing him to curl his lips upward faintly.

“It’s getting late. I should be leaving.”

At such a quiet hour of the night, Zong Mi naturally intended to continue scheming with Cyril, the Crimson Bishop.

Gazi was not too far from the Holy City of Dawn. Zong Mi planned to stay there for several days first, quietly observe the situation, and then proceed carefully.

“Wait.”

Eric suddenly spoke.

Silently, the assassin removed a long narrow box from his spatial ring and gently placed it into Zong Mi’s hands.

“…What’s this?”

Although Zong Mi already knew perfectly well what the box contained, he still deliberately acted confused on the surface.

“Don’t open it here. Too many eyes.”

“Alright.”

Zong Mi did not ask further questions. He stored the box inside his own spatial ring and smiled while waving casually.

“Then I’m off, brother. See you again.”

Just as he turned to leave, the assassin suddenly spoke again.

“…Will you leave again?”

Zong Mi froze briefly before revealing a reassuring smile.

“No. Don’t worry, Hall Master. I’ll still need your protection in the future.”

Eric neither confirmed nor denied whether he believed those words.

He merely stared at him with those deep violet eyes.

For a brief moment, Zong Mi felt the dangerous sensation of being targeted by a hunter.

But then again—

Who exactly was the hunter, and who was merely being used?

That was not necessarily certain.

After witnessing that future, it was impossible for Zong Mi not to remain cautious.

He turned away, the smile on his lips widening further as he waved without lingering.

In truth, he did not even need to open the box Eric had given him.

Because he was a player.

The moment an item entered his inventory, an automatic notification appeared. With a single thought, detailed equipment information unfolded before his eyes.

【Sword of the Goddess of Night】
Equipment Quality: Legendary
Attack Power: ???
Standard Bonus: All Attributes +10%
Set Bonus: Not Activated (Collect all seven pieces to activate the set effect)
(Currently Possessed: 2 Pieces)

Obtained.

On the quest panel, one of the quests marked 【In Progress】 instantly dimmed and changed into 【Completed】.

Eric did not move.

He remained standing where he was, fingers lightly brushing across the blade at his side while silently watching Zong Mi’s departing figure.

Only after the trailing edge of the blond man’s cloak disappeared at the end of the street did the once-noisy tavern suddenly fall silent.

The entire street became deathly still.

“Hall Master.”

Countless assassin shadows flashed out from the tavern, respectfully kneeling before the sovereign of the night.

Though they wore all kinds of disguises—some dressed as adventurers, others still holding accordions in their hands—their eyes had all returned to cold stillness, like demons lurking within the shadows.

“Follow him.”

The master of the Assassin Temple gave the order coldly, his eyes utterly emotionless.

“If he notices you… bring me your heads.”