Looking at the guard in front of him, Damien sized him up, trying to get a read on his strength. After seeing that Damien was someone without a bracelet, the head guard called over someone to see if he was worthy of entering.

  Similarly to how Damien was sizing up the guard, he was also sizing him. Damien, suddenly, the head guard spoke, making them both turn their attention to him. “When I say begin, you may start the fight. Killing is not allowed. This is only a test,” he stated firmly while waiting for them to nod in understanding, seeing them confirm they understood the rules, he smiled before stepping back a few feet.

  “BEGIN!” he yelled while watching the two men spring into action.

  While Damien could just use his abilities earlier to potentially win this battle easily, he wanted to gain experience fighting someone stronger than himself, not to mention he was not entirely confident he would be able to do so in the first place.

  Clashing fists with the guard, they both were sent back a few feet, Damien more so than the guard, as the man's strength was higher than his own. “Not bad, kid, how about we step things up a bit?” he said with a smile before magma started rising from the ground.

  Moving his hands, the magma started to gather into the air in front of the man. seeing that it was taking him so long to gather his attack, Damien did not waste the opportunity to attack and kicked off the ground in the guard's direction.

  Activating lighting-fast, Damien’s body became an afterimage as he swiftly appeared behind his opponent before throwing a punch at his backside. However, instead of being surprised or flustered at Damien’s quick movements, the man smirked.

  Right as his punch was about to connect, a wall of thin magma appeared between him and Damien, surprise colored Damien’s face as he quickly tried to pull his hand back to avoid it being melted off.

  While he managed to stop in time, his face was still grim, as even being that close to lava caused his hand to develop third-degree burns. Gritting his teeth through the pain, he could only wait for the guard's attack.

  “You’re quite fast, let's see how you will dodge this.” The ball of magma the man had been gathering had now turned into what you could only call a wave. Seeing the size of it, Damien knew he could avoid being hit if he used his space ability to appear on the other side.

  Realsing the attack, it came crashing in Damien’s direction, the heat of the lava turning the ground black as it traveled over its surface. As it got closer and closer, many shook their heads at Damien’s bad luck. “Another one down,” one guard said, “It's a pity he had to face Gerald, had it been anyone else, he would have stood a chance.” Many similar comments rang out between the various men.

  The head guard, however, had a different opinion, “No, I think this kid has something else up his sleeve.” his deep voice surprising the men around him as the head captain only ever spoke like this about those he believed to have potential.

  Once the wave was only meters away, blocking his opponent's view of his movements, Damien swiftly used his space manipulation to appear behind him on the other side of the wave, his katana in hand with its tip pointed at the center of Gerald's back.

  Freezing up, Gerald adopted a look of astonishment before shaking his head at himself, “It seems I have gotten rusty to make the mistake of underestimating my opponent….”

  Damien smiled before looking at the head guard, who was giving him a curious look. “Congrats, kid.” was the only words the man said before taking something out of thin air and throwing it in his direction.

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  Catching the item, Damien inspected it, and as expected, it was the bracelet Shade had previously shown him. “If you have any questions, feel free to ask some of the guards.” With that, the man went back to watching over his soldiers and the line.

  Staring at the man's back for a few moments, Damien could not help but wonder how strong the head guard was compared to Gelard. Suddenly, he heard Shade say something behind him, making him turn his head.

  “Sorry, I was lost in thought. What did you say?”

  Shade smiled before repeating himself, “I said Shall we head inside? I am sure you are itching to see what the city is like.”

  His words sparked interest in Damien, who nodded with an excited look, “In that case, let's go and remember do not offend anyone inside lest you want unnecessary trouble.” Seeing shade remind him Damien nodded in agreement as he also did not want to deal with bullshit himself either.

  Making their way back over to the gate, the guards congratulated Damien as he passed by before they made a signal to those at the top of the wall. Walking through the large gate, it was almost like a tunnel, abilet the tunnel was only a couple of dozen meters in length.

  Once on the other side, Damien could not help but be in awe, he had been able to see the tips of some buildings from the outside, but that could not compare to truly seeing it from within. Long brick roads spanning hundreds of yards in length, dozens of buildings off to the sides, all of which had people coming in and out. Carriages could be seen being led by horses from place to place, and at the center of it all was a giant castle, looking over the entire city, looming over it with its massive height.

  “This place… It's magical.” Damien said in a whisper, he could not help but remember reading or watching shows and movies where kingdoms were a thing, and seeing it in real life and not just through a screen made the whole thing feel surreal.

  “So what do you think?” Shade asked while having a slight grin on his face as if he was showing off something he had made to a friend.

  “... It's breathtaking, I mean, compared to what I am used to, this just has a sort of fantastical feel to it.” Shade’s grin widened into a smile, happy to see that Damien was able to appreciate what he was seeing.

  “Well, now that we have arrived, is there anything you would like to do? I know you said something about wanting to level up, so should we go down that route first, or would you like to explore a bit?”

  Hearing his question, Damien’s expression became a bit strained. He wanted nothing more than to explore the city and see what it had to offer, along with checking out some of the buildings just to experience it, but unfortunately, he knew he had priorities that came first.

  “For now, I need to focus on getting stronger. If I reach my goal before my time here is up, then I will spend some time checking out the city.” Nodding his head, Shade motioned for him to follow, and they set off down one of the many roads.

  After a while of walking, they eventually appeared in front of a building, similar to everything else here, which was made out of what appeared to be brick. On top, a sign could be seen, ‘mercenaries’ guild’

  Turning around, Shade faced Damien, “As you have probably already read since you have your bracelet now, this place is called “Mercenary’s guild.” If you want missions to go on, this is the place to come to. Here, they will assign you a mission based on your rank of existence, and upon completion, you get money. The good thing about this place is that the missions they send you on are tailored for those who wish to level up quickly.”

  “What do you mean?” Damien asked curiously.

  “Well, unlike most guilds or places where you can complete missions for rewards, this place allows you to select multiple missions at once, meaning you don’t have to come back to get a new one after completing it. Here you can select up to five missions at a time. Not only this, but the missions you find here compared to other places are of much harder quality, and harder means more levels and better rewards.”

  Listening to the explanation, Damien could see why doing missions from this place was the best option for leveling up and getting rewards, but he could not help but ask, “What if you just want to level up and don’t care about earning money?” Hearing his question, Shade gave him a deep look.

  “...In that case, you would go to the place I previously told you about, but I will say there are also missions inside here that send you there however these missions are almost never taken as 90 percent of them lead to only one thing.”

  Seeing him pause, Damien could gather what he meant. “For now, let me take a look at the missions inside before I decide what I want to do.” With that, he walked inside.

  “Well, at least you have some sense.” Shade said while shaking his head and following him within.