Chapter 118: Reaching the library
Renna hummed thoughtfully on the other end. "Fair enough. I’ll start pulling on whatever threads I can find connecting Ratdale to the Roaring Lions incident. If there’s a link, I’ll find it."
"Good," Draven said. "And Renna, one more thing. Keep this discreet. I don’t want word of this circulating through the usual channels until I understand exactly what I’m dealing with."
"You know discretion is half of what you’re paying for," Renna said dryly. "I’ll reach out the moment I have something worth sharing."
The call ended shortly after, and Draven set the device down on his desk, staring at it for a long moment in silence.
Whatever was happening, whether the mysterious player from Ratdale had any real connection to the Roaring Lions collapse or not, his instincts told him the two threads were worth watching closely.
He moved back toward the window, looking out over Aldreth’s sprawling skyline once more. Somewhere out there, an unregistered player with strength far beyond his current rank was walking freely through a city that prided itself on order and hierarchy.
If that player really did belong to some hidden guild capable of producing power on that scale, Bursting Jade needed to understand the full shape of the threat before it became something they could no longer control.
He thought back briefly to his own early years climbing the ranks, the sacrifices and years of grinding it had taken him to reach A-rank status.
Whoever this mystery player actually was, if he truly possessed the strength Cleo described, the sheer speed of his apparent growth alone was staggering, the kind of thing that simply didn’t happen naturally, not without some extraordinary advantage backing him.
Draven allowed himself a slow, measured breath, pushing the growing unease down as he considered his next move.
Whatever answers Renna eventually uncovered, he intended to be fully prepared before this stranger’s path crossed with Bursting Jade’s interests any further than it already had.
He returned to his desk and pulled up the guild’s internal communication system instead, drafting a brief, carefully worded message to a few of his other trusted contacts scattered across different regions of the Western Continent, asking quietly whether anyone else had encountered reports of an unusually powerful, unregistered player recently.
If Leon truly was moving through the region completely unnoticed by official channels, Draven intended to make sure that wouldn’t remain the case for very much longer.
***
Meanwhile...
The transport finally came to a full stop, and the doors slid open with a soft hiss. Leon stood, grabbing the small bag of supplies he’d picked up before leaving Ratdale, and stepped out onto the platform.
The station itself was massive, far larger than the modest stop he’d boarded from earlier.
High ceilings stretched overhead, supported by thick metal beams, while dozens of people moved briskly in every direction, most too focused on their own destinations to spare him a second glance.
He took a moment just to stand there, taking it all in.
This was Aldreth.
Compared to Ratdale, the difference was staggering. Where Ratdale had felt worn down, neglected, barely holding itself together, Aldreth practically hummed with energy and order.
Every surface looked clean and well maintained. Every person moved with purpose, dressed in clothing that looked far more polished than anything he’d seen since arriving in Berx.
He made his way toward the station’s main exit, weaving carefully through the crowd, keeping his head low and his pace steady.
He didn’t want to stand out more than necessary, not with Cleo’s warning still fresh in his mind.
Once outside, the full scale of the city opened up in front of him.
Towering buildings stretched high into the sky, their glass surfaces reflecting the sunlight in sharp, scattered patterns.
Wide streets ran between them, lined with smaller shops and vendors, while overhead, thin cables stretched between buildings, carrying some kind of transport system moving quietly above the street level entirely.
He’d expected something impressive, given everything the old man had told him about the capital’s significance.
Still, standing here now, actually seeing it firsthand, the sheer size and organization of the place exceeded what he’d pictured in his head.
He allowed himself only a few seconds to take it all in before refocusing. He hadn’t traveled all this way just to admire the scenery.
The library was his priority, and the sooner he found it, the sooner he could start piecing together some real answers about everything that had happened to him today.
He approached a nearby information kiosk, one of several scattered along the main street, its surface displaying a rotating list of nearby locations and services.
He scanned through the options quickly until he found what he was looking for.
Aldreth Central Library, located several blocks north, within what appeared to be the city’s administrative district.
He memorized the general direction and set off on foot, weaving through the busy streets, careful to keep his pace natural, unhurried, nothing that might draw unwanted attention.
The walk gave him time to properly absorb his surroundings. Vendors called out from small stalls, advertising food and goods he didn’t recognize.
Groups of players moved confidently through the crowd here and there, their equipment and bearing marking them clearly as people used to being treated with a certain level of deference.
Ordinary civilians gave them wide berth without seeming to think twice about it, the habit clearly ingrained through repetition rather than conscious thought.
He noted the difference from Ratdale immediately. Here, players weren’t a rare sight worth gawking at.
They were simply part of the city’s everyday rhythm, present and expected, treated with the kind of practiced respect that came from long familiarity rather than novelty.
It made him wonder, briefly, just how differently his earlier encounter with Cleo might have played out if it had happened here instead of in a town like Ratdale.
Would the civilians have reacted the same way, staring at him like some kind of miracle simply for stepping in to help?
Or would an event like a dungeon break here in the capital have been handled so efficiently, so immediately, that a situation like the one in Ratdale would never have been allowed to spiral out of control in the first place?
He suspected the latter, and the thought left a familiar, uncomfortable weight settling in his chest. It reinforced everything he’d already begun to suspect about how this continent operated.
Protection here wasn’t distributed based on need. It was distributed based on value, based on class, based on how much a particular region or its people mattered to those actually holding power.
He pushed the thought aside for now, focusing instead on navigating the crowded streets toward his destination.
Whatever grievances he had about the way this continent treated its weaker citizens, dwelling on them wouldn’t get him any closer to understanding what he actually needed to know.
After several more minutes of walking, the crowd around him began to thin slightly as he crossed into a quieter, more official-looking section of the city.
The buildings here carried a different kind of architecture, older in style compared to the sleek, modern structures closer to the transport station, though still clearly well maintained.
He spotted the library soon after, a wide, imposing structure set back from the street, its entrance framed by tall stone pillars that stood in sharp contrast to the glass and metal dominating most of the rest of the city.
Despite the surrounding modernity, the building itself carried an air of deliberate permanence, as though it had been built specifically to convey the weight and importance of whatever knowledge it housed inside.
Leon climbed the wide stone steps leading up to the entrance, pushing through a set of heavy double doors that opened smoothly despite their weight.
The interior stretched out far larger than he’d expected from the outside, rows upon rows of tall shelves disappearing into the distance, filled with more books and records than he could reasonably estimate at a glance.
Soft light filtered down from high windows set into the ceiling, casting long, gentle shadows across the polished floor below.
A few scattered patrons moved quietly between the shelves, some seated at small reading tables, others browsing through sections he couldn’t immediately identify.
Nobody paid him any particular attention as he stepped further inside, which suited him just fine.
Leon approached a woman seated behind a wide desk near the entrance, her attention focused on some kind of device in front of her.
She looked up as he approached, offering a polite, professional smile.
"Welcome to Aldreth Central Library," she said. "How can I help you?"
Leon hesitated for a moment before answering carefully. "I’m looking for information on legendary figures," he said. "Historical records about them, specifically."
The woman blinked, a faint look of confusion crossing her face.
"Legendary figures?" she repeated, as though trying to clarify something. "You mean player legends? We have quite a few biographical records on some of the more notable names from recent decades, if that’s what you’re after."
Leon shook his head slightly. "No, not players. I mean actual legendary figures. Historical ones... uh... ancient, like gods... you know, things like that."