It took us another two days of travel to reach Hebron. The journey was largely uneventful; we didn’t even have to defend the caravan from bandits or mobs. Not that any of us minded. The peace gave us time to rest, recover, and prepare ourselves for whatever awaited us in the city. I took advantage of the peace to throw the 10 Words I’d earned from my first custom spell achievement into my Banked Progress, now that I had access to Ruth’s Word potions to help with my Casting Pool.

But when we finally reached the top of the hill overlooking Hebron, I was the first to poke my head out of the covered wagon full of cabbages—and see the city with my own eyes for the very first time in my life.

Hebron was massive.

At least, massive by my definition of massive—which was probably different from Ruth’s or Jonah’s, seeing as they both came from much bigger cities than I did. But even so, I was still awestruck by the sheer size of the city.

Hebron was a sprawling, terraced metropolis surrounded by golden wheat fields and forest groves, practically shining beneath the rays of the midmorning sun. It had no walls—unlike Greenwood and some of the other smaller towns and cities we’d passed through on our journey—but I didn’t think it needed them. Even without seeing the Grand Codexium of Hebron, I could practically taste the city’s intense magical protection pulsing in the air, stronger than anything I had ever sensed before.

But my eyes were drawn to the people working in the wheat fields around the city. Much to my surprise, many of them were Codexers, riding what looked like mana-powered mechanical harvesters that sucked up wheat before spitting out the chaff in neat piles. Other Codexers stood among the crops, casting shimmering waves of energy across the fields—spells designed, I assumed, to strengthen growth and protect against blight.

“The Codex Plaza Farms,” said Thomas, who was sitting behind me in the wagon. He puffed on his pipe, grinning. “Impressive, no?”

I looked over my shoulder at Thomas with wide eyes. “I’ve never seen farms this big before. And Codexers working on farms? That’s new to me.”

Thomas chuckled, exhaling a perfect ring of smoke. “Magic’s useful for more than just killing monsters, you know. The Codex Plaza Farms are where Codexers specializing in agricultural magic use spells to increase yields, protect crops from pests, and enhance soil fertility. I employ quite a few Codexers like that myself.”

I shook my head in amazement, while Nimbus, who had been lounging at my feet, poked his head out from under the wagon’s tarp to peer at the fields. He sniffed the air conspiratorially. “Where are the banana farms? I was told there would be banana farms.”

I frowned down at him. “Who told you that?”

Nimbus looked away, ears twitching as he pawed at his banana scarf. “Umm… someone. I don’t remember who. Probably Jonah. He lies to me a lot.”

Jonah, reclining at the back of the wagon with his arms behind his head and his eyes closed, snorted. “I never said anything about banana farms in Hebron. Pretty sure all the bananas are grown in Gomorrah.”

Thomas nodded. “Your intense friend is correct! Hebron’s climate isn’t suited for banana trees, even with magical assistance. Gomorrah, being coastal, has a much better climate for growing bananas. They hold a near monopoly on the banana supply across all Nine Kingdoms. Trust me—I’ve tried growing them here. It never works, even with magic.”

Nimbus thumped his foot against the wooden floor of the wagon before teleporting onto my shoulders. “Okay, Aaron. Here’s the deal. You can go and meet with the king, or whatever it is you’re supposed to do here, while I continue onward to the Sixth Kingdom to purchase a banana farm. We’ll meet again at one of the banana farms—though fair warning, I might have gained a bit of weight by then.”

I chuckled, scratching behind Nimbus’s ears. “Right. I think we’re all going to stick together for now. Don’t know if we’ll ever make it to Gomorrah, but you never know.”

Thomas raised an eyebrow. “You’re going to meet with King Amphrael? You didn’t mention that before.”

I cringed, realizing too late that we hadn’t told Thomas why we were in such a hurry to reach Hebron before we left Greenwood. “Well, um—”

Thomas laughed and slapped his knee. “No need to tell me your personal business, young man! That’s not what I paid you for. I’m just grateful I found three competent Codexers willing to accompany me home on such short notice. You even have a synced Codex Beast partner, which is rare in these parts—even in Hebron.”

Ruth—who was sitting at the opposite end of the wagon from Jonah with her Potion-Making Kit open in her lap as she worked—smiled gratefully at Thomas. “We should be the ones thanking you, Mr. Thomas. If you hadn’t hired us, we would’ve had to walk the rest of the way. You really saved us a lot of time.”

Thomas chortled. “It’s like my father always used to say: Time is money. And I do love money. Speaking of which, I’m always looking for new Codexers to join my operation. If any of you happen to need work—or if you wish to specialize in agricultural Codex magic—I’d be more than happy to employ any of you in my fields. You sound like you’ve worked on farms yourself, young man.”

I turned toward Thomas. “I have. My family had a farm in North Forest that got destroyed by some bandits.”

“North Forest?” Thomas stroked his chin. “That’s where a new Node Dungeon was discovered recently, yes? A group of my Codexer employees have been pressuring me to let them have time off so they can go to North Forest and enter the dungeon before anyone else. I have been hesitant to let them go, however, because of the unknowns involved. Can you tell me much about the dungeon, young man? There isn’t much information about it on the Node Network yet, other than that the first floor has been cleared, which I presume was your work.”

I pursed my lips, noticing how eagerly Thomas was asking me these questions about the Verdant Seal. Both Jonah and Ruth had told me that discovering a new dungeon was a big deal, but this was the first time I had dealt with someone who was clearly interested in learning about the new dungeon before anyone else. “I can’t tell you much about it except that it nearly killed us more than once. So if you do send anyone, make sure they have a good team behind them, otherwise they might get crushed.”

Thomas frowned slightly. “But the available information indicates that the first floor is open to Chapter One Codexers. It can’t possibly be that dangerous, can it?”

Nimbus shrugged at my feet. “Considering how all four of us nearly got killed a dozen times over while we were inside it, yeah, I would say that it was that dangerous.”

Thomas puffed on his pipe in frustration. “You seem like a reasonable young man and I happen to have quite a bit of money I could exchange for that information. What do you say?”

“I would say that sounds like a severe violation of the fourth clause of the Codex Constitution between the Nine Kingdoms,” said Jonah before I could respond. He leaned forward and glared at Thomas. “But surely you wouldn’t be asking us to commit a crime like that, now would you?”

Thomas’s face became paler than snow. He puffed on his pipe again. “Of course not, young man. I was merely floating the possibility of a mutually beneficial business arrangement between myself and young Aaron here. I would never dream of violating any clause of the Codex Constitution, especially not the fourth.”

Seeing all of Thomas’s confidence and bluster melt away as soon as Jonah mentioned the fourth clause of the Codex Constitution was amazing, though I didn’t know what the fourth clause was. I was tempted to ask, but my instincts told me that it was better to let Jonah do the talking here and to ask him about the Codex Constitution—the document that governed how the Codex was used between the Nine Kingdoms—later when we had the time.

Jonah rested his trident on his lap, looking at Thomas with a clearly unimpressed face. “That’s good to hear. Because it would really be terrible to have to report you to the Shinar Node Authority, or even worse, the Nine Kingdoms Node Authority, after you paid us so well for our services. It would be a bad way to end our time together, wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Thomas?”

Thomas once again puffed on his pipe, though this time it felt more like a delay tactic than anything. “It would indeed, Mr., um, what did you say your last name was again?”

Jonah thumped the butt of his trident against the floor of the wagon without taking his eyes off Thomas. “Uri. Jonah Uri.”

Thomas’s eyes widened as if they were about to fall out of his head. “Uri? I thought that name sounded familiar. That explains quite a bit about you, young man. Your family is quite—”

The wagon came to an abrupt halt, causing me to fall to the floor of the wagon. I almost crashed down on top of Nimbus, who teleported out of the way at the last second, reappearing on Ruth’s shoulders.

Ruth, however, had to double over to protect her Potion-Making Kit, which had nearly fallen out of her lap when the wagon stopped. Thomas clutched his seat with one hand while holding his pipe in the other, a startled look on his face.

Jonah had already risen to his feet, trident in hand, whipping his head over his shoulder. “Why did the wagon stop? Have we reached the city already?”

Thomas shook his head. “N-No, I don’t think—”

This time, a scream from outside the wagon interrupted Thomas’ statement.