Edward took his wolf form and made his way toward the southern gate of the city under the cover of the night. Having reached the gate, he crept around the wall’s shadow and passed the guards, stepping inside Oasis.

‘Even the guards here are just as incompetent as the ones in Ashes.’ Thought Edward as he took a quick look around the new city.

He felt like he stepped into a new world. The buildings all looked like they were built out of hardened clay and had no rooftops at all. Green trees were growing by the side of the paved paths, and there were even grass fields here and there.

He finally understood where the name Oasis came from as he walked around the mud houses to look for some clothes he could steal. He didn’t have to walk long until he found a line of clothes out to dry.

Helping himself to a pair of trousers, he rushed out of a small courtyard before taking his human form again.

“It feels like it’s been an eternity since I wore some clothes.”

[Water is not the best, but you can still learn to weave some mana clothes.]

“I’ll do that when I have the time. Can you feel Violet or Minx anywhere nearby?”

[No, not really. The city is too big.]

“Fine, let’s scout the place out and we’ll ask around in the morning if we still find nothing.”

Hearing no answer from Fenrir, Edward started following the paths inside while looking at the buildings all around. He could see that, while the houses looked quite poor, most of them had a courtyard with fresh grass and even some trees in it.

He figured he was in the residential part of the city by how alike the houses were, so he followed the paths leading deeper inside.

In the time it took Edward to walk out of the residential district, which was about an hour, he spotted many beasts, most of them completely unknown to him, just sleeping peacefully in the courtyards.

They had features similar to the ones back on Earth, but they were magic beasts. The strangest ones he had seen included winged serpents, multiple-headed lizards, giant scarabs, and even a quadruped walking owl-type thing.

“This is exactly what I expected to see once you first brought me here, Fenrir. Looks like I just landed in the wrong place.”, said Edward.

[I imagine the reason for the differences is in Oasis and the City of Ashes’ treatment of beasts. With Oasis putting more focus on beast taming, it’s only normal they would thrive here, while in the north, they are hunted down if they get too close to any human city, reducing their numbers and even causing some of them to migrate south, even if the conditions on the outside are not so good.]

Edward nodded and tried to make sense of the place where he just arrived. The buildings were no longer made of mud, but large cut stones. They also were more esthetically pleasant and larger.

With no plaques providing any direction or names on the buildings, he was just as lost as before.

“How come there’s no one out at night around here?”

[You might not realize it because of your high level, but it’s extremely cold outside. Most citizens are probably hiding from the cold inside.]

“What about the high-level people of the city?”

With Fenrir having no answer, he just continued walking around. He found a large open area with stalls placed everywhere, which he figured was the marketplace, but there was no one there either.

A few hours later, when he reached a new area in the far north, a sense of danger made Edward stop in his steps. Frowning slightly, he was trying to figure out where that danger was coming from.

“This is no place for you to be in. Turn around and walk away.”

An indifferent voice sounded from all around, making a small smile appear on Edward’s face. Lifting his hands in a surrendering manner, he said: “I’m kind of lost. Could you tell me where I am and help me find a place?”

As his question ended, the sense of danger got stronger and a slight flash appeared in front of his eyes.

A sharp dagger pierced straight between Edward’s eyebrows, but as the masked assassin thought he had killed the intruder and was about to swiftly retreat, Edward’s head turned into a mass of water and a cold hand caught onto the assassin’s hand that was holding the dagger.

After pulling the knife, Edward’s face reformed, and he frowned at the cloaked man he had caught.

“That was rude.” Said Edward as the ice started extending from his hand and slowly covering the assassin’s body.

When he was about to stop and threaten the assassin for some answers, he could feel the mark on his hand starting to heat up.

Heaving a long sigh, Edward pushed the man away and used a water curtain to cover the area in a thin layer of fog. Summoning the coin he got from the dragon kingdom, he decreased his size to become as small as a fly before turning into his wolf form and hiding at the base of a nearby wall.

“What happened?” a distinct voice from that of the assassin Edward fought sounded out not long after Edward found a hiding spot.

“A mage kid. Spy from the north, if I had to guess.”

Edward could see the newcomer was a thin-faced man wearing a cloak to cover his entire body. After the assassin’s words, more people arrived, crowding the entire street.

“If he’s a mage, how did you fail? And where did he go?”

The assassin panicked for a moment, hearing the thin man’s tone, but then he realized something and said: “I know. He’s the one the dragons want. Edward something.”

The thin man smiled at the name and turned towards the others. “Split and search the entire city. I want him found by morning.”

After all the other assassins left, leaving behind only the thin man and the one Edward fought, the thin man’s smile disappeared and he said: “You still didn’t tell me how did you fail and let such a hefty bounty escape.”

“I-I…” the assassin only got to stutter once before his head left his shoulders and rolled on the ground below. The thin man took a quick look around with his indifferent eyes before sheathing the dagger he used to cut the man’s head off and rushing off as well.

Edward took his human form and looked at the dead assassin as he asked: “They didn’t look that strong. Why did you stop me?”

[To cancel that attack, you wasted over half of your mana using the elemental body spell. With all the assassins coming here, you would have most likely still died. There was also no need for you to fight here.]

Edward nodded and looked at the building in front of him with curiosity. The building looked like nothing special, but the assassin was protecting it, so Edward was dying to check it out.

“Do you feel any presence in there?”

[… no.]

“Why the long pause?”

[I know what you’re thinking, but I think you should recover your mana first. It’s still a new city and we don’t know what to expect here. You’ve become quite reckless after attacking the dragon city and getting possessed by the curse.]

Edward sighed and said: “You’re right. I’m scared of that thing waking up again and I feel like I’m on a deadline. Sorry about that.”

Hearing no answer from Fenrir, Edward sat down and slowly waited for his mana to recover naturally. He could see assassins passing by from time to time, but paid them no mind, knowing the chances of them finding him were low.

When his mana recovered, it was already close to morning.

“That took so long…”

[The water mana in the air is a lot thinner here in the desert. While it’s better in the city, it’s still nothing compared to the north.]

“But doesn’t my mana come from Yggdrasil?” asked Edward.

[Yes, but do you think that tree is going to give something away for free? She just stores mana for you and lets you use it through the tablet, but you still have to wait for the tablet to gather it from nature once you consume the stored reserves.]

Edward looked at his naked body and sighed before turning into his wolf form and stealing another pair of pants from one of the nearby houses. This area also looked like a residential one, with the only difference being the increased size of the buildings and the absence of courtyards.

Undoing his transformation into a dark corner, he wore his pants again and walked out. Since there still seems to be a bounty on his head, he kept his head low as he walked around. There was no point in trying to check that house out since it was already morning and he could easily get spotted by normal people, not to mention assassins.

Seeing a tall man walking out of one house nearby, Edward walked up to him and asked: “Excuse me, I appear to be lost. Could you tell me which way to go to find the beast tamers guild?”

The man looked Edward up and down but didn’t seem to recognize him as he said: “I will take it you mean the beast halls? The closest one is straight west. You should reach it in twenty minutes.”

Edward nodded and thanked the man before turning around and walking towards the west. In fifteen minutes, he could see a large queue of people with all kinds of strange beasts lining up in front of a large building.

Watching them with his back against a pole, he said: “This is troublesome. With so many people, there’s no way no one remembers me from the dragon bounty. Do you feel anything?”

[No. That man said that this is the closest one, but there should be more for sure.]

“I figured that as well, but this one is the closest to the northern gate. I doubt Violet would go to one further south. Let’s stalk this one for a few days.”

Edward waited until about noon, looking at the beast tamers walking in and out from the hall and finding nothing, when a large carriage pulled by two large lizards passed by.

Seeing the carriage stop, he raised an eyebrow and turned towards it, the coin already appearing in his palm as he got ready to rush away at the first sign of trouble.

The carriage just stayed there for about five minutes, with no one getting out of it.

Eventually, a small coin wrapped with a piece of paper fell from the carriage window before it resumed its journey. Edward looked at the coin with interest and went to pick it up after the carriage was already gone.

Moving back to the pole he, unwrapped the gold coin and read the letter.

‘Hey, Ed. Violet told me you’ll be coming here. I never expected to see you as I’m taking a stroll around the city, but I can say it’s a welcomed surprise. You must be looking for Violet, but the situation is quite troublesome in the city at the moment, so there’s no easy way for you two to meet.’

‘I’ll let her know you have arrived when I find an opening. I imagine if you got in, you can also leave the city, so let’s meet outside. Exit the northern gate, hide nearby, and wait for us to get a chance to meet you. It would probably not be possible until tonight or tomorrow night.’

‘It’s good to see you and I’m sorry I could not speak to you in person. Until we meet again,’

‘Echo.’