“Capital of Prosperity… huh.”

Ragnar stayed silent for a few seconds as he observed the scenes around him.

They weren’t going very fast since the streets were still somewhat crowded with people, carts, and other mounts. Ragnar noticed that the mounts pulling the carts were mostly the stags with glowing horns. He realised that the stags were the most common Shifted Creature he had seen after he had entered the HCR. There were a few others but none of them appeared as often. He turned to Aura, his personal tour guide.

“Are these stag-like things the best Shifted Creatures to use as Mounts?”

Aura could sort of get why he would ask that. So, she replied after some thought.

“No, not really. They are just the easiest to enslave and can be found in huge quantities near the HCR. So, they are also the cheapest ones.”

Ragnar furrowed his brows.

“Wait… Enslaved?”

Aura looked at him weirdly.

“Yeah, that’s how they make these beasts tame. How else do you think a Shifted Creature can be controlled.”

So, the Shifted Creatures were getting enslaved by humans. Ragnar didn’t know how to react to this revelation. He didn’t really feel very strongly for the Shifted Creatures. He had tried it, But, they did not incite the emotions within him like the animals back on Earth did. He had no clue as to why.

Whereas slavery, that does rally him up every time he thinks about it. It was just the thought of it that made him angry. He didn’t really care about the creatures that were getting enslaved but he would like to punch the person doing it. He looked down at his own mount with a complex look. He had decided to call it Red. That was the best he could come up with. But now he felt weird. It left a really bad taste in his mouth.

Seeing his Antics, Aura suddenly spoke up with surprisingly offended expression. She had realised why Ragnar would have such intense emotions about this subject. She was a smart person so it hadn’t taken her very long to connect the dots.

“Hey, don’t lump us with the rest of them. I told you our abilities align with Nature. There are people in our Faction with abilities that can be used to tame these creatures. We don’t have the need to enslave them.”

Ragnar moved his gaze to stare at her for a few seconds before he went back to observing the scenes. Even though it was quite a twisted way of thinking, this fact did bring peace to his mind.

Now, Aura was worried about how he would react when he found out more about how the world worked.

The journey to the RiftDale city was only 1 hour long. That was also only because the roads were filled with people coming and going. Otherwise, it could have been a 20-minute journey on his new mount. They had already reached quite close to the city while travelling towards the Trade Union. Since it was pretty deep into the Sylvancrest Terri. So, the further distance didn’t take long.

Ragnar was enjoying the ride as he saw the scenery whiz by in his peripheral vision. He had learned more about the city from Aura on the way there. They had also bought some takeaway food from the stalls on the way. Well, Aura had bought it while Ragnar was just eating. He was already a broke man again.

But he had to say, this food did not taste better than the meat that Aura had prepared for them in the Evergrows. Maybe, it was the quality of the meat that made the difference.

***

RiftDale City housed the Rift, so it was always highly populated with RiftWalkers. The main headquarters of the Trade Union and the World Government were also located here. When they finally arrived at the City, Ragnar noticed that it was also surrounded by a giant wall that went all the way around. That was what separated the Sylvancrest Terri from the RiftDale city. But there was no security at the gates this time. Now that Ragnar did have the ID, they don’t want to check.

As soon as they went through the gates and came to the other side of the wall, it was like they had entered another world. This illusion was mostly given by the sudden change in architecture and buildings in general that towered over them.

Here as well, there were shops, stands, as well as residents. But they were all drastically different than what they had been seeing until now. It seemed that it was Aura’s first time in the city as well. It was only natural since she should have spent most of her time in the Realm after becoming a Mutant. She did not have the pleasure of sightseeing.

The buildings here followed no patterns in their architecture. Instead, there were all sorts of them. From buildings that looked like blocks with sharp edges, to a few that did match the Sylvancrest style. There were others that looked like pagodas, and others that did not follow any particular design or style, instead creating their own.

Despite it being her first time in the city as well, Aura seemed to know the routes like the back of her hand. She took them directly to the place that Ragnar had been waiting for.

The Mystic Arena.

It said so with big words outside. They were embedded into the black metal that made up the structure. The Arena looked like a Colosseum that he had seen during a history lesson, a modern version of it. Made out of that black metal which he had seen commonly among the stuff controlled by the government.

“Does the Government have an infatuation with this metal or something?”

He mumbled in a low tone. He did not expect a reply but he received one nonetheless.

“Yeah, it’s like they are obsessed with it.”

Ragnar turned to give her a strange look. These words didn’t sound right coming from a Sylvancrest.

They were attended to by staff, just like at the Trade Union who took their mounts. This time though, they did not know who Aura was. Despite that, they treated them with due respect, since she wore the Sylvancrest Dress.

Ragnar walked in with his hands in his pocket as Aura followed behind him with light steps. The lobby shared a few similarities with the Trade Union one, but it was quite different at the same time.

It was not going to make a huge difference no matter which of them did the talk this time since Aura didn’t have any connections here. So, Ragnar walked up to the reception like he owned the place.

This time, instead of the beautiful ladies, there was a gruff and overbearing man that stood behind the reception. But to Ragnar, he was no more than a mere bull, of course. Just more cattle. That man looked directly into Ragnar’s eyes as he approached him. Ragnar spoke up after getting close enough.

“I want to apply for the Rankings.”

The man looked him up and down, before he stretched out his hand. Then Ragnar heard him speak in a somewhat feminine voice.

“Hand me your Ethlet.”

Ragnar felt goosebumps rising on the back of his neck as his face only showed a slight frown. He didn’t say anything as he just took out the Ethlet from his jeans’s pocket and handed it to the guy. The gruff man did a few things with his Ethlet as he connected it into other artifacts and handed it back to him after a few seconds. Then he moved his gaze up to stare back at Ragnar.

Ragnar really got the creeps from his gaze as he really wanted to move it away but his pride wouldn’t allow it. So, he stared back at him with stubbornness. Eventually, he heard him speak again.

“Head into that room”

Ragnar turned to look where he was pointing and he saw a board that read “Newbie Testing”. He didn’t turn to give another look to that man as he directly walked off into that direction. He was not going to look back. Aura also followed him with a weird smile. It didn’t seem like that was a problem since no one stopped her.

Ragnar had noticed people’s eyes glued to Aura everywhere they went. After which they would look at him, who was having her follow him around like a servant, but few of them dared to continue looking at him for more than a few seconds. Ragnar emanated a very strange kind of deadly feeling that made people think of him like a wild beast. That was completely unpredictable. They wouldn’t want anything to do with him. It was the inherent fear of death that cattle had towards its predator.

***