God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

The entire City was in ruins, primarily because of the expansion that had taken place with the influx of mana into Urbus.

A jungle of concrete and steel had been turned into a fledging wasteland. Most of the buildings were now separated by large stretches of land.

Valestorm was a bit different...

Just like the military camp, Valestorm had a lot of buildings concentrated in a single area, about twice the amount of buildings in the military camp.

Cain had expected to see something familiar, but he was quite taken aback by what he saw.

While the outskirts of the City were very close to the familiar ruins, the inner area of the City was in incredible shape.

In fact, the buildings there were quite different from what he was used to.

Many of the buildings were made in part from a sculpted black stone Cain recognized as {Bubonic Rock}. Its properties made it a very good material for building stable structures.

However, the most predominant material Cain could see, was some sort of special stone-like material that could only be found in this place.

Of course, Cain was able to know all this thanks to the {Eye of General Observation}. It was quite useful in situations like this, considering that they hadn't entered the City yet.

Boulder turned to Cain,

"We can tell the guards you and Lucia are a new additiond. That seems like the safest bet."

Cain nodded, "By the way, what business did you have here?"

Boulder shrugged, "It's our turn to deliver the monthly quota."

"I see..." Cain said.

The military camp has to deliver quotas to Valestorm. The quotas weren't included, but wasn't limited to a percentage of food they could find on their respective hunts, mana shards from said hunts, and other materials...

To build a City like this, a lot of material and resources were needed.

In return, the people of the military camp got to live within the safety of the Dome.

While it wasn't a fair trade, it was what they had.

'No wonder that old thief is so eager to burn it all down.'

Shaking his head, Cain continued to observe the City from afar.

'It seems normal. There's a lot of people though. Blending in would be fairly easy.'

"Alright. Let's go."

Cain dismissed his armor and put on a pair of Duskkin leather armor Boulder had given to him previously.

Lucia stared at him before clicking her tongue,

"I guess you'll do alright."

"Hm? What was that?" Cain said with a smug grin.

She gritted her teeth, "Getting a big head, huh? Shall I blow it away?!"

Cain chuckled, "No, thanks. I'm good."

They all readied themselves before continuing on towards the City.

There was a large gate where the guards were stationed. Since there was no need for a wall to create the boundaries of the City, the gate was more of a checkpoint for those who wanted to enter and leave the City.

There were more people leaving the City than going on, so they immediately stood out, earning them stares from the various passerbys.

'It's been a while since I last saw this many people gathered in a since place.'

The military camp was no where near as occupied as this place. Most of soldiers were split into various squads, so they didn't interact frequently.

Most Hunter's created parties before even thinking of leaving the dome. The numbers within a party could vary from five, to thirty if is was a large party. That way, they would have a greater chance surviving.

Glancing at the people passing them by, Cain could tell that most of them were Hunters.

Most of them possessed melee weapons hanging from their backs and waists, as well as a weapon for ranged combat like most people did.

'There's not much of a difference between the Hunters.'

As they arrived at the gate, two men dressed in dark brown armor with rather large pistols hanging from their waists and a saber strapped to their backs.

"Identification." The one on the left said, his tone and demeanor showing he was anything but friendly. If anything, the look in his eyes showed a decent amount of scorn.

Saying nothing, Boulder pulled a strange looking three centimeter thick, ten centimeter long card.

The guard on the left snatched it from his hand and gave it to the man on the right who took it and disappeared through the gate.

Cain frowned and walked up to Boulder,

"What's going on?" He asked.

Boulder shrugged, "Routine procedure. They always do this."

Cain raised a brow, "Isn't that insane? What is the point of asking for identification?"

"We aren't welcome in here without purpose. Any squad that comes here without an outright purpose will be sent away. That, and it is also a power play." Boulder answered calmly.

The man standing before them clicked his tongue, then sneered,

"Well, you all only have yourselves to blame, no?"

Boulder shrugged, "Sure, believe whatever you want."

The man laughed derisively, "Those who refuse to accept the God of the Sands on the heart will not be let into the promised land."

Cain suddenly felt uncomfortable, 'So this is what brainwashing looks like.'

Boulder waved his hand, "Of course, of course. Whatever you say man."

The man snorted, "Boulder, I'll keep telling you this cause we are close. Don't let that old bastard take you down with him. There's always a space for talent like you here. Think about it..."

Boulder remained silent.

'So they are familiar with each other.'

The other guard returned rather quickly, handing the identification card back to Boulder.

He then whispered something to the guard on the left.

The guard on the left turned back to them,

"Alright, just to make the rules clear. No loitering, no fighting, no disturbances. Get about your business and get out. Is that understood?"

Boulder nodded, "Sure. We can go now, right?"

The man was silent, calmly looking through the group, until his eyes settled on Cain,

"You..."

Cain frowned, "What?"

The man took a step forward, his face covered with a dark look,

"Who are you? What is your name?"

Before Cain could answer, the guard spoke up again, this time, louder, drawing in the attention of others around,

"Not only have I never seen you before, you also look suspicious. Why is there not even a trace of our god on you?!"

Boulder quickly stepped in between the two of them,

"Calm down, would you?! He's not from here. He's a survivor from outside the dome."

The guard raised a brow, his hand already reaching behind him to draw his saber,

"So he's like those ones that arrived a few days ago, right? Shouldn't he be in chains as well?"

Cain's eyes widened, "What do you mean on chains?!"

His voice was ominous and dark as he took a step forward. The guard, taken aback by the strength of Cain's presence instinctively took a step back.

When he realized what had happened, anger flooded his face as he drew his weapon,

"You! Stay right there!"

Cain quickly reigned in his emotions. He observe as a few guards began closing in on their location after noticing the commotion.

'Crap! We just got here and things are already going wrong.'

For the first time ever, Cain saw Boulder get visibly angry,

"Nolan! Don't push me! He's been given immunity by the General!"

Nolan, the guard, sneered at Boulder,

"Heh... That old bastard doesn't have any authority here. If I kill this tramp here, there's nothing he can do."

Cain let out a sigh as he calmly placed his hand on Boulder's shoulder,

"Boulder, it's okay. Let's try not to escalate this situation even further."

The rest of their group was silently behind them. Khan gently held Lucia back, who looked like she was about to bite the guard's head off. He sighed,

"Cam down. Just leave it to them."

Even if they wanted to say something, they might further trigger the guard. It was best to stay silent and allow Cain and Boulder resolve it together.

Cain cleared his throat. He stared at Nolan, the guard, with clear eyes as he silently analyzed him.

In reality, all this was supposed to be over, the moment Boulder had gone through the familiar procedures. However, the guard was on a power trip.

This was an attempt at asserting his position over Boulder. His desire was to use this opportunity to push down on him, who looked to be a new addition to the group.

For what reasons?

Perhaps to boost his sense of importance? Or perhaps it was to give him a sense of importance. Being relegated to a job as irrelevant as this must have been a terrible shot at his ego.

Beating him to the ground would have been easier than swinging his sword arm, but Cain knew that wasn't the right choice to make here.

So it would be better to avoid a fight altogether.

He spoke slowly, still staring into Nolan's eyes,

"While I might not be from here, I can assure you that I am not against your God whatsoever. My purpose of coming here, is in fact, to see if i can become a servant of Balangol."

The deeper he stared into the guard's eyes, the more uncomfortable he seemed. Until finally,

"I-I see... You should have started with that. You can go."

Boulder sighed, "Alright..."

Signalling to the others, they quickly made their way through the gate and onto the City...

The guards making their way over finally arrived.

One of them spoke immediately,

"Nolan, what the hell was that? Why were you making such a ruckus?"

Another one chimed in, "Are those guys trouble?"

Nolan on the other hand, had a horrified expression on his face. His face was pale, and his fingers were white. Although everyone was a bit pale thanks to the ever present cold, his case seemed even worse.

"I... No, it's fine don't worry about it." Nolan said weakly.

The first one to speak asked again, "Are you sure?"

"I am, damn it! Just get out of here already!" Nolan said angrily.

After the other guards had returned to their station, the guard standing to his right finally spoke,

"Nolan... What the hell was that?"

Nolan sighed, "I... I have no idea."

He fell silent for a moment, "That guy... That guy..."

His eyes were slowly filled with darkness as he turned to his fellow guard, who inched backwards uncomfortably.

"I have something to discuss with the Wards. I'll be right back."

The other guard simply nodded uncomfortably, allowing Nolan to walk off.

After he was gone, he sighed,

"Just what the hell was that?"

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