"I wanted to make sure I kept that identity secret," Aren said.
"Yeah, we figured that too," Aiden said, "and I can understand why you would want that. The God’s Domain isn’t somewhere you want to flaunt."
"Yeah, and I do not need the heavy attention," Aren said.
"Ohh, you want to do one of those the hero hides his identity type of thing?" Aiden asked.
"Oh hell no, that shit is stupid, especially when the hero is the strongest around," Aren said. "The issue with mine is that I’m not the strongest, but I’ll not be hiding anything. I’ll just not be telling anyone," Aren explained.
"That makes sense then," Aiden said. He sat down beside Aren.
"So when do you think the next trial will come?" Aiden asked.
"I don’t know, but I want to get stronger before then," Aren said.
[.....]
The group had the full day to rest, and when the sun came up again the next day, the knights were already packing up and getting ready to leave.
Sofia and Elena had also been fully healed by the medical knight. They were as good as new, physically that was. As for their mental state, they were surely not yet in optimal condition.
Aren met gazes with Elena only once after she recovered, and she didn’t seem to want to see him at all. Aren couldn’t be bothered as well. It’s not like their lives would be mixing together at all.
The journey to the future was on foot, awfully quiet and through the forest. Every now and then, the knights said something to themselves and then glanced at Aren for a few seconds before looking ahead.
He wondered what they were talking about, but he didn’t bother for long, focusing on himself. There was a lot he needed to check in the system, not now though, when he finally settled down.
After making their way through the forest, they finally got to the city. The road leading to the city was paved with interlocked bricks, clean and well maintained.
There were a lot of people walking up and down the roads, some riding on the most ridiculous mounts Aren had ever seen. Some mounts were giant hogs, some rode bears with horns, tigers with multiple tails, all sorts of things.
Some other mounts even pulled carriages toward the town. It looked like a scene right out of a fantasy story. It was simply amazing.
Along the road, a few black knights were ensuring everyone entering the city was doing so properly, with nothing illegal.
When they saw Selene lead the group there, they all stopped and saluted her. She returned their salute and walked past without any inspection.
The walls of the city were over twenty to thirty feet tall, and wide enough for several people to stand on. It didn’t really look built for defense, more like it was meant to mark the territory of the city.
Stepping through the gates, Aren was greeted with a stunning scene. He, along with Aiden and Kits, couldn’t help themselves. They stared at the city with amazed looks on their faces.
The first thing the city reminded him of was a town in a series he once watched, Arcane: League of Legends. A magical fantasy world with technology made of magic. It wasn’t something extremely advanced, but he saw crystal lamps standing beside the roads and houses made of wood and metal.
Humanity wasn’t able to bring their technology inside here, but their immense minds managed to create new things here to better life.
"Come with me," Selene said and led the way down the main street.
There were a lot of people, shops, and other businesses. Most people wore one combat cloth or another, as most of them here were awakened. But Aren also saw Trueborns. He knew because he didn’t feel the resonance in the same way as awakened.
Most of them worked shops, blacksmiths, and more, showing that this world was actually their home.
After walking for a bit, she stopped at a building. It had a stable with some mount cages inside. People could see them from right outside. There were what looked like raptors, but they had heads that slightly resembled dragons, and also some bird-like mounts. They had the build of an ostrich, but unlike an ostrich, they had feathers covering their necks.
There was a man seated at the stairs of the entrance. The moment he saw them, he immediately got up. He was pretty short and middle-aged.
"Greetings," he said with a bow.
"I need three land dragons," she said and took out a silver coin, tossing it to him. "It’s for one ride. They’ll be back immediately," she said.
The man caught the coin and nodded. He walked to the stable and unlocked it. He went in and carefully placed a saddle on each of the three they needed, and then with a whistle, they immediately followed his order and marched out.
Aren was shocked at their control.
"We’ll ride this to the center of the city. It’s a long way to walk. Each one of them is very trained, so they’ll handle the riding for you. Just hold on. We’ll be going two on one, so one of you come with me," she said as she held the harness of one and got on.
Kira looked around and the numbers seemed to already match, Sofia and Elena, Aren and Aiden, so she walked to Selene and got on behind, holding onto Selene’s waist to not fall off.
The others looked at the land dragons with skepticism, but ultimately, they all got on, Aren in front, Aiden behind. Elena in front, Sofia behind.
Seeing that everyone was ready, Selene gave the command by pulling the harness and the land dragon started moving, while the other two followed.
As for the rest of the knights, they were dismissed, so they all scattered to continue other duties for the day until she returned.