CHAPTER 144: CHAPTER 144:EXPLORATION [5]

How could he have known the market was going to be in this town at this time?

Why would he randomly carry that black identification card with him?

There was no way he held that on his body every time he went out, right?

Turning back, Zeke simply shrugged his shoulders and answered.

"I was planning to stay here and go when everyone went back through the gate by paying some Worldly student to take my place."

Only because of his status could he do something like that.

If I went missing on the mountain, the Glaive academy would immediatly assume I played a part in the portal incident from earlier.

But no one would suspect Zeke because of his father.

Clutching the pouch of golden coins I had received from Glaive for winning the mana gathering competition, I followed after Zeke as the door swung open.

As he leaned down to pick up his black identification card, a man dressed in full black with a beak helmet covering his face, like that of plague doctors during the black death, appeared.

Alternating gazing between him and me, the figure eventually nodded his head before stretching out his hands and revealing two masks within his palms.

One was that of a massive and fearful purple Kraken, a beast with lightning powers that used to roam the world during the initial chaotic eras.

A gold-plated outline covered the rest of the mask, preventing any part of Zeke’s face from being revealed when he wore it.

On the other hand, a...less than ideal cuckoo bird appeared on my mask, which was filled in by a silver outline.

Putting on the mask, I didn’t feel my sight from my left eye obstructed at all...in fact, I couldn’t even tell I was wearing a mask unless I reached my hands up and touched it.

Pausing and staring down at my still bloodied white collared shirt, I wondered.

"Did they just...not care about my blood-red collared shirt?"

Sighing and shaking his head, Zeke muttered.

"I already told you...Since you wear it so casually, people genuinely think it’s an intentional design."

Behind the man in full-black and a bird helmet, another set of large brown double doors, triple my height, appeared.

As the two of us approached them, they automatically swung open and pulled us in like a black hole.

And, when I reopened my eyes...a barrage of sounds immediately assaulted my ears.

It was if...I was in an underground city.

There were stone streets, street lamps, vendor stands, small antique stores, and even food places, which emitted a not-so-appetizing smell, everywhere.

However, not a single building was higher than two floors, so I could see everything from up here without my vision being blocked by skyscrapers.

Before me stood another set of downward-sloping stairs, being the only one in the city, so currently, I was at the highest point in the underground area.

Thousands of people, of all sizes, heights, and clothes, bustled through the stone streets, each equipped with a mask to hide their faces.

How could something like this take place...without anyone from the outside world finding out?

This underground town seemed more lively than Reinhard, the city it sat below!

Snapping me back to reality, Zeke’s voice sounded as he said from beside me.

"You said you wanted artifacts, right?"

As I nodded my head, Zeke pointed to the main street directly before the stairs we were on and said.

"They should be over there on Main Street."

Descending the stairs and leaving me behind, Zeke said while facing forward.

"Meet me at the center well in like an hour. Follow the signs to get there. I have some business for now; after that, we can tour the area."

Nodding my head, I headed down to the ground floor, ignoring Zeke, who made a right off the main street, and strolled forward.

Almost done intentionally, all the stores I passed by were a mess, with artifacts not even organized by their type or abilities.

To outsiders, they looked like treasure dumps, with amazing artifacts hidden amongst the rubble of trash, ready to be discovered.

But I knew better.

This was the black market, after all.

All the amazing and decent artifacts were already taken out of the piles by the vendors, leaving the shitty ones.

Thus, I skipped past all the initial vendors on the main street until finally coming across a store that actually had closed doors.

From just walking around for a couple of minutes, I could already identify some sort of hierarchy.

People with bronze-filled masks were the most common, with small-ranking animals like rats or rabbits on them, while others like me with silver masks were fairly rare.

And, throughout my entire walk, I didn’t see one gold-plated mask.

It seemed that Zeke was a frequent customer in these parts, enough to secure himself a gold mask and me a silver one.

Pausing before the two velvet-red doors, I gazed at the two bronze-masked security guards, standing on each side of the door, and tilted my head.

The building was relatively taller than the other ones, yet its exterior was still boring, grey stone.

"I’m looking to buy artifacts."

Without any hesitation, one of them reached out their palm, beckoning for money.

So, I placed a bronze coin in his hand!

"..."

And then a silver!

"..."

With a strained expression under my mask, I reluctantly took out...one more silver coin from the pouch and dropped it onto the guard’s hand.

"This is all...for now."

Thankfully, that seemed to be enough as the other guard pushed open the doors, holding them for me and allowing my entrance.

As I stepped in, the doors quietly shutting behind me, all the sounds from the outside disappeared.

No longer was I surrounded by gloomy stone streets and buildings, but royal-red carpets and a gold-patterned floor.

Lamps hung from the high ceilings, lighting up the area much brighter than the outside street lamps, and only around seven people, each with a silver mask, were in sight.

Clothing artifacts were hung on racks to my right, swords and other weapons were put in displays to my left, and finally, accessories like rings were under glass showcase blocks directly in front of me.