As we crossed the perimeter of rubble, the guards on the wall noticed our approach. I could see them pointing at us and getting excited, most likely because they spotted me among their fellow Asphons. As I’d learned, travelers were somewhat of a big deal around here and they should be looking forward to all the benefits I’d bring to their city. As of yet, I was unsure about exactly what these benefits looked like, but I’m sure I’d get to see once I completed a few quests. We continued on in silence as my eyes kept wandering about. Since Lophan was essentially cut out from the ruined city and restored, many buildings towered above the wall, allowing me to see some of the activity.

I could see quite a few Asphons relaxing on their balconies, lazing about in the sun while tiny Asphons, played around them. I assumed those were children instead of tiny adults, but it was hard to tell with how extreme the size difference could be for them. They seemed to have made an effort to decorate their city with as much green as they could, plants and flowers decorating their balconies and walls to bring some color into this otherwise bleak space. I was reminded of the Eximovere craters on the layer above, but knowing that I wouldn’t risk getting bewitched simply by getting too close made me enjoy the sight a lot more.

All too soon we arrived in front of the gate, and through it, I could see a busy street leading deeper into the city. You wouldn’t be able to tell that the city was in the midst of a monster-infested area with how casual everything looked. The Asphons seemed to know that they could trust their barrier item to keep the monsters out and therefore didn’t pay much mind to the dangers lurking outside their city. They hadn’t yet seen me, but the guards on the wall sure did. They had gathered above the gate, excitedly pointing at me and discussing with each other, casually abandoning their duty of guarding the wall.

Nimma and their team had already stepped inside, patiently looking back at me while I hesitated in front of the faintly shimmering barrier. I carefully thought this whole situation over once again. Once I stepped past this threshold, I would be locked in, with no way to change my affiliation. Was this really the right settlement to associate with? Were there better options out there? These thoughts only flitted around my brain for a short few seconds, before I decided that it didn’t really matter all that much. Nimma said that I’d be able to complete all the quests I needed to complete my bonus objectives here. After spending so long without human contact, I felt like I wanted to trust somebody.

And if it didn’t work out… well, I’d worry about it then.

With a deep breath, I moved forwards and through the barrier, feeling a slight tingling sensation as I did. I could hear the guards above us cheer as I finally took that last step, and I felt like Nimma and her squad were also quite happy. Even if I couldn’t read their faces at all.

You have entered the city Lophan.

Traveler Gary has been irrevocably associated with this settlement.

“Alright, the system is telling me that I’ve officially associated with the city.” I broke the comfortable silence that had persisted over our little group. “Now what?”

“Now we show you around the city,” Nimma replied happily. “After that, you will meet with our leader, and then you are free to do whatever you want, provided you do so within the local rules. For most of your kind, that usually means that you want to laze around for a few days, after having fought for months on end.”

“Lazing around for a few days sounds about right,” I chuckled. “I feel like I haven’t been doing all that much during the past year, but I’d be lying if I said I truly was able to relax.”

“Haven’t been doing much during the past year?” Nimma asked. “How could that be possible, everybody else that came down here always tells stories of how they were fighting for their lives day and night, struggling to descend and survive.”

“I had to take care of some… let’s say evolution-related issues before coming down here,” I side-stepped the question. “I spent close to a year on the sixth layer, and I’ve gotten a bit too powerful for that area to the point where there was no danger for me. I was bored out of my mind at points, but for some reason, I still couldn’t relax in that environment. A closed room within a protected city should probably do the trick, though.”

“Speaking of your evolution, I’m sure you’ll probably get to meet some of our researchers,” Nimma commented as we strolled down the street, lots of Asphons stopping and waving at us. “Voidlings are quite a rare sight around here. Even with the system providing us with specimens to research, voidlings almost never find their way to us.”

“I’m not entirely certain if I want to be poked and prodded by scientists,” my head was filled with gnarly scenes from evil scientists in movies for some reason and I shuddered. “But, I guess you are the experts here, and I might get some questions answered that way…”

I looked around the street we were walking on, idly noting that there were no cars, or other vehicles for that matter. Everybody was on foot, happy to walk wherever they needed to go. I assumed this was by choice since I knew they should have the technical know-how to make these things. I guess in a society of roided-up space monsters, cars were useless. I knew for a fact that my top speed was several times faster than a car and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the same for the Asphons. Well, maybe not for all of them. Even with the potential speed they had, most Asphons still wandered around at a leisurely pace, so maybe they just didn’t feel the need to go fast.

It was shocking how similar this place looked to a metropolitan city back on Earth. The buildings were of similar construction, with lots of high-rises, occasionally separated by parks or smaller houses. Of course, the aforementioned greenery covering all of the concrete giants was a stark difference that was actually quite lovely.

“What are the buildings made of?” I asked off-handedly, realizing that they probably didn’t actually use concrete here. The buildings were also of a light brown color instead of the dull grey I was used to.

“Earth magic,” Nimma stated matter of factly. “Earth mages build all of our buildings. The stone they create with their magic is inherently more durable than anything we could mix up. It’s also cheaper and faster to do it this way.”

“That’s pretty cool,” I admitted, realizing that magic could be applied to more than blowing your enemies to bits. The thought had crossed my mind before, obviously, and I’d even made a few of my bunkers with the help of magic. But seeing giant buildings created from magic just put things into perspective.

I noticed that the further down the road we went, the more Asphons joined us on our journey, happily talking with their friends about their daily lives. Most of them didn’t pay too much attention to us, but that seemed to change once somebody noticed my presence. On several occasions I caught somebody elbowing their friend and pointing in my direction, which usually started a chain reaction of Asphons noticing and staring at me. I guess a non-Asphon in their city was tantamount to being a traveler.

Still, everybody was really happy about my presence.

“Welcome to the beating heart of Lophan, the hub!” Nimma said, taking my attention away from the diverse-looking Asphons around us, and toward the big open space we’d just entered.

At the end of the street we’d been traveling on, the buildings gave way to a large, open space. Tons of Asphons milled about like ants, weaving in between the stands of various merchants hollering for the attention of anybody close enough to hear. At the very center was a tall totem of sorts. I couldn’t quite make out what the structure was displaying, but if I had to guess it was the system item that protected the city. Lining the open space were what appeared to be important buildings of all kinds. They were all labeled, but I couldn’t read their language, so I had no idea what they actually were.

That is, all except for one. Across the plaza and to my right was a building decorated with colorful, flashing lights. My eyes were stuck on the beckoning lights, and even if I couldn’t read what the text said I knew that this could only be one thing.

A casino.

Several emotions warred within me as I stared at the building that had been the ruin of my past life. On one hand, repulsion. I had lots of time to think about my past life, and I’d come to the conclusion that I had ruined everything with my addiction. Sure, I might have replaced my crippling addiction with the crippling addiction to fighting, but I had at least somewhat learned to counteract these urges. On the other hand, a part of me wanted to go in there and play. See what kind of games existed in this world. Try and win big. And most of all… abuse my massively increased luck attribute to milk them for everything they had!

“You a gambling man?” A voice ripped me out of my musings and I turned to look at the speaker.

I looked at the Asphon, having trouble identifying him. I knew it was one of the members of Nimma’s squad. I had their names down pat, a feat that could only be attributed to, well, my attributes. I had been horrible at remembering names in my past life. So far I’d differentiated them by their weapons, but now that we were in the city, they had put them away. I still had no idea how to tell apart one Asphon from another, except maybe by size. Unfortunately, most of my new friends were about the same size.

“I… was,” I stammered out. “I got some bad memories with casinos.”

“Ah, well,” he awkwardly looked away. “Orbos and I spend quite a bit of time in there, so if you ever feel like joining us, feel free to. No pressure, though.”

I simply nodded at him, realizing that this must be Andrius, then. I had seen the two of them exchanging what looked to be coins on two occasions now, presumably because they were betting with each other.

“I’ll think about it,” I replied, casting my gaze over the plaza once again.

“Alright, come on,” Nimma intervened, sensing the mood becoming a tad awkward. “We’ll show you the important spots.

What followed was a tour around the plaza. Nimma showed me the various stalls set up everywhere, a lot of them selling food. There were others too, selling normal things like produce, pots, plants, flowers, and other household appliances. Then there were the more outlandish ones, selling monster parts, medicine made from monsters, and even some that sold weapons. Concerning weapons and armor, the actual smithies and the bigger shops attached to them could be found at the edge of the plaza.

The large buildings lining the border of the plaza were a hub of activity where tons of the Asphons came and went. Quite a few of them were restaurants, and my guides were eager to point out which ones were their favorites, even going so far as to invite me to dinner. The discussion escalated a bit when Orbos and Andrius got into a heated argument about which restaurant was better, which ended with me being appointed as a judge for the bet that inevitably got made. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that I lacked taste buds for now.

When we passed the casino I couldn’t help but hear all of the enthusiastic voices from inside, the occasional shout of a winner, as well as all the happy beeping and booping of the machines, designed to draw you in. Andrius seemed to have gotten the hint and didn’t mention going in again and we quickly passed the casino to look at the next building in line. Of all things, the next one was a dry cleaner. A most confusing shop for me, as I hadn’t seen a single Asphon wearing any clothes.

We stopped by the bigger armor and weapon shops, even if they were mostly useless to me. I asked about monster-equipable items but apparently, those were only given out by the system, the crafting methods not known to the Asphons. According to them, the system wouldn’t even let me equip a magic staff like Andrius was using. The Asphons apparently were an exception to the rule, being categorized as monsters by the system, yet able to equip weapons and armor as only the intelligent races usually could. Well, most of the Asphons forwent the armor, since their natural armor provided more than enough defense for most.

We eventually ended our tour in front of the biggest building around.

“And that’s city hall,” Nimma gestured to the ten-story high building. “From here, our two cities and five villages are being administrated, and it’s also the home of our leader, Lophan.”

“The city’s named after your leader?” I asked surprised.

“Yes, our cities are usually named after the one that managed to win the city item for us,” Nimma explained. “Lophan is our newest city that was won eighty-four years ago.”

“So I take it that it’s a rather rare event to get a new city or village then?”

“It is,” Nimma nodded sagely. “The space on the seventh layer is limited and the system only approves of a limited number of settlements existing at one time. Really, the only way to get a new city or village is by winning one from another tribe during a war game. But I’m sure Lophan will explain all this to you. It’s time for that meeting I told you about, and after that, you’ll be free to do whatever you like.”

“Alright, let’s get this over with,” I said, stepping through the wide-open double doors, eager to learn more about the systems that were in place here.