Chapter 33 The City Of Sun
'As you already know how to summon me, I will see you later human.' The Phoenix was about to fly away but Zack stopped him quickly.
"Before you go, can you give me a ride to the capital?" The white-haired boy then pointed in the north direction. "It will only take a few minutes."
'I have never allowed a human to sit on my back but since you are the one chosen by the world tree, you are allowed to get a ride on my back.' The Phoenix replied as the white-haired boy moved closer towards his body.
Zack climbed over the Phoenix while thinking of a plan to make the trio go to the capital alongside him. But he knew that the Phoenix would never allow anyone else to ride on his back.
So the white-haired boy came up with a plan which he was sure that the trio would curse him for.
"Can you please stop at the entrance of the forest for a few seconds?" Zack asked the Phoenix as the bird didn't say anything and flew over to the entrance of the forest.
When WolfHeart, Marcus, and Jack saw the mystical creature, their mouths became wide enough to pit multiple golf balls inside them.
"Is that a Phoenix?" Jack asked as Zack, who was riding on the back of the Phoenix, smiled.
"I am sorry but this might be rough." Zack threw down his shield on the ground and asked all three of them to hold on to the shield.
The trio completed the task with a little hesitation as they saw the white-haired boy sighing.
"I am sorry for this." He muttered while looking at the Phoenix. "Please proceed."
'I am impressed that you didn't ask me whether they could ride on top of me or not. I am liking you more and more human.' The Phoenix replied before he flapped his wings and rose into the air.
Three screams, two of terror and one of excitement, entered Zack's ears. As he looked down at the trio, he could see that Jack and Marcus were both terrified of the sudden change in height while WolfHeart looked excited.
All of a sudden, the Phoenix flapped his wings forward once and a whirlwind was created by his actions. All the trees behind them started were blown off from the ground as the bright, orange bird shot forward.
Like an arrow on fire, it shot from the spot at the speed of light, and in the blink of an eye, the group was staring at a palace in front of them.
The Phoenix then descended on the ground with a satisfied expression before winking at Zack and shooting straight towards the cloud.
"Wasn't that a fun experience?" WolfHeart asked in a cheerful voice as Jack walked up to some bushes and puked.
"Yeah that was a fun experience and I would not like to experience that again," Marcus replied as he was barely holding himself from puking.
It was a weird thing how their avatars literally felt as though they were humans. They could get drunk, they could throw up, they could feel some small amount of pain and, as tested by a few individuals, they could feel pleasure inside the game.
[ Sijilin: The royal capital of the Eizenburgh kingdom. Also known as the city of sun. The royal family are the descendants of the god of sun's child, Apollo, and have the power of fire in their veins. ]
( A/N: History time! Apollo is hailed as the god of the sun while in some myths, Helios is the god of the sun. So here, Helios is the god of the sun while Apollo is his child. )
The city was covered with walls that seemed to touch the sky. But rising high above the walls was the most glorious thing any of the four gathered people had seen.
Zack, who had seen the headquarters of Hikari, had to admit that the palace in front of him was thrice as beautiful and eye-catching as the building in real life.
The top of the palace was made from a golden glass-like material that reflected the sunlight and made the entire thing shine. The rest of it was made from a faded yellow kind of brick and was decorated with orange materials.
The entire thing gave a majestic aura and was clearly made in honor of the sun. But the best thing about the palace was the red symbol drawn on top of the glass-like material.
The party moved towards the entrance of the kingdom and when the two guards standing at the gates of the place saw the group, they immediately snapped to attention.
""Welcome Viscount Lin Fan and Viscountess WolfHeart!"" The guards saluted together as the pink-haired woman was surprised.
But this behavior was expected from the guards since the duo were nobles of the kingdom.
Starting from the bottom, the nobility ranks were: Knight, Baron, Viscount, Count, and Duke.
Above the Duke were the princes and princesses and the king and queen of the Eizenburgh kingdom.
Sijilin waa situated in the middle of the Eizenburgh kingdom.
The kingdom was surrounded by the Julius empire on the west, the Heridor kingdom on the east, and the Abasmoth kingdom in the far north.
In the middle of the four kingdoms was the center called Lelisawol, also known as the city of the four lights. It was the place where the emperor, the strongest person on the eastern continent resided.
The title of emperor was not hereditary and anyone strong enough to beat the emperor in a one-on-one battle could get the title.
But the emperor was a fierce personality who had the power to wipe out legions of people at once.
'I never realized this in the previous life but the entire continent is much bigger than I expected.' Zack thought as the group was moving through the streets of the commoners' section of the city.
Most people avoided them and minded their business. It was extremely hard to say that all of these people were NPCs. They were simply too well built.
Unless…
The teenager remembered the words Kai had told him but for the time being, he decided to get them out of his mind.
"The city is divided into three parts separated by invisible barriers. Only those with the rank and status of entering the next part can step inside the barriers. Otherwise, they will hit a wall."
"How do you know that?" Jack asked in a genuinely curious tone as the white-haired boy smiled.
"This was all provided with the viscount title I got. Right WolfHeart?"
"Yes," The pink-haired woman replied immediately. "In fact, anyone who becomes a noble will get this information."
Even though WolfHeart had said that, she had never actually read the extra information. She was someone who liked actions more than the countless information.
Though in her case, the information would always turn out to be useful later on.
'Wish I read all the things when they are first introduced.' The pink-haired woman thought with a sigh.
After walking for fifteen minutes, the group suddenly felt a weird feeling pass through their bodies but it was gone the next moment.
Zack then guided them towards the noble registration center where all of the land, labor, and other registrations were taken care of.
Even though there was a small amount of corruption in the Sijilin, the registration hall made sure that none of the nobles exploited more.
It was also called the hall of justice.
And being a viscount and a viscountess, both WolfHeart and Zack had a small saying share in the decisions.
"Um Lin Fan, have you come here before?" Marcus suddenly asked as the white-haired boy had been leading them through the place as though he had visited it a thousand times.
"You guys know that a feature called 'map' exists?" Zack asked as the duo did fake coughs and averted their gazes.
WolfHeart sympathized with the two of them since she had experienced similar things while being the white-haired boy's companion.
But she couldn't complain since most of those things were obvious and the only thing she had to do was read a few sentences.
Which she never did.
After five more minutes of walking around, the group came face to face with a brilliant white building the size of the white house. The insignia of the royal family, a crescent sun with an arrow piercing it, shone at the top of the building.
No guards were standing at the entrance of the building since the people inside were strong enough. The group entered the place and were immediately eyed by the people inside.
However, when they saw that there was a viscount and viscountess in the group, they decided to turn their gaze away.
Zack had almost thought that some of these 'nobles' were going to turn into 'young masters' but didn't.
The white-haired boy lead the group to the section that said 'Guild Registration.'
There was another registration hall for the commoners but that only registered guilds up to Gold tokens.
So if someone with a higher level of token wanted to create a guild with a higher token, they would have to go ahead to the registration hall in the nobles section.
But since people with lower rank were not allowed to enter the place unless they had a noble alongside them, they would have to fill out a form and wait for a noble to accept it.
Though those who got the token were usually at a really high level compared to most people so they didn't need to go through such things.
"Hello, how may I help you?" A beautiful woman wearing black glasses asked the group as Zack glanced at WolfHeart and nodded.
""We are here to create a guild using our vibranium guild token."" The duo said together as the woman blinked in confusion.
"You do know that lying and wasting my time is a crime, even for a noble?" She asked while narrowing her eyes as the duo shook their head.
"But we not joking." The pink-haired woman then took out the light blue colored from her inventory and presented it to the woman.
Her eyes looked as though they were about to pop out. She hurriedly stood up and muttered a few words.
"Teleport to the palace of the sun." As soon as the words left her mouth, a bright glow surrounded the bodies of the group and they were teleported away at once.