Spirit Taming

Chapter 456: Terra City

The upper section of Terra city was well organized. There were multiple buildings made of carved stone showing off the quality of the stones mined from beneath the earth and mountains. Especially since the tamers here were well known for their earth type beasts.

Furthermore, many entertainment areas had been made for the general population coming to sightsee. Some stone pipes had been made from deeper caves with hot springs to bring up pools of warm water for bathing. Stages were made of polished granites so that performances could be shown off. There was even a smaller market with a few showy goods to make anyone buy some souvenirs.

The large walls that had been made and carved were perfect for making visitors feel safe. However, anyone that had a keen eye could tell that these walls were less likely to save a life than many of the other city's walls the group had been to. This was because this area was all for show. A place for tourists, business, and city relations.

No one was expecting this to be a hold out for any city defenses.

Isa saw through all of this and pointed things out to the group as they followed the flow of traffic. Many of the carts were bringing goods toward the larger buildings. These were the real checkpoints to enter the heart of Terra. Where the most business would happen and people would wish to get if they truly wanted to advance themselves.

"It feels weird ignoring everything. I thought we would look around. Some of these places are interesting." Grace wanted to take the chance to get to know another city better. She had never left Nova before all the group's travels. Now she felt that they were skipping some good parts.

"This is all for show. Just entertainment. You don't want to waste time on this since we have better things below to see." Isa made sure to put it clearly. She knew that the entire group would be much more impressed by what was

"On our next rest day we can come and explore the tourist section here. I saw a few good candy and local food stalls." Ralph casually contradicted Isa winning him a glare for Isa and a smile from Grace. Clark nearly laughed watching the interaction happen since it had been such a perfect set up and Isa hadn't even realized she had participated in it.

"Hmm, maybe I should come look around here too then. I haven't tried much food when I was in Nebula. But here they might have some good things to try." Maria didn't even have to look at Clark for him to nod his head. But he was already one step ahead of him as they walked right toward the entrance to the large stone building.

The entrance was the ideal place for any stall to set up. Anyone entering from a long journey might want a snack on their way down to their final destination. This was the final stretch, a reward for their hard work was expected.

"I will take one of your fried sweet potato puffs." The stall owner pulled small battered orange puffs from piping hot oil, dusted them with salt, and handed them to Clark after he placed a few small coins in the cup on the stall.

"I present to you, fried sweet potato puffs, the sign said farmed locally," Clark added a little extra pep to his step as he moved inside the large stone building. The others could just bite their own tongues as they saw Maria walking with a very pleased expression on her face. They all felt a little outdone here.

Not that Ralph cared much, he was happy with what he had managed to win with his quick thinking.

"Welcome to Terra, I see you are students from Nova academy based on your badges. I can also see you have identification from Nebula city. It is great to see those who have been to the tournament and even won a great enough standing to receive an honor. Would you like to take the expedited line? We have a special system to help people get to the lower city quicker."

Sharp eyes were everything to some professions. The person in the large stone building spotted the group quickly and acted. "As you can see, here we check goods, speak with merchants, and allow other business before entering the lower city.

As you have two identifications, we can speed the process slightly while also allowing you to have more privacy than the average citizen." The woman was very quick and started leading them through the multiple large lines of carts, people, and even beast cages towards a side area.

After a few moments, another clerk joined the woman and they looked through the identification of the group. It only took a moment for them to realize who these students were and to immediately make a few calls to others. "Welcome to Terra. It is very great to see the first year victors of the academy tournaments visiting us today.

We understand you may have trouble exploring a new city, please take this map. We also hope that you are comfortable asking any questions on the way down."

"Here we have a metal cart system created. With some beasts, there are a few metal mechanisms that can be manipulated. Therefore, you are able to travel smoothly while sitting." the clerk took over and started to sit them down. The metal cart was very comfortable along with the swift movement.

"I can see you are already trying the local sweet potatoes. We send them to nearly every city as one of our staple farmed goods. There are also the deep earth potatoes, white tail radish, and the cave onions which grow wild in the dimly lit natural caverns. I recommend this street for restaurants. I recommend this street for their markets, many goods come in each day.

If you wish to visit the academy or the public training barracks, they are in the same area to conserve space." Having someone guiding them white showing the map was very helpful.

"I will also let you know the location of the noble houses. Unlike other cities, they have the title of nobles, but they are always changing. The titles change every five years. It is based on the achievements that benefit our home. It does not require strength.

You may wish to visit the family of our best first year contender here, his name is Purple and he is considered one of our next great city guardians in the future. We are very proud of our geniuses."

"Ah! That's great, we were going to look for him at the academy here. But a house call might be better since we can be a little more polite. Having someone asking about you all around your academy could be a little rude. It might seem like we want to fight him. Well, we might spar." Clark turned on his polite attitude.

He really enjoyed how helpful and nice this clerk was. She had given them a lot of information that everyone needed.

"What about inns? Do you have a good one?" Jerold was sure to get on the right subject since he was thinking about falling on to a bed sooner than later.

"Yes! Of course! There is the gold trim inn here, it is expensive but luxurious. Then there is the hidden opal inn here, it has a bath attached and will also sell you bathing supplies. Then there is the rough iron inn here, it is larger and has a better price. It is also closer to the center of the market street." Isa carefully listened while she decided what they should do.

"We will stay at the inn with the bath." Brad piped up and looked at Isa with a hard gaze. He was sure that she would choose the rough iron inn but he wasn't going to let the entire group commute to a market over a bath.

"I second that, after training we will be better off cleaning up then resting. No need to add an extra trip and get dirty again." Reese joined in and Isa saw that the rest were easily swayed by this thinking. She just nodded.

Meanwhile, Clark was observing the carved paths that the metal carts followed. The ones that he could see were set up to move slower and more carefully. But he also noticed smaller metal beasts that he had not seen before. Unfortunately, the cart they were on was moving too quickly to get an accurate analysis. Not that it would stop him when they had reached the bottom.

Yet, he wasn't able to think about it when they came to a better lit area. The space that they had traveled through on the metal tracks on the cart had brought them to a half way point. One that overlooked the entire, massive, underground city of Terra. Filled with shining crystals and plenty of buildings, the sounds of people echoed up from down below. A beautiful hidden gem of sorts.