Starting Unlimited Evolution from Grinding

Chapter 223: Arriving at Fargard City, Parting Ways at the Inn

Because the Gale Steed pulling the carriage was itself a lord-level magical beast of considerable rank, the journey proceeded fairly smoothly;

they hadn’t really encountered monsters blocking the road. That was both good and bad. For Lin Mo, no monsters to fight meant his skills’ proficiency stayed stagnant, and sitting idly in the carriage with nothing to do was a kind of torture.

Fortunately, he had bought a lot of books back in Silverstream City, so he could spend time reading with Finnie and Lena. The books Lin Mo bought of course centered on Fargard City. As one of the four major cities of the Doria Kingdom, books containing information about Fargard City were sold in Silverstream City as well.

For example, the one Lin Mo held now was titled The Fargard City Adventurer Records. It was written by an adventurer and described his time in Fargard City in a storylike format. Compared to ordinary reference books, this kind of book was more interesting and better matched an adventurer’s perspective.

After two or three days of reading, Lin Mo had a basic understanding of adventurer life in Fargard City. First and foremost for adventurers were the adventure zones. As a large city, Fargard City had more than one adventuring area nearby. Besides the previously mentioned Silent Forest, there were three other adventure sites: the Blackwater Swamp, the Boulder Mine, and the Lava Basin.

Although none of these three matched the Silent Forest in scale, they were still medium-to-small adventure zones. Even the smallest, the Boulder Mine, was roughly comparable in size to Roland Forest. So many adventure locations naturally produced a rich and complicated stream of missions. At peak times, the Adventurers' Association in Fargard City could have tens of thousands of tasks waiting to be picked up.

For adventurers, simply choosing tasks suitable for themselves was a headache. That was why in a large city like Fargard there existed a specialized occupation—the adventurer assistant. They helped adventurers with choosing and accepting quests, buying and selling materials, and preparing daily supplies. Experienced assistants could support powerful adventurers and earn much higher pay than ordinary workers.

Most well-sized adventurer teams would hire an assistant so they could focus entirely on adventuring. Large organizations like adventurer corps built their own assistant teams to handle related duties. For example, when Lady Behira hired those two adventurer corps earlier, she had contacted their assistant teams first.

From the book’s description, hiring an adventurer assistant seemed quite necessary. The cost wasn’t excessive;

after all, these assistants were clever ordinary people. Most assistants earned about ten to twenty silver per month. Although that was higher than a common laborer and counted as a well-paid job in Fargard City, relative to adventurers’ high incomes this expense was negligible. Even an excellent assistant rarely earned more than one gold per month. Only when joining an adventurer corps’ assistant team could income exceed that, perhaps one and a half to two gold per month.

Lin Mo planned to look into the assistant situation once they reached Fargard City, though he probably would not hire one. For one thing, he couldn’t immediately join an adventurer corps to take advantage of their assistant team;

for another, even if his own large team operated independently, there wasn’t an obvious candidate among them to fill the role.

Ellie cast a glance at the big catgirl Lena, who was thoughtfully reading nearby. A Planter’s work was relatively free—most plants didn’t need constant care—so Lena had plenty of spare time. Having worked at the Adventurers' Association front desk so long, Lena knew how the association operated and was well-informed about missions;

she had ample experience and could easily do an assistant’s job. Of course, it depended on her own wishes;

if she preferred to continue at the front desk, Lin Mo would support that.Time ticked by. After finishing the books in his hands, Lin Mo had nothing else to do and started meditating. It was worth noting that Flora also often meditated during this stretch of time. Lin Mo asked her some questions about meditation, which confirmed some of his earlier guesses.

Meditation could be called a core skill for mages. Apart from the oddball Lin Mo, most mages later found it hard to keep relying on skill-based attribute gains. They usually practiced a single elemental magic, and the number of low-level spells for any single element was limited;

mid- and high-level spells were harder to obtain and harder to master. If one came from a wealthy family with access to expensive mid- and high-level scrolls, it was less of a problem. Without that channel, the only practical way to continue raising mana was meditation.

Although Lin Mo likely wouldn’t face exactly the same problem as other mages, he still needed to take meditation practice seriously—it was another method of improving strength. But he didn’t dare meditate too long because he was controlling his mage level and preferred that the skill not level up for now.

The following days passed much the same. Unconsciously, it had been exactly five days since they left Silverstream City.

“The Gale Steeds are faster than expected. At our current pace, we should reach Fargard City by tomorrow night,” Flora said as she put down the map and lit the brazier in front of her.

Lin Mo and Sherfilia were cleaning and butchering a rabbit they had hunted in the wild. The rabbit was a first-tier monster and quite plump—easily twenty to thirty pounds—certain to feed them. Though they had brought many ingredients from Silverstream City, freshly hunted meat that was roasted on the spot always tasted better.

“After we get there, will you return to the Royal Capital?” Lin Mo asked.

“Probably.” Flora nodded. “The academy probably started classes again. Although there are substitute teachers, it’s better to get back early... What, you don’t want me to leave?”

“A little, maybe.” Lin Mo met her gaze and looked into those pretty orange-red eyes. Flora hesitated a moment, then smiled. “Save your affection for Finnie and the others.”

“Flora sister—” Finnie blushed and protested, annoyed. “You’re teasing me again...”

The camp suddenly filled with laughter.

By the next evening they finally caught sight of the city’s silhouette in the distance. “So big...” Lin Mo exclaimed, staring at the majestic city.

Compared to Fargard City, Lania City and Silverstream City were truly unremarkable small towns. Just the city walls alone looked at least ten meters high by estimate. Outside the main city lay a defensive moat tens of meters wide. As they drew closer, the clear water shimmered golden in the waning sunlight. The moat’s depth likely exceeded ten meters.

At this distance the wall’s construction was clear: massive blocks of stone, each about four meters long and two meters tall, cut very neatly. The stones fit tightly together, nothing leaking through. On top of some stones runes of magic were visible. In the center above the gate, a ten-meter-high giant door was set with an earthy yellow gem. Clearly, besides sturdy materials, the city walls were protected by a magical barrier.

Looking up, Lin Mo could make out dark gun emplacements above the gate. From his reading, he knew this world had magic-powered technology. While different from his former world, there were parallels—such as magic information systems used by the Adventurers' Association and high-end inns, which functioned a bit like Blue Star’s network but less developed. The gun emplacements above city gates used a similar concept.

These emplacements were built by alchemists and smiths and had powerful mana storage. They were routinely charged with mana and maintained so that in a crisis the stored mana could be converted through the emplacement’s mana circuit and fired as magic. The operating principle resembled the Flame Ring Lin Mo had in his hand.

Fargard City’s scale was astonishing: a single side of the wall exceeded forty kilometers, and all four sides added up to a staggering 160 kilometers. Such a massive project would be difficult even on modern Blue Star without magic. The city within such a wall was almost comparable to a modern city back on Blue Star. This was only a major city of a small kingdom;

the Doria Kingdom’s capital was even grander, not to mention the metropolises of larger kingdoms or empires. The continent here was far more developed than Lin Mo had first assumed. He had arrived at humble places like Roland Town and Lania City, so it made sense that he once thought this world backward.

Fargard City had eight gates in total. The one they were passing through was the largest—the main gate. Guards in heavy armor stood watch. Even without their luxurious equipment, their physiques and bearing couldn’t be compared to guards in Lania or Silverstream. Although under Lady Behira’s governance Silverstream City had advanced significantly, it only bridged the gap so much.

The guards’ manner, however, was friendly. It wasn’t solely because of the carriage’s grandeur;

when an ordinary-looking caravan entered earlier, the guards had been just as civil. “Welcome to Fargard City. May I ask where you’re coming from?” they asked, routine questions.

Lin Mo answered truthfully. “We’re from Silverstream City.”

“All right.” The guard recorded the information and captured a short magical image with an assigned ID, which logged their arrival time, the gate they used, and personnel types. Because Lin Mo and Flora wore their adventurer badges on their chests, they were recorded as adventurers. At the same time, other guards inspected their carriage briefly.

“Okay, sorry for the trouble. Wish you a pleasant stay in Fargard City...” The polite words clearly reflected their exceptional status. Flora wore a Silver Level adventurer badge, and Lin Mo wore a Bronze-rank badge. Even in a city like Fargard, Bronze-rank adventurers were not numerous;

Silver-level were even rarer.

After entering the city, Flora bade them farewell. “Shaya and I plan to rent a carriage in the city and leave tonight for the Royal Capital. You should find a suitable inn before dark.”

“Is it that urgent?” It was sudden but not unexpected. Lin Mo nodded. “All right. See you later.” He did not know when that “later” would be. In a city like Fargard, he expected to stay at least one or two months, possibly longer.

“Hmm, see you.” Flora’s expression was slightly complicated;

she seemed to want to say something else but didn’t. She waved and left. “Remember to take care of Finnie...”

Saying that, she and Shaya gradually disappeared from view.

“Okay.” Lin Mo stood lost for a few seconds, then shook his head. “Let’s go find an inn.”

Although as a Bronze-rank adventurer Lin Mo could get a resting room at the Adventurers' Association, they were five people;

one resting room wouldn’t be enough. They needed an inn. Since he didn’t plan to settle permanently in this city, their inn would likely be a long-term rental and thus deserved careful choice.

Luckily, Lin Mo had notes in the books he bought in Silverstream City. Before hunting for an inn, he first took the carriage to a large carriage storage and maintenance shop not far from the gate. Silverstream City had similar facilities, but Lin Mo had not previously owned a carriage—arrangements were usually made by a team leader. This luxurious carriage was a gift from Lady Behira, so it needed proper storage and maintenance.

“Three gold per month? Why don’t you steal it instead?!” Lin Mo blurted out about ten minutes later in the shop, astonished.

The shopkeeper sighed helplessly. “Sir, your carriage is top quality, and the pulling beasts are lord-level Gale Steeds. Just feeding and housing the Gale Steeds is a significant expense. Three gold a month is already very cheap...”

Thinking it through, Lin Mo realized the same applied in any world—carriages were luxury items. Beyond the purchase cost, upkeep was costly. Reluctantly, he paid a month’s storage fee and left the carriage in their care. Next was finding an inn.

He had heard many adventurer corps had their own lodgings covering basic room and board, but these places usually weren’t comfortable. Even considering joining a corps later, Lin Mo did not want to live in such quarters.

Lin Mo had made detailed notes about Fargard City inns. He pulled out his notebook;

the handwriting was messy and, although in the local language, legible only to him. Because this would be a long-term stay, two factors mattered: comfort and commuting convenience.

Comfort was straightforward—they were five people including four young women, so they should live comfortably. Money wasn’t an issue, so no need to skimp. Commuting convenience meant being close to the Adventurers' Association. Unlike the small towns they’d come from, Fargard City was large and divided into three districts: Commoner District, Adventurer District, and Noble District. The Noble District was smallest and sat at the city center;

the Commoner District was largest, about twice the Adventurer District’s size.

Their inn had to be in the Adventurer District. Inns in the Commoner District tended to be poor, and the Noble District was too far—the commute to the Adventurers' Association would be long. The Adventurer District’s facilities were built for adventurers’ convenience. Ideally, they should be as near the Adventurers' Association as possible. The city had more than one Adventurer Street — over a dozen commercial streets of varying sizes and three major commercial areas spaced far apart — so no matter where in the Adventurer District they stayed, one of these would typically be nearby. The city’s planning and management were good, which explained why it was the kingdom’s most popular city among adventurers, not solely because of the surrounding adventure zones.

Using his criteria, Lin Mo narrowed the choices to three inns. The first was the plain Adventure Inn—unpretentious, simple style, a bit far from the Association, but affordable and relatively quiet. The second was Volcano Inn, distinctive in theme;

its name suggested service as passionate as a volcano. Prices were moderate and it was fairly close to the Association. The third was Gentle Breeze Manor, an elegant-sounding place that catered to comfortable stays. Its rooms were the most comfortable of the three and only about three hundred meters from the Association. The only downside was that it was expensive.

Lin Mo couldn’t decide right away, so he tossed the question to the group.

“I think Volcano Inn sounds good.” As expected, Ellie spoke first. “Not too far, not too expensive, and the staff are supposedly as enthusiastic as a volcano—sounds fun.”

“Mr. Lin, I think Gentle Breeze Manor is better. It’s more convenient.” Finnie preferred the pricier but convenient option.

“I feel the Adventure Inn is fine—ordinary is not a bad thing...” Lena murmured, sounding less confident than the others.

Their personalities showed: Ellie bold, Finnie practical, Lena timid. Sherfilia, as usual, offered no opinion.

That made the situation awkward: three inns, three votes, and one abstention, leaving the final decision to Lin Mo. He stared at his road notes, indecisive. He took the book back out of his Spatial Ring and checked the inn entries again. Even after re-reading two of them he hesitated, until he reached the end of Gentle Breeze Manor’s introduction and noticed a remark in the margin. He snapped the book shut and decisively said, “Decided. Gentle Breeze Manor it is.”

“Why?” Ellie asked, puzzled. She had planned to push for Volcano Inn.

“I still think Volcano Inn sounded nice...” Finnie started.

“Because Gentle Breeze Manor has soundproofing barriers installed by wind mages in their rooms.” Lin Mo said.

Ellie’s expression changed immediately, and the comment she had been about to make died in her throat as swiftly and decisively as swallowing a favored glass of milk. “Gentle Breeze Manor, it must be Gentle Breeze Manor!”

Sherfilia’s mouth twitched as if she wanted to tease, but with her mistress present she held back. Lena and Finnie looked bewildered—weren’t they just supporting Volcano Inn a moment ago? Why the sudden reversal?

Maybe Miss Ellie cared more about privacy, Finnie guessed. Lena understood a little more—recently her close friends had fed her a lot of strange knowledge, and she was gradually catching on. Watching her friend’s excited, resolute expression, Lena’s cute face flushed bright red.