Chapter 1 The City of White Maple Leaves

A "adventurer" party, looking travel-worn, stepped into the city of White Maple Leaves, nestled at the foot of Longwind Ridge.

Adventurers were a common sight in this city. As the largest human settlement in the plains and the only stop before the entrance to the Great Tunnel of Longwind Ridge, White Maple Leaves City was always a hub for travelers from all directions. Human scholars from the plains, demihuman merchants from the other end of the Great Tunnel trading with humans, adventurers (or mercenaries) from the White Mountains, and even reclusive术士 (Shu Shi, sorcerers) and druids from the deep forests of Longwind Ridge – all kinds of passersby crisscrossed this city every day, seeking wealth or knowledge, and allowing wealth and knowledge to circulate day and night in this ancient city.

And it was thanks to them that even strangely dressed异族 (Yi Zu, foreign races) and mercenaries reeking of blood and fire could swagger through the city without attracting too much attention: as long as they weren't looking for trouble.

Therefore, Hao Ren and his group entered the city smoothly and successfully reduced their presence by using the clothing of this world as camouflage. Apart from encountering an identity check when entering the city gate, which they managed to get through with the help of the little imp Elizabeth's mental magic, everything was according to plan.

After all, it wasn't the first time they'd operated in another world. Hao Ren and his small team had maxed out their skill points in "disguising themselves and blending in with the locals." Changing clothes, hairstyles, and equipment was all done in one go. To more realistically play the part of "a group of travelers from out of town," Nangong Wuyue and Vivian even added a bit of dusty and travel-worn special effects makeup to everyone, creating a flawless performance. In fact, after Lily discovered that her attire resembled a female mercenary, she even planned to smear some blood on her face, but Hao Ren managed to talk her out of it: after all, they were going to gather intelligence, not assassinate the city lord...

"Wow – it feels even better to be here in person!" Walking on the streets of a foreign land, Lily didn't feel the least bit uncomfortable. On the contrary, she had been curiously looking around since just now, like a country bumpkin visiting the city for the first time. Even though she had seen so many grand scenes with Hao Ren, her husky nature still made her reveal this unpromising look whenever she saw anything new, which was incurable. "The liveliness here seems to be no less than the capital of Holleta, and it seems like the racial composition is even more complex. I think I even saw a slime bouncing by just now! Hey, there are fruits for sale over there..."

Lily's current outfit made her look like a female swordswoman who traveled around. She wore a studded leather armor that looked like it had been through many battles on her upper body, and leather pants + short boots on her lower body. Her long silver hair was tied into a loose ponytail behind her head, and her two ears stood upright energetically. Because the ice-fire双爪 (Shuang Zhua, claws) effects were too eye-catching, she was carrying the alloy giant sword x10 that she had used during her journey through historical regressions. In all fairness, this sword was like a door panel, and even male warriors would find it difficult to carry, but werewolves had always been a race with astonishing physical qualities, and even women would charge into battle wielding weapons that were huge to an astonishing degree. Therefore, Lily didn't seem out of place carrying this sword in the city. This was also because they had confirmed with the probe that there were female werewolves in the city carrying such huge things outside before letting Lily dress like this.

In fact, everyone's attire had undergone similar prior confirmation: before landing, the probe collected local images, confirmed that at least a dozen people would wear certain clothes, and then used Nolan's data analysis to determine the possible occupations and team combinations of these people, and finally prepared the action suit for Hao Ren and the others. This would minimize the possibility of attracting attention.

However, as soon as Lily opened her mouth, Hao Ren realized that it was possible to be low-key in terms of clothing, but Lily's noisy personality, which made her yell wherever she went, was a problem when it came to reducing her presence. He hadn't been watching her for a while, and this girl was already carrying the giant sword x11 to a stall to pick fruits. Did she really not know that the thing she was carrying on her back could clear a no-man's land with a radius of two meters wherever she went?

"Be low-key, be low-key – you're not buying anything, so why are you delaying other people's business," Hao Ren dragged Lily back with difficulty. "We're just going to stroll around the city and familiarize ourselves with the local customs. Vivian has already released the little bats. If you want to do anything, at least wait until the little bats have fully mapped the place, okay?"

Although the reconnaissance probe could transmit a lot of information, Vivian's little bats were clearly superior in terms of detailed operations – the latter were Vivian's clones, which could not only transmit real-time sound and images, but also share all kinds of perceptions 100%. After scattering the little bats, Vivian was like using thousands of incarnations to simultaneously scout the city. Although she needed to bypass some areas that were not convenient to explore, her ability to open up the map was still the strongest in the team.

Vivian was dressed as a female magician at this time, but not the cumbersome robes that made it difficult to move like those worn by academy mages, but a more fitted mid-length robe with a staff: according to the information previously transmitted by the probe, only spellcasters among mercenaries or adventurers would dress like this, presumably to facilitate outdoor activities and combat. The mages wearing long robes and tall hats that were occasionally seen were generally dressed in luxurious clothes, and should all be nesting in their mage towers and not needing to go out in person.

Hearing Hao Ren's words, Vivian nodded: "I've already expanded the scope of the investigation to several blocks away, and I should be able to map the entire city soon. Although it's lively here, the scale is not comparable to those big cities on Earth after all, and there are many dark corners, which are very suitable for the little bats to move around."

Hao Ren nodded: "Have you found anything special?"

"I haven't found anything yet. It's just a very ordinary otherworld city," Vivian said in a low voice while pretending to look at the scenery along the road like other travelers. "However, the closer you get to the center of the city, the more magic power or similar energy fluctuations you can sense, and their intensity and level are much stronger than in the surrounding areas. I speculate that it should not only be the power fluctuations emitted by relatively strong spellcasters, but also include certain facilities that rely on magic energy to operate. In addition, when my little bats drilled into the sewers, they also found something similar to a sewage treatment plant, which is also driven by magic."

"The tech tree is also developing normally... This world in the Dark Domain is becoming more and more interesting," Hao Ren smacked his lips. "Nolan also sent a message from above just now, saying that she also saw large facilities like antenna towers in the mountains next to the city, and regular signals are jumping between those facilities, and she suspects that they are 'base stations' for some kind of remote communication network."

Lily's eyes widened: "Wow! It looks like a medieval building, but it even has wifi!?"

"The tech trees of each world point are different. Many high-magic world races started researching anti-gravity when they were digging stones to build houses, but sometimes they may not be able to create chemical fertilizers even after they light up the space teleportation point. That's the so-called diversity of worlds and civilizations," Hao Ren shrugged with a "I've seen a lot, so I'm not surprised by anything" expression, and then looked a little curiously at the end of the street. "Hey? What's going on over there? Why is it so lively in front of that big house?"

As soon as Lily heard that there was something lively to see, she immediately became energetic: "Let's go and see, let's go and see!"

At the end of the street was a large building with a blue spire. The building was not small in scale, but its decoration was not as luxurious and ostentatious as the noble residences in the city center. It looked more like a functional public facility. By the time Hao Ren and his party arrived, more people had gathered around the building. Several layers of onlookers almost blocked the atrium of the building, and countless noisy voices came from the crowd. Some were discussing things, and some were cursing because their tails or toes had been stepped on. Hao Ren noticed that a considerable part of these onlookers were dressed as mercenaries. These unstable elements with a brave and aggressive nature gathered together, making the scene even more chaotic.

He led a few of his companions around the outer circle of people before squeezing in a little (this was mainly thanks to Lily's alloy giant sword x13 and Izhaks's face). While squeezing in, he finally figured out what the building was for:

Judging from the words of the people around him and the occasional glimpse of the building's signboard, this seemed to be a place where mercenaries and adventurers operated, or in other words, a guild.

"It's a mercenary guild," Lily said to Hao Ren beside her while carrying the giant sword and squeezing inward. "Although it feels cliché, it's inexplicably kind of familiar! Landlord, the first time we went to another world, we seemed to register a mercenary group in Holleta, right?"

"Damn it, don't mention it," Hao Ren broke out in a cold sweat as soon as he heard this. "The first time in my life I crossed over to another world and formed a mercenary team, such a stereotypical protagonist plot. Tell me, what kind of name did we finally register!"

"All the good names were taken by dogs, what's wrong with this name!" Lily said matter-of-factly. "What, landlord, are you looking down on dogs?"

Hao Ren: "..."

Of course, the two of them squeezing in so rudely aroused dissatisfaction from a large circle of people, but even in the mercenary circle, there were still few experts like Lily who carried a giant sword like a door panel and swung it around like it was a feather, plus there was Izhaks, who looked like a half-blood giant, standing there with a fierce look on his face. A group of ordinary mercenaries who relied on finding cats, walking dogs, unblocking toilets, and swiping points (?) could only dare to be angry but dare not speak, so in the end, Hao Ren and his party actually squeezed to a front position.

But there was still a layer of people blocking in front, and Hao Ren couldn't see what was happening at the door, so he had to ask the person next to him: "Excuse me – what exactly is happening here?"

The person he asked was a red-haired female mercenary. This red-haired woman, who was scantily clad but had a frightening scar on her face, was already a little unhappy after being squeezed away, and she was even patted on the shoulder by Hao Ren at this time, so she immediately glared at him with her eyebrows raised – and then she saw the giant sword that Lily was carrying on her shoulder, and her expression instantly switched to "Holy crap, this is so awesome." She swallowed the cursing words that had reached her mouth, and opened her mouth with a strange expression: "That crazy female magician named Leah is gathering white mice again to accompany her in her madness, but the guild has long blacklisted her, and no mercenaries who take on private work on the periphery are willing to accept her mission, so it's become like this. Tsk tsk, she does this every now and then, it's okay to watch it as a joke."

Hao Ren listened while pretending to understand and agreeing with "uh-huh". Of course, he didn't know any Leah, but he could still hear from a few words that this was just an ordinary civil dispute, and he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed: he thought it was some world-ending news that had broken out, which could still be related to the "Dark Domain"...

Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly heard the people in front of him make another burst of noisy sounds, and then the gate of the mercenary guild was opened with a "bang", and a small, petite girl was thrown out from inside.