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1472. New Hope: Arrival

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  ---North of New Hope---

  During the past day and night, they had sailed with the silver ship through the sky, a landscape of forests and lakes below them. There had been some instances, like flying monsters attacking, and that one time a swarm of ghosts tried to attack them.

  It was interesting because, although it clearly looked like hundreds of individual ghosts, the system classified the swarm as a single monster and called it a sluagh. The sluagh of a lv.70 entity. The blacksmith wanted to leave it to Pip; unfortunately, the ghosts were smarter than expected and quickly fled after her initial attack.

  “According to , we should reach New Hope soon,” Seth announced via the com system of the vessel. Using Theia's Vision, Seth was already able to make out the city on the horizon. Compared to the last time he visited, the place had changed a lot.

  It was no longer a completely rundown city of ruins, sitting in the middle of plains like a rusty toy that was thrown away. Many of the buildings seemed to have been renovated, and the most well-maintained part now had a city wall erected with earth magic and reinforced with architecture.

  This was the effect of Epsilon's short reign in New Hope. Joannia had told him about the various projects and policies that had set up to make the city, once abandoned in the No Man's Land, a livable place.

  Renovation, reparation, new laws, strict punishments, and the support of a guild system had already partially transformed Pip's home city to something slightly better than the shithole it was during his first visit.

  Seth was focused on the city when he felt heat rising on his left cheek. Puzzled, he turned his head to find a giant bird flying parallel to them, but at a considerable distance. It had golden feathers that beamed with like and it had a tail of white flames, emitting incredible heat, even at this distance.

  The blacksmith stared at the mythical beast in stupor, as he felt something deep within him move. It felt like a long-forgotten feeling, suddenly surfacing again. He felt like there was a connection between him and the bird. Then he remembered.

  Kin of Fire. The bird was also a being of fire, just like him. Sharing this trait almost made them family. As if the bird had felt the same and noticed his gaze, it suddenly made a barrel roll in mid-air, waving at him with its wings.

  “Whoa! That thing is strong! I bet it would give great material!” Pip suddenly exclaimed behind him, her eyes sparkling. After experiencing the power of proper gear, she had grown quite enthusiastic about his work

  

  Prompted by her exclamation, Seth tried to appraise it. He revealed an astonishing level. However, Seth shook his head. Feeling the connection through the trait, the Tower Master had no intention to give pursuit.

  Pip was right, the Solardrive probably had great materials, but he held no interest in attacking a beast that was not only neutral but a potential future ally. Not for a couple eof pic or relic-rated materials.

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  “There is no need, it doesn't seem like a harmful creature,” Seth said, surprised by his own words. When was the last time he had seen a neutral mob? It had been ages since he came across a normal animal in the wild...

  This was no normal bird, but it had not tried to attack them. It even greeted him, if he could interpret that wing wave like that. Maybe the Solardrive was a beast native to Urth? This weird thought suddenly came to mind.

  So far, monsters that came from dungeons or through the Pathworks were exclusively hostile to people... Maybe the Pathworks part was wrong. The magma spirits were quite okay. But the dungeon part was 100% true.

  On the other hand, he had also heard stories from Mike about a white wisent that more or less helped them in the Vicinity of Thres. And the dwarfs that appeared in the northern mountains. There was also Strik Forebone, the fairy cobbler he had met in Y-City. He had also told him that there were good and bad groups of sentient creatures.

  There were already quite a few incidents. Despite being scary and unknown, maybe the awakening of the slumbering realm was not the worst that happened to Urth so far. It have with a chance to make proper allies, with a vested interest in protecting their world.

  “Really?” Pip asked, looking doubtfully at the burning bird in the distance.

  “Well, I think so.”

  After their short run-in with the bird, it didn't take long for New Hope to appear on the horizon, so everyone else got to finally see it. From the moment it became visible, Pip was glued to the bow of the ship, staring at the city as it grew larger the closer they got.

  “I'm glad Epsilon came here,” Pip suddenly mumbled when they were almost above the city and the changes became obvious to her.

  “Yeah, they left a good foundation for the future,” the blacksmith agreed. Although the city looked much better than the first time, it didn't look great yet. Neither the comrades they left behind at the time, nor Epsilon were able to fix everything. Most of the city was still closer to a ghetto.

  Ruinous buildings, people, and beggars in rags filled the streets. There were still not enough resources to go around for everyone. He couldn't judge the public safety at a glance, but he doubted it was good. There was a lot to be done, but that was up to Pip. This was what she wanted, after all.

  In the city below, they could see people stop, pointing and looking up at the sky. It seems like they noticed the big silver ship passing over the city. Seth was not aiming to land in the city; actually, their first stop was the camp of giants further south in the planes.

  Joannia had told him that they had kept their word and had protected New Hope since he beat them into doing it. Maybe giants were not the smartest or nicest, but they were honest creatures in the end. They deserved a little reward.

  There were a couple of things he wanted to accomplish. Seth wanted an update on the situation in the city. He was interested to know why there was no giant guarding the north. He had actually expected to meet them before crossing the city.

  The camp where the giants lived was little more than an area of hard-packed dirt around a big place for a bonfire. Here and there were spots covered in dirty, smelly animal furs, which they used as their beds. Seth found in the south of New Hope, Joannia had told him the location.

  What surprised Seth was that the group of 30-40 meter-tall humanoids had drastically shrunk compared to the last time he saw them, and there were definitely fewer than in the admiral's reports. Their herd of elephant-sized sheep was also gone. Although the caravan had filled their ration with them back then, they had left some to replenish the herd.

  When the giants saw the flying ship, the couple of giants in the camp jumped up and started shouting warnings, waving their clubs. It seems they had not forgotten their duties... Yet there had been nobody guarding the north.

  The bard had not used Theia's Vision to scan the camp, so he only noticed when they got closer that many of the giants in the camp were wounded. Had there been a battle? He landed the silver ship some distance from the camp, so the giants didn't mistake them for hostiles.

  “This is the Tower Master of Minas Mar speaking. I'm here with Pip, and we came to demand that you fulfill your oath,” he called out, his voice empowered by and .

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