Now that we had arrived near the next town, I went and took out a robe from in my storage ring. According to the diary, you need to have a few copper coins to enter so I took some of the coins in my ring to pay the entry toll. When we arrived at the door, the guards looked at the two of us with a little suspicion since we were both wearing cloaks.

  We paid the toll and they gave us a card for a temporary stay before going back to work. Although wearing a cloak seems suspicious, there are various people with different racial features that would be better kept hidden. So, although wearing a cloak is quite suspicious, they still allowed us in.

  As stated in the expnation of this pne, the main forces are the alliance of various dark races that includes vampires as well as the church. Because vampires also exist in this pne, I could also appear straight up, but this might lead to some troubles since vampires are usually attached to the dark race alliance. So, wearing a cloak can stop most prying eyes. Cloaks are a symbol of a mage so most ordinary people are afraid to go against a mage.

  Even though some criminals also use cloaks, at least the people in this town would only send someone to secretly watch us. As long as we keep in their sights then they won't go out of their way to do anything. This is how most towns operate due to the dark alliance secretly hiding in almost every town.

  Since this was the first town I have encountered in this world, I wanted to go out exploring. But first, we both decided a pce to meet up once we were done. Lu wanted to go and find a hotel for us first. It was fine to separate here because of how remote this town is. The bigger the city, the more likely there is to have a silver tier powerhouse sitting around. Even if a silver comes to bully us, we have enough lifesaving items to survive and escape anyways.

  Thus, we separated. As I wandered around, I couldn't help but notice how different the town here is in comparison to the cities in our pne. From what I can see, this pne is like a cssic ancient medieval town. The overall conditions don't look that clean and the overall vibe of the town looks a little down. In the end, I didn't have any appetite to eat anything around here. I turned back to retrace my steps back to the square at the center of the town to reconvene with Lu.

  Luckily, I didn't get lost and was able to find the square without anyone interrupting me. Since I had nothing to do, I decided to find a pce to sit on and wait. There were a couple of benches around so I decided to sit at one of them and watch everything going on. From behind me, I could tell there was someone watching me. They are likely a guard here sent to monitor my movements in case I did anything suspicious.

  Even if they were watching me, I didn't mind. As long as they did not disadvantage me then I was fine. I spent quite a bit of time waiting for Lu to get back so I went ahead and took out a book to read. I could sense that the guard was surprised and on guard when I pulled out a book out of nowhere. After a while, he rexed as I just kept reading for a while.

  Although I was focused on reading, I still kept some attention on the outside world so I was able to understand a little of the daily life of most people here. Seeing all the people hurrying along their day put a smile on my face, although it was obscured by my cloak so no one could see it.

  When the day reached the te afternoon, I finally finished the book in hand and looked around a little. I sighed as I couldn't find Lu at the square yet. I stretched my body a bit before having a meal. In order to not attract too much attention, I only took out a meal bar from my space. After I finished the bar, I went and wandered around the square for a bit. After a few ps around the square, I finally saw Lu walking towards the square. I could tell it was her due to the cloak she was wearing.

  My parents made the same type of cloak for me and Lu so I could tell it was her based on the cloak. When I walked over, Lu noticed and and walked over.

  Lu: I found a hotel, lets go and stay there for now.

  I nodded in agreement and the two of us went to the hotel that Lu had found. On the way there, I noticed that the guard that watched me went and reconvened with another guard, likely the one following Lu. As we went to the hotel, I noticed that most people were quickly returning home. Noticing this, I asked Lu to hurry a little so we both sprinted over to the hotel.

  The hotel chosen by Lu was a mid level hotel that was quite clean. After checking in, we both went into the double room that Lu ordered. Since Lu is here to take care of my daily life as well as to be a bodyguard, living in the same room will only make it more convenient for her to do her job.

  Since there was not much to do, I checked around the room for any tracking or peeping methods. After confirming the hotel was safe, I took out a magic book to read up on. Ever since I arrived here in this pne, I have been constantly learning magic and now I am almost caught up to the bronze level in magic.

  Yup, I am still considered bck iron level in terms of magic. Since I always trained in my technique and swordsmanship, it was only in this other pne that I decided to take a lot of my time training my swordsmanship and technique into learning about magic.

  As the premier technique of humanity, it requires a strong foundation in knowledge to get anywhere in a hurry. Although there are ways to quickly learn knowledge, it hurts the foundation of the mage css. The foundation of mages is curiosity of the unknown, so learning everything at a fast pace lowers your awe of the unknown and thus makes it harder to walk the path of the mage. That is why my parents had me learn everything through book learning instead of through other methods. Only when I learn everything step by step would the proper foundation be built.

  While I learned about magic on my own, Lu decided to go and do what she did before and send out some ghosts for reconnaissance. Unlike before, she let the ghosts take advantage of the terrain to prevent themselves from being discovered. While ghosts are hard to see for individuals with no extraordinary energy, when they gain even slightest amount of extraordinary energy then they can see spiritual creatures like ghosts.

  Because of this, she had to make sure that the ghosts would not be detected by the various extraordinary people in the town. From what I could tell, the guards responsible for watching us all did not have any extraordinary power so they were easily evaded. The main worry is if the leaders of the town had any extraordinary power. Ghosts are, after all, quite easy to mistaken as evil existences that the church would go after.

  The day then passed as I read through that textbook while Lu kept watch all around the town for any oddities. When the sun rose again, I saw that Lu had woken up before me. Before I could respond, Lu noticed I was awake gave a small smile and pulled me out of bed and started to take care of me. When we finished washing up, we decided to head on over to the adventurer's guild. In order to move around this pne comfortably, we need to find a method of identification.

  According to the diary, the adventurer's guild is the most convenient way to get an ID for those who don't have it. Because of this, Lu went and had her ghosts check out the path to and the safety of the guild. When she confirmed that the guild is quite safe overall, we decided to head on over.

  When we walked in, the guild seemed to be quite empty. Although it was early in the morning, most missions would be added before we arrived so most adventurers would hurry to collect a task when the new missions arrive. This is why the guild is mostly empty at this point in time. So we were able to quickly find an open staff member to register as an adventurer.

  Staff: Welcome to the adventurer's guild. Do you want to apply for a mission or pce a mission?

  Lu: The both of us would like to register.

  Staff: Oh! To register you will first need to fill out this sheet. Don't worry, you only need to fill in what you are willing to answer.

  The staff member then pulls out a form from below the desk that asked for our names, combat roles as well as various miscelneous bits of info. The two of us just put our first name in the registry as well as roles and some information that wouldn't give away too much about us. When we returned the sheet, the staff didn't look at the info. Instead she left the sheets on the side before she asked us something.

  Staff: Before I forget, you need to pay a registration fee. 1 silver coin each.

  I reach into my cloak and take out 2 silver coins. Hiding the existence of my storage ring will be only positive as I don't want much attention in this way. When the staff received the silver coins, she went into another room and put the form in a device at the back of the room. After a second she came out of the room with two freshly printed cards.

  Staff: This is your adventurer cards, remember not to lose them as you will need to pay a fee to get new ones. Do you need anything else?

  I thought for a bit and decided to ask her about the cards of dead adventurers.

  Celine: If an adventurer dies and someone finds them and their card, what happens?

  Staff: If you can find and return the card, it would be most appreciated. We pay people to get their cards and corpses back depending on their strength. Of course, as long as you didn't kill the adventurer to get the card. The guild has a special method to check if that is the case.

  I nodded and then took out the cards from inside the cloak once again. She shows a look of surprise before taking the cards to that room again. We wait for a bit until she returns. This time she arrived bare-handed and thanked us for returning the cards.

  Staff: Thank you for returning the cards. We have confirmed that the adventurers have died of various different causes. The pay for returning the card has been calcuted. It is 23 silver coins.

  She then hands over a small pouch with the coins.

  I nodded as thanks and then began asking her about how the guild worked.

  Compared to the guild at home, the guild here is quite rudimentary as the highest requests here were at the bronze level. Since the strongest in this pne is silver, missions of that level would be given to the person directly. Since that was the case, I decided to take a look at the various missions avaible. On the board were various missions that were all at a level that someone unranked could easily deal with them. At the very top of the board were three bck iron level missions.

  I went and asked the staff about the three bck iron level requests at the top of the board.

  Staff: Those missions? They are bck iron requests offers by the town head himself. Although he is bronze level, he needs to stay in town to guard it in case the town gets hit with a beast tide. There is a bronze level beast in the forest so he needs to stay in town in case it attacks when he leaves. There are also other bck iron level people in town, it is just that they are all busy doing their own things. That is the reason the requests have been up for a while.

  I give a nod before heading back to the board. If I want to py it safe, I should just take an unranked mission to blend in with everyone around. The problem is which kind of mission I should take. After some time, we decided that a long term mission would be the best because it gives an excuse to stay in town for a while. If we just do the quest well, the guards will eventually stop paying as much attention to us.

  After skimming through all of these requests, there are three that are long term and wouldn't take too much of my time.

  One was cleaning up the sewers. I can just send in skeletons to do the heavy lifting if I extend the reach of my technique. It will be convenient for hiding and learning about the complete map of the town.

  Second is goblin hunting. Goblins are always reproducing so they need to be cleaned up every once in a while to prevent a flood of goblins one day attacking the town.

  Third mission is an escort mission into another town.

  Of these three quests, the third option is absolutely the worst for my current situation. First off, we will be heading into another town that I have no prior knowledge of. Second, escort missions are generally more dangerous and require exquisite teamwork and strength. This means it is likely that our strength could be exposed more on this mission.

  Because of all of these factors, the only two missions that fit our requirements are goblin hunting and sewer cleaning. We finally decided on sewer cleaning since the sewers are generally quite complex and hidden so revealing some strength in there would be safer for hiding our information.

  We headed on over to the counter to inform the staff of our choice.

  Staff: Sewer cleaning? You should know that the sewers are quite complex and have a very distinct scent. Are you sure you want to take this mission?

  I nod and so the staff member went ahead and took off the request from the board. Now we will likely be the only ones in the sewers.

  Before we headed on over, we decided to head back to the hotel for a bit before taking out a backpack in my ring. Since we are hiding everything, we might as well hide all the way and put the immediate requirements in the back pack to take out at anytime.

  We then headed on over to the entrance of the sewers. I took out a map that the staff member gave us before we left. The map contains all of the entrances into the sewers that we could enter. All of the entrances are all far away from pces like marketpces for obvious reasons.

  As we were walking there, we encountered less and less people. The entrances to the sewers are all areas known as the slums. These area are where those who can't afford to live in other areas for various reasons congregate. So, as we walked we saw many folk in quite bad shape. Since we had our clean cloaks on, few people wanted to mess with us.

  After some time, the smell in the area started to get worse and so we stopped a while away from the entrance. We pulled out masks to hide the scent away first. I then activated my technique and expanded the range of my pseudo domain to its limit. I then summoned a bunch of fodder skeletons to head on in and clean up the garbage.

  The mission only said to take care of the garbage. The methods to use were not said so I had my skeletons put the garbage into bags that were quickly burned to ashes. The actual sewers were quite filthy so this mission was going to be quite the challenge.

  Since the skeletons could do everything on their own, I decided to go ahead and start reading. Although the smell would normally distract me from reading, the masks that my mom made with her technique are designed to filter out any scent that could be viewed as even slightly unappealing.

  And so we waited the whole day as my summons took care of the sewer cleaning. After a few hours, the pce started smelling less like sewage and more like burning ash. When we finally cleared out this sewer I gave a sigh of relief. According to the request, each area of the sewer gave a different amount of money for cleaning it. While we are in this pne, we will need to secure our own source of funds for various purposes so cleaning these sewers is a convenient method to do so.

  When they were done with the entrance for today, we decided to head back and take a bath. But, before then, I casted a spell to clean up our bodies. Although my affinity for magic is all in blood, it does not mean that other spells are not at my disposal. Clean up is a magic that is under a type of magic called life magic and is usable by anyone who knows magic. Although my body is technically clean, I still would like to get a bath so we returned to the hotel.

  Although the hotel does not have a bathtub like we have at home, they do have an area that people regurly fetch hot water. Then you can obtain hot water to bath with according to the rooms you paid for. A double room like ours can get two buckets of water a day so we both took our buckets of hot water and took them to a closed area to the side of the hotel. Although this pce is quite medieval, perhaps due to the pne being previously connected to other pnes, there is some basic knowledge of various things here like hygiene.

  So, we quickly took a shower to clean up before we returned to our room. Once we returned, we did our usual thing and I read while Lu still continued to check our surroundings. Although we have a general idea of the structure of the town, we do not know much else. In this time, we were able to find some rather... unsavory locations.

  According to our investigations, we were able to find various gray industries that we would not find so easily in our nd. The already bad condition of this pce is already a big indicator that these kinds of pces would only be worse. Although we know of these pces right now, we don't want to alert the potential hidden strong people in this town of our presence. If we get something like bounties on our heads it will only lead to more trouble.

  If the opportunity arrives, we could use it. Just not now.

  The next few days were quite uneventful as we just went to that one entrance to fully clean. As the days went on, I could feel the surveilnce on us has sckened a lot. Although we were not pnning anything bad, just having less eyes on us feels relieving.

  During this time, we have been keeping in touch with the adventurer's guild and we have been getting a somewhat regur source of funds. Every time we complete an area, the guild sends someone to confirm before we get paid. After this whole time, we have finally completely mapped the entire surface yout of the town.

  Now that we have a map of the terrain, we can now start to target specific areas to see if there is anything that stands out. So, now that the map of the town was id in front of me, I now need to see which area I can take control of that will give me the greatest advantage. Although my parents said they will take me back to our pne, the specific time is unknown. So, for now, building a stable base in this world to stay in will be my current number one objective.

  With that said, I can divide the area of the town into rough districts.

  First is the noble district. This district I only have a rough understanding of it since this pce is the most likely location of most of the town's strength. Judging from how the structure of this society, the nobles are likely high in power and status and would most likely concentrate strength on themselves. Apart from them, there is also the city lord's mansion in this location. All of this means that infiltrating and taking control of this area will be the most difficult.

  Second is the market district. Within this area is most of the main shops in the city. Most of the shops here are all branches of a bigger group and thus are quite difficult to take control of. This also is the biggest moneymaker for the town so the nobles will definitely keep their eyes on the area which could result in us being surrounded in all directions if we try to take it over.

  Third is the regur residential district. This section has most of the regur civilians as well as the guards that are stationed all over the town. Although we can take it over, the effect of taking it over is minimal at most. The best result of taking this pce over is that we can quickly search the popuce here for talents. Since this world is more medieval in nature, there is plenty of talented people here who have their talents buried due to the situation of the times. This pce can be considered as a secondary option to take over.

  Finally the slums. This area has only maybe two benefits. One is that the area is disregarded by everyone and so hiding here won't receive anyones attention. Even if the slums are fully controlled, there is no need to worry about any backsh. Secondly, the price of human life here is negligible. Only giving them the bare minimum can make them obedient. As long as I maintain and measure things well, I can quickly take control of the popution here and amass a cult following.

  As a primary goal, controlling the slums is the best choice I can make now. The only problem is that doing so will require an investment in basic necessities like food and water. Although my parents have me enough resources for a long time, it will eventually run out so finding a way to convert other resources into food should be one of my priorities.

  My parents have already given an answer. In one of the blood magic books, there is a record a peculiar fungus. It is known as the blood shroom and is made by soaking a regur mushroom in vampire blood. After a while of soaking, the mushroom will slowly transform until it completes its first transformation. When it does, the requirements for growth will change from vampire blood to any type of blood.

  Although I could use human blood, blood itself is simple to collect as long as I collect enough from creatures like goblins. Goblins already have popution problems so I can take that mission while also cleaning the sewers. Both missions do not have an end date and you will be paid by the amount that you have done.

  So the current goal is to build a good base of operations. Although I could take over an area of the slums, I don't have enough people to organize the situation there. There is another option though.

  Celine: Lu, let's build a base in the sewers! The pce is infrequently visited and is quite secure. As long as we can get a good understanding of the sewers, we can easily hide multiple bases inside for our operations. As long as we clean the area, the environment won't be that bad.

  After some thought, Lu agreed and so we travelled into the sewers. In this time, my summons have cleaned out most of the sewer here. According to the adventurer's guild, there are five sewer entrances that we can clean out. Of the five, two are in the slums while the other three are in the residential district. The other entrances are cleaned by other people and are not missions given to the adventurer's guild. Of these entrances, the one that I have cleaned the most is in the slum area. Due to our cleaning, the scent near the entrance has been repced with an ashy burning scent.

  Since we have cleaned this sewer entrance, I started mapping the area and searching for a perfect spot to clean up for a base. Since we are the only ones willing to clean these sewers, there is likely to be no people entering the sewers anytime soon. Since the sewers are deep underground, any disturbances would likely not even effect anyone above ground.

  We then began surveying the sewers for the perfect spot for a base until we found an empty dead end. This dead end is in a remote location and is quiet far from the sewer entrance. The chance of someone chancing upon this dead end in near zero. But, just in case, I disguised the entrance of the base as a manhole cover. I first took out the device that built the base in the forest before. Then, while cleaning the sewers, I waited for the base to be finished. Once it was, I left an object that can be used as a coordinate to find the base whenever I need it.

  Among blood magic, there is a special magic known as a blood mark. At my current level, it just creates a mark that I can sense when I am in its range. With this, as well as marking the location on my map, I can always be able to find the mark while in this city. Since the sewers are underground, I can freely expand the base as long as it doesn't hit any other part of the sewers.

  My new base project began from that point. Using the base building device helped expedite and simplify the process. In the days to come, we finally finished cleaning up all of the sewers attached to the entrance we clean. The five sewer entrances are not all attached to the same system, so we were finally finished with this entrance. This chore gave us some more silver and now we were entrusted to help maintain this entrance.

  Before, no one wanted to clean up the sewers here in the slums so they just built a second one to leave the problem alone. Now that we appeared to solve this issue, they wanted us to maintain this sewer as long as we could so they gave us a money incentive to keep it clean. this gave us an excuse to be around the sewers for an extended period of time. Since that was the case, we obliged and cleaned up the sewer while building up our new base of operation.

  Several months have passed since we arrived in this pne and now the base is not only complete, but it is thriving.

  Although I have not recruited anyone as of yet, using the power of magic, I built golems that help do various tasks in this base. The most important of which is construction. With the help of these golems, I now have built a fully functioning base that can st until my parents call me back.

  These golems are made of a magic crystal and a spell that commands the magic crystal to do different things. This is the basic principle of a golem. In addition to this, I have built a formation that helps not only maintain this base, but it also maintains the golem in good condition. The formation is made up of a bunch of blood crystals in a specific pattern that makes an A.I. like existence that helps to maintain the base. Although I call it an A.I. it doesn't have the ability to calcute things. All it can do is remember a few orders and repeat them endlessly.

  Although it may sound simir to an A.I. it is significantly worse in terms of flexibility and growth. Since it is based on a formation, the effects of the A.I. is based on the user. I am not so proficient in formations to make one that suits the situation. All I can do is copy the book to the word and let it do its best.

  Even so, the A.I. does its role well and helps maintain the base as long as the stockpile of blood crystals doesn't run out. With my current supply, even if there were a dozen bases, I could maintain the formations for a few thousand years. Each crystal can st a few dozen years without needing repcement after all.

  Since the base has been completed, what I had to do now is invite people into the base. Since I want to live in this world comfortably, I should start build up an organization to do my bidding. I can't just rely on my current supplies to make do. Since that is the case, I decided my current goal and headed on over to where Lu is located to begin our operations.