On the morning of September 12, Storm Bay in the northernmost part of Xen'drik welcomed another cruise ship full of adventurers.

Xen'drik is hot and humid during this time of year.

Even on a clear day, the air seems to be filled with plenty of water vapor.

The wind blowing in your face not only does not make you feel cool, but instead makes you feel as if you have walked into a sauna and are suffocating.

The new adventurers were obviously unable to adapt to the climate here directly, and many low-level adventurers even had difficulty breathing when they left the cool cabin.

At this time, those veteran adventurers who had been here before would sneer, then walk past the crowd and slowly towards the Adventurer's Association near the port.

Many of these people are experienced people who have just spent all their money in Sharn and are ready to make another fortune in Xen'drik, but occasionally there are some well-prepared adventurers.

"Squeak"

The door of the dilapidated Adventure Guild was pushed open, and three figures walked into the building that looked more like a tavern than any other facility.

The leading young man was nearly two meters tall, with a mighty physique and a handsome appearance, which made the brave female adventurers in the room whistle.

He was wearing a full body armor of silver-white metal with a somewhat strange texture, and a crown on his forehead with limited defensive power.

There was a faint metallic thread in the skin under the crown, extending from his forehead to both sides of his cheeks, and his blood-red hair was swaying slightly with the airflow.

Behind him, two female adventurers, one in red and one in purple, stood on his left and right.

Many adventurers subconsciously frowned when they saw the red female adventurer who was at least 1.7 meters tall.

The drow elves in the crowd immediately put on an expression of jealousy and gnashing of teeth when they saw the purple-skinned female adventurer.

"Boss, please warm up three bowls of wine and give me two of your signature dishes."

Walking to the bar, Carl placed his order with the bartender who had been wiping glasses since he entered the door.

The other party was not wearing a special uniform like the bartenders in a regular pub. Obviously, this bartender was the boss here.

"3 silver!"

The boss stopped what he was doing and calmly quoted a price.

“Ping!”

A buzzing sound was heard due to the friction of the silver coins, and three silver coins were flicked onto the bar by Carl like a magic trick.

The owner at the bar touched it himself and confirmed that it was not a fake before putting it away.

Soon, three cups of tea-colored liquid burning with blue flames were brought up by the boss, along with two plates of snacks made of some unknown seaweed.

"Is there any place suitable for long-term rental nearby? Preferably a villa with its own door and yard."

After drinking one of the cups of flammable oolong tea, Carl let out a long sigh and asked the boss about the house rental information in a very natural manner.

This is one of the unspoken rules of the Adventurer's Guild. As long as you order something, you can ask the bartender about things.

However, most of those who do this are new adventurers who have just arrived in a strange place, and those old birds have their own information channels.

His gaze lingered for a moment on the figure of the drow elf. The middle-aged bald man, who was the boss of the part-time bartender and might also be the head of the Adventurer's Association, gave an answer that sounded unreliable.

"Storm Bay is limited in size. If you want to rent a single-family villa, you can either go to the Dragonmark Family or the Storm Council. But I suggest you go to the Dragonmark Family. Those pirate bastards in the Storm Council are in trouble recently."

Because of the curse on Xen'drik by the Gods of Destiny and the Dark Six, any settlement of intelligent creatures on this continent that has reached a certain size will be struck by terrible natural disasters.

So even though Storm Bay is an important transportation hub between Khorvaire and Xen'drik, the scale of this port city is very limited.

Ordinary adventurers here can only squeeze into relatively small inns.

Ordinary people even have to live in sewers or ancient ruins that have sunk into the ground.

The bartender's words were actually a bit of a joke to Carl, because in Xen'drick, most of the people who can live in single-family villas are "upper class people."

But Karl didn't seem to hear the teasing in the other person's words. He took a bite of the side dish, turned his head and asked Hope beside him:

"Is there any druid society nearby that we can stay in temporarily?"

Giving Carl a blank look, Hope held Carl's left hand that was around his waist, pondered for a moment, and shook his head.

"Even if there is a druid society here, it should be inside Xen'drik. There should be no druid society outside."

"Well, then I can only go and ask the person in charge of the Exploration Dragon Pattern Family here. I wonder if there are any preferential policies for my situation."

Seeing that Hope and Ying didn't touch the drinks and side dishes, Carl finished them one by one based on the principle of not wasting food.

Then, he stood up without blushing or breathing hard, and left with Hope and Ying.

The adventurers around were all stunned.

They originally thought that the drow was Carl's female companion and the tiefling was a bodyguard.

But the result seemed to be exactly the opposite of what they had guessed.

"No! Maybe both of them are involved with that guy just now. He is a drow after all."

"Didn't you see the way those drow people over there looked at that kid? They were almost tearing my hair out! Humph, I think this kid wants to find a single-family villa just so he can have fun every night!"

"Damn it! I also want to kill Zhuo Er..."

The somewhat ambiguous discussion gradually faded away as Carl and the other two moved away from the tavern.

Looking at Ying's expressionless face, Karl asked with concern: "Ying, are you okay?"

Whenever Carl had any issues outside of school, he would ask Ying to handle them. Over the years, the two had become quite close friends.

"It's okay, I just feel that those of our kind...we drow weren't like this before."

Looking into the distance with a somewhat lonely expression, Ying stood on this land that should have been her hometown, but she did not have the slightest sense of belonging.

"Let's find a place to live first."

Seeing that Ying's mood was visibly declining, Carl quickly changed the subject.

The Dragonmark Family’s residence is very easy to find in Storm Bay, as there are only a few unusual-looking locations in the entire town.

Naturally, the Exploration Dragon Mark Family did not offer any preferential treatment to Carl just because he was also the holder of the Exploration Dragon Mark.

They didn't even offer Carl a lease.

"How about we go to the Golden Dragon Hotel?"

Looking at the Golden Dragon Hotel diagonally across the street, Carl asked his two companions for their opinions.

"No! I'm afraid we'll have to stay here for a long time. The Golden Dragon Hotel is too uneconomical. How about trying our luck in the underground ruins? Maybe we can find a good place!"

When Hope heard that Carl actually wanted to stay at the Golden Dragon Hotel, he immediately objected.

Yingya on the side shook his head like a rattle, obviously disagreeing.

"Ordinary hotels and houses are definitely not an option. I need to find a place that can store my equipment. Hmm, it seems I really have to try my luck in the underground ruins."

Scratching his hair, Carl reluctantly accepted this reality.

In fact, there are only a few people in Storm Bay who dare to live in the underground ruins.

After all, there are still some creation mechanisms or monsters of the giant civilization left in the ruins, and ordinary people would basically be seeking death there.

Even ordinary adventurers would not dare to live there if they didn't have some skills.

"Alas, those three silver coins were wasted."

Standing at the entrance of the tunnel leading to the underground ruins, Carl sighed and felt very depressed.

"Well, we have to spend some money. We learn from our mistakes. At least we will know what to do next time we encounter this kind of situation. Let's go and see what's going on down there."

Following the wide tunnel, the three entered the area of ​​underground ruins.

I had just walked down more than ten meters when a cool breeze hit me in the face.

"The air is fairly fresh, but I feel like there are traces of negative energy. There might be undead spirits down there."

Walking ahead, Hope told Carl and Ying his analysis one by one.

Shadow, who was half local, nodded slightly and took out the chain dart that Carl had made two years ago.

"No way, are we going to do it here?"

Seeing that both of them were in fighting postures, Carl also adjusted the armor on his hands.

Two things that looked like jet nozzles emerged from the palm of his hand.

At the same time, the silver full body armor, which originally only had a strange material, suddenly "came to life".

It quickly changed into a shape that better fit Carl's body, and blue and white magic patterns spread across the armor.

"Come to think of it, I haven't fought with anyone in recent years. If a monster comes out later, let me take a shot first."

As he spoke, light appeared in the palms of Carl's hands.

It was a pulse cannon upgraded from the lightning launcher of the Infiltrator armor. Although its shooting range was not as good as the lightning launcher, its power had been significantly improved.

The armor he wears is not made of ordinary materials. It is made of Moon Spirit Marrow Fluid and is modeled after the Moon Spirit Type III Infiltrator Power Armor made by Marvel's White Can Iron Man.

This thing is easy to put on and take off and fits the skin well. It is Carl's basic armour when he is not using conventional power armour.

As they were talking, the group had already reached the end of the tunnel.

However, the location of the intersection did not seem unusual.

Hope was about to step forward and wade through it physically, but Carl reached out and stopped her.

The light of psychic energy shone from his eyes, and a move of wizard's hand was performed.

"Crash"

Two undead skeletons suddenly rushed out from both sides of a seemingly ordinary intersection, holding two steel knives with bent blades, and looking fierce and aggressive.

“Bang! Bang!”

Two pulse cannons that had been ready for firing were fired, and the two skeletons were instantly turned into parts on the ground.

The crown on his forehead extended into a helmet again. Carl took the initiative to step forward and crushed the skulls of the two skeletons one by one, extinguishing their soul fire.

"It looks like someone put this here on purpose."

(End of this chapter)