"Look! A truthseeker!"

Those three words were all it took to jerk Asher out of his peaceful morning, and he nearly fell off the mogrant they'd started eating their meals on top of with Brant's permission. Searching for the source of the exclamation, he quickly found the line of people awkwardly walking forward while trying to maintain their spot in line at the food wagon. One of them was pointing up toward the sky, and a few others were gasping and pointing as well. Asher followed their fingers, and his heart sank as he finally spotted what they were all pointing at.

Sure enough, a griffin was flying high overhead from the direction they were heading, making a beeline directly for their caravan. They'd seen the occasional pegasus zip by during their travels, some with floating wagons attached, some with just a lone rider, but seeing a pegasus meant it was nobility.

Only the truthseekers were appointed griffins as mounts.

"Get in the wagon!" Samantha hissed, her eyes tracking the same majestic beast flying toward them that his were. "Hurry!"

Asher went to do just that, slipping into the astral and moving to dive straight through the roof of their wagon. But before he got the chance, the incoming truthseeker did something entirely unexpected.

They shot straight past them without slowing down in the slightest.

Confused, Asher popped back into the material realm, watching the back of the truthseeker as they flew off without sparing their caravan so much as a single glimpse. Wherever they were heading, it seemed it was back the way they'd come, in the direction of Dormaul.

"Well then…" Asher said as he slowly sat back down, never quite taking his eyes off the distant speck grower smaller and smaller. "...that was weird."

"Where do you think they're going?" Brian asked, clearly excited from having gotten to witness an actual truthseeker and griffin duo fly by so close to their heads. "Maybe there are more bandits on the road!"

"Bandits aren't a big enough problem for truthseekers to deal with," Samantha frowned, looking worried as she gazed behind them. "Something must have happened. Something big. From what I heard, truthseekers rarely leave their own city."

"Maybe we can ask about it once we're in the city," Asher shrugged, deciding to just go back to his meal. "Nothing much we can do about it now."

Samantha must have agreed with him, as she turned her attention back to her food as well, though the frown never quite left her face. After he'd told her all about his own run-ins with Bordan and Clare back in Whikoga, she was understandably not the biggest fan of truthseekers anymore.

Brian still thought they were awesome, however, which meant the rest of their breakfast was spent chatting about what the life of a truthseeker must be like.

"I bet they run around arresting criminals and helping people all day," Brian grinned, looking enthralled by the idea. "That sounds fun, right? What kind of elements do you think they have?"

"Dangerous ones," Asher said, shivering as he remembered the sensation of Clare's chains on him that locked him out of his skills and interface. If it hadn't been for his Complete Resilience's purge effect, he would have died back in Whikoga. For good.

Thankfully, Brant took that moment to save him from having to continue discussing truthseekers with Brian. Just like how he'd called out when Dormaul came into view, Brant's voice boomed over the whole caravan, sounding like the man was ten times larger than he really was.

"If you haven't seen Poltar before, or the sea for that matter, come on out! We're about to hit the best vantage point before heading into the city!"

Seeing as they were already on top of one of the mogrants, Asher, Samantha, and Brian already had the best seat in the house, and the three of them gasped as they crested one last hill and their view changed in an instant.

Without warning, the lush green meadows they were trekking through were replaced with pure blue, as the vast ocean before them stretched off into the horizon. Asher could barely make out the rolling waves crashing into the far-off beaches, and he grew confused for a moment.

"Wait, I thought the Noala Kingdom was landlocked between two larger kingdoms?" he asked, perhaps a tad louder than he thought as Brant called back to him from atop his own mogrant.

"It is! That's not actually a true sea, but a massive lake that borders the Eight Crests. Even so, for most people, this is as close to witnessing an ocean as they'll ever get in their entire lives."

Asher nodded, not having thought of that. He'd been to the beach a small handful of times back on Earth during hot summers, but he hadn't really considered how that wasn't something that an average person in this world would get to experience. Something that had just been a standard part of growing up for him was an absolute luxury to these folks.

"Look over there!" Brian gasped, pointing straight at the water.

Brian was one step ahead of Brant it would seem, as the caravan leader pointed in the same direction mere moments later.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"It's difficult to see due to the light reflecting off the water, but if you look close, you should just barely be able to make out the city of Poltar!"

Squinting, Asher tried to follow Brant's finger, but struggled to make out what he was pointing toward. It was only after Samantha gasped as well and physically turned his head in the correct direction that his eyes widened as he realized what he was looking at.

Poltar, the fourth city in the entire kingdom, wasn't a coastal city built along the water.

It was literally built on the water.

Asher could only stare in shock at the distant city floating atop the massive lake. Such a thing shouldn't be possible from what he knew, but clearly, whoever had built the city knew better.

"For those of you with exceptionally good eyesight, you'll have already spotted that Poltar is a rather unique city!" Brant continued, easily slipping into his tour guide persona as those who had finally found the city tried to help point the rest in the right direction. "Built entirely upon the water, Poltar was actually one of the main defensive bulwarks against the Eight Crests back when the Noala Kingdom was first formed. The entire city is capable of moving as a whole, or even splitting into different pieces, which means it is nearly impossible to assault. Anytime the enemy forces worked on building boats to lay siege to the city, Poltar would detach a portion of itself filled with warriors, drift closer to the mainland, and destroy the boats that were under construction. And because they are living on top of a giant lake, it's impossible to starve them out."

"Forget building a castle, a floating city sounds far more impregnable," Asher muttered, still wondering how such a place was built in the first place.

"Now, I know we're coming from Dormaul, and we have other passengers from other cities, so I want to make a few things rather clear before we get down to the coast and ride out there," Brant said, making sure everyone's attention was on him. "Unlike most cities within the Noala Kingdom, Poltar is a bit different. There aren't clear divides between castes. No rings, no levels, no sections, nothing at all like that. The city is constantly moving about, parts of it being separated and rejoined at different locations all the time, so any sort of city-based classification wouldn't work. A bakery you found that you love might be located on the eastern portion of the city one day, and then get shifted over to the southern half the next. Unless you've lived here a few months and have gotten the hang of things, get used to asking for directions frequently!"

Brant waited for the polite laughter to die down before he continued. "Though that doesn't mean you shouldn't be careful! In fact, it tends to make things even more difficult than they usually are in most places. In Poltar, the nobles and wealthier members of society are intermixed among the public, but do you think that changes how they might react to someone speaking badly about them, or accidentally bumping them off into the water?"

Brant looked around, ensuring everyone understood exactly what he was getting at. "Admittedly, the Malrron family, the nobles in charge of Poltar, are most likely the friendliest nobles you'll ever meet. They help with the fishing, wander the city on foot chatting with people, and from what I've personally seen, are all-round wonderful people. Because of how nobles are treated similarly to everyone else here, few other noble families ever bother to come to Poltar in the first place, but that just means when they do, things can get ugly, fast. My advice to you? Unless you want to make a powerful enemy, step lightly until you get a better feel for the city."

"What if we fall off?" a scrawny man without a lick of muscle called out, blushing as everyone turned to look at them. Asher did the same, and his Identify pegged the man as a botanist with only his origin element to his name. "What? I can swim, just not very well!"

"Don't worry, that's probably the most frequent question I get asked when the city first comes into view," Brant chuckled. "Luckily for you, half the city and their mothers have Water as their origin element, for obvious reasons, while the other half often have it for their second or third. And for anyone who didn't pay attention in school, that means just about everyone can breathe underwater. If you go over the edge of the city, I guarantee half a dozen people will be going in after you within seconds to fish you back out. When it happens, not if, I recommend tipping them a few shards. Practically everything is waterproof out there so they won't lose anything by going in after you, but it's still good to show your appreciation."

"Look at that, you might be able to make some shards on the side," Asher whispered to Samantha, earning an eyeroll from her. Even so, she was gazing at the city with genuine excitement, and he had no doubt she was looking forward to getting a chance to really flex her newest element.

"The last important thing to cover is how Poltar handles element formation," Brant said, his voice taking on a slightly more serious tone. "Make sure you're paying attention, because if there's any one rule to follow in Poltar, it's this one. If anyone witnesses a Water element form anywhere near the city… leave it."

Brant paused, making sure every single person had their eyes on him. "Poltar is the kingdom's largest distributor of Water elements, and due to the frequency of which they provide healing skills, they are rather important. While citizens of Poltar are welcome to absorb the element or give it to close family if they are lucky enough to find one, it's against the law for visitors to do the same. You will be arrested, and you will be punished if you are spotted taking the element for yourself. And I promise you, the punishment will not be worth gaining an element. Does everyone understand?"

There were a few dozen concerned nods, and the same scrawny man that called out earlier raised his hand once again. "So what are we supposed to do if we find one then? Just ignore it?"

"Notify the closest civilian and hope that they're friendly enough to give you something for your troubles," Brant said, laughing as his voice returned to its more jovial tone. "Citizens with no use for a Water element are paid a significant reward for turning in newly formed elements, and there's a good chance they'll give you at least a portion of that reward. It's by no means promised though, so be sure to be extra respectful when pointing it out.

"Anyway, those are the big things! There's plenty more to learn about the city, but it's far more fun watching people figure them all out for themselves," Brant said, turning around on his mogrant to continue directing the caravan down the hill and closer toward the coast. "For those of you who have been sitting in your wagons all trip, I'd recommend you get up and walk around these last few hours. Trust me when I say you won't understand how much you'll miss dry land until you're on the water!"

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

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