Artificer Adventure Guide

On the morning of September 12th, Storm Bay, located in the far north of Xen'drik, welcomed another cruise ship full of adventurers.

Xen'drik during this time is hot and humid.

Even if the weather is sunny, there seems to be plenty of water vapor in the air.

The wind blowing in your face will not make you feel cool, but will give you the suffocating feeling of walking into a sauna.

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

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

Many of these people are veterans who have just spent all their money in Sarn and are preparing to make another big fortune in Xendrik, but occasionally there are some well-prepared adventurers.

"squeak"

The door of the Adventure Association, which was in disrepair, was pushed open, and three figures walked into the building, which looked more like a tavern than any other facility.

The leading young man was nearly two meters tall. His majestic physique and heroic appearance made the bold female adventurers in the room whistle.

He wore a silver-white metal full-body armor with a strange texture, and a crown with limited defense on his forehead.

There was a faint metallic thread in the skin under the crown, spreading from his forehead to the sides of his cheeks, and a head of red hair as red as blood swayed slightly with the airflow.

Behind him, two female adventurers, one red and one purple, stood on either side.

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

When the drow elves in the crowd saw the purple-skinned female adventurer, they immediately put on a jealous expression with gritted teeth.

"Boss, warm up three bowls of wine and order two of your specialty side dishes."

Walking to the bar, Karl took an order from the bartender who had been wiping the wine glass since he entered the door.

The other party did not wear a special uniform like the bartender in a serious pub. Obviously, this bartender was the boss here.

"3 silver!"

Stopping what he was doing, the boss calmly quoted a price.

"Ping!"

The buzzing sound caused by the friction of the silver coins against the airflow sounded, and three silver coins were bounced to the bar by Karl like a magic trick.

The boss 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 to the table by the boss, along with two plates of wine and side dishes made from unknown seaweed.

"Is there any place nearby suitable for long-term rental? It would be best to have a detached villa."

After drinking one of the cups of flammable oolong tea, Karl took a long breath and asked the boss about the house rental with a very natural expression.

This is one of the unspoken rules of the Adventurers Association. As long as you order something, you can ask the bartender about it.

However, most of the people who do this are new adventurers who have just arrived in a strange place. Those veterans have their own news channels.

His eyes lingered on the drow elf Shadow for a moment, and the middle-aged bald man who was part-time bartender and possibly the head of the Adventurers Association gave an answer that didn't sound very reliable.

"The scale of Storm Bay is limited. If you want to rent a single-family villa, you can either go to the Dragon Marked Family or the Storm Council. However, I suggest you go to the Dragon Marked Family. Those pirate bastards from the Storm Council have recently been asking for help. Tough luck."

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

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

Ordinary adventurers can only squeeze into a relatively small hotel here.

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

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

But Karl seemed not to hear the ridicule in the other party's words. After taking a bite of the side dish, he turned to Hope and asked:

"Is there any druid society nearby that can let us stay temporarily?"

Rolling a look at Karl, Hope held Karl's left hand around his waist, thought for a moment, and shook his head.

"Even if there is a Druid association here, it should already be inside Xendrik, and there shouldn't be one in the outer area."

"Well~, then I can only ask the person in charge of the Exploration Dragon Pattern Family here. I don't know if there are any preferential policies in my situation."

Seeing that neither Hope nor Ying touched the drinks and side dishes, Karl dealt with them one by one based on the principle of not wasting food.

Then, without blushing and out of breath, he stood up and left with Hope and Ying.

The adventurers around were stunned.

They originally thought that the drow was Karl's female companion, and that the tiefling was the bodyguard.

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

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

"Didn't you see the eyes of those drows over there looking at that kid? They're almost crazy! Humph, I think this kid wants to find a single-family villa just to make it easier for him to play the flute every night!"

"Damn it! I also want to drow..."

The slightly colored discussion gradually weakened as the three Carls moved away from the tavern.

Looking at the expressionless Ying, Karl asked with concern: "Ying, are you okay?"

Although Carl only ran the voodoo workshop for half a year, Ying's friendship with him did not end just because he returned to school.

Karl would always ask Ying to handle any matters outside of school. Over the years, the two of them have become quite close friends.

"It's okay, I just feel that those of the same race...we drow were not like this before."

Looking into the distance with a somewhat lonely expression, she stood in the land that should have been her hometown, but she didn't feel the slightest sense of belonging.

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

Seeing that Ying's mood dropped visibly, Karl quickly changed the topic.

The headquarters of the Dragon Marked Family is very easy to find in Storm Bay, because there are only a few unusual-looking areas in the entire town.

Of course, the Exploration Dragon Mark family did not provide any preferential treatment to Karl just because he was the holder of the Exploration Dragon Mark.

They didn't even qualify Carl for a lease.

"How about going to the Golden Dragon Hotel?"

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

"No! We may have to stay here for a long time. The Golden Dragon Hotel is not cost-effective. How about trying our luck in the underground ruins? Maybe we can find a good place!"

Hearing that Karl actually wanted to stay at the Golden Dragon Hotel, Hope immediately objected.

The shadow on the side also shook his head like a rattle, obviously not agreeing with it either.

"Ordinary hotels and residential buildings are definitely not suitable. At least I have to find a place that can accommodate my equipment. Hmm~, it seems that I really have to try my luck at the underground ruins."

Grabbing his hair, Karl reluctantly accepted this reality.

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

After all, the creation mechanisms or monsters of the giant civilization still remain in the ruins, and ordinary people are basically looking for death there.

Even ordinary adventurers would not dare to live there without two brushes.

"Alas, those three silver coins were wasted."

Standing at the tunnel entrance to the underground ruins, Karl sighed, feeling very depressed.

"Okay, some unjust money will always have to be spent. Every time you learn something, you will gain wisdom. At least we will know what to do if we encounter this kind of situation in the future. Let's go and see what happens next."

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

Just after walking down for more than ten meters, a chill hit my face.

"The air is quite fresh, but I always feel that there are traces of negative energy, and there may be undead down there."

Taking the lead, Hope told Carl and Shadow his analysis one by one.

The half-local shadow nodded slightly, and then took out the chain dart that Carl made two years ago.

"No, are you going to take action here?"

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

Two jet-like objects emerged from the palm of his hand.

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

It quickly changed into a shape that better fit Karl's figure, and blue-white magic lines spread across the armor.

"Speaking of which, I haven't done anything with anyone in recent years. If a monster comes out later, let me shoot it first."

As he spoke, light lit up in the palms of Karl's hands.

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

The armor on his body is not made of ordinary materials, but uses Moon Spirit Essence Liquid to imitate 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. It is Karl's basic weapon when he is not using regular power armor.

While talking, the group of people had already reached the end of the tunnel.

However, the location of the intersection doesn't look out of the ordinary.

Hope was about to step forward physically, but Karl stretched out his hand to stop her.

The radiance of psychic energy lit up from his eyes, and he cast a move with the mage's hand.

"Wow"

Two undead skeletons suddenly rushed out from both sides of the seemingly ordinary intersection. They were holding two steel knives that had been cut into sharp edges, and they were baring their teeth and claws.

"Bang! Bang!"

Two pulse cannons that were ready to go were fired, and the two skeletons suddenly turned into parts on the ground.

The crown on his forehead was re-extended into a helmet. Karl took the initiative to step forward and crush the skulls of the two skeletons one by one, extinguishing their soul fire.

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