There was silence from then on, as Jonathan simply observed the city. On its surface, one could hardly tell that it was floating at all, as it was so large that it appeared to be monolithic in its integrity, something too huge to be subject to the vagaries of motion. Only a tiny rocking motion allowed Jonathan to detect the truth, and for anyone else, it would have been impossible. He possessed a level of racial refinement that was unmatched by most, as it would require ten thousand points in every stat to achieve. That was a level of power many Tiers above his current one, at least for an average System user. For him, there was a good possibility of reaching it within one or two Tiers.
“Edgar,” Jonathan said, his curiosity piqued as he considered his race. “Is there actually a difference between species and race? I’ve heard people using it interchangeably. More importantly, the System uses race.”
“Not really,” Edgar answered. “Generally, race is used by members of a race addressing others that look similar. For example, a human, and an elf. They are almost indistinguishable, save for the ears. But-”
“So if the degree of difference is too much, then species is used instead? That is strange to me, but it does make sense.”
“Right, your world only had one sapient civilization. It must be strange, coming to Telvaria, where there are dozens, or hundreds.”
Jonathan smiled. “It certainly is. But, I think I’m starting to get used to it.”
***
It took fifteen minutes to reach the center of the city, an eternity at the level that Jonathan was at. Naturally, the usage of supersonic levels of speed were banned within the tightly packed city, and while everyone was at a similar level of power, property damage was always possible. Even worse would be if someone impacted a building capable of withstanding their speed, something that would invariably turn that unfortunate person into a bloody smear.
The buildings grew and grew, and a slight upwards tilt was evident in the streets. A few open air markets, filled with hawkers, dotted the corners, but Jonathan couldn’t help but observe that barely anyone went to them, instead heading towards the city’s center. The closer he got, the more he noticed a definite pattern in the movements of the crowds. Most people were walking in sync, their goal somewhere near the midpoint of the city. Jonathan was pretty sure he knew what it was.
As he rounded a corner, a few feet behind Jarob, he finally saw what he was expecting. A massive portal opened out of thin air, taking pride of place on top of a plinth made out of precious metals and gemstones. Behind it was a fifty foot tall statue of pure gold, crafted in the shape of the Merchant Queen. The real woman was nowhere to be seen, of course, but it hardly mattered. Tens of thousands of Uthraki surged in and out of the portal every second, a tide of red skin and muscles that was almost intimidating, even to Jonathan.
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Jarob took them around the crowd, towards the edges of the square. Behind the statue was a palace, just as opulent as one might have expected from someone with the title of Merchant Queen. It was, not, thankfully enough, made out of gold, but instead of mirror smooth diamond. As Jonathan regarded it, he realized that the entire thing was carved out of a single hunk of gemstone, with the facets artfully carved so as to be nearly invisible. Up above, a rotating orb of light spun, acting as a tiny sun for the capital city of a realm without a guiding star.
The presence of guards increased sharply the further from the portal Jonathan and the others went, with them soon outnumbering people in the crowd. Not that it really was a crowd anymore, at least compared to the milling hordes surrounding the portal. Eventually, Jarob was stopped, and he motioned for the rest of the group to pause as he talked with one of the guards. Both men flicked glances back at the group, especially at Jonathan, but eventually they were waved through, a subtle ripple in the array of guards visible as Jarob passed through, leading the way.
Lines of glyphwork, the bastard child discipline of Runecrafting, were visible before them, concentric circles interlocking around the palace. Each one had a nearly invisible shimmer in the air above them, alerting Jonathan to their danger. As they passed over the lines, the glphys deactivated nearby, likely controlled by an Uthraki guard somewhere nearby.
With his Expert Rank mastery over Runecrafting, Jonathan was far better equipped to analyze the glyphs as compared to when he had first seen them. The first thing he noticed was that they appeared to be shards of concepts, not just smaller forms, but purposefully broken aspects of a cohesive whole. In addition, they were powered by mana rather than Divinity, which, to be fair, anyone could have noticed. What they wouldn’t have seen though, were a pair of glyphs, side by side, each of which encompassed a portion of the larger Rune of Vengeance, a part of Jonathan’s own arsenal. On a basic level, it was like looking at a Rune of ‘Veng’, and a Rune of ‘Eance’, split so perfectly on the conceptual plane that even their names followed that pattern.
On a more complicated level, they were the ideation of Vengeance, and its impetus. The rage, and the physical actions one took to find their revenge. There was one thing missing though, an indescribable gulf within their concepts that prevented them from ever becoming an actual rune. Practically, that was because of the lack of Divinity, which, as far as Jonathan could tell, was the energy of Reality itself. It was why-
“Jonathan?” A voice broke into his concentration, and he shook his head, realizing that the others were all ahead of him, as he paced above a line of glyphs. More than a few guards were glaring at him openly. He mumbled a few apologies and strode forwards, catching up with his allies before the situation got worse. He wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, but it was no doubt connected with his Pathway Skill.
