That night, Adam didn't get to sleep a lot, but it was fine for him. With his enhanced stamina from opening the 2nd Gate, he could go for three days without sleeping and be able to focus at 100%.
So getting a few hours of sleep was good enough. After waking up, he ate a quick breakfast to get some natural nutriments and then entered the game.
Once in it, Adam walked toward the adventurer's association and looked at the top of the iron board. After a few minutes of searching, he was able to find the quests for three Level 20 Goblin Fortresses. King Slayer said there were only three of them in the whole kingdom, so Adam guessed those were the ones he was searching for.
The three quests were B Rank quests, all Level 20. They would probably be easier than the Goblin Fortress Adam already went through.
The three fortresses were located in the Southern part of the Kingdom, the three fortresses weren't far from each other. They were called Slaalx, Kribs and Eznit.
For the three of them, the closest city was Ebony City, so Adam used the capital's teleportation array to teleport there.
Epoch's world was big, bigger than Earth, and that's why without teleportation arrays one would spend their days walking. Of course, teleportation wasn't cheap, and most players at the current stage of the game couldn't afford it, and even those who could would rather walk.
However, when Adam showed his insignia to the guards at the array, they let him use it for free as long as he wanted to teleport within the kingdom. Being a close friend of the Royal Family was really useful.
As he appeared in Ebony, Adam took a good look at the scenery. Ebony City was very different from Ember City. The city was actually situated on a small mountain, and overlooked vast plains. The city itself wasn't very big, but heavily fortified.
Looking around, Adam didn't see many players. This area looked like it was pretty high leveled. Adam didn't tarry in the city and headed for the first fortress, Slaalx.
To got to Slaalx, Adam needed to pass through a Level 30 forest, which was quite dangerous. If he had wanted, Adam could have fought his way through, but that would make him lose time, and he didn't want to get too much XP, so he sneaked through the forest.
For that, his [Geppo Ring] was very useful, he could hide in the shadows of the tall trees. As for the few that were able to detect him still, he would either kill them or flee.
It didn't take him long to reach Slaalx after that. This fortress wasn't as big as the one he went through with Eddy and his group, but it still did look impressive.
As he walked in it, Adam actually secretly hoped he would find some kind of secret boss or another extraordinary thing, but unfortunately for him, he did not.
This fortress was indeed easier than the one he already went through, but it took him a lot longer to clear it because he was on his own now, so killing the monsters was longer. Then for the rest of the day Adam blitzed through the goblin fortresses, killing all the goblins he saw.
Meanwhile, far far away from where Adam was, in the east. A man was sitting in a dim cave crossed legs, his eyes closed.
A few moments later, smoke suddenly appeared in front of him, and two men appeared from the dark smoke. One of them wore a black robe with a skeletal hand on it, he looked like a young man with his bright golden hair. As for the other, he had a red robe with a black goat's face painted in the middle. He was older, and he looked like he was devoid of life energy.
Those two were the cult masters of the Aemon Cult and Demon Cult. They were two very powerful people and were feared through the world, and yet as they saw the cross legged individual they both bowed sincerely to pay their respects.
This was because the person standing in front of them was a legendary character who was even more feared, and who could kill the two of them without them even knowing. This middle aged man was actually the Cave Master of Blackheart Mountain.
The Cave Master opened his eyes and asked the two "What are you doing here?"
The two looked at each other before answering "We came to ask about the man we want to be killed."
The Cave Master stayed silent for a second before saying "Still alive."
"What?! How?" the two exclaimed.
The Cave Master chuckled and said "The kid is stronger than you said, you made me lose many assassins with good potential…"
The two cult leaders felt a chill pass through their body as the Cave Master talked. Thankfully, he wasn't finished.
"He was stronger than you two thought. But I wonder, why would the two of you come here to ask about a mere Iron Rank? I'm sure he would be flattered to know he got the attention of two mighty Legends?"
The Cult Leader of the Demon Cult, who was called Max, said "He and his friend stole something important from my organization…" "A person. Princess Victoria Azure, from the Azure Sky Kingdom, isn't that right?"
Max gulped and said "Indeed. She would have made a powerful subordinate, and a potential candidate for the position of the next Cult Leader. He has to be killed."
Following him, Lin, the Cult Leader of Aemon's Cult, said "He also stole something from me, something precious. But more importantly his personal strength is even more alarming."
The Cave Master showed a toothy grin as he said "Explain yourself."
"First, he is strong, he will at least become an S Rank, very possibly SS Rank from what I've seen. And since he was able to kill the assassins you sent, he might actually have a shot at becoming an SSS Rank. That's why he must be killed."
The Cave Master nodded and said "There you are. Honestly, I don't care about whether he lives or not, he won't have anything against my organization, we are but assassins. The ones he will target is you. But you both know that an an otherworlder, truly killing them is nigh impossible, so what will you do?"
Max revealed a sly smile as he said "Although we can't kill him, we can still make him suffer. Do you know what this is?"
He took out a green flame and showed it to the Cave Master. Once he saw it the Cave Master nodded and said "I see, that is indeed a clever plan. But this will cost you a lot, you know that right?"
Max greeted his teeth as he took back the flame and asked "How much?"
"Depends on you. You can only select Iron Assassins about to be promoted. You can hire as many as you want, you know you will need a lot of them, but know that each one you hire will be considered wasted, so it is your choice."
Max looked at Lin, and after a moment they both nodded to each other and took out a golden key each. The moment he saw the two keys his shone and he said "Never would I have thought it would take a simple boy to get those. You can hire as many assassins as you want with those two keys. Although, if I remember well the limit of this flame is 50 people, right?"
Max looked at the key in his hand with grief as he said "If we give you those two keys, we can pick any assassins you have for our 50 men team?"
"Anyone." Once again, the two cult leaders looked at each other, and then gave the keys to the Cave Master.
Back in the Azure Sky Kingdom, Adam was joyfully blitzing through the fortresses, unaware of the danger coming for him.