Adam appeared in a luxury room, which he immediately associated with the bedroom of the King and the Queen. The room was big, much bigger than Adam's apartment on Earth, and there were several pieces of interest.
First, the bed looked very comfortable, but most importantly it seemed to release a mysterious kind of power, which Adam had never seen before. But since he couldn't understand what it was, he looked away.
There were several paintings, some depicting people while others were of landscapes, but all of them gave an incredible feeling just by looking at them. Adam felt like he was standing in front of the people in the paintings and was directly gazing at the landscapes instead of just watching paintings of them.
There was also some very expensive looking furniture, several doors and finally a library, with two opposing chairs in front of it. On one of them was Skade, reading a book.
Adam approached her and she said "I see you have reached Level 20, and you have some fine equipment. Are you here for you promotion?"
Adam nodded so she put the book back in its place and said "We need to go to the Capital of the Coldlands Empire for you to get promoted. There is a temple there dedicated to this. Before we go to the Promotion Temple though, we will make a stop."
Adam once again nodded, and Skade said "I have the teleportation array ready already, grab my arm." Adam did as he was told and the two teleported away.
This time, Adam found himself in a smaller room. There was a set of runes painted on the pristine white floor, which dazed Adam just by looking at them. Those were teleportation runes. At the edges of the runes he could see a bright crystal at each end, which seemed to be powering the formation.
Skade smiled and said "Teleporting is quite expensive, especially to a place far like the capital. Ready?" Adam didn't even get to answer when he felt the familiar sensation of teleportation.
A moment later, he found himself in a similar looking room. The difference here was that the runes were bigger, more numerous and the crystals were bigger.
"We are in the Clearwater Estate, my family's estate. Come, some people are waiting for us." Skade said.
Adam obediently followed her while looking at everything around him with a curious attitude. They passed by several servants, who looked at Adam funnily, probably because he looked like a country bumpkin, which he actually was.
But Adam didn't have time to take any offense, as he was shocked by the level of the servants. Those were supposed to be mere maids, but they were all Level 100 Gold, at least.
A minute later, they arrived in front of a closed gate, guarded by two guards. They were both Heroes. Moreover, Adam could tell that they weren't the weak kind of heroes, but probably A Rank since they felt somewhat weaker than Skade, who was an S Rank Hero.
Upon seeing Skade, they opened the gate, revealing a library. The library was enormous, but Adam's attention didn't go to any of the books, but rather to a desk, where a man sat.
The man was tall, if he was standing he would probably be at least two meters tall. He had long light blue hair tied in a braid on top with shaven sides. Adam could only see his profile but he looked like a kind man, despite the scar on his jaw.
There was two things that grabbed Adam's attention, and it wasn't the man's identity, which was obvious, but rather the feeling he gave. The moment he saw him, Adam knew this man had opened the 6th Gate, the one Adam never got to open.
The other thing that grabbed his attention came from the tattoo on his hand.
As they entered, the man turned his head, revealing his face to the two.
[Conan Clearwater, King of the North] (Legend, Level 240)
??/??
As he looked at them, Conan revealed a smile and said "Daughter, you are finally visiting your old father?"
Skade rolled her eyes and said "Father, I'm not a child anymore…"
Conan ignored her though and said "Too bad you come here for someone else." His eyes then turned his eyes from his daughter to Adam, and said "So you are the one who was daring enough to take my son as a disciple?"
Adam looked at him straight in the eyes and replied "I am."
The two stared at each other intently for a couple of seconds before Conan burst out laughing and said "I see, interesting! So you did save both my son and my granddaughter?"
Adam nodded, and Conan took out an item which Adam had already felt. It was a Godslayer's Heart. However, after taking the first one another one appeared, and the two flew toward Adam.
Conan said "I heard you are searching for them, and I got two of them. Coincidentally, you saved two members of my family, so consider this as a thank you gift."
Adam had no intention on faking not wanting it, he directly absorbed the two hearts with the ones in his hand already, and said "Thank you."
As he did so, Adam also sent a quick look to the attributes of his new version of the Godslayer's Heart.
[Godslayer's Heart] (Common)
All attributes: +12%
Sealed Power: Ignore Levels +10. (4/4)
Sealed Power: To unseal this power fuse 7 hearts.
Sealed Power: To unseal this power fuse 10 hearts.
Sealed Power: To unseal this power fuse 13 hearts.
Sealed Power: To unseal this power fuse 16 hearts.
Sealed Power: To unseal this power fuse 19 hearts.
Sealed Power: To unseal this power fuse 22 hearts.
Sealed Power: To unseal this power fuse 25 hearts.
Fusion: For this artifact to regain its power all the pieces must be fused back. Fusion rate: 4/25.
"Are you here for your promotion?" Conan asked.
"Indeed." Adam replied to him. Conan smiled and said "Then you have to meet your disciple first." As he said that Adam felt someone appear behind him and as he looked back he saw Johan.
[Johan] (Bronze, Level 21)
HP: 5000/5000
Adam smiled and said "I see you have been promoted already. You got an SS Class?"
"I have, Master." Johan did a short bow to Adam as he replied.
Conan said "Johan and Skade will accompany you to the Promotion Temple. By the way, welcome to Fjora, grand capital of the Coldlands."
Adam smiled and bowed before leaving the library with Skade and Johan. Once out they led him out of the estate, and Adam finally got to see what Fjora looked like.
The Clearwater Estate was placed higher than most of the city, and so Adam could see most of the city from where he was, and it was gigantic.
Johan pointed at a big castle some distance away and said "This is the Imperial Palace, where the Emperor lives. It is exactly 10 kilometers from us."
The Imperial Palace looked very beautiful, Adam couldn't see most of the details but he still could see that there were many carvings on the walls, depicting epic battles. On top of the castle was a big tower, with a large platform on top of it.
As they walked through the streets of the capital, Adam got to learn more about the capital. It had a radius of 100 km around the Imperial Palace, and it was said that none of what happened in the capital could escape the Emperor's perception. That was debatable, but still that made most people too afraid to commit any crime in the city.
Apart from that, Adam also got to see quite a few guards along the way, and all of them were at least Level 150 Gold Ranks, meaning that any single guard inside the city was higher ranked than Princess Victoria. Of course, the guards were only A Rank whereas she was SS, but still, this showed how strong the capital was.
After some time they were able to reach the Promotion Temple. The temple looked quite similar to the Parthenon, be it inside or outside. The biggest difference was the size, as well as the main statue which wasn't Athena, but rather of another goddess, Enya, Main Goddess of the Coldlands and Northmen in general.