Chapter 294: 294 "YGGDRASIL
As a fortress city, Ye·Lan Tier’s appearance fully matches the descriptor "fortress."
It has precisely three layers of city walls, and each layer’s region has a different function.
The outermost area serves as the Re·Yestijie Kingdom’s military base, complete with comprehensive military facilities.
The innermost area is the urban administrative center, which also includes warehouses storing military provisions and is therefore heavily guarded.
The area between the two, the middle district, is where the citizens’ living quarter is.
This living district is the marketplace where the residents of Ye·Lan Tier go about their daily activities.
At the moment, Reiger was walking down the streets of this marketplace, frowning at the layout of the roads here.
The rather narrow roads were not only unpaved with stones but not even flattened, mixing mud and sand to create rural muddied stone paths. There were occasional pits and tracks from carts, making it difficult to navigate.
"So the so-called frontier fortress is actually just a remote rural town?"
Reiger couldn’t help but think this.
But then, he remembered the challenge just outside the adventurer guild’s gates and thought back to those so-called powerful challengers.
"So weak."
Reiger had to give such an assessment.
Silver rank adventurers, though not at the top echelon in this world, had passed their novice phase and held some fame for their substantial capabilities.
Yet, these somewhat renowned figures were incredibly weak in Reiger’s eyes.
"Equivalent to a middle... No, maybe not even mid-tier at Lv.1?"
That’s what silver-rank adventurers were considered in this world—barely qualifying as lower-tier adventurers and ranking low even among them.
Stainless steel, Mountain Copper, Mithril, Platinum, Gold, Silver, Iron, and Copper—how strong could the highest stainless steel ranked adventurers be if the silver placed sixth and didn’t even reach the upper echelons of Lv.1?
"Fortunately, in this world, it’s normal for the natives to be weak; the stronger beings aren’t them."
Reiger then recalled the original story of this world.
At first glance, this world seemed like a medieval fantasy adventure setting similar to the Akashic Continent, with numerous races and monsters besides humans present.
However, in reality, this world had already intersected with a game world called "YGGDRASIL."
That was a game world with a vast degree of freedom, using Norse mythology as its story backdrop.
In that world, there were not only more than seven hundred races, two thousand professions, and six thousand kinds of magic, but also many weapons and items.
And in this world, every few hundred years or so, there would be an incident of "YGGDRASIL" game players crossing over.
Those players brought with them strength, magic, and arms far superior to the natives of this world, each crossing over leaving a profound impact on the world.
Compared to "YGGDRASIL" players, most of this world’s natives were fairly weak and powerless.
For instance, within "YGGDRASIL," players could level up to a maximum of one hundred, while in this world, someone around level thirty was considered a heroic figure among humans, rarely matched by others.
Another example is the magic of this world, which, like that of "YGGDRASIL," is divided into ten tiers. Ordinary people can only use up to second-tier magic through training, geniuses can use third-tier magic, fifth-tier magic is available only to those who have entered the Heroic Domain, and the highest tier of magic humans can use is the sixth level.
Yet in "YGGDRASIL," players who reached the maximum level of one hundred typically wouldn’t use magic below the seventh tier.
They even had magic beyond the tenth tier—Super-Tier Magic.
Thus, it’s apparent just how weak the natives of this world are compared to the "YGGDRASIL" players.
When compared to max-level players, even the highest-level stainless steel ranked adventurers were easily defeated characters, and those adventurers who just challenged Reiger were as insignificant as roadside weeds, not even worth mentioning.
Perhaps such existences would be worth challenging for Reiger?
"And there’s ’Tier Magic’; that’s something to consider learning."
According to the original work, the Tier Magic of this world has many appealing aspects.
It’s not because of their power per se.
As the original work shows, even the most powerful Super-Tier Magic couldn’t destroy a large city or a small country with a single strike. So, in terms of sheer destructive power, Super-Tier Magic was probably about the same as Tactical Level Magic.
However, among the more than six thousand kinds of Tier Magic, many were terrifying not for their destructive power.
There were spells to sever space.
Spells that could crush a living being’s heart from a distance.
Spells that caused instant death without condition.
As well as teleportation spells, Resurrection Magic, enhancement spells, and spells completely immune to physical or magical attacks, amounting to an extreme level of diversity.
In the Akashic Continent, such spells would only be considered combat level and wouldn’t even qualify as Tactical Level Magic.
Yet these combat-level spells could bring about an unbeatable advantage in battle and were surprisingly effective even outside combat, undoubtedly making for a magic system one should not miss out on.
For Reiger, who possessed "Omnipotent" magic, failing to explore it would be a tremendous loss.
As long as the conditions were met, he could directly learn any magic he observed. Were he to fully exploit this magic’s effect, no matter the rank or the number of spells, Reiger could easily master them.
Indeed, once Reiger knew he was about to Dimensional Travel to this world, his primary goal was no longer to enhance his ability scores but to acquire as many different ranks of magic as possible.
Ability scores could always be improved, but opportunities to learn ranked magic weren’t always available.
"In the Earth Mistake World, I received the grace that became the foundation of my growth," he mused.
"In the Demon Slayer World, I obtained the sword techniques that would cement my skills as a Swordsman."
"And in this world, I can clearly make significant progress in magic."
Initially, Reiger had planned to ensure he didn’t neglect his magic training and, as fate would have it, he Dimensional Traveled to such a world.
If he could acquire the ranked magic of this world, delaying the improvement of his ability scores was an acceptable trade-off.
Of course, Reiger hoped to progress evenly in both areas and wouldn’t have joined the adventurer guild to gather information on local monsters otherwise.
"Speaking of which, this world also has ’martial techniques’ as a power system," Reiger pondered.
Martial techniques were a force that only powerful warriors could use.
For warriors, martial techniques were equivalent to the Magic Singers’ magic, a vital part of their abilities.
A mighty warrior employing martial techniques could enhance their own capabilities, launch wide-ranging attacks, imbue their weapons with power, or unleash devastating finishing moves, and it was all quite miraculous.
However, compared to the higher-tier magic, the effects of martial techniques seemed merely satisfactory in Reiger’s view, not worth the effort to specifically learn.
Mainly because Reiger would have to learn martial techniques by himself, unlike magic, which with the help of "Omnipotent," he could master instantly after witnessing it and confirming its specific effects.
Considering the comparison, and given the underwhelming depiction of martial techniques in the original work, Reiger naturally leaned towards studying magic.
The only option for learning ranked magic for Reiger was to start with the protagonists of the original work.
The original protagonist was a level 100 player who had traversed from "YGGDRASIL" and whose profession was a Magic Singer, possessing over seven hundred spells ranging from the first to the super tier, unlike the natives of this world who might struggle even to use third-tier magic.
Moreover, the presence of many powerful NPCs at the protagonist’s side, almost all wielding considerable magical power, made choosing whom to covertly learn from a no-brainer.
The only problem was...
"I wonder if the protagonist has already arrived in this world?"
Reiger spread the map he held in his hands and began to study it.
This was a general map that included the neighboring countries, depicting a reasonably vast region.
The three main human nations depicted on the map were the Re·Yestijie Kingdom, the Bahar Empire, and the Slane Theocracy.
Each of these human nations was located in a different part of the map.
The Re·Yestijie Kingdom was on the left side of the map.
The Bahar Empire was on the right side of the map.
The Slane Theocracy was at the bottom of the map.
Between the Re·Yestijie Kingdom and the Bahar Empire lay a huge mountain range, and to the south of the mountains was a vast forest belonging to the Re·Yestijie Kingdom. The fortress city situated at the end of the forest belonged to the Re·Yestijie Kingdom, beyond which lay the Slane Theocracy.
Thus, the fortress city of E-Rantel was not only the border of the Re·Yestijie Kingdom but also the kingdom’s city closest to the two adjacent nations.
The relationship between the three nations was far from good, even downright hostile, leading to annual battles on the plains near the fortress city.
Reiger’s destination was the intersection of these three human nations.
Because, when the protagonist from the original work Dimensional Traveled here, they did so with an entire force and the guild headquarters of their own, descending upon the northwest edge of the continent, at the border of the Kingdom, Empire, and Theocracy.
Reiger vaguely remembered that when the protagonist first arrived, the surrounding terrain was an endless plain.
"So, it must be this place, right?"
At the intersection of the three countries, Reiger quickly located the vast grassland.
The grassland wasn’t far from E-Rantel.
The closest to it were a few scattered villages.
In these villages, Reiger’s gaze was almost immediately fixed on one in particular.
Its name was Kain Village.
"Let’s go take a look," he decided.
Remembering some information from the original narrative, Reiger packed up the map and headed towards the city gates.
Before long, Reiger had left the fortress city and was heading toward the forest to the south.