Rio also wanted to explore the city a bit more, but he didn’t have that much time to spare.
He was in a hurry, and he needed to go back home in a month or two, as Lia might come back from her trip in that time frame.
Thus, after taking a small tea break, Rio kept moving.
He entered the streets and passed through various crowds, unnoticed.
There were dwarves and many other different people from various races; Rio even saw many weapon shops.
"Oh, it’s rare to see a human in this land. What brings you to my humble shop, young man?"
Rio entered one of the artifact shops by the street, and this time his invisibility was off.
He had made sure that no one saw him turn off his invisibility, as seeing a person suddenly ’spawn’ in the middle of the street would cause panic among everyone.
He was still in his traveler robe, and he looked like a random thin human, as he had used light elementals to change the way he looked in others’ eyes.
"Haha, I am just a travelling bard... I like travelling all over the world. I was thinking of buying some local specialty as a memory of this journey..."
Rio changed his voice and made it gentler and warmer to not startle the shopkeeper lady.
The old shopkeeper smiled at Rio’s words and replied,
"Oh, it’s rare to see such young travelers these days... Hmm, if you are looking for something that will remind you of this journey, then I recommend this!"
"This is a bracelet made out of local ores and polished with great craftsmanship! The design on this depicts the starry sky!"
Rio walked over and took the bracelet; it was just a normal item with barely any magic properties to it, but Rio liked it.
Just when he was about to purchase it, he noticed another bracelet from the corner of his eye; that one had a design of a full moon.
"Uh, I will take this one too; give me both of them..."
The old shopkeeper smiled at Rio’s choice and spoke.
"hoho, didn’t knew you understood dwarven culture this much kid... to chose a bracelet with the design of a moon... that’s something young dwarven kids give to the women they like you know..."
In ancient times when technology was not this advanced, dwarves had to mine the ores with their own hands, and they used to spend most of their time inside damp and dark mines.
The primitive torches of those times were called ’Moontorches.’ That was because they were like moonlight guiding a lost traveler in a pitch-dark night.
Thus, dwarven youngsters started calling their lover ’s ’moon’ or their guiding ’moonlight.’
Giving an artifact or item with the design of the ’moon’ on it to someone is a popular way of proposing to the one you like even in modern times among dwarves.
Rio had actually read about this in the documents that Ashtel gave him.
Ashtel once bought a ring for his wife with the design of the moon; after reading this information, Rio also decided to buy one too.
But his choice was even deeper; the starry sky bracelet represented him and the darkness of the night, and the moon bracelet was for Lia—that was his final guiding moonlight.
"Err.. well, I am on a journey far away from home, so I thought about buying something for the girl who is waiting for me to go back..."
Rio scratched the back of his neck in awkwardness, and the old lady smiled at his clumsy explanation.
"Hehe, it’s nice to be young. make sure to go home early, kid; don’t make her wait too long..."
Rio nodded his head, paid for the bracelets, and left the shop. He walked into a dark alley and stuffed the bracelets into his space ring.
He did not want to show his space ring in public areas, so he had to choose places where no one was watching.
’Sigh... old people are really troublesome to deal with; they are so sharp at noticing emotions and others...’
After shaking his head, Rio walked back to the main street and headed towards the exit of the city.
There was a flying bus stand nearby, and Rio walked over to take a bus this time.
With his speed and power, it was possible for him to just rush to his final destination, but that would create massive disturbances in the flow of mana.
The dwarf nation is not a backward country with no SS-rankers in charge.
There is one SS-ranker in the dwarf nation, and in Ashtel’s documents it’s mentioned that there are many secrets hidden in this nation.
It’s highly suspected that there is a peak SS-ranker hidden in this nation who’s not been mentioned in any records or documents.
’It’s better to stay low-key and do things in a way that don’t catches the eye of powerful people...’
Rio is on a covert mission right now; it would be a bad idea to run around in a foreign nation so arrogantly.
It will expose his presence, and perhaps he might have to face a peak SS-ranker if he’s not careful.
Rio did not come here to fight and has no motive to fight with a nation that’s already on rather bad terms with the human empire.
In the first place, Rio is a world-famous S-ranker; no nation will take it calmly if he enters their territory without proper permission. No, in fact, most of them won’t even allow him to enter.
This is one of the main reasons why Rio did not enter through legal channels.
He is too powerful, and the dwarf nation will likely deny his entry, as they will have to ask dozens of their S-rankers to constantly accompany Rio just to keep an eye on him at all times.
With Rio’s level of strength, even a dozen S-rankers might not be enough, and the dwarf will always be on the edge until he stays in their nation.
Moreover, after what Ashtel had done in the past, humans are not liked that much here either.
’Let’s just pretend to be a weak travelling bard...’
Rio shook his head and took the flying bus whose last destination was the remote city that Rio needed to go to.
He sat on the last seat and leaned his head against the window as he kept his power usage to the minimum.
Now Rio wasn’t even making himself invisible; his face and looks resembled that of the photo on his fake ID and documents.
He brought out his phone and started watching videos on how to play a flute properly.
After seeing the first ten seconds, Rio arrived at the conclusion that,
’Being a musician is quite hard... ah, I must be the only bard in the world who’s not able to play an instrument...’
’I am bringing shame to the profession of bard’s...’
Rio shook his head while blaming his lack of skills as the bus took off.
The bus flew through the underground tunnels, and after a few minutes of flying, it finally appeared above ground.
The warm sunlight passed through the window and fell on Rio’s face, making him happy.
The fragrance carried by the wind in the dwarven nation was unique.
Mana density, ore composition, land mass, and ocean—there are many factors that make the air so fragrant in the dwarf kingdom. It was a completely new experience.
’I will bring Lia here someday so that we can enjoy this place together...’
The bus flew at a steady pace, and Rio could see mountains and forest below.
There were mountains and hills of different colors everywhere due to the difference in ore composition, and even tree colors varied greatly in this land because of the difference in soil and minerals.
’I am quite sure that they have dozens of types of soil varieties here... dwarf children likely hate the subject called geography, as they have too much syllabus to cover...’
In the human nation, children hate the subject called Monster Species Description.
As the nation with the greatest number of dungeon gates and monsters, there are thousands of monster species, and you have to learn about them all if you want to become a qualified awakener.
Remembering the powers and characteristics of each type of monster is crucial to your safety and life, as you might encounter them in dungeons.
This is one of the main reasons why there are awakeners who specialize in specific directions.
There are just too many types of monsters, so some awakeners decide to specialize in killing a particular fixed type of monster, and they only raid dungeons that have those types of monsters.
This way, they don’t have to keep every other monster’s detail in mind and won’t have to bring too many types of equipment to consider every possible monster power.
But of course, not everyone is like that.
There are people like Rio who like fighting various types of different monsters and beings.
In fact, Lia is the one who’s the most knowledgeable when it comes to monsters, as her combat style is highly dependent on knowing your opponent’s weaknesses.
She’s so knowledgeable about monsters and dungeons that she knows more about them than they know themselves.
’Oh, so that’s the military base mentioned in the document’s...’
As the bus flew forward, Rio also saw the military base located near a hill.
’Wait, that’s not a hill... that is...’
Rio’s jaw almost fell on the floor when he noticed that the massive hill in the distance was actually a massive golem disguised as a hill!
’Insane... Those things are made out of adamantium and mithril! Even I might find it difficult damaging it; how much money they pour into that thing!?...’
Seeing the military capability of the dwarf nation, Rio decided to stay low-key.