Dragonbone City.
It was named after the Dragonbone Mountains where it was situated.
That mountain range spanned the southern part of the Akara Continent, standing as the longest and highest mountain range in existence.
Stretching from the Blackwater Corridor in the west all the way to the vast Boundless Desert in the east, it reached directly into the central heartland.
It was a natural geographic barrier.
It was precisely because of its existence that for the thirty years after the Demon God descended, the borderlands had almost never suffered a large-scale demon invasion.
That is, until ten years ago.
A branch of the Dark Tide surging from the Giant's Canyon shattered the peace of the borderlands.
That disaster caused countless families to say their final goodbyes and triggered the largest mass evacuation in the history of the borderlands.
Dragonbone City sat nestled between the Emerald Tundra and the Dragonbone Mountains.
While called a city-state, it was actually quite small in scale.
It had originally been nothing more than a supply station established by the Transport Guild at the edge of the Emerald Tundra, meant to allow caravans traveling to and from the tundra to rest and refit.
Later, it gradually developed into a small city with a permanent population of only twenty to thirty thousand.
Most were caravan guards, porters, ordinary merchants, adventurers, and their families.
The city-state's architectural style was very practical.
There were no fancy decorations; the buildings were all low houses built of thick ashlar.
A thick layer of moss was laid on the roofs, providing both warmth and concealment.
The streets were not wide, but they were paved flat.
General stores, blacksmith shops, and taverns lined the sides, their signs swinging back and forth in the wind.
Lin Gui sat atop his staff, nearly leaning against Elvia's back as they floated toward the small city.
His body had no strength left to give. His left arm was broken, and his ribs pained him so much that he had to take every breath with extreme caution.
If not for the Levitation spell supporting him, he wouldn't even have been able to sit upright.
Elvia, on the other hand, was full of energy.
Having eaten the white bread and drunk the honey water, she felt as if she had been brought back to life.
With one hand supporting Lin Gui and the other controlling the staff's direction, she looked toward Dragonbone City with bright eyes.
The staff wobbled as it drifted over the low hills, and the silhouette of Dragonbone City grew clearer and clearer.
Before they even entered the city, Lin Gui saw that towering mountain range.
The Dragonbone Mountains.
It loomed before them like a gargantuan city wall, separating the borderlands from the central heartland.
The mountains were grayish-white, reflecting a faint, cold light under the sun.
The peaks pierced the heavens, their summits hidden so deep within the clouds that they could not be seen at all.
Lin Gui looked at those peaks with a complicated expression.
Particularly toward the highest peak—the one whose summit could not be glimpsed no matter what.
A trace of an extremely faint emotion flickered through his eyes.
But it was gone in an instant, suppressed back down.
Elvia didn't notice any of this. Controlling the staff, she flew directly toward the city gate.
The gates were wide open, yet not a soul was to be seen there.
The sentry posts on the city walls were also empty, with only a few faded flags fluttering listlessly in the wind.
Lin Gui took one look and understood the situation.
It seemed the nobles here had also received news of the Dark Tide breaking out in the borderlands and had fled with their forces.
The staff drifted through the city gate and landed on the street.
The moment Elvia landed, she dumped Lin Gui to the side and rushed toward the nearest inn.
She desperately wanted a proper hot bath.
Lin Gui stumbled, failing to find his footing, and fell directly onto the ground.
"Hss—"
He bared his teeth in pain. The sharp agony from his left arm turned his vision dark, and his ribs felt as if they had been stabbed with a knife.
Propping himself up with his oak staff, he struggled to sit up and looked in the direction where Elvia had vanished.
She was already long gone.
This girl.
Lin Gui grumbled to himself, though he didn't have the energy to truly curse her out.
Whatever.
Bracing himself with his staff, he adjusted his posture to make himself slightly more comfortable, then looked up at the street.
Desolate.
Exceedingly desolate.
There were few people on the street. Occasionally, a few pedestrians would walk by, but they were all in a hurry, heads down, their faces marked with obvious unease.
The shops on both sides were still open, but the owners stood at their doorways, glancing toward the west from time to time with grim expressions.
As he had noted with a glance earlier, there were indeed very few members of the Defense Force to be seen on the city walls.
Lin Gui used his staff to make himself float, drifting deeper into the street.
It had taken nearly an hour to get from the tundra to here.
His body wouldn't allow for any strenuous activity, so floating slowly like this was enough.
The injuries on his body were no longer something herbs could cure.
Broken bones, mana overdraft, and internal injuries of unknown severity.
He urgently needed a priest.
Normally, when adventurers suffered serious injuries, they would go to a church to request treatment from a priest.
But churches weren't something every city-state possessed.
When they first entered, he had looked down from a high altitude.
There were no distinctive buildings like churches in this small city.
Lin Gui would not have mistaken it.
In that case, there was only one place to find a priest.
The Adventurer's Guild.
Lin Gui supported himself with his staff and drifted all the way there.
After asking a few grim-faced residents along the way, he quickly found the location.
It was situated relatively deep within Dragonbone City.
Lin Gui finally laid eyes on the Adventurer's Guild, which he hadn't seen for a long time.
The Adventurer's Guild in Dragonbone City was a two-story stone building.
A faded plaque hung at the entrance, carved with the insignia of the Adventurer's Guild.
The door was open, and the noisy sounds of people came from within.
Bracing his staff, Lin Gui floated inside.
There were many people in the guild hall, most of them young.
They were huddled around the bulletin board looking at something, or gathered in twos and threes to chat.
They wore crude leather armor and carried a motley assortment of weapons.
Some carried swords on their backs, some had bows slung over their shoulders, and some were simply holding wooden sticks.
The moment Lin Gui drifted in, many people looked up at him.
Those gazes held curiosity, scrutiny, and even a hint of admiration.
Lin Gui was also scrutinizing them.
Young.
Too young.
Every face was more naive than the last; some looked only fifteen or sixteen years old.
Lin Gui could tell their strength with a single glance.
Apprentice.
Apprentice.
Still Apprentice.
Occasionally, there were one or two at the Low Rank, who were already the strongest ones here.
Not a single one had reached High Rank.
And the Priest class had a minimum requirement of High Rank.
Which meant... there were no priests.
Lin Gui's heart sank.
With the Dark Tide nearby, anyone with talent or capability would never remain in a city-state so close to the borderlands.
Could the priests he needed have all run away?
Having come to Dragonbone City specifically to seek medical attention, Lin Gui really hadn't expected this.
He retracted his gaze and drifted toward the counter.
A young lady stood behind the counter.
She wore the guild's uniform of a gray cloth dress, her hair pulled back in a bun to reveal a smooth forehead.
She froze for a moment when she saw Lin Gui drift over.
The Levitation spell on that staff caused a flash of surprise in her eyes.
She understood the special nature of this magic far better than all the rookies present.
She quickly regained her composure and put on a professional smile.
"Is there anything I can help you with, Lord... Adventurer?"
She paused on the word "Lord," her tone carrying a hint of inquiry.
Having worked in Dragonbone City for so many years, she knew almost all the local adventurers.
She was certain this disheveled mage before her was not from around here.
With the Dark Tide currently ravaging the area, an outside adventurer had actually come here?
Lin Gui leaned on his staff and looked up at her.
His face was covered in bloodstains and grass-and-wood ash.
His left arm hung at a bizarre angle.
The mage robes on his body were tattered, revealing skin covered in bruises and abrasions.
Yet when he spoke, his voice was very calm.
"I need a priest."
"I want to post a treatment commission."
Hearing Lin Gui's request, the receptionist said to him with some embarrassment:
"I'm sorry, most of the priests in Dragonbone City have already... fled to the east."
Lin Gui's disappointment was visible.
Just as he was about to leave the Adventurer's Guild and try his luck at a private clinic, one of the lads among the Apprentice adventurers couldn't help but speak up.
"A priest?"
"Monica... from the Thousand Towers party that's here for an advancement commission."
"I think she's a priest."
"I remember she hasn't left yet."
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