Chapter 83 - 82:
Nina remained where she was for a moment, letting her eyes wander across the village.
There was too much to take in.
The road beneath their feet was the first thing she noticed again.
It stretched farther into Velaris than she could see, smooth and properly constructed, with smaller paths branching away from it toward the buildings.
Nothing about it looked temporary.
Then there were the buildings.
The Village Center stood ahead, surrounded by structures that had clearly been built with purpose. The Warehouse and Armory were positioned nearby, their presence alone making the settlement feel more established than any Level 1 village Nina had ever seen.
She slowly turned.
The walls were no longer visible from where they stood.
That fact alone was strange.
They had entered through a gate large enough to belong to a fortress, yet the territory behind it was so enormous that the walls had already disappeared from sight.
Nina had expected a village.
She had expected to find a cluster of shelters hidden behind those massive walls.
Instead, Velaris seemed to stretch endlessly.
Someone beside her let out a quiet breath.
"How big is this place?"
Nobody answered.
Another survivor looked down one of the smaller paths.
"There are more buildings over there."
Nina followed his gaze.
There were.
More structures stood farther away, partially hidden among the trees.
And beyond them, more open space.
She had never imagined a village could have so much room.
King’s Territory had been crowded.
Every available space had mattered. Shelters had been pushed close together. People had learned to live with whatever little room they could find.
Here, there was space everywhere.
Space between buildings.
Space along the roads.
Space beyond the roads.
Even the forest itself seemed to have been deliberately left standing.
Nina looked toward the residents again.
They weren’t rushing around in panic.
Nobody appeared to be fighting over supplies.
Nobody was shouting.
People simply moved through the village as though this kind of order was normal.
That might have been the strangest part.
The place didn’t feel like a settlement that had barely survived.
It felt established.
As though it had been built with the expectation that people would actually live here.
Nina lowered her gaze.
Her thoughts returned to the notification.
[Visitor Entry: 5 Copper]
Five copper.
She still couldn’t quite believe it.
King’s Territory had charged one hundred copper simply to enter.
Velaris charged five.
Temporary residency was only one hundred copper for thirty days.
Even the permanent residency price hadn’t changed.
Ten gold.
The difference was almost absurd.
A survivor beside her shook his head.
"I still can’t get over the price."
Nina glanced at him.
"Neither can I."
He looked around.
"With walls like these, I’d have expected them to charge a fortune."
"Me too."
Nina looked toward the road again.
She couldn’t explain it.
Maybe that was what unsettled her.
Velaris didn’t seem to be trying to squeeze everything it could from the people who entered.
It simply existed.
Strong.
Organized.
Spacious.
And strangely quiet.
Nina slowly exhaled.
Only a few hours ago, she had been walking through the wilderness with no idea whether they would survive another day.
Now she was standing inside a territory she had never heard of, surrounded by things she hadn’t believed a Level 1 village could possess.
The walls alone had already shattered her expectations.
Then there had been the road.
The buildings.
The space.
The prices.
And now Veronica was here.
Alive.
Nina glanced toward the woman standing nearby with Iris’s family.
For the first time since leaving King’s Territory, she felt something she hadn’t expected.
Maybe they had actually found somewhere they could stay.
Not merely somewhere to hide.
Somewhere people could live.
She looked farther down the road.
Velaris was still unfamiliar.
There were questions everywhere.
Who had built it?
Who managed it?
How had a Level 1 village become this advanced?
And what else was hidden deeper inside the territory?
Nina didn’t know.
But for once, she wasn’t afraid of not knowing.
Nina found herself slowing down again.
There was simply too much to take in.
Every few steps, something else caught her attention.
The road beneath her feet was one of the strangest things.
It was such a simple thing, yet after spending days walking through forests, climbing over roots, slipping across uneven ground, and stepping around puddles and stones, the smooth surface felt almost unnatural.
She looked along the road.
It stretched farther into the village, clean and properly maintained, with smaller paths branching away from it.
No one had to fight through the trees to reach their homes.
No one had to carve out a path themselves.
It was already there.
Nina glanced toward the buildings.
People moved between them without urgency.
A few carried baskets.
Others spoke to one another as they went about their business.
There were no frantic crowds.
No desperate shouting.
No one fighting over supplies.
Even the people who noticed the newcomers seemed more curious than alarmed.
Nina couldn’t help wondering how long it had taken for Velaris to become like this.
Then she remembered the notification.
Level 1.
Her brows furrowed.
How could a Level 1 village already look so established?
She had spent enough time around settlements to know that this wasn’t normal.
Level 1 territories were supposed to be struggling.
At least, that was what she had always believed.
Yet Velaris had walls that looked capable of protecting thousands of people, roads that had clearly been deliberately constructed, proper buildings, and enough open space that the village didn’t feel suffocating.
That last part surprised her almost as much as anything else.
There was space.
Actual space.
The buildings weren’t pressed against one another.
People weren’t forced to sleep wherever they could find a patch of ground.
There wasn’t a sea of tents stretching as far as she could see.
Nina’s gaze drifted toward the distant greenery surrounding some of the larger structures.
She remembered the shanty area where she had been staying.
Her small tent.
The cramped surroundings.
The smell.
The constant awareness that dozens of other people were living just as desperately around her.
She hadn’t complained about it.
Compared to sleeping in the wilderness, even a tent had felt like a blessing.
But now that she was standing here, she could see the difference.
Velaris wasn’t simply better defended.
It was designed differently.
That thought stayed with her as she walked.
She looked at the people around her again.
For the first time since entering the territory, Nina felt the tension in her shoulders ease slightly.
Maybe they really had found somewhere they could stay.
Maybe this place wasn’t another temporary shelter waiting to collapse the moment something stronger came along.
She didn’t know.
There were still too many questions.
Who ruled Velaris?
Why had the System created such a strange territory?
How had they built all of this so quickly?
And most importantly, would this place remain safe?
Nina didn’t have the answers.
But for once, she didn’t feel like she needed them immediately.
She had spent days running.
Days surviving.
Days wondering whether the next step would be her last.
Now she could finally stop.
Even if only for a little while.
She took another slow breath.
Velaris was strange.
It was almost absurdly strange.
But standing there among its quiet roads and orderly buildings, Nina couldn’t deny one thing.
She wanted to see what came next.
She simply wanted to see what came next.
Iris watched Nina and the other survivors quietly taking in their surroundings.
Their reactions were exactly what she had expected.
Confusion.
Disbelief.
A little suspicion.
And beneath all of it, relief.
She couldn’t blame them.
Velaris wasn’t anything like the settlements they had probably seen before.
Iris glanced toward the road.
Then toward the walls in the distance.
Her thoughts briefly returned to the beacon.
It had been worth activating.
She had wondered whether anyone would actually notice it.
Now she had her answer.
People had come.
Not dozens.
Not hundreds.
Not yet.
But they had come.
Nina and the survivors standing around her were proof.
The beacon hadn’t dragged anyone toward Velaris.
It hadn’t summoned survivors from across Eldilon.
It hadn’t created some convenient portal that deposited people at the gates.
It had simply done what it was supposed to do.
It had been seen.
Someone had noticed the light.
They had followed it.
And eventually, they had reached Velaris.
Iris’s eyes narrowed slightly.
That distinction mattered.
The beacon wasn’t bringing people to her.
It was guiding people who were already out there.
Which meant the number of survivors who could eventually find Velaris depended on how far the signal could reach.
And how long it remained active.
Iris glanced toward the others.
Caleb was talking to Benjamin about something, while Veronica remained close to Nina.
Henry stood nearby, quietly observing the newcomers.
The bodyguards were scattered around the area, doing what they always did.
Everything looked normal.
But Iris’s mind was already working.
If Nina’s group had found the beacon, then others could too.
Maybe more survivors were already following it.
Maybe some were still too far away.
Maybe others had seen it and decided not to approach.
There was no way to know yet.
Still, the first result was encouraging.
It worked.
Iris allowed herself a small smile.
They had been wondering whether anyone would come.
Now they knew.
Someone would.
The only question was how many.
And how long it would take.
Iris looked toward the distant forest.
Somewhere beyond those trees were people who knew nothing about Velaris.
People still searching for somewhere safe.
People who might one day see the same light Nina had seen.
Her smile faded slightly.
The beacon had done its job.
Now they had to decide what to do with the people it brought them.
That was going to be a much bigger problem.