Sage entered the Grand Complex before sunrise, alone for the first time since construction ended.
The main gates recognized him and opened onto avenues washed in the pale light of morning, revealing buildings that should have made any Guildmaster proud. The hundred-floor Mana Cultivation Tower stood ready behind the Grand Guild Hall, its formations humming quietly through every level.
Twelve restaurants waited with furnished dining rooms and complete kitchens. The Grand Adventurer Hotel contained hundreds of prepared rooms, from ordinary beds to luxury suites with private cultivation chambers.
Furnaces waited inside the Smithing Complex, alchemical equipment stood polished and unused, and the Monster Material Processing Center had receiving bays large enough for creatures that had not yet arrived.
Everything the System had promised was here. That was precisely why the silence felt wrong.
