The tall woman saw them approaching and immediately straightened her posture.“Can I help you two with something?” she asked with an unfamiliar accent. Maybe somewhere Nordic or Scandinavian.“We are looking for an information exchange,” Devon directly said without any preamble. “We are trying to understand how this whole place works.”The woman studied them closely for three minutes, clearly assessing their threat level. “You two are from the Alliance, I've heard. The group that killed the Corruption Titan, right?”“Yeah, that's us,” Seichi confirmed.“Fine. I'm Frida of Freya,” she said, extending her hand in a friendly gesture. Devon shook her hand, and felt her grip was surprisingly strong for a woman.“I'm Devon of Anubis. Nice to meet you.”“Seichi of Susanoo, good to meet you too,” Seichi shook her hand.Frida nodded her head and smiled. “Come on. We’ll talk inside.”She led them inside one of the main buildings. The interior was sparse but clean. Stone floors, simple wooden fu

The Market District was massive in scale and messy in every way. Hundreds of people crowded the narrow alleys between stalls, some haggling, some arguing, and others just browsing with sharp, suspicious eyes, always questioning the price or the quality of what was being sold.Through his Death Sight, Devon could see the place was packed beyond belief. Thousands of people, a dozen powerful champions, and the cold, hollow signatures of Guardians standing evenly spaced apart, watching everything with silent vigilance.“Don’t wander off,” Grendel muttered in a low voice. “Don’t get separated, and don’t buy anything without all of us agreeing first.”They moved as one group through the main thoroughfare. Stalls lined both sides, selling anything imaginable.Weapons hung from racks on display. Swords, spears, war axes, bows and arrows, and even strange weapons Devon had never seen before. Some glowed faintly with enchantments, while others looked plain but were clearly well-crafted.Floatin

“Where do we meet again later?” Raline asked. “Let’s regroup at the fountain after four hours. That should be enough time for everyone,” Grendel decided after thinking for a moment. They split up, each heading toward their assigned destinations to buy the supplies they needed. Devon and Raline walked together toward the medical supply section. The place was quieter, cleaner, and more organized than the rest of the Market District. The sharp smell of antiseptic filled the air. “This place almost feels normal, like when we used to shop back home,” Raline murmured as she inspected surgical tools one by one. Devon chuckled softly. “Except now we’re shopping so we don’t die in a damn death tournament.” “You’re so pessimistic…” Raline muttered, glancing at him while he just shrugged indifferently. For an hour they picked out everything needed for Raline’s medical team to treat and heal the participants. The prices were reasonable, one full medical kit cost 500 SP. They bought

They reached the main building and began organizing the supplies, with Williams took charge in delegating the tasks efficiently. The territory then buzzed with people that were organizing, preparing, or even making their space more defensible and functional.Devon went to the building's upper level, looking out over their territory and the plaza beyond, where hundreds of groups were doing the same thing like their group was.But how many would actually make it through the Second Round?"Penny for your thoughts?" Raline appeared beside him, watching over the buzzling plaza below them. "Just thinking about the odds," Devon admitted. "We lost almost half the participants in the First Round. The Second Round will be worse.""Then we should get better, stronger, smarter, and more prepared. That's all we can do," Raline said simply."You make it sound easy.""It's not easy, but simple, my big bro," she replied, leaning against the railing.Devon smile slightly. His sister had always been b