NOVEL WEB Chapter 639: Stormwind City
After flipping through the last page of the diary, Max slowly closed it, letting out a quiet breath as the weight of everything he'd just read settled in his mind.
He stared out over the horizon, where distant clouds rolled like waves, the sun casting golden streaks across the sky. The Middle Domain—so vast, so ancient, and so complicated—no longer felt like a formless mystery.
No, he wouldn't call himself an expert. That would be foolish. There were still countless things he didn't know—hidden dangers, secret inheritances, unspoken rivalries, forbidden zones that didn't even make it into the pages of this diary.
But he was no longer ignorant either. He had structure now. A framework to understand this overwhelming world. He knew the names of the major regions. He understood which regions were ruled by first-class forces, which were controlled by second or third-class powers, and how these forces balanced and clashed for dominance.
He understood why some areas were rich in mana while others were battle-scarred wastelands. He now knew the importance of resources, the value of war relics, and why even the geniuses here lived like they were walking on the edge of a blade every day.
The strong ruled openly in the Middle Domain, and the weak were either crushed or used.
Max's eyes narrowed slightly.
He tucked the diary back into his spatial space and slowly stood up from the mountain peak. The wind brushed past him again, rustling his white hair and flicking his long coat. He looked calmer now—but more focused than ever.
"I don't need to know everything," Max muttered to himself, "I just need to know enough."
He turned his gaze toward the distant mountains, where the sun painted the clouds in orange and red. "Time to head out." He muttered flying into the distance.
***
Stormwind Region was just one among the thousands that dotted the vast and intricate landscape of the Middle Domain, but unlike many obscure territories, it stood under the direct rule of the Great Ruler Empire—one of the most powerful first-class forces in the world.
According to the diary Max had read, the hierarchy in the Middle Domain was unforgivingly steep.
A third-class force could barely cling to the power over a single region, while a second-class force might control two or three regions at most. But a first-class force like the Great Ruler Empire? They commanded entire networks of regions, dozens even, with iron authority.
The disparity between the ranks was enormous—first-class forces were leagues above the rest, not just in strength but in influence, heritage, and resources. Stormwind Region was one of their many holdings, a vital part of their web of dominance.
Max reached the Stormwind Region after a grueling month-long journey.
It turned out that when Aria and Elias left, they hadn't dropped him off at the entrance of any known region. No, the place he was abandoned at could only be described as wilderness—endless forest, untamed peaks, and absolutely no signs of civilization for miles.
It took him an entire week just to emerge from the dense, monster-infested woods, and even then, it was hardly uneventful. He was constantly hounded by beasts—some clever, some savage, but all deadly. It was like the forest itself was testing him. And maybe it was.
When he finally stumbled upon signs of human life, he wasted no time in asking for directions. That was when he learned the hard truth—Stormwind Region was far west from his current location, separated by multiple small, unregulated regions.
There was no simple road or direct teleportation route for someone like him. He had to traverse each zone, cross borders, and keep a low profile while fending off bandits, monsters, and experts with inflated egos.
And as for the Black Lotus Guild, it was even more elusive than he imagined. Despite asking around in every region he passed through, no one could tell him exactly where the guild was headquartered. Some claimed they didn't even exist anymore. Others whispered that the guild was hidden deliberately, its members scattered or living in disguise, while their true base remained a tightly-guarded secret.
All Max knew was that finding them wouldn't be a simple task. Unlike the Great Ruler Empire, whose banners flew over city gates and regional capitals, the Black Lotus Guild had erased their trail from common knowledge.
Therefore, Max decided not to rush things. The journey to the Stormwind Region was going to be long anyway, so instead of racing through it, he made the deliberate choice to train along the way.
With the complete and unbroken laws of the Middle Domain surrounding him, Max found that his understanding of concepts began to grow rapidly. In just twenty days—thanks to the aid of his personal Dimension of Time where he could accelerate his training—his four elemental concepts surged to the peak of the 1st level, touching the very limits of the advanced stage.
He was now only a single step away from breaking through to the 2nd level, but that one step, he realized, would require a deeper level of comprehension, a more profound grasp that couldn't simply be rushed or brute-forced.
And it wasn't just his concepts that saw growth. What truly stunned him was the sheer speed of his strength advancement—during that single month, he had broken through two entire levels and was now at the 8th level of the Expert Rank.
This came as a surprise even to him. In the Lower Domain, Max had needed hundreds of high-grade monster cores just to climb one level. But here, in the wild and untamed territories between regions, he leveled up two times.
Max didn't know if it was the effect of the thick and dense mana or the cores of the beasts in the Middle Domain were just so special.
After many battles, countless hours of training, and navigating one small region after another, Max finally arrived at the border of the Stormwind Region. Just looking around was enough to confirm it—though the layout of cities, the blend of tradition and modern architecture, bore similarities to the Lower Domain, the strength they radiated could not be compared.
This place was a different world. Just one small region here could wipe the floor with everything the Lower Domain had to offer. The difference wasn't just in power—it was in heritage, in foundation, in the weight of the world itself.
"So, this is Stormwind Region..." Max murmured under his breath as he stepped through the city gates, his eyes sweeping across the wide streets of Windless City.
It was one of the many gateway cities that lay nestled at the borders of the vast Stormwind Region. The city bustled with life, its streets paved with shimmering stone tiles and bordered by towering structures that fused the elegance of ancient design with modern architectural flair.
Giant screens floated in mid-air broadcasting news, updates, and announcements from major guilds and forces. Mana flowed so naturally through the city's veins that even the air tasted different—richer, more alive.
Without wasting much time, Max entered a nearby restaurant. It was a large establishment with polished floors, floating lanterns, and tables lined with various experts and travelers. He ordered a few dishes and sat near a window, calmly eating as he listened to the chatter around him.
The aroma of spirit beast meat and rare herbs mingled in the air. Just then, a conversation from a table nearby caught his attention—not because it was loud, but because his Three Dimensional Body let him hear it clearly even from a distance.