It was like the famous rendition of the fantasy city from Earth, the White City. A mixture of a strange Greco-roman design for the buildings and culture, but with some alien touches.
The buildings appeared to have their foundations slightly above ground, with large pillars and arches leading to the entrances of these constructs. They were typically built with cut stone that seemed to be painted with a varying amount of colors, with white being the most common.
The same too could be said for the people. The residents all wore either chiton for the males and stolas for the females. They were basically cloth-like dresses that covered their shoulders all the way to their ankles. All of them also wore sandals that looked quite comfortable and still fashionable on Earth.
They walked the paved streets in groups, either as a family or a group of believers discussing their day. It was quite a scene to behold right after coming from a portal, especially for Gunner and Xela.
As for Darius, he was pretty sure that only a place like Gravitas would be able to leave him in awe. After showing a suitable wowed expression for appearance's sake, he snapped his fingers to wake up the two natives of Faust behind him and the group moved on.
He already had the City of Divinity mapped in detail, so he walked through the streets with a purpose. As one could imagine, his main goal was to visit the temple of Thor and return the hammer to him.
Darius had pondered carefully on how he would handle this event. The Event detailed three ways to complete it, giving it to Thor, Odin, or Loki. Each option had its own rewards and for some, consequences.
Giving it back to Thor was the default option. It rewarded 30 AP and 50 SP as well as a Thunder Element Dragon's Egg and an Implantable Thunder Heart.
Returning it to Odin was an intermediate option that gave the same amount of SP, but more AP, as well as a Potential Unlocking Ceremony. Darius wasn't sure what that did, but going by the obvious assumption of what that ceremony brought, it would be mostly useless to him. He never needed to worry about potential limitations with the Supreme System.
There was the unorthodox option to hand it to Loki, who would definitely use it to cause trouble. This rewarded a whopping 100 AP and SP with nothing else but two consequences, garnering the hatred of Thor and the dislike of Odin.
Darius hadn't even considered this. It was utter stupidity to offend a deity for some measly gains he could acquire through level-ups or other Events. Rather, it was more economical to return it to Thor and gain his favor.
Odin would remain neutral about this choice since it was the righteous one and he was aligned with good. He basically only wanted the hammer to berate and punish his son for being careless, so it being returned would make him sigh with relief.
Loki also would not care as he never would have assumed that he would be an option. After all, the three of them could not see these quest details, could they?
This was likely why Loki only rewarded a lot of AP and SP without anything else. The hammer wasn't a big deal to him, just a toy he could use for some quick fun.
Analyzing it like this, the wise choice seemed obvious, no?
Darius and co did not bother to hail a carriage, though the City of Divinity was quite large. After all, every single God of Faust had a temple here in the capital. These were their main temples, where they would descend from their Divine Kingdoms first.
That was why Darius also chose here as his destination. He stopped by a forex trader along the way and exchanged more of his gold for local currency, which were all silver coins called Dius.
Darius was able to acquire 50 Dius for one ton of gold, which made him frown. He understood the value of the different currencies on Faust except Gravitas through his research during the 5 years.
Obviously, if he could spawn Treasure Maps by guessing their name and trying his luck, he could also spawn important books with valuable knowledge. However, the demand for accuracy in the title had been intense.
He knew that 50 Dius was not enough to do much here, as the cost of living alone per month for the poorest bloke amounted to 20 coins per month. People were paid more to sweep their bloody temples than what he was being offered!
Darius frowned visibly and narrowed his eyes as the forex trader. "Good madam, this is my first time visiting here, so please enlighten me. Is the value of one ton of gold this low? Isn't 50 Dius the equivalent of working in the temples for just half a month?"
The forex trader, an old woman with graying hair and a sharp frown raised her head with irritation. Despite being a complete mortal talking to an Adept, she showed no fear.
"What? Of course, there's a difference in value. One is doing holy work by keeping the blessed temples of the Gods clean while you only brought gold which has very little use to us here. How can the value be the same?"
Darius's lips twitched. So they were valuing it subjectively instead of objectively? As expected of a place controlled by a theocracy. Logic and rational thinking was the last thing on their mind.
Now that he knew this, Darius was not going to argue with this woman. Trying to convince a fanatic was the most foolish and wasteful endeavor a sane person could take upon themselves.
As such, he simply changed a few more tons of gold to Dius. It might seem like a waste, but he had prepared 50 Bags of Holding full of gold to be exchanged when he reached other continents and needed their currency.
He needed Dius because he had other plans for coming to this city after he had completed the Event. As for giving this bloody woman anything of more value, he wouldn't do that even if he were beaten with a grilled drumstick.
