CHAPTER 174: CHAPTER 174: RETURNING HOME

Before his eyes went dark, it felt as if he was placed in a pitch-black space devoid of matter.

When the light returned to his eyes, Kane found himself back at the camp of the Giant Wood Forest Dungeon.

Various bustling noises came from all around.

Stepping down from the Teleportation Platform, all the buildings around him seemed relatively simple, yet the necessary infrastructure was in place.

Not far away, Kane saw the cave from before was now renovated, with explorers of various races coming and going.

Judging from the aura of these explorers, most were stuck at a bottleneck here, which made sense, as the Giant Wood Forest was tagged as a copper-marked dungeon.

Kane observed for a while before leaving the camp, walking along the stone path leading out toward the small grove.

Along the road, many explorers could still be seen coming and going.

Walking on the stone path beneath his feet and watching the people passing by.

Kane couldn’t help but recall that a few months ago, this place was still a dense jungle, rarely visited by anyone beside himself.

After all, there weren’t many explorers in town, and those with power were scarce. The forest was full of beasts everywhere; with bad luck, one could even encounter a magic beast and lose their life if not careful.

Recalling the past few years, he soon arrived at the town gate.

Once upon a time, the town was surrounded only by wooden fences, and the gate and the lone sentry tower at the entrance were also made of wood.

But now, all the wooden fences and tower gates had been replaced with stone.

The militia guarding the walls seemed to have become true sentinels, and their leather armor or cloth clothes had become proper armor.

Of course, it was just some relatively lightweight armor.

The wooden spears in their hands had also turned into steel parts and iron shields.

At the town gate, there were many merchants and goods coming and going, and one could see quite a few wealthy families from nearby small cities among them.

Looking at the thriving scene of the town now.

Ah, it seems like I haven’t been back for just over two months, yet it feels like years have passed, an inexplicable feeling of a wanderer returning home arises.

"Is that Kane?"

Kane looked up, glancing towards the place on the sentry tower where the voice came from.

Although the guard wore a helmet and armor, making it hard for Kane to discern his appearance and build.

From the voice, Kane could still make out who this person was: "Hey, long time no see, Bucky."

From Kane’s response, the guard above had confirmed that it was indeed Kane.

"It really is you, I heard from the captain you went to become an explorer, how did you return so quickly? I thought I’d never see you again."

"If you can’t speak properly, then don’t. Just wait, I’ll deal with you later. But never mind that, where’s my uncle?"

Upon hearing Kane’s words, Bucky replied with a cheeky grin, "The captain is right inside the gate, you’ll see him once you enter."

"Oh, thanks, I’ll head over first."

With that, Kane waved and walked towards the town gate.

"Remember to come to the tavern and chat when you’re free!"

Bucky shouted at Kane’s back.

Walking through the crowd into the town’s entrance, Kane immediately saw Uncle Gemu.

Uncle Gemu was currently wearing a full set of armor heavier than that of the guards, with a single-handed straight sword hanging from his waist.

He seemed to be reprimanding a few guards in front of him.

Kane stood there smiling behind him for a moment, listening to him scolding others.

"Told you all not to relax your vigilance lately, yet you still gathered at night to play cards."

"And you, Kus, you actually fell asleep while on night watch last night. What if something happened?"

Uncle Gemu seemed ready to continue admonishing these rookies, but one of them seemed to recognize Kane and pointed behind Uncle.

"Pointing at what, no one’s getting away with anything today just because someone’s here."

Though he said that, Uncle Gemu still looked back.

"Kane, why are you back?"

Uncle Gemu’s face lit up with surprise, and he came over to give Kane a hug.

He then looked Kane up and down to see if he lost any limbs, before pinching Kane’s shoulder.

After doing all this, he suddenly turned to the soldiers behind him saying, "Alright, you’re off the hook for today, return to your posts."

The young soldiers dispersed instantly at their captain’s words.

"Wow, you’ve grown quite a bit. What made you think of coming back suddenly?"

Hearing Uncle’s words, Kane smiled, "That’s because I’ve been promoted to Silver rank so I wanted to come back and rest for a bit. Next time I return, it may be years from now."

Upon hearing this, Gemu was shocked and incredulous, "You’re already Silver? You reached Silver in just two months?"

Seeing Uncle Gemu’s expression now, Kane found it amusing and nodded affirmatively.

With Kane’s confirmation, Uncle Gemu was delighted, patting Kane continuously on the shoulder.

"Awesome, kid! Truly impressive! You’ve always been destined to be an explorer!"

Not far away, a soldier was shouting in Kane and Gemu’s direction.

"Captain, come over to sign!"

Hearing his subordinate’s voice, Gemu shouted back, "Alright, I’m coming."

He then told Kane, "I have something to attend to, but you must come over for dinner tonight, understand?"

"Sure, it’s been a long time since I tasted Aunt’s cooking, I miss it."

"Hahaha, see you tonight then." Hearing Kane’s words, Uncle Gemu laughed heartily, then left towards the town gate.

Watching Uncle leave, Kane walked down the town’s streets.

Seeing all the renovations and many newly built stores, along with countless traveling merchants and tourists, and many explorers.

The entire town seemed to have expanded considerably on both sides.

Admiring the new face of the town, while listening to the conversations of the passing people, Kane leisurely arrived back at his former residence, a stone house situated at the town’s rear.

However, it can no longer be called the town’s rear, as many new buildings have sprung up around Kane’s vicinity, with even more being constructed not too far away.

The area was bustling with workers coming and going, and building materials being transported.

Standing before the house, Kane retrieved his keys from his space equipment and opened the door.