Ryuu was suddenly struck by a query as such he could not help but ask his sisters, "Big Sis the 'White Horned Basilisk', that you hunted why did it not use its petrifying powers?"
Antariskh gave a mildly amused smirk as she spoke, "So you did notice that, I was thinking how long will it take for you to notice that small detail."
Ryuu pouted at that.
Sylvana who caught up with them answered Ryuu, "Well that is because the beast was a variant."
Ryuu looked confused as he spoke, "What do you mean variant? Shouldn't variant be stronger than its normal counterpart?"
Sylvana shook her head in disagreement as she replied, "It is a common misconception that variants are better, as reverse can also be possible like this fellow did not have the ability to petrify."
Ryuu nodded at that before he asked Sylvana something, "Big sis what was the golden thing you collected from the corpse of the 'White Horned Basilisk'?"
Sylvana answered seriously, "That was the essence of the beast which it inherited from the ancestor, anyone who consumes the essence and is able to fuse it themselves have a chance of gaining as well as performing the inherent skills of the beast. There are many precautions and various rules and regulations one needs to follow before they can utilize the essence, which you do not need to worry about for now you will learn about them as you make more progress in Alchemy, on top of that this sells well in the market."
Ryuu nodded at that.
They spend their vacation teaching Ryuu mostly about hunting and stealth, as they moved down the coast, before the suddenly changed their direction as the stated moving towards the mainland.
Ryuu was sulking the entire way as they moved further and further away from the coast.
Shamiran, "Little brother, do not be sad, you will surely visit the sea sometime in the future, but there are many things in the mainland as interesting as the sea."
Ryuu nodded at that although he knew in his heart there is nothing he could do change their mind.
After a couple of days of travel they arrived near an arid mountainous area.
The group was dressed like simple travelers as they neared a small town.
Ryuu, "Big sister where are we currently?"
Antariskh replied with a smile, "Well we are at the outer fringes of the Tianyu Dynasty, the Dynasty spans around a few hundred million square miles in area, containing many prefectures of various sizes and importance, this is one of the small town present in a small prefecture, it is a mining town but the ores are of low quality the only other saving grace for this place is it near a major trade route, but it also means it attracts bandits and thugs."
Ryuu: "What about the security, I mean the local police and the local militia."
Shamiran snorted at that, "The Prefecture Govern is the sworn brother of the biggest bandit around this region, the police and local militia work to route any potential competition for the bandit, as well a scout out any decent target, as such we are dressed as normal travelers it will be to annoying as well as horrifyingly boring dealing with this flies."
Ryuu sweat dropped at that, before he spoke again, "Why don't the people then complain to the Emperor or someone who is higher up than the 'Governor'?"
Sylvana laughed at that, "The entire is corrupted dear, complaining will only cause one to be killed nothing more nothing else, on top of that the Emperor himself is at Golden Immortal level and he does not have time to deal with the problem of mere mortals."
Ryuu just frowned, "That is just an excuse for him."
Shamiran just shrugged as she replied, "Well but it is not our problem, we will be restocking some necessary supplies before we move on. Oh and Ryuu an unexpected emergency has occurred so we will move on to the nearest village I do not trust this strangers and this towns are breeding grounds for thugs, so we will move you to more a remote area, so that some unwanted person does not catch sight of you."
Ryuu asked in apparently confused at their decision, "I do not understand you are already here so I do not think they are above your ability to protect me."
Antariskh spoke guiltily, "Well baby brother we are sorry to say but an emergency has occurred which requires our immediate attention, as such we will have to leave but do not worry we will leave more than half of our maids here who will take care of you. We promise you that we will return before you know it."
Ryuu frowned as they tried entering the town, they were stopped by the guards, as Ryuu observed them he grimaced as he idly thought, 'Are they pigs or what, they surely look like it.', as such he named the 'Mister pork' in his mind.
The fattest among the guards stepped forward with great difficult, whom was name d by Ryuu as 'Mister Porky #1' as he spoke, " Halt, new comers to this town has to Pay 10 low level spirit stones or half of your goods as tax, preferably whichever is higher, if you do not have the amount leave your belongings here as punishment for wasting my time and scram or else", as he pointed with his chubby hands a lot of dead bodies hung near the doorway.
Spirit stones are currency used by cultivators they are divided into Low, Mid, High, and Peak, each of them has different valuations,
1 Low Grade Spirit Stone = 1 Kg of 24-karat gold
1 Mid Grade Spirit Stone = 1000 Low Grade Spirit Stone
1 High Grade Spirit Stone = 1000 Mid Grade Spirit Stone
1 Peak Grade Spirit Stone = 1000 High Grade Spirit Stone
Asking for such amount was tax was a daylight robbery but from seeing the way they were treated by the guards it seemed to be a common occurrence here, the only difference between a bandit and them was that they were the law.
Ryuu frowned at that the person was only a rank 3rd Xiantian level cultivator, and according to one of his maid the strongest person here was only a rank 4th Zifu Disciple, he could easily slap themselves to death. But before they could speak a suave voice came from behind them, "Oi, Jong, I do not think it is gentlemanly to ask money or good for them, let them pass I am sure they would love to pay the 'TAX' in private.", they all turned around to see a tall lanky fellow who was leering at them , upon seeing the person a thought ran through Ryuu's mind, 'ugh my eyes are going to be blinded, and I feel sick who dresses so obnoxiously and what is this vomit inducing smell, is this perfume.'
While the group recoiled on seeing a human who rose the words, 'dressed like a peacock', to a new meaning. The man tried to flare his 'Heaven Shaking and Earth Shattering' strength of only a rank 4th Houtian, in order to try to impress or intimidate or both, but it only managed to increase the disdain of the ladies.
Jong or as Ryuu dubbed him as 'Mister Porky #1', just gave a small smile as he rubbed his hands greedily, "Well Young Master Hai, your wish is my command, just do not forget about your little servant."
The man just snorted as he replied, "Since when I the Mayor's 'Only Son', forget about the guard captain of my father.", he spoke while trying to make sure that the new comers understand and learn their proper place.
Ryuu could not help but face palm himself as he swore, 'one of these days I will rid the universe of these morons.'
He knew that his sisters were not amused and he prayed that any innocent does not get caught during the crossfire, after all his sisters had the bad habit of going overboard.
Sylvana spoke seriously, "Ryuu sometimes during a stealth mission one cannot draw attention to one self by some form of dangerous techniques which might bring a lot of attention as such they create a distraction to slip by."
Ryuu nodded as his entire attention was focused on his sister as his body tensed in preparation to see what kind of distraction she is going to use.
Sylvana just raised one of right hand, as an array suddenly formed and with a flash of light it disappeared.
Suddenly the so called Young Master Hai's eyes glazed before crouched on all four as he ran inside the city sounding like a pig, 'oink oink', soon the entire entourage of Young Master Hai as well as the group of 'Mister Porky' chased after him as they shouted, "What a delicious piece of ham chase after it we definitely should get hold of him before the cheap-skate Mayor or his son gets hold of it and eats it."
Sylvana spoke in a serious manner, "Yosh distraction successful let us enter quickly the array will lose its effect after 10 minutes."
As such they swiftly entered the city while Ryuu was trying hard from not falling on the ground with laughter, his sisters really have a very odd sense of humor.