Xue Mo woke up to find Lu Yao had already awoken and is staring at him sleeping. It's been two days since they entered Jade Wood City, and ever since they arrived at the Inn, they hadn't left.
"Is there something on my face?" Xue Mo asked. "Could it be that you were smitten with me?"
Lu Yao could hear the sarcasm oozing from his voice, but instead of retorting in denial, her heart skipped a beat. Like she had been caught doing something wrong. It was rare for Lu Yao to act like this, other than with Xue Mo no one would elicit such reactions from her.
"It's been two days." She started trying to change the subject. "Don't you want to check the city out? We might find something interesting. 'You don't know when opportunities shall come, don't wait for them but seek them.' These were your words, not mine."
Xue Mo was about to retort but found nothing to counter with. Breathing exaggeratedly with emotions, he said: "Although you should always look for opportunities, resting is more important." Xue Mo said sagely with a wise look on his face.
"Wow!" Lu Yao seemed genuinely surprised, but her next words gave her away. "You should have used this acting with that group."
Sure enough, Xue Mo's expression froze at the mention of what happened with the four people. 'Why is it so difficult to talk these days?' Xue Mo thought while getting up.
Xue Mo hadn't noticed how much he changed in this year. If it were before, he would have stayed silent without saying anything. Now, however, he no longer seems like an emotional puppet without a directive role, but instead, he looks more normal? He wasn't sure, but he felt that meeting Lu Yao had been slowly changing him.
Seeing Lu Yao's flustered face, he thought, 'Payback for last time.'
He wasn't the only feeling that way, though. Lu Yao had also noticed how she had become more active, more talkative, and happier? She wasn't this emotional before and hadn't felt happy for a long time. Spending time with him had made a warm feeling sprout in her heart, making even her reactions seem different. With other people, she acted cold still when she interacted with Xue Mo; she was different.
Jump on to his shoulder that had become her ride and bed this year, Lu Yao inquired. "Where are we going?"
"Weren't you the one who wanted to get out?" Xue Mo asked back. Thinking for a while, Xue Mo remembered that he was currently weaponless, and although with his experience, he wouldn't need a weapon, he remembered something.
'Didn't these so-called sons of heaven find opportunities in unexpected places?' Although he always scoffed at these people who had smooth sailing in their cultivation due to luck, he couldn't deny that luck was also part of one's strength.
"Let's go to a smithery? I should see if there are any suitable weapons here." Deciding their destination, Xue Mo left the Inn to search for it.
"Weren't you a man-hater? Weren't you introvertive? Then why do you keep pushing me to do these things." After mulling over the unfortunate situation she placed him in, he nagged. He only got silence as an answer making him sigh and continue searching.
Xue Mo started pondering after hearing Xue Mo's words. 'He's right! I am a loaner who doesn't like talking to both women and even hate talking to men. Yet, why am I acting this way?' Mulling over things, Lu Yao found the reason, 'Isn't it because I want to spend time with you dummy?' When she had that thought, Lu Yao became dazed.
She only thought of answering the questions, and the answer she got was an unexpected one. Because she wanted to spend more time exploring things with Xue Mo, she got lost in the moment and forgot about her hate.
It didn't take long to find a smithy in this city. Thanks to the good memory that he got, Xue Mo was able to remember the place of one he saw when he entered the city.
The buildings around the smithy looked very extravagant as if the owners had nothing but money to spend. The smithy itself, although it cannot compare to the surrounding buildings in looks, it didn't seem out of place.
Entering the 'Blazing Glory' smithy, they were greeted with the sound of clanks. Not minding to wait as he knew how important it is not to interrupt a working smith, Xue Mo stood silently.
Soon after, a frail-looking middle-aged man with a haggard look and a short beard came out of the backroom. His chest was exposed for all to see, while his hands full of calluses showing how hard he worked.
'Not bad.' Xue Mo being a weapon refinement master in his previous world and the best one at that, he was able to discern that the man in front of him was some who worked hard. Although his appearance seemed meek and thin, he had the experience.
"How can I help you?" The man's voice was deep and heavy. "If you want to customize something, it will be 20 beast cores." He added.
Xue Mo didn't say anything. He started looking around the shop. Swords, Bows, staves, shields, and weapons of all kinds and shapes were displayed all around the shop.
'What is this?' Xue Mo looked around with discerning eyes. What he noticed is that everything seemed exaggeratedly fancy. But the products were the opposite. The durability was almost nonexistent, sharpness, and attack power, although others couldn't tell Xue Mo could. And they were barely usable.
At first, looking at the blacksmith, Xue Mo thought he might find some hidden gem, but instead, he found trash.
Xue Mo's mood became terrible while looking at the weapons on the shelves. Saying nothing, he got up and left.
'What opportunities? What luck? All I could see was trash and fraud.' After leaving the shop, Lu Yao, who was resting inside Xue Mo's inside pocket, said: "What happened back then?"
"Trash." He said that with a disgusted voice. "All those weapons and shields were worthless. The whole shop is a scam!"
Lu Yao didn't question Xue Mo's words. After all, she knew that he was a master. So whatever he said must be the truth.
"Since we are already here, we should do some research on this world." Lu Yao said in an attempt to change the subject. "If we want to leave, with my current level and skills, it will take too much time."
Xue Mo nodded his head. They do need information. Although they lived in this world for an entire year, they knew close to nothing about it.
The best place to learn in any world was the library. And this was their next destination.
The Jade Wood Library wasn't big but average. Stil it was larger than other libraries of the surrounding villages. It was one of the most significant buildings in Jade Wood City. However, Xue Mo saw that it was highly lacking.
Compared to the other libraries that he had seen in his previous world, the library seemed rubish. Still, Xue Mo had no choice but to enter it, seeing no other libraries around.
He strode towards the gate of the library. The guards at the door were doing a poor job at guarding as he could see some people sneaking in, while the guards slept through work.
As he entered the Jade Wood Library, the first thing he saw was an aged woman sitting on a desk reading. She paid no heed to her surrounding as if the only thing around is the book in her hand.
Xue Mo ignored everything around him and headed to the inner section, where he found a shelf reading 'World Matters.'
Picking several books about the world, geography, and history, he walked to an empty table and sat down.
Still pissed by what happened at the smithy, Xue Mo put all his attention on the books. But before he could start reading, Lu Yao, who was in his robe, asked with a worried tone: "What's wrong?"
Only then did he realize that he had been acting too emotional. 'What's happening to me?' Xue Mo started to doubt himself. 'Is it because of Yao?' He didn't know what's happening, but whatever it was, he needed to get it in check. For he knew that if he didn't solve this problem soon, it would become worse later.
Shaking his head to clear his mind, he answered: "Nothing."
Lu Yao didn't question him again after that. But he could still feel her being worried for his sake, making him feel warm inside.
Concentrating on the books in hand, Xue Mo started to binge them. With his great comprehension speed and boosted memory, Xue Mo was able to finish all the 50 books in 2 hours.
"I see." This world, the Ash Expanse, is weak.
Thankfully, on the course of this year, Lu Yao told him about the Hollow Sky Universe's power structure. Like in his old world, the Hollow Sky Universe, works on the law of the strong becomes stronger while the weak become weaker. However, the system is 'fair' and allows everyone to become more powerful equally.
Yet, there are bound to be differences. One of these differences is the Potential they possess. This could be their power, knowledge, level, and elements. No one is the same; this saying also applies to Players.
But because of the fluctuation of Players where some weak ones could be born in stronger worlds and vice versa, this made the Hollow Sky Universe depend on levels and organizations, to determine the power of the world.
Telling Lu Yao his findings, he got up and left. After all other than libraries, there are different ways to fish for information, which is sometimes better than libraries.
****
"Have you heard? The Battle Mage Academy is recruiting this week!" A wealthy-looking kid said to his friend in an excited voice.
"You have also heard that? Did you know that they are sending only one person this time?" An older gentleman on another table interrupted the conversation.
Currently, a black-robed man with an ordinary-looking face was sipping tea while listening to the conversations around him. The unfriendly atmosphere exuding from him stopped people from talking to him.
He was the sore thumb—the one who stuck out. While everyone was conversing joyfully and talking about the recruitment of the Battle Mage Academy, the man was instead silent and cold.
Slowly sipping his tea, Xue Mo thought, 'Is this Battle Mage Academy that good?' After all, constantly hearing about the Battle Mage Academy got Xue Mo curious. Were all these talks exaggerations, or was this Battle Mage Academy as good as it sounds?
He, of course, didn't believe it. 'How could a world this weak have a strong power?' But he had no reason to be prejudiced against it. To say nothing of, he was someone with experience. He had met the so-called low powers that had, hidden artifacts, once in a lifetime genius, and the unknown hidden grounds.
Going through multiple restaurants, bars, and Inns, Xue Mo had searched for information, but all he got was the same thing. The Battle Mage Academy. That's what people had been talking about.
"Mo, isn't this enough? We have searched the whole city." He also knew that there is no more reason to stay.
Getting up, Xue Mo left the necessary payment on the table and left. He was going back to the Inn. Although the day wasn't as fruitful as he thought it would be, it was good enough. The information he learned had allowed him to make a general situation of the Ash Expanse.
***
On his way back to the Inn, Xue Mo had heard about the auction happening in the next few days. Other than the recruitment of the Battle Mage Academy, this was the second most popular thing.
While people were happily discussing various events, one man was walking home.
"So, back to staying indoors?" Lu Yao peeked her head out and asked.
"Yes. No need for more crap!"
Sigh
"Fine, it's about time we get to that anyway." After Lu Yao's last statement, they didn't talk.