In the forest were an old man and a young boy about the age of 4. The young boy was holding a sword no smaller than his own body and fighting with an old man almost 3 times bigger than him.
The young boy was sweating as locks of dark hair almost covered his head. This duo was Akira and Sora
The duo kept fighting until the young boy could no longer hold his own sword. Afterwards they had leftover boar meat and ate in silence.
"Akira we're gonna have to go into the city and get some books if you want to learn more about cultivating. And they aren't gonna be cheap either."
Because Akira and grandpa Sora lived in the woods. They were cut off from society and they didn't place as much importance in money or jobs because they didn't depend on anybody else. They got water from the nearby lake and if they decided to get materials for books or tools they hunt for rare animals that might be tuff for normal people to deal with. But that's not saying that people can't hunt for themselves. It's just that they most likely would stay away from the forest and let the sects deal with them.
They normally go into town to get scented candles so that strong animals that are below a certain cultivation level stay away from the cabin. Because of the smell of meat, mostly wild pigs and deer. Strong animals like bears that have big cultivation levels come and are attracted to the cabin.
Because of this Grandpa Sora usually goes into the city every couple months to take care of unnecessary trouble. And now it's because his grandson wants to be a cultivation genius.
When they left to go to the city it took them a while to walk there, but once they started seeing a big wall in the distance they knew that they were getting closer. Once they were at the entrance they heard one of the entrance guards say with an authoritative tone. "every person has to pay an entree fee of 5 copper coins, smuggling people will result in a fine of 1 silver copper coin or worse!"
Akira stared at the guards. Wearing cheap upgraded chain mail and a normal broadsword. Rarely anybody wasn't a cultivator.
Only the talentless cripple or a cursed person wasn't one. Even slaves were cultivators. Living in a slave free world Made Akira weak and different from the practice of this world. But that didn't mean he didn't understand the concept of tyranny and power. In fact, he felt that this world that can make humans literal immortals would never have a power balance. The strongest people that he could think of were sect leaders and the holy church. Who enslave and murder beast men and demons.
Grandpa Sora looked at the complexion of his grandsons face and stated. "If you wanna get strong you have to join a sect. And if you join a sect your gonna have to do miscellaneous chores like guarding cities and collecting herbs."
"But what If you get a good ranking in the sect or become a inner sect disciple."
"That depends on the sect but if you become an inner sect disciple you most likely wouldn't need to do as much."
Akira wore an expression of determination. If he was to get into a sect, he wanted to set records. But that was until much much later as in order to even be able to take the take on the sects hard tests. He would have to be 12 years old.
When they entered the city. Akira wasn't surprised by the wide array of shops and stores. But the more the kept going the more he saw the big businesses. Like the adventure guild for rogue adventurers which don't come from any sects. And most importantly the slave market. Where you could buy beasts all the way to humans who were unfortunate enough to catch the eyes of the rich or strong.
He knew that he shouldn't disrespect people higher than him. Not because of common curtsy. But because he would probably end up dead, or worse.
Grandpa Sora and Akira traveled a little further out until they reached a big shop with a sign out front that read 'cultivation library.'
Walking inside the library was no different from a normal library. Just that you couldn't get access to certain parts of the library without a staff looking at your every move. So when the duo went into the cultivation section of the library it was no surprise that a female staff came to guide them through what to get and what they were looking for.
"What might you be interested in dear costumers"
"We're looking for sword skills and cultivation books for my grandson"
"Then follow me we have multiple types of skills and spell for all categories over on this shelf and even intermediate sword skills on the other shelf. Please feel free to check out as much as you can." The employee than sat back and watched the duo look through skill books that looked powerful or interesting for them to learn from.
After checking out different sword techniques. He settled on some different styles that stood out to him the most. Over the past few years Akira tried cultivating but couldn't so he wanted to buy a book on how cultivation might work. After picking out a classic book that the employee showed him they then went to check out and return back home. But not after buying more scented candles.