Crawling home after another grueling day of training, Noxtis greeted Grandma Reah as his muscles screeched for rest.
As Noxtis dragged himself upright and walked into the kitchen, a small woman with a slight hump and a bright jade-colored shell covered her back. "What have you brought home for me this time little one?"
Holding up a basket full of various leafy veggies and fruits, Noxtis smiled. "I left the big one outside for cleaning and cutting along with a deer I managed to come across. I found a bush of your favorite strawberries too."
Grandma Reah steadily walked outside and gasped. "You managed to catch another Giant Earthworm? Oh Noxtis, you spoil your granny too much. And the strawberries are so large this season, I hope you didn't pluck too many of them. What do you want this time?"
Chuckling lightly and rubbing his nose, Noxtis helped out cut the deer and earthworm to Grandma Reah's instructions. "You know me best Grandma, I need to look for a special piece of metal to forge a sword. I can't find anything that matches what I'm looking for in the forest or near the village so would like to leave for the village to find it."
"Why are you asking me then?
It's about time you decided to leave the nest. I took care of myself before you were dropped off at my doorstep and I'll surely be fine when you're off adventuring. Besides, I know you've been training yourself well and need some journeying to grind out the rough edges. Just be sure to visit your granny every now and then kay?"
"Awwww Grandma! You're the best!" Pleasantly surprised that there wasn't too much resistance from granny about leaving, the fatigue melted away from Noxtis as he happily continued to butcher up the giant earthworm.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sometime later after Grandma Reah portioned out almost all of the Giant Earthworm to the other villagers and was preparing dinner for herself and Noxtis, the village chief stopped by and knocked on their door.
"Be a dear and get the door for me Noxtis, it's just the chief. He won't come by here unless it's somewhat important."
Getting up from his lotus position, Noxtis walked to the door briskly and opened it to find the village chief at the door.
Seeing that Noxtis was the one to open the door, the chief frowned just slightly. He did not exactly understand why the youth gave him this feeling every time. It must've either been due to Noxtis' bloodline or something else entirely. Unlike some of the people in the village, the chief was actually one of the few who welcomed Noxtis as part of their village despite his bloodline not being the same.
The chief looked to be roughly middle-aged but his muscle tone and stature were deceiving with his cultivation level and was actually much older. Despite being the leader of a small village, the chief already was at Peak of the muscle tempering stage, making him one of the strongest cultivators in the area.
The chief's overall friendly nature and defensive bloodline techniques were in large part to why the village was a very safe position and got along well with their neighboring villages and tribes.
"Hello child, I just came by to let Reah know that the merchants from the Crimson Scale tribe should be arriving soon."
"Crimson Scale tribe?" Noxtis tilted his head slightly having never heard of such a tribe before or seen them in the area.
"Ahhh that's right, you were too busy training to remember the last time the Crimson Scale tribe came by the village and too young to remember the first time since you've been here. Since you don't attend the cultivation teachings with the other children, I can tell you about them a bit. Do you mind if I come in for tea?"
Nodding, Noxtis ushered in the village chief and prepared some seaweed tea and fruit. Quickly telling Grandma Reah about the Crimson Scale tribe visit, she just waved her hand in acknowledgment and went to the storeroom.
Sitting down and sipping the tea, the chief snacked on some fruit. "It's pretty simple really, out of the many different beastkin tribes, the dragon tribes are famous for being the most trustworthy and strongest merchants. The Crimson Scale tribe is the one who governs our area and they travel around every five years to each of the various villages and towns to buy and sell items."
"How much area do they cover to only stop by every five years? Do they travel all the time?"
Chuckling, the chief shook his head. "While the various dragon tribes do control a vast amount of area where they travel. The several merchant caravans they send out travel around to each village to train their young in cultivation and as merchants.
Outside of that time, the dragon tribes will set up their main city near some sort of resource-rich area. The Crimson Scale tribe makes their home near a mountain range with an abundance of ore and metal resources."
Mirko's Fragment spoke up in Noxtis' mind. 'Well isn't that convenient? Well since they are a merchant tribe you may be able to locate what you need for your sword spirit. Better than trying to find such a thing on your own, let me see if I can remember anything that you might be able to trade for such a resource."
Excusing himself to organize the village for the visiting Crimson Tribe, the village chief left after drinking the rest of his tea. Leaving Noxtis to sit with his own thoughts.
"Dragon tribe huh...I wonder if they have anyone I can fight. I wonder how far I've progressed."
~~~
"Noxtis! Hey Noxtis, are you listening?"
With a loud thump, a flying sandal soared through the air and hit the dazed Noxtis smack dab in the back of the head.
Rubbing his bruised pride, Noxtis looked over as the slightly irritated Grandma Reah was holding her other sandal with a threatening glare. "Yes, Grandma? What do you need?"
Exasperated at the oblivious child's antics, she pointed towards several wrapped-up pieces of Deer and Giant Earthworm. "Get off your ass and carry these to the trading area, we're going to meet with the Crimson clan and these old bones want to be there to get a good spot."
"Okay okay, geeze. It's not like the other villagers wouldn't let you get any spot you wanted anyway, why do you gotta be in such a rush?"
Raising her other sandal into attack position, Noxtis found a sudden urgent desire to quickly scoop up all the packages and practically storm out towards the trading area.
Arriving at the trading spot that had been set up a couple of yards away from their village, Noxtis could see a large amount of the village families eagerly setting up their own stalls.
Doing their best to spruce up their stalls with eyecatching wares from crafted shields and herbs to various mysterious item fragments and ores, all the families' hustle and bustle was quite a welcome sight. Even more, so that the other youths and adults that would usually shun and look at Noxtis awkwardly didn't even notice his arrival.
Going towards the spot that Grandma Reah had told him about, Noxtis spotted the village chief over in the location having just set up a stall in the area.
"Ahh Noxtis, you're just in time. I set up this stall as per Reah's request, I have to go and tend to other families so I'm sure you can take it from here."
Seeing the half-finished state of the stall, Noxtis sighed and rolled up his sleeves, and began to quickly set up the rest of the stall and make sure it was nice and shady for when Grandma Reah arrived.
Not that much longer, Grandma Reah rounded the corner and made her way into the fluffy chair that Noxtis had just finished building for her.
"Sorry I am late dear, I had a couple of young'ins stop me for some hard candy. So when is the Crimson Scale going to arrive?"
Shrugging and plopping down in his own chair, Noxtis replied. "I have no idea, Chief didn't tell me anything when I saw him and I haven't seen any dragon merchants appear yet."
Already fast asleep in her fluffy chair, Grandma Reah must've really tired herself out from all the walking, cooking, and butchering she had done earlier. Not that she wasn't sleeping most of the time on a usual day but Noxtis just smiled and watched over the stall's goods while cultivating some more.
'Yo kid, I finally found something that might be of use when the merchants come around. I didn't realize my true body was so explored and even has a Dragonkin friend up in the world of gods. While they aren't of the same tribe, this technique should be usable by all dragonkin and more than enough to help find the metal you need.'
"And you're remembering this just now?"
'Don't get snippy with me boy, I'm still your master and you should be glad I'm helping you this much at all. I saw your desire to go fight one of the dragonkin. While you can hold yourself well against the beasts of the forest, fighting a cultivator is on a whole different level. Dragonkin are quite well known to be quite strong so don't embarrass me too much when you get your ass handed to you.'
"Master...why do you have so little faith in me? I'll be sure to be as humble as possible okay?"
Despite not having any features, Noxtis could feel as the featureless swordmaster rolled his non-existent eyes and tell him to write down the draconic technique.
The sunlight began to dim across the trading area and Noxtis had long finished copying the technique and was on the verge of dozing off.
Just as Noxtis was closing his eyes and preparing for the next day, a large commotion occurred and torches lit up across the various stalls which woke up the young cultivator.
"They're finally here!"