Just as quick as the first few that had caught sight of the merchant caravan, almost all the various families began to gather at the front of the trading area to await the arrival of the prestigious group.
Arriving on the side and doing his best to remain inconspicuous, Noxtis looked over and saw a large dust cloud on the horizon. Approaching faster than he had expected them to travel, the dust cloud parted to show off several carriages all traveling in an orderly line.
At the front of the line was a very majestic-looking carriage that was also the largest of all the carriages. Behind the first carriage were two other smaller ones that were similar in design to the first but much less ornate. Lastly in the rear of the first three were three much more plain-looking carriages.
Powering all of the vehicles were incredibly large horse-like beasts, but unlike their foal counterparts, these beasts were clad in bright red armor and going much faster than any horse Noxtis had ever seen before.
In no time at all, the procession of the merchant vehicles stopped by the trading area that the village had set up and all the various families of the village were shooed away by the village chief.
As the first carried stopped in front of the village chief, a being taller than anyone else Noxtis had ever seen before stepped out. "Welcome to Galapagos Village! I am the village chief and we welcome the Crimson Scale tribe! If there is anything you need, do not hesitate to ask."
Clothed in a muted red cloak with golden trimmings, the one who had stepped out bowed slightly. "Thank you for having us, I am Elder Gundlach of the Crimson Scale tribe in charge of this merchant caravan and am delighted to once again visit your tribe. We arrived a bit later than expected so we shall rest here for the night and engage in the trade event tomorrow if that is alright with you."
"Of course, of course! No worries at all, should you need any food or drink we would be happy to oblige." Bowing respectfully, the village chief was glad to see the elder from the last time the Crimson Scale tribe had visited.
Nodding, the elder and village chief moved over to a separate tent for what Noxtis assumed to be snacks and tea that Galapagos was famous for.
As if on cue, the largest carriage door opened again and five more robed figures walked out, except their robes were instead trimmed with a white color which Noxtis guessed to indicate their ranking. Ignoring everyone else, the five figures walked toward the two carriages behind them and clapped their hands in a practiced manner.
As soon as the clapping sound rang out, the two smaller carriages opened, and out came ten figures all wearing white robes with the logo of a red dragon head adorned on the center of their chests. They all quickly sprung into action and began setting up several elegant-looking tents which surprised not only Noxtis but the other younger members of the village.
Being a long-lived clan, the older villagers were used to seeing such a display and quickly went back to their stalls to quadruple check their wares and make sure they were presentable regardless.
As for the higher-ranked figures, they ignored the hustle of their lower-ranked members and began to explore the various family stalls in the downtime.
Despite his curiosity, all the figures wore their baggy robes with their hoods up and since they didn't speak at all aside from the elder, Noxtis was unable to even know what gender they all were. Walking back to Grandma Reah's stall, he looked into the stall only to notice Grandma Reah was still sleeping comfortably in her chain. Not wanting to disturb her sleep, Noxtis ended up going to a more secluded area to practice his sword forms.
Having long ago gotten used to using the majority of his time dedicated to either absorbing qi into his dantian or practicing his sword forms, Noxtis stretched his muscles and pumped up his heart rate to ready himself.
Quickly getting into the motions of his sword forms, Noxtis fell into a trance-like state. As much as Noxtis' body was suited to cultivate the human world technique, he was by no means a prodigy or genius when it came to the sword arts.
While Mirko had intended to leave the young beastkin with a lesser sword technique and leave shortly after, the youngling's dedication and perseverance that he showed far outshone the proud young masters and so-called 'geniuses' of his world that he decided to stay just a bit longer and even craft a phantom clone of himself to better guide Noxtis when he had left with his true body.
Quickly getting into a rythmn and training on a particularly difficult portion of the sword forms which required a rapid combination of moves that attacked at various different angles to make it difficult for an enemy to dodge. What made this form difficult was that it had only 12 different attacking motions and 3 different defensive ones.
However, what made these sword forms difficult was the endless amount of combinations. The flexibility of the various manuvers and how they could chain with any of the others was extremely overwhelming for Noxtis initially but after years of practice he could decently use about half of them.
Facing off against the foe that the phantom Mirko had constructed in his mind, Noxtis was pushing back and forth against his opponent till sweat soaked his body.
"Fascinating...to think there would be an outcast in this village that is even practicing the sword."
Shocked that Noxtis wasn't able to sense the voice until it spoke, he swerved around and faced the mysterious voice. Leisurely sitting nearby on a small rock formation was one of the higher-ranked robed figures from before. The voice itself had a melodic tone but having not heard a dragonkin speak before, Noxtis was unsure of what gender the voice was.
Removing its hood, a shock of shoulder-length crimson hair was shown as the figure brushed its hair to the side and showed a smiling face and pristine complexion. Her hair was cut in a simple but somehow elegant manner that kept her visage clear and now with her hood down Noxtis was able to see a small patch of glittering scales that had shown around her collarbone. As for her skin tone, she had lightly sun-kissed skin that almost glittered in the pale moonlight.
Astonished by how beautiful this dragonkin was, Noxtis stuttered and fell back on his butt. "Wh..who are you?"
Smirking at his reaction, the beauty rested her face on her hand as she looked at the flustered boy. "Well aren't you the rude little one. Shouldn't you give your name first before asking for my own? Not that I should talk much considering that I was spying on your sword practice. Sorry for intruding, by the way, I haven't met anyone else who uses swords so masterfully before."
Sighing as if remembering the other beastkin who either used extremely barbaric weapon attacks or completely focused on their body and bloodline. "All those other meatheads are only interested in showing off their bodies and fists or scrounging after every gold coin they can land their hands on. So boring.
Anyway, I'm quite interested in you. My name is Embervesent, but you can call me Ember. What's your name?"
Oblivious to her sly meaning, Noxtis squeaked out the first thing that came to his mind. "Interested in me?! As in like 'that'? But we just met now!"
A warm pink hue spread from Ember's pale face to her ears at Noxtis' misconception, Ember almost fell out of her chair in shock. "N..n...nooo! You dumbass, I meant interested in your swordsmanship!!! Swords. Man. SHIP!!! Ugh...are all male beastkin just horndogs these days?"
Rubbing her temples, Ember sighed as she reflected on his ridiculous reaction to her statement. Finding him at least somewhat amusing, she stood up and took off her robes. Focusing on her storage ring, she picked out her favorite training sword.
Without her robe, Ember was clothed in a tight-fitting dark hide vest paired with a pair of shorts that reached just above her knees. Her simple outfit hugged her sizable chest and butt while also showing her well-toned arms and legs.
Unlike her facial skin tone, her shoulders and arms were covered by the same glittering crimson scales that stopped a couple of inches from her hands. The same went for her legs as the crimson scales covered her toned legs until just above her ankles.
Ember's sword also looked to be a fairly simple-looking wooden sword but was made out of a dark reddish material compared to Noxtis' light brown one.
'Don't be taken away by her appearance kid, while her stance is a bit rough, that Blazewood sword is going to sting. It's a bit hard for me to judge her cultivation level as a phantom copy, but the aura she is giving off and the fact that she has even a decent shred of swordsmanship in this world. Do not hold back or you'll regret it.'
Knowing that his master wasn't ever one to joke around or pull any punches when he trained in his mind space, Noxtis did his utmost to ignore the incredible beauty before him and face her with as much respect as he did for his master.