Outside Thomas was inconspicuously waiting by a near shop, because of his current Moonshadow demon form few would be able to spot him, though he did fell some stares headed his way from time to time.
Leaving the Earthly Lion's Residence, Thomas still found himself in disbelief towards this city. Indeed, it was a small city with a population of only twelve thousand yet quite the sight to see.
There were even flying mountains and rocks floating across the city, the diversity of species of beasts was also something he wouldn't see anywhere else.
Thomas awaited by a small store and even ordered some Golden Golden Marlan juice. It was served in a mud bowl and tasted quite nice actually, presenting a bittersweet flavor reminding him of strawberry. 'This is taking quite some time...'
Soon enough, a small lion cub was seen leaving the Earthly Core Lion Residence before running straight to him.
Seeing she was done, Thomas swiftly paid the two coins for the juice then stepped before Nana.
"Did you get it?"
"Yes, we can go now."
As he was told, the city was divided into several districts, and here is the South West of Wugan Tower also known as Lower West Wugan. From what he could see this district followed from the Lower West Gate they used to enter the city and went all the wall to the Upper West Wugan. Here lives the beasts that share traits to the Felidae Family of the animal kingdom such as cats, cheetah, jaguar, tigers and many others.
The Water Lions also had their own villa somewhere in the district and were formerly known as one of the big three tribes of whole West Wugan.
As for the Sage, he was staying on the opposite side of town in his residence located in the Snowpeak Hills northeast of here. It's the same territory from where the the current overlords of Aatron, the Battle Heart Tribe originated from.
"Ries, let's go quickly. If we hurry, we should be back by afternoon."
"Fine." Nodding back, they hurried towards the Snowpeak Hills.
"Huh?" On the way, his eyes swept across the street before stopping an a small black beast identical to a normal cat. At first it looked just like a normal cat which was the normal thing he fell here and it was exactly this that made it all very weird.
For a second, Thomas thought the cat was actually gazing directly at him when he saw the latter lick its bottom and paws before walking away as if nothing interested it. "Was I mistaken? No, I really thought it saw me..."
With his Eyes of Judgement confirmed there was no threat coming from any of these beasts before following behind Nana.
Luckily the night was pretty calm and empty, with their current speed it was no problem finding the Sage before sunrise.
Thirty minute later, Thomas and Nana arrived at the utmost north of the city. Rocky mountains and tall walls encircled the almost endless white plains.
Compared to the other districts they passed through until here, it was truly a lot quieter. Following up to the snowy hills
The Residence of the Sage was located at the edge of the Snowpeak Hills, on small wooden hut where Whitemoon Grass grew endlessly. By the time they arrived, the moon was already impossible to be seen and so was Thomas whose demonic transformation deactivated in a instant.
Walking on his left, Nana showed some flustered emotions as well some curiosity but given what she had seen here do. She knew a being like him would never share any on his secrets.
Arriving at the hut, Thomas and Nana were stopped by a pair of tall, hairy beasts with eight legs and two pairs of jet black wings. One of the two gave a inspecting looks at Thomas and the little Nana then nods to his partner.
"A unknown creature walking on two legs and a member of the Earthly Core Tribe, the information checks. Master is waiting for you two."
The small door opened and the two walked inside. On contrary to what he expected of the residence of the most important figure in the city, the interior of the hut was very simple. No fancy decoration nor it had much furniture.
The walls and floor were all made of wooden planks which gave it quite the rustic look. Once inside there was not much to look at, one straw bed at the center and a single small table with a teapot. Wait, a teapot?
Thomas immediately gave the teapot a closer look. As anyone with traditional British grandparents, he had seen quite enough Teapots for a lifetime, there were no ceramics on this planet though.
"I see you know what it is."
A voice resounded across the thin room. Nana tilted her head to the side as she couldn't understand a word that was said while Thomas was completely taken aback to the point of tripping on the floor but he recovered his balance pretty quick.
At first he was exasperated to hear somebody in this place could recognize him as a human despite his current looks.
Then he recognized the Demon language, and all of Thomas' guesses were thrown by the window.
'Well, I guess it's too much to expect I would find dad and big brother this easy.'
Out of a curtain, a tall figure slowly walked out. Two legs, two arms, two eyes, one nose and one mouth and dressed in a black cloak and holding onto a long wooden cane.
An old and wizened face peered out from under a wedge of his black hat, giving a long stare at Thomas.
Thomas froze upon seeing in a long black cloak and long black hat. His eyelids were so heavy from their wrinkled folds that it was almost as if he were sleeping.
Through the thin gap between his eyelids Thomas saw a deeply profound pair of eyes with an unknown wisdom within them.
After spending over two minutes sizing up the young man before him, his eyes headed downwards, locking on the little lion cub beside Thomas' feet.
*Meow*
A black shadow fell from the window onto the man's shoulder. The cat meowed a few times to which the old man nodded, showing an expression of surprise before recovering his posture then turning his attention back to the Young Third Miss. "Did you gather all the ingredients in the list?"
Nana brought out her backpack for him to see. "I got the last one just yesterday. Sir Sage, here is everything is asked for."
"Good, then I shall help you check these herbs. Let me see... Fifty Year Old Malefic Bamboo, Ten Woodburn Leaves, oh, this is a surprise. I didn't expect to see a hundred and forty years old Thorn King Root in here. I guess you really have everything." The Sage went to help Nana organized the herbs while Thomas was watching from behind.
For a moment, Thomas was surprised with Nana's reaction. As this is her first meeting with one of the most elusive figures of the city, he expected at least a little decorum and formality like it was what would happen in the human society.
Well, beasts are much more open and blunt than humans to care little about such formalities.
Then he realized even him started acting different compared to his time before arriving at this world.
After having his thoughts drift for a while, his eyes gave a closer look at the old man beside Nana and his eyes widened as he gulped. When he first heard about the sage he had the feeling this Sage could be related to him.
Thomas had a familiar feeling from the man's aura.
It reminded him of the demon from near one year ago, on the day he was pierced by a jet black spear. This was a memory he would never forged because it happened right before he received the system and sure, this demon has nothing do to with that ugly demon that stabbed him with the spear though both shared some characterizes such as the silver tattoos and hair.
No this man's aura was even stronger than that High Rank Demon. With his current knowledge, he was almost sure that silver demon would be roughly a Demon General with power similar to a 1-star Master. No, it's way more powerful than a mere Master Adept.
Comparing all the demons he had seen coupled with his Inherited memories, he compared both as was about 80% sure this man was a character at the same level as Kez, A Demon Lord!
Thinking back, it was really stupid of him to try to provoke such a being. Well, better not think about that for now.