As we walked along the forest there was a distance of 3 meters between both groups. The guards walk ahead clearing a path for us while we stayed behind a little enamored at the forest's beauty. Every once in a while one of them would peek back us though, like they were still a little on guard against us.
"Hey! You guys better not be causing trouble when we reach the village. Our village is considered more of a town now a days though with the population growth. We also have cultivators employed and a sect nearby so you better behave." One of the guards said in a stern tone while not even looking back.
Walking along with the group of guards I hear a set of foot steps slightly quicken behind me veering slightly to my left.
"๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ท๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ถ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ?" Qiu Tu whispers trying not to alert the guards.
"๐๐ฐ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ."
"๐๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด? ๐๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต!?" her tone slowly rising while jabbing my waist.
"๐๐ฉ.. ๐ฏ๐ฐ.. ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ.. ๐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ช๐ต, ๐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ.. ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ. ๐๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ท๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ.. ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ." I say trying to calm her down.
"๐๐ญ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต, ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ธ๐ข๐บ." Seemingly appeased she stops jabbing me
Appearing out of nowhere Yao Ya appears and hugs my right arm engulfing it between her mountains and staring directly into my eyes "๐๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐๐ฑ ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ, ๐'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ช๐ง ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด."
'That's so sweet of you, but I have to be the one that protects you. I can't let my friend get hurt because of my decision after all. This feeling though, I feel like I'm melting. I don't want her to ever let go.'
"๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต" I said with a smile while giving her a head pat using my free arm.
"Mmmmm~" Noises came from her seemingly enjoying my hand a bit too much.
Thinking of a plan I slow down my speed to regroup and discuss with the rest.
Feeling the presence of them around I start explaining my plan that I just came up with.
*Whisper*whisper*
"๐๐ฆ๐บ, ๐'๐ท๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ." I spoke getting their attention.
"๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ถ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ธ๐ข๐บ?" Ngo Peng whispered aggressively
Ignoring him, I start explaining what we should do.
"๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ'๐ญ๐ญ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ฉ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ด. ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ relatively ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ฉ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด. ๐๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ.
๐๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ท๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด, ๐'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด."
"๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐จ๐ถ๐บ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ?" looking back at them for any indication of acknowledgement.
Taking a look, I see them all nod their head although Ngo Peng seems to be doing it begrudgingly. After the confirmation I walk back up to my original spot with Yao Ya attached to my arm.
โฆ
Reaching an end to our destination I could see the town they spoke of, although only one of the sides. The town was surrounded by an 8ft tall stone wall in a plains near the forest we're exiting. A sign showing the name of the location (Earthen Edges) hung near the gate of one of the entrances.
"We found more of your friends before we found your group. Or well they seem to be from their clothes. They're held up in the hospital and should of woken up any time now."
Entering the town and they accepted the pocket knife and flashlight as a reward, leaving soon afterwards without a complaint.
Signaling everyone to come near I had already started to devise a slightly newer plan.
"Alright, lets split up to finish our tasks. Tao Mei, Wan Ting, and Ngo Peng can you go find the hospital and check on the remaining survivors? Yao Ya, Qiu Tu, and I will go to ask for basic information about the world. Let's meet back here at the entrance around 5pm."
"Alright" Everyone responds and starts to head out on their task.
'Okay, now where should I go to collect information maybe the market. Yeah that's a good place to start. Maybe I could overhear some useful gossip or just ask some basic info.'
Heading over to the market near the center of town, it was bustling and filled with activity. People roamed the crowded streets, some had treats or snacks in hand while a others simply walked. Little market stalls were scattered along the streets most if not all sold the before mentioned treats and snacks. The buildings which lined the street edges were full on shops all of varieties.
I searched around before my sight landed on a few general good stores. Making my way over to one of the general stores that looked the most average between the three, I noticed the prices of some of the items. The currency of most of the items is in metal coins, specifically copper, some iron, and even silver ones.
Speaking with the owner about general knowledge he was initially smiling and happy, but after realizing I was just wasting his time by asking about general knowledge that everyone should of known and not buying anything he kicked me out.
Deciding I needed some money I headed directly to a pawn store nearby dropping the spare flashlight we had to sell for some of the coins.
"What is this thing, are you making a fool of me?! Why should I give you anything for this "stick" you've shown me!" The owner spoke slightly enraged over the random black stick I dropped atop his counter
"No no no! This is no ordinary stick, it's a direct upgrade to the torch. It may only be able to be shone in one direction but it can light up farther and last a lot longer as well!" Quickly I tried to explain the usefulness so he won't kick me out too.
"Hmph, a better torch you say? Tch, What would be your price of this item then?" he spoke in a mocking way
"Uhh... maybe 10 Iron coins?" I said unsure of how their currency system would translate over.
"10 Damn iron coins!? That's 40 torches are you out of your damn mind?" He yells clearly outraged about the price
"Alright alright, how about you test out the product first then decide, huh?" trying to reason with the man
Taking the flashlight he held it like a normal torch towards a shady corner of the store.
"..."
"How do you use it?" the man asks confused
"Here just flick this switch and then point the end of it towards the corner." I say showing him the area to push and way to properly hold it.
Turning on the flashlight a light not bright nor dim appears at the end. As he held it the way I told him to the corn then lights up and even as he walks backward the light still stays on the area not dissipating even when he hit the opposite wall of the shop.
"Hmmm... this is an interesting piece of equipment you have here." His tone softer then earlier.
Noticing him finally taking an interest to the item I ask
"How much are you willing to pay me?"
"How long did you say this lasted?" His eyes still glued to the stick's end as he waves the flashlight around.
"7 hours if you keep it on like you are doing so now."
Looking back at me he says "Since, I've never seen one of these Items before I'll give you a good deal. 5 Iron coins take it or leave."
Ecstatic about getting money I take the deal without even haggling "Deal."
Sliding 5 coins towards me I quickly swipe them and exit the store, completely forgetting about asking for information in the process.
Heading out the store I found one of the buildings I saw initially, an information building. Now that I had money I could get some info through this establishment.
Walking pass the doors I was greeted by someone at the front desk.
A female worker greets me with a smile and cheerful tone, "Hello and welcome to the local information dealer. Would you like the general knowledge, advanced knowledge, premium knowledge, or the top tier knowledge room? Random knowledge for each room is 10 copper, 1 Iron, 5 Iron, and 50 Iron respectively. Specific information will cost double of the random cost."
'Damn that's expensive'
"I'd like one general knowledge room please."
As soon as I said that I saw her smile diminish a bit and her tone quickly became indifferent, "Door farthest to your left."
Walking through I saw an old man sitting on the far side of the room with a chair in the center of the room.
"Please sit" the man gesture toward the chair.
Sitting down I wonder what I should get.
"What am I able to ask for?"
"Anything most people in this town should already know about."
"Tell me about cultivators"
"They are people who cultivate to get stronger and extend their life span. 20 copper please"
"How do they cultivate?"
"They usually read manuals or technique scrolls to learn about new ways to cultivate. 40 copper please"
"Any nearby place that would offer these courses?"
"There is a nearby sect branch in city of Fang quite a bit away northeast. I'll throw in a couple free ones since no one usually visits me there are four levels of cities the crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core. Fang city is part of the mantle level. 60 copper"
'I've used 60 copper coins already, might as well just make it simpler for myself and round it down to 4 iron coins.'
"Give me four random ones, please"
"There were 8 weirdly dressed people found earlier and they are currently at the hospital that look like you.
The southern forest is the only thing separating our kingdom from the southeastern wasteland.
The wasteland is a plains that has no cultivation materials to collect nor many animals to kill and feed the populous with.
The kingdom to the west is called The Fascinating Flame kingdom. Here's another extra one for you young man, in fact this would probably even count under advanced knowledge. They're known for a flame which is said to be able to help some cultivators along their path of cultivation somehow or even breakthrough a bottleneck that's held them back.
1 Iron coin please."
โฆ