Connor slipped through two people in an attempt to keep up with Alrick. They were wandering around the market in search of clothes for Connor.
The market itself was quite medieval, well, like everything in this city. Luckily, they were only interested in part of the market that sold clothes and everything related to them. The part that sold fish products was like hell on earth. Young boy deducted that just by the smell. He didn't dare to come closer even by inch if that wasn't necessary.
They needed clothes that were not eye-catchy, comfortable, and child suitable.
Because of his experience from the previous world, Connor thought that markets would be calm places where customers would slowly choose what they wanted to buy.
But he was wrong.
Every seller shouted as loud as possible, just to attract more buyers. Phrases like: "good and cheap!" "Best quality!" "Buy from us!" were already deeply engraved in Connor's mind. It probably would sound like a very loud and frequent echo if not for the voice differences.
But there was a good thing. It looked like Alrick knew where he was going. He stoically ignored every shout from the salesman, never stopping and making his way through that extremely crowded market.
After some walking, a boy and a tall man stood before a purple tent.
-Inside this tent, you can speak freely, but please behave.
-Understood.
After that short exchange, Connor and Alrick walked inside, and the young boy felt like he had come to the wonderland. Needles were flying like small and fast beetles. Threads were connecting to them in some magical way. They just flew to them and tied themselves. Large pieces of cloth were cut without any scissors. Cloth just divided itself with an ideal straight cut. In any corner, some tool was doing their work, or the work was done in some magical way without any tool, depending on the corner at which you look.
Young scientist eyes beamed with excitement and curiosity. How? How!? How did it all works? What principles stood behind it? He wanted to observe everything and figure out how all these miracles were done, but right after he started to make assumptions, something unexpected happened.
A strict-looking middle-aged woman in fancy-looking clothes walked out of the door.
She silently stared at Connor and Alrick. The boy felt uneasy and glanced at the red-haired man, only to notice that he was also staring at that woman. After some intensive staring, a slight smile appeared on both faces.
-You're still not dead, huh?
Said middle-aged woman with a chuckle.
-I've already told you that I will die only after you. Do you start to forget things because of your age?
It was the first time Connor heard that Alrick used sarcasm. He was so serious all the time. He even started to doubt Alrick's ability to make jokes.
-As I see, age doesn't change your rude nature.
In fact, it seemed more like a friendly grunt than an actual argument.
-I'm glad to see you in a good mood and health, Viva.
-I'm happy too, Alrick.
Two people smiled warmly.
A sudden change of mood showed that they were actually close friends, or not? Relationships were still quite tricky for Connor, so that he couldn't say anything with 100% accuracy, but in this particular case, he could tell just by the atmosphere between that those two were close to each other.
And the woman's name was Viva, better remember it.
-I need clothes for this child, not eye-catching and comfortable.
Alrick got straight to the point.
-No problem, could you... Oh, where are my manners? What is your name, child?
Why did all those people use the word "child" to address Connor? Is it just those two, or was it a common thing here? But that didn't matter.
-Connor....
He said quietly
-Oh, a shy one, I see. Nice to meet you, Connor. Will you let me take your measurements?
Opposite to Alrick, that woman was relatively easy to communicate with. She reminded Connor's math teacher, so he had an automatically good impression of her.
-Yes.....
Connor felt something, and immediately after it, he heard Viva's voice.
-Thank you, child, could you please go to that room and wait for some time? I will call you when your clothes are ready.
Viva pointed to the left side of the room. There indeed was a door with purple ornament. Connor proceeded to an unknown room. It didn't look quite welcoming, something like a small utility room with two more doors leading to the other rooms. In the center, there was a chair, so a boy decided to sit on it until Viva would call him.
Meanwhile, in the first room, Viva and Alrick were talking. Behind middle-aged women, the fabric was connecting to the other pieces of fabric to form new clothing. The process was quite fast by Earth standards.
-Who is this child? Where did you pick him up?
Viva started the dialogue.
-On my expedition in Snojfell, I found him while we were returning.
-And why did you take him in and even bring him here?
-While I first met him, he said that in order to survive in Snojfell, he created a ball of fire to heat himself.
-He created his own cultivation technique!!??
-Yes, I was shocked too, but that's not all. He said that he had never cultivated before and only felt Qi when he was on the verge of death.
-Impossible.....
-I thought that too, but again, that's not all. We encountered a furious and long blizzard on our way. My men created a barrier in front of us. Firstly, he created his own version of the Qi barrier just by looking at the barrier of my men. Even more, it seemed better and more durable than ours, but he could create it only on a small range. Because he wasn't even in the first stage of the body refinement realm, he hasn't had enough Qi to create a large version of his barrier.
-And?
-After it, I said that most likely, we would die there because it was true, and he asked me how he could increase his barrier range. I told him that only by cultivation one could increase the range naturally, and guess what?
-What?
He went right into the blizzard, created some Qi spheres which attracted Qi of the blizzard, waited for them to collect Qi, swallowed them and cultivated to the stage four of body refinement realm, and all that only in half-hour or so?
Viva's eyes widened. There was a clear expression of shock in them.
-Wha..... He used the Qi of blizzard to cultivate??!!!
-Yes, after that, he saved us by creating a barrier. I was even more shocked than you. After that, I asked him how he had done it. He told me how he figured out how Qi attracted other Qi if the concentration of energy in one point was bigger than the overall Qi concentration in the air.
-Is he a reincarnated Dao ancestor or something?
-It would be a lot easier if it was like that...
Alrick sighed heavily. From his perspective, Connor was someone that couldn't exist. His comprehension abilities were too supernatural.
-And, you want to bring him in the Jarvinen clan?
The red-haired man looked for a second or two at Viva and said with a melancholic expression.
-He may be my only chance, so yes, I want to bring him in.
-Huh, that brings memories.
-Indeed. By the way, you still didn't want to come back?
-No, although life in Aros is quite dirty, it's still better than the Jarvinen clan.
-Well, I can't say that you are wrong.
Alrick and Viva speak about Connor for some time, and after it, the middle-aged woman picked a new set of clothes and loudly shouted.
-Connor, dear, you can come in!
A young boy was sitting on the chair all this time, completely oblivious to the conversation that occurred between two middle-aged people. After hearing a call, he immediately stood up and returned to Alrick and Viva.
Viva threw a set of clothes to Connor, they levitated like some magical items, and when the boy stretched his arms to catch clothes, suddenly, he felt how his body also levitated from the floor. Clothes rapidly unfolded, while his old worn-out clothes were cut to pieces, a new set put itself on Connor's body.
That was quite a show for Connor. He decided to study how that levitation works in the future when he has more resources. The young boy was interested in how he looked in his new clothes and like she read his mind. Alva rolled a mirror from another room, and for the first time, Connor finally knew how he looked in this new world.
In the mirror, Connor was staring at a little boy with black hair. His eyes were painted in heavenly-blue color. His face was childish because, well, he is a child. He was wearing a simple undershirt of grey color. On the undershirt was a knee-length cloak. On his legs were tight leather pants. He quite liked what he saw in the mirror.
While Connor was looking at his reflection in the mirror, Alrick said.
-Thank you for the work, Viva. We'll go. I don't want to stay in this city longer than needed.
-Come back if you need any clothes.
Said Viva with a warm smile on her face.