Aeryn followed Yashito, who walked in front of her. It was the first time in her life that she saw such things. Therefore, she had a lot of questions.
What is a car? What is a ranker? Why are all these people looking at this little mirror in their hand? Why are there people in the squares of these buildings? What year is it? Are there any other cultivators?
At first Yoshito was calm and answered each of her questions, but as time passed and her questions became more and more, he began to get a little annoyed and said to her, "Enough for now, I'll explain the rest of your questions when we get to the cafeteria."
Thus, silence reigned between the two. Yoshito walked a little faster than before, which Aeryn noticed immediately, but she decided not to mention it.
After a while, they arrived at a building with a sign on the side that read "Yemi's café."
Yashito went inside and Aeryn followed him. The two sat down at a table and stared at each other.
Breaking the awkward atmosphere, the waitress took their orders.
"Excuse me, what would you like to buy?"
"I'll have a haijim cafe." Yoshito said.
"I'll have a mahjon tea." Aeryn said.
"A what?"
"I am sorry, dear customer, but we don't serve that kind of tea here, would you like something else?"
"Hmm, I'll have an orange juice."
"Okay, your orders will be ready in a moment." She said and left the two alone.
"Okay, so what's your story? Why don't you know the general knowledge?"
A lot of thoughts were going through Aeryn's mind at this time. Should she tell him the truth? But she's only known him for about an hour and is not sure she can trust him. Maybe tell him that she has been living on an isolated island? No, that would not work.
After much thought, she decided what she wanted to do.
She told him that she was from the past and when she fell over a cliff because she slipped, a vortex appeared and transported her to the future.
She would not tell him the truth about her mother and her time travel ability until she deemed him trustworthy.
"I see, that explains a lot." Yashito said while shaking his head.
"Now it's your turn to explain to me how this world works."
"Okay, first of all, this is the year 2058, so you have traveled...?"
"One thousand five hundred and eleven years into the future."
"I see, so your age was in 547."
"Yes."
"Good, now let me explain what is happening here. First of all, cultivators became extinct years ago. Only a few could practice cultivation techniques, so they were worshipped as gods because they had powers that ordinary people could not match."
"I see."
"...But everything has changed. Twenty years ago, a huge pillar suddenly fell from the sky in the middle of the city and a hologram appeared in the sky."
"Um, ho-hologram?"
"Ah right, so a hologram is kind of like a beam of light that can take the form of a person, and even though you are talking to them from miles away, it's like they are standing in front of you."
"Oh, okay, I get it. Go ahead."
"As I was saying, a hologram appeared in the sky showing a strange creature that looked like it came straight out of a horror movie. It said that this was a gift from the gods and that the chosen ones would awaken superpowers. Those who awakened a power would have to defeat monsters in the dungeons that were inside the pillar, and just before the hologram disappeared, it said, "Whoever becomes the strongest in this world will rule the entire planet."
This conversation contained a lot of unknown words for Aeryn, but she didn't want to admit it and pretended to understand everything.
"This is too unreal."
"You are the one talking."
"Anyway, so that means you are one of those awakened ones?"
"Yes, and currently I am ranked 20th in the country."
"Oh. Nice, that means you are really powerful."
"Y-yes, I guess so."
They were just finishing their conversation when the waitress came and served them their drinks.
Afterwards, Aeryn happily drank her juice while looking out the window on the left side. On the other side, Yashito's eyes were fixed on that strange girl in front of him.
This situation was too unreal for both of them. For Yashito who met a girl from the past, for Aeryn who learned all these new things about the future. They both had a lot to think about.
As soon as Yashito finished his coffee, he stood up, paid for the two drinks, knowing Aeryn did not have any money with her, and looked at her.
"So, Aeryn, I take it you don't have a place to stay for the night, would you like to spend the night to my place?"
"Is a girl and a boy allowed to sleep together in the future without being married?"
"What? We are not going to sleep together. I am just asking you if you want to spend the night at my place. No way are we going to sleep together."
"All right, then go ahead."
Yashito found it strange that she agreed to come with him so easily. The cautious girl he had met in the beginning just accepted his invitation like that?
On the other hand, Aeryn had already made up her mind. She could just stay at her aunt's house, but she wanted to see if she could really trust this person. And what better way than to go to his home? What could possibly go wrong? If he's a bad guy, I'll just kill him.
So they left the cafeteria and walked a bit until they arrived at the roadside. Yashito took out his cell phone from his jeans pocket and pressed some buttons.
Aeryn had already learned all the essentials, so she didn't need to ask him what he was holding. Still, she was a little curious about what he was doing.
After a while, a cab came and stopped in front of them. Yashito opened the door so Aeryn could get in, and after she got in, he got in too.
"Take us to Forger Hill." He said to the man driving the car.
The man nodded and the cab made its way to their destination.
Aeryn looked out the window, carefree as ever, as the cab drove through the city. She was excited by the scenery, by all the new things happening before her eyes.
Yashito tried to look serious, but from time to time he caught a glimpse of Aeryn.
It wasn't just the fact that she was a girl from the past, she was also very beautiful, and even if he didn't want to admit it, he couldn't stop looking at her.
After some time, they finally arrived at their destination. Aeryn got out and Yashito stayed behind for a bit to pay the cab driver.
"Alright, follow me." Yashito said and walked in front of Aeryn.
They crossed a path made of stone blocks and finally they stood in front of a large house.
The house was painted white, it had a huge garden with many trees and flowers. The house had two floors, and even from the outside it looked quite high-tech.
They walked through the garden to get to the front door, but something caught Aeryn's attention.
"Why do you've have a bathtub in front of the house?"
"It's a pool we bathe in during the summer when the temperature is high."
"You guys like to be naked in broad daylight and bathe outside the house? You guys are weird."
"What? No. Oh, never mind, I'll explain when the time comes. Now come inside."
Yashito put his right hand in a box next to the door and to Aeryn's surprise it opened.
He went inside and Aeryn followed him cautiously. It was time she found out Yashito's true intentions.
"So Yashito, it's time you told me your true intentions." Aeryn said as she drew her sword and pointed it at him.
"What're you talking about?"
"Come on, I'm not stupid. You wouldn't possibly be so kind to a stranger."
"Ha, I see you're not as stupid as I thought."
Aeryn got a bit irritated, but she let it pass.
"All right, I'll tell you my story. If you can manage to win a duel against me."
"Alright, I'll accept your duel."
"If you win, I'll tell you my story, if I win, you'll tell me the truth about you. Don't think you can outsmart me. I knew from the beginning that you didn't tell me the whole truth. So, do we have a deal?"
"Yes, we have a deal."
This man is certainly dangerous. Even though Aeryn knew he was hiding something, she didn't think he could so easily tell she was lying.
Well, now there was only one way, to defeat him.
"Follow me into the garden, I don't want to destroy the house."
They both got out and stood ready to fight.
"I won't take you lightly just because you're a girl," Yashito said.
"Who said you should go easy on me? If anything, I'll have to go easy on you if I don't want to kill you."
"Heh, let's see then." He said and took his position on the other side of the garden.
Aeryn drew her sword and took a stance ready for battle.
It was the first time she fought after half of her powers had been unsealed, so she was a bit overwhelmed at the moment.
It was finally time for her to test her powers.