After the group of survivors from the Misty Woods Tribe arrived in Ihaes, they decided to stay with Ihk's tribe for an undetermined amount of time.
The discovery that they lived in a world they knew almost nothing about was shocking, and they all had much to process. But the most important thing for them was to adapt to this reality.
Learning a new language and having minimal knowledge of this society would be essential for them to know not only where to begin their quest for revenge but also for their own survival.
They were all very confident in their abilities, but there was always the possibility of a higher peak. As far as they knew, they hadn't even tried to cultivate their powers, and many in this world had done so for countless years.
Could they be arrogant in a world they barely knew?
Some in the group were willing to take risks, but even they felt they needed to take a few steps back, learn about this place, and plan what they were going to do.
For all that, they had decided to stay in such a village for the next few weeks.
Unlike Seth, who had skills that made it easy for him to learn all kinds of things, most of them needed at least a few days to learn the basics.
Seth couldn't pass on his knowledge to his people either, so he would have to write down the material that could be useful for his group.
Two whole months would soon pass, and the group from the Giant Island would still be in the village of Ihk.
...
After two months in Ihk's village, Seth's group had significantly improved their knowledge of this world.
They hadn't learned anything profound, of course, but by learning the basics of one of the local languages, each of them had had the opportunity to talk to the locals and learn more.
They understood a little more about how society worked on the continent.
For example, unlike what they had experienced on the Giant Island, there were three particular things they should take note of throughout the continent.
The first was that any place that had an owner or a power with influence over the area would have rules or, rather, laws. They had to be careful to learn the laws wherever they went so as not to get into trouble with the official forces.
Every organization had its own means of repression, and the royal and imperial families especially had entire armies with countless warriors.
Second, they simply couldn't believe they were still in an egalitarian society. In Ihaes, you had what you could offer society.
So, there were professions that depended on your skills. If you knew how to kill, you were an assassin. If you knew how to make weapons and things like that, you were a blacksmith.
With a profession, people would pay for the services of individuals, and they would be able to grow.
Third, it wasn't a society where you could directly exchange your services for whatever you wanted.
On the Giant Island, some people cooked for the group, others hunted, and others cared for the sick, but no one charged anyone anything; they just contributed in whatever way they could. But on Ihaes, it wasn't like that.
You could offer your skills just like on the island, but you had to charge a price.
This way, they could earn coins, something they had never heard of or even learned the concept of, but which was useful to exchange for things they wanted or needed.
In particular, this society had a currency system behind the economy.
There were basically 5 commonly known currencies. They were bronze, silver, and gold coins, but there were also two types of crystal that were said to be rare and of great value to the Sky People.
The people of Ihk didn't know much about these crystals, so Seth's group only learned the differences in value between the coins.
One gold coin was worth 100 silver coins or 10,000 thousand bronze coins.
As for crystals, their price could vary from state to state, but without knowing much about them, the people of Ihk couldn't teach them how much these things were worth.
If the people in Seth's group wanted to live in cities, or better yet, go to a city and enjoy its services without attracting trouble, they would have to find ways to earn the blessed coins!
They could live without depending on it in villages like this, trading their services as they had been doing for weeks. But in a city, they would have no choice but to sell their services to some kind of mercenary guild or something.
That was basic information, but just learning about coins had taken the group days to understand enough not to be total ignoramuses.
But there were many other things they had doubts about and hadn't learned in this village due to the lack of deeper knowledge on the part of the locals.
Finally, on the eve of Seth's group's departure for the first city they would encounter, they had a long way to go to understand more than the absolute surface of this world.
...
"Moses, what do you make of all this?" One of the elders asked the strongest and most respected of the surviving elders of the tribe.
Moses looked at the middle-aged man, who had a few gray hairs among the black ones on his head. "This is all very strange. I still don't understand why we were 'protected' from this information. Is there really a great evil in this society?"
"I don't know... Perhaps we'll find out more as we travel across the continent. The people in this village don't know much, so maybe there is a shocking truth behind Ihaes." Someone else said as the three of them chopped wood for the village.
Moses looked in the direction where Seth was talking to Dax and Atlas. He couldn't help but frown as he looked at the young man. "One way or another, we must learn more about this world and find out what our fellow tribesmen thought.
But for now, I don't want you to start a conversation with the others about our plans. Let's learn more about continental civilization. If there is a hint of a problem, I will reveal our thoughts to the rest of the group."
"You want us to keep quiet? Why?" The oldest of the three asked.
"Some ideas can be easily rejected if they are not well founded. It may be that more people think like us, but if we present our ideas in advance, we may create a situation that will make it difficult for our ideals to be accepted even if we can prove we're right." He said as he focused on the wood in front of him.
Meanwhile, Seth didn't know what these people were talking about. He was preparing to lead the group at dawn the next day, so he listened to his group members' opinions on the route to take.
They had been given maps of the province and already knew where this village was on the map and how to read it. With the whole plan of going to the closest city, they were ready to go.
"The people of this village say there is danger in the forests when we enter the continent. But they think the Sky People probably wouldn't be in the same danger as they are." Atlas commented.
Dax said. "We'll be careful, but there shouldn't be any problems on the way. We're supposed to be in one of the weakest places in this dynasty."
"I agree. Get everyone ready to talk over dinner. I'll talk to the group one last time before we leave." Seth said, eager to move on and get closer to his revenge.