Chương 397: A Vow (X)

[Quest 'Cry of the Vein' (???) has been completed] [Rewards] [Reward 1: Spirit has fully submitted to Host; it will never seek another Master] [Reward 2: 250, 000 mid-Grade Spirit Stones] [Anomaly Detected] [To fully express its submission to you, Spirit has doubled the number of Spirit Stones, converting parts of its inner energy to make them] [...] [Spirit Vein Sentience (???) -- passively produces Spirit Stones. As it's an infant sentience still, most of the production is repurposed for its own growth. Can currently produce an excess of 10, 000 mid-grade Spirit Stones every month, though the host may decide to allow it to repurpose those, too, for its own growth] [Recommendation: Host is recommended he locate the corpses of Mine Cores and feed them to the Sentience in order to massively accelerate its growth. Sentience may be able to project itself into a human form once it reaches the Intelligence stage of growth] That's what awaited me by the time we exited the mine and emerged back on the plateau where Long Tao exorcised some old demons on that arrogant what's-his-face guy. Alright. So, now I've got an extra half-a-fuckin'-mil' stones rattling around in my spatial ring and a guaranteed ten thousand a month if I want them. I looked around for a second and saw it--it had become a red pebble against a gray rock.

I've no doubt that this was Eternity's doing; how, why... I don't know. I don't even know how to thank it, exactly, since it doesn't talk. It mostly just follows us around, tests me occasionally to see if I can still 'spot it', and then offers to assist here and there. Regardless, despite being back down to just shy of six thousand points, I... I felt good about it. Really good. I finally had enough stones to start using arrays again and to let kids cultivate freely and without holding back.

We camped for the night and packed up early at dawn before climbing a bit further up the mountain and over, beginning our slow descent to the other side. Even in just half a day, I could actually see the city in the distance--it was just the dotting of amber-colored rooftops decorating the faraway base of the mountain, nestled right up against it, but I could see it.

There was also a strange lack of demonic beasts on our way down, only a few scattered wolves and boars as the days slowly ticked away, far too weak for even Xing Feng to 'entertain' himself. I also noticed a strange development: Lao Shun and Qian Shuren were talking... a lot. Well, 'a lot' is a bit of an exaggeration, but they did chat at least once or twice a day. Not for long, but for long enough.

Oddly enough, the kids picked up on it too and started giving them 'space' in that they'd scurry away and then spy on them, giggling away like a... well, like a gaggle of teenage girls. It was kind of nostalgic, actually, since they were the spitting image of what it used to be like for me back in high school. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Do you think they like each other?"

"Will they hold hands?"

"Old Alchemist and an Old Woman are a perfect match!" Hm?

"Yes. I was worried she was eyeing Master." Hey.

"No, no, never; she is nowhere near worthy of Master!" Okay, this is not like it was for me in high school.

"Who would be worthy?" What a wise question, Xi Zhao--but please don't respond to it.

"She has to be an Empress."

"Obviously."

"And the most beautiful woman ever."

"Of course."

"She has to be tall."

"Aha."

"And rich!"

"Yes, she has to be the most beautiful, the richest, and the strongest Empress in the heavens!"

"And she must worship Master!"

"Yes! She must treat him right!" alright, I really can't be listening to this shit, or I might just puke. Days whittled away rather speedily as the descent on this side was a bit more straightforward than the climb on the other one. Though we were still rounding rather than flatly descending, the curves were less steep, and, by the fourth day, there were straight-up no Demonic Beasts.

We did come across a few ordinary boars and deer that the kids hunted and Long Tao made dinner of, but nothing of an aggressive nature. As we came closer to the city, more of it came into view. It was beautiful, but not quite as majestic as I was expecting. In fairness, this was a stopgap to the actual big city, as far as I know, and as far as stopgaps went... well, it was impressive. Somehow more impressive than Silvercrest City, which was floating on a freakin' island'.

There seemed to be no homes, to start with, built out of wood. Everything was built out of brick or stone, with slanted rooftops reminiscent of actual, earthly architecture. There were about a dozen or so high-rises of sorts jutting out like spears in a formation, a marvel unto themselves.

But the pearl was definitely the building at the very center with several concentric rings curving outward from it--it was massive, for starters, taller than any of the towers, with seemingly four or five buildings adjoined into one. Its facade was an intricate mix of flatly shaded edges and hand-carved motifs running through the rest of it. And, every six hours--on the dot--a pillar of light would shoot up through its tallest point, briefly glow, and vanish.

It would distort the very fabric of space, make it pulsate outward, and signal to everyone that the teleportation array had been fired off. According to Lao Shun and Shuren, it was 100 mid-grade Stones per person to go from Spirit Vein City to Jade Blossom City. If we went on foot, the distance was actually roughly the same from here back to Silvercrest City, with the difference being that the lands between here and Jade Blossom City were mostly flat.

The primary reason people avoided traveling on foot, however--and why they saved for years to be able to use the array--was the Pit of Tar. It wasn't a literal pit of tar, per Lao Shun, but just the name of the place. It was a solitary village in an otherwise empty mini-desert that had no logical explanation for its existence, as it bordered rather lush areas directly, and that border hadn't moved for over ten thousand years.

I didn't particularly care beyond minor curiosity, as we were going to use the array, regardless. I was kind of looking forward to it--straight-up teleportation is one of those fantasies we develop as six-year-olds that sticks with us until our graves, I feel. How many times have I thought, leaving work, 'Ugh, if only I could just teleport to my apartment...' Well, here, it's not just a desperate fantasy of a man too tired of the hustle and the grind.

It was very much real, and I am going to very much use it and abuse it. Metaphorically speaking, of course.