9 - Chapter 8 - Day 1,750
For 3 years Adya had been training daily. Her progress and perseverance had astounded the whole house. Once the novelty had worn off, the family settled into a new normal.
Parth had pushed Adya to her limits and trained her in unarmed combat, the glaive, spear and long warhammer. Given her small stature, Parth had wanted her to be able to reach her opponents and not be disadvantaged by her reach. Even though these weapons were not the weapons she used in her previous life, Adya’s martial prowess was showing in her training.
Adya had taken to the weapons and became adept. Her skills were competent, but what gave her the edge had been her focus, drive and unflinching aggression. At first Parth had been concerned that even though Adya had shown perseverance, she would shy away from physical pain and from hurting others, to really committing in a fight. He had been proven wrong from her first spar. Adya had not only hesitated to attack, nor had she backed off even when she had taken injuries. The thing that had shocked Parth the most had been the martial intent that Adya had shown, it was almost a tangible aura. Parth had not seen such intent even in the powerhouses he had served under in the army, and that was just in training. He shuddered to think what her true killing intent would be like. Partha had not discussed his thoughts with anyone else, not wanting to cause issues for the girl he now considered his protege.
Adya had been happy with her progress in the physical training, though that was not the same for her academic and spiritual pursuits. Her mana training was continuing and her control was improving, but the doubling of her mana pool had delayed the formation of a core. She was almost there, she had managed to get her control to over 15 million mana, and she hoped that as she persevered she would be able to get her control to the almost 17 million mana required to actually start her cultivation journey.
On the positive side her mana control had increased substantially from all her practice. Her soul mana manipulation skill had reached level 38, something she found out was considered Master level. She just hoped she wouldn't accidentally get another achievement or something that would increase her mana pool before she could create her first core. The requirement for being able to hold and condense 10 times the mana pool came from the fact that at each level increase in mana density was not just a doubling of the previous level but a logarithmic increase. In essence, Level 2 meant 10 times the mana of level 1, and level 3 meant 10 times the mana of level 2 and so on. That only changed at reaching the divine level where level 11 was actually 1000 times level 10. All this meant that her absurdly large mana pool, whilst great for many things, like free money, was actually a massive handicap to progression. Her sheer volume of mana would also be dominant in fights against groups at her own level or maybe a level higher, but the higher density of mana would start to show its worth pretty quickly.
Lastly was academic progress and this was the most anemic of the three areas she had dedicated herself to. Whilst the physically she was progressing well, and spiritually she was starting to get a handle on progression, albeit much more slowly than she would have liked, academically she felt like she was stuck in neutral.
Her language and maths were up to her old standards, her skill had made language a breeze and all she needed to learn about maths had been the terminology and symbols used and map it to her old knowledge. Sai also helped to simplify and translate the mathematical notation to make it easier.
Economics was also relatively simple. Even though this world was far larger, the average understanding of economic theory was rudimentary at best compared to her old worlds. Social sciences were not a well developed subject, based on what she had been able to note based on books and how businesses seemed to work. Banking was also quite basic. There were no stock markets, or investment portfolios. There were no promissory notes that were centrally produced. An IOU from one person to another couldn't be cashed by a third person. Obviously there were certain differences too. For example the value of magic was hard to quantify and depended more on availability of skills than anything else. Mana stones as money was also an interesting issue as they were not only traded as money, but could also be used as cultivation resources, war resources and an energy source for formations and arrays.
Still with Mana stones being a strategic resource the production and trading of large quantities were monitored, regulated and taxed. She wouldn't just be able to cash in large amounts without being able to hide the source. If her skills ever came out, she would end up locked in a box producing mana stones for the rest of her life. That was not something she would ever allow to happen. This meant that while she could make small purchases and wouldn't ever run out of money, she couldn't start doing anything at scale until she solved that basic issue.
Geography was another subject where her progress was stoked by the lack of resources. There were only crude maps available. They didn't show real scale, they didn't show elevation or provide exact roads or distances. What she wouldn't give for a proper ordnance survey map of even just her city and surrounding areas! Again, it was something she vowed to rectify.
The map showed a massive continent surrounded by oceans. The size, from what she understood, would have dwarfed Pangea several fold. The map was divided into kingdoms, apart from a desert in the centre. This desert was supposed to contain mana density so high that it would poison anyone without sufficient cultivation.
All the kingdoms seemed to have an irregular wedge shape with the largest population centres closer to the oceans and dropping off as they approached the centre.. At least she learned she was in one of the 3 human kingdoms, the poorest, that was situated in the south portion of the map. The west was covered by the Dwarf and Troll kingdoms. Gnomes also seemed to have settled in the dwarf and troll kingdoms having no kingdom of their own. The east was covered by the beast alliance, a loose collection of city states that nevertheless functioned quite well as a kingdom collectively.
The largest space was taken by the two elven nations. To the north west was the kingdom of the high elves, and the north east was kingdom the dark elves. They were generally considered the most powerful of all the nations and were not really antagonistic towards each other. There was the usual politics and jockeying for power and position on both sides but if anything truly threatened them, they would join together to wipe them out.
Lastly, almost directly north was the kingdom of the dark creatures. They were ruled by a Vampire king and included all the races that were not welcome anywhere else. This included the werewolf packs, the fae and those of the other races practising forbidden magics and cultivation. Popular history stated that the last time the vampire king had tried to conquer the world, the elves had united and almost erased the kingdom from existence. The fact they remained was a testament to their remaining power.
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To the south east was a small kingdom ruled by dragons. They were generally peaceful and not really interested in the other powers. To the southwest was the kingdom of the demon kin. As far as Adya could tell, apart from looks the demons were not really any different to the other races on this planet.
Lastly in the shallows around the continent were cities and outposts of the merpeople. Whether there was only one continent, or what was beyond the shallows was again unknown. Mana density increased the deeper the ocean, and correspondingly more and more powerful monsters claimed those as their hunting grounds. More than a few miles away from shore it was impossible for normal shipping to survive.
This lack of knowledge, in a world where people could fly drove Adya a little crazy, maybe it was just the case that her kingdom and her family's position did not allow them access to more detailed knowledge, but it would be something Adya would need to discover for herself.
The history that was available was also highly curated. It seemed to be more propaganda than actual detailed histories of the kingdoms. It was more what you would teach in primary school to young children. The kingdoms hoarded knowledge and publishing was not really an industry. Add to that the distance between cities in the same kingdom, forget getting to other kingdoms. Trade was a slow, ponderous and expensive affair. Having to send caravans, with guards, and the required supplies to survive in the wilds with the caravan routes taking months or even years to make a full circuit. The attrition rates of caravans were also high, meaning the cost of imported goods was something only the wealthier citizens could enjoy.
However, out of all the subjects that Adya had been interested in, the hardest to get knowledge about was magic. There seemed to be nothing available to spell and spell theory. Nothing available on potions and potion making and less than nothing available on rune crafting, formations and arrays. The potions part was strictly controlled by the alchemist guilds and you could only sell if you were a member.
The rest of the topics were even worse, as the knowledge was not centralised but individually controlled by various guilds, sects and families. Perhaps some might have, what might for this planet, be considered a substantial volume of knowledge. However, you would literally have to sign your life away to get access to it, or steal it, or pay ludacris amounts of money to purchase the services.
The worst part was that mind magic was a known danger in this world. The only protections being rune warding a location, or personal wearable arrays. You could buy the services of professionals who would come and install wards, or you could buy jewellery that would give you protection, but trying to learn how to protect yourself was almost impossible. Thankfully, at least on this part of the continent, soul magic was almost unheard of.
One of the things Adya had wanted to achieve was to compare her runic, formation and array knowledge with this world to start to create her own versions by adapting her insane knowledge base. However, she hadn't even been able to start that process. Whilst she personally was confident that she would be able to somewhat protect herself using vast amounts of willpower energy, that protection would not extend to her retainers.
Still she had made some progress and Adya was not one to give up. If she needed to, she would create the entire field from scratch, though re-inventing that particular wheel would require a substantial commitment of time and resources.
After taking stock of what she had managed to achieve, and what she still wanted to get done in the short term, Adya sought out her mother. She had not really left the family compound in the time since her birth. The city was dangerous, and the family had many enemies. Still remembering Adya’s “frail complexion” her mother had forbidden her from leaving the compound. It was in part to mitigate this restriction, that Adya had been allowed access to the variety of advanced books on subjects not “fit for a child”.
It had to be said that sexism and misogyny was a fact of life in this new world. Whilst cultivators were treated differently, for most girls were meant to manage the home and produce kids. More affluent families and nobles would educate the girls, but would still expect them to sit at home or manage charitable works or act as teachers and governesses. It was rare to hear of females from all species to hold high government office or run businesses. Obviously this was not something that was really acceptable to Adya. At least once she started on the path of cultivation, she would have some leeway and freedom from societal expectations.
Adyas musing came to an end as she found her mother in parlour. It seemed like she had just finished entertaining.
“Good afternoon mother,” said Adya, “How is your day progressing?”
“Good afternoon Adya.” replied Gauri looking over her daughter with a critical eye. “Well enough. I just met with the scribes guild. How progress your studies?”
“Frustratingly slowly, as you well know mother.” answered Adya. “I would like permission to visit the city. I think I am now old enough to visit.
Gauri sighed, it was always the same refrain from her youngest child. Always pushing at the rules. “What do you need to visit the city for? Surely you can just send for whatever it is that you want?” replied Gauri.
“It's for the experience mother. You can't expect me to spend my entire life in what is in the end beginning to feel like a very lavish prison. I want to see and experience the world I am in. Surely you can understand the curiosity mother?” responded an exasperated Adya.
Gauri could see that Adya was not willing to be kept cooped up much longer. She couldn't even punish Adya for not studying as the girl was over eager and dedicated herself to all her studies.
Gauri sighed again. “Fine, but you are to take your retainers and a contingent of guards,” said Gauri. “If there is any trouble, make sure to keep your distance, or at least try to remove yourself from the situation.”
“Fine mother, but the guards will let me interact with the people and not just try to keep me cooped up in the carriage.” responded a now happier Adya.
“Agreed, make preparations, you may go tomorrow.” stated Gauri.
A now much happier Adya left her mother to go and prepare for her first outing in this world. She had so much to prepare. The retailers and guards would need to be organised. She intended to stay out the whole day, so she would need to plan accordingly.
Adya returned to her study to inform Phillipa, Sally and Dexter of their plans. She would also need to let Parth know that she needed a contingent of guards and that she would not be attending training the next day. Finally she needed to decide how she would dress and what she would take with her.
She could keep most things in her inventory, but she had no storage item, nor could she use one. If she took things out of her inventory in public, that would reveal precious information about her. Something she would take great pains not to allow. Small things she could pretend to take out of a bag or pocket, but larger items were a non-starter.
Adya called in her retainers to start planning for her very first trip!