Tepo laid on his comfortable bed, forming plans in his mind.

“I think we might stay here a bit longer than initially planned.”

“Hmm, why?”

“Because we are too weak. I don’t enjoy the feeling of being pushed around.”

“I understand, but is this something we can change in a short time?”

Tepo was frowning from Yerive’s question. He also knew that his training speed had slowed down considerably. With the dark roots proving less effective after every use, his advancement had come to a crawl. At least from his perspective.

“How much time do you need to reach the rank of a six-circled aspirant?”

“From my estimation…”, spoke Yerive with an uncertain tone. “… at least two months.”

Tepo let out a sigh.

“I don’t think we have enough money to stay for this long.”

“Can we earn some money?”

“I don’t think its enough even if I sell all my sonarium. And in this world making money is difficult as the alliances aren’t particularly fond of outsiders.”

The young men both fell silent. They already felt the difficulties of independent warriors. With only the few crystal Yerive earned and Tepo received from his mother they wouldn’t make it far.

“Then…”, spoke Yerive with some hesitation. “… we should still hurry towards the Forum of All Knowledge you spoke about.”

“I guess we don’t have much of a choice…

Let’s hope the situation there is better for us.”

Yerive stared out of the window silently. Uncertainty crept into his mind. All their travel plans were made by Tepo. Their target was a place recommended by someone from his best friend’s mysterious organization.

But after his own experiences Yerive wasn’t certain why Tepo trusted this organization so much. He could only hope that his friend had a sound judgement.

Suddenly Tepo stretched his arms and jumped out of the bed.

“Since we don’t have much choice, let’s choose an alliance tomorrow and leave.

Before that I still have to check on something. Do you want to come with me?”

“… no. I think I’ll relax a bit.”

“Alright. See you later.”

“Later.”

Tepo put on his clothes and left the inn. He arrived outside on the broad road forming a ring around the massive stele.

Yerieve is right, though. The view is great.

Staying in front of the inn for a bit, Tepo observed the busy world. His eyes lingered on a few warriors fighting on the ground not far away from the city. They were clearly separated into two factions, obviously belonging to the different alliances.

Surprisingly the plants and trees around them were affected by their fight but still held on, only a few of them unfortunately getting uprooted.

Tepo realized that their thick roots were buried deep in the rocks making up the ground.

Maybe those rocks aren’t simple as well, judging from this world’s name…

Having seen enough the young man turned around and followed the road. He didn’t have a clear target, only roaming aimlessly. But despite his outwardly nonchalant attitude, all his sense were tense to the extreme.

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Tepo constantly scanned his surroundings. He was searching for anyone suspicious. Trying to feel if eyes were observing his movement.

And his assumption soon turned out to be correct. Despite his nonsensical path he felt as if someone was following him. But they were professional, mixing in the crowd, and avoiding detection.

If Tepo wasn’t especially searching for it, he wouldn’t have noticed his pursuer.

Just as I expected. If I were part of Seven Strikes, I would also look to kill the suspicious person who might’ve seen something they shouldn’t have.

Even if they aren’t certain, eliminating a weak warrior is most likely only a sidenote to them.

Tepo walked around more to confirm his guess, but this feeling never left him. He took multiple stairs, going higher and lower within the city. He even vanished into a brothel for a while – totally out of necessity – and still felt eyes on him after he left.

They are professional and not easy to shake off. I’m sure if we weren’t in a Hub City I would’ve died by now. I need to keep this in mind tomorrow.

Tepo smiled kindly at a few patrolling soldiers before slowly returning to the inn.

For the next few hours Tepo discussed his guesses with Yerive, thinking about possible countermeasures, before the two men went to bed.

Tepo and Yerive gathered outside the inn the next morning after a quick breakfast. Tepo immediately sharpened his senses. He felt those eyes in the dark again, observing their movements.

Both the friends were tense as they followed their plan. They pushed through the crowded streets taking multiple stairs as they slowly descended the stele.

The Hub City was lively as always. Yerive and Tepo passed many stores, a desire to go in buy good spells welling within them. But unfortunately, the young men were too poor.

Thus, they could only speed up to arrive at their destination sooner and finally begin their rise.

After almost half an hour Tepo and Yerive reached the city’s lowest ring. Before them was a massive gate which led outside. No one stopped them as they left the city, stepping on a mellow slope.

After reaching the ground of the underworld, a big camp came into the friends’ view. Blue banners depicting a gorgeous white flood dragon adorned picturesque pavilions. Groups of warriors gathered within, all from different sects but united under the name of the Blue Alliance.

Tepo and Yerive looked around and approached the camp. Immediately a deep voice stopped them.

“Halt! No outsiders are allowed here! If you want to join our Flood Dragon Alliance, go over there!”

A tall man in blue robes spoke imposingly as he pointed towards the side. Tepo put on a polite smile as he brought forth his case:

“Sir. I came here because I have good friends among your alliance…”

“That’s great! Then you can register without complaining, right?”

The warrior wasn’t moved by Tepo. He still blocked the friends’ way.

“But…”

“No buts. Register. Maybe someone will listen afterwards. Don’t waste my time!”

Tepo and Yerive were taken aback. They knew that the alliance didn’t look favorable upon people not from their world, but this rejection was harsher than they expected.

As the warrior’s face grew impatient the young men could only follow his orders. They walked along a small path outside the camp before reaching a small pavilion with a sign saying ‘Foreign Affairs’.

Sighing, Tepo and Yerive could only stand in line for over half an hour before it was finally their turn.

Entering the pavilion a strange sensation immediately hit the two young men. Their eyes fell on a serene female warrior sitting cross-legged on the ground. Despite her closed eyes the woman gave of a feeling as if everything was under her control.

“Hello! Welcome to our Flood Dragon Alliance! I’m Feng Ya. Please state your name and purpose. And speak quietly. Don’t disturb my master!”

A cheerful young voice suddenly addressed the two friends from the side. It came from a young woman with long black hair and porcelain skin. She wore a friendly expression, her age around the same as Tepo’s and Yerive’s.

“Hi! I’m Yerive!”

Tepo was surprised as Yerive answered somewhat shyly. His friend’s low self-esteem apparently played a part, letting Tepo sigh inwardly.

“Nice to meet you Feng Ya. My name is Tepmodus. We are both here to make a request. Please forgive us if it sounds presumptuous, but we would like to join one of your caravans.

We are good friends of one of your alliance members, the Yin Yang Duo of the Peach Mountain Sect.”

Fang Ya listened with a polite smile before throwing out a simple response:

“Please register for the alliance before we can negotiate other terms.”

Tepo rolled his eyes. He was annoyed at having his request blocked.

“Why don’t we just register real quick, Tepo? I’m sure it won’t take long.”

“Yeah…”

“A good decision. Please don’t blame us, friends. We are only doing this for you own safety. If you don’t register, the Red Alliance will attack you for sure!”

“And now they won’t?”

“Of course they will, that’s in their nature! But now we, the Flood Dragon Alliance, will come to your help!”

Tepo could only chuckle as he listened to this nonsense.

“Ok, you have our names. What else do you need for the registration?”

“Your purpose and a small fee of one hundred crystals per person please!”

Tepo and Yerive both stared at the smiling face before them. They felt like throwing up. This was basically daylight robbery!

Tepo had to force himself to remain calm as he answered:

“We only want to travel to the Star Valley Hub City. Do we still need to pay such a fee?”

“Of course!”

“Can we at least… pay in materials?”

“If you don’t want to pay in crystals this is possible. But only materials not from the World of Nurturing Stone are accepted. Otherwise, our Flood Dragon Alliance requires you to complete some easy mission.”

With a defeated expression Tepo took out the last few chunks of sonarium he still carried with him.