It had been a few hours since I had agreed to hear Grandpa Beluviar out. The conversation was not going well.

“And I must go alone? I shall be honest. I don’t really like this plan. Going deep inside the forest is one thing, but leaving me alone in there? I am sorry, that just doesn’t sit well with me.” I said. Grandpa Beluviar had this great idea where he took me to where the tree shown in the pebble was.

According to him, the chances of a clue being hidden here were high. I did agree on that, I just didn't agree on being left alone in such a place, far too much danger.

“It isn’t as dangerous as you are thinking, your grace, I have already killed all the beasts surrounding the area. In fact, I have killed all the beasts in that entire region, and the regions surrounding it. It was something of an experiment.” Grandpa Beluviar replied.

“And how exactly do we get there? Did you kill all the beasts in the middle too? Or did you just kill every beast in the forest.” I said, sarcastically.

“Like this, your grace.” Grandpa Beluviar waved his hand, causing a fissure in space that, in a few seconds, morphed into a portal-like structure.

“Space. So, you wield the space element.” I stated.

“Yes, and now if you would please step into this portal, we can continue our mission without more of these senseless discussions” Grandpa Beluviar said, threateningly.

I would have argued a bit more, but that threatening tone told me that Grandpa Beluviar was not open to any more conversation. I think I had forgotten that I was in Xianxia and dealing with a person much higher leveled than me. It was normal here to force a lower leveled person to do something for them. And I doubted that whatever ancestor the original Altura had would actually interfere, he hadn’t acted to save her in the original plot.

“Very well” I said as I stepped through the portal and found myself facing a tree. The very same tree that I had seen in the pebble.

“The path should be open to you. Do remember to tell me what you find out about the ward.” Grandpa Beluviarsaid as the portal closed behind me.

And now I was all alone in a very dangerous portion of the woods. Sighing at my bad luck, I stepped close to the tree and looked around for anything that could tell me what I was supposed to do.

Thankfully it was not hard, as soon as I stepped close, one of the stoned that adorned the tree fell down onto my hand causing my surrounding to suddenly change. I suddenly felt dizzy, as if I had been twirling around for a long time.

The forest disappeared and was replaced with a set of towering trees that stood before me. The space between their trunks formed huge yellow portals that seemed to yell,

Choose one

I clenched my hands into a fist, letting the nails bite into my palms in an attempt to stop myself from panicking. I did not like being yeeted from place to place and detested my inability to do anything about it.

Perhaps there was something good about this ward failing. I now had access to a plethora of beasts that I could use to get more powerful. And it looked like I did need power in this world, or else I would just be prey for the next Beluviarto use to get something he wanted.

And the old man had never really given me a concrete answer as to whom he really was. But that was for later, now to choose a portal. From what I could see, all of them were the same, identical even. So I could either go looking into the portals and the surrounding trees for some clue that might not even be there, or I could just step into one.

Courage was a big thing in Xianxia right? Guess courage it was. I stepped into the portal and felt the others fade. Why did I still feel them? It was all of these stupid things lead to the same place, I could still see each of the fading openings. Xianxia and its glorified impulsivity.

Hot-blooded isn’t always correct, you know. It's just hot-blooded. Soon the portals were gone, even the one I came through. And all I had before me was darkness and a vague road beneath my feet that I couldn’t even see.

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I started walking forward, presumably I would reach the end of this road. And then I walked. Soon, ten minutes had passed. Then an hour. The darkness remained, and the road was still unseen. I didn't even know if an hour had passed. It sure felt like it. But I had no way to truly know. I wish I had my watch, but Xianxia land didn't have wristwatches yet.

Something to add to my list of things to do. And speaking of that, my Qi had recovered a while ago while I was talking with Grandpa Beluviar. The Sapling had grown further, a couple of leaves appearing. But there was no other difference.

Guess I would need to depend on the skills. And speaking of them, this was a pretty good time to practice them. It wasn’t as if I had anything better to do. I just had to watch the Qi and make sure it did not fall below 600. Sixty Qi was enough right?

This time instead of summoning treads I chose to incant. It was time I knew the exact amount of Qi incanting consumed against threads.

‘Ice, oh Ice! Hear my call, let a single snowflake appear let me judge what Qi is lost, let me know your cost!’

A single small snowflake appeared before me as a very minute amount of Qi. A thought and the system was telling me how much Qi I had lost.

659.9/660 0.1 Qi consumed

I see, so it consumes a tenth of a Qi thread? How much does the thread consume? I made a thread and let it out, making an identical snowflake.

658.9/660 1.1 Qi consumed

A tenth confirmed. I wish I had a pen and paper to note this stuff down…

Note function enabled!!!

Oh, the System has a note function…maybe I should start wishing random stuff in hopes that something sticks?

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Aswelth

Aswelth sighed as he looked at the latest message from Kerrin.

So the Archduchess had left to deal with a ‘threat’ what threat was this that he wasn’t better suited to deal with? But never mind that, he was more shocked at her promising him freedom.

If he was being honest, he expected her to forget about it until he asked one day. Instead, she had now deemed a last task. A task that would free him from…this place. Aswelth sighed again as he stood up from his plushy chair and walked towards the door.

After Clan Qunaris was brought down, the compound had, at first, been relegated to be the Archduchess’ residence. Then they found the people. Haggard, starving and put in closed rooms. None of the Clan members had known who they were or why they were here.

Aswelth suspected that only the Elders and the Clan head knew of it. But the Elders had been sent to Labor and the Clan Head was dead. And since Labor did not allow anyone that went inside to meet with anyone, there was no way to know better. The Archduchess, had put in a request for information, but it would take a while for it to arrive.

Then there was the guard. While relocating these people into homes, the archduchess had noticed the rampant unemployment. The Clan Qunaris was by far the largest employer, and the one that paid its employees the least, but it held most of the city’s fabric together.

Without it, thousands of people were without employment. The shop owners problem could be solved by giving them their shops, even if it caused a few irritating cases. But the rest of them, the servants, their children, the laborers, the construction workers and other people that were deemed unimportant by the Clans.

The Archduchess had called an end to most of the construction work around the city, quoting that there was no need for more plazas and shops at the moment. Instead, she had called the people responsible for planning the city and had them draw up new housing districts.

And now those were set to begin construction in a few days. According to the Archduchess, the excess was to allow young people to move out of their parents homes and prevent congestion in the homes themselves due to limited space.

Aswelth for one was doubtful, he could see how living in a small enclosed place could be hard, After all, he had lived in one for many years before he claimed the title of General, but he had not found it particularly hard. But that was not for him to decide.

And besides, he had doubted her decision to turn the Qunaris estate into the guards' headquarters too, something about the trees being hard to climb down from ruining reaction speed in case of emergencies. Apparently the guard would need plenty of space to expand.

And it had worked, the people had flocked to the estate, eager to join the guard. The valley had a working army so fast that it would make every one of his noble peers cry tears of literal blood. It would seem that the trick to getting people to do something was to offer a much better deal than everyone else. Aswelth would have to keep that in mind for whatever he decided to do once he was free. Though…he had no idea what that was.