I considered Gale’s question but then instead decided to answer with one of my own.

[Were you the ones that set up those explosive traps?]

“Ah, so you are the one who triggered our early warning system. We were just about to check it out.” The other guy said.

[So it was you guys! That shit nearly ruined my clothes.] I frowned.

“How about we get to the camp where we can talk in peace?” Gale suggested. “That’s your guardian?” He pointed at Tiny.

I frowned, not understanding the relevance. [Er… Sort of?]

He nodded. “Alright, just make sure he doesn’t break anything. Let’s go.”

They left and I followed, but not because they said so. I was curious about some things, and people were way better at giving answers than wild animals. I wanted some explanations and if I guessed correctly, they also didn’t take me as a threat, thinking Tiny was the reason I could stroll through the jungle without fear. I decided to let them think that.

----------------------------------------

The camp was not at all what I imagined it to be.

A stone platform rose from the surrounding greenery about half a meter high and was covered with colorful rugs. Two large tents stood at opposite sides, both of them having their sides open and raised up as a roof, with fancy-looking furniture inside.

A table sat in the middle of the platform, with four chairs and silverware on display. It appeared they were getting ready for a meal, and I saw two women preparing food over a stove, chatting and laughing, inside a third, smaller tent.

“Hey girls, look who we found!” Gale called as we reached the camp.

The women paused their work and came to greet us, well, them, the two men. “Was he the one making the ruckus?” One of them asked.

“Yep. He somehow triggered all three Formations.” The other guy replied.

“What’s his name?”

The guys turned back to me. “Oh, yeah… What is your name?”

I introduced myself, and they did the same in return. They were Gale, the tall guy, Astarion the other one, with Bai being the wife of the former and Fen belonging to the latter.

“So…” Astarion spoke as we sat down around another table they pulled out of nowhere. “How come you are here? We were told the valley has been closed for some time already.”

That was honestly a surprise for me. Also… [The valley?]

“The Valley of a Thousand Mountain Peaks. It had been under lockdown for months.” Gale explained.

[Oh, it’s that what’s it called? I had no idea. And to answer your question, I’m kind of lost. I just stopped here since I thought it was a nice place.]

“Then we can assume you didn’t pay the entrance fee?” Astarion asked and then before I could answer, he already continued. “Judging by the fact you don’t carry one of these-” He lifted his hand to show a golden bracelet. “I’d wager you didn’t.”

[Entrance fee? I didn’t even know I had to pay that. How much is it?]

“About a Spirit Stone per day, if I’m correct.” Bai said.

[Cough!] I nearly choked on air hearing the number. I was inside the valley for about a year already! No way in hell I was paying 400 Spirit Stones!

“From your reaction, I can guess you have been here for a while already? Do you have something to tell us?” Astarion grinned.

[Hell no! I’ve just arrived.] I lied through my teeth.

“Is that so…” Gale squinted his eyes. He didn’t believe me, obviously. “Could I check your rings for a moment? I’d just like to see what you collected.”

[I didn’t collect anything and you’ll have to take my word for it.] I replied firmly, placing a hand over my rings.

The women went back to work while we men exchanged tense looks. I could feel the egos of seasoned Cultivators bubbling under the surface of those two. They considered me weaker, so my rejection wasn’t accepted well.

“We might not be the law enforcers of this place, but we could still report you to the authorities. Then you would get in big trouble…” Gale slowly said with squinted eyes. Probably empty threats, but he was still trying to force me to do something I didn’t want to do.

[...No.] I replied after a moment of contemplation. My answer wasn’t going to change if they decided to blackmail me.

“You might think you are safe here, having that guardian with you…” He glanced at the golem behind my back. “But I think you underestimate who you are dealing with.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Gale’s Aura rose and I could finally feel his power level. If my senses didn’t deceive me, he was at the Spirit Realm, Seventh Level. A familiar pressure tried to crush my spirit, but I just frowned and resisted. He was strong, but not strong enough.

I can take him.

While not the wisest choice, if it came to a fight, I was confident in my power to at least return some damage if not outright win. Killing him depended on how good he was.

But it never came to that. Astarion placed a hand on his shoulder, and the pressure disappeared.

“Come on, Gale, that’s not why we’re here. Focus on the mission.”

“Yeah, you are right.” Gale said and waved his hand, dismissing the aggression like it was never there in the first place, and leaned back in his chair. “It’s not our problem. I’m still going to have to ask you to come with us though. This place is not safe for someone like you. Especially in recent times.”

I lifted an eyebrow with suspicion. [Why? What’s going on?]

They explained that recently a monster made its way into the valley, wreaking havoc and destroying the environment. It also made all the creatures inside restless and unpredictable.

[Oh, yeah… I did notice some creatures became quite aggressive. A few of them attacked me for no reason.]

“Any sign of the big monster?” Astarion asked.

I shook my head. The valley was relatively calm if we ignored the fights I had with those Spirit Beasts. But those happened only thrice and were months apart. From their words, the monster was quite more active.

I looked around. [How long have you been here anyway?]

“Oh, we just arrived.”

[And all this?] I gestured at the luxury around.

“Our camp? What? Can’t people have nice things? It’s easy to see up anyway.”

[Hmm, I guess…]

It was probably not hard to summon an entire camp out of storage, that was true. I shrugged my shoulders and we continued our conversation.

[So, what do you plan to do with the monster?]

“First we need to find it, assess the danger, and possibly relocate it.” Gale said. “If that’s not possible, we’ll have to kill it, which is not ideal.”

[Why not?]

Astarion sighed. “When people at our level do battle, there is a lot of collateral damage. Even if we manage to kill the beast, the damage the Valley of a Thousand Mountain Peaks will sustain will not be worth it.”

He went on to explain how the city-state they came from owned the land, and the valley was a great source of income and resources for them. While not good enough for those above Spirit Realm to bother visiting, it was a great place to cultivate rare herbs, wild beasts, and extract resources. As long as people weren’t greedy and collected sparingly, they could continue extracting various alchemy reagents and natural materials indefinitely.

Those in the Golden Core Realm would often visit the valley for a small fee, and then spend some time searching for natural treasures and desirable plants. The entrance into the valley was organized and only limited spots were given out every year, but I could see how you could make a nice profit if you weren’t too picky when collecting inside.

The areas that could be exploited were also decided in advance and with the tracking devices the higher-ups could be sure that people were sticking to the rules. That way the harvested spots had enough time to recover.

If anyone was found to be breaking that rule, they would get a heavy fine and be forced to hand over everything they collected. Nobody dared to go against that law as they would be banned from ever participating again. And that was no small thing. About a hundred thousand spots were given out over the course of a year, and considering how huge the valley was, there was more than enough space for everyone.

The system worked in great part on trust, as it was simply impossible to make sure nobody sneaked in. Luckily such things were rare and as such the punishment wasn’t even that severe.

Gale mentioned that centuries ago people were simply killed on the spot if they stole from the valley, and that helped greatly to discourage such things from happening again. He then gave me a long meaningful look.

I just shrugged. How the heck was I supposed to know the place had such rules? There was no border guard or anything. I just flew in freely.

Astarion then explained how the collectors sold the things they gathered to various artisans in the city, which gave a boost to the economy. The money circulated that way, and the city officials could rake in huge amounts of Spirit Stones without any effort. It was a genius strategy actually.

The things inside the valley weren’t worth enough for Spirit Realm Cultivators to bother with so there were rarely any disputes. Also, there were guardian beasts inside, and those who didn’t carry a golden bracelet would get killed by them, so that was one more safeguard against thieves.

I didn’t see any guardian beasts, just those few Spirit Beasts, but they weren’t all that strong.

[So, how are you going to find this mysterious monster?]

“We’ll examine the area for a few days and then move to another spot. The valley is large, so setting up early warning signals is necessary, though considering you triggered three of them, we’ll have to fix those first.”

[Yeah, sorry about that. I had no idea they were there.]

“I would be more surprised if you did.” Astarion laughed. “I would start doubting my abilities as an Array Master if a Golden Core Cultivator could detect my work.”

I sagely nodded.

[So now what? I get to stay with you?]

“There’s no other way. We can’t have you messing with our work, and it's too dangerous to just send you on your way, not to mention that you could trigger more arrays. I’m honestly surprised you could. They were made for large beasts with immense amounts of Essence, but I guess I made them too sensitive still.”

[Oh!] A realization hit me. [Actually, I’m a Body Cultivator, so that might be the reason why.]

“Ah~! I see, I see… That’s probably the reason then. Well, even more of a reason you should stick close to us. Considering your Aura is so weak, you probably look like a snack to many beasts out there.” Astarion said.

That was a bit of a surprise to me. So wild animals could detect the Essence in my body but thought I was just a fat pig walking around because I was hiding my power? That could be… useful.

“Dinner is ready, boys!” One of the women called and brought a platter of food. The other one brought a bowl and a pot with some kind of meat.

“Wanna join us? I’m sure we have enough for one more.” Fen offered.

I looked at the food, and it looked really good, but just from the smell, I realized it had very little Essence. It wasn’t even peak Golden Core beast meat, and there were some plants mixed in as well. It didn’t appeal to me.

I shook my head. [Thanks, but I have my own rations. I wouldn’t wanna impose…]

“Oh, no, that’s totally fine. It’s not a problem at all.” Fen insisted but I politely declined again.

Standing up, I moved some distance away from the camp and found a nice place to sit down. I took a chunk of the Wyrm meat I had saved and ate it raw. It was delicious, but I didn’t feel hungry after stuffing myself for half a year, so I just ate a little bit and then let my mind wander.

Tiny stood beside me as a silent guard, alert as always. I closed my eyes and caressed by warm winds, drifted off to sleep.