“It’s been four days now,” Rufus said with a serious expression on his face.
Adion sat next to him, and Benji and Sahra sat next to each other on the opposite side of the table. They were having breakfast together at the Silver Circle.
“And it might very well take ten more,” Benji said, “All we can do is wait.”
“I guess Lomin has never been one to hurry,” Rufus sighed.
Just how far can he teleport? Adion thought to himself. He had recently started focusing most of his training time on concepts, but since he saw Lomin’s performance he was spending most of his time trying to improve his teleportation, both in time and distance. He could almost always make it under ten seconds, and his record was four seconds.
But he had found no way of doing it a distance surpassing 300 feet. Which was great. Not many fights would need more than that. But if there were a chance to teleport across the continent, like the teleportation formation had done, then that would be a very handy ability.
There’s so much to focus on at the moment: concepts, both with fire and space. My shadow affinity has been left to the wayside for far too long, my water affinity even more so. But I need to focus on what can help me here and now. As well as not allowing my aura abilities to lag behind. I dread the thought of reaching peak Diamond only to realize I’m unable to advance thanks to poor aura control.
“I think I’ll head up to my room and get some training done,” Adion said, getting up from his seat.
“Ahh,” Sahra sighed, “Every time you say something like that, it makes me feel so lazy.”
“Well, you are a little la-” Adion didn’t get to finish as Sahra interrupted him with a threatening glare.
“Don’t you dare,” She said.
“Haha!” Benji laughed, “Sahra was actually known for being all work and no fun among her classmates at Cyalis, Adion. I believe that you might be a little special in your discipline. It’s not bad, but remember to rest and have some fun once in a while, too. I think you’ve realized that there is more to magic than just sitting in your room meditating.”
“Mm,” Adion nodded, “I get it. But for the moment, I’m making good progress, so…”
“Just go train,” Benji sighed.
“See you for dinner,” Adion said and headed to his room.
“If you don’t forget about it like yesterday!” Benji yelled after him.
“Hahaha!” Both Sahra and Rufus laughed at Benji acting like a parent.
Adion didn’t think he was training that much. He had been traveling for almost a month, after all. And it felt good to take a break to train for once. It wasn’t like he was locked in his room all the time during these four days, either. He ate his meals together with his team and talked to them. In a way, he was being more social than he had ever been, even when he was back at the Remori clan.
Adion sat down on his bed as soon as he entered his room and started meditating. He decided to focus on expanding his core for his advancement for a while. It was something he had to have a full core to do, so he wanted to get it done before starting his teleportation practice.
But he didn’t get to focus for long. Well, for some it might have been long. Doing nothing but focusing on the surrounding space mana, attuning it to your Will, and pressing it into an already full core for three hours wasn’t a walk in the park. But Adion was used to pushing himself to at least such a degree every day.
“Adion!” Benji’s voice sounded behind the door, along with knocking.
Adion opened his eyes and stopped his meditation before getting up and opening the door.
“What’s going on? Is Lomin back?” Adion asked, and almost on instinct, released some space mana to fill up the inn in search of the familiar shape.
“No, not yet,” Benji said, “I’m just planning on taking a stroll around the city. Do you want to join me? Sahra got spurred on by your comment and is busy training. Rufus seems to be the same.”
“Seems like everyone is doing what they should,” Adion nodded, pleased, “Why do you want to go around the city?”
“To show you it’s not all about training,” Benji said and knocked his knuckles softly on Adion’s forehead, “Besides, I talked with some people and have found a good place to go if we’re interested in learning about recent rumors. We might find out something useful about those guys.”
Adion thought about it for a while before finally nodding, “That might be a good idea. I guess we don’t know when we’ll stay in a city for a long time like this again.”
“Good, let’s go,” Benji said.
Adion nodded and threw his backpack over his shoulders, “I’m ready,” he said.
“Do you really need the backpack? We’re not leaving the city, you know,” Benji said doubtfully.
“Do you think it’s safe to leave it here?” Adion asked in a slightly lowered voice.
“I don’t know for sure, but it should be. Do you have anything valuable in there?” Benji asked.
“A couple of mementos, I can’t lose them,” Adion explained.
“I see,” Benji said with an understanding look, adding with a smile, “Bring it with you then, best to be safe.”
“Mm,” Adion nodded. He didn’t like lying, especially to friends. But sometimes, a little misdirecting truths were necessary.
The two made their way out to the busy street and headed towards the center of the city. It was the warmest day of the year so far, Adion noticed. But it was still early spring, and the warmth was only comforting.
“Where is this place exactly?” Adion turned to Benji and asked.
“It’s on the west side of the city, so it will take a while to walk there. But it’s a nice day for a walk, no?” Benji asked with a small smile.
“Mm,” Adion nodded, “What kind of place is it?”
“Just a popular bar, apparently. But it started becoming the place to go for the latest information a few years ago. Since then, they have created somewhat of an information network. And if you pay some money, you can get a lot of information from some of the people there.” Benji explained.
“Oh? That’s really convenient. I was looking for a place like that in Billford.” Adion said.
“Mm, we should still be careful about what we ask about, though. You never know who might be listening. Or if the one we are asking questions gets paid to hand over information about individuals who ask certain questions.” Benji warned.
Adion agreed. It would be necessary to be careful when poking around things concerning powerful mages.
It took them about 30 minutes before they arrived at a bar named ‘Little Jiggot.’ It was only noon, but as they stepped inside, Adion saw that it could just as well have been the middle of the night looking at the crowded and rowdy customers.
“Let’s ask the bartender if he knows who to talk to,” Benji suggested, and headed towards an old man serving drinks.
“Excuse me, I’ve heard this is the place to go if you want information? Do you know who we should approach for something like that?” Benji asked the old bartender.
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The old man briefly looked Benji and Adion up and down before speaking. “You’re a Silver, so I guess you have coins to pay for the information?”
“Of course,” Benji nodded.
“Enter that door there,” The old man said and gestured to a regular wooden door at the far end of the bar, “Take a seat inside the room there and wait; someone will be there to answer your questions shortly.”
“Thanks,” Benji said. Adion nodded in thanks to the old man as well before following Benji to the door.
Behind the door was only a small room, probably used as a small storage room before being reinvented for its current purpose. An old desk with a chair behind it and a few chairs scattered around were all the furniture in the room.
Adion and Benji grabbed a chair each and sat down in front of the desk, where they assumed someone would soon join them.
It didn’t take long before a middle-aged man entered the room and took a seat behind the desk. He was middle Silver and looked a lot more well-off than Adion had assumed someone who gathered rumors for a living would.
“A pleasure, I’m Kevin,” The man introduced himself, “So what are you looking for information about?”
The man was looking at Benji, but Adion decided to speak. It was his business in the end.
“We’re just wondering what has been happening lately, anything of interest during the last couple of months, really. In particular how the Hellemi and Fire Phoenix Church have been acting,” Adion said.
“That’s a lot of information, but not hard to get, I guess,” The man turned silent in thought, “Very well, 3 gold coins and I’ll tell you all I know about what you’ve asked.”
“3 gold coins!?” Benji asked, shocked.
“I’m running a business here. If you’d rather spend your time asking around and piecing together everything for yourself, then you are free to do so.” The man shrugged.
“It’s okay, I’ll pay,” Adion said, opening up his backpack to take out his coins. 3 gold coins was almost all the gold he had at the moment, but he could still sell his Diamond beast core if he needed more money. And doing missions at the explorer level was very profitable.
The man smiled when Adion handed over the coins and began telling all the things of note that had happened during the past couple of months, with extra attention on the tension created by the two Churches. Adion had to give it to the man. He was a professional.
Unfortunately, the information contained nothing about men and women in white masks. Not that Adion had expected it anyway, and he got a much clearer image of the happenings around him that he hadn’t paid much attention to so far.
The man talked for at least 15 minutes, and by the end, Adion and Benji thanked him and left Little Jiggot together. They would not gain anything else there if they didn’t want to risk asking questions that would reveal their intentions.
“So,” Benji said as they were walking on the busy street again, “Thoughts?”
“I think we should check out the Hellemi Church in the city,” Adion answered, “According to that man, Kevin, they have been preaching a lot more lately. This isn’t strange considering the Fire Phoenix’s return, but they have also begun inviting people to meetings away from the church, which is very strange. In particular young men and women, it seems.”
“Yes, I wanted to press him about these meetings but didn’t want to give away our curiosity about the subject either,” Benji said.
“Yes, I think that’s smart. But I might be able to go to one of these meetings. It sounds like they are recruiting for something. And even if they’re probably not connected to the people I’m looking for, there is always a possibility.” Adion said.
“Alright then, let’s go to the local Hellemi church and take a look,” Benji said.
“Just make sure not to be around me when we are there,” Adion said.
“Oh, why?” Benji asked.
“If they’re actually recruiting for something, I think it would be more likely that they approach people who are by themselves. Even if some rumors have started, they are definitely not being open about these meetings.” Adion explained.¨
“Pretty smart,” Benji said, impressed, “Didn’t know you had it in you.”
“You thought I was dumb or something?” Adion asked, afraid of what kind of impression he had made without knowing.
“Certainly not dumb,” Benji shook his head, “More like naive.”
“That’s just as bad,” Adion sighed, “Well, forget it. Do you know the way?”
“Yes, it’s about a ten-minute walk,” Benji said, “I spotted the church the day before yesterday when I was out for a walk.”
And about 10 minutes later, Adion stood before the large church, it stood more than twice as high as the surrounding building. Above the large and open entrance was a triangle in gold, the symbol of the Hellemi Church.
Benji was standing a bit further away at Adion’s instruction.
“Don’t turn your back on humanity, on sapi!” Adion heard a priest preaching to the streets in front of the church, “Beasts have been our enemies for Ages, and the Phoenix is the worst enemy we have ever faced! If it is true that it has returned, then we must stand united now more than ever, or perhaps we will face another Age of Darkness, one that will never end!”
Adion didn’t stay to listen much longer. He didn’t think uniting was a bad idea in itself. But couldn’t he just become stronger than everyone else? Then what need for all this worrying? It seemed like the best approach to Adion, at least.
As he entered the church, he spotted a few people sitting on their knees, praying to paintings and statues of sapi gods of the past.
Have all these gods actually existed at some point in time? But even if that’s the case, they’ve surely been dead for a long time now. So who are they praying to? Maybe I should have done at least some surface-level research before coming here.
As Adion looked around at the epic depictions of gods of the past, he got swept away by his imagination.
What could they do at such strength? How did they reach that level? Is there knowledge of this somewhere? Maybe the Hellemi Church has some old information, just like the faelin has the Primordial Story.
I don’t see how they could know about all these gods otherwise. Unless it’s all just made up, but I get the feeling that it isn’t.
“Amazing how high humanity managed to reach once upon a time, isn’t it?” Adion’s thoughts were interrupted by an old priest who had approached him with a kind smile.
“It is,” Adion agreed, “Where does all the information about these gods come from, by the way.”
The old priest chuckled softly, “A curious young man, I see. That’s good. To answer your question, even if much knowledge of past Ages is lost to time, a lot is still known to us. Through thousands and thousands of years, we have explored ancient ruins, we have found ancient records. Slowly, a picture of the past has been drawn. And I don’t think it strange that much of what has been found concerns the gods. What else would be more important to document after all?”
“I see,” Adion nodded, “Is there somewhere around here where you can learn more about these things?” Adion asked. He was curious, after all.
“Haha,” The old priest laughed softly and smiled, “I like your spirit, young man. Do you also wish for humanity to reach these heights once again?”
“Mm,” Adion nodded, “That would be a more interesting world, I think.”
“That’s one way to put it. I, for one, do not care much for how interesting the world is. I simply want my children and their children to be able to live in peace, without the threat of beasts constantly looming.”
Adion could definitely understand that sentiment, but at the same time, he thought it was naive to think that you would be safe if you just stayed clear of beasts. To Adion, sapi were just as big of a threat as beasts. He didn’t want to exterminate all living beings just because of that. He wanted to get strong enough so that nothing could threaten him and his loved ones again.
“Do you want to use your talent for a greater purpose, young man?” The old priest man then asked.
“Are you trying to recruit me as a priest?” Adion questioned. This was not what he was expecting.
“Not at all,” The old priest shook his head, “This is not a place for young and talented people like you. I’m sure you have a greater purpose to serve, and you can’t do it here.”
Oh? Seems like he is trying to recruit me after all. But not to the Church? I’m only showing low Bronze strength through my aura, so it’s not enough to cause a ruckus, but definitely impressive and recruitworthy.
“What greater purpose?” Adion asked.
The old man smiled and explained, “There is a group on the rise, one that fights for humanity. I can’t tell you much more, but should you be interested, there will be a meeting at the old chapel in the southeast part of the city tonight. Where ambitious and like-minded people like you meet up, I can write down some directions for you if you want?”
“Oh?” Adion said, surprised, “Sure, thanks.”
This is a little too easy, no? Do I really seem that trustworthy, or do they just invite anyone?
Adion thought about it for a while before realizing that it probably had to do with his talent. The old priest was working as a recruiter, and if he managed to bring someone like Adion to them, he would surely be rewarded.
Adion received a note with some information and directions to the old chapel where they would hold a meeting later that night.
“Thanks, I’ll check it out,” Adion said.
“Good, good,” The old priest nodded with a wide smile, “May we bring forth the Everlasting Age.”
“Mm,” Adion nodded.
He then headed out of the church and out on the streets again. He could feel Benji following him, so he didn’t slow down to wait but kept walking alone for a while.
Let’s see who these guys are and what they are planning.