Chapter 143: Eau De Outworlder

The team had intentionally traveled fast, drawing monsters to Nara’s nebula ship rather than letting monsters randomly choose their targets. Higher speeds drew the attention of monsters, and they were adventurers looking to test out their new toys (bronze rank abilities). After clearing out the monsters, they took a reprieve, meditating or otherwise enjoying the amenities Nara’s fully stocked nebula ship provided.

Eufemia was sunning on the deck, dressed lightly in a sarong and a cropped shirt. It would be impossible for her to tan her alabaster skin thanks to her nature as an essence user, even if Erras had had a culture of tanning. The nebula flask kept the open-air deck at a pleasant temperature and prevented the chilling and whipping winds that usually accompanied travel, reducing it to a mild and soothing breeze instead.

Eufemia was the epitome of content when she saw Nara approach and settle into a patio recliner next to her.

“The price is exorbitant, even for me,” said Eufemia, eyes still closed and basking in comfort and light. “But I could get used to this kind of travel.”

“Is that an offer to contribute to expenses?”

Eufemia snorted. “Did you want me to pay rent?”

“Haha. I feel like I’d get more benefits if I say no.”

She smirked. “Smart. My favor has no price.”

Time passed as the clouds drifted overhead. The stone mountain spires and forests below were alive with growth, the medium temperatures of the region maintaining plant life throughout the year. Rice paddies (or some similar grain), fields of vegetables, and strange livestock dotted the landscape. The air was dry and clean, scented of aromatic trees and sea salt. Other sky ships drifted lazily along the same path, blast of magic ringing out in the calm as an adventurer escort eliminated the occasional attacking monster.

“I have expected there to be sky fish. I’m disappointed there isn’t.”

“Sky fish?”

“Like a fish that swims in the sky. Giant flying whales, turtles as large as islands, stuff like that.”

“Why would a fish swim in the sky? Don’t birds have wings for that reason?”

“You don’t ever think magic is too grounded in reality sometimes?”

“Loathe as I am to play second fiddle to Aliyah, Magic is a part of reality.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Nara pouted, looking away dejectedly.

Eufemia stared at the sky, “We’re sitting on a sky boat made of stars and clouds, and you want more whimsy? Even since I’ve left Nekroz I’ve gotten to see so much more. Once, I had worried that the world outside of Nekroz would be no different.”

She paused, drinking in the fresh air with her lungs, a sensation that Nara sort of missed, so she copied her. “There’s still the darkness there, lurking in the shadows. It’s just that; in the shadows. In Nekroz, the shadows have replaced the light.”

“Is that a line from a play?”

“You think I can’t have an original thought?” Eufemia said, in mock offense. “But I’ll concede: It’s from a play. Nekroz is the subject of a great many plays.”

“Are they accurate?”

A scoff. “Of course not. It’s about what you’d expect from those that haven’t been. Royal families replaced with Vampires bloodlines and political intrigue that’s a bit bloodier, more immoral, and more incestuous than the usual.”

“If it’s not that, what’s it really like then?”

Eufemia turned over, sunning her back. “For normals life is pretty normal. The sun is never out, and the sky is always grey, but life is similar. As long as you aren’t trying to make money, that is.”

It was just London then, or St. Petersburg.

“Like you were?”

“I needed political power, money, and connections to leave, but I couldn’t be an essence user.” Essence users were watched more closely, and those without restricted essences tended to lose favor, as it meant they could leave Nekroz with no consequence. “That meant getting involved in the more lucrative and unsavory side of Nekroz. You might be surprised to hear that the ordinary folk are at odds with the high powers of Nekroz.”

“At odds? How so?”

“Most of Nekroz, the unchanged and the changed alike, just want to live normal lives. Most changed aren’t trying to kill anybody for blood, and they just take the amount they need to live. The political top—the vampire warlords, the lich kings, death raisers, the pursuants, death essence users, the clergy of Undeath—they want more. More of the world.”

“The pursuants?”

“The Pursuants of Ascension. Those that research the forbidden. Experimentation on people. They think that there are lines that must be crossed to achieve greater power and advance the world. That they’re doing it for our good!” From her dismissive tone, it was clear what she thought of that. “All pretentious self-justification.”

“I’d thought they’d call themselves the Pursuants of Knowledge.”

“Ha!” she laughed sharply and strongly, kicking her legs a few times in her hilarity. “For all their willingness to cross the ethical line, they are not willing to cross a goddess!”

*****

The time to travel to Huxin had taken roughly one day of continuous flying. The traveled along at a relaxing coast, following the speed of the other sky vehicles like a formation of magical, migrating geese. The only reason they saw so many concurrent travelers was the importance of Huxin as a destination; Huxin was the edge of the Shian Union, the first port towards regions like Atisalhaya, Rona, and Ramil, a nation located near where Egypt was.

The climate of the region began to shift, and the temperature slowly began to rise. In the distance, Nara saw a massive mountain—a volcano. It was an actively erupting volcano, but not one that was erupting explosively. Streams of magma bubbled to the surface, and smoulders harvested magical obsidian, metals, quintessence, and various essences from the location. Nara couldn’t see the glow of lava from here; it was far off in the distance and difficult to see in the light of day. Both the smoulder city and any magma vents obscured by stone terrain or jungle.

“There’s a smoulder city towards the mountain,” Encio said, gesturing across the landscape to points of interest. “Other races tend not to live there.”

“Why not?” Nara was curious about a great many things, and the culture of the other world had always interested her.

“Far too hot for most races. Lava runs through the streets.”

“I guess leonids wouldn’t live there then.”

Leonids were notorious for wearing next to nothing, thanks to their thick coat of fur.

“They wouldn’t be caught dead in a smoulder city.”

“Because they’d die of heat exhaustion,” Eufemia added offhand, matter of fact. “They can’t possibly wear any less than they already do.”

He pointed towards the bow of the ship, “Huxin is warm because of its proximity to the volcano and other geothermal activity, but not so much that you won’t see leonids, although they are reluctant.”

The terrain formed craggy cliffs and stepped slopes, the greenery lush from the ambient magic and the heat that combined with oceanside humidity. Waterfalls streamed off cliffs in small, silvery strands, their mist filling pocketed valleys. The earth was redder here, streaked with other colors of earthy purples, burnt oranges, and sulfur yellows. The region had a jungle-like earthiness and lushness that Sanshi proper did not have.

Huxin had been another option for training, but the team wanted a city beyond the Shian Union, itching for an entirely new region now that the world was their oyster (and less likely to kill them in a single snap). This had disqualified the cities of Arlang, but Sen was not disappointed. Aside from perspective building trips, he had spent the majority of his life in the Arlang Territory of the Shian Union and shared the team’s opinion of venturing elsewhere.

Thanks to their newly ranked up recovery attribute, their bodies could maintain their own internal equilibrium against greater environmental extremeness. Nara could tell that the air was humid and warm, but it did not bother her nor cause her to sweat. But she hadn’t been sweating since she became an outworlder, so she wasn’t clear if bronze rank attributes were that efficient for others.

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She stared at Encio beside her.

“Why are you staring so intensely at me?”

“Is the air warm enough here to make you sweat?”

“And here I thought you finally noticed my enchantingly good looks.”

“I’ve always noticed it. It just doesn’t affect me. Now don’t change the topic, are you sweating?”

“…I’m not.”

“If I was still normal, I’d be sweating up a storm. Now I just smell vaguely of flowers all the time. I wonder if I can reproduce the smell, call it Eau de Outworlder and sell it. Market it like some sort of celebrity scent—came back from another world and all I got was a good smell.”

“People sell their smell? What is wrong with your world?” Encio, who was rather thick skinned to Earth’s insanity, could not help but cringe in disgust at this.

“People sell their bathwater. Scent isn’t even that bad. Beside scent isn’t even literal, it’s more like something that’s supposed to represent their person.”

“Then bathwater isn’t actually bathwater? That’s a relief.”

“My dear Encio, you are drawing conclusions far too easily. That part is literal bathwater.”

“…It is rare to say that I can be surprised by the degeneracy of people, and yet, I have been proved that life can go lower. It cannot possibly get any worse than…bathwater.”

“Now now, Encio, sir, that would be a losing bet, should you make one! Do you consider feet pics better or worse than bathwater?”

Encio’s experience with John’s camera as well as his slight knowledge of Earth granted him the understanding of what a ‘pic’ was (although Erras was not entirely spared from such degeneracy either). “That is a losing question where either answer is the wrong answer. I’ll abstain.”

“The people of my world aren’t that much worse than here. I’m sure Eufemia and John have seen some of the crazy kinky shit y’all get down with magic on hand. I think Aliyah had a sex magic book in her library. I wonder if she brought it with her. You ain’t no white peach yourself, are you?”

Encio stared at her, aghast. “This is by far the most vulgar conversation I’ve had with you.”

“What sort of impression did you have of me? You didn’t think I was capable of vulgarity?”

“So I have learned.”

*****

Nara anchored the ship at one of Huxin’s many sky ports. As a city heavy with trade, land, sea, and sky ports were common. Sky ports were built into the surrounding cliffs, the tiered rock face allowed for stacks of airships and sky vehicles.

Now as a proud owner of a sky ship (a nebula flask in reality), Nara checked out the other designs. Several were like hers, flying sailing ships with fin-like sails attached to the hulls. The designs were varied, evidence of the diversity of Huxin.

Other used a more magic intensive design. The circular ring that propelled the subway in Sanshi attached to the hull and aft of ships. They encircled the ships with a ring of glowing magic.

Smaller, personal flight vehicles resembled skimmers. Fast and light, but with little to no protection. They were suited for short distances and were used to travel to various locations within the city. Trips were made with skimmers to Sanshi, but the speed was best kept to a minimum, to avoid attacks from monsters. Thankfully, the land road was often traveled and frequented by adventurer escorts, making the entire stretch of road relatively safe.

The city itself sprawled between the steep cliffs and climbed onto them, like a moss growing on stone. Various vertical sky ports were built within the city as well, some of the tallest buildings Nara had seen on Sanshi yet. They were thin and narrow, just platforms to anchor vehicles and a floating elevator platforms that moved people up and down its height. Since no residential or commercial were built that tall, Nara assumed that Erras didn’t have the requisite magic or technology to make the larger buildings of that height.

The streets were paved with red-brown stone, similar to the surrounding earthy cliffs. The whole city was tiered, built into the cliffs, and the gradually decreasing elevation that led to the ocean bay. The higher tiers of the city was shrouded with a light mist, the ocean breeze has cleared the lower levels of the city.

While Huxin was a large and populous city in Fenhu, it was not the technical ‘capitol’ of Fenhu. The seat of Fenhu’s government was Eienho. In Erras, the Arabian Peninsula was split by a river connecting the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Eienho was built atop this separate land. Part of the reason for Huxin’s prominence was this river that led directly into its bay.

The team disembarked, paying the fee for their sky-parking-lot.

Nara jumped off the side of the sky-port together with Encio, sharing the slow fall ability of her Cosmic Path with him. Other essence users did the same, if they had similar powers.

Because why take the elevator when you can fall in style.

The entire city was a large, unending bazaar. Trade goods were unloaded from ships into street side stalls. For others, it was just a temporary waypoint before their final destinations. Beside Nara was her recording crystal, once again creating her holiday home videos. Encio was her acting tour guide and explained the features of the region. He’d gotten very adept at it, since they’ve met, although he’d also been a natural presenter.

“Welcome to Huxin, the trade hear of the Fenhu Region.” Encio said. “Any item you want—for a price.”

“Don’t make it sound so sinister!”

“Almost any item.” Encio said, sly. “You won’t find gamer-girl-bathwater. Whatever in Knowledge’s name that is.

She should not have given him that ammunition. Encio was far too skilled to pass up a chance at a reference.

“The city is divided into semi-circles. The first circle, or low circle, is nearest to the port are the best deals. Traders want to offload perishable goods or gain a bit of extra coin for the final stretch of the journey. You’ll find mixed quality here, and you’ll need to have an eye for it and a mouth for haggling quickly. If you’re not fast enough, someone else is.

“Mid circle or second circle is where the mid-range, everyday life goods are. There’s a lot of inns for traders staying for a while until their next transportation arrives, or while they await for an adventurer’s escort to be put together. Generally smaller companies and independent traders that don’t have everything worked out down to the minute. It’s often called the transit circle.

“The third circle is the luxury circle—handcrafted goods like furniture and clothing made to order, high-end jewelry, or specific specialty materials sold in bulk. You place an order here, and somebody will get it to you, one way or another, if you don’t have a handy inventory power or the capacity to take it with you right there.

“The fourth circle is the outer ring. Mountains surround most of the city, except for that one passage, there. It’s all land and air traffic traveling from northern Fenhu. I know you don’t like crowds, so we’ll just take a quick look at the first circle, then go the second circle.”

Sen and Eufemia were already at the lower circle, haggling for some fresh supplies. Chrome was with them, expanding his available ingredients. They weren’t low, but Eufemia was interested in the activity and Sen decided to accompany her. Aliyah was together with John in the second and third circles, the two shopping for their own interest. John was attempting to learn alchemy, but that was one field of magic Aliyah had no experience in. He skillbooked himself to basic proficiency, but he’d still need to purchase herbs and other materials to practice.

The port was thronged with people. Colorful stalls were set up beneath the shade casted by tall masts and sailing ships. Some ships looked impossibly large; it may have been Nara’s ignorance or the augmentation of magic. Smoulders, runics, and humans were the majority race, and Nara saw a few she hadn’t seen much before.

“Those are dragonids, right? I remember seeing them once in Sanshi before the Celestial Book Trials.”

“What did I tell you then? Prideful but otherwise just as ordinary as the rest of us?”

“Sounds about right. If they’re so rare, where do they normally live anyway?”

“Yumeha, a nation to the east of Sanshi. Some do live in and near Hwasaan, especially those of the fire bloodlines. The Daohai City Sates has a variety of lineages, then a few more in the jungles of Sulistavera and Selvacora. You’ll also see some in Rowen, since it’s largest nation in this world.”

Their features were a combination of human and dragon. Scales covered all of their skin, in parallel to the leonids’ full-body fur. Many had a combination of horns, a tail, and a pair of wings, but some were missing a few of those features. Their facial bone structure was draconic, like how leonids resembled big cats like lions and panthers. They had the greatest color diversity of any race she had seen in Erras yet, with scales ranging from a vibrant red, emerald green, pure black, and even a shimmering rainbow-gold. Many were multicolored, with ombre horns, dark scales around the eyes, or white scales down the throat.

Nara wondered if the evolutionary biologists could take a stab at it, but who knew if magical races had any logic to that scientists could discover. If Aliyah had heard this, she would have chastised her saying, “Magic does have its own logic, you just don’t understand it.”

Had her own genetics been completely altered? She was an outworlder now, but were her genes outworlder as well, and not human? She could have herself tested back on Earth but wasn’t sure she wanted anybody to get a hold of her genetic information there.

The middle circle was calmer, but still busy with people. They alleys and streets were shadowed with deep vibrant fabrics, creating a covered bazaar. The buildings were made of a material similar to adobe, but of a richer brownish red. Moss grew from the earthen buildings. Was it intentional, or had the moss grown out of control?

She repeated her tradition here, picking out some mid-tier jewelry for her sister and mother. Encio helped her choose, since her sense of quality and fashion for accessories was middling at best. She had the coins to afford luxury jewelry, but she just wanted to purchase something casual and easy to wear.

“You don’t want any?”

“I think I’m already wearing all the accessories I dare to wear at once.” Nara said, gesturing to her black teardrop earing and her silver one, which had decided to match Nirvana on her opposite ear.

“Speaking of jewelry, is that a tradition here? To purchase a ring for marriage?”

“Gifted jewelry in general is a tradition in some cultures. A ring in particular? In some.”

“Hm. What’s the most common tradition then?”

“There isn’t a common tradition.” Encio said. “Dances, drinking, tattoos, gifts, prayer; it differs by location and by race.”

He looked towards a small group of dragonids. “I do hear that a dragonid union is a grand affair, but I have never seen one.”

*****

“See here,” Eufemia said. “I can tell these vegetables are at the end of their freshness. This coloration—this is on the verge of going bad.”

“Fifty lesser coins per. I can do no lower.”

“We’re looking to buy in bulk you know,” Eufemia said. “A little lower, and you might be the one we’ll purchase from. There’s a lot of other options here. And you get a bit more coin in your pocket specifically.”

The merchant’s eyes met Eufemia’s in an assessing glare.

“Forty,” he said slowly.

“You know what those are, you can go a little lower. I’m taking those off your hands for you, they’re lowering the quality of your stall. Others see it, and they turn away. I almost did, but I looking for something special, you know what I mean.”

His brows furrowed.

“I’m not going lower than forty.”

“I think you can.”

“Thirty-six.”

She grinned. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

“I’ve made my decision. I will fulfill the bargain,” he grumped.

“Give me this many,” Eufemia said, numbering with her fingers in merchant sign shorthand.

“You got it, miss.”

He bundled up the vegetables with practiced efficiency into a wrap.

“Here.”

Eufemia passed him some coin in a satchel. Since coins were the main currency, it was common to keep extra satchels on hand.

He glanced at them.

“This is too much. Even for the original price.”

Eufemia waved, already leaving, “I just wanted some fun.”

The man shook his head.

“Adventurers.” He weighed the heavy satchel, pleased. His eyes twinkled with the intelligence of a seasoned trader, who’ve weather the daily storms of the Huxin docks. “This is why I humor them.”