Ai and Lin take the normal way out of the area, while I end up going through a tunnel connecting much closer to the other side of town. By the time I get there, it’ll be around afternoon.
Gong’s suggestion to me was to pop out one of the nearby tunnels and make sure that I’m seen by a spy, before doubling back into the tunnels, to go the actual route. At that point, she recommended I try to get there as fast as is possible.
As I do so, I take a glance back at them with my scan, to make sure they are alright. Mainly, I can see that there doesn’t seem to be any issues with their side. They are just heading to their location in the central merchant district. Spies are keeping a sharp lookout for anyone that matches my description to be traveling with them.
Contrary to their thoughts, my pickup location will be on the far side of the city, near the other, smaller merchant hub.
In that area of the city the incoming traffic from the eastward locations, moving away from the sect.
Gong had determined that there is a very low likelihood that The Alchemist Guild would have eyes looking at that location. Not only that, but the Vermilion stripes shouldn’t have Agents out in this area.
The downside to this is that I have to run near my normal top speed all the way across multiple tunnels underneath the city.
We lived around the middle of the city, so it took around 4 hours to get there. Around 300 km in total away.
Which is 80km/h.
In order to not splatter myself against the walls, I used my scan to predict my movements and every step. It definitely helps that my reaction speed is improving by the day.
Nonetheless, I did crash against wall after wall, experiencing stupid amounts of pain and wasting some time. However, I could feel myself getting better and better at running this. Learning to use my legs and arms to stop and pivot, causing massive strain on them, but helping me to keep going.
This could be something I try to practice more. I can feel my body surpassing its limits, far more than my workouts were doing. It requires every part of my body to move like this. Even though it is definitely painful, I can work with this.
This is exciting.
As I get further away from Gong’s area, there are more bugs and creatures along the paths and less light.
Gong sent some spiders ahead to clear the way, but there’s only so much you can do across such a distance. It honestly was better for me, as it tested my reaction speeds with the running and making sure I step with the right timing, as well as concentrating on making sure the path is clear with my scan.
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The only close call I came across was a giant beetle creature stuffed within the tunnel, mostly blocking the way. It seemed to not know I was heading towards it at first. I leaped onto the wall, in the tiny space between its body and the ceiling, diving through and rolling back into a sprint. Still running as fast as I consciously could. It seemed to react quickly, but couldn’t keep up with my speed.
Eventually, I reached the exit to this branch of tunnels. unlike the other ones, this one didn’t directly connect to the surface.
This one actually connected to a small cave system that reaches both inside and outside of the city. Low-level cultivators guard the portion that reaches outside of the city, but that portion is quite a distance away from where I would enter from. They also rarely look behind them, rather than focusing on the outside threats.
That doesn’t mean that it was completely untrapped though, as I had found multiple small formations. Luckily, Gong had already notified me that that might be the case, so they prepared me to look for them specifically.
It also gave me a chance to see formations in person. In the past, I had the hope of using my scan to discover more cultivation methods, such as formations, body cultivation techniques, and other things, but someone typically guards those things, similarly to cultivation techniques.
They aren’t something that I would just know without a good reasoning. Once I learn about them more, then I can just say I figured out based on learning the basics. I file away what I see in a mental folder for ‘think about later’ items.
Nevertheless, I finally make it up to the surface, with no issues.
My clothes are a little battered and beaten, but they appear to be mostly alright. Obviously, my healing kept my body strong and OK. Surprisingly, it optionally cleans me as well. I’ve taken along a small backpack with some simple clothes that I would need, some food and water, as well as some other small items.
One thing I also brought with me was my clothes and items from from earth. My reasoning for this was that it’s always possible that high-level cultivator could have a way of searching out these valuable items. If they came across the demi humans in his search for it, it could be catastrophic. Not only that, I could always make up a story about how I received these.
How believable that would be is a different story. But at the very least, I would be within a decently sized sect. That would give me a chance to get something out of this. Or at least not lose my life for it.
So, with my bag of stuff, I approached the pickup location, which is in an open market area.
The sun is around 2/3 of the way in the Sky, showing that I came with time to spare.
The first thing I see as I go out there, is a long string of sheltered carriages, like what you would expect from nobility.
Sitting on top of one of them, quite lazily, is an average looking, brown-haired young man.
And he looks completely bored out of his mind.
My scan picks up that there are a few people already in these carriages, just waiting for them to move on.
The second thing I notice is that not all the carriages are the same. Some are made of considerably better material and have much more ‘help’ available.
The people who naturally gravitated to these carriages, seems to be the privileged people, that we were talking about earlier in the caverns. They have food being brought to them, and some people who clearly want to get to know them better.
From what I can tell, this is the politics portion of this sect.
I’ll have to navigate this carefully. There are so many things to consider, and I have the Alche…
Interrupting my thoughts, it a cry of pain from two different voices. And the words that I never thought I would here in real life.
“YOU DARE?!”
Sigh.