No wonder her mother never went on dates – the procedure was tedious and full of awkwardness. According to what she used to say, men were all primitive beings with dirty minds who did their best to make women miserable.
While the guy next to her probably wasn’t too primitive or dirty, Etessa had no choice but to presume he was making her feel awkward on purpose. She had done everything according to the ‘regular protocol’ and even initiated the meet, but apart from bringing flowers Leo did everything wrong.
But didn’t Elsa said he was in love with her? Wasn’t he supposed to show at least something? They didn’t have to ‘evolve’ their relationship, but no one would judge if they spent a pleasant afternoon, right?
All of the sudden Etessa felt like crying – just like back in the day when she was bored of practicing and ran over here to hide. Of course, she was not going to shed tears outwardly – those days were long gone.
“Sigh … do you know why pines cry?” She suddenly voiced a though watching a drop of resin form on the spot she just nibbled the bark off. This was what she once asked her mother, but contrary to that time she didn’t expect an answer now.
“Sigh … sometimes everybody hurts …” Leo said in a low voice.
Apparently he was as depressed as her and a realization struck Etessa – the guy was clearly carrying some kind of a burden and asking about his family only might’ve been the last straw that broke the camel’s back. This date was destined to fail from the start!
“Do you think they can see the stars?” Leo, on the other hand was trying to follow Jack’s advice and say only deep or romantic things, but to his great despair nothing passable came to mind.
After strolling through woods for some time he was forced to realize that for some reason after satisfying Elsa, her friend and the sect master’s daughter suddenly looked for him and invited to an actual date, not an exchange of experience or a spar thus the current situation put a toll on his mental state. He had no clue what to talk about before, much less now. Jack named the other subjects ladies might be interested in like clothing, flowers and gossip, but none fit the current situation. ‘Stars’, on the other hand were ok-ish since the sun was setting and the first flickering dots began to appear in the east.
Sensing he was not going to get an answer, Leo continued, “You know, I’ve always wondered if the stars are similar in all realms. The sun and the moon seem to be the same, but I feel like the night sky sometimes look different.”
“Sometimes?” The sudden change in Leo’s attitude caught Etessa off guard.
“Hahaha, ye! For many years now your mother, I mean – the sect master, keeps sending me to different mortal realms … that’s why the question.” Leo giggled back, “I’ve been stranded quite a few times and had nothing better to do, but to pray to Heavens, thus I kind of noticed differences … of course, it might’ve been just my imagination ...”
“Didn’t the immortal masters of the Golden city teach you about the different realms?” Etessa asked.
“No.” Leo shook his head in regret, “I only got the chance to meet master Shaw once and we only spoke about my cultivation … but what about them? What about the realms?”
“By now you probably know that there is a plethora of mortal realms, right? After all you’ve visited many.” Etessa explained, “They are scattered around the universe and the only thing that connects them are the teleportation platforms built by the Golden Hand society. From what I understand, for a realm to be habitable they have to have more or less similar conditions, like water and a sun, but many have no moon or exactly the opposite – have several moons. So … basically … you have made a correct observation – the night sky is different everywhere, because each mortal realm is located in a different part of the universe.”
“What about the immortal realm? Is it in the center of the universe or something?” Leo asked.
What Etessa said made sense and, even though he had no clue how was that arranged technically, the idea of him traveling through the stars in the sky filled him with incredible excitement.
“Which one?” Etessa said, but then added, “Uhmm … I don’t think any of them are in the center per se …”
“Any of them?” Leo got confused, “Is there more than one immortal realm?”
“There are nine, as far as I know.” Etessa shrugged, “But besides that I don’t know much more. In fact, I believe that you might be the one who knows the most about the immortal realms in our sect – apart for my mother, of course.”
“Haven’t you visited the Golden city before?” Leo barely suppressed the shock and tried to casually change the subject despite his heart racing.
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What Etessa just said was completely new to him and he had always assumed that the Immortal realm where the Golden city lie was the one and only, something like a higher world where the ‘cool people’ lived. But apparently even after hanging out with those ‘cool people’ he was still a frog in the well and had no clue how the world actually looked like.
“No.” Etessa shook her head with a sigh, “Traveling between realms is expensive, especially to an immortal realm and I have no time to fool around. In order to step into the Nascent soul stage I have to cultivate non stop. In fact, this afternoon is the most free time I’ve gotten during the past month.”
Only now Leo realized how hard working the young lady was and in comparison he had been only slacking since the day one. Of course, he didn’t realize that much depended on one’s talent, elemental affinity and, in his case – a lucky chance, but that only increased the pity he felt for her. No wonder the girl reached out for him – she was lonely and because of her status was probably not allowed to meet with guys.
And then another realization struck him – clearly this was the reason for the earlier awkwardness! She simply didn’t know how to behave during the intimate encounters! At this Leo could only inwardly sigh – even though he wasn’t a professional anymore, him being a man put the heavy burden on his shoulders to satisfy her, no matter how inexperienced she was. Of course, he didn’t have to do her right there and then, but when the situation required, he had to perform at his best.
“Then you’ll surely go there one day.” Leo said as if consoling her, “In fact, it’s even better if you’re at the Nascent soul stage – you can freely fly between the floating islands and don’t need to use the local teleportation platforms.”
Then he noticed the longing look in her eyes and, even though he wasn’t sure if she was longing for him or for the immortal realm she had never been to, he could not become too intimate in public and therefore asked, “Do you want me to tell you more about the Golden city?”
The next part of the evening turned out to not be as boring and awkward. Etessa mostly listened while Leo excitedly told about his travels and experiences. They sat on the hill overlooking the outer sect till late while chatting and snacking on the snake-headed beast meat. Leo did consider letting Etessa sample one of the two remaining eggs, but in the end decided against it – the young lady was pitiful, but he didn’t have to give her all of his most prized possessions, right?
The turn of events pleasantly surprised Etessa as well. She already lost hope in this endeavor, but fortunately Leo managed to overcome his inner demons and turn into a pleasant person to hang out with. She was surprised he didn’t try any advances although according to Elsa he was supposed to be in love, but with how strange he behaved earlier, Etessa decided to not expect anything. In addition, even though he was much younger than her, he was rather experienced and seen a lot, thus it was interesting to listen to his stories.
When the evening came to an end and Leo escorted Etessa to the Spirit tower, the mood was incomparably different to when they met in the afternoon. She was even so engrossed in his story about Dreadlands, she invited him for a cup of tea, to what Leo, of course, agreed. In the past month he had experienced too many such formal invitations and knew it meant they were about to proceed to the bedroom, but it was also alright.
After deciding he would satisfy her needs, Leo had no reason to worry and the only troubling element remained Etessa’s scary mother. On the other hand – she was the one who sought him out and she was the one to invite to her bedroom thus the common sense and the morale was on his side.
Etessa was startled when after entering her simple room on the upper floors of the spirit tower, Leo stepped towards her and gently caressed her cheek. Initially she didn’t plan to invite him in, but for some reason it happened naturally.
She was as tense as a piece of wood though. This was the closest any man had gotten to her, but according to Elsa he was not like the others and was deeply in love with her … so it should be alright, right? And after conversing for the whole evening she learned about his experiences and that on the inside he was rather sensitive …
But what happened next paralyzed the peak Core formation cultivator. Quicker than in a blink of an eye she found herself in a kneeling position on the bed with a distinct feeling of warmth spreading through her body from the abdomen. The many years of cultivation told her that just now she absorbed enormous amount of Qi, but the pat on the butt and the words ‘You were amazing! Thank you!’ returned her to the disgusting reality.
This was nothing what her first time was supposed to be like! She did kind of initiate it, but the guy turned out to be a complete moron! How could she have known? And Elsa? Her best friend clearly knew and … decided to pull such prank? In what world was that funny?
Suddenly a deep feeling of sadness overtook her and an involuntary sob escaped, spoiling the mood of her ‘lover’.
‘Heavens!’ Leo inwardly exclaimed, ‘Not her! Why in the world would she be one of the ‘criers’?’
He was certain just now he had reached the peak of all lovemaking skills, but instead of appreciation he was about to get tears as a reward. The world was too unfair – why both friends couldn’t be like Elsa? After the moment of closeness they could sit and laugh – especially because the extensive training he went through while being a professional allowed him to ignore the drowsiness he experienced in the early days after lovemaking.
Since the lady clearly was not in the mood, Leo politely said goodbyes and left. He wasn’t keen on witnessing her actual crying, thus all that was left was to go back to his own room to cultivate.
‘No wonder!’ Leo finally ‘understood’ his friend, ‘That is why Jack always goes to the brothel – all the girls there are the laughing type! F*ck! How am I so unlucky to get in these situations over and over?! That’s it! From now on I’ll be cultivating until I get to the Golden city! No more fooling around!’
To follow this decision wasn’t hard at all. During the next half month Leo rarely left his room and when he did, he only went to eat or do physical exercises at the training grounds. Luckily he didn’t meet Elsa nor Etessa, but he didn’t miss either of them. The only thing Leo looked forward to was when lady Evelyn would decide on the day of their departure. He didn’t even care where he and Jack would be sent – as soon as they got away, instead of following who knows what orders, they would teleport right to the Golden city to never return again.
Unfortunately, like always, things didn’t go as planned.