When the boys arrived at the main square the expedition groups had already gathered.
“Alright! Show them all who’s the boss!” Jack punched Leo’s shoulder instead of saying goodbyes and rushed to join his group.
For the first time since they met he was not worried about his little friend. Unexpectedly Leo became Qi gathering cultivator before him, but instead of being jealous, Jack was happy for him. Of course, there was the part of Leo becoming cultivator of the corrupted path, but the boy was definitely going to fix it since he got his hands on a proper cultivation technique. Jack, on the other hand, had to work hard to catch up to the rascal.
Leo’s mind was preoccupied with other things though. He verified the newly acquired cultivation technique was safely hidden in his backpack and joined his group of newbies deep in thought on how to let others know he had already become a real cultivator.
Few moments later groups one after another orderly proceeded to the teleportation building.
Since the regular expeditions began over nine months ago there had been few changes. First of all there were innovations regarding the equipment – everyone now carried a small leather backpack containing bottle of water and few other basic necessities.
Secondly instead of the large cumbersome baskets each youth was carrying a smaller one with a lid. Because the strategy was still the same and everyone after the day of foraging returned to the main camp, there was no need for oversized equipment that no one could fill with the herbs anyway.
Another addition was the rule of everyone carrying their staffs at all times and wearing leather boots during the exploration. Many and especially Leo found this rule to be incredibly annoying, but the logic to protect the gatherers from snake bites was understandable.
After his group of explorers was blinded by the familiar flash of light, even before regaining his vision Leo felt himself getting completely wet.
“What a bad luck.” He heard senior sister Barbra sigh.
Indeed. They arrived during a storm and while it should’ve been a day, the thick curtain of rain coming down from the black clouds made it seem the sky was almost as dark as during the night. The only positive thing was that the rainwater was relatively warm and the outer sect’s disciples didn’t start to freeze right after stepping off the teleportation platform.
“Erect the tents! You know the drill! Hop, hop! No lazying around!” Barbra commanded and everyone gladly complied.
For the first half of the month she was supposed to be the leader of this expedition and elder Clark would arrive only at the end to check on everyone, verify the results and, of course, send the group back. There were only eighteen people in the group – the last remnants of those who hadn’t stepped into the bone reforging stage yet. For many this was the last trip before they were transferred back to the outer sect thus everyone approached Barbra’s instructions seriously.
On the meadow surrounding the teleportation platform one after another were erected several tents – their home during the upcoming month. Everything felt equally wet outside or inside, but under the cover at least it didn’t rain buckets.
The group gathered in the largest tent that normally served as a storage and Barbra in annoyed mood briefed everyone on their plans.
“This is relatively unexplored mortal realm, but as long as we stay between these mountain slopes, we are safe.” She pointed at a crude map, “We arrived here and after the rain stops we’ll forage around these mountains looking mostly for the common spirit grass, but also for the gray stone shrooms that are mortal ranked plants. Basically we’ll stay in the vicinity of the camp at all times – you’ll almost always see it from somewhere above.”
“Senior sister!” One of the disciples raised his hand and asked, “What about beasts?”
“No worries.” Barbra said, “Ranked beasts haven’t been sighed in the region and judging from the reports this realm has solely aquatic beasts that we should take note of. Thus the main rule is – don’t go in the water.”
“It’s kind of hard now, isn’t it?” Another disciple joked, but the timing was wrong and, while others giggled appreciating the witticism, for the rest of the day the joker had to ‘guard’ Barbra’s tent standing under the showers of torrential rain. She was really in a bad mood.
Only six days later the rain stopped and the group finally could appreciate the incredible place they arrived to.
As usual, the teleportation platform was built on a large flat field, but here the whole place from three sides was surrounded by tall and relatively steep mountains that peaked somewhere above the clouds. The fourth side though was open and just like from a roof terrace one could observe an endless turquoise-blue water carpet below. There were few dark spots that probably were islands or maybe the water was simply of a different color for some reason – it was hard to tell because of the height and the distance.
There was a thin brook at one side of the field the camp was built at thus providing the group with the necessary water supply. The surreal part was that the brook ended at the side of a cliff creating thin shower of water droplets what evaporated long before hitting the ground in a form of a waterfall.
The first day of foraging didn’t go very well. The rocks were slippery and the ground muddy and few of the disciples almost slid off the mountain. Fortunately besides a couple of strained ankles or wrists there were no other injuries.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
But the real problem occurred later in the afternoon. A bright flash indicated activation of the teleportation platform, but instead of elder Clark and his eagle a group of thirty odd people appeared. They were dressed in light blue attire, probably indicating the colors of the sect they originated from and were led by two tall and athletic young men.
When the vision of the newly arrived people returned, they were as surprised to see other people here as Leo’s group.
“Stay here!” One of the leaders commanded in the main dialect and approached senior sister Barbra who came to the front, vigilantly holding hand on her sword’s handle. Contrary to her sect leader she didn’t carry a claymore, but a nice two and a half feet long broadsword.
This was the first time Leo met someone from another sect during any expedition and considering it was a very expensive endeavor to teleport a group of people that large it wasn’t some run-down sect, but a serious force highly likely coming from another mortal realm and what the youth said next proved exactly that.
“Greetings!” The young man politely smiled, but the next part made the still annoyed girl furious, “This place belongs to the Sword Mountain sect. I’ll have to ask you to leave.”
“You probably think I’m dumb just because I’m a woman, don’t you?” Barbra angrily barked back, “This is a mortal realm that doesn’t belong to anyone! You bunch are probably from some random rundown sect and came here thinking you can bully our junior disciples!”
Her words caused the opposing group to immediately draw their weapons and, contrary to the disciples from the Sacred Order, they were carrying real swords rather than wooden sticks called ‘staffs’.
‘F*ck!’ Leo inwardly cursed, ‘Rule number five! Never piss off anyone stronger than you! What are you doing, senior sister? They have twice the people and obviously the two strong guys can easily deal with you!”
The young man who previously spoke thought the same way. He drew the huge sword he was carrying on his back with one hand as if it was a kitchen knife and stepped towards the unruly girl.
“Wanna have a go at it? Come!” Barbra snorted and Leo guessed that because of all the bad weather they had for the past days she was getting suicidal, “We, disciples of the Sacred Order are not afraid!”
Then she glanced over her shoulder and shouted towards her own group, “You guys! Let’s go and have some fun! Later elder Clark will clean up what’s left of them.”
“Stop, stop!” Suddenly the second taller guy came to the front and tried to calm everyone down, “There is no need for violence just because of a minor misunderstanding. My name is Brandon and I’m from the Sword Mountain. How may I address you, beautiful lady?”
If anything, Brandon was a sweet talker and even someone like Barbra had to soften up a little.
“Barbra from the Sacred Order.” She plainly stated.
“Mhm.” Brandon nodded, “I’ve heard of it. You’re from the Aurora mortal realm, right? And your sect master is a skillful claymore wielder, correct?”
Brandon’s quick judgment turned out to be correct. This one despised those men who called women ‘beauties’ and ‘sweeties’, therefore he quickly switched tactics and accentuated the competence of the female sect master instead of looks. Obviously it worked, because Barbra’s expression slightly softened and Brandon decided to strike the iron while it was still hot.
“Everyone! Sheathe your weapons!” He commanded, but his colleague threw a questioning gaze at him.
Fortunately they had known each other for years and he quickly guessed Brandon’s intention thus immediately sheathed his greatsword showing an example to others.
“It’s an incredible coincidence for members of our two sects coming from different mortal realms, but specializing in sword mastery, to meet here, in the middle of nowhere. I’d even go as far as to say it’s a sign of potential friendship that could last for centuries.” Brandon confidently continued, but the next part made Leo’s feet grow cold, “On this auspicious day we should not fight, but settle our differences like civilized people.”
‘Oh no!’ Leo inwardly panicked, ‘This is bad! Two rules broken in one day … and he seemed to be such a nice guy! Who would’ve thought he was bringing bad luck … I wonder … how am I supposed to kill him? He’s definitely stronger than I!’
Barbra obviously had no clue what Leo was thinking and even if she did, she wouldn’t care.
“What do you have in mind?” She asked.
“Let’s settle down first before it gets dark.” Brandon suggested, “Afterwards we can decide who’ll have the first pick on the foraging locations.”
“Alright!” Barbra said and then turned towards her group, “Make bonfires and start cookin’! We’ll have a discussion after dinner. Since we’re the hosts here, it’s only polite for us to invite the guests for a meal.”
She might have a fiery temperament, but she was not stupid. She fully realized she had no chance against the two guys who most likely also were at the Foundation establishment stage. In addition, she technically was an alchemist, albeit a poor one, from the Artisan and not Combat division thus her fighting skills in comparison were subpar.
Brandon appreciated her quick wit and understood her train of thought well. Obviously they were the stronger party, but both sects were from the righteous path and if they massacred a bunch of people just like that sooner or later a someone would blab and his own head would roll. And even if they cleaned up everyone nicely there was a risk she wasn’t bluffing and that elder could show up any time. There were just too many variables to take a risk with no chance of actually winning anything.
In addition, they were supposed to be stationed here for two months and babysitting juniors was incredibly boring. And since even devil would eat flies during famine, the regular looking, but feisty girl in his eyes became relatively doable.
Neither side was in a hurry and youths stealthily observed each other while doing their chores. Only when the sun hid behind the mountains the two groups joined for a meal.
Barbra, Brandon and his colleague, named Jasper, sat in front of the largest bonfire as if they were actual elders of two sects and their juniors grouped to the left and right respectively. The only difference was the weird manner how the disciples of the Sword Mountain didn’t sit cross legged like their counterparts from Sacred Order, but placing knees on the ground and their butts on their heels.
This made them sit with straight backs while looking taller and more heroic, but Leo felt it was just a snobbish show off. The only thing that caught his eyes was the manner everyone put their swords neatly in front of them.
He clearly remembered how his father used to throw his sword to a side or leave in another room only to look for it later, but these guys treated their weapons like precious relics. Especially that Brandon guy.
While Jasper’s sword looked like a huge piece of iron, Brandon’s longsword was almost as long, but thinner and much more elegant. It didn’t have any incrustations or inserted gemstones, but Leo couldn’t take his eyes of this masterpiece. The moment he saw it he began to fantasize of wielding it while the sword burnt in bright flames.
The way Brandon held or positioned the sword was also very peculiar. To onlookers it seemed as if he could draw it any moment and if the sword would leave its sheath, a life would be lost. While eating, he also didn’t put it in front of him, but at the side and from time to time kept touching it as if it was some kind of a treasure and he was afraid to loose it.