Seren walks out into an unfamiliar city despite it being the only city he’s ever lived in. The first thing he does is grab a street orphan and slips him 3 bronze coins before he can say anything, asks where he can find a caravan to Alternate Haven and where he can find a vendor who won’t fleece him too badly before he leaves. “Well if that's all you want then just go to that building with a sign that says Adventurers guild and they'll get you set up with a caravan as long as you can pay, or if you wanna earn some money you could apply to go as a guard. Some of the shadier caravans dont care about age or circumstance and will hire anybody. As for the supplies, right across from the adventurers guild there's a shop ran by an old coot named Smith, he doesn’t negotiate on prices but everything is market price and he has a soft spot for kids who look like they’ve had it rough.” he says while he slips the coins into a hidden pocket somewhere on him and glancing at the state of Seren’s clothes. Luckily he was able to leave with his Tonfa blades or he wouldn’t even have a weapon.
“I’ll admit I have had it rough so thanks for the tip.” responds Seren while shaking his head. He squares his shoulders, takes a breath and walks away to head to the supply shop
After taking a couple wrong turns and getting lost in some crowds Seren ends up in front of the guild building and turns around to spy a shop with a small sign on the door that simply says “Supplies.” He enters the shop and is instantly greeted with a bright “Hello there! What can I do for you, young man. Looks like you came here with a purpose after all.”
“Uh hello sir I was told you had a soft spot for kids who have had a bad time so I’m gonna be up front. I just managed to beat the pit champion, I have three days to leave the city, I don’t have any supplies except for these weapons, all I really know how to do is fight. I’ve got 2 gold, 99 silver, and 97 bronze, I know nothing about survival outside of the pit and so If you could set me up with a caravan that's going towards Alternate Haven and it be one that is fairly safe then I would be forever grateful sir.
Smith looks at Seren and after a moment bursts out laughing “ahhaha boy that was good, it’s true I do have a soft spot for those young folk who are striving to climb out of a shit situation, seeing as I myself was one once. Tell you what you give me, say you give me 5 of those silver and I’ll get you set up with a basic kit of what you’ll need as a starting traveler, some protective gear, a set of tools, and as for help with a caravan… hmmm there’s an outfit that leaves tomorrow, decent set of fellows but they’re a rather odd bunch but if you’re going to Alternate Haven then I suspect you’re aiming for the academy so traveling with them should work out perfectly.” he chortles as he looks with amusement at Seren.
‘Uh why's that sir?’ with a quizzical look on his face.
‘Because they’re upperclassmen from the academy of course’ he responds with a sly grin. ‘Though if you’re aiming for the school and they find out they may barrage with odd tests and such, the students of that academy have a rather eccentric reputation after all.’
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‘Oh, well that's fine with me sir, I don’t really know much about anything and I was planning to go there anyway so I figure as long as It’s not as bad as what I just got finished doing then I figure I’ll be alright.’ Seren responds with a confident look that was tinged with sorrow and unresolved feelings.
When he says this the shopkeep takes a closer look at Seren and responds ‘Young man when you walked in the shop and said that, I had taken it as a youthful boast but the look in your eyes, tell me, are you truly from the pit? You defeated the champion with power still in the first quarter of the circle?’
Seren meets his eyes from he stand across from the counter and with a smile sad enough to bring a tear to your eyes if you could see it nods and says’ ‘I did sir, I couldn't have done without a good plan, a foolish enemy, and a good bit of luck but I did do it and before I left my senior told me to go to the academy and tell them I’m pursuing a path called Mortal Energy.’
‘Mortal Energy huh, been quite a while since that one has crossed my ears. Well there certainly is no better place for you than there considering the headmaster.’ says the shopkeep. ‘Well young man as I said 5 silver for all I mentioned and as a gift for spending a moment with an old man Smith here and to celebrate your recent victory I’m gonna throw in an old trinket I have here.’ as he says this he pulls out a pair of plain silver cuffs and hands them to Seren along with the rest of the gear.
‘So what do these do if I may ask sir?’ asks Seren.
‘Well as a city with a rather large pit, the few fighters that manage to win or age out generally come to shops in the city and get rid of weapons they only used because that's all they could get a hold of. Those cuffs are a pair of enchanted tonfa blades a pit fighter who aged out of the pit came to drop off here.’ answers the shopkeep but as he sees Serens excited look at the word enchanted he chuckles and continues ‘don't get too excited, it's just an enchantment for the actual blades to come out of the cuffs so you don't have to grip a handle and can keep your hands free if you can use any energies.’ finishes the shopkeep.
Seren who was already preparing to leave when he heard the enchantment wasn’t anything flashy paused at the mention of energies and asked ‘before I go sir could you explain a bit about energies to me? My teacher mentioned I don’t use either Qi or Mana which are the only ones I’ve heard of and thought I was using one of.’
Smith takes a moment to think about his answer before he opens his mouth to say ‘Well to keep it short you could say that in the current era the energies of Qi and Mana reign supreme. Other energies such as the Elemental energies, the Mortal energy, and even the energy of the Dao are considered alternative energies. Some people may refer to them less politely as left over energies. This is because these energies were what were primarily used in the ancient periods before greater energies such as Mana and Qi formed. To most they are considered inferior methods of power. However for whatever reasons some people may find they are unable to use the more accepted forms of energy and resort to these types. In doing so they can still gain great power but they tend to be more specialized and restricted in what they may do with their powers. That's not to say there’s no path to the peak with these powers. For instance two of these powers despite being considered alternative energies are still considered Greater energies. I’ll let your potential seniors and teachers at the academy to explain further than that though young man.’ states the shopkeeper.
With a bright smile that actually belonged on a child's face Seren turns while waving to the shopkeeper and heads out to the guild with a paper with directions to the caravan given to him by the shopkeep.