The town was little more than a pitstop as far as anyone was concerned, hotels and eateries lined the street in an otherwise dead town. the main road branched in three directions but only the north road looked used. "so what now." Dave asked no one in particular. "master I suggest we take the west road, the serene jade sect is known to offer guidance even to cultivators not of their own, east is the badlands and north is the heart of the empire." Indicating each direction as he spoke.
"you scared to go back?" Dave looked sympathetically at Dong indicating north. Dong shook his head "No, while I have reservations you have nothing to fear from the empire aside accidentally concerning it. it's the little one that will gain the most her roots are strong but without a path her fortune will be limited. you could use a cultivation path as well the holy maiden should at least point you toward the starting line."
"Lilly is happy with master's teachings, Lilly is strong now, Lilly doesn't need a new teacher." Dave only smiled "Everyone needs a new teacher, learning all you can is the only path to greatness, sides we need to know what we don't know that we don't know." That left Lilly confused and took Dong a moment to sift through. Eventually cocking his head and grunting in agreement.
"so buy lunch and head out, or what?"
the restaurant they chose was known for large portions, not its variety, the food was good noodles, fried rice, and grilled 'meat' that was half the menu. several of the other patrons eyed them suspiciously but just watching Lilly eat was enough to garner a lot of unwanted attention. Dave paid and tipped generously as they left "Observe!" the minimap appeared again in his peripheral vision.
"looks like we got company." 15 red markers appeared as they left town, the group kept their distance until sunset when they surrounded the trio. "you seem the generous type so we think you should share what you got with us." the look of boredom on Dave's face made Lilly giggle And Dong coughed trying to not to laugh and drink at the same time. "hey don't be like that, we'll even take good care of the girly there."
The goons were no threat at all the only issue Dave was having was how to deal with them. given their attitude they had to die that much wasn't in question no, only who and how..."screw it not even worth the effort." with a wave of his hand a lighting bolt bounced from one to another and back again killing them all instantly.
"Master Lilly didn't hear you say anything, Lilly doesn't understand." Fair enough thought Dave, he hadn't really explained the ins and outs of his magic only that he could use it. "I use 5 different schools of magic, 'words of will' need me to have a clear image of what I want but needs to be expressed in only one word. That was an arcane spell it has a set effect and only needed a thought to activate, 3rd is holy magic no spell but preset effects reflecting prayer and faith, 4th is enchanting binding a soul to an item so it does something, 5th is ritual magic it can do things that flat out brake the rules of the world." Dave counting on his fingers.
"Can Lilly learn magic?! Lilly wants to say things too." Dong was busy looting the corpses. "master do your inventory, stats and such use magic too?" Dave pulled out an arcane spellbook for Lilly to look at "No, inventory stats, perks, titles skills, and abilities are separate from magic. even in the other worlds only I could use them." Lilly couldn't read the local language Eldar script was out of the question. "Lilly can't read..." she was on the verge of tears.
"sorry little one but I can't teach you this, it has to be learned on your own, I can't read it either you just start understanding things." that made Lilly feel a little better. Dave checked his copy of the Akashic records. "still blank." he huffed and put it away. Dong interrupted his funk setting a badge of sorts on the bench for Dave to see. "and?" the iron rectangle meant nothing to Dave, Dong on the other hand was becoming animated.
"he was a member of the blood-burning sect, they know he's dead and will come for us." irritation evident in Dong's voice. "they aren't much of a threat to us but they tend to massacre villages for just feeding their enemies the ancestor should be my equal or close enough, so we will be harassed the whole way."
"I take it the empire will do nothing..."
"No master, the empire can ill afford to police even small sects, the war with the kingdom, is bad enough, and if the dark sects ally the empire would fall." Dave nodded familiar with similar political quagmires.
"candle! light the darkness with your warm glow." a small floating flame appeared above Lilly's palm. Dave rushed to catch her as she passed out. "crap, prodigies are hard to teach." Dave could learn a new spell just by picking up a book but normal mages took months to learn their first spell. She likely had 5 mp. tops and without the ability to level up that spell may be all she could ever do. while mana worked like a mussel, use would make it grow but without enough to start...
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"master how did she do that, I felt no spiritual energy of any kind." Mana being a fundamental force like gravity or electromagnetism had nothing to do with cultivation. not that Dave knew that. "I don't know, she shouldn't be able to, like at all, this fast is just nuts." placing her in their bed roll "Inspect!" looking at her stats Dave was truly at a loss 70s and 80s may be high in this world if it caps at 100 or low because she was still level 1 but most concerning were sections that showed only '????????' "Dong can I have a word?"
Dave looked over Dong's stats all over 200 some sections were also blocked out the section that caught Dave's attention was 'cultivation level 9' just below character level 1 the one title he had was 'Path of the Spear' everything else was the same as Lillys. "path of the spear?" Dave more commenting than asking Dong's eyes bugged almost right out of his head. "How did you know master I've not said anything and was going to abandon the spear in favor of your teachings." Dave pulled a long spear from his inventory. "mastered the spear too so maybe I can help with that." the wood of the shaft was black with red grain, and the tip a greenish shimmering metal. "Its venom emerald Damascus, hard but flexible not poison but takes 3-4 times longer to heal." Dave gave a short demonstration before handing Dong the spear and snuggling up to Lilly who had refused to stop crawling in with him until he gave up and accepted it.
Dave woke up to see Lilly reading the book once again "Hey kiddo, put this on before you try another spell." a simple amethyst on a silver chain necklace '+150 mp.' "Lilly is sorry, Lilly blacked out again." Dave put the necklace on her and patted her head "Cast it again and hold it till you feel light-headed I'm going back ta bed fr'n' hour." Lilly cast the spell again with the full incantation holding her hand out straining her mind. in less than two minutes Lilly felt dizzy so stopped. controlling her breathing in meditation as she tried her best to read the unknown words.
When Dave woke up and began to prepare a large breakfast he saw Lilly still trying to understand more "Inspect!" her base mp. had gone up 3 points. not bad for one session. had this been Lytheria or Darkweld she would be a high-level mage in short order. Dong was trying to recreate the movements from the evening prior. "time to eat you two." Dave held the plates of food out both seemed reluctant to pause their efforts but quickly accepted the direction. Lilly's portion is still a heap 3 times the size of Dong's with a small vile of potion on the side. Dave stored the book and showed Dong how to retract and extend the spear. Lilly's dagger on her hip and Dong's spear on his back Dave did not need to carry a weapon openly.
it only took 3 days for a handful of blood-burning outer disciples to show up they took one look at Dong and thought better of it. "well that was easy...Oh please tell me it doesn't work that way here too." Dong's uncomfortable look said loudly yes it does.
after another week they were confronted by a small army of mixed inner and outer disciples some holding obvious treasure weapons. "so you two wanna give it a shot or should I smoke em'?" Dong gave it some thought "It would make good training but I think a show of force would be more useful at the moment." Dave shrugged and nodded a black bow appeared in his hand one arrow nocked Dave aimed at one then raised the bow to 60ish degrees and loosed the arrow as soon as it reached its zenith a thousand arrows fell only three of the 200 were left standing wounded but alive. "lance of ice price my enemies!" Lilly chanted and one was run through with a small ice spike she staggered for a moment Dong ran the other two down instantly ending the encounter.
"you know that spell is a bit above your weight class" Dave chided the dizzy girl trying to stay upright. "Lilly wanted to help, Lilly knows Lilly can only do so much, Lilly just wanted to make master proud."
well what do you say to that, Dave set the girl on his shoulder and headed over to Dong "So think they'll get the message?" a simple headshake was enough answer for Dave. sigh "they got anything nice?" Dong looked around "The dagger you gave little sister is more impressive, they have little coin and no more than standard provisions for a week." Dave waved a hand and stored everything except the corpses and tokens.
Dave covered every corps in a white sheet lined them up in rows and began to sing a deep and mournful song Lilly and Dong both wept openly without understanding many of the words. "all we are is dust in the wind. may your gods bless and keep you."
"Master, why mourn these deaths and not the others?" Dave shook his head "A soldier of any army is due respect no matter the flag they march under, commanders, leaders even holy men are guilty by choice but a soldier must march for how can they not?" Dave had not cared when he lived on earth but 2000 years of wars had changed his views.
"let's go before they send more." a month passed with no incident leaving the two adults concerned. Lilly had made tremendous strides in her training both martial and magical finally healthy-looking again. She no longer needed the necklace but she loved it as any gift her master gave her. still at level 1, she could cast tear 3 spells. her stats now all hit 100 and somehow she had a title 'First of the new path'
Dave could only groan "I've got a bad feeling about this."
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