It was early morning of the Last Heat, the sun had barely risen so the air was still cool. In a bit when the sun had fully risen it was about to get way much hotter.

On this particular day, a crowd of people could be seen at a certain gathering place in Salted Bay. Four rows of horse-drawn chariots were lined up one to the other, while the horses were munching on fodders especially prepared by their caretakers.

This was a gathering of traveling caravans preparing to depart this morning.

Satoshi and his family could be seen among the crowd, along with his uncle, aunt, cousin, and niece. Like some of the people in this crowd, Satoshi was going to join the convoy of traveling caravans, and his destination: Istindi.

Satoshi has told his mother and his uncle’s family about his plan to head for Istindi. They were understandably surprised, even more so due to the fact that it was on such short notice. That was why on this day, a couple of hours away before departure, they were still unsure about Satoshi’s decision.

“Father, mother, I will be going. Please don’t worry too much about me. I’ll try to come back home as often as I can.” Satoshi said his farewell.

“Uncle, Aunt, thank you for seeing me off. Please help me look after my father and mother.” Satoshi said to his uncle and aunt.

“You be careful wherever you are, don’t be rash in everything you do, and make sure to watch your health.” Satoshi's mother said while she stuffed a money bag into his hand. Her eyes shone a tint of worry and reluctance but at the same time also pride in his son.

Satoshi didn’t look at what was in his hand, but he felt the weight. As he looked back at his mother the weight got heavier, it was more than the weight of the money, it was the weight of sacrifice.

Satoshi knew well that this must be most of what his family had at this moment, yet her mother gave it all to him without hesitation. He knew well that after this his father and mother would have to be very frugal for quite some time.

“I will mother” Satoshi answered his mother while carving the weight of this sacrifice in his heart.

This one, and the other ones their parents had made for him, Satoshi did not know if he would ever have the chance to repay, but he would never forget.

Satoshi looked at his father and he could see the multitude of things in his eyes that he couldn't say or wouldn't say. He only nodded at Satoshi, to which he nodded back.

Strangely, his usually cheery uncle was equally silent. There were none of his usual antics, instead there were even more unspoken things in his eyes than there were in his own father.

“Big brother, how long are you going to stay in Istindi?” Xiahn asked with worry in his eyes

“I’m not sure yet, at least until I am ready for the Academia Scholastic Trials. After I pass it, I will be heading to Asira next.” Satoshi said to his younger cousin.

Xiahn was surprised by this answer and couldn't help but ask, “Are you going to learn magic?”

“Of course! I’m not sure what it would be yet, either an Academy or an Institute, but I will definitely become a student of the Arts!”

Xiahn was looking at his big brother in awe, he didn’t know his big brother was holding this kind of aspiration but for him, if it's his big brother, then it would definitely be possible!

“You also need to work hard and finish your studies here. When you do, come find me in Asira and then together we can make different kinds of those automatons and constructs you love so much!”

Xiahn’s eyes were practically a shining jewel at this point. He thought, if it were with his big brother’s help then it would definitely be possible.

“I will! You just wait for me to come find you!” Xiahn excitedly promised.

Satoshi laughed while he gave his cousins a light punch on the arm. He looked at his uncle and he noticed there was now a hint of gratitude in his eyes. Satoshi had lit something in Xiahn that his uncle had been unable to.

—

A light thud of his head against the glass window woke Satoshi up from his sleep. Unexpectedly he had fallen asleep. It was either the faint vibration of the vehicle he was in, the comfortable air-conditioned cabin he was in, or just his tiredness that lulled him to sleep.

Unfortunately he wasn't dreaming about the dream he'd been waiting for, instead he dreamt about the day he left Mhasgara.

Satoshi thought it was strange that he would dream about it and know he felt guilty when he recalled what had happened.

Satoshi was lying.

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He never intended to prepare for the Academia Scholastic Trials, or to go to Asira and join an academy. He never even thought about being a student of the Arts in the first place.

Satoshi said all of those things for his cousin, Xiahn. He knew that Xiahn had always had a great interest and passions about the subject of formations, schematic, and refinement. From so many stories Satoshi ever told him, it was always the ones about automatons and constructs that fascinated him most.

“If the things of the future were equally unsure and being away puts me at more risk than now, wouldn’t it be better to stay?”

When he heard Xiahn say those things when they last met, Satoshi felt like someone else went and took what was on his mind and said it out loud. Xiahn was saying those words but to Satoshi, it felt like he was saying them himself.

At that moment Satoshi knew that Xiahn had turned out to be like him. Too much like him thus he chose to lie for Xiahn’s sake.

Satoshi specifically said he would be preparing for Academia Scholastic Trials for a reason: it was universally accepted as the hardest kind there was. So if Xiahn set his sight on it and failed, he would still end up somewhere fairly good.

“At least this way, if he didn’t amount to anything, it won’t be for the lack of trying.”

Satoshi set aside his thoughts and looked at the other passenger that shared the same cabin with him. It was Mulah, and he was sleeping. Unlike Satoshi that unexpectedly fell asleep, Mulah seemed to be intentionally looking to sleep, his eyes were covered with an eye cover.

Satoshi found this weird, how someone could be so relaxed and at ease as to sleep and leave himself and his belongings unguarded in front of a stranger.

The vehicle they were on was moving very smoothly because it utilized the combination of contour adaptive moving wheels and wind element coaxial thrusters that could act independently. Thus it could adjust wherever needed to ensure smooth riding. Even so, there would be small bumps from time to time, such as the one that awakened Satoshi before.

Since the ride was so smooth, these occasional bumps became very noticeable when they occurred.

Mulah’s head softly bumped against the cabin wall, it was the occasional bump just like Satoshi had just experienced. Mulah opened his eye-cover a sliver and when he saw Satoshi was looking at him, he smiled and completely removed it.

“Were you able to sleep well?” asked Satoshi while returning the smile.

“Yes brother, thanks to you,” Mulah replied, his right hand lying on his chest.

After he talked with Mulah for a while Satoshi was able to guess that Mulah’s manners of speaking must be due to his religious belief. Satoshi once read that those who worship the Earth Mother believed that every sentient being, alive or dead, was essentially a different part of a singularity.

Whatever good or bad we received or gave away among us was basically done to, and by, our true selves. Thus, they proclaimed and reinforced this belief by claiming that whatever good thing they received was thanks to the other person, while at the same time our own self.

It sounded complex to the uninitiated, but when you really think about it, it would slowly make sense even though not completely comprehensible.

Satoshi once read an excerpt that became one of the core foundations of this belief. It was an ancient excerpt from the Second Era titled “The Seed”, written by a wise sage and paragon André Weyer. He hailed from a place that was now the Nevas Cluster Continent and was enlightened with the kind of wisdom that would be spread across the world even today.

Now that both of them were awake, Satoshi and Mulah began to talk about a lot of things. Satoshi was eager to find out what it was like in Xinjia-kor and wanted to confirm the things he had read from his books. While Mulah, since it had been a very long time since he left Mhasgara, he was curious about the changes since he left.

“So you are from Salted Bays, brother? Is the mayor still that…uh..guy?” Mulah inquired

“Yup, still that one.” Satoshi replied concisely.

That was enough, each of them knew which guy the other person was referring to.

While Mhasgara was famous for its stones and salt, the Salted Bays city where Satoshi came from was famous for something else entirely. For decades, it had been known for its Mayor and its renowned antics.

While it was true that Mhasgara produced some of the finest salt there was, the Mayor of Salted Bays was somehow convinced that he had found an even better iteration of salt that would shame any other kind of salt out there. It wouldn’t be so bad if he was to keep this unfounded conviction to himself, but he would capitalize on any and every opportunity there was to sell the shit of this oh-so-called “Emperor of Salt”.

The mayor developed a habit of carrying around this salt wherever he went and randomly sprinkled it on random occasions. There was no rhyme and reason on when or what he would sprinkle this salt on. Heck, he had even sprinkled some people, too.

In the middle of prayer? Have a sprinkle.

During a meeting with delegates and dignitaries. Here's some sprinkle.

Choosing an outfit? Get that sprinkled.

Right after saying, “I am sorry for your loss”? You better be damn well sure to sprinkle on that body!

No matter when, where, what, who, or why, he would do this, and every time he did, he did it in a way that seemed very pretentious and made him look douchey. It was to the point that some people would hide the fact that they were from Salted Bays due to fear of being ridiculed.

Strangely, and to anyone's disbelief, he managed to stay in power for so long. Probably because pretentious pricks tend to wholeheartedly support their fellow pretentious pricks. And there were a lot of these pricks in positions of power.

Mulah looked at Satoshi with a smile that said,’ be strong brother’, and Satoshi could only reply with a defeated smile.

As if in tacit unspoken understanding, they moved to other subjects of conversation. Satoshi gained a lot more new perspectives on Xinjia-kor and many things related to it. While Mulah finally got an answer to his curiosity about why someone from Mhasgara would have a name such as “Satoshi” when he heard the story of the Ishidas.

Satoshi grew in appreciation of Mulah when he heard that he landed this job from the Imperial Descendants due to his rare mental affinity with metal-fire energy, which enabled him to work with the legendary Verdant Steel. He was also surprised when Mulah told him that many things that were on him were actually markers of the Imperial Descendants that acted as a sign that this particular person was under the protection of the Imperial Descendants and its forces.

Mulah on the other hand was surprised by Satoshi’s subtlety and wide range of knowledge. They had been talking for hours, but this young man in front of him didn’t seem like he would be running out of topics any time soon. In fact, he was able to keep the conversation going with more and more interesting topics.

Mulah was even visibly awed when Satoshi talked about his self-developed technique with light and briefly demonstrated it. For Mulah, while the technique itself was very simple and its application crude, the manner in which Satoshi came to comprehension and the formulation of this technique was entirely unique.

They had been talking for hours, and when they looked outside they realized they were quickly approaching the first transit point in Istindi. It was night right now but when they looked outside they could see specks of lights scattered below the horizon. That meant they were slowly leaving the wilderness and approaching civilization.

“Looks like we are about to arrive,” Mulah said, his eyes gleaming with expectation.

“It does look like it,” Satoshi answered, equally excited.

“Where is your stop?” Mulah asked.

After many hours of conversations and a growing sense of mutual respect they held toward each other, they had unconsciously dropped the “brother” when referring to one another. They were now much more relaxed and natural.

“Where is your stop?” Satoshi asked back. He was actually unsure since he didn’t even know there would be multiple stops.

Mulah laughed at Satoshi’s response, he instantly understood that the other party hadn't got a plan.

“We should be entering the Giava Territory in a little bit since it is the main route out of Mhasgara. After that, we should be heading to the first stop, which would be my stop.”

Satoshi was a little bit lost and wondered to himself, after all those hours of conversations, why didn’t he ask about Istindi even a single time?

“Which stop would that be?” asked Satoshi.

Mulah's smile widened, both his eyes almost disappeared into slits, obviously he couldn’t wait to tell Satoshi.

“It is The City of Gold!”

—