As night fell, we stopped at a clearing. I wondered why. So, I asked her: “Why are we stopping?”

She seemed anxious as she fidgetted a bit before answering: “I am deeply sorry, esteemed senior, but there are no inns in the surrounding area...”

Inns... But that was not my point? I wanted to know why we were not moving further? Why did we need to stop?

“Why do we not continue on our way?” was my answer to her.

She seemed puzzled as she answered matter-of-factly: “Esteemed senior, the sun is departing to let place to the two moons”

I was aware.

I too could see that the sun was no longer there.

Wait.

I had been so focused on my immediate surroundings that I even failed to consider the sun! How did it come to me considering it obvious that there would be a single sun or even a sun in this different world! What a blunder!

I quickly considered the question. If there was an absence of sun, could humans survive? The answer might be 'yes' but would they still be the same 'humans' then? Would I then potentially find myself into a world without a sun someday?

Oh, wait, what should I do if I ended up in a world without sun?

Would I need to first work towards creating an artificial sun beyond the sky? Or should I instead prepare artifacts to be able to live under the sun's absence?

No, wait, could I even create an artificial sun? Would I have enough materials....

- * -

What is wrong with this senior?

I only told him that night fell and now he is just standing there, completely immobile.

Did he break? No, how could the esteemed senior break?

I really need to take a break.

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Since he is not moving, does that mean that I am not allowed to move either? Should I wait a little?

After a while, I could not help but ask him: “Esteemed Senior, can I go settle for the night?”

“Sure” he answered, uncaring and not even looking my way.

I turned to look where he was looking but, even after using some Qi to enhance my sight and some more to scan our surroundings, I found nothing out of the ordinary.

What was he even seeing...?

Forget it. His thought process is far beyond what I could even imagine...

*At the same time, the esteemed senior's thought process was about whether to make his artificial sun strong enough to cook dragon eggs by itself...*

I went to the side and, infusing some Qi into my space ring, took out a giant red and black tent. It was a basic accomodation for outdoor activities.

It had been a gift from Rongsheng...

Rongsheng...

I began to sob as silently as I could as I cuddled myself within the covers of the bed.

- * -

After I swiftly decided not to make an artifical sun strong enough to cook dragon eggs by itself, I turned my gaze towards the interesting contraption that she took out of her spatial ring.

The thing stands slightly taller than a person, with curved peaks at the top that give it an elegant, pagoda-like silhouette. Its main color is deep black, but crimson highlights run along the edges of the fabric, creating sharp, clean lines that reflect the duality of power and discipline. The material of the tent is not ordinary cloth—it appears to be woven from a special fabric that catches the moonlight, giving off a faint sheen, as though imbued with some mana. It might actually be but I would need to get closer to check it out later. At the very least, it is not a material that I have seen before.

The entrance is arched, with flaps that overlap slightly, embroidered with intricate crimson symbols resembling talismans of protection and energy containment. The flaps sway gently, giving off a sense of mystery. They are fastened with small, red jade clasps when closed.

The thing radiates a subtle but noticeable aura of power, as though it’s designed not only for comfort but to act as a focus point for mana refinement. I can feel that the surrounding mana is slightly attracted over, very slightly.

Still, this seemingly mundane contraption gives me a lot of information on the culture and the abilities of the regular people of this world.

It is quite clear to me that they should have some decent craftsman to be able to consider this kind of materials to be used in crafting since, after all, everything that holds energy within would be harder to use and mold than things without.

I could not help but get closer.

And, indeed, as I thought, this material contains some hints of mana within. It is probably some kind of animal or monster by-product.

It not only shows the capability of crafstmen to use this type of materials but also hints that people of this world are able to easily acquire such materials.

Since she took out as if it was a very ordinary and random item, it shows that such items are not rare, obviously, meaning then that there should be many craftsmen of decent ability and many 'hunters' able to acquire materials of decent grade.

Beyond that, I can see that the gathering of the surrounding mana was intended from the characters designed and etched within the material of the contraption. Quite peculiarly, the characters are of a different nature and style from those I am aware of. They do look like to be more geared towards visual beauty than what I am used to.

I could have created the same effect but my runes would have been vastly different. It is incredibly interesting to see that a different rune can have the same impact.

That means that they should have a completely different rune system from mine but capable of exhibiting similar capabilities.

As such, it becomes a must for me to learn it!

Would there be runes stronger than their counterparts from my world?

Would it be possible to combine my rune writings and this new system together? How would the effects be?

I had so many questions.

This contraption reignited my desire for knowledge.

In this very moment, a brand new point of view opened up to me and I could feel within myself that growth was, once more, within reach. This was a long-lost feeling and so exhilarating! To think that there were still things to discover! That there was still ways to increase my comprehension of the truths and grow!

How delightful!