After brunch was served, Zane kissed Pinky goodbye and set off in his first attempt to gather resources. The chef had been very deliberate in what he chose to bring.

Anything he couldn't afford to lose, including Pinky, was left back at the restaurant. The only exception was the brass storage bracelet he had scavenged off one of the fallen cultivators. That had been wrapped in leather he purchased from the market and sewn into Daisy’s halter.

If someone didn't know what to look for, the brass bracelet would seem like a random embellishment. Daisy could access and store items as well. Though, if she came across something (or someone) containing essence, the spirit beast usually ate it right then and there.

Zane was pretty sure that Daisy hadn't been entirely honest with him about what she found in the warehouse. There had been a few busted up crates that he suspected had once contained cores or other essence rich resources.

On a whim, Zane decided to take a loop around the city. Hero’s Step was mostly made up of warehouses, with precious little space dedicated to housing or entertainment. He supposed that made sense, nobody lived here if they could avoid it.

The fog is acting as a sort of filter, Zane realized, But it's doing more than keeping people out.

People who were too low level to handle the fog stayed at the base of the mountain. Those who were able to ascend higher, did so.

Higher up was where the better money and experience were. If you were a cultivator, why bother staying in a place like Hero’s Step? It was relatively easy to advance past it with some dedicated training. Even Pinky had already gotten to the point where the fog hardly bothered her.

Granted, most people would eventually reach their individual plateaus and stay there. Zane suspected that as they ascended the mountain there would be certain levels and altitudes where people tended to accumulate. Hero’s Step had the rotten luck of being stuck between two such places.

“Too poor to paint, too proud to whitewash,” Zane said as he departed the city. He watched the other groups of resource hunters disperse over the countryside. Anything at their current elevation or lower would probably be pretty well picked over.

The chef reached a decision. It would be much more dangerous, but the chance of finding something worth his time went up astronomically. “Daisy,” he commanded, “Take me to the edge of the fog.”

***

As Lily rode along the wall that separated the God Hand mountains from the lowlands, she felt a bit hollow. The woman had decided that, no matter how things went, she would not be returning.

There was nothing for her at the sect, and Lily was tired of scrambling for the resources required to advance her cultivation. Besides, she had seen the records.

Each year fewer and fewer cultivators were born. Meanwhile, the sect members had to range farther than ever to bring back the required amount of sacred herbs.

The lowlands were quickly becoming devoid of essence. Within a few generations, the last traces of it would be gone. That was the main reason why she was headed to the mountains. Lily was trying to outrun the collapse of the sects.

She understood human nature well enough to know that if she had discovered what was going on, others would too. It was much better to beat the rush and grab what she could before the locusts descended. With any luck, Lily would be high enough up the mountain by then to avoid the worst of it.

Once again, she looked at the massive gray walls that separated the two worlds. The project had taken generations to complete. But eventually, the mountain had been sealed away.

The reasons behind the wall’s construction were mostly economical. If the lords could control who entered and exited, they could tax them or charge an entrance fee. Of course, it also helped keep spirit beasts from ravaging the countryside.

Lily supposed that was as worthy a reason as any for the wall to exist. She nodded to one of the figures patrolling the wall above her. They nodded back to show they were paying attention. Between the spirit beasts and smugglers, it paid to keep a watchful eye.

When she got to the gate, Lily showed them the scroll from Lord Grasa. They hemmed and hawed over its authenticity, but let her through. The cultivator could have probably sped things up with a bribe, but she didn't see the point.

For the first time in her life, Lily had nothing but time. She was operating on her own schedule. There were no more essence quotas to be filled, or junior disciples to discipline. She was free.

Stolen story; please report.

Lily took a deep breath of the essence infused mountain air. She was already beginning to feel a lot better about her decision.

***

Since she wasn't stupid, Lily had taken certain precautions. Her robes were reversible. The black of her sect was on one side, while dark blue fabric with a pattern of white flowers graced the other. She also switched out her horse at the first possible opportunity. The essence infused brand on it would be a dead giveaway to any cultivator she came across.

The man she sold it to must have recognized that, because he only gave her meat prices for the beast. When she accepted, a knowing look had passed between them. Lily couldn’t have been the first cultivator he met that was attempting to make a clean break from their sect.

The leather masked man gestured at the mountain. “You hear the call, don't you?”

Lily stiffened up, then forced herself to relax. There was no point in hiding where she was headed. Ditching the horse was to make her harder to identify when she got there. A pure black stallion was hard to miss.

She took a deep breath of the clean mountain air. “I suppose I do. Something about here just seems right.”

The horse trader nodded sagely. “Yeah, it's what separates the cultivators from us everyday folk. We see the fog on that mountain, we shudder. You guys take it as a challenge.”

Lily supposed there was more than a little bit of truth in that statement. Anyone could level up and advance. They could get stronger through hard work and determination. But without collecting and spending essence, they would never be as strong as a cultivator.

Her sect said that essence was what separated cultivators from the more base citizenry. But she wasn't so sure about that. The lines had become increasingly blurry as cultivators grew weaker. She knew that the ability to sense and manipulate essence was usually the bare minimum required to call oneself a cultivator. But her sect had allowed plenty of members to join that couldn't even do that.

“Sorry,” Lily said as she realized that an awkward silence had formed, “Thank you for your time, and your discretion.”

The man gave her a bow. “No problem. It always makes me so sad seeing you young folks go off and climb the mountain. I figure the least I can do is trade fairly with ya.”

She frowned. “Why does it make you sad? We're pursuing our dreams and getting stronger. Isn't that something everyone should wish for?”

He shook his head. “Of those that go up, few come back alive. That mountain is a harsh mistress, no doubt about it.”

Lily chewed on his words. Perhaps she would only go a little ways up the mountain for now. She could start slow, maybe stick around Hero’s Step for a while. There was no reason to rush into things prematurely and get herself killed.

Yes, that sounded right to Lily. The cultivator would go slow and enjoy herself. After all, she had the rest of her life to reach the summit.

A more leisurely pace would be a good thing, she decided. The sect wouldn't send anyone worth worrying about after her, at least not immediately. She thanked the man for his input.

Lily looked up at the fog covered peaks. I've got all the time in the world.

***

Zane's class allowed him to identify plants and animals, but it didn't tell him where to find them. The chef connected to the Mesh and scrolled through the list of lower cost upgrades he had previously ignored.

Fox’s Nose: Track or Locate objects and creatures by smell. Sniff out essence rich resources. Cost: 5 essence points

He had an extra level that could be claimed and enough essence to purchase the ability. But Zane hesitated. He had been saving up to buy another upgrade to his Chef’s Tools.

The young man decided to hold off and see what he could find with his current abilities. Then, half an hour later, he said the hell with it and purchased the ability.

Instantly his nose was filled with the smells of the forest. He was also acutely aware of Daisy and her particularly unique scent. It didn't smell bad, per se. But it was definitely all wrong.

It was like someone had crossed the grassy hay of a herbivore with the rankness of a predator. She smelled like danger and death.

Zane gave himself a questioning sniff. His nose identified him as a kobold. But he smelled like any other human that had spent the last few hours riding a horse. Antiperspirant hadn't been invented here yet, and he stank.

Something else was tickling his nose too. It was sweet and vegetal. He looked down at the grass below them with his senses. It was faintly glowing with essence.

After he pointed it out to her, Daisy attacked the grass with a predatory fury. The horse's teeth were no longer suited to grazing, but she wouldn't let that stop her. Daisy consumed the grass, roots and all.

The young man took an opportunity to stretch his legs while she was grazing. Zane wondered if the species of grass was naturally magical, or there was something in the environment that was affecting it. Then his mind wandered for a bit as he tried to figure out the difference between essence and magic.

Zane could do some magic, courtesy of the Sorcerer Initiate ability he had purchased and almost never used. He could also draw on his lower core to heat or cool non-living things. Was the energy he used for those abilities magic, or essence? Or was it something else entirely?

The rogue cultivator had no idea how anything here worked, and thanks to his rogue cultivator status, probably no easy way of learning. Zane wished he would stumble across a wise old hermit with nothing better to do than teach him the inner workings of the universe. But so far none had come out of the woods offering reasonably priced enlightenment.

Zane looked down at the freshly cleared earth that had once been a patch of grass. There was a coffin shaped piece of flat, dull metal beneath it. Daisy experimentally knocked on it with a hoof. After a few seconds of hesitation, something knocked back.