CHAPTER 14: SCARCITY
Lieutenant Thyrl wasted no time. Dan was signed up on the spot and immediately chauffeured to a small but sturdy stone home close to the same gate.
Following the guidance of an extraordinary detail-oriented and comely militiaman, Dan registered himself to the simple formation surrounding the home. With a little trepidation, he dropped his things off inside and promptly followed the militiaman elsewhere.
Walking the streets in the peripheries of the Ice Demon Cliffs was an enlightening experience. The atmosphere was calm, quiet, and somewhat dulled. Stone construction littered the roads and weary men and women walked quickly through the streets. In the distance, he could see travellers entering through the myriad of gates and traversing past the somewhat dreary militia houses and into the heart of the land.
Dan guessed that it was much livelier further in. Internally, he decided to venture there on his own time.
For now, he followed his guide through the streets and into a stout, thickly defended building. It was thrice taller than his new home and many times wider. Three men stood abreast on either side of the entry, glaring at the passersby and stopping the two when they approached.
His guide shook the hand of one of the guards and exchanged papers as Dan admired their dress. Deep blue undershirts printed with the insignia of the Blue Ice Palace, topped by dark metal over their torsos, legs garbed in similar material with chainmail to their knees and sheathes hanging from their waists, the men looked deeply imposing at first glance.
But when one matched eyes and blearily smiled, Dan remembered that they were just people. People at work.
Suddenly, he felt a lot better about the whole thing. Some of his confusion tittered away, and his sense of self felt aglow.
They were shortly let in. Beyond the thickly barred doors lay a simple foyer, where Dan followed his guide into another door and down a flight of stairs. And down… And down… Wherever it was that they happened to be going, it was clearly hidden very deeply.
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Just as Dan was contemplating the work involved in excavating and building so far beneath the earth, they reached the bottom.
The resulting hall wasn’t wide, barely enough for two to walk abreast. Runic script littered across the floor offered limited lighting, and so far below ground, it was eerily silent.
The two rounded a corner, only to encounter a single person guarding a steel door.
“Zzzzzz… wub-wub-wub-wub…”
Dan slapped his ears and winced. Maybe it was the confined space, but the snores of a single person could be surprisingly ear-piercing.
“Ahem.” His guide politely coughed into his fist.
“Bwergh? Whart? Who? Oh!”
The middle-aged man stretched and patted down his robes. He clicked his fingers and a small flame lit amidst the air, giving Dan a look at his red garb and crooked nose.
Giving the two of them an appraising look, the presumed guard cocked his head and blinked warily. “Bernie? What the hell are you doing down here with a kid?”
A strained smile crossed the guide’s face as he stiffly guided Dan to the front.
“A genius popped up. He needs a new cultivation technique.”
If anything, the other man’s confusion only grew. “Cultivation technique? Old man, the Channel Building methods are- huh?”
Seeing where the conversation was going, Dan already propelled a portion of his energies from his hands, where they momentarily lit the passage before dissolving into the air.
Both his guide and the guard looked at Dan with wide eyes.
“What?”
“I-” the guard gulped, straightened his robe and quickly patted down his messily strewn hair, “let me introduce myself.”
A hand was shoved into his face, and Dan helplessly shook it.
“Julien. Captain of the city guard, Qi Refining stage level four.”
“Dan,” he respectfully bowed his head. “Channel building, level ten. Is there a nature element cultivation technique available?”
Julien smirked, knocking on the door like he owned it. Two resounding booms shook Dan’s ears, and he winced.
“There’s a little bit of everything. Whether it suits you is up to you.”
“As they say,” Bernie muttered from the side, “absolute talent trumps compatibility, but absolute scarcity trumps talent absolutely. Let’s have a look before we think too much. No matter what, you’re leaving with a technique.”
Bernie pulled a teal diamond from his pocket, strikingly like the one that adorned Lieutenant Thyrl’s neck, and pushed it into a crease in the door.
Julien pulled aside his sleeve, revealing a wristlet containing a red diamond. He was careful in removing it from its holding and slotting it beside the other.
Ch-clunk.
“Welcome to Ice Demon Cliff’s Refining stage repository.”
In that moment, far beneath the earth in a city containing millions, gazing upon the treasured techniques of a powerful faction containing hundreds of cultivators… Dan understood the meaning of scarcity.