CHAPTER 7: BLUETOP RAVINE

Bluetop Ravine wasn’t the ravine itself, but the thick cluster of stone buildings nestled together that resembled a city within said ravine. Dan found himself at the foot of it, outside an inordinately large stone arch and gaping dumbly.

And indeed, he was barely at the foot of it. The significant arch and the surrounding walls weren’t just large, but even the earth beneath them and the city grounds itself was easily three-fold the height of the carriage above the earth upon which Dan stood. Dozens of tall steps led from the foot of the outskirts to the city-gate. Bluetop Ravine was either built upon a natural plateau, or more likely, the plateau was built preceding the city itself.

Dan couldn’t think of a reason to do something like that, but he just took it as an interesting sight and waved the question to the back of his mind.

More significantly, when Dan left the carriage behind and moved to enter the city, nobody stopped or came to inspect him. It was strange, but in one moment he was amongst sparse company on empty stairs, and the next, he was in the hustle and bustle of a settlement of tens of thousands.

At first, he froze. Indecision wrestled with naivety and he stalled.

But it was his decision to come here. Dan was the one that had convinced his father, and his father was the one that had requested the family to lend him the purse upon his waist. Speaking of… Dan quickly tied it to the inside of his waistband. It was a bit awkward, but oh no was he ever going to explain away losing so much money amongst crowds even thicker than he’d anticipated.

With a deep breath, Dan entered the writhing mass of people.

His small frame seemed a distinct disadvantage against the larger folk flurrying about, but his maladjusted blustering equally didn’t cause any accidents. If only he could see where he was going…

As it turned out, he didn’t need to. In fact, Dan couldn’t help but know which stall, shop or exchange was where and what…

“-only the best and rarest monster parts at the Frost Beast Complex!”

“Come one and all to Blue Ice Exchange! Tickets for the yearly auction are still available for two gold a piece, but it starts today!”

“All merchandise greatly discounted at Yin Blue Refinery for today only! All weapons, armours, treasures, and metals at an all-time low!”

“Blue Herbalists going out of business! Buy everything at a premium, but hurry, the offer only lasts until stock runs dry!

The cries of hawkers crowded the ears without end. These, were not something Dan had ever expected. If they weren’t so extreme, he might have believed a word they said!

“Father always said there’s no free lunch,” Dan muttered. He didn’t let sweet words fool him. He wasn’t that dim-witted, but mostly, he just didn’t want to disappoint his father. Perhaps he was being a little simple, but Dan felt that simple principles were best for building a stronger self.

Or at least, that was like something his father said. One of many, Dan was coming to realize. Maybe he should come up with some of his own stuff… he would be eleven soon.

Dan did eventually leave the main thoroughfare, and he did find an out-of-the-way herbalist. No hawker was present to cry their special offers either. Instead, an old man swept the storefront.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Dan approached the entryway, and the doddering sweeper nodded in his direction. “Good afternoon.”

“Good after-”

Dan gasped. He was still a step from the windswept cloth that covered the doorway.

“This is…”

Dan’s spirit energy had gone completely haywire. His dantian screamed for sustenance, and his body shivered uncontrollably. His energy threatened to annihilate everything between it and whatever was within that building, including him.

Dan barely realized that he was retreating until he’d already done so, and once again, the stall was across the street.

“This,” he realized dryly, “is impossible.”

…

“You need me to buy a plant?”

The severity of Dan’s glare did well to show his barely withheld frustration.

“I-I mean, Master Dan…”

“Yes?”

“Which plant do you need me to buy?”

Dan waved off the driver and gestured again toward the quiet shop and its doting sweeper, who till now, hadn’t relaxed his broom.

“Any plant. The cheapest one will do.”

His driver’s eyes creased, but Dan staved off further questioning with a light push.

“I’ll pay for it, just get me something.”

The middle-aged man fell forward several steps, but recovered before he hit the ground. A flash of guilt flittered across Dan’s mind, but the man was fine, and had no problem entering the stall.

While Dan waited, he contemplated.

If he couldn’t even enter a herb shop, then wouldn’t he be dependant on others forever? Dan didn’t like the idea of it. Not a whit. But nor could he walk into that stall. He shivered merely at the thought of it. He’d felt like he was about to die.

Maybe a pill shop would be different, but he had the prominently distinct feeling that it would be more of the same. The same for a simple herb garden. It might even be worse, and he profusely refused to subject himself to that again.

His servant wasn’t particularly quick, but Dan hadn’t any genius ideas before he was pulled back into reality.

“Will this do?”

Dan took stock of the leaning servant thrice his size. His gaze drew down to what was presumably a bundle of herbs professionally wrapped in blue paper.

But he wasn’t happy at all. His body didn’t react even a smidgen, and he would know because he was looking for that reaction very intensely.

“Let me see.”

Dan took the offered package and ripped a corner of the packaging. He’d intended to actually have a look at the herb itself, but a spurt of sensation in his gut stalled him.

It was more alike to the moments before he’d ingested the Spirit Gathering elixir than when he’d almost entered the herbal store, but it was definitely there.

Dan scrunched his nose. It had been blocked so thoroughly by just paper? Was the solution as simple as covering his exposed skin? Maybe with some gloves, socks, a facemask, and a hood? Something for later. At least, the concern that he’d have to urge others to do his shopping for the rest of his life had abated.

“This,” Dan said, exerting himself to shunt the urge to ingest the herb now, “is enough. What is it?” That he insisted on carrying it close to his chest didn’t so much as warrant a raised brow.

The servant bowed his head. “This is Blue Demon Grass. It’s said to be reaped straight from the Blue Demon Grove. There’s… quite a bit of this grass for sale.”

To be honest, Dan didn’t much care for its background. “Okay. But how much did it cost?” Dan asked impatiently.

“Nine taels of silver.”

“Nine taels!” For a moment, anger at the servant’s absurd stupidity shocked him, but then he digested the rest of the man’s words. “Wait, wait, you said silver? Not even a gold piece?”

Dan’s newfound confusion couldn’t be put into words. His old man had to scrounge up one hundred and fifty gold taels for a single Spirit Gathering elixir. It was a veritable fortune that he hesitated to even believe his father had. The seventy gold coins in his pocket were already burning a hole through his heart the longer he held them.

And yet, despite that, the anticipatory surge of desire that swept his flesh and rumbled through his channels and his meridians was no lesser with the package in his arms than said alchemical elixir. A single gold coin made ten taels of silver, and the bundle was only nine. It wasn’t even a full percent of the cost of the Spirit Gathering Elixir.

Was it because he was comparing a hefty kilogram of spirit plant to a vial the size of his palm? If the mass mattered so, why didn’t the package inspire a greater feeling than the elixir?

It was too confounding for Dan to think too much about. However, he knew that he shouldn’t walk away as is. With a heavy heart, and an extremely sizeable twenty gold coins drained from his purse, he left with a heavily saddled driver.