Ye Tian and Ma Qian entered the city after passing through the main gate. It was quite the bustling city with plenty of stores, restaurants, and guards patrolling the city, but Ma Qian was wondering why the city was called United Temples. He couldn’t even see any temples around him.

“This city must have a deeper history behind it,” Ma Qian said.

“Why?” Ye Tian replied.

“It’s called United Temples city but we haven’t seen any temples…” Ma Qian countered.

“Well, we’ll find out sooner or later. We first need to find an inn and some information about this city and where we are,” Ye Tian said.

“You’re right, let’s get going then,” ma Qian agreed.

Once they found an inn, they asked some of the servants for a map and other information they could find. They couldn’t directly ask them which empire or kingdom are they at. That would sound stupid. After talking with several of the servants and guests, they found out they are located in the Shui Kingdom of the Nirvana Continent, which was millions of miles away from the Forest continent. The Nirvana continent was also a bit isolated from the other continents due to the long distance apart.

“I need to make my own map of this city. I’ll be back before night,” Ma Qian said.

“Good idea. We’ll meet tonight then,” Ye Qian replied knowing that Ma Qian was one of the best if not the best in map-making.

Ye Tian went out to explore the city a bit. He wanted to join a bounty hunter guild to earn some income, and most importantly, to find any clues of the bandits that destroyed his village. Dawn arrived, and Ye Tian went back to the inn to meet Ma Qian according to the agreed time. But he did not expect that he had to wait, and wait, and wait until midnight! He didn’t even get to eat dinner! Ye Tian was a bit worried, so he came out in search of Ma Qian. He tried to check the brothels first, because he thought Ma Qian was a sex addict, but Ma Qian wasn’t there. There weren’t a lot of stores opened by this late night, but he checked the ones with lights ons, but Ma Qian was also never there.  Ye Tian frowned, and thought “Maybe he got beaten up,” so he checked the small alleyways that he could find, but was not there either.

Suddenly, Ye Tian could hear a faint of someone crying below the bridge he was crossing. Using his lantern, he followed the crying voice and saw a black figure sitting with his head down while sniffing a bit. Ye Tian asked, “Hey, are you alright?” When the black figure saw the speck of light and a shadow of the person, he knew someone was coming. The black figure quickly wiped his tears and tried not to make a sound. Ye Tian kept getting closer, and the black figure stood up and answered, “I….I’m..snifff…alright.”

Ye Tian replied, “Do you need hel……” Before he completed his sentence, he saw the face of the black figure. The face was full of dirt, sweat, and stains of tears with watery eyes. Never did he imagine the black figure was Ma Qian! “Ma Qian….what happened,” Ye Tian asked in a low tone of voice. “Nothing…nothing happened. I was just remembering old times. Sorry, I lost track of time and didn’t meet you in time. Let’s go back now,” Ma Qian replied and started walking out. Ye Tian followed behind Ma Qian, and wanted to ask him some questions, but he restrained.

As they walked back towards the inn, Ye Tian realized they went in circles a couple of times. Ma Qian was leading the way, and Ye Tian quietly followed behind him throughout this time. When Ma Qian was about to turn to left, Ye Tian quickly said, “turn right, it’s a shortcut. Another time, “keep going straight, we’ll arrive at the inn soon.” By this time, Ye Tian was already walking beside him slightly ahead of Ma Qian.  Ye Tian kept glancing at him at different times while Ma Qian feigned ignorance. They finally arrived and went inside their room.

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Ye Tian stares at Ma Qian and asks, “Were you able to complete the map of this city?”

“Most of it is completed. The information will be added later on as we find out more of the city,” Ma Qian proudly says.

“Good. When did you finish the map?” Ye Tian asks again.

“By the time the sun was setting I was able to complete all of the important parts. Before night arrived, I left…,” Ma Qian stops quickly and realizes something was wrong. He then says, “I’m tired now, let’s get some sleep.”

Ye Tian sees Ma Qian laying on his bed and starts sleeping with his side back in front of him. “Pssss….,” Ye Tian whispers and figures out something.

Who would’ve thought Ma Qian, one of the best map makers in this world, was hopeless with directions! Since the sunset till midnight, he was lost trying to get back to the inn.

Ma Qian pretends to sleep, but he was griping both of his hands. He didn’t want Ye Tian to know of this flaw he has that is so embarrassing. Ye Tian stares at Ma Qian’s back  for quite a while until he blows out the light. They both begin sleeping.

In the next morning, they both woke up almost at the same time and their stomach was growling like a baby beast was roaring. They were both extremely hungry, because they hadn’t had dinner last night. They went downstairs where the inn had some tables to serve food.

They both ate quickly. Multiple plates emptied out within a blink of an eye. Ye Tian was still annoyed but he wanted an answer from Ma Qian, so he asked, “Hey, were you always like this?”

“Like what?” Ma Qian replied while stuffing his food.

“No sense of direction,” Ye Tian said simply.

Ma Qian shook a little but ignored to answer Ye Tian’s question and continued to eat. Sensing this, Ye Tian said, “Hmmph, next time you complete your map, I will go with you.”

Ma Qian felt a bit annoyed and angry. He knew he couldn’t keep it a secret anymore. After all only the ladies from the brothel knew of his sense of direction from past events. When Ma Qian was a child, he loved to draw maps, but one day he got lost and his Auntie was so worried, he asked all the ladies to go out and search for him. Luckily, one of the ladies found him crying near a little lake.

“Screw you. I’m the best map maker in this world. So what if I get lost once in a while…okay sometimes….all the time alright. Screw you litttle punk,” Ma Qian furiously said, then quickly went back to the room. Ye Tian was shocked. It wasn’t that serious, why did he have to get so mad? Ye Tian was even more shocked when he realized Ma Qian did not pay his bill! “I was going to return the high-grade potion to him, but screw that,” Ye Tian whispered.

After he finished eating, he went back inside the room.

“Ma Qian, we’re both in the situation and I don’t have a lot of zoids left. I went to look around yesterday and I found a guild that pays for completed missions. I think this is a good way to earn some zoids while traveling. What do you think?” Ye Tian proposed.

“That’s a good idea. I’ve also thought about making copies of the map I created. I’m certain some will be interested in buying my maps,” Ma Qian added.

They both agreed and departed for the guild Ye Tian mentioned earlier. They arrived at a place where the tallest building stood inside this city. It looked like a pagoda that was 10 stories high. There were guards outside the building inspecting incomers. The place was bustling with a bunch of people coming in and out. A huge stone board was hanging, with the name “Global Alliance Guild.” It’s the biggest guild created by all the empires and kingdoms agreeing to the treaty to complete missions from all over the world. The global alliance guild have branches all over the world with one of them located in the United Temples City.

What kind of missions can Ye Tian and Ma Qian do?