Sol had a lot of thinking to do. He had suddenly gained the power to tell if somebody was lying to him, which was something he felt could be used to great effect however he decided to apply it. The only thing holding him back from now having it on near permanently was that he didn't know how to feel about having the power.

It would be nice to know if people were lying to him, but was that really something he wanted to be able to do in every situation? On one hand, he could tell if somebody was lying about whether or not they had done something terrible, but he would also be able to tell if somebody was lying about having a harmless surprise planned.

He didn't know quite what to think of it yet, so for now he decided to just shelve the power until it seemed like an appropriate time to use it. He spent most of the rest of the day just trying out a few more combinations of his mana, seeing what they did. Nothing he found was particularly useful, but he wrote it all down anyways just in case he ever needed it for the future.

A few days later and with no major developments, he decided that it was time to make a trip he had been planning on making at some point. He went and informed Morrison that he would be leaving for a week or so before exiting the outpost at a brisk jog.

His brisk jog quickly became a run as he started to get acquainted with his increased level of stamina thanks to being a cultivator. He didn't feel significantly faster than before, but maybe his body had just adapted to the changes quickly.

After nearly half a day of running, he made it to the first stop he had been planning on going to. It was a small town simply called Geratin. It was a bit too far inland to be called a rim village, but while he was there he definitely noticed a few parallels between the customs of this village and the customs his own had adopted.

He didn't have much business in the village. Actually, there was really only one thing he had come here for. After asking around for the location of the stables, Sol headed that way in search of what he was after.

“Mighty strong, that one.” The stable owner said as he pointed to one of the horses that was grazing in the field. He leaned against a fence as he continued. “He eats well, does not fight you, and can run for days on end.”

“How much?” Sol asked, also leaning against the fence and watching the horses, trying not to show too much interest. In truth, he was already mentally preparing to hand over the coin for the horse the man had pointed to.

It was a tall horse, looking to be just about two meters tall. It had hair as black as the night sky and muscles that looked like they could lift a building. Sol almost felt a connection with the horse as he laid eyes upon it.

“3 Gold.” The stable owner replied. “Plus 25 silver if you want a properly fitted harness.”

Sol ended up riding out of that village upon a brownish-red horse that had cost him 75 silver. It was still a blow to his wallet, but it was a manageable one. He had to say though, he wasn't as disappointed as he thought he would be about not getting the black horse.

The horse he rode on now was strong, though not as much as the black horse. It was tall, but also not as tall as the black horse. The only thing that was comparable between the two was that they both had amazing looking coats of hair. They had each clearly been well attended to by the stable workers.

Now that just begged the question as to why there was such a big difference in price between two mostly similar horses? Well, there was a pretty simple answer to that. It had taken him and the stable owner over two and a half hours to get a saddle onto the horse as well as get it acquainted with Sol enough to not freak out when he got on her back.

Sol had already paid the man by this point, so the stable owner was no longer hiding the fact that this was a very disagreeable and sassy horse. He informed Sol of the many odd mannerisms and habits of the horse, as well as the many things that he would need to be attentive to.

“What do you mean she needs to get cleaned every day?” Sol asked, his mouth hanging open. “What if I don’t have water nearby to clean her?”

“Just do the best you can.” The stable owner said, shaking his head. “Trust me, she knows if you are being lazy about it. Also, she seems to know if you don’t have a way to thoroughly clean her, so on days like that you should be fine just brushing all the dirt off of her.”

“That seems like a lot of work.” Sol sighed. “Is she at least calm during it?”

“It's the only time she really is calm.” The owner snorted.

“Good to know.” Sol said. He rode out of the village shortly after, having spent even more money on a brush and cleaning towel which he had in a pack slung over his shoulder.

“You need a name.” Sol said to the horse as he rode down a dirt road in the middle of a forest. “You are a girl, so I suppose a more feminine name would be appropriate. Any ideas?”

The horse didn't respond, instead galloping along stoically.

“You’re no help.” Sol responded, frowning. “Maybe your name should relate back to mine somehow. My name means sun, so it would make sense for yours to have some meaning like that also.”

Once more, the horse stayed silent.

“How about Moon?”

The horse didn't respond again, but Sol could have sworn the ride got just a bit bumpier.

“Okay, maybe not that. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to think about it a while longer…” Sol trailed off as he looked at the sunset. “Actually, I might have a name for you. How about Dusk? No wait, how about Dawn? Yeah, that's perfect.”

The horse didn't have any response again. Given her general demeanor and attitude, Sol actually saw that as a good thing.

“My great and loyal steed, Dawn. We will go far together!” Sol said, putting a hand in the air jokingly. He then brought the hand down to stroke the horse’s mane. “It’s too bad that in the not too far future I will likely be able to run faster than you thanks to my cultivation. Until then though, I am counting on you.”

The ride lasted well into the night, with the moon being fully out and high in the sky by the time he made it to the city he had been headed for. This was his true destination, and where he intended to spend the next several days researching where he could possibly perform his cultivation at.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

When he got to one of the stables outside of the city, a stable boy was already outside and ready to greet him.

“How much to keep her here for a few nights?” Sol asked as he hopped down from Dawns back.

The stable boy gave him a price, and Sol paid the amount. It was more than he would have liked. He was starting to notice a pattern with that. He then came to the conclusion that things were just too damn expensive, and that he would just have to deal with it.

Dawn did not go into the stables peacefully, but after some convincing and a few carrots as a bribe, she went in without any fuss. Sol rented a room for the next several nights in an inn that was just down the dirt road and likely owned by the same people who owned the stables and farmhouse nearby.

When he awoke the next morning, the sun was just barely peeking over the horizon. He groaned in annoyance that he hadn't gotten that much sleep, before realizing that he had been woken up by somebody knocking at his door.

He stood up and answered it, seeing the same stable boy from last night, soaking wet and very disgruntled.

“Your horse is getting a bit grumpy.” The young man said. “Please, come and try to calm her down.”

“I will be there in a few minutes.” Sol said before closing the door and getting himself ready for the day. Despite the less than ideal amount of sleep, he still felt fully rested and ready to go. He still wished he could have crawled back into bed, but that was simply human nature.

When he got to the stables, it didn't take more than a few minutes to figure out why the horse was upset.

She had a large dirt stain on her side, and she kept moving to point it in Sol’s direction, making it quite clear what she wanted. He grabbed a brush and began cleaning. He looked around the stable, wondering where the stain may have come from, when he noticed the huge splash of water on the other side of the floor. It was directly next to the watering trough, and Sol began piecing things together.

“Did you throw that guy in the water?” He asked, giving the horse a glare.

Dawn just huffed, looking away from him.

“You are a pain in the ass.”

After Sol brushed her off, he opened the gate for her to go and walk around in the fenced off field just outside. He then left and headed for the city proper. After passing through the walls that surrounded the perimeter of the city, he headed in the direction he assumed he would find a library.

He had picked the wrong direction. After a lot more wandering than he wanted to admit, he finally found it. It was unrealistic to expect a village or an outpost to have a library, but for a city it was pretty standard.

“Welcome.” A woman at a desk covered in papers said as he entered. “May I ask if you need help finding anything?”

“I’m fine.” Sol said.

“Understood. By the way, if you wish to bring a book outside of the library you will need to leave some money as collateral in case you don’t bring it back.”

“How much?”

“That depends on the value of the book.”

Sol grabbed a random book off of a nearby shelf. “How much for this one?”

“15 Silver.”

Sol grimaced a bit.

“Let me guess, more than you would like to leave?”

“Your words, not mine.” Sol said, setting the book back in its place. “Hopefully I won’t need to bring any books out anyways.”

He started walking through the library, searching the shelves for any books that looked useful. He found several that caught his interest, and he grabbed five different books before sitting at a table. He cracked open the first book, which was titled “Light Affinity and its Myriad of Uses”.

The book had not been helpful at all. It mostly highlighted what people did with light affinity, and some of the more well known examples of it being used by powerful cultivators. It didn't actually show him how to do anything described, so he set the book aside before opening the next one, titled “Common Affinity Makeups and Where to Cultivate Them.”

A bit on the nose and pretty obviously helpful, but that was exactly what he needed right now. The book described how to cultivate each affinity when it was your only affinity. It also talked about sources for many double affinities, which were harder and more tedious to cultivate.

There were a dozen or so examples after that on how to cultivate triple affinities, but there was ont a single example for somebody with four affinities to follow. He set that book aside as well.

The next two books proved equally as useless. Well, almost as useless. In the book titled “Magical Anomalies”, he found mentions of how some mana types, aside from death mana, could be cultivated when a powerful creature died and began leaking its mana into the world. The creature would have to have had the same mana affinities as whoever cultivated from it, which pretty much told Sol he wouldn’t be able to pursue that method.

The last book had little to do with cultivation, but the title had piqued his interest enough for him to grab it. It was called “Layers of our World from the Astral to the Void”. He sat back in his chair, skimming through the first couple paragraphs of the book.

_____

The world as we know it is just one existence. Some cultivators of great power have reported being able to “feel” the presence of another existence of some kind, another world beyond our own. Some supremely powerful cultivators have stepped across the threshold of this world, leading to us knowing what we do today.

As far as we currently know, there are five layers to our world. The first, and what many see as the bottom layer of our world, is the void. It is often described as the end of existence, with the only thing there being the creatures that dwell and lurk. The creatures most often possess the affinities of either darkness, light, or death.

The second layer, which is above the void, is known as the abyss. It is a hellish landscape that is home to demonic races of creatures. After the discovery of this layer, many cultivators began experimenting with summoning these creatures to our world. The most common affinities in this layer are death and darkness.

The third layer, our layer, is called the median. It is the place between all the other layers and is where we reside. All affinities are present on this layer, with the elemental affinities being more common than the other four.

The fourth layer is the divine layer. It earned its name from a powerful race known as “angels” residing there. The most common affinities on this layer are light and life.

The final layer is known as the astral layer. Very little is known about this layer, as it is the hardest to access of all layers. From what little we have gathered from the creatures who leave the astral layer in very rare cases, the most common affinities are that of light, darkness, life, and death. The astral layer is home to creatures of extreme power, and should be regarded with caution when dealing with anything of astral nature.

_____

Sol stared at the pages of the book for a few moments before turning and asking the librarian a question from across the room. “How much to take this book out of the library?”

“Which one is it?” She asked. Sol told her the name, and she gave him the price. “75 silver.”

Sol grumbled a bit hearing the price. It was, certainly, more than he would like to pay.