“We won!” Silas cheered tiredly, “Where did they go though? Did they blow up, like the snake?”
With the impending threat gone, Samantha’s tiredness and pain began to catch up with her. She slumped down onto the ground and took a moment to catch her breath. When she had collected her thoughts, she answered, “No, I’m pretty sure they used a transport talisman to get away from us. I guess you can think of it like… an ability that lets them move incredibly fast. Like [Swift], but the movement from one spot to another is almost instant. Those talismans are pricey, but I’m not surprised members of house Braxand would have one.”
“Should we go after them?”
She chuckled, “Even if they didn’t go far I don’t think we’re in any shape to continue fighting.” She looked over her numerous injuries and noted the mirrored wounds in Silas’s green fur. She sighed, “Besides, they’re probably already back in the safety of the city with their family, telling lies about what happened and how I ‘wronged’ them.”
“What does that matter?” Silas asked, confused. “If we meet again they’ll be afraid. We beat them once. We can again.”
“Do you remember what I told you about human laws? How doing certain things could cause a person to be punished by other humans?”
“Yes. Did we break a law?”
“Maybe. If I killed one of them, that results in a very severe punishment. I’ll be forced to ascend.”
“But they attacked first! That’s not fair. Are we supposed to let them kill us?” Silas huffed.
“Like I said… they’re probably lying about what happened. They’ll likely tell their family I attacked them first and without provocation.”
“Can’t we tell the truth? Then they’ll get in trouble instead!”
She smiled fondly at her companion’s innocence, “It’s not that simple. They have money, power, and influence that my family doesn’t. People will believe them instead of us. And even if people did believe us, it might not matter much. There are very few exceptions to the law. Even self-defense doesn’t guarantee I’ll be safe from ascension. To make matters worse, even if I didn’t break any laws the Braxands are a powerful family and may retaliate against me. I didn’t give them my name, but they do know I’m coming back from the cultivation quest I started a couple months ago. That might be enough to find out who I am.”
Though she didn’t voice this concern to Silas, she was also worried about the Braxand’s influence over the ranks of Enforcers. If they were quick enough at disseminating her description, she might be apprehended at the gates upon her return to Yivesh. That would cause a whole slew of other issues for her, considering she was in possession of the Granvich’s cultivation manual.
Hearing her explanation and feeling her apprehension, Silas sluggishly rolled over in her lap and pressed his forehead against her palm, “I’m sorry. If I hadn’t fallen for the trap–”
She cut him off, “It’s not your fault. Unfortunately, for all the good things I told you about Yivesh and other humans there is an equal amount–if not greater number–of bad things. Power is everything, and that doesn’t always just mean who’s the strongest in a fight. This is the reason why I became a cultivator in the first place. I was–am–tired of being pushed around by others and having to practically thank them for it to avoid worse. Yeah, this is a bit of a rough start, but we’ll figure it out. Don’t worry.” Samantha did her best to project confidence, but she didn't know how convincing she had been.
Silas nuzzled her palm once more, then shook himself and hopped off of her. He looked like he was finally recovering from his bout of exhaustion.
“Are you okay? During the fight you used [Thump] before its cooldown elapsed. I didn’t even know that was something spirit beasts could do.”
“I can use abilities before they’re ready. It just tires me out. It was worth it though. I’ll be okay after some rest.”
“Thanks for the help. I really needed it.”
Samantha stiffly stood up and searched the surrounding area for her dropped gear and anything useful the three brothers might have left behind. She was tempted to take the three straight swords that had been strewn across the battlefield, but ultimately decided against it. The weapons were beautifully forged with inlaid decorations on the pommel and guard, but they also clearly had the Braxand family insignia stamped into the blade. It would be near impossible to find a reputable merchant to purchase the blades, and they would instantly give her away if the Braxands were looking for her.
Even without taking the expensive swords she didn’t come away empty-handed. She found several more spirit beast traps and a bag that contained freshly-picked herbs with the help of Silas’s [Herb Hunter] ability. After disarming the traps for safety, she decided to let Silas have the herbs as a reward.
As he scarfed the entire bundle of plants with impressive speed, she noted with interest that her injuries began to heal at a faster rate. Taking a closer look at the rapidly disappearing greenery, she figured that they were probably gathered by the brothers for their healing properties. Collecting raw ingredients and selling them to local alchemists was a good way to make some quick cash.
Normally, raw herbs weren’t much use to non-alchemists like herself. Any positive effects they could offer were weaker than they would be if properly refined into an elixir or pill, and the negative effects could range from anything to a stomach ache to death. For a creature like Silas, however, who had abilities like [Poison Connoisseur] to quickly build resistances this was less of a concern. She guessed that his ability [Iron Gut] also played a role in his fearless consumption of anything vaguely edible. He could feast on mountains of healing herbs, sharing the healing effects with her through their bond, and offset any negative effects naturally just because of his species.
Considering the fact that healing herbs were a mere fraction of the cost of even the lowest grade healing pill, she could save a lot of money if she kept a stockpile for Silas. She’d need to figure out the logistics of how he could access them during crucial moments, but it was worth thinking about. She was sure Silas would also be thrilled that he could help them both in a fight by doing what he loved most–eating.
Unable to find anything else of note in the area and unwilling to spend an extended time doing a more thorough search, she gathered her items and got to walking.
As she traveled, she invested qi into [Flawless Regeneration] whenever she regained a point and contemplated how she should approach the city. If the Enforcers had been given her and Silas’s description already she needed a way to avoid detection. Using the main thoroughfares and gateways were out of the question, so her best bet would probably be to go over the walls. If she wanted to climb the 20 foot tall stone barriers without being caught, the only choice was to wait for nightfall where darkness would help to hide her.
Even assuming all of this went well though, there was still another issue to deal with. She and Silas stood out. A lot.
Her patchwork robes were torn and bloodied, her short hair and eyebrows were an unusual look, and she was the only cultivator in the last 500 years to be bonded to a Lunar Hare. She needed to lay low and figure out if it was safe to move through the city. She needed to hide somewhere where the Enforcers didn’t patrol, and her strange appearance wouldn’t be completely out of place…
She frowned as only one viable option presented itself: the Slums. She had been curious about that section of the city for a long time, but her parents had told her multiple times to stay away and that only the lowest of society gathered there. Supposedly, it was a place where gangs ruled and crime thrived, making it a prime location for underhanded dealings. She had heard rumors that illicit goods of every sort could be found and purchased there if someone knew where to look.
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She wasn’t particularly excited about the prospect of spending an extended period of time in the unfamiliar and potentially dangerous area, but she couldn’t think of any better alternatives. Looking on the bright side, at least she would finally be able to sate her curiosity.
As she drew nearer and nearer to Yivesh, the density of the forest continued to decrease. Before long, she came up to the final line of trees and looked out over the section of grasslands that she’d called home her entire life.
The flat plain of tallgrass was several miles wide and bisected by a moderately sized river which ran east to west. In the middle of the grasslands near the river was Yiivesh, a circular city in which the oldest and most architecturally impressive structures rested in its center. The city was roughly divided into rings and quadrants, with the innermost ring housing the most powerful and wealthiest citizens and the outermost ring holding the poorest.
This put the poor closest to the protective wall and also made them the first to be endangered by any spirit beast incursions, but Samantha could only recall a scant handful of incursions in her lifetime. Typically, the 20 foot high, six foot thick stone walls that encircled the city stopped any enraged spirit beasts before they could endanger any citizens. When the wall was not enough to deter the beasts, the Enforcers that patrolled them usually took care of any issues in short order.
Much of the surrounding countryside nearest the river had been transformed from grassy fields to rich farmland. These farmsteads were all maintained and worked by mortals, who only felt safe outside the walls due to the Enforcer’s regular protective patrols. Most beasts have learned by now that to approach the city means death, but this area still had the highest risk for an attack.
Keeping just within the treeline, Samantha made her way around the city until the southern wall was in view. Then, she hunkered down and got comfortable. Taking quick stock of her condition, she was pleased to see that she had mostly recovered from the earlier fight. Clean cuts were one of the easiest injuries to heal with [Flawless Regeneration] since it only required closing the wound rather than regrowing missing flesh. Still, her qi pool remained nearly empty due to the sheer amount of injuries she had sustained. She would only approach the city after five or six hours of rest to ensure she had enough qi for what came next.
As night fully fell, she watched with a smile as the city came to life in the darkness. All along the walls in regular intervals dim red cones of light illuminated the nearby fields. Beyond the stone barriers she caught sight of bright lanterns in every color flickering on like a distant rainbow. The entire city seemed to shine–a beacon in a growing sea of black.
Silas sighed.
“Beautiful, isn’t it? I think this is my first time being able to appreciate it from the outside like this.” she commented.
He gave her a sideways glance as his ear twitched nervously, “Uh… it’s fine?”
She lifted an eyebrow, “You don’t like it? I thought for sure you’d at least be a little impressed.”
His ear twitched again, “It’s–” he paused, as if trying to find the right words to say, “Don’t you worry?”
“About what?”
“It’s so… visible. It was bad during the day. No camouflage. No cover. At night? It shines! Might as well yell ‘come eat me’!”
Samantha did her best to stifle a laugh.
Silas continued, “And it stinks! Can’t you smell it? Smoke. Burning. Waste. No wonder beasts attack. You’re not even trying to hide.”
She held up a hand to forestall any more complaints, chuckling, “You’re right, we aren’t trying to hide. We don’t seek safety in staying hidden, though. We rely on safety in numbers. Yivesh has around 100,000 people living in it, with several thousand cultivators working to protect the city. Any beast that attacks doesn’t stand much of a chance.”
His head tilted to the side, “Is that a lot?”
She had no idea how to conceptualize a number like 100,000 to a being that couldn’t reliably count past 10. She decided to go for a more simple example, “Have you ever stepped on an ant hill or bumped a beehive? More than that.”
His mouth dropped open in shock, “That many of you? I see why you can’t hide.”
From there, Silas seemed to grow increasingly more excited about visiting the city. He asked many questions about what he’d see inside, and the hours passed quickly as she answered everything she could.
When her qi pool had finally reached 10/18 points and it was deep into the night, she had to practically hold Silas back from rushing in on his own. They slowly made their way towards the wall until they were close enough to observe the movement patterns of the guards, but outside the distance of the red lights. It was difficult to estimate in the dark, but she guessed she was maybe 200 feet away.
She spent the next hour noting the movements of the Enforcers on the wall. There was approximately one guard stationed every 100 yards, and every guard occasionally looked out over the lit section of field. There didn’t seem to be a strict patrol pattern–at least along this section of the wall. Enforcers would frequently group up and chat for several minutes at a time before returning to their post. This left obvious but unpredictable gaps in the wall security.
One guard in particular seemed to be more prone to stepping away from his post than others, and he usually left for at least 2-3 minutes at a time. Samantha decided she’d need to just take a chance and go for it. There was no way to guarantee she wouldn’t be seen, and sitting here agonizing over it wasn’t going to get her anywhere either.
The next time the Enforcer left his post, Samantha and Silas rushed the wall. She set down both of her bags and lifted one to see if she could toss it over the wall, but a test swing proved it would be too risky. The weight of the bag–even with her enhanced Strength–threw her off balance. She also didn’t trust she could get the height perfectly right so it didn’t make a loud sound when it landed atop the wall.
Thinking fast, she fetched a rope and looped it through the straps of the bags and around her spear, tying the three items together with a knot. She then tied the other side of the rope around her waist and scooped Silas up under her left arm.
“Wait… this seems taller up close. I don’t know if I want to go anymore.” Silas said hesitantly.
Ignoring his complaints, Samantha put a point into [Swift] for the perfect traction and sprinted towards the wall. She leapt with all her might and planted her right foot against the stone, then trusting in her ability, took three more ‘steps’ upward in succession. Upon nearing the top of the wall she snapped her right arm up and caught the lip of the stone, but didn’t pull herself up immediately.
“AHH! Don’t fall! Don’t drop me!” Silas pleaded desperately, screaming into her mind.
“Shh–I’m not going to! I just need to check no one’s coming.”
He quieted his protests and she strained [Prey’s Perception] to its limit to check the path was clear.
She could hear a muffled conversation between three people a distance away–it seemed the guards were still socializing.
Not giving herself time to question her judgment, she carefully lifted Silas up so he could disembark onto the wall and then pulled herself up. Immediately she turned and started yanking the rope up to the top as quickly and quietly as she could.
“Keep watch will you? This is going to take me a second.” she requested.
“You almost dropped me! I nearly died!”
Samantha kept hoisting up her gear, “I did not. And if there was any instability in my grip it’s because you wouldn’t stop wiggling around!”
Silas glared at her but didn’t deny it.
When her bags and spear were near enough to reach, she grabbed the items and moved to the other side of the wall and started lowering them back down to the ground. She was in luck–the area just below her was practically devoid of lighting. As long as she could get off the top of the wall in time, no one would be the wiser to her passage.
“Hurry! They look like they’re about to come back.” Silas warned.
Samantha dropped her gear the final few feet to the ground and snatched Silas before he could back away from her.
“W-wait! I’m not ready!”
“No time–gotta go.” she replied, seeing the guard start to turn out of the corner of her eye.
She threw herself over the edge and caught herself with one hand, causing her to swing back into the wall and come to an abrupt stop.
“AHHH!” Silas cried.
She let go of the wall and let herself fall the remaining 15 feet.
“AHHHHHHHHH!” he continued shrieking into her mind.
She landed heavily with both feet and did her best to absorb the full impact without rolling. Her legs held up surprisingly well, only mildly aching as her feet slapped against the cobblestones below.
Silas kicked her in the chest to free himself from her grasp and landed on the ground while panting heavily. Eyes wide with terror, he splayed his legs out and placed his entire body against the ground as if he was hugging the earth.
He was still screaming.
She gave the wall and the passing guard one final glance, checking to see if the Enforcer had noticed anything out of the ordinary. When he passed her location without so much as looking her way, she let out a sigh of relief. She had made it inside.