Chapter 61 – Factoring in Factions

The break-in went without any hitches; Libby got Adam to open a multitude of scrolls for her to scan. By the end of it, Adam was tired, and his arms ached surprisingly. They would scrutinize their haul when they were safely back to their lodgings, but first, Libby wanted Adam to do more moonlight prowling. She was eager to take this opportunity to look closely at a cultivator.

There had been some basic information, of course, in the archives. Still, the theory was not what she was after she wanted to see the real deal and closely observe the energy flow and positions in an actual cultivator’s body to crack the various things that were still a mystery to her.

They had seen a few cultivators from a visiting faction take up lodgings in the same establishment. Hence, it was merely a case of Adam loitering for long enough outside their rooms while Libby scanned the area and viewed inside the room with different energy senses. It was very enlightening, and eventually, Libby, Allowed the now sleepy Adam back to his room.

In the morning, they headed back to the market for one last look for anything they might have missed and to pick up provisions to see them through the Winter. They then went to pick up Thawain, who was miraculously recovered, and say their goodbyes to his brother Zhoo.

The authorities were not happy about them returning to an area of such contamination, and so they had to hang around at the gates for Bai Zhoo to arrive and clear whatever red tape was needed to get them out of there. However, it appeared to be an infraction of local law to allow us to return. This meant another trip around town and a bite to eat for all of us while Bai Zhoo tried to hustle up some paperwork and get documents signed and sealed to allow us to leave. And so we found ourselves that afternoon dining at Bai’s favorite restaurant. He was about to order when a hush fell over the place.

The representatives of some local factions had just entered the joint – and they did not appear to favor Bai one bit – from their body language and glances alone, it could be told they planned him harm. Bai hastily tried to leave, but one of the men – an older man, presumably the leader, clamped a hand down on his shoulder, saying, “You wouldn’t want to leave without the usual pleasantries, Bai.” I was tempted to shadow jump behind the guy or just straight out punch him but being unaware of the local politics thought this could very easily sour my possibilities of lucrative trade with the town – so I just waited to see how things panned out before acting.

The man wearing a distinctive red uniform – aren’t guys in red always hotheads, I thought. Sure enough, his jaw muscles started to flex as he saw that none of us were either kowtowing or quaking in our boots – in fact, one of the little ones was halfway over to check out his sword when a chastising Thawain grabbed him by the shirt tails and hauled him back. The waiting over his goons returned – one coming over to whisper in the jerks ear – sweet nothings, no doubt.

A grandiose smile crawled serpentine across his face, and he looked over, saying. “Have no fear about getting to your little village; we’ve sorted out the paperwork.” Then added.

“You see, with the right friends, you can get anything done. We’ll even give you a hand part of the way to check you get there safely. Wouldn’t want you to lose your way; after all, I heard you were almost dead when they brought you in; you must want to rest.”

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Obviously planning on killing them on the way to Binyon, Adam said nothing – quite looking forward to the potential exercise.

They left the town with the swift efficiency of many greased palms - and slipped past the small amount of traffic entering the town for the weekly market. Nobody queried their passing, but many averted their gazes. This gave me a good idea of the faction’s standing and that they were indeed jerks of high station.

To my great relief, the man I assumed was their leader left the sordid affair to his lowers and turned his around, and headed back to town after much unsecret banter with his comrades. As soon as he was out of range, I shadow-jumped behind each guy one after the other – punching them into unconsciousness. Bai and the others looked on with wide eyes, but really, I couldn’t be bothered with risking them deciding to do anything to one of the kids – and I don’t know why they were so surprised and hadn’t killed one of them yet.

“Ok. Help me drag them off the road a bit, then we can question them if that’s needed,” I said, hauling one of his horses where he hung like a plump Santa stocking.

“Um. That won’t be necessary. Unfortunately, I know why they have enmity towards me, but they must be they had left me and my family alone for some time.” Said Bai.

So I dumped them in my PD bag – I’d dispose of them when I got back to the village.

Some of the kids were grumping about missing the fight, and Bai chatted to Thawain about resources for the village as they journeyed the rest of the way back - Adam not really listening, just thinking about returning to the Binyon's peace and quiet, where he hoped he could get some shut-eye.

Soon enough, they rounded the familiar bend in the path out of the forest and overlooked Binyon village again. And soon enough, Adam found himself snoozing comfortably in his bed. This time, however, he enjoyed a cozy, high-quality mattress within a new Pocket Dimension. He shared this inviting space with everyone else as the weather outside had become increasingly cold. In contrast, the Pocket Dimension maintained a consistently pleasant temperature in the sunny seventies.

Although even though it must have been a bit uncomfortable for the children, not one of them had wanted to take off their new clothes that first night. It was a messy affair at the moment; with them on their bedrolls and most of their supplies piled up in mini-mountains, they had decided to keep everything that might otherwise spoil or get damaged in the PD.

He awoke to the sounds of Libby inventorying everything they had and had to do in his head. Thanks, Libby. He got up groggily and started his day, the kids already up and away, happy to be back to village life.

Libby, always thinking ahead, had been deciphering various on-defensive array scrolls. She aimed to transform Binyon into a fortress, a plan Adam approved as long as it didn't draw unwanted attention to his base. Among the scrolls were also those focused on acquiring abilities, including mental skills. This intrigued Adam, as it was the one area Libby and the others couldn't bypass; he'd have to achieve it independently. Embracing the concept of not cheating for once, Adam looked forward to earning something through his own efforts.

Libby didn't mind; it would be beneficial for Adam to acquire skills they couldn't offer. In the meantime, she was developing a shortcut, as he had termed it, to assist with all their training requirements. While they slept, the resident AIs constructed additional PDs – one dedicated to the aforementioned training, another for their herbs, and a final one for everyday food items. They would establish small biodomes for the herbs and food to thrive in.

Each Pocket Dimension (PD) had the advantage of allowing a time dilation of around a thousand; for every minute that passed in the real world, over sixteen hours would pass in the PDs. This was the primary reason for using PDs, but it also led to an obvious drawback with training. Just like plants, humans require food and water throughout their stay within the PDs.

This meant they would need far more food and water than they currently had. The solution Libby had come up with was to start growing successive crops of rice and other staples faster and ahead of the time of training.

She'd now need to ask the kids, exactly what training they wanted to do and get it sorted out with Huba.