The following day, the young boy was once more ready for his early training, only this time, he had an idea of how to improve it. He had noticed how restricting it was to have a small space to move around, and while it didn’t bother him much during static exercises, the same couldn’t be said when he wanted to run.

The dream escapades he let his sister have amidst the City while she slept were a good inspiration. Rather than running around in their dreams, he might as well do it in reality. Not only would it allow him to design a more entertaining training, but it would also allow him to train more than just his body. After all, while he might not get in trouble if anyone saw him or learned about his outing, not getting caught would be even better. Asking for permission did cross his mind, but at the moment, Nate was more interested in testing how this version of urban training would go than ensuring it was allowed.

As he silently left the compound, the first thing he did was to disguise himself, slightly changing his appearance to that of an older-looking boy. He might be as tall as an eight-year-old boy, but it didn’t mean his visage was the same. After that, he started running, weaving from one street to another, sometimes jumping over a wall or running along the roofs.

While he already went out to explore the City, it had only been with his mother or another adult. Thus, solely to the Hall of Life, Craft or Trade, or the closest plaza. He hadn’t had the chance to explore the City on his lonesome more thoroughly. Skimping through his mother’s memories wasn’t the same as being there in person. Not only because Nate’s senses were much keener but also because he didn’t focus on the same things or go to the same places.

This morning, he had decided to explore the poorer side of the City, first going towards their previous residence within the City’s Outer Ring, then towards the slums. There was a stark enough difference in buildings that Nate felt justified not to use a nicer word. While even the Outer District was made of solid buildings of stone and wood, with very apparent streets dividing the area, the slums were still chaotic.

Most people still lived as they did before when they were still calling themselves a tribe rather than a clan. While there was some progress, it was mostly clusters of teepees and huts, only on a bigger scale. The few ‘streets’ to be seen were a large path of packed dirt. It was more similar to the pathways delimiting the farms than the streets of earthen bricks within the rest of the City.

At least walls had been erected all around, making it clear they were part of the City. Nate didn’t know how far extended the area of safety talked about by the four Founders, but he knew the walls were more of a symbol than a necessity. After all, even the farms outside of the City were mostly safe. A few beasts were intruding on their lands now and then, which made the construction of watchtowers a necessity but seldom a truly dangerous one. The only exception was during the Blood Moon when, at that time, the walls became useful not only to prevent the few stray beasts from piercing through but also as a way to hide the sight and scent of the carnage.

As Nate turned back, the sun was starting to rise, and he had to avoid a few early risers. While being small, fast and silent was enough not to be seen most of the time, it wasn’t always enough. At the border between each district, the only paths available were being guarded. Indeed, while the only walls built were the ones enclosing the whole City and the ones around the Sects, each district already had a large pit ready for a future wall since the City's’ founding. One which was still present between the slums and the Outer District. A hole Nate couldn’t cross easily.

He could climb down and up, but he would need some sticks or planks to create steps. Something he hadn’t planned for. Hence, his only other option was to go through one of the eight future gateways, where a couple of guards were now present. While Nate certainly could walk openly before them, trying to avoid those guards was much more entertaining.

Finding sticks sturdy enough to use as steps might not be possible. However, finding pebbles to throw as a diversion couldn’t be easier. Instead of throwing them against a wall, Nate targeted others he could see on the ground. Then, as he flicked his projectile, he used his telekinesis to speed up the pebble. The sharp noise upon impact was loud enough to get the attention of the two young men standing by the road. Although they did turn to look to the side, Nate needed to throw a second and third stone before they felt the need to move. Only it didn’t work quite as well as he hoped. The “Hey, you!” he heard from behind him was proof they had noticed him before he could disappear behind the closest building.

Nate kept running for a while, weaving amidst the buildings and climbing over some more walls before he was sure nobody was following him. He didn’t even know if the guards had gone after him, but since he had decided to avoid them, it felt right to do his best to evade their eventual pursuit. At least, it was much easier to disappear from someone’s sight while going towards the City’s Core than the opposite. Indeed, the buildings starting from the City’s Outer Ring were taller and closer to each other, thus providing more shadows. The streets were lined with stands, crates and other items, such as colourful banners hanging from the walls, sometimes even between two buildings. Meanwhile, in the slums, even if the absence of streets made the place more chaotic, the houses’ low height and amount of space between each made it much easier to pursue someone.

Then, as Nate reached the border between the Outer and Inner Districts, avoiding the guards’ attention became much easier. Indeed, at this point, the wall was being built. Two lines of trunks had already been erected at the bottom of the pit, and bricks and stones were being stacked at some parts.

The boy didn’t need to go through the gateway but could instead directly climb over the emerging wall. He still threw a few pebbles so the guards would look the other way, making his passage unnoticed.

Back at the Scott residence, Nate went to check on Stelia, then noticing she was still asleep, went to see his mother. At this hour, Diane was often awake. Nate found her feeding his younger siblings. She was pretty happy to see her son in the morning as, over the years, she didn't have as much time to spend with her older children. Lately, she often had to visit the farm and supervise their work. Thus, she didn’t want to bring them with her, as it was much harder to look after them. There was also the minimal risk of being attacked by beasts. And Diane couldn’t bring herself to risk her children’s life.

The rest of the day mainly went like before, with Nate continuing his experiments of creating Qi-infused plants. Now that he had a better idea of how to proceed, he only exhausted his Qi during the morning, giving himself more time to recover from his expenditure. The afternoon was then devoted to mundane gardening, Nate also using the moment to harvest a few samples of plants.

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Those would be used to recreate and improve what they could already produce, like ointments, medicine, or pigments. Or to look into making other items, like oil, soap, rubber and latex. He knew plants were used to produce each of those but wasn’t sure of the exact process. Some were simpler than others, like making oil or soap, while the others needed much more time and experiment to find how it used to be made.

Looking into his memories did provide some help, but since the plants weren’t the same, the methods also needed to change.

Hence, a routine occurred, sometimes interrupted by Stelia’s presence, as his sister didn’t always stay focused on the work she wanted to do. Other times, Diane let Nate follow her when she was staying within the City.

These days with his mother were very fruitful for Nate, as he could look into the many recipes gathered by the Hall of Life. He knew it wasn’t all they had found. The most important ones, related to Qi-infused plants, would surely be kept private by the Sects.

Still, it was a massive help for Nate, as he didn’t need to search for everything by himself. He could take only what interested him.

As such, he discovered that products like soap and oil were already being made in short quantities. They were only provided to the Sects and the most influential Clans.

Or, more simply put, only the clans having the favour of a Sect’s disciple or their family could have access to those products.

Restrictions were also applied to some medicines whose fabrication or efficiency depended on plants with a long maturity time. But also for some foods, like almonds, sugar and spices. Or beverages, mainly alcohols like liquors, as another way to use fruits or other new drinks made from fermented cereals.

Another large section of recipes and records included poisons. Even as a way to prevent failure and incidents, the knowledge was invaluable.

Before long, It was already Honey Moon and time for Nate to harvest the cranberries he was growing. Having obtained his mother’s permission to make wine, Nate filled three jars with cranberry juice and other more sugary fruits. He also tried to imbue Qi into one of those jars to see if it could speed up the fermentation.

By then, Nate had enough training to infuse a small quantity of Qi without the risk of spoiling the wine. While he had still a long way toward his goal of infusing several flower seeds at a time, he had graduated from infusing potatoes, having used radishes and now green peas. He doubted he would use the vegetables for anything but food, but any other plant’s seeds needed much longer to grow, not making it profitable for his experiments. At least now, he barely needed two weeks for radishes and a month for peas before seeing what a Qi-infused harvest would give him.

Qi-infused potatoes were much richer in gluten, making it possible to use the roots as a substitute for flour. Radishes only became sweeter, their growth slowing down past a specific size. Peas were still being observed.

Then, before the Thunder Moon, Nate had a bit of a surprise. It hadn’t been a thing until now since there wasn’t any change in his life because of it, but this year was different. It happened in the evening. For once, his father was also present.

As they were about to finish dinner, Diane excused herself for a moment, along with some of his aunts, only to come back with plates full of pastries. They had somehow managed to access a stock of almonds and learned to use them to make almond paste and pastries.

“Happy seventh birthday, Nate!” Diane might have been the first to say it, but Stelia wasn’t far behind, closely followed by Whistler and everyone else. However, the names weren’t always the same.

Indeed, Nate wasn’t the only child to reach his seventh birthday, as there were another four children of the same age and yet another who would reach its seventh year before the Song Moon. Which was a month before the Harvest Moon and thus before the Tournament, which began after the harvests.

One of those children was a boy called Vaahsen, the third child of Neavah and Kherson, the explorer thanks to whom their family had managed to get a spot within the Inner District.

Another was called Flora, a granddaughter of Creg, one of the warriors who participated in the first Tournament.

Then, the three others were grandchildren of Naelson, the Scott warrior who went the furthest during the first Tournament. There was a boy called Taek, then two girls called Mia and Leaf. Leaf was the one who had yet to reach her seventh year.

As for the reason this birthday was more important than others, it was quite simple. The Song Moon was the day the dojos led by the Hall of Death and the Sects would open their doors to accept new students. Thus, most other Halls also picked this time to recruit their new apprentices.

Then a month later was the Blood Moon, and after another month, following the Freezing Moon, the Tournament also began.

Since the City was created, it would be the fourth Tournament. The first happened shortly after the creation of the City, while the second a year later. The last Tournament was two years later, or three years ago.

Since the previous Tournament, it was decided to have it happen during the cold season, as it was also the period during which they were less busy. It made it easier not to infringe on the planting and harvest seasons. To have it a month after the Blood Moon also prompted most warriors to stay around the City during that time, ensuring the City would be as protected as possible.

“Have you made your choice then? What would you like to do?” Laellia, one of the eldest, asked the six children.

“I wanna be an explorer!” - “I want to enter the dojos!” - “I’d like to enter the dojos.” - “I want to learn how to make armour and weapons!” - “…clothes…” - “Can I enter the dojo, too?”