“Can you help me dig a hole?” I asked Chen Wei.

“How big do you want it?” she asked.

“It just needs to be big enough for me to fit this truck,” I said, patting the floor of the truck. I pressed a certain part of the floor and the clear dome unhinged, allowing us to get out.

She nodded and took out her sword. I put up my hands defensively, “Hey! What do you think you’re doing with that?”

“My apologies, I thought you wanted me to dig a hole,” she said in an uncertain, wavering tone.

“Yeah, but not with a sword!” I said.

She tilted her head. Dang, that’s cute! “I can do it without a sword, but it’ll take a little longer.” She jumped off of the truck, out of my sight. A second later, I heard a deafening crack. No, it was dozens of cracking sounds stacked on top of each other. Then all of the sounds vanished. My eardrums had ruptured.

Ah shit.

I quickly reached for a seed tossed it into the air.

You’ve created a new type of plant! What would you like to name it?

“Eerie Ginseng” has been named!

Experience required for next level has not been reached! Eerie Ginseng stays at level one!

Oh nooo, what have you done! It’s supposed to be Eary!

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

More importantly, what was that girl doing!

The whole car was shaking, but I managed to climb to the edge. She was standing in a huge crater. I looked over just in time to see her lift her foot and shove it into the ground again. The crater doubled in deepness. A couple stomps later, a hole large enough for my truck had formed.

Cute? More like terrifying!

I couldn’t hear anything, but I could talk. “..!”, I yelled, “.......”

A look of panic spread across her face, “.......”

“.......,” I dismissed.

I took a seed and threw it into the hole. The sides of the holes were soon covered in solid wood. I told her to move away and I put the truck in the hole. Another seed and the entire thing was covered by a tree.

“Let’s go,” I said with my eyes in tiny slits. With the help of my Eerie Ginseng, my ears had healed.

We saw a cart some distance away. It was being pulled by a lizard the size of an elephant. We hopped on the back of the cart and waiting to arrive at the city. As we got closer, I spotted horses galloping in the air above the city. I spotted two dragons as well.

The gates of the city were left completely unguarded. Anybody could come and go without hassle. We jumped off the man’s cart and walked in.

I turned to Chen Wei, “So this is where we part.”

She put her hands together and looked at the ground, “How will I find you again?”

“Why would you want to find me again?” I asked. I didn’t specifically want her gone, but I didn’t have any reason to stay with her. She had fulfilled her promise of leading me to the city.

“I still owe you a lot, remember?” she said.

And here I thought that was just a joke. She would probably just give me a snowglobe or something. Maybe one of those keychains with a name on them that nobody wants. “That’s fine. Maybe we’ll meet again sometime in the future.”

“...do you have anywhere to stay?” she asked.

I stopped. “Uuuuuuuuuh.”

“No?” she probed.

I scratched behind my neck. “I guess not?”

She smiled, “Do you want to come stay at my sect? We have a lot of extra room.”

“Sure,” I sighed, I didn’t like relying on her so much. I felt like I was leeching off her good will.

She led me through the crowded city. I was like a kid in a candy shop. Everything here was magical. This was the “transported to a fantasy world” I’ve always dreamed of, not the dumpster of uncultivated land in the forest.

The crowded streets slowly thinned out. A short while later, we arrived at the foot of a small mountain. A tall blue fence stretched across its whole perimeter. Three words lie on the arch above the gate, “Blue Fire Sect.”

“Hey… don’t tell me you own this entire mountain.”