After a momentary pause Argana jumped right into her explanation of the rune circle. “Rune circles or Portable runic barriers if you want to use the official term are designed to make wild creatures want to stay away. They are also designed to dampen or eliminate any sounds, smells, or light that pass from inside the circle heading out. As far as what each individual rune does, that is something that only the Runic Crafter’s guild could tell you. They tend to be miserly with the information they share with the public. Primarily because other than emergency repairs they want you beholden to them for any changes that need to be made. There are variations of the circles that do various things. Some of them amplify the sound, and light out, and are often used to lure creatures into ambushes. There are a limited number that are designed to work against everyone other than who is keyed to the circle. Those are typically used by servants of the emperor.”
With that statement Wyatt felt the need to interject. “Emperor, as in ruler of a large empire? Is the emperor mostly good or is he mostly bad?”
“The emperor wants power and doesn’t really care how he receives it. I have explained what happened to me. It’s technically illegal within the empire, but the emperor rarely enforces the law preventing it unless either he sees a benefit in making an example of someone or if someone presents undeniable proof that the accord with the underlings, and the truans has been broken. Then he has no choice, but to act whether he wants to or not. Which is why the Nooku believed you when you said you didn’t want to deal with a violation of the accords. As a world traveler you aren’t actually beholden to the accords, but anyone can invoke the accords assuming they can either escape with proof or they have enough power to subdue whoever was in violation. We could do neither at the time which is why it was so serendipitous that you arrived when you did.”
“Wow, information overload. So, there are obviously a lot of different groups. Some of which are part of the empire, and others who are in at least an agreement with the empire. What do the underlings look like?” Wyatt was curious about all of these different people, and knowing who everybody was would come in handy later.
“Underlings are typically rather short, and stocky. They tend to be loud, rambunctious, and more prone to violence than most others. They live primarily underground. They tend to excel in specific things such as mining, wrestling, and artificing.”
Wyatt started laughing as he for some reason pictured dwarves in the flashy leotards of old wrestling matches on earth. “When you say wrestling is it a spectator sport or are you just saying that they get in a lot of fights that result in wrestling?”
“Both. They hold tournaments every 10 years, and there are typically 4 groups. Qi technique fights, Unenhanced weapon fighting, Unenhanced brawling, and anything goes. Anything goes is always the crowd favorite, the most violent, and is the only category with consistent casualties.
“I think we got a little off track. I will have to remember to ask more about this tournament, but for now just 1 more question about it. When is the next one?”
“The next tournament is in about a year from now, but you should avoid it if at all possible. There are some people who very much dislike world travelers, and if someone found out you were one it would not end well for you. The emperor tries to collect world travelers because new information can be its own form of power, and as I said before he cares about power to the exclusion of all else. The emperor always attends the tournament. If you do decide to go you must be very careful not to reveal your origin.”
“Well, I am of course curious about the tournament, and I really want to see it. If it is that dangerous though I think I will have to see how I feel closer to the time for the tournament.”
“You would have to leave soon if you were interested in going to the tournament. It happens very far from where we are currently. If you were an advanced cultivator you could fly, and make the journey much faster, but as it is you would have to pass through a lot of extremely dangerous territory. I will give you directions if you are dead set on going, but again I would urge you to avoid the tournament. If you truly want to see the tournament that badly you should wait for the next one. By that time, you will likely have grown strong enough to protect yourself from most threats if an issue does come up. As you are now it is likely you would die before even making it all the way there.”
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“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” The look she gave him reminded him of his mom. It was a look he had become intimately familiar with earlier on in life. It was the look that said, ‘are you serious? You want to test me?’ Wyatt knew he had lost any argument they might have had. He just threw his arms up and said “I get it. Going to the tournament is the worst idea in the history of bad ideas. Don’t do it, don’t ask about it, don’t even think about it.”
Wyatt was expecting a laugh at his dramatic delivery, but instead he received a frown, and a response. “You don’t seem to be taking this as seriously as you should be. If you try to go you will die, but if by some miracle you survive and make it all the way to the tournament you will almost certainly be captured as a slave. You don’t seem to be comprehending the severity of my warning, but I hope I got through to you. It’s an awful idea that will bring you nothing but pain.”
With that being said Argana had just walked away presumably to finish packing up their cart. Urgrand was clearly content to let Argana explain everything, and he was presumably cultivating which appeared to be what he had spent the previous night doing as well.
Apparently even walking away Argana knew enough to understand what he was about to ask because before the words asking them to teach him to cultivate were out of his mouth she said “No, the methods we know for cultivation are not good for you and will wreak havoc on your ability to advance properly. You need a truan cultivation method.”
“Well, that answers one of my other questions. Truans are like me then. They are what my world calls humans. So, there are the underlings, the truans, and the nooku. What are your people called? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“We are the Udan. We are mostly artisans, and crafters. Our predisposition towards creation rather than violence and destruction left us woefully unprepared when others decided to use us for their own devices. The truans are by no means saints, but they do believe in freedom. They adamantly abhor outright slavery or so they say. In reality they are hypocrites. Never take on debts in truan lands because they have their own version of slavery. Indentured servitude. You become buried under mountains of debt there is no way you can ever repay. Then if you have a family they must still survive so because you use more money, they give you to feed your family they tell you that your family is liable for all of your debt. Thus, generations of ‘indentured servants’ are born.”
Wyatt looked up then talking to himself more than anyone else said “why did I want to be a hero? Why didn’t I just wish to be transported to a world where I could learn to punch holes in mountains, grow a little garden, and live in peace. Instead, I get sent to a world with a power-hungry madman at the top, that apparently has a thriving system of slavery, and apparently mystical mad scientists doing research on innocent mothers.”
“Good!” Su said while pointing at him. Wyatt had been talking to himself, so he was surprised when he received an answer. He was even more surprised when he realized who the answer had come from.
He wasn’t sure what compelled him to do it, but he swept up Su in a hug, and then ruffled his hair asking her “you really think I am good?”
She was giggling as he ruffled his hair, but seemed to understand the significance of the question because the giggling stopped as she looked him in the eyes and shook her head yes.
Wyatt just realized that some of the things people did on earth were the same, and that was really interesting to him. He wondered if other travelers had introduced them or if something else was at play. It seemed a strange coincidence to have 2 different worlds use the same motion. Then he forced himself off that train of thought it was not important at this moment.
“I will stay away from the tournament. That being said, being powerful is important if I want to do the hero thing. Just knowing that slavery is a fairly large problem in this world makes me want to fix things. I know as I am now that would be impossible. Do you know where I might learn a truan cultivation method?”
“I do have some ideas on where you might learn what you need. For now, I think we all need to get everyone moving. There is a city about 3 weeks from here. We will travel through all the daylight hours we can talk as we travel, and then set the circle for the night. It should be mostly uneventful.”
“That actually brings up a very important question. You say traveling should be uneventful. How is that possible? Do you know how frequently I am attacked while traveling? Almost daily. How have you survived out here without any injuries?”
Apparently now it was Argana’s turn to laugh. She laughed for a minute, looked at his face that looked so confused as to why she was laughing and set herself off again. It was a full 10 minutes before she was able to get her breathing back under control. Then all she said was “you will have to see if you can figure it out as we travel. I think it is not wise of me to give you all the answers.” With that she gathered up the kids, and then she got close to touching Ugrand then after staying that way for a few seconds he seemed to come back to reality. With that done everyone was more or less ready to go. Wyatt had been a little surprised when Ugrand the 2nd was the one who was strapped into the cart, but he would see how things progressed throughout the day before making any judgements.