About an hour later, everyone was on the deck of the ship with ecstatic expressions on their faces. In front of them, slowly getting closer, was an island about five miles in diameter with dozens of shops in the center and about a dozen multicolored hotels around the shopping center. However, upon getting closer, a group of cultivators armed with swords and bows lined up at the beach waiting for them, and, upon reaching the beach, the leader of the cultivators stepped onto the boat and spoke.
“Which of you is the leader?”
As everyone looked towards Aria, he uncomfortably stepped forwards and said, “I’m Aria White. Old Jia and the three major families of Ishland hired my companion, Kara, and I to guard their three daughters, Liam Natesh, and and Ms. Lisa to Natesh. However, since we came across the Natesh family’s trade fair, we decided to come here so Liam and Lisa could meet their parents sooner.”
As the guard heard Aria, he glanced at Lisa and Liam with eyes lighting up in pure excitement. He stuttered, “Y-Y-You… you brought the young master and Guest Elder’s daughter from Ishland?!” Then, looking back at the guards he yelled, “Immediately setup rooms for our guests and send a message to the Patriarch and Guest Elder. Tell them that their kids have been located and are at the trade fair.” Glancing at Liam he said, “Young Master, please, follow me to your accommodations. Your friends may come too and we will provide rooms for them.”
After speaking, the leader turned around and walked towards one of the nicest hotels. So, Aria quickly brought the boat into his world seed before following the guard with Kara holding his right hand and Sky hugging his left arm. As they walked through the shopping center, Aria and Kara looked around in awe. There was delicious smelling food everywhere but, what had them the most excited was the building labeled ‘Qi-Infused Hot Springs’. As Americans, neither of them had been to a hot spring before but they were excited to try one out.
About ten minutes later the group was in front of a beautiful marble hotel. It had three stories and, what led them to be the most excited, it had its own hot spring in the back. The guard led them inside before speaking to the clerk at the front desk who handed some keys to the guard.
After getting the keys he walked back to the group and spoke, “Alright, Liam, Lisa, and Aria each have their own room,” as he handed a key to each of them. Then he handed two keys to the three sisters and Kara as he embarrassedly said, “I’m a bit embarrassed to do this but there were only five rooms available since the trade fair already started a few days ago… The rooms are plenty big for two people each though.”
One he finished speaking, Sky hugged Aria’s arm tighter and said, “No worries girls, I’ll stay with Aria so you only have to fit three people in two rooms.”
“Hey!” Shouted Kara. “I’m also staying with Aria so we can cultivate. Don’t cut me out so easy! Marg and Lydia, you can each have your own room.”
At first the guard was a bit surprised before giving Aria a knowing smile and saying, “Alright everyone. I’m heading back to the Natesh family estate to help the Master and Guest Elder finish any work so they can meet their kids quicker. The trade fair will last for another week and I’ll be back around noon, three days from now. Until then you all are free to do as you please.” After speaking, the guard quickly ran out with a face full of excitement.
Looking at the group, Aria spoke, “Hey guys, I enjoyed traveling with you all but if we can get to a metal-type cultivation or crafting focused city for Sky, we will likely head to it. So we will probably end up splitting up by the end of the trade fair. After checking out the room, I’m planning on exploring the fair to sell some items and buy some items before eating. Would any of you like to join me?”
Nodding, Marg said, “Sure, Lydia and I can meet you here, in the lobby, in 10 minutes.”
Hesitating, Lisa said, “Umm… Liam and I have been away from our family for years so out of the blue finding out we can see them in a few days is jarring to say the least. How about Liam and I meet you here tomorrow around noon to explore the trade fair and we can have today to calm down a bit as this feels sort of like a dream.”
Sighing, Aria understood the feeling of missing your family. It’s just unfortunate that he is unable to see his mom again. Glancing at Liam he sighed “Sigh, Kara and I understand missing family… I understand, take all the time that you need,” before walking up the stairs to his room on the third floor.
The moment Aira entered his room, Sky launched herself on the bed laughing, “Hahaha, this is so much more comfortable than the one on the boat. Although I do miss the scenery.”
Shortly after checking the room out, the three of them went to the lobby and found Marg and Lydia already waiting. The five of them decided to just roam around the market today and tomorrow without any real goals. When Liam and Lisa’s parents come on the third day they can learn about the connected level two cities and the teleportation costs from them. However, Aria had his own thoughts on why he wanted to ‘just roam around’. He activated the Radar function of his map and kept the map open so, as he walks around, he can see descriptions of the items around him and use it to look for good deals. Such as unknown items sold for cheap due to no one knowing what they are. However, he hadn’t expected to get an interesting hit shortly after they started walking around.
A few minutes after exiting the hotel the group found themselves in the district selling qi beasts. Cultivators often bought qi beasts for mounts, sending messages, or even just pets, but the most popular use of a qi beast is as a beast companion. Cultivators and qi beasts can form a connection by linking their souls, however, it has to be done with the consent of both parties and only adds the restriction that neither party can hurt the other without said parties permission. Unlike the many novels that Aria read, It’s impossible to form a slave and master relationship with a soul link. Also, a cultivator and a qi beast can only link their souls one time, so they can never have another partner. But the most interesting thing is that when you form a soul connection with a qi beast it provides a qualitative benefit to your body and cultivation while also allowing a rudimentary understanding of each other via your thoughts which becomes clearer as the qi beasts intelligence increases. The one downside is that it’s not a good idea to form a soul link while on the verge of a breakthrough to a new realm as it can damage your foundation. The optimal thing is to form that link during the Body Tempering realm to increase your qi purification before forming your core in the future.
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Interestingly enough, after entering the qi beast district, Aria saw the words: Alert: Unique set of qi beasts discovered. They appear to be in a moldable, gelatinous form. Ten of them appear to be very faintly linked to the five elements (Two per element), and two to the uncommon life element. They are reacting to your will and appear to be able to sense the world seed. Would you like to see the location on the map? Y/N
Aria immediately paused his steps and tapped the Y before checking the map and walking towards them. Leaving the rest of the group to look at each other in confusion before following after him. After walking for a couple of minutes, the group arrived in front of an average shop stand selling messenger birds. However, they had a cage of twelve slimy creatures in the back corner. Walking up to the shop, Aria glanced at them before casually pointing and asking, “Those things are kind of ugly but seem like they’d be fun to tease people. How much for the lot?”
The young man glanced at Aria before sighing, “Sigh, my elder brother explored a dangerous ruin and instead of any treasure he only found a dozen gross and weak qi beasts… I’d be happy to get a mid jade for them to pay for his medical bills. They really are useless…”
Taking a mid jade out of his spatial pouch, he tossed it at the kid before looking at his companions and asking, “Hey, can you guys help me take these back to my room? I’ll pay for our meal later if you do.”
Excited for free food, the group each grabbed two, while Aria held three, and headed back to his room in the hotel. As they walked into the hotel, the front desk clerk gave the creatures a disgusted look but considering the status of the Natesh family he chose to ignore them. However, the girls didn’t feel the same way and complained as soon as they got back to Aria’s room.
Tossing them on the floor, Kara, Sky, Marg, and Lydia all complained, “Groooossss! Those things feel so sticky it’s honestly nasty. What the hell did you buy them for?!”
Smiling, he said, “Thank you for your help. Here’s a mid jade to buy some good food Kara. Can you all go buy whatever you want to eat and bring it back? I have an experiment I want to do with these guys.”
The girls were both happy to get a free meal and disgusted by the qi beasts as they quickly fled the room in search of food. As soon as they left, Aria fell deep into thought… They looked like slimes from manga and anime of Earth and in some of those slimes are crazy weak while in others they start weak but have unlimited potential. With the second option in mind, in addition to the fact that they could sense the world seed and were related to elements, something the seed needed to evolve, he had a crazy yet risky idea. Aria was thinking that the slimes, tentative name, are related to six elements. However, only one of them is missing from the world seed and it just so happens to be life, which the world seed can’t support yet. In addition, forming a soul link with a qi-beast purifies your qi and body with their energy and their qi and body with your energy. The world seed is a part of his body, so, if purified with lfe energy, would it evolve to support life? He wanted to try, this might be the best idea he ever had, or it might waste his only chance to form a connection with a qi beast…
As he sat down and prepared to link with the Life Slime, he opened the Message System app for the first time and sent a telepathic message to Kara: Kara, don’t panic. It’s me Aria, I’m communicating telepathically through an ability of mine. I’m about to try something really stupid and will probably pass out so, when you go to buy food, have them eat at the restaurant and explore the city. Don’t let anyone come into our room tonight so no one panics. Thanks, I owe you one.
Taking a deep breath, Aria wasn’t completely sure how to form a soul link so he decided to trust in the system and imagined a ‘Soul Beast’ app which caused his tablet to brightly glow white and felt a burning pain in his head. Then, as the pain lessened, he felt as if he was living the life of the Life Slime. Born from qi in the darkness of a cave, it felt the strongest connection to the life element yet there was very little where it was located. After crawling around in lonely darkness for what felt like eons, it eventually met another Life Slime. The both of them continued crawling in the dark before eventually finding 10 more of their kind but of a similar element. They were incapable of speech but could share their emotions, finally the loneliness was over and a feeling of content set in. At Least until a strange shaped creature entered the cave and explored. Upon finding nothing but them, the creature went in a rage and kicked them around before throwing them in a cage and dragging them out. The Slimes finally felt the warmth of the sun but they were sad from their poor living conditions and unknown future. One day, a few years later, a group of people carefully carried them to a comfortable room when one of them sent a wisp of his soul to the Life Slime, giving it a feeling of warmth so it accepted the wisp of soul.
The vision ended but Aria kept his eyes closed as a sense of warmth flooded over his body starting at his feet and rising to his head. However, upon reaching the world seed, that feeling immediately changed to immense pain. Life was being infused into the world seed but it didn’t have enough of the five elements to be able to support a new world yet, so, warning messages flashed in front of Aria’s eyes but he was in so much physical and mental anguish that he wasn’t able to do anything but cry and spit out blob after blob of blood. He was feeling his consciousness slipping and, at his last moment of consciousness, he sensed the door to his room open. Flying into a panic that they might interfere and make things worse, he used the last of his mental strength and willpower to send a message to Kara begging her to send the other’s out of the room and then everything went dark.