It was night in the desert, Navin stood in front of the black metal structure that was mostly buried under white sand; by his side, a stone structure was built, Ethan was taking a bath inside.
Navin recognized the material the black spire was made of; it was an alchemic product created from ores that could only be found in Abyssal Planes, it had a variety of magical properties like high energy conductivity, durability, and malleability. It’s one of the greatest building materials across the cosmos.
Thokcha, also called Black Orichalcum.
It’s also one of the best materials to use in the fabrication of spatial vehicles such as Star Ships that are used to travel across worlds, due to its capability of withstanding the pressure of dimensional portals and the energy storms that are constantly raging in the Void.
This structure was made of such valuable metal, so it was no ordinary building.
“It can’t be a temple built by the people from this world, this is not an Abyssal Plane, so Thokcha and the way to process it can’t be found here. And in such abundance, it must have been someone strong who brought this here.”
Navin muttered while observing the details of the spire, there were runes engraved in it, layers upon layers of magical protections that had been weakened by the passage of time, yet remained until this day.
“Did they build the structure here or did they bring the structure from another world? How did it end up buried under the desert? How long ago did this thing arrive at this world?”
Navin’s eyes shone with a mysterious light, like spirals of blue light his irises started to rotate counterclockwise as he peered into the river of time.
A scene was unfolded before his eyes.
Like rewinding a tape, time started to run backwards in Navin’s vision, day and night alternated at high speed, hundreds and thousands of days flashed by as Navin searched for the moment when this Thokcha structure came to this world.
“Impressive, so despite thousands of years passing, no one ever arrived here? Is it due to the abundance of strong monsters in this region?”
During their 3 days since arriving at this world, they hadn’t encountered any monster because Navin had cast a stealth field upon them, so none of the creatures in the desert could detect the presence of the duo.
This world’s natives called the desert where he was casually strolling about without a care ‘The Desert of Death’. it was one of the most dangerous places in this world, a vast extension of land that could not be claimed by any country despite multiple efforts. Many creatures roamed these white sands and it was a precious source of valuable resources, but the dangers inside it were too many.
Judging by the level of strength that the monsters in the area had, Navin could make a good estimate of the power of this world’s people. At least a relative estimation of their strength and potential. This was a semi-advanced world with abundant resources and high energy levels, and it was still growing stronger.
“Found it.”
Navin’s vision finally arrived at the point in time when this structure entered this world.
Two hundred thousand years ago, this place was not a desert, it was a mountainous land full of forests, with an exotic variety of fauna and flora.
All that changed when a rift in space occurred, beyond it, a raging storm of chaotic energies and miasma was battering a gigantic black castle to the point it was full of cracks.
Despite its magical barriers, the castle could not hold on much longer facing the brutal assault of the environment in the Void, it happened to cross the spatial rift to this world right when it was about to be completely destroyed.
The castle fell towards the ground like a blazing meteor covered in miasma, the impact flattened mountains and burned the forests, scorching the land and extinguishing any life unfortunate enough to be in the radius of destruction.
But the scourge for this land hadn’t stopped, the miasma that initially covered the castle now started to expand, contaminating the plants and animals in the surrounding region.
Many died unable to withstand the plague, but others mutated and became wild monsters that rampaged and killed anything they came across.
After many years, by the time the miasma had ended its expansion and contamination, dissipating in the now barren land, all life in the region had changed completely, even the ores underground had mutated and gained new qualities due to exposure to the foreign energy.
The people of this world had investigated the region, discovering many changes and obtaining new resources, but they also paid a great price, since this desert had become a land of death waiting to claim the lives of those who dared to enter.
And this castle was never reached since it was at the center of the desert, and the place where the most dangerous creatures roamed.
Navin canceled his ability, ending the vision and returning his sight to the present, Ethan had come out from the stone house after his bath, wearing only black shorts despite the cold night.
He was looking at Navin with a thoughtful expression.
“What is it?”
Asked Navin tilting his head a bit, his usual light smile on his lips.
“Master, what were you doing?”
Ethan asked after a few seconds, he had felt something weird when he came out of the stone house and found his Master staring at the black structure.
It was just a weird feeling; he couldn’t actually put it into words.
“I was observing this spire, studying it a little bit.”
“Ah, then did you use some magic?”
“Some. Why? Did you feel the magic?”
Navin asked with a raised eyebrow while he made a circular stone dais appear near them, Ethan stepped on it as he replied.
“I… don’t know, it was just a weird feeling.”
“Interesting… well, we will discuss it later, now we have something more important to do.”
“Alright.”
Ethan sat cross-legged in the center of the stone dais and closed his eyes.
Since he had managed to channel his Qi to use a walking technique properly, it was time for him to create a Qi Center inside him, Navin would assist him on this process, but all the work had to be done by Ethan.
He needed to do this by himself since this was a personal thing, it would be the core of his cultivation, something unique to him.
Navin raised a finger and pointed at Ethan’s forehead, a ray of light flew from his fingertip into Ethan’s head.
At that moment, a torrent of information flooded Ethan’s mind, instructions on how to breathe, walk, run, eat, and even sleep flew by his head as if he was reading hundreds of pages of a book at high speed.
Ways for moving energies across the body for each activity and movement made, channels through which energy must flow to get a specific effect, methods to turn it on and off, information about different energies and forces of the cosmos, their uses and properties, how to gather and cultivate them, etc.
It was all there inside his mind right now, a collection of varying techniques that complemented each other, like branches growing from the same tree, all these techniques and methods shared a common root, they were part of a whole set, turning them into an art.
Navin was passing on his own arts to Ethan, the result of countless years of studies, cultivating and comprehending the Cosmos.
The cultivation method that raised jealousy, awe, fear, and hatred from other cultivators, causing many hunts and fights against Navin throughout his life.
Those foolish enough to go after him were killed by the same set of techniques they were after, this energy control style let him emerge victorious through countless battlefields until only the Sovereign of the Gods could stand up to him.
The art that enabled him to challenge the Gods and slay the top powerhouses of the cosmos, transcending all known levels of power.
Navin Lakar’s self-created cultivation method:
Primordial Soul Profound Breath.
The culmination of a lifetime-long study comprehending the Cosmos.
The scriptures of this art were not in a written language, they were engraved into the soul and could only be willingly passed down by such a method.
Inside Ethan’s mind, an ethereal rune formed, this mysterious rune represented the legacy Navin had passed on to him, in it was all the information and methods that he must study throughout his new life as a cultivator.
It was the art he would be practicing from now on, the gate towards changing himself into an immortal.
“Begin.”
Navin commanded, and Ethan followed the method he just learned to gather the energies from the world around him into a core within his own self, he immersed in his practice by sending his perception into the depths of his body and soul.
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On the second floor of the Traveler’s Cabin, Maria came out of the shower and stood in front the bathroom mirror, it had an octagonal shape and was held by a black frame that contrasted with the white wall.
Maria watched her reflection in the mirror, noticing the changes she had experienced in only 3 days.
Her skin was smoother, her hair was softer and more beautiful, she noticed she had lost fat and the few marks she had on her skin were gone.
Her memory, vision, hearing, and sense of smell had all improved too, her limbs were stronger and more flexible while her figure was slimmer.
She felt great.
She smiled and admired her teeth, they were whiter and healthier since she started using the toothpaste and mouthwash Navin provided them.
Her world had the concept of oral hygiene and she cleaned her mouth daily, but those chew sticks and powder had no way to compare with the toothbrush and mint-flavored paste that had magical effects.
It even eliminated the bad breath in the morning, it was a pleasant sensation.
She gracefully spun on the tip of her toes and grabbed her new towel, made of a wool-like material with an incomparable quality, far better than any towel she used before meeting Navin.
She covered herself and went to her room.
It was a huge bedroom; it had an ample bed covered with silk sheets and feather pillows, a big beautiful crystal window she kept closed because the whole house was always fresh, a desk with a chair by the side of the window, bookshelf filled with books of many subjects, and a wooden wardrobe full of clothes of varying styles, dresses that went from casual to elegant, pajamas, gowns, pants and a huge variety of shoes, were lined inside.
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Maria was especially fond of a pair of black leather boots and a set of five long skirts that had beautiful patterns of varying colors on them, four of the skirts had patterns that represented the seasons while the fifth seemed to picture a starry sky.
The room, just like the whole house, didn’t use candles like she was used to, instead it used something Navin called light bulbs, crystal figures that emitted a soft white light when one touched a metal piece called switch and turned off if the switch was touched again.
The ceiling was a soft blue color with gorgeous engravings that gave her calm every time she looked at them, she suspected they had magic in them.
Then again, pretty much everything in this house was magical in one way or the other.
Today was the day they had decided to enter the city, the Sun had already risen and there was a sky with a few big clouds so it was bright but not too sunny.
A fresh morning.
Maria got dressed and went down the stairs towards the living room, she saw Aina sitting on a rocking chair while eating sandwiches of ham and cheese, on a low table in front of her there was a plate with more sandwiches and next to it there was a jar full of juice of an exotic fruit, and 3 glasses.
On her lap was a small white tiger cub lazily stretching and purring softly while Aina scratched its head between the ears.
“So there are many types of energies in the Cosmos that can be cultivated and used?”
Aina asked the white tiger cub on her lap.
“Yes, there are numerous energies and forces acting in the world around us that we can absorb and use for our benefit. Some are found only in certain places, while others can be found all around the cosmos.”
Navin, in the form of a tiger cub, explained with his eyes closed.
“Qi is a vital force; an energy we use to boost our life. It is pure potential and can take many forms and aspects. Mana is the building blocks of spells; it is organized and shaped into the different types of magic used by Magi. Aura is a manifestation of our willpower; it is mostly used to strengthen our bodies, by manipulating it we can attack, enhance and defend ourselves, as well as form objects temporally. Ether is a flowing substance that makes up planes of existence; it is a fuel that’s better used for artifacts but it is also a powerful tool when augmenting another energy. Orenda is a spiritual power inherent in all that exists, it is a factor that revolves around luck and causality, it is considered one of the substances that make up the threads of fate. Karma is a force that connects people with their actions, it joins us to all those we know and those we interact with, whether directly or indirectly. It is the representation of our influence in the world around us, as well as the consequence of our own actions.”
Navin waved one of his paws towards Maria, signaling her to take a seat, she sat, served a glass of juice for herself and grabbed a sandwich.
She listened attentively to Navin’s words. The sandwich was delicious.
“There are many other powers and types of energy, but those are the basic ones, or should I say, they are the primary forms of other energies, because we shape them and change their properties when we use them, and the more complex energies are formed by transforming these primary energies into something else to fulfill a specific purpose. Qi, Mana, and Aura are neutral but can take any aspect we wish them to, we shape those powers into new ones by imbuing them with intent. With our willpower, we rule the energies of the cosmos and shape the world around us.”
Navin made a sandwich levitate towards him and munched it, the cute tiger cub face made it hard to imagine he was actually an immortal deity-like being that had lived for countless years.
Maria wouldn’t say it aloud, but Navin didn’t really act like an old person. Sure, he was calm and collected like an experienced person and he spoke with confidence that only an expert could have, and he swiftly and efficiently replied any questions Maria or her daughter had, dispelling any doubts.
His teachings were so effective both of them had already learned to use Qi, although neither had formed a core for accumulating their Qi; Aina could project lightning out of her body and Maria learned a trick to levitate metal objects, Navin said she was talented in metal manipulation.
An Emperor would look at his subjects from above, a Queen would hold her head high and constantly care for her image, a Noble would control his expression and conduct when interacting with other people, the gods in the tales would always be distant, speak in short voices and booming with power, many times they didn’t express emotions.
Yet Navin, who was greater than any monarch, more graceful than any noble and more powerful than any deity, smiled constantly, laughed and joked with them, speaking with familiarity, not as a Lord but as a friend. Only during his lectures would he speak differently, but that was because he wanted to be precise and true to the information he was giving them, attentive to details and mindful that they were understanding the lessons, as a good teacher must be. He also wasn’t harsh in his lessons, he was kind and patient with his explanations.
Most of the time, he didn’t seem to be Aina’s Master and Maria’s Lord, but a long-time friend, a family member.
He didn’t even care about projecting an image of authority that must be respected, he was more interested in comfort, both for himself and them.
Case in point, right now he looked like a small tiger that Aina was keeping as a pet. Aina was happily caressing his hair and he lazily laid on her lap.
“Any other questions?”
Navin asked as he finished his sandwich.
“Nope.”
Answered Aina as she rocked back and forth.
“Not for now, Lord Navin. Although I would like to learn some spells that could help me cook better or faster.”
“Oh, don’t worry, once you have formed your core and have a mana pool, I will teach you many spells, I know some very good ones that will help you take your cooking to a new level.”
“Thank you very much.”
Maria took another sandwich and served more juice for Navin and Aina.
“Will we be leaving soon, then?”
“Yes, in about half an hour we’ll go. What do you girls think, should I go in human form or in this tiger form?”
“I believe it would be more prudent to have Lord Navin in human form by our side, it would keep people with bad intentions away.”
“Eeeehhh… but Master looks cute in little tiger form! Look, mom!”
Aina protested by raising Navin in front of her mother while scratching behind his ears, the white tiger cub’s face showed a smile as he closed his eyes.
Maria had to admit his face was very cute, but she still thought that it was better if an apprentice didn’t move her teacher about like a little toy; but since Navin didn’t complain she didn’t mention it.
“Yes, sweetie, that’s an adorable tiger face, but it’s better to avoid unnecessary trouble, no need to make Lord Navin beat robbers if we can prevent drawing their attention, and a white tiger might attract people who come with offers of buying it, or worse, people who try to steal it.”
“But Master can just beat them all, right?”
“Yes, but as I said, it’s better to avoid trouble. Right, Lord Navin?”
“Indeed, at least when entering the city, it is safer and less troublesome to be seen as a traveling family, a group of 3 is safer than a pair, after all.”
“Okay…”
Aina consented after Navin agreed with her mother.
“And I can always switch back into tiger form later when we are strolling the city, I’ll be on the lookout for people with bad intentions so you can enjoy your tour happily.”
“Yaaay!”
Aina visibly cheered up.
“In preparation for entering the city, take this bag, Maria.”
Navin waved his front paw and a small bag appeared in front of them, he then made coins of copper, silver, gold, and platinum appear next to it in organized piles, all had the Likia Kingdom stamp, they had the same level of purity as the coins used in the kingdom too.
Navin had made these coins after temporarily taking samples from the city for analysis and transmuting minerals from the earth into copper, silver, gold, and platinum.
For someone like him, this kind of metals without magic properties could be produced endlessly even from thin air.
“This is called a Bag of Holding, it’s bigger on the inside than the outside, so you can store many things inside it, it has a weight control spell waved into it so it won’t get heavier no matter what you put inside, I’ll also enchant it so that only the three of us can touch it, anyone else who tries to grab it would only slip their hands over the surface, it’s a protection against thievery.”
Mother and daughter had their eyes open wide as they saw the piles of coins, there were 1000 of each kind, it was a huge fortune.
A copper coin was the basic unit of currency in the continent, 25 copper coins equated 1 silver coin, 50 silver coins made 1 gold coin, and 100 gold coins were equal to 1 platinum coin.
Normal food on an average restaurant would be around 5 to 10 copper coins, maybe 1 silver coin for an expensive dish, same for staying a night on an inn. An ordinary citizen could survive for a month with 5 silver coins if they had their own house, as buying ingredients on the market and preparing food for oneself was cheaper than buying a prepared meal.
The average citizen would gain less than 3 gold coins per month on their work, and they received their payment in silver and copper.
Gold coins were rarely used by commoners, it was the currency only nobility and merchants with big enterprises would use on a daily basis. The only exception was high-level adventurers, strong monster hunters, and magicians of power. They were individuals with status resembling the aristocracy due to their personal strength.
Only the wealthiest influences would deal with platinum coins; organizations such as Guilds and Clans would use them when making commercial or contractual treaties with countries. People who had easy access to platinum were only those at the level of Kings.
Yet, here, in front of her, there was a pile of them, and Navin treated the coins as if they were pebbles on the road. Or maybe even less, as Maria had seen him point out things from nature and teach Aina about their composition, origin and uses. He had looked at insects with more interest than the passing glance he gave to the piles of coin.
“T-this is… for us?”
Maria stuttered, still staring at the coins. Aina was agape and even stopped scratching Navin, her whole attention captured by the riches.
“Yes, please use them as you like. I do not mind even if you spend them all, I can always make more in an instant, and they are real, you don’t have to worry about them disappearing after time passes, these are real physical coins.”
Navin glanced at Aina’s hand that had stopped mid-air during the scratching and waved a paw, making the coins fly into the Bag of Holding, then he placed the bag into Maria’s hand.
In her own hands, Maria held a bag with more than a thousand platinum coins, right now she was wealthier than she ever dreamed, she almost fainted.
“T-thank you, Lord Navin!”
“Don’t even mention it, the money of these lower realms doesn’t have value for me.”
“Master, what coins do you use where you come from?”
Navin had told them he came from another world, but he hadn’t told them about the events regarding the death of the Major Gods and the Cataclysm.
Unlike Ethan, who had personally witnessed the devastation a world could suffer, Aina and Maria were in a world that had it easy regarding the breaking of the Seal of the Cosmos, it was mostly benefitted, without any major backlash causing destruction.
So Navin decided to take it easy with them, there was no need to rush in telling them about such stuff.
“Each world has its own currency and ways to deal with goods and services. In the higher worlds, cultivators make deals with spiritual stones charged with Natural Ether, it’s like having great quantities of the Qi of the world and magical power condensed inside those beads, so they are beneficial for cultivation, hence the reason cultivator’s societies accept them as currency. In the highest-leveled worlds and the Divine Realm, we mostly deal in favors, services, and information, though a spiritual and magical currency called Dzi is also used; it has special qualities and high energy values. It’s very tasty too.”
“Ooohhh…”
“Shall we go now?”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
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Tom was a guardsman of the glorious city of Buri, one of the centers of Likia Kingdom’s power, he was proud of serving as a soldier of the army, but after a couple of years of service, he decided to work for the City Watch since it was less arduous while still prestigious enough to get a good wife and the pay was good enough to raise a family.
It was an easy job when he had to guard the walls, no one was foolish enough to attack such a fortified city filled with soldiers, hunters, and magicians of many races. That’s without counting the nobles with all their fancy artifacts and ancient combat arts.
It was annoying when he had to patrol the streets of the city and stop bar fights, especially among adventures since those bastards were strong and trained in combat. But he was always quick to respond when there was a report of robbery or assault, he really hated the criminals who sullied this wonderful city, the occasional ruffians who dared to disturb public order and harm honest citizens, were met with merciless beatings and throw into jail, sometimes they were executed on the spot if the crimes were particularly heinous.
Today, his rotation placed him on the southern gate of the city, it was one of the most crowded gates, due to the constant traffic of goods coming in and out of the city.
Luckily, he was a Senior Guardsman despite his young age, a sign of recognition of his fighting skills, so he could simply supervise while others did the harder work like keeping the queue in order or inspecting caravans and suspicious individuals.
Tom stood leaning against the wall by one side of the South Gate, he was wearing the standard equipment of all guardsmen; a steel breastplate, a helmet, a sword on his belt, a shield on his back and a spear by his side. Ordinary guardsmen only carried either a sword or a spear, but Tom was skilled in both so he carried both.
As a Senior Guardsman, his equipment was a bit different, he had spaulders on his shoulders that had the emblem of Buri City, a golden tiger on a blue field, on them; vambraces covered his forearms and greaves protected his legs.
He had his left hand resting over his sword hilt and his right arm hugged his spear as it stood by his side, one of his feet was on the ground while the other was on the wall behind him, ready to propel him forwards in case of emergency.
It was a relaxed posture, but he still remained on guard, weapons always close at hands and constantly watching the people around him.
War had taught him to be cautious, and he had to either learn or die. It was that experience that enabled him to rise in rank faster than others.
The sound of a discussion reached his ears and he turned his head to look at the groups of people causing a ruckus, two guards futilely tried to get them to remain calm, but those were 2 adventuring parties and an escort of a noble, they would not hear words, those people only listened to strength.
Tom sighed, it seemed he wasn’t lucky today, he should move soon to stop this quarrel before it turned into a real fight.
He stepped forward and started to walk when he spotted another group heading to the gate, it looked like a family of nobles, a young couple with a daughter, but they were walking instead of riding a carriage, which was uncommon. Their clothes were too clean to be travelers from another city, maybe they were already residing in Buri City and simply decided to take a walk outside?
The trio disregarded the queue, heading straight towards the gates ignoring the discussing group, in fact, they walked right through the middle of them.
Was that man crazy? Did he not care that his wife and daughter could be harmed if he led them into a heated argument between armed people?
If he tried to enter the city before those groups quarreling, they would surely aim for him, it would definitely make things get worse!
The 3 groups of angry people discussing in front of the gate did not take it kindly when the man passed by their side silently as if they weren’t there, the woman and girl by the man’s side also walked without saying a word, barely spending a glance to those around them.
Feeling offended, the noble from the carriage ordered one of his escorts to stop him and two from the adventuring group also stepped forwards, one of them even unsheathed his sword.
Tom rushed to them ready to stop those idiots but soon froze as he saw something unbelievable: the 3 men who tried to grab the new group fell to the ground unconscious.
The people around paralyzed after seeing this, no one saw them do anything, no move or technique was seen, no spell chanting was heard. The attackers just fell to the ground.
The group of three newcomers continued as if nothing had happened, and crossed the city gates as if walking into their own home, none of the guardsmen even tried to question their identities, whoever they were, they were strong, and it was always a foolish idea to mess with the strong.
The trio disappeared into the streets of the city leaving a group of astonished people behind them.
Tom stared at the trio until they were out of sight then turned to look at the quarreling parties.
Well, at least he didn’t have to stop a fight himself, maybe he wasn’t so out of luck today?