The Matriarch had laughed, before assuring me that no, I wouldn’t have to assassinate anyone. The Broken Mountain Manor that I had met the Matriarch within was a facade; the actual size of their territory was much bigger, taking up a chunk of the entire city. When the architecture had notably shifted to their style, we had already entered their domain.

We were in the back behind the central complex now.

There was a sprawling facility built around a spring. Great piles of stones created a foundation for pools of water, the greatest of which rose almost a story tall and was as wide as the hall we had met the Matriarch in. Water poured over a lowered lip of the biggest pool, filling a second, and so on downward, making multiple hot springs.

[The ambient qi is much higher inside of the pools.] Interface said.

Nalaar bleated multiple times as we stepped inside. Children and adolescents fled the pools, running out. The entire facility was contained in a sprawling building, but it only maintained the facade of being assembled under boulders for a few feet before giving way to great wooden construction.

The air inside was hot and humid. The excess water from the hot spring flowed away and out under the door, making a steaming river leaving the room. Mora kicked out of Nalaar’s arms and climbed up into the spring, giggling the whole time. She easily climbed the pile of uneven boulders that formed a rudimentary wall.

Nalaar brought a change of clothes, along with a set of temporary robes for me. They were designed to be fixed arounde a pair of wings, which I didn’t have, but they didn’t have much clean, cloth laundry on short notice. Most cloth had to be imported to the prison, since no one with control of a field wasted space on goods like that when they could harvest leather and fur. He also brought me soap. Then he sighed, disrobing his shirt.

I dropped my clothes to the ground.

“Decorum, please!” Nalaar said, shielding his eyes from me.

“I still have underwear on!” I declared, marching up to the closet hot spring.

“Those are rags!”

“Do you know how long its been since I’ve had a bath in a proper body of water?” I asked.

I poked at the surface of the pool. It was scalding hot — likely too hot for most humans. To me, it was comfortable.

I threw myself over the side and took a dip into the water, throwing my head below the surface. Then I opened my mouth and started swallowing the hot water. I came up gasping for air, stretching as dried blood flaked free from my body.

Other people’s blood.

Water slicked my hair down to the sides of my head and neck. I pushed it back out of my face. When I rose from the water, I inspected every exit to the building, slowly scanning the entire room, and for the first time, I realized how odd it was that I did that.

I was in a bath house, not a war zone.

If the Matriarch wanted to harm me, she would’ve flattened me like a bug. I didn’t know what she wanted. I didn’t really believe that a stranger would offer so much help just because I helped them in turn.

“Interface.” I whispered. “What do you think the Matriarch’s motivation is?”

[She likely wants to experiment on you. Or to extract me and use me to gain power.]

I nodded. Then I frowned.

“If she wanted to extract you, wouldn’t she have just done it at the time?” I asked. “She seems really versed in magical knowledge. At least this worlds. Maybe more. Even Nalaar seemed to have you semi figured out.”

I was speaking so quietly I could barely hear myself, almost subvocalizing. The bubbling and splashing water filled the room, along with Mora’s giggling, interspersed with her and Nalaar bleating as he chased her down to clean her.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

[It’s possible she simply aims to use you as a weapon, then. Or, possibly, she’s being honest.]

“Can you detect lies?”

[Only yours.]

I frowned as I washed myself.

Eventually, once I felt clean, I just laid back and relaxed. A few minutes later, Nalaar peered over the edge.

“Wash yourself again.” He said, dropping a bucket down into the water. “Your hair still has blood in it.”

I grunted, diving back beneath the water.

[The background qi of this world seems to be composed of multiple different elements. I’m going to start sorting them with a color. And… there.]

I raised my head above the water, opening my eyes to see that Interface colored the glowing pools in a swirl of green and brown — life and earth, according to a key hovering in my vision. A qi key.

“Couldn’t you have picked prettier colors?” I asked, voice low.

[You are not capable of perceiving any color that my species describes as beautiful. I could try.]

“Ow!” I said, flinching back as my vision shifted to an indescribable image. It quickly reset.

[…no.] Interface said.

Then he started to scrawl a description of my status again.

[K’Thre] [First Realm, 0.25% Cultivated]

[Hellfire: 48% | Exhaust: 11%]

[Leg Cultivation]

[- Scale the Mountain(Earth/Life) 1% Mastery]

[Arm Cultivation]

[- Unbreakable arms(Green. Life?) 20% Comprehension]

[Head Cultivation]

[Body Cultivation]

[Weaknesses]

[- Unable to perceive any color worth seeing.]

“Hey!” I said, waving in my vision where I perceived the interface. “Comprehension? Was understanding not good enough?”

[It’s more suitably pretentious.] Interface said.

Night was falling. The inside of the building dimmed, amber gems growing to life to light the inside. Men and women from the goat clan slowly filed into the bath house, washing themselves free of globs of mud. I was at risk of getting dirtier if I stayed any longer.

Also, they all bleated at each other by way of greeting, and at me. I got little more than curious glances and bleats. More children, led in groups by caretakers, were dragged into the bath house and began playing on the stones. Water spilled out of the side of the pools, splashing all over the ground.

Nalaar wrapped up cleaning Mora. I changed into robes, and he led us away into the valley.

Night had fallen outside. Nalaar led me out. People cheered as we passed them, jumping playfully in front of Nalaar. These were warriors, each one much bigger than Nalaar. Many stood several heads above me, gigantic goat people dragging huge weapons that glowed with foreign energy, some seeming to glow with the dim light of cultivation techniques like the half extinguished forges.

“Great job.” One said, patting Nalaar on the back so hard he stumbled.

“Marvelle deserved worse.” Another said as they passed.

“What the hell happened between you and Marvelle?” I asked.

Nalaar frowned, the expression odd on his long face.

“I attacked a wounded group of Iron Gut bastards who almost led a Celestial to our side compound. Tensions have been high between the City Lords, and they’re only getting worse. Almost everyone is moving back in to our central complex for protection. The Broken Mountain and Iron Gut may go to war over it.”

Nalaar said.

“Okay, woah, slow down. Who are the City Lords? Like the Matriarch?” I asked.

Nalaar bleated.

“No, all three of the City Lords are in the Fifth Realm. A Fifth Realm cultivator could easily defeat dozens of Fourth Realms.”

“How is that possible?” I asked. Nalaar had led us into the main complex.

“Fifth Realm cultivators are capable of manifesting a full Domain.” Nalaar said.

“…okay, and a domain is?”

Nalaar looked at me for a moment, stopping dead in the hallway of the main complex. Then he continued forward.

“A domain is a region of space under the absolute authority of a cultivator. Only someone else with a Domain can deny the rules inside. I don’t know how they work; I just know that if you end up in one, you’re dead.”

“That’s… a remarkably terrifying comment.” I said.

We took a turn in the main complex. The floor had been sloping downwards, winding underground. Two guards blocked the way forward.

“Nalaar.” One said. She rolled his name over her tongue. Like the other warriors, she was tall, heads taller than Nalaar and taller than me still. “The Matriarch told us you were coming. Pass.”

Her and the other guard stepped back. We took a right, into another chamber blocked by guards. This singular area, unlike the rest of the compound, was lit by stones that glowed much brighter, a white touched with red, like a sunset.

The guards dipped their heads, and we stepped up to a man at a desk. Piles of books were stored on it.

“Ah, Nalaar.” The goat man sitting at the desk said. “And you must be K’Thre.”

Unlike the previous guards, this man wore flowing, scholarly robes, an excess if the rarity of cloth here was to be believed. He also had huge spectacles on his face, and a small beard hanging below his mouth.

“I’ve picked out some books in advance that I believe will be fit for you and your… friend.” The librarian said, addressing Nalaar.

“You have books for… me?” Nalaar asked. “The Matriarch said I’m not to learn to fight.”

The Librarian gave me a pointed look at Nalaar’s words. Nalaar was already stepping forward, grabbing the books on the table.

“I trust your friend can exercise some… discretion. We all heard about your defense of the east nursery. I’m glad to give you what I can.” The librarian replied.

[Ask for more of their books in exchange for your silence! One is too little!]