Chapter 125 – Exploring
The next day arrived quickly as Siu had fallen asleep early after parting with Seloryn. Opening his eyes in his bed, it took him a moment to remember where he was and why he was not in his cave. Blinking twice, he quickly remembered that he was no longer back home, but in an inn, while Arya and Marly were lying curled up on his chest.
“Haaah…” he exhaled slowly, one arm coming up to cover his eyes against the incoming, strong sunlight. “What time is it...?” He asked himself, as not one morning was so shiny in the outers' territory, which made sense, considering it was way lower on the mountains, staying in their shadows for longer.
“Master,” Arya’s voice came, yawning as she woke up with him, “I'm hungry...”
“Me too,” Marly added, also starting to blink, pulling her tail away from her face.
"Barely awake and already grumbling... Grow up, you two."
"We are trying to grow, that's why we are hungry!" Arya answered, now sitting and stretching, using Siu's chest as a place for it, just like a cat would.
Rubbing their heads, thinking of Neya who was now not with him, for a while, he remained lying down, letting his thoughts swirl around inside his mind before deciding it was time to actually wake up. He could hear the other patrons already up and about around him, their footsteps, voices passing by his room, and the faint clink of cutlery coming from below, telling him that it was time to get out. It had to be late to be this noisy, which further prompted him to start moving, as there was little to no time to waste. He needed a proper place to stay, and couldn't always just rest in an inn. With that in mind, Siu sat up slowly, stretching and feeling how Seloryn’s lesson from the day before had left him sore in some places.
“How does an ear get tired?” he muttered, rubbing the insides with one finger, feeling it buzz a little.
“Mine can too,” Arya answered, moving her ears around like she was in a windstorm, "Too much movement and it makes me dizzy, too!"
"Mine doesn't, but I can feel vibration in my flaps, too, when I fly too much," Marly raised a paw, stretching herself a bit to show, “I wonder where they will go when I finally can turn into a human.”
“Good question,” Arya hummed, looking at her, "Maybe you will have flappy—"
“Breakfast it is, then!” Siu cut in loudly before she could finish and got out of bed before the conversation could worsen, throwing the two off his chest and onto the pillows.
After washing, dressing, and tying the silver sash around his waist, he paused before the small mirror hanging next to the door. He touched his face, slapping his cheeks, then let his hand fall, taking a deep breath, shaking his head. It was time to start over again, huh?
“Come on,” he said. “We eat, and then we explore.”
...
....
......
Joren was already behind the counter when they came downstairs, though this time he had another disciple working beside him, a sleepy-eyed girl with short hair who kept yawning while arranging cups behind him. The first floor of the Resting Reed was livelier than when he came here the first time, that's for sure. As he glanced around, there was not even one empty table; most were occupied by disciples, sitting with tea, a half-finished breakfast, most of them reading scrolls or holding a stone tablet while eating. Two of them actually argued over one such item, complaining about who should hand it in for completion. Just then, Joren spotted Siu, waving his hand to come and sit at the counter.
“Mornings are busy hours, so you have to get up in time to get a seat,” he said with a chuckle.
“How late is it?”
"Oh, it's already past eight." He said without consulting with any watches or clocks that Siu could see, "So we are slowly getting out of the rush."
"There is still... food, no?" Arya lifted her chin, hopping onto the table, sniffing the air, a bit unsure now.
"Hm?" Joren looked at her, and Marly, who quickly imitated her sister, then back at Siu. “They look anxious.”
“They are afraid you are all out of food.”
“Pft!” He chortled, shaking his head, "Nope! So? Breakfast it is?"
“Yes. And please, give us something filling.”
“For you or them?”
"Both," he answered at once, "I'm planning to walk around all day."
"Gotcha."
Soon, breakfast came: thick rice cooked with shredded meat, a side of pickled vegetables, two boiled eggs, and a pot of dark tea that smelled fancy, filled with essence, his nose could tell at once. As for Arya and Marly, they got the same thing, just in a bit smaller portion, and Marly's came without meat, replaced with baked nuts. They complained about not getting the full, human-sized treatment, yet they still made it all disappear, leaving not a grain of rice behind. While they attacked it like starving beasts, Siu ate slowly, watching the room while he did.
Today, he had no guide to lead him, so he decided to take it slowly. The truth was, after seeing the Nine Hanging Bells and being beaten into a new understanding by Seloryn’s flute, he felt it was the right thing to take things carefully. It wouldn't be as easy to stand up to himself if he offended someone, like he did with Nue. After sleeping on it, he was glad that Seloryn had shown him the differences, because he now knew there was a deeper chasm between him and the older disciples than he had guessed. This did not mean he was afraid; he knew he had to be careful until he began to understand his own affinity and to raise his powers to use them well enough in a fight.
“Joren,” Siu said after finishing half his bowl.
“Yes?”
“If someone new wanted to learn the layout, where would you tell him to go first?”
"Start with the Nine Hanging Bells," Joren didn’t even think when answering, but seeing his expression, he continued, “Right, you already went there. Then, I would suggest exploring the public route.”
“There is a public route?”
“There are several, in fact. It is called that because guests coming in from outside are limited to seeing and traversing only those areas. The first one loops around the lower valley and passes the major halls that new inner disciples use most often. It starts near the Nine Hanging Bells. Just keep going from there, and if you don’t wander off the road, you’ll see the library, public meditation chambers, the main medicine hall, artifact hall, alchemy hall, formation hall, and, before looping back to the bells, the beast hall.”
“That sounds exactly like what I need. Thanks!”
“Don't mention it, it is designed that way.”
“I expected it to be harder to find my way around after yesterday. Especially those animal statues, showing the way.”
“Well, yeah, it will be like that if you don't learn to notice them and take a wrong turn.” Joren wiped the counter with a cloth, taking the empty bowls Arya and Marly had left behind. “Here is my tip: If you don't know where a road takes you, don't go down it."
"That's all the roads for me." He answered with a full mouth, rolling his eyes.
"You'll feel it." Joren chuckled, "The main identification of a route that is not that welcoming is being deserted. But you won't run into much trouble, even if you go down on one. At worst, they lead you to a private area that will reject you. Some disciples could get paranoid, so they may think you are there to spy on them, but I wouldn't worry about that."
"Then don't tell us about it!" Arya grunted, but of course, Joren heard nothing of it.
After breakfast, Siu paid for it, ignored Marly's attempt to convince him that emergency snacks were a necessary strategic expense, and stepped back out onto the main road. By then, the morning had grown even brighter thanks to the clear, blue skies, and maybe that's why the valley looked even less overwhelming this time around. Naturally, the roads were just as busy, everyone going about their own little businesses. Siu found the road leading to the Nine Hanging Bells easily, deciding to just follow it until he would complete the loop Joren had mentioned. The public route offered a wide view of the terraces as he walked, with Arya on his head and Marly on his shoulder, occasionally stopping when something caught his eye, trying to identify what he was looking at.
The first major landmark after the Nine Hanging Bells was the library, and it was easy to guess what it was. It was carved directly into the side of a mountain, with seven visible levels of arched entrances stacked above each other. He immediately realized that each level had to represent a different area, storing different knowledge; he just couldn't tell exactly what type of knowledge each represented. Walking closer to it, he watched the stone stairways zigzag between them, while floating platforms drifted slowly up and down, carrying groups of disciples, servants, and some were even packed to the brim with massive boxes as they were hauled away. At the top, a circular tower jutted from the mountain face, shaped like an eye, its windows made of colorful glass that sparkled in the morning light. Now, standing at the bottom of its first set of stairs, he could read a plaque there, accompanied by the image of two massive owls.
"Hall of Infinite Echoes," Siu muttered as he read it.
“Why can't they call it a library?” Arya asked.
"Maybe it's echoy inside because it's in a cave?" Marly offered.
"Or it's for dramatic effect." Siu offered, making them chuckle.
While talking, he saw how disciples moved in and out constantly, many of them carrying stacks of books, scroll cases, or multiple stone, metal, marble, and jade tablets. Unlike the outers' library, there were servants at the entrance checking sashes and tokens for those who entered, but ignored those who were leaving. There were probably checks done inside, too, Siu thought. He even caught as one disciple tried to walk in confidently, only for his sash to flash red and the servant to point him toward the side. The disciple grimaced, paid something, and was only then allowed to pass.
"Late fees?" He muttered to himself, chuckling, then stepped back without entering and kept walking.
The next sight he stopped at now had a familiar bird's image at its entrance: a Whitebeak Hawk, as Seloryn introduced it to him. So, it had to be the public meditation hall. Searching for a plaque, so as to inform visitors what they were looking at, there it was:
"The Quiet Chambers," he read, "Well, this is direct enough, I think."
Compared to the library, the place was less grand, built like a four-story tower with small but numerous windows all around its body. As he examined the stone surface of the building, disciples moved quietly around him, and, per his instincts, he could tell that many of them were close to his strength. It made sense... A public meditation chamber had to be affordable and ideal for those looking to cut expenses. Moving his eyes, he spotted a board near the entrance that kept updating the moment someone entered or left, listing available chambers, prices, durations, and most of the details one would need to book a room.
“Haaah...” He shrugged when he saw the prices. “The lowest one costs more for two hours than my room for a night.”
“Does it come with food?” The two of them asked.
“No.”
“Then it is theft, Master!”
Siu read more carefully while they were talking. Even with that price, the lower-quality chambers were affordable enough, though still expensive if used daily. The middle-grade chambers cost far more, and the upper-grade ones had prices that made him wonder if they were meant for breakthroughs or not, because who would spend so much on just an hour of meditation? What surprised him was that many of the rooms were marked for specific affinities: fire, wind, earth, water, lightning, and ten more as far as he could count.
Sadly... none of them was his. With a shrug, but a memorized price table, he went on, and from the smell alone, he knew he found the medicine hall ten minutes later. He was dreading the answer to his question, of how much a bath in here would cost...
Stopping beside it, it was a wide complex built under a waterfall that descended from a higher cliff, smashing onto its top, then splitting into several channels before flowing through the building and its grounds, continuing to rush away. Even with the water's constant rumble and cleansing, the air smelled, sometimes sharply, stinging their nose, sometimes making them feel a bit numb. He could sniff out the smell of herbs, alcohol, mineral powders, and boiling medicinal baths coming from within its walls. Naturally, beside a symbol of two snakes coiling around a third, the sign at the entrance read:
"Hall of Rejuvenation," Siu read it out again, "Another straightforward one."
“So only the library is trying to be fancy.” Arya chuckled while Marly was still sniffing the air.
"Master, the smell here is much stronger than it was before... It makes me dizzy!"
"Stands to reason," Siu nodded, while beginning to leave, "Disciples here have stronger powers, so the injuries we all could suffer also go up in seriousness and difficulty."
As for his next stop, it was right before a raised platform surrounded by six tall metal pillars, each one wrapped in chains and decorated with countless tiny runes. The building itself was made from dark stone and bronze etchings, with vents releasing faint heat from within. There was a constant hum coming from the vents themselves, sometimes intensifying to the point that his body buzzed under his skin. He was about to step closer when one of the vents spewed a column of fire right into the air, almost towards them. The moment it happened, the runes on the pillars lit up, containing the bellowing flames in an energy field, snuffing it out before it could do any harm... but it still made the trio flinch and step back, making a few passing disciples look and chuckle.
"That scared the furr off my bottom!" Arya panted, panicking still, while Marly was hiding under Siu's clothes. "How can they not warn us?!"
"Haaaah... Well, that was a scare." He muttered too, but now smiling at himself, noticing the plaque above the entrance, decorated with the image of... of... A minotaur? It was for sure ox-like but had a human body...
"Fabricator." Then he read it again. "Huh? That's... all?"
"If it was made by an ox, probably that's all he could come up with. They aren't... smart." Arya chortled with laughter, looking at the place where, clearly, artifacts were being forged for the sect.
The main gate was open, and through it he could look inside. Apparently, the first floor was a shop, as he could see rows of display cases filled with weapons, shields, bracelets, boots, breastplates, helmets, variable tools, needles, cloaks, individual armor plates, lamps, and objects he could not identify. Each had a small tag beside it with a price and a description, prompting him to get closer, now ignoring another nearby fiery explosion that, as before, was quickly contained. From where he stood, he looked at a bronze wristguard that could harden into a shield, as per its description, just for four hundred Sun Crystals. Next to it was a pair of leather boots that reduced the noise of movement... Six hundred and fifty Sun Crystals. A jade-made pendant that blocked mental intrusion beneath the Second Circle, with a note that it was a one-time use only for... One Azure Crystal.
Siu walked back out at once, grimacing, not wanting to see any more prices.
“Master?” Arya asked.
“We are poor.”
“How poor?” Marly asked, afraid there would be no lunch... and no dinner.
“Absolutely, unquestionably poor,” Siu mumbled in his mind, remembering that he mostly dealt with Ember and Flame crystals, worth 10 and 100 CC, respectively. As for Sun Crystals? They were 1,000 per piece. Azure? It skipped a grade, as Verdant Crystals were worth 10,000, while Azure was above it at 100,000 CC per piece. His current resources were... pitiful in comparison, only amounting to about 12 Sun Crystals in total, as in, 12,000 CC.
"That's still good, no?" Marly looked back at the hall while asking, "You could buy stuff."
“Yes, but then what? Go broke? No. We need that capital to have a home first and foremost. The rest can wait.”
It was clear that the prices in the sect proper were not made for those who sat around meditating all day without income. No wonder people were running their own businesses... If artifacts like that could save lives, then not having them was its own danger. But buying one carelessly could destroy a disciple’s finances for months. Suddenly, he understood why Toban was so keen on amassing his wealth, cleaning most of it out, before moving on.
And then... The sudden smell hit his nose as he kept walking, and it immediately brought him out of his thoughts.
It had a sweet, slightly spicy scent with a tinge of bitterness, reminding him of something medicinal. Following his nose, he found the place it was coming from. It sat in a broad courtyard, occupying more land than just the building in the middle. That thing looked like a domed arena, with a metal roof filled with copper chimneys. Then, around it, filling the courtyard, Siu could count 10 glass-roofed greenhouses, clearly guarded by formations that sometimes flickered when someone entered or left. Some disciples stood outside, closer to the gate, haggling over ingredient bundles at tiny market stalls, or helping servants who carried pill bottles tucked carefully into padded cases, probably working here as part-time helpers. He was looking around when he caught a servant scolding someone for trying to sell unstable powder, berating him not for the act of selling, but for trying to parade such a worthless product as... usable.
"Verdant Paradise," he read the plaque, surrounded by the image of butterflies. “Has to be alchemy,” Siu murmured, "I had only heard of it until now..."
"Isn't that just cooking?" Arya’s nose twitched, also smelling all the scents at once. “Where's the meat?! Ew... This place... STINKS!”
“I think it's wonderful!” Marly added, sounding dreamy, taking deep breaths, one after the other.
"It does," Siu agreed, "BUT! Keep your mouths on a leash, okay? We are only looking, bankrupt me, and I'm making both of you into a soup myself."
He stepped closer for a moment, but only enough to examine the nearby stalls that were both run by servants and disciples alike. Unlike the artifact hall, it was clear that they openly sold both finished products and ingredients. He caught descriptions of pills for stamina recovery, potions against poisons, ointments for bruised muscles, powders to slow bleeding, beast-calming incense, sleep tablets, and bundles of herbs with labels so detailed that Siu realized he could not understand half of them or what they were for.
“This batch is not below the required grade!” He caught another argument, this time from a middle-aged-looking disciple facing a similarly aged servant.
“It isn't stable,” the servant replied flatly.
“It... It isn't! I mean, damn it, I mean it is!"
"It is not." Then the servant simply snapped his fingers, and a flash of fire passed over the open bottles, turning them into colorful burners.
"Only barely!” the disciple yelled again, waving his own hand, extinguishing the flames, but half of the potions were already gone by then.
"Send your complaint to the Elders then. NEXT!" He yelled, his voice becoming so forceful it knocked the disciple with the potions back a few steps... Clearly, the servant was much stronger and wasn't going to take any more rudeness from the disciple.
Not wanting to get caught in anything, or the now angrily stomping away disciple to see him smile, he quickly turned around, leaving.
It was nearing noon when he reached the next step in his exploration, which had to be the formation hall, given the complex formation hanging over its entrance. It wasn't just on a plaque, but on a turtle's shell, with the animal's head poking out from under it, looking as if a dragon was hiding there. The building itself was only one story high, but it had an octagonal shape with circular windows, giving the whole place the feeling of a carefully crafted, geometrical formation. It was quieter than the other places, with very few people entering or leaving through its front gate.
"Spellcraft and Formations." He read the straight-to-the-facts plaque, nodding his head.
He had the urge to go in and take a look, but, knowing the prices he saw previously, he also was sure he couldn't afford anything at the moment. And for sure, he wouldn't want the people inside to think he was taking up their time by just wandering in, looking, and doing nothing.
"We will take a look after we get enough money," He breathed out and moved on, saying it more to himself than to Arya or Marly.
Remembering Joren's words, he knew that the beast hall was the last major stop on the route, and it was impossible to miss. Partly because of the smell... and because of the noise. It was not even a building, per se, but a whole terrace, filled with pens for beasts of all varieties. There was even a birdhouse he could see in the distance, stables, open pens, and warehouses. The entrance was decorated not with plaques of animals, but a donkey-sized, colorful bird, that reminded him of a mix between a falcon and a peacock, perched on the arching entrance that read:
"Companions."
It told him enough about how the Hollow Song felt about having contracted beasts. Naturally, the bird was still only looking down at him, then, its eyes moved to Arya and Marly, causing the two of them to suddenly hide inside his robes.
"I'm not going to eat you all," The bird suddenly spoke up, her trilling voice echoing in Siu's mind, "Kekekeke... Come in, come in! We are always welcoming to proper disciples who know how to handle our kind."
"Thank you, but we're just looking for now," Siu answered, a bit taken aback, cupping his hands towards the bird that only nodded, enjoying his polite answer.
The more he looked, the more he could spot, noticing where disciples were buying beast feed, medicine, grooming tools, harnesses, collars, saddle frames, claw caps, and cultivation supplements made specifically for beasts. A sideboard next to the entrance listed taming assistance, contract consultation, injury treatment, behavior correction, bloodline assessment, advancement support, and resource exchange. The latter told him that this was also where Neya would feel at home... probably.
And it also made him think of Elder Hanru’s words, that Arya was close to advancing and that Marly was stuck at a bottleneck. With that in mind, he walked toward the board slowly, reading as much as he could, hissing because the beast advancement support was expensive. There were different categories depending on species, their element, and temperament. It also clearly depended on whether the beast was wild or how it was contracted to the disciple.
"After we have a place," He spoke up, patting Marly, as the two popped their heads out through his collar, "We will come take a look. You both need a proper checkup and some supplements."
"I can wait!" Marly said suddenly, but probably because her head kept snapping towards the bird, still perched at its spot, watching the disciples coming in and leaving.
"Yeah..." Arya also added, weirdly speechless, but Siu could guess why.
Even he could feel how powerful some of the beasts, even before transforming, were in here. Maybe he will find some part-time jobs here, if nothing else. That would be a good start, and, if not here, then at the greenhouses.
Although he also knew that bringing Marly along for that one could prove expensive.