"Now then, if my mory serves right, you wanted to head straight to Doradocheeda, yes?," Zhen Liu asked after finally drying off. "But I must warn you, I don’t think you’ll be able to directly confront Duke Diamoro until a bit after we arrive there."
"I...why do you say that?," Lythero asked with genuine confusion.
"Because of what so of the zakos told ," Zhen Liu answered. "You know, the ghostly ones that I had scout the entire camp?"
"Yes."
"While they were floating around, they picked up a few important rumors of sorts," Zhen Liu began to explain. "The first rumor was that the patriarch of the Golden Sabertooth Household was in the cusp of breaking through to the next stage. He had apparently reached the peak of his cultivation, and is now waiting for the right conditions and dicine to do just that."
"Shit."
While Lythero knew that the world wasn’t static and there was a chance that an old, yet powerful, bastard like Duke Diamoro would be able to continue cultivating, a small part of him had hoped the old man would’ve reached so sort of cultivating related bottleneck before reaching the peak of Aether King.
Then again, he did have all seven of his masters’ swords this ti, so maybe this wasn’t the worst thing to happen to him.
...
’Ya think he’ll want to go for the throat despite the power difference?’
[While I’m not as adept at detecting feelings of revenge as well as Frosttusk, it’s obvious to at least that he probably won’t stop until he carves out a chunk of flesh with every one of his swords at least once,] Blazejudicator observed. [Although, the fact that his masters couldn’t defeat him even when ard with those Gold tiered blades leads to the question on just how strong this Duke actually is...]
[What’s a quandry? Can I eat it?]
[No.]
’Okay, I really wish I understood why you seem more ntally developed than the other proto-kaijin I made in the past...’
...
"And now for the second rumor, which is directly related to the first, is that a new wandering ruin has appeared near the port city of Amber Shore," Zhen Liu followed up while Lythero was going over the possibility of Duke Diamoro being even more terrifyingly powerful than before. However, when Lythero fully processed the statent, he broke out of his train of thought.
"Beg pardon? How does the discovery of a new wandering ruin connect to Duke Diamoro?"
"Do I really need to spell it out for you?," Zhen Liu asked with a mocking smile. "Wandering Ruins are one of the best ways for Aether warriors, regardless of their cultivation, to acquire rare and powerful resources. Everyone and their mothers flock to them even if they’re located sowhere terrible. And this one, just so happens to be connected to both a port city and a week away from Doradocheeda. Need I say more?"
"Oh...I get it."
Evidently, Lythero’s original plan for revenge boiled down to throwing himself face first into the at grinder that was Doradocheeda and perform a full frontal assault against the House of the Golden Sabertooth.
There was probably going to be a lot of violence involved, there was probably going to be a massive body count and there was going to be a very real possibility that he would die in the process.
Not only that, but there was also the chance that Lythero wouldn’t even get close to Duke Diamoro in the first place.
As the head of a noble household, Duke Diamoro had dozens of loyal subordinates that were as strong, if not stronger, than Lythero.
And that was just in terms of raw power.
If Lythero took into the account that a noble house of the Erupting Dawn Empire had access to all sorts of arrays, dicines and equipnt, then it beca more and more obvious that he was probably outnumbered and outgunned.
He did have Zhen Liu with him, and that guy was a literal one man army, so it wasn’t too bad of a situation...assuming he decided to help him out.
Granted, this was also assuming that the Golden Sabertooth Household didn’t have any dragon force wielders, aether music masters or powerful Buddhists.
There was a low chance for their appearance, but if Zhen Liu’s stories about being a bad luck magnet was true, then that was another can of worms.
"Why do you have such specific weaknesses?"
"Because I can literally tank most everything else."
"Ah."
"I had to be nerfed sohow."
Regardless, now that Lythero had an opportunity to bypass all of that bullshit and take out the Duke directly, he’d be a fool not to take it. Plus, he could use this as an opportunity to acquire so much needed aether related resources.
Correction, they could use the opportunity to acquire more aether related resources.
"If I’m allowed to sway your mind further, I have a bias to swinging by Amber Shore and that wandering ruin before Doradocheeda anyways," Zhen Liu shared aloud.
"Really?"
"Regardless of whether you go directly or take a roundabout way, I’m going to need more kaijin muscle. And that requires a lot of materials I don’t have access to right now," Zhen Liu explained.
"Oh...that makes sense," Lythero nodded.
"Besides, maybe we can find you soone worth fighting for too."
"Why does that matter?!"
But with that settle, the duo decided to start making their way to Amber Shore...for all the good and ill this decision brought them.
...
Despite being connected by a land bridge and a long coastline, not many people opted to travel by land between the two continents of Dozing Salamander and Stampeding Bison.
While it was technically possible, the road connecting the two continents was littered with all manner of headaches.
Various territories that had their own border policies, aether infused locations that had all sorts of whacky hazards and environnts and dangerous beasts that could turn a company of soldiers into a collection of tin cans.
As such, most people tended to travel by boat, keeping close to the shore in case things went sideways and they needed either ergency supplies or repairs.
This in turn led to a rich coastal port town culture that catered to these shore skipping boats.
And of these coastal port towns, none was more famous than Amber Shore.
"So this is Amber Shore, huh? The air slls...spicy."
"You an hot?"
"No,I an there’s soone selling mixed spices churros over there."
"Huh...that sounds great right now."
"Right?"
Located in the smack dab middle in the coastline connecting Dozing Salamander to Stampeding Bison, Amber Shore was the go-to midpoint for all traffic between the two.
As such, goods from both continents had a tendency to pool towards this location and lead to the creation of goods, techniques and practices that are a mash up of the two.
There was even an old legend about the first piece of steel in existence was forged in this town, but many other towns made that claim too.
Regardless of any past glories, what was known in the present was that Amber Shore had gone from a fairly popular and crowded port town to a place that was on the verge of becoming a city.
This sudden population boom was thanks to the fact that a brand new Wandering Ruin had established roots in a place that was no less than an hour’s walk away.
And a place this convenient, had a tendency to attract everything and everyone.
In the ports of Amber Shore, all manner of groups and warriors offloaded from ships of all makes and size.
"Alright students, we’re going to be leaving for the new wandering ruin at sunrise. Make sure to prepare your supplies accordingly and sleep at a reasonable hour. But for now, you’re free to do as you wish. Dismissed."
"Yes, ma’am!"
"Alright, you louts! Our guide is gonna take us to the ruins now. Y’all ready to strike it rich?!"
"Aye aye!"
"Co along, children. Mommy’s gonna capture you a brand new plaything."
"Yay!"
Academies, rcenary groups and noble families alike gathered in this town, their usual division lting away due to being so close to one another.
And it was amongst this hustle and bustle of groups, that one particularly strange group managed to blend in quite well.
...
On the deck of a ferry approaching Amber Shore, a rather eclectic group of warriors consisting of three won, and a middle aged man and two additional young n were sitting and waiting around a table.
Outsiders wouldn’t know though, but four out of six of these warriors weren’t even human.
They were actually Kaijin accompanying a pair of young masters of the Zhen Clan.
"Okay, so when you guys are disguised like this your nas are...Raquel, Springer, Mira and Nefira? Which are plays on your actual nas?," Zhen Tai asked.
"That’s correct, yes," Nefira(Nepeherage) answered.
"Did...did Xiao Liu pick out those nas too, or-"
"No, we ca up with them on our own," Raquel(Razorstella) interjected.
"Fair enough."
User Comments
0 comments from readers