"Sir, is there something I can help you with?" An attendant from the informant area came up to Lothur, smiling as she ignored the other people in the area waiting for service.
A Nascent Soul Transcendent was quite privileged in this society!
Lothur did not look at that woman as he observed the surroundings and said. "I want information about the Continent. Regarding states stronger than Lenz, high-level powers one should be wary of when traveling north."
Every Cultivation House had a section like this for people to sell their information.
Not always would the person interested in buying information deal directly with the informant behind it, as one might think. Sometimes these people sold their information to the Cultivation House, and someone who wanted access to it could hire the services of this institution.
Unfortunately, the Cultivation House had no integrated network across the territory. They shared the same information only internal to a province or a kingdom where it was, depending on the distances.
As said before, there were no long-distance means of communication remotely efficient in this world, so anything integrated only worked in the short range.
Because of this, upon arriving in this sector, one would have to go through the primary service that this woman was doing with Lothur to be directed to the official or part of the area with that kind of information sought.
"I see..." She muttered as she listened to Lothur.
After looking at a clipboard in her hands, she immediately directed this customer. "Sir, please accompany me to room 17."
Lothur followed this woman to the indicated room and was soon left there waiting for someone to attend to him.
After a few minutes inside that room that had virtually no decoration, with only an iron table and a 'U' shaped seat, someone opened the door.
"I hear you are in search of high-level information. Is that true?" A middle-aged man walked in without looking at Lothur, but as soon as he sat across from this young man, he stopped for a moment to observe this talented young man.
One could improve their appearance as they got stronger in this world. But it was hard to hide the marks of age, so seeing this youthful appearance of Lothur and feeling the level 17 cultivation, that Cultivation House official soon realized that this was probably a prodigy.
'Nascent Soul Transcendent and so young... Where does this boy come from?' He wondered, as there was no information in the Cultivation House about someone so young and powerful in Lenz. 'He must not be from the kingdom... Is that why he is seeking this kind of information? Is he someone traveling the Continent?'
As this man had many things on his mind, Lothur said. "I suppose so. I want to know about the most relevant powers on the Continent, particularly those north of the Continent. I'm on a trip to Rablus, so I want to know who to avoid so I don't get into trouble that's hard to deal with."
"Rablus? That's a long and dangerous journey." That man exclaimed, surprised to meet someone traveling to such a place.
In Concordia, most states had the same rank as Lenz and Leopoldine. Obviously, there was a power ranking that put some ahead of others. Still, the difference between most of these domains was not flashing.
However, in the north of the Continent were the most powerful states that were significantly out of line with most one could find.
In the far north was the Ancestral Region, where fantastic beings ruled their area in seclusion, but it was also close to where some said the headquarters of the demons were.
Whether or not some of the rumors were true, the northernmost part was much stronger than the southernmost part of the Continent!I think you should take a look at
The man serving Lothur then opened a book he had brought with him, leafing through it until he reached the part where it had the information this customer wanted.
"Well, where do we start?"
"Talk a little about the worst I can find in Utral and Cesha. I'll go through those states before I reach Rablus." Lothur suggested.
"Very well, Utral and Cesha are more or less like Lenz, sir. They are states in which Saints dominate the high-level powers that run those territories.
In general, Origin Saints are the most prominent forces in those groups, but some Celestials exist in those states.
In particular, there are reports of a sighting of a Supreme Saint in Cesha 300 years ago. We cannot verify this and give certainty, as it may have been someone from another state passing through the area.
All we know is that organizations with Celestial Saints run this state. But we can't rule out the possibility that there are specialists of that level there."
Lothur had never seen a Supreme Saint before, but given the difference between Celestial and Origin Saints, he felt that a Supreme would be difficult for him to endure, even with all his characteristics.
Hearing that information, he immediately decided to be more cautious when he passed through Cesha.
"Moving on, Utral and Cesha can be considered more powerful than the kingdom of Lenz. Besides this report of a Supreme Saint in Cesha, there are more Saints in these two states than here.
This is especially true for Cesha, which borders Rablus. It can be considered a stronger and more difficult place to travel to. But at your level, this should not be a complication.
Your journey would become more complicated when entering Rablus. Unlike Cesha, this is where there are frequent sightings of Supreme Saints, but not only that, between Rablus and Norid is said to be the headquarters of demons.
There are several cases of demons told by demon hunters from this state, so the problems of your journey should be concentrated when entering your destination state."
Lothur heard that and remembered Fabienne, who had told him that the demon headquarters was on Demon Island, not in this area further north of Concordia.
'There is probably a demon outpost in that area to distract attention on the mainland...' He pondered silently, considering looking for some of these creatures after finding the soul fragment family.
The informant then continued. "But there must be some problems in Rablus. We recently heard that many specialists from the Church had left their headquarters in Norid and are in Rablus, hunting a hybrid.
So you can expect a much more chaotic journey entering that state."
With this information, Lothur was sure that either the group of Fabienne's subordinates or this woman was maintaining 'his' escape route through this state to keep the powerful Church away from Leopoldine.
...