Chapter 3: Meet the Locals (2)

Chapter 3: Meet the Locals (2)

Astounding! Wenchai marvelled, as Sylar willed the Phantom Steeds to dissipate, Shadow Essence returning back to the Hollow Reality. He passed his hands through the fading mounts, black motes of Essence slipping through his fingers. Such a grand Spiritual Art!

They had passed through to the Lu Manor without issue, Suo Wenchai apparently being a frequent visitor both to Penshan City and to the estate of the local governor. From the brief description hed heard of the city from Wenchai, Penshan seemed to be one of the smaller cities within the state of Wu, but took charge over most issues of governance in the local province of Jinxiang.

After being ushered into the stables of the Lu Estate, their attendants had hurriedly gone on to inform Master Lu of their arrival, and Sylar took the opportunity away from peering eyes to prematurely put an end to his spell. If the local mages didnt have access to magics like these, it wouldnt do good to attract unwarranted attention from more people until he had a clearer picture of how he wanted to proceed. Even in Resham, some commonfolk tended to get a little jumpy around lifelike horses fading away into nothingness, and hed had to deal with the annoyance of being accused as a Necromancer before, even though spells of Illusion had nothing to do with that branch of magic.

Compared to Nimbria, Penshan City was different, for lack of a better word. Even though the Kingdom of Nimbria was one of the smaller powers in Resham, it was not uncommon to see adventurers boasting all manner of weaponry looking for quests to take up, or street magicians casting a cantrip or two to entertain onlookers and ply their trade. From what he had seen of Penshan during his brief ride atop Wenchais ruined carriage, however, the people of Penshan were dreadfully mundane.

Market stalls sold fruit, meat, and vegetables, rather than adventuring supplies, or magical reagents that complemented the Essences used to cast spells. The guards at the citys gates who had stopped the carriage and asked for their purpose of visit had dull iron swords strapped by their waists, rather than iron tempered by Zeroth Level spells of Enchantment. Even the Lu Estate, whose head seemed to fulfil the role of local bureaucrat in the Jinxiang province, was woefully unguarded simple gates of reinforced steel were all that barred unlawful entry to its grounds.

What troubles you, Sylar?

He glanced over at Wenchai, who was removing the bags of goods that had been deemed salvageable following the damage to his cart. Thankfully, during the long ride to Penshan City, Wenchai had decided to drop the honorifics he had used in addressing Sylar. Though it was flattering, repeatedly being called sir, master, and great in various combinations with Spellsight, cultivator, not-a-cultivator, and hero had started to become unnerving.

Just thinking. What do you even have with you, anyway? he asked, genuinely curious. You never told me what business you traded in.

Oh, this and that, but aha! Wenchai beamed proudly, tugging at one of the drawstrings of one bag. Funny that you should ask, Sylar! I believe I have something that might interest you! Feast your eyes on this!

He reached into the bag, pulling out a thin, cylindrical bundle that had been meticulously wrapped in velvet cloth. Placing it reverently on a nearby table, he unrolled it, revealing what was inside.

Sylar stared blankly at it.

Well? Wenchai spoke expectantly. Impressive, isnt it?

Sylar looked between the small bundle of what looked like herbs what kind, he didnt know and Wenchais excited expression, wondering just what ever gave him the impression that Sylar much cared about botany.Follow current novels at novelhall.com. Sylar stepped closer, leaning in. Perhaps there was something obvious he was supposed to see? After a good few seconds of examination, all while the merchants grin continued broadening, Sylar admitted defeat. I have no idea what Im looking at.

WHAT? he exclaimed. But you Sylar ah, but of course!

Again, he winked, and tapped at his nose. This time, Sylar at least understood what that gesture was supposed to convey.

No, really, Sylar stressed. I dont actually know.

These are daoshi herbs! he said, aghast. Daoshi, from the Vibrant Meadows!

Oh. The spell of Tongues was meant to transmit semantic meaning, but all that he understood of daoshi was that it roughly translated to Initiation of the Path. Uh theyre pretty?

Wenchai stared at Sylar for several seconds more. Only then did he seem to realise that Sylar was, in fact, telling the truth.

You actually dont recognise these at all?

Not in the slightest.

Wenchai sagged over in defeat. Well, the Righteous Heart Sect buys them. Theyre very rare; grows only in the Vibrant Meadows over in Yanghai took me a month to get a contact in Fengdu who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows how to collect them and another month to finally track down the fellow.

Normally, Sylar wasnt much one to be interested in herbalism. The mention of the local mage equivalents, however, stirred his interest.

Really, now? he said. He reached out. May I?

Go ahead! Wenchai handed it over, a knowing smile on his face. I knew that would interest you!

Sylar stared at the herbs, focusing. If mages were collecting seemingly mundane objects, it stood to reason that they were reagents of some form.

To Divine their function, however

He inhaled, concentrating. Identify was an interesting spell it could range from a mere Cantrip, all the way to theoretically a spell of limitless level. The underlying matrix had only been successfully theorised up to the Sixth Level. At each increment, the information that the Diviner would be able to glimpse grew.

Sylar didnt have as much Fate Essence drawn in as he would like after his battle with the Spirit Wolves, hed been cautious for further assailants, and had filled his Essence capacity with more combat oriented Essences but it was enough to at least get some hint.

Identify, cast at the Third Level, allowed one to perceive Essence held within an object. At this level of casting, it built upon the composite Fate-Primal and Fate-Transcendental pairs within the spell matrix, and gave the additional benefit of identifying the type of Essence held within. If anyone paid attention, there would have been a soft, yellow glow to his eyes as the spell took hold, but it was one of the most subtle of magics.

And, true to Wenchais word, the herb held a decent chunk of Life Essence. And now that he was aware of it, he could feel a faint trace of magic around it, though it wasnt yet quite fully imbued within its material form.

The quantity itself wasnt what mattered most there was a relative abundance of ambient Life Essence in this local realm, and he could gather the amount the herb beheld within a decent amount of time. What made it useful was the fact that the Essences were concentrated into a single object, which allowed for ritualistic casting. They were series of spells, cast together in quick succession to form a single, more complex spell.

What sort of rituals did these cultivators use it for?

If it contained Life Essence perhaps creation of enchanted armour, that would bolster the vitality of its owner? A warding field to fend off decay?

Do you know why the Righteous Heart Sect uses it for, Wenchai?

Why, to create elixirs, of course!

Elixirs.

They brew them?

But of course! He reached over, taking back the herb, having seen that Sylar had finished his inspection, and then reverently and delicately put it back into its original bundle. I mean Im no cultivator, so I dont actually know but the one who sold this to me said that they have a secret formula to grow their internal energy! Its supposed to help junior cultivators with their training!

The compound wasnt quite as large as King Naraskars palace in Nimbria, but it was certainly nothing to scoff at. It took a good five minutes of walking through corridors filled with the governors servants, guards, and other staff in his estate before they finally reached the east wing of the estate.

Through here, please. Jin gestured toward a doorway, after they had passed an outdoor garden built within the estates grounds. Inside the building was a man, wearing a ceremonial white and black headdress. Master Zhu! How is her condition now?

Now that Sylar was inside, he could see a girl he assumed was the governors daughter. She looked to be but a child no older than twelve, probably. Her skin held a deathly pallor, covered by a sheen of cold sweat, and the sheets beneath her were thoroughly soaked. She was mumbling incoherently, shivering and flailing on the bed. Frail and fragile, she looked almost close to death.

No surprises as to why Jin had been so concerned.

Your daughter continues to have an overabundance of yin energy, the cultivator said. He spared a curious glance at Wenchai and Sylar as they entered after Jin, pausing for a moment, before returning to address Jin. Did you manage to recover the yangcao as I have requested?

Yes. Wenchai rushed to Keqing as soon as I wrote to him. He held out the bundle of unassuming herbs. Are you able to make the cure now, Master Zhu?

The cultivator ran his hands over the herbs, then leaned in closer to inspect them. Finally, he nodded. This should be sufficient. He looked at Wenchai, as he readied a few alchemical concoctions on the desk. Was there any trouble obtaining them?

No, master cultivator. Your instructions were very precise. Wenchai dragged a seat over from the corner of the room, and sat down while Zhu began his work. Your contact was exactly where Jins letter said he would be. It cost Jin quite a sum of gold, but anything is worth it if it gets the little miss back on her feet.

Indeed. Zhu held a pestle and mortar, and began to crush the herbs into a paste, adding a few other concoctions that Sylar couldnt identify into the mix. He gave a sidelong glance at Sylar. And you are?

Sylar Spellsight. Dont mind me. Just a fellow practitioner of, uh, cultivation.

Is that so? He narrowed his eyes, but continued with his work. You know, it is rather inappropriate to observe the secrets of another Sect.

Please, Master Zhu, Jin said, stepping up on his behalf. I am indebted to Master Sylar as well. If not for him, Wenchai would never have made it back with the yangcao.

Zhu deliberated for a moment, but acquiesced. Fine, then, he said. Besides, the art is useless without the secret formulae of the Vital Sun Sect.

And it was indeed the case. It was odd, watching this mage work. Though Essence overlapped with the fine craft of Alchemy, it was applied in an altogether different way compared to the casting of mage spells. Few people ever chose to divert their time to pursuing two separate arts. As far as Sylar could tell, Zhu was just randomly adding different substances to each other.

Silently, he cast a series of quick Level 0 Identify spells. At such a low rank, all it did was allow the caster to see whether there was Essence imbued into an object at all, but no information on the quantity or quality of the Essence.

Strangely enough, there was no Essence to be found within the vast array of alchemical substances that Zhu had laid out on the table. The setup was also vastly different from the apothecaries he had been to in Resham. There, flasks, tubes, and other forms of equipment were meticulously set up, and the workspace had always only contained the bare essentials required for brewing of potions. As with ritual casting, any stray Essence contained within nearby objects could contaminate and lead to ruinous results in the final product.

Zhu, however, had no such qualms. His workspace contained bowls and jars of different powders, herbs, and liquids, and he seemed to be adding them randomly to one another.

Of the eight objects he had Identified, none of them contained Essence. Back in Nimbria, items in alchemical labs were annoyingly hard to discern from one another, and it took great experience in Divination like Sylar had in order to even begin to tease apart one objects Essence signature from another.

Just how different was this lands alchemy from Reshams?

On the bed, Jins daughter gave another quiet groan, her entire body writhing in pain. Immediately, the governor rushed over, kneeling by her bedside, dabbing at her forehead with a piece of cloth.

Do not worry. The cure is almost done now, Zhu said.

Sylar frowned. He cast another quick and dirty Identify. The mixture in his hands was still lacking any Essence or magical property.

May I have a look at your daughters condition as well, Master Lu?

Jin waved him over distractedly. Please, he said. Master Zhu said that Qiyus yin energy was overpowering her yang, but

He trailed off. Sylar pretended as though he understood, giving a curt nod. He placed his hand against her pale, cold skin, and concentrated. Calling up a sizeable amount of his remaining Fate Essence, he cast a spell that had seen copious use during his adventuring days.

Detect Affliction.

A series of rotating magical glyphs hovered above her body. He brushed against them, pulling in meaning from its constituent Fate Essences, as though reading from the Endless Book within the Scribes Sanctum where Fate Essence spilled into the material world.

And he knew the source of the affliction. He hadnt personally seen its effects before, but since his apprenticeship days under Master Rynwald, he had a healthy respect for its potency.

Horrid Nightmare. A Fourth Level spell based around Necromancy. The art was forbidden in Nimbria, and though the Lich that he and his adventuring friends had put down was an ancient Necromancer, he had never seen its effects first-hand, and so didnt recognise it.

Even so, he should have known from the moment he first saw the girl. He and his party had spent weeks of preparation before even venturing into that tomb.

But if this was truly Horrid Nightmare, then that meant

Warning bells were ringing in his head. He turned to Wenchai. How much did these herbs cost exactly?

Oh, the yangcao? The man wanted to sell it for three thousand gold pieces, but I haggled it down to twenty-five hundred. He flashed a victorious grin. Suo Wenchai is truly great, no?

And the daoshi? Sylar pressed. If his suspicions were right

About two hundred per bundle, he said, shrugging. The Righteous Heart buys them for three hundred, though, so I still make a decent profit.

An herb that did not contain Essence, going for well over ten times one that did?

He was a stranger to these lands, and he knew nothing about cultivation. But magic was something that Sylar knew plenty about. Whether the cure came from the divine spells of Clerics, called from the energies of their patrons in Planes Unknown, or by the potions brewed by Alchemists, or spells of Restoration from mages specialising in the elusive Essence, the panacea always had a magical element to it.

Petty deception, he could take. Something like this, however, he could not accept. Master Rynwald had always drilled it into him that the mages gift was to be used with great discretion.

He leapt to his feet, a spell already on his mind. Zhu, however, seemed to realise that his devious scheme was now unravelled. He swept his supplies off the table, rushing toward Sylar with speed far faster than any unhasted mage.

Still, Sylar struck first. Lightning Lash joined the cultivator to a nearby tree from outside the window. They were tugged to each other, but the solid trunk stood firmly in place, causing Zhu to be sent hurtling to the garden outside.