Chapter 39 #2
If we’ve seen people walking around before, it’s nothing compared to how many there are in this area. But there is one thing in common.
The same sense of urgency.
Figures move between the ruins, never in straight lines and never lingering in the open for long.
Some walk alone, their posture tight, eyes constantly scanning.
Others pass each other in brief, wordless exchanges.
There’s no greetings, no acknowledgment beyond what’s necessary.
Everyone looks like they’re waiting for something to go wrong.
That the person before him will be their next opponent.
As much as this resembles a normal city, there’s still a horrific undercurrent that each moment might be your last; that your friend might end up your enemy.
The more I observe the people around, the more I curse this place.
We’ve only been here a day or so and already, I’ve seen enough to know that the more time we spend here, the more likely we are to lose our mind…our sanity.
It’s survival in its rawest form. And inherently, that means there is no room for relationships.
In that regard, perhaps I’m lucky Moe is with me. Bound together as we are, it’s the only way to have a partnership.
If I were alone…
Don’t think of that, Nykander!
We walk deeper into the ruins. A road opens up ahead, like a large corridor. On each side, there are more openings within the rock, but this time they’re forward facing, allowing outsiders to glimpse inside.
The closest thing I can liken them to are the stalls from a marketplace.
But there is one major difference. All the sellers are wraiths.
People gather here, though “gather” might be too generous a word. They pass through. They stop briefly, exchange things, then move on again. No one stays longer than they have to.
There are no pleasantries, just pure business. The wraiths process the tokens and exchange them for items—food, clothing, weaponry among others.
“Why does this feel so predatory?” Moe murmurs as she takes in the multiple exchanges taking place in this market. “They could have hired people to operate the stalls. Instead, they use these soulless things.”
“All the tokens get recycled back into the system.”
At the nearest stall, a wraith sets down a small bundle wrapped in rough fabric. Across from him, a woman reaches into a pouch at her side and pulls out a handful of small, dull discs.
She counts the tokens carefully. When she’s done, the wraith acknowledges the tokens and slides the bundle toward her. She doesn’t thank him; doesn’t look at him again. She just takes her items and leaves.
“What should we get to eat?” Moe asks.
“There’s food that way.” I point to another stall across the road.
The wraith behind it barely acknowledges us, his attention split between arranging the items in front of him and watching everything else happening around him.
I glance down at the offerings.
Bundles of dried meat, tough and dark, cut into strips that look like they’d take effort to chew.
One token each. Compact blocks of something grain-like, pressed together so tightly they almost resemble stone, half a token each.
Some vegetables that have seen better days are a token per weighted bag.
A few small fruits sit off to one side—wrinkled, slightly discolored, but still intact. Some are dusted with a faint, crystalline powder that catches the red light in odd ways. Those are the most expensive. A token for a handful.
Nothing looks particularly appetizing, though everything is expensive.
“Choose whatever you like,” I tell her.
Moe crouches slightly, carefully picking a bundle of dried meat, some grain and vegetables. She glances briefly at the fruit but shakes her head. “I think this is enough for two days.”
Two days? I doubt it. But I don’t say anything. We’ll likely be back tomorrow for more.
The wraith appears in front of us, grabbing the items and inspecting each of them.
“One token for the meat; half a token for the grains, half a token for the vegetables,” he says in a deadpan voice.
I nod, pulling the disks from my pocket and handing them over.
Once we have our bags of food, we continue walking around.
The further we go, the more varied the stalls become.
One section is lined with weapons—blades of different shapes and sizes, some rusted, some freshly sharpened. Spears lean against broken columns. A pair of axes sit embedded in a slab of stone, as if someone had been testing their weight and simply… left them there.
Yet all of them sell for exorbitant prices. The cheapest blade starts at ten tokens—ten points. A sturdy axe costs some fifteen tokens.
Aimaxion’s cycle of desperation continues. The people most likely to purchase weapons are those at lower levels. The higher one’s level, the less likely they are to rely on weapons. Their bodies become a weapon.
Another stall offers armor, though none of them are complete.
It’s bits and pieces of chest plates, gauntlets, shoulder guards. All have been worn and repaired multiple times. Some still carry dents and cracks from whoever used them before. And all of the pieces start at ten tokens.
Everything here has a history. Everything is reused.
Because anyone can be terminated at any time.
Toward the far edge of the main road, the atmosphere shifts again.
The structures here are more intact, the stone less fractured.
One in particular catches my eyes. It’s a three storied building made entirely out of stone.
There are six columns outside, each one carved to perfection with scenes of battle.
Compared to the bustling area of the market, the people that enter and exit this building are sparser. They are also less…hurried.
“Nyk,” Moe gasps. “Is that…”
She rips her hand out of mine and runs toward the building, stopping a few steps away from the entrance.
Nestled between the columns is a stone banner with one word carved.
Library.
“Nyk! There’s a library!” Moe’s voice brims with excitement. She glances back at me, beckoning me to her side. “This might just save us from dying of boredom,” she adds with a giggle.
I shake my head, a smile pulling at my lips. Her enthusiasm is contagious, though I can’t say I’m not looking forward to the contents of the library, too.
We enter inside. A big hallway stretches in front of us. There is a wraith present at a desk, currently in conversation with another person.
But behind that desk, a true heaven takes form. Shelves line the walls, carved directly into the rock. There are thousands if not hundreds of thousands of books in here. More than I’ve seen in my entire life.
“Wow,” Moe whispers. “This is…”
“Insane.”
“I wonder what types of books they have,” she mentions.
“You’re looking for fiction, no?” I chuckle since I know her tastes very well.
“That’s a given, so hopefully they have it. But I was thinking more along the lines of cultivation books for you. Now that your meridians are clear it’s time to dive into that.”
I blink, surprised at her words.
“Don’t look so shocked.” She laughs. “I remember what you told me about your library—that you had limited books on cultivation. Perhaps this will help you.”
A strange emotion blossoms in my chest. By the Seven!
I stare at her, my eyes a tiny bit moist—although I’m sure it’s just the dust. It’s a very arid environment.
She remembers what I told her so long ago.
I clear my throat and glance away from her for fear I might embarrass myself—either with an errant tear or with a sudden proclamation of love. Neither are appropriate…at the moment.
When the wraith librarian is free, we head over to his desk.
“Hello. Could you please let us know what sort of books you carry here?”
“Of course,” the wraith librarian answers smoothly, coldly. With a turn of his wrist, a tablet appears in front of us.
“You will find a list of all the titles, arranged by subject as well as the cost of borrowing each volume.”
Of course it costs something, I think drily. Nothing is free here.
“You are new here, are you not?”
We nod.
“I will explain our policies. There are two ways to use the library. The first is to rent out a book. Most of our titles are rentable but there are some that cannot be taken off the premises of the library. Those are marked with a red x in the catalogue. The rent period is ten days, after which you may borrow the title again after paying another fee. The second way is to read the title within the library. This option is possible for all of our titles, even the x-marked ones. Each book will have different fees, but usually reading within the library is cheaper. After you’ve decided on a title, I will check for availability after which you will pay and be given the book.
There are penalties for late returns in the form of point deduction.
One point per one late day. If you have no points, you will be terminated.
Terminated.
The word echoes in my mind.
By the Seven! Any misstep and you’ll be terminated. This is absolutely insane.
Moe shares my frustration as she mumbles something under her breath.
“Thank you for the guidance,” I say and we move to the side to inspect the catalogue of titles.
There are so many titles in there, my eyes are already straining to read them all.
“They even have The Adventures of Hippo, Nyk,” Moe whispers in awe. “And so many other fiction books.”
I nod, surprised. “At least however long we’re here for we’ll be able to catch up with the latest volume in The Adventure of Hippo.”
She stiffens. “Yeah… Maybe,” she grumbles. “Let’s look for cultivation books.” She quickly switches the topic and swipes over to the cultivation section.
My eyes widen as I see all the subcategories.
What…
There is a General section, after which there is a section for each power domain—names I’ve never even heard before. I click randomly on one of them and hundreds of titles appear, from basic training in that domain to more advanced abilities.
Everything is here. Everything I was never allowed to know.
My lips smack together, my appetite for knowledge growing with every second.
Yet I don’t even know what domain I am. I haven’t even reached the first level to awaken a domain.
Instantly, I feel dejected.
So I click out of that section and go onto the General one, then choose a book on energy absorption.
“This,” I say to the wraith librarian. “How much is this?”
The words from the tablet mirror in his eyes. In just a few seconds he has the information.
“The book is available for a ten day loan for one token.”
“That’s cheap,” Moe whispers in a low voice. “And we have some left.”
“That’s for food,” I say with a shake of my head.
“Don’t worry about food. I told you I can make what we bought today last us two days.”
I glance at her skeptically. Before I can say anything, though, she takes out a token from her pocket.
She places it on the table in front of the wraith librarian.
“We’ll take it.”
“Where is that from?” I ask in a shushed voice.
She shrugs. “I might have taken it from the pile of rubbish left by that male at the arena.”
I blink. Somehow, I never even thought of that.
“That’s…brilliant.”
“It was only two tokens,” she whispers. “I think that was his first match, too and the tokens were his food allowance.”
“Nevertheless, this is great. We should be on the lookout for tokens in the future fights. I doubt we can take the points of an opponent since they’re not…physical items. But tokens is another matter,” I muse aloud. “By the Seven, Moe!” I shake my head in awe, smiling continuously.
The wraith prepares the contract and upon signing it and paying, we get the book.
“Do not be late on your return,” the wraith warns just before we leave.
We head back to our accommodation, but I am still a little torn about renting the book. On one hand, this knowledge would come in handy. On the other, we’ve seen just how important even one token is. And I don’t want Moe to go hungry just to get me books.
We barely reach our room when Moe goes in search of the pots and pans left behind by the terminated individuals.
“What are you planning to do?” I ask with a raised brow.
“You’ll see. Come. And grab some water.”
Armed with the pots and pans in one hand and the food we’d bough in the other, Moe strides determinately out of the room and into the wilderness behind our accommodation.
Although people are still roaming about, with battles still being fought even now, there isn’t a lot of people around this part of the realm.
She continues walking, and at this point I’ve already given up trying to understand what she wants to do.
I just trust that it will be a marvelous idea as usual.
It strikes me that she might have been the brain behind her family’s restaurant, too; because at every turn, she’s had some idea to turn any tide around.
She finds an area that is a bit more secluded. The shadows provide some shade, and there’s some odd plants growing on the ground here and there—a first for this realm that’s usually as dry as a desert.
“Gather some roots. Wooden ones if you find.”
I immediately do as she says. While I hunt for various twigs and wooden roots, she chops some of the items we bought: half of the meat, and half of the vegetables.
Once I’ve gathered plenty of wood, I light up a fire and she places over it, filling it with water, meat and half of the grains.
After that boils, she adds the vegetables, as well as some specks of dust that I learn are rock minerals—or in this case, seasonings.
The end result is a hearty, delicious stew made of only half of the ingredients we bought.
We sit together around the fire as we slowly eat and plan for the next day.
“Brains and brawn,” I murmur as I look at her. “You’re the brains, I’m the brawn.” I wink at her.
“Perfect team. We’ll make it out of here, Nyk. I know we will.”
I smile at her but don’t say anything.
I hope we do, too, but I’ve never been the lucky type in life.