As I stepped through the town gate and walked a short distance, I rounded a bend in the road onto the main street. From where I stood, I could see nearly from one end of the town to the other, which was about one or two miles. It was actually smaller than I had expected and felt more like a village to me, though that might just be my modern perspective on population density at play. I also wasn’t seeing anything beyond the main street at the moment, which could contribute to my impression.  

As I walked further down the road, I observed the buildings lining either side and noticed that most of them seemed connected to the Silver Moon Sect. There were also some buildings bearing only the emblem, with multiple carts parked around them. Given the town's location and its proximity to the sect, I assumed it had turned into a sort of supply station and checkpoint for all sect members entering or leaving. It honestly makes a lot of sense now that I think about it since many towns on Earth were formed that way. Outside of this, there wasn’t much else worth mentioning.

Since that was the case, I continued walking through town toward the gate at the other end. I didn’t really care about the town itself, as I wasn’t planning to stay here for the night; besides, the only reason I had entered the town was to keep traveling on the main road anyway.

With this in mind, I stopped looking around and focused on the far end of town. Thankfully, nothing impeded my exit, leaving the journey relatively peaceful—if it weren’t for Lou Xia constantly gripping my shirt to keep me from sprinting through. However, on the other side of the exit gate was the point where the road split into three, and I needed to remember which one I should take.

This was not as easy as I would have liked since the signposts did not mention the cities I remembered. There were various town names; one seemed familiar, though it wasn’t something I had particularly focused on while planning. I honestly thought I would be able to navigate based on city names without considering the current state of the world. After all, if this was anything like Earth, then this period wouldn’t have much travel between locations—unless, of course, you were a merchant or, in this world, a prospective cultivator.

Regardless, I found myself standing there for a few minutes, trying to remember which way I was supposed to go, until May walked up behind me and asked, “Do you know which way we’re supposed to go?”  

Hearing that, I hung my head a bit, feeling ashamed for not fully paying attention to the map. I replied, “I know we’re supposed to go to Erkear City. I just expected the signage to be a little better.”

This elicited a strange look from her, but before I could speak to defend myself, I heard Lou Xia sigh on the other side of me before she asked, “Do you at least have an idea of where to go?” 

In response to Lou Xia’s question, I instantly raised my head and pointed with one hand to the road on the right. The reason for that was the somewhat familiar name. This, of course, drew another sigh out of the both of them as Lou Xia asked why we weren’t walking that way already. She had also let go of my shirt at this point, so I took her question as my cue and started sprinting down the road I pointed out. 

For some reason, I was unable to fathom, that action got shouts of complaint from the two of them.

—

As it was starting to get later into the day, I started to think about what I would be eating for dinner. Thankfully, Mom had already planned for that and handed me the picnic basket full of food, but it did not stop my nose from picking up the smell of all the wild ingredients not far off the road. 

There was also the occasional bird and rabbit that I caught as well.

This only ended later in the day once the sun started to set, and we came upon the ruins of a stone building that we chose as our camp for the night. I was not able to figure out what the building was supposed to be from the rubble. However, I could tell from the still-standing pieces that it was some sort of one-room built with a small alcove jutting out of the center of the back wall. It was still good enough to serve as an outline for our camp, though.

Walking next to the ruins, I pulled out my backpack and the picnic basket from my inventory and set them next to one of the corner sections. I then grabbed my axe from the side of the backpack and ran into the woods to find some useable lumber. That did not last for more than a few seconds, though, as I ran back to grab my pick axe, only to immediately decide I did not need it and run back into the forest. It was not until about fifteen minutes and a few booms from the forest later that I came skipping back to the campsite carrying my axe, some firewood, and a mountain lion.

Setting them down on the ground, the mountain lion ran off, and I started using my survival system to make some wooden building pieces to create our campsite with. I definitely did not forget to make our sleeping bags first, causing them to be at the end of the crafting queue and making our wait uncomfortable at all. That would be a very silly mistake. It was only that I got too distracted by the food that Lou Xia was now pulling out of the picnic basket and forgot about them.

To be honest, the food that Mom made for us looked awesome and- Wait! Was that steak and mashed potatoes!? It also smells like well-seasoned brisket. Specifically, the flat of the brisket and the potatoes definitely have something other than just butter mixed in.

Quickly dashing over I grabbed the plate from Lou Xia’s hand before she could set it down and then sat on the blanket she laid out directly across from her. Not waiting a second longer than that, I pulled out a set of silverware from my inventory and cut off a piece of the steak.

Placing the piece of meat in my mouth, The flavor instantly burst across my tongue. I could taste all of the different species mixed with a little bit of fat and the juice of the meat, not to mention the heat that was perfectly preserved by my inventory. It was like a piece of heaven that I just bit into.

My body instantly reacted to the meat as well, causing my ears to lose all tension and fall to the sides of my head while my tails collapsed onto the ground without any support. This all happened while my eyes closed in bliss, leaving me stationary, just sitting there with the fork in my mouth.

Vulthurtoor

Sorry about the long delay with this one, I don't really have anything thing to say except for sorry.

I am currently trying to do better, and for that I have already started writing the next chapter while also gunning for having multiple chapters in backlog. Besides that, I am trying something different to show major breaks in time. Tell me how you like it and if I should keep doing it.

Now, with that said, I hope that you all have a good Night/Day/Time/Reality/Existence/Non-Existence/Flux/[Insert Word Here]