A short while later, the pair finished swapping all the information on their respective Essence Condensates after digesting all that was made available on each one.
Where the brunet got a mana-based Gem of Illusion and Fragment of Reflected Light, the partial silverette obtained a qi-based Fragment of Vigorous Blood.
Equinox looked at Wyntir pointedly. “Still think my belief is nonsensical?”
The part-silverette avoided his gaze, small pout on her lips. “I will hit you if you keep rubbing it in.”
He smirked, tickled by her toothless threat. “Do your worst.”
Wyntir instantly surged forward, invading his personal space and swatting his arm with a more pronounced pout, only causing his smirk to grow.
Knowing from long experience that any further teasing would cause things to escalate, Equinox decided to stop and looked up at the dusky, amber sky. “Anyway, do you wanna head back to Golden Trees Village? It looks like it’s going to be nightfall any minute now.”
Glancing up at the sky and noting down the position of the Sun, Wyntir nodded and started walking back down the dirt road and from whence they came. “Yes. Let us be off. I do not wish to know what the impertinent guardsman meant when he declared only the Gods could help us after evenfall.”
Swapping the mana-based Essence Condensates for the Training Scimitar, he casually folded his arms behind his neck and followed after her. “We can always try camping out after we have the required supplies.”
She twisted her neck slightly yet never stopped walking, eyeing him with a speculative, single pale-blue eye. “Perhaps. Enough talk for now, though. Best get back to the village. Who knows when exactly they will shut the gates, ne?”
Just as the Sun was well on its way to sinking under the darkening horizon, the pair successfully re-entered Golden Trees Village through the South gates.
With how close they were to the village’s alleged commercial district, neither was all that surprised by the chaotic hustle and bustle that immediately smacked them in the face like a solid wall of noise.
“Do you wanna explore the village for a little bit first, or do you want to head straight for the Hall of Ascension?” Equinox asked, volume deliberately raised so Wyntir would be able to clearly hear him over the swelling din pulsating out from the brightly lit up, gaudily painted establishment nearby.
The young woman turned back slightly and looked over, contemplative expression on her face. “Let us go and explore, first. I did tell you that I wanted to get a lay of the land once we got back, did I not?”
He rolled his shoulders while nodding, absently storing away his scimitar. “As you wish. Do you have a specific place in mind to check out first?”
Storing away her solitary, ruby-like fragment, she walked over, slipped her hand into his, and softly tugged at his arm as she headed off. “The East side of the village. I have already seen parts of the West half.”
He couldn’t be bothered to fight against her pull and followed along without protest. “Aah… no wonder it took you so long to get back to the Hall of Ascension just now. So? Did you find anything interesting?”
“I did, actually. Unlike the Eastern half of the village, the West…” Wyntir immediately launched into an explanation about the facilities in the West half of Golden Trees Village.
The East, inundated by the sounds of friendly bartering and celebratory cheer, was in stark contrast to the West, where sang the clash of steel against steel; a testament to the district’s inclination towards more martial pursuits.
Besides the wooden Dojo of Arts, austere yet elegant in its minimalistic construction, both the Militia’s training grounds and Guards’ barracks stretched across and forbiddingly loomed over the Northwest and Southwest, respectively.
Filling up the space between the hubs of martial might were unusually dense copses of Pyrite Trees, meandering dirt paths connecting each raucous nexus to one another.
The obvious exceptions, as Wyntir saw it, were the outdoor stalls lining the paths and sheltering under shade offered by faux gold leaves. Manned by villagers, each one boasted offerings ranging across a wide spectrum; from the immediately intriguing to the boring and unfortunately mundane.
……
Wyntir flitted from window to window, and from shophouse to apothecary to tavern, having let go of Equinox’s hand quite a while ago to window-shop to her heart’s content.
With only a sliver of sunlight remaining in the starry night sky, the silver streaks woven in her snowy tresses stood out all the more. It was almost as if stars had been plucked from the dark canvas of the sky and woven into an ethereal circlet of gentle, shimmering brilliance.
Trailing after her, the brunet watched with fond exasperation, unfortunately used to being in this exact position whenever she successfully pulled him along for one of her many, many shopping trips; as a form of therapy, or so she always claimed.
At least he had something as convenient as a spatial pouch on hand if she turned him into a bag carrier, again. Then again. She did have her own spatial pouch, so…
“Come over here, Nox! I found something interesting!” Equinox’s eyes focused in on Wyntir’s figure the moment he heard her call. Due to her position in front of a brightly lit pane of glass, it barely took a moment.
As he walked over, he subconsciously tuned out the noise of the crowd milling outside the shop’s clear glass storefront—Becca’s Emporium of Essence Condensates, burgle at your own risk!—and focused on the establishment’s ostentatious façade, instead.
He internally gave it two thumbs up, impressed by the sheer wealth on display – something very much unlike the majority of establishments he had passed by thus far.
“I’m surprised you stopped at a store for Gems, Fragments, and Shards, of all things.” He swept a look over the glimmering jewels on display, quickly taking note of the prices, “There’s no way we can afford even the cheapest jewel. They’re all in the range of golds, at the lowest.”
“That is not what I wanted you to see.” Reaching up, Wyntir took gentle hold of his chin, shifting it until his eyes was directed at a shelfful of qi-based jewels; shaped like teardrops, pyramids, and rectangular cuboids, every single one sparkling like cut and polished rubies. “That, is what I wanted you to see.”
He quickly skimmed over the tiny placards labelling each qi-based Essence Condensate, though not forgetting to gently pry off the partial silverette’s fingers beforehand.
After a confused moment, he understood.
At the periphery of the velvet-lined marble shelf rested a teardrop-shaped, ruby-like Essence Condensate, placard right below it naming it as a Fragment of Vigorous Blood. More surprising, though, was its listed price: Sixty-five. Bloody. Gold!
Equinox glanced down at Wyntir askance. “I expected the GSFs to be quite expensive, but not that expensive.”
She pointed at another segment of the displayed merchandise, slightly impish curl to her full lips. “If you think that one is expensive, you should take a look at the price of your mana-based Gem and Fragment.”
Looking where she pointed caused his brows to shoot up his forehead in shock. “What, in the… are they for real?”
Because for a Fragment of Reflected Radiance: 125 gold. And for a Gem of Illusion? Why, 800 gold, right on the bloody dot.
Temptation hotly coursed through his veins as selling the Gem of Illusion came to mind. It only lasted for a split second, though. For one, if it was worth so much, there was likely a good reason for it being so. For another, it wasn’t like he could convert the gold into real life credits right at this moment, considering the United Government still hadn’t made it clear how such transactions were going to be carried out.
“Maybe we shouldn’t be discussing our wealth so openly, hmm?” Equinox stated lowly, forcefully pulling himself away from thoughts of piles upon piles of gold. “It might draw the wrong kind of attention our way.”
Wyntir nodded and swept a last look over the spotless exhibition of glimmering, ruinously expensive jewels before lacing her fingers in his and pulling him after her as she walked off. “You do have a point. We should head over to the Hall of Ascension before we get robbed.”
Checking the Minimap for a moment, he caught up and started walking next to her, smoothly slipping his hand from hers as he did. “Look who doesn’t have faith now. Shouldn’t you have some belief in the village’s security?”
She glared up at him out of the corner of her eye, ire turning her pale blues even icier. “Keep talking, I dare you.”
“Aww. Is somebody feeling embarrass- ow! Violent, much?”
“Keep talking~. I~, dare~, You~.”
As the pair drew closer to the Hall of Ascension, the hustle and bustle died down, cloaking them in a serene silence. With the full moon suspended in a canopy of glittering stars, the austere stone edifice was wreathed in an aura of spectral solemnity; breathtaking yet haunting.
Equinox respectfully dipped his head in greeting to the pair of motionless guards framing the Hall of Ascension’s wide open entrance before walking in.
A sudden thought occurred to him. “Imagine if we’d come all the way here and found that the Hall of Ascension was closed for the day.”
“I did not consider that…” Wyntir worried at her bottom lip consideringly – a bad habit Dowager-Matriarch Asuna would have smacked her for in reality. “I would have been… rather cross, if it had.”
He quickly surveyed the cavernous chamber as she spoke. Unlike earlier, the area surrounding the Exoene Lodestone was far less packed. In fact, he could easily count the number of people milling about on one hand with fingers to spare – at least, excluding himself, Wyntir, and the guards stationed on the seemingly inaccessible, wraparound balcony overlooking the ground floor.
“Things turned out fine this time.” He offered with an indolent shrug, making a beeline for the kaleidoscopic stele. “Let’s just hope this place doesn’t have specific closing hours or something.”
With that said, he found an empty segment of crystal and pressed his hand against it. In the literal blink of an eye, the same panel he had seen just a few hours ago appeared in his field of view; albeit, with a few, notable additions.
“We could always ask a guard, you know…?” Wyntir said, trailing off then falling silent; the brunet seeing that her hand was pressed against the Exoene Lodestone like his.
Equinox | Mid G-rank
Physique: 5
Strength: 1[+] | Dexterity: 1[+] | Perception: 1[+]
―
5-point Foundation
Parietal Lobe (Primary): Gem Detected☜
Glabella (Secondary): -
Prominens (Secondary): -
Chest (Tertiary): Fragment Detected☜
Dantian: Fragment Detected☜
―
Traits: None
Bloodline: None
Confirming that everything besides the new additions was identical like before, he tried to mentally click the three new options and caused three new panels to take the place of the solitary, previous one.
The information displayed on each was short and succinct, to put it mildly.
Parietal Lobe | Suitable Essence Condensate(s)
-Gem of Illusion | Mana | G+
Chest | Suitable Essence Condensate(s)
-Fragment of Reflected Light | Mana | G
Dantian | Suitable Essence Condensate(s)
-Fragment of Reflected Light | Mana | G
A little bit too succinct, if Equinox were being honest.
With the price of both mana-based Essence Condensates fresh in mind, he firmly chose to equip the Gem of Illusion.
Instantly, the hole near his crown heated up comfortably, causing his eyes to close in surprising satisfaction. A moment later, the pleasant warmth vanished completely and took the unobtrusive emptiness with it; as if it had never existed to begin with.
In its place, instinctual information about the Gem of Illusion was left behind in his mind – indescribable yet comprehensible, but most important of all, currently inaccessible.
Realising that last bit made his eyes twitch involuntarily, slightly—well, more than slightly—pissed off. It quickly became clear that two prerequisites needed to be fulfilled before any future Essence Condensates’ capabilities could be taken full advantage of.
One, reach the peak of G-rank; something that would require a full complement of homogeneous Essence Condensates and, two, receive instruction on the ways of either Qi or Mana or Sol; as decided by the set of GSFs one ultimately chose.
