The city was strange. The buildings were all made of metal, even the houses outside of the walls had a metallic sheen to them. Their shape was all standard too. A simple square base with a triangular roof. The buildings were spaced out and organized in lines that extended out from the wall. Despite the quality of the buildings, Mash had no doubt that this was the poorer section of the city. The buildings here had signs of wear, and many of the walls possessed some dents.

There was one oddity that he immediately took notice of as he looked at his surroundings. He couldn’t spot any creatures that looked like their guide among the village but saw several that looked like the rest of the soldiers. He even spotted some children among the eyes. Their eyes were oddly human, though their pupils were framed by yellow, making it almost seem like an eclipse.

The community here seemed to come alive with their arrival, and he had seen several windows swing open as they walked through the streets. As more people made themselves visible, Mash saw more obvious signs of poverty. The clothes that the people in this village wore were not in the best of state, and everything looked like it was a size too big. The people were also skinnier than the soldiers.

Mash was going to ask about it but held his tongue as they approached the wall. The wall was smaller than he had initially assumed. It was only around twenty or thirty feet tall. A wild monster might not be smart enough to figure out a way around something like that, but any army would just be able to trample over it. He wondered what kind of dangers this world faced. He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind for the moment. His entire focus was on the wall as it opened. The entire wall slid apart, giving them an opening to walk through. Mash noticed that all of the soldiers had stopped, they froze as soon as the wall started opening.

He noticed and could feel the others become a little tenser. If this was a trap, then they were walking right into it. Although, he still wasn’t worried. He still didn’t feel even the slightest amount of mana. That held true even as they passed the walls. Which were around ten feet thick. He could see where the part of the wall had slid into itself. He wondered how they had managed that without any mana. There weren’t any wheels he could see either. Looking at it drained away some of his caution and sparked some interest instead. A new form of power was always exciting, and he wondered if he could learn anything from it.

The walls had distracted him, but he turned away from them when he felt some new people enter his domain. He turned to face them and initially thought that they were elves. They were taller than he was, though were leaner than him. Not skinny, but lean and refined. They wore some type of suit which clung to their bodies tightly. He had only ever seen clothes like that once before. Back at the New Year’s party, which had comprised mostly of royals. He was more surprised by how they actually looked. He turned to face them, his eyes finally catching up with his domain.

It took a second for him to understand what he was looking at. Everything about them was white, and pristine almost as if they were made of ivory. Their suits were the same color as their skin but were otherwise similar to the ones from his own world. A toothy smile was placed on all their faces. Their teeth and eyes were black, the contrast making them pop. And it turned their otherwise good intentioned smile into something distorted. It wasn’t necessarily scary, but just odd. Like something he just couldn’t understand. Pure black teeth were not natural, so disturbingly wrong that he couldn’t return their smiles. Instead, Mash tried focusing on their eyes and ears. Their ears were long and curved backward, ending in sharp points. They were a lot longer than the ears elves had back home. Their eyes were a little odd too, though he was somewhat used to people with strange eyes. It was a pretty common thing in his life and a very common byproduct of skills.

Their eyes were all black, with no indication of an iris or pupil within them. It just seemed like an empty space and made their gaze seem distant despite one of them meeting his gaze. They had noticed his scrutiny, but they were doing the same thing in reverse. He kept walking toward them, and they did the same. His gaze went beyond them, and he stared at the city behind them. Metal structures were layered in a visibly bending pattern. They were taller than he expected, but their overall design was the same as he had seen outside.

The city here was much more reserved, and he didn’t notice any leaving their building to catch a glimpse of them. Although, he was more surprised by the silence. He hadn’t even considered the thrum of whispers that had followed him as he strolled through the tone. The noise was almost familiar to his ears. The silence he encountered now disoriented him a little. He expected to be met by a crowd or army, not three well-dressed men. Well, he thought they were men, but it was hard to tell.

They all had the same slender builds and had long hair too. Plus, they didn’t have discernable curves or bulges. He was glad that he didn’t need to shift his gaze to check for such things. While he could trace their body shape with his domain, he didn’t like doing it. It felt like that would be creepy. Its not like it mattered either way. He realized his mind was traveling in a direction he really didn’t want it to and focused his attention elsewhere.

[Priscilla, you focus on them.]

He felt a pang of irritation coming from her. She had a link to his own thoughts and emotions and had picked up on his embarrassment.

[Such useless concern. Their gender might be important to their strength. You would only be sensing an outline.]

She was right, but he still wouldn’t do it. It was true that his domain wasn’t really a sight, but he still didn’t like the idea. Not that he hadn’t been tempted before. Ultimately, he conceded to her point, but he still left the job to her. She said that she hadn’t detected anything dangerous, but he already knew that. Even if he wasn’t trying to focus on it, his thoughts betrayed him. His focus was naturally drawn to them, and that flowed to the next thing. He realized that they had nothing to identify them one way or the other. Their whole body was smooth and stone-like just like their strange guide. That quickly rose to the top of his list of disturbing things about the people before him.

Mash almost said something out loud, his shock prompting a reaction. Jill beat him to the punch and silenced anything he might have said. That was definitely for the best.

“Hello, We are travelers, seeking a peaceful negotiation. I am Jill, and these are, Red, Luke, and Mash.”

Her voice was perfectly diplomatic, but he could feel her discomfort through his domain. He was still getting used to the changes in his domain, and he hadn’t figured out how to stop reading someone’s aura, life? He didn’t really know exactly how it worked and decided to add it to the list of things to research later.

[You are never going to get around to that.]

Priscilla’s comment was unneeded, but he couldn’t disagree with her outright. His life was busy, and many slow tasks often got pushed back indefinitely. This would likely end up as something he would need to ask someone else about. Maybe his brother would be able to dig something up. The knights would likely have some secret library or something for him to use. Mash’s attention was practically forced back towards the strange people, as they spoke. Their voice was loud and high-pitched. Honestly, it was so high that it kind of hurt to hear.

“Welcome travelers, Jill, Red, Luke, Andmash. We are the Seravi, of the Autonomous Obsidian Sect. I am Elder SerJi, the two beside me are, Elder PonJi, and Elder AvJi.”

Mash repeated each word to himself, just to make sure he heard correctly. Several things stood out to him, though the first of which needed to be addressed.

“My name is Mash. Just Mash.”

Those words seemed to startle everyone. His friends were just as surprised as the elders, but the elders were quick to respond regardless.

“Apologies.”

It was Elder SerJi who spoke, but Mash shook his head in haste. He hadn’t spoken for an apology.

“No, It’s not your fault. I just wanted to make the correction now. But what do you mean by Sect, I’m not sure if the translation is coming right?”

Mash didn’t hesitate to further the discussion. He was sure that Jill and Red had their own plans for what to say, but he needed to know the truth. His domain had been able to give him an idea about the ki levels of Daniel and his people. However, he got nothing from the three standing before him. They were alive. Unlike with their strange guide, there was no confusion with them. Hearing them refer to themselves as a sect did bother him. It raised his suspicion and confusion, and he wanted some clarity.

“Of course. A Sect is essentially a community of like-minded people. Those who wish to pursue the apex of something without needing to worry about much else. A place to raise the next generation, while providing a nearly endless amount of resources to further our own research. Advancement is the greatest cause.”

The fervor with which the Elder spoke surprised Mash. Not because of his zeal, but because it didn’t fit with their appearance. Their perfectly white skin seemed unable to bend properly and match the enthusiasm behind the words. Considering everything that had been said, he wondered just how old these people were. The way the Elder spoke made them sound old, though they all looked young. They even seemed younger than Mash himself, though not by much.

Their version of a sect wasn’t really the same thing as Daniels either. It didn’t sound like it was focused on meditation. Also, it didn’t sound like it had the same rigidity either. But then Mash remembered the outer city and the state of the people there. It twisted their noble-sounding words into something else, and he felt some heat building in his chest. He didn’t like the situation here, the clean and expensive state of the inner city bothered him. The urge to comment about it came to mind. He wanted to see how the Elder would respond to such a confrontation but held his tongue.

“Don’t do anything stupid.”

Mash froze, hearing Red from beside him. Had she read his thoughts? Was he that predictable? He had barely noticed her get closer to him and was shocked to hear the whisper. Even if they weren’t particularly close to the three Elders, they would have easily heard the words.

“What did you say? We couldn’t understand you.”

The Elder’s words were expected, and Mash turned to see Red’s face. He had just put her in an awkward situation but couldn’t think of any way to help her. She looked calm though and replied with an oddly exact amount of awkwardness. The way she twisted the bracelet on her wrist added to her charade.

“Sorry, I’m still learning how to use this. I merely asked if you had somewhere we could sit down. The journey was rather long.”

Her lie was perfect, the act perfect. It reminded him of just how skilled she was at that. It was no wonder that he had never suspected anything when he had gone for his trial. The Elders’ eyes went wide, and they all bowed partially. The gestures at least were recognizable.

“Apologies. We should have considered that. It is hard to understand the limits of others. Follow us we shall lead you to a more comfortable location.

With those words, the situation had changed. Mash didn’t have the opportunity to challenge them brazenly, nor did they carry the eager curiosity that they had held a moment ago. Red’s words had been successful in moving the discussion along, completely dispelling the building tension from a moment ago.