(Altura-MC)

I was tired. I had enjoyed experimenting for a while. But then I tired of it. Nothing I did worked. Every spell was the same, increasing and decreasing Qi thread lengths only increased or decreased the Qi consumption at the cost of power, and I had no recourse as to what would work.

So instead I just walked. Which was, as expected, boring. I wish I had thought of taking a book with me. Surely this world had some form of literature, they could speak and write, so it made sense that they would have stories too.

Sadly, I had not foreseen that I would be bored when facing a great threat that would likely kill everyone in the valley. And now, I needed to do something to relieve this boredom. Perhaps I should practice martial arts? But where would I learn said martial arts from? I’d had compulsory self defense classes back on Earth, but had never really paid any attention.

All I knew was that you closed your fists during a punch or risked losing your fingers. But people twirled around a lot in movies right? And well, this road wasn’t going anywhere…twirl away?

I started twirling as I walked, acting as if I had a sword in my hand, actually, why didn’t I just summon a sword of ice? Ah, here it was. One sword of ice. Oof that is one heavy sword, I might have forgotten that the original Altura was only ten years old. Shorten, shorten, yes. Become like those super thin japanese swords whose name I forgot you. Ah, here it is.

Now to do stuff. I started to make sweeping gestures as I walked. I did not trust myself to twirl with this thing in my hand. Turning the wrist around, sweep sweep. Block. I had no idea if I was doing any of those right, but well, a sweep was basically just a chop with a sword in hand right? And just hold the sword horizontally for a block?

Hmm, maybe two swords? I didn’t have anything else to do anyway… I summoned a sword in my left hand and started doing the same with that hand. It was not as easy as I thought, I kept forgetting the other hand, when one hand moved the other stopped. But if I tried really hard, I could perhaps get them both moving together.

And I did, little by little the amount of time that it took me to forget the other sword lengthened. Sadly, my body still had limitations, eventually my wrists started aching, and I had to stop. Willed the swords to disappear and just started walking.

This really wasn’t easy, was it? In the books the MCs always just knew what to do, or had some awesome trainer tell them. Well I suppose I had awesome trainers, they just didn’t know the answer. I had no training either. I had no illusions about surviving any close quarters fight easily, I was useless without my magic.

So I suppose the thing for me to do now was to just learn. Perhaps I should ask Duke Reinar to send some trainer? Aswelth would be best, but he would soon leave. Sigh, I- and suddenly the scene before me changed. The darkness disappeared and was replaced by a colorful tree, and some greenery surrounding it.

From within the tree, a man emerged and said, “Welcome, you are the 67th genius to find your way to this realm. As a reward you gain access to three pieces of information and one set of equipment.”

Oh, how did I not see this coming? Of course, it was a Secret realm. This was Xianxia, every good thing was hidden in some secret realm.

(Narrator)

In the city of Cilathria a Count awoke. Being the highest levelled person in the city he was the first to awaken. At first, he did not understand what had happened, but a simple sensing revealed what was going on. Everyone in his palace was asleep, and to make things worse, there were quite a few people missing.

Slowly, as if a dark cloud was arriving, the Count's face clouded and anger overtook his thoughts. The filthy commoners had escaped. After everything he had done for them. Not only that, one of his most trusted servants, a cook by the name of Messilda was missing. Likely the reason for this entire debacle.

Sadly for her, he had kept a directory of every servant he employed and their relatives. It would not take long to find out where she and whoever she took with her had gone. With a thought he summoned the System Note.

Melissilda Marilock.

Husband: Marcus Marilock (Miner in East Bird Mine)

Status: Pregnant.

Job:Cook, rank 3. Main Kitchen.

Threat level: Negligible, subject has shown no indication of disloyalty.

Likely destination in case of escape: Capital. A sister three years her younger lives there serving as a concubine under House Meritus. Numeration suspected.

The Count was surprised at the location being the capital. This would make things a bit harder if House Meritus offered protection. Though it was a Baron house, it was well known that their head was a bastard of Duke Mestris.

But the first order of business was to wake up the rest of the family. Taking a deep breath he let summoned his mana, letting it seep into the air, following his family’s art. And then he let out a bellow.

‘WAKE UP IMBECILES’

The entire palace seemed to shake under the force of the Plantling’s spell. But in the end, a mere Plantling was far too weak to destroy a three-storey building with a single spell. The building stood still, only its inhabitants awakening.

“Now, if the lot of you are done sleeping your lives away, perhaps you can get to work. Find me one Melissilda Marilock and her husband Marcus Marilock. And find out who else she took with her.” The Count ordered his still awakening family, and then as if it were an afterthought, “And check if any miner helped these people escape. If they did, then tell them that the food allotment of every miner is reduced by 30% this month. Now shoo, get to work.”

(Altura-MC)

I shivered as I waited for the old man to return. The ‘secret realm’ had, at least till now, not been as I had expected it to. Instead of beasts to kill and some wilderness scenario, I was led inside the tree where the man sat me down on a cozy little dinner table.

The only problem? It was far too cold. And the old man had disappeared soon after I sat down, not even bothering to give me an explanation. From the setting and the way this seemed to operate, I gathered that this was some sort of trick.

I had three questions, didn't I? And say I asked for a fire or a coat…wouldn’t that count? Hehehe, guess all those hours reading weren’t useless after all. Plus, I had fire! I summoned a thread of mana, letting it turns to fire, or rather trying to turn it into fire. For some reason the thread refused to turn into fire.

“Don’t bother trying to cast Altura. This place is my domain, your powers will not work here. But you needn’t worry. If I had wanted to harm you I would have done so long ago. So tell me, what is your first question?” The old man said, appearing before me rather suddenly.

I suppressed any reaction at the man’s appearance. Best to control everything I say in this place. It seemed like fantasy had bled into Xianxia here. Fae rules applied then.

Don’t accept any gifts or food

Don’t say thank you, please or sorry.

Don’t speak anything vague, the fae are masters at twisting the truth.

I somehow doubted this old man was fae, but he sure seemed to have the powers of something similar. The first question at least was obvious.

“Tell me what you know about the ward that shields the valley.” I asked, causing the old man to laugh.

“Oh that is an easy one!” he said, “I know nothing! I do not pay any attention to what some primitive culture is up to in their free time.”

Uh oh. Did I just waste a question? But wasn’t this place supposed to hold the key to the ward?

“But since you asked, I shall find out what I can.” the man said as the temperature suddenly dropped even more.

A huge pressure enveloped the room as the entire tree shook. I found myself locked in place, unable to move or resist the aura in any way. And this aura wasn't even directed at me. It was directed somewhere outside. And yet mere proximity had rendered me helpless. Just how powerful was this man?

It felt like hours, even though it probably was just minutes, the aura vanished and the man relaxed.

"Ah, a very interesting situation. I must admit, I did not expect that an artifact of the old ways still remained." The man commented, leaving me confused.

What old ways? Were they what the settlers practiced?