The city of Ishland is home to a couple of different races which left both Aria and Kara reeling in shock. Humans seem to make-up about half of the population of Ishland while the other half is composed of different races that looked like humans with some form of animal-like part. Be it animal ears, a tail, gills, scales, or some races that looked like kobolds, dogs on two feet with human-like expressions. But the truly shocking things are the odd creatures used as mounts and pets. Some mounts were as massive as an elephant yet looked like a tiger with a dragon head and others were like small sparrows with fish heads, landing on young men’s shoulders, they seemed to fly about with letters on their legs. Luckily the roads in the city are wide enough for three elephants to pass by each other so there was plenty of space.

Similar to a fantasy city of those xianxia books Aria read, Island was truly built in a manner those from modern Earth would find baffling. Set on a 500 foot high cliff that had a high left and right side, while the center of the cliffline tapered down to the sea, the city was built in a semicircle shape with the center of the city being a dock centered at the point meeting the sea. All of the shops, parks, and the towncenter were around the dock while houses spiraled out from the dock, dotted with hotels.

As Aria and Kara explored the city, Kara would periodically touch items they passed for her Trickster Merchant class to give a price. In doing so, she discovered that the currency for the city, and the tower as a whole, are the divine jades that Linley provided. Kara estimated that the lowest form of divine jade is called ‘shattered jade’ which is worth 125 low-jade. Shattered jade appears to be the most common currency used in the Tower’s first level whereas mid-jade, worth about 150 low-jade, is practically unheard of. Aria was quite excited, his mother and him were always short on money but 100 low-jade is a pretty wealthy sum for the first level. But the surprising thing is that Kara was the most excited, it seems her trickster merchant was the correct one for her after all and Aria was truly impressed with her sense for money. She was able to estimate the value of currencies based on the value of items in street shops. Whether or not that’s something impressive to others Aria wasn’t sure but at the very least he knows that he can’t do anything like it.

After half a day of exploring this medieval, fantasy-like city they felt both excited and disappointed. Although the shops were full of normal things like food and standard steel weaponry, the high end stores had items made with qi. Fantasy weaponry and other items. However, the town was only bright enough to see for about an hour and a half after sunset for the public to make their way home. So while the fantasy items were exciting, those from the modern world of Earth found the lack of city lighting to be almost unbearable. As such, the two found a hotel and rented two rooms.

In Aria’s room, “Sigh, Kara this city truly is beautiful but just what should we do next? Like, should we just buy supplies and head off? Should we stay here and learn more about cultivation to increase our strength first?”

“Well, I did some research while we walked around and learned that there aren’t any publicly available maps. Basically this city, along with most others, have a couple of massive families and clans that have control or at least partial control over an entire world linked to that city. Only these large clans have maps which they give to their members as they travel. Normal people like us basically have two choices. First, we pick a direction and eventually we are bound to either find a city or a person, assuming we survive long enough and it’s also likely to bypass the cities of level two entirely without knowing. Second, we take the ocean route. Apparently the ocean route is the only one publicly known, however, there’s a couple of issues with it. The ocean is filled with something called worldly beasts which are like those birds and mounts we saw earlier, super powerful animals who can absorb qi. Basically most of the people in this city are in the skin and bone levels of the tempered body but to survive the ocean route you need multiple people at the peak of the tempered body. Another problem is that of food and water. The journey typically takes eight months by boat and there aren’t any known cities or villages in between because of the beasts and lack of experts willing to live in the middle of nowhere to protect a village.”

“So, how do people make it across the ocean then? I didn’t see anything like our spatial pouches in the city and I don’t imagine that the two of our’s will be big enough for food and water for us and someone to handle a boat for eight months. Do we really need to just run off into the wild randomly?” Aria was truly annoyed. He had been dumped in this city and given a one year deadline yet it seems his only choice was to randomly walk in the wild for a year and hope he didn’t go too far away from the next level’s cities. Otherwise he might just wander into the den of a strong qi beast and die.

“I’m not willing. I won’t just wander the woods for a year hoping not to come across some strong beast. I’m not willing to stay here for a year and die. Listen, we might be weak now but if we get a cultivation technique before we leave, then we can cultivate as we travel by boat. I supposedly have the talent for whatever the mid realm is whereas we are in the lower realm and my talent came from you. I think we can cultivate enough to survive the trip, we just need one more spatial pouch. Or something similar. I just don’t know where we can get one from yet,” siged Kara. She was truly vexed about the lack of storage space.

Aria took a moment to think before seemingly making a decision. “Kara, I might have a way.”

“Really? Why didn’t you say so sooner Aria?”

“Listen Kara. My primary class gave me another ability, one that is very odd and definitely not normal. I hid it from my stats page similar to how you hid your last name because I don’t wish for this to get out,” sighed Aria. “I’ll show you again, I’m trusting you because you’ve already saved my life and we’ve been through a lot together. But I truly need you to never share this with anyone. We must find someone trustworthy to be in charge of the boat and pretend that our spatial pouches are a bit bigger than normal. You cannot share this with anyone. Please.” His voice tapered off towards the end as he shared his true stats with her.

Name: Aria White

Race: Human (Earth, Mystic Realm)

World Assignment: Southern Doaheaven, Lower Realm

Primary Class: Weeb Cultivator

Description: The system read your memories and created this class based on your weeb-like

tendencies along with your mild obsession with cultivation novels. Weeb

Cultivator ensures a world assignment to a lower world in the cultivation-based

Universe with a unique body. One that doesn’t have an assigned cultivation

Talent, instead your talent is determined by the first cultivation technique you

Train in. Weeb Cultivator also changes the system to an earth technology-based

Platform familiar to weebs with the potential to grow.

Secondary Class: Creation Inheritor (1% Unlocked)

Description: Inheritance of the Creation Path founder. Tempered Body World Seed

Cultivation Technique Unlocked.

Title: Inheritor of the Creation Path (Provides Secondary Class of Creation Inheritor, minor initial cultivation progress in the void element, and seed of the Mystic Realm).

Level: 0

Stats:

Strength: 12

Agility: 15

Vitality: 15

Endurance: 12

Qi: 15

Will: 15

Mind: 50

Element: Void

Inner World Stability: Unstable, can’t support life, spirit, or soul based entities. Located in

Braincore.

“The world space feels nearly 100 times larger than the spatial pouches so it'll be plenty of space for our travels. I don’t really understand much about it since we haven’t really had time to learn about cultivation yet but I do know that this so-called ‘world seed’ isn’t something normal.”

Kara's face was flushed, she was truly excited. “Forget about all of that! Do you know what this means? Not only do we have enough space for the food, but you already have a cultivation technique so we only need one for myself! How about we do this, starting tomorrow I’ll spend a month finding out about cultivation and seeing if I can buy an ice technique for myself while you find us a boat captain. I’ll get us some food for the trip while I’m at it and we can figure out the water situation before we leave. Since this involves someone trustworthy on the off chance they discover your secret, it’s only right that you pick them. This leaves us about 11 months to travel an 8 month distance. I don’t think we should risk taking any longer, even if it means I don’t get a cultivation technique before the second level.”

“Alright, Kara, but let’s briefly meetup at the end of the day to make sure we both get back safe and have lunch together at least once a week to share what you learn about cultivation and candidates I find. Also, here,” Aria motioned to a purple jade, “take one of my mid jades in case you need it to buy a technique.”

With a big smile, Kara said, “I’m starting to like you more and more Aria. Keep giving me money and you might find that you’re stuck with me.” Laughing as she walked out to her own room.

__________

As the sun began to rise, Aria walked out of the hotel towards the docks. He was wearing the typical clothing of the passersby, loose fitting soft pants, a single colored short sleeve shirt, and a single colored robe that stopped around ankle height. In his case, light brown pants, a grey shirt, and a sky blue robe with a qi infused scimitar hanging on his back.

The sun was rising, there were interesting new human and beast-like species around, and he felt stronger and healthier than ever before with some qi in his body. Aria was truly feeling some excitement for the upcoming trip. Although it will be filled with danger, this is the kind of story he read about. Dreamed about. Yet now he was going to live it! So, with a slight skip in his step, he entered the dock only to find his mood immediately soured. Unlike modern earth, where cleanliness is merely a simple matter with technology, this world has a more medieval feel so it stands to reason that the docks would have a strong fish and blood odor. Something he clearly wasn’t used to.

With a bit of a damper on his mood, and his social anxiety kicking in now that he sees the nearly a thousand sailors, butchers, cooks, shop keepers, and customers at the dock, Aria paused for a moment before spinning on his heels and walking away to a tea shop facing the docks. However, upon seeing the broken down and dilapidated entrance to the store, he was tempted to leave but this was the only tea shop near the docks. Besides, he really likes tea and the food he and Kara ate yesterday was lacking a bit of flavoring, he really didn’t want to deal with that again and the tea is based on growing more than modern cooking techniques. So he bit the bullet and walked in.

The inside was quite different from the tender love and care needing outside, it had a few small tables near the window, a small rock garden in the center, and a bar with an older gentleman drinking tea behind it. The odd thing is, when looking at the older gentleman, Aria felt a chill through his body as his qi froze up, causing him to stiffen for a brief moment before he continued to walk towards the counter.

The old man glanced in shock at Aria when he stiffened for a moment before questioning, “What can I do for you young man?”

“Umm… Well, I enjoy tea but different regions grow and harvest tea differently so I’m not sure what you have sir. Do you have a catalogue?” Brewing and drinking tea was one of Aria’s hobbies but he really didn’t know how this world handled tea.

“Haha,” chuckling he said, “Young man I think you misunderstand. I happened to see you look awkwardly at the dock before you came here. I assume because the windows face the dock. So, young man, are you new to the Tower?” His comment about being new to the tower caused Aria to back away in silence.

“Young man, there’s no need to be wary. It’s pretty common for people to come to the Tower’s first level and, besides, I am but a humble shopkeep. I don’t particularly care about your past or secrets, just your money.” As he spoke, the old man took out a catalog of his tea and set it on the counter.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Aria looked at the catalog before ordering something he found interesting, qi infused green tea for 50 shattered jade.

“Hah, yeah my companion and I are new to the tower. We intend on leaving within a month for the second level via boat and I’m in charge of finding a boat we can hitch a ride on but… I’m not great with large crowds.” Spoke Aria as he gestured out towards the thousand people on the dock.

The old man gave a curious glance to Aria like he was looking at an idiot as he said, “Young man. The oceans can be dangerous. With your cultivation at the early bone realm, unless your companion is much stronger than you, nobody will take you on a ship. Honestly, your strength is a bit of a liability because you don’t appear to be familiar with water based combat weapons. Your best bet is heading into the wilderness and letting the hands of fate guide your future.”

“Sir, as you mentioned, we all have our secrets. Blades aren’t my main weapon and I’m confident in my abilities to fight from a boat on sea. Either way, even if nobody is willing to take us, my companion and I will purchase a boat, a map, and head out on our own. We can’t take the risk of missing the next city and have to reach a city in the second level. I just don’t have a choice,” once more sighing, he walked over to a table facing the window and sat down to watch the dock while waiting for his tea. This truly wasn’t the news he wanted to hear because he had a feeling showing his gun would lead to more problems until he has some strength to defend himself from unsavory characters.

About fifteen minutes later an absolutely stunning eighteen year old fox-person carrying a tray of tea leaves, a tea cup, and a french press walked from the back room with a young, twelve or thirteen year old, male holding a kettle of tea and a kettle of hot water as they approached Aria. The young woman shyly set the tray on the table as she spoke.

“Sir, the green kettle has some brewed tea. However, it seems like you’ll be here for a while so the tray has some tea leaves and a french press while the red kettle has some hot water. I hope you enjoy your stay at our shop.” The young lady bowed before walking back to the back room.

However, the young man seemed curious and excited. He sat down on the chair across the table and said, “Hi big brother! Mind if I sit with you? This place is always so empty and boring.”

Thinking that talking more could help with his social anxiety, Aria agreed and spent the day speaking to him while keeping an eye on the dock to see who people are buying tickets from before heading home where he saw that Kara got back safe.

For the rest of the week, Aria went to the tea shop and spoke with the young man as he kept an eye on the port. He learned that the young man’s name is Liam and the fox-person’s name is Lisa. Their parents were close friends who headed to the second level together with the intention of hiring a group to send back for the two. Unfortunately, that group never came but the two of them still believe their parents are alive and are waiting for them. Although Liam is very outgoing and loves to talk, Lisa is extremely shy. Aria caught her listening into their conversation but she always ran into the back if he noticed her listening. However, other than speaking with Liam, there weren’t any gains in finding people a boat to a second level city. Aria had actually headed to the ports twice to speak to someone he noticed accepting payments for a ride but the old man was right. At his strength level, he can only get a ride if he can prove his ability to fight with a weapon usable against sea and bird type qi beasts which left him quite disappointed. However, him and Kara are going to meet at the tea shop tomorrow for lunch and he’s excited to learn more about the cultivation system from her.