“What do you want?” I ask with a slight tinge of annoyance. People are Transmitting to me left and right today for some reason. I hate being reminded I can’t Transmit by myself and must have someone enter my headspace on their own. Considering I usually go places by myself, it’s dangerous to be unable to contact anyone in my guard if things go south. I wonder why they let me go places alone if that’s the case?

“Yeah, Jack, abou’ the arrangements we made las’ night. We’re gonna ‘ave t’ call those off.”

I made arrangements last night? God damnit. At least we’re calling them off for whatever reason.

“Sure, but why. Somethin’ happen?”

“Yeah, the bastard Rei Ui is swarming the place. You can usually see em’ patrollin’ the area, but there’s a fuck tonne out here.”

Why would he care if the Rei Ui were there or not? Unless he was planning on doing something illegal? Whatever.

“Wait, where are you right now?”

“The Tower of the Phoenix, but they’re on their way t’ the bottom of the mountain range.”

Why do the Rei Ui have any interest in that place? As if they’d deign to send their own disciples in spades to go there.

“What they doin’ that for?”

“I think it’s the Dragon Flag, y’know? I heard they were in Peya Vaan. Saw em’ walkin’ abou' too. Dunno why, though.”

The Dragon Flag? Plague-ridden Half-Demons. Filthy drug peddlers and thieves who like to piss about in Va Ann like they’re hot shit. They’ve got the whole city of Vaga Vaan on lockdown, everyone there fears them, and the Clan in charge of it suck their dick on the daily hoping they won’t burn it down to the ground. Now their next stop is Peya Vaan? Well, that’s fine with me as long as they wait until I’m back in the Capital, but they can fuck off if they think they take this city while I’m here.

“Fuck. Well then, Vray, I got shit to do. Hang up for me, will you? Transmit to me if you got opportunities for business."

“Alright, see you, then.”

Me and Vraylya like to call it business, but it’s essentially just scamming people. In fight clubs, it’s easy to pretend I’m a human without a Cultivation Base and win all the bouts easily. I then split the profits I got from them with Vraylya, who organises it for me. But that relies on people underestimating me, which happens less often the more I win. Or sometimes we play drinking games which cultivators with increased tolerance to alcohol can easily win. I feel bad doing stuff like that, but not bad enough to stop. I’m sure Vraylya feels the same. As long as he thinks I’m just a 1st Level Mortal Realm cultivator who hasn’t learned how to Transmit yet, we can keep doing ‘business’ together.

He’s a nice fellow when you forget about the whole scam artist thing. And the whole ex-Rei Ui thing too. A shame he doesn’t have the sense for gambling.

Guess I’m done for today. Time to relax and do nothing. Maybe the Rei Ui will be too focused on dealing with the Dragon Flag to think about me. Then again, I wouldn’t put it past them to place me above the Dragon Flag in terms of importance. Who cares about a potentially dangerous bandit group when there’s a useless Imperial Prince in your midst, right?

I walk up the stairs and enter my room, looking as drab as ever. I left all my personal belongings in Haya Vaan. Not like I really want anything from there in my room anyway, but there are a few things I got from my mother I miss having around. Maybe I should decorate a little? Looking at the same stuff for 12 years straight gets understandably boring. But I can save that for later. I grab a sizeable half-empty jug of wine from my desk and pour it into a nearby goblet. A nice drink every now and then isn’t so bad. Well, that depends on your definition of ‘every now and then’, because I'm aware mine definitely seems to be a little warped.

I want to have a nap, but I know I can’t go to sleep these days without a quick drink. It helps calm me down. Usually I would go to a brothel or shoot the shit with Vraylya during times like this, but I’m not in the mood for that right now. Today got off to a rocky start, which was mostly my fault, so I’m just going to chill and waste the day away. Sometimes I wish I continued my education past 15 so I’d have something to do, I’d probably regret it though if I did.

I walk up to the balcony facing the sun and lean on the banister. The sun is only barely visible behind the clouds that have begun to close back up after Dra’xx blew them away. Man, now that I know he can do something like that even while holding back, I really want to convince him to do that every day. If there’s one good thing about Haya Vaan and the Capital, it’s that they get sunlight on the daily. Probably because there are people there who can lift the Heavens with a single wave of their hands. Lucky.

Every house in the Empire faces the sun, even if most of us can’t see it, because it’s a bad omen for something to face the west. The east represents hope, and when the sun rises, we’re reminded of every cultivator's mission. The mission to liberate the Crimson Realm in the west.

Separated from our own Realm by the Great Seal placed by our ancestors lies a land of Demons and wretches. Suffering far beyond any sane man's comprehension is commonplace, and True Demons rule with an iron fist.

When the Great Seal reaches its limit, a war will be fought. The Heavenly Realm in the east and the Crimson Realm in the west. Only one may come out on top, and not without the loss of hundreds of millions of lives.

I take a big gulp of wine and my eyes widen in pleasant surprise at its caramel-like taste. Didn’t know this was rice wine. Imported from Va Ann probably, birthplace of the dumbarse Dragon Flag and the land of cunts. The two major cities in the province are even bigger shitholes than Peya Vaan. Vaga Vaan is a breeding ground for bandits and Vaya Vaan is full of shithead nobles with more than money than power. And sense. But as much as I complain about the province, it’s got good wine and good food, so fuck it, I love the place.

The biting cold makes its way through my robes, so I chug down the rest of my wine, close the doors to the balcony and lie down on my bed. A good 10 minutes pass before I conk out. Fuck having a proper sleep schedule. That’s for nerds.