The Grove Tender finished her speech with an impassioned look in her eyes.

“Come now, children. It’s time to go home, pack, and get a good night’s rest. You’ll all be leaving in the morning.”

Vinoh walked over to Solera as the kids filed out. Patting Solera’s shoulder, Vinoh spoke. “Let’s go, Solera. Tomorrow is going to be an eventful day.”

Solera got up and followed Vinoh out, his mind a bit overwhelmed by the sudden occurrences that had happened today. Out of the blue, he was actually being carted off to some military base for training?

“This all seems so sudden.” Solera said, shaking his head.

Vinoh chortled. “Many things in life are.” They were outside the town hall now. It was dark out, but the dual light of the full moon and the blue halo shone in the night sky, illuminating the path back to home.

When they rounded the corner of a large tree, Solera could hear some snorts from behind. He spun around, startled. It was a giant ox, three meters tall. Along with the imps that had served them dinner, this ox was an animal that had been possessed by a Sky Spirit. The hulking animal had a plow tied behind it; clearly, it was plowing the soil earlier that day. Solera could see deep ruts carved into the ground where the plow had traveled. The trail led all the way to the faraway fields outside the residential forest.

Vinoh shook his head, sighing. “Ah, you need some help taking that plow off, yes?”

The ox nodded its head, snorting as it did so. Despite its massive girth, it was actually a gentle creature. Most of the monsters in the Grove were amiable beings; Solera knew that the other children frequently played with them.

“Here, let me get that for you.” Vinoh walked behind the ox and unhitched the plow. The ox grunted, pleased that it had been freed from this burden, and trotted off to the Den, where the monsters lived.

Vinoh and Solera resumed their walk. “Solera,” Vinoh began to speak, “You’re going to see many things in the world outside. Right now, your worldview is very limited, even though I’ve tried my best to teach you about it. But I’m just a warrior, and a crippled one at that.”

Solera nodded, not sure where Vinoh was going with this conversation.

“There are many wondrous things outside, but there are also many horrible things!” Vinoh sighed. “Outside of the Grove, never place yourself at the mercy of a monster, like what I just did when I went behind the ox. Monsters are solely summoned to be controlled. As a result, their souls are constantly tormented by the will of their summoners. You may come to regard monsters as selfish, depraved beings, but remember this ox, and all the other monsters in the Grove. At their core, they are no different from humans. Some are good, some are bad, but many will have their minds warped by the forced servitude imposed on them by Summoners.”

Solera frowned. “Aren’t monsters Sky Spirits? They’re completely different from humans!”

Vinoh shook his head. “Yes, but no, son. All Sky Spirits are, or were once human. When we die, our souls pass into the Sky, fragmenting into billions of tiny Sky Spirits. When experts Ascend, their souls also pass into the Sky. Only, their souls do not fragment. At their core, Spirits and humans, they are one and the same. The Grove Tender herself is a Sky Spirit, you know.”

Solera was shocked. “I didn’t know any of that.”

Vinoh smiled. “Yes, that’s the reason why I told you.”

Solera rolled his eyes.

“But I digress.” Vinoh help up his hands. “Solera, you’ll be going to Fortress Hickory tomorrow to learn from the experts. Fine iron like you should be tempered into steel. Otherwise, it would be an immense waste. We’ll have to put that camouflage lesson I was talking about on hold.”

Solera shook his head, a look of frustrated confusion on his face. “I don’t understand, dad. The entire dinner, people were telling me about how great you were! How can anyone over there teach me better than you can?”

Solera’s feelings towards training were lukewarm at best, but he didn’t want to leave his familiar home and venture into the great unknown. Why did he have to leave?

Vinoh rested his intact hand on Solera’s shoulder comfortingly. “Son, just because I was the best fighter, doesn’t mean I’m the best teacher. Over at Fortress Hickory, they have incredible channeling and controlling experts. You know I’m just a martial cultivator! I never knew too much about channeling, let alone controlling or summoning. Your growth will be infinitely faster over there, and you’ll be safe. Fortress Hickory is the strongest military base in all of Eden, and is located right next to the eastern border with the United Duchies. We’ve never warred once with them in the eight hundred years since the Duchies were founded! Nothing will happen to you, nothing.”

This last part seemed to be more for Vinoh himself, rather than for Solera.

“Besides,” Vinoh said as he thought up another reason. “There are a lot more places you’ll be able to go to. I’m too weak to take you to train in Spirit Woods, but Eden can send teachers to go there with you. Not only that, you might even be able to visit the Tornado Towers of the Tornado Sect! That place is the holy grail for cultivators like us, but there are barriers to entry that Eden can deal with, but I can’t.”

Solera nodded. Vinoh talked a lot about Spirit Woods and the Tornado Tower. By this time, they had returned home. Vinoh rubbed Solera’s hair as they entered the living room.

“You can go sleep now, son. Let me handle the packing.”

Solera shook his head. “I won’t be able to sleep tonight. Besides, you might mess it all up.”

“All right, whatever you say.” Vinoh said, smirking. “You choose the clothes you’ll be bringing.”

A few minutes later, Solera brought out a small hill of clothing. He saw Vinoh struggling to open up an expandable backpack.

“Here, give me that.” Solera took the small, three centimeter long square package and channeled some power into it. Immediately, the square expanded and unfolded itself, forming into the shape of a backpack.

“Here’s an expandable tent, sleeping bag and pillow.” Vinoh said, tossing some more thin squares to Solera. “Actually, leave out all that crap you gathered, I’ll get some expandable clothing for you tomorrow. It’ll be much easier to carry, you’re going to be going across almost the entire country, anyway.”

Solera blinked. “Isn’t that expensive?” Expandables were products made from either tar or some special plants, and generally required a bit more work to manufacture than normal backpacks and tents. Especially for clothing, which came in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and colors.

Vinoh laughed. “What the hell, I’m Vinoh. You think I care about money? Our king pays for everything!”

Solera grinned as he reduced the expandable backpack back into a small square, stowing all of the expandable items into his pocket.

“Talking about money, here’s some for you.” Vinoh fumbled around a cupboard, producing three small cards, each ten centimeters long and four centimeters wide. Two were red, while the third was blue. Solera reached out to grab them, but Vinoh moved them out of his reach, smirking.

“Tell me again, Solera, how many Iotas are in a card color.”

Solera groaned. He wasn’t sure if he remembered too well. “Red cards have around zero Iotas, orange cards have around one hundred, yellow cards have around ten thousand, green cards have around one million, blue cards have around one hundred million, and violet cards cap out at ten billion.”

“Yup.” Vinoh cheerily nodded. “Now tell me how much an Iota is worth.”

Solera scratched his head. He never handled money, so he didn’t actually know.

“The answer is, not very much! But one hundred million Iotas is an astonishing sum! You could buy a house, a farm, and even a halfway decent wife with this blue card right here.” Vinoh waved the cards around.

“Unless the food is infused with Power, the price of a meal shouldn’t exceed twenty thousand Iotas, the price to stay at an inn shouldn’t exceed eighty thousand Iotas. An average sword should cost around eight hundred thousand Iotas! Any more, and you’re either buying a rare treasure or you’re being cheated. It’s probably the latter. Uh, these are just general rules of thumb. The value of an Iota does change, depending on the local economy, but that’s too complicated. Here you go.” Vinoh passed the three cards to Solera.

“If you show that blue card in public, you’re going to get your throat slit! Remember, that’s a wife, with some money left over for a house and farm!” Vinoh sternly jabbed a finger at Solera. “Move Iotas over to one of those red cards. Keep it at a yellow-green color, and you should be fine. I trust you won’t be so stupid as to walk around flaunting that blue card.”

Solera nodded. He could do the math; a hundred million Iotas was enough meals to serve an entire family food for three years! People would kill for much less than that.

“Your toiletries are in this expandable bag. Here’s a water pouch, I’ll pack some food into this expandable. That should be all, get a good night’s sleep, Solera! Tomorrow’s a big day!”

Solera went back into his room, collapsing onto his bed. He tried to savor it; tonight was going to be the last time he would be here for a long time. Yet, an hour passed, and he was still awake. Thoughts flooded his mind, preventing him from falling asleep. What was Fortress Hickory like? Would he find friends he would get along with? How long would he be away from home?