A crude dull knife slammed into pink flesh, the blood splashed out, and the muscle and fat was exposed. The dry crunch of the bones could be heard, while the man proceeded to dig his fingers underneath the fat to slowly pull out the skin. His callused fingers were covered in blood, and oils.

“Fresh yugao for sale!”

Bellowed a fat butcher in the busy market, that was leading to the town square.

“Fermented bean curd, with secret family fermenting recipes!” shouted an old lady, as if competing with the butcher across from her.

They glared at each other for only a brief moment, before continuing.

People were walking about in a clamor, as they moved through the busy road, the sound of straying cattle, loud conversations, and screaming children breathed life into the cold afternoon. Xing Lan was slowly examining the surroundings as she walked down the path towards the monster ranch.

The stone roads, and cheaply built houses surrounding it were made of wood, and crude stones that further emphasized the rural town. Down the road the town square was filled with many people playing chess, and relaxing.

Farther away, near an old tree in the corner of the town square, was a small gathering of people, with two men as the focus. They had a much whiter, and sharper features, and wore red, and black priestly attire. They held walking staffs, that had strange iv tubes and wires interweaving across the obsidian tool.

“Life is hard, living is a burden, the aspirations, and joys you feel are nothing but a temporary illusion brought forth by selfish mortal desires, of the mind, and flesh. Loved ones die before their prime, your children are sick, the happiness you longed for is always out of reach.”

The man's words had a bit of an accent, but spoke there language quite effortlessly. A moment of silence followed before the priest vigorously shouted.

“But this is all a trial! A preparation before you are invited into paradise! Something with meaning, and somewhere you truly belong is waiting for you, and your family!”

From the excited tone the man talked in, the vibrant eyes, and near fanatical expressions, Xing Lan could tell these men had some measure of charisma.

Xing Lan phased out the man's words, and focused on different details.

It was faint, and hidden by their clothes, but traces of wires and tubes were also circulating into their bodies. A slightly dark look clouded her eyes as she saw a black symbol on their attire, that formed the outline of a black eye with tears.

Old Lai didn't notice her expression and commented curiously.

“It's rare to find them venturing so far north, you would think they would have more pressing grievances back home, than come here with their questionable teachings.”

Xing Lan however changed the topic, to something much more concerning to her.

“Those staffs they carry, aren't simple.... I wonder how they went through the town guards.”

Old Lai just smiled, “my, the young miss sure is knowledgeable, it's most likely some profitable agreements have been made with the local governors, it's best not to concern yourself with these things unless you want to stir up a nest of vipers.”

As the two were about to leave she noticed a pair of beautiful women in black dresses in the background, one of them was pregnant and smiling gently as she rubbed her belly.

Xing Lan could only glare darkly at the woman's belly, and frown. She knew better than to think it was a mother showing love to her unborn child, the world was sadly, not that comforting.

She sped up her pace, that sight brought many unpleasant feelings, vague images were starting to leak out from the depths of her mind, trying to break free through her mental barriers.

As they walked across the stone roads, the houses became more sparse, and the space gradually opened up until a large towering building made of metal could be seen, the featureless square building felt like the architect made this to emphasize form over aesthetics, surounded with far reaching impenetrable walls. The more shocking aspect of it was that the walls stretching from the building encompassed a quarter of the town itself, and partially melded into the town walls.

Unlike the rest of the town, the roads leading to the building was paved, there were actual guards patrolling the area, that even carried weapons superior to the town guards. They wore sleek black gray flexible armor, and carried long black spears, engraved with special properties, and wore even a small pistol on their belts.

“Quite admirable as always, they give off a fairly imposing feeling just by being near them.”

“Why would it be this large for an out of the way town like this?”

The couple walked past the patrolling guards and reached the entrance made of glass, an array of light blue lines appeared on the glass and formed a complex interweaving pattern before the door opened by itself. They were quickly greeted by the sight of a store front with many types of packaged goods, and products.

A young man wearing a red, and white uniform approached them and bowed, with a friendly smile the man asked.

“Welcome dear customer, how may I be of service?”

Old Lai stepped forward and smiled back, “Oh, someone of the crow descent, how rare.”

The man smiled while looking at old Lai, “how can someone like me compare to the eminence of an emerald peafowl?”

After a brief formal greeting, and some casual conversations, old Lai began to move forward with business.

“We are looking for a reliably fast mount, with high endurance.”

The employee nodded, “please follow me, while this place is mostly just a training center, we do offer some respectable products.”

The employee led them to the desktop counter where a large binder was filled, with over a thousand pages.

“Your store can have that many monsters?”

“We do pre-orders.”

The employee walked towards two guards standing over a chained gate, after a brief verbal exchange the guards moved aside, while the employee led them to the back of the store.

It was a long dark metal hallway similar to an underground bunker, with various closed doors to the sides. Xing Lan was able to glance at some of the signs on the sealed entrances.

“Proving grounds, research, arena? Looks like there is a lot more going on then I expected.”

Faint sounds, and low rumbles formed from large beasts leaked from some of the rooms, the farther they walked, the more pronounced the sounds were. After reaching a large iron door several meters wide, we finally stopped. As if noticing our presence the doors slowly creaked opened exposing cool winds. We were greeted with the sight of gigantic cages, artificial dens, and towering habitats sealed off from many angles.

In a way it was similar to a zoo, but for creatures that were far more dangerous.

The young man that led the way brought us to a large tent.

“Please wait here for a few minutes, I'll get someone that can more accurately serve your needs.”

As soon as those words were said, the young man went inside the tent. While glancing around old Lai whistled as he saw a a gray forklift carrying the corpse of a large ox, with blue scales and dull red eyes.

Xing Lan noticed several well dressed people that were previously observing different monster dens, whom suddenly focused their sight on that corpse.

Seeing how everyone else acted, her curiosity was also slightly peaked. Just as she was wondering why everyone was so interested she felt something slowly approach her. It was a presence that had a rough feeling to it.

Just as she was about to turn around, a calm manly voice drifted to her ears.

“Hello esteemed guests, I see you have an interest in that blue morolith?”

There standing a few feet away was a large man in his thirties his dirt brown hair was fairly unkempt, his scarred face while intimidating, did nothing to hinder his gentile features that were considered fairly handsome, and his brown eyes had a dark, hawk like quality to it.

The man was wearing loose fitting clothes with several straps, and covered with different tools hanging from his attire.

“My name is Zazai, I'm the manager of this humble establishment.”

Old Lai was the first to comment.

“Please call me Fang Lai.”

After a quick greeting old Lai stared at the corpse of the monster.

“Looks like the monster hunters in this branch are quite formidable, the blue morolith is considered a dangerous high class monster, with many potent abilities.”

Zazai sighed deeply, wearing a slightly tired, and sad expression.

“The association discovered a dense breeding ground of some monsters in an ancient valley, the expedition team sent to observe them was nearly wiped out, all we manged to gain was the corpse of this immature morolith.”

The man shook his head again, and sighed.

“We lost fourteen hunters, to a young morolith. Imagine what would happen if they reproduced, and ventured closer to avarian settlements.”

Old Lai nodded in empathy, monsters were dangerous creatures that dominated a majority of the world. Their bodies housed incredible materials, and contained vast amounts of information that allowed the technology of the world to flourish, however they were also the cause of many calamities.

Their origins were almost as mysterious as the metallic beasts that aimlessly roamed the planet.

Old Lai stared at the monster hunter before him, many independent agencies, and associations have gained a business purely hunting, and selling monsters. Because of monsters, many kinds of dangerous jobs have opened up. The issue was the quality of the average monster hunter had dropped accodingly.

Zazai seemed to guess what old Lai was thinking, and gave a bitter smile.

“The average hunter is quite mediocre physically, the poorer ones can only use guns you see, in their hands melee weaposn would have been pointless, not to mention the crafts.”

The man slowly pulled out a small hand gun from his waist and aimed it at the corpse. The moment it was fired, a small spark glittered in the horns of the monster, and after a loud bang, the bullet fell helplessly to the ground, as if all velocity and kinetic force was dispersed into the air.

Old Lai widened his eyes lightly.

“Oh, looks like that corpse will fetch quite a lot money.”

Zazai nodded slowly as if he couldn't agree more.

“Skin that could weather the most punishing crafts, aura that could reflect the fastest bullets, and power that could easily trample a regular man to death.”

Zazai finished off the sentence with an exhausted voice, that had bitter undertones.

“Against a creature like this it would be normal to prepare many things in advance, sadly we did not have the resources, and suffered from it."

Xing Lan could faintly recognize it in his eyes, the regrets he held, the sad light behind his sharp gaze. It was a short and brief moment, that spanned less then one second, but she felt a subtle sense of closeness to that man. The countless unending question one would ask them self, the frustrating feelings of having no answers, and the overwhelming guilt that slowly ate away at you.

“What am I even doing?

Xing Lan immediately shook her head, and got rid of all those thoughts.

“Anyways I heard you wanted a mount? May I ask where you plan to go?”

“We're looking to go to the capital.”

Zazai nodded slowly, but also wore a weird expression.

“The closest town with a train station would be Hwei stone city, but from the messages I've been getting something major happened south, and the train routes going their have been blockaded. Since the capital is located in a special area, which can only be reached by train travel, you'll have to go to next closest city, where the trains are still running, called black iron city.

Old Bai immediately frowned.

“Isn't that..”

Zazai nodded briefly without saying another word.

…

The dark sky loomed ahead as the rain clouds started to form, eventually droplets of liquid lightly tapped on the tiled roofs, and stone roads. A little girl in gray garments carrying a basket of white flowers quickly ran down the dreary roads to escape the light drizzle that was slowly growing.

The rain itself produced a gentle calming rhythm that was almost melodious, the water pouring outside the streets made the air cool, and refreshing. It was night, and all the light in these nearby houses, were extinguished, families slept in the comfort of their beds, while a single young lady stared vacantly from the second floor of an inn.

The small room was lit by a dim warm light from the lantern with an orb inside, Xing Lan was sitting on a table with a single flower vase, in it was a lone flower with white petals. She casually turned back from the window, and stared vacantly at dainty flower, she easily recalled it's name.

It was an old memory that remained as clear as day, and something she could never forget even if she tried to.

“It's called sailua.”

Said an old man as he stared at a small girl holding the flower in her hands, while she sat on a bench, under the glowing sun.

The young girl stared at the old man with flowing white robes, whom exuded a dignified presence. Her large blue eyes widened in surprise, but no words came out.

The old man stroked his bushy white beard, and sat next to her, the young girl could smell a faint fragrance similar to the flower. It was a clean, and pure smell, that oddly made her feel warm, and relaxed.

“Why are you sitting here alone in the park young lady?”

“Waiting for father.”

“Why here?”

“Because this was the park where he said to wait for him.”

“You come every day?”

The little girl nodded her head, and she dangled her legs on the bench. While she seemed determined to wait there, he could tell she was almost ready to fall asleep, because she kept rubbing her eyes.

“Does your mother know?”

The little girl shook her head, while staring at the ground, as if in guilt, and mumbled.

“She can't, so I'll do it for her.”

The man sighed softly to himself.

“A tree may grow thousands of feet high, but the leaves will eventually fall back to the roots.”

The man pulled out a small chain from his robes, and presented it to the little girl.

“The general knew things like this might happen.”

The little girl stared at the intricate chain in his hands.

“This is!”

The man stared at the little girl, and smiled brightly.

“I am a friend of your father, and also your new teacher, you may call me Don Fang.”

A loud rumbling sound smashed open the scene, which caused Xing Lan to open her closed eyes, the warm summer day, the bright beautiful sun, and the soothing scent vanished. All she could see was the dimly lit room, and the lonely white flower in the vase.

“Has it been over twelve years?”

Xing Lan smiled softly as she brushed something from her eyelids, her delicate pale fingers trembled lightly as if she lost a bit of her strength.

The slow pouring rain was now a powerful storm, the soothing winds were now violent, and the faint rhythmic music became chaotic and fierce. She quickly closed the windows, and went to bed.

The wooden lantern as if sensing the situation, turned off, and the room was quickly blanketed by the darkness.

For once, she actually had a restful sleep in a long while.