After a dozen ferocious fights, Sage returned to Deep Shore to sell materials and gather more information. He had no need to worry about mental fatigue, since he had all the time he wanted in the Inner World to relax. He also didn’t have much to worry about for his physical body as he had the Universe Ring as a place of respite. His body was already quite powerful, and even had a naturally faster healing rate. When combined with a few alchemical pills tailored exactly to his needs by those on the Inner World he could recover extremely rapidly after each battle. Sage maintained his mental image as something of a video game character to keep himself from being shocked by this situation. As long as he felt like he was just hitting ‘Rest’ at an inn in a game it was far easier to come to terms with the constant battle and rapid recovery.

Sage had no desire to turn into one of those crazy battle maniacs who knew nothing but fighting. Yet, if he didn’t create a sort of mental disconnect for himself there was no way he could keep up such a rapid pace of constant combat. Even if he was experiencing things at a decelerated pace on the Inner World, he was also living them in real time on the outside. It reminded him of multiple personality disorder and the idea of creating new personalities to insulate oneself from trauma. It was an iteration of the technique he created to compartmentalize the pain he felt into a ‘demon’ that he kept trapped within his mind. These changes to his mind were driven by his research with Psionic Crystals, using the techniques he unlocked to alter the Infinite Immaterial Seat, his mental cultivation technique. He remodeled some of the core interior chambers to allow the link to sensory equipment on the Inner World and also to help him process the extreme time dilation between his two bodies without suffering greatly.

Without that set of changes and alteration of his mindset his two linked minds would be forced to move at one time frame or another. Either perceiving the world to move at an utter snail’s pace in reality or for the Inner World to fly past too quickly for him to interact.

While passing through a market district surrounded by food stalls, Sage noticed a confrontation between two gruff looking men. One of them was covered in scars and had dirty blonde hair, a westerner. The other had the almond shaped eyes of an easterner, but with shockingly bright blue hair. Sage had passed by many such heated altercations in the past, especially since none of them were allowed to actually enter combat in the city. Yet, this time, he stopped in his tracks when he saw the two of them giving threats.

The blond man’s forehead surged brightly with violet light and the ground beneath him surged upwards, forming a suit of stone armor around his body. His height suddenly doubled from this sudden stone exo-skeletal suit and a menacing grimace on his new stone mask stared down at the blue haired man.

Across from him, the blue haired man wasn’t backing down and Sage felt an unusual form of energy flow out and coalesce into a gigantic tiger behind the man’s back. The black tiger was not corporeal, but the projection was over twenty feet tall and its neon blue stripes suddenly appeared all over the blue haired man’s body. Power radiated off of the man, and with just a clench of his fist the intensity of the energy caused the stone man to be pushed back a step.

The two shared a long and ferocious glare before the stone crumbled apart. The rocks fell to the ground and then shattered into dirt, flowing along the ground and returning to its original place. In just a moment, the blond man was standing there as if nothing had happened, all the damage he inflicted upon the ground was completely repaired and he was just looking smugly over at the blue haired man’s terrifying tiger projection. The blue haired man looked annoyed, “Is that all you’ve got? I never knew that such a weakling could look so smugly satisfied after seeing how inadequate they are.”

Turning around, the blond man didn’t reply at first. He walked away while the other man’s tiger projection slowly receded. It was only when he was about to leave the market area that he stopped to tap the shoulder of a man standing on the corner. The man he’d tapped just nodded his head and then the blond man walked off. The blue haired man then noticed the problem just as Sage did. The man who had been tapped on the shoulder was wearing a sort of half cape or poncho made of a many layered and flowing cloth with a distinct quilted pattern of gray and green. It only took a moment for the blue haired man to realize there were a dozen others with the same garment on in this market area. All of them had fixed their black eyes upon the blue haired man and while none of them made a move, they also kept their attention fixed.

The blue haired man had a concerned look on his face, but before he could decide on his next step he caught motion in his peripheral vision and there was a loud whistle. At one of the tables, an eastern man with long black hair and golden eyes was waving him over. The elaborate flowing robes of a cultivator were easily recognized even by him, but he had no idea who this person was or why he’d want to speak to him.

This was not something Sage normally would stick his nose into, but he had sensed something unusual and couldn’t hold back his curiosity. He waved at the blue haired man a few more times after his whistle and made his final plea, using the Heart’s Tongue to make sure he would be understood, “Come here. I have an offer for you!”

After a moment of indecision, the blue haired man finally walked towards him and chose to join him at the table. There was a slight ripple in the air and a barrier to block sound appeared. Then Sage released a bit of colored smoke to block vision and a smoky pink sphere appeared in the middle of the market district. Those at the neighboring tables grumbled about their entertainment being interrupted, but then returned to their prior conversations.

Inside the Windscreen, Sage smiled to the blue haired fellow and gave him a little salute, “Greetings. Sorry about the smoke, but I don’t want anyone to eavesdrop.”

The blue haired man waved his hand to push away the smoke from his vicinity, leaving it clinging to the inside of the air bubble. He narrowed his eyes at Sage, “Very convenient of you to wish to speak to me just as I’m experiencing some trouble. Bartok’s plan is more complicated than I thought. Or wait, do you work for Krutark instead?”

“I have no idea who Bartok or Krutark are. I was merely passing by and noticed you could use some assistance. Those cloaked people are the Shadow Capes, right? They will follow you till you leave town and then tell that blond guy, right?”

“A passerby, huh? What’s your angle then? Are you going to mediate for me? Do you have a connection with the Shadow Capes to make them stop? Or, you’re here to buy my goods so that Bartok no longer has a need to chase after me for them anymore?”

“Bartok must be the blond man then? No, none of those. I was thinking of leaving Deep Shore soon so I could bring you with me. In return, I’d like to know more about that tiger of yours. I’ve never seen that type of cultivation before. I’d just like to know the basics and it wouldn’t hurt to have a little company while on the road.”

“Are you serious? This is the worst scheme ever.”

“Just consider it your lucky day. Tell me where you’re staying and I’ll drop by to pick you up at nightfall. What do you have to lose?”