Finding Sef

Shui was genuinely surprised when he heard Serina's condition. He knew that she wanted to be stronger to protect her loved ones, but since she backed down when he told her how strong the Darino Gang was, he didn't think she would want to interfere.

'She's really grown.'

Shui felt proud as if it was his own achievement and patted her head with a smile.

"That's very admirable of you. Sure, let's save your brother together."

Serina showed a faint blush, but she quickly hid her smile before starting her explanation.

"I didn't learn it myself so I'm not sure of the details, but Dad said it was the core inheritance of our family. Back in the early days of the five cities' region, when there were only four cities, our ancestor came from the east in search of a place to settle down and refine his forging technique. Peace and quiet was a given, but he also wanted to choose a place where he wouldn't have to worry about finding materials. He used the Ore Seeking Art to find an area nearby a rich ore deposit and that's where our village was."

"So there's a lot of metals near your village?"

"Not anymore. Apparently, the reserves dried up five generations ago and things haven't gone well from then on."

After gaining this information, Shui figured out why the Darino Gang wanted the Ore Seeking Art.

'They must want to use it to find rare materials for their gadgets.'

If it was before Shui wouldn't have had much interest in the art, but now that his metal affinity had increased, he wanted to learn more about it. He wouldn't have to ask Sef for it since the Primordial Library had seen through his interest and was providing him with similar techniques, but he wondered how the Ore Seeking Art would compare to his natural affinity for metals.

"Okay, I think I know why they're after him. Do you know where your brother might have gone?"

Serina shook her head, "No, he didn't tell me. But, he always talked about reviving our family again so I think he's trying to follow our ancestor's path and find an area with rich ore deposits."

"I see. Okay, I'll start looking for him. In the meantime, you should start reading this."

Shui took out a jade slip and gave it to her.

"This holds the Revolving Metal Art. Sasha told me you use daggers, so I picked something that would make it easy for you to manipulate metals to use as projectiles or substitutes. It's based on lightning and metal elements, and once you've completed the foundation you'll be more sensitive to metals and their fields. What do you think?"

After taking a moment to send her spiritual sense into the jade slip, Serina's eyes opened wide in astonishment as she examined the cultivation method. She hadn't seen many before, but she could instinctively tell that the profundity of this method was far greater than what she was using.

With a nervous gulp, she asked, "Shui, how much did you pay for this?"

"Don't worry, I got a good deal on it."

"But..."

"Don't you want to go save your brother? Won't you need this for that?"

"...Okay. I'll definitely pay you back one day."

"Just focus on cultivating for now."

After Serina quickly retreated to her room to start cultivating, Shui took a seat at the table she was at and then closed his eyes. As long as he used Serina's blood then he would at least be able to identify Sef's direction, but he wanted to try another method instead.

'Now that my soul cultivation has increased and my mentality has improved, it should be possible to see better now.'

Shui took his time settling his excitement and mentally preparing himself. Compared to burning himself with the void flame, this was nothing special so he just had to be calm. Once he felt that he was ready, Shui slowly opened his eyes while facing Serina's home. In addition to the expected scenery, he also spotted blue strings from the house that were attached to him. There were also many strings coming from himself, but he ignored them.

Based on the location of the other end of the strings, he could tell which one was Serina's. He focused on that string to try and look at Serina's fate lines. Slowly, other strings began to emerge from Serina's location and stretch off into the distance. There was only one red string, so it wasn't hard to find which string belonged to Sef. Once he found this string, Shui took out a simple wooden compass that he made himself. It wasn't actually functional, but the arrow could move.

'Bind!'

Shui attempted to use 'Bind' on the string of fate. The 'Bind' inscription usually caused one object to wrap around another, but using it on something as ethereal as fate was an idea that should be possible, though unlikely. Shui wanted to attach the string of fate to the compass so that it could be used to find Sef, while also deepening his understanding of fate. Unfortunately, despite triple layering 'Bind' and focusing until his eyes became blood shot, the string was unmoved. A part of him wanted to keep trying, but he soon gave up and closed his tired eyes.

'Looks like my comprehension isn't high enough."

Shui thought that it was a shame that he couldn't manipulate Sef's string of fate, but he still gained some insights from the attempt. Though he intended on digesting these insights, he went to look for Fatty instead.

Meanwhile, a certain young man had a premonition that someone was looking at him.

"Hmm, what was that?"

He was in the mountainous region north of the five cities, Stonefield. Stonefield had even less than five cities and there weren't many villages either thanks to the rocky mountain range that took up nearly all of the region. While rivers and a lake existed, there was little fertile land so few settlements could be supported in the region. It was popular as place for seclusion and training, but the young man, Sef, was here with a different objective.

"Whatever, I better get back to moving."

Thanks to his family's treasured art, he had managed to find a place that could suit his needs, but it required a lot of strenuous climbing. Sef's cultivation was low, but his body was fit so he believed that it was a trip he could make given enough time. Still, even though he was confident in his stamina, there were many times when he wanted to stop for a while, but after using the Ore Seeking Art to confirm the location of the ore deposit, he recalled his drive and was able to keep moving. He continued on this harsh journey thinking that his only enemies were nature and himself, but just like his sister, he didn't know that the Darino Gang was still on his trail. Fortunately, help was on the way, but which group would reach him first was still a mystery.