A stranger at home

On a cold morning, the sun was hidden behind the clouds projecting shades on the brick-made walls, the wind blowing between the trees and birds singing spirited melodies were the only sound to be heard in a deserted village. The remnants of ashes on the floor and barrels of wine scattered all over the place are evidence that a celebration happened last night.

The only life to be found in this village is a couple, a young man and a mature woman giving a kiss, although their actions display passion, their eyes contain sorrow. Ryu was saying his last goodbye to Anne, he decided to use the rare chance that the others were sleeping late to escape in secret, last night's celebration went all night long and no one was awake. He was not feeling like saying goodbye, he didn't want a sad farewell.

When he first arrived at the village was under a heavy storm, he didn't know what he would find nor what to expect, now he is leaving after he enjoyed and fantastic adventure and making several friends.

The levels, and the skills he got made him strong, but there is no use with strength if there is no happiness in your life. This was the precious lesson Ryu found in this small village, a lesson he would take forever with him.

He made the journey back to the sect walking fast, his legs were still hurting otherwise he would run all the way to the sect, though he was walking, the speed he developed was many times faster than the speed from when he was going to the village.

Ryu was walking with his heart heavy, he was thinking about the friends he left behind, but when he was making plans to visit them in the future he remembered that they had a much short lifespan. If he goes to the village in ten years, he would still have the same young appearance, but what would be of them? Anne would be old, Clark out of his prime condiction, Susan...

Then Ryu remembered why he had gone to the village, it was because another friend, a friend he talked to only a few times and knew less than the people he abandoned without saying goodbye. A thought flashed in his mind, did Ryu got what Nura was expecting him to get? Ryu tried to remember the conversation on the day Nura said him to leave the sect.

He was feeling unmotivated and Nura told him to come, not saying why. In Ryu's point of view, Nura was a sage, a man capable of foreshadowing the events that he needed to face to grow as a cultivator.

Without even realizing Ryu reached the sect, he walked for hours and made his way to the sect in just one go, an experience much different from when he left.

The wooden made houses in the sect and their perfect symmetry caused a mixed effect on Ryu Sei; he liked the organization and functionality of the city, but the simplicity and lack of refinement give the city an air of monotony as if the sect was it to build its own personality, or maybe this is its personality.

Ryu went straight to the management hall to report his return, the procedure was fast and easy, there wasn't much bureaucracy, the elder in charge only made two questions for him: if he had faced any trouble outside the sect, and if he had reached level 10 in cultivation.

The first quest was to find out if there is a possible danger to the sect members, if a cultivator faces danger because he is a cultivator from the earthly transitions sect, the sect will have to take providence to protect its own disciples, otherwise, it is all fine. The second quest was to determine if the disciple has attained a level to raise in the sect hierarchy. The sect management was like the city itself, practical and methodical.

After his liberation, Ryu went straight home, he was eager to find Nura as ask him what was his intention while he suggested going to a village. How could his friend know the dynamics of a city of non-cultivators to such an extent that he was sure that it would bring great benefits to his strength and mentality?

Ryu was also looking forward to tease Nura for traveling alone with Luise, after their conflicted and noisy start the two found something in common and were getting along. Ryu opened the door of his house with violence, if it was not reinforced with runes it would have broken.

"Hey Nura, I am back. If you are with Luise there you better get yourselves dressed."

But when he entered the room he saw nothing, the house was desert-like no one had used it in weeks, he looked at Nura's room, there was nothing to reveal someone had entered the house. Ryu went back to the management hall to ask if Nura had returned, the elder was surprised with his return, but informed him that Nura and Luise were yet to come back.

With his friend absent Ryu went to find another person he knew, he went to Igor's house but found he was out doing quests with his friends Marcel and Pavel. Ryu started to feel depressed, he was feeling like a stranger in the sect, a place that should be his own home.

After eating and resting, Ryu was feeling bored, he reached the sect not even one day, but he couldn't get rid of the sensation of why he had come back. Thus he went to do what he usually does in cases like this, carefree walk, he would thrust his feet to take him to where he should be.

Ryu was walking on random streets for hours without any event, the geometry and strict pattern of the city have ruined his carefree walking if there aren't different buildings and streets to see the main point of the exercise is wasted, thus he decided to give it a try to the outskirts.

He walked in the outskirts without anything, in particular, happening, close to the mountain he found a rock 5 meters tall encrusted in the ground. This rock was different from the others because the base was thinner than the top, and the top was apparently flat.

Ryu climbed the rock to see what was on the top, despite not having many protuberances on the rock to use as a griping to climb Ryu reached the top without problem, his current strength and dexterity covered the lack of support.

On the top of the rock he saw a circular shape almost 6 meters in diameter, but what surprised Ryu was the flatness of the top, calling it flat is a euphemism, it was perfectly plain like the whole piece had been extracted from a bigger piece with a single cut from a sword.

He seated in a border of the rock to enjoy the view, it was the twilight hour and the view of the sect and the far distance were mesmerizing. Time passed on top of this rock and Ryu remained there, ruminating in his thoughts thinking what he should do next to progress.

Ryu raised his head up and saw the green lights of an aurora borealis tearing the sky.

"It is a wonderful sight." a hoarse voice of a man came behind Ryu. Which made his heart pound fast, someone approached him from behind on top of the rock and he completely missed it.