Talk

"Too big to count? Do you mean thousands of different types?" Blan asked, curious.

"Millions of them, maybe billions," Carol corrected him.

Blan was obviously shocked to hear that. "You can't be serious? How can the apothecaries of your world create so many? How did they even teach all of that to their disciples?"

Lian sighed before he started to explain how the education in their world worked. "So, simply put, everyone with a stable financial situation could pretty much go to college and learn literally any job they wished. As for how we recorded everything, we used those equipment called computers that I told you about. However, there's no need for you to focus too much on it since we can't create a computer in this world. Well, at least none of the three of us can."

Blan couldn't help but find it weird. "Knowledge passed to anyone who wanted it, and some could get it for free as long as they put in the effort. It's so different from our world, where everyone guards their knowledge with their lives."

Duran then looked back in the city's direction. They were already too far away to see the city, though. "I'll be honest. It's because your world thinks like this that it's so primitive. If knowledge was made accessible to everyone, perhaps the fact that you guys have Star Energy would have brought your world to a much more advanced state than ours. Alas, your selfishness and greed kept all of you from becoming a real developed world."

Lian and Carol couldn't agree more. It was definitely the spread of knowledge that transformed Earth into what it was. If knowledge was kept on Earth the same way in this world, Earth would probably still be in the medieval age by now.

"Let's change the topic," said Tuly. "Your world was your world. This world is this world. Even if you tell Senior Blan all of that, he can't possibly start sharing his apothecary skills with everyone. If he did that, chances are he would be killed."

Blan nodded in response. "Other Star Apothecaries would do their best to eliminate anyone getting in the way of their profits, and I'm no exception. I'm sorry, Lian. I understand what your group meant. In fact, just by what you have shown me so far, I'm starting to believe that you're definitely right. Nevertheless, there's nothing I can do."

Lian shook his head, replying, "It's fine. I'm happy enough to be chosen by you as a disciple. However, I'll be honest with you. You said I should never pass forward the knowledge I get about the Star Apothecary job unless it's a disciple I have chosen. However, I'm a teacher. If one day I'm in a safe environment where I can share what I know, I will definitely do so."

Blan narrowed his eyes after hearing that. He knew that Lian would rather give up being his disciple instead of keeping everything for himself. However, now that he had heard so much about their previous world, he had to admit he was curious to see what Lian's example would create in his own world. "Fine! However, you have to promise that you will absolutely not share the knowledge of the Star Apothecary job unless you're absolutely sure you can do that safely. If you can do that, I will let you do so."

Lian was obviously happy to hear that. "Thank you, Master."

Blan nodded, satisfied. "Very good. We can talk more about the Star Apothecary job once we get back in the city. Instead, why don't you three talk more about the advancements your world achieved compared to ours?"

Duran definitely liked the idea. "Alright, I start! After all, the world we had was where math was an absolute necessity."

Carol and Lian shrugged their shoulders in response but didn't stop Duran. It was true that math was one of Earth's pillars in the modern world.

And just like that, they continued on their journey. Of course, Lian's group also took the chance to ask many things about the world they were in, like where exactly in this world they were in at the moment.

Blan just so happened to be the one with the most knowledge about it. "Oh, that's easy. At the moment, we're in the country of Gloscal. Our Tume City is located southwest of the center of the country, quite close to the border with Vanciles Country. If we go southwest from Tume City, we will arrive in Vanciles in a week's time at this pace."

Blan continued. "At the center of Gloscal is where you'll find our country's capital, Termilia City. I have been there three times. It's really a big city. Naturally, it's located northeast of here. However, it would surely take forever to get there by foot like what we're doing right now. With that being said, we would have to take one of the Domesticated Rascrata."

"What is a Rascrata?" Lian's group asked straight away.

"Oh, right! You guys have just arrived, so you haven't seen one yet. It looks like this." Blan then paused a moment and drew the Star Creature on the ground. It looked like a giant beetle, although it had more horns. "They travel very fast underground, using the Rascrata Tunnels spread all around Gloscal. It's just that they're quite hard to tame, so there aren't many that come to our Tume City. You will only see one group of Rascrata passing by Tume's underground tunnels once every three months."

"This is definitely a fantasy world," Duran couldn't help but comment.

Tuly laughed in response. "Hahaha! For us, the fantasy world is yours, not ours."

Blan smiled as he was quite enjoying the conversation, something that rarely happened in his case. "Anyway, as far as I know, our Gloscal Country is part of the Wesvrin Empire. We are located somewhere in its northeastern region. Unfortunately, that's where my knowledge ends. I have never left the country, nor did I have a reason to know more about the Empire, so I don't know the rest."

Lian, Carol, and Duran were still grateful for the information. "Thank you, Senior Blan."

Tuly was feeling quite nice, seeing that they were building up a good connection with Blan. It was going much better than he thought. "Alright, everyone. The last of the three suns is coming down. Let's raise our camp here. We should arrive in Ostalas by tomorrow afternoon."