CH10: Leaving Pryford
***
CH10: Leaving Pryford
Honestly, I quite like the Class system of the Hunter Union. It tells me many things about a person.
Most importantly, it allows me to gauge a person's strength.
The strength gained with every new mana core ring isn't uniform. The grade and type of Pangea may play a role in the amount of strength gained.
Also, not all Pangea are combat based. So, increasing mana core rings doesn't necessarily translate to increased combat strength.
However, the Union's class system reasonably hints the likely ability level of an individual.
It will be integral for me in future when trying to gauge the strength of my target.
*
I know you might be bored by now, so I will pause about my gains in the Mind preparation for now.
The next and last aspect of my foundational preparation is the Environment aspect.
For this, I mostly focussed on how the world of Arun differed from my old world.
There are some similarities as well as some differences.
I don't want to touch on them much right now because they are somewhat difficult to explain right now in detail.
For now I will only talk about a few things.
*
First, the world of Arun is one, singular large continent. There's no splitting of the landmass into different continents by the three oceans.
This along with mana means quite a change in the climate, biosphere and even terrain of the landmass than in my previous world. So, any prior knowledge I may have of a region of the world from my previous life goes out the window.
*
Second, the culture of the people.
The human society of Arun is based on power and personal merit. At least in Pryford, and in the larger country of Bayveth which I'm currently residing, there's no transfer of status based on lineage. Everybody earns his own status. In fact, from what I've noticed in Pryford, people don't form large extended families or clans.
Once you've come of age (Second Awakening), society expects you to find a path for yourself.
The largest family unit is the nuclear family. Once everybody is of age, they all mind their own business.
A person may care for their sibling, but their sibling's spouse and children have nothing to do with him. It's a little weird, considering the strong family values I've become accustomed to in my previous world. But I understand this was in place only to further drive home the importance of personal merit.
There was a limit to how others could help you.
Taking it further, recieving support in achieving something from someone outside of your nuclear family is seen as a disgraceful act that would earn you admonition rather than praise. Heck, even the level of support you can receive from your nuclear family was limited and of an 'indirect' variety.
*
Next, we look at technology.
The first thing that stands out is that the tech of this world most often than not uses mana to run. Hardly was there anything not powered by mana.
The next thing I noticed was that the tech of this world had an air of the industrial revolution era of my previous world.
Everything was derived directly from processing, extracting or converting naturally occurring resources. There was no such thing as synthetic materials we were used to in my previous life.
[A/N: To better understand this, think of a Victorian era setting.]
Another thing was that the flavour of technology was once again unlike what I was used to. Tech here was used to 'further strengthen' the execution of an activity, unlike in my previous world where tech focus on making things more 'convenient'.
For example, there were no cars in this world. However, there were mana technology means to improve the speed of animal-drawn carriages.
PS: Not all animals are hostile. Humans have domesticated animals in this world too.
In this world, craftsmen would rather strengthen a sword, which takes years to train and master, than produce a gun, which is easier to learn and does the job 'better'.
This presents opportunities to me.
*
Economy and businesses are mostly driven by the hunter profession.
Most businesses are directly or indirectly related to hunters.
This isn't much of a surprise since the Union has the largest influence on human society in general.
As you might expect a Martial Arts society's economy to revolve around catering to Martial Artists, this world's economy revolves around catering to the hunters who, by their action and interest, keep the human domain safe from all manner of dangerous beasts.
*
Architecture...
How do I put this?
It's unique.
The architecture of Pryford is similar to the pre to industrial revolution era of my previous world. This meant all the houses and buildings in the town were pretty much built with stones, brick and clay. I haven't seen anything similar to blocks and cement.
Also, the buildings are built like cottages and castles, giving them an antique vibe in my eyes.
If there's one thing pre-industrial towns and cities are known for, it's their social contradictions.
The towns and cities look clean and pretty on the outside, but it is also rife with a dirty, cruel criminal underworld.
Others may find this quite disturbing. I, however, find it wonderful.
A flourishing underworld meant a good market for an Assassin's services.
And as luck would have it, this was where I found my first contract.
*
With six months left to my birthday (and mission time limit), I decided to leave Pryford and head to the neighbouring town of Pyremonte.
Pryford and Pyremonte were the two satellite towns of Landrose city, the National capital of the nation of Bayveth.
While Pryford and Pyremonte had a population of just tens of thousands at most, the population of Landrose was in the millions, possibly tens of millions.
Pryford Town was located in a grassy lowland plains with a few hills around it. It was the perfect place for agriculture which was why it supplied a significant amount of Landrose City's food demand. It was also a hub for the medicinal herbs trade.
Pyremonte on the other hand was built around the Pyre Mountain. A majestic mountain filled with various metallic ores, those rich in mana and those not rich in mana. Different metals were mined from different areas of the mountain.
(P.S: I once asked myself why so many different metals could conveniently be mined from the same mountain, but I eventually gave up and accepted it must have something to do with mana)
The town of Pyremonte was a major hub for metal ore trade in Landrose. The town also had a lot of blacksmiths and metalworkers to digest the output of the Pyre mountain.
In terms of money flow, Pyremonte was indeed higher than Pryford. However, I doubt much of that money stays within the town.
It could just be my wishful thinking as a Pryford townsfolk. We'll never admit Pyremonte is better than us.
Anyway, due to the large amount of money and precious metals flowing within it, Pyremonte is rife with many criminal elements.
Gang fighting was a norm in the town.
And where there were fights, there were feuds. Where they were feuds, they'd be people willing to pay for an assassin.
So, I planned to leave Pryford where I might be recognised and head to Pyremonte where I wouldn't be.
I had a small bag packed. I was about to leave when my eyes caught sight of my frame in a mirror close to the entrance door.
I was handsome (if I do say so myself), had dark, tan-like skin and a head full of red-gold (red-blond) hair which I always kept low.
At fourteen plus, I was well into my pubertal changes. I stood at about 174cm, with broad shoulders and patches of hair across my chin.
I was well on my way to having wonderful full-chin beard.
My body was lean, and thanks to my constant training, my muscles were also well-toned; though it wasn't obvious under my clothes.
I intend to actively build more muscle mass later, towards the end of my teens.
I wore a white wool shirt and black trouser on black leather shoes.
One thing I liked about Pryford was that the fashion choices were simple.
For men, you only needed to wear a light coloured shirt, preferably white or beige, on a dark jacket/blazer and trousers, with the same colour belt and shoes; and you were good to go.
Materials for the clothes were also natural products like wool, linen, cotton and silk.
I locked the door and began my journey to Pyremonte.
Thankfully, while cars didn't exist in Arun, trains did.
The train itself was slightly different from the trains I knew from my past world but train tracks were the same.
Trains in Arun have their wheels hidden behind thick armour. Also, it didn't run on steam or electricity, they were powered by a mana engine.
Unfortunately, I had yet to see one in the flesh, but I figured it was a basic motor engine; wherein instead of having steam/heat moving the gears, it was done in some way by mana.
The train was fast, even compared to those of my previous life.
In under an hour, I arrived at Pyremonte which was 200Km away.
*
(To be continued...)
[A.N: If you're enjoying the book, please leave a review, vote with power stones and golden tickets. Gifts are also very welcomed. Also, please check out my other book Soldiers of Time. Thanks.]