Gleam - Chapter 66 (Patreon)

“The way you say talk makes me think there’s something in particular you’ve got in mind,” Chance said, exchanging a glance with Bella. “Go ahead, though.”

“While Yamish may have bound us, I have no plans of sacrificing large portions of my cultivation for you. The chances of a human gaining enough enlightenment to become immortal are astronomically small. However, I have no lifespan. The drawback is that I cultivate much, much slower than you do.”

“Oh, that’s fine.” Chance shrugged. “I wasn’t really expecting any of your cultivation or whatever. Besides, we aren’t cultivating the same thing. I’m following the path of Good Karma, and you’re… well, everything. What use would me taking away from your work even do?”

The rocky face of the Old City twitched in a remarkably human manner. Bella stared at Chance like he’d just tried to swallow a live rat.

“What?” Chance asked.

“Inanimate objects that gain awareness and seek to reach enlightenment without following a specific path essentially have pure Essence,” Bella explained. “Very, very concentrated pure Essence. Just think about how much energy it must have taken for an entire city the size of Gleam to gain a personality. Even a small portion of that power could give you an enormous boost in strength.”

“Oh. That’s why all the cultivators would have wanted the Old City!” Chance exclaimed. “Guess that’s why Yamish was eyeing you too.”

“Exactly,” the Old City said with a nod. “Which is why I needed to address it now. As we are bond, you may have the temptation to draw energy out of me.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it.” Chance waved a hand dismissively. “I really don’t need your Essence. Keep all of it. Really, I’m just glad that everything worked out with Yamish. Can’t you just… I don’t know, keep cultivating and doing whatever you were doing?”

The Old City cocked its head to the side. “What?”

“You know. You were cultivating before we met, weren’t you? Just keep doing that.”

“You don’t want anything?”

“I’ve already got my urumi,” Chance said, patting the bracelet on his wrist. “And I don’t like the idea of having to rely on other people’s power to get stronger, especially if it means stealing it. You do your thing and I’ll do mine.”

Bella started to laugh as the Old City fell silent, watching him with empty eyes. Chance frowned.

“What?”

“I think you’re the only person in the history of Centurion that would voluntarily reject a fast track through the ranks. Just a tiny amount of power probably would have boosted you all the way up to Baron or even Earl.”

“Yeah, but it wouldn’t have been my power.” Chance crossed his arms. “And that doesn’t feel right. If you have to steal from others just to get powerful, then you aren’t really that powerful yourself. You’re just using a bunch of crutches. It would go against my path. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?”

The Old City slowly shook its head. “Not at the moment.”

“Great. Glad we got that settled,” Chance said. “By the way, we really need a better name for you, especially if you’re going to be talking to me frequently. I can’t keep thinking of you as the Old City.”

“I am the Old City.”

“Yeah, but that’s too wordy. What about Ocie?”

“I was formed centuries before you existed, and I am one of the greatest Scholar Cities in all of Centurion. Millions upon millions rely on me for protection, and I have the potential to transcend this planet entirely within a few hundred years. You want to call me… Ocie?”

“I think it’s a pretty good name,” Chance defended. “Can you think of a better one that doesn’t require half a sentence to say?”

The statue sighed. “Ocie it is.”

Bella snickered, and Ocie shot her a sharp glare. She just shrugged in response.

“Don’t look at me. You’re the one that agreed to it. Better that than getting bound to someone that would just try to consume all the energy you’ve got, isn’t it?”

“Only slightly,” Ocie grumbled. A breeze rustled through the forest and it looked up at the trees, its rocky features unreadable. “I shall return to my cultivation. If we are to work together in any capacity in the near future, I must refine my physical form. We will speak again.”

Cracks spread through the statue and it crumbled apart, cascading to the ground in a shower of loose stone and dust. Chance waved the cloud of dust away, coughing.

“Well, that was dramatic,” Bella said.

“It wasn’t like that when I spoke to it alone,” Chance said. “I think it was trying to make itself look cooler because you were here. For that matter, I don’t think it’s really had much opportunity to really interact with people. Its alleys were kind of infested with monsters, after all.”

“It’ll get its chance soon enough,” Bella replied, grinning at the pun. “We should keep moving, though. Nobody is getting any chances if the Shikari catch up to us too quickly. I think we should be getting fairly close to the nearest town. Just a day or two more.”

***

Bella wasn’t too far off. Two days later, the forest started to thin. The markings that other Shikari had left on the trees gave them enough guidance to avoid getting too lost, and they soon found a beaten dirt path winding through the trees.

By the end of the day, they reached the edge of the forest. Beyond it stretched long, sloping grassy hills. A wood-walled city sat on the hill across a valley. Small pillars of smoke rose up from chimneys that poked up just above the walls, and several tall guard posts stood around it.

The road leading up to the town was empty. It was exactly the same as the beaten dirt in the forest, with no real attention given to detail or beauty. The path was nothing more than a path, with no effort spent making it fancy.

“There it is!” Bella said, letting out a relieved breath. “I’m glad it’s still here.”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Chance asked as they broke free of the forest and started down into the valley toward the town.

“Towns outside the Great Cities often don’t last very long,” Bella replied. “Monsters are drawn to all the free Essence bundled up in soft, fleshy humans that can’t defend it.”

Chance grimaced. “Right. I think Yeo mentioned something about that. I thought we were close enough to Gleam that it wouldn’t make a difference. I mean, this place can’t be more than a day of travel away for someone like Joe who can fly around.”

“Just because cultivators can get here that quickly doesn’t mean they will,” Bella said, her face darkening. “The rest of Centurion is nothing like Gleam. We should focus on trying to travel as quickly as possible to reach one of the other major cities.”

Chance opened his mouth, then closed it when he saw the expression on Bella’s face. It was clear that he’d hit a raw nerve, and she didn’t look like she’d appreciate him pressing on it any further.

“I’ll take your word for it,” Chance said. “Is there anything else I should know about this town, then?”

“Keep an eye on your belongings,” Bella replied. “And don’t get involved with anything that you can avoid. There are a lot of unscrupulous people outside the Scholar Cities, and most places don’t have a Shikari outpost to enforce rules. Oh – don’t mention you’re from Gleam for obvious reasons.”

Chance nodded, and the two of them fell silent. The rest of the trip to the wooden walls only took a little less than an hour, and the two travelers soon found themselves standing in front of a quaint log gate.

It was just large enough for a large wagon to pass through. Compared to Gleam’s towering entrance, it was almost funny. Two guards manned the gate from the wall above, each carrying a plain metal spear and wearing a mixture of metal and leather armor.

“Ho there, travelers!” one of the men called down, raising his spear in greeting. “Any news of interest?”

“Nothing too catching,” Bella called back. “We’ve been camping out in the forest for the past few weeks. Nothing there but the wind.”

Both guards crinkled their faces in disappointment.

“Figures. Don’t let us keep you, then. If you’ve been in the forest for weeks, take a bath before the rest of us are forced to smell it.”

The other guard chuckled and waved them through. The inside of the town looked exactly how Chance had expected it to. Old, cobbled streets ran in straight lines down the city, all branching off from the main one.

Along them were single story houses, with a smattering of larger, two story ones that were mostly clustered around what seemed to be the center of the town. Lanterns dangled from metal hooks along the roads, though they were all unlit as the sun still hung high in the air above them.

An old sign leaning at a sharp angle near the entrance directed them toward the town circle which was, unsurprisingly, in the center of the town. The main road took them right up to it.

A few people dotted the road, but nobody gave them a second glance. The time in the forest had done much to dirty their clothes. They hadn’t been all that fancy in the first place, so the two of them fit right in with the other townsfolk.

“A bath doesn’t sound that bad at all,” Chance said as they came to a stop in front of a long one story building. Heavy steam rose up behind it, and even from outside, Chance could feel the warmth coming from within it.

“Hence why we’ve stopped in front of the town bathhouse rather than going straight to an inn,” Bella said, pushing the door open and stepping inside. Chance followed her in.

An old woman sitting behind a small counter squinted in their direction, then smiled and gave them a friendly nod.

“Welcome. It looks like you’ve been on the road for a while,” she said. “And so young, too. I hope your travels have gone well.”

“Nothing too exciting,” Bella replied. “I suppose that’s for the best. How much for the two of us?”

“One silver for both,” the woman replied. Chance went to pull his money out, but Bella had paid the woman before he’d even managed to find his money. She rolled her eyes at Chance’s frown.

“We’re not going to split a silver,” Bella said. “Just pay for the next one.”

The old woman laughed, pulling two brown towels made from some woven plant from beneath her counter. She tossed them to Bella and Chance.

“Women to the left, men to the right,” she said, indicating two doors on either side of the room. “We’re supposed to tell you to keep your stay under an hour, but it only matters if there are a lot of other people waiting. It’s pretty empty today.”

She winked at them.

“Thanks,” Chance said. “We’ll keep that in mind. We can meet back up outside the building.”

“Works for me.” Bella slung the towel over her shoulder and headed over to the women’s side of the bathhouse. Chance left through the other door. He was used to going long stretches of time without a shower, but something about the bathhouse just seemed so much more fun than a normal shower.