The woman was skeptical and urged one of the men on the side to do so. The man reluctantly scooped out a small portion of the paste and applied it to his arm in a very delicate fashion.
He waited for just a few seconds when he noticed the slight crawling sensation beneath the paste. “Something is happening,” the man said, waiting for a bit. Everyone looked at his arm, waiting.
After a while, the sensation stopped.
The paste had become rigid at that point, growing crumbly and flaky. The man scrubbed away the bits of the solid paste and saw that nothing visually had changed underneath his skin.
However, something had actually happened there.
He touched the spot where he used the paste and around it. There was a genuine difference. In fact, there was such a big difference that the man couldn’t help but stare up at Alex.
“My skin… my skin is nearly twice as strong now,” he said with awe in his voice.
The others turned to stare at Alex with wide eyes upon hearing that.
“Its effects get worse with one’s physical strength, so I’m happy that you still noticed such a great change,” he said. “So, could I urge you to help me now?”
They all turned toward the old man, waiting for him to continue.
“Let me get this straight,” the old man said. “You wish to learn about the sunhearts and where they come from, is that correct?”
Alex nodded.
“And nothing else?”
“Well, I would be lying if I said nothing else. I wish to see the desert and learn about the people there. I want to see how you guys survive in a place where there should be no resources. Although, those are all just curiosities that I will be fine not getting an answer to. As long as I learn about the sunheart and how I can acquire more of them, I will be satisfied.”
The old man stared at Alex for a long moment. “May I ask why you wish to acquire sunhearts? I have two I can sell you if that is what you wish,” he said.
Alex took a moment to consider it and shook his head. “I have something I want to do with them, so I will need more than just two,” he said. “But I will also take those two if you wish to sell them to me.”
“I hope you do understand that sunhearts do nothing more than give shade to you,” the old man said. “Having more than a few is of no use if you stay outside of the desert.”
“I understand, but I still need them,” he said. He didn’t bother explaining the reason, and the old man didn’t ask.
The old man took a moment to consider everything and nodded. “Since you say you wish to learn more about the desert, I have a proposition for you,” he said. “Come with us to the desert and be our healer for a while. We will tell you what you want to know at our city.”
Alex raised an eyebrow. “That works for me. When do you leave?”
“We leave whenever we are done with our trades,” the woman said. “It could be an hour, a day, or a week. We can’t say anything for certain.”
Alex thought for a moment. “Then would it be alright if I sat alongside you and waited? I will not interfere with your business whatsoever.”
The old man shrugged. “Feel free.”
Alex went to a small spot next to them and sat to the side. He picked up a small pebble from the ground and began training with it, hovering it around his palm.
While it was a show that made a few eyes in the marketplace turn, everyone had seen cultivators before, so they weren’t surprised in the least about what Alex was doing.
Even the ones around him couldn’t tell that he wasn’t using his Qi at all in what he was doing.
Alex made things harder for himself by doing two things at once. While he trained with the rock, he talked with the people too, asking them questions. The first thing he wanted to learn about was how these people got metal in the desert.
But it turned out that there was a large mountain range in the desert that held large iron veins inside of it. That was where they got the metal from.
He asked other questions, like how they got their food and water in the desert.
For food, they got the grains and dried fruits from this city, from trades that were made with them by the many tribespeople that came to this city. For water, it seemed that they had wells back in their city.
“The well has water in the desert?”
“Yes,” the old man said. “We have to dig particularly deep, but there is water down there. We just use that.”
Alex was surprised to hear that the well hadn’t dried up after so many years. “It must rain frequently in the desert if the wells are working.”
“Rain?” the woman asked from the side. “There is no rain in the desert. You can barely even see any clouds in the sky out there. All you can see is the prison wall.”
Alex paused. “The what?”
The woman pointed to the sky. “The prison wall.”
Alex looked at the sky, trying to guess what she was talking about. Then, he saw the shimmering light. “Wait, are you talking about that light?”
The woman nodded. “The prison wall.”
“Why are you calling it that?” he asked. This was the first time he had heard about it being referred to as that.
“That’s what those lights are called,” the woman said. “Did you not know?”
“I didn’t,” Alex said, confused. He looked at the sky. “Why do they call them that?”
The woman shrugged. “How should I know? That’s just its name.”
“Just– so you don’t know why it’s named that way?”
“It’s just a name that has been passed down throughout the centuries, young man,” the old man answered. “We can’t tell you why our ancestors named them what they did.”