Ri looked at Dyon oddly, but still followed.
“What would you like to wear?” Dyon asked Ri.
“Wear? What do you mean?”
“Well, since you said we weren’t dressed appropriately, couldn’t I just make it so that we were?” A mischievous glint flashed in Dyon’s eyes.
“Oh… we don’t really have anywhere to change though, and I don’t have any formal clothes.”
Ri knew she wasn’t exactly telling the truth. But, she disliked girly wear as much as Dyon disdained to wear anything but sweat pants and a t shirt. It reminded her of something she’d rather not think about.
Dyon watched Ri’s expression with interest. He could see that something was troubling her, but he had no idea how his question could elicit such complex feelings.
Dyon smiled, “if you don’t want to, let’s just go in like this,” Dyon took out a white shirt and covered his torso. Rolling up his sweat pants to his calves and leaving on his usual casual flip flops, he put his hands behind his head and strolled ahead without a care in the world.
Ri sighed, “we could just go somewhere else you know. Do you enjoy being looked down upon that much?”
Dyon chuckled, “I’d like to see how they’d look down on us when they realize the reason I can treat you today,” Dyon’s smile was bright, seemingly eroding all of Ri’s doubts.
Little Lyla remained oblivious to all of this. She used Little Black like her own personal pony, riding him from stall to stall whenever she found something interesting on the road side markets.
Dyon chuckled as he shamelessly made Ri pay for everything Lyla asked for. Even still, Ri couldn’t seem to say no to the little girl – instead happily obliging.
Soon, they had reached the front entrance of the Elvin Kingdom’s Heaven’s Wine.
Completely out of place with their surroundings, a beast, 2 elves, and a human walked in.
Much like the establishment in Wine City, this Heaven’s Wine was tiered into cultivation levels as well, although it had more floors. Instead of the 4 sets of 10 floors, this Heaven’s Wine had a 5th set, corresponding with the Saint Stage and even more delicacies.
The 5 sets of 10 floors was actually standard in most Heaven’s Wines, it was just that Wine City had no need for that last set since experts of that level so rarely went so close to the edge of the continent.
Little Lyla looked around wide eyed. The grandeur of Heaven’s Wine definitely lived up to its name. The somber atmosphere, the lavender and reds, even the elegant chandeliers that filled the relatively quiet space with soft twinkles, all culminated to a truly graceful display.
Seeing the entrance of the group of 4, many frowned, but since the true disturbance was just a little girl ooing and ahing, many felt it would be too cold to react poorly. Thus, they were ignored.
Many of the rules of Heaven’s Wine were understood, yet not written. So, although they were looked down upon, there was no one who could point to anything concrete to pin them with. However, when they noticed that the boy in sweat pants walked unhesitatingly towards the stairs that spiraled up directly to the formation stage levels, many began to find it hard to keep in… even Ri.
It wasn’t that the people on the no cultivation floors weren’t powerful enough to head upstairs, because they were. If you lived in the city and could come here, there was little doubt you were at the very least powerful enough to do that. But, being able to go up, and being able to afford going up were two completely different concepts.
Ri quickly caught up to Dyon, whispering in his ear as Little Lyla and Little Black followed in behind, “what are you doing? It’s not that I don’t have enough money… but neither of us have any cultivation. We might be able to forcibly take it with our bodies and suffer a little, but what about Little Lyla? Even Little Black, does he even have any cultivation yet?”
Dyon smiled nonchalantly. He had almost forgotten that Ri hadn’t begun energy cultivating either, but that hardly mattered. Even if he didn’t have the owner’s badge, his aurora had reached the 5th stage. In other words, he had insights into master level arrays. Even the formation created to hold back saint level experts would be seen through by him, let alone the formation for foundation stage experts. This was because although a 5th stage aurora corresponded to a soul at the essence gathering initial stages, for the same reason that Dyon could see through the arrays at Wine City’s Heaven’s Wine, he could also see through these as well: they only simulated high level arrays, while not actually being high level. If that wasn’t the case, why would the badge that gave Dyon access to all of this, only be at the half-step grandmaster level?
But, he understood Ri’s worry. It wasn’t that she had forgotten how powerful Dyon’s array alchemy was, it was just that she was very clear on the fact that what he saw through would be for his eyes only. Could he really instruct a little girl on where to step? And would that little girl be able to follow with no mistakes?
Just as Dyon was about to explain himself, the doors of Heaven’s Wine were opened.
“I don’t know why you want to bet me on this, Luvon… I’ve long since passed the 3rd common level formation tests, I’m more than ready to take the next steps. Do you really think I can’t cross to the 2nd tier with my cultivation suppressed?”
Dyon looked back to find a pair of black haired young men walking in. They couldn’t have been much older than Dyon, maybe a year at most. This also affirmed something else for Dyon: non-major family members usually had more realistic hair and eye colors. This went for sub-families as well, although they still retained their special bloodlines.
“I’m not challenging you to see whether or not you can do it. Don’t conveniently forget the terms. We’re competing to see you can pass through to the 4th floor of the 2nd tier. Or, at the very least, see who can go the furthest. The loser treats the winner at the 5th tier!” A devious smile spread across Luvon’s face.
The young man who had spoken first looked exasperated with his friend, “why are you so ridiculous? Not all of us have endless funds. Do you want my father to kill me for using his credit again?”
Luvon sighed, “you’re as cheap as your old man, Erlan. Is it fun to pretend like you’re poor? Stop being such a spoil sport.”
Erlan rolled his eyes. It seemed that he’d have no choice but to acquiesce to Luvon’s demands today. As long as he won, it wouldn’t matter too much. But, he refused to face his father’s wrath.
Soon, the boys reached Dyon’s group as they were about to head up the stairs. Looks of surprise surfaced on their faces, before it quickly switched to disdain.
“there’s an unspoken dress code here, you know,” Luvon spoke with his brows furrowed, “also, a word of advice… you can’t just head upstairs because you want to. Formations are a very complex thing, they can’t be overridden by just anyone.”
Dyon turned towards Ri with a questioning look. But, she shrugged, seemingly understanding his question, “I keep a low profile. All my interactions with the formation guild are through Grand Elder Kroak.”
A look of realization flashed through Dyon’s eyes. So, Ri didn’t know these guys although she was familiar with the formation guild because she kept that contact to a minimum… Ri was becoming more and more of a mystery to Dyon.
Dyon smiled, nodding his head, “thanks for the advice,” turning towards Little Lyla and patting her head he said, “let’s go, big brother will give you something good to eat.”
Little Lyla nodded her adorable head, rubbing her tummy. Dyon and Ri laughed at this, but Ri couldn’t help but still worry about how Dyon was planning on dealing with all of this.
Luvon’s frustration was growing, but he felt a tap on his shoulder, “ignore them. They’ll figure it out eventually, let’s go on with our competition,” Erlan said, no longer bothering with Dyon and his group.
They brushed by each other, but Dyon didn’t seem to care too much, instead materializing a familiar badge.
Ri’s eyes shone when she saw this. She knew that the more well-off families could buy badges like these. This was why the boys from before weren’t worried about making it to the top floors.
The badges were like a form of credit their owners had – almost like a Heaven’s Wine exclusive credit card. Ri wondered how much credit Dyon had, but she was even more curious as to how he got this badge in the first place, ‘did he get it from his fiancée?’
Dyon was oblivious to all of this. All he knew was that with this badge, he could eat as much as he wanted. When he saw the Heaven’s Wine in the distance, a wild idea suddenly surfaced in his mind.
When he was thinking back to how he so quickly raised his soul cultivation back then from the 3rd stage to the 4th, he found something puzzling. Although he was aware that cultivation became more difficult as you progressed, the drastic difference in speed before he reached the 4th stage and after was weighing on him. But, something clicked when Little Lyla pointed out the tower in the distance. Didn’t he eat his fill at Heaven’s Wine right before he progressed his soul? And that was only at the 4th tier level of the restaurant. How beneficial would the 5th tier be?
Dyon smirked, ‘who needs to earn money for cultivation materials when I have everything for free here? Won’t it be child’s play to find something good enough to help me integrate more of my blood essences and speed up my soul cultivation?’
Also, Dyon realized if he let Little Lyla eat here often, it would be greatly beneficial for her future cultivation. He looked at Ri and smiled thinking to himself how he’d help Ri out too if she behaved.
Ri gave Dyon a weird look when he smiled at her, “what’re you smiling about? You’re about to treat another woman with something you got from your fiancée? What’s there to be proud of?”
Dyon was in shock for a second before bitterly shaking his head, “I won this through a bet with the disciple of the owner.”
Ri blinked her eyes, “really? The disciple of Heaven’s Wine should be at the level of an unparalleled genius considering how powerful his master is. How could you beat him in anything?”
Dyon feigned being hurt, “how could you say such a thing?”
Honestly, Dyon hadn’t put Iaachus Vinum on his level as a martial artist. Maybe because he was angry with him for disregarding him in front of his fiancée, or maybe because Iaachus was so respectful to the God Clan young masters, but either way, Ri did have a point. If he gained acceptance of the owner of Heaven’s Wine, he couldn’t be weak.
What Dyon didn’t know was that Iaachus had no choice but to be so respectful to the God Clan young masters. Although he was a disciple of the owner, he was by no stretch the only disciple. And, with the constant absence of his master, many had forgotten how powerful the owner really was. For example, Madeleine told Dyon that the owner was an expert of the saint stage, but no one was sure of this. In addition, a master of the saint stage was only enough to be the grand elder of a God Clan and a simple elder of a Royal God Clan. Why would a God Clan young master be afraid of such an existence when their clan wouldn’t be?
To top all of this off, Iaachus’ master was non-confrontational. Much to Iaachus’ dismay, his master really would kill him if he killed Dyon for such petty reasons because the owner wouldn’t want such a disciple. But, when an expert wasn’t domineering, to the martial world, they weren’t worth a second thought.
Ri rolled her eyes at Dyon’s acting.
“I won because he thought I couldn’t make it to the top floor since I had no cultivation,” Dyon’s eyes flashed with a gold-purple light.
Suddenly, the formations within the badge spread, covering the 4 of them.
Dyon grinned, winking at Ri.
Little Lyla clapped gleefully, following her big brother with Little Black. Ri could only shake her head and tell herself to stop underestimating Dyon.
Soon, Dyon and his group had caught up to the competing Luvan and Erlan.
Their eyes flashed with pale whites as they slowly analyzed the formation around them. Without an innate aurora, not only did they lack Dyon’s golden color, they were also substantially slower than him at analyzing formations. In fact, it wasn’t until Dyon had passed them and they heard Lyla’s giggling that they realized they had been passed.
Surprise colored their faces.
Suddenly Erlan’s eyes flashed with an odd glint, “he’s human…”
A look of realization surfaced on Luvon’s face, “so he must have come from the continent for some reason or another… that’s probably why we haven’t heard of him or whoever gave him that badge. He probably has a good master who lent him that credit badge.”
Erlan nodded, his eyes flashing in white to continue his analysis of the formation, “it doesn’t matter. Don’t we have the same access? But, he’s not ascending with his own power, so how could he compare to us?”
Luvon hummed in agreement, “I heard him speak with the blue haired girl about the formation guild. Maybe he’s thinking of taking the 1st common level formation test.”
Erlan snorted with disdain, “He’s human, it’s rare for them to have an innate soul strength. With his lack of cultivation, would his soul even be at the first stage? And even if he by some miracle did have an innate soul strength at the lower first stage, he’s a year younger than us. Do you think that teenage formation masters are just everywhere? Stop trying to distract me, I’m not allowing you to win.”
Luvon chuckled, ignoring Erlan as he continued with each step cautiously.
Maybe if the two knew that Dyon’s innate soul strength was at the peak of the 3rd stage, they would have saved themselves some future embarrassment…
**
Soon, Dyon’s group sat in a private room in the top tier. They had to go all the way to the top to get such a privilege, but it was well worth it. Here, Dyon could eat as much as he wanted and stay away from prying eyes. In addition, if he focused on the cultivating aspect instead of the food aspect, he’d get more out of the spiritual food than he did previously.
Dyon inserted the badge into the center of the oak round table, flipping the array-like menu that appeared to Lyla so she could choose what she wanted. Little Lyla’s eyes glistened. Not having any concept of money, she chose anything she thought looked tasty. Although this sent Ri into a cold sweat, she noticed that Dyon didn’t seem to mind.
Little Black, despite his large body, found ample space to lie down comfortably on the table, waiting patiently for his food as well. After Lyla chose everything she wanted, she adorably blushed and passed the floating menu to Ri.
Ri looked up at Dyon to find him looking at her with a gentle smile on his face, “I can really choose anything I want?”
Dyon laughed, “of course. Who would have more credit than the disciple of the owner? It was a badge given to him by his master. I’ve already used my aurora to check the badge, there is no limit.”
What Dyon didn’t know was that the owner was only so giving to his disciples because normal people couldn’t eat as much food as Dyon could, let alone as much spiritual foods. There was no doubt that if the owner has a disciple like Dyon, he would impose a limit.
Ri blinked at Dyon, but eventually smiled, accepting his kindness.
Dyon patted Little Black on the head and helped Little Lyla deal with the foods she had picked. He covertly moved strong alcohol away from her, and only allowed her to eat the most delicate of foods. Although high level spiritual foods were beneficial, if too much was taken into a weak body, the effects could be horrible. So, although he let Lyla choose everything she wanted, he only truly let her eat low level foods that could be found in the lower tiers. As she matured, he’d allow her to eat higher tiers of spiritual foods.
Much like cultivation and secondary jobs, spiritual foods came with their own rankings. However, naturally occurring foods like fruits, were seen differently than prepared ones like wine. For example, the art of wine making was actually its own secondary profession, the level of which depended on not just the quality of the ingredients, but also the experience of the creator. A lot of care went into the fermentation and purification processes. Even the container and aging procedures were of utmost importance. So, wines followed the same ranking system as array alchemy did.
However, naturally occurring fruits were different. There was obviously no creator needed for these, so, they followed the same ranking system as cultivators would. A fruit comparably beneficial for a foundation stage expert would be known as a foundational fruit. A fruit beneficial for a fighter at the meridian formation stage would be known as a meridian fruit. While a higher level would be known as an essence fruit. So on, and so forth.
The only last important part that Dyon sorted from his master’s memories was that each food, whether it be created or from nature, would also be separated into what cultivation type it was useful for. That being body, soul, or energy. Dyon could only shake his head and berate himself for ignoring this before. Luckily because of his essence blood and Madeleine’s body constitution, they didn’t suffer from eating high level spiritual foods. But, he didn’t want to make the same mistake with Little Lyla.
As Dyon was silently thinking to himself he suddenly realized that Ri was being a little too quiet.
When he looked up, he felt as though his heart was being pulled out of his chest.
Sitting across from him, silently looking at the menu, Ri seemed to be frozen in time… the only sign that she was in fact still here was the trembling of her fingers. She stared at the menu with her lips quivering. Her eyes reddened as she grit her teeth trying to hold something back.
Suddenly a soft voice came from her side, “big sister?”
Little Lyla was standing on the cushioned couches that surrounded the round table, looking at Ri sadly.
“ah,” Ri seemed to snap out of it, looking over at the worried Lyla.
Ri trembled as Little Lyla wrapped her arms adorably around her head, “it’s okay big sister.”
Dyon watched this scene with a sadness still in his heart. He slowly stood, walking over to Ri and plopping down beside her.
He smiled at Ri who was holding Lyla in her arms silently, still unwilling to cry.
Dyon looked at the menu to see what had sent Ri into such a state.
There, the image of a beautiful flower shaped fruit appeared. It was a cold, ice blue, and its petals were not unlike the aloe fruit from the human words although their shape was much more delicate and fragile.
The flower spread out from its center beautiful, layering petal after petal in an elegant design. Dyon didn’t know why, but he didn’t ask Ri whether or not she wanted it. He simply tapped the screen, causing the fruit to slowly manifest onto the round oak table.
After waiting in silence for a few moments, Ri pulled Little Lyla into her lap. Patting the little girl’s head, Ri took a deep breath, feeling a little bit better. She wiped the tears from Little Lyla’s eyes, unwilling to the cheerful little girl cry.
“This is a fruit my – my mom used to cut for me when I was younger. It’s called Ice Petal’s Dance. My mother loved the fruit so much, that she created a sword technique named after it… I haven’t had it for a long time. Partially because I miss her, but also because it almost impossible to eat properly,” she said softly.
Dyon looked at the fruit, a pondering look in his eye, “why is it impossible to eat?”
Ri sighed, “each petal contains the actual fruit within it, which makes peeling the fruits a near impossible task. There are hundreds of petals. Few people are even willing to go through the hassle. That’s not even to mention that the coating of the petals is bitter to taste, but the fruit inside is really thin compared to the coating. So, if you peel it incorrectly, you could either end up with bitter tasting fruit, or no fruit at all…”
Dyon pondered on this, and suddenly smiled, “how did your mother peel it?”
Ri smiled gently in reminiscence, “her sword cultivation was so profound… she would use her sword qi to peel the petals back, leaving only the fruit behind. It was delicious.”
Dyon smiled, reaching his hand to the center of the fruit.
Ri looked confused, ‘is he trying to do what my mom did? There’s no way he has that much control…’
But suddenly, Ri’s doubt vanished. Her eyes widening in shock.
Dyon’s eyes flashed with gold, remembering one of the very first arrays he had ever mastered… the spatial array.
Sweat beaded down his forehead as the array contorted and deformed, slowly coating each and everyone of the ice blue petals.
Little Lyla looked on, giggling happily as she watched.
Minutes passed, and soon, Dyon stopped, looking towards Ri with a large grin.
“Today, I serve you Ice Petal’s Dance,” Dyon gentle grasped the center stem of the flower fruit, pulling upwards.
A sweet aroma filled the private room. It was like lavender dipped into apple cider, giving their noses a slight and gentle itching sensation.
The juices of the fruit slowly dripped from the now pinkish flesh as Dyon held the fruit’s shell in his hand.
Ri’s hands trembled as she slowly picked a petal… peeling it off and softly chewing on it.
The tears she had held back finally couldn’t be held back any longer.
The only sound left in the room was a blue haired girl sobbing in a fit of happiness and an aching longing.
“Thank you, Dyon…”