23 - New City, New House, New Life - OCIEN (1)

The carriage finally started to move. Unlike when we came to Quakan we decided to take civil transport, it would take too long to wait for a mission that went towards Aden.

Aden is the epitome of a city in our region. One million inhabitants, bigger just the County, but it does not accept immigrants with strength less than 3rd Circle.

Aden itself has high standards, it mainly functions as a gateway to the County. Therefore, to act as an adventurer in Aden, the minimum requirement is to be in the 2nd Circle.

We spent a total of five months in Quakan, a departure from our initial plan of wandering through several cities before heading to Aden, but an adjustment we decided on after much discussion.

The last three months in Quakan were filled with combat missions, our lack of experience with condors almost ended up costing us more than we were prepared to pay.

We acquired Combat Skills for Reina and I tried my best to teach her elemental control on the Mage Path. Our combat strength has increased greatly during this period, currently we can guarantee facing and defeating opponents one star higher than ours, whether humans or beasts.

The cultivation we did during this period guaranteed a solid 7 Stars on both paths.

All of this cultivated in the traditional way.

I tried to guide her as best as possible, but some secrets of breathing techniques are hidden so deeply that even if I had the written manual I wouldn't be able to explain them to her.

All night while we cultivate I came to notice the difference in density between our aura and mana, but even though I was worried, I preferred not to comment since she didn't bring up the subject.

Without having to worry about travel safety, we took our time to cultivate and review the plan.

We purchased information from the Adventurers Guild to ensure our plans don't go awry.

Every mission we performed accumulated more than two thousand gold coins.

A house in Aden costs about a thousand coins.

The monthly cost to live comfortably in Aden is ten gold coins per person. So we have enough money to keep us in Aden for about two years, if we need more we can always get jobs.

"Ready to start a new life again?" – I asked Reina with a joking tone.

She opened her eyes and gave me a tired look.

"I'm tired of sleeping in an inn, I hope having a home of our own will help me sleep better." – she commented without much expectation.

Since the escort mission that took us to Quakan, Reina has been sleeping less and less. Every night I see her pretending to be asleep until exhaustion overcomes a few hours before dawn, even with so few hours of sleep she insists on accompanying me every morning.

Our intimate relationship hasn't progressed much in the last few months, just the joint bath that lasted a few weeks.

I was afraid that my problems were affecting her, I was always very anxious and depressed, deep down I knew it was the confrontation with the bandits.

"As soon as we arrive in Aden, we will go to the Urban Planning Department to buy our house and then we will buy the best bed that is for sale." – I said, trying to comfort her.

Reina let out a sad smile, she didn't believe that that would be the solution to the problem.

"Can we buy a house with two bedrooms?" – she asked hesitantly.

Those words made me swallow hard. My stomach dropped and my heart began to beat heavily in my chest.

Seeing my reaction she started to panic.

"Ocien, I'm sorry, I spoke without thinking." – she said in a pleading tone.

I licked my lips, which seemed to have dried up in an instant, and gave a wide, toothless smile.

"No, no problem, this is what you really want, you don't need to keep forcing yourself to do something you don't want to do." – I said I was trying to be kind, but all I managed was to be sad.

Her eyes were soon flooded with tears, each one slowly rolling down her cheeks.

"We are together, we will solve our problems, I am here to support you and help in any way possible." – I declared, extending my hand and caressing her face.

The damage the escort caused to her was greater than I could have imagined, it was as if I was seeing a version of myself from years ago.

The anxiety I tried to ignore in her was glaringly visible and her figure seemed to be wasting away. Even though I made sure she ate every meal, her figure had gone from chubby to defined curves and now showed signs of emaciation.

The marked cheeks on the face, the extremely thin waist and the fragile shins.

Everything I had denied until that moment became clear to me.

She needed help and I wasn't qualified to handle the situation.

"As soon as we are settled in the house I will look for help, ok?" – I suggested cautiously.

She cried even more.

"I don't know what's happening to me... Everything seems so difficult... So horrible... I tried hard... I swear I tried... I tried to do everything you asked…" - she said with difficulty between sobs.

My heart trembled seeing that situation, it was all too familiar to me.

Years without much perspective in life ended up helping me to digest the whole situation better than she did. Reina has always been an ordinary girl, from an ordinary family, with ordinary problems.

When her problems seemed to be over she was put into a game for the entertainment of someone we will probably never meet.

The adventurer's dream was so far from her reality that the consequences of the dream never crossed her mind.

All the meditation she did was acceptable, but the blood she saw during the last five months was too much for her.

"Everything will be fine, we will find the help you need." – I said, trying to comfort her.

Reina continued crying for a few minutes, not wanting to leave her feeling alone, I switched my seat in the carriage so she could cuddle up to me.

The trip was just beginning and we still had four days to go.

The next morning while she was cultivating I started thinking about how to solve the problem. It wouldn't be easy, our secrets are too big to say out loud and doctors capable of dealing with the situation were rare and expensive.

Little by little a new plan formed in my mind and I finally had something to work with. I needed to buy a Mana Contract and find a doctor who has a minimum of experience with depression and anxiety who would agree to sign the contract.

A Mana Contract is a magical scroll that binds the energy of two parties, if one of the parties does not fulfill what was promised, the result could even be fatal. This type of contract is generally used in large transactions between institutions or cities. The gold involved in these transactions is such that the value of five hundred gold coins for the contract is a mere crumb.

The problem now was money again, we had prepared just over two thousand gold coins to live in Aden for two years, but with the contract and the cost of the doctor our survival fund fell from two years to probably six months.

Once I confirm the costs I will need to make some decisions that I didn't want to make. I'll probably need to accelerate my ascension to the 2nd Circle so I can start working as an adventurer.

The mere idea of advancing my cultivation and leaving Reina behind broke my heart, but it would probably be impossible to get another job that could finance what was to come without reaching the next Circle.

The sun set and the moon rose in all its splendor in the sky. I admired that scene through the carriage window, lost in my thoughts.

I woke up when I felt Reina's hand touch my shoulder.

"Hi love, did you say something?" – I asked, still a little lost.

Reina let out a toothless smile.

"It's time to eat." – she said without much excitement.

I helped her organize the rations we had separated for the trip, unlike the convoy we escorted, the transport we took this time were carriages pulled by starry beasts trained to make this type of journey.

Four days of travel without stops, if the route were made with stops it would take between eight and ten days of travel. Something unacceptable for the Transport Guild, every trip that exceeded seven days from one city to another was done continuously. If the continuous format was longer than seven days, the trip was established with stops in other nearby cities to rest the beasts and replenish supplies.

This scenario was very difficult to happen, only merchants make long journeys and it is normal for them to stop at every city along the way.

Especially because the distance from Aden to Almage, the most isolated City in the County, is only six and a half days using this type of transport. So basically transportation between Aden and any other city didn't need a stopover.

This was the pride of the Transport Guild.

"Any significant gains today?" – I asked Reina while she was nibbling on a cookie.

She looked away momentarily before responding.

"I reached the first third of the Star." – she said after taking a long sip of wine.

One of the uses of the systems we discovered in recent months was the detailing of cultivation levels.

This was a feature that appeared after we reached 5 stars, now we know how far until the next barrier. This way we can better plan our activities due to the euphoria.

It's only a few hours, but we can't take unnecessary risks during this period.

Well, the 8 stars are right there. – I said with a satisfied smile.

She had been trying harder and harder, but it was costing her health. No matter how powerful she may be at some point, her mind and body will not be able to handle such power.

"And you?" – she asked seriously.

I swallowed the cookie dryly, almost hurting my throat.

"I'm getting to half of mine." – I said, trying to sound legitimate.

The truth was that I was approaching the final quarter of mine, but I didn't want her to have any more worries. It was clear that she knew I cultivated faster than her, but we never really discussed how much.

Given her cultivation speed, she would need a month to reach 8 Stars. In just over four days I will be ready, but I will wait for her.

This will probably be the last time I wait.