Chapter 1 - A Planned Journey Uncertain
Walking through the streets of The Great Lou City, is a young man named Wen Chan. For some strange reason, his parents and grandparents decided to give the last name Chan. Their family name is Hung after all. He never got a chance to ask why, as they died in a tragic event called The Dark Burn of Little Lou. Little Lou was the name of the largest market in the city and the second largest in the Tin Empire. Of course, this was all 21 years ago and Wen was raised by his aunt and uncle as a result. Unfortunately, they did not know the reasoning behind his name, so they could not tell him either.
His aunt and uncle were older than his parents and had kids of their own. Following the same strategy they used with their own kids, Lin and Mark send Wen out into the world to make accomplishments of his own and start his own family. This is what brings Wen into the main district of The Great Lou City. On his person, Wen is equipped with a Hung Bank Token with access to 1,000 karats, his grandfather's platinum ring he got for his 55 years of military service and withering dagger. He also has two maps. One of The Great Lou City and one of the June Continent.
Of course, if he wants to last long out in the world, he needs a first-class tool and knowledge of the world at large. He was given martial arts training since 10 by various teachers from various walks of life. Before he left the village, he heard about various bounty jobs in market, so he decided to start there. With his successes will come more income and a glorious reputation. Wen is a handsome young man that can rope in anyone pleases and be taken care of very well. However, he does not want to rely on his looks for status. He'll leave that to his second oldest cousin.
Before he can hope to be a great warrior or at least an elite citizen, he needs a weapon. At least, that is what he is told time and time again by all the old heads. For now, he will rely on his skills and his dagger to get him by. Besides, he is going start with small missions before elevating to the major league of hunters. The place he goes to acquire such missions, is Winks Dispatchers. All manner of open missions is advertised and recorded there. In fact, even Officials post missions there. Since its establishment 100 years ago, Winks has earned one hundred million karats worth of missions.
As he walked through the building, he sees all manner of folk. Whether it be the greedy or the desperate, they were all here for the money and fame. There were some whom he bumped into that seems to have moral reasons for accepting these missions and so he socialized with them mostly. The rank of a mission is grouped by color to inform possible hunters/agents. Blue is the lower danger level missions, going from light blue (easy), to dark blue (difficult). Yellow is one step above blue with missions not for non-practitioners or non-cultivators (ordinaires).
Orange takes it even further, as these missions requires at least C level practitioners or cultivators. Pink is separated from the others, but it is placed above orange and below red, as it deals with politics and other official business that often gets elevated. Lastly, is the Red Ranked Missions. These are incredibly dangerous missions that is not for the inexperienced or the weak. Loss of life is almost guaranteed, and the world could also be at risk. However, it pays the most if completed. Even if you fail, you, your family or anyone you name next of kin, will receive some compensation. You are even paid some amount of money just for taking the mission. That was actually a decree from His Majesty Emperor Kai Ning.
Confident in his ability, Wen takes on a Yellow Ranked Mission, shade of mustard. Successfully completing this mission would earn him 125 karats after Winks takes their share. He talks to a man named Dave, who gives him a random envelope from a neatly stacked pile behind him. Wen asks, "shouldn't you check the mission first?" However, Dave responds, "I do not have the authority to open the mission statements after they are sealed. Besides if it's here, it can't be wrong. Our new Mission Master is very diligent. Good luck good sir". Trusting the system, Wen takes his envelop and leaves the building.
He seeks shelter at the Golden Smile Inn to rest and go over his mission. Golden Smile is a well-known and respected establishment that has hosted generals and grandmasters alike. Infact, it was founded by an A level cultivator named Row Lan, The Mage in Red. He was also a 5 Star General under Emperor Norse III. It turns out that the owner of the inn were good friends with Wen's grandparents, so they put him in the second-best room they had available. As he settled in, he goes over his mission. "Your mission is to help the people of Horan with their zombie situation and bring back a piece of one of the zombies for examination".
He scrutinized the map very carefully, searching for the best paths to Horan. His best option is to travel through Milan's Forest of Mysteries. It is the fastest route and there will be less delays, as the more established routes leading out of Lou would be busy as people traveled to the capital for the Imperial Cultivation Tournament to become the Empire's Chief Cultivator. A tournament Wen wishes to partake in someday. For now, he will make a name for himself out in the world first.
He spent the night in the inn before setting off, to ensure that he is well rested and recharged to face whatsoever may come his way. Milan's Forest of Mysteries is a rather interesting place. It stretches over 12 nations but is claimed by none. Actually, no one dares to lay claim to the forest. This forest was actually grown by Green Mage Milan Crist. She is also known as the Wood Deity and one of the Twelve Guardian Mages. An elite group of practitioners and cultivators that were more than mortals. Their powers were and are still unfathomable and their wisdom superior to all others. Even amongst them, Mailan was simply outstanding.
In the opinion of most, she is not the most beautiful lady you'd meet, but she was certainly the most brilliant. Actually, she was not bad looking either. Her looks were only mentioned because she was inducted into a group dominated by men. She was the first and only woman to be inducted. However, not for the reasons you may think. It was because she was the first woman to reach that level of cultivation and the first woman to persue the Magehood. While there were other women after her, no one was able to reach her level.
In fact, no one was able to surpass those 12 individuals. Milan was the second to last inductee, followed by Row Lan, The Mage in Red. That is why the legend is only of 12 Mages. Not for a lack of trying, however. When Milan joined, she encouraged the others to start an apprenticeship program to hopefully elevate others to the group. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to train others to reach that caliber of power safely. That is when she decided to travel far away from the Central Plains and to the north.
There, she encountered a desolate place. The open fields left much to be desired, and mountains and hills were just bare. It was there that she demonstrated a small fraction of her power and brought warmth and light to an otherwise drab place. That ability was later called the Seed of Life. An ability that none has been able to replicate without calling on her. As if partnered with nature itself, all manner of creatures spawned to help upkeep the forest. Critically endangered animals now had a sanctuary. New creatures also came about.
She would later invite Grey Mage Ajax Rodd to forge a stronghold upon and within the great mountains that overlooked the forest. That saw the founding of Mt. Punctumspes. Just the very presence of the 12 mages caused all sorts of changes to the forest. Since those ancient times, the forest has grown exponentially and has become something far greater than what Lady Malian may have expected. The forest would not allow anyone to change it or destroy it. It is alive and evolving day by day. Wars cannot be staged in the forest.
Every attempt made to claim the forest or do battle was not met kindly by the forest. The forest will kill those that mean it harm. Be it a King or a peasant. A demonstration of what the forest can do, was revealed when King Anga tried to burn sections of the forest to expand his kingdom. A fairy traveled to his palace and asked him to apologize and cease his efforts, but he did not listen. Instead, he executed the fairy on his third attempt. Since his burning of parts of the forest, no creature had died, so the forest was being lenient.
However, his execution of the fairy was unpardonable. On that day, the forest decimated his entire kingdom. The kingdom fell to what is now called Forestry Absorbtion. It is unstoppable and inescapable force that will completely overrun whatever is unlucky enough to get in its way. Since then, no one dares to offend the forest. If the forest issued an apology notice, even for accidental offenses, it was taken seriously. Being off the June Continent does not protect you. Fairies has been able to call upon the forest from distances as far as the western and eastern plains in an instant.
Fairies are respected by everyone, no matter the status they hold. This is what Wen is walking into. Once inside the forest, you are in a completely different world, following completely different rules. Without the 12 mages, no one even knows who runs the forest, as reaching Mt. Punctumspes is no longer something anyone can just do. As he took his first step into the forest, Wen mentally prepares himself for the impossible.