18 Whitepeak

It didn't take long for the caravan to reach the mountain of the main branch of the Ho family.

The mountain was named 'Whitepeak' at the fact that there was always white snow at the upper half of the mountain or so.

Due to the size of the mountain, there was actually various areas where inhabitants lived. The idea was that the higher up the mountain one went, the more important the inhabitants were.

The first thing that greeted the caravan were the many small 'town' areas on the outskirts and at the lowermost layers where a large majority of the poorer people lived. Though of course, the standards of living in this place was still higher than the villages that the majority from the caravan had come from.

Some of the members of the caravan started to depart away from the group as these outer towns were their objective this time around.

As the caravan followed the main road further in, they were greeted by stone walls of around 5 meters high or so that surrounded a huge city. This was the 'main' city of the Whitepeak Mountain, the Whitepeak city.

The majority of the people who actually resided in the city were the wealthy. Officers of the army, successful merchants and businessman. The majority of stores, places of rest and profession buildings were located within this large city as it existed as the heart of the entire western region.

The residents, of course, numbered in the tens of millions and rising by the daily.

They arrived by the gates where the caravan was disbanded after gaining entry to the city. Jin and Luca, after Luca showed them a small medallion that he had attached around his chest, easily gained free access into the city as members of the Ho family whilst the other members had to pay a small fee to enter.

As for Sarai, her goal was not this city but rather the capital of the continent. She would rest here for a few days before departing on another caravan on the way to the capital and said her goodbyes before quickly scurrying away.

Jin and Luca watched her leave and just continued their way into the depths of the city.

"Mmm, since it's your first time in the city. We'll find a place to spend the night and I'll take you around the city." Luca spoke.

Jin's eyes shined at these words as they quickly found a small inn. Weapons were prohibited to the majority of people within the cities except for soldiers of the army, cultivators of the sects and direct descendants of the other families. This was easily recognizable by the medallion they wore upon their chest which, after Jin had asked Luca for an answer, was a proof of identity one received once they were past a certain age in a specific group.

As for Jin, he would first have to enter the main building of the Ho Family which was further up the mountain and also be a bit older.

They didn't have much other belongings beside the weapons and tools, they left behind the small amount of items they had carried with them before stepping out into the bustling streets of Whitepeak city.

Jin almost felt like he had returned to being an actual child, which he had been feeling more and more often recently.

The first place that they had visited was the store that was under Hayes. It was a small weapons store located near the southern side of the city where the majority of the other small scale stores were.

T-ring.

A small chime rang as they entered the store. It was a small store that had various small daggers and swords layered on display by the walls as well as some bows and other specialty weapons.

"Hello and welcome! How may we help y-Luca?" A lean woman approached them before quickly noticing Luca in shock.

"Hey Lihanda." Luca smiled. "We have business at the family so we decided to pop by. Here, this is my son. Jin, greet Lihanda. She's the wife of Hayes."

"Hello." Jin greeted Lihanda with a small bow as she smiled and greeted back.

"What brings you to the capital? Did the family call you in?" Lihanda led them to some seats by a table before sitting down and asking.

"Not me but this little boy does." Luca patted Jin's shoulders as Jin curiously looked around the store.

"Mmm, well. Hayes should be back in a bit. He went out to get some groceries. I'll make some tea for now, watch the store for me. Feel free to look around too, I'll give you a small discount if you buy anything heehee." Lihanda quickly walked off to the back where Jin assumed a kitchen was.

Luca waved with his hands. "Go ahead, feel free to look around."

Jin stood up and started to explore the shop. A weapons store like this was not common back on earth and it could be said that he had never been to such a shop before.

There were various swords and blades of different shapes and sizes. It seemed like the rarer or more expensive ones were within glass cases as they were out of reach.

As for bows, there were a lot hanging upon the walls as well as arrows in large barrels below them.

Throwing daggers and other consumable weapons were neatly layered on the other side whilst there were also large hammers and axes beside them as well.

The thing that caught Jin's attention the most out of them all however, were sets of steel whips of different color that were neatly folded and displayed in glass cases.

He had heard of such weapons before but have never seen them in any movie or video. They were made of intricate links of metal that held them together with a small weight or a blade at the tip.

"Don't even bother Jin, those takes years of practice before you can even stop yourself from getting smacked in the face." Luca spoke out as he noticed Jin's shining eyes.

Jin turned way in disappointment as his attention was focused on the various arrows within the barrels.

Though the steel whips were cool and interesting, it was not something he would like to use as it was too flashy.

There were various kinds of special arrows within these barrels. Some had bulky heads which the small description below explained that it was for breaking shields and doors. The serrated bladed tips were for lethal damage.

There was also an arrow that had a strange tip wrapped with cloth, was slightly longer and the body being entirely made of some kind of super light metal. Apparently this was a 'scout' arrow as it was extremely lightweight and could travel much faster than other arrows whilst providing light if lit up with a torch beforehand.

Out of these, there were two types of arrows that intrigued him the most. There was a strange arrow called the 'Whistle' and the description told Jin that it made a super high and loud screech as it flew. Its purpose, apparently, was to act as a form of a dummy or to mask another sound.

The other type of arrow was an intricately made arrow with a large cone-like head. This was actually an explosive arrow that would create a small explosion if it flew into a hard surface. There were also even more arrows on top of these as well.

Jin didn't realize that there were so many different type of arrows and how they could be utilized in so many ways.

Lihanda returned with a tray of cups that held tea before noticing the bow in Jin's back and him staring at the arrows.

"Haha, take a few arrows each. It's on the house. You're the guy that Hayes went to make the bow for right? You should practice with various types of arrows since it'll create more options for you in a battle." Lihanda chuckled as she handed Luca a cup of tea before sitting down beside him with a cup herself before they quickly fell into some small talk.

Jin delightedly took 2-3 arrows from each pile as Hayes came in through the door and noticing Jin.

"Honey, I couldn't find any good fi-Jin!?"

"Hey Hayes. Thanks for the arrows!" Jin waved at Hayes before continuing to pick up the arrows.

"What? Lihanda! You know how annoying it is to make these arrows, why are y-"

"Oh please, those specialty arrows are only sold in small numbers anyway and we have hundreds of them. Since you did him a favor of making that bow, just give him some extra service." Lihanda quickly cut him off before Hayes could finish his sentence.

"...Humph." Hayes glared at Jin before quickly taking the groceries back into the kitchen, ignoring Luca on the way.

Luca shook his head as he pointed towards one of the barrels of arrows.

"Pick up 30 of those, I'll pay for them." Luca spoke.

"Huh? Why do you need silent arrows?" Lihanda asked in confusion.

Those arrows were specially designed arrows that made almost no sound when shot, the issue it had though was that it had much less of a punch as well as penetrative power compared to other arrows.

"Silent arrows?" Jin, instantly intrigued at those words, rushed over to the barrel before quickly pulling out a dozen of them.

"I feel like he would like them." Luca chuckled.

And indeed, Jin did like the idea.

It was very similar to a tip-less arrow like the arrows he used for practice as the tip that it did have was so small. One could barely tell it apart from the actual body if it wasn't for the fact that it was a strange shape and a dark hue to it. It also had much smaller fletchings that were made of some different material other than feathers.

"Those take a lot of practice to use because their fletching causes them to be a bit more unstable. It's a favorite for seasoned assassins but useless for many others." Lihanda spoke. "Luca, what are you planning with this kid?"

"Nothing in particular, his life is his own path. The whole goal of him learning the bow was to kill silently from afar, at least from what I can deduce from our previous conversations. I'm just giving him a helping hand." Luca explained.

Jin continued to pick up the arrows in silence in embarrassment.

'Maybe I did read a bit too many fantasy novels on earth...'