new city
That night was treacherous, providing me little rest and even less contentment, but despite it all I had to continue, dressed in damp clothes and surrounded by morning due, I swiped away a spider web continuing my travel, my wounds dully aching their discontent.
Every nook and cranny of the wet road puddled, vailing their threat, well either way I would have passed through, and when I did a jolt would be sent through the wagon steering my wounds into painful agitation.
The road arched downhill and quickened my pace as I travelled, so from then onwards I made stellar progress.
The night after was more pleasant, yet still, the blankets were still morbidly damp.
The second last day of my travels took me past an orchid, the apple trees all equidistant and gated, I find it strange how such opposing worlds can have so many similarities, is it manmade, did someone like me appear here first and create these similarities, or is some deity involved, a creator who moulded the universe, or is it simple happenstance.
Well on that day the orchid wasn't the only noteworthy thing I passed, there was much later in the day a craggy cliff, that overlooked the river, it was as if the river cut straight through the hill, and on that cliff was what looked like a fossil, it seems that the torrential downpour had unearthed it, it was small, properly a shard of bone, however, it emanated a power resembling the river, so I took it.
The next day would be the last day of my travel, so it came as no surprise to me when my narrow road joined another and eventually another.
Four hours into that day I saw the 'twilight port city', it was an opulent place, with spires lancing into the sky and tall stone buildings lining the roads, but when I entered through the arching stone gates, inlaid with patterns of gold, I was forced to behold its depravity, in-between the tall houses were grimy alleyways, those alleyways were full of crime, starvation, injustice and the smell of rotting flesh.
Occasionally I would see someone with gaunt sallow cheeks eye me up, they looked at me how a predator would look at their prey, but then they would scurry away when they caught my eye. They were too weak, and they knew it, if they tried anything a guard would have their head in minutes.
Looking around I found a place to sell my stolen wagon, it wasn't for much, but it was something, I used the money to rent out a nice hotel room, for a few nights.
I spent the remainder of that day looking around, during which I passed a rather interesting man, he was tall, roughly six feet with a strong yet mellow face, his temperament was flowing, yet still, he walked with a subtle grace, and he held a sort of disdain for the wealthy people crowding around him, in his hand he held a long gold inlaid cane with a snake carved into it, the same snake was embordered into the black trench coat he wore hanging of his broad shoulders, his face was anything but ordinary, his eyes were a watery, mellow blue.
He turned to me, and I could not help but shiver.
That night I rested to my heart's content, walking up at lunchtime I ordered some food, the meal was fulfilling, a steak and a flowery bouquet of unique bread said to be a local specialty.
I then left the hotel finding myself in an open square, a market surrounding me, here all sorts of trinkets can be found, so with nothing better to do I looked around for a good deal or two, I found nothing worthwhile only leaving with a new wooden sword and a spare set of clothes, the clothes were however silk, being tailored for a rich young lord it was confutable and warm, suiting my tastes quite well, and as it no longer for the young lord he sold it for some pocket money.
The next day was similar as all I did was bask in the lap of luxury, spending my abundant free time training the sword, hastening the progress of the technique's advancement, after my almost fortnight-long journey, the progress had been converted to a percentage and my progress was at four percent.
My leg and rib had healed the day before and stats had also changed.
Alexander Campion
Occupation- ex noble bloodline- pure Campion bloodline- weak demonic bloodline-?...
physical state- healthy (recovered from, injuries + resting from fatigue).
Compatible affinities- darkness (high), water (high), astral (weak), fire (weak)
Physical prowess- 5.1 physical potential- 9 vitality- 7.4 arcane reservoir- 10 arcane foundation- 5 arcane control- 0.22
While the change looked negligible, it would make a complete difference when fighting, it was the difference between life and death.
Time passed and the first day of the examination came, the examination was to be held in the harbor, down by the mouth of the river, from ten am to seven pm, the examination was due to be held for the next three days, this time was allotted so that people from all over the continent could partake, however, there would still be some people this exam is inaccessible to, they would need to wait for the next three years, so, I was in no rush.
The examination was in a gated off-shipyard, to enter you would need to pass an inspection before paying the entry fee of one gold, I was dressed in the formal clothes I bought two days ago.
The inspection passed without fault, my name was recorded, as well as my method of payment, an archaic crystal, and I was allowed to step inside, the crystal was needed as a form of tuition and entry fee for the academies themself, instead of using the crystal, however, I used the enchanted silver from the mirror.
Inside, past the gates there was a large grouping of youths, most of them were dressed in finely crafted garments, and their ages ranged from ten to fifteen, the prime time to build your foundation was between ten and thirteen, up to twenty was still suitable, and would only affect them in the longer term.