Reunited With Little Feather

After Gilgamesh explained what happened to his clothes, Little Feather reached out and a ring on her finger glowed. Then, she grabbed hold of some clothes that materialized and tossed them to him.

Gilgamesh's eyes sparkled when he saw that, and he took note of it.

Thankfully, after circulating his miniscule true energy, Gilgamesh had recovered to the point that he could sort of move. Luckily, Little Feather also had a medicinal tree elixir within her ring, which was bright pink and kept in a little vial.

Gilgamesh drank it after psyching himself up for a while, and was in awe at the effects; they were practically instant. His body was recovering at an even faster rate than before-- he could see his skin being healed.

He hurriedly sat up and dressed, then he stood up with some help from Little Feather, who wasted no time to hug him once he was fully clothed.

"I knew you would come back! I never stopped believing."

Gilgamesh tightly embraced her and patted her on the head, "Thank you for believing in me, Little Feather."

His eyes widened and he took hold of her shoulders before looking into her eyes solemnly. "The elixir you used... Was it expensive?"

Little Feather shook her head, "It's fine. Last year I got two of them for cleaning an outer disciple's courtyard. I've never had to use one before now."

Gilgamesh pursed his lips and rubbed her head, thankful that she was readily willing to give up a precious elixir. He could not remember his life in this world, but he knew that Little Feather regarded him as a big brother.

She had been waiting for his return for five years; he could not forsake her now that he had returned, even if he could not remember her.

"Where have you been, Big Brother Gilgamesh? What happened to you? Why are you only at the First Level of Condensation?"

Bombarded with questions, Gilgamesh took his time to try to provide an understandable answer while also ensuring he did not divulge too much unnecessary info.

He did not want to implicate her.

Little Feather listened with rapt attention and had the most adorable reactions, causing Gilgamesh's mood to lighten a great deal.

"Wow! You had a whole adventure, huh? That's awesome. All I've been doing is working and sleeping, eating and visiting your grave... Oh!"

Little Feather grabbed Gilgamesh's hand and started to pull him off in the direction of the sect's cemetery. "Come on, there's something I need to do."

With fresh excitement on her face, Little Feather spiritedly dragged Gilgamesh to the cemetery. They veered off the charted path and ran through the grass before meeting the path again, reminding Gilgamesh of when he had seen her do this in his vision.

"Why don't you just take the stairs beneath the gate?"

Little Feather shook her head, "Cause servants aren't allowed to, remember? Doesn't matter though, my way is faster."

They reached the cemetery in a short while, and Gilgamesh was brought before his grave. Little Feather knelt before it, and tapped the earth for him to sit next to her.

"When you went into the mystic realm that day to search for Blight-arrow Lillies with some other outer disciples, the others returned after a few days and said that they hadn't seen you."

Gilgamesh thought back to what Truth's Mind had told him, and knew that a number of the outer disciples he had gone with were actually responsible for his death.

What he did not know was why.

"Miss Nightshade made a request to have some disciples go search for you and, shockingly, an Inner Disciple took the mission and ordered that no one else enter the mystic realm but her. She stayed in there for two weeks, but could not find you."

"After that, she went into seclusion and hasn't come out since. I tried to look for her, but none of the Outer Disciples know who she is, and she never gave her name."

Gilgamesh made a mental note of that. If he ever found out who she was, he would be sure to thank her.

"Now then," Little Feather stood up and grabbed the tombstone before pulling it out of the ground and tossing it. It travelled for almost a hundred feet before slamming into the ground just beyond the cemetery's border.

Gilgamesh looked at her with shock, trying his best to hide the horror on his face.

He had stepped into the First Level of Condensation, but he knew that that was far from enough to be able to do what Little Feather had just done.

She was actually quite powerful, yet she was just a servant? Then what was he qualified to be?

"Alright, I'm going to finish cleaning. I'll meet you at your abode later, okay?"

Gilgamesh raised his hand, about to ask her to take him to his abode, but she simply ran off at top speed, leaving him behind in her dust. His hand was still raised and his mouth still open, but she was already too far away to hear him.

He sighed and got up, dusting himself off before he started walking.

The robes Little Feather had given him were old and dirty, but they were definitely better than the alternative. He tried to straighten himself up as he walked, and eventually entered the forest again, walking along the stone pathways that encompassed the sect.

He saw quite a lot of disciples, some of them just leisurely strolling and chatting, or running around in a hurry. Most of them didn't seem to notice him, and the ones that did just casually glanced at him before turning away.

"I guess I'm not exactly popular here. Right now I can only say that that's a good thing."

As he walked around, he started to get a better feel for the sect.

It was actually built out of a number of giant trees and their roots. Those roots ran above ground, and were hollowed out to be used as living spaces and such.

As for the 'towers,' they were actually tree trunks that had their branches cut and were also hollowed out.

"I thought these people were guardians of the forest or something, but they really did a number on these trees," Gilgamesh mused.

When he felt that he was well and good lost, he decided to ask someone for directions.

"Huh!? The fuck are you!? How am I supposed to know where your fucking abode is, ya idiot!"

Gilgamesh blankly stared as that guy walked off with his head held high and his chest puffed up, and then reflected on just how stupid his question had been.

Of course they wouldn't know where his home was. Who did he think he was?

He had grown too used to being the center of attention, so he had forgotten that he was not well-known here. Most people probably didn't even know his name. Although he was certain that he would change that in the future, he could not help that it was the case now.

Rethinking his plan, he found another disciple.

"Oh, you're the guy that was having his tribulation near the gate, right? Hunter Guardian told those of us in the area not to go near the gate, but some of us saw the lightning. That was pretty intense." A skinny outer sect disciple with glasses recognized Gilgamesh.

His eyes were bright green and sparkly, but his skin was dark and his hair messy. There was a calculating look in his eyes that contradicted their spriteliness, making him seem as though he was always putting up a front.

Gilgamesh nodded, "That's me. I'm Gilgamesh, what's your name?"

"I'm Wyg. Nice to meet you, Gilgamesh. So, what did you wanna know?"

"Could you point me to the Hall of Guardians?"

Hearing the question, Wyg looked as Gilgamesh as though he was looking at an idiot. "Seriously?"

Smiling wryly, Gilgamesh nodded.

"Well, its at the base of the Forest Master's tower. Over there."

Wyg pointed to the tallest tower in the forest, then tilted his head, "So you didn't know that, huh? Hunter Guardian never mentioned anything about you being new, so I figured you weren't. Anyway, I'm off on a request. See ya."

Wyg turned and left, and Gilgamesh scratched the back of his head as he watched him leave.

"That wasn't weird," He sarcastically remarked.

With that, he headed off in the direction of the Hall of Guardians. As he neared it, he noticed that the sect started to open up more. There were less structures around, and a lot more open space.

He started to notice a lot more disciples selling stuff along the path, some with carts and tables, other with large mats on the floor and goods spread out upon them.

"Hey, mister, wanna buy some aphrodisiac elixirs? Just 30 merit points for a vial, but if you pay 35 I can throw in two contraceptive pills! Whaddya say?"

Gilgamesh's expression darkened and he picked up the pace.

Soon enough, he saw the Hall of Guardians. The hall was actually a mansion-like structure at the base of the tower, and the tower itself rose out of it, several thousand feet in the air.

Near the front of the hall, hundreds of disciples had gathered around. At first, Gilgamesh thought they were all waiting to go in, but he soon discovered that there was actually a fight taking place, and they were all spectating.

Additional disciples were running toward the crowd to try to catch a glimpse of the match. Listening to the abundant conversation, Gilgamesh came to understand what was going on.

"Goodness! Big Brother Feral just got back to the sect and he's already challenged two Inner Disciples on the Rankings. If he succeeds, that will be the first time any outer disciple has knocked down two inner disciples at once!" A young woman said.

"That's a big if, though." A male disciple said.

"Hmph! If anyone can do it, it's Big Brother Feral. He's way too hands-- Ahem! I mean, he's way too amazing to lose!" Another young woman said, looking every bit the fanatic.

"Why do you think Big Brother Feral has never taken the spots of the inner disciples he's beaten?"

"Didn't you hear him last time? He only challenges the Rankings to get an idea of his power level."

"Yeah. He started off challenging inner disciples at the very bottom, and last time he challenged someone in the top two thousand. Eventually, he'll challenge someone in the top hundred!"

Gilgamesh looked around and smirked. "If nothing else, this 'Big Brother Feral' is certainly popular with the ladies."

A nearby male disciple with burning envy etched on his face sighed, "You got that right, brother."

Gilgamesh didn't bother pushing through the crowd. Judging by the intense energy fluctuations coming from the middle, and the minor explosions that whipped up powerful winds, he could tell that this fight was far beyond him.

What was more important to him now was finding out how to properly cultivate.