Chapter 76: The Visit

We all know that long journeys suck. Yet, sometimes, as annoying as they are, we must go on them. And so, I am here, in the sky, flying over and sighing at the same sights for the last 2 days: grasslands and hills.

It makes sense. You would want to build a kingdom on flat land, but I would kill for some diversity in what I am looking at. I found a few cloud dungeons, but, sadly, no cloud pets, otherwise I would be able to halve my travel time.

It was nice, though, to be able to instantly erect a house whenever I want. Although I had one curious experience in doing so.

Back to yesterday evening, after having settled down for the night.

Placing down my mobile home for the night, I stretch to get the kinks out of my back. Flying makes you feel stiff for some reason. It’s probably from sitting in the same position for long periods.

Walking through the carefully crafted doors, I appreciate the warmth of the room. I could teleport home, but I feel like it's more meaningful to camp out in the wilderness. Although, this is called “glamping” back home, given that I have power, food, water, a comfy bed, and a whole host of other luxuries.

Immediately walking into my kitchen, I take out a few bits of dried fruit for snacking. “My diet has really shifted while here from junk food to actually decent food, when did I become healthy?”

I laugh at how living in a slightly inconvenient world improves your health. I take my bowl of dried fruit and head towards a small comfy sofa to read. Bringing my dragon radio, which now permanently rests within my bag of holding, I start tuning it, looking for a particular variety of music. “There, perfect.” A light relaxing instrumental plays on low volume, perfect for reading.

Previously, in my last life, I couldn’t read without absolute silence. Now, for some reason, it doesn't bother me as much. Perhaps my body here is fundamentally different from my previous one. I don’t miss my old body. Neither my mind nor body worked right. I had knees 20 years ahead of me and an achy back, I definitely don’t miss that.

Finally finding a comfortable spot to sit, I open my book. Suddenly, I hear a ‘knock, knock, knock.’ “Who's that?” I am definitely not in a populated area, how strange. Sitting up in slight annoyance at having my book reading time disturbed, I stomp over to my door. Opening the door with a ‘bang,’ I see a figure in a dark brown woolen cloak. Carefully inspecting them, I notice a short sword at their waist and some well-worn boots.

“Hello, who might you be?” I say while masking my displeasure as best as I can.

A plain male voice replies, “Hello, having seen your building on my long journey, you wouldn’t happen to mind letting me stay the night. It beats the wilderness after all.”

I pause for a moment, a slight awkwardness descending, “Errm, how can I trust that you’re not gonna rob and stab me?”

The robed figure seems taken aback by my straight to the point reply. “Well, first, I suppose I should remove my hood.” He pulls his cloak’s rough hood down to show a mousey brown-haired young man. He has a sharp, but not angular, jaw with slightly protruding facial bones on his cheeks and brows. “I can't promise you much, but if it helps, you can hold onto half my property as insurance.”

Cocking an eyebrow, I state “That’s a lot of trust you're putting in me, why wouldn’t I just steal your gear and leave?”

He laughs in a rather feminine manner, “You're extremely rich, you don’t care about my shoddy gear.”

And with that, he shrugs and hands me his cloak, sword, and a few valuable pieces from his backpack. “I suppose you can come in then.”

I notice that he walks with a very slight lean to his right side. I wonder if he has a bad leg. Shrugging off my thoughts, I say “It's not important,” to myself.

I show them to my guest room before heading downstairs. “Tea?” I ask them.

“Green, please” the man replies.

Smirking, I ask “Sure, although I have fruit tea, too.”

He shakes his head, “No, I’m fine with green, why?”

“Nothing important. I have just had 2 people tell me that they prefer green tea when they in fact prefer fruit tea. I have a massive variety of fruit tea and don’t care about people's preferences.”

“Ah, that makes sense. Fruit tea is considered a weakling’s drink, after all” he says matter of factly.

I just shrug as I prepare myself some fruit tea. “Doesn’t matter to me, it tastes better than most other teas.”

“Each to their own, I suppose.” He says in reply.

Setting down our teas and then falling into my comfy sofa, I reached for the book that I had left by my side. Having already deposited his stuff on the nice and secure top floor, I am not too concerned for my safety. Also, the fact that I have disposable clones just upstairs means that, if he did kill me, I would be back with a vengeance.

Removing my helmet to drink my tea, I'm surprised to see he doesn’t bat an eye. Curious. As I’m halfway through the short book I’m enjoying, he starts a chat. “Soo, why would you build a building out here?”

I just smirk. “To avoid people.”

He thinks over it for a second. “I suppose it didn’t work then.” I nearly spat out my tea.

“Yeah, apparently” I reply before we both laugh a little.

“So, what brings you all the way out here?” I ask, hoping to figure out why he's in the middle of nowhere.

“Nothing much, just traveling to Okean. It’s the closest town next to the ocean after all.”

“I see, cool. What are you planning there?” I’m curious about why he would need access to the ocean. His appearance doesn’t scream fisherman to me.

He pauses for a moment, but eventually speaks. “I’m planning to get a boat to the closest earthen empire town.” He quickly adds, “Not a convert, just trying to avoid the fallout in case a war does break out. I've got family in both empires, and the earthen empire tends to turtle better at war.”

I just laugh out loud for a short while. After I I manage to stem my laughter, I say “Don’t worry, I’m not with the royals or whoever might punish you for moving empires. I wish you luck. Personally, I don’t care about who fights who. If I truly wished to, I could just dig a bunker underground, make a small farm with Glowstone, and weather out the storm.”

He freezes in contemplation. “That’s actually a really good idea, got any glowstone and a pickaxe? I can pay!”

Minutes later, he is smiling ear to ear with a bag of Glowstone, a diamond pickaxe, hoe, and a small manual filled with instructions for efficient farming. It's nothing to me, but if it saves his life I suppose it's good enough. I did consider giving him iron, but it simply wouldn’t have the durability to make a ‘whole’ bunker.

“I should head to sleep, good night and enjoy your guest room.”

He replies politely, “Yes, I will; thank you for the lodging. Have a good night.”

Heading up to my bedroom, I quickly fall into a peaceful slumber. It’s one of my rare few nights unencumbered by nightmares.

Waking up was quick and easy. Having had sufficient rest, I got up without an ounce of morning fog. Heading downstairs, I find my guest already at the sofa enjoying my dragon radio.

“A wondrous piece of tech you got there, I haven’t seen something similar for a few years” He says while bobbing his head to some rock singer.

“What other tech have you seen?” I ask with intrigue and curiosity in equal parts.

“Back on the earthen empire, technology is far more common. I once spotted some robot thing that moves on 2 legs. It was very impressive when it shot a flame at a bonfire to light up the streets for a local event.” He says with awe filling his face as he recalls the memory.

“That does sound very cool, are you originally from the earthen empire?”

“Yes, I was born there, but I have spent most of my life here. I travel a lot to see the world.”

“Admirable, traveling and seeing new sights is a very wonderful experience. I should visit the earthen empire some time; those machines sound very interesting.”

“You should, the whole place is blossoming with technology. It’s making people’s lives so much better. I hear that the capital has streets controlled by technology alone.”

“I noticed you calling it the earthen empire, I have heard others call it the earth empire. Is there a difference?”

“No, the names are interchangeable. The name I use is a little older.” How interesting, I wonder what caused the slight name change.

“Up for some breakfast?” I ask the guest.

“Thought you would never ask, of course.”

I quickly prepare some omelets for us. After giving him the food item, he inspected it curiously before taking a small bite. The enjoyment blooming on his face made me very happy.

Between bites, he murmurs out, “This is pretty good; you’re a good cook.”

“Thank you, now finish your food before speaking.”

The rest of the breakfast was silent, but the warm atmosphere was welcome. Stepping outside for some air was a bad mistake as I am instantly bombarded by frigid winds. “Yeah, it's winter alright.” I say, laughing at my foolishness for stepping outside without my magically weatherproof armor. I've got to thank Felix for that, it's super convenient.

“Sure is.” I hear in the background before seeing the smiling young man behind me. “So, can I get my stuff back now? I've got a lot of traveling ahead of me.”

I nod before heading into my more secure rooms to gather and return his equipment. He accepts it gratefully.

As I’m equipping my armor in preparation for setting out, the young man turns to me. “See you around.”

“You too,” I reply politely.

As he goes to leave, I suddenly say, “Name’s Aeternum, I live 3 towns north from here. Say hello some time, I’m sure you can track me down.”

He just nods before stepping out of my home and heading on his way. I just smile as I watch him disappear into the horizon. What a unique experience. I should pack my house now before some other random traveler spots it.

Back to the boring present.

Recalling the interesting fellow helped burn a few hours, but, inevitably, I am brought back to reality. The boring, annoying, reality. Even through my weather resistant armor, the air feels icy and sharp. Although, as I have headed on this route, I have noticed a slight increase in temperature. If my personal weather sense is anything to go by, there’s a drop in humidity, too.

I hope that this dryness speaks of the desert being close by. Continuing on my flight path, I ignore every notable thing in the environment to hasten my progress. I begin to feel the air lighten and feel ever so slightly softer, see the clouds become more sparse, and notice the dirt turn sandier and with less vegetation.

Having not seen a tree for over an hour, I look far in front of me and spot a golden yellow line in the horizon. It’s my target, the desert. “Thank God for that, I was going mental, doing little to nothing on this long ass journey.” Hopefully, speaking to myself more and more often isn’t a sign of insanity, because I sure as hell am going to a nuthouse after this. How did I even make that ocean journey?

As the golden line gets bigger, I spot a very familiar structure come into clarity. It’s a desert temple, how interesting. I hold no hopes that it isn’t looted, but you never know. As the desert comes into view, I see dunes of sand and a variety of green cacti. I suppose that it’s time to go desert nova hunting.