After they finished dinner, Cain and Luna retired to their room and tried on the cultivators' outfits. They were as comfortable as expected and equipped without issues as decorative clothing over their armor, which vanished from sight the same way it did when a regular costume was equipped.
"Oh, so comfy. I like it, they're all-purpose." Luna cheered.
"Did you learn all the available skills before we left?" Cain asked.
"Yep, I've got them all mastered. Do I need to use one?" Luna asked.
"Yes. You need to Merge with an Ancient Oath Breaker and Ancient Su. I don't know if you will recover energy the same in this world, so those two defensive skills will be essential."
That would grant her a healing aura, Dragon Breath, plus the Oath Breakers speed buff, and area damage passive skills. None of them needed mana to activate, so if her Regeneration wasn't working she could still fight.
Her mana dropped to three-quarters and seemed to stay there, but Cain saw that it was recovering at about a point a second, meaning she would need about twenty minutes to fully recover unless he used a mana totem.
"Once we explore town tomorrow, why don't we go practice your fighting techniques in the woods? The energy here is different enough that you will need to learn to conserve it as you fight. I will be fine though, so don't worry too much about running low if it is necessary." Cain suggested.
"Okay. As long as we can see the mountains later. I want to know what snow is like." Luna agreed.
She fell asleep not long after, with her arms and legs wrapped around his leg, mimicking her usual wrapped sleeping position. Cain set a defensive spell in the room that would tell him if anything moved or the number is living things inside changed and fell asleep himself.
The spell's overly sensitive nature ended up being a mistake, it woke him up an hour later for what turned out to be a very mundane field mouse. Cain tossed it out the window and got almost two more hours of sleep before getting a proper warning.
A human was touching their windowsill. Being on the second floor, there was no reason for that, so Cain waited to see what the intruder would do.
"I don't sense any Qi, are you she this is the room?" A voice whispered.
"Yes, I was hunting in the woods and saw them change from Epic to regular flying swords, but they don't feel strong at all. Grab the little one and the father should pay the ransom without complaint if he knows what's good for him."
Both Cain and Luna had exceptional hearing, and the pair outside had woken the sleeping girl up. She had her Runic blow gun out, and was ready to kill someone for disturbing her sleep, but Cain signaled to wait.
The two wannabe robbers climbed in the window and Cain gave Luna the go-ahead.
She didn't have her venom, but she had Su's Dragon Breath, which coated the blow darts that the tube created when used very nicely.
The two men screamed in agony as the Dragon Breath on the darts met their flesh and began to dissolve a chunk of their necks.
"You're getting very good with that aren't you? I suppose we should either heal or kill these idiots before people get the wrong idea about us." Cain congratulated her, looking at the low-level intruders with disdain.
Forest Dragon Breath worked quickly though, and the two were close to death already, with their necks turning to ash.
Cain grabbed them by the hair and disintegrated them with a short burst of Dragon Breath just as the Innkeeper jumped down from the roof to see what was going on.
"Disintegration? That's a pretty nasty ability, even for a wandering cultivator." The Innkeeper greeted them.
"But it's tidy. I do hate a messy room." Cain disagreed.
"Well, the patrol heard enough that they won't bother you if they don't have to clean up the mess. Those two had been in plenty of trouble long before they planned to rob travelers." The old man shrugged and went back to his room.
"These people are weird. Who thinks taking a kid will end any way but badly for them?" Luna asked.
"They thought we were alone and helpless. Bad people always try to attack that kind of traveler first, because they are the easy ones to steal from. They just didn't understand our strength." Cain explained.
"I see. So if you look weak, humans are extra mean. Tigers do that too, they eat the weak ones first. Maybe people make more sense than I expected." Luna said happily then yawned and laid back down.
"Wake me up when it's bright out."
The city started getting loud just as the sun came up, and Luna reluctantly let go of Cain, then changed robes to a new color. These were made from rich black cloth with silver trim, so Cain changed to match and brought her downstairs to breakfast.
There were a large group of cultivators in blue robes eating when they came downstairs and Luna smiled and waved at the friendly-looking young acolytes with them.
"Sect Elder, look, travelers. Do you think they will know a new style? The teen boy asked.
"No harm in trying. Hello fellow Daoists. We have been searching for a new style to add to our Sect Library, a Quest assigned by our great Elder. Do you perhaps know a style that uses two short swords or twin Scimitars?" The older man with a long white beard asked Cain.
"I know a few that use those weapons. The Blood Sands, the Poisoned Tongue, and the Profound Blossom Style." Cain offered.
The first was the Dark Elven Combat Style, renamed because he couldn't just tell these men about Elves without sounding crazy. The other two were from the Library and regarded as common styles The Librarian thought he should know.
"The last two the Sect has heard of, though I do not practice either. Do you know the Lightning Dance style?" Cain thought a moment, then realized it was also on the list he had rapidly learned for this quest.
"I am a bit familiar with it, but it's not a two-bladed style," Cain answered.
"Exactly. It struggles against double blades, so our Great Elder wants to expand our knowledge to forge a new style of our own. Do you have time for the acolytes to spar? I believe we could learn a lot from an exchange." The Elder offered.
"Is it far to your Sect? Fighting in town might be a mistake, but I believe the youngsters would enjoy a bit of a challenge."
In fact, all of them looked very eager to show off their skills and they were evenly matched in level, though Luna was Spirit Awakened while the other acolytes were unawakened.
"It is a two-day journey." The Elder replied, and Cain frowned. That was too far, they wanted to explore the city over the next few days.
"Innkeeper, is there a place for the kids to spar here?" Cain asked.
"There is an arena in the market that is open to the public if you don't mind an audience. If not, there is one outside town a little, but it's in ruins at the moment."
Cain nodded his thanks. "It is your Call, I don't mind. Either way, Miss Luna won't give away any secret techniques in public."
"Then here in town is fine. All of the local cultivators know our Sect very well. We have struggled to build respect for many years, to the point we now ask travelers for help to expand our knowledge." The Elder agreed.
Cain felt a bit bad for him, a Sect Elder was like a Guild officer, and he should have more pride in his people.
Cain also wondered if he could trade with these cultivators. Skill Books were still readable books if you didn't have a system to use them, so they might want them even if it was in a foreign language.
That would let him get all the trinkets and cool stuff Luna could want while they were here in this world.
They all chatted happily as they ate, making plans to stop and see some interesting shops on the way to the arena. The Acolytes didn't get to see the city much unless they were on a Quest, so this was a fun new experience for them as much as it was for Luna.
"They're friendly sorts, but don't cross them if you're not ready for a fight. They both practice forbidden arts." The Innkeeper whispered to the Sect Elder before they left.
"I understand, but if they know a blade technique we need, I don't mind what else they do in the course of their cultivation." The man answered resolutely.
Cain understood that sentiment. More than a few of his Guild Members had questionable reputations, but they were good and loyal Guild Members, and that's what really counted.
"Look, there's a guy selling nothing but rings. How strange is that?" Luna asked the moment they got outside.
Cain had forgotten that there was a storage ring vendor mentioned during the morning conversation and had no idea how to explain that item to Luna, who had only ever known the System. He was saved by the Sect Elder's frugality this time though.
"There's no budget for such frivolous items, keep moving if you want to get to the sparring arena before it gets busy."
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