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Chapter 230: Roseport at Last
🕑 Added 2024-03-22 17:00:05 +0000 UTCKai was used to being called a barbarian and didn't think anything about it - the nations of the Frontier had to respect Goralia, and Zae Zin Nim meant it affectionately. When the sailors had used the same term, it hadn't really registered. But now, as they finally stood on Rosemount, he actually felt like one.
The port was huge, even larger than Yulthens, but that wasn't what floored him. There were people everywhere and less than half of them were human, instead a vast sea of different species from humanoids with purple skin to intelligent serpents to beings who looked like living flames. Kai had seen a few non-humans, since Goralia had non-human allies to the south, but this was something else. On Deadwaste he knew all the nations along with their cultures and systems of power, but here every one of the thousands upon thousands of people was a mystery.
And apparently Roseport wasn't even the largest shipping center on the continent. Crescilor City was larger up the coast, the other major nations each had a shipping port, and allegedly there was a bay that dwarfed them all.
All the languages around him made him feel twice the barbarian. Sometimes it seemed like every group spoke in a completely different way. Omilaena spoke smoothly with all of them and Zae Zin Nim seemed to have learned a dominant trade language, but he was almost entirely lost. Once he heard two sailors having a boring argument about stacking boxes and he listened carefully just because it was the only thing he could understand.
Unlike on his home continent, everyone was eyeballing everyone all the time. At least his spiritual sight didn't seem to be inadequate, so he found himself staring at a dizzying number of different powers. Some looked similar to Omilaena's, and some he could guess were similar to Classes or cultivation, but others simply baffled him.
The air was alive with levels of energy that felt unnatural to him, everything mixing together. His body automatically absorbed the mana, and it was good enough at drawing qi, so he didn't end up absorbing much chakra. Since it would allegedly take time to adjust, perhaps that was for the best.
At least in terms of his own skill he wasn't a pure barbarian: his shroud was doing an adequate job of avoiding attention. Physically he didn't attract any interest except for his height, which only made him more grateful that he'd figured out how to hide his monstrous side. Everyone here would be accustomed to identifying intelligent species by spiritual sight.
Since all he had to offer was strength, Kai mostly followed the women around and looked muscular. After careful analysis, he was at least able to determine that his strength wasn't worthless here. Of course it would have been insane if literally everyone on Rosemount was more powerful than the strongest on Deadwaste.
However, the difference was clear. Ordinary people who looked completely untrained would have Physiques in the F ranks, which was 30 or more Power on its own, and a dozen or two Power from abilities they seemed to have picked up, like a minor craftsman in Goralia. So there were ordinary people with as much strength as the Goralian veterans who had once been his goal. Average soldiers and guards regularly had 100 or more Power, enough to be a crystallier in Krysal.
It was harder to judge the more powerful warriors because there were obviously fewer of them. During their early business he managed to spot three different people with 500 or more Power, equivalent to an Earth Soul cultivator. At least if the Brightwind sect caught up to them here, they wouldn't be able to just dominate the city like they could Yulthens.
So it seemed like the real threat was getting embroiled in a larger conflict. Fighters who could throw their weight around on Deadwaste were completely average here, so overconfidence or arrogance could easily get them killed. He'd have to be smarter than that until he could climb the scale on this new continent.
"Here, help us with this." Omilaena was speaking to him in a language he understood, which was so startling it took him a second to leave his own thoughts. She was handing him one of their large sacks of Krysali crystals.
Of course any of them had the strength to carry heavy objects, as well as most dock workers, but it was still awkward moving around a bunch of containers. Kai helped out as they unloaded their money and the supplies they didn't need onto some sort of vast scale. A man with scaled skin was using it to judge their goods, one at a time.
In addition to being a normal scale, there were gemstones on the central column and strange shifting symbols on each plate. Kai couldn't figure out exactly how it worked, other than being based on chakra. This was the sort of magical device he hadn't seen often on Deadwaste, maybe the sort of thing they could only create in Irun.
"It's imbued with chakra," Zae Zin Nim said quietly from his side. "They do a lot of that here. I think it's checking that the material is pure, to be sure we're not cheating him."
"How can it do that?" Kai asked.
"Don't ask me about details. Chakra isn't as precise as qi, it works more off emotions and intents. Some specialist must have imbued the scale with elements of purity and fairness."
"So it lets him know if we're trying to cheat him, but how do we know if it's the other way around?"
Zae Zin Nim shrugged indifferently, uninterested in the practices of merchants. But Omilaena appeared to have finished her haggling and turned back to him, switching to familiar Goralian.
"There are agencies here in Crescilor that set standards," she explained. "In a big port like this, you don't have to worry about it too much. But Rosemount doesn't have any continent-wide organizations, and nothing like your Frontier, so you're right to be skeptical. Elsewhere you'll find all kinds of clever ways to manipulate the systems."
"You'll have to explain more of that to me later," Kai said.
"Eventually. Right now there's too much to do."
"Is it done?" Zae Zin Nim asked. "I want to get back on task."
"We've sold everything except the ship and our functional supplies." Omilaena revealed a sack of golden coins. "This should be enough to get us started."
As they negotiated space for the diamond star and other details, Kai examined the coins and figured out the monetary system. These were the same heavy golden discs with octagonal sides that he'd been given before. According to Omilaena, these were distributed by some place called the Commonwealth. Instead of having arbitrary values, higher value coins were imbued with more "gold essence" and so they were physically worth more.
Still, in the end gold was gold. They had just over 100,000 Commonwealth Crests, which wasn't so different from the value of 100,000 Goralian Eagles. And apparently that was just a start.
Omilaena and Zae Zin Nim had been arguing about something at the docks in another language, but when he moved closer they switched back. Zae Zin Nim cast him a sour glance as she explained. "It's costing us a thousand Crests per month just to store the crystal ship here, even though we're not staying a full month, and it's not even well-protected. That's a waste."
"But what's the alternative?" Omilaena asked. "You've seen they don't allow as much flying here, so we can't just take it with us."
"We need to purchase a proper spatial device. We're on a real continent now, they should be available."
Apparently Zae Zin Nim was willing to argue the point hard enough that Omilaena relented. They left the docks and headed into the city to find a proper market. Away from the docks there were fewer sailors but even more people, cramming the streets with species he'd never seen before. When the merchants got involved he was surrounded by a dazzling array of items and sometimes he wasn't even sure which ones were food.
Eventually they reached a higher class market, filled with items that he could recognize as power-enhancing, even if he had no idea of their origins. They passed through strings of beads to enter a shop and Kai was surprised when the temperature went from sweltering to pleasantly cool. There were fewer people here and the owner immediately approached.
Zae Zin Nim began to barter with him in the trade language and for a while Kai was fascinated. The shop owner showed them what looked like an ordinary satchel, then pulled an entire spear out of it. Kai had seen a few spatial items like that back in Goralia, but they were usually just a few times bigger than the satchel itself.
They moved on to elaborate silver bangles and the merchant pulled jewelry and other items out of the extra-spatial storage, the items appearing as if by magic. That was definitely more than Kai had ever seen before. Yet Zae Zin Nim didn't seem satisfied.
She was still haggling, so Kai's attention waned. He looked around at the other customers in the shop, taking the chance to observe without seeming too strange. At first he thought that most of them were human, then he realized that some of the lithe bronze-skinned people had pointed ears, like the sailor he'd seen in the bay. Up close they weren't nearly as human as he thought, so he'd have to ask about that later.
Eventually Zae Zin Nim returned to them with a renewed scowl. "Proper spatial devices start at a quarter million Crests," she explained. "It's not worth buying garbage. What's our actual plan to escape my father's sect?"
"We have multiple options," Omilaena said. "I've asked around and we're not going to find enough power here in Crescilor. Well, they probably trade it, but we'd pay a premium. It makes more sense to keep moving and get something stronger from the source."
"And what is that?"
"It might make the most sense to head east to the Commonwealth. Let's go talk to some contacts, that will get us on the right track."
Kai couldn't weigh in on such matters, so he only nodded. He wanted to ask Omilaena about some of what he'd seen, but she seemed preoccupied. They left the mercantile quarter of the city and entered more official streets, some of them covered in colorful petals that released pleasant smells when crushed underfoot. It was actually enough to overwhelm the stink of the city.
There were signs here, in multiple different languages that all just looked like squiggles to him. Was he going to have to spend a long time learning new languages or just be ignorant forever? None of them seemed to be what Omilaena wanted until they reached a large gold and white building that made her smile.
"Here we go, Commonwealth embassy. We should find what we need here."
Unlike many of the other buildings on the street, there were no guards on this one. Few people overall, actually, which struck him as strange as they walked inside. It looked as though there were desks that should have handled various kinds of business, but almost all of them were empty. The few workers he saw moved around quietly, as if nervous.
Then Kai saw a man who immediately made a chill run up his spine. Though he looked close to human, there was something distinctly different about his power. Pale skin contrasted sharply with his black uniform, and when he turned around, his eyes burned like hot coals. He saw them and smiled, revealing a mouth filled with pointed teeth.
Kai stopped himself from physically reacting, because he didn't want to start a fight, but his spiritual sense had already passed over the man.
<
Name: ???
Total Power: 833
Crimson Demon: Garnet Rank (137)
Demonic Cultivation: Earth Soul (445)
Physique: D-3 (215)
Soul Level: 6 (36)
>
The man, or perhaps demon, gave them a sinister smile until Omilaena stopped the group. She smiled back, then gestured for them to turn around and kept smiling until they left the building. As soon as they were outside, the smile vanished.
"Well shit," Omilaena said. "So much for the easy path."
Comments
Cognosticon
Valid criticism. I know the solution the story is moving toward, but the characters don't, so it's unnatural for them not to discuss it.
Dennis
It seems odd that neither of the ladies mentioned on the trip over that Kai wouldn't be able to understand almost anyone is Rosemount. Weird that no attempt was made to learn a trade language that would work here.
Cognosticon
This may be your longest essay here. Glad that Rosemount lived up to the hype for you. You've analyzed Rosemount correctly - in addition to overall system balance issues, I wanted the diversity of the setting to show up in everyone having multiple systems. Straight level systems are generally not diminishing returns, just different values per level. As for the gemstones, it's a hierarchy by rough value.
AnythingAtAll
They're in Rosemount! Finally! Oh man, there's so much to unpack. The standout feature of the continent is definitely its diversity. I didn't expect just how much of a melting pot it was going to be. The same way so many power systems are combined into one in the story, these races and species seem to be occupying the same space rather well, given how isolated each Frontier nation is in Deadwaste and the implied human majority in Cloudspire. There are obviously conflicts, especially with that looming war in the Flaeren Dominion that was mentioned in Interludes Beta, but usually, with that many differences coexisting in one place, other fantasy series would've portrayed it as some highly fragile peace where everyone's just a hair away from slaughtering each other, and the only ones that don't tend to be intentionally idyllic and/or idealistic. But no, all these Rosemount inhabitants seem to just be chilling. That's really cool. Most I recognize - I think everyone's heard of elves and lamias - but just like those power systems, it's the way all these familiar races and archetypes are united that makes the series stand out. I can't imagine something like this in Deadwaste and most likely Cloudspire. The former did indeed have those druids from the south, for example, but they were pretty much completely isolated from the human societies we encountered. We weren't seeing ents or fairies walking around casually in Goralia or Krysal. But I can certainly imagine that in Rosemount! I'm interested in seeing how living flames coexist with elves and lamias. We've seen the Elemental Nations, but we haven't seen actual sapient elementals yet. What valuable abilities and commodities do they offer that gives them a place in a patchwork of cultures like Roseport? I'm thinking a higher magical proficiency than most other races, or something that leverages their unique composition. As is standard with this series, so many possibilities! Then there's the economy. The equivalent of 100,000 Goralian eagles just being a start is ridiculous. Yes, I realize the party isn't exactly the best representation of the common person in the continent, but that's still a ton of money. And the prices took me off-guard. Not because they're unrealistic - they're pretty close to what we'd see in the real world, actually - but because it's such a sharp contrast to what we've seen in Deadwaste. Yes, there were auctions and high-end establishments with equivalent expenditures like we saw in Krysal, and valuable items like the self-collapsible tent as well as the water and fire stones could fetch thousands of Goralian eagles, but the equivalent of that just to park a flying vehicle for several hours? A quarter of a million as a STARTING fee for extra-spatial devices? I mean, they sound useful and cool as hell, but again, that's still a ton of money. I'm just not used to seeing people needing to throw that much around. And it implies quite a bit about the socioeconomical structures of the continent, or at least Roseport's and the neighboring cities'. Either we're seeing the effects of inflation, or poor people must find it really hard to scrape out enough money just to buy food. Actually, drawing on what we see in the real world again, it's probably both. Ah, the power systems. I was excited for this. I didn't expect chakra to be literally based on concepts as abstract as intent and emotions. It clearly still operates under concrete rules since Omilaena treats its study as science, but it still has a fundamentally more subjective nature than the other two main energies. And if that's the case, what exactly are its limitations? What's the extent of its capabilities? Omilaena mentioned that there are those who can manifest something into reality from nothing, but surely there has to be a limitation to that other than the cost of chakra. There wouldn't be specialists on specific concepts and essences, after all. The whole idea of 'essences' feels even more abstract. How do you imbue something with more 'gold essence' than the other and apparently justify to entire cities that the one with more 'essence' has a higher monetary value? How do you know how much more 'essence' is in one coin than others? The answer, as Omilaena says, are universal standards enforced by a government or any relevant institution with authority, but that doesn't answer what their methods are and their exact criteria. Are the boundaries between say, the total essence of a sack of coins worth 100 and the essence of another worth 101 simply clear cut so people can check themselves? Or are they too ambiguous so the Commonwealth's standards are necessary? I have so many questions! I'm very excited to see them answered over the course of the book. Appropriate for its reputation as the go-to place for synergies, Rosemount's dominant form of power seems to be combining several compatible sources unlike the nigh complete reliance on cultivation of Cloudspire and not unlike the Frontier elites of Deadwaste. Something tells me the latter are taking more tips from Rosemount than Cloudspire. In particular, nearly everyone seems to have either a power ranked on levels, and another ranked on tiers. If someone's strong enough, they'll have both. Omilaena has a Level 56 Heart of Poison and a Garnet Rank Lethal of Artisan power, while Tormundon has an Emerald Rank Heart of Steel and a Level 5 Scarmiglione's Steel. Is this a uniform system or are there more combinations we just haven't seen yet? The gap between Levels of different abilities doesn't seem to be equal either, since Scarmiglione's Steel already gives Tormundon 125 Power at only Level 5, while Omilaena's Heart of Poison gives 224 Power all the way up to Level 56. Of course, this could be a case of massive jumps in power at the start, which tapers off as levels get higher, though the decline still seems far too steep in Heart of Poison if there really aren't any differences between it and Heart of Steel. I've also noticed most people tend to have an Amber or Garnet Rank for their gemstone-ranked abilities. I'm guessing that's the point where their social standing is either on the cusp of getting better or is already better since Jaminob only needed to raise his ability one rank before his lot in life apparently improved. And perhaps Lethal Artisan became too hard to advance for Omilaena considering its benefits at the time, so she focused more on improving her Heart of Poison. I wonder what exactly is the basis for the gemstone rankings. My first thought is the Mohs hardness scale, but amber has a 2-2.5 score, then it jumps to 6-6.5 for garnet, so clearly it can't be that. And are there any benefits to having an ability based on Levels and another on gemstone rankings other than the total Power they bring? Why not get two based on Levels or two based on gemstone rankings? I'm pretty sure three might be pushing the soul too much, so maybe that's why we haven't seen anything like that. I'm loving all the cool names we've gotten, even for relatively weaker people. That old lady a chapter ago who's a pretty good representation of the common folk in Rosemount had something called the Heart of the Sea, and imminent city guard Jaminob had the Fist of the Blue Wood. There's a lot of personality even in the power system, which I can't exactly say for what we've seen in cultivation. Classes come close somewhat, but I'd rather be called a Crimson Demon or the Fist of the Blue Wood than a Warrior or an Herbalist. What would ZZN's chakra ability be called? Would Kai even get one, considering his general incompatibility with usual powers? And I'm still so curious about how their powers will be synergized. I feel like ZZN will get a massive boost once her qi, mana, and chakra abilities are finally fused properly, that maybe she can even equal an Earth Soul Cultivator despite still being in Nascent Foundation. And for all of Omilaena's talk of all the paths to power in Rosemount, she doesn't seem to have made much use of synergies herself. Then again, she did have to go to Deadwaste to properly study mana abilities, and ZZN is the first example she's seen of a perfect qi and mana fusion, so she likely only got the opportunity to really try them recently. Or maybe she already did, and it just doesn't show in her soul lol, though I doubt that. And finally, that final scene. I genuinely laughed at that. What was it Kai said, just a few hours before? Ah yes, "so it seemed like the real threat was getting embroiled in a larger conflict." And what was it they encountered right after entering the first major institution they found in Rosemount? A demon or demonic person with 830+ Power that seems to have taken over the Commonwealth or represents the ones who have, and they walked straight into that mess. The party is thrown into a potentially larger conflict on their literal first day in Rosemount. Classic. If that's the amount of Power one can get from demonic arts, then I can see why one might want to pursue it. But if there's anything this story has taught me, it's that something like that is too good to be true. There must be a significant cost. Omilaena was also hesitant to even try it. Still, power is power, and at the moment, that demon is someone they shouldn't face lightly. Once again, now I know how Anaelina stays relevant to the story. She probably had 150-200 Power when she left Deadwaste, 250 tops, which Kai and ZZN would've long outgrown by now. However, if she did start using demonic arts, which may be more compatible with her than it first seems since she's a Silver Demon, then she may get to a level of power that can threaten one of them enough. I doubt it'd be Kai. I think his final opponent for this book will either be Tormundon or someone equal to him. Thanks for the chapter! There's this familiar feeling I had when Kai was first exiled from Monskon City. It's like the world had just been blown wide open, and while it definitely isn't going to be easy, the possibilities are endless. I have a feeling book 3 will be my favorite yet.
