Chapter 26: Black Lotus Pods
Ethan and Scarlett asked around for a while, especially to the children around the area, in subtle tones about the Human Matriarch. The duo didn't lose the chance to look for resources either, for the pill of comprehension.
But they were catching the attention of some people due to their faintly different skin tone, and quickly enough, they walked out of the spotlight. Hiding into the shadows of alleyways and talking with each other using Voice Transmissions.
Human Matriarch.
This woman apparently was a heinous criminal outside the Black Forest before she was thrown into this place by the people outside. She had arrived here seven years ago, and the then Human Patriarch had chosen her to be his heir.
Only one person from one race could become a cultivator in every generation.
The Human Race could also only have one, after all. Yet, it had been stolen by one of the worst criminals.
After learning about her heinous name outside from newer prisoners who arrived later, the humans were scared when she became the cultivator of this generation, and everyone secretly hated her—feared her.
But her reign was amazingly startling. She took control of the masses, rebuilt this underground city to livable condition, saved struggling people from all over the Black Forest, and built a working commerce.
She built a cordial relationship with the Spirit Race, and the Spirit Patriarch of this generation even supported her in the development of the city. Her reign was an extremely successful and satisfying one to be under.
Even the children only had good words to speak of her!
The Matriarch made this place not a living hell.
Ethan and Scarlett then looked at the spire and the sun-like bulb from an alleyway. The Matriarch lived in that spire; she would usually only speak to her helper and wouldn't intervene with the others unless necessary. She was in secluded cultivation most of the time.
"Intrude or go nicely?" Ethan asked.
"You decide, I don't know…"
He pondered seriously. The Matriarch sounded like a reasonable person—heck; she somewhat reminded him of Scarlett herself.
Scarr was also a heinous criminal on Earth with a heart of gold.
"I saw many of the materials we need in the market," Ethan said, leaning against the mud wall. "Most of it that I wanted was there. The best choice would be to strengthen ourselves before we meet this woman."
Yet, even though almost all the materials seemed like common things, there was one that made him a bit worried. Black Lotus Pods. He had seen its image in the recipe of the Pill, and none of what he saw around the city matched it.
Ethan had then subtly asked around for it without being too catchy—it was here since the people knew what it was when he asked, but they didn't know where to get it.
All of the other materials were really common things.
Pill of Comprehension was a unique pill made with several mortal materials, including ginseng, cardamom, and many spices that were even available on Earth. Many Indian herbs and such as an extra too. There were some things that he didn't know what they were, but after roaming the market for a bit, he had already seen many of them.
Only Black Lotus Pods was a worry.
"So, we have to first get the materials then." Scarlett looked at the buzzing market and the people roaming around. They were aliens—not really humans from Earth, she thought.
He nodded and silently walked into the market; Scarlett didn't follow and just stood there in watch out. She would warn him of any abnormality using Voice Transmission.
The people here were using resources as currency, and he didn't have anything to give them other than things from Earth. He would rather not do that.
As he melded into the crowd, his Dimensional Senses spread around him. It was like a tingle; all of the moving people around him were like blurry afterimages, indents in space. He could also feel many other things in his colorless senses—wooden boxes, resources, fruits, coins, and dust floating around.
Ethan liked to call this the 4th Dimension. Seeing the 3rd Dimension from the 4th was indeed a spectacular feeling. It had taken tons of training to get used to the avalanche of senses, but now, it was cleanly sorted before him. He could focus on what he wanted.
He sensed a small box full of cuboid, solid honey.
Seven of them vanished from the midst, and it was stolen in a way that didn't make the rest collapse or make any sound.
The next thing he saw was salt; it was colorless to his 4-dimensional senses, but he remembered how that salt was one of the other exotic materials that were not on Earth—Green Salt.
It was in a huge glass jar, and as Ethan passed by, a huge chunk of it just… vanished. Nobody even noticed.
Smiling to himself, Ethan continued until four more materials were in his Dimensional Pocket in abundant amounts. He sniffed at the air and looked at the sun-like bulb. It was becoming darker now—night seemed to be near.
The bulb would probably turn off.
"Got everything?" Scarlett's sweet voice intoned.
"Yeah," he answered. "Just that the lack of Black Lotus Pods makes it impossible for us to create an actual Pill of Comprehension. Just that more, and we'll be stronger than when we were on Earth already."
"It hadn't even been a week since we arrived…"
"This is just the start!" Ethan said.
"Yeah, thief, come here now."
Ethan walked towards her with a chuckle that echoed in her mind through the transmission.
This was his primary talent—stealing. Ethan was an artist when it came to thievery.
Of course, he was well aware of how it might affect other people's lives badly, and he was, indeed, quite disgruntled by that.
On Earth, stealing from banks felt liberating, more of a fine thing rather than something that webt against his conscience.
This made him a bit irked; even more irked than he was after killing people who harmed them.
These people seemed to be barely making ends meet after all.
Maybe he could help them later if the Human Matriarch was not a threat.
That didn't seem too bad an idea. The scrawny, bone-like kids made him sure of that.
Maybe the people around here were mostly criminals with rotten hearts, but these kids surely weren't. He could probably help them with some of the resources he had without much of a loss.
But for now, he had to find Black Lotus Pods.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone