Kapitel 3: Enya

Sorry for the bigger paragraphs in this chapter, I found it hard to break the talking further up, and sorry for making it so much talking.

If you see a grammar error, please make a paragraph comment about it, thanks in advance.

----

"Wow, that's quite a lot more people than at breakfast." Claire says as she looks around the pub part of the inn. The pub is full of all kinds of people, some are being rowdy, while others are just enjoying their meal and beverage in quiet; Some are big and burley, others are just your average Joe. But one thing is common between them all, they were all seeming to have a good night.

The bar is made of some nice wood with intricate designs carved into it, and people are filling up every seat there, keeping the bartenders busy with mixing and serving drinks. After looking around for a bit of time, she's finally able to find a free seat that isn't next to a group of people having fun together.

Claire takes a seat at the round table; a waitress comes over. "Here's the menu, please call one over when you're ready to order." The waitress leaves after giving Claire a menu of a few pages, she opens it to take a look.

"I suggest the steak, mine is very tasty." Claire looks up from the menu when she hears a voice from the right, as she looks up, she sees the girl sitting beside her, looking over her shoulder.

The girl has long light blue hair and is dressed in a white upper robe with light blue edges, she also has a light blue skirt that goes down half her thigh. Her legs are covered in knee-high white socks. She has a bright smile that reaches her bright green eyes. "Hello, I'm Enya, nice to meet you." The girl says as she holds out a hand.

"Um, hello," Claire says, a little surprised and weirded out by the overeager girl, but she still shakes the hand. "Do you want something?" She asks in a confused voice. Enya smiles and says. "Nope, I just saw you looking at the menu, and I wanted to share the joy of eating the steak, nothing more, nothing less."

"Thanks, I guess." Claire ponders about the meal to order a little bit more, but she ends up taking Enya up on the offer, so she calls a waiter over. "Have you decided on your order, miss?" "Yes, I'll have the steak, thank you." The waiter leaves after confirming the order and taking the dinner token Claire got yesterday.

She waits for her food in silence at first, but she's unable to not see Enya "discretely" looking over at her once every so often. 'Maybe I can get some information from her? She certainly seems interested in talking with me for some reason.' After finishing the thought, she calls out to Enya. "Hey Enya, do you mind if I ask some questions? I'm new t-."

Before she gets any further in her question, she's interrupted by Enya, who, with a bright smile looks up at her, and exclaims. "Of course, I've been wanting to talk with someone throughout the evening, but the guys are soo~ boring to talk with." She sighs heavily as if to emphasize her point.

"My first question is about the Zhao family, I heard their name yesterday and they sound pretty important, but I've never heard about them before I arrived in this city." Enya looks at her with a "are you serious" expression for a few seconds, but then realizes that Claire's actually serious, so she quickly gets around to answering it. "I don't know how you haven't heard of them before, as they're pretty big even outside the city, but you can answer that when I've answered you."

She takes a deep breath and mutters something under her breath, before exclaiming. "Ah, I got it. First, you know of at least one city that's ruled by a big family, right?" 'I might as well start building a background for myself, it wouldn't do to not have a place of origin when I really need it.' She opens her mouth to respond after having thought it through. "I'll have to disappoint you there, I was raised by my grandparents pretty far away any other people, this is my first time in a populated area bigger than a small village, but, though I don't know of a specific city, I do have an idea of what it means for a city to be under a family."

"That's not much, but it's better than nothing, and you so much have to tell me how it was growing up like that. Anyway, the Zhao family is essentially the ruling family of Firestone Glow city, most of them are pretty respectable and they have a good relationship with the Blue Flame sect that's located close by. Their second young master has shown good potential in cultivation, but it got to his head and he's now abusing his family name. This is something they should be aware of, and most people just think that they're turning the blind eye to it, so I must advise you to be careful if you ever run in with him."

She leans closer to Claire and whispers. "But I'll let you in on a little secret, I've found out that it's just him wanting to show off and that his perception of cool is a bit messed up. He has yet to actually kill a commoner." She giggles as she pulls back and finishes the last bits of her steak. "Now it's your turn to answer a question of mine, that will make this conversation more interesting." She thinks for a bit a before coming up with a question. "Since you sound to not a lot regular information, do you mind if I ask what kinds of things you've been taught, just so I have a guideline when answering your next questions."

"Sure, I don't have a problem answering that question. My grandparents mostly taught me something they called science, engineering, art, and math, or STEAM for short, is that something you've heard before?" Enya just looked at her with a weird stare as she says the words "science, technology, and engineering" a few times, before shaking her head. "I've heard of math and arts, but the other things sound interesting, care to explain a little more?" Claire makes a mental note that STEAM doesn't seem to be common here.

"Alright, science is studying the world and finding logical reasons for why things work as they do, technology is ways to use science for practical purposes, and engineering is in simple words, the use of science and math to design and make things." She's looked at by a seemingly even more confused Enya. "Uhh, I think I got science, but you definitely lost me at technology, it all sounds very interesting, but not something for me. Now it's your turn to ask a question."

"Can you then explain a bit about the Blue Flame sect? I haven't really been taught anything about sects at all." Just as Enya's about to answer the question, a steak with some vegetables and bread is placed in front of Claire, a glass of water follows soon after. "Here's your meal miss, I hope that you'll enjoy it." It comes from the waiter just before he leaves. "Now that you've gotten your meal, try it out before I answer your question." Enya says with a bright smile.

Claire cuts out a bite of the steak and puts it in her mouth. The taste of a normal piece of well-cooked steak hits her tongue, which seems weird after Enya's praise of it earlier. "I have to say that it's just a well-cooked steak, it doesn't seem overly good or anything special." To which the girl just facepalms and sighs. "Of course, I forgot that you probably had the regular menu, it's a lot cheaper, but the meat is from normal beasts instead of soul beasts, sorry about that."

"Wait, there's a special menu and are soul beasts, beasts who can cultivate?" Claire asks pretty confused, but she does take a qualified guess at what a soul beast is. Enya just sighs. "Yeah, there's a speci… wait, you don't even know what a soul beast it? But yeah, your guess is more or less accurate, the finer details aren't something that I care to explain, just know that their meat can be beneficial for cultivators. The special menu is just an upgrade to the regular, but it's also a lot more expensive. I'll answer your previous question when you've eaten some more."

Claire enjoys her well-cooked steak over the next few bites, the vegetables and bread is also pretty good. "Alright, I'll now answer your question about the Blue Flame sect. The Blue Flame sect is one of the strongest sects in our world, their specialty of flames has a good compatibility with the energy in the world. The next entrance exam is actually in a week, and with it's close proximity to this town, you can go and give it a try if you want."

"Do I not need a certain cultivation stage to be taken in? I find it hard to believe that anyone can just try it." Claire asks while continuing to eat her steak. "A higher cultivation stage will certainly help you, but anyone can give it a try, I'm actually an Inner disciple of the sect, so I hope that you can join us, as you seem nice and your knowledge is interesting," The enthusiastic girl seems to realize something and continues on in a hurried voice. "I'm sorry, but I'll have to go now, I have something that I need to do, but I hope to see you at the sect."

Enya hurriedly pays for her meal and leaves the pub, leaving Claire to finish her food alone. After the waiter clears away after her, Claire returns to her room for a good night's sleep.

She yawns when entering the room. "What a day, now I know what the next few days will be going with, and Enya was really nice, I'll think about her suggestion when I'm not cultivating," She prepares and goes to bed, once more finding her body to be in the way when she's trying to fall asleep. It luckily doesn't take her more than some ten odd minutes to fall asleep.