Capítulo 22: Competition 2 (II): West Wind And East Cloud

[The first time a cultivator chooses his weapon is important.....it's supposed to be important. You have to think it through and be decisive, because a weapon is an extension of yourself, an extra limb, or friend who you would now leave your life to.

Most idiots change weapons as much as they change clothes, it's not that it's a bad idea to master multiple weapons, but if of you have so many partners who among them would you really trust. The act of choosing a weapon is like marriage, you become wed to the steel, to the grip, shaft, handle and edge of your weapon. You have to choose wisely, because when you have chosen and your weapon is resting in your hands, there's a feeling that all is right with the world.

But I wouldn't know, I've never used a weapon to fight.]

Bartholomew Álē

That was the only entry about weapons in the python journal. Alex has already established that his ancestor was crazy, now he could probably add pretentious to that list, and maybe shameless. What did he even know about weapons, yet he was talking so philosophical about it, like he was a master who had understood the Dao of weapons. Alex closed his book and looked on at the city of Lokoja.

It was beautiful, and it was crowded.

And it was very big. Alex was not exactly sure how big the city was, but he knew it took them an hour and half to drive from one end of the city to the other, and there was no traffic!. Alex was sitting precariously on the balcony of his hotel room, looking down at the city below as every random Joe and Jane went about their lives, buying, selling, yelling.....kissing?

It was a hustle he had never experienced before, and his attention was completely glued to it. The city was vastly bigger than Dekina, and there was a lot of things that could be done. Their hotel was actually close to the central market of the city, and in just a few moments they would be going down to shop for training materials. His father was really serious about this personal training stuff, and he wanted to take advantage of every second they had.

Alex got back into his hotel room, and couldn't help but whistle in awe. It was not a five star hotel per say, but Alex was sure it very well came damn close to one. It was really nice and seemed to be the only kind of place the son of a big family would find himself lodged in, or maybe a government official. Alex got ready and went out, fifteen minutes later they were taking a stroll to the market that was just two streets away.

Ben led Anya and Alex through the stalls and crowded shops with a singular focus. The way he moved showed that he had been here before, and it left Alex wandering what else it was that he didn't know about his father. They followed him until he eventually led them to a pavilion at the eastern edge of the market, the architecture of the pavilion was not synonymous with the normal style of buildings in Lokoja, hence this was the first building native to the empire of heaven that Alex had seen in his entire life, outside of a television screen of course.

The pavilion or as it was named; The Golden Dragon pavilion, was actually built like a pagoda. Alex counted eighteen floors in all, and from the clothes of the people who were walking in and out of the pavilion, it was obvious an ordinary village boy like him had no business being there. Alex wondered if his dad even knew where he was going, or if the old man had lost his mind. But Alex could not say anything, as he kept his head down and followed after his father.

Alex could not help feeling a little inferior to everyone that went in and out of the pavilion, Alex had always been ostracized from a young age due to the fact that he was a half breed. Now walking through a place where so many full 'breeds' were walking about with the best of what money could buy, on them, it made him feel inferior.

Anya did not have this problem as she openly stared and ogled everything like a true born village girl who had just come to the big city for the very first time in her life. She was naïve to the point of innocence. Or was it the other way around, Alex was not really sure, but seeing Anya not loosing one bit of her confidence strengthened his resolve a bit. Once they got to the entrance of the pavilion, Ben took out a gold card and flashed it to the guard in front, what followed was a series of events that left Alex shocked.

As soon as the guard scanned the card, his indifferent attitude made a 360 degree change as a wide smile broke out on his face, and he bowed to Ben.

"I bid you a warm welcome elder Ben, please have a good time perusing our various products. I hope they would be up to your taste. Would you like me to call an attendant?" The guard asked as he fawned over Alex's father.

Ben replied with a nod, while the two teenagers behind him had a look on their face that was simply asking 'what the heck is going on here?'. But no answer was forthcoming as five minutes later, a young woman who looked about twenty five years of age came out of the pavilion to welcome them.

"my esteemed greetings to VIP member of the golden dragon pavilion elder Ben. Please what can the pavilion do for you today." She greeted and asked as she bowed to him.

Alex had a gob smacked expression on his face. Since when has his father been a VIP of one of the biggest trade conglomerate in the entire world. Alex did not realize it at first, but after repeatedly hearing the name Golden Dragon Pavilion, he realized that this was 'the one and only Golden Dragon Pavilion'. They were the authority on trade as it regards to cultivators and the resources they require for the training. They were wide spread, and even had connections in the Albion empire, talk less of the heaven empire where they originated from. And his father was a VIP member of the pavilion, a freaking elder!(what does that mean anyway.)

"Get us a private room, and the item list for weapons and martial arts suitable for the body refining realm all the way to the open dantian realm." Ben ordered as he ascended the steps to make his way into the pavilion.

The attendant nodded her head, and led them through a side door, past a long hallway and into a really posh private room. It seems everything that was being done or made in Lokoja city was of a higher grade than you would see in a town like Dekina, much less an out of the way village like oganenigu. Refreshments were given, and even though Alex and Anya just had breakfast not less than three hours ago, the variety of food put in front of them was something they couldn't say no to. The attendant came back with three tablets which had the symbol of the golden dragon Pavilion painted on their backs.

The tablets were the goods and their price lists of everything sold in the golden dragon pavilion. There was a filter option, and under the interface weapons were ticked out. Technology like this was something Alex has never had the pleasure of getting his hands on, so he fumbled around with it a bit before Anya decided to help him.

The first tablet had the options about weapons, while the other was about martial art techniques. The third seemed to be meant only for his fathers eye, as Ben actually stepped out for a moment to read and peruse what was on it, leaving Alex even more suspicious. But he turned his focus back to the tablet on his hands as he and Anya chose the weapons that was most suitable for them.

Anya found her's almost immediately. It was a scythe that was two meters long, with a curved meter long blade made from a glowing yellow metal, that had arrays etched on it. But that was just one part, as the other side of the scythe, had a hammer made of the same kind of metal, but obviously meant for smashing the shit out of people. The description called it the Sun Sage Scythe, nothing about the colossal hammer head behind the scythe was mentioned in the name, and it was actually an uncompleted level nine mortal weapon.

"Why is it uncompleted?" Alex asked, thoroughly confuse about that part of its description. If the forging of the weapon was uncompleted, then why in God's name was it listed here for sale. But it was Anya who answered.

"Its uncompleted because it's an evolving weapon. I'm not surprised though, simple weapons are hardly made anymore. The technique for forging weapons capable of evolving has already been wide spread for almost twenty years. So instead of using a weapon and discarding it for a higher leveled one, you would have to nurture and train your weapon to become strong just like you."

"That still doesn't explain why it's uncompleted." Alex said to Anya In a dead pan but sarcastic voice, and because of that, he received a slap for his efforts.

"The weapons are uncompleted, because it is up to their owners to complete them. The act of nurturing and enhancing the weapon completes it." Anya said to him.

"Well how much is it?" Alex asked the attendant. She looked at another tablet, one which Alex had not noticed she was holding for a while and then said.

"2 million imperial gold."

Alex who had started taking a drink of water, spat out the entire content as he choked on it. The price was abyssal, it would take him a hundred years of hard work and frugal living to amass one half of that money.

"We'll take it." Ben said as he strolled back into the room. Alex looked at his father with a questioning look on his face, but a wave from the man and a reassuring look on his face told him not to worry. It was hard, but he had to trust his father, the old man has never steered him wrong.

"Have you found what you want Alex?" his father asked. But Alex shook his head, and explained he hadn't seen anything that clicked yet. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was taking the advice of his crazy ancestor, he wanted to make a connection to what ever weapon he chose.

"Do you have a preference, or a particular style you like?" The attendant asked

Alex was about to say no, when his mind went back to the masquerade trial. The last masquerade to have defeated him had left quite an impression on him, and that was because it wielded twin long swords, using both weapons with such flourish and grace, that the image of it jumping into the air to decapitate Alex, would be forever etched in his mind as a moment of glory and unprecedented horror. He knew what he wanted now.

"Dual Longswords, preferably, they should be uncompleted like Anya's". Alex answered. The attendant took the tablet from him, and made a few searches, then handed it back to him.

There were 47 different pairs of swords, and each one looked more better than the last. Eventually Alex's eyes came to rest on a pair of blazing swords, the hand guard of the swords were actually metal casted in the form of a sun, and their blade was the same burning yellow as Anya's. The name of this pair of swords were the Sun Sage's Duality. An almost identical name to Anya's, and it was obvious they were made by the same person. Alex was going to choose this, I mean come on, this had to be destiny, but before Alex could pick it, his father interrupted.

"Don't pick that one, it's not suitable for you." He said, as he moved Alex's hand away from the screen of the tablet, and proceeded to scroll through the list. But Alex protested.

"But Anya has something similar, is it not better if we...…."

"Enough, I don't deny that you an Anya are closer than anything else in this world. But this sword is going to be your companion for life, you can't choose casually. Here it is, I reserved something similar to this for you, when you were just born. And since you're choosing swords, I don't think there's a need for you to use a bow, even though I've paid for it."

His father was saying stuff that left Alex confused again, but he still looked at the pair of swords his father was pointing at. This pair of longswords had a hilt that was a mishmash of three different colored metal of blue, white and green. The hand guard was also circular like the sun sword, but there was a blank space in the center of the guard, almost as if a name was meant to be carved there in the center of it.

The blade was long, a little too long for Alex in fact since he was not that tall. It was a meter long silver blade, the silver was quite dull and murky looking and it looked as if clouds and lightening was moving on the surface of the sword. And then came the biggest attraction point, and that was the chains connected to the hilt of both swords, essentially connecting them both. Both swords were level nine mortal weapons like the one Anya chose, but their names were weird as they came with a poem like description.

"Hollow skies cried the rain, joyful fury called the thunder, as wind forsook the love of clouds, all to cry today, for the birth of the nameless sons of Sky And Sea...pray thy names remain nameless, for thou shalt be forgotten dragons. be named West Wind and East Cloud."