Chapter 113 - Tarnish
Dror had to depart with some of his earth crystals to Nympho after long hours of argument.
The evil sword was eating away on his ears about discrimination in workplace and ethics. How two spiritual weapons were clearly discriminated against by its master and treated unequally.
Dror was feeling a little depressed after being extorted by Nympho, but he soon calmed down and was observing the other two death impartation.
He took the white orb first and swallowed it with determination, while closing his eyes.
He was surprised to find that instead of going into his stomach, the orb dispersed and disappeared in his mouth itself, but soon he was attacked by a painful headache.
Then all kinds of memories started pouring into his mind as if he was experiencing it himself.
These were all Earnest's memories of meditation and practicing all kinds of different techniques.
He felt like he was living out a major part of Earnest's life himself, years passed by as Earnest kept on improving his techniques and gained new understandings.
When Dror finally opened his eyes he knew only moments had passed in the real world, but years had passed for him inside his mind.
He was much more calm and composed than beaming with smiles.
The gains that he made were much more than he could describe in words, The memory of how Earnest passed his tribulation to enter into the True warrior realm alone was invaluable for Dror.
Much alone the memory of Earnest attaining the Supreme warrior realm.
For some reason Dror felt really troubled in his heart, this was someone's life's worth of work and it was given to him just like that.
He had the feeling that the people of old were really cool and worth respecting.
Their magnanimity and honor for their own word was something else.
The great saint Traveda the lord of this star system was also said to be such a person, maybe because he was also someone from that age.
He had the urge to test all the new techniques, but held himself back and continued to meditate.
After meditating and stabilizing himself for 2 more days, he traveled towards the outer forest and tested out his techniques.
The results were much more amazing than he expected, even though he appeared the same man from the outside it was not the case inside.
He was like veteran who had practiced his skills for years and had an in depth knowledge about it.
...…..
20 more days passed by and Dror arrived at Tarnish, one of the 8 central cities of Ayangdad, The home ground of the Lomba family.
Unlike before his face showed much more confidence.
When he first started his journey he never intended to visit any central cities much less spend this much time wandering around.
His whole plans changed after receiving the three death impartations. He had already consumed the second impartation related to artifact masters and this was also the reason why he was here.
He needed many materials to practice his smithing. Even Though his ring was filled with all kinds of rare materials and ores, magical artifact smithing was a complex process and the number of subsidiary materials needed to practice it was numerous.
The place where one could find all these materials together at one place was one of the central cities and Tarnish was the closest central city.
He had thought of traveling by air to shorten the travel time but after considering the stringent security checks in airports he decided to take the train instead.
When he first got out of the central station of Tarnish, he was gobsmacked by the view in front of him, People even started jesting at the country bumpkin.
Dror couldn't stop himself from muttering
" Now this a real advanced future city…
"
He had never seen skyscrapers so high, the hover vehicles that moved around were modern and exquisite, unlike the ones he had seen until now.
The city seemed busy but at the same time it appeared very orderly. Everything from traffic to cleanliness was maintained in perfect manner, people were also well behaved and followed rules.
The one thing that surprised him more was the fact that people here were more energetic and seemed happy unlike the gloomy looks in the face of commoners which he had seen until now.
Of Course he knew this was because the people who lived in the central cities were high class people who mainly supported the Alliance government and people related to them.
If someone had to buy a house in these central cities money wasn't just enough, but they also needed connections and a minimum loyalty score towards the Alliance government.
The advantage of living in one of the central cities was not just the high end amenities and other perks, but also the safety.
The central cities were nothing less than a well fortified humongous war machine.
Even though planet Ayangdad was colonized by man, still the forest cover was more than ten times of the civilized area and the number of beasts lurking in them were easily a 100 times or more of the total population of humans.
If a full scale beast tide was to occur only the 8 central cities may survive it, there was no need to mention other lower grade cities and towns.
Of Course a full scale beast tide was a very rare thing and has not happened for the last 70 or so years but it does occur once every millennium, when the red and black smoke expands for some reason and whenever it occurs the whole population of the planet would go down drastically.
The previous king had built these 8 central cities to shelter all the citizens at such times, but now it was divided among the 7 powerful families who controlled the Alliance government.
When the last beast tide occurred it was around 10 to 15 years after the rebellion and formation of the current Alliance government.
At that time even though the Alliance government had taken over the power, supporters of the old king were numerous.
But when the large-scale beast tide arrived, The Alliance government closed the doors to the central cities and only allowed those citizens inside who were at least neutral in their stance regarding the governance.
The result was a bloodbath and a drastic reduction in the population, The number of punishment villages who were in hundreds came to single digit.
This was the most ruthless move made by the Alliance government to completely take over the planet Ayangdad and they succeeded in it completely.
Not only did they kill off most of the citizens who had any soft spot for the previous kingdom, the trauma that was left in the hearts of the rest of the citizens was so deep that they would think 100 times before entertaining any thought for rebellion.
It didn't end there either, when the citizens were in so much danger the rebels had to use their full power to fight for the commoners, not only did the rebels lose more than 50% of their weapons and fire power, they also lost too many warriors. Which completely squashed any ideas of rebellion for many coming decades.
The Alliance government also spread the idea that it was because of the fear of rebels entering the cities along with citizens and creating disturbance or security threats, that the Alliance government didn't let most of the citizens enter the central cities.
Even Though most of the citizens knew that the Alliance government was showing excuses, the underlying meaning was clear. If you had any dealings with the rebels only death and destruction awaits you.
Even the level headed citizens couldn't stop from entertaining the idea that, if only they had shown a little loyalty towards the Alliance government, maybe this calamity wouldn't have befallen them.
After a short pause and recollecting all this knowledge, Dror moved along with the crowd.
The central cities were much more expensive than Dror imagined, but he could only grit and hire a taxi.
The taxi driver was a black lady named Yaren, who was very knowledgeable regarding the city.
Dror learned much about the city from Yaren, The city was divided into many layers with their own security measures and the Lomba mansion was situated in the innermost region.
There was no way Dror could go anywhere near the central area as it was only allowed for the first class citizen.
Even Though Dror was disguised as a businessman, his identity was of an ordinary businessman. With this identity he couldn't even enter second layer of the city.
Yaren brought him to one of the low cost motels in the outer layer of the city.
Dror took her contact details so that she could pick him up later to visit the market area.
By evening Dror was rested and called for Yaren. Even Though the place was known as a market, this place was nothing like any market.
The place was a little crowded but the people still did their business in an orderly fashion.
The first few buildings in the area were also skyscrapers owned by large business groups and the stores were completely automated.
Yaren brought him to the inner areas where smaller businesses were located.
Even though she had a general awareness regarding which kinds of stores were located where, she didn't know which store sold the exact materials that Dror required, But Dror was happy to look for the things himself and take a stroll of the area.
"I will call you when I am done with my business then..
"
But just as he had started taking the stroll, a small commotion caught his attention. What really caught his attention was the person who had started this ruckus and he clearly knew this person.