Travellers - An Isekai, Cultivation Fantasy

"I think we should go, guys," Drake said to Blaze and Sylvia. Sensing his worry, Farisa spoke up.

"Why don't you come and join us? No one will find trouble with you if you're with us."

Drake hesitated.

"Come on, Drake, at least until you recover fully," said Elwin. Drake was initially worried that the Myriad Sword Palace might also find trouble with him, but shook his head. They would completely lose their trust and reputation if they did; there was no way they would risk it. So, he decided to agree.

"Very well then, let's go."

Drake and the others arrived at a grand hotel. On the way here, he chatted a lot more freely with Elwin, and the two caught up on many of the things they had gone through since parting. At the same time, Farisa, Sylvia, Blaze and Corvus also had friendly conversations and got to know each other better.

After arriving, Drake immediately asked to retire and went to his room. After everything he had gone through, the days of constantly being on edge and fighting almost non-stop, pushing himself to the limit, he was unbelievably exhausted. Not only him, but the others also felt the same, and everyone wanted to go to their bedrooms and rest.

Drake opened the door to his room to be greeted by a lavish sight. The hotel was one of the best in Basindale, containing numerous luxuries and decorations. However, Drake did not care for any of them. He felt filthy and wanted to have a bath first.

Entering the bathroom, Drake spotted a bath large enough to be a small swimming pool. Drake smelled rich oils and herbs dissolved within, giving off a rich and soothing aroma, mixed with the warm steam rising from the water. Lion-faced wall hangings around the pool released fresh, warm water into the bath.

Unable to resist, Drake stripped and entered the water. He immediately felt his entire body relax. All the stress and tension faded from his body. He even felt some of his minor injuries healing!

'This is incredible! How do they make these baths!?' Drake wondered. However, he decided to think about it later and relax, allowing the bath to work its magic.

Several hours later, Drake was finally satisfied and stood up. After getting dressed quickly, he returned to his room and fell into his bed. It was the softest bed he had ever slept in. Or at least it felt that way after all these days of sleeping rough. So, the moment Drake's head hit the pillow, he immediately fell asleep.

Many hours later, well past sunrise.

Drake woke up with a yawn, stretching his arms lazily. His mind was in a daze for a few seconds before slowly focusing and remembering everything that had happened.

'If I want to protect the inheritance and prevent people from finding trouble with me, I have to break through to the undying body realm - fast.'

He wasn't very far.

After consuming the three leaf healing pill and cultivating in the secret area, he was close to the middle stage steel body and late stage true mage realm. After cultivating on the top floor for five days, he had not only quickly broken through these realms, but also directly to the perfect stage steel body realm!

With the knowledge and experience from the ancestors' wills as well, and his own talent, his martial arts cultivation speed was greatly boosted in that incredibly mana-dense room.

He felt like he could reach the peak of the steel body realm in a few months of cultivating. Then, with the death-defying pill and his experience, it would not be a problem to breakthrough. Drake thought for a moment and remembered the bone-cleansing pill recipe he had learnt. If he refined a bunch of those pills, he figured he could cultivate even faster.

However…

A few months was still too long. It was more than enough time for people to plot something against him. Drake was at a loss for what to do.

Feeling hungry, Drake decided he would talk to the others about it over breakfast. It was at this point that Drake looked through the window and realised it was close to the afternoon now, so he had slept much longer than normal.

Although at his cultivation he didn't require as much sleep as normal people, given how much he had exhausted himself, sleep was an important way to recover, so it was to be expected.

With a sigh, Drake stretched again, got out of bed, and quickly left his room.

Ten minutes later.

Drake, Blaze and Sylvia were sitting around a table. A large feast was being served to them by the hotel. As they were eating, they were interrupted by hearty laughter.

"Haha, so you are the famous Drake Reynard," came a familiar voice. Drake turned to see the Myriad Sword Palace elders.

One was a bearded, middle-aged man, and the other was a younger-looking man in his thirties. They were followed closely by Corvus and the others. "Elwin had told us all much about you, but I only found out now that you were that brother."

Initially, hearing how Drake had taken the inheritance while the others were stuck fighting the dark mages, the elders were quite angry. However, after learning that, not only was Drake Elwin's brother, but he was also a lone cultivator unaffiliated with any organisation, that annoyance quickly turned to delight. If they could recruit Drake to join their sect, it would be perfect! Not only would they get the inheritance, they would also be able to recruit such a promising disciple!

However, Farisa and Elwin warned them that they had already tried, but Drake wasn't interested. The elders frowned, hearing this, but they couldn't give up without trying.

"Yes, I am," Drake replied with a chuckle. "We both thought the other was dead as well."

"Indeed," the elder replied, stroking his beard. "I am very sorry for your loss and everything you and your family have gone through."

"Me too," added the younger elder.

"Thanks," Drake replied. "Please, have a seat, all of you." The elders smiled and sat down, and the rest of the disciples followed suit. Elwin chose to sit next to Drake.

"So Drake, how have you found the accommodation so far? Was anything lacking in any way? If so, we can talk to the hotel."

"Oh, please, there's no need. Everything has been unbelievably amazing. I wanted to thank you very much for hosting us."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Mhm, mhm," the elder smiled, stroking his beard again, happy at Drake's humble demeanour. "It is our pleasure to host your party."

Drake smiled, but internally, he had a feeling that they wanted something.

"Unfortunately, we won't be staying here for much longer," spoke the other elder. "We will be leaving this afternoon, back to our Myriad Sword Palace."

"That's understandable," Drake nodded, while eating another spoonful.

The elders glanced at each other, and the bearded one spoke again. "You may or may not know Drake, but our Myriad Sword Palace is one of the top forces in the Holy Kingdom. Our leaders are immortals!"

Here it comes, Drake thought.

"We wanted to ask, how would you like to join our sect? With your talent, you would directly be accepted as an inner sect disciple and given all the resources you could ever need for your cultivation. Pills, martial techniques, summonings - you name it, we'll give it to you!"

"Not to mention," added the other elder. "You could be reunited with your brothers."

Hearing the plural 'brothers', Drake was reminded of Hazezel. He, too, was part of the Myriad Sword Palace. If he left with them now, he could see Hazezel as well again.

Remembering everything that Hazezel had done, Drake went silent. The elders were anxious, but they kept quiet and allowed Drake to think, while Elwin placed his hand on top of Drake's and leaned into his ear.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, brother, don't force yourself."

Elwin whispered, but naturally, with their cultivation, the elders still heard him. They were slightly displeased, but didn't say anything.

About thirty seconds later, Drake cleared his throat. "Thank you very much for the kind offer, however, I'm afraid I have to reject it for now."

"For now?" the bearded elder asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid I'm not interested in joining any sects at the moment."

"I… I see," the elder replied. He was very disappointed, but forced himself not to show it. "Well then, in any case, you are now a friend to us and can visit any time if you happen to come to the Holy Capital."

"Thank you, I definitely will," Drake replied.

With that out of the way, the tension eased, and everyone started chatting normally. The elders asked even more questions about everything that happened on the inheritance grounds. However, no one questioned Drake about what the final inheritance was, or even brought it up, which he appreciated.

Some time later.

Drake, Blaze and Sylvia stood at the gates of Basindale, waving the Myriad Sword Palace disciples away as they left for the Holy Capital. A few minutes later, another carriage arrived, and the three hopped on board.

A week later, in a location some distance away from Basindale.

Dozens of tents rose in an open field like a small village. Several individuals could be seen walking across, talking and laughing happily. To most people, this would look like a small village settlement, except for one striking feature - all of the individuals had black spiral horns protruding from their heads.

It was a dragon tribe!

One of the individuals sensed something in the distance and turned, his gaze peering several miles into the horizon. A lone carriage was trotting through the single road that stretched into their village from Basindale. He felt three auras within the carriage, one of which was very familiar.

Soon, the carriage reached the end of the road, where more than a dozen individuals were waiting. Blaze stepped out of the carriage and was immediately greeted by cheerful voices.

"Blaze!"

"You're back!"

"And you broke through!" someone noticed that he had reached the peak of the steel body realm now, after cultivating in the black tower.

Blaze giggled sheepishly at the attention, rubbing the back of his head.

"My son," two voices called out simultaneously. Blaze turned to face them immediately, his face blooming into a wide smile.

"Dad! Mom!"

"I've missed you!"

As the family and tribe reunited, they spent a few minutes laughing and chatting happily. Blaze forgot about Drake and Sylvia momentarily before suddenly remembering them.

"Actually, everyone, I have some friends I wanted to introduce you to," he said, pointing to the carriage. Everyone became quiet and turned to the carriage. It was unusual for their tribe to get visitors, so everyone was curious, especially since they were Blaze's friends.

Drake stepped out, followed by Sylvia.

Everyone recognised Sylvia as a dryad and gasped. They had expected his friends to be humans, seeing a dryad was rare, even for dragons.

"This is Sylvia, and this is Drake," Blaze introduced them to the tribe. Although everyone's attention was initially grasped by Sylvia, sensing Drake's cultivation and artifacts at his young age surprised people as well.

"Haha, you have made some fine friends," laughed Blaze's dad. Drake noticed that he was a tall and muscular man, resembling Blaze a lot, while his mum looked like a beautiful, mature woman in her thirties. However, Drake knew that they'd be much older than that in reality, since even Blaze was 87 years old.

Blaze chuckled. "And guys, these are my parents."

"I am Amouranth Emberclaw," his mum introduced herself.

"Eclair Emberclaw," said his dad.

This was when Drake noticed something. They were both… shadow body martial artists! Furthermore, Amouranth was a mage king, and Eclair was a mage emperor! Looking around, everyone was at least at the undying body level, with many being shadow body martial artists and mage kings, and a few more at the astral body and mage emperor levels.

This was crazy!

Just this group alone could easily decimate Basindale and the surrounding towns, and they were only a small number of the tribe members! Moreover, imagining them all using their dragon forms at once…

Drake gulped. No wonder people did not want to mess with dragon and dryad tribes. Despite their small numbers, they were truly terrifying.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr Eclair and Ms Amouranth," Drake spoke respectfully.

"Indeed," Sylvia added. "Thank you for having us."

"Any friend of Blaze is a friend of our tribe," said Eclair. "Please, make yourselves welcome."

Drake shared a glance with Sylvia and became internally relieved. He was worried about how he could evade people targeting him, while he digested the gains from the inheritance and broke through to the undying body realm. Now that he was in this tribe, there was no need to worry. Even if a large sect came after him in its entirety, even if all the mage emperors of the Hidden Venom Cult banded together, they would not be a match for this dragon tribe.

With a sigh of relief, Drake thanked them again, and they started making their way into the village.

…

A few days later, Duskville, the town lord's mansion.

Cedric Ironheart was standing on the balcony of his room, hands behind his back, gazing into the distance. Behind him, seated on a chair was Astoria, who was now radiating a middle-stage warrior mage aura.

She had a natural talent for cultivation that surprised even Cedric. Since their initial meeting, Cedric had taken a liking to Astoria and had been providing her with pills, resources, and guidance. It wasn't official, but they almost had a master-disciple relationship. All this allowed her to grow greatly over the last half a year.

Astoria sat sipping tea, wondering why he had summoned her. Cedric had been awfully quiet even though she had arrived several minutes ago. So, she was just silently enjoying her tea.

"Have you heard the news?" asked Cedric.

Astoria tilted her head, wondering what he could be talking about. "Oh, of the inheritance grounds? Yeah, I've heard."

Cedric continued speaking while gazing outside. "Did you hear who obtained the final inheritance?"

"Only some rumours, about a dragon boy?" Astoria spoke questioningly. Cedric shook his head.

"Close. It was someone in the dragon boy's party, but it wasn't him."

"Oh, then who?"

Cedric paused for a moment before replying.

"Drake." He slightly turned his head so he could see Astoria from his peripheral vision before adding, "Drake… Reynard."

Astoria's eyes widened. Her hand went numb, and she dropped the cup of tea on the floor. The cup shattered, spilling tea all over her shoes. However, her mind did not even register it.

Drake… Reynard? That's my Drake? My little brother? He's alive? But… how is that possible?

All this time, Astoria had believed that Drake and the rest of her family had died in the village. Hearing those words felt like someone was pouring cold water over her head when asleep... times a thousand. Her mind went blank for a second before being flooded with a million thoughts and questions.

Cedric sighed. "Do you want to go see him?"

See him… see Drake? Finally? Why wouldn't I? But then…

Astoria remembered Henry, how he brutally murdered Sam, and was still at large. She felt conflicted. Astoria wanted to see Drake more than anything, but also wanted revenge on Henry.

She fell into deep thought. Cedric didn't interrupt her. A few minutes later, she sighed. "No."

Cedric was slightly surprised. "Really?"

"Yes," she spoke firmly, making up her mind. "Knowing that he's alive is more than enough. I can see him any time I want. However, if I let Henry go, I may not be able to find him ever again. While I know that he's in Duskville, I want to deal with him."

"I see…" Cedric's voice trailed off, but he smiled slightly, as if he expected that response. He turned to face Astoria fully before speaking.

"Very well, in that case, we have a major problem in our hands."