Travellers - An Isekai, Cultivation Fantasy

Drake had been saving up money a lot; from the rewards for all of his missions, selling the corpses of the demons they killed, and the extra pills Drake had refined, he thought he finally had enough money to buy one.

So, Drake decided to make a trip to the merchant’s guild again.

As usual, Drake was welcomed by a smiling and gorgeous Freya.

Everybody had been buying artifacts like crazy to prepare for the inheritance. With the merchants guild being as big as they were, they imported a large number of artifacts in advance to meet the demand and sold them at a slight premium, making large profits. Rank three artifacts were quite expensive so most cultivators did not attempt to buy one. Hence, the merchants guild had a number of them in stock.

Drake asked for a defensive artifact as he had numerous offensive ones already.

Freya led him to a private room and brought out a storage pouch. She took out two artifacts from the pouch and laid them on the table before Drake.

“These are the two best rank three defensive artifacts we have right now, master Drake. Please have a look,” she said softly.

The first was a golden, light and wind elemental ring, whilst the second was a blue, light and water elemental robe, decorated with white patterns.

The ring could summon a large wind vortex to block and absorb attacks, a light mirror that could reflect attacks up to a certain level, and could summon two holographic light clones of the user. It was quite powerful.

On the other hand, the light and water elemental robe could summon a light barrier to block attacks, a water barrier to absorb attacks, and could also harden a part or all of the robe to make it difficult to penetrate, effectively becoming an armour, similar to his current robe. Being a rank three artifact of course, the hardening would be much greater than in his current robe.

Drake wanted to buy both but he didn’t have enough money, so he decided to buy the robe instead.

Freya happily sold him the robe, taking a large chunk of Drake’s wealth in exchange.

‘I hope the inheritance grounds would be worth it,’ he thought to himself.

Before leaving, he wanted to ask one more thing.

“Would you happen to have any leaves of the Celestial Willow?”

Freya looked surprised and then frowned.

“That tree has been extinct in this part of the continent for centuries,” she said. “It is possible that other branches of the guild might have come across it… but I’d have to check.”

“Please do,” Drake requested.

Whilst Drake had luckily found many of the rare herbs he needed for the Three Leaf Healing pill from the secret cave in the mana stone mines and during his other missions and shopping, he still lacked one main ingredient – leaves from the Celestial Willow tree. If he couldn’t find them, he would have to try using some replacement which would probably require altering the whole recipe in the process, thereby becoming another nightmare to do.

“For sure, and if they don’t have it, I can place a request to ask the other branches to be on the lookout for them as well,” she replied with a smile.

“Thanks a lot,” Drake replied gratefully.

“It’s my pleasure, master Drake,” she said. “Also, I’m sure you have heard of the inheritance grounds opening, am I right?”

Drake nodded.

“The inheritance was set up by the twin martial artists who lived centuries ago. Hence, it is possible that the Celestial Willow tree or its leaves might be preserved there from that time,” she suggested.

“That’s true,” Drake agreed. He had previously thought the same and this was another reason he was looking forward to the inheritance grounds.

“In any case, I’ll take my leave now,” Drake announced, before standing up. “Thanks for everything,” he said and started making his way out.

Freya escorted him outside and waved him goodbye.

Drake left and made his way back to his inn, thinking about the three-leaf healing pill.

He had most of the materials needed for refining the pill already. The only things left were the leaves of the Celestial Willow which he would hopefully find within the inheritance grounds or from the merchants guild, and the corpse of a commander class demon which he could just buy once he had enough money.

The main thing he had to do now was continue his alchemy practice. He had already learnt his rank two martial techniques, and all the runes he needed, so he was going to spend the remaining month focusing solely on alchemy. He wanted to make as much progress as possible before entering the inheritance grounds; not to mention that it would be a good opportunity to refine and store up on a bunch of rank two pills.

While Drake was thinking about his future plans, two other people were similarly talking about their plans together in a location much further away, close to Duskville.

Sun was setting on the grassy plains. A long road stretched across the ground, laid to facilitate the movement of people from Duskville to nearby locations. An open carriage pulled by horses was trotting along the road, on top of which, two people were sitting together – a young man and a woman.

“Can’t wait to get back,” the young man said, yawning as he stretched his muscles and laid back, putting his arm around the girl.

“Me too Sam,” the girl replied, laying her head on his chest.

The two were naturally Sam and Astoria, who were just returning from a mission to protect a simple alchemist as he went to collect some herbs from a nearby forest.

Suddenly, the driver, who was the alchemist, pulled the reigns and the horses reared on their hind legs, bringing the carriage to a stop.

“What happened?” Astoria asked warily. Sam immediately turned around, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“Who are you?” the driver asked, sounding wary.

Sam and Astoria were confused as they couldn’t see anybody. However, a voice replied from the front with a mild laugh.

“Just a friend of the two you have riding behind you.”

Hearing the response, Sam and Astoria were even more perplexed. They got off the carriage to see who the mysterious visitor was and froze in their tracks.

A young man with short, black, scruffy hair, stood in front of the horses. He was dressed in black robes fitted to his lean body and was wearing an eyepatch. Behind him, a spear-wielding young man stood straight, but the two spotted that half of his face and parts of his body were decomposed, indicating that he was an undead.

The young man caught sight of Astoria and Sam. His face filled with anticipation and wicked delight.

“Did you miss me?” “You! What are you doing here!?” Sam hissed, unsheathing his sword. Despite his reaction, however, he didn’t feel like fighting. The undead behind Henry was sending alarm bells ringing through Sam’s mind, telling him to flee.

Astoria was the same. ‘Why was he here? she thought.

Henry laughed. “Is that any way to greet an old friend?”

“Humph! Not killing you on sight is more than you deserve,” Sam retorted.

Henry laughed once again. “Oh really, why don’t you try doing that?”

Saying so, Henry raised his hand above his head and dark mana gathered, before condensing into ten large blood bats. Corrosive venom dripped from their huge fangs as the bats charged at Sam.

Sam narrowed his eyes and focused, before activating his movement technique and charging.

Astoria also acted. She brought her hands together and mana gathered. As she separated her hands, three orbs of light had condensed. The orbs of light rapidly expanded into purple ravens.

“Storm ravens, go!” Astoria yelled.

The storm raven spirits rushed at the blood bats and attacked. Combined with Sam’s attacks, they were quickly dealt with.

“Now you’ve done it, take this!” Sam yelled as he lunged at Henry.

Henry laughed and pulled out a blue, wheel-shaped artifact. He poured his mana into it and a large and thick water barrier appeared before Sam.

Sam collided heavily with the barrier but he could not even make a dent.

‘What the hell?’ he thought and jumped back.

Astoria’s ravens crashed into the barrier but dissipated with a scream the moment they made contact.

Henry undid the barrier and poured more mana into the wheel. It floated behind his head and started rotating rapidly while shining with a brilliant blue light.

‘A rank four artifact?’ both Sam and Astoria gasped, sensing the aura. They realised Henry must have obtained this from the founding ancestor’s inheritance.

Seeing their expressions, Henry chucked. “Now you understand, I can kill you two myself anytime I want. But sadly, I don’t have the time to play with you. I just want to see you both suffer now.” Saying so, he stopped pouring mana into the wheel artifact and took it back into his storage pouch before turning to Jin Tong. He spoke in a low voice. “Your move.”

Jin Tong vanished and then reappeared before Sam.

‘So fast!’ Sam thought, but the next second he was sent flying backwards.

Astoria caught him in midair and helped him land safely. But the two had serious expressions on their faces.

Commander class undead!

‘This is very bad…’ thought Astoria. They couldn’t even run anywhere!

Jin Tong got into a fighting stance and disappeared again. In the blink of an eye, he appeared midair, in between the two of them.

With a swirl of his spear, he sent the two flying, before landing on the ground.

Astoria was blown back and crashed heavily against the carriage. She hit her head against the wheel and it started pounding in pain.

‘Aww…’ she groaned as she sat up, coughing repeatedly.

She slowly opened her eyes and what she saw made her forget about all her pain.

Jin Tong had disarmed Sam, knocked him out, and brought him to his knees before Henry.

Henry smirked as he looked at Astoria and started walking towards her. Jin Tong dragged a bloody Sam behind him.

“LEAVE HIM ALONEEEE!!!!!” Astoria screamed.

She immediately stood up and used all her mana to summon a dozen storm ravens. The ravens rushed at Henry but with a wave of his spear, Jin Tong easily dispatched them all off and they continued walking forwards.

Jin Tong’s strength was equivalent to a grand mage. No matter what, Astoria was just a true mage. She couldn’t come close to matching him.

Henry summoned eight more blood bats and sent them towards Astoria. Although she had used up a lot of mana, she was still a middle-stage tempered body martial artist. Astoria unsheathed her sword and started fighting them.

After arriving, Henry simply watched Astoria fight with a delightful smile.

The commotion caused Sam to slightly regain consciousness. He noticed the situation and slowly took out a dagger he had hidden in his trousers pocket.

One of the blood bats surprise attacked Astoria from behind. She couldn’t react in time and it bit into her shoulder. Astoria screamed in pain, which Henry seemed to find funny and started laughing uncontrollably.

Sam acted.

He conjured all his strength and slashed his dagger at Henry’s neck.

It was just an inch away – then it stopped.

Jin Tong had caught Sam’s hand right before he was about to strike.

“Break it,” Henry ordered and Jin Tong twisted.

Sam roared in pain as his wrist was dislocated, causing him to drop the dagger.

Henry picked it up.

“NOOO!” Astoria screamed. She had mostly finished dealing with the blood bats now and was rushing forwards.

However, Jin Tong acted once again and appeared before her. Astoria tried to strike him with her sword but before it even came close, Jin Tong kneed her in her stomach. The strength behind that attack was unlike anything that Astoria had ever experienced – it felt as if she had been hit by a truck.

Astoria collapsed onto her knees and dropped her sword. All her strength had left her body.

She watched helplessly as Henry grabbed Sam’s hair and forcefully lifted his head up. With Sam’s head in his hand, Henry turned towards Astoria and smiled wickedly.

“I told you that day. If you don’t kill me, I’d make you regret it.”

Saying so, Henry brandished the fallen dagger and sliced Sam’s throat.

“NOOOOOO!!!!”

Astoria cried, but then immediately started coughing in pain. She watched as Sam’s eyes widened.

Blood spurted from his throat. He wanted to scream in pain but couldn’t. His strength had left him.

Sam’s eyes moved and he saw Astoria collapsed on the floor, clenching her stomach in pain as she watched him with tears in her eyes.

‘I’m sorry… Astoria… Looks like… I’ll be… going first…’ thinking so, Sam collapsed onto the ground.

“You… bastard…” Astoria gasped weakly.

Henry laughed and walked towards her.

He wasn’t done yet.

Reaching Astoria, Henry forced her to turn around with a kick.

Face to face, they made eye contact and Henry smiled.

“This is for old’s time’s sake,” he said wickedly, before plunging the dagger into her eye.

“AAAaaahhhHHH!” Astoria screamed in pain.

But her screams were like music to Henry’s ears who started laughing.

“Hahahahahahah!”

Henry opened his arms and faced the skies as he kept laughing.

“Ahhh, how marvellous,” he spoke gently while Astoria was screaming in the background. “So this… is revenge…” Henry revelled in the sweet feeling flowing through his body.

Minutes passed and Henry finally returned to normal and took a deep breath. He looked down.

Sam was dead.

Due to all the pain and loss of blood, Astoria became unconscious. Her body was lying covered in blood, with a dagger sticking out of her eye, but she wasn’t completely dead yet.

‘Stubborn little bitch,’ thought Henry and spat on her face.

“Let’s go,” he said to Jin Tong, before walking away.

A few minutes later.

The alchemist who had hired Sam and Astoria came out of hiding. He had been hiding behind his carriage terrified as the fight unfolded. Seeing Jin Tong’s overwhelming strength, he was sure that he would die today.

However, he never expected that Henry would not even care about him. Although he was upset by Sam’s sudden death, he was also relieved that Henry had left without bothering him.

The alchemist walked over to Sam and Astoria. He noticed that Sam was completely dead, but there was still a trace of life left in Astoria.

He sat down and pulled the dagger out of her eye. Then, he took out some healing pills he had refined and fed them to her. They couldn’t cure such a deep wound, but he hoped they’d keep her alive long enough till he could return and get help from some healing mages.

The alchemist loaded Sam and Astoria onto his carriage and whipped his horses into running as fast as they could.

Sometime later.

Astoria woke up with a huge headache.

She slowly opened her eyes and her vision was incredibly blurry. She was in some kind of a room, and there was someone here.

A man? A woman? She couldn’t tell clearly. She just saw some blurry, white, indistinct figure.

She was dazed and confused.

‘What… happened… why am I… here?’ she thought, as she opened her eyes further.

Astoria tried to sit up but her body felt incredibly weak and she collapsed back into the bed, coughing.

The movement alerted the figure in her room.

“You’re awake,” spoke a soothing female voice.

As Astoria’s vision cleared, she could make out who the figure was.

It was a woman, dressed in a white gown and holding a tall staff.

Astoria recalled seeing this woman before; it was in some room somewhere.

Elena… Elena Silverglow? The church’s bishop?

Her foggy memory slowly started piecing itself together and becoming comprehensible.

That’s right… I was attacked, by Henry and… SAM!

A new strength filled her body and she sat up.

“SAM! Where’s Sam? I need to see Sam!”

Astoria started yelling anxiously. She wanted to get out of bed but her legs wouldn’t move.

“Calm down,” Elena spoke with a soothing voice and laid a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve been through a lot. You need to rest.”

“I can’t rest!” Astoria retorted angrily. “Sam! I need to see Sam! Sam is… Sam…” as her memory cleared further, realisation slowly dawned on her. Her voice started breaking and tears welled up in her eyes.

“He’s… Sam is…” Astoria held her face in her palm and started crying.

Sam was dead!

The man she loved – the only person left who was important in her life… he was dead!

Elena allowed Astoria to cry without interrupting, choosing to gently rub her shoulder in support.

A long time passed and the two didn’t speak a word to each other.

Knock!

Knock!

Knock!