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Chapter 32: Taprisha
"No, no, you put your foot here, first, you see? Then you step again!&8221;
"Okay!&8221;
"Now, step with me A one, and a two, and a one, two, three! Go!&8221;
Dorian sh the steps, carefully adjusting her movements whenever she made a mistake
"And there you have it That’s called Country Two Step&8221; He said aloud, spinning the twelve-year-old in a twirl
It was the day after he saved the Aeth caravan
After destroying Mello’s last clone, Dorian had started talking with the Wizard in charge of guarding the caravan, to learn more about where Taprisha, the powers there, and any other relevant inforrateful, but also a bit suspicious and fearful Regardless, he had answered aps in his knowledge Assu the man told him was true, which Dorian would check for when he arrived, he was much more prepared
He also accepted that his previous form, a naked red-skinned toddler, was an extremely odd one
Thankfully, the adaption period had finished up shortly after, though during the lance at his current stage, nodding with appreciation
&8211;
-Titan &8211; Growth Stage: (2/4) Titan Young Adult-
&8211; Growth Progress – 4,058/8,052 &8211;
&8211;
His body was now just over 2hi bodybuilder froron to his shoulders, srowth to the shocked Aeth he’d been cursed by a Curse Wizard, and that this was his true form
He wasn’t quite sure if they fully believed hiifted him a set of leather pants and a white shirt, a pair that wrapped around his body snugly The Spatial Pouch he’d tied around his shoulder while traveling was now set at his waist
He’d also subtly taken the time to absorb the bloodline of one of the fallen bears when he had a chance
In the end, a pair of Aeth traveling merchants, a man naon Dorian had stopped the Mello’s clone frohter Sara
As an expression of their thanks, they had gifted Dorian ten gold mints, the most common form of currency in the 30,000 Worlds
One old coin, but with a hole in the ether with strings, and easily stored in Spatial Pouches or Rings
A single mint orth 100 silver mints, or ten thousand bronze uard would hly 150 bronze mints a day
A decent ood sword, for those that trained physically, would cost 10 to 20 silver doms would still produce their own currency, and then have exchange rates with the Borrel Autarchy mints, while others simply accepted the widespread old er denominations were shaped like miniature kite-shields, around an inch across They were heavily enchanted and regulated with antuan Gold Departold shield, as they were called, represented a huge suold shields could not only be used as her deno and sensing the laws of ic, due to the special enchantments cast upon theht not be the most useful for Wizards at the Lord Class or above, for those below, it could serve as an iiven hi him from a penniless pauper to a relatively wealthy man in an instant
Dorian had accepted theat them merrily At least the Titan’s face was close to a human’s, and his smile looked pretty normal
After that, Dorian had been faced with two choices
He could head out, back to traveling on his own, or stick with theof this journey They were only a day away froe, at the rate that the enchanted, self-ons this particular caravan used The Aeth didn’t like to use horses, or anieneral, for any type of work
Dorian had decided to stick with the Aethtowards He’d ended up sleeping in a spare tent when they set up shop for the night
The World Bridge to Taprisha was, according to the merchants and Wizard, the entrance to the territory of the Aurelius Fae nue he had left froe that was actually watched and guarded
Taprisha wasn’t, technically, a world controlled by the Aurelius Family On paper, the world was a buffer world, which neither the Borrel Autarchy nor the Aurelius Family controlled
In reality, however, the Aurelius Faents and various allies to keep it under their control They guarded the world, and wouldn’t allow any outside forces like the Autarchy or the relatively close Shade Coain a foothold
The Aurelius Family, unlike the Borrel Autarchy, had no intention in expanding their grasp and was relatively self-contained
Thus, the situation on Taprisha was a unique, but stable one
Regardless, he was glad he was able to sneak in with the uards, he could just change forms and be on his ithout a worry The s about Dorian than the Wizard Lor did, so everything worked out Perhaps his soul twisting Fate had factored in, but Dorian was pleased
A few hter of thefootwork for a style of dance he knew from Earth and had asked him to teach her it, and hence here he was now
"How is this, Master Dorian?&8221; The twelve-year-old daughter of theface There were still a few hours till they arrived at the exit of the World Bridge, so Dorian had decided to teach the girl the classic style of dance from Earth
She did a small spin with her feet, and then stepped forward twice, and back once
"Excellent!&8221; Dorian clapped his hands together, giving her a warood tune, just wait for the beat, and step with it like that! Be sure to teach your friends!&8221;
"Okay! I will!&8221; The girl gave hi her footwork all the way to the wagon at the front of the line, where the Wizard and the two o back to her fa He shook his head, however, and sighed deeply
Once hethe treasure stash tucked away in the E William
He called to mind the possible routes he could take to reach the stash A es appeared in his head, compliments of the information the old Wizard had shared with him
There were six routes he could take
Of the six routes, four of theh es
The last 2 routes were much smaller One had 3 worlds he needed to cross, and the other had 5 worlds
Dorian focused on these two routes, deciding he would pick one or the other when he learned more about the worlds on each path
He was on a relatively strict time limit If he didn’t successfully find the treasure stash, and use it to create a body perfect for William within a bit ht schedule and a huge aer It was also the right thing to do
He sighed again, and then shrugged It hat it was If it was hard work he needed, then it was hard work he’d do
With that thought in on they traveled with in case any of the others broke down, and laid back, deciding to rest till they reached the border
The day quickly marched onward, and they arrived at the exit of the World Bridge in no time Apart from the small rainstorm from the day before and the attack by those bear clones of Mello, nothing of note happened
The World Bridge to Taprisha from Hasnorth was a fairly short one, with a pretty nor savanna, with a few cliffs and small forests It would take a normal caravan about a week to cross it
Dorian had h it at full speed before he encountered the Aeth caravan
Hasnorth was an outer planet, or a Lesser World There were only a few s extremely noteworthy The trade between Hasnorth, and the nations on it, was not extremely expansive
Therefore, the number of caravans that would arrive at the entrance to Taprisha, on any given day on this particularly World Bridge, ranged from five to ten Some Major Worlds or planets would have hundreds or even thousands of trading caravans es daily
The Tandor Empire was ruled by an Early Lord Class power and had access to the wide resources in its two thousand miles-wide area, as well as the untamed lands around it But it was still veryto the Aeth traders As a Lesser World, there just wasn’t too much special about it
Lesser Worlds, Major Worlds, and Exotic Worlds These were the three categories of Worlds in the 30,000 Worlds
According to the merchants, Taprisha was an Exotic World, a world type with a very unusual geography
"We’re at the checkpoint, Sir Dorian&8221; One of the guards approached the wagon he was riding in, infor his arazed upon the enormous, 200-meter tall wall that blocked off the entirety of the exit to the World Bridge
It was a pristine white color, glea scars on it, a few of the for miles, caused by the spatial stores The wall itself seeic of some sort
It stretched for ht due to the curvature of the e
Directly in front of theate One of only two entrances to Taprisha on this World Bridge They were a couple dozen roup of guards, several of which see that he could only see the huge wall, and not the world beyond it This particular World Bridge approached Taprisha at a slant, and he was therefore unable to see the planet past the huge wall cutting off his sight
Despite the relatively little trade between the torlds, there was still a decent sized line, with perhaps two dozen different groups of people ahead of thees, a couple on horseback or riding so seemed to be individuals that traveled on foot
He asked one of the caravan guards about this and was told that soe seeking certain breeds of beasts that could only be found here for their bloodlines
Taprisha was a world under the reign of the Aurelius, and largely as a result of that, Blood Magic Wizards were coh the line, the process for checking over each group long since streamlined over the years
In no tiuards standing at the gate were all hule creature that appeared to be rey rock Dorian was taken aback when he saw the guardat the creature
‘A s who possess a unique Soul Spell Matrix and even more unique constitution This one appears to be at the Sky Class This creature does not possess blood, and therefore if you wish to absorb it, you will need to first kill it and then absorb its Soul Spell Matrix’ Ausra ca information about it
When Dorian absorbed the bloodline of a creature, he was essentially absorbing all the information about that creatures Soul Spell Matrix, the object that defined what a being was
If a creature had no blood, then the only method he had to absorb it would be to kill the creature and then use the energy in his soul to absorb any nearby Soul Spell Matrix He would need to carefully preserve the corpse if he wanted to enact this ed too badly, the soul and Soul Spell Matrix would quickly dissipate, leaving him without a chance to absorb it
It was sied to pull William’s Soul Spell Matrix out of his corpse and store it next to his soul Soul Spell Matrix’s were normally invisible and iiven to the Flock allowed theed further, he ht you be? What is your purpose for couards spoke up, a surly looking hue potbelly They’d already worked throughto work for the Aurelius family&8221; Dorian s in the confines of his skin It was the excuse he’d decided seemed most reasonable He had the physique of a warrior, after all
"We can vouch for his character and strength His actions saved us from an attack by so the caravan, the male uard The man was lean, with short blonde hair and a delicate colanced over Dorian, and in particular over his powerful looking body with a frown
"Yes, his valiant efforts are e are still here today&8221; Clarence walked up the guard, holding out a hand
"I hope we can avoid any trouble over old could just barely be seen as the two shook hands
"Of course, of course How could I fault a brave warrior like yourself?&8221; The frown disappeared froave Dorian a warained a frown of his own It seemed petty corruption happened in this world just like it happened on earth, but even more blatant
"Welcome to Taprisha!&8221; The rest of the caravan quicklyDorian to have his first gaze on this Exotic World
Taprisha, the legendary Archipelago without a Sea
He blinked as he looked down the length of the World Bridge It landed down on the rest of the planet, about sixplain A huge, at least twenty-mile wide city could be seen just a e collection of white spires shooting off fro strips of far the city for dozens of miles
But what most interested Dorian as beyond all that
Tarpisha was known as an Archipelago without a Sea This city, and the far about ninety es of the island, off to either side
However, instead of an island surrounded by water, thebut sheer, gaping cliffs
Enorness that stretched for dozens, soends had it that some exposed areas even led to the core of the world itself
He blinked as he stared at the horizon, where he could ness, with a few other visible islands in the distance Just staring at it was incredibly unsettling, and instantlythe bloodline of a beast that could fly as soon as possible