Twisted Skies, Chapter 16 - A Place of His Own

By the time a well-fed Thurain returned to the apartment building, it was late afternoon. If Theodoro was out for as long today as he had been yesterday, there was a real chance that he would only return long after nightfall. Thus, the young cultivator first went up to the landlord’s door and knocked, since he thought the old Mr. Artia would be more likely to be there. Although he only wanted to say hello, he regretted his decision straight away. A terrifying bellow from inside caused the young cultivator to jump back in terror.

“What bastard ruins my afternoon nap!? Whoever you are, we're not buying!”

Accompanied by an encroaching series of stomps, the voice became louder and louder. By the time the landlord had finished his ominous complaint, he ripped open the door and stood before Thurain with the same look he had sported this morning, bearish hair and all.

“Boy! You're already back! I thought you were looking for work?”

“I was. I found something right away, and just got finished with my first day. It’s good pay, and I won’t have to come in every day either.”

Somehow, Thurain couldn't bring himself to tell the landlord the truth. From their short interactions, the cultivator felt that the bearish landlord would worry that the cultivator had sold off his private possessions for money, and he didn't want that. When he told the little white lie, he realized immediately that his worry had been justified.

“You’re not doing anything illegal, are you, youngster?” the old bear said while he squinted at him.

“No, please don’t worry, Sir. I wouldn’t do something that silly. And I don’t need that much money anyways. Only enough to get by for a month.”

“That so? In that case, I guess you wanna look at your room now? Good, good. Come with me.”

Really, Thurain had only come to say his goodbyes, since he had promised to come back here in the morning. Now however, he had enough money for a proper room and no longer needed to rent a shed.

Although he wanted to refute at first, the landlord had already grabbed his shoulder and was dragging him along. Since he had to wait for Theodoro anyways, he thought there was no harm in taking a look at the shed. Once he had seen it, he could come up with an excuse to politely decline the offer. At least that was what he thought at first. However, as soon as he saw the room, he changed his mind again.

A narrow ledge brought them around the back side of the building, where the central spiral of the city ended. Below them was a sheer drop of several meters. At the same time, the claustrophobic view had finally opened up. The sight onto the city and the farmland in the distance was already impressive, but when the landlord opened the roll-up shutter that led into the shed, he was downright shocked. The housing on offer was simple, just a mat and a short table inside a small, semi-circular opening, but it was still close to perfect for Thurain’s purposes.

“Isn't this a cultivation room?” he asked in confusion. Clearly, Mr. Artia wasn’t a cultivator, and he doubted that Theodoro would be using this room, not with his negligible level of qi.

“Yup, that's what it is. Good eye,” the landlord replied. “My old lady always wanted to make our boy a cultivator, so she had this room specially made for him to train in. Boy never had the talent for it though. I told the stubborn old bat, but she just wouldn't listen. Now the kid’s left the cultivator life behind and is doing fine in his own way. It's important to listen when someone gives you good advice. You know, youngster?”

“Of course, Sir.” He nodded, but his eyes never left the room.

Ceaselessly, he scanned the shoddy markings around the room's circular walls. Although he would have to fix them up a bit, and maybe expand the structure by a few lines, it wouldn't be much of a problem. While Thurain was no array master, he was still much better than whoever had caused this mess.

His mind associated messes with a specific face, and with a grin, Thurain wondered if maybe Theodoro had been the one to set up this room for the young master of the house, possibly in return for a month or two of rent.

“What'll it be then, boy? You want the room or not?”

“Of course I will take it. How much?”

Since Mr. Artia didn't know much about Thurain’s exact situation, nor about the fact that Thurain had just made a lot of money from selling his master’s ring, the landlord gave him a bargain price in the end. Although at first, he had come to say his goodbyes and find a better place to live, this shed was a heaven sent.

Not only was the room perfectly set up for cultivation, it was also cheap and it belonged to people he already knew and got along with. For the next month, this was about as good of an accommodation as he could expect, so he didn't think twice to agree.

Thus, he signed a formal contract and paid rent for a month of lodging. Once all formalities were done and his new landlord was out of his hair, Thurain got to work on his new domicile right away. First, he had to remove the old colors that the array had been drawn in. Although he felt a bit bad about erasing Theodoro's work, he'd just buy him a beer or something as penance later.

As he thought about the strange acquaintances he had made over the past day, Thurain opened his bottle of turpentine and began scrubbing. At least the shed’s door was nice and big, so he wouldn't pass out from the stink. Several hours of work later, he had finally finished clearing off the walls.

Then, all he needed to do was replace the old array with his own version. Thus, he took out his mixing bowl made of smooth and shiny stone as well as all of his various colors from his backpack and put them on the table. After everything was arranged, he picked up two small earthen bottles of pigment.

When he mixed the two of them together, he could already identify their effect by their sharp smells. Mixing colors for arrays was precise work, and much of it was done by identifying the color and smell of the mixture. Surely, the people at the sect would have more precise methods needed for mass production, but this was how he had learned it, so it took him a long time to get everything done.

By the time he had the colors mixed and had decided on a good design for his own array, it was already dark. Since the daylight would no longer be on his side, Thurain went over to close the shed’s rolling shutter and turn on the lights inside, so he could get to work on his practice array. Luckily, this room had been refitted to be used for cultivation, so the shed had its own built-in light source.

However, just as he had turned on the spinning lights and was ready to close the door, he could hear a familiar voice from the front of the house. After hours of work, a break sounded just fine, so he left the shed and returned to meet up with his strange friend.

“Theo, here's your marble. But please stop sending them into my kitchen. It landed in my stew pot this time,” a bright and pleasant voice said. Before Thurain could even see her, he could already tell that she would be much, much younger than the old landlord of the house.

“They aren't marbles, young miss. They're focus keys,” Theodoro’s voice boasted in return. Once again, it seemed like he was trying to scam someone. Although Thurain owed him a favor, he wouldn’t just be part of his scams, so he decided to blow the cheater’s cover.

“Right. Our rich grandmaster cultivator is just keeping focus keys in a tray next to his bed,” Thurain said as he turned the corner. As soon as he did, he regretted his hasty decision, just a little bit. Before him stood not only Theodoro, but also a young lady with auburn hair and a long, flowing dress that reminded one of summer.

With how close the two were standing together, Thurain had a feeling that their relationship might have been more intimate than he had thought at first. Clearly, she wasn’t one of Theodoro’s targets, at least not in the same way as the other victims of his scams. He really didn't want to appear as a third wheel, so he wanted to excuse himself and return back to his work, but the scammer waved him over before he could say a word.

“Vayne!” Theodoro shouted with more enthusiasm than he had ever heard out of him. Once again, it felt like Thurain had misunderstood something. Eager to not let the young cultivator run away, Theodoro grabbed his shoulder and dragged him back in front of the girl. “Amelle, this is Vayne. He's a new tenant here. Vayne, this is Amelle, she lives in the room right below mine.”

“Oooh, in that case, I'm honored we get to meet under these happy circumstances,” the girl smiled like the sun, seemingly unfazed that he had barged in on her conversation. Since she had chosen to ignore his indiscretion, Thurain took the easy way out and decided to do the same.

“Very glad to meet you, Miss Amelle,” he said.

“Vayne is a day laborer, he works hard in the yin fields by day,” Theodoro said with a grin, hiding Thurain’s identity as a cultivator. Maybe he was feeling anxious that another guy had moved in the same place as him and his sweetheart and tried to undersell the young cultivator’s worth. However, if that had been the attempt, it failed spectacularly.

“That is very hard work, I hear. But it’s good and honest. Some people could learn a thing or two from you,” Amelle said as she stared over to Theodoro. Even though they were still talking about him, her focus had only been on Thurain for a moment, and only to put some pressure on the man of her interests.

“You know Theo, my uncle still has that offer for a place in the talisman factory,” she continued. “You're not making anything from this ‘business’ of your anyways, always behind on your rent and all. Since it’s not worth the risk, why not get a stable job instead?”

As soon as Theodoro became the target of an attack, he crumbled like paper. With a bent back, he walked towards the girl and whispered.

“Please, Amelle, not in front of the newbie. I need to keep up my image after all. Hey, Vayne!”

By the time Theodoro remembered Thurain and tried to use him as a lifesaving distraction one more time, the young cultivator was already halfway around the building. He hadn’t planned to interrupt them in the first place, so leaving early was best.

“Goodbye, Miss Amelle. Thank you for your warm welcome,” he said and waved, before he disappeared around the corner. Although Theodoro looked like a frightened rabbit, Thurain only spoke some silent well-wishes in his heart, before he returned to his little room at the back of the building.