Sirius, after the long discussion with Darin, went to the library. He would leave the village in five days, so he intended to learn as much as possible in the short time he had left.
He first explained the situation to the librarian woman, after all, he had initially told her he would leave in two days, so he needed to change that.
At some point, the woman started being kind to him. He still had no idea why, but he didn't really care. He had no interest in befriending someone who was more than twice his age and not even a martial artist.
This time, he read a book about the various types of professions that existed. He already knew a few, of course, but was sure he didn't know even half.
In fact, after finishing the book, it turned out he barely knew a fifth. There were so many jobs, each with their own particularities. In the cities, it seemed, there were entire shops dedicated to each type of weapon, and not just one per city, but sometimes five for each weapon.
In Bright Village, only one weapons shop existed, and it sold every kind of weapon together, not specialized ones.
Herbalist shops, jewelry shops, clothing shops, all kinds of shops existed out there.
Evening came. The sun was slowly setting beyond the horizon. Having finished all the reading he had planned for the day, I went into the courtyard to train.
I had intended to train in my room, but Darin had allowed me to use the courtyard of the inn, it was much wider, and I gratefully accepted.
During the fight with Darin, I had figured out the main difference between the mid and late stages of Self Vision. At the late stage, one can concentrate their inert energy into a single point to strengthen it. If you concentrate the energy in your legs, you'll run faster. If it's in your hands, you'll hit harder.
That's why, when I tried to pierce Darin's abdomen, it felt like solid rock, he had concentrated his energy there and simply tanked the blow like it was nothing.
Yet even if I knew the difference now, reaching the late stage would take time. After all, I had only just reached the mid stage. My body needed to adapt. For the first two weeks, I couldn't even try to concentrate my energy like that.
So, for now, I could only train my martial arts, and my mastery of the long Hendirun saber. Now that I was faster, my techniques had to adapt too, especially to the new speed of my body.
And so, time passed.
At night, I trained in the courtyard. During the day, I read books. And every evening, I talked with Darin, who had become a friend.
I used to wonder what a friend truly was, how I would ever find one. Turns out, it was actually very simple. Just through battle, I had created a bond of friendship.
I had no idea if love would be that simple too, I doubted it, but who knew? I hadn't expected to gain a friend, and yet… here I was.
Sirius was slowly getting used to his new speed. It wasn't that hard. He was faster, yes, but not overwhelmingly, maybe one-fifth or one-fourth faster than before, nothing too extreme.
The real difference would come with the next realm. Aurelius had said it took months, even years, to properly adapt after a realm breakthrough, and the higher the realm, the greater the change.
Only one day remained before Sirius would leave Bright Village and begin his journey to Sephoria City. On that final day, he returned to the bakery to buy one last loaf of bread. He did it because the young woman there had been the first to show him kindness, and that, by itself, was worth the two copper pieces.
This time, Sirius didn't go to the library. He had already read a lot, and few books remained that interested him. More importantly, he wanted to talk with Darin as much as possible before leaving.
The caravan had arrived too, it was resting for a day before departing again. Sirius and Darin, after chatting about their lives, headed toward the convoy to speak with its leader: a man named Marn Elser.
Marn, upon seeing Darin, walked over with a wide smile. Even when he saw Sirius, with his striking red hair, the smile didn't fade one bit.
Marn didn't believe in fate.
"How are you, Darin? It's been a long time!"
"Indeed, my friend. I'm doing well."
"Why are you here? I figure you've got something to ask me. Every time I come to Bright Village, you wait in your inn for me."
Darin nodded.
"You're right. I wanted to ask if you could take this young man with you, he's heading to Sephoria City."
He added:
"If possible, for free. After all… you still owe me a favor, don't you?"
"I do," Marn said, chuckling, "but I don't believe that you, a selfish man, would use your favor on just anyone. Is this boy special?"
"He's a junior, a martial artist at the mid stage of Self Vision."
"Mid stage? Really? How old are you, kid?"
"Fifteen."
"Are you some kind of monster?" Marn laughed. "Since when can someone reach Self Vision at that age? Not to mention you're already mid stage…"
He paused, then continued:
"I'll take you for free, since it's a favor from Darin. But do you actually know how to fight? I imagine you've barely seen real combat, maybe never."
This time, Darin answered.
"Actually… he beat me. When he was still at the early stage."
At that, Marn's eyes widened slightly. Darin was an experienced fighter, not just strong for his level, but seasoned. For the boy to have beaten him at a lower stage meant he could at least fight one level above, maybe even two.
That would put him on par with a late-stage Self Vision martial artist, someone strong enough to genuinely help protect the convoy.
"You're definitely coming with us, kid. If you're really as strong as Darin says, and you help defend the caravan, I'll even pay you."
Marn and Darin had once trained together. Marn was the more talented of the two, after twenty years, while Darin had reached the late stage of Self Vision, Marn had climbed to the mid stage of the Completion realm.
All caravan leaders were at the Completion realm, not because of some decree, but because anyone weaker simply wouldn't survive.
The Completion realm was the first threshold where power alone was barely enough to survive in almost of situation.
Unless, of course, someone from the Crimson Step realm or above got involved.
And so, Sirius left Bright Village and began his journey toward Sephoria City.