The Freelands lay in the mountain ranges of Yilal, so most of the cities and villages were either in the valleys or the mountains themselves.
After the originally massive Serian Empire came to its downfall, they could no longer regulate this mountainous area and had to thus give it up.
The other kingdoms didn't want to bother with land this treacherous to travel in and didn't take over it either.
So, the mountainous range that was free from any monarch's or government's rule came to be known as the Freelands.
The Freelands were a bunch of cities, that were ruled over by a city-lord, but that was the extent of the rule. Even then, the people were quite free to do whatever they wanted to.
That didn't mean there was no law, however. Since there were no monarch or government, the Tower had come to become the main law-keeping force of the place.
The cart rolled through a gravel road as it made its way to the bottom of one of the mountains.
"Let's go," Alexis said and got off from the cart that came to a stop. Ning got off as well behind her, and then the cart set off on its own, the horses dragging it to who knew where.
Alexis stood on the tall grass to the side of the gravel road, holding the spear in her hand as a makeshift staff.
Ning could see the familiar image of Alexis he had come to see in the statue and the book he had learned about her in.
"Come on, let's go get ourselves a house," she said and started walking into the trees that were at the foot of the mountain.
This area of land seemed to not have any humans living close by. The closest humans Ning could see was about halfway up the mountain, the path the gravel road led to.
Beyond that, the mountain was littered with houses. The city was up there and beyond in the valley behind the mountain.
Alexis walked until she came across a flat area without many trees around her. She closed her eyes and bowed her head in a sort of prayer.
Then, she opened her eyes and moved her hand. With that simple gesture, the massive trees all around her started getting pulled up from the roots.
Ning watched with wide eyes as controlling so many of the things at once was not that easy to do.
With another wave, the tree lost its branches, becoming a single, giant log. Those logs were then cut into 4 and planted around the area.
Alexis then moved her hands and the branches that were cut off started letting go of the leaves in them and they were put on the floor and to the sides of the giant logs.
Then, with no more items to use, Alexis started creating wood out of nowhere.
Ning watched with simple astounding as the house they were to live in came to fruition.
There was a small veranda at the front of the house, a 2 stairs staircase to lead up to the veranda, and a single door leading to a single-roomed house.
"This will be where we will be staying for a few weeks," Alexis said.
"Wow, you're amazing," Ning said. She really was. Ning wasn't sure he could make a house this quickly even if he were to ask the system.
Just telling the system the specifications alone would take him longer.
Ning walked up to the house, and up the veranda. He stomped on the wooden floor and realized that it really was quite strong.
He then walked through the doorless door and entered the house. The single room he was in was quite massive, almost 10 by 10 meters, but there was one problem.
Ning walked back out of the room and asked, "what are we going to do about the beds and furniture?"
"WE are going to do nothing. You are going to have to make the beds on your own," Alexis said.
"Oh, okay," Ning said and asked his system for a bed, who started asking him for specifics.
"And you are not allowed to use that little friend of yours that lives within you," Alexis said.
"Eh?" Ning was confused. "I can't use my system?"
"No, you will have to make the door, the bed, the chairs, and even the food, all by yourself," she said.
Ning understood what she meant. She was trying to get him to be self-sufficient, but…
"I'm only an Aether Starter right now. Creating even the most little things will cause me to go into paralysis," he said.
"Then you will just absorb a little Aether and go back to work," she said. She walked up to the house and waved her hand to create a small chair for herself to sit at.
"You better get to working now," she said. "The sun will set in a few hours, then you will have to work in the dark."
Ning didn't worry about the dark. After all, he had the night vision skill that could make it seem like a day if he wanted to.
However, the real problem would be the fatigue and hunger that came with this body. He couldn't work without any energy in him.
This body would likely die if he didn't do something quickly.
'I can sleep on the bunch of leaves if need be, so I don't have to worry about fatigue. I will need to think of food for now,' he thought.
He had a bunch of fruits in his storage at the moment, but he didn't want to use that.
Alexis was going out of her way to teach him Aether in a way that no other person in the world would be lucky enough to.
If he somehow ruined this chance, he would be the biggest idiot in the whole world.
"Right, I need to go find some food," he said to himself.
"One more thing," Alexis said from the veranda.. "You are only allowed to use your Aether for everything."
