With the excitement over, the group started making their way to the city again. It looked like their incident wasn't a one-off or due to the presence of so many women though. Almost every group that wanted to enter the city gates was challenged on their way in, for some minor slight, or even no reason at all, just someone challenging them to a sparring match.
As far as Cain could tell, it was a combination of establishing some sort of informal ranking among the Sects that had gathered, and attempting to recruit for the Sect of the challenger, should they put on a suitably impressive show.
Their method of determining their opponent's potential seemed to be rather flawed though, and the matches were often one-sided blowouts, where the group being challenged simply stomped their challenger into the mud.
It was the same thing he had done, hiding his aura, and making them underestimate his group, but it looked like an awful lot of people fell for that trick. Not that Cain blamed them much. Without an interface to show their levels, there really wasn't much to go on but their aura, which would give you a vague sense of their awakening state and progression, but was very easy to manipulate.
"It looks like we won't see any more troubles during the first days of our stay here. You did a fine job of embarrassing him without hurting him back there. As tempting as it might be, and as common, it is still considered rude to bully and cripple the weak in public." Elder Ling whispered to Cain as they reached the city.
"Anything it takes to make this a pleasant stop. My disciples need the training time, and I need to make a plan for the next leg of our journey. The method I use requires experiences, adventures, and such to help speed along their progression, simply staying in one place forever won't work." Cain sighed.
"You could let them enter the challenges here, but that might not be enough for them, and they are mostly meant as a recruiting tool for the larger sects. Our girls will be showing their strength there, in an attempt to draw more to our Sect." Elder Ling suggested.
"Stealing all the women from the other Sects, I see. You should see the state of some of them, it's quite sad, not a woman in sight, and they wouldn't know what to do with one even if they found them.
Watching their disciples try to flirt with mine was just painfully awkward." Cain replied with a laugh that made Luna giggle.
"Like the shoe guy," Luna added in understanding.
Elder Ling seemed confused, so Luna launched into a long story about her first attempt to make new friends, other than the Innkeeper, after they arrived in this world, and the fact that one boy had actually thought she would like to wear the high heels that the local ladies of the evening had been wearing when his Sect arrived the previous night.
"You can't let them out anywhere, I swear. Did anyone actually explain the problem to him, or is he going to try again the next time he gets to talk to a woman?" Ling asked.
"I think we explained well enough. Though if she's not a cultivator, he might do it again, he wasn't very bright. Or strong. Or fast." Luna replied, making all the other girls laugh at the boy's described lack of redeeming qualities.
The guards looked them over for a moment before silently taking their entry fee and letting the group through the gates into the city. They all wore a bright orange banner on their backs, so they could be easily seen from anywhere in the city, policing the ruling Sect's decrees prohibiting random fights inside the city, and any other laws that visitors might want to break.
They were limiting the number of visitors at a time, to keep the streets from becoming too overcrowded, but Cain heard that would change when the events started. For today, they were off to see the sights and listen to a few of the sages preaching their cultivation wisdom.
Selling talismans and magical items seemed to be the staple for most of the vendors in town, each with their own particular benefit. There were also signs up all over the city about how to rent a spot for the day, and how only full-time city residents could reserve a spot.
To Cain, that meant that he could set up at some point and sell Skill Books if he wanted, even though these people couldn't use them properly. They could still read them as books, and that was enough for them to pay huge sums for the secret wisdom.
"Boss Dad Cain. Um, what should I call you in public? Never mind, there is a game over there that I want to play." Luna begged, pointing to a strange game of tag where the contestants were using [Shadow Step] and [Cloud Dancing] to play capture the flag with a ribbon tied on their opponent.
There were other skills in use as well, but those two were the most effective, and the Disciples using them had the highest win rates. Each win got them a mystery reward, to be collected when they left.
"Fifteen minutes. We will be watching you, and anyone else who wants to play." Cain agreed.
"Remember, no violence in the city. Even if they deserve it." Elder Ling reminded her.
"Got it. I don't think they will be able to even touch me though." Luna said proudly, catching the attention of the Elder running the game.
"Confident in your speed are you?" The old man asked, turning his chair to face Luna.
"My agility as well. How much to play?" Luna asked.
"One silver coin to enter the game. If you can get a flag, the prize is guaranteed to be worth more than that. Put every flag you collect on your sash, as you can take every flag that a player has. When you decide you're done, just come back out." The old man told her with a smile.
"Got it. See you all soon." Luna cheered, flipping the man a coin from the ones that were tossed at Cain earlier.
"What about your friend? You look like sisters, and you study under the same master, so perhaps she would like to play as well?" The old man asked, looking at Tena.
"I followed a different path. Dragon Monks don't have as much mobility without using attacks." Tena disagreed, and the man gave a snort of amusement.
"No, I suppose they don't, and they wouldn't be well suited to this game, since you can't eat or burn your opponents."
He hadn't realized but Luna was already in the building that they were using for the game, a five-level structure, with open walls. As a Spirit Rank Demon, her stats were far above what simply awakened humans were, and that didn't change when her body was modified to look human.
Even without using [Shadow Steps] or [Blink] from the Oath Breaker she kept merged, following Cain's example, she was far too fast for the others to catch, bouncing off support pillars, floors, and ceilings in her attempts to get a grab on the flags tucked into sashes.
"She's a tiny monster that one. Look at all the disciples running away when she gets close." The old man laughed, drawing the attention of a few passersby.
The true draw to this event, from the operator's point of view, was the top two levels, where some of their disciples were working together. It showed off their skills, while still letting the lower-level cultivators play the game on the lower levels for mediocre prizes.
There was a shrill screech from the fourth level, followed by a high-pitched giggle, and then a flying bit of cloth.
"My bad, I was off by a fingertip." Luna apologized, then vanished again as the unfortunate man crumpled to the ground.
She had used the Oath Breaker's transport skill to move to the fourth floor, intending to grab a flag and look for more victims, but she had gotten a handful more than she had intended and quickly retreated, tossing the flag in the air in her hurry to get her hand off the stranger.
"That will teach him to get complacent. Stretched him out like a bowstring." The old man taking the fee laughed, not even looking up at the event. Cain assumed he had some sort of sensory ability that made it unnecessary, but he was more interested in the game of cat and mouse they were playing now, trying to get revenge for their fallen comrade.
"Whoop! That's six more flags all at once." Luna cheered a few minutes later, as an older boy cussed and came back to the main floor to grab a new flag from his Master.
"I don't understand how she's not out of energy. Using Cloud Dancing for that long shouldn't be possible." The boy complained, then was grabbed by the old man.
Stop here and watch. You were too close before but watch now. She's not using a skill, she's using the building as leverage to keep her speed up so that it looks like she is using one. She only activates anything for a split second when she needs to change trajectories."
"Hmm, I see now. Congratulations to her Master, she is a true genius of movement skills." The Disciple responded, bowing to both his master and Cain before returning to the game.
"Luna, that's fourteen minutes. Start making your way back." Cain called, earning a groan of complaint from the top floor.
"But I won't catch this guy that fast. Fine, I'm coming." She responded, then appeared on the ground by the operator.
"Seventeen flags in total. Is the prize food? Maybe Candy?" Luna asked, making the bystanders laugh.
"I think that we can do better than that for seventeen flags." Here you go, young lady." The old man responded with a smile, and passed Luna a small box.
"Thanks. I will come back and play again if I get a chance." Luna told him with a polite bow, then jogged over to join the group.
"Where to next? I can hear someone talking about Fire control."
