Hamar stepped out of the tent and waved his hand, "Hey man!"
"No need to be so distant, just call me Uncle Wang, how about feeding Lassy here?"
Hamar jogged over, "I'd love to help"
Uncle Wang held out his hand with a pink crystal in it, "Give her some of this, it'll be tough without it out here. Monsters are coming out more recently, be careful travelling without help." Taking the Crystal Hamar held it up to the gigantic lizard's mouth and proved for more information, "The totem?"
"huh? ah! You mean the help I mentioned, yes but I was talking about pink crystals. I didn't think you both weren't part of the Blushing Mirror Coalition, my bad. You don't know about the crystals?"
Hamar covered his bases and taking into account where they were he said, "We're actually from the nearby Jade Forest haha so what are they?"
"Oh Jade Forest! Beautiful lands, I've been once. Allow me to explain,"
Uncle Wang hobbled over to his tent and brought out a few more crystals and started to pass them to Hamar as he explained it all, "So to explain, those of us in this area of the North Fog outskirts, in the Pink Crystal Lands, are united by being under the Blushing Mirror Coalition."
Uncle Wang pulled out a token from his side, "Being a part of It all just helps facilitate trade and all, happened a few years back now" then he looked out the the totem he had placed earlier.
"Not to mention those under the Blushing Mirror Coalition get a blessing from young and are able to make use of an old immortals inheritance."
"An immortal?"
"Yes those magnificent beings, to create from nothing and cause disasters with a breath. I know it might seem crazy but we all think its a little crazy, but...its true, we have an inheritance from one of those beings, the crystals."
Hamar stopped feeding the lizard for moment and inspected the crystal he was feeding it, "What do you mean?"
"I don't know the specifics but the demi-immortals say that there's something about the crystals which means that they reflect something and it was something imparted by that old immortal. They couldn't explain it to me no matter how much they tried though"
"Reflect..."
Uncle Wang shook his head, "Don't ask me how it works. Maybe if you become a demi-immortal you'll understand, but that ain't me."
"What I do know is that it works. That reflection property means if you ever are attacked, even if you're not blessed by the Blushing Mirror you can take refuge by crystals."
"Listen carefully, if ya ever get attacked by a monster. Just run. Run to a crystal and the monster'll hide."
"They'll hide?! Just like that?"
"Yes, just like that. They know if they accidentally hit the crystal the hit will be reflected back onto them, so they just turn away. It's why we're fairly safe here, your lucky you haven't met any on your travels. But that's not all, they have many uses, like when consumed it can strengthen the body but too much and it'll cause mutations. Case in point, Lassy you're feeding."
Hamar nodded touched the slimy pink hair, "The gel strands?"
"You noticed? Yeah, originally she had hair but after being fed crystals too long it's changed. But...Lassy seems fine for now, if anything happens I'll have to retire her,"
Uncle Wang stroked the lizard on its back while continuing, "Best to get to town quick, your lucky to have met me before any monsters. Too many have disappeared recently, monster attacks are on the rise."
***
"So that's how it is..."
Hamar had come back to the tent and recounted what he had found out from Uncle Wang. Yan listened carefully before leaning back and saying that.
"What do you mean? So it's fine, no Yi Sect?"
"I mean...maybe, but probably not. I've not travelled this far out the Sect's lands too much but this is fairly common. A cultivator will leave something in an area and people will take that as a blessing. Though..."
"Though? What?"
"That bits common but I am suspicious about this...'Blushing Mirror Coalition' you spoke about. It sounds like a new development, it could be Yi Sect using that cultivator's crystal's to gain a root in this area."
"But Uncle Wang only spoke of 'demi-immortals' which I assume is qi masters, what use would Yo Sect have with them?"
"I don't know yet. But there's a likelihood they could use mass amounts of mortals or qi masters to do a special ritual or technique to do...something? It's hard to say, we shouldn't speculate too much."
"Hmm...special ritual..." Hamar numbed something before he realised his point, "like the ritual and totem pole Uncle Wang did? Is that not a sort of ritual that Mortal's can do?"
"Maybe, in a way. From what I could see in my, albeit surprised, state is that it more pulled upon that totem pole. It's probably a rudimentary artifact which creates a sort of 'crystal' around the camp. Think about it."
Yan explained further, "sprinkle crystal powder on the outside, talk about reflection, place a core. It's a formation of sorts which would use the properties of the crystal powder to imitate those large crystals that reflect powers, creating a sort of barrier."
"That's...smart."
"Yes, it's simpler but thanks to the special properties sof those crystals it works remarkably well. And given time with those crystals, now it works purely on the basis of instinctual avoidance by monsters."
Yan shook her head. "But as I said...it doesn't seem like Yi Sect. At the very least , it seems Uncle Wang is trustworthy and we don't need to be too on edge. When we arrive to town we'll check out more about this whole thing, for now relax. Is the Crystal good yet?"
Hamar looked down where he 'planted' the crystal fragment from his sword and contacted his Sword Soul..."good."
Yan sighed and dug around the ground before pulling out the crystal. "I'll deduce what I can about the crystal in case it's anything useful. You do your own thing for now, just make sure Uncle Wang doesn't see anything."
Hamar nodded and sat on his side of the tent, cross-legged. As he closed his eyes and began breathing he started thinking, 'What is Yi Sect dong here...they plan to destroy the world but how will the North Fog area stand in their plan...'
He slowed his thoughts and focused on breathing. He was breathing in mana and converting it to the colourless aura. Occasional thoughts would transform some aura into emotions or thoughts. Sometimes his deep thoughts would start to give that aura a property. A thought about fire would give it heat. A thought on water, liquidity. Family, stickiness.
This was the same principle as the colourless aura taking the form of laws but without laws to imitate and without sufficient knowledge, they could only gain some superficial properties.
Hamar cleared these thoughts as they passed, meditating in silence. As he did, he smiled, a day without incidents.