I booked an inn close to Gu Xue's. They weren't trustworthy — from what I know, Long Wei once hosted a match and used it for his own gain.
He would let one of his own men win while pretending to lose, earning the crowd's sympathy and trust. Then he'd use that to make even more money off the public.
He had done this many times, but only in small cities. This time was his first attempt here. Some government officials supported him since he helped them complete their "debtor assignments" — those who couldn't repay their loans were turned into prostitutes for the state.
As for the rest of his group, I didn't know anything about them.
Anyway, Gu Xue could handle herself. I was confident she could defeat Long Wei if it came to that.
I slept for about eight hours before waking up. Morning had already come — the first official day of the Velora Festival.
According to my plan, I'd spend the first three days exploring and the last four training.
Before leaving, I checked on Gu Xue. She seemed restless again. From her expression, I could tell she'd had another nightmare.
I could already guess it had something to do with her past — maybe her lost memories or something buried even deeper.
It saddened me, but I couldn't force her to talk. Unless it got serious, I wouldn't intervene.
I left the inn and started wandering through the city. My first goal was simple — to find an alchemy shop. I needed to change my appearance. If I managed to obtain something valuable during the festival, I didn't want to be recognized.
After a while, I found what I needed — appearance-changing pills. They weren't cheap, but they'd be worth it if things went smoothly.
As I wandered through the crowded streets, I noticed a message center beside a brothel. Out of curiosity and fatigue, I decided to relax a bit.
I booked an hour-long massage for 50 Qi stones. The woman who came in was skilled — her touch was light but precise, and I could feel my body relaxing with every movement.
When the hour ended, she leaned close and said, "If you want something more enjoyable, you can visit the brothel next door. My service there is… very cheap."
She winked as she said it.
I was a bit surprised by her directness but politely declined. After all, that wasn't what I came for.
Once I left, I decided to use the rest of the day for something useful — learning arrays.
According to the information I'd gathered, the Nascent Soul expert whose inheritance was being offered in the festival was an Array Cultivator. If the trials were based on arrays, I needed to be prepared.
I purchased a beginner's array guide for 500 Qi stones — a simple manual but perfect for starting out.
For the next few hours, I read through it carefully.
Arrays were essentially symbols formed by manipulating Qi in precise ways. By layering or connecting those symbols, one could create powerful effects.
The examples fascinated me —
A Barrier Array that condensed water Qi to slow or absorb incoming attacks.
A Mirror Array that bent light and Qi together to reflect energy blasts.
A Pulse Array that stored shockwaves and released them once triggered.
And even a Link Array that connected two distant points through Qi flow — like forming an invisible bridge.
Each of these formations was simple, but the creativity behind them was limitless.
It reminded me of technique creation — both relied purely on imagination and understanding of energy flow.
In theory, arrays could do almost anything.
I even thought about creating one that opened only when a specific node was activated — for example, Node 500 — and used that node to form a small pocket dimension for storing items.
It worked far better than a storage ring, but it required a Level 5 Space-Bending Symbol, something far beyond my current ability.
Symbols themselves were ranked from Level 1 to Level 10.
Each level represented the scale of influence a symbol could exert.
For example —
A Level 1 Space Symbol could distort an atom's worth of space.
A Level 3 could affect a room-sized area.
A Level 5 could warp an entire city's worth of space, enough to create stable dimensions.
The book I bought only covered Level 1 symbols, but mastering them would make me a Novice Array Master.
There was also an Array Association — a separate organization that certified array masters and handled commissions for them, similar to the Universal Bank but solely for formations.
The name was simple, but its members were said to be the best in the entire universe.
Maybe there was also an organization that specialized in technique creation. If I could enter one of them someday, I'd gain endless inspiration.
After reading and practicing for five hours, my mind was filled with new ideas.
Satisfied, I returned to my inn and rested.
That was how I spent the first day of the Velora Festival