214 I'm From Illinois
Cultivation might seem like a luxurious term to any human, especially at such an early stage as we have now.
Compared to other races, humans had long forgotten the heritage of cultivation. I once read through the records that the heritage of cultivation ceased to exist at some point in ancient human history.
But prior to that, talking about a few thousand years before the time of the apocalypse, it was rumoured that humans knew cultivation in many ancient civilisations across the planet.
Some even linked these with the gods we currently had for the human race. After many attempts to revive this heritage, few people managed to discover a secret way to start long forgotten human cultivation.
But to be honest, the records were void of anything talking about how to cultivate. Also the records of the old man and the stories he told me before were all empty of such info.
Damn! The only possible way to have cultivation was by the direct teachings of the other races. It was something forbidden in their civilisations, something that even I had a great doubt of being able to have.
But who knew, I might end up having something my allied races would pay anything to get.
As for my bones, I didn’t try to let others merge with them. I might try this on my teammates first. But I held little hope towards its success.
[Where the hell are you?]
I sent this message to the jumper while leaning on the side of my chariot. I was inside the city, which still was bustling with my forces’ activity to repair its walls.
[Still tracking that girl, why?]
[You are an asshole!]
[Do you want to die?]
[That girl… That simple task I gave you… You failed in it!]
[Stop fooling with me, I have no time to waste on such jokes]
[That girl came to me and we just talked, fought, and became allies at the end] I sent a brief of everything that happened, of course missing the awkward kiss moment, [Come and let’s talk later]
[Stop joking! That girl is standing half a mile away, surrounded with many scouts of the Berserkers]
[Just let them be, she is fake]
[What?!!]
[Just retreat, I’m waiting you at Albany city]
[Are you sure?]
[Just do what I say, idiot]
[Wait until I find you!]
[She is the one who said this, not me]
[Wait until I find her!]
I closed the chat with him while trying to resist my urge to laugh. At this point, Hilary just appeared from the stairs, with an astonished look over her face.
What? Did she misheard me speaking with that bastard or what?
“You really have a fine piece of art here,” she said with sparkling eyes, “if I were you, I’d try to keep this beauty as safe as possible.” ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
“She is my war ride,” I shrugged, “nothing can harm her anyway.”
“It’s tough, but you need to keep an eye on the one you stole from him.”
“I didn’t steal it!” I glared at her and she gave me a look filled with astonishment before laughing.
“Come on! Everything down there points towards dragons… Don’t tell me one crazy greedy dragon gave it to you with no hard feelings.”
“That’s what happened, don’t tell me you were with us that day?”
I faked an innocent look, one that didn’t fool her. “Alright big man with secrets, keep them hidden inside your heart.”
She turned to look at the city before adding in obvious envy, “you also got such a marvel out of thin air. I’m sure that dragon bastard died out of frustration when you got to his city.”
“Don’t tell me you don’t have yours yet,” I showed up at her and she simply harrumphed.
“This city isn’t something that can be bought with money. You need to have backing, real backing to have such a marvel.”
“I’m enough as a backing,” I showed off again and she rolled up her eyes.
“Boys and their big thing…” she intentionally paused, making me mistake her words for something else, “called ego… What? Why are you giving me such a weird look?”
“Nothing,” that girl… she did it on purpose! “Tell me more about your forces and territory.”
“Oh, trying to know how valuable your new girl is?” she winked and acted in a way that reminded me of Angelica out of nowhere. I looked in serious way to her while she raised both hands in the air, saying in helpless tone:
“I’m all innocent here, after all I wasn’t the one to force a kiss or shove my hands over…”
She pointed at her two small bulgings at her chest and that made me cough.
“Girl, do you want me dead or what? I already have a girl,” I said while trying to jump over the subject. But she was faster to say:
“As I saw it, your girl didn’t trust you at all. You are a lone wolf now.”
“I’m a human, not a wolf.”
“Don’t bark then like one,” she chuckled and I was this close to hit her in the face.
“Stop fooling around and just answer the simple question.”
“You are dead serious then,” she raised her head like a pride feeling proud of her husband or something, “I have a vast territory that takes most of the Illinois state.”
“Illinois? That’s far from here!” As far as I knew, Illinois was in the centre of a former US country.”
“It is,” she nodded in confirmation, “but I chased that bastard all the way to here! And now, all his territory is left unguarded, waiting for me to take.”
“Are you strong enough to take it?” This was my second question and she snorted.
“Do you think someone like me is weak? I just told you I came all the way from Illinois to here after that bastard.”
“I meant your own forces, not just personal strength,” I had to know more details about this point, “in fact compared to mine, I doubt any human will have such a force.”