Emery

I had really been hoping that we would just stumble upon some kind of lead while we were wandering around Resin. Truthfully, I didn't think we would ever be so lucky, but I did hope. I kept thinking back to when I had first tracked down the sect that had taken Cierra, and what had, in retrospect, been a lucky break - catching that clearly demonic-technique-using Cultivator.

Whether it was because we had been far more in the middle of the wilderness, or that group had simply been too new and inept, coming across the man who reeked of demonic Qi was too convenient. While we spent our first week travelling up and down the edge of the Valley, I had even considered whether that first group had been a plant by Vale to test me.

In the end, I settled on probably not, given the other dead child. He wouldn't have done that. But given how poorly our second and now third tracking attempts were going, I couldn't stop wishing it was as easy as the first time.

I also kept thinking back to even before that, when I went on demonic hunts with Vale. He had typically done all of the legwork, often dropping me off in an inn at the nearest major settlement to go do the tracking. He usually returned to pick me up with a target in a day or two at most.

Maybe wings made all the difference? I couldn't really tell.

But Avuri and I had zero luck at all. Over the course of 9 days, we had travelled both sides of the chasm, using every sense we had to check the cliff faces and however far we could get into the rock itself. Which was admittedly, not as far as I would've liked.

However, our days of searching did more or less cross off the situation that Avuri was hoping for from our list. We saw nothing along the cliff sides, but more than that, our searching with Qi convinced us that the stone cliffs were too solid for a group to be hiding in tunnels. It would've been possible to make a tunnel and cave system with a strong earth Cultivator, sure, but because the rock was so dense, using Qi to clear out space for even a small sect would've left noticeable traces of Qi in the area and surrounding rock.

We felt pretty comfortable saying it wasn't likely to be where they were. And even more so, if they had somehow hidden all the Qi use, whoever did so would've probably been beyond our ability to deal with.

That left us with three potential options going forward. We could continue to ask around the town, go out looking in the Highlands, or camp out on the road and hope to catch them in the act.

"Did you have a preference?" I asked over a nice dinner. We had been out of town for a couple days, so we decided to splurge on a nicer meal than the inn-provided option. "Other than generally staying above ground." I added.

Avuri visibly shivered. She wasn't looking forward to the potential cave diving for multiple reasons, and not all of them were frivolous ones. "They would be on schedule to strike in the next several days, right? I think we may as well try to watch the road."

"I'm inclined to agree with you. It makes a lot of sense, but we also have no idea where to watch."

"I've been thinking about that." Avuri said, pointing at me with a little baby carrot. "We know that a demonic sect would want to avoid detection wherever they can. That gives us some idea on where to post up."

"Away from any major towns or resting areas where people would gather, sure. But that's nothing new."

Avuri grinned, an enormously cute, lopsided, cocky smile as she popped a scroll into her hand from her storage ring. She shook it at me briefly, then unfurled it onto the table between us.

"A map?"

"A map." She said, "More specifically, a map of most of the Highlands. Admittedly, it doesn't cover the entire area, but it has most of the roads on it." She traced a few of the roads with a finger, passing markers for different camping areas and wayhouses. Then she stopped, pointing at a specific curve in the road that turned at a nearly right angle right by the cliff side.

"Right here. This curve isn't just the furthest place from any potential location where people might gather, but there's also an overlook nearby that would give them a clear view of the road in both directions."

"So they would be able to know that their target is very alone." I nodded along with her line of thinking.

"Exactly. In addition," she slid her finger the incredibly short distance from the bend in the road to the edge of the cliff, "if they attacked here and things went wrong, or they needed to dispose of anything in a hurry…"

"They could just throw it over the ledge."

"Yep."

"While I agree that this seems like a great place to lay an ambush, you're not about to tell me that it's the only one." I said.

Avuri let out a sigh. "Sadly, no. There's at least three others; here, here, and…here." She pointed to each one, but didn't elaborate on the reasons for each as much. I could see, though, that she had measured the map to at least check distances from the nearest camps to see which spots were the most isolated.

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"It's too bad we don't still have Eiry around. I'd be very curious to see how these spots overlap with the antlion tunnels that are closer to the surface. Or at least the entrances, anyway." I said, considering.

"That would've been helpful, yeah." Avuri said, sitting back in a more relaxed position and leaving the map open on the table. As my eyes wandered over it more, I noted just how many scribbles were all over it.

"How long have you been working on this?"

"Not that long. Mostly just in the afternoons or evenings while waiting for you to return from your information gathering."

I snorted. "Maybe this was a better way to spend the time. I've turned up absolutely nothing."

"Honestly? I hope so. If we can pin down where the enemy is without having to wander the Highlands, that'd be absolutely worth the effort." Avuri said.

I nodded along, thinking about how to approach the search from here. "So, did you come up with a plan already? Or are we just going to make it up as we go?"

"It depends how we want to split up the work, I think. But these three spots - I could monitor them all from right here." She pointed to three of her marked spots, which included her main option, and then to an 'X' marked in between them all. "From here, I would be within range to watch those locations with my Qi."

"Which would leave one more, I imagine for me to watch?" I asked.

"I'm not sure." Avuri said. "While it might be smart to watch all four locations, it might be smarter to stick together in case we do actually catch something."

I picked up a bit of chicken to chew on while I looked over the map, inspecting the different areas that Avuri had marked. "It feels like that fourth one is the least likely location. I think sticking together to watch the other three is a wise move. Sticking together lets us react quicker and together if something happens."

"Right." Avuri's eyes were roving over the map, looking at the notes about the various notable landmarks. She lightly traced around some of the outlined roads. "What should we do for cover, do you think?"

"Cover?"

"Our spot is in the middle of the Highlands. There's not a lot out there for shelter."

"Ah," I leaned back in my chair, looking up at the wooden ceiling of the restaurant. "I think we have two options. The bladed grass is probably tall enough that we could hide in it if we wanted to. Or," I added a mischievous grin, "we could bring a whole caravan wagon out there with us. Make ourselves potential bait."

Avuri rolled her eyes. "Em, the nearest road is all the way over here." She pointed to it on the map - and she was right, the area we would need to post up in was a good distance from the road. "It wouldn't make any sense for a caravan to be that far off the road, let alone in the Highlands of all places."

"Yeah, that's true enough. I suppose it's either hide in the grass or bring a small tent or something then. Or did you have an idea you'd like to share?"

"I was thinking of a small tent, yeah. We can try to get one that matches the green of the grass out there to blend in and remain as hidden as possible. And you'll need to keep an eye on our surroundings while I monitor the roads."

"I know." I said. Whenever Avuri used her First Snow technique that allowed her to spy on distant locations, it basically deadened all of her body's senses in favor of focusing on where her Qi sent her. Her body would be basically defenseless.

If I wasn't with her, she would have bounced between the technique and her body every few seconds. But with someone to watch over her, Avuri could focus entirely on her technique, no worries required.

She nodded. "Then let's go look for some kind of sturdy material tomorrow in the market. If we were going to find anything made of sturdy enough material to deal with the Highlands' grass, this would be the place to do it."

"Agreed. I've passed a few clothiers who were advertising resilient clothing for Highlands travel. I'm sure at least one of them is telling the truth." I chuckled. If we find one that sells good clothing, maybe we should get some to replace the stuff we bought in Flowing Dragon City. I know we bought it for the express purpose of it being essentially throw away clothing, but if we find better suited clothing here, we may as well get it."

"I'm not opposed to clothes shopping."

"I know."

"I guess we have a plan, then?"

"I guess we do."

By the end of the following day, we were prepared to make our foray into the Highlands. We had acquired almost exactly what we had been looking for - a large cut of a pleasantly green fabric. It was silk-like, but strong and weather treated against water and even dirt.

While neither Avuri or I had ever seen anything like it, the idea in its design made sense to me. While the base material was already strong - made primarily from Highland Widow Silk - the clothier had used similar color thread to sew an Array pattern into the cloth. The thread used for the Array gave the cloth a rather appealing aesthetic, given that the secondary thread was very closely colored to the base.

With just a little bit of Qi sent into the Array, the cloth would become more resistant to cutting. We were warned to be careful with the Array, however, because while more Qi would make the cloth that much more resistant to cutting, it would also make the cloth significantly more rigid, eventually to the point of being inflexible and brittle.

It was all about finding the right balance to keep it from getting cut by the Bladed Grass. And that really shouldn't have been too difficult for us, either.

Avuri and I also each bought a full set of robes from the same shop. We both chose a light purple-ish color for the outer robes, while I went with a darker gray for my base robes, while Avuri chose a lighter, almost white option.

Once we had the clothing and the large sheet in our storage rings, we were basically ready to try our hands out in the Highlands. However, rather than immediately set out, we opted to spend the remainder of the day in Resin to enjoy some of the more standard comforts of a city before we set out. Afterall, the intention was to remain outdoors and camping for the next several days.

One more night in an actual bed would be nice before we would need to be in relatively constant danger.

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