Yaoguai

"Hostess of Fertility, Hostess of Fertility…" I muttered, searching through the night streets of Orario, but my focus was on something else.

With each step, with each beat of my heart, my qi flowed through my body, generating more of itself.

Among everything which had happened to me ever since I died, nothing could come close to the emotion rippling through me when I first looked into my Soul Sea. It was an experience a normal mortal like myself couldn't hope to emulate before. I couldn't explain what I felt when I looked at the ball of light — when I looked at myself.

No wonder I could get an instinctual understanding of Tiamat through her body language. The experience of gazing at my soul was so intimate and personal that… I couldn't imagine what it felt like for her. I pushed and pushed my own qi inside of her soul, without even knowing what it would entail. I followed the instructions given to me by a being I knew nothing about. In hindsight, I was lucky that didn't result in catastrophe or any severe backlashes.

Even though I didn't make the mistake of creating a Soul Link between the two of us—something which was even more intimate than what I did—my life energy grasping, infusing, and elevating her soul was more than enough to transform her into something I had very limited knowledge about.

A yaoguai, or an animal capable of cultivation. A familiar, to name its closest Western equivalent, since Orario's obviously dominated by deities from over there.

This gift could be a blessing or a curse, depending on how I guided Tiamat from now on. The problem was I barely knew enough for myself, was given a very primitive way to cultivate, and didn't know if it would work for her. For all I know, animals might have to follow their own path, their own Dao to ascend. And ascension was the end goal of any cultivator.

For Tiamat, a snake, it would mean becoming an immortal dragon, a ruler of the sky. But since I could hardly assist her in her path, I tossed her into the dark, where the slightest wrong step could doom her fate.

The only solution was to create a Soul Link. It had been my intention from the beginning, but I had been naïve. I ran at full speed into the unknown and only realized now my grave mistake.

The resources necessary to create a Soul Link didn't exist.

When I was looking for food earlier, I searched for the basic materials I would need for my cultivation, and for alchemy—because it was a staple element of the practice, one which I had been given basic knowledge about as well. The process of refinement, what ingredients are common in creating pills, how to use a cauldron, how to infuse one's qi into the process… The basics. And to my horror, very few of what I needed were sold in this city.

But for now, I had to walk my tired body to an inn, where I could actually get some shut-eye for tomorrow—the work at a smithy started early, very early.

"Oh, is it there?" I utter, looking at the sign Hostess of Fertility. Near the dungeon and on one of the main streets of this city—a perfect place for a pub-turned-inn.

The building itself was tall, probably two-story, and made of stone. Taken care of thoroughly and seemed to be new—as evidenced by the shiny wood and the clean stone. The nightlife of this city was calmer than I expected it to be, but I also assumed this to not be the case everywhere. After all, this pub was filled to the brim with customers from what I could see from the exterior. I approached the building, keeping my eyes on the inside, watching the boisterous adventurers drink and eat, a small smile appearing on my face.

"Welcome to the Hostess of Fertility!" I heard someone say in a chirpy tone to me. Turning my head around, I noticed the girl with blueish-grey hair—I assumed her hair was artificially dyed—talking to me. Her eyes, the same color as her hair, crinkled up with her smile.

She was wearing a green dress cut above the knee, wide sleeves, and a white collar, topped with a white apron and a headband to top it off. It clearly gave off the impression of being a uniform, and it didn't take a genius to connect the dots together and conclude she worked here.

A cute girl to welcome the customers after a hard day of work? These people knew what they were doing.

"Good evening, I've heard from a friend this place was a pleasant inn, and… well, I'd like to sleep here for the night."

Letting another customer walk between the two of us inside of the pub, she started to shill her workplace to me. "Excellent choice! Your friend is wise to have recommended us, as we are the most acclaimed inn in this city. We are first place according to the Familias in this city in terms of service, food, and alcohol!" Her expression became prouder and prouder with each of her words, but her eyes never left mine.

…Left me wondering if she realized I didn't care about all of that. Did she think I was a rich customer-

Oh. The T-shirt.

I stopped her speech before it could get out of control. "Yeah, yeah, that's cool and all, but I don't care about that. What's the price of a room for… let's say, a month?"

The girl stopped, blinked, and her eyes went to my clothes, before she tilted her head to the side and her eyes flickered back to my face. "...I-It depends on the formula. For a single room, it goes from 10.000 to 50.000 valis a month, and obviously, the price shots up for double or more…"

More expensive than I thought, but less expensive than what I can take. With Tsubaki's recommendation in mind, I made my decision. "Alright…. can we not do this here, though?"

She blinked again.

"Let's go inside to discuss the terms… away from privy eyes." I refused to hammer a deal in the street's cold breeze and right at the entrance of the building.

Her eyes followed mine, looking around before she nodded. "I understand. Then please, follow me."

We walked into the building, more often than not having to fight our way through the mass of adventurers in the pub. "I'll call Mama Mia for you."She leaned into me so despite stopping any eavesdropping, her words were just loud enough for me to understand through the cacophony of a pub full of half-drunk adventurers, judging by the chatter I picked up with my enhanced senses. I jerked back in surprise. Mama Mia?

"M-Mama Mia?" My words echoed my thoughts.

"She's the owner of the bar," the grey-haired girl answered in between two adventurers. "Ah, excuse me, Mister…

"I'm Syr, by the way. Syr Flova." Even with the crowd, she took the time to turn around and smile at me to introduce herself. While the smile seemed genuine, I would have taken it a lot more seriously if she wasn't someone working here and I wasn't about to give her boss money.

She brought me to the counter, where the boss of this place was waiting. And what a woman she was.

She was tall, wide, and very muscular, which made the uniform she was wearing even more ridiculous, the poor items of clothing straining under her strength. The only term which came to mind when I saw her was a middle-aged Amazon. I was still taller than her, but her thick tree trunk-like arms made me feel small in comparison.

I extended my soul sense to her… Yep. If it came down to the quantity of qi inside of her body, she's above even Tsubaki. That made her the strongest person I've met so far in this city.

That person is worthy of the name Mama Mia, that's for sure.

The woman in question sent a glance at Syr when she saw us arriving at her counter, which was enough for her to understand something, as I watched both of them nod to each other.

"Mama… Mia?" I called, unsure of my words.

Her mouth opened, then closed, before she was sent into a fit of laughter. I looked at Syr, who was leaning on the counter next to me. The amused smirk told me everything I needed: I had been set up. "Sorry, young man, but that name is reserved for my cute employees." The owner told me, with her booming voice. Even with the crowd in this pub, I had no problem hearing her words—which I assumed came from experience. "And you are neither cute nor female enough to be one of mine," she added, chuckling loudly when she realized Syr was behind all of this.

"How should I call you, then?" I asked.

"I'm Mia Grand, owner of the Hostess of Fertility. You can just call me Mia, I don't mind."

"Thank you. Unlike someone else here…" I said, side-eying Syr with a hint of reproachfulness, but it only made her giggle even more. What a bother.

"So, what do you need, young man?"

"He asked for the price of a room for a month, food included," Syr cut me off before I could say my piece.

"Food included?" I raised my eyebrow. So this is how things go here? Or is it just Syr? "I don't remember the food being part of the deal, Syr."

"Eh? B-But where do you plan on eating otherwise?" Her face morphed from an exaggerated amount of surprise. She took this cutesy voice before continuing, "I'll have you know everyone acclaims the food of the Hostess of Fertility who tastes it-"

"Yes, yes, yes, Syr, you've done enough. Stop trying to skip your work by talking to customers. Anya needs you in the back."

"Tch," Syr clicked her tongue, before she spoke with a small smile, "I hope your stay at the Hostess of Fertility is an enjoyable one, Sir."

I laughed, seeing her dejected form drag herself away from the counter, pouting at me when she heard my reaction to her predicament. "So she was just trying to skip work?" I asked, my eyes thinning from the amusement this place was providing me.

Mia didn't answer, simply nodded and let out a long sigh. "So, what kind of room do you want?" The lightbulb illuminating the counter chose this moment to stop working. The light fizzling sound was drowned among the discord of the room, but I was able to catch it. Mia sighed, looking at the strange mechanisms of these lightbulbs. "Anya," she called, "bring me a magic stone; a light stopped working."

A magic stone? Despite my curiosity being awoken, I made sure to not move. "Single room, I don't care about the details. So long as I have a bed and a hot shower at the end of the day, I'll be fine. What I want, however, is peace."

She looked at me for a second. "Peace?"

"Yeah, a room at the end of the corridor—you get the gist."

"I think we have that one available, but it'll cost you more."

"How much?" No need to dally around. I was already sleepy and famished.

"It'll be 15.000 valis per month, without the food. If you want the food, it'll be 35.000 valis per month," Mia declared.

I winced. No wonder Syr was trying to sell me this formula. "I suppose it's still cheaper than if I bought food every day individually?"

"Significantly cheaper, yes." She attended to another customer while I decided. As she finished pouring some sort of alcohol to a nearly drunk adventurer, I mentally counted how much I could save up if I ate Jagamarukuns for lunch and dinner, compared to this place.

From what I have seen, the Goddess behind the stand wasn't lying. Her food was truly one of the cheapest in the city. In the meantime, the food here was very pricey, but would be infinitely better for both my body and my taste. And I technically had the money. I was just unwilling to spend that much—because nothing would be left afterward.

Therefore, If I took this option, I would have to postpone every plan of mine for the foreseeable future.

"I'll take just the room, and one hearty meal tonight." Syr appeared from the sea of people, carrying something in her hands.

"Sure," Mia shrugged, before giving me a menu with everything they offered at this place. She turned around and mouthed a thank you to the grey-haired girl, who I caught sending me an amused glance.

That the first item made me salivate forced me to question my choice. And when I saw the purple gleam of the surrounding light reflected on what they called a magic stone…

'Oh.'

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A/N: Tian takes his first step into this world!