Chapter 14- Dressing Human

That night, snugly tucked into a shallow cave and roasting a brace of rabbits over the fire, Tian repeated his question. “Really, Grandpa. Why do we keep getting attacked? Even the rabbits attacked us.”

It’s an… unexpected side effect of combining the Stormborne Truffle and Dustless Lotus in the context of a body reconstruction. Basically, you smell amazing. To herbivores you smell like a delicious fresh flower or fruit, and to carnivores, well, they can’t really distinguish between a truffle and meat. And other things that truffles smell like. So pretty much everything is coming to check out what smells so good. And eat it. If you are lucky.

“What was that you said?”

What?

“You said something.”

I say a lot of things. Your rabbit is going to burn, by the way.

Tian yelped and lifted the stick off the fire. “How long is this going to last for? I can’t go around getting attacked by animals all the time.”

Never seen someone complain about free food so much before. And I don’t think it will last forever. As you cultivate and progress your body will keep developing. It will undergo more refinements. You will lose the smell gradually. It might even go away on its own after a while, as the energy from the bath fades away.

Tian nodded thoughtfully, and wondered about what they would do next. He still had a vague sense of the junkyard being ‘home,’ but it was already a faint feeling and fading fast. After just two weeks, he was already convinced that the forests were better. He could use fires, since he didn’t have to hide from human eyes here. There was way more, and better, food. Plus unlimited building materials in the form of strong trees, leaves, vine, bark, clay… the forest was a treasure trove! It would be easy as anything to live through the wet season here.

Comparatively. He vividly remembered being buried for three days after a garbage pile slid over where he was sleeping. He lost more than a layer of skin crawling out of that. He nearly drowned. Never again. A reminder that even the discarded trash of the human world was enough to kill him. And would kill him. Not because they hated him specifically, it’s just how humans were. Rock throwers.

Tian ripped a bit of meat off the rabbit. It was wonderfully savory. He was so hungry, he’d have no problem eating both rabbits. It was a wonderful night. Not too hot, not too cold, the bugs weren’t bothering him, he had a full belly and somewhere comfortable and dry to sleep. Grandpa was here with him. What could be better than this?

“Grandpa? Do we really need to go to the sect? My body is fixed now, right? So even if it’s a really bad cultivation method-”

Don’t even joke. No, if you really want to feel strong and see the world, you need cultivation. If you want to make sure the rock throwers can’t hurt you- cultivation. This world needs saving, Tian. The Mad God needs killing. You have been lucky so far, and you are strong for a mortal, but sooner or later, the heavens will send something you cannot escape. So. You know. Cultivation.

“How do we get into the sect then? Without the humans killing us?”

We will find out the specifics once we get to the foot of the mountain. But generally? Step one, figure out how locals dress, step two, steal you some clothes, step three, you observe local customs enough that you don’t come off as a demon possessing a corpse, which all things considered is a little too close to the truth for comfort, and, four, probably join some kind of criminal organization long enough to build up familiarity with the area and secure some kind of foothold in the city.

“I feel like there was a lot going on in that answer, Grandpa.”

That’s because you are a very smart boy. Tian felt grandpa tousling his hair, even though his long black hair didn’t so much as twitch.

“What’s a criminal organization?”

I’m going to have to explain laws to you, aren’t I?

“You said laws are a cultivation method, right?”

Yes. But also, in this specific case, no. But also kind of yes. New rule- the correct answer to any and every question is ‘it’s complicated.’ Let’s get into it.

It was a really good night.

A few days later, he reached the edge of the forest. His body had filled out remarkably thanks to all the meat he was eating. He was laying in the dirt, looking across rice paddies to some small huts.

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“These are farmers?”

Yep. Peasants. Serfs, maybe.

“What’s the difference?”

A peasant has a right to use a bit of land and, after paying the rent and any taxes, they can keep the profits. In theory, they can leave their plot of land. Peasants often dream of their kids leaving the land and working in town or something. A serf doesn’t have the right to dream. They are a fixture of the land, and essentially property. Not quite outright slaves, but it’s often a distinction without a difference.

“Grandpa, I didn’t understand any of that.”

Lucky you. Just hang out here and watch. We won’t be stealing clothes from them. They won’t have anything to spare.