SSS Ranked Awakening: All My Skills Are at Level 100

Chapter 726: The Ground That Changes

”No,” the woman behind the counter said. ”You ordered six shallow pans. Those are six shallow pans.”

The customer pointed at the stack by the door. ”They look deeper than the last ones.”

”The last ones were your brother’s. He ordered deep pans and spent three days complaining that he couldn’t carry them full.”

Leon waited outside while the argument ended. The customer measured a pan with his fingers, muttered something about his brother, and paid.

Only then did the woman turn toward the five visitors.

”Buying or asking?”

”Both, perhaps,” Leon said. ”The book seller sent us. He said you could tell us about Hollow Steps.”

”He could have told you himself.” She looked at the volume under Vyra’s arm. ”But then he’d have had to stop selling you that.”

She introduced herself as Sella Venn and moved a bundle of packing cloth off a bench. Her shop ran deeper than it appeared from the street. Shelves held jars, screens, sealed containers, and instruments whose purposes Leon could only guess at. A ledger lay open beside a bowl of cold food.

He set Loriel’s plant safely at the end of the bench before sitting.

”The currents change there?” he asked.

”Across the courts, yes. Sometimes within the same court. What are you looking to gather?”

”Materials of several affinities. And somewhere worth cultivating.”

Sella studied him, then the women.

”You’ll find both. Whether you get much use from either depends on where you settle.”

She took a rolled sketch from a shelf and spread it across the counter. Several stepped enclosures followed the slope of a hill, connected by narrow approaches. The lines were faded where people had touched the paper.

The labels remained unreadable, but Leon could follow the shape of the place as Sella explained it.

Hollow Steps had once been laid out for cultivation. Enough of its courts and channels remained usable that local teams returned when the surrounding spiritual currents entered their accessible phase. At other times, the approaches were too unstable for ordinary gathering, and much of what could be taken was still immature.

”About ten days,” Sella said, tapping the lower approach. ”That’s what the teams expect. They’ve had people checking the outlying channels since before trading day.”

”A regular date?” Vyra asked.

”Regular signs. The date shifts.” Sella indicated three stacks of containers. ”Those buyers have put down deposits. They don’t do that because somebody heard a story over supper.”

Leon leaned closer to the sketch.

”When you say the currents change, do you mean they grow stronger and weaker, or that the affinities change?”

”Both. One court may have a steady warm current in the morning and something much sharper later. Another stays mostly the same but receives it in waves. The people who go there to cultivate pay attention before sitting down.”

That was more interesting than a simple increase in ambient energy.

His recent experiments had used prepared portions whose behavior he could measure and repeat. He could vary those portions, but he still chose when to make the change. A place that varied without waiting for him would test something different.

Assuming I can find a court that doesn’t throw half a mountain through my circulation.

He asked about the gentler areas first.

Sella pointed out the lower courts. People used them to learn the changes before moving uphill. The richest patches were less predictable, and the containers stacked by her door were intended for mineral accretions and plant growth collected there.

”I’ve bought material from three openings,” she said. ”I’ve supplied teams for more. If you want somebody who has sat in every court, that isn’t me.”

”Have you been inside?” Leon asked.

”The lower ground, once. I went to settle an order dispute. I prefer buying what comes out.”

He appreciated the distinction. So far, she had not promised him an inheritance, a miraculous breakthrough, or a treasure waiting politely for the first handsome stranger to arrive.

Loriel asked which plants grew near the changing channels. Sella named several and pointed to the preparation manual.

”Two should be in there. Ask the seller to read you the storage warnings before you pay for a case.”

Vyra marked the names phonetically beside the pages Sella indicated. More translation, more useful work for the days before they left. Leon was already considering which samples Bai Heng should prepare first.

Seraphine examined the narrow approaches on the sketch.

”Who controls entry?” she asked.

”Nobody who can make the other settlements agree.” Sella smiled briefly. ”The paths are open. Once you’re inside, the larger parties try to keep the productive courts for their own people.”

”And outsiders?” Leon asked.

”Can walk the same paths. Don’t expect anyone to save you a good place.”

He had not expected that anywhere in this realm.

Ira leaned forward. ”Do they fight over them?”

”Sometimes. Sometimes two leaders agree on a division. Sometimes the smaller group sees who arrived first and keeps walking.” Sella glanced at Ira’s expression. ”The ground is valuable even if you avoid a fight.”

”I understood,” Ira said, though Leon doubted she found the warning necessary.

He asked about travel next. At a gathering party’s walking pace, the main route took roughly two days from Asterbank. There was a shorter ascent, but Sella would not recommend it to anyone carrying delicate stock. She described the junctions aloud while Vyra drew a copy in their own notes.

Leon bought a modest set of the recommended containers through a trade of suitable mineral pieces from his available share. Sella inspected them with a small instrument, rejected one, and named what she would accept for the rest. Vyra checked the exchange before agreeing.

They left the bulky portion with her for collection after making arrangements at the spring. There was no need to carry a future expedition’s equipment through the market just because Leon had become impatient to begin it.

Outside, Loriel retrieved her plant from him and adjusted its wrapping. The blue flowers had turned toward the light at the shop entrance.

”You want to go,” she said.

”Yes.” Leon looked at the copied route. ”I want to see what changes before I decide what to draw into my body. But if even the lower courts behave as she says, I can learn something there.”

”And gather enough to make the trip worthwhile,” Vyra added.

”That too.” He smiled. ”Preferably more than enough.”

They still had preparations to make. Bai Heng needed the translated passages and the results of his first mixture test. Loriel wanted the wellheart kept somewhere she could study it without repeatedly disturbing its roots. The spring and entrance teams needed a workable arrangement before another party traveled farther away.

Ten days gave them room to do those things properly. Leon felt no urge to spend all ten staring at the road.

A line of porters came down the street while they were speaking. Behind them walked several cultivators in pale green coats, each wearing a small badge shaped like three willow leaves. They stopped outside Sella’s shop, and a young man near the front handed her a folded order.

”Three Willows Hall,” she called to a worker. ”The long cases and the covered frames.”

The young man glanced at Leon’s new containers, then at the route sketch in Vyra’s hands. His attention sharpened for a moment before he turned back to his order.

Leon watched the porters begin loading. These people knew where they were going, what they wanted, and how to bring it back. He would need more than a strong arm to recognize the best of what lay inside.

He turned to the book seller’s awning.

”Let’s get those two entries translated before we leave.”

Beyond him, the first of the Hall’s long cases went onto a waiting cart. Ten days before the opening, somebody was already packing for the ground Leon wanted.