Destiny in Cinders

”Is that really fine?” Huo Qing scratched his head, looking troubled. ”The house would essentially be my property. Aren’t you worried about that?”

An Jing shook his head. ”Haha, let’s not waste words on pointless things. Aren’t we friends, Huo Qing? Are you unhappy with our cooperative relationship so far? Even if you can’t trust yourself, I choose to trust you!”

He could tell that Huo Qing was a bit of a people pleaser. He was even willing to tolerate Gunner’s personality to pay him back for the tiny bit of kindness he had shown him. Even though he had changed somewhat since he moved back to the recycling house, his core personality largely remained the same. He was someone who was incapable of turning against those he considered his friends.

An Jing found his pushover personality a little grating sometimes, but he fully trusted that Huo Qing wouldn’t screw him over. As far as he was concerned, even if Huo Qing lost the house from being scammed or framed, it was no huge loss to him apart from some merits. Merits didn’t matter too much to him at the end of the day. He could easily earn merits by means of interworld trading.

For Huo Qing, who had only saved hundreds of merits after so many years, buying a house was a huge deal that came with quite a bit of pressure. Naturally, he wouldn’t betray An Jing. In fact, the more An Jing trusted him, the more he wanted to live up to it. He would never do anything that would cost his friend in any way.

Yet, one flaw in Huo Qing’s personality was that he found the trust of his friends a rather heavy burden to bear. The more he was trusted, the more he doubted his own actions, a critical failing that dulled that sharp wit of his. An Jing was well aware of that weakness, but personality wasn’t something that could be changed overnight. He couldn’t expect Huo Qing to be dependable out of nowhere.

”Alright, that settles it.” As such, An Jing made the decision on his own. ”Don’t overthink it. Just consider it a business venture. I will provide the funds for a house or shop. Perhaps we can even run some kind of business from it down the line. You’re studying formations right? You need ingredients and materials, which you can buy from me cheaply. The recycling house is Boss Metalhand’s at the end of the day. We’ll have to set up shop somewhere else eventually.”

Huo Qing was both terrified and overjoyed from the trust An Jing placed in him. ”It’s just such a shame... The old house I was staying at was claimed by the Noontigers once my old self was declared dead. I could’ve given the house to you and saved us all the trouble if I still legally owned it.”

”That would be too close to the city, which makes things less convenient for me,” An Jing said, shaking his head. ”What I need is a place that’s closer to the borders of the badlands, but not a brand-new property either. I don’t mind if it’s not a densely populated area. All I care about is that I can store my things there safely.”

”If that’s what you need, I know a good place.” Huo Qing, being a local, quickly recalled a place that fit the requirements. ”So you want a relatively safe place that doesn’t have too much traffic to use for storage, right? I would recommend looking for property in Hilltwixt Town.”

As its name suggested, Hilltwixt (betwixt the hills) was a mining town surrounded by a few hills near the border of Mortality Plains. It was famous for producing an earth-aspect material called sinkcrystal. It was the opposite of floatjade and these two types of mineral were used to modulate the weight of airships much like ballasts, stabilizing them in their flight. Certain heavier flying swords also used sinkcrystals in their construction.

Sinkcrystals weren’t mined from ore veins. Rather, they were produced through seed crystals and crystal caves. After thousands of years, natural crystal caves produce seed crystals that could be moved to a different location. The seed crystals could be nurtured by energy from the terrestrial veins to produce new, smaller crystal caves. With some care and technique, these crystals could be mined indefinitely.

In other words, this was how crystals were farmed. Hilltwixt never had natural sinkcrystal cave deposits, but its location was favorable to their growth. So, some seed crystals were planted there, and in time, seven crystal caves developed at Hilltwixt, turning it into a steady producer of fine-quality sinkcrystals.

Mining towns like Hilltwixt were quite stable and safe. For similar reasons, it was just a production town without much going for it. The occasional fey attacks weren’t much of a threat due to the decent fortifications, but they were rather annoying to deal with, making it a less-than-ideal place to live. Practically, nobody but those in the mining industry visited the town. It wasn’t even a good place for business, since spenders only went to Deepnight City, not a backwater place where the occasional wild boar ravaged the crop fields.

”It’s perfect for me!” An Jing immediately knew that this was the kind of place he wanted to build his base at. Hilltwixt was a mining spot first and a town second. It produced resources in a steady fashion, so there was nothing that drew people there in hopes of striking it big. There wasn’t a wealth of job opportunities there either.

Anyone that tried to barge into a place like that would first have to deal with the fortifications and formations of the town as well as the workers there. It was also inconvenient enough of a location for daily life, which turned home buyers away, keeping property prices low. Some corporations did set up transport warehouses there to store mined resources from the nearby region. It fit An Jing’s criteria of being cheap, safe and unnoticed.

He could store all sorts of items or even people from Void Embrace who needed a place to hide out like You Ruhui or Madam Huai. As long as he transported them straight into the property and made up an explanation, they wouldn’t even know that they had been transported across worlds, allowing him to keep his trump card hidden.

”Once you’re sure, I can go look at the property. Or, we can see what the real-estate agents have to offer.” Huo Qing was more than willing to make the trip, seeing how excited An Jing was. ”However, arranging the transaction will take time, so just stay at mine for now.”

”Awesome. Thanks a lot.” An Jing talked about a few more things with Huo Qing, such as his study progress and martial practice. An Jing was the senior disciple of Direlife Manor, so he used his rich teaching experience to correct the mistakes that Huo Qing hadn’t even picked up on. An Jing even designed a training plan for him, which he was really thankful for.

”By the way,” Huo Qing said, recalling what he wanted to talk about earlier. ”An Jing, your cultivation technique is far too precious. I thought it was only a normal body-refinement technique, not knowing any better. But then I noticed how intricate its effects are. This technique would easily rank among the upper-intermediate arcana from the city!”