Ri looked at Dyon oddly, but still followed.
"What would you like to wear?" Dyon asked Ri.
"Wear? What do you mean?"
"Well, since you said we weren't dressed appropriately, couldn't I just make it so that we were?" A mischievous glint flashed in Dyon's eyes.
"Oh… we don't really have anywhere to change though, and I don't have any formal clothes."
Ri knew she wasn't exactly telling the truth. But, she disliked girly wear as much as Dyon disdained to wear anything but sweat pants and a t shirt. It reminded her of something she'd rather not think about.
Dyon watched Ri's expression with interest. He could see that something was troubling her, but he had no idea how his question could elicit such complex feelings.
Dyon smiled, "if you don't want to, let's just go in like this." Dyon took out a white shirt and covered his torso. Rolling up his sweat pants to his calves and leaving on his usual casual flip flops, he put his hands behind his head and strolled ahead without a care in the world.
Ri sighed, "we could just go somewhere else you know. Do you enjoy being looked down upon that much?"
Dyon chuckled, "I'd like to see how they'd look down on us when they realize the reason I can treat you today," Dyon's smile was bright, seemingly eroding all of Ri's doubts.
Little Lyla remained oblivious to all of this. She used Little Black like her own personal pony, riding him from stall to stall whenever she found something interesting on the road side markets.
Dyon chuckled as he shamelessly made Ri pay for everything Lyla asked for. Even still, Ri couldn't seem to say no to the little girl – instead happily obliging.
Soon, they had reached the front entrance of the Elvin Kingdom's Heaven's Wine.
Completely out of place with their surroundings, a beast, two elves, and a human walked in.
Much like the establishment in Wine City, this Heaven's Wine was tiered into cultivation levels as well, although it had more floors. Instead of the four sets of 10 floors, this Heaven's Wine had a fifth set, corresponding with the Saint Stage and even more delicacies.
The five sets of 10 floors was actually standard in most Heaven's Wines, it was just that Wine City had no need for that last set since experts of that level so rarely went so close to the edge of the continent.
Little Lyla looked around wide eyed. The grandeur of Heaven's Wine definitely lived up to its name. The somber atmosphere, the lavender and reds, even the elegant chandeliers that filled the relatively quiet space with soft twinkles, all culminated to a truly graceful display.
Seeing the entrance of the group of four, many frowned, but since the true disturbance was just a little girl ooing and ahing, many felt it would be too cold to react poorly. Thus, they were ignored.
Many of the rules of Heaven's Wine were understood, yet not written. So, although they were looked down upon, there was no one who could point to anything concrete to pin them with. However, when they noticed that the boy in sweat pants walked unhesitatingly towards the stairs that spiraled up directly to the formation stage levels, many began to find it hard to keep in… even Ri.
It wasn't that the people on the no cultivation floors weren't powerful enough to head upstairs, because they were. If you lived in the city and could come here, there was little doubt you were at the very least powerful enough to do that. But, being able to go up, and being able to afford going up were two completely different concepts.
Ri quickly caught up to Dyon, whispering in his ear as Little Lyla and Little Black followed in behind.
"What are you doing? It's not that I don't have enough money… but neither of us have any cultivation. We might be able to forcibly take it with our bodies and suffer a little, but what about Little Lyla? Even Little Black, does he even have any cultivation yet?"
Dyon smiled nonchalantly. He had almost forgotten that Ri hadn't begun energy cultivating either, but that hardly mattered. Even if he didn't have the owner's badge, his aurora had reached the Essence stage. In other words, he had insights into master level arrays. Even the formation created to hold back saint level experts would be seen through by him, let alone the formation for foundation stage experts.
This was because although a Essence stage aurora corresponded to a soul at the Essence Gathering initial stages, for the same reason that Dyon could see through the arrays at Wine City's Heaven's Wine, he could also see through these as well: they only simulated high level arrays, while not actually being high level. If that wasn't the case, why would the badge that gave Dyon access to all of this, only be at the half-step grandmaster level?
But, he understood Ri's worry. It wasn't that she had forgotten how powerful Dyon's array alchemy was, it was just that she was very clear on the fact that what he saw through would be for his eyes only. Could he really instruct a little girl on where to step? And would that little girl be able to follow with no mistakes?
Just as Dyon was about to explain himself, the doors of Heaven's Wine were opened.
"I don't know why you want to bet me on this, Luvon… I've long since passed the 3rd common level formation tests, I'm more than ready to take the next steps. Do you really think I can't cross to the 2nd tier with my cultivation suppressed?"
Dyon looked back to find a pair of black-haired young men walking in. They couldn't have been much older than Dyon, maybe a year at most. This also affirmed something else for Dyon: non-major family members usually had more realistic hair and eye colors. This went for sub-families as well, although they still retained their special bloodlines.
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