Mage And Wolf
Chapter 243

Chapter 243: Chapter 243

We drink and gamble until the small hours of the morning, when the back alley Biker Bar starts to get really busy as the nocturnal sorts come in. It’s almost too packed to move, so we excuse ourselves outside, trading in the chips we have gathered for a couple of monster cores and some of the new city gambling currency they must have obtained while we were here.

Despite being filled with demons, and their sketchy reputation, the city doesn’t seem any worse than others we’ve been through since finding out that the population of Earth wasn’t alone in the universe. We start walking with no particular destination in mind, just enjoying the evening air. Taking a turn away from the hotels towards the sound of people and music, we find ourselves on a long strip of bars and brothels, presumably the hub of the city’s night life.

After walking past a few of them, I get curious about the sign all the brothels have on their door and go to investigate. ’Dual Cultivators Only. All Genders Welcome. Compliance Rating A’ is what the sign says. It’s like the food safety rating in a restaurant.

"Looking to cultivate sweet thing? We don’t get many Lycans, but I’m sure I can treat you very well. " Comes a sultry masculine voice from nearby, making Karl chuckle.

"Sorry, I’ve found my mate. We’re here from Arcana to see how well the agreement is being upheld." I explain and Karl joins us.

"Oh, not bad. I know a way where we can all cultivate together if you’re interested, but you’ll find the Queen has been very thorough in setting up the brothel system. There’s even a training academy down at the north end of the hotel strip that teaches basic Dual Cultivation techniques to cultivating visitors that don’t know."

So that’s how she got around the limited number of Dual cultivators, she simply trained more of them once she learned the method. There wasn’t any rule against that though, and as a secondary technique it won’t harm the cultivation of most methods, only help balance their Qi.

I’ll have to let Elder Song know of the Academy, he’s surely got more techniques for their school, and I know he wouldn’t object to the vacation once he’s finished whatever he’s working on.

Before I forget, I pull the Shadowed Blade Sect communication token from my storage rings and inform Elder Song of all the fun things we’ve found here in the Demon run Outpost. He says that they’ve got a solid month of cataloging materials before they can take a break, but he will add it to the list of information to be analyzed. That’s about all I could expect really, being on a new planet with so many differences from the standard cultivation worlds has given him a lot to take in.

We stop a few more places for drinks as we walk, fruity iced beverages and beers served through takeout windows seem popular here, and everyone drinks in the streets, but I wonder what they do in the winter. The prairies get to forty degrees below zero in the winter, and that’s not great for street facing vendors or the demons, who are used to warmth.

The Queen herself is in the hotel lobby when we arrive back, headed to the restaurant, so we join her for breakfast instead of going to our room to cultivate or sleep. She doesn’t mind the company, in fact, she’s proud to answer any questions we might have.

"First things first, what do you do about winter?" I ask, eager to hear the explanation.

"You know how the Demon Realm aura affected the area and caused monsters to spawn right? It’s part of that. The area around the city, right up to Outpost, barely got below freezing last winter. Then we supplement that with a wide scale barrier to increase the temperature from the hotels to the entertainment district back up to reasonable all winter. It took a good bit of the city budget, but this year the residences in the area and hotels have agreed to a higher tax to pay for it, though the ones outside the zone saw a drop in demand, as people wanted to move inwards."

That’s actually pretty genius. They’ve leveraged their natural conditions to create an oasis of summer in the middle of the prairies, and only a few minutes out of town, residents can go do winter activities. The perfect seasonal mix. A bit like Northern California in an artificial way.

That reminds me that we should really go check up on our friends in Drakon City out on the west coast. They’ve got an active link to the Dragon Worlds, and are sending all the Clergy that come to Arcana, but I haven’t asked how the city itself is doing. Plus, from there is a short trip to go see Alpha Petros and my old Pack again.

South of that, things were chaotic last time I checked, with earthquakes having caused a great deal of damage and monsters overrunning many small cities. Petros might know more about how things are going though.

"I take it you’ve come up with a licensing system for bars and casinos as well?" Karl asks, bringing me back to the present.

"Yes, they’re all inspected and verified, though I’m told you managed to find an unlicensed one still operating in the city." The Succubus Queen laughs.

"Can’t hide much from you, can we? But the place was pretty good, and they’d managed to get some of your new gambling chips to replace their old ones by the time we left. I wouldn’t be in a hurry to shut them down." Karl shrugs, unconcerned.

"I’ll keep that in mind. But before you go, you really must try the spa facilities here at the hotel. Bringing in some mystic Chefs was a good start, but the restaurant alone doesn’t make a high end hotel, you need the amenities."

Our food has arrived, a variation of Eggs Benedict made with shredded grade 2 Water Buffalo, since we all ordered the daily breakfast special. Because of the overlapping schedules, they offer both breakfast and dinner specials all day. My kind of place, because sometimes you just need breakfast at quarter to midnight.