The Dawn of the New World

"Rum?" Hao Xuan took the bottle from Ryfon's hand and gave it a closer look. It was the size of a perfume bottle and transparent enough to see the rum constantly change color. The bottle was cold to the touch but not as much as he was expecting.

"And you're sure it's not poison?" Hao Xuan inquired with a raised eyebrow.

Ryfon chuckled and took another mouthful from his own bottle, "This little thing costs the same as a Grade 3 Kingdom. Trust me, if I wanted to kill you it wouldn't be through such an expensive method. Take a sip and see for yourself. People have died for this little bottle."

"I guess that's true..." Hao Xuan mumbled. For someone in Ryfon's position, it wouldn't be an issue to take care of someone like him, at least as things were right now.

Hao Xuan opened the bottle and sniffed. A scent similar to the first rain and ripe mangoes wafted up to his nostrils, forcing him to close his eyes. Just a single whiff sent a wave of cool spiritual energy throughout his body and towards his soul that made him weak in the knees.

It was like his parched soul was stranded on an island and this was the first sip of water it had.

"Woah...holy shit hehe," Hao Xuan couldn't help but giggle like a little girl and quickly sat down.

"Dear god, this thing is strong..." he commented trying to regain his senses.

Ryfon smiled from the side looking at Hao Xuan stumble around like a newborn calf.

"Told you, it's good for your condition. Should stave off those headaches as well. But be careful, you can get lost in the sensation sometimes and wander off so don't drink it when you're not in a safe place."

"Hmm," Hao Xuan shook his head and finally regained some of his composure. A single whiff did this so actually drinking it would be a whole another experience.

Finally realizing what an amazing gift it was, he looked towards Ryfon with a curious gaze.

"Everything okay? Why the sudden visit?"

Ryfon let out a long and deep sigh, his gaze once again fixated on the flame.

"Too much has happened. Where do I even start?" he said in a low voice.

"Wait stop stop," Hao Xuan flashed his palmed, "This sounds like it's going to take a while so let me put something on the fire first."

He went into the cabin and took out a bunch of fresh ingredients from Baracus's storage space that he had bought from the local city.

There were many strange looking vegetables, some that still wriggled around on their own and a lot of red meat.

He came out with everything and started working on a few dishes at once.

"Man, a single whiff reduced the headache by so much. I feel like I can breathe again haha," he mumbled before looking towards Ryfon who was taking another gulp.

"Alright, go ahead, I'm all ears."

The bottle didn't leave Ryfon's lips until it was completely empty, at which point he replaced it with another identical one.

"A spatial pathway has been opened between our world and the 7th world, the world of magic," Ryfon remarked.

Hao Xuan who had just put down three pieces of meat on the grill looked at him with a straight face, "Gonna need a little more than that princess, no idea what that is and what it means."

Ryfon chuckled again, "Oh right, I forgot. Well, a Spatial pathway is like a road that connects each of the ten worlds. Normally you can't go from one world to another unless through some special treasures and side doors through other realms. But a spatial pathway is like a highway that directly connects the worlds and anyone can go through at any time."

"Hoo, and what does that imply? How will it affect us?" Hao Xuan flipped over the sizzling meat and added some salt and pepper.

"It means there is going to be a lot of small wars and most probably a big one after that," Ryfon said while taking another sip, "The 7th world is where the magicians and wizards live and come from. It's very different from us which is ruled by cultivators. The 7th world is also very fragmented, much more so than ours. Not to mention their magics are not easy to deal with."

He looked up towards Hao Xuan, "Oh right, did you come across a magician yet?"

Hao Xuan shook his head, still engrossed in the cooking.

Ryfon nodded, "No wonder. Magicians are way too different from us. Some of their spells are straight-up miracles, equal to heavenly treasures from our side. With a few words, they change the laws of physics so you can imagine what a pain they would be in a fight."

"But they still need a lot of different materials for certain spells that are only found here and we need things from their side, so there will probably be a large scale invasion. But that doesn't affect you directly. It will still be a few years until there's a war, if there is one at all."

"But the underground structure you found, there have been some changes there, a few strange developments."