Humanity: Evolve

Eisel followed him in, shying away slightly from Winter. The latter's eyes tracked his every move, making him feel extremely self-conscious.

Winter's external appearance appeared very noble, his sleek limbs along with fur and feathers were the depiction of elegance, however his expression was one that brought chills upon whoever he laid eyes on.

Zhang Long motioned for Eisel to sit on a short wooden stool, not out of disrespect but because there were only two seats in the entire room.

They sat in silence for a short while, before Eisel opened his mouth to speak.

'I thought about what you said and...'

He trailed off, his dry voice a testament to his nervous state. He then coughed and cleared his throat before continuing.

'I want to atone for my sins, but I don't know how.'

Zhang Long stared at him intensely, as if he were examining the quality of merchandise.

In truth, he wasn't really sure how to reply- he had never expected the big man to come directly and ask him.

'Well, first of all, don't do those things you did before. Focus on making an earnest living.'

He advised seriously, before adding.

'Only when you have a big enough name, along with some personal wealth can you truly make changes and help society.'

Eisel's eyes narrowed in contemplation.

'If you go around and swear to protect people or go catching poachers and criminals, the most you'll earn is a decent reputation.

For people to truly value your actions, you need enough social presence as well as some weight in your words.

If you do the former, it'll be akin to trying to put out a fire with half a bucket of water. You'll keep splashing water on it to put it out and at first you might succeed, however the moment you run out of water, the fire will get even bigger.

Wait a while and you'll eventually have several buckets of water, just enough to completely put out the fire.'

Zhang Long conducted an analogy on the spot, trying not to spout gibberish.

To his surprise, Eisel was nodding solemnly, seriously attempting to understand his metaphor.

'So... I'll need to have enough water to get rid of the -ahem fire completely, before starting?' He muttered.

In all honesty, Zhang Long wouldn't even be shocked if Eisel started taking notes, it was as if the latter was treating his casual words like the bible, so to speak.

'I see, thank you for your wise words.' Eisel said in an earnest manner.

Zhang Long began to feel as if he had made a grave mistake, but he just shrugged.

'In the end, it depends on whether an individual has enough drive and determination to carry out their goal.'

'Anyway, enough of that. I have an appointment to go to if that's all you came here for-'

Eisel shook his head quickly.

'I want to repay you for saving me. Even after all the misdeeds I've committed, you didn't hesitate to give me a second chance. I won't be able to sleep comfortably tonight if I don't do something in return.'

Zhang Long sat back down with a raised eyebrow.

Eisel summoned a spirit beast with a spark of green light, a small palm sized spirit beast emerging.

It was a little tortoise. The only thing which made it stand out was the orange-brown patterns across it's crusty shell, along with the dark blotches of mottled red here and there. Other than that, it looked more like an animal from old Earth, rather than a spirit beast.

If not for the green flash which announced it's arrival, he would have never known it was a spirit beast.

Zhang Long looked at the little tortoise, the latter's large black eyes staring back with curiosity. The then tortoise smacked it's beak, creating a light clacking sound before crawling forward across Eisel's large hand.

Eisel seemed to have some difficulty giving the tortoise away, for what reason Zhang Long didn't know. If anything, he was slightly reluctant to accept such a seemingly useless spirit beast.

In the end, he couldn't bear to refuse Eisel's goodwill, especially when he looked at the man's sad expression.

'Thank you.' He said, gently scooping the tortoise up.

Eisel nodded, before pulling out a worn journal from his leather bag. On the front it read "Herman Dynard's Journal of the Autumn Grove."

'This journal is something that was given to me by a native tribe. Before, I thought that the little tortoise was useless and in truth, it currently is. After I read this journal, however, my opinion has completely changed, it's not the strength of this tortoise that makes it valuable, but it's potential.'

Zhang Long accepted the journal with intrigue, just what was the secret which made this tortoise so special?

Then his eyes widened slightly when he realised that Eisel had made contact with the native tribes, feeling slightly envious.

The natives were bound to have a deep history and a corresponding culture, along with a lot of knowledge about Pangaea. All things he was greatly interested in.

'Thank you for giving me your advice today, I'll never forget what you said.' Eisel thanked with wet eyes.

Zhang Long nodded, internally questioning himself.

'Was my advice really that valuable?' He wondered, seeing the tall man away.

He then turned his gaze to the little tortoise which was seemingly unaffected by it's master freeing it from their spiritual connection.

Zhang Long looked at the name on the journal, Herman Dynard. Then he looked at the second name, Autumn grove.

'Guess I'll call you Autumn then.' He said, rubbing Autumn's head gently.

It's eyes squinted at the action, head bobbing up and down.

Zhang Long already felt slightly attached to the cute creature, he quickly felt for the spirit beast's consciousness with his spiritual energy and asked if it would like to form a spiritual bond.

After a few mental probes, Autumn accepted and Zhang Long felt a second consciousness appear within his mind.

He recalled the spirit beast into his soul stone and put away Herman Dynard's Journal of the Autumn grove.

'Let's go.' He said, rubbing Winter's neck.

The wolf nodded, letting out a light rumbling sound.

It had now grown much taller than Zhang Long. Before, he could easily reach the top of Winter's head but now he could only reach Winter's neck.

The moment they left the Pitcher inn, Zhang Long leapt onto Winter's back and he trotted forward in the direction of the Pioneer headquarters.

Although Zhang Long longed to fly on Winter's back, the latter had not yet mastered it's aerial skill and was only capable of short bursts of speed in the air before landing.

What would've taken him half an hour on foot was shortened to ten minutes, Winter navigated the crowds with ease, only occasionally hitting someone in the face with his wings.

Zhang Long would apologise each time, not that the victim would have the guts to challenge a grade three spirit beast anyway.

He soon saw the familiar blonde haired man standing at the front gates of the association headquarters.

He waved, catching Alan's attention almost instantly, or maybe it was Winter who he was looking at.

Zhang Long dismounted, recalling Winter into his soul stone since the oversized wolf wouldn't fit inside the association headquarters as easily as before.

'What the hell did you do whilst I was trying to get our organisation application approved?' Alan asked in shock.

Zhang Long just shrugged with a slight grin.

'I was lucky.'

Alan rolled his eyes at Zhang Long's smug appearance as he lead the latter to the meeting room.

When he opened the door, an unfamiliar figure sat in one of the chairs.

The man stood up, holding out his hand with a professional smile.

'Hayden Rouge. It's a p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e.'

Zhang Long took it, and nodded.

'Zhang Long, the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e is all mine.'

The three took their seats, with Alan and Zhang Long looking at the man across the table. Hayden wore a smart business suit and had silver spectacles sitting on his nose, no doubt standing out in the primeval world of Pangaea.

Hayden laid out several papers on the table, turning them around so that they could read them.

'We've received your application to create a new organisation, this is just a final check up so that we can confirm all of your details.'

Zhang Long was lost, however Alan seemed to know what he was doing. The latter ticked through the hundreds of boxes at a rapid pace.

After half an hour of near silence, interrupted only by Hayden's stiff attempts at small talk, Alan finally finished.

'Alright, that just about does it. In light of both of your performances in past beast waves and your contributions to humanity, the Pioneers Association has decided to allow you a medium sized store on Woodworth street.' Hayden smiled, congratulating them.

Zhang Long nodded, feeling quite elated at the establishment of the group, however Alan had a more stern expression than usual.

'You can't give us a better location?' He asked bluntly.

Hayden shook his head, 'There's nothing I can do about that sir, in all honesty you're quite lucky the association was generous enough to give you a medium sized store in the first place.'

Alan shook his head. 'The store size doesn't matter if we don't get any customers, even a small store on the main street will do better than a large store in Woodworth street.'

'Again, I apologise however I can not change the location of the store.' Hayden said as he pushed up his spectacles, causing them to glint slightly.

He then added, 'I would like to reiterate- you are very lucky to have gotten a store for free in the first place.'

Alan stared Hayden in the eyes for a moment, before conceding. The latter nodded with a mildly infuriating expression whilst pushing forward another sheet of paper.

Zhang Long leaned forward to look at it, before glancing at Alan.

The latter handed him a pen.

'You're going to be our source of income, you may as well make a name. I've never really been good at naming things anyway.'

Zhang Long took the pen and neatly scribbled down the name he had come up with in the past few days.

"Spring-Autumn Pavilion."

The meaning of this name wasn't simple, there were several underlying meanings which represented what Zhang Long wanted to do.

Spring and Autumn represented the four seasons, Spring being the end of Winter and the beginning of Summer, whilst Autumn was the end of Summer and the beginning of Winter.

In ancient Chinese culture, Spring was believed to be a period of new growth, the rapid development of new ideas and novel systems of governance.

Similarly, Autumn was the representation of everything dying as they headed into the desolate Winter season.

Zhang Long's interpretation was his healing talent, injuries long thought to be permanent would be brought out of "Winter" and into "Summer", they would be forced into the state of "Spring", where the body would grow and repair itself and become good as new.

When he passed the paper over to Hayden, the latter studied it with interest, before handing them a brown badge.

It looked just like a sovereign coin but it was twice the size and had the engraving of a store front in the centre.

There were some words which ran across the edge of the coin, in a language which Zhang Long couldn't recognise.

'This is your shop token, on the back it shows the address of your store. It's very important- please try not to lose it as it is physical proof of your ownership of the store.'

Alan pocketed it, clearly familiar with the procedure.

'Alright, everything's done. Congratulations on the official establishment of the Spring-Autumn Pavilion!' Hayden said light heartedly.

He shook both Zhang Long and Alan's hands before briskly making his way out of the room.

Although he was slightly troubled about their store's location, Zhang Long didn't feel too worried about it at all.

It was already the best they'd get, so there wasn't any point in complaining. He was sure that within a week or two, the reputation of the Sprint-Autumn Pavilion would be known all across Bastion.

After Hayden Rouge left, Alan let out a dissapointed sigh.

'Looks like it'll take a while to properly get up and running.'

Zhang Long shrugged. 'At least we managed to get a store at all. As long as there is a foundation to begin with, we can improve it.'

Alan nodded. 'You might be right, but I'm still annoyed.'

'Should we go over now?' Zhang Long asked, clearly excited to go and see their new store.

After thinking for a moment, Alan shook his head.

'It'll take a day or two for the place to get cleared out by the association, there's no point in going now. You can just go and do whatever you want today, I'll meet you at the location tomorrow.'

'Alright then.' Zhang Long said, somewhat disappointed.

Copying the address of their store onto his notebook, he waved goodbye to Alan.

He planned to have a flip through Herman Dynard's Journal of the Autumn Grove and find out what made the little tortoise, Autumn, so important to Eisel.

As he mounted Winter and left the association, he failed to notice a cloaked figure watching him depart.

The cloaked figure stood right in the centre of the bustling street, yet no one gave him a second glance.

'Finally, I've found it.' He muttered.

Then he disappeared, body evaporating into the air.