Omashu was a magnificent place where Bumi had united the most important benders, creating an environment where their abilities accumulated and developed.
I was talking, of course, about the benders for so-called “offense” and “defense.” Smiths and architects repaired, created, and built, while soldiers focused on combat, distributing the workload evenly.
Moreover, from history, it was clear that Bumi had made great efforts to address poverty among his population.
Everything within his system worked like clockwork.
The question arose: how could one person know so much about everything?
Strategy and tactics, construction and combat, working as a miner, and even the needs and desires of ordinary people.
Or could he?
The century-old King had told me about a couple of interesting places he recommended visiting before I headed to my destination, Kyoshi Island.
I was supposed to have some fun and learn something, to visit the sites of the greatest bender’s former glory.
That last part was the real treasure.
It couldn’t be said that Bumi became King by inheritance and inherited something ready-made.
Even though he bore the title of King and was a monarch, in the Earth Kingdom there was only one heir to the throne, residing in Ba Sing Se.
In remote areas where a firm hand and strong bending were needed, a leader was chosen as a supreme commander.
In this case, he had ruled longer than the actual King himself many times over, giving him immense influence.
That was just interesting background reading about the Earth Kingdom’s history, which Afka had brought me personally.
More importantly was how he had mastered all his skills.
Marking several points of interest on my map, I headed out of the city.
It could even collapse or become a target for attack if I stayed too long.
I was exaggerating, of course, but even so, I wanted to leave faster, before my UNLUCK touched someone else.
Passing through the gates, feeling the shocked gazes of soldiers on my back who had finally realized who had been in their city all this time, I sat on my scooter and rode toward the mountains.
“Our target is Shen Guan, a fortress city,” I told Afka, who was wrapped around my neck like a real fox scarf, fidgeting and yapping at every word I said.
“One of the very few cities near Omashu that was never captured.
Just imagine, it held out just as long as Omashu, even though it’s not as high in the cliffs, and as shown on the map, there’s even a forest nearby where one can hide comfortably.”
“Fyr-fyr,” the sounds carried notes of confusion.
“We’ll figure out why such an unusual fortress exists.
Bumi said it would be fun…”
The journey, lasting a couple of days, led us to a completely different environment.
The bare, yellow cliffs, where it was easiest to get sand, gave way to green pine-covered peaks and large mounds with rocks sticking out in all directions.
The air smelled of moss and wet earth after rain.
We were approaching the sea, which could even be seen from the high points.
That meant there were frequent battles with invading Firebenders here.
All those massive boulders seemingly scattered haphazardly, the countless fallen trees with completely shattered or even burnt trunks, were the result of such skirmishes.
Holding a fortress in such a place was absolute heroism.
The Fire Nation’s developed navy could easily sweep away most coastal villages and outposts.
Near the water, they had maximum reinforcements that could simply overwhelm with manpower and technology.
Of course, that would only happen if the Earthbenders didn’t take action.
Any large detachment could be stopped by a random landslide, a giant pitfall, or tons of other traps I occasionally encountered here.
Even in a simple forest, the ground was littered with spikes and abandoned resistance points, which were very solidly fortified outposts.
“Looks like it was deliberately destroyed.
But this stone is incredibly strong.” Climbing onto one of the stone blockhouses, the ground in front of which was scorched and trees shattered into splinters, I touched the wall.
I’d never been interested in construction skills, though I could build.
Stone houses for overnight stays, but my creations couldn’t compare to this construction technology.
“I wonder why the Firebenders don’t capture this place and reinforce it with metal?”
“Af!” Turning toward the fox, I saw her nose pointing at one of the cliffs, where a pile of stones was stacked.
I had logic.
I quickly guessed that using , one could cause a landslide.
In short, the locals had created so many traps that the Fire Nation couldn’t even build their steel bastions.
“Apparently, Bumi learned construction here,” I assumed.
After not too long a walk, I stopped on one of the slopes.
The fortress city lay before us, the reason the locals kept hitting the Fire Nation in the face.
The high fortress was made of reinforced stone blocks.
On the towers, earthbenders stood ready for defense, while a beautiful and completely intact stone road led to the city itself, almost taunting anyone who had to invade.
Excited, I approached closer and stood before the gate guard, waving my hand in greeting.
But then…
“Passage closed!
Suspicious type with a threatening look.
If you don’t leave, we’ll pelt you with stones!” The booming guard, protecting the small city’s gates, suspended a stone above my head.
Even the sentries on the walls watching us seemed quite aggressive and paranoid.
“Isn’t this a city?
“Who in their right mind would flee from the Fire Nation to the front lines?
This is a military town.
Only architects can officially come here to protect the coast and trade routes.
Are you an architect?”
“Um…
I’m a blacksmith.”
“Then get lost.” The man raised his fists threateningly.
The guards remained at their posts.
Perhaps if they let everyone in, the city wouldn’t have lasted this long, but it deprived me of the amazing opportunity to learn and change the way I used materials.
On the other hand, I already had experience in this kind of situation.
“Maybe I can help push the enemy off your territory?” I rubbed my palms together.
With enough will, I could clear the entire area in a day or two.
But the guard literally laughed in my face.
“Our traps push enemies back better than any warrior.” Of course.
Otherwise the fortress would be under siege.
I began to understand that I shouldn’t overstate my skills.
A teenage bender shouldn’t instruct elite fifth-generation warriors and lead them into battle.
Though the Avatar and his companions might disagree with that statement.
Turning around before I got flattened for standing there, I walked toward the nearby trees and sat on a stump, deep in thought.
“Choose:”
1: Continue on your way (Is there any point in infiltrating a military town if you’re not welcome?
Find another way to have fun and achieve your goal).
2: Go to another place of glory (Deciding to optimize your time, you continue following the map.
You understand perfectly that you won’t open a chakra here, so you can forget about the skills you might gain here.
You’ll learn more useful skills elsewhere.
You won’t learn the architectural techniques).
Anubis, as always, came to the rescue.
The options weren’t particularly diverse, and neither offered staying to learn.
I stood up and walked slowly around the town.
Observing it let me see how good the sun-drenched castle was from a defensive standpoint.
Patrols on the towers tirelessly watched everyone nearby.
The incredibly strong soil near the city prevented inexperienced earthbenders like me from tunneling under it.
The walls made me drool.
You could only enter through the gates.
I’d learn more by just exchanging a few words with whoever built this, but I didn’t know any of the “elite.”
In short…
“Screw this.”
If Bumi thought it was fun trying to figure out how to get inside, I didn’t understand him.
I’d only come to try to understand how to open the second chakra.
Even Anubis clearly indicated there was nothing useful for me inside.
I had to head down the stone road, away from the city.
Apparently, I could learn something, as the first option implied, but the town itself was useless.
On the way to the sea, I decided to veer into the forest and create a shelter for training.
Finding a cozy spot on a rise hidden by trees, I dug a tunnel and furnished it as comfortably as possible.
It didn’t stand out from the outside.
The walls were quite strong, and I thought they were protected by an extra layer of earth on top.
Then I sent Afka for books on the right subjects, and as soon as I’d eaten, I went for a walk.
After all, somewhere I had to find that elusive fun.
“Urr-urr!”
But going out to the road and walking closer to the sea, I seemed to stumble upon something else entirely.
Sounds like some wounded creature, hidden behind a couple of trees near the path.
Blinking and squinting, I slowly approached, seeing a large, frightening creature with yellow eyes, green scales, and a saddle.
“Toad-lizard?” I only recognized it because I’d read about the Earth Kingdom’s creatures in Omashu.
A domesticated animal, judging by the things on its back, but its owner was nowhere to be seen.
The beast clearly had a burn on its neck, suffering from its amphibian throat pouch inflating.
“Someone else is suffering.”
A shadow fell over my face.
The animal, startled by this, reared up, hissing threateningly a couple of times. New chapters come out on novelping.com first.
But then its legs trembled, and it collapsed to the ground, weak.
“And Afka’s not here…
unlucky again that I sent her so early.” I wanted to roll my eyes, but I had to make do with what I had.
I unpacked my travel bag and started pulling out supplies one by one, getting to the bottom.
Bandages, high-calorie rations, candles, charcoal, and spare jennamite.
Spare filters for the spare dust mask.
Here’s the main mask, I should change its filters.
Ah, here’s the cooling burn ointment.
“I knew it would come in handy!
What kind of idiot would travel in this world without burn ointment, gauze or in my case, face cloth and a small handbook for fighting fire and fire hazards?”
After so many years of war, they’d invented many ways to fight burns.
The problem was just getting close to the distrustful beast.
I had to pull sand from my gourd and immobilize its legs and mouth.
Like an idiot, I hadn’t brought a handbook for treating deep wounds and bites from various monsters.
“Boom-crash.”
At the same moment I heard the growling and started applying the ointment, a sound came from the sea.
Something like the sound of catapult volleys from the Fire Nation.
They’d tried to use them against me before but never hit.
Now, obviously, they were shooting at something else.
Another siege, apparently.
And before I could even apply the ointment to half its neck, someone broke through the bushes, tripping over roots, and ran straight to me.
It was a girl in a dark green dress and light green trousers.
Breathless, the stranger froze as soon as she saw me.
Our eyes met.
Her gaze darted from me to the animal I was holding down in every possible way.
“…Look, I’m helping him, okay?
Don’t you dare make me out to be an idiot.”
BOOM.
At that exact second, a huge, flaming boulder landed just a couple of meters from us, scattering tree splinters everywhere.
Several large logs flew straight at us.
I extended tentacles from my gourd and stopped the oblong projectiles in an instant.
“How do they know where to shoot?”
“Eagles.
Run!” the girl shouted, grabbing her beast’s reins.
But we didn’t even have time to move.
I looked up and saw several more very unpleasant, large stones, while red-feathered birds circled above.
I had to release the beast from the sand leash and focus on the target.
Clenching my fists, I first sent precise sand projectiles at each bird, encasing them in stone.
Then, taking a firm stance, I prepared to block the blow.
“Damn…
it’s bigger than it looks.”
“Build a wall, you idiot!” the girl shouted, apparently also realizing we couldn’t escape.
So I had to press my feet into the ground, raising a large, densely compressed monolith.
Boom.
The crashing stone scattered debris everywhere.
The projectile was stopped, but I had to defend myself from my own wall.
“Did you make that out of cardboard or something?
Why is it so useless?” the girl immediately exclaimed.
So sincerely, so openly, that I felt embarrassed and snorted.
“Let’s get out of here.” Not wanting to strain the beast, I raised my hands and made the earth swell.
With “tidal” movements, mimicking the waterbender style, I created a real wave of earth on which we “flowed” away from all the projectiles.
“Where are your companions?”
“I was alone, studying blueprints of the finished outposts.” The realization came quickly.
An architect.
That was the other way Anubis had mentioned.
A person who could teach me to build properly.
What luck.
“So why didn’t you help yourself with bending?”
“Maybe because I’m not a bender at all?”
Or there was no luck involved here at all…