Markets and Multiverses (A Serial Transmigration LitRPG)
Chapter 350: Astral Tides

After Anise woke up, she started adapting her own actions to suit her age. She quickly spoke her ‘first words,’ before she rapidly progressed her linguistic skills to meet my own. My parents seemed delighted that Anise was finally ‘catching up to her older sister.’ Anise and I started to carefully coordinate her ‘mental development,’ to make sure that she didn’t seem too outrageously fast in picking up new things, but didn’t seem to be far behind me, either. We planned to make sure she ‘caught up’ over the next few years, and make Anise look like a late bloomer. By that time, our parents should be used to us acting more and more mature for our age. As Old Mo had taught me last life, the trick wasn’t to act like a ‘totally normal child.’ It was to make sure that any oddities I revealed were regarded as personality quirks.

As Anise and I gradually acclimated our parents to our ‘unusual development speed,’ time passed by. Soon, a few months had passed. It was at that point that a new, unexpected change occurred.

<Um… do you guys know why the skies are suddenly rainbow-colored? Also, I hear cheering and music, which is unusual. It sounds like people are drinking, as well? I didn’t even know we had alcohol in this city.> He said, as he used his bracelet to show us an image.

True to Felix’s words, the endless darkness that surrounded our island had erupted into a giant, cosmic rainbow. The weird, human eyes in the distance seemed to glow like radiant gems, which made them almost not creepy anymore. As much as I was usually unnerved by the endless expanse of darkness around us, right now it looked almost pretty. Furthermore, just as Felix had noted, I could hear people cheering and glasses clinking against each other in another room.

I looked out of the arrow slits in our house, and confirmed that it wasn’t just Felix’s area that could see the cosmic rainbow. In every single speck of skyline I could set my eyes on, rainbow lights had flooded the area. It was like a giant, cosmic light show. Since I couldn’t see the eyeballs while sitting under the tree, I could appreciate the beauty of the sight without the unnerving factor. It was beautiful.

I could also sense that there were little bits of something present in the sky. It felt kind of like a soup made of all four essences, chaotically swirling around and around. For some reason, my body was unable to absorb it, the way I typically could absorb ambient essence. However, the four essences were still clearly present in the world right now. I wondered if this sight was somehow related to the production of essence-related crops.

I rushed to my parents, and found my mother preparing a sack of spices and cheese.

“Mom! There are rainbows outside!” I said. Over the past few months, I had been using bigger and bigger sentences and words, and by now, my parents were used to me stringing together basic sentences.

My mother blinked, and then turned to my father, who was grabbing a chunk of glowing light and stuffing it into one of the ovens.

“It looks like it’s the first day of the Astral Tides, dearest,” she said, before she smiled and leaned closer to him. “Do you want to take the day off and go have some fun? We could bring the kids along and go to that spot we had our first date in. I think they rebuilt it two months ago, and it’s a good place for a picnic.”

My father paused, lookin at the chunk of glowing crystal in the middle of the oven, before he turned around and grinned.

“Why, my lady, are you asking me out on a date?” He asked.

My mother’s smile grew wider. “Why, I just might be, good sir.”

“Well, if a lovely lady like you asks me out on a date, how could I refuse?” he asked, before he stepped closer to my mother and gave her a deep kiss. My mother returned the kiss, before they separated. She glanced at the ovens, and then laughed.

“Let’s get the picnic ready. I’ll close the shop for the day. You get the food. Do we still have that blanket we use for picnics?”

“I think it got destroyed last year during an unlucky incursion. The one where a few streets got destroyed.”

“Oh, you’re right. All right, we can use the other blanket then. It’s a bit less soft, but it should do well enough.” My mother grinned. “I’m looking forward to this.”

She turned back to me. “Miria, get your sister, all right? We’ll be ready to go in a few minutes. Let’s do something nice for the rest of the day and have some fun..”

“Got it,” I said. “What weapons should I bring?”

“Don’t bring weapons,” said my mother. “There aren’t any raids during the Astral Tides. Something about the light show in the sky disrupts the flying abilities of the enemy.”

I blinked.

So the giant light show in the sky meant we were safe?

“Are the Astral Tides always safe?” I asked.

My father grinned. “Yup. The first day the Astral Tides come is always a big celebration. Everyone has some sort of celebration each time. They usually last around 100 days, although sometimes they’re a bit shorter or longer. But the first day of the Astral Tides is always a blast. Everyone goes out of their home to have fun and relax - except for some merchants, of course. Most taverns stay open because they make a week or two of income each time the Astral Tides roll around. But we aren’t hurting for money, so we can just relax.” He leaned over, and ruffled my hair.

I quickly understood why people in this world celebrated the Astral Tides. If these cosmic rainbows meant that no monster raids would appear for several months, it was no wonder people felt it was worth celebrating. The first thing my parents had taught me, when they realized I was starting to understand the world around me, was to never go outside without weapons. With air raids happening every couple months, someone without a weapon might not return home. They hadn’t taught me to use a weapon yet - but they had drilled the idea that we needed to be armed at all times into my head. Now, I learned that for a few months each year, people could let their guard down and just enjoy life. That sounded like a pretty good cause for celebration to me.

I went up to fetch Anise, while my parents also rushed to their rooms and food storage containers to get ready. When Anise and I went back downstairs, I found my parents in attire I had never seen them in before. My mother wore a lovely pink dress that showed a bit more of her legs than I was used to, and had a comfortable hole in the back for her fluffy tails. My father got a type of clothing I had a harder time identifying - it looked kind of like a formalwear version of armor, except all of the metal parts were instead made of stone. However, it was clearly made for formal occasions, rather than actual combat - there were a variety of colorful decorations attached to all of the ‘armor,’ making it dead weight in a real fight. Even though the clothing looked odd, I had to admit that it suited my father. With his rather large build, he already sort of looked like a warrior - the formalwear armor completed the image perfectly.

After that, my mother turned to Anise and I, before deciding our own wardrobe just didn’t suit the occasion. She pulled us back to our room, before she changed our regular clothes out for a pair of cute, overly frilly dresses. After we got changed, I put {Lake Gazer’s Dress} back on underneath it, just in case. After my mother checked Anise and I over a few times, she grinned in satisfaction.

“Both of you look lovely. The neighbors will definitely find you adorable,” she said, before she grinned and rubbed both of our heads.

Then, our family set out. I immediately realized we were heading towards the trunk of the giant tree. As we walked, I saw dozens of other people also dressed up, moving with their kids, parents, or lovers. The city seemed abuzz with excitement and energy, and I saw people laughing. Some enterprising merchants had even set up little stall games in the streets, where people could do things like toss balls at targets and compete for prizes. All in all, it looked like the city was in full festival mode. It was something I had never seen before, and I couldn’t help but grin as we moved through the herds of people. Seeing everyone enjoying their time was… nice.

My parents said hello to plenty of neighbors and customers as they wove through the festivities, and after nearly an hour of walking, our family arrived at the base of the tree. Unlike the city itself, the area directly around the tree was soil. Great, ancient roots dug deep into the earth below the tree trunk, holding together the soil and stone that made up our flying island. Fields of green grass, flowers, and smaller trees grew on the roots of the massive tree, like barnacles clinging to a leviathan. The trees themselves faintly smelled of fruit - they weren’t ripe yet, but I could tell that they would be ready to eat in a few weeks. The dazzling rainbow lights and sweet smells contributed further to the festive atmosphere.

As we moved closer, I noticed that the flora and people weren’t the only things present. At the base of the tree, there was a strange, ethereal staircase that led up the trunk of the tree, like a stairway to the dense foliage above. I blinked in confusion. That was… an odd detail. Was this how people moved between levels of the tree?

I looked around, but didn’t see anyone else looking at the staircase or interact with it in any way. Instead, I saw a few other boxes of stone, rope, and wood, that were making their up and down the sides of the tree. It looked like there were several sub-platforms scattered along the sides of the trunk, keeping things as stable as possible. I blinked in confusion. If everyone was using the weird elevators, why bother adding in stairs in the first place? Furthermore, the ethereal-looking nature of the stairs were very strange. It almost seemed like they were made of essence… which was ludicrously wasteful in this world, where every drop of essence was an important strategic resource. Something was wrong here.

“Mama, why do people go up to the leaves?” I said, pointing at one of the elevators as it made its way up. Even if it wasn’t quite the topic I was hoping to learn about, it was at least related to it.

My mother looked at one of the elevators, before she shrugged.

“People go up the tree for a lot of reasons, Miria. It’s pretty complicated. Umm… the two basic reasons are defense and status. Those who live in the leaf layer are the children of those with magical talent, or those with magical talent themselves. They get access to magical knowledge a little bit earlier, since they’re more likely to inherit magical talent. And, of course, the most important thing is to defend the tree. If the enemy ever destroys the tree, our island will fall to the ground below, which would be the end of the island. The enemy doesn’t always attack the city - a lot of attacks are directed at the leaves and branches of the tree. So people have to live there to make sure the enemy doesn’t hurt the tree anywhere,” she said.

“Are the moving platforms the only way up?” I asked.

“Probably,” said my mother. “Legend has it there’s a special stairway somewhere on the tree. One that only heroes can see. Apparently, there used to be a similar staircase in almost every city and town - and anywhere heroes were likely to frequent. It was supposed to give them some sort of benefit if they walked to the top of the staircase.” My mother laughed. “I doubt it’s true though. Nobody has used it in over seven thousand years, if it exists.” I glanced at the staircase, and then looked back at my mom, and nodded to myself.

I had been wondering how heroes did so well in this world. This… explained part of it, at least. If the company who used to run this world had set up a bunch of free stat points for any transmigrators, that would definitely give any Market dwellers a huge leg up in this world.

I looked at Anise, who also looked at the staircase.

<Anise, do  you see the stairs too?> I asked.

< I do.>

I smiled. <Whenever we’re ready, if we decide to announce our hero status, we can use the stairs,,> I said. <It would prove that we were ‘heroes,’ and also give us… whatever benefit the company who ran this world set up for us. Probably a permanent stat boost or something.>

Anise paused, and then smiled.

<I like the idea,> she said. <I don’t think it’s time yet. I want to spend a bit more time growing up and getting to know the situation in this world. But once we’re ready, we can ascend the staircase and start… whatever training program they put together for us. I imagine we’d get some sort of beneficial treatment for being the first heroes in thousands of years. If we really want to fix this world for good, and end the broken ‘cycle’ of this world, we’ll need every drop of power we can get.> She laughed. <Not yet though.>

I nodded. I glanced at my parents, and did my best to focus on our fun day out again. Still, my thoughts swirled around in the back of my head. While it wasn’t time to get moving yet, I was beginning to think there was a real chance the four of us could make a big impact on this world before we died. I didn’t know if we had a way to really accomplish our ambition yet, of ending this world’s ‘cycle’ and removing its reliance on heroes. However, with every way we found to gather more power, our odds got better and better. We just needed to keep searching for ways to improve.

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