Sorry for the delay again. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out new abilities for each of the five people in the group and I'm still not certain those are the ones that I will stick with.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"How did you get here?" Garnet asked Riley. "I thought you were back home."
Riley and Anna had showed up from out of nowhere. "From that," said Riley as she pointed to the black star that floated above. "I was home, but there are things that threaten my home and now I'm here again."
"You're not an Invader though are you?" Garnet asked suspiciously. After all, Riley and Anna just came through the same way that the Invaders did.
"We're here to help this time," said Riley. "Even if I was, I would be the good kind."
"I thought you changed back to a man," Garnet said as she began to poke Riley in the arm.
Riley quickly brushed away Garnet's hand. "Transform!" She reverted back to her original male form. "I can change when I wish, but I'm more used to fighting while transformed, so I'm staying like this for now."
"I see," said Garnet. "Anyways, thanks for the help."
"You failed horribly today," said Anna as she raised her finger at Garnet.
Garnet realized how weak she was. All she could do was stand back and watch as her underlings did the work for her. She did not know how to build a country. She did not know how to train an army. She had no idea what she was doing.
"I have no idea what I am doing," Garnet countered. "I don't have knowledge on how to run a country much less build one. I did what I could with what I had to work with."
"I know," said Anna as she sighed.
"But what are we going to do about that?" Garnet asked as she pointed to the black star in the sky. Even though the Invasion was over, the black star still remained. There was no eye in it though. It just ominously floated in the sky.
"You weakened the barrier between worlds with that trick of yours, and this is the price," said Anna. "It's now easier to travel between several worlds, meaning that an Invasion could happen at any time."
"No…" said Garnet.
"But that is why you must get stronger," said Anna. "You must become strong enough to fight off the next one. I might not always be here to help and there will come a day when a Guide that neither I nor Assad cannot defeat will appear."
"What can I do then?" Garnet asked. "You're already so strong, there's no way I would stand a chance."
"You have to get stronger," said Anna. "For starters, learning to use something other than mana to strengthen your physical body perhaps?"
"I tried," Garnet replied. "But I cannot even channel chi in my body."
"Were you trying to learn how to use chi?' Xiaomei asked as she stepped forward.
"Yes," said Garnet. "But according to Sunny, there's no way to teach it."
"There is a way," said Xiaomei. "I learned from studying the techniques from my family."
"But it cannot be taught," said Garnet.
"Teaching the principles can be done, but the practice and ability to use it depends entirely on you," said Xiaomei. "In other words, I can help you understand the basic ideas, like controlling your breathing and feeling for the power to flow through your body. As for actually using it, you have to do it yourself."
"You have to teach me!" said Garnet as she shook Xiaomei. At this point, she was even more desperate for power.
"Then we have to go to the Eastern Empire," said Xiaomei.
"Why?" Garnet asked. "Why is it important that we go?"
"Years of extended use of mana has made it difficult for you to sense other forms of energy," Xiaomei replied. "Even if you learn it here, it is a land flooded by magical energy due to the extensive use of it, which makes it even harder. That is why we have to head east to one of the Holy Grounds that is inhabited by a Spirit God. These are lands that are rich in chi because more people there use it. It will make it easier to practice there."
"What about this city then?" Garnet asked. "I cannot leave it."
"Give me administrative permissions," said Anna.
"What is that?" Garnet asked. She was confused.
"Administrative permissions will allow me to run the city in your place," said Anna. "I will focus on controlling the automata to rebuild here while protecting your family in Antium as well."
"How do I do that?" Garnet asked.
"Check the Party Menu," said Anna. "That's how Assad did it."
Garnet opened up her Party Menu. There was nothing there. She invited Anna to the Party first. Anna accepted. Anna's name appeared on the list of people along with Zedd. As Garnet pushed Anna's name. Promote was lit up There was a new feature under it that was unavailable to Zedd: "Administrative Powers." Anna must have had the experience from Assad, meaning that she would know how to help build and manage the city.
Garnet went down the list and checked every single box, giving full privileges to Anna except for the ability to expel people from the Party and to declare allies and enemies, which were only available to the Hero. "Done," said Garnet.
Anna turned to Zedd. "You, Riley, and Quinton should all go with her," she said.
"Why me?" Quinton asked. "I only agreed to help Xiaomei fight some monsters."
"We will need all your help in the next Invasion," said Anna. "The more of you that can get stronger, the better. Getting a new energy source gives you a slight boost of power. Mastering it makes you much stronger and improves your already existing abilities. If each of you can become as strong as Serena is now, we will stand a much better chance."
Serena was strong enough to fight against the demon that was summoned by Yarik. It was a massive leap in strength, and not something that was going to be easy to achieve.
"I will go," said Zedd. "I too need to learn how to control the chi that I unlocked and I feel like it is too difficult for me to do on my own."
"Riley?" Anna asked.
"I will go too," said Riley. "I need to become stronger in case they come for my world again."
"That just leaves you," said Anna as she turned to Quinton.
"Fine, I'll go too," said Quinton. He did not want to be the only person to hold out. After all, he and Xiaomei technically fled from the Dark Mages, which meant that it is likely that Murad will send someone after them. "But promise me you will help us fight against them."
"What kind of people?" Garnet asked.
"Well, me and Quinton kind of fled from the Dark Mage Guild to help you," Xiaomei replied. "It is likely they will send someone to try to hunt us down and bring us back. The people that are sent out are fairly strong members, though not as strong as councilmembers like us, but still strong and people we have to be careful."
"It's alright," said Garnet. "Then, you can help me when the Grey Ghosts come after me."
"…That's not funny," said Quinton. "You don't know how dangerous the Grey Ghosts nor the ones chasing us can be."
"I do," said Anna. "That's why I will protect this city if they come looking for you. I'm more than a match for them, but I need all of you to become stronger for the future for when the Guides start to arrive in large numbers."
"But we're all in a similar situation now," said Riley. "We will have to work together to become stronger."
"I must warn you though," said Xiaomei.
"What is it?" Quinton asked asked.
"In the Eastern Empire, there are groups that seek power through any means possible," Xiaomei answered.
"What do you mean?" Riley asked.
"They will kill, they will steal, they will even blackmail you to try to get what they want," Xiaomei explained.
"Do they just fight in the streets?" Garnet asked.
"Sometimes," said Xiaomei. "But they officially do it in organized competitions at least once a year and some clans invite outsiders and host their own tournaments as well. Fighting on the streets is something that happens sometimes though there are rules."
"You'll have to teach us then," said Zedd.
"Don't worry, as foreigners, there will not be many people who wish to fight you," said Xiaomei. "It is largely used as an attempt to display their strength to their own people."
"But you have to remember," said Anna. "They are a culture based on warriors because of the black star that appears just outside their Northern Walls. For thousands of years, monsters have slowly poured forth from theirs just like it will soon flow from the one here. Do not take them lightly. They have thousands of years of time to build upon and refine their fighting techniques."
"There are hundreds of shrines located in the Eastern Empire," said Xiaomei. "Each one is often controlled by a single clan or school in an attempt to monopolize that power though there are a few that remain hidden because the families that control them have never revealed it to outsiders or because the spirits lived in remote areas. If you earn the approval of the Spirit God, you are given the opportunity to learn the powerful techniques from that God. I acquired mine from the Serpent God. The strongest ones are believed to be the Dragon God and the Phoenix God, but both types are controlled by large and powerful schools that train people in those techniques."
New Quest: Divine Power
Gain approval of one of the Divine Creatures in the East and learn their techniques.
Reward: New Skills
"But what most of them don't know is how to combine chi and mana," said Xiaomei. "Both are considered mutually exclusive powers."
"Are they not?" Zedd asked.
"They are, but it is possible to combine them," said Sunny. "I've never been able to do much with it other than augment my own physical abilities."
"Observe," said Xiaomei. She used her mana to create a single green bolt. The bolt then transformed into a detailed spear. It was sort of like what Zedd did with his magic now.
"That's what makes having multiple sources of power so good as well," said Sunny. "In addition, you can use one and when you run out you just use another. Under normal circumstances, you can try to use all of them to increase your abilities, but to be able to use them together in a single new ability is a completely different matter though."
"I will teach you guys everything I can," said Xiaomei. "But you will need to gain the approval of one of the Gods on your own."
Xiaomei began to demonstrate something else. She pulled out a sword from her ring. It looked a little different from the ones Garnet had seen. The sword itself was thinner than others, yet still thicker than a rapier. The entire sword began to glow a light green. "This is a typical high end weapon that you see," she said. "But then, you can do this!"
"Blade Waltz!" A replica of the sword appeared and swung in mid-air. It was as fast as any other swing, but the distance and agility was very different. Instead of just flying towards its target, the sword could be manipulated without having to touch it. It was different from the weapons that Zedd could create as well. It could circle around the user at will. If it resembled anything, it was a primitive version of Anna's abilities to wield multiple floating swords. "Hopefully you can do this someday as well," she said.
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"Why can't you just teach me everything?" Garnet asked.
"Because it is more than just teachings. If I pass on my powers to you directly, it's a diluted source and only at about 30% of the strength as if you got it from the original source," Xiaomei explained. "If you then passed it on to someone else, then it's 30% of yours, so the power dilutes extremely quickly if you do not acquire it from the original source."
"As strong as you guys are, I'm certain that there are at least a few people out there stronger than you guys," said Anna. "So I recommend you don't get into any reckless fights. The weakest person in your group is going to be what they're going to focus on so be careful."
"I'll keep them out of trouble," said Zedd. "I've been there once, so I at least know how to behave."
Zedd had traveled to many places before. If other worlds were places that he had visited, it wouldn't be surprised if he had been everywhere in this world as well. Despite this, Zedd still lacked some knowledge and did not know absolutely everything. There were limits as some knowledge was closed to outsiders. Some of that information would be what Xiaomei knew.
"So what's our destination?" Garnet asked.
Xiaomei took out a map and pointed to the northwest point on a long wall that stretched across the Eastern Empire. "Here," she said. "This is one of the entry points into the Eastern Empire."
From the looks of the map, it was about twice the distance that it was from Anzio to Constantinople. "This is a long trip, don't we need to plan for this?" Garnet asked.
"Not if we use this road," said Xiaomei as she highlighted a long stretch of road that started a ways northeast of Constantinople. "It is a paved road that stretches across the continent and is maintained by all countries that use it. There are even rest stops along the way."
"Is there anything we need to be careful of?" Quinton asked. "Like bandits?"
"There are some," said Xiaomei. "They often attack in large numbers when they do because they need to overwhelm guards that are patrolling along the road. They're fairly easy to handle compared to the creatures we may encounter though."
"What creatures?" Garnet asked.
"There are creatures that have fed off of travelers," said Zedd. "They acquire the strength of those that they defeated, so it is likely that you will see creatures that have magical arts or transformation."
"Are all of the powerful creatures like that?" Garnet asked.
"Very few," said Zedd. "Others acquire that strength naturally by becoming stronger in the wild, but those are even more fearsome because they know how to use the strength they acquired. But if they attack too often, others will hunt them down and kill them in order to make tools from them."
"If we stick to the main road, we should be able to avoid those things," Xiaomei explained. "Just don't go off into the mountains or forests looking for trouble. The stronger creatures are intelligent to avoid populated areas because they do not want to be hunted down."
"So our goal is to go east and look for a Holy Ground from which we can more easily develop our strength," said Zedd.
"Correct," said Xiaomei. "But that's going to be difficult since most of them are already claimed and chances are we will not be able to fight them for one."
"What about forming a temporary partnership after the tournament?" Zedd asked. "Can't we enter it with our group?"
"The tournament allows ten participants, but we only number five," said Xiaomei. "Are you sure we can do it with our numbers when they are likely to have people much stronger than myself?"
"We have to try," said Zedd. "They have access to the Ancient Graveyard do they not?"
Garnet had no idea what they were talking about anymore. The conversation has entirely shifted from their original goals.
"Are you insane?!?" Xiaomei shouted. "You want to participate in the annual raid of the Ancient Graveyard?"
New Quest: Land of the Dead (I)
Enter the Ancient Graveyard.
Reward: Experience, New Skills, New Equipment, New Spirit
"Wait a minute!" Garnet interrupted. "What are you two talking about?"
"The Ancient Graveyard is something like another world that is accessed by the winners of the annual tournament," Xiaomei replied. "They have the right to search the Ancient Graveyard for artifacts and elixirs of powerful individuals who created their tomb there."
"I don't feel comfortable robbing a grave," said Garnet. She remembered what happened to Romulus and Sylvia. They were beyond angry and were able to push themselves for vengeance. If other powerful individuals were doing the same, they could be awakening another vengeful spirit much powerful than Romulus and there was no guarantee that she would be able to defeat or persuade them.
"As long as you don't intentionally destroy their tomb, it will be fine," said Xiaomei. "With some luck you may even persuade one of them to teach you something."
"Aren't they dead?" Garnet asked. "How can they teach me anything?"
"Some of them were on the road to immortality, developing their mana, chi, and other abilities," said Xiaomei. "As a result, when their physical body dies, they don't die entirely. Instead, they transform into a human spirit. Their spirit then remains for some time after until they run out of energy and their spirit dissipate."
"So there's a chance one of them might be able to teach us something as well," said Zedd. "I think we should try it."
"That means we would have to enter a competition between schools with just half the members," said Xiaomei.
"But we can do it," said Zedd confidently. "I believe we should set that as our goal."
Xiaomei was contemplating. "If we do that, then time is going to be tight, even if we can find a Holy Ground," she said. "But what we can win from the Ancient Graveyard is just too valuable. So the plan is to try to find a Holy Ground first. If we can't, we will do what we can to become stronger until the annual tournament. Hopefully, we can make contact with a God from a Shrine at some point. Then, we will try to win that and gain access to the Ancient Graveyard."
Garnet suddenly realized something. "Can't we use the one that you went to?" Garnet asked.
"Ehh… I'm not exactly on good terms with my clan," said Xiaomei reluctantly. "I kind of broke into the Shrine and learned it without permission. I don't think they would let me back in even if I wanted to. In fact, they might try to send someone to kill me if they knew."
So they had to find another one. That was not going to be easy without a place to look. What worried Garnet more was the black star that continued to float above Constantinople. The good part was that as long as Anna was here, she would be able to help the other spirits and guardians. They should be enough to protect the city for a while with the Revenants and Automata. "For now, we should to try to reach a Holy Ground," said Zedd.
"Then it's decided," said Anna. "I will make sure the city remains standing while you are here."
Zedd took out a small earring and handed it to Anna. It was like the one he made for Garnet. "Take this," said Zedd.
"I'll contact you if anything happens," said Anna as she put on the earring. "The Guardians here will protect this city to the best of our ability and await your return."
Anna sounded completely different from her normally playful self. This was a more serious Anna, one that was dedicated to fulfilling her duties. Garnet had never seen Anna like this before.
"Anyways, we should depart as soon as possible," said Xiaomei. "There's no telling when more creatures will appear from that thing in the sky."
"She's right," Anna added. "Prepare as soon as possible, but you have to avoid using any of the creatures that you have summoned here because I will need them for the defense of the city."
"We can always summon new ones," said Garnet.
"I suggest you don't," said Zedd. "The Eastern Empire has a rather strong dislike of summoned creatures that don't resemble native creatures."
That meant Garnet had to rely on the skills that she had. She would not be able to rely on superior numbers either. She had to rely on her own strength. "Then it is even more important that I become stronger," she said.
Anna suddenly threw a bunch of clothes at everyone except Garnet. "You have yours from before," she said.
Garnet remembered she obtained a bunch of clothes from Anna before. Anna continued, "Wear these to fit in together as much as possible," she said. "This way it also looks like you're all from the same school."
It was the cheongsam that Garnet received from Anna during their first trip to Anzio. "That is the official wear of the Eastern Empire while you're in the Eastern Empire," said Anna. "By matching your clothes, you are signaling to everyone that you are from the same school."
Garnet took out her cheongsam that was mostly red and white with a few stripes of pink. The same style was for Xiaomei and Riley as well. Zedd and Quinton received ones without the traces of pink, but had a few stripes of blue in its place. On the back of Zedd's robe was a large golden five petal flower. "When did you prepare all of this?" Garnet asked.
"I have spares that I just sewed on a logo," said Anna. "Lots of them from my days traveling."
Anna had thrown away hundreds of gold coins like they were nothing. She could literally make magic jewelry as long as she had the right materials. She was probably wealthy beyond imagination, yet she chose to remain as a servant despite having earned her freedom long ago.
"Are you ready?" Xiaomei asked one last time as everyone entered the room changed into their new clothes.
"This still feels weird and is itchy in all the wrong places," said Zedd.
"You'll get used to it," said Anna.
"I'm ready," said Garnet. "There's no telling when the next Invasion will be anymore and we have to be ready to face whatever threat comes whether or not we like it. This Invasion should me exactly how weak I was. I was ignoring my personal training for so long, relying on the strength of others. Look at what that's gotten me. I have to become strong, not only to protect myself, but to protect the others around me as well."
Garnet knew it was clear. A lot of stronger people were after her and there were even stronger people from other worlds. If she was going to stand a chance, she needed to become stronger. One way to do this was with another power source, but chi was not working. Perhaps there was another one out there that she could learn. She hated standing on the sidelines, watching the Guardians and summons fight in her place. She wanted to be able to fight her own battles next time so that she would not be forced to rely on others.
Spoiler :
No stat changes