Zalroth bursted out from beneath the water's surface before he surfed atop his magic barrier using it to skip across the surface of Lake Vesovian, and towards the dilapidated Ancient Tower where Zalkutaro and Zuno were waiting. After getting close enough, Zalroth lept off the magic barrier and dispelled it, along with the magic veil around his body, before he landed next to the others on the tower's platform.
"Can you two go five minutes without getting distracted?" Zalkutaro asked with his arms crossed and tapping his foot against the metal platform. Zalroth smirked and rubbed the back of his head as Chronia was giddily staring at the large pearl in her hands.
"Want can I say, I like shiny things," Chronia remarked as she placed the pearl in Zalroth's hair. Zalkutaro slumped his head and sighed, pressing his knuckles against his forehead.
"Treasure junkies...,". Zalkutaro sighed once again as he raised his head and stared at the blurs in the distance. Zalroth, Zuno, and Chronia glanced at the blurs in the distance as they came into view and were revealed to be large shark-like Komodo dragon-looking monsters running on the water, making a beeline to the Ancient Tower.
"It appears the nearby monsters notice the disturbance as well," Zuno remarked as he clicked his knuckles over his head before he conjured two light mana swords. Zalkutaro heard a loud metalic bang behind him, and he glance backwards at the sound of the noise to see Zalroth standing in front of the large new hole in the Ancient Tower. Zalroth, using an ice mana circle, constructed an opaque ice surfboard before Chronia turned her head to face Zalkutaro.
"Could you get the rainbow horn of the alpha Komoalark?" Chronia requested right before Zalroth lept into the Ancient Tower and plummeted into the seemingly bottomless drop while the younger half of the egos/visages excitedly cheered. Zalkutaro rolled his eyes before a small smirk formed on his face as he heard the cheering slowly fade away.
Meanwhile, Lola sprinted down the packed market streets of Talkia on all fours while carrying Kusana, Scarlett, Snow, Mei-La, and Fei-Ku on her tails.
"Lola, can you not run so fast you might crash into someone," Nola pleaded as she floated alongside Minia, who had Kyubi laying on her head.
"Look sis, asking Lola to sit still is like asking me to stop eating meat or asking you to wear normal clothes," Minia remarked. Nola gave Minia an unamused stare, before reluctantly exhaling from her nose.
"Fair...". Lola bounced in front of her sisters and waved her arm about as she pointed at a particular stand.
"It's that one, it's that one!". Lola repeatedly called out to her sisters as she guided them over to the stand adorned with various old-fashioned pottery, relics, and books. The trio approached the stand and inspected the stand's contents.
"Not to be rude, Lola, but why did you insist on making a detour?" Minia asked. Lola placed a hand on her chin and shot Minia a cocky grin as she pulled a book out from a stack of books.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"We gotta get this for Abi.". Lola handed the book to Nola. Nola read the title of the book and her eyes widened, making Minia raise one of her gelatin ears.
"Mezamozen pottery Vol.3-5... I know Abigail likes all kinds of creative media, but doesn't she already have this volume?" Minia asked as she squinted at the book. Lola adamantly shook her head in defiance of Minia's question.
"Nuh-uh, she has 3-1, -2, -4, -5, -6, -8, -15, dumb-dumb," Lola said, as a black gelatin hand grabbed her head like a claw machine and raised her off the ground until she was face to face with Minia.
"I'm a dumb-dumb am I?". Lola nodded in confirmation to Minia's question, with Nola snickering in response. Minia rolled her eyes and placed Lola back on the ground.
"Whatever... how much is the book?" Minia asked. Scarlett handed Lola the price tag, which Lola showed to her sisters. The sister duo tilted their heads in unison as they stared at the price tag.
"That's a lot of zeros...," Nola remarked as she opened a magic storage bubble and pulled out her gold adventurer's card, "But not as much as the materials I used for dad's self-healing clothes," Nola added. Lola happily clapped her hands and took back the book while Nola was paying for it.
"Alright, let's get a move on and meet up with Sophia and the others," Minia stated as she walked off, with Lola and Nola following shortly after.
Back in the Ancient Tower, red lights flooded the entirety of the large slanted circular tunnel as sirens blared. Zalroth smirked as he slid down the Ancient Tower atop his ice surfboard.
"It's almost inspiring despite how rundown these towers get they can always put themselves back together," Zalina (kitsune cub form) remarked as her tails and ears flapped about from the constant turbulence.
"Indeed, and given the state of this Ancient Tower, I'd have to say the tower's at twenty-three percent stability," Zallino said as the patch of Zalroth's tail fur in front of Zallino ruffled around before Destiny and Kara popped their heads out from Zalroth's tails.
"It's twenty-four point seven," Kara uttered boastfully. Zalroth sighed and looked down at Chronia as she sat on one of Zalroth's tails at the front of the ice surfboard.
"And before you ask, I promised the Oric... Kara, she could ask you some questions, and she insisted on asking them as soon as possible," Chronia said as she had her hand down the front of her crop top and itched scratched her chest. Zalroth rubbed his eyes and let out a short exhale as he dragged his hand down his face.
"Alright, what did you want to ask, kid?". Kara pulled herself out of Zalroth's tail and meandered her way in front of Zalroth while Destiny pretended to swim through Zalroth's tails like they were water.
"One requests to know if Lola's father is-". Kara was mid-question before Zalroth jolted the ice surfboard to the right, seconds before an energy projectile struck the spot next to the group.
"Sorry, Kara, you'll have to wait to ask your questions," Zalroth said as he reached into one of his tails. Spots on the tunnel's walls appeared to melt into reflective metal before rapidly reshaping themselves into multiple energy rifles. Zalroth pulled Vivo out from his tails, causing Vivo to flutter his eyes as he woke up.
"Is my assistance required already?".
"Yeah, can you deal with the Tower's artillery defences?". Vivo nodded, and Zalroth tossed him into the air, with Vivo transforming into his humanoid form along with his feathers morphing into a material visual similar to the shiny parts of the Ancient Tower.
"Miku tower," Kara stroppily uttered as she crossed her arms and sat beside Chronia.