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<01/17/1972 – 23:17 | Monoc Port, Junon Region, Sprawn Valley>
There was much of the town to explore, but Jane stopped at their medical facility first. The class of the facility was only slightly better than the one from her home town, but it didn't matter right now. The first thing Jane did was get permission to make a phone call to the Tilsit Port official. If Taylor or Danny had any luck, they would have realized that the best thing for them was to stay there and wait. Jane called the phone, asking about her two friends, but the person on the other line told Jane that no such people have been asking about her, at least not at their facility.
Jane had to hang up of course, but there was no way those two would just give up and forget about her. They must be asking locals on the beach, even right now at this hour. Somebody will pick up on the fact that she is missing. Jane quickly turned on the available television set, tuning the channel to ProCom news. Well after the short commercial ended, the station while reporting certain normal events in Eldora City did not report a thing about Tilsit Port. Did the news outlets not care anymore about the stuff going on? Maybe nobody knows yet that people were coming and going from the lighthouse structure. As far as Danny and Taylor may know, Jane simply went missing. As for the port officials, agents would have to already be flooding that structure by now. But who were those men? What were they after?
Jane needed a better plan, so she pulled up her map again, using all of the light to read the rest of the stuff. The local map of Junon is very large. That's because there is a lot of land and a lot of places to explore for that reason. One of the staff from the docks gave her this local map too; this was all very new to her in theory. It was clear enough to Jane that even given the little information, her friends had to be safe back there. If civilian casualties were reported in that strange incident, the news would be required to report that, else be permanently cut from the air. Though, nobody can kill people using magic anyway... Jane shook her thought again to prioritize. She can't help anyone in this state. There is still the matter of reversing her spell bomb effects using the Den of Purity.
Jane scanned her map up and down. She began to trace her own location here at Monoc Port. This paper contains no detailed local maps of any place in Junon, rather just a zoomed out view of the entire regional area, giving her a mild disadvantage just being here already. The gravel road that starts in town is the path that leads east out of the town. The route is known as Route 96, a long nine mile road that goes all the way to Lennith City without any detours. It's a narrow path with nothing around it but thin untamed flatlands. Yet people still walk that road back and forth, or at most they use bikes. Jane didn't have a bike though, so walking will be a pain. She was getting exhausted too by now.
It's decided, Jane thought to herself. I'll sleep here tonight, train tomorrow, and head out on the same day. Jane studied the map some more. Only north from Monoc Port is a connected residential town called Bae-Mheden, connected by the short Route 6-BM. From Lennith City, there are a lot of other detours to head to. Lennith City has a route connecting to Eldora City, which then has a town south of Eldora called Cheyenne. Lennith then has a few small settlements southward including Delbrion Town, and a large mountain near the end of it; the Skar Mountains. Northward from Lennith City is a short path leading directly into the wild lands of the Outback, Jane's destination. The Den of Purity was marked on the map too, but it's all the way north from the Outback, and to put into perspective, it's the longest walk she would need to take.
That means Route 96 is first, then Lennith City, then the Outback, then the Den of Purity. There, the intelligent mage can reverse her permanent spell, the one greatly reducing her overall endurance. But how to get there... Route 96 is said to be teeming with all sorts of Leray wielders, edging for battles against anyone who may cross. It's been a well-established area where people go to find challenges, using roads more often than cities and towns. Jane can't afford to go there unprepared. Sure, she could just turn everybody down, but then her license would become suspended, and that would make battling so much harder. It defeats the entire purpose of making it to the Den of Purity to have a suspended license. If she just calls in an emergency situation...
No way! I have to win those battles tomorrow. I need to find a way to win them all, even just to get to the Outback. Jane needed a better plan than the one she had now. She already planned to train a bit harder tomorrow, but the thought of losing brought back her previous battles. Everybody that she battled against used all sorts of skills that she had never seen before. Jane learned a lot from her training facility, but it obviously wasn't enough. "I'll need a list of all sorts of new spells, new skills, and new ideas. And I'll need a better outfit too." Jane would have to visit the Leray store in town tomorrow too, but buying things would be more challenging.
"Pardon?"
Jane was nearly startled by the facility's nurse at the desk. Jane didn't realize that she was talking out loud just a moment ago. "Ah—nothing," she blushed. "I'll take that room you have though." Jane could not afford a better room with a comfortable bed. It's not as if the medical facility in Fronas was lacking in those either, but it was far from the same thing with their budget. In Monoc Port, only the most basic rooms are free of charge.
"E-8," the nurse called. "Don't forget which one's yours." Despite having inns or hotels, people often use the available rooms of stay in medical facilities, knowing they come dirt-cheap, but they're still designed for injured patients in recovery. People don't normally sustain such injuries anymore though.
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Jane nodded, and then headed back outside. She wasn't ready to just go to bed and fall asleep yet. With so much going on, who could? After stepping back outside, Jane noticed something different about the sky. The clouds that mostly covered it were already wiped away, only leaving behind traces of a tiny storm cloud. The air and ground were dry, so it didn't rain, but the opening in the sky also left the sight of millions of shining stars, including the bright full moon.
Jane became captivated by the view above her the moment its light touched her eyes. It was enough to whip her mind into a frenzy of thoughts. The glowing of the moon above her gave Jane a strange feeling, but one that was oddly familiar. Moon power. Jane thought about the moon some more, with the added memories and lessons she learned about the solar object.
The history of Leray magic begins there, up in outer space. The moonlight is all powerful, sending rays of special light and reflected solar energy to the earth below. One would think that Leray energy could come from any reflected solar light, but it doesn't work that way. For some reason, the distance, potion, angle of reflection, and structural density of the moon makes that light bounce special. Sprawn Valley of all places came with a special mountain, the same one far south of Lennith City. This mountain used to be an active volcano in ancient times, but has long since died out. The early inhabitants of the land used the Skar Mountains as a space for their work. Moonlight would be able to directly flow into the depths of the mountain from above, only at certain times of night. The people inside of the structure would learn to harness this light, form and compress the light into specialized crystals utilizing mirror powered technology.
Eventually, the crystal that could contain the energy collected from moonlight were used to learn and develop magical powers. Nobody could use the energy source as it was. Thus, the mages converted that energy into Leray magic, giving much more potential to the people living here. It was then when magical powers were clearly demonstrated for the first time, and everyone has the moon to thank for that. Jane could not explain her sudden obsession with staring at the moon, thinking over and over about its light, but she managed to twist her chain of thoughts back to her strategy to fix her bigger problems. Danny and Taylor will find her, but that will take a lot of time. Instead of returning to Tilsit Port, Jane decided it would be best to head for the Den of Purity now. That way, she will be strong enough to fend for herself should something like this ever happen again. Plus, without removing this spell attached to her, the dream of becoming a Leray master will never happen.
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Still, those two are a wonderful pair of friends. Jane remembered a lot regarding how they met and continued to hang out together. She nearly bullied them on the first few days, just to test them and see how they react. Danny was more than willing to prove himself to her, despite having no real Leray powers developed yet. Jane then cut them a deal. She would help train them both to use Leray magic like she can, so long as they help her train in return.
Jane knew that over time, they began bonding even more. There was the time she invited them over to her place for dinner, bonding with her family so well, they were always welcome at her place. After Jane had fallen ill with fevers after taking that spell bomb blast at Blue Port Town, they both took care of her. Jane didn't remember what happened to her all that well. She was high enough to hallucinate, and still, Taylor was willing to check on her while helping out around the house too. Jane never had friends like them before. Though those two weren't the only pair she tried to train either.
The thought quickly brought Jane back to another couple. Eliza had specifically asked Jane to help show a different pair of students the ways of Leray magic basics. They succeeded to learn, but failed to stay passionate about it. Because of this, Jane got so angry, yelling and screaming at them was their luckiest time of the day, and it was all because they weren't too interested anymore in Leray magic.
It was still a mystery why Danny and Taylor were so interested though. They are outsiders, so they're supposed to be afraid of Leray magic and all of its demonizing effects that outsiders speak of. People who live on the outside world either don't know about Leray magic, or don't want any part of it, afraid of what they don't know. Leray magic isn't dangerous at all. At least Danny and Taylor figured that out in person, but it still did not explain what they were still doing here. Something strange has been up with those two from the start, and Jane couldn't drag the truth from either of them.
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Even so, they still care about her to an extent, enough to keep searching for where she might have disappeared to. They might not even realize that Jane is the one who took off on a boat to Monoc Port. She was really enroute to nowhere, and somehow got lucky enough to stay here, but now things have changed. With Jane's endurance permanently cut in half by some sort of Amahar spell bomb prototype, there was no way she could stay here and do nothing. "I'll train," Jane whispered to herself. "I'll become just strong enough for the roads ahead of me, and use that to get to the Den of Purity. Then I'll find you two again, no matter how mad you'll be at me for leaving."
Things would have been better off if Jane simply refused to use that spell bomb on herself. She thought it would have positive effects, and of course, once someone uses a spell bomb, the object disappears forever, merging with their body. So what better way to keep something hidden and protected if it lives on inside the user?
Obviously it was a mistake. How could she be so blind? To think that she had been right all along, about her failing endurance? That spell bomb had no noticeable effects on Jane, other than damaging her and then making her ill a few days later. It even prevented her from using magic for a short while, but her energy scope never reported of any kinds of change that were actually made from the spell bomb. Then again, normal spell bombs don't just create symbols larger than anything, only to then drop a dangerous beam of moonlight from the sky. Nothing in the world resembled those flashy fireworks, and that means that this spell bomb is not an exact copy of the Amahar spell bomb. It's either modified, or it's a prototype.
But that shouldn't matter either. The mage at the Den of Purity can reverse all effects, no matter where they come from, and they certainly don't care enough to judge those who have negative spells or effects in the first place. That'll be the plan. I'll sleep tonight. Tomorrow, I'll learn so many new spells, and then head out on 96 to get to Lennith City. I have to reach the Den of Purity no matter what!
Another thought crossed her mind, but it was a reminder from something she refused to do a few minutes ago; call home. That was the instructions left to her by her parents, and it certainly fit the current time line by now, but Jane couldn't do it. She couldn't muster up half the courage it would take to get them involved even in knowing about her bad situation. They'll just worry until they're sick to death. Sure, they may worry on the side of her not checking in at all, but it's still not as intense this way. If Jane tried to call her family right now and pretend that everything was normal, trying to lie her way through it all, she would break down in tears, incapable of facing anyone she loves in this situation, this stupidly impossible situation! On the other hand, she can't lie to anyone if they aren't here to see or hear from her. Once this curse gets removed, everything can go back to normal. Everything has to go back to normal!
Jane could think of nothing else right now, but her eyes were getting heavy. It must be midnight by now. Jane had been awake for a long time, and the time to check in finally arrived. It won't be easy to sleep, but Jane finally understood what she needed to do, the steaks of failure awakening her core more than ever before. Against all odds, she still has a solid plan.