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<10/30/1962 – 12:45 | Outback Wildlands, Junon, Sprawn Valley>

It didn't take long for the end of the month to roll around. October the 30th was expected to send fronts of cold wind from the east Atlantic Ocean. Instead, the land was bombarded with humid storms that brought little downpour and plenty of warmth. People were often complaining about the out-of-place heat, sometimes exaggerating that this was the weather of Blaze Storm. Though there was little harm done.

Sprawn Valley is at least known for having occasional off-weather moments, and notorious for receiving only one day of rain every week on average, but with the after-results this morning, the weather transformed to a less humid warm sunny day; one as beautiful as any other in the town. As a result, the team prepared themselves for a trip to the north.

"Vanoss says the others are almost ready now."

Danton acknowledged that Mainne was behind him telling Danton to be more patient. The gang decided today that everyone would go on a picnic in the wild lands due to today's generous weather. Though for others, the reason was more celebratory. Trujima didn't back down from any other challengers on the way to Lennith City, and made good credits as a result. They spent the past two days in Lennith gathering more supplies, and buying additional battle items to do better in combat. Putting credits to such use means everyone can specialize easier.

The picnic was mostly Mainne's idea, but Vanoss was looking forward to the event as well. With Danton's approval, the vote was three against two. It was only natural for Gleeon and Kite to be more interested in intense training or battle exercises, but today, they would be taking a well-deserved break. With Brash Danton as their newest member, Trujima was moving in a new direction; aiming for a goal to become the most powerful elite force the world has ever seen.

"Make sure they pack everything," Danton reminded. Without turning around to face Mainne, he kept all of his thoughts to himself. "If we encounter any challengers out there, I'll want to have a crack at them, and I know they will too."

"Right. We'll be right out."

Mainne sounded happy and excited about the whole thing. Danton wasn't sure if she really enjoys warm picnics, or if her changed mood was from something else. But Danton cared to focus on the scenery around him, imagining how different it would be in the next few hours. He had been to the Outback before in the past, but has rarely visited the zone recently. Lennith's town section is still so lively today, but that makes sense due to its location being the center of trading and closest to the capital city of Eldora. With all this time, the Outback remains to be some barren wild lands with nothing but short grass with minimal tree density. It's the perfect place to get away from everything.

When a couple hours passed by, Trujima was already deep into the Outback wild lands, pressing northward to find a perfect patch of land to set down the picnic towel. There wasn't much out here for the Outback at first glance. Human activity in particular was as low as it could get. With all the well-teemed grass stretching on for miles in all directions and the shy trees growing careful and independently, the scenery closely resembled the grasslands of Cantabria, Spain. The team even spotted a few wild animals roaming freely in the distance, from bunny rabbits and kangaroos to rhea birds and lamas.

The sights with the clear sky matched up perfectly for the weather while everyone sat down on the mat, everyone accessing their supply spheres to prepare their premade lunches, often of which were either chips or sandwiches. Danton was the only one holding off on his food, since hunger had yet to set into his stomach. Instead, he quietly pondered what new battling styles and techniques he could pull off. Danton recently sold his sword to a Leray shop in Lennith, using that money to trade his primary weapon for a magic staff.

Magic staffs are on the rare side for weapons made and sold in Sprawn Valley, usually because they are effectively useless to those who have inadequate training with Leray spells. Simply put, they are the worst weapons for beginners, but staffs have plenty of benefits to their nature, even if they do lack physical hit power. There are two kinds of staffs; crystallized staffs, and absorbers. The absorber staff, otherwise called mana savers are designed to invoke magical spells for the user while simultaneously conserving a lot of the MP energy that would normally be used in a spell. However, this is the only benefit for that staff. It can be useful with practice to increase the amount of higher-level attack spells per battle that the user is able to invoke, but this effect usually requires years of practice and a calm mind during battles, on top of being unable to use the staff itself for an effective physical weapon. Then there are crystallized staffs with emphasis put on reusable energy crystals. Crystalized staffs are well known for amplifying existing spells from Leray magic during their invocation. Though this process also requires much experience with a staff, users who can focus on high levels spells are said to have faster success than those with a lower Lexile level for Leray spells. While it won't change how much magic is used for each skill, the power level of magic spells is often doubled.

Luminous Artemus; the special staff that Danton nearly went broke over while spending. The staff was on special display today and last night, imported from Eldora's weapon factory. The staff and its name proved worthy enough for Danton to take on its challenge. Serving as a crystallized type of staff, he would now be able to take his entire arsenal of spells, and overpower them in battle without ever having to use additional MP energy in the process. Additionally, even though staffs can't be used as physical weapons, on the count that they have no such damage level, it doesn't stop of forbid users from swapping out for a temporary weapon mid-battle. Doing so still costs MP energy though, for every moment that weapon is to last. Danton trained himself earlier how to spawn a sword similar to his old short blade using the yellow glyphring technique, but it still caused quite a drain to his MP in the process. Hopefully it can still be made just as useful in an intense Leray battle.

"What's eating you Danton? Lunchtime is now time."

Before Danton could answer Gleeon's curious question, Kite guessed the issue for him aloud. "Ah, lay off. He's just jealous that I'm the only one here with smoked beef between these buns. I heard you can only get beef imported here from the Americas, but I'm not sure how much that clerk really knows."

The clerk? "So now we know why you took so long to check out," Mainne determined. Danton took a long time shopping yesterday for his new weapon, but that was to be expected since he was going for a new style and battle method. Kite however usually keeps everything relatively simple. "You were just there to check out that hot sales clerk."

Kite never intended to keep one of his hobbies a hidden secret, but Mainne picked a strange time to bring that up again. "Yeah, so? It's my duty to seek out powerful, and attractive, ladies who know what they're doing, or at least those who have enough knowledge on Leray fares. But I don't know about that one from yesterday."

"Why am I not surprised?" Mainne casually bit back into her homemade sandwich, failing to keep Kite in that kind of spotlight.

Though everyone heard Mainne's last rant, they went on changing the subject. Danton wondered however what her story was, altogether anyway. Mainne is a strong and fast woman, perfectly agile and capable of winning Leray battles. But what in the world made her join Trujima long ago? What was her goal at the time? Danton was already told that she keeps her personal life to herself, for as long as the gang has been around, but shouldn't somebody at least be more curious about that?

"So anyway, this kid from basic—"

Kite was moving on with the changed subject, which at least allowed Mainne to feel more at ease since Kite of all people was able to enjoy a wonderful moment like this. To think that he was complaining about it less than twelve hours ago.

"The look on his face was just about as pathetic as his knowledge for Leray battles were. He was like, it was my turn to attack; that's not fair! And his opponent just laughed in surprise." Kite was referring back to a moment only he witnessed on Route 96 the other day, while watching a weak kid's battle. He remembered that the idiot said he graduated from Gulop, some landlocked town in the south. The point is, somebody who doesn't understand basic attack and speed dynamics should never have acquired a basic wielder's license. Actually, it would have been better off to deny him access to the rights of any schooling facility. He continued the story, feeling at ease since Danton was finally biting into his own similar lunch. "I guess the people from Gulop really are about as weak as they say."

"Well..." Vanoss was about to argue the opposite, but considered the weight of the details before doing so. "I've heard that Gulop usually has worthy fighters, but I think those only pertain to people coming from other regions as travelers. I guess if somebody graduates from Gulop, they might as well be worthless in battles."

"Their standards in Gross City are too low." Kite never visited that sector or region before, but there wasn't much reason to go there apparently. After lightening the mood amongst the team, he figured that now was as good of a time as any to put Danton on the spot for his earlier claims. "So? Anyone want to go over the plan of how we're exactly going to become the strongest gang the world has ever seen? I'm mainly asking Danton, since everyone seems to keep taking the ideas from his recklessness."

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Gleeon glared at Kite, assuming already that his own arrogance has blinded him entirely. "Do you really need reminding on the simplicity of our next move?"

"We're going to storm J-H road tomorrow and defeat the gradyent there. I don't care who the hell does it. After that, we take on the Eldora Chain." Danton knew it might be a two-day experience just getting to Eldora City and J-H road. There wasn't a reason to reference Route 787, practically because the term doesn't exist. These days, everyone has to sail northeast in the Hollifax Ocean for several miles before reaching J-H road, a small section of nature housing the only entrance into the city. Sailing will be the worst part of the trip, since people can't battle each other in the ocean. Attempts to do so will damage and sink ships, and that's no fun for anybody.

"Yeah, I knew that," Kite claimed. "I'm feeling confident about the next gradyent being a pushover myself, but we don't know anything about those guys at the top. We've never studied their battling style. I don't even know the name of the current champion of Eldora."

Danton wouldn't know that name either, since Gleeon already got such a response by asking him that three nights ago. But their current knowledge of the Eldora Chain is just ill mannered, and Gleeon had no choice but to begin filling in the blanks. "Lawrence Citrin. He's the guy who's been in charge of Sprawn Valley for nearly three years now. If he can hold that title for almost a thousand consecutive wins, it must mean the guy is no pushover."

"Well then," Kite stood up, drawing his sword with a deep gaze fixed at its tip. "Lawrence Citrin will be defeated by my skills and this sword. After he goes down, Danton and I will have one final match to prove which of the two of us are stronger."

"That's what you took out of that?"

"No need to dispel his intentions Mainne." Danton was finished eating already, and he stood up to match his height to Kite, his secondary opponent. "Kite? It might turn out that your strength will surpass my own at that time, but we always get stronger by training, usually with disproportionate measures. So even if I lose to you another time, I'll eventually win."

Kite grinned with confidence. Good answer. Danton shouldn't be so naive though to think that he can always get stronger with training. The method will only take one so far. "As your future champion, you'll be allowed to rematch me anytime you want, but it will only have the same results every time."

"You can relax now. This isn't the battlefield yet." Mainne was certain that Kite and Danton were probably capable of fighting each other to the death if dared. Luckily, the veil would never allow for such a challenge to exist. "Besides, there is still the Eldora Chain we know nothing about. Gleeon? What info do you have on them?"

"None I'm afraid."

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Chapter Theme Shift: Little Red Riding Hood ~ Derek Fiechter & Brandon Fiechter [Once Upon A Time]

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"Hold on," Kite challenged. "I thought you knew everything about the Eldora Chain."

"I never implied that," Gleeon responded. "All I know is that being in the Eldora Chain is hard work, much more difficult than the workload of the champion. When a new challenger arrives to Eldora Tower, they are required to battle against each of the four elites and win all battles successively. One single loss on the challenger's part means his chance to battle the champion is forfeit until the three months flies by. But on top of those types of challenges, there is an event called The Catalyst Grove."

"Well that's a stupid name." Danton realized only now that his blurt interrupted Gleeon more than he meant it to.

Gleeon however agreed to that tested statement. "I know. Anyway, this Catalyst Grove is more or less a different kind of assignment. Those who enter it are to choose which of the four elites they are to challenge. If they target an elite with a rank higher than the lowest level out of the four, that challenger must still defeat their elites all the way up to which rank they've chosen, much of the same process as trying to make it to the champion."

"What happens when the challenger meets the chosen elite?" Kite and the rest of them had every right to know, but he never figured that Gleeon was such an expert on the Eldora structure. Maybe he used to challenge them in the past.

"Then a special type of battle is engaged between the two. The challenger will have three total restrictions placed upon them prior to battle. Condition one will have the challenger unable to carry any specific weapons or armor into battle. Only certain dress spheres that offer zero protection are permitted, and weapons must all be spawned from spells or magical glyphrings. But the standing elite can use whatever he wants."

"That's kind of harsh," Mainne protested.

Gleeon continued since there was more to the challenge than it seemed. "Condition two will limit the total time in a battle to ten minutes. The challenger must somehow drain the elite's HP to zero before ten minutes is up. So simply surviving for a long time isn't going to cut it. And condition number three limits the challenger's HP decline rate to fifty percent. Meaning, that if the challenger loses only half of their health from full, they will automatically lose the match by decree of the referee. Meanwhile, the standing elite must have their health drained to zero."

"That sounds totally unfair," Kite shouted. He remained calm afterwards, simply sympathizing how hard this sounded for such a challenge. "So what's the reward?"

"Well, those three conditions are only enforced once the challenger makes it to the rank they have chosen between the four elites. But if the challenger can actually win their match, and defeat the chosen elite while satisfying all three conditions in under ten minutes, then that challenger will automatically inherit and take over that rank, including their job and salary. Meanwhile, the standing elite will be forced out of the ranks. Usually when that happens, those people retire."

Kite put away his sword, but uplifted his fist in respect. "Now that's a challenge I can get behind. Only the strong should be allowed to sustain such a high rank close to the champion."

"Of course, the standing elites are always allowed to challenge the champion to a duel once every three months, without needing to re-enter the Catalyst Grove, and without needing to satisfy those three conditions. If such an elite wins, then the ranks between the two are swapped out. Thus, that new champion can rule for about three months, or until some total random tough guy kicks him off the throne with a normal championship battle. Since you need to acquire all four chains of consecutive wins from each elite to officially challenge the champion as an outsider, this is why they've inherited the name as the Eldora Chain."

"Then that means..." Danton took a moment of silence to process it all. There are five people standing here. Technically, it is possible for all of Trujima to replace the entire Eldora Chain, with one of them becoming the new champion of Sprawn Valley. "Trujima actually can replace those ranks."

"Come on," Kite warped. "You really think all of us are okay with just one of us being champion? Everyone here will be aiming for the top. And you can't enter the Catalyst Grove while aiming for the champion in the same moment. Isn't that right, Gleeon?"

"That is correct," he answered. "However, if just one of us becomes champion, it would be more efficient for the rest of us to take over the jobs of the other elites. That way, after it's all done, challenging the new champion as well as each other won't have the consequences of getting kicked out for a period of time."

"He does make an excellent point," Kite murmured. He turned to the whole group, facing all of them in the proposal. "Is everyone okay with that arrangement then? I assume you all realize by now that the strongest of us all based on my latest rankings are still Danton and myself. But if any of you think you're ready to challenge us both and win, speak up now. Otherwise," Kite summarized while looking Danton dead in his serious face, "The fight for the champion battles will only be between you and me."

It makes sense those two would go at it so aggressively. Mainne just smiled and said, "I'll be fine. I can always defeat the new champion after everything settles."

Gleeon was of the same mind, and vocally accused himself as such. "I will wait in the shadows as well, striking only when absolutely necessary. Besides, even if you are turned into a standing elite, your salary pay is supposedly really high."

Vanoss held his tongue no longer, and he became eager to whip out his blade and beat down the tougher opponent. "Then I guess we'll all wait to see which one of them is stronger. And then, I'll fight whoever makes it to the top."

"By waiting," Mainne interjected, "I hope you mean compete in the Catalyst Grove before standing by. I know I'm having all that action too."

"Of course that's what I meant. Now let's get some training already!" Vanoss knew he would need a sparring partner, and he didn't care who it was. Mainne was more preferable since she nearly matches his own speed and dodging style, but having a picnic usually implies some kind of action afterwards.

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Chapter Theme Shift: Northland (Alternative) ~ Antti Martikainen

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Though Mainne wasn't expecting any kind of battle or training right after the picnic, she was dragged into it by popular vote. Even Danton knew he needed some experience wielding his new staff. Gleeon however volunteered to train with Danton before Mainne could ask him, and Vanoss wanted to spare with her style of expertise as well. Luckily this time, Mainne had also decided to shift her style into a new format, going forward with new and powerful spells designed to freeze and slow down the target.

Kite as usual preferred solo training, likely to hide anything new he learned from Danton. He kept asking Gleeon a few more times how Lawrence battles, but got the answer he didn't need. Gleeon didn't know, and even discouraged Kite from going with that strategy, since the champion likely uses no single strategy to battle. So the afternoon drifted by slowly while everyone got back into their most enjoyable instinct of pleasure.

Danton focused his mind while holding the Luminous Artemus. The style of using a staff was absolutely different in more ways than he initially realized. To begin with, when charging MP energy, you can't centralize that sensation to your arm or your hand. Doing so will make the spell fail while holding the staff. Instead, you have to charge all of that MP energy and somehow centralize the location to be at the end point tip of the staff while holding it, in this case the crystal at the end of the staff. The item becomes an extension of your own magical aura as a result. Danton was holding and pointing the staff correctly, but trying to change the method of charging energy was more difficult than he imagined. By the time he did at least master a low-level spell, his sight to be unexpected caused Danton to lose focus again and fail for the fiftieth time. Apparently, the glyphrings that normally surround one's wrist relocate to spin around the crystal part of the staff itself, and that means you also have to aim the tip of the staff at your target when launching projectile spells.

Gleeon wasn't much help getting Danton to battle with the staff, and making him train with his old style was simply out of the question. Danton was dead set on mastering this staff trick tonight. He said he was going to defeat those at J-H road including the gradyent and eventually the champion using the Luminous Artemus. At least in theory, the idea was somehow fitting.

Luminous Artemus. Danton remembered not only the name of his staff, but the description attached to its supposed special effects. They say that with Luminous Artemus, the staff will more likely power the user up whenever they present and master a strong will to expel magical power. That is to mean, the user must require enough will power mostly above everyone else in order to get the real effects from the staff. But such descriptions as ominous as that are just sales gimmicks and lure tactics, only as effective as an old rumor.

Danton tried to be strong willed either way, and after a whole hour, he didn't get very far. He did eventually learn to shoot a few low-level spells from the crystal of the staff, but in doing so, there wasn't any noticeable difference in the power level, which is supposed to be amplified. It must really take a lot of practice. People often say it could take years to effectively learn how to make it work. However, he and the others don't have a year of time. Danton already announced the plan after tonight's training exercise. They will make way to Tacyon Port just east of Lennith's town, and rent a large boat to sail all the way to Eldora City. Lots of people usually hang out on J-H road just before the standing point for the city's gradyent, so there are plenty of challenges along the way. Some challengers at sea even agree to battle as soon as they arrive on land. Either way, Danton knew he would need to concentrate harder and speed up his pace to fight using a staff, and there was a long way to go.

Kite never said anything about Danton's useless tactics to battle with a staff instead of a sword. He wished Danton would at least fight with blades against him when the time comes, since he too decided to go with a different tactic. Kite knew it can sometimes be challenging, but with a totally different battle style easy enough for himself to pull off, nobody, not even Danton will be able to overcome such great technique and skill. It's funny how the guy thinks we can all pull this off in just a week of time and planning. But who knows? Maybe the people in that tower are just a group of weaklings. Nobody will be able to stand up to the might of Trujima.