"13:50. That's a four-second improvement, onto weapons repetition. Give me six motions with the shortsword." Hearing Jace's words, Agni nodded, panting slightly, walking fully into the grass lawn littered with makeshift obstacles and barricades. She first retrieved a silver sword from a weapons rack by the polished wood walls of the covered patio, where Jace sat, his chest and arm bound in thick bandages visible beneath his overcoat.

Wiping sweat from her brow Agni jogged to one of the wooden constructs, an approximation of a Prowler. She raised the sword to a ready position, the blade angled slightly outward at chest height. Jace shouted a quick "Now!" and she lunged at the dummy, swinging the sword downward violently.

It was a little over a week since their group returned. After defeating the new beast species, a monster no less, more resident hunters entered the fray, carrying the hammer-wielding warrior alongside Jace and Alkir within the relative safety of the walls. It took Jace almost seven hours to regain consciousness, immediately going to speak with Ava as soon as he could even talk. His requests were heard, and they spoke privately for another hour or so while the others were treated for various wounds.

Alkir had numerous fractures on his ribs, and his spine suffered bruising, Nell sustained a broken rib and quite a few lacerations, among which were those he gave himself, and Agni had a fractured left arm and multiple cuts to her back. All said the fact they made it out was a miracle. No. It was the needle. An explanation for what they had taken the journey to collect came after Jace's and Ava's meeting.

Supposedly it was a remnant of the times gods interacted with the world, whatever that was supposed to mean, and was a weapon of Astrinar's. As the goddess of the cycle of life, one of its properties was the ability to instantly teleport anywhere the user had been before, with the caveat that the greater the distance and time that the user had been on the anchor point, the greater the mana used to get there. Hence Jace immediately collapsed after its use. He was on death's door, he had expended his mana reserves too many times.

"And good! Now, run the course, grab a dagger, and move to the second target after." Again Agni heeded Jace's word, having just dealt what would've been a killing blow to the wooden beast's ribcage, and returned the sword to its place on the weapon rack, right between a slightly rusted mace and a spear, taking just a moment to stretch before dashing to a low wooden wall, vaulting over and continuing her motion to the more enormous sloped wall, and running what was an obstacle course of sorts.

Jace should be dead. Not just for the over expenditure of mana, but more simply due to the mortal blows dealt to his body. A two-inch hole in the chest, a severed arm, severe lacerations, and major blood loss would be more than enough to do anyone in, god's servant or not. But whatever kept him living he chose to keep to himself, leaving most of the exposition on the importance of the plan to reduce the monster population.

The beast from when they had arrived was the first to venture so close to the walls, and among the more violent, but in total five more monsters had been identified in the Wilds around Rueka, and the few informants from nearby settlements, Speza included, relayed much the same. Wesnile's predictions were indeed coming true.

Once the beast population swells, as it will with no real opposition due to humanity's restrained conditions, one of two, or perhaps both, scenarios will occur. Option one is the increase of beast sightings within the nearby wilds, alongside the increased variety, whereas normally only a recurrent species will enter the territory. Option two is the spawning of monsters from beasts.

With the world's high affinity with the Aether, it would stand to reason that given time evolution would allow certain beasts to adapt and gain access to said Aether, much the same as humanity. This second option was Wesnile's personal belief, backed up by his findings as a career Explorers Union member including a supposed 'lost keep' within the woodland's far reaches that depicted old humans fighting creatures wielding true magic with magic of their own. And while that last bit was never confirmed, the rest of Wesnile's prestige was more than sufficient to make its way into a contingency for either of these scenarios occurring.

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"Now, dagger, take down the second target!" Jace surveyed the girl, vaulting over a wooden hurdle Agni quickly grabbed a large knife from a smaller weapon rack nearby, turning and facing the second wooden beast, much smaller, no bigger than the average dog. She was quick to engage, running head-on and rolling to the right, thrusting the dagger into the scratched wood of its neck.

"Very good, here, come grab some water." Jace looked content, Agni's progress in the last few days was promising, and the obstacle course built up physical attributes in a practical manner, which meant a better survival chance in the real world. Agni pushed off the grass and back onto her feet, breathing heavily and wiping sweat from her face, even though this was a daily routine now, it still was quite difficult, as rigorous training tends to be.

"Well done, not only did your time improve, but you dealt more efficient blows, and each repetition shows clear improvement. I'm very proud of you." Jace's words were true, he handed Agni a metal cup filled with crystal clear water, brisk and chilled, with an approving look. As she drank up he looked back out to the impromptu course, the barricades, dummies, and racks had been serving their purpose, and had clear signs of wear, although his experienced eye differentiated the older marks from the new. Again Jace nodded.

The main contingency, given to all branches of the Hunter's Association, was quite simple if the population swells to such a point that either scenario occurs, a purge must be conducted. The members of the association are expected to undertake this ordeal, grouping up and sweeping out into the wilds on extermination missions, but in practicality, no such event has ever occurred, as the need has yet to arise.

and with that comes a new problem...

Jace looked back over to his charge, she was still breathing heavily but had cooled off a substantial amount, still with his faithful smile Jace continued, "That is that for morning training, the day is yours!" The girl nodded at his words, downing the final bit of water and handing the cup back off to Jace with a cheery "thanks!" before turning on her heels and walking back out through the same side channel she entered the yard from, leaving the older man alone among the wooden facsimiles.

Turning toward the house Jace sighed, his gaze grew tired, his smile faltered, and he rested his sight on a glinting object deep within the wood shelter, a glittering spike of glamourous metal, seemingly attracting the light from outside and pulling it in, shining brightly than it should.

"You really do... Ah whatever, not that it matters..." With a hefty sigh, Jace stepped beyond the threshold, taking a parting glance back at the obstacle course before letting the door shut behind him.

Deeper within the core of the sprawling maze of wood and stone a squat building sat, just along the edge of the paved road, one with elaborate and expensive glass panes adorning its walls, one in which the hum and drum of the outside world failed to penetrate, leaving a sense of peace and tranquility within. Aside from the five armor and weapon-clad figures loudly talking amongst themselves and the lone person behind a neatly-carved and polished wooden counter.

"Look, I already told you, until we get triple pay, our group isn't going to do squat! It's near suicide, so at least provide some better incentive!" The crowd's leader, a man looking it be in his mid-thirties, directly this line toward the girl behind the counter in particular, prompting his compatriots to cease their ends of the conversation and listen in.

"As I said, double is already pushing the limits of what we have, without your help this city could very well fall anyways!" She spoke in a raised but compassionate tone, seemingly trying to talk the leader down from his high-strung demeanor, but the undertones in her voice were enough to tell that this was only the latest in a long line of attempts to reason with him.

"Well, again, triple pay or nothing. Either that or show us that some other hunters are here." Looking only more irritated the man turned and stormed out, gesturing at his followers to do what they did best, follow, two lingered for a few moments, muttering their apologies and looking sincerely sorry before dashing out after their group.

Alone in the building, the girl sighed to herself, letting her face drop toward the floor for a moment before regaining her composure as she turned to face a door in the side wall. Stepping out from the counter and toward the heavy wood panel she rested a hand on the handle, taking a moment to get a bit more cooled down before proceeding within, heading directly for yet another door beyond, knocking on this next one quickly before pulling it open.

"Rise and shine! Sitting in bed isn't doing your health any favors!"

A boy lay on a cot of a bed beyond the door's threshold, he glanced over and gave the girl a sour look for a passing moment, shifting the covers as he sat up, a dull thud resonated out as a sword still in its scabbard clattered on the floor, having slid off the bed as the boy moved. "I'm injured, cut me some slack."

He grabbed the ash-white leather hilt and pulled the covered blade back up, pointing the scabbard at the girl in mock threat.