They walked into the sanctuary and saw Jorron sitting at one of the tables enjoying his lunch, he turned to see who had arrived.

He looked confused seeing them back so soon, but still waved at them, “Welcome back!”

They all joined him at the table, flopping down onto the seats, exhausted and defeated.

“What’s up? You guys don't look so happy.” Jorron asked, taking a bite out of his food.

“The damn Rookie Hunters you talked about, found us.” Sera gritted her teeth. “They took most of our wild artifacts, our potions, and even our money.”

Jorron pursed his mouth and nodded in understanding. “Sorry to hear that. Those bandits have been causing a mess for the last decade and I always hate when it happens.”

He went on to explain, “It's unfortunate because nothing can really be done against them, at least for the most part. Arcon has no power here since it's harder to build a base or navigate these woods than even the Sea of Misery. We only have this sanctuary because a powerful crosser from centuries ago spent most of his life building this.”

“While I say that, Arcon has tried to get rid of the Rookie Hunters before but they are simply too nimble in this environment. Really there's only way they’ll disappear and that's if the Keeper deals with them herself.” Jorron sighed after that long rant.

“If the Keeper can deal with them, why doesn't she?” Iris asked, wondering what the reason for her inactivity was.

“The Keeper and the Rookie Hunters have a truce going on for a few reasons that I'm not too sure about. I know at least that the Rookie Hunters won't harm or kill anyone and in exchange, she wont go after them. If they break this one rule then the Keeper won't hold back and will purge them from this section for good.”

“She's that powerful?” Bo chimed in, wondering how one person could take an entire group of crossers with unknown strengths.

“Oh ya, the Keeper is powerful alright!” Jorron leaned in. “I'll have you know, she was one of the only people ever to teach Madeline Might, one of the only 5 star crossers!”

“She taught my mother!?” Sera said loudly.

“Your mother?” Jorron looked confused for a second before he took a closer look at Sera and finally the dots connected. “You’re her daughter?! You do look exactly like her!”

“Ya I get that a lot.” Sera said. “But back to the Keeper, she taught my mother?”

Jorron cleared his throat. “Yes she did, I was the apprentice of the old explorer when Madeline Might arrived at the sanctuary.”

“She was rambunctious, wild, and powerful for a rookie in the second section. On the first day she arrived in the sanctuary, she asked where the strongest person was and challenged them to fight. The strongest person was obviously the Keeper, so Madeline brazenly walked right into her room and yelled, "Fight Me!””

“The Keeper agreed to fight and while fighting, she easily managed to subdue Madeline in only a few seconds. This pissed Madeline off so she asked for a rematch, and over and over again she kept asking for another rematch. After about 2 hours, the Keeper had enough and finally beat Madeline up for real.”

“Beaten and bruised, your mother got up, wiping a stream of blood gushing down her nose, and asked the Keeper with a smile, “Teach me how you did that!””

“What happened after that?” Bo was enamored in the story, wondering where it went from here. Iris and Sera were also leaning closer, wanting to listen to the rest.

“The Keeper rejected her since she didn't want to teach someone so brazen and unhinged as Madeline… at least at first but after a week of non stop pestering, the Keeper finally broke down and said she would teach her.”

“I didn't see the training happening, but I would occasionally watch them fight against each other in the training room during my free time, or see Madeline walk back into the sanctuary covered in blood and monster guts.”

“She was only here for roughly a month or two and left after that to take on the trial. Didn't see her after that so I assume she went onto the next section.”

The three took in the story, and then locked eyes with each other, all thinking the same thing.

What if the Keeper could train them as well?

“Jorron, do you think we could convince the Keeper to train us?” Sera asked.

He rubbed his stubbled chin before responding, “Possibly, but nowadays the Keeper has been more reclusive than ever before, I haven't even seen her leave her room for over a year at this point”

“She’s also never taught anyone else besides Madeline since my time here, at least not that I've seen.” He added on. “Some have tried before, but no one has succeeded.”

“If this is a shot at getting stronger, I wanna try it!” Bo said.

Getting stronger was the only answer to most things on the Bridge.

Someone robbed you? You should’ve been stronger. A monster killed you? You should've been stronger. Couldn't protect your friends? You should’ve been stronger.

It was a simple idea, but still hard to do nonetheless as the quest for power and strength was never ending.

“Are you guys in as well?” Bo stood up and asked Sera and Iris who didn't hesitate and nodded.

“Let's go then!” They all stood up and approached the Keepers door at the end of the hallway.

“Wait right now?” Jorron followed after them. “I must ask you to not annoy the Keeper if she says no, please?”

They didn't respond as they were fully concentrated on thinking of ways to convince the Keeper to train them.

Who was gonna knock? That question rang in their minds, but it didn't take long before Sera took the lead. Her mother did this before, so as her daughter, she should be able to do it just the same.

Knock Knock!

Loud thudding footsteps came from behind the door, slowly approaching until the door opened and a creature's face came into view.

The creature was humanoid but looked like it had fallen off a tree, its skin was made of bark and had tiny branches and vines that hung off it. Its eye sockets were hollow with red glowing dots coming from inside, that looked them up and down.

“Greetings.” An old raspy voice came out of the creature's mouth. “What pleasure do I owe you three visitors?”

Before it could get an answer from them, it looked past them and saw Jorron. “Oh, Jorron. It's been quite some time, how is everything on the outside?”

“Hey Graylock! it's been pretty good, except for those Rookie Hunters still causing trouble for everyone.”

“Ah, yes.” Graylock’s body creaked as it moved its limbs into a thinking position. “Those rascals are still causing trouble?”

“Oh ya, lots of it. They seem to be expanding as well.”

“Is that why you have come here? To warn Lady Weist of the problem?”

Jorron shook his head. “Not yet, today these three have something they want to ask the Keeper.”

“Hm?” Graylock once again looked them up and down before asking, “What have you three come to seek?”

Sera stepped forward and announced with a confident voice. “We’d like to see if the Keeper could train us!”

Graylock raised an ‘eyebrow’ before responding, “It's been a while since someone has come seeking training from Lady Weist.”

After a long pause, Graylock continued saying, “It's not impossible, rather it will be quite challenging I presume. The last person to ask was thoroughly beaten up and quit being a crosser for good. That was almost 15 years ago.”

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Graylock stopped talking as his mind wandered into his memories of old.

“We're ready to accept any kind of challenge, right guys?” Sera said and Bo and Iris nodded with a serious face.

“Hm, alright. I'll ask the Lady, but it must be known she doesn't like when she is disturbed. If you waste her time, the consequences are unknown, do you understand?”

“Yes!”

“Give me a minute.” Graylock closed the door on them.

It was a long and nerve wrecking minute or two as they waited outside the door, hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

Eventually the door opened back up wide and Graylock stood there motioning for them to come inside. They steadied their minds once more before walking in, no matter what, they wanted to become stronger, they couldn't falter here.

Jorron didn't follow them into the room because he wasn't part of their group, but instead waited outside hoping them the best of luck.

The room was pretty large but mostly empty. It seemed there were more rooms connected to this main chamber but they didn't know what those rooms were.

This main chamber was lit by a few glow sap lanterns that were hung around the walls of the room, dimly illuminating the empty room which only had the single soft wooden floor.

Sitting crossed legged in the middle of the room was a dark skinned woman with long dreadlocks. She wore a unique black robe with a gray flower pattern and had a bright red blindfold covering her eyes.

Resting on her lap was a katana with a blood red blade and a white hilt.

As they got closer to the lady while walking into the room, they could feel an invisible pressure bearing down onto them, even her katana seemed to hum with a palpable bloodlust.

This lady was powerful, was the first thought that came to their minds.

She turned her head to look at them and the pressure they felt increased, Iris began to sweat and struggle under the pressure but Bo put his hand on her shoulder, calming her down.

She couldnt be the one to drag them down, even though she wasn't a fighter, that didn't mean she could take it easy, so she concentrated and resisted the pressure with resolution.

“What do you want?” The Keeper asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Sera gulped, but pulled herself together. ”We're here to ask you to train us. Please!” Sera bluntly stated and bowed.

Bo and Iris panicked a bit at her sudden bow, but followed suit and bowed to the Keeper.

“...It's been a few years since someone last asked me to train them.” The Keeper said.

“Actually Lady Weist, it's been roughly 15 years.” Graylock corrected her.

“15 years? It's been that long already?” The Keeper stood up in one fluid motion, her katana cleanly following along in her hand.

She approached them, who were still bowing, with her katana resting on her shoulder and stopped only when she was right in front of them.

“No need to bow, I'm not one for formality— not anymore at least.” She spoke in a gentle voice but the pressure was all the more powerful.

They stopped bowing and stood up with straightened backs and serious faces, staring right at her with confidence. They couldn't look weak or intimidated, they needed to show they were serious about this.

“I don't teach anyone who comes to my doorstep, I only teach those with potential and those with true motivations. Lets hope you have one or the other or you’d have wasted my time.” She said and walked to the back of the room and opened a door that led to another room.

“Follow me.”

They went through the door and found themselves in another empty room similar to the training room, but this one was smaller and made of wood.

This seemed to be the Keeper’s personal training room.

The Keeper stopped when she got to the middle of the room, she unsummoned her katana and stood there with her hands behind her back.

“Come at me with everything you have— with the intent to kill.” She uttered seriously. “Don't worry if you actually kill me, that would mean I would have no need to teach you.”

They metalized their weapons in response, looked at each other silently understanding what they had to do, and prepared to fight the Keeper.

Sera rushed in first, swinging her great ax with her ember activated at x10 the power— she was taking this seriously.

The Keeper dodged Sera’s swing easily and then ducked under Bo’s follow up attack that came immediately afterward.

The two continued a relentless assault on the Keeper but all she did was dodge at the last moment like it was a walk in the park.

Iris was in the back waiting for her chance to strike. Luckily the Rookie Hunters hadn’t taken the raw ingredients that Iris had brought along or found throughout the journey, which she used to create her potions.

She took two ingredients and activated her ember. The ingredients turned into dust and formed into a glass bottle with an orange liquid.

Suddenly she whistled which was the signal they decided when she was about to throw a potion at the enemy. Bo and Sera jumped out of the way as an orange potion came soaring through the air right at the Keeper.

The Keeper reacted and in a flash of movement, rushed past the potion flying overhead heading right towards Iris.

She unclasped her hands behind her back and struck a palm out towards Iris.

Iris put her staff in front of her, knowing she couldn't dodge in time and took the Keeper’s powerful blow. The force of the strike sent her stumbling across the training room and eventually she hit a wall which stopped her in her tracks.

“Iris!” Bo yelled and attacked the Keeper with more ferocity.

Sera did the same and turned her ember up even more, attacking the Keeper with everything she had. Her swings were powerful enough to create powerful gusts of wind with every attack, but even then, the Keeper dodged the attacks.

This time though, the Keeper attacked back by parrying one of Sera’s swings and then releasing a palm strike to her chest.

Even with her ember empowering her multiple times over, Sera still took a few steps back after that attack.

The sound of the exploding potion rang out on the other side of the room but that didn't stop anyone in their tracks. The fight was raging on with the Keeper throwing in an occasional strike here and there.

Bo was a hit a few times, but luckily his body was durable and the strikes didn't seem to affect him too much.

Unfortunately, he could see the exhaustion and hunger start to appear on Sera’s face from having her ember activated for so long at such a high state. She would maybe last a minute or a little less before she keeled over.

In the corner of his eye, he spotted Iris silently crawling behind the Keeper with her staff at the ready. She nodded at Bo and charged at the Keeper who was busy dealing with his and Sera’s attacks.

Iris raised her staff up and swung it at the Keeper’s head but before it could land, the Keeper kicked out behind her and it slammed into Iris once again sending her flying.

Eventually, after taking a hit to the side, Sera dropped to her knees as she had no energy to continue. Her ember deactivated and she flopped onto her butt.

She tried to stand up but her vision blurred and she fell back down. Sera was out for the count.

“You’ve done enough, leave the rest to us Sera!” Bo shouted.

“That's right! We can do this!” Iris shouted after standing up with blood dripping down her nose.

The Keeper smiled for the first time. “Let's see what you two can do then!”

Bo smirked leaving the Keeper confused.

‘What's he gonna do, I wonder?’ The Keeper wanted to see what was in store. This was the first time she’s had fun for the last decade or two, she wanted it to continue.

“I didn't want to use this yet, but I feel like there is no better time to test it out.” Bo remarked and summoned a third of the intense fury powder that he had stored from Iris— and snorted it.

“Huh?” The Keeper was confused but then she finally took a defensive stance, which she had not done yet.

Black mist spewed forth from Bo’s body and he looked up at the Keeper, his eyes were no longer the metallic bronze but instead an intense black.

His muscles swelled in size and his mind only had one feeling surging through it— Fury!

He burst towards the Keeper with untold speed and wildly swung his machete down at her with his full power amplified by the fury powder.

The Keeper summoned her katana and parried the strike, “Your mind isn't stable, get a hold of yourself.”

Bo couldn't hear what she said and continued to recklessly attack the Keeper while screaming with rage and bloodlust.

“Okay that's enough from you.” The Keeper brushed past Bo’s swings and punched him in the face, sending him flying into the wall and knocking him out.

She unsummoned her katana and looked at Sera and Bo on the floor, “I guess that's all then.”

“I'm not done yet!” Iris shouted from behind and ran at the Keeper.

Bang!

She was once again sent flying, but nonetheless, she stood back up using her staff as a crutch, ready to go at it again.

Bang…Bang…Bang…

She kept getting up, more bruised and injured every time but she persisted, she couldn't afford to give up, not when they had the chance to get stronger.

“You wont give up will you?” The Keeper finally said after knocking Iris down for the seventh time.

“Never!”

After a brief pause, the Keeper said. “Okay, that's enough then, the test is over.”

“Huh?”

“You still want to keep getting sent flying?”

“W-well I'd rather not, but I'm prepared to do so.”

The Keeper smiled. “Good. I like your spirit. Come now, let's get you and your friends healed back up”

“Did we pass?” Iris stammered “W-will you teach us?”

“Hmmm.” The Keeper crossed her arms in thought before replying. “I think so.”

“Is that a yes?”

“I think so.” The Keeper said before picking up Bo and Sera with each arm and carrying them out of the room.

‘What does that mean!?’ Iris freaked out not getting a straight answer from the Keeper. She used her staff to help her follow after the Keeper who left her room and went into Dr. Thorns room.