The day went by quickly as the three of them ventured through Gladesdale, seeing what it had to offer. There were plenty of places to visit from shops and stalls to casinos and pubs, there was even a large public park to stroll through.

They would eventually get around to seeing everything since Gladesdale wasn't exactly a massive city, but it was large enough that it would take an entire day to do so.

During their exploration through Gladesdale, they spent most of their time browsing the various shops and stalls that lined the city's streets as the vast majority of the city was devoted to commerce.

Bo found himself intrigued by many of the wares being sold as he had never seen them before, and even Sera agreed that most of the items were strange or unique. That was just the nature of the Bridges market.

It was surprising at just how many unique things Bo saw being sold. Obviously there were artifacts and each one differed from another, but people also sold services using their artifacts, creature companions or embers.

One such stall sold the option to change your eye color using a convocation made from the saliva of their creature companion. One drop and your eye could be whatever color you wanted— a little gross of a concept but many people still purchased it.

The most popular store they visited was a massive store called “The Coffee Hive” which sold a beverage called coffee.

The owner of the establishment had a creature companion they showcased around called a coffee bee, and like a normal bee it produced honey, but its honey was a little special. Instead of its honey normal golden brown color, this one was light tanned brown and when it was mixed into a drink, it would give people a boost of energy.

Sera brought them into the store to try it out and Bo was amazed at just how many people queued up as well.

It must be a miraculous drink for this many people to be here.

Once the gang acquired their coffees, Bo tried one and almost immediately spat it out.

‘Bitter!’ Bo dreaded the taste, but with a few cubes of sugar Sera plopped into his drink, the taste became a little better.

Venturing through the city was taxing so whenever they got hungry, they would find a stall selling anything that smelled good and purchase an arm full of food. Bo didn't have any money to buy anything but thankfully Sera said she would treat them today as thanks for saving her before.

Their next few stops were around the heart of the city where most of the government buildings and administrative buildings were found. You couldn't forget the most important building for citizens of Gladesdale, the Crossers Guild.

Bringing everything together was the Lodestone that stood in the center surrounded by every other building. The lodestone was a tall monolith structure that dwarfed any other building around and stood out with its eerie black body. An almost invisible hum echoed from its body, leaving you in wonder and mystery at what it was.

Bo even saw a few people using the lodestone to head back to Arcon. It was quick, all they had to do was touch their badge to the lodestone and they'd immediately be transported away.

They didn't stay there for long since there wasn't much else to see beside the lodestone or the crossers guild. They didn’t go into the crosser guild yet since they would definitely be going later to sign up, but for today they just wanted to get to see everything first.

The best stop, at least for Bo, was when they stopped at another large plaza where all the entertainment businesses were located. The plaza had a large stage setup where bands of bards would be constantly performing to the crowds.

There were also many displays of incredible feats with embers, or performers showcasing their coordination with their creature companion. It was all spectacular to watch.

The day quickly came to close with their last stop being a nice relaxing walk through the one public park Gladesdale had to offer. After the walk they found a nice bench and plopped onto it, tired from the long and enjoyable day.

“So where are you guys going after this? I know you told me you didn't have a place to stay so you bunk at my place if you want.” She directed the last part to Bo.

“That would be great thanks.” Bo thanked her.

“I still need to visit my place, but after that… if you wouldn't mind me coming along as well.” Iris embarrassingly asked, causing Sera to laugh at her blushing face.

“Of course!” Sera exclaimed. “My house is open to you guys whenever you want!”

Iris smiled and suddenly suggested, “Do you guys wanna come with me while I stop by my place?”

“Ohh an adventure! Yes please” Sera cheered.

Bo didn't need convincing and they soon headed back through the park to Iris’s home.

Her house was tucked away in a small corner of the residential zone, a ways away from where the Might residence was located.

It was a skinny two story house closely smudged between two houses on either side of it. There were no front or back yards for these small houses, but they had decent living space on the inside.

There were no decorations on the outside of her house, her walls and windows were even covered with vines and moss, but when Iris unlocked the door and brought them inside… it was even worse than the outside.

Potted plants and herbs were strewn about, various books and papers were laying everywhere they shouldn't be. It was just a mess.

But for Iris, this was home.

She took a deep whiff and ran over to her thing, trying to clean up a little since it was embarrassing to have such a messy room but quickly gave up because Sera and Bo said they didn't mind.

She cleared off her small dinner table, and gestured for them to take a seat. Iris prepared them a mildly sweet beverage, and told them she had to grab and sort some things and then they could leave.

After 10 minutes, Iris came running down the stairs with her same old backpack full to the brim with things, ready to take off.

They left back to Sera’s place.

Bo— well more so Iris was no longer uncomfortable arriving at the Might residence, and actually felt pretty comfortable being back here.

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They found themselves back in the basement, now decompressing the long day by chilling out on a soft couch together.

The entrance of their room was suddenly flung open and Madeline Might walked into the room.

“What are you doing here mom?” Sera asked not sure why her mother barged in.

“Am I not allowed to come see my daughter?” Madeline smiled but her face tensed up and her neck snapped towards Iris’s direction. “Well I'm actually here for this one.”

Iris's face paled and she gulped. “W-what? Huh?”

Madeline bounded over next to Iris and her tall frame overshadowed onto Iris’s meek body sitting on the couch.

Sera jolted out of her seat and stood in front of her mom. “You're scaring her mom!”

Madeline raised an eyebrow, surprised at the fact Sera was standing up to her, but she realized what she did wrong and plopped onto the couch opposite Iris, right next to Bo.

“Sorry about that, didn't mean to worry you.” Madeline assured Iris. “I was just looking for you and finally found you after a long day.”

“W-why were y-you looking for me?” Iris stammered out trying her best to not look nervous.

“Im looking for the producer of a potion that was being supplied to the Friendly Alchemist.” Madeline said. “Would you happen to be the supplier of their relaxant potion?”

“I am…” Iris replied, not sure where this was going.

Madeline eyes lit up. “Is the reason you stopped supplying potions because you were stuck here?”

“Ya…”

“Then are you gonna continue supplying the store because I really need one.” Madeline leaned in waiting for Iris’s response.

“Well I was, but then we decided to party up as crossers so I wouldn't be able to supply them after we leave Gladesdale.”

Madeline sat back, and crossed her legs in thought.

“I have a proposition I think you'd like.” Madeline started. “You guys are planning to be crossers and are gonna need funds to purchase equipment and such correct?”

They all nodded at that.

“Then how about I purchase 100— no 150 relaxant potions from you in advance and I'll pay double the price you normally sell them at.” Madeline explained. “This way you get a large amount of funds you can use, and I'll have a large supply of your potion.”

Iris fidgeted her fingers in thought before saying. “I do like that idea, but I can only make so many potions in a day. It would take me… over a month to make 150 potions.”

“There's an easy solution to this if you can make potions out in the wild.”

“I can.”

“Good, then I have a wild artifact capable of transporting items between two different locations.” Madeline proposed. “I'll give you one half and you can send me potions through it.”

“If you guys stay for longer too, you can trade me potions for other things you need. A pretty good deal if I think.” Madeline continued and stuck her hand out.

Iris looked to Sera and Bo who nodded.

“Okay deal.” She shook hands with the famous Madeline Might.

“Come to me before you leave and I'll set everything up. Good luck!” Madeline promptly walked out of the room after that, happy she got what she came for.

Iris sat back wiping a bead of sweat off her forehead.

“Sorry, she's a little forward and unrelenting.” Sera apologized to Iris.

“N-no, that's fine.” Iris said.

The three hung out for a few more minutes, talking about future possibilities they could take when Sera said something very important.

“Before we actually begin preparing for the Bridge, we need to have an important discussion.” Sera got the attention of them.

“Like my mother said earlier today, we need to be ready and prepared but most importantly we need trust.” Sera looked at them. “I trust you two, I hope you two trust me but even then I think we need to… dig deeper if we are really going to do this.”

“How so?” Bo asked.

“I believe as a party, we need to know each other's strengths, weaknesses and abilities. If we don't know what each other is capable of, then things could get messy later on.”

They understood this was a necessary part of being a party. You couldn't put your full trust in someone during a battle if you didn't know what they were capable of.

As for Bo, he was a little nervous talking about himself, he wasn't even sure if he should bring up how he came to be.

He didn't have time to think about it as Sera said. “I'll go first.”

“As you know my parents are quite powerful crossers and they have taught me since I was a baby so my martial prowess is better than most. I've told you about my ember since it's pretty simple, I can increase my strength and regenerate my body but it burns through my energy. Lastly, my badge weapon is a battle ax.”

Sera summoned forth her badge weapon to show it off before saying, “I would say my greatest weakness would be my straightforward habit of diving at things head first. That's about it, my skill set is pretty simple, what about you guys?”

Iris spoke up first. “I… I have no fighting skills whatsoever, which isn't really great for being a crosser but my ember and knowledge should make up for my lack of physical ability. ”

She cleared her throat before continuing. “I've read basically every book about the bridge so when it comes to knowledge, I'd like to think I'm more versed than most others. As for my ember it allows me to create potions with only two materials. I just need two items, activate my ember and then it makes a potion.”

“Unfortunately not every two items equals a potion, I've only successfully found five combinations that make potions. I can also only make three a day.” She continued.

“That explains a lot of questions I've had.” Bo said. “What potions have you made?”

“A relaxant, an explosive, the screaming and stink potion you've seen and a strange one that shoots out rock shards.” Iris answered.

“Woah, that's cool!” Sera’s eyes sparkled. “A very useful support ability, couldn't the possibilities of your potions be endless as long as you keep finding new materials to try it out on?”

“Yes, that's right!” Iris cheerfully responded in kind. “Especially if we go into the bridge, with the materials there I could try out my ember with so many different combinations.”

Lastly it came Bo’s turn.

“Well… umm this metallic body isn't my ember, It's actually something else.” Bo stammered.

“Then how'd you get your body like that?” Sera bluntly asked.

“Ah… it's hard to explain—”

Before Bo could continue Sera made sure he understood something. “Don't worry Bo, you don't need to spill all your secrets, if you want to tell us you can, if you don’t want to then don't.”

“Most of the time, having secrets from each other is fine as long as we can trust each other and I trust you.” Sera finished.

“Thanks.” Bo smiled and then explained his ember to them and the fact he had never used it before since he was new to the bridge.

[ Ember | Formless into Form — Access the formless items of living beings and turn them into form. ]

[ Restrictions: Use the souls of beings you've slain to power the ember. ]

Sera and Iris both sat in silence thinking about what his ember meant but nothing came to mind.

“There's only one way to find out what it does. You gotta go out and kill something.” Sera said. “For now we can leave that, are there any other strengths or weaknesses you have?”

“You've seen me training, so you know how strong I am and have seen my utter lack of fighting talent. My skin is also pretty hard, I'm not sure how much but we can test it out later as well.” Bo answered.

“That's about it.” Bo finished and with that, they continued talking more in depth about their next steps forward before calling it night.

Tomorrow would start the beginning of their preparation and according to Sera, she estimated they would be ready to leave in a few months.

Bo sat in bed with the spiraling thoughts of the future crashing into his mind but even though the thought of taking on the bridge was a little scary, he couldn't help feeling excited.

This is where the adventure of his life truly begins!

~END of Prologue.