Kya’s Notes
Each magical creature, monster, item, and user has a rating of one to five stars. This isn’t just a determination of how powerful they are in isolation, but how much power they can exhibit when push comes to shove. From there, each star is broken down into five more categories, Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. According to Alder, this can sometimes be an even more important factor than the actual star level. A Legendary 1-Star can sometimes be more dangerous and difficult to kill than a Common 2-Star.
----------------------------------------
Sayrin woke early, already mostly rested from the trip yesterday, and went out into the barracks courtyard. He was once again struck by the simple beauty of the buildings in Rosoon, even the simple barracks looked hand designed by masterful architects with columns and arches all etched with intricate designs. He had around an hour before the rest of his men should start waking, and another hour after that before they were due to form up. As they had arrived late into the night, and because some of the soldiers had brought along family, Sayrin had made the generous choice to allow for some extra time to sleep. This extra time for them meant he could get in a morning workout and rinse off in peace.
He exited out the courtyard and started to jog at a measured pace through the city heading the rising suns. Of course, his “measured pace” was an ordinary person’s superhuman sprint, meaning he all but flew through the quiet streets that were just coming alive. The itch in his mind had been quiet for days now following the incident in the colosseum, and yesterday had been utterly silent as he’d fallen asleep to his wife’s beautiful music. But now… now he was alone. He could probably just slip off and-
No. No. He couldn’t-shouldn’t. His wife was sleeping soundly in their bed. His soldiers were just there as well. He’d nearly lost it, had lost it in Lyra. He needed to start asserting some self-control, he needed to put that out of his mind.
He exited the city completely, through its ornate and beautiful white wooden walls to the lush green countryside. They’d ridden north for a full day and well into the night, and the spring air that was just managing to fight of winters touch in Loterre was still a bit crisp here in Rosoon. Nevertheless, the trees lining the road were all blooming with flowers, and the large fields of grass and clover gave the air a sweet scent as they swayed in the breeze.
Sayrin breathed in deeply and then let it back out. His wife was here. His soldiers too. He’d made some mistakes, sure, but he could win them back. They’d leave later today and continue on to their destination. There wouldn’t be much he could do in these simple days to boost morale or gain back their favor in such a short time. But at the very least, he could maintain. Do all the right things and none of the wrong. He would be the textbook definition of what a commander should be, and eventually they would come around.
One key part of that was food. If you wanted to succeed in the military as an officer, you needed to do two things for your troops: Get them paid and get them fed. Everything else would fall into place if they had money in their pockets and food in their bellies. So, part of his morning workout would be to acquire some fresh food and bring it back to the cooks for a hearty morning meal before another day of travel.
He would limit himself, however. Nothing over 1-Star. Their meat would be far better than that of a mortal beast and would give the men an extra boost as they awoke. 2-Star might be better… he would certainly enjoy that more as well… but uh… but no. No. 1-Star would be fine. It would be all they needed, and Sayrin knew he could hunt a dozen 1-Star monsters before they even knew he was there.
Leaving the paved road behind, he ducked into a thick stand of tall gray trees, slowed to a walk, then began to crouch. He had been running for only about fifteen minutes, but moving as quickly as he did meant the city was now far behind him. Far enough, apparently, that a small nest of Green-Scale Drakes had taken up residence. Absolutely perfect.
Drakes, unlike their more powerful Wyvern or Dragon relatives, were on the weaker side. They never grew larger than eight or nine feet, and though their scales were some of the toughest a 1-Star monster could have, they also made them rather slow. Though they could call upon magical abilities as they grew older, these seven here seemed relatively young, at only about five feet long each. Not that any of that mattered to Sayrin, they could have been fully grown with access to every ability they’d ever get and still not much of a challenge for him.
Picking up a handful of small stones from the ground, he quickly and quietly threw one through the skull of each one, finishing them before they even knew he was there. He breathed in sharply as he felt it. The rush. Oh, the rush. Pins and needles went up his spine, tickling at the base of his skull. These tiny creatures were nothing though, a small ember when he wanted a roaring fire. He could feel his eyes blaze and knew if someone could see him, they’d see the faint streaks of orange glowing brightly therein.
Sayrin’s hands clenched tightly into fists, the stones he carried ground to a fine powder under his grip. He… he wouldn’t. He couldn’t. He shouldn’t. His wife's face appeared in his mind as he closed his eyes tightly. Her gorgeous smile, her beautiful eyes, her elegant voice telling him it would be okay.
Slowly, so slowly, he released his trembling hands and wiped them on his pants. He took several deep breaths, one after another, and then opened his eyes. He was fine. He was rested. His wife had played for him just yesterday. He could deal with these feelings, these… temptations. He couldn’t lose himself to something so small as this.
He walked over and picked up each of the cold bodies. They still thrummed with latent energy as he touched them, and he knew the cooks would be able to turn them into something absolutely delicious. He stored them all in his spatial ring, and turned to leave when a thought struck him. These were all the babies, so where was the mother?
She would probably be somewhere in the middle of 2-Star, perhaps even towards the peak if she was able to produce this many offspring.
“Should I go and hunt her as well?” Sayrin couldn’t help but think. But… he took another deep breath and turned his back with a monumental force of will.
“Think of Mata… Think of Mata…” he repeated to himself again and again, making his way back to Rosoon.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Carcello groggily moved with the rest of his company into the large guild auditorium. He’d been awed to witness the clash between a group of 3-Star Captains and a 4-Star leviathan, it had also come at the end of a long guard shift in the middle of the night where he’d fought to the bone just to keep from being overwhelmed. All this to say… he was tired. Exhausted even. He could feel the bags under his eyes like swollen pockets of pure exhaustion.
Nevertheless, it was time for their in-briefing. So, Carcello sat in one of the surprisingly comfortable seats in the large hall, and immediately thought “if something doesn’t happen right now, I’m going to pass out.”
“Would you like another taste of my brew?” Came the accented and partly mocking voice of Hjaldin.
Looking up, he saw the man's unkempt beard had been washed and combed, looking much neater, though still somewhat like a wild bramble bush. What caught Carcello’s attention most, though, was that he didn’t seem remotely as tired or wrung out as Carcello himself.
“Does that drink help keep you awake?” He asked haltingly “I think I’ll need my wits about me… at least for a while still.”
Smirking, Hjaldin took the small lid of the flask and filled it with the bright clear liquid. “Oh, if you take too much, you’ll certainly find your wits have fled you. But just a little bit? Ehh, that will keep you conscious and moving… at least for a while still.”
Shrugging as even during this short conversation Carcello had been struggling to keep his eyes open, he reached out and drank the little lid's contents. To his mild surprise, it actually did seem to help. He wasn’t suddenly refreshed and rejuvenated by any means, but his mind became a little sharper and he was more aware of the room around him.
“Thank you.” he said as he passed the cap back. “At least now I can remain conscious.”
“No problem, no problem.” Hjaldin said in return, waving his hand dismissively. “Though, why you want to be conscious for this is beyond me.”
“You never know, they might say something important or useful!”
Hjaldin eyed him skeptically. “How many in-briefs have you had in your life?”
“I think this will be my third, why?”
He took a long sip of his drink, before replacing the lid and storing the flask away in his coat pocket. “I have been to quite a few more than that. They will come out, say hello, tell us about the environment, tell us about the ambient mana, tell us about any particularly dangerous monsters that spawn frequently, as well as any particularly powerful people in the area, and then tell us our mission. They’ll probably say the word “behoove” at least three times as well.”
“It can’t be that basic, I thought the others I’d gotten were somewhat lax because we were in a training environment, but now we’re-”
A young woman with messy brown hair and bright bronze eyes walked out on stage. She had on a white scholar's robe overtop what looked like… fuzzy brown pants and a fuzzy light gray shirt. Carcello got the distinct impression that she had either just woken up, or at least had slept in what she was now wearing.
The moment she reached the center of the stage, calls for silence went out until one loud voice shouted, “At Ease!” and they all looked onwards with suddenly rapt attention.
“Uh, right, yes, thank you for that.” She said, placing down some papers on a podium, rubbing her eyes, and then looking around at the group of twenty soldiers. “Are you lot the first ones to come through? And no commander with you?”
The senior lieutenant in the room spoke up, one from another squad that Carcello hadn’t met before. He was a shorter man with sandy-blond hair and a large scar running from just under his left eye and back to under his left ear. “Yes ma’am, we’re the first of the day. Our commander thought it would be good to get it out of the way first thing before we settle into barracks and start our missions. And yes, he was unfortunately occupied with other tasks and won’t be joining us.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
The woman nodded, then said more loudly “Good morning, everyone. My name is Magnolia Farro, but please just call me Maggie. I’ll be your point of contact for the guild, please come to me or let me know of any issues you have or problems that arise which will have any impact on the civilians or guild activities. Now then,” she turned behind her and pulled on a cord to lower down a massive map of the island to the left, as well as a more localized map of Lyra and its surroundings on the right. “This is the island of Irval, home to Lyra as well as some two-dozen other small towns and villages. We are currently here on the map. The large lake at the center of the island flows out in four main rivers to the north, west, south and southeast dividing the island into four main areas of interest.”
As she spoke, she pulled out a large staff with a simple metal point at the end to direct their attention on the map.
“Our region, and the main one you’ll be dealing with in your time here, I believe, will be the large northern region where we are now. This is easily discernible as you have the Korilus river stretching from the lake all the way to the northern coast, as well as the Siberus river stretching east and south. Basically, if you’re out in the woods and see a massive river, don’t cross it without a good reason. Which brings me to the interior of the island, home to the Rose Forest, as well as an ancient temple of space. This is an off-limits site, unless you are given specific authority by the city lord. Seriously, don’t go there without clearance or you’ll get into loads of trouble and I’ll have to deal with lots of paperwork.” This got a few laughs out of the crowd, but mostly they were all simply taking in the map as well as her words.
“Now then, it would behoove you to take note of…”
Carcello looked over as Hjaldin snorted into his beard and muttered “and that’s one.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sparks flew up from the campfire as one of the small logs broke from the licking flames. Wade and Kya circled each other as they had been doing for the last thirty minutes, eyes locked, fists up and ready.
Wade made her move first, rushing forwards and sending out a series of quick jabs at Kya’s stomach, ribs, and jaw. Kya knocked away the first two attacks and tried to move out of the way of the one aimed at her mouth, but was slightly too slow, getting clipped in the chin. Recoiling back from it, she brought her arms up to protect her head on instinct, which was when she took a hard punch to the stomach and doubled over, before her legs were kicked out from under her and she was once again on the ground.
Coughing as she lay there for a second, Kya clenched her fist in the dirt before arduously climbing back to her feet and retreating several feet before once again turning and facing Wade.
“Again.” She spat out through clenched teeth.
They had spent most of the day jogging, not too quickly as to strain her already spent muscles, but still fast enough to get some distance from the city. They took about an hour break for lunch, where Kya had finally managed to make Alder understand exactly what it meant to be from a different planet. Wade, though she seemed to have very little trouble understanding that, was more baffled by her quest system than anything else. She had remained somewhat impassive about the whole thing, but Kya could tell by the burning look in her eyes that it was something she not only was intensely interested in, but that she wanted to see for herself.
After that, though, they had spent another few hours running, finally stopping after having gone at least forty miles in that day, not including what they did that morning if Kya’s guess was correct. It made her realize the true extent of her body's new capabilities. Sure, there were people on earth who could have run forty miles in a day. Though she had been in decent shape before, that was nowhere in her realm of possibility even. What’s more is even after having done all that, she felt tired of course, drained to oblivion and like her legs were made of jelly as much as of flesh and bone. But not catastrophically. It felt like she’d done a gut-wrenching workout, not a death march. This kind of day wasn’t something she should do regularly, but it was something she could do. This, to her, was just baffling.
But finally, as the twin suns had begun to light up the sky with their radiant streaks of color, Alder had called a stop for the evening.
“This clearing will do, I think,” he said, wiping the first droplets of sweat from his brow that Kya had seen. “There’s a small river just over there, and I don’t sense any real threats from monsters in our vicinity. Let’s make camp for the evening.”
Hearing that they were done, Kya had immediately fallen on her back, wiping the significantly larger river of sweat from her own face before asking tiredly
“Did either of you bring tents, or are we sleeping under the stars tonight?”
Sitting up when she heard no reply, Kya’s heart sank when she saw Alder trying and failing to hide a smirk as Wade just looked at her in confusion.
“We never finished the training for the day earlier, we aren’t going to sleep yet. You do know that, right?”
Kya just looked from Wades puzzled expression to Alder’s insufferably amused one and finally sighed, getting to her feet.
“I… had thought we were going to postpone.”
“I’ll get started on a fire, and then see what I can do about dinner. Give me thirty minutes and we can eat.” Alder said, before looking at Kya. “If you can manage to land a hit, I’ll cut our training short for the evening, and you can go to sleep early. If you can’t hit her before we eat, then you’ll have another full hour with me.”
Kya nodded, her muscles sore and drained, her endurance shot and her mind all but drained. She would make it happen somehow.
Is what she’d told herself, before being sent to the ground sixteen separate times, only managing to block a handful of the incoming attacks, before ultimately succumbing to Wade’s onslaught. She could feel the time limit drawing closer, or rather she could smell it. Alder had returned after about five minutes with two lizard-looking things about the size of his arm, as well as a handful of vegetables. Now, with a pot he’d pulled from his spatial ring, a simple stew sat bubbling merrily over his fire, sending out rich tendrils of tantalizing scent over their small clearing.
“Two minutes!” he called, causing Kya to grimace as she yet again faced off with Wade. Deciding that this time she’d move first, Kya sprinted forwards, legs twinging with every new step she demanded of them, and when she was only a foot away, threw the dirt she’d picked up earlier in Wade’s face. It was the oldest trick in the book, and Wade was well trained enough not to be thrown off by it for more than a split second, but it was precisely that moment of hesitation that Kya needed.
Ducking the wild blow that Wade had sent her way, Kya threw out a left hook quick as lighting trying to catch her unguarded side. Taking the simplest route to avoid the blow, Wade backed up with rapid steps, but Kya wouldn’t let her get away. She had control of the fight's momentum, tenuous as it was, and if she let Wade recover then she’d lose it for good. Pressing after her, Kya feinted with a kick at Wade’s feet before throwing out a jab of her own. It was a quick right-handed move, and after Kya had already tried a kick from below, she anticipated that Wade would dodge left to avoid the punch rather than attempt another block. So, before she was even done with the right jab, she threw out her left fist in a powerful wide hook.
Euphoria, ecstasy, raw dopamine and serotonin. Kya wasn’t sure what best described the pure elation she felt when her ploy went exactly as she’d hoped, as her left fist slammed into Wade's shoulder, sending her back a step.
Of course, Wade immediately grabbed the hand, yanked on it to unbalance Kya, and then plowed into her with the same shoulder, sending her sprawling to the ground without a spec of air in her lungs.
But what did that matter? Breathing? Unimportant. Coughing and writhing like a fish on land, nothing could stop the smile that appeared on Kya’s lips in that moment. She crawled towards the fire, pulling herself up to one of the log seats Alder had cut down for them, and gratefully accepted a bowl of stew.
Laughing as she walked over, Wade clasped Kya on the shoulder and said “You may have lost the bout, but extremely well-done Kya! That was a fantastic move there. You still have an immense amount of progress to make, but that was well fought and well done.”
Rather than respond, Kya just bobbed her head in thanks, smiling through the mouthful of absolutely fantastic stew. It was thick, with small chunks of the lizard meat and cubes of various vegetables scattered throughout. She hadn’t ever cared for foods with too much sauce or for soups in general, but at this moment, it was one of the finest meals she’d ever had.
“When you’re done eating, I won’t keep you long. I’m a man of my word after all.” Alder said. “Wade, after you eat can you set up the tents while Kya and I get started?”
In what might have been mimicry or might have been compliments to the food, Wade also couldn’t respond but simply nodded her head, mouth full of stew.
Shaking his head with a grin, Alder turned back to Kya. “You already seem to have an extremely basic foundation for Aura’s, but their finer points and any real application doesn’t seem to be in your arsenal yet. Where Wade is going to take care of the martial aspect, I’ll make sure your mental abilities don’t fall behind either.”
Finally coming up for air in between several spoonfuls, Kya said “There was a famous martial arts master where I come from, an old hermit who lived with a turtle on an island by the sea. He said the only real way to learn. You have to work hard, study well, and eat and sleep plenty.” She looked at Alder with a glimmer in her eyes, as if she’d told a joke she knew they wouldn’t get. “Thank you for the food, and you Wade for the hard work. And while I’m looking forward to learning as much as I can from you, it’s really the last one that I’m looking forward to most right now. Oh, and can I get seconds please?”
Seeming to think it over for a moment, Alder took her bowl and refilled it before standing up. “Wade, I’ll get the tents. Kya, it’s been a long day, and we’ve worked you harder than perhaps we meant to. Tomorrow morning before breakfast and evening after dinner we’ll do aura training, and I’ll hear no complaints about it. For tonight, just rest.”
A few minutes later, three large and simple square gray tents stood in the clearing. They were much nicer than Kya had been expecting, blocking out a lot of the sounds of the forest at night the moment she walked inside, as well as being a much nicer controlled temperature.
She turned her eyes to the sleeping mat and blanket that lay on the ground, as well as the small orange glowstone next to them for light. “As much as I appreciate the sleeping mat and roll” Kya said, voice trailing off as her eyes grew dim for a moment. Alder and Wade both looked on incredulously as she pulled out a full bed with mattress and blankets included to place down in her tent. “I’ve already got that covered.”
“Wha…” Wade said, while Alder laughed and asked “Is that from your dorm? They won’t be happy about that!”
Kya just waved a hand and said “I paid for the room, which means I paid for the bed. I’ll bring it back regardless, so it’s finnee.” Turning to look at them, Kya simply said “Wake me if you need me or if it’s time for training. Goodnight!” And zipped up her tent. With a thought, her dirty, sweaty clothes were swapped out for clean ones, and she was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Walking back to the fire, Alder served another bowl of stew to Wade as she joined him.
“Can you believe that?” He said with another smile. “Brought a whole bed with her on the go.”
As she sat, Wade finally dismissed the armor she almost always had on, sitting down across from him in a simple black shirt and brown trousers. Letter her tight bun down all but completed the transformation in front of his eyes. From larger-than-life elven golem to a lean and muscular woman with bouncing curls of auburn hair.
“The real question is why we didn’t and don’t do that. We both have spatial tools, I don’t have a ton of room in mine, but I could have probably made space for a bed. How big is her storage skill, I wonder.”
“Who knows. But now that we have an extra sleeping mat, you should take it. It’s not a bed, but it’ll make you a little bit more comfortable.”
“Such a gentleman. I will take it, but not because you offered. It only makes sense.”
“Uh huh. Well then, it might make more sense if you had a third one to make you as comfortable as you can possibly be.”
Wade just rolled her eyes “I am not taking your-”
“I’m not talking about giving it to you.” Alder interrupted softly, golden eyes never leaving her scarlet ones, admiring the flecks of green in their depths.
“Hmm…” Wade said back, her eyes never leaving his. “You’re playing a dangerous game, you know.”
“Maybe I'm okay with that.”
“Maybe you’re not ready for that.”
“Maybe I’d like to find out.”
“Hmmmm...…” Wade said again, standing and stretching, arms clasped high over her head. Finally, she gave a small smile and said “Goodnight Damon," before walking over to her tent. She stopped by the entrance, however, to look back and say, "let’s talk about dangerous situations again, another night.” and then she was gone.
Alder smiled as he watched her go, giddy at himself for finally taking that step and at her not negative response. “Goodnight Julia.” He said quietly, before taking another bite of stew and sitting back to watch the stars above, and the three moons as they moved slowly across the sky.