The moment Reishund barked, a random flash of light struck near the Kujaku. Lillian looked at her faithful icebound canine companion, shocked. Not nearly as much as the Kujaku who had barely dodged the main bolt of lightning that had descended upon it. It hadn't gotten away from that after shock, however, and the poor bird lay immobilized. Well, by Seiryu's blessing, it seemed that she wouldn't have to fight too hard for her first Kujaku.

Lillian crept in close to the bird, who was still heaving from its near death experience. She reached into her pack and produced a small black case and opened it. Within was a collection of well organized relics, each perfectly sized to fit in each slot of her chain web. She pulled out her two best relics and stowed the case back in her pack. It was then the Kujaku noticed her, not that Lillian and her entourage were being sneaky. Reishund trotted along happily behind her and Omu was particularly chatty. The Kujaku started to move, but Lillian was faster. The relic began to glow a dark violet color, but before it could start to capture the bird, the stone shattered. Lillian glared at her hand where the relic had been. She would make sure she didn't purchase relics from an inferior vendor again.

Still, there was the other one. Lillian held the relic out, it glowed purple, too. This time it was a lighter violet. The light enveloped the Kujaku and after a moment, the light faded and the purple avian had disappeared. Almost immediately after, Lillian called her new companion from its relic. It glowed the same violet color as before and the Kujaku appeared before her. A quick look over brought to Lillian's attention some singed feathers. She approached it slowly, knowing it didn't trust her yet.
“I won't hurt you. I want to heal your wounds.” She said in a low voice, reaching out her hand, which began to glow as she began to chant, activating her healing magic. The Kujaku seemed to relax a bit as it felt its injuries disappear. After a while, it was completely healed, but it still eyed Lillian suspiciously. It was to be expected. She would win its trust one way or another. The violet color glowed again as she recalled Kujaku to its relic and put it into place on her chain.

Thirty minutes passed as Lillian made her way to the shores of Toran. She could see the waves of the ocean through the tree line, but became distracted by a small meowing. She looked around, but couldn't pinpoint the source. She decided to give up for now and move on, but when Lillian turned around, a small purple feline sat before her. It took her a minute to realize the cat was an Ocalia. You didn't really see them with purple coats, and it was so dark, you could only see it when the light hit its fur. It was beautiful.

Lillian crouched down and held out her hand, palm down so it could sniff her. It looked somewhat young, but she couldn't tell without giving it a proper examination. The feline came right up to her and gave a brief sniff before pressing its head on her hand. A delighted smile crossed Lillian's face as she began to give her new and surprisingly friendly companion scratches under the chin. There was no way she was going to let such a cutie kitty stay out here.
“Want to come home with me?”

The Ocalia meowed its response, almost as if to say it did. Once again, Lillian removed the case of relics and removed one. It glowed burgundy, and the Ocalia joined her roster. Lillian was absolutely thrilled to pieces. Two Natrelmon in one day. This was fantastic. She stood and dusted off her dress then turned back towards the ocean.

Reishund pounced on the waves as they hit the sand. His excitement put Lillian at ease and she settled onto the sand, her legs crossed at the ankles before her. Omu settled herself in a nearby piece of driftwood and Ocalia lay purring in her lap. A gentle morning breeze caught Lillian's bangs. It felt nice to get away. The peace was short lived as Reishund bounded up to her and barked, wagging his tail. She looked up at her adorable canine companion and froze. Perched upon her friends head was a snake. It bobbed its head at like it was greeting someone it had known for years. What was going on? Where were these friendly Natrelmon coming from?

Lillian wasn't overly fond of serpents and slid her hand into her pack, popping open the case of relics inside. If Reishund wanted more friends, she would get over it. Besides, having a variety of Natrelmon would be very helpful if she decided to challenge the arenas. She pulled out a relic and pressed it to the snake's nose, causing a lavender glow to encase it before it vanished inside the stone. It wasn't until after it was gone that she realized it had a strange coloring. Weren't those usually white? How strange..
Perhaps it was just luck, running into those mutations. Yeah. Luck.
Then again, maybe she was imagining things. It was time to head back to town.

~~~~

Toran was a beautiful place. Regardless of how Lillian felt about humans, she could respect their architecture. How different it became in different places. She was lost in her own thoughts, inspecting many of the buildings as she made her way to the center of the city. The only thing that brought her to her senses were the sounds of fighting. It got louder as she got closer to her destination. Curiosity got the best of her and she hastened her pace.

When Lillian broke through, she could see that two people had started a tussle. She had no idea why they were fighting. Probably some silly disagreement as humans are prone to. Still, it was interesting and gave her something to do for a while.

@Shurikai@Sarcelle Renard@Celaira

Selim headed Yugaku's call when she augmented her voice across the entire town, quickly making his way to the required point just in time to listen to her speech. He was moving a bit slower than usual after what he had endured in his battle against Kiyo - enough that he had actually went to double check at a hospital to make sure he had not broken anything. While Abjuration magic was powerful for healing, to include broken bones, it was not always something you wanted to rely on completely and bad applications of magic without some semblance of understanding the damage (although most Healers had an innate sense for the matter) could result in more pain by the 'healed'. As such, Selim did his due diligence. Nothing was broken and he healed himself up as much as he could, but between the body and a bit of a bruised ego, he did not feel compelled to be one of the first arrivals.

Of course, Selim knew of Yugaku. In fact, everyone there should know of her, even if they did not know much about her. She, along with Song Lin Tiao, were considered some of the strongest fighters in Atren and rumored to possess unique and powerful gifts from the Gods themselves. Of course, no one in the recent years had seen either of them battle, save for maybe Jantonna du Soleil or Ayameko Ziran. The fact that she was the selected representative to conduct an opening 'ceremony' to the Rites meant the government was taking this incredibly seriously. And, it seemed Pinehearst was keen on fostering some good will with the sponsorship of the new round of trainers. Selim took his swag from the representatives and moved off to the side as directed. Selim suspected many of these events would occur over the next week as new trainers arrived from various parts of the world, although he was grateful he got to be a part of one conducted by Yugaku.

Selim quickly shuffled off to the site to the appointed position. He had opted not to have any of his Natrelmon out because he was uncertain how uncomfortable some of them might make other people given his large number of ghost types. Selim on his own generally did a good enough job creating an imposing presence.

Axel Wild Search
The wind whipped up around Axel as he and his natrelmon trekked through the forest. A storm was starting back up and a chill breeze that reminded him of Ward was currently plaguing his new search. Combined with the rain, it was a frigid combination. To make matters worse, it was still some while till morning and he wouldn’t be graced with the warmth of the sun for several hours at least. Cold and exhaustion did their best to halt his advance, yet to no avail.

Amar was in the rear, carrying all of his supplies. Yosoku was on point, easily creating a trail, its massive form not even slowed by the branches and brush. Chu stayed beside Axel as he trudged on, both keeping their cloaks wrapped tightly. Neither of them would complain, but he knew these conditions were not to their liking.

They had been right at the entrance to Toran, after the long journey, when Axel noticed a shimmering silver scale next to a tree. The foilage around was flattened down, like something had recently been resting there. The tree looked like it had been clawed by a medium sized cat with longer than normal claws, but Axel knew what the scale was from. It was an Albion, one of the rarest dragons in this region. He wasn’t able to pass up an opportunity to find such a majestic creature. Albions, while not the largest dragons, were prized for their beautiful scales and their magical powers that aided in breeding. They are also quite fierce fighters, which often kept away the average tamer, but merely made Axel desire it even more.

The Albion’s tracks weren’t too difficult to follow as it rarely was ever hunted. This one in particular almost invited Axel to tail it. Several times, in the more open areas of the forest, it could be seen flying around in the distance without a care in the world. Almost lazily it would hover and stare in his general direction, almost tauntingly. After several hours of this cat and mouse, Axel almost resorted to flying himself just to chase it down, yet he felt using magic to aid on the hunt was almost cheating. Instead he resorted to merely working on his target practice. A rock here, a branch there. Chu would occasionally throw knives up for Axel to shoot to practice on moving targets. Yosoku looked like he felt a little left out, but just grunted and continued. Ranged combat wasn’t his forte anyway.

Soon growing tired of his half-assed attempt of entertainment, Chu suddenly began moving quicker, almost at a jog. Axel knew it sensed the Albion was finally within reach and he wished to finish their task and get some sleep. Ahead of them they saw a clearing and they rushed through shoving branches, bushes, and in Yosokus case, small trees out of the way so that they might reach their quarry faster.

As they entered the clearing, Axel realized he had hit the jackpot. Not only had he found an Albion, but it appeared it was squaring off with a male Mythari as well.

“Two for the price of one.” He thought with a satisfied grin. “Byakko is smiling upon me today.”

Later

The fight against the two dragons had been rough, and Axel looked a little worse for wear. His cloak had claw marks down it and there were holes in his shirt. The Albion had tried to latch onto his side but luckily it had only caught his shirt. In the end, both had been shown that in this instance, Axel was the top of the food chain.

The sun was rising finally as Axel trudged towards Toran. He had some ways to go after this chase, but he would rather sleep in an actual bed rather than on the ground after a full week of camping. Thoughts of soft beds, warm food, and cold beer forced him to abandon all aches and pains and speed himself up to a jog. The sooner he arrived, the sooner he could shut his eyes. His rites could wait till he had awoken. After all, he had put them off for several years as is. What’s one more day.

An hour passed as Axel wound his way back the way he had came, when he came upon a new set of tracks. These were human tracks.

“I wonder who left these?” He pondered as he began following them, his exaustion momentarily forgotten.

Ingwe

His eyes glimmered with hope at the site of the gates.
He had not seen something this built up, something with this much time to take hold.

Wandering down roads, weaving and turning seemingly at random, Ingwe allowed his nose to do more of the decision making about where he would go, then his eyes. Stopping at the first site of street food Ingwe's mouth began to water. It had been almost a year since the last time he was able to sit down for a hot meal. Being at a constant rapid gallop across countryside and forest, hastily evading the demons hot on his trail, such pleasantries had been missed for far to long.

When it became his turn to order, Ingwe looked honestly into the mans eyes "Chicken... A lot" he muttered like a child tense with excitement. He retrieved 2 long wooden skwewers of hot chicken, thick with dark red sauce, and happily sat down on the curb of the road, taking in the sites and sounds of this new place, with his meal.

Xander

Like the others in attendence, Xander did his best to pay close attention to as the Triumvirate member spoke. . . but he'd be lying if he wasn't just a bit bored by the whole thing. Like, he understood it was a big deal and all, but couldn't they just wrap this up already? Just standing in one place listening to some famous lady talk wasn't really his ideal vision of how his adventure was going to start. . . then again, neither was heading off without Mallory, so he was 0 for 2 as far as expectations went.

Fiddling with the hem of his cloak, Xander almost missed his name being called by the blindfolded Triumvirate member, but Sei was quick to get his aytention with a tailsmack to his Tamer's rear. The resulting yelp drew the attention of a few others nearby as Xander glared at the smiling Mythari before going to collect the PDA and meet with his assigned group. As he walked, his eyes scanned the crowd to see if any other Xanite's were present among them, but his gaze found none of them as he passed. After collecting the PDA, he made his way to the addressed area, fiddling hopelessly with the device as Sei hovered overhead. He had bever been great with technology, but given that this device was the gey to him getting free cash every week, he couldn't just ignore it like usual.

Mallory would've understood this stupid thing. He grumbled internally as he pressed a few more buttons before deciding to hell with it and packing the device away in his bag. He could figure out the stupid thibg later, right now he had impressions to make. With the PDA stowed, Xander slowed his pace as he walked uo to the others, noting that none of them were really that close to his age. For a moment, Xander wondered if he should take of his cloak, perhaps try and stand a bit straighter, but he dismissedvthe thought with a shake of his head. It's fine, he could make friends with people besides just Mallory. He could chat, could hang, could. . . do stuff. He just had to be cool, play things by ear, and just be nice. It should be fine. . . right?

Shaking his head and taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Xander step up to them all with a big grin on his face and one hand held up to shake anybody's hand.

"Sup! Name's Xander and this is my buddy Sei," At this point Sei would let iut a small croaking sound as it landed besides him, as if to draw attention to himself. "So, uh, what about you guys?"

@Shurikai@Innue@Sarcelle Renard

Oz hooked his thumbs in his pockets, his eyes focused on the fight in front of him. Both of the combatants moved with a naturalness that spoke volumes about just how familiar they were with this kind of affair. And for perhaps the first time, Oz found himself feeling like maybe he was in a bit over his head. Years of working under Raiha had made him good at slogging through cumbersome manuscripts and picking at the nuances of magic, but what little combat training she had given him clearly paled in comparison to whatever the two figures before him had gone through.

It seemed as though Oz’s question was to go unanswered, seeing as his blond haired companion had yet to say anything. Not that that he was particularly bothered by it, after all small talk wasn’t for everybody and he was hardly the pushy type. But from the corner of his eyes Oz noticed her making some kind of gesture, causing him to shift his gaze her way. His shorter companion had placed one of her hands to his throat, which was adorned with an impossible to miss scar running across it. Oz’s eyes lit up with surprise and his mouth hung slightly agape, the realization that she hadn’t answered him because she was physically unable to dawning on him all too quickly.

Yet before he could offer any kind of apology, she pointed to the Lifan woman. Oz couldn’t help but smile at her response, bowing his head guiltily. A brief moment passed as Oz composed himself before he started rustling through his satchel, the noise of which was completely lost amidst the clamor of magic getting tossed every which way. He shuffled past Raiha’s letter, the odd textbook, and even his own relic before he found the notepad he had been using to sketch out different herbs he had been studying on the train.

It only took him a moment to flip to an empty page and hastily jot something down. Satisfied with his work, he moved to pass off the notepad to his companion. On it he had scrawled out:

I have to agree with your choice. That lady is no joke.

The name’s Oz by the way.

“To be honest,” he started with a sheepish chuckle while he waited to see if the blond would read his message, “I’m not sure if this is even more obnoxious for you, so be sure to let me know if it is.”

Before he could get a response though, the voice of some lady cut through the square, informing delinquent trainers like Oz that he should show probably get a move on. “Ah!” the brown haired boy yelped, eyes quickly dropping to the watch on his wrist. “That’s my cue!” In his rush to get going, he let go of the notepad. Whether it ended up in the girl’s hands or on the street seemed entirely inconsequential to him.

But as he took off jogging towards the arena, Oz glanced back at the girl once last time and waved. “If you see me around, feel free to kick me in the shins if you want!”

---

Oz’s group certainly seemed like a rather rag tag bunch. He immediately recognized the darker skinned youth who had been dueling the Lifanite woman not too long ago, but he had no such luck with the no-nonsense looking brunette or the clumsy looking boy with white hair. The first to break the ice was the latter of which.

“Nice to meet you Xander, I’m Oz,” he replied with a smile, his hands tucked behind his head. He glanced between the other two, as if to invite them to go next.

@Shurikai @Innue @Raijinslayer @Atagait Denral

@Innue@Raijinslayer@Sarcelle Renard



Lillian listened intently as Yugaku began to speak. Lillian frowned as the PDAs began to be passed out. What was the point of this? Her question was immediately answered. Kind of helpful, certainly. She detested sleeping outdoors. Other people's information was in there, too? Well, that's rather annoying. What use would she have in contacting another?
Then they were grouped up.

With no small amount of annoyance, Lillian made her way over to her designated area. Reishund trotted happily behind her, his tongue hung lazily out the side of his mouth. She watched the others move along with her and noticed that the gentleman that had been in the fight earlier that day. This man was someone she wanted to meet. He was quite skilled and she felt he could possibly have some tips to improve her ability to train Natrelmon. Maybe, maybe not. Couldn't hurt to ask… then again, he was people.

As Lillian stood fighting with herself over actually introducing herself to someone, Reishund noticed one of their group had stuck their hand out. Food? TREAT?! He looked at Lillian then back at the boy. He must have the treat! He walked over to the kid to get his treat, but someone else had beaten him to it. That was his treat! Maybe he had more. Yes! More! Reishund became just a little too excited and jumped on the boy. He immediately forgot about the treat that didn't exist, because he had a new friend! The child's face. Slobbery licks. His tail became a weapon of leg destruction as he wagged it furiously. Lillian ignored him, knowing no harm would come to the kid. She focused on what she could say that would be considered polite.

"Nice to me-Waaah!?!!" Xander's reply to the only guy who seemed close to him in age was cut off by a sudden assault of freezing cold slobber and dog breath right in his face as a Reishund decided to take up his invitational handshake with a great amount of enthusiasm. Xander couldn't help but fall over laughing under the relentless onslaught. "E-easy there, boy! Gimme a sec-gah, in my mouth. Slobber in my mouth. Sei, help! Get a treat!!"

The Mythari gave a choking hiss at the sight of its master being bowled over by the large fluffball of a Natrelmon, standing by for a few moments to let the reishund have its fun before slinking behind the squirming pair to dig through Xander's pack. After a few moments of shuffling, the dragon-type would pull out a treat from the depths of the bag, giving a telepathic nudge to alert the hound to the treat before flinging it high into the air. The Reishund would likely go barreling over itself towards the new snack, which would just so happen to fall right on top of the distracted Lillian's head.

Totally by accident, of course. The fact that Sei's hissy chuckle could be heard in everyone's head was also entirely coincidental.

When he was finally freed of his slobbery captor, the Xanite got up slowly, wiping the excess slobber from his face with one of the corners of his jacket while spitting out whatever had managed to get inside of his mouth.

"I'm probably going to be tasting Reishund slobber for the rest of the day. Blech." Despite his slight compliant, Xander wasn't really that displeased by the Natrelmon's greeting. He was always glad to see such a happy looking mon, as it meant that they likely had a good trainer. Turning back to Oz, he gave a chuckle as he splayed his hands out as if presenting himself in all his damp, slobber-covered glory. "Heck of a way to break the ice, huh?"

Turning to the woman who he assumed the Reishund belonged to, Xander approached carefully unsure how they'd feel after sei's little 'prank'. They didn't quite have the look of someone with a good sense of humor and part of him groaned at the thought of being chewed out by this stern looking lady. Taking a quick glance around, his frustration only grew more pronounced as he realized that he was just barely taller than her by an inch, the man he'd greeted beat him by about 4, and the guy he'd seen fighting that one woman before was easily half a foot above him, possibly more. As if he didn't already feel out of place. It's fine, it's fine. You're all just taking the rite together, ur all on relatively even ground. As long as no one brings it up, it'll be just fine.

Try as he might to convince himself, the words didn't quite stick internally as well as he'd wish, though he did a good job of hiding his issues behind a big goofy smile as he came up to give the Reishund a scratch behind the ears.

"So, does this big goof have a name, or am I going to have to call him Sir Licks-a-lot. Also, uh, sorry about Sei's little prank. He's going through a bit of a phase, but I swear he's normally better behaved. Right, Sei?"

[i]Debateable.[i] was the response clearly heard by all, causing Xander's eye to twitch ever so slightly before he sighed and wrapped his arm around Sir Licks-a-lot.

"Why can't my partner be nice and goofy like you, Sir Licks."

Besides the fact that I have more than two brain cells!

"Oi, now you're just being mean!!" Xander stood up to give the Mythari a glare, which was returned with an equal amount of frustration. It seemed that they didn't quite appreciate the comparison, as their scales ruffled and the arcane dust from their wings started to undulate a bit in response to their aggravated mood. After an extended staredown, the dragon-type looked away with a hiss, levitating into the air to float towards the one member of the group who had yet to speak, Selim. Looking the large man right in the eye, Sei sniffed at him before projecting a message only him and Xander could hear.

So what's ur name? All you've done is stay back and brood. Not very friendly, are we?

"Like you're one to talk," Xander muttered, still scratching Sir Locks behind his ears, even pulling out another treat to feed the mon, though he made sure to hold them back until he waited for him to hand it over, less he reward bad behavior. Sei merely hissed over his shoulder at his master, never taking his eyes off of Selim as he waited for a response.

@Shurikai@Sarcelle Renard@Innue

Lance's fingers fiddled with the coin around his neck as he listened to the speech. 500N a week was pretty substantial for what amounted to sight seeing. His attention changed from the coin to the PDA he received as he delved into its menus and features while half heartedly listening to Yugaku. Something like this was really amazing, he'd never had a chance to use something like it before. This could make things a lot easier. They had to challenge the Arenas but not necessarily even beat them. This really was quite a lax thing. Well that worked out for him, he didn't know about celebrating his nation's rich history, but being paid to travel around the continent and getting these PDAs was a pretty sweet deal. They were broken into groups and Lance kind of wandered over while putsing with the PDA, still marveling over the variety of features inside and thinking how to best put it to use.

@Tuujaimaa

"I concede," Selim called as Kiyo initiated her new gambit. "Without my spear, I am at too much of a disadvantage against your Windspeaking."

Selim could have survived another one of the combos that Kiyo had done before by healing himself through the damage, but it wasn't worth the effort. He would struggle to get close to her, so actually incapacitating her would be next to impossible - especially since Selim had already showed his combo. Sure, he could probably get into a back and forth with Kiyo where he survives, but winning was not the most realistic of options at this point. And Selim was not keen on enduring the pain of the damage for the low probability chance he could win.

With a snap, he recalled his Soelbe back into her relic.

He gave a bow to Kiyo.

---

@Payldue

Selim had been having a rather successful morning and hoped it would be a trend for the day. His wild hunt had already resulted in encountering an Albion, a second Veolu, a Kaigara, and an Ocalia. However, his current encounter was exceptionally special. Selim had managed to encounter a Narashi, which was a Natrelmon of great use to him. Invoking the power his relic, the familiar light of Selim's capture invocation swirled around the Narashi, catching it by surprise. Thankfully, there was no issue with the capture invocation and quickly Selim could feel the familiar warmth radiating from his relic of a new companion.

With the success of the capture, Selim decided to take a small rest in the clearing that had once held his Narashi, setting his spear onto the ground beside him. When digging through the Toran library the other night, Selim had come across a rather auspicious looking tome. He felt he needed to take it with him, but there was also a foreboding to the book's cover. The aged leather seemed to have been dyed with blood. Opening the tome while against a tree, Selim quickly knew what the book was imparting with knowledge - Blood Magic. It was something Selim had knowledge of existing from his time growing up in Orin, but he had never really delved much into the art. Supposedly it was exceptionally powerful, but required a commitment of knowledge. He thumbed through the spells, but refused to commit his own energy into binding the knowledge to his own spirit. Knowledge was power.

@Innue

The tracks led to another clearing which unsurprisingly revealed a man resting against a tree reading a book, who very much resembled one of his old comrades. Zaro, the resident blood mage of the Byakko’s fangs, was of Ivslan decent. Tan/dark complexion depending on the amount of sun he got, he was well built and close to 6ft tall.He was one of the more formidable front-line fighters that they had and often was Axel’s sparring partner during the little off-time they had. It had been a few years since they had seen each other since Zaro took a leave of absence to go home and resolve some personal matter.

Upon closer inspection, there were minor differences. As he was sitting down, it was hard to judge his size, but he appeared equal to Zaro in that regards. That was where the similarity ended. His clothing was different and his skin tone wasn’t as dark. He possibly could be from one of the areas bordering the desert with which he was not familiar.

Loosening his sword, Axel decided to reveal himself in case the man had not already noticed him. It was more a courtesy than actually believing it required. Axel could have merely wandered back off towards Toran, but the clearing looked inviting and the weariness he had been fighting off was creeping back. He needed a break. Loosening his sword was just a habit. You never knew who you might run into, even in times of peace. Years of combat taught him that harsh lesson and his many scars provided reminders.

“Ho friend, mind if I take a breather here? I need a little break, but I don’t wish to alarm or disturb you.”

As he spoke, Axel leaned against a tree and removed his cloak. It was stained and had many noticeable tears in it from his encounter with the Albion. It was regrettable that he might have to replace the cloak he had received upon joining the Byakkos fangs. Before, he could have just had it mended, but it was probably in too bad of shape to be repaired. His body was slightly bruised and battered yet he had no blood showing. All in all, he knew he looked like a wreck.

Pulling out a canteen, Axel went to take a drink and noticed it was empty. Drawing upon some of his magical power, Axel used his attunement with the water school, Mistshaping, to refill it with a thin stream before taking a long draw from it and holding it out towards the man whom was maybe 20 yards away, offering to share.

“I’m Axel Wulf, formerly of the Byakko’s Fangs. And whom might you be?”

@Payldue

Selim had been aware of the presence of Axel. He was also aware that when he stepped into the area he had loosened his blade. In response, Selim closed his book, tucked it away and placed his hand on his spear.

Axel's greeting reminded him of some older popstart of Atren. Something with a name along the lines of Cherub.

"Of course," Selim responded to Axel's first question. After his introduction, Selim responded in kind, "I am Selim Raess Dar." Selim noticed the raggedy attire of Axel - which likely would have gotten small pocket change thrown at him on the streets of Toran. "It may be time to retire that cloak," Selim added, nodding towards cloak, if you could even possibly call it that at this point.

It was a rather strange that Axel had decided to linger. It was not like the desert where an oasis had a natural draw to all people in the area. It was a forest with no real need to be in any specific areas. What Axel's purpose was Selim did not know, but it was adding up to be suspicious.

@Innue

“Yeah,” Axel chuckled, “I’ll be sad to see it go to be perfectly honest but I can’t carry on in these rags.”

Axel took this chance to walk closer to Selim, unbuckling his sword as he did. He made sure it was still lose in it’s sheath but he had no apparent reason to draw yet, despite the very nasty looking spear Selim had. He didn’t seem like a violent fellow and Axel would give him the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. When he is about 15 feet away, Axel spread his shredded cloak on the ground and plopped on it like he was at a picnic in the park. Pulling some rations from his bag, Axel began munching on some jerky.

"I spotted your trail a ways back and followed it hoping to glimpse whatever you were hunting.” He said between bites. “Tracking is a specialty of mine, and I’m always looking to collect rare Natrelmon. Actually, the state I’m in is due to a rather rough encounter with an Albion and Mythari. It was tough, but safe to say I was the victor. All in all it was a nice little detour on my way to Toran. I’m finally going to start my rites and keep getting sidetracked. I’ve been traveling for about a week from Ward.”

Axel once again refilled his canteen with magic, as the jerky and physical exertion seemed to want him to stay parched. It felt good to just take a moment and relax and be slightly carefree. The fact that he had some company was a godsend as he missed having someone to talk to during his travels. He was not used to being alone other than a few rare scouting assignments, as he was always surrounded by his comrades, but they were mostly older and had long since completed their rites or given up the idea of it.

“ So what were you hunting out here?” Axel asked, although his eyes kept glancing on the spot he had seen Selim stow his book. Something was nagging him about it and his senses had become slightly heightened as he approached Selim. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

As Selim forfeited, Kiyo released an enormous breath that she had been keeping in after her last round of spellcasting, and shortly thereafter started panting with the exertion. Casting so many spells, even with Mythari's aid, was challenging in the extreme--and as it had been so long since she had gotten the chance to use her Windspeaking at all, never mind in combat, and getting used to those movements and invocations of magic again had taxed her far more than she had expected. It was only after a solid minute of panting breaths that she regained the composure to actually speak with Selim about the battle that had just occurred. She gave him a traditional bow, with an additional respectful nod, to signify that they had concluded their battle and that her evaluation of him was over.

"You fought very admirably, Selim--your mind for tactics is excellent, as are your movements. If you had had use of your spear I dare say that you would have won quite soundly, though. If you are still interested, I would be happy to keep you on retainer as a bodyguard--though I imagine that it must not appear necessary that I need one. Truthfully, it would just be to keep my parents happy, but I would be delighted to travel with you as we go about our Rites if you decide not to accept the offer of employment?" Kiyo asked, straightening herself up and readjusting her robes so that they were presentable. It had been a very long time since she had actually fought, and she was impressed that she had managed to keep up so well. She was certainly cognizant of the fact that she had perhaps only won like she did thanks to the advantages she had gained from disarming Selim, but made a note to congratulate what she had done well and improve on what she felt was lacking about her style rather than pressing too far into either option. Balance, and objectivity, were very important when considering one's combat--especially when Kiyo had firsthand experience of how dangerous combat could be on the front lines when the rules of etiquette and decorum were discarded.

@Innue

@Payldue

"Do you commonly follow the tracks of random people?" Selim asked, genuinely curious if Axel knew how creepy that kind of sounded. "Or, better question, are you disappointed I am not a single woman in distress?" Selim smiled at the joke, mostly because it was just there for him to take. Selim pulled his hand back from the spear, since it seemed he would not be actually in danger from the encounter.

"It is good you caught those Natrelmon," Selim congratulated, "Those are strong additions. I also got an Albion, as well as a Narashi, Ocalia, Veolu, and a Kaiguard. So, it has been a good day for me. Fortunately, I did not have as rough of a time with the encounters as you seemed to have." Selim had remained completely unscathed and nothing more than a little dust and mud on his shoes to show for his effort.

"I also caught a Soelbe, Olena, and another Veolu when I was on my trek from Gadot to Toran, through the mountains," Selim added. It wasn't to brag, but given he had not been on his Rites very long, it was an expansive list of rather rare Natrelmon. Ones that would become incredibly valuable in the long run. What was even better was that he had a number of possible breeding pairs available to him so early on, so he could get a head start on his Natrelmon farm.

---

@Tuujaimaa

Selim nodded at Kiyo, "Travelling together would work fine. However, I may need some money. I am a bit on the poor side after a rough encounter with a Soelbe. It ran me through way too many relic invocations. I must say I'm probably down to my last few thousand N, so even if just to humor your family I would take the money. I would agree with your assessment you likely do not need a bodyguard, but you never know. Additional strength is rarely a downside."

Selim quickly chanted a healing spell to restore some of the vigor to his body. He was a bit bruised from enduring the blow he had, but it was not much worse than what he had gotten in the Clash of Iron.

"Plus, I can cast healing magic which has its uses out in the world," he added, noting that it was a useful power to have around. It was a peculiar combination to some, at least on paper, but Abjuration magic actually was a great boon to close combat fighters. And Selim especially found it useful for outlasting opponents and being able to train longer and harder than others through its restorative properties.

"If you are willing to take up the service, let me know what you would like me to do. We can keep it as an intermittent contract where you pay as the service is needed. It'd allow me to pick up some other combat work on the side - from people that might actually need the service."

Kiyo nodded as Selim explained his problem, reaching into her robe as she did so. She took out around 5,000N and handed it to him rather casually as she begun to speak.

"Very well. Consider this a retainer fee to buy your services throughout the journey of our Rites--if anything more than light duty is required at any given point we can discuss a further payment at such a junction. It's a pleasure to be working with you." Kiyo said as the money was taken. She felt oddly invigorated after the battle, and thanks to her intensive usage of Windspeaking she could feel the knowledge within her mind blossoming. As it did so, she felt a similar surge of energy from Mythari, opalescent energy emanating from its form and swirling around it as it underwent some mystical physiological change. Kiyo had seen Natrelmon ascend to higher forms, of course, but rarely so quickly after having captured one--and she could count the number of Mythrael she'd seen on two hands. They were notoriously reclusive, though the Reijin had more experience with Dragon-types than most thanks to their extensive collection of esoteric knowledge and high status. She had conversed with a few of them in her time thanks to her natural gift of telepathy, and had been happy to impart what she learned from the tomes in her family's library to the creatures. Kiyo had always felt like explaining something that she had just read, especially something magical, was the best way to actually internalise the knowledge; that was, she thought, the purpose of knowing so much. What use was her family's collection if they simply hoarded it away and never shared their secrets with the world?

"I also noticed that you seem to be a telepath. It is rare for a trainer to be able to give commands to their Natrelmon without verbage, especially ones as tactical as yours. Though Mythari are naturally telepathic with magically gifted individuals, I too possess the gift of telepathy. It has made for some very interesting situations when meeting with the Song family. Song Lin Tiao is... well, I'm not sure there is a word for how inspiring she is." Kiyo added as an aside. She figured that if they were going to travel together, allowing themselves a strong telepathic link was for the best. In the event of danger, a seamless mental connection allowed for responses that those without the gift simply could not anticipate or keep up with. Having such an advantage would be impressive, and being able to speak to Selim without allowing passersby to understand appealed to Kiyo in an enormous way. There were things she wanted to say that she would prefer her parents did not get wind of, and that secrecy was hard to come by in Lifan.

@Innue

@Innue

“You could say following people’s tracks used to be part of my profession,” laughed Axel, “ but it was merely curiosity. Its been a while since I’ve seen anyone so I guess I was looking for company, although a damsel in distress would’ve made a better story.”



“And that is an impressive collection. I myself have had a good haul on my way here. All in all I’m pretty happy with them. Then of course there’s my main companions: Lancelot, Yosoku, and Chu. I’m sure you can tell I adore fighting types, although I specialize in tracking wind types.”

Axel was sure it was fairly obvious why he specialized in Wind types while in a group called “Byakko’s Fangs”. Selim could probably also assume he was a windspeaker as well from the context. It was fairly common for people to attune themselves with the school of magic based on their locations of birth, although Axel did not follow that tradition. Being from Ward, he should have inherently been a stonewarder, yet he focused on windspeaking which is the exact opposite element. Safe to say, his father and other minor nobles were not pleased with his decision and were even more upset that he “Gallavanted” around the country with mercs. It was not a popular decision, but Axel was quite happy with his life up until now and enjoyed being his own man, not to be defined by the silly rules of nobility.

“I plan on breeding my Yosoku at some point but I don’t really have the skills to do it myself. I’m hoping to be able to find a farm to leave them on for a while and maybe make some money from their offspring and of course, possibly create some potent natrelmon for my own use. ”

The money wouldn’t be necessary quite yet but it would allow Axel to invest in more ventures as he went on his way to complete the rites. He could catch pretty much anything he needed, but relics weren’t cheap and eventually he would need to have a steady supply of N in order to allow him to continue catching them.

“So where are you from Selim? Are you also on starting your Rites?” Axel asked

Yugaku/Toran Arena Challenge

After a few hot meals and a long rest, Axel had wandered around Toran and taken in the sights. He had already benefited much from beginning his journey. On top of the Natrelmon he had encountered and captured, he also had two new spell schools to work with. One was gifted to him by Selim, the other he picked up from the local mage school: Stonewarding. Axel had avoided associating himself with it due to his fathers strong ties to it, but after struggling with the Albion and Mythari, he realized it could come in handy by allowing him to better defend himself as well as his partners.

Axel was warned of the complications of being a Windspeaker and Stonewarder. The difference in elements would slow his progression in both. The benefits outweighed this though, as he was sure he could overcome this restriction through training and expanding his knowledge of magic. It had been costly though, as 10kN was a great chunk of his remaining money. Immediately after the purchase, Axel spent some time practicing the motions and channeling his magic to the unfamiliar element. It had a very different feel to Windspeaking and Mishtshaping.

Suddenly a loud voice summoned all trainers beginning their rites. Axel followed the voices instructions, and came upon a gathering of official looking people and an imposing figure with a blindfold.

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As Yugaku completed her speech, Axel turned and inspected the crowd of trainers who were also beginning their rites. Most were young, looking under or around 20 years old. Selim was also there, which was to be expected, and was accompanying a woman. They made an odd pair with Selim’s darker skin tone to the woman’s pale complexion. Her silvery-grey hair made her stand out even more amongst the crowd, and she appeared to be scowling at the world. The combination of features reminded him of someone from his youth, yet he couldn’t put his finger on it.

The PDA handed to him was much appreciated as was the bank card. 500N a week along with free meals and lodging would allow him to not worry as much about earning money during his rites. Now he could focus on capturing the strongest natrelmon and defeating the Arena in each major town. A wave of adrenaline passed through him as he thought of all the battles ahead of him.

“This will be fun” he thought with a smile, and makes his way towards the Toran Arena to make his first challenge.

Lance figured there wasn't much point in sticking around. He wanted to at least start making progress on his Rites right away. While he could took however long he wanted, Lance had never been one for idling. Furthermore to challenge Arenas he would need more Naturelmon. So after the instructions were finished Lance began separating from the crowd. He had preemptively purchased a few relic charges in anticipation and it was time to put them to use. He had just barely left the city when he saw a flash of blue and froze. Lance's eyes dissected the trees around him until they finally spotted the culprit, A Swalest. Lance recognized the Naturelmon as once desirable for Naturelmon farms. He personally didn't especially want it for a team but it should sell for a decent amount. Lance carefully took his coin in one hand and pointed it towards the nesting bird. A flash of light and the Swalest was sealed away. Lance grinned, a successful start.

He continued moving deeper into the forest cautiously, not wanting to scare away any potential prey, using his small skill in invocation to help hide himself. He didn't encounter anything for a while, until he found an old faded path. Upon following it for a while he saw a worn down looking shack. There he saw an Olena scratching at one of the walls, making one of many tally marks already there. It looked like Lance was in luck again. As before, he grabbed his Talisman and faced it towards his prey, activating and drawing the Olena inside. They were probably fairly weak Naturelmon but it was a good thing he'd caught the two of them without much trouble. Perhaps- Lance's thought were interrupted by a curious sound from inside the shack. A Solbe floated outside the shack, with two orbs of light trailing behind it and stared at him. Oh this was a great opportunity, a Solbe could be rather valuable to sell or to use given its rare typing, something he knew from having seen one go on sale previously.

Lance immediately released his Kaiguard and Mythin. The Light Ghost recognized he was preparing for a battle and launched the first move, immediately moving it's one orb forward and causing it to emit blinding light. Disregarding his blindness Lance moved forward with Kaiguard right next to him. A few moments later his Stonewarding triggered a wall that immediately collapsed under the three stars that blasted into it. Lance regained his vision in time to see more stars coming from the second orb and immediately raised an earth wall to take the hits, which immediately collapsed under the attacks. Kaigaurd plowed forward, hurling a stone disc at the Soble, who simply phased through it and then launched a seeking chain at it.

Kaiguard's own defense activated and a wall blocked the chain, smashing into it and causing the two to dissipate. Kaigaurd now launched a Whelming Wave at the Soble. The Soble attempted to mount some sort of counterattack but Lance was already there with a counterspell. The Soble was smashed backwards, crashing into the shack behind it. Lance took the chance to close the distance and launch an Eruption while the Soble was unable to respond, sending four earth spikes into it and immediately attempting to capture it with a relic. A tense moment paused after which Lance sighed with relief. Mission accomplished. This had been a pretty successful hunt overall and Lance was ready to return to town. He had to make some decisions regarding his catches, perhaps he could use his PDA to get some information regarding that.

As the trainers all made their respective ways in Toran after Yugaku's gathering, and a thick blanket of inky blackness covered the sky, the stirrings of some ancient and inscrutable force progressed in frequency and intensity. The most magically apt in the city might notice a strange influx of magical energy that seemed to not fit in any of the categories of study formally recognised by the Mages' Guild, the spiritually aware might notice some ordinarily unseen tension straining against the fabric of the world, and the plain lucky might catch a deeper scent of rich, metallic blood in their noses that would give them pause for thought. Whatever people might notice, or not notice at all, something had people in Toran on edge--many of the new trainers would likely seek solace and refuge in the idea that it was just jitters from taking their first step outside of comfort and into adventure and seek to rationalise away what they felt or observed, just as they would be sure that their parents had done so before them, and theirs before them.

Night would not pass uneventfully. Those trainers who engaged in nocturnal activities beyond the purview of normal folk (perhaps foraging for herbs, or looking for nocturnal Natrelmon, or studying deeply tomes of powerful and forbidden magic) would feel the static of apprehension dancing upon the nape of their neck, and the cries of a wolf punctuated the otherwise eerie silence with bursts of frenetic energy. Something about the howling stirred the blood, and when Indolu gave way to Ielle come morn there would be reports of many more fights than usual breaking out in the streets and none of the trainers would have slept well at all. Even today that strange howling would vibrate in their skulls, exciting their blood with a restlessness that just wouldn't quite go away--at some point during the day each of them would be compelled to leave their hotels or inns and do something to burn off some excess energy. Toran was a big city, there was no doubt of that, and some strange auspice would have them all meander their way towards a small square hidden away from the more open areas of the city by edifices of blackened stone.

The Trainers beginning their Rites were likely not familiar with all of Atren's various legends and myths and folklore regarding specific Natrelmon, but there were a couple of tales that practically everyone had heard: The Four and their lieutenants; Lancelot and Medraut and their search for the spectral dragon Albion; Yata-Garasu and their calamitous predilections towards ill-omen. It was the latter story that each of the trainers walking into the square would recall as more of the aforementioned creatures than they had ever seen before flocked together in a single place. Every arch, every corner, every lamppost had one of the fabled Yata-Garasu perched upon it, its three legs clamped tightly in place while its head twisted and turned curiously.

Many of the trainers would never have gotten the chance to see a Yata-Garasu up close and personal, so this would be a good opportunity for them to study: they were notably at least three times the size of a normal crow (and crows were already fairly large), and laced within their ebon plumage were crackles of rusty red sparks of dull energy that seemed to flare up at the most random intervals with equally queer spikes of intensity. The beaks of the birds were much unlike ordinary beaks, curved in a shape that could only be described as a tomoe found in the heraldry of Sakura, but tapering not to a smooth and rounded edge but a wicked, gleaming point. Two beady black eyes peered out from the head, with a third directly above it, occluded by what appeared to be white mist, frantically darting back and forth in every which direction one could think of. It was the third eye that had truly given them their reputations as harbingers of ill-omen, said to be seeking calamitous paths that the future could take and directing events towards them wherever possible. Indeed, none had ever spoken of a Yata-Garasu and anything remotely approaching words of joy and happiness in the same sentence except perhaps ironically.

It was exceedingly odd, then, that maybe thirty of these extremely rare and ominous creatures had congregated at dawn in the city of Toran. Amidst them all, stood by a gently bubbling fountain, was an elderly man grasping an enormously oversized staff and teetering precariously to keep his grip upon it. The Yata-Garasu seemed especially drawn to it, and him, and they clambered across its many branches and a cacophonous clamour of squawks filled the air. The trainers who made their way there would find that he had already amassed quite a following--and seemed to explicitly be gathering them away from the hustle and bustle of the city in order to speak to them.

"Yes, yes... I can teach you the ways of the old magic, before the times of the Four! A strange and powerful magic, afeared by all, yes yes... Has anyone seen my staff? I normally keep it right here..." the Old Man voiced loudly, in a somehow simultaneously sonorous and senile manner, as his free right hand patted over his belly. He seemed to be indicating that he normally kept his staff in his pants, but given that he was already holding it and that it was absolutely prodigious in size, that seemed to be quite the impossibility.

As the trainers settled into the square, he would be broken from his musings. The Old Man shouted and gesticulated wildly, beckoning them over to him, as he continued to go on about being able to teach them strange and potent magic. His claims would be easy to dismiss entirely if not for the veritable army of extremely rare Yata-Garasu that seemed to be at his beck and call.