Rhua's tears were wiped away, aided by the god Scanger's ethereal projections. They appeared before her, sitting in a white ivy-rimmed circle hovering in the air. Scanger was barely bigger than a finger and only inches away from her face. Rhua couldn't take her eyes off the tiny old man swinging away.

"Why are you here? Why now? It's been so long I stopped giving a shit about that stupid caller gift." Rhua continued staring as the old man in his toga continued to swing away.

"Well, you had to unlock the requirements, of course. These gifts can't just be thrown around to any old Tom, Dick and Harry, now, can they? Ha!"

"And what was that exactly?" Rhua blinked, losing focus, and returned to writhing in the air. The old man Scanger stopped swinging. Rhua could feel a thick, gruelling tension between herself and this god. They eventually spoke, leaving her jaw hanging. It took several long moments for her senses to gain some form of composure again.

"What you're saying doesn't make any sense... To lose someone dear? Exonerate the suffering? I'm lost in all this Scanger. I've not lost anyone in such a long time now, and I don't know what that word means." Rhua rolled her eyes, though she stopped resisting the force keeping her fixed in place.

"You don't have to accept it, of course. Though I implore that you do. Perhaps it will be useful in times ahead, young Seisyll. Yayayaya~ It is a blessing to receive a gift from the god; we don't just give them to any old Tom, Dick and Harry yayayaya~"

What is up with this god? "You know you just said that, right?"

"I've grown senile, it seems, in my old age. I'm not going into that bloody home, though; I'd rather eat my toga! I've been here long enough; it's time I made a return up top. Will you accept the awakening of your gift, Rhua?"

"...alright, I guess."

"Splendid!" Scanger clapped their hands, and Rhua descended back to the floor. "I designed this one myself; you'll have to build up its power, though. Unfortunately, I'm not tech-savvy. So, when it's ready, it'll just work by itself."

Staring at him blankly, Rhua couldn't find anything else to say except, "Ok…"

"Yayayayay, ta-ta for now, Miss!"

Dissipating at the clap of a hand, Scanger and his white floating circle disappeared. The air began to distort again as Rhua returned to her companions. Wardi spoke up first, questioning what was happening. "Where'd you go, lass? You just disappeared suddenly; I thought you got kidnapped, to be honest."

"I met Scanger. And now my gift has awakened... Sort of."

Rhua returned to look at Zip, still red-eyed and tearful, and walked over to him. Placing her hands on his shoulders firmly, eye against eye, she whispered to him, "I won't stop until he pays for what he did to your parents, Zip. I promise you,"

Zip looked into Rhua's eyes. He wasn't sure how to respond, but he managed a small smile at least. DD stepped over to Zip. "It's OK, buddy. Come on." He slumped into DD's shoulder. The mystical girl in back, Sil, walked forward, heading straight over toward Wardi.

She stopped and stared at him. And he stared back at her, confused. "What is it, Sil? The name is Sil, right? Is there something you need?" She handed over two yellow orbs, which Wardi reached out to accept, and she dropped them into his hands, turned around and walked back to the group.

"What?" He was confused by their entire process, wondering what the hell just happened. He scanned the orbs, and they displayed information in his system window.

Orbs full of mysterious liquid - ??? Right. That's a little strange, to be honest.

Lucy, who had been fairly quiet up until now, spoke to everyone. "Make sure you look after yourselves now, you hear me? The world has become more dangerous. It's not just the cavern passages that are unsafe now; it's also Areya's territory in the West and the Koan lands, too. You really need to be careful, guys."

Tortiq, the cowering little Koanor, spoke up and said, "I promise we will stay out of danger. We are going to meet our friend in the East." Lucy replied to her, "You do that. Stick to your group; stick to your friends. We need all of them we can get." The two exchanged smiles, almost as if they had known each other outside of this moment. Lucy could sense Tortiq held a strong potential for being an Arts user. "You should use Arts when you can; it'll be a useful help to the group. "O-ooook!" they replied, stuttering away.

Rhua noticed that the shield DD was using was haggard and brittle-looking. She went into her inventory and handed over one of her older shields. "Here. You'd better look after this lot."

"Wow, this is really for me!?" Rhua nodded. "Absolutely. You might want to take it to a smith soon, though. It's in better condition than your old one, but it's certainly taken its beatings."

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"Actually, he just made me remember something." She went into her inventory. Through it she remembered that she was given a repair orb from Wandering Repairman H. "It's about time I finally got to use this. Here, you've got much better use for it than I do. If you want to use it, all you must do is press the orb against the object, and it'll automatically start the repair for you. Here, give it a try."

DD held the orb over the shield, and slowly they brought them together. The orb began its repair process. Two tiny little arms unfolded from the orb, which opened into hands that held tiny hammers. The orb began to tap away at the shield, repairing it slowly. Cling, clang, clung. The group watched as the orb carried out the repairs. What was once a battered and rusted up bronze shield quickly turned into a shimmering bronze shield that no longer had chips and cracks along it.

The orb began to speak after it had finished the repairs, 'Thanks for using my repair orb. If you want to buy any more of them, then come find me out in the field… Somewhere… This is an automated message from Haych, Wandering Repairman.'

Everyone looked around, confused and wondering if that was normal. Lucy spoke up, "That's the first time we've ever seen one in action; it's a whole new thing for us." The stares of confusion among the younger group continued.

Wardi tried to keep things ticking over, clapping his hands and speaking up, "Right, you lot, that's enough fun for one day. You look after each other, and we'll do the same on our end."

The two groups briefly stood facing off against each other, but there were only smiles on either side. Zip's teary eyes remained, but he returned to bouncing back and forth on his springy legs.

Rhua started heading northwards. "See you soon, Zip. If you see MC or Horace on your travels, tell them to come to Ecclesville, or I'm going to break their legs!"

DD and Tortiq cowered at the casual threat, while Sil simply observed. Wardi's eyes met hers once again. Those eyes, I know them. Where have I seen them before?

***

It was a two-day walk to the big city, and they took it upon themselves to make the most of any training they could do along the way. Now far stronger than they have ever been, it was an opportunity to try some more serious opponents.

"What monsters are lurking up this way, Lucy? We've never been this way before. Rhua asked; her shield was at the ready, but she kept her sword holstered.

Lucy took out her compendium, skimming the pages for information. "Um. Where are we again?"

Wardi shook his head, laughing internally. This lot clearly never wants to learn geography. He took out the map; their heads were stacked together on the map. "The route is Gallop's path, leading to the Widdlewans." Wardi replied.

Lucy flipped the pages, Shla shal shal, eventually reaching the area in question. Running her fingers down the pages, she tried to look for anything around their level. "Well, there's lesser Kobrai, Sinnymun slurpers around level 20, Proud flies around level 25 and dung slugs that are level 30. Oh! There's also a named monster that spawns north of here, actually, Munching Mikey."

Rhua was unbothered by the talks and continued walking. Wardi was curious, though; he hadn't heard of the name before. "It's made me curious. What is it, and what's the recommended level?"

"It's a type of Sau, and it's level 32."

Wardi hated fighting Sau; they were always too sweet and innocent for killing. And notoriously annoying to fight against. Their thick coats blocked physical attacks, and they were strong against elemental Arts. We do have Lucy, and I'm still trying to raise this rapier win count. In for a penny, I suppose. "We're fresh from a good night's sleep; let's go straight to it!"

Rhua, hearing Wardi's suggestion, finally spoke up. With a brow raised, she said to him, "Are you sure about this? It's higher than us. And we're lacking the other three..."

He nodded at her. "We need to train, and the only way to really make a difference in training is to go outside a comfort zone. And we have Lucy; she's far stronger than before."

Rhua waved her hand at him and then began to jog her way north. Wardi and Lucy soon followed. It was not long before they reached the tall blue Sinnymun trees and their pink leaves. Groups of the Sinnymun slurpers hovered about them; their sparkly green wings were deceptive to those unfamiliar. They hypnotise and douse you with a paralysing agent when they strike and begin slurping away at your juices, hence the name Sinnymun slurpers.

Lucy was huffing away, worn out. Wardi and Rhua dealt with them together. After gaining many levels recently, they both felt the differences in their stats. Though that also may be attributed to the well-earned and long-overdue sleep.

Rhua's shield felt lighter, and her sword did too. Slashing and stabbing had become much easier, and her balance as she did so kept her upright.

For Wardi, it was difficult to notice a difference in speed, though his strength had certainly made a noticeable difference; his blows easily one-shot the fluttery foes. The confidence got the better of him when a slurper managed to get a bite out of him. His muscles began to seize up as the slurper drained his blood away.

"Someone want to help? I let my guard down..."

Lucy began casting an Art. Purple symbols appeared around her, and she spoke aloud, 'Raiton Wave'. Emerging from the symbols were sparks, and a wave of electricity shot across the area. Several Slurper's dropped to the floor dead. Including those attached to Wardi. Those five levels have made a massive difference to my damage output. I don't think I could have defeated that many enemies in one move before.

Rhua finished off the last Slurper with a shield bash. It flopped to the floor dead, and she began to scavenge it for parts. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves; they're lower than us. Named monsters are named for a reason; this won't be a simple win against the Sau."

She hacked off the wings and dissected the critter. Despite the overly green insides, they smelt delicious thanks to the Sinnymun they live off, though Wardi was not going to do the same for the one that had a drink or two from his blood.

"We should warm up on the proud flies and dung slugs. I need a bit of practice before taking on something serious." I am so bloody embarrassed getting caught like that; Wardi didn't want to say it out loud, but he was scared a little by how quickly he was taken out of the action.

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