AETHER BEASTS

Chapter 64 - 64

Rewards? Now that definitely caught my attention.

"We don't have much left in the way of cultivation resources," Hyphen said. "But we can offer you what we do have left along with a substantial amount of kor crystals. It isn't nearly enough for what you've done, but for now, it will have to do.

"We can also promise free unlimited access to the tower should we win this war," Kaylin added.

I glanced over at Sandra and suppressed a smile. I hadn't even really thought about the rewards when we'd taken up the task of getting the letter to the mayor of Orton, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't pleased, not to mention free unlimited access to the tower if we won would be extremely useful. I could feel that Ziranis was pleased with the outcome. The kor crystals wouldn't go amiss either. I still had most of the money my aunt had given me along with the kor crystals I'd gotten as rewards when I'd first arrived and those I'd earned from my cut of the moss troll bounty, but more money wasn't a bad thing.

"Now that's done and over with," Hyphen said. "You two can go about your day."

"That's it?" Sandra asked in confusion.

"That's it," Kaylin answered. "There are no more tasks for us to give you well apart from the bounties that you can take from the bounty house."

"What about the twin horn?" I asked. "We heard from Markem when we first caught him that the twin horn are planning a big assault that would happen soon."

Elder Hyphen sighed and placed both hands on the table in front of him. "We are already aware of this. Twin horn activity has risen in the past few days but not raids or attacks. They are all moving to specific areas and abandoning certain outposts. We know that a final battle is coming but apart from preparing and waiting for reinforcements we can't do much."

"If you want to do something." Kaylin turned to us. "Then you should prepare for what's to come."

We left the tent soon after and headed back to our own while we thought on the elders' words.

"So training then?" Sandra asked.

Before I could respond, Zirani spoke up in my mind. "Give me an hour or so then we can begin training, and we still need to have that talk, but we can do that later tonight when we are in private."

Sandra must have noticed the look in my eyes. "Zirani?"

I nodded and focused back on her. "Yeah, she said to give her some time, and then we'll get to training in an hour or so."

"So what do we do till then?" Misty asked and I was momentarily surprised that she'd spoken up. "You want to train as well?"

She blushed then nodded. "Yes I… Well, I think it would help."

I shrugged. I wasn't going to argue with her especially since having her be able to control and use that bestial part of herself on command would definitely be a good thing. Despite the fact that she was acting so timid, she was probably the deadliest out of three of us with raw speed and strength that far outmatched my own, not to mention what she could do if she got her fangs into something. The image of that moss troll uselessly beating at Misty while he was drained dry wasn't going to be leaving my mind anytime soon.;

"So… anyone up for a bouncy?' Sandra asked.

"Not really," I said. I was still feeling a bit tired and out of it and there was something else I wanted to do. "How about we check out what's an offer at the trade part of the camp. I don't think any of us have ever actually been there."

"Trade." Misty perked up then a look of confusion crossed her face. "This is war, wouldn't it be counterintuitive to force people to pay for things that might help them."

"The sect provides for things like that," Sandra explained. "No one in our sect goes hungry or cold, and if you need some armor the sect will more than gladly give you some. It might not be the best and be average, but it will still do a decent job and with the increased pay latley, everybody's got full pockets. It's mostly going to be things taken from twin horn camps, and the other basics like essence cores, herbs, and maybe a few odds and ends."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."

Together the three of us moved through the camp and it only took us a few minutes to find the trade area as I was calling it. It looked far more organized than I expected. There was a large stone building in the center which reminded me of the auction hall the merchants set up at West Vale when they arrived, but smaller. There were stalls selling all sorts from weapons and armor to exotic food, and as Sandra had said Essence cores. There was even one stall that offered to do design work on weapons and armor to give them flair and I was tempted to head over to check it out, but I stopped myself. My current glaive wasn't anything special and I would no doubt be getting a replacement and my robes were already embroidered with the symbol of the steel heart.

We looked around for a while and I noted just how happy Misty seemed to be. In fact, the way she smiled as she moved from stall to stall reminded me of the old her. She moved with confidence and spoke with stall owners with ease and her bargaining skills were showing. Her posture wasn't hunched back like she was trying to hide instead she moved with a straight gate. Sandra must have noticed it too because she spent a few minutes just staring at the blonde.

"She really is the daughter of a merchant," Sandra mused. "She looks very happy."

I nodded. "This is most likely familiar to her in a way."

"I hope Zirani can help her," Sandra said in an oddly sincere voice. "I never really hated her, you know. I was just creeped out by the entire vampire thing. Now that I can see past that, all I see is a broken girl clinging to whatever she can, not to mention the way she thinks about herself."

I winced. Misty wasn't good at hiding that fact. She saw herself as a monster, plain and simple, and even though we didn't, it didn't matter.

"She probably blames it for all her problems, even though the real problem who started this was the twin horn."

"Did she ever mourn?" Sandra asked.

"Who? Her father?" I shrugged. "I'm not sure. That entire thing happened so damn fast and I was dealing with my own problems at the time as were you."

We spent some time looking at the stalls outside before we headed into the stone building. The inside was pretty plain and it was mostly filled with more stalls though the items on offer were more expensive and there were plenty of exotic things I wasn't able to identify at first glance.

"What is this," I muttered as I looked down at a green sac that seemed to ooze a green smoke.

"That's an acid sac from an aether beast," Zirani said in my mind. "It looks to be in good condition."

"What would you use it for?"

"Plenty of things. Alchemy, Aether enchantment or construction," Zirani replied.

"I understood two of those. What's aether construction?"

"Oh, I forgot you don't really have that here, at least not the advanced stuff. Those storage units and caravans that float. They were created using aether runes then feeding them with aether and that's basically it, but beyond the great scar, we also use special patterns and weaves via free form enchantments. The aether runes do the work but the thing had to actually be put together correctly for everything to work. Aether construction just means building anything that is powered by both limited enchantment and freeform enchantment."

"Dare I ask what the difference is?"

"I can give you a brief and rough explanation if you want?" Zirani offered, and before I could reply dove into it. "Limited enchantment is simply forming aether runes or carving them, then powering them with aether and that's it. Freeform enchantment is when you use patterns and weaves to tie things together. Simple items will just have limited enchantment while the more complex items will have both. Aether runes as the main core with the patterns and weaves to tie everything together."

As I tried to wrap my mind around what Zirani was saying I was distracted by Misty and noticed her looking at a particular stall with a sad and faraway look in her eyes. I hesitantly approached her and she glanced over at me.

"You ok?" I asked, looking over at the items on display. They were odd little trinkets that I recognized as charms. There were simple items that were carved with basic aether runes and could do simple things like light up or make sounds. I loved them as a kid.

She nodded. "I'm fine."

It was a lie, and we both knew it, but I wasn't going to call her out on it, not here, not until Zirani and I had that talk.

We spent another half an hour browsing before we left the auction hall and the trade center. By this point Zirani was ready and I led everyone to the area Zirani and I had been training in before.

Sandra might not have noticed it, but as we walked I couldn't help but glance over every so often at Misty who was even quieter than usual. Her posture was also a lot worse and she seemed to want to crawl into herself and hide. I pushed back my urge to go over there and talk to her.. I would figure out what was going on with her later and when I knew more, but it was best if I focused on training for now.