Atlantis

[Bloodedge]

And so, there was victory. The racer in third place fell to sixth, and Kou stood alongside Hikari while she claimed a rather interesting prize. There was a great deal of satisfaction to be taken from this, interestingly enough. It was good to see the lass, even in another form, being both happy and healthy. What better way to see that than in a state of victory in a fun little game?

The day continued, eventually resulting in the pair walking around and snacking on their own treats of preference. Kou had, once again, obtained a plate of fried dough to consume along the way. Between bites, he managed to pause his consumption long enough to answer Hikari's query. "Iie. It was a good time for me, and as long as you're good, I'm satisfied. If there's anything else you're up for though, let me know now. I'm coasting on a sugar high, so I've got the energy~" he said. True enough, every time they had gone to grab something to eat this day, Kou loaded whatever he had with sugar. He intended to make great use of that, mostly to finish his little project. However, he could easily make use of it for Hikari's sake as well, should she have the desire.

[Apollymi]

Eating her confection of choice, and watching her brother eat his, made Hikari happy. It wasn't the random happiness of getting something one wanted, but instead a happiness caused by the simple feeling of inclusion. Besides that point, it'd been quite a while since she'd been able to spend time with her brother while not just being looked after. She considered this an optimal situation, as she was able to feel like they were more on the even ground that siblings should be. She smiled happily as she enjoyed the amounts of food she'd eaten that alternated between sweet and salty. "Oh? Sugar highs are fine and all but you shouldn't work yourself too hard or anything. And no, I'm happy with today and I got some other stuff I wanna do... ya' know?" she asked of her brother. She'd pieced together over the course of the day that he'd likely been awake for a while and doing something strange. She wasn't quite sure what all that strangeness entailed but she was pretty certain it was directly related to Miki. She was quite certain the girl had done something for the lad on Valentine's Day and she was certain he was just enough of a shut-in to have thrown himself completely into trying to return the favor without the softest of approaches. Even so, such an approach was uniquely him, and if they got along already she was sure the lass would appreciate it. As such she once again decided not to prod and instead she'd get her fix of information by exploiting other sources. She needed only to speak to the Queen to find out most of what she wished to know. With that she'd already started walking back towards the Palace and as she entered the throne room there was quite an interesting sight taking place.

Miki, unseen for several days, was very obviously being dragged along by the hand. This action was being perpetrated by Queen Seriri, much to the blonde lass' protest. "Oi, oi. I remember agreeing to get you ingredients. Which I did, I don't remember agreeing to cook..." there was disdain in the blonde's voice. "Kaiba dinner." she finished as if disgusted by the thought. "Yare yare, I already told you. You aren't cooking, I am. You're tasting and it's been a while since I did this, so it's gotta be perfect... Besides who complains about a free steak dinner, wine and dessert just for standing around in the kitchen," she said happily seeming to be oblivious to the lass' current state. Miki had been quite anxious these last few days and had almost completely shut down. Seriri was doing her best friend duty and making sure the girl didn't lose herself to her own thoughts. Part of this, included making sure she ate and took care of herself, which she did under the guise of needing assistance to preserve the lass' dignity. Was it manipulative? A little, but it would be well worth it, to not have the girl fall apart, knowing that she didn't have enough to do to distract her when the days activities didn't directly include her. "Well, when you put it like that, me... but... I don't remember volunteering, nor you being so pushy..." she let out an exasperated sigh but still was moving forward, though she wanted to be properly contrary. Whether she was aware of this manipulation or not, being included was fine, and though she didn't want to cook for Kaiba, it did give her something else to do besides think. Given that thinking was currently dangerous due to being able to talk herself into nitpicking at her own insecurities with nothing to distract her from them.'Ugh, I miss No Man's Sky.'

[Bloodedge]

Other stuff to do, she said. Yes, indeed. Kou had things of his own to do, and not much time to do them. In a way, he was glad Hikari had no other intentions for their outing. He enjoyed this time, sure, and he would seek so many other times like it... but there was something else he needed to do as well. "Alright, fair deal. It was fun, though... We should plan another day, just us two," he said as they parted ways, and he wound up yawning once more.

Back to work he went.

Meanwhile, Diva was having a rather interesting time with the small Guardians of Atlantis. Those little egg-like creatures who were once his siblings... they seemed to be aware of current events. One in particular was especially attached to the lad for the duration of this day, until, at the very end of the day... it began to take on a new form via an ocean-blue glow. The egg shape wasn't just there for shape alone, it seemed. It was... hatching, while also consuming some of its brethren which offered themselves to the cause.

Ah, but that was a matter to be unveiled at a different time. Onto the next day, in which Kou stumbled to the floor of his secret workshop. He had that golden sphere in hand, but it was just shy of being finished. More time, more work, more meticulous crafting. Little did he know, he'd be able to finish! It would take basically the entire day, in which he wouldn't be seen by anyone. However, in one shining moment... the sphere erupted with a golden glow that signaled its completion. He'd done it! There was hardly any time left in the day, but he'd done it! All he had to do now was... find Miki before midnight.

So, out he'd go at last.

[Apollymi]

"Hai hai, whenever. Doesn't really matter when. We've got like forever~" she mentioned, knowing that this world didn't work like their own, and their life spans weren't limited by a natural progression of time anymore. Whatever the case, they'd part ways here, and she'd go about looking for something entertaining to do. But after witnessing the Miki/Seriri incident, she'd decided to seek out her other companion of choice, Diva. Whatever she found there, would likely keep her busy for some time to come.

As the day shifted, time passed. A great deal of it, all the way into the next night even. After hanging out with Seriri, Miki had taken the other lass' advice. She'd been out today, busying herself. Fortifying the stones, collecting the income she was owed by certain business owners, and other such things. She'd set up some open business relationships with a couple of new providers as well. She'd found a way to busy herself with something more familiar to herself. But whenever her mind stopped this day the same questions and insecurities came crawling back. 'What if he doesn't show?' she asked herself. 'Maybe I was stupid to think he'd just like me too...' she mused. 'Maybe it was just Akashi... and Dragons stuff,' she thought absently. 'I really shouldn't have done that, I always go too far,' she continued throughout the day. Closer to the end of the day, she'd all but given up. A single stop at one of the taverns she'd helped out a bit, and given her a bottle of new spirits to try along with the twenty percent profits on the week. Strange as this might have been, she didn't want to drink if there was no one to consume it with. As she floated along atop her pillow, she found herself stopped in front of what had previously been the Lich King's Obelisk. Now it was nothing but a Great Runestone in the middle of a Runestone Circle. Now it was simply the kind of monument the type of people she belonged to prayed to. 'Maybe, I scared him off...' she thought she reached out over her pillow to touch the runes running through this stone statue, making it so that she could feel the magic of the universe. She felt accomplished, and down. Resolute but skittish, time was already gone right? He wasn't interested but at least, she'd put herself out there. And there was a lot to look forward to right? They could still be friends, and the girls would probably want to do random cosmetic activities. She could fully devote herself to a dealing with business, and become the same kind of lonely CEO she would have been back in her home world. But with magical powers. That could be fun. 'I really didn't want to be alone anymore...' she thought earnestly. It was like her last prayer to the universe, the only thing she could offer it as a sentiment. She opened her eyes and a strange glow tainted them, it was one which belonged to this sort of magic. She wasn't aware of this by sight though, only by feeling. She'd not cry now though, instead her hand just gently fell away from the stone and she turned on the spot with her pillow clutched closely to her chest. Just another coping mechanism, even this world knew she needed.

[Bloodedge]

He could make it. He would make it. The entire week had been spent working toward a single purpose, meant to be completed within a certain frame of time. He just had to find the girl of the hour, and present the item in question. Where would she be found, though? He had so little time, and so little ability to locate Miki. She wasn't in the room, nor in the throne room. Time wasn't being friendly at all, and it didn't help at all that Kou could hardly see where he was going at this point.

Still, he had to move forward. He needed to figure out where she could be found, and after stumbling through the throne room for a few minutes, something came to mind. Everything thus far had looped back to the Obelisk at some point. As such, he made every effort to reach the structure in time. He ran, at least in his mind, until he found Miki floating atop her pillow before the obelisk in question. With a haze over his eyes, he wasted no time before holding out the puzzle sphere and panting through his speech.

"Oi... Here... have..." Nothing more. He collapsed then and there, the moment he felt the relief that came with knowing he'd made it in time. Sadly... he wasn't in time at all. To be precise, he was about 13 minutes past midnight, and he hadn't even managed to properly hand off the item before losing consciousness.

[Apollymi]

As her hand fell away from the Obelisk, Miki heard a voice which was quite familiar to her. She looked up from the clutched pillow and saw a rather haggard looking Kou standing before her. Beyond his appearance he claimed he had something for her. Or rather, he tried to, before the words could properly leave his mouth he was falling into unconsciousness. The potential of him falling couldn't be allowed at all, as such her weapon flew beneath him in its pillow form and she landed lightly on the ground holding the golden orb within her open hands. "Holy Shit!" she managed not really knowing how to react and instantly in a panic. He wasn't awake. She transferred the rather heavy ball to one hand and reached out for the lad's head. He wasn't hot or anything, so it wasn't a fever, but obviously there was something wrong with him. 'Shit, is he okay?' she wondered, not thinking immediately of the object in her hands. Even so, she hung on to it, knowing it was meant for her. Well, she was in a panic and what did she do when she panicked and didn't know what to do, she sought out Seriri.

A few moments later within the Throne Room the Queen of Atlantis would be found. Not because she'd been there before, but because she'd seen the lad looking around and wanted to be present to see what would become of their budding relationship. "Tsu-chan, he like passed out. I don't know what happened. Help!" Miki's words as the lad floated along atop her pillow unconscious likely. Seriri, paused frowning intently but also walked up with her brow raising. "Jeez, can you two get through a single interaction, without someone ending up unconscious?" she asked outraged by the unconscious lad. She took a single look at the distress in Miki's face, and the golden ball in her hand. The lad who couldn't speak for himself atop her pillow and she sighed. She'd get to work obviously, choosing to look over the lad with a single bead of water, her face exceedingly serious for several moments. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she didn't say anything at all. "What? What? Don't just stand there looking stunned what is it? Is he going to be alright?" asked the concerned lass.

[Bloodedge]

Naturally, Kou was going to be fine. It was a simple matter of exhaustion which felled him, brought about by the fact that he hadn't had a wink of sleep since before receiving Miki's initial gift. The lack of sleep was nothing new for the lad, but never to such extremes, requiring so much focus. He'd likely be unconscious for quite some time to come, but in his mind, he'd accomplished all he needed to. He would rest easy, knowing he'd found Miki after finishing the gift he prepared for her. He couldn't explain that the sphere was a puzzle requiring Mana, a series of button-like inputs of said Mana for the sake of filling the grooves within the sphere, only to create something of a magical map toward the true treasure, which could only be truly located and accessed with the map itself. Perhaps, though, he didn't need to be capable of explaining it. Perhaps he wouldn't have explained all of that anyway...

[Apollymi]

Miki's concern was exactly what Seriri expected of her friend and the boy she obviously liked. A sigh escaped her as she did the actual scan and came to a few conclusions about the lad's condition. Even so, she simply chuckled after she was done and after hearing the lass' quick words. "Oh, don't be so dramatic. He isn't dying or anything..." she said, which relieved Miki quite a bit. A lot more than she could even be comfortable telling anyone. "He's exhausted. I'm pretty sure he hasn't slept in days and he's expended a shit ton of Mana. He's also a little hungry but he can take care of that when he wakes up," she said knowing the lad would require absolutely no other treatment she walked over to her friend laying her hands on her shoulders. "Get yourself together woman. Take him to bed and relax. It will all be fine." she assured the blonde lass. "I'm cool. I'm calm... I was just..." she didn't know how to explain her state before this but Seriri knew exactly what was wrong with the girl. "You were just freaking out, and probably anxious because you didn't know how he'd respond to your feelings and it's like super late now so you were probably somewhere moping," she said softly. A small sound came from Miki as she turned her nose up. She wouldn't admit to doing anything like that. Instead the pillow with the lad atop of it would continue floating as she stepped away. "Fine, I'll make sure he gets to bed." she said softly. Wandering off towards her own room with the lad in tow.

Miki was far more honest than she intended to be. And quite relieved to know the lad would be alright. As such she settled him into her own bed with enough ability to focus on something other than his potential death. When she dropped him gently in bed, she did so only after removing her extra bits of clothing and her shoes and allowed him to sleep using her lap as a pillow. "Baka. No one told you to go do something crazy like completely exhausting yourself..." she mentioned in her own bad habit of talking to herself, when no one else was around to hear her. "I don't really know how to feel about this..." she said softly. "Still, I admire the ability to throw yourself into something like that... for me even. Was this what you were working on?" she asked somewhat rhetorically. Obviously, it was meant for her. The golden ball was rather intricate. She turned it in her hands multiple times touching all the buttons and grooves wondering briefly what it was meant to be. "Well, what exactly would you give me for White Day..." she wondered aloud. "It's really well made, stunning even," she mused. "No one ever really gives me things I don't ask for. And usually if I want something I'll buy it. Something like this... is really thoughtful," she said her words rather soft. "Actually, thoughtfulness is kind of one of your best features," she said, placing her hand gently against his head for just a moment. "Well, that and your enthusiasm about puz...." she paused. "Oh, it's a puzzle, huh?" she said with light excitement. She rolled it over in her hands and finding it to be a bit strange. It had to be like a 3D puzzle, but this was a magical world so it was probably magical, she exuded a bit of Mana while pressing a button finding her Mana traveling along the ball before getting to the end of its groove only to stop near the next button. "Huh, I wonder how long it will take me to figure it out? I was never really good at puzzles that didn't involve words or numbers," she mentioned as if he could hear her. "I guess I have more than enough time until you wake up to figure it out..." and just like that she began, still musing to the lad while she struggled her way through figuring out this particular puzzle.

[Bloodedge]

Kou would remain unawares. Given the amount of time he'd spent concentrating so intensely, focusing his Mana to such an extent, and participating in other activities of the week, he'd likely be out for ages. Luckily, he was cared for.

In the meantime, Kaiba Seto was out and about. He remained without a reason to leave Atlantis just yet, and today, his own experiments had given him even more of a reason to find Hisakawa Hiromi, or... Bulma, as this world knew her currently. She had something of great interest to him, and he needed to have it. So, naturally, he barged into the room he gathered she could be found in. "Hisakawa! I'm here for the Dracolite!"

[Apollymi]

From one button to another, the first of her movements of this puzzle was rather simple and rewarded her efforts. "Alright so I am trying to fill in these lines, and light it all up, obviously. But..." there was a pause from the lass as she worked her way through this puzzle, why? Because her next shift of the object in her hands let her see that the line that she was aiming to fill, couldn't be reached from the place it was at. There was a line which could connect to it laterally but... how to make it work. "It... turns?" she questioned softly a gentle twist of this segment would lead to the alignment of the lines and its continued flow towards the next well button. She noted then that there were several of these rotatable rings which seemed to work in conjunction with the the flow and other engravings. "This is beyond intricate. It's complicated, in a way I've never thought of anything complicated," she said as her fingers made contact with the lightly engraved hieroglyphs. "Actually, that isn't entirely true. I thought talking to you was pretty complicated at first as well. I wonder if you work a similar process to this one while you do things?" she asked of the lad who slept peacefully in her lap. "It's like a round magical Rubix cube. I wonder if you meant for it to be this way... whatever the case, it's worth finding out what it's for..." she mused softly. And as such her work would continue. For quite some time to come.

The room Kaiba Seto entered was put together like a workshop. In fact, over the last few days it had become more like one than ever. Several unfinished projects and blue prints decorated the space. It seemed cluttered but was also just cozy. The room itself had a settling of a smoke like haze, and smelled of menthol ever so lightly. Parked to the left was her motorcycle which was plugged into a diagonistic system which she had a screen for in front of it. Beyond all of that, in the middle of this room was a large glowing light table, which she was currently standing before. Hisakawa Hiromi in this world known as Bulma had her blue hair down. Her Dragon Radar placed on the corner of the light table, closed but emitting that light beeping noise which seemed to be helpful to her in some way. And her focus centered upon a drawing which she was compiling based on some older blue prints also on the table. 'No... that isn't quite...' she blew a stream of smoke out of her face as Kaiba burst in. He claimed he wanted her Dracolite which caused her to look up at him in wonder. Firstly the audacity of such an accusation, secondly there was the matter that she was currently standing in this room without pants, shorts or shoes, only a pair of panties and the tank top she always wore. "Don't you have an entire Metal Dragon made of Dracolite and Magisteel?" was all she replied, not even willing to entertain the idea that he wanted hers. "Also, knocking is a thing... Kaiba."

[Bloodedge]

This woman's state of dress, or rather undress, was of no concern to Kaiba. He didn't even pay her so much as a second glance as he sauntered his way into her workplace, as if he himself owned it. He looked as displeased by the very existence around him as ever, scoffing in disgust as if the smell of Bulma's cigarettes put him off. That wasn't the case at all. No, instead he was bothered by the way she addressed him after his entry.

"Yes, I have a Dragon of Dracolite and Magisteel. Why do you think I've come for Dracolite?" he questioned, though that wasn't all he had to say. Would he comment on the fact that he hadn't knocked before entering? No. He was Kaiba Seto, and he was going to enter when he pleased, regardless of others' opinions about it. "Hmph! You don't know, do you? It's perfectly possible to create a Dragon in this world, even though they haven't been seen in ages. I intend to do just that, using the shell I currently have as a catalyst."

[Apollymi]

Did Bulma care at all if Kaiba didn't like her smoking? No. She'd continue as this conversation wasn't doing much for her concentration on the matters in her mind currently. She was in the middle of designing the grandest sailing vessel this world would see for some time to come. And here was Kaiba, in her workshop carrying on with blatant disregard for her work. He seemed to agree that he had the things she'd mentioned so his stay in her workplace was seemingly unnecessary, but he claimed this wasn't the case. Far beyond what could be considered a normal plane of reason, Kaiba claimed that she didn't know about the creation of Dragons within this world and he claimed to be able to make one using Dracolite. He went on to state that what he had currently was merely a shell and he'd need the other to make it so. "Uh-huh...." said Bulma finally after a long exhale of her cigarette. She didn't know what planet this man fell from but she wouldn't turn over her own Dracolite to him, just to quell his obsession with Dragons. "This is still sounding like a lot of not really my problem. The Dracolite I have is bound to me. I can't give it to you... I also won't sacrifice it just so you can have a Dragon," she said rather plainly. From a logical perspective, there was no reason for her to give up her Dracolite, knowing that there were two Dragonoids with them within their bodies. Beyond all of that there was also the extra chance that creating a Dragon in a moment would force that pair into appearing properly which according to all sources wasn't something they wanted to do either. Beyond all of that, what she was working on presently would more than likely yield better results than the ability to summon a single dragon for Kaiba, and as such his request was the one she denied.

She didn't have anything else to say immediately but after she spoke most recently her eyes turned downward, back to the drawing at hand. She had a good idea of the amount of materials and the diversity of them that she'd need to make the bottom portion of the vessel she had in mind. Admittedly, even with her own genius it would take months to put the whole thing together. Still, she figured she likely had the time while everyone was leveling up to finish her project of choice. Still there was the matter of the upper half of the ship, which was missing from its original blueprints. Did it need some sort of engine? A balloon? Maybe some complicated form of sail that ran on magical energy? She could do that right? 'Ugh... there are too many options. And all of them are too potentially straining for me to choose one implicitly without it potentially sacrificing the good of another choice.'

[Bloodedge]

"Whether you think it is or not, it is your problem, just as much as it is mine." Surely there was something more to the male's approach, but it didn't seem he was keen on revealing the point before blurting out his desire. Oh well. All would become clear momentarily, albeit not before the tall male drew closer and closer to the blue-haired woman. He loomed over her while wearing that stern expression that seemed painted on his face with some permanent substance at this point.

Was he looking over her shoulder, at her work? No. He wouldn't bother himself with whatever trivial matters she was up to, when he had a grand scheme of his own that needed fulfilling. Ah, speaking of that grand scheme though, it was time for it to be unveiled... in some semblance, at least. "The Dracolite being bound to you means nothing. I suppose I should say, my goals will be just as beneficial to you and your... unnecessary fiddling with mechanics. By converting my Dragon of science into something organic, I plan to reach the world above this meager, earthbound slum of a place. There is an entire world beyond this, and I will take my influence there. I'm sure you'll enjoy knowing that it should make Atlantis look like a child's toy box."

[Apollymi]

Somehow Kaiba planned to make this more of this lass' problem than it was already proven not to be. She would have scoffed had she not already been holding a cigarette in her mouth. Another inhale. Maybe the smoke would clear her mind, even as Kaiba approached directly, lording over her as she assumed he did with literally everyone he came across. His more recent words though, spoke as if she would find something useful from what he said. He claimed apparently that his aim was to reach the world in the sky and he needed a Dragon for it. A smirk came to the lass' face and she simply chuckled. What else could she do? In this case the man's words were at least sensible too bad she was already well on her way to solving her own problem. "Sou ka, you really think that way, huh? Can you just not see, or did you think that idea was original to you?" she asked somewhat rhetorically, while tapping the drawing she was working on. She'd explored the library upon reaching this place. Found the blueprints along with references to the place above, the Sky Islands and high tier magic. And though Kaiba was currently the highest level person she had contact with, she knew for a fact that one didn't simply consider going into the Sky without a proper group set up. Such of course, was the reasoning behind her most recent creation.

"I've been working, for literal days on massive group transport for the exploration of the Sky Islands. They have to have more advanced tech than this place, which is rumored to have fallen from there. But with that comes more magical and advanced enemies. What I need, isn't a single Dragon... that may or may not be mountable, as they are higher order creatures anyways. I need a party capable of taking on such a challenge without getting us all killed in the process..." she said. Having given up initially on simply taking what she needed from others, and because her ego wasn't necessarily rooted in anything but her machines, she had an alternative method. She would reach the Sky Islands through diligence by ingratiating herself with Kou and Miki. As a pair they were pretty decently advanced for their current level and on an individual basis would have more to offer than a single organic Dragon to fly into the sky with. "Though if we have the same goal, and you can actually help us get there... I might be willing to help you with your Dragon obsession." Though she wasn't a deal maker like others of their group, she at least knew by virtue of her own work the value of equivalent exchanges made for reaching towards common goals.

[Bloodedge]

What was this? Did this woman dare imply that she had a solution, one somehow better than his own? This was something he had to see. As such, he peered over her shoulder to see something, interestingly enough, very informative. "Hmph! You're telling me Atlantis kept this information from ancient times, and they've done nothing with it for generations?" How appalling these Atlanteans were, letting such magnificence go to waste.

It seemed, though, that there was waste even on the part of Bulma. Her talk of forming a group was fair enough, but from what he could see, this little project ship remained incomplete. "Bringing others is necessary. A Dragon could easily do the job for a single trip, in place of a sky ship. What I'm seeing here is just a template. It's early works, nothing like what I've seen. Primitive doesn't begin to describe it; I don't think the features were completed by the time Atlantis fell." The more he spoke, the more he moved. A simple trek was taken around this workshop, touching this random piece of equipment, shifting the next. "You're suggesting this instead of a Dragon, when you have nothing other than a flimsy boat to go on otherwise? No, no... you need the Dragon, don't you? Something material to finish off the rest of that boat design, with enough power to handle what the skies of this world are like."

[Apollymi]

Kaiba was apparently surprised by the fact that such information survived in Atlantis without them using that to their advantage. Perhaps he hadn't been talking to the other people within Atlantis very much. "More like, they were incapable of using it. As until about a week ago, this place was a cesspool for the worst of sentient lifeforms and all of their bad habits," she said with a bit of a smirk. It was said by the common folk of this place that they didn't find deliverance properly until the travelers showed up. But she'd gotten that information already, hearing that Atlantis was open for business again had lead her to the blueprints that would make going upwards to more interesting things possible. If of course, the lad with her would actually quiet himself long enough for her to think.

"No, it wasn't finished by the time Atlantis fell. And it didn't become complete afterwards, either. I am probably the first person to look at these in quite a while," she mentioned with a sigh. Her smoke was finished and it was put out immediately following her sentence within a tray off to the side. He was quite right, she hadn't finished it yet. She'd taken her own design starting from the base, making it able to dock, both at sea and in the sky. She'd gone out of her way to develop the proper steering system, made it mechanical with a hint of magic. What she was missing was sails at this point and what Kaiba had to offer again was Dragons. "It's like beating a dead horse with you..." she said with her head tilted to the side as if confused only for a moment. A dragon to drag along the rest of the boat would be nice, but there was no telling if a creature a living one would be okay with such a thing. Actually.... "Quiet."

That was all the lass said for several moments thereafter. Her mind was calm again. She'd been trying to rationalize what kind of system to use to move the boat, but Kaiba and all of his incessant prattling about Dragons was actually a bit helpful. Maybe. She moved aside her other drawings and began sketching atop the light table an image of dragon wings. Diagrams of them opening and closing. The fins at their tails for maneuverability. Dragons held dominion over the sky for a reason. Kaiba's obvious favoritism aside, this version of the 'sails' was probably the best and basically a combination of all of her previous ideas. "Oh, that's pretty good." she mused. Actually her own machines were less magical than they could be, but obviously she'd developed quite a few things to work with the magic of this world, like her Dragon Radar. She began compiling a greater list soon after, some other things she'd need to make such a thing more feasible. She was fairly open to working with and sharing this idea with Kaiba, as it was partly his to start with, besides, she had no real idea of how to create a Dragon and it was obviously his line of expertise. "Come on then, I assume you have an idea in mind or all that talking was kind of pointless."

[Bloodedge]

"Incapable? More like stupid," he claimed. No matter what sort of situation the Atlanteans had been through over the generations, it certainly didn't happen immediately after the kingdom's fall. They should have had every opportunity to finish this project, and return to the skies in some respect. It had to be the folly of the Atlanteans themselves, that they didn't do so after the kingdom fell.

"The other cities and kingdoms finished theirs, and made them better. But..." His statement trailed off there. Had he really been interrupted and silenced? A scoff escaped the male brunette, followed by a grimace more intense than his usual dissatisfied expression. This little woman didn't even catch his point when he referenced an organic Dragon as the thing needed to complete the sky ship. She then had the nerve to assume he had an idea in mind, as if that hadn't been his point all along. "Don't be an idiot, Hisakawa! Of course I have a plan, and if you would open your ears, you could hear it! What that ship needs is actually an organic Dragon. Conventional sails, balloons, none of that will work. It needs something able to resist the high concentration of Mana in this world's atmosphere."

[Apollymi]

"I said what I meant," she said about the difference between being incapable and being stupid. Though she would have been the first to admit that the line of thinking of the Merfolk was a bit stupid to start with. Beyond this point he was content to speak right until he was quieted. Of course, there was the fact that he looked down right disgusted, but at least he was quiet for the few moments that she required it. It seemed though that he didn't fully comprehend why the lass was asking for his idea. She was well past the first stage and the introduction of the Dragon, she was wondering about the sort of life-form he intended to try and create while being able to attach it to a ship. Strangely, Kaiba showed something almost akin to an outburst claiming she would have heard the plan if she had listened to what he was saying. It was like he didn't understand she'd already caught up. "Yes, we're past that part. Keep up." she said looking at the lad as if confused as to how he was still on the part he was. "I get it, a Dragon to replace the part of the ship that would have been its heart. We're at the part where you explain the creation of one which will allow itself to become such a downgraded existence," she said as if this was the real problem in the first place. In truth it was, everything this world said about Dragons and everything the staff in Atlantis said about them, hinted that they weren't the types to be relegated to beasts of burden. She had no intention of creating or helping create something she couldn't control and Dragons couldn't be used as mounts so obviously there was some other thing going on here and that was the information she needed.

[Bloodedge]

"Right. Mentally incapable," he insisted. No matter how this woman said it, or what she meant to imply, he would sum it up to a single thing. No manner of creature should be so careless when it came to their own craft and history. Even monkeys were less callous toward their own forefathers. Nevertheless, the topic shifted after a bit of silence on Seto's part. At the end of it all, he wound up rubbing the bridge of his nose betwixt his forefinger and thumb. Was this woman, with all of her ability to create, missing something he considered so critical? Clearly.

A sigh escaped him. It seemed he'd have to explain further to this woman who claimed to be aboard his idea. "Tch! Keep your thoughts in order, Hisakawa. The ship's heart is easy; it takes nothing to replicate the source of a Dragon's internal network. The thing that needs work, effort, is the sails. Anything else you craft will shred to pieces in this world's sky, leaving the ship to plummet right back down here. That's what the Dracolite is most useful for. Using the power of a real Dragon, not just a replica, it should be possible to recreate something akin to a Dragon's hide. Some sacrifice of lesser materials may be necessary, but that's nothing compared to the outcome of having a Dragon's physical form available. In terms even a simple craftsman like you can understand, the scales will handle the big scary sky, and the hide itself will handle the feedback of energy from the scales. Making them both should be a simple matter of alchemy."

[Apollymi]

Bulma was quiet for several moments. She wondered how anyone managed to have a conversation with this lad when he spoke this way all the time. In fact, she couldn't deny wanting another cigarette. She wouldn't have one right just in this moment though, it seemed that she'd finally managed to get out of Kaiba exactly what he needed from her. Why did he play such a strangely leading game? Did she ruin his fun by not trying to jump to conclusions? Maybe? That gave her a strange bit of satisfaction. Alchemy then? That was his answer to their problem of creating a vessel capable of taking on the Sky. The exchange of equivalent material for other material...

"Sou ka, I hadn't looked much into Alchemy yet. I mean, I understand it in theory but... I've been getting by with my base knowledge of mechanics. I guess at this point it would only add to my creation ability," she gave herself a moment of pause to think about it. She had the free skills usage to make such a thing something she could do without compromising anything about what she wanted to do. As an aside, use of magic to do the things necessary to create this thing. The only major problem she could foresee was assembly. A boat was a large project, a magical sky-faring ship was likely the biggest project. "Bones, scales, and leather..." she mentioned thinking it over a gentle tapping of her finger went along with that still light beeping noise from her Dragon Radar. "If I get all of those things together in some pretty decent quantities I can use my Dracolite as a catalyst in one of those Alchemist rituals and create the kind of things I need. Shifting them from whatever they are into Dragon. Then use them to piece together the ship," she was speaking, but not to Kaiba. No. Now she was writing drawing she could see such a thing coming together now in a way she hadn't before, simply because the magic had been missing from her earlier ideas. "I can treat the non-dragon made parts with Dragon based products too. Wax the hull, treat the metals, make them all resistant to the extra dense Mana by virtue of that connection. Not waste an entire kingdom's worth of Magisteel to make a single thing~" she said with the exact intention of making a minor jab at Kaiba, since he'd been so freely taking them at her the entire time they'd been talking. Of course, there was still putting it together but she had a bit of an idea about that. She'd hold that one close for now, as it was an idea she'd already had in the first place.

[Bloodedge]

So, her idea was to delve into the realm of Alchemy herself, was it? Interesting. Such a thing would free Kaiba up in his own repertoire, if only to continue seeking more Dragon-related skills and abilities in future. At the very least, she was keeping up with the necessities of the items for this little ship project. Someone around Kaiba had to be capable of that much. "Naturally," he said in response to her assertion. Indeed, the idea of treating the hull with the likes of a Dragon's physiology was another necessity. There was no point to having sails which resisted the high-density Mana of the skies, if the vessel itself crumbled before reaching anything of worth.

He didn't seem bothered at all by the woman's little jab in his direction. No, he knew of his methods, and he knew of the payout. The Magisteel construct he possessed would be far more valuable in time than any kingdom of this world could ever know. For now though, something else of high value was in the works. "Atlantis is a good enough place to gather materials for conversion. The quality is questionable compared to Dragons, but that's where the Alchemy comes in. How long will it take you to develop the skill?"

[Apollymi]

It seemed that Kaiba thought positively of her ability to keep up in the moment. Strange though it was, she was also familiar with people not really understanding the ideas she put forth. It was rare indeed to find someone with a reasonable mind. Moving on from this, she was asked how long it would take her to develop the necessary Alchemy skill. She sighed and thought about it. "Less time than it will take Ashikaga to find most of the materials we'll need to convert and build. There is only one problem I can foresee at present though..." she said looking at the blueprints and noticing what was being asked for. "The hull of the ship in the blueprints, calls for the bones of a creature of a specific quality. We need the body parts of a creature of Special A-rank," she mentioned with a roll of her eyes."It's called for in this blueprint and that would be the one thing that will take an unnecessary amount of time and effort. And the right team balancing to do without risking anyone," she said faintly. Specifically this blue print demanded the bones of something like a Kraken or Leviathan... both of which were particularly dangerous given their ability to fight in the current climate. That being said, there could be many more uses to such thing. Extra materials could be gathered from slaying such a creature even enough for everyone involved to be further rewarded. At present preparations would need to be made for such a thing to work out properly. Though given the varied skills sets of the people currently inhabiting Atlantis, it might not be as difficult of a challenge as it seemed. "Still getting Ashikaga and the Geno Killer on board, learning Alchemy, and getting all the materials in one place, makes it sound like the only properly time consuming thing will be the boat building," she finished with a shrug. Regardless, she began writing up a list of extra necessary materials that might be needed in bulk after the slaying of the creature. Made a list of several topics to look into at the Library of Atlantis, and started thinking about which of the two listed creatures would be better for slaying and getting everything they would need. "Kraken or Leviathan?" this question was posed to Kaiba, because she knew with a great amount of certainty she wouldn't be fighting at all.

[Bloodedge]

It seemed this woman could get the task done in an amount of time that was... shockingly short. Well, that was nothing to shake a stick at. The male had become so used to windows of time being something he'd consider too ridiculous, but he supposed he was now dealing with a genius of some sort. He had to give her capacity to develop the respect it deserved, whether he'd do so openly or not.

"Hmph! If it's going to take that long, I suppose I'll take a nap." No admittance at all from Kaiba Seto. Still, he was satisfied with the time given. True enough, though, the building of the vessel would be a time-consuming matter regardless. There were always some alternatives, however. In his field of choice, it took nothing to have a large quantity of others take care of the manual labor, while orchestrating the designs and other such matters of importance. More importantly though, was the matter of what they had to take down for the sake of materials. This was no issue for Kaiba; he was certain he could fell any manner of beast on this side of the world. Whether this was true or not was a tale to be told by time, but as far as he was concerned, it was completely factual.

"Special A isn't much of a problem at all, as long as it can be evolved effectively. I'd say Leviathan is the one most closely related to Dragons, so it should be the easiest conversion. It will pose a bigger threat, but that doesn't matter in the end. Now, where are the others?"

[Apollymi]

"Go ahead. Seems like you need one," mentioned Bulma. She didn't have any problem with the man known as Kaiba Seto, even so, his words always seemed to come with a bit more bite than what was actually necessary. Bulma managed not to take offense to this, and kept about her work. For the most part amassing a list of items she'd need the lass known as Miki in her current incarnation to provide to make the boat building process easier. As well as the leaving an opening for the addition of some other things she might need once she started her proper work in alchemy. The first thing she'd need was the book on Alchemy located within the Great Library of Atlantis. After that the rest of the materials list would come. Having finished writing her list and hearing the question posed by Kaiba, Bulma picked up her pack and popped a single cigarette into her mouth, she lit it using a small lighter and took a long drag before exhaling. After this, she'd let it hang from her mouth as she walked over to where she'd thrown her shorts and replaced them. "The Geno Killer and Ashikaga have been in her room for the past several hours," she said calmly. Of course, she knew this simply because they both possessed pieces of Dracolite which she was always tracking given her radar. While she spoke she put on her socks and shoes and eventually looked properly presentable for leaving this room. She walked back over to her desk and picked up her list, and the Dragon Radar and began walking assuming of course that Kaiba would follow. "Might as well hand off the materials list and figure out the team composition. Also I'd knock first..." she commented absently enjoying her cigarette.

Where would they find Miki and Kou? Just where Bulma had said, in Miki's room behind the throne room of the palace. What were they doing, as Bulma noted they were in the same place, but for the past several hours, the two dots which were their identifiers had been beeping in unison practically atop one another. When the door to the room opened, however that happened, one would find Miki furiously turning and pressing buttons on a small golden ball she held in her hands. Her fingers rapidly rotating as the energy she poured into the ball seemed to fill it in several different ways. She'd been sitting this way for quite a while, studying the item given to her by Kou, only to decide at a moment's notice that she fully understood how to get all the way to the point of completion. And she'd be within a couple of moves of that completion by the time they reached her. "Sugoi! I'm almost there!" she chimed happily. Kou's head was likely still resting in her lap as she aimed to complete the gift he'd given her.

[Bloodedge]

"Hmph!" Did Kaiba let this utterance slip in response to Bulma's rebuttal? Or, perhaps, was it a response to her claim that they should consider knocking? Simply put, the answer was yes to all. His indignant nature left him responding to such a way almost as his own bridge in any conversation. Regardless of his reason or the reaction to his doings, he was off when Bulma finally decided to dress herself and depart. He walked along behind her, until tiring of the shorter individual's pace, at which point he broke out ahead.

... And what would he do after taking the lead? Naturally, he was going to burst into the room in which Miki and the still-sleeping Kou could be found, just as he'd done in Bulma's workshop. "Ashikaga! Geno Killer! It's time to get to work!" he announced. One of them toying with some device, and the other sleeping, had no impact on Kaiba's outburst. A job needed to be done, and it needed doing right away. As far as he was concerned, whatever else the two were up to, was of no consequence.

[Apollymi]

Bulma would simply shake her head at the lad's response. Why? Well, she figured he wouldn't take her seriously enough to make sure not compromise everyone's good time. Beyond that point, he wasn't known for respecting anyone's boundaries or anything of the kind, so she knew for a fact once his steps led him out in front of her, that he'd definitely be barging into the room, regardless of the current state of anyone within said room. 'Maybe when he catches an eye full of random naked teen, he'll learn to knock,' she thought absently. Still Miki was within this room her final turns being made she'd just laid her finger on the final button the moment before Kaiba barged into the room yelling about some work that needed to be done. At the same time a green light seemed to spread and escape the ball opening up a large world map which spread across the room in a holographic style projection. "Sugoi! What an interesting thing... it's a giant map, but you wouldn't just give me a map. What are all these markers for? It's so," she paused.

Miki's eyes widened as she took in the sight but still she managed to frown when her eyes made it to Kaiba. "The noise is unnecessary, Kou's sleeping," she snapped immediately. "It figures the one time I don't lock the door, Kaiba waltz's right in and starts making demands," she would have already begun a tirade of yelling but she wanted the lad in her lap to continue sleeping peacefully. "Work, he claims. As if we aren't the reason this place isn't a cesspool of degenerate Mer," she frowned. What could he possibly want right now? She absently patted his head with her one free hand and looked up with a great deal of animosity, though it wouldn't get the chance to amount to anything. A gentle knock against the door frame would be a distracting sound as Bulma caught up. "I'm coming in..." mentioned Bulma after waiting a few seconds and when she entered she found her eyes accosted by a strange green light projection which seemed to be shifting about the room they were now in. "Hoh? Two of you, together?"

[Bloodedge]

Few things would teach Kaiba Seto a lesson about invading the privacy of others. He certainly wouldn't be deterred by something so simple as nudity, regardless of any additional connotations. Even so, he was briefly taken aback by the three... or perhaps four-dimensional map filling the room with its green glow. Odd though this may have been, he seemed entirely unfazed after only a second or two of witnessing it. Business as usual from then on, it seemed. "If he's sleeping, he should stop. He's going to be useful in the coming moments," he explained of the slumbering Geno Killer. He didn't care why Kou was asleep, nor what this pair had accomplished in Atlantis prior to this moment. They were to benefit as much as, if not more than those who sought their aide. In such a scenario, Kaiba saw no point in one arguing against making themselves useful. Mutual benefit was what drove many things he did, even if his choices were made without much selflessness at all.

The pair of Kaiba and Bulma being in one another's company was apparently something worthy of note to Miki. The male scoffed, wondering in his own mind why the blue-haired woman had even come along, knowing she had no intention of directly participating in upcoming events at all. No matter. He'd do what he was always going to, regardless of these facts. "In your time here, have you faced any of the greater sea creatures?"

[Apollymi]

Kaiba stated that if Kou was sleeping he should stop. He seemed to pay only passing attention to the map which was rotating in projection around the room. Miki scoffed, as she was always going to, Kaiba was always a pushy man, one of good sense but exceedingly annoying by her own standards. It seemed that many individuals played this role within the eyes of the currently blonde lass. She looked out into the room, not directly at either of her visitors, instead she was studying the things seen in the map, trying to orient herself to it, and figure out its purpose. "Iie, Tsu-chan said, he's probably going to be like this for a few days at least. He's more than a week out on lack of sleep... " she said without further explanation. Technically speaking anything she could try to explain would only be supposition, and as such Miki was content to keep studying her map. It seemed by Kaiba's own words he had something of a proposition for them. In fact, given his choice of words she was almost certain that he had something he wanted done up his sleeve that he couldn't or wouldn't do alone, not that it mattered either way. Kaiba was never one to rest on his laurels and found himself moving along to the point he'd wished to make upon coming to this place. Rather, he posed Miki a question which caused the lass to draw her eyes away from the things she was studying on this map off in the distance. "Ugh, of course not. Those kinds of creatures are never just at the surface. They only appear at the end of quest-lines, guarding some treasure or appearing to try and restore the balance," she said from the perspective of a person who devoted a large chunk of their life to playing video games. "And let's not even get into underwater fighting mechanics... though admittedly most things have been a lot easier than I'd thought they would be..." she said with a casual shrug, that golden ball clasped between her hands. Still this leading line of questioning was a bit too ominous for Miki's own liking, her face soured while she was speaking, when she realized why Kaiba would take such a line of questions. "But you really didn't come here to ask what we've been up to..." Miki said finding in herself a slight lack of patience that wouldn't tolerate a slow pitch of an activity if it required real effort from her.

Bulma stood at the back of the room, her own eyes traveling around as she took note of the different structures presented by Miki's specific activity of choice. With the news that the Genokiller would be out for a few days at least, it put a bit of a damper on the potential early plans. Well, at least Bulma thought so, the best possible team composition as she saw it, was Kaiba, Miki and Kou and then a superfluous fourth perhaps. Anyone could potentially do in the last spot so long as the first three were arranged that way. "Mendokusai, though I saw this coming..." she mumbled. Unknown to everyone else, she had her Dragon Radar, and as such she had been watching the movements of that pair of individuals for the duration of her stay in Atlantis. She'd seen one of the dots moving about, in the way that implied it was Miki and she'd seen the other, locked in place for days, un-moving, only to get up and do something for a few hours and then return. It was quite telling that the lad hadn't managed to sleep during the week, she wondered what his efforts netted him. Regardless, it seemed there wasn't any experience with higher order sea creatures and there would be at least a minor delay in the slaying of one.

[Bloodedge]

Of course. Of all the people who could be out of commission, it would be the Geno Killer. Kaiba knew Miki was reliable enough; she was the go-to tester outside of his company for his new ideas. Alas, he was interested in seeing this 'Geno Killer' of local legend for himself, and this was to be the prime opportunity. Another day, perhaps. The worst part of Miki's retort was her mention of never encountering the creatures he spoke of. That didn't matter too much, but more information would have been lovely to have beforehand. Oh well. There was no point wasting time by looking around for Atlanteans who knew how to deal with Leviathans. "Kuso. That's an annoyance, but fine. There is a need to kill a Leviathan, and make use of its parts to craft a vessel. I take it you have no problem doing this for the sake of making it into the sky," he said. Whether Miki knew of the world beyond where they had been thus far, he did not know. It didn't matter. The job would be done one way or another, and the sky would be reached. "The two of you are only level 30, but I doubt that will be a problem even for the likes of you. You have looting skills, yes? Come, use those, and unlock the ability to reach the next stage of this world."

[Apollymi]

Miki sat looking at the map displayed by the object in her hand and took note of something. At least one of the marked objects was close to the center point which happened to look like the golden ball within her hands. She wondered if it was position relative, if it was, it would allow her the ability to explore whatever that point of interest was with great ease. She locked that away in her head though as her eyes shifted to Kaiba and she heard what his current grand idea was. Some sort of vessel to get them to the Sky. The Sky Islands were the greater goal of the game. After conquering the mainlands, one was supposed to find a method to reach the level of the Sky Islands in search of Dragons, famed civilizations of lore, and treasures beyond their wildest dreams. Of course, she was no slacker when it came to her life or gaming preferences, as such, she knew about the Sky Islands and it was her ultimate goal to reach them, if only to attain treasures and the like while there. So, of course, given her own goals, and ones she'd heard from Kou about their shared goal of attaining particular Dragon themed items she could assume such a thing would be for the greater good of the group. Even so, Kaiba's approach was almost laughable in its outset. He managed to be somewhat more polite than normal but also still be annoying to the lass. If she didn't know him in life, she might have been a bit skeptical of his motives, she might have said no on principle, as things such as shared activities with those who weren't used to her personality never went well. 'Ugh, does he have to be such a jerk all the time. If he wanted some help slaying a creature in exchange for helping us get to the next step it was literally all he had to say,' she scoffed, she'd rather be exploring her gift, but she supposed she could put that aside for now, for the greater good of the group.

"Alright you want to slay a Leviathan. That's fine. I can help with that, and I am not such a noob that I would make a character that only had support skills or that couldn't be useful in direct combat. Besides that if we are in a decent party our levels won't matter. Kou and I took out the Lizardman Army around Dwargon, and the one plaguing the Marshlands while we were under level 30. It just required a bit of improvisation. Besides that, I am sure I can count on you to be decent DPS. At least you better be, or that level is meaningless..." Miki mentioned her thoughts beginning to wander just a bit. There needed to be a party a bit fuller than normal if that was going to be the case. "And you... what do you want?" she asked of Bulma. Who took a deep drag from her cigarette. "I need you to get your hands on some more items for me. To help with the vessel crafting. I am going to learn Alchemy in the meantime," she said moving to step forward with the list. Instead of allowing this Miki moved her index finger, snatching the paper from within the lass' hand and having it before her eyes to read within seconds, while she held the moving map alone in the other hand. "Sou ka, a combined effort from the pair of you. I had always hoped to see something like that, working with both of you..." she said, having a decent idea that this could only be beneficial. Meanwhile, Bulma was left wondering why Miki had such a skill, when someone like Karna also had it, or maybe it came in the other direction and that lad had picked it up from her. "I can get all of this pretty easily. Kaiba who else would you like along for the actual slaying quest... if Kou is going to be out for it. He'll need to be replaced as the physical DPS and flexible positions he played," she said. "Also, breathing underwater will be a problem, he's the reason we were able to get here without drowning potentially, his ability to convert Mana being lost is a big hit. I was planning to come here before, and that was something, I'd stopped to figure out a way around while I was playing..." Miki provided the necessary specs to both of the individuals present knowing that she'd been more involved with Kou in combat than anyone present in the room currently and knew what a large loss his presence would be potentially.

[Bloodedge]

In offering her answer, Miki also thought it pertinent to address her bond with the Geno Killer, in a roundabout way. At the very least, she brought up the young male's placement in their party composition. True enough, the lack of such a presence was an issue. That wasn't so much the case here and now; Kaiba didn't see these traits as necessities for the current task. "Damage isn't an issue. I'm sure it would be nothing to overpower the Leviathan, but I don't plan on wasting materials that could be useful. That's why I'm bringing you; I can't afford to destroy the thing." Simplicity in itself, as far as Kaiba was concerned. The plan was in order, albeit with a missing piece or two, as addressed by Miki herself. More hands were more of a boon than a bane, Kaiba figured. Since they couldn't have the other member of this team he originally considered, there had to be another choice made. Of course, this only came after Miki chimed in about the functional teamwork betwixt Kaiba and Bulma.

Another scoff. That was all he thought this was worth, before moving on with matters of importance. "Tsukiko would be valuable. While this is the topic, I suppose that Atlantean boy has some ability that would be useful as well. If nothing else, I'm sure Tsukiko can easily convince him to come along, and we'll be able to get moving. Does that party suit your needs?"

[Apollymi]

The discussion taking place was going pretty well, much to Bulma's surprise. Given how these two had addressed each other before, it was quite relieving that they hadn't broken out into an argument. Perhaps it was the case that they only seemed to disagree on the surface and that they harbored some kind of strange relationship that was only hostile on the surface. 'Sou ka, I suppose with a common goal in mind... they don't actually hate each other...' Bulma thought to herself. Whatever the case, Kaiba continued explaining in a slight bit more detail what he actually intended for them to do. It seemed it was his intention to abuse Miki's ability to confiscate items from creatures to get as much out of the Leviathan they planned to slay as possible before its untimely demise. "Hm, strip it of as many materials as possible before the slay. Retain as much of the body as possible afterwards..." she said thinking about the way to make that happen as efficiently as possible. "Okay, I can do that..." she mused having come up with a pretty decent way to make that happen knowing that she wouldn't have to directly be responsible for all of the damage which would come to the creature.

Moving right along, it seemed Kaiba had nothing to say about his present partnership with Bulma and the blue haired lass had nothing to say either. Miki found this amusing for some reason, but since they were content to move on in the conversation she let it go, though that wouldn't stop her from keeping a close eye on this new working relationship. It seemed that to replace the deficit left by Kou, Kaiba thought this younger sister and her right hand would do. Miki thought this over and considered what she knew about them. She knew that Tsukiko was a primary healer but that she also had the potential to do a great deal of support and damage. She also knew that Diva had a more than reasonable quality of Mana and much like herself had access to something of a fodder-like army. Such things could be useful in the underwater aspect of this entire thing. "Tsu-chan, Diva, you and I..." she said leaving it open for a few seconds of consideration. The thought of taking on such a creature without Kou alongside was a bit annoying, not because she didn't think it could be done, but instead because she enjoyed the idea of sharing such an experience with her partner. Even so, if it had to be done, the group that Kaiba offered up, was one she could at least trust to get the job done with little to no fuss, assuming everyone played their roles properly. "Hai hai, I can work with that group. Is this a right just now thing, or do I have some time?" she asked seeming to not have anything particular in mind, but knowing that she'd like to check on at least the spot closest to her currently in the map still floating about the room.

[Bloodedge]

"Hai. That's about all there is to it," the male confirmed. It was a simple enough task for himself, as well as for one such as Miki as far as he knew. If she would retain the desire to incorporate others, even though he saw it as less than necessary, that was fine as well. After all, it wasn't like the additional presences would hurt the cause at all. If Seriri was fine at the end of it all, he had no qualms whatsoever. It wouldn't be such a bad deal to see what the Atlantean boy, Diva, had in his arsenal either. "It's settled, then. The others should be ready to go soon after they agree," he claimed, believing this to be the case with just about anyone he had dealings with. That, of course, included Miki as well.

Her question was one with a simple answer. At least, that was the case verbally. "We'll meet at the barrier. Bring the others," he said, taking his leave posthaste. In actuality, this did offer a bit of time to prepare. Was it very much time? No, not really. It was, however, time nonetheless. Little did Kaiba know, this discussion had not gone unseen. Diva, one of the individuals in question for the group these three intended to have on this quest, observed the tail-end of the discussion through the Cube of Atlantis. He'd been watching since Kaiba barged into the room Miki and Kou resided in, and of course, he was already in the presence of Queen Seriri.

[Apollymi]

Kaiba was as clear and concise with his intentions as he always was. Miki herself, or rather Kimiko, found something rather comforting about the lack of change in the young Kaiba Corp CEO. Regardless of his constant intrusion in her day, she felt that being helpful in the moment could do no extra harm. It could also go towards a bit of good faith in keeping the peace as they embarked upon their likely separate adventures in this new world. Still an annoyed sigh would escape her as if on reflex as the map she'd been projecting around the room shut down and the puzzle ball within her hand, twisted strangely of his own accord back into a scrambled position. "Hai hai, if they will come. We'll meet you there... ja ne," she completed as Kaiba stormed off. Bulma had only one more passing thing to say. "You can have the extra materials delivered to my workshop at the eastern wing of the Palace. The bigger ones can be sat on the docks. I'll be in my workshop unless I am needed," and with that the blue haired lass disappeared her presence also unnecessary.

After her room cleared Miki stared at the still sleeping lad in her lap. His Mana still felt a bit strange to her, but she'd already been assured of his wellness. As such she began softly shifting herself around to switch her legs with a pillow instead. "I guess I am going out for a while. I'll be back though..." she said and after achieving freedom she'd done her cloak and boots and motion over her weapon as well. Once she was dressed she'd drop the golden orb into her pocket and double check that she had at least the pieces of the Lich King's Crown as well as the collection of Shark Teeth she'd gotten from Sazanami. Once she was sure she had everything she needed from this room, she'd quietly leave headed for the throne room where she was sure to find Queen Seriri at this hour and maybe Diva as well. Queen Seriri for her part in this would be found in her throne for the first time in quite a while. Even so, she seemed amused, watching Diva as he watched his cube. "I wonder what everyone is up to?" she questioned softly only to soon be alerted to the presence of one of the people she wondered about.

"Oi, Tsu-chan are you and/or," she paused seeing that Diva was here she was saved the trouble of asking Seriri about the lad's potential involvement. "Scratch that, starting over. Are either or both of you, interested in helping me and Kaiba slay a Leviathan?" she said skipping the softness of an introduction. "You and Nii-san?!" Seriri seemed surprised by the question, but she'd never turn down the opportunity to do an activity with her brother, thus her participation was more than assured. Miki could tell this by the light in the lass' eyes. As such her attention shifted to Diva as she waited for his reply.

[Bloodedge]

There wasn't much left to the feedback Diva had available. The conscious male in the room was gone, and the same could be said of the woman accompanying him soon after. With only the blonde and her unconscious companion remaining, it seemed things were back to normal... aside from the former making her way toward the throne room of the palace. Hearing word from Seriri, it became clear that she hadn't been keeping track to the same extent as himself. That was fine, considering she'd soon be finding out for herself what the others were up to, as she put it.

His mouth opened. He thought to mention Miki being on her way to the matriarch of Atlantis, but putting the thoughts into words was an entirely different matter, as always. Soon enough, it didn't matter, with Miki making her appearance to let her intentions be known to the queen. Diva averted his gaze. The queen's reaction could not have been more obviously geared toward joining this journey if she tried to make it so, yet Miki thought to seek his confirmation as well. Did he really have to? He'd hoped it would be assumable that he'd join if Seriri required him to do so, but otherwise... there were tasks to be taken care of. Speaking of tasks, one such thing crept out from behind the throne. A younger, dark-skinned male covered in Atlantean runes glowing the same teal shade as his hair, stepped into clear sight. He wore only a collection of tattered rags to cover his lower half, and to function as a headdress. The lad took to Diva's side as if he belonged there, even though it seemed Diva had every intention of following Seriri wherever she went.

[Apollymi]

Miki found herself in the throne room, and it was rather obvious that Seriri fully intended to go along with what Miki and her brother wanted to do today. "Hai hai, I'll go for sure..." she also looked to Diva and the child who appeared from behind the throne seeming to stick to the man's side very strangely. "But Diva is kinda busy how necessary is he for Nii-san's plan?" she asked seeming to have some idea of how a conversation between Miki and her elder brother would go. Miki would answer this question but it was this child to be noted. There was a strange look on the blonde lass' face as she saw this boy in his rags. He looked the way Diva did, but much younger. He was covered in Atlantean Runes, as such Miki stared seeming to gain some strange understanding of the boy. "I... um... wait a second..." she seemed to be gathering her thoughts together in her head trying to figure out a good way to ask the question in her mind.

"That kid is covered in Runes... Old Atlantean Runes are..." Miki started to think while staring at the child seeming to have the same emotional response she'd had upon being in the Shark's Den, a single tear falling from her left eye though she had no idea why she'd feel this way. She wiped away the tear quickly and seemed to wonder a great many things. She needed to focus though and focus she would. There was just enough in common between Atlantean and Druidic that she could almost tell what the boy was meant to be. "Sorry, I got distracted. Anyways... according to Kaiba, more bodies wouldn't hurt. I have to strip as many materials from the Leviathan before its going to be slayed with most if not all of the rest of its body intact. Apparently he plans on working with Hisakawa to make something and it could be beneficial to the whole of the group and Kaiba's over all plan. Since Kou is still unconscious he can't be our fourth... who obviously needs decent combat abilities or helpful skills. Technically, Karna would be just as good an option but I am pretty sure he left a while ago. I'd appreciate it if you joined us based on your extra skills I think you'd be helpful..." she said to clarify for Seriri, while giving the last sentence to Diva himself if he wished to join them.

Of course, Miki's eyes soon shifted back to the boy at his side and before she realized it she'd begun her approach to the dark-skinned boy moving the hair on her forehead to reveal that glowing green rune intending to offer herself to another of similar culture. The words she spoke were Druidic but were close enough to be appreciated she figured. "I chose to walk as Gatekeeper, my path is an infinite cycle." she offered in speech. She wasn't sure if an Old Atlantean would understand fully, but chose to allow herself to be inspected just the same. And if one reached for the Rune on her forehead they would feel the infinite flow of life as the world intended, the 'Free Magic' of the world as it was now called. Because of her journey through Atlantis fixing up the Runestones here, she knew they had at least some understanding of this built into their culture.

[Bloodedge]

Once again, Seriri seemed to have the interest of others in mind, despite her own willingness to join the plan. Diva, on the other hand, had a different idea. He could... feel the creatures surrounding Atlantis, and wasn't all too pleased by something regarding them. Those beasts were just as much his brothers and sisters, as any of the pedestrians walking around within the kingdom. Still, there were some among them who required saving from themselves. Doing so in this specific case could also save Atlantis from further turmoil... in the near future, at least. With Miki offering her final statement to Diva directly, he nodded hesitantly, albeit with a spark in those golden optics of his. He would join.

Miki took a clear interest in the boy who took Diva's side. A single moment of eye contact informed him that she knew and understood what he was. He even remembered her, various times in the recesses of his mind. This Rune she showed was curious, but similar in origins to the Glyphs covering his body. She spoke in a strange tongue, but in a way he somehow felt he recognized. He felt almost compelled to reach for it, and that was exactly what he decided to do after a few moments of thought. Slowly, his hand rose, until his finger tapped the Rune upon Miki's forehead. Its meaning made its way directly into his mind, and he managed to fathom the link between it and his Glyphs. When his mouth opened, and out came a voice which was as young as his face, yet simultaneously as old and decrepit as the grave. "Sti glóssa sou, eímai... Dysárestos thánatos," he spoke in a foreign tongue, as the translation and meaning of his Glyphs flowed through him into Miki's own Rune. 'In your tongue, I am... Unpleasant Death' was the direct translation of his Old Atlantean words.

[Apollymi]

Miki's eyes searched Diva's in the moments before her conversation with the young man at his side. And in those moments she caught it, a nod of agreement and a spark. Perhaps he still wasn't quite ready to face the world yet, but he was making progress in learning his own desires and asserting them at least a bit, and this was something the blonde could commend, especially given what she knew of his past. "Arigatou na." she offered him in the same way she addressed her standard form of person. She could treat him as a person whose will could be acknowledged at the very least.

Soon after, her exchange with the younger lad was taking place, and she was almost confused by him. But he seemed to understand her, at least a bit, a hand tentatively approaching the mark on her forehead before he shared with her, his meaning and he in turn came to understand hers. His words didn't initially make sense to her, but in interacting directly with him she found the gist of his meaning. And it was sad. Or maybe not that, dark instead. Having this knowledge the girl's eyes widened and she stood straighter to give acknowledgment to him as well. "That path is dark, but some deserve to face it. I'm called Miki... yoroshiku," she offered the lad an extension of her hand in a traditional way of greeting a person you may have more than one moment of interaction with. Her normal words escaped her. It couldn't be said she was happy to meet him, his existence was something sad entirely, but the idea of working with him and seeing what was made of his existence that was something she could accept. She couldn't treat this lad poorly knowing what he was, but she also accepted that he might not ever be what others would consider normal. Either way, knowing him gave her a strange sensation... not quite contentment, but like something wrong had been righted, or rather would be. All the while this interaction was a strange one to watch in Seriri's case, she'd not seen her friend meet new people before this point and wasn't exactly sure how the lass would take the child that had been rather suddenly spawned here. "Ano, I've never seen you act so nicely to a stranger before Kimi... are you feeling alright?" asked Seriri in her meddling ways. This caused the blonde lass to scoff and turn up her nose. "Kaiba said he'd be waiting for us at the barrier. You know how he is. We might as well get to it. I've a busy day ahead of me..." she said content not to discuss her supposed shift in action and mood. This only caused Seriri to laugh as she reached for her staff where it was inlaid behind the throne she sat upon. "Hai hai, come on Diva. Apparently we've work to do, and both Kimi and Nii-san are really impatient when they have things on their minds."

[Bloodedge]

Diva had nothing to say in response to Miki's gratitude. He could have given some sort of reaction, but there was nothing in mind at the time. Eventually, he may have become capable of something notable. Today would not be the day, but he was at least willing to get involved. He was ready to get moving at any given moment, but first came the full interaction between Miki and... this mysterious other lad in the throne room.

A name was given. This warranted a name returned, right? Certainly. However, there was also a strange gesture offered by the blonde lass, in the form of an extended hand. The Glyph-covered boy stared at her outstretched hand, seeming entirely unbothered by its presence before him. He didn't shy away in a manner one could expect of Diva, nor did he reach out for it. "... Vasyl. To ónomá mou eínai... Vasyl," was all he had to say. With that, he turned his attention away from the female, understanding that the others would soon be departing.

Meanwhile, one Kaiba Seto impatiently stood at the barrier, awaiting the arrival of his group for this quest. His arms were crossed, and his foot had even begun tapping. He didn't expect this when he offered a bit of extra time.

[Apollymi]

The interaction between Miki and the young boy would end strangely. It seemed the handshake offered wasn't quite falling in line with what the lad had in mind. He didn't shy away from her, but he also didn't take the handshake she'd offered. "Hm, maybe that one was a bit weird... we'll work on it. See you around, Vasyl," she said to the lad. Knowing that Seriri was ready and that Diva was also apparently ready Miki held her arms out in front of her, calling her floating pillow weapon into her person and began floating off in the right direction. 'Hm, Kaiba is gonna be annoyed...' she thought to herself while clutching her comfort device of choice. 'Serves him right.' Her thought finished with much amusement and Seriri now at her side managed to look at the girl and break her facade with a rather simple observation. "Doesn't really make up for being carried around by a hot bodied dragon, huh?" she asked with only the intention to tease. "Urusai!" Miki snapped at the lass but this only caused her to laugh. "Hai hai... " she said seeming to find that funny as well. They'd soon reach Kaiba who was tapping his foot impatiently. It was to be assumed that Diva was in tow as well, bringing together their little ragtag party with little to no effort.

"Nii-san!~ We've arrived!~" these were the words of Seriri who seemed to be the happiest to see this lad. Miki had nothing immediately to say, after all she had a very specific task to take care of, and it would take a bit more work on her part than she'd managed since they'd come to this world. "Did you have specific jobs in mind for the two of us? I figure you and Kimi already discussed what you wanted from her..." she said, knowing it was best to not let anything get between her brother and his goals. She was more than happy to be helpful to him and her friend and her kingdom. Obviously. While that conversation took place, Miki would continue to remain in her normal state of comfort across the body of her pillow.

[Bloodedge]

Vasyl didn't offer much by way of a reaction to Miki, or anyone else in the room for that matter, bar Diva. A brief moment of eye contact was shared between the males, prior to Diva going along with the others. Miki had chosen to take her strange pillow as a form of transportation, and Diva wasn't exactly going to walk to the edge of the capital either. With his frail body, he decided to instead make use of his magical abilities to levitate just above the ground for their journey. He seemed somewhat spaced-out the closer they came to Kaiba Seto, to such an extent that by the time he stopped and landed, he was looking out into the ocean as if hearing something distant.

Kaiba's foot ceased its tapping at long last. Finally, they were here. The plan could be set in motion now, if only after an exchange of information regarding the ideal approach. "You lot sure like to keep me waiting. The target is a Leviathan, kept in tact as much as possible. Ashikaga is going to use her looting skills to take valuable pieces from it. Tsuki, you'll make sure there isn't much moving it can do, while I use overwhelming force to keep its attacks at bay. Judging by what we've seen of your boy-toy, I'm guessing both of you should be able to accomplish that together. It would help if at least one of you had a method of keeping us alive in the water as well. Two of us don't have the privilege of gills, or whatever you Atlanteans are using."

[Apollymi]

Miki kept an eye on everyone with her as they moved. She took note of the fact that the closer they got to their point of exit the more spaced out Diva seemed to be. She began to speculate on why that would be, given what the lad had been through, and she could only hope that this would be the sort of monster slay she'd expected of it. Since the blonde lass had a good idea of what she needed to do, all she did was simply change her position atop her pillow and fish out a small pouch which she held in her hand containing a great number of shark's teeth. If she was going to have to use her abilities, she might as well make the most efficient use of the effort that she could. Seriri on the other hand, was left to a conversation with her brother which made her frown softly. Though she could do all he asked, she took issue with one thing in particular he said, and it was, his chosen reference to Diva. "Nii-san... that's mean. He's nothing like that. As for the rest, I can take care of it for the most part. And not to worry, I won't let you or Kimi drown. I can make sure you both can breathe without issue and heal any wounds you manage to get..." she said softly. She'd step towards the barrier and as she did, it seemed to glow and shift as it opened to let them outside doing so, she'd cast a strange magic which would envelope the heads of Kaiba Seto and Miki, in a thin film which worked a bit like the barrier of Atlantis itself including cycling fresh oxygen to the pair so they wouldn't run out of air while they were out in the open. "Diva, knows the way. I assume I'm buffed enough to move at above average speed..." mentioned Miki to which Seriri only nodded. "Hai hai..." With this she either expected the lad to give them a direction in mind or something to follow. Whatever the case, she was about as ready as she needed to be, and shifted her position back content to use her pillow like a wave board while they moved about underwater.

[Bloodedge]

"With how quickly you insist otherwise, I can't help but assume I'm right," Kaiba retorted. Frankly, he didn't care how his sister chose to view the male Atlantean. His only concern at present, was getting the job done. It would be a simple enough task, so long as everyone managed to do their part. Of the list, the one whose job he worried least about, was Miki. She'd always get things done. Diva was a wildcard, and Seriri fell somewhere between, albeit closer to the former in presumed quality. This could go well, he thought. Once given the ability to breathe, he hopped out into the sea, producing a card of Mana from the device on his left arm. That very card was thrown forward through the water, until his Magisteel Dragon construct burst forth from it.

In the meantime, Diva stepped forward as well. He appeared shocked, brought back to the current moment by an interesting claim by Miki. She voiced her knowledge that he knew the way, despite having no clear point of reference. It was true, of course. He did know exactly where multiple Leviathans in the surrounding waters could be found, but there was one in particular he would lead the way to. A veil of Mana enveloped the lad, shielding his humanoid body from the horror of drowning, in a method Atlanteans of old used as a conversion filter of sorts. With this, he could freely float through the waters without having so much as a sense of pressure or current. "It's o-... over..." he stammered, showing only minor improvement in his ability to speak since his practice with Hikari. Regardless, he led the way west of the kingdom. The Leviathan which posed the issue among the group of creatures, could be found ahead of them along this path. It wouldn't take very long at all to reach it, and it seemed far enough away from its brethren for things to work out well enough.

[Apollymi]

"Nii-san!~" Seriri sounded whiny and annoyed. Her brother of all people would say something like that. She didn't hold that kind of interest in Diva as far as she realized, in fact, she simply wanted to keep him as safe as possible, which was something rather odd for her but it wasn't romantic or anything. At least, not obviously romantic in the way that Miki and Kou were interested in each other. Whatever the case, everyone now equipped to breathe they'd depart the Kingdom. The words she heard next were from Diva who much to Miki's assumption did indeed know where to find their prey of choice. He headed west so did both of the young women, though Seriri had a comment to make. "Hm, seems like you are getting better Diva!~" she said with happiness at his progress. She might have to talk with Hikari and find out how she managed such a thing.

The creature came into view very easily as they followed this path. Kaiba had his Dragon, Seriri's staff had never moved and strangely her legs had transformed into the flipper of a true Mermaid. Miki wasn't sure what Diva had planned, but it wasn't as important as the large sea creature came into view. This one, was alone, completely. It had a large body long like that of a sea serpent with fin-like protrusions as underwater wings down its body. It's coloration was slightly off from what Miki expected and it seemed to be a dark purple in color glowing with some strange power as it moved in winding pattern seemingly agitated. Miki would prepare for battle after getting within range, once she had done this she abandoned her pillow, having it turn into a large boar spear with a broad blade and two rings at each end. It looked rather plain in this form, but looks were deceiving. She'd run her hand down this blade causing blood to well up in her hand and soon after several individual shark teeth would come out of the pouch in her other hand and she'd run her palm across them, coating them in her blood and causing them to take on the same sage green glow as her Mana. "I give my blood to the sea. Life for death, death for life. Rise and follow..." the words she spoke were not in a language most would recognize. Once again Miki was using the tongue of the Druids, and the native tongue of the Lich King to perform his ritual. Much to her surprise there was an immediate change. The teeth she used began to shift before her eyes. becoming complete skeletons of Mer-sharks, with rows of jagged teeth. As soon as they spawned they began swimming around her waiting for her next order. They retained the same glow Miki now had, a sickly green color on the border of life and death. A grin crossed her face, obtaining the crown piece from Atlantis had reduced the amount of mana she'd needed to waste to perform this ritual and beyond that they would do what she did, adding a great number of mouths and hands to her own activities. The agitated Leviathan, began to swim towards them closer and closer. But Miki didn't worry about this so much, she had a bit of faith... she'd continue her work and assume she could do so in relative safety. Miki gave the order to the Mer-Shark Bonemen who swarmed her by using her Gamma skill. "Fox Assault." This would cause the first set of Leviathan scales to find its way into her hand and begin revealing softer flesh beneath it. The creatures she summoned would begin doing the same collecting scales and flesh as the Leviathan screeched swimming towards the group at massive speeds. She had but a single job, she'd trust the others to take care of the rest, as she and her minions collected loot.

[Bloodedge]

Kaiba didn't bother spending much time on the discussion between Queen Seriri and himself; there were better things to be doing. With Diva leading the charge, he took hold of his Magisteel Dragon's talon to let it carry him through the sea, apparently having no intentions of swimming with his own body. In little time, they reached the mighty beast they were to fell. It wasn't quite the colossal entity Kaiba thought it would be, though it remained larger than his metal creature. It was still disappointing to view. Diva, on the other hand, seemed to suffer a certain amount of distress, or perhaps... remorse on the Leviathan's behalf. He viewed it as a melancholy existence as he held out his cube, knowing such a monster was likely to take offense to even seeing it.

Whatever the case, there was still a job to be done. No, it seemed this sensation within Diva was exactly what drove him to participate in the defeat of this Leviathan. A glow erupted from the golden cube he held, and a specific series of Glyphs appearing on it resulted in the item segmenting itself into three. Diva spoke as his eyes shared the same glow as the cube. "Vyssiní Nóva!" he muttered in a tongue that seemed more familiar to him. Each of the cubes floating before him conjured a Guardian of Atlantis bound directly to the Artifact, and each of these Guardians were the same. Three purple cubes of Mana appeared, each surrounding one of Diva's companions on this quest. Functionally, they would act as one-way barriers, letting anything their bearers desired out while blocking entry. There was more, though. These cuboid barriers each had tails formed of numerous, smaller, more material cubes to assist the movement of those inside. They also had a pair of large, purple arm-like extensions with eyes at the shoulders, as well as at the ends of the extremities. Each left arm boasted a guillotine-like blade, and each right arm boasted a duo of blades that formed pincers. These Guardians would fight as well.

With that done, Diva produced an additional nine cubes, each with a copy of a different Glyph series. "Vijam!" he called out, making use of these additional cubes. Nine of the egg-like small Guardians emerged from these, ready to take an offensive approach at any given notice.

[Apollymi]

With the battle officially starting Seriri was left to watch as both Miki and Diva managed to do a great deal towards keeping them safe and starting the proper actions. Aside from making sure people could breathe she had no idea why she was actually here. The creature itself was quite large, but it didn't seem like so much of a problem for just that pair, with her brother here as well it seemed like she was just unnecessary. "Hm, this is strange... I can work with it though, Aqua Prison." she said softly. She'd take the opportunity to use water to help gather up all of the pieces of this creature being brought back to Miki, while simultaneously causing the water before them to move in response to the Leviathan's movements. Doing so caused it to be locked into a barrier in place unable to swim too much closer but also restricting the amount of space it had to move in. She created a large bubble around everything which the sharks and Miki's magic could go in and out of but that would hold the Leviathan's materials within. "Sou ka... that's pretty good. Arigatou..." Miki said to Seriri. "Hai hai... how's your hand?" she asked of the lass who'd cut herself to summon the sharks. "Oi, don't worry. I didn't choose a weak race... I regenerate on my own," she said while holding up her hand which only showed a very gentle line of red instead of an open wound, one which would soon disappear into nothingness as well.

Of course, given what Diva had done, Miki was relatively safe herself. Such a thing was rather strange but since it didn't require any more or less work from her this supposed shell she was in would do fine. His use of the Guardians of Atlantis was quite novel and Miki or rather Kimiko couldn't help but nod her head in approval. "Oi, that's really good. Defense for us, Offense for him... Diva's pretty fucking good," she commented. As the sharks she used grabbed pieces, each movement of them seemed to take various scales. But there was something strange here. This monster was quite a bit different looking than Miki expected. And beyond that it seemed like Diva was on a mission here the rest of them weren't aware of. She wondered if these creatures, much like the people of Atlantis had managed to be corrupted a bit by the goings on within the Kingdom. The creature itself though seemed to thrash about, aiming to move past the barrier created by Seriri all while being upset. Each time it moved, it began throwing water based wyrm like creatures at its attackers, taking out seven of the bone sharks with its disruptions. But because they were water they couldn't escape either. The destruction of the bones didn't seem to bother Miki, as they'd served their purpose, gathering large quantities of the outer body materials for her. The last two that made it back even managed to snap a few of its smaller wing like fins. That being said there was something now visible to Miki and it shared an eerily similar glow to the creatures eyes. "Hoh? It's mine," Miki said of the purplish scale located on the creatures back. As such she prepared to use her Gamma skill again by banishing that final set and reclaiming their Mana. "Return to the sea." she said having both of them disintegrate and her Mana return to the zone of influence around her. Now all she had to do was wait for the right opportunity and perhaps the ability to take from this creature this new thing she desired.

[Bloodedge]

Four people arrived at the Leviathan's location, and three were already making themselves useful in ways Kaiba did not expect from each of them. Miki managed to loot at a rate that surprised him, even for her. Seriri showcased the ability to support and restrain simultaneously, bringing what could almost be considered a grin to the older male's face. Meanwhile, Diva showed his capacity to attack and support at once, though Kaiba himself had no use for the Guardian surrounding him. Ah, but it was high time he did something as well. He could hardly afford to attack the Leviathan, lest he cause irreparable damage to the items they needed. The silver lining of this, was that the Leviathan was a beast at heart, and it would not take being stripped bare without fighting.

... And fight, it did. Wyrms being sent the group's way was just the opportunity Kaiba Seto needed to command his Magisteel Dragon. "Burst Stream!" he commanded, prompting his summon to spew white Mana from its mouth at each of the Wyrms individually. Few managed to make it to the group before the blast targeted them, but Diva's Guardians seemed to be holding strong.

Something caught Miki's eye. She wasn't alone in her observation, though; Diva saw it as well. The mere sight of it caused the lad to flinch. Soon enough, though, he regained his composure and resolve, knowing this segment had to be removed from the beast at all costs. If Miki wanted it, she could certainly have it. All he had to do was support her attempt to remove the oddity. And so, the winged egg-like Guardians were willed forward, their singular eyes trained on the Leviathan as they entered Seriri's barricade with it. All nine formed a circle around the Leviathan, linking their Mana to one another while looking inward. They collectively cast a Drain spell at their focal point, sapping excess Mana in an effort to make Miki's claim a bit easier as a task.

[Apollymi]

All of the others seemed to be hard at work, but it wasn't until the emergence of the water wyrms that Kaiba himself got involved. Or rather, got his beast of a 'Dragon' involved instead. A large stream of energy passed by both Miki and Seriri as the lad aimed to take out his targets. This was turning out to be quite the simple raid, even if more than half this party wasn't quite ready to move on. Seriri wasn't at all surprised by the amount of power her brother possessed, that being said, to see his mechanical Dragon in action was quite inspiring for the lass. "Sugoi!" she managed. Beyond all of this, it seemed to be the case that everyone was going to end up doing what they wanted. Strangely enough when Miki was trying to gather the necessary energy to take the item lodged within the Leviathan's body, Diva was working towards weakening the area, thus making it an easier task for her to achieve. she realized this only because she was able to commit to the action long before she thought she'd be able to. "Diva has support too! This is awesome... Arigatou!~" she seemed strangely pleased as she did exactly the thing she set out to do. "Fox Assault!" the cry of this particular attack would pull this purple scale like thing directly from the body of the Leviathan with a strange effect on it. As it came into Miki's possession, the Leviathan's eyes lost their angry glow. At the same time it seemed to be rapidly losing its ability to move, but this didn't seem sad. The scale itself seemed to have been the base of the extra Mana and aggression this creatures body had within. Its will to live was fading and this much Miki could tell from her Death Sense. Even so, it seemed to be relieved as if it was ready to die at this point. Already being drained of its energy there wasn't much left for it to do, it's life was ticking away in increments as it let out one final cry which filled the silent seas with its strange song. "I don't know if this is sad or not," Seriri said finding the whole thing to be strange. Soon after this all eyes were on Diva, Miki had gotten the extra object she'd come for, and started the looting, but she couldn't actually kill the creature without causing significant extra damage to its body. As such she'd leave that to someone else, she figured at the very least, Diva would likely be able to finish draining it to death without causing it extra pain.

[Bloodedge]

It seemed that bit of support was all Miki needed to finish the job. This Leviathan in particular was no evil force, but instead one mislead, darkened to its very core as if diseased in some way. The removal of this odd scale repaired the issue, leaving the creature mentally in its true state, albeit dying over time. The eggs, or 'Vijam' that surrounded the creature, faded and returned to their resting place in Diva's cube, while Diva himself floated toward the Leviathan. He hadn't placed himself within one of the barrier Guardians, and this was precisely why. He needed to reach out, to touch the Leviathan, to share extended contact with it while easing its pain. "... Na eíste se iremía, aderfí," he said calmly and concisely, one hand rubbing the creature's face. Diva was nothing, if not filled with empathy for this monster. He needed it to pass in a pleasant manner, and his touch would ensure that. The very same glow which encompassed him to provide a protective veil was now stretching its way along the Leviathan's form. This time, it held the purpose of quelling all pain in its target, allowing it time to slip away with utmost comfort. That wasn't all, though. Diva still held the Cube of Atlantis, as it had come to be known. The moment this Leviathan lost the last of its life, its essence would be taken into the cube, where it could live alongside the Atlanteans and associated sea creatures of old. "Ypóloipo."

[Apollymi]

"Aww..." Seriri said as she watched Diva ease the suffering of the creature he was now touching. Miki also took a moment to note the actions of the lad and she appreciated his sentiments. Knowing what he'd been through already, she figured he had some kind of special connection with the creature whose essence he took to add to the Cube which was the artifact he held. "Sou ka... nice too. Plus..." Miki said. Overall, seeing Diva in action let Miki know that Seriri was in good care with the lad here. She could happily go on about her adventures without worry that her good friend would be in any more trouble. Moving right along, she'd have but one more thing to say. "Oi, Tsu-chan, you're on support duty right? Take the body and these scales to the shop you let Hisakawa set up," she said to the other girl who shrugged. "Hai hai...Nii-san do you did me to do anything else?" she said happily. "Nice job out there," Miki said as she pushed her hair out of her way. "Anyways, if that is all I was needed for. I have some stuff to do, so I'll catch the rest of you later..." Miki intended to do a bit of further investigation of the map she'd discovered. And then return to her own room.

[Bloodedge]

As the Leviathan's soul transferred into the Artifact, the cube segments returned to one. The other Guardians vanished as well, and Diva coddled the cube as if tending to the Leviathan and those who resided with it in the afterlife. A tear was shed for their former plight, but it was all over now... for now, even. The remainder of the Leviathan's body could be used in whatever way the others needed, but Diva was satisfied exclusively by what he managed at the end of the battle.

Kaiba Seto did far less than he imagined he'd have to, and it was... refreshing. So refreshing, in fact, that Seriri's query in the aftermath was something he didn't have any form of snarky comment toward. "Nothing at all. Good work today," he said, giving about as much of a compliment to the group as he was physically capable of. The entire group could carry on with their business as intended, with Kaiba knowing there was more for Bulma and himself to do. Perhaps... Diva could be of use, as well. Indeed, he'd have to see about the lad's involvement after returning to the tinkerer. First, he'd have to finish making his way back after banishing his Dragon.

[Apollymi]

It seemed that everything was in order. And Kaiba even managed to give something of a compliment to the group at large, though it likely wouldn't seem that way to those who didn't know the lad. But his younger sister seemed to beam with excitement at the lad's words, as if she'd been given a present or perhaps the entire world. In fact, she was elated and would continue to be for the next few days.

And a few days later Miki would be found in her room again. And once again she had in her hands the golden ball that she'd been given as a present. It was already open and projecting the map around the room. She'd visited the place closest to the orb itself and noted that it was the Dungeon they'd originally used to reach this Kingdom. Upon going there, she'd been able to enter it again without any issue and she'd looted it quite a bit more while she was there. "Alright, I've been to that place. So it shows me Dungeons and lets me enter and exit them. Even lock them up... that's pretty cool," she said finally doing something strange and poking the map image of the same golden ball she held in her hands. Doing so caused something strange to happen and Miki was transported into the space which was marked by the map. She landed on her butt in the middle of a white room and there was nothing to be seen here, except a podium. "Hoh? The map leads to a room... and there's a thing in the room. And it's for me?!" she seemed excited about the prospect but also a bit nervous. 'What do I do? Do I get up and go look at it? Wait calm down.' The girl said to herself.

[Bloodedge]

In this few days, Kou remained unconscious. His Mana had become less unstable than it had been days before, though its consistency was quite... different to what he'd come to produce since entering the world. Gone was that air of mysterious being beyond his human part, leaving what seemed to be more like a mutated human than anything. He wasn't awake quite yet, but he did seem rather close to consciousness at last. Sadly, Miki was soon gone from beneath his head. At least the reason was her teleportation to the treasury he designed for her sake. Veritably empty though it may have been at the time, the single podium at the center contained a necklace with an unorthodox type of charm attached. Rather, it could more easily said that instead of a charm or pendant, it possessed a puzzle of sorts: a helix puzzle in varying layers. Upon being unlocked, it would take on a new form that was an Artifact in its own right. Had Kou been awake, he would have been capable of explaining this... but no, he wouldn't have done so regardless. This was the remains of his self-offering to the lass, in response to her doing the same previously.

[Apollymi]

Miki wouild have appreciated having Kou around to question a bit. Though she didn't know if he'd answer her, she'd enjoy just having him there while she rambled until she came to something resembling an answer. "Okay, deep breaths. It is just a room after all. But why a room?" she asked herself as she stood, markedly avoiding looking at that center podium for just a second. "This place is really huge. Like a vault or a storage locker. If I can go back and forth here, it'd be a great place to hide all the loot I collect. And hell even somewhere to store all the coins I definitely shouldn't be carrying around..." she mused. This place seemed infinite to her, the space felt much larger than even she could see, but the room itself didn't seem abnormal. "It's bigger on the inside." That saying was a bit strange, she'd only heard it in a particular sci-fy show she watched from time to time, that she happened to be a bit behind on at present. Too bad, this place didn't have tv, it could have given her something to do while she was bored before.

As she mused over this she steeled her own nerve, finally making her way over to the podium but still not looking directly at it. "Okay, okay. You're a big girl... the worst it could be is like a letter that says fuck off, right? That'd be fucking heart breaking. So as long as it's not that... we can deal with it... Miki!" she'd said her original name but it seemed that the Nexus wasn't accepting that as belonging to her anyways. Regardless, she looked towards the podium and found a piece of jewelry. This wasn't uncommon. Kou was particularly gifted at making such things. In this particular case, it appeared to be a necklace with a strange pendant on it. It being here meant it was for her. "Wheew. I really psyched myself out there. Then this is for me too? A gift within a gift... and a puzzle within a puzzle..." she said moving around the pieces that made up the pendant but not being able to simply shift them. She'd never completed this type of puzzle before. She wondered over the significance of it, as she picked it up. She got a feel for it with her hand and came to know that it too was something greater than it appeared. "Well its obviously for me. I'll figure it out. I guess the space might be too? I mean, he wouldn't have made it possible for me to get to it, if he didn't want me to have it, right?" she asked herself. Whatever the case, having claimed this thing she came for, she'd continue looking at the podium finding it to have a strange groove within, every similar to the one created by her interaction with the dungeon. "Hoh? Is this how I leave then? I guess I am done for now..." her other hand had the golden ball within, and as such, she placed it into the space when she did, it lit up, and before she knew it, she was placed back where she'd been in the world before this moment, though a slight change in position had occurred. Instead of being under Kou's head and acting as his pillow. She was now left standing atop the bed, with her legs on either side of Kou's face, she might have been worried about this lad getting a very intimate 'up-skirt' view of her, but as far as she knew he was still sleeping. "Jeez, if I had known that would happen, I would have done it after getting out of bed," she muttered to herself.

[Bloodedge]

Kou had no concept of existence in his lack of consciousness, but it seemed that was beginning to return to him. Naturally, it came together at a strange time. He began to feel the touch of consciousness, all because he felt... movement? Something was pulling him down, as if the very thing supporting him was being compressed around his location. 'Did I finally black out?' he wondered within the confines of his own mind. He entertained the thought that he'd lost consciousness, and Hikari had fallen onto a bed next to him. But... no, that wasn't right. It definitely felt like, if it was a bed beneath him, there was someone standing above him. Indeed, there had to be a foot on either side of him. Perhaps it was Hikari, waiting to gloat over something the moment he woke up. Having this in mind, he opened his eyes slowly, anticipating the tanuki's face to be right in front of his.

Alas, this was not the case. When his eyes opened, there was something in his line of sight... but it wasn't Hikari at all. It wasn't a face either, no; this was the underside of... Miki? That was undoubtedly the voice he could hear as he stirred. It hadn't taken him long to realize what he was looking at, but he also couldn't bring himself to look away. Instead, he sat there with wide eyes and an open mouth, clearly nothing short of dumbfounded by what was happening in these waking moments. "Uh-... ah... eto..."

[Apollymi]

Miki had spoken to herself about her placement after her visit to the white room. Of course, she should have moved already from the position standing around Kou's head, but she was mostly trying to figure out how to do it without prematurely waking him. 'Hm, if I move too much he might wake up before he's ready. I don't really want that, but... still there isn't much I could do besides...' whatever idea the lass was starting to have about moving without walking the lad. He was making noises like he was awake. In fact there was actual speech there. She tentatively looking down her body, over her own chest and towards her feet taking note that the lad's line of sight was a rather direct view up her skirt and his eyes were quite open at this point. "Of course... I'm busy trying to figure out how not to wake you and you're already awake..." she said calmly.

Still there was a hidden bit of panic in the lass, or perhaps excitement? Whatever the case, her face was immediately red, and her thoughts were very strange. 'I wonder if he likes this angle. Actually that's a terrible thing to think, he just woke up... If he likes it though... that's probably good right?' she thought while trying to move. "I didn't really mean to end up like this. It was the other way around before," she mentioned knowing that if she hadn't left via teleport she'd have been underneath him when he woke instead of flashing him her entire undercarriage. "Just... one second..." she aimed to move both of her legs to the right side of the lad's body. Even so the bed had a bit more give from this position so she was soon falling on her rear, though she'd rather quickly recover as well. "Ohayou..." she managed though she was still blushing rather intensely. She simply accepted that it was part of their sharing a room. Her falling out of bed, blushing or having some sort of perverted blunder she then had to hide quickly behind a light lie.

[Bloodedge]

What could he even say? There was nothing he could do, at least consciously. Miki's statement seemed about as normal as anything, yet she also seemed somewhat hesitant. What she could have been thinking while her face reddened in such a way, he did not know. Either way, she eventually moved. Whatever she was experiencing, he seemed to feel a moment of relief. That was officially one crisis he was able to avoid, though... it wasn't as if he would have minded further exposure to the scenario. "Ah... right-" he said, seeming to gather himself somewhat as he rose to sit. There was something Miki said, though. "Other way around?" he repeated with curiosity. Perhaps it was his recent waking which resulted in a lack of clarity, or perhaps it was something else. Regardless, his train of thought was more literal than it likely should have been. His physical response may have shown this, due to the second wave of shock that overcame him.

Moving on was probably for the best, he thought. Yes, he could do that with minimal difficulty. "Ohayou..." the male muttered at last. "Guess I tired myself out. All those festivities."

[Apollymi]

It seemed all was well. Some sort of strange perverted tangent had been mostly averted, not that Miki would have minded such a thing. To be honest her own mind seemed to lead itself down such paths without much of an issue. But something she'd said seemed to rouse curiosity in the recently woken lad. She wasn't looking at him initially, but the intensity of the questioning made her shift her gaze in his direction. In so doing, she revealed a curiosity in her own visage. What could he have been thinking she meant by this statement. "Hai! Until I left a few minutes ago, I was sitting here like this..." she mentioned softly. "With your head in my lap," she mentioned, not realizing that if he'd woken that way, he would have instead been looking around her breasts and through her almost sheer dress at a very close angle instead. Soon after stating this realized it probably sounded weird. "I mean like a pillow!" she followed up. Though it technically wouldn't have been the first time the lad had used her as such, it was entirely her decision. "But not like the whole time. I've had to go a few places since then and do some things..." she spoke rather quickly. She didn't know why but it always felt like she was saying or doing something perverted accidentally around this lad. Whatever the case, her face seemed to be remaining in a deep shade of red. But she would carry on as if this was fine, as if she didn't notice how her face likely looked.

Moving right along, it seemed that the lad now conscious was at least aware that he'd been unconscious for a while. And too well invested in the festivities of the past week. "Oh I know. This..." she said revealing the golden sphere in one hand as if amused by it still. "Is really astonishing. It took me a bit... but I really enjoyed figuring out how it worked. You must have done something crazy for it to end up like this, and for you to end up sleeping so long afterwards..." she said softly, still the method in which she was speaking seemed to make her more involved in it. "I thought at first you'd gone too far... but I was really happy. I am pretty sure you're the only person to ever give me something I didn't ask for and make it something I could find useful and enjoyable," she mentioned, twisting her head. Thinking about it, she wasn't just talking about this orb, but also the earrings she currently wore fit the same level of present in her mind. "Still, I'm not quite finished with it yet... I had hoped to have figured it all out by the time you woke up, but I only just got inside to get to this one... " she mentioned of the necklace she was holding in her other hand. By the time she'd finished she was calm enough to be looking happily in the lad's direction and on her face was the most genuine smile.

[Bloodedge]

Kou's mind was already in the wrong place. Miki's initial explanation of how they'd been positioned before he woke, well... it didn't produce a visual in his mind that he'd openly share. Luckily, he didn't have to mull over these interesting thoughts for very long. Miki soon enough righted her original statement with some specification. At the very least, that amount of clarity put him at ease. He would have had quite the issue with such a thing happening while he was unconscious. Though, perhaps it was related simply to the fact that he was unconscious during? It was possible. "Ah. Sou ka," he said, rustling his own hair in a moment of reflection.

There was something of great interest to be noted so recently after Kou rose. Miki brought to his attention the fact that she'd completed the puzzle he offered her prior to his fall. The lad seemed very shocked upon hearing this, and in fact, he wondered what this could have meant. How long had he been unconscious? It didn't matter much, as it seemed Miki was content with her Artifact regardless, and she'd managed to locate the treasury inside as well... but his curiosity remained strong. "You... opened it? How long was I out?"

[Apollymi]

Kou took the explanation provided by the blonde without thinking too much about it. At least, that was how it looked to Miki. She could deal with that of course, as it made it much easier for her to continue talking. While she did, she watched the lad seemingly wake himself up. Becoming more conscious by the minute, ruffling his own hair and all. In this moment she was brought back to her initial thoughts upon seeing the lad, he really was quite attractive. Adding his personality to that made him Miki's top pick, over any others that she'd come across.

Soon there was curiosity in the lad, asking if she'd opened the puzzle which was the orb in her hand which she'd tentatively started referring to as her personal treasure map. She looked at him with wide eyes. She didn't expect curiosity from him about that, especially in relation to how long he'd been unconscious. "Hai... uh... you've been out for four days total, but that is way less time than we thought it would be," she said softly. She'd been quite worried when the lad had passed out the way he had. Regardless, she also felt the need to explain her process a bit as far as the puzzle itself was concerned. "And yes, I managed to open it the morning after you passed out. When Tsu-chan confirmed you'd be alright I brought you here to sleep. I didn't have anything else to do. And spent a while looking at it. It took a few hours the first time but I was able to make the map appear," she said remembering talking herself through the rather intricate puzzle and learning the lines, grooves and buttons of it. Memorizing them and using the power of her mind to work through to making the whole thing light up. "I started having an easier time of it when I started using math to do it..." she said. She was unsure of the methods the lad used to do it, but Miki herself was fond of math and understood numbers and number based puzzles rather easily. There was a piece of math that was applicable to most three-dimensional puzzle shapes called God's Algorithm and being somewhat familiar with it she'd calculated how many moves she would need to get the globe to show the map.

[Bloodedge]

Kou looked on with nothing short of maximum interest as Miki explained her process of puzzle completion. When she spoke of applying math to its solving, his eyes had already widened as much as they physically could, solely due to how long she claimed to have taken. With his very intimate knowledge of his own creation, he already understood that there was only one way to complete the sphere in such a short amount of time. Luck had been taken completely out of the equation, as he'd designed it to ensure every move was only accepted when made with pure intent, based on a certain lack of fluctuation in Mana. Ill intent toward the puzzle would ensure it further locking itself, instead of even progressing to the next stage.

"You... used math to solve it in under a day?" he asked rhetorically, just prior to falling onto his back and bursting into laughter. "Haha! Sugoi, sugoi! You solved it like Rubik's Cube after all? I was wondering how you'd approach it when I thought it through. I guess I don't even have to explain the treasury either, since you've already picked up the Helix puzzle. That part is uh... I guess the real present. The coding is less complex, but I think it's more useful by itself than the treasure trove."

[Apollymi]

As Kou looked on with maximum interest in what Miki had to say, she couldn't help but notice the attention and feel a little embarrassed because of it. Still there was something here akin to shock, when Kou realized exactly how she'd gone about finishing the puzzle he'd given her in such a timely manner. "Hai..." she said tentatively to his rhetorical question. His laughter was a bit unexpected and the girl's eyes widened gently, but his follow up to that made a bit of a blush appear on her face and she turned her head a bit to hide it, managing to look more like her usual self than this body normally let her. She scoffed but it was a gentle sound, not the normally aggressive version she presented to people like Kaiba Seto and Karna. Still the lad had more to say, after finding out that she'd managed to clear out the whole thing very easily it seemed that what he intended was for this necklace to be his actual present to her. She smiled then thinking about it, she hadn't given herself much time to look into it before. "Helix Puzzle... huh? I've never seen one of these before. I sort of stopped doing puzzles a lot myself a long time ago. So, I've never really seen one like this before," the girl mentioned. She took a moment to have a longer look at the puzzle itself, it was shaped like a star with several holes punched into it, and a lock like piece of metal almost closed between the holes it was just big enough that one could slide it partially out but not the whole way while keeping one part of the puzzle stationary. "Sou ka... they are entwined. So you'd have to turn both layers simultaneously to eventually work the link outside of the holes, making them separate..." she said mostly to herself as she had been doing for the duration of her time with this lad in the room. Still unlike her general look and disposition normally though her face still seemed a bit terse there was a bit of light in her eyes, she looked more excited than normal even... it'd been quite a while since anyone had given her anything that made her think and helped her out so much.

[Bloodedge]

How very interesting. In truth, Kou hadn't expected his puzzle sphere to be completed so quickly at all, by anyone he'd ever known. Instead of being disappointed in his craft, though, he seemed elated to hear of it being completed with haste. Miki noted being inexperienced with the Helix Puzzle, though. That made sense. Though it was a puzzle that he was introduced to very early in his life, one couldn't expect many people to be versed in them. Upon sitting up, he prepared himself to explain the meaning behind the puzzle, but... he didn't have to. A light chuckle passed his lips; Miki had worked it out by herself rather easily. "Hai hai. You've got it! Since you finished the sphere so quickly, you shoul-" Suddenly, Kou found himself incapable of speaking. Four days had been spent unconscious, and that was after locking himself in a room and resting on food and drink he'd consumed over the course of the previous days. It was surprising that he'd even managed until this moment, but now, he had to get up, and he had to do so quickly. "Suman!" he blurted out as he leapt from the bed, dashing off to the restroom and swinging the door closed behind him.

He'd be gone for a couple of minutes, but something interesting occurred during that time. As he stood over a... toilet that could more easily be considered a hole protruding from the wall, he realized something about himself that was rather disturbing. He couldn't afford to mention this, but it quickly put a damper on his mood. "Kuso..." he muttered soon before vacating the restroom. Making every effort to keep his perturbed state from showing, he rubbed the back of his head while approaching Miki again. "Alright, so... four days," he said, scrambling through his brain to figure out if his intended topic would work when presented so suddenly. He knew what had happened to him, and he'd known about the danger before creating the items he gave Miki. Naturally, he also knew what he'd have to do to fix the problem.

What problem? He hadn't simply exhausted his Mana while meticulously working on the sphere. In straining it for so long, and in such an extreme way, he'd managed to alter the functionality of his Mana. The Saber wouldn't be able to properly utilize his spells until he went through some level of arduous process to correct the Mana flow within his body. Given his choice of Race when creating this Avatar, those options were even more limited than normal. "So uh... before we do anything else, I was planning on doing some training. I kinda wouldn't mind being a Witcher." Though his words were true, Kou had absolutely zero intention of going through the trials to become a Witcher prior to level 50. It was simply too strenuous a task to overcome as he was currently, but... there was a bit of motivation at the moment, considering he wouldn't be capable of doing much else in the foreseeable future.

[Apollymi]

Miki had given her observations of the puzzle aloud because that's what she did when she was alone. That being said the start of an answer presented by Kou made the lass' eyes widen gently. She had the nerve to be gently embarrassed but it seemed she was on the right track with her thoughts. She gently rubbed the back of her head while she kept the 'Treasure Trove' within her lap. Still she was saved the true embarrassment of this situation by Kou's timely exit. She'd figured being asleep for several days straight would likely make his first waking trip to the restroom an eventful one. Besides all of that there was still the matter of his constantly fluctuating Mana which thought it had calmed down properly seemed like it might make a problem pop up eventually. Still given his hasty exit she'd decided to get fully dressed and commit to one particular idea before anything else. Once this was done, she'd be sitting on her weapon pillow near the edge of the bed waiting for him.

Soon Kou returned from the restroom, looking a tad disturbed by something. Still she wasn't really the type to pry into the lad's inner workings and as such she waited. It seemed he did have something he wanted to say and in typical fashion of the lad, he eventually came forth with a topic slightly unexpected. Though he broached it rather casually, she felt that there was likely a more pressing reasons for him to state such intentions. "Witcher? That's a bit extreme... I mean I heard it was one of those things you might not want to try until you were higher level but..." she gave a bit of a pause. "I also should return to the Druids to finish up my training as a Gatekeeper, before it becomes obvious I've been taking the Lich King's Artifacts. And especially before the next potential part of the journey," she said softly. "Oh right, I didn't get a chance to say, Kaiba wants to go to the Sky Islands. Claims he has proof they actually exist and all of that. So him and Hisakawa have been working on a vessel to get up there. I didn't know if you would be interested in that sort of thing, but I figured helping them out while you were recovering could only benefit the group," she said. There was a bit more to it than that but she figured she'd at least be given the time to explain it properly. "We could grab a bite, plan it out before we go off to finish out our builds," she said in an open offer she'd planned to make even before getting to this point in the conversation. Strange though this was, she saw this as an opportunity to get an actual date in before they separated if that was what needed to happen.

[Bloodedge]

Just barely passable, it seemed. He couldn't have expected that sudden left turn to work out exactly as he wished it to, but at the very least, Miki had her own task to complete with the Druids. This could be considered something of a lucky break, but there was an air of awkwardness surrounding the scenario as Kou viewed it. "Hai. I just figured it'd be better to deal with it now, with or without level recommendations. You know?" Could he manage becoming a Witcher under these circumstances? Possibly. He undoubtedly would have preferred waiting, if taking the path at all, but he didn't have much of a choice. Other options involved sacrificing too much of his build, or reverting to level 1. Ah, but speaking of levels, there was another issue at hand. Even if he could fix his problem by undergoing the Witcher Trials, he had to be capable of obtaining Witcher abilities. His ability to store Mystic Codes had been capped since the Fairy Forest, all because of his Unlimited Bladeworks technique which didn't complete itself until he reached level 30. It was likely they had enough reserved experience to reach level 40 after the trials, but there was a barrier that needed to be broken first.

"Eto... I can't be a Witcher right now, though. I need more space. I'm not sure I can sacrifice any of the Mystic Codes I have equipped without messing something up down the line," he said. Hearing from Miki that there was a plan to reach the Sky Islands, he knew there was even less of a choice now. With that sort of thing coming up in their journey, he had to right this issue without hesitation. "Sou ka. I guess it doesn't take as much as I expected to reach that point. I didn't expect anybody to find out that level exists for a long time, but it never made sense for the islands to just be a myth. The game's level system would be incomplete otherwise." It was good to know for certain that the 'next tier' of the game - or world, in this case - existed. Even while giving this consideration, hearing of food triggered another physical response in the lad. His last meal was just as distant as his last bathroom trip, and as if responding directly to Miki's mention, Kou's stomach seemed keen on turning itself inside-out. He nearly keeled over on the spot. "Uh, yeah. Food, lots of... food. Good plan."

[Apollymi]

Miki heard what Kou had to say, and given their similar background, she knew the struggles presented by being a gamer with different actions in mind. "Hai hai, I totally get it. I trust you can get it done, no worries," the blonde lass had genuine smile on her face. Though she figured the lad was choosing to do this now for a very specific reason, she'd decided not to pursue it as a line of questioning. Of course, he soon went on to explain that even though he wished to become a Witcher. He claimed to not have enough free Mystic Codes to take on the new skills set. "Sou ka," she said thinking about it, given her own recent activities her Mystic Code was full as well. "I have a similar problem actually, we should probably be going to our Dragon Hourglasses," she said, thinking about it logically. As the conversation continued, Miki heard out the lad's thoughts on going to the Sky Islands, "I also figured it wasn't a myth. Kaiba is a lot of things, but he's not completely unreasonable or anything. So, whenever they finish their ship they plan to go..." she said, which likely seemed a bit to the contrary of how she dealt with Kaiba face to face in a conversation. That was fine though as they reached the decision to get food, she'd lead the way to one of her new favorite places to get food, leaving of course a place open on her pillow for him to join her, which she absently motioned to. If all went according to plan she'd take them both to the restaurant of choice.

Once again the pair would find themselves at an outdoor restaurant. They served everything here, though admittedly it was all seafood it came in quite a few varities. Including sushi which Miki ordered several different rolls of, along with sake and very strangely this place served a very particular dessert. Fried dough which this lad would be rather happy to see if he got around to ordering it. "So we are clear, we both need to; break the level cap, finish off and/or rearrange our Mystic Codes, and make it back to the group in time to hop on the boat up to the Sky Islands. Does that sound about right?" she asked between bites of sushi, feeling happy to have a taste of home.

[Bloodedge]

"Yeah, that'd be for the best. We should have portal access now that we also have Familiars... however that works out here," Kou said, recalling the existence of a hub teleport upon reaching level 30 in AoE, finally granting return access to one's starting region. All it required was a bound Familiar, which he supposed meant he'd be questioning his sometime after eating. For the time being, he hopped aboard Miki's mobile pillow to hitch a ride wherever she had intentions of leading.

Much consideration was given to the organization of his Mystic Codes during the trip. He really couldn't sacrifice a single line of what he had thus far, even though all of them were now complete. If he was right in one assumption, which he was just about certain he was, the islands in the sky would have multiple... interesting discoveries. He'd want all he had, and more, with that being the case. Whilst sitting before a large spread of sushi and, of course, fried dough, he gave consideration to the time spent on this future endeavor. It wasn't a very small window at all, but there was also no telling how long it would take to reach the sky properly. "Sounds about right, but I don't think it'll be much of a time crunch. Having the right transportation to go topside is one thing, but I doubt anybody with us has a good enough Riding skill to make it that far. We wouldn't have anything more than a faster mode of transportation for the places we can already get to, if that's what we end up missing."

[Apollymi]

"Right... I forgot about that. I never got around to getting a proper familiar before..." Miki mentioned. It could go without saying that the lad joining her atop her pillow gave her an undue bit of happiness. In fact, a happy light remained in the lass' eyes even as they sat before a spread of food fit for royalty. She was so elated that she was practically swooning seemingly excited by the food but that wasn't it at all. Finally something about this situation seemed to be quite right to her, and given this she couldn't be happier. That being said, this moment wasn't about Miki's personal happiness. Presently, their conversation was about the amount of time and their potential destination upon completing the next leg of their journey. "I don't doubt that they are putting forth their best effort though, Kaiba is exceedingly impatient. And having access to mechanic like Hisakawa well..." she paused thinking about it. "Even if they can't pilot it. It should be pretty interesting to see," she finished up with a happy smile on her face.

This was what she wanted, a happy date. Discussing fun new things, with a boy she actually liked. This moment had a large smile spread across the lass' face. She was more than ready to break into all of this food and share a meal without interruption with Kou.

[Bloodedge]

"Really? I figured you'd made it to level 50 too. Did you go analog all the way back to your starting dungeon?" he wondered aloud. It was an interesting concept, having such a luxury. Kou couldn't have manually returned to his point of origin if he wanted to. Between clauses, Kou was stuffing his mouth to the brim with food, failing to maintain any level of decency even compared to his normal state. His verbal responses took a bit of extra time as a result, as he kept having to chew and swallow before verbalizing... or at least chew to a certain extent. "Those two don't seem like the type who'd work together very easily, but they'd be a force and a half if they did. Whatever the thing is they're working on, I'm guessing it'll definitely be able to get the job done with the right crew," he said. This meal was... odd, in a way. Starving as he was, he consumed a ridiculous amount without an end in sight, though there was an unexpected amount of lightness in the air. He had hardly seen Kimiko enough to recognize her for quite some time after their meeting in this world, but he understood that her expression tended to be quite sour at a surface level. Seeing this expression of elation upon her visage now produced a certain, unexpected euphoria within Kou himself. He couldn't quite explain it, but it was there nonetheless. As he realized this, he thought ahead to the near future, and found the train of thought strange. "Huh. It's gonna be weird. Different intro dungeons, individual tasks. I haven't done something by myself since I showed up here. I think I got used to it."

[Apollymi]

Miki smiled she was now eating happily. Though she went about it in a manner which was a bit more dignified. This was simply a matter of never really doing so differently. Between bites she explained the circumstances of her travels as well as her previous experience in the game before ending up in this world. "It wasn't exactly analog. But I did like the views so I was fine with the extra travel. The Druid Homeland is the Migrating Vale. Because it isn't ever in one place by lore standards, you can always get back to it by approaching a Sacred Grove, Runestone Circle or a set of Sacred Falls. And while I didn't have a familiar I always had Youko, and one of his best abilities was that he could sniff out magical borders. So, it was kind of like travelling on autopilot, and we could make stops and I could check up on my business ventures," she mentioned. "I definitely was level 50 before I got here, it was the shining point of my weekend," she said with a chuckle. Though she didn't have too many fond memories of her previous life, being such a shut-in, gave her access to this place and to the lad with her and as such she was content. More so than she'd ever be able to truly communicate to anyone.

As they moved on in the conversation the topic of Kaiba and Bulma came up and it made Miki chuckle. "I've known them both since I was very young. But the fact that they work for competing companies meant I didn't think I'd get to see them work together without forcing the set up myself," she mentioned casually between bites. The business mind of the lass had been previously working on forcing such a merger even in their original world. To think she'd get beaten to the punch was a bit outlandish. "I was quite surprised when Kaiba barged in the other day with Hisakawa in tow. This world has made all kinds of interesting things happen," she stated as she continued eating. There was much lightness in this situation and even more than that. This conversation seemed to be very natural, the blonde lass not even bothering to hide anything about herself nor struggle to get her words out. She couldn't quite explain it, but unlike other times they'd spent together, this time felt as exactly the way she'd imagined it would. And that was that, as she was sipping sake out of a traditional cup, the lad mentioned that he'd gotten quite used to working with her and that their plan to do several things separately would be weird by comparison. She nodded her head. "Yeah, I had that thought earlier too. That is the reason I thought it'd be nice to share a meal..." she said softly, still that smile on her face as she thought back to the moments leading up to her meeting this lad. "I really psyched myself out the first time I saw you... before we both got to the pig farm. I talked myself out of talking to you, but..." she paused thinking about how that situation played out and how far they'd come since then and she couldn't help but feel a bit sheepish and giddy. Most people wouldn't realize the level of awkward this particular girl was, as it was generally hidden behind the things she knew and did well. But she didn't have a lot of luck making friends or acquaintances outside of business. And she'd never gotten around to finding anyone she thought she could relate to romantically. To find such a person day one of her adventures in a new world, was beyond anything she could have hoped for, even if they weren't officially a couple or anything, yet. "I'm really glad I met you. And really happy we've been traveling together."

[Bloodedge]

Miki had an interesting tale regarding her return to the starting dungeon. He never delved very deep into Druid lore, at least not as of his last time in their original world. Knowing now how one could reach the Druid homelands, he found it to be a more... effective method of return than what he had to deal with. "Sou ka. Sounds like there are ports all over the place, if you know what you're looking for. I'm guessing there's a brief issue with going back during corruption events though?" he asked. He at least knew that things typically marked 'sacred' could become inaccessible during certain occurrences, all due to self-preservation against corruption and the like.

"I was level 50 too. I'm still pretty bummed about that, looking at how many other people seem to be keeping whatever level they had. Some of them... I don't imagine kept much of themselves, though. Either way, I'm still wondering about the whole Alter Ego Special Class. I haven't seen a single benefit yet," he explained. Moving on beyond matters concerning the scientists of their 'group' as it were, there were thoughts concerning the meeting of the two at present. "I figured you'd been lurking for awhile when you showed up at that farm. Either way, I'm pretty glad we met too. I can't imagine how life would be if I'd gone about taking this journey alone. I still can't believe I thought you were an NPC at first; you should have been easy to recognize." Kou spoke a few more words than he meant to, but he didn't even realize he'd done so. As such, he continued speaking as if nothing was amiss. "It's been fun regardless. I'm sure there's only up from here, in spite of whatever struggles are ahead."

[Apollymi]

Miki continued enjoying her meal. Nodding her agreement while her mouth was full, only to make a few clarifications when she finished her most recent bite of food. "The ports themselves are pretty easy to find. And corruption events are a problem for those of other circles, but for me they are just quick experience farms. Since I chose Gatekeeper as the Circle I follow, I am able to cleanse the spots when I get to them," she said having put a more than reasonable bit of thought into her build, to counter all potential stops to her own progress and make it so that she was virtually always able to do whatever she wanted. "I'd actually just cleared one and was on my way back to the Migrating Vale when I ended up in Eonis," she said remembering the moment and finding it strange, but it was still one of the best extra occurrences of her life.

She'd pause to continue eating, hearing out the lad's thoughts on his apparent level. Beyond that he claimed not to necessarily see the positive of the Alter Ego Special Class all of the players seemed to have. Especially seeing that they'd both had their levels reset but everyone else had managed to keep theirs. Miki thought about it for a few seconds and she agreed with one notion and disagreed with another. "We've run into several people who are probably players who are fine with just being in the world as they were carrying on. The best benefit I've seen of it so far though is that if an Avatar dies, the person behind it doesn't seem to. I mean... my other Avatar killed Sharrkan and a while after Rook popped out then he made or rather became Karna," she said remembering their time in the Marshlands. There was likely more to it than that, but she'd noticed at least a cursory difference in her own personality and those of of people like Seriri from their base selves to their current selves. Whatever the case, it seemed that Kou had at least had the thought that she'd been lurking around for a while before she found him at the farm. A chuckle escaped her as this was mentioned. A giggle escaped the blonde as it was mentioned that he should have recognized her and beyond that, his disbelief that he'd thought her an NPC. Beyond that though was the mention that he'd been happy to have met her, and that he couldn't imagine what his journey would have been like without her. The girl was stunned beyond belief, "Sou ka," there was still so much happiness in her eyes and a strange lightness in her heart. "In fairness to you, I also thought I sounded like an NPC... and I don't think I would have taken this much of a journey alone at all..." she said. This lad had become quite important to her, and though at various points they could have split in journey, she really enjoyed his company and would prefer to keep traveling with him. What more could she say? She wasn't entirely sure but she found herself starting at the lad, she truly couldn't take her eyes off him.

[Bloodedge]

"Sou ka. Make use of the conventional aspects of a build, dominate PvE, move on to an endgame that's more of a fun experience than otherwise. Interesting," he claimed. Taking pause, Kou tore into a lump of fried dough to progress the final stage of his meal. It was during this time that Miki voiced her thoughts on the Alter Ego Class, and once more, there was a difference of opinion to be had. "Well sure, that's a feature, but that doesn't seem any different than a Hardcore playthrough. When you enter Hardcore mode, if you die in PvE, you lose your character. Die in PvP, and the player who beat you has an opportunity to lay claim to your Avatar, or just its Mystic Codes the same way beating PvE bosses works. Rook said something about being a hacker as well, so he probably used some sort of loophole to keep his character data. I remember him talking about Rebirthing Sharkkan at some point."

Indeed, Miki did sound something like an NPC when they first met. In retrospect, he likely did s well. There were many features in Age of Eternity that could be considered very self-aware, including chance encounters of potential companions and romance options. A long list existed on game-related forums, containing such NPCs that had been seen by as few as one player throughout the game's lifespan, and many of the encounters couldn't even be repeated during mirrored playthroughs. "Damn game's too immersive. Let's just blame that. Still, I have to wonder. There's no convincing me that this isn't real life for us now, but... are we in a world inside the game? Or, is the game we were playing taken from this world? I dunno; I had some weird dreams when I was unconscious," he said. Before he could delve any deeper into the topic, his gaze locked with Miki's. It was a simple moment, yet just a bit awkward, considering he had a cheek full of dough at the time. Could that have been the reason behind her staring? No, probably not. Considering the events of the previous week, there was an easy conclusion to be made, and it was an eye-widening revelation. 'Shit, hang on! Am I... on a date!?' he wondered, somehow in shock. Naturally, he could only assume one thing. "... My face is covered in sugar, isn't it?"

In the meantime, there was an entry to the palace. A tall male with tanned skin, slick brown hair, and white and blue robes of what seemed to be some Holy Order, took long - yet casual - strides into the throne room. At his left hip, he bore an ornate quiver long enough to reach his ankle. On his back, he sported a bow of incredible length as well, seeming to rival or exceed his own height of about 6'3". Who was this man, and what was his purpose? Time would soon tell.

[Apollymi]

"Yeah, that was the general idea. Plus I can't agree with following the masses to build a Druid Shapeshifter. That's a waste of magic potential," she commented. She'd moved on to dessert as well, also having at an order of fried dough covered in things she liked. It seemed they disagreed about out the potential outcomes of the Alter Ego Special Class. Even so, it seemed to be a fairly normal conversation, that was rather refreshing. In her former life, when expressing opinions alternative to the norm, Miki often encountered the type of people who became fully defensive, arguing her down about a point which she simply couldn't agree with. While she shouldn't have really been surprised by this, because Kou as a person had always shown himself to be generally accepting of those differences in opinion, it was still really nice to be heard without it devolving into a fight the way online communities usually went. "Sure, in Hardcore, but this doesn't necessarily seem like Hardcore except that we are really here. Mostly when thinking about the ability to switch characters and the like. I wonder if that will make much of a difference later or maybe being more of your original self comes with different intangibles..." she thought with a simple shrug. Whatever the case, it could at least be agreed that Karna or rather Rook was some kind of outlier. "Yeah, he's definitely a bit strange, but his self seems way softer than his characters come out. I wonder if that is one of those intangible things," she mentioned before moving on.

When he mentioned not being sure how this world worked. If it was the game, or a world which the game was based on she could only nod her own confusion at that same idea. "I've been toying with the idea in both directions. I think the latter makes the most sense, but they also have to be somewhat connected. Youko was looking for this Avatar and isn't connected to it anymore. I really don't get it. I also had some weird dreams while I was out... I don't really understand it," she mentioned. All the while she was still staring at the lad, and then they were making eye contact. This was nice but she had a rather stunning thought of her own. 'Shit, did I not mention this was a date. Should I have clarified?' she thought looking surprised. When asked if he had something on his face, she leaned forward and aimed to swipe just a little powered sugar off his face by pressing her lips against his left cheek. "Just a little. This is a nice first date... and I like sweets. So, you don't have to worry about it," she mentioned with that same happiness on her face.

In the meantime, a strange man made his way into the Throne Room and he would find atop the throne, the Queen of Atlantis. A lass with a large crown sitting with her ankles crossed. She leaned forward as this new man entered her left brow raising slightly. "A strange face. How interesting..." she mentioned waiting for the man to make his reason for entering known. "I can't welcome you without knowing why you're here. Please do state your business here," she mentioned. It was cordial enough as she took in the look of this tall young man and wondered what reason he could have for showing up here.

[Bloodedge]

"I wouldn't discredit it completely. I think the Shapeshifter would make a really good Berserker. Probably a decent Assassin, too, depending on the forms chosen..." A moment of rambling ensued before Kou realized he should probably silence himself early. "Uh... gomen. Got caught up thinking about builds," he said. Moving on from that aborted tangent, he was content to address the ideas regarding this world and its functions. "You think so?" he asked with a moment of additional thought given which path Miki leaned toward. "It definitely makes sense. Maybe the two things even influence each other in a mutual way, but... I guess we'll find out for sure, if we ever need to. Oh, and about that Hardcore thing- we can't forget other players like our Blacksmith in Eonis, the Merchant, and a few others who had some weird traits. I doubt any of those people are anything like what we've seen on the other side of a monitor, so I'm wondering if Alter Ego is a special condition that lets people like us stay more like our normal selves. But... that doesn't make sense. The name doesn't match, and... I dunno, but there's something missing."

Maybe it was best to not think too long on that, he thought. More importantly, there were other things worth thinking about, like the sudden approach of Miki's face. Already in a state of surprise, he couldn't show an ounce more. Even so, he was still taken aback by the sudden press of lips against his cheek, as well as the accompanying clause. 'It is a date! What the hell; I didn't prepare for this sort of thing! What do I even do!?' he questioned within his mind. "A... date? I'm not really sure what to do on a date, if I'm being honest. Never been the... dating type..."

Within the throne room, the dark-skinned male faced Queen Seriri herself. When she reacted to his presence, he seemed more confused than anything else. It seemed almost as if he didn't feel he deserved being met with these reservations. "Welcome? I don't understand," the young man claimed, though he seemed keen on moving on with his intentions regardless. From beneath his robe, his right hand emerged with an upturned palm. Within said palm, the male held a golden glow the likes of which could be seen via the Nexus' influence. It was, in fact, a raw Mystic Code for the same rare Holy Magic radiating from the man himself. He would explain as he held this Mystic Code out in an offer to Seriri. "Whatever the case, I think you'll have use of this in the future. Your kingdom is almost sitting on a Leyline, you know?"

[Apollymi]

Miki thought about it for a second or two and she could see a Shapeshifter or two as a build working out. Before she could continue that line of thought and hear out what she thought was about to be a random but good extra conversation about build potential, the lad cut himself off. Claiming to have just be a little distracted by the idea of the builds. "Iie, no need for that... I enjoy hearing your thoughts about such things, there aren't very many people who'll talk that kind of stuff out and not feel very protective on their own opinions," she said with bright eyes. She was being honest in this case, "Hm, maybe but only if the base was another type of humanoid. Actually a baptized human/youkai halfling would probably be pretty OP," she added her own ideas about this and was then content to move on. He mentioned the idea of all of the extra people they'd come across since they'd been in the world. "There are some pretty interesting shifts in those people. But I know what Tsu-chan is like and I know how much of herself she is compared to before. I am pretty sure it could be easy to figure out with a few more points of known interest," she said not that this was something she tended to pursue right just now, she'd probably have considered it a math problem or a staff problem. Though she had to admit it was pretty interesting that this turned out so different from their characters. "Unless, it has something to do with the way people are in general leading to whether they are too much themselves or not enough," she said and that was that. Afterwards she was more than content to shift this conversation and it seemed that Kou was as well.

After her lips met the side of his face the lad seemed shocked. Actually, that was wrong, the amount of shock he experienced didn't seem at all to fluctuate. He claimed that he didn't know what to do on this date. Going on to say that he'd never been one for this sort of activity before and thus was a bit unversed on the activities to take place here. A smile broke out across Miki's face and then she laughed from a genuine place, "Hahahaha... well that's a relief. I thought it was just me," she said. "Well if Rom-Coms are any indication, I am fairly certain we are doing just fine. Dinner, conversation just hanging out is fun to me. I didn't get to do this before, so I was worried about how to approach it. I don't normally have very good luck with talking to other people," she explained of herself, being a bit more honest than normal even. "Still, I think this has been one of the best days I've had."

While, Kou and Miki figured out each other on their 'date' Seriri was confronted by what she assumed to be a stranger. And this stranger came with... a gift. In particular he pulled from within his robe a Mystic Code which he held plainly in his hand. His words were fine, but she couldn't help but listen to his words a bit. "Well, Kimi did say the Leyline might be a problem while she was restoring the Runestone Circ..." there was a pause in Seriri's voice. Where had this man come from and why was he giving her this kind of advice? Seriri was astounded, she'd never before been confronted by such a thing, she slid up in her seat seemingly unable to keep her calm in such a moment. "Wait! What? Where did you even get a Mystic Code and why give it to me? I don't even know you," she claimed. Everything about this was strange, but if there was one lesson she'd learned since being in this place, it was to question any and everything she didn't understand, and to make sure she was clear on the terms and conditions on anything given to her. But wait, hadn't she had a similar conversation to this one before? Perhaps, there was an easy way to figure this out. She looked at the lad before her and checked his username in her Nexus vision.

[Bloodedge]

Having shifted beyond discussions about builds and Classes in relation to the world they now lived in, the topic at hand was of the nature of this... date, as they had indirectly agreed to call it. He was in luck, it seemed, in not being the only one inexperienced with dating and the like. According to Miki, what they were up to presently, could be considered as much of a date as any other. Well, at least they were in the same boat in consideration to how well things were going. "I guess... if you put it that way, I can't argue. I'm not sure where all the greatness is coming from, but I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. I'm enjoying it too." True enough, if he thought about it properly, there was never a dull moment around the blonde. Calmer, more relaxed moments such as this were a rarity in their own right, which did make this particular instance something special indeed. It was a shame he couldn't afford to let himself extend the moment for too long. One thing he had to keep in mind was the necessity of repairing his Mana structure.

Naturally, the Queen of Atlantis was at least aware of the potential problems in her kingdom's future. The knowledge of there being a danger was a key component, but this man was here to ensure that an even more important was delivered into the hands of the matriarch. Alas, she continued to showcase her skepticism of him. He remained confused, but... ah yes, she wouldn't recognize him, would she? "Ah. It was my mistake," he said, neglecting to acknowledge why and how he possessed a Mystic Code in its pure form. Upon viewing his username, Seriri would find it, and his other player-related information, shielded. Still, he wasn't intentionally withholding information. "You do know me. Somewhat. I've been here twice before, but... not like this. In this form, I am... Arjuna."

[Apollymi]

'He didn't argue about this being a date! It's actually a date?!' she had the thought, but where it came from in her head was simply her own insecurities. She put on a brave face and did things that were strange or foreign to her all of the time. But something about the indirect agreement about the time they spent together, was something which gave her an unknown bit of joy. He even seemed to accept the logic she'd put forward about the whole thing without fuss. Still the lass could only shrug and continue her dessert happily. "I am not quite sure myself," she mused. "But it's a relief you're having a good time too..." she said and she meant it. It was rare that the lass thought she could be herself, rarer still was something else. It couldn't have been a more relaxed moment if she'd tried to make it so on purpose. But as a person who was only really used to dealing with people she paid to do things, it was quite relieving to know that someone genuinely enjoyed her company. She knew they'd have to separate and do their own things, but now at least, she felt like she could really and truly look forward to the pair of them joining up again after it was all over. With that in mind, she was content to enjoy every minute of this date. Whenever they finished the meal, she'd pay and leave place for the lad on her pillow. She just wanted to chat with him a bit more before they had to part ways, and was content to allow that to happen at its own pace.

Seriri was having a different problem entirely. She'd tried to look at this lad in her Nexus vision and found herself incapable of viewing him. "That's weird and sketchy..." she said frowning. But the lad simply stated that this was his own fault. Still he completely overlooked the fact that she'd asked about the Mystic Code he possessed and aimed to give to her. He made the claim instead that he'd visited twice before. Her eyes widened as this lad spoke his new name and she realized who he had to be by virtue of what he said. After all people couldn't just visit Atlantis until very recently and she'd only had one person leave and come back with others in tow. "Arjuna? So...are you the same guy who is Karna?" she was quite stunned, she moved down from the throne looking the tall lad over. But it wasn't just his look that was different his entire personality had altered. 'Jeez I thought Kimi and Kou changed a lot when they switched Avatars. This guy took an entire left turn. Still, if it is him, I guess it's fine to accept a gift from him.' she thought to herself still looking the lad over. She paused before him and extended her hand. "If you are that same guy, I guess it would be rude not to accept your gift..." she mused softly.

[Bloodedge]

Weird and sketchy. That was about what he would have expected to be referred to as during previous meetings with others. On the other hand, those encounters involved him being a different entity entirely. Seriri managed to pick up on who he was based on his earlier statement, and as a result, she appeared willing to accept his offered Mystic Code. "Yes. Also, no. You're right; that is me. It is also the least like myself I've ever been. Something about that entity is... wrong. It refused to sleep, but my birth became too necessary against the Undead Dragon just beyond the land near here. So, here I am," he stated, offering an explanation to his existence in this form. Even now, he felt the vampiric claw of Karna scraping at the core of his being. That Avatar... it refused to play second fiddle, as it were. Arjuna managed to remain in charge, likely due to being an existence of holiness against the pseudo-undead that was Karna. "If nothing else, take this offering as an apology for having to deal with that side of me. Assuming you have room to hold it, this Holy Magic should be a boon against not just the undead, but also the Demons and Devils that are starting to surface in this world. Take it. I'm not Karna; there's no trickery from me."

[Apollymi]

The dark-skinned lad before her went on to explain to Seriri that he was least like himself as Karna, but that he was indeed truly the same person if not a completely different personality. "Sou ka, I thought it was just Kimi and Kou who went a bit extreme from one Avatar to another. Though they aren't quite this extreme, you did just say something was wrong with the other one. So, alright..." she completed that thought and seemed fine with this development. If he'd done this just to put down an undead Dragon nearby then he'd likely done more to help than hurt any situation within her own kingdom. In addition he'd brought her back in contact with her best friend so she couldn't really be upset to start with. "Hm, I don't really want an apology. But I'll accept the gift anyways..." she said reaching out for the Mystic Code. She'd immediately copy it into herself by way of the jewel which appeared through the finned necklace which hung between her cleavage. "I have a lot of left over lines of Mystic Code. Mostly because as a Mermaid I can only write codes I have affinity with," she as she got a feeling for this new power. It seemed that Arjuna as he was now being called was a bit worried about the more advanced kinds of creatures she might encounter here. "Hm, Kimi mentioned it could be a problem she reinstated the Runestone Circle to help protect the Leyline, but she said it wouldn't really stop stuff from getting through... that Corruption Events can happen anyway. If this will help with that, then thank you." The lass said simply, "Is there anything I can get for you now that you are here?" she asked in exchange as she waited before returning to her seat. The Kingdom itself was still rather busy so there wasn't much she needed to do at all.

[Bloodedge]

And so, Holy Magic in pure form was passed into Seriri. Interestingly enough, Arjuna did not sacrifice any of his own ability to use the Magic, but instead replicated the very same code within himself to hand over. "I believe those cases might be a bit different. Those two are Dragons, and Dragons are powerful in every possible way. That Karna is just... wrong. I feel more normal like this. Maybe it's my fault for all that hacking-" Arjuna mused. It seemed Seriri was capable enough to integrate the Mystic Code into herself; her kingdom would be better for it in future. From what he'd seen, there was more to be concerned about than simple Corruption Events. This world was en route to a full-blown horde of creatures beyond its capacity. If he could have a hand in stopping this "Doom Ending" as some players of the game had called a teased event once upon a time in the world they knew previously. It was rumored to be an event for fun, one in which players would get the experience of the event at the cost of losing their characters by the end. There were further rumors of special unlocks and Mystic Code lines that were otherwise unavailable, including something about a new set of Classes. No one had ever confirmed any of these things, considering the event was never released... but it seemed they would be living through it soon enough.

"Just make sure you and your kingdom are prepared for anything. There won't be a group of Adventurers living with you for much longer. You should familiarize yourself with that Holy power," the young man insisted while shrouding his body in his cape once again. "There's nothing I need. Thank you for your offer, but I think I'm well past the early phase. I should be fine now."

[Apollymi]

Arjuna seemed to think there was an innate difference in the way that Karna behaved, and the way the two Dragonoids behaved. He claimed it might have been his own fault the other version of him turned out so wrong. "Oh..." she said with a gentle nod of her head. She didn't know anyone who did actual hacking. Her brother modified how he interacted with games a lot, simply by virtue of his connection to his own company. "Delving into games in such a way can be pretty harmful to the way they work... if you were actually still playing a reinstall would be necessary but I suppose a new Avatar is about all you can do while being here," Moving right along, she was warned of a forthcoming even which might place the entirety of her Kingdom in Danger.

According to this lad she was supposed to make sure she was prepared for anything. And not only her but the entirety of her Kingdom. He claimed not to need anything but that was to be expected, he had 20 levels on the ones that he was traveling with. Beyond that, he was higher level than even herself, though she'd gotten a whole level after being involved with that Leviathan Kill a few days prior. "Sou ka, I think I know what to do. Or rather what Kimi would say based on how she usually advises in such situations..." the Queen then went and sat on her throne. She went into her Mystic Codes and began a rewrite. Or rather a blending, an overwrite. She could only write Mystic Codes she had an affinity with, to learn to use Holy Magic quickly she combined it with her ability to manipulate water. And once it was complete there was a pulse as her weapon was situated in the back of the throne. The whole of the Kingdom changed entirely, Holy Water coursed through the domes, through the rivers through every bit of water contained within the Kingdom. And the protections of the lass' magic was something which extended beyond. Evil, Devils, Demons and the Undead, none could make their way into the safety of this place. It was the least she could offer her kingdom. "I'll see if I can teach this to the people who work in the church as well. Thank you for your help!" she said softly thinking of the arrangements that should be made in light of this new magic.

[Bloodedge]

"Too true. I first entered this world as the villainous son of the Lizard Chief, hellbent on sacrificing the entire Marshlands for the sake of becoming a Dragon. I'd have even succeeded if those two hadn't become Dragonoids themselves. It's a shame Karna was the one who came from that event. I feel I've given them more trouble than I've been worth. I'd like to offer them an apology as well, so I should be off to do that soon." Karna truly was a far-cry from the human known as Rook. Though Arjuna had his differences as well, he remained conscious enough to make amends for his other self's misdoings.

In taking Holy Magic into herself, Seriri chose to integrate it into her existing magical identity as a Water specialist. Arjuna raised a brow, and tilted his head. She'd certainly made one hell of a decision in doing that, and he could see nothing but benefits coming as a result. "You shouldn't have an issue teaching the masses if it's in the form of Water Magic. They should all have the affinity to digest it this way."

[Apollymi]

it seemed the lad who was currently known as Arjuna had been on quite the trip. He'd apparently played a villain within the Marshlands, only being thwarted by the pair who'd also ended the chaos within Atlantis. A bit of a smile came to Seriri's face as she thought about that duo, and decided that she was happy they'd managed such a thing as being able to stop the massacre of the Lizardfolk. "Sou ka, well they don't seem any worse for wear. I don't know Kou so well, but Kimi probably wouldn't take much of an apology even if you offered one. Do what you think is best though," she said knowing what her friend was actually like outside of these moments and figuring the soft version of her presented as a Druid would be even less likely to accept it. "They are both out right now. They left together to get food, looked a bit like a date. At least, I'm hoping it was a date~" she said still just invasive enough as a friend to be rooting for a particular outcome. As they moved along it seemed that Arjuna also approved of her decision to apply her Holy Magic to her natural water affinity. "Hai hai, I'll to my best to make sure others besides myself are prepared," she mentioned happily. Her job as Queen after all was managerial at most, she might as well dip her hands into a couple of other things for the overall wellness of her kingdom. And beyond to fight additional threats. Whatever the case she'd be content to carry on as such and leave Arjuna to whatever business he felt the need to conduct.

[Bloodedge]

"If she doesn't accept, that is fine. I will offer anyway," Arjuna stated, assuming there was even a chance of Miki refusing an offer from him due to her dealings with Karna. Kou, he thought would be a different case. On his way to the palace, he could see the pair of them from a great distance. Something was off about the male of that duo, though he couldn't place what it was. Perhaps Arjuna's offering would be of assistance somehow. According to Seriri, the outing he'd seen them on was potentially a date. Still Rook within, Arjuna chuckled. "That would be the ideal scenario, wouldn't it? I'd hate to intrude if that is what they're doing. If it's alright, I'll wait around here for their return."

He wouldn't have to wait long. In the midst of this conversation, the date had already come to an end. Mere minutes later, Kou set foot in the palace, a wafer betwixt his teeth as he seemed more than satisfied. "Sugoi! Atlantis has so many foods that remind me of home! I kinda don't wanna leave at all now," he said, clearly elated to have had an empty enough stomach for so many food items to fill.

[Apollymi]

"Hai hai," she said seeming to approve of the lad's general attitude about making amends with Miki, though it seemed unnecessary. After explaining what she'd witnessed of their favorite adventuring pair, it seemed that Arjuna was enough of his original self to find their plan to still be one worth carrying out. He stated he'd like to wait around with her until the pair returned in favor of not potentially interrupting an actual date. "Of course it is, I'd enjoy the company..." mentioned Seriri. Of course, she wouldn't get very long to enjoy the lad's company solo. Even so, he seemed quite a bit different from his other self in a completely acceptable way.

Floating along side the lad, draped over her pillow, also eating snack wafers was Miki. She was almost pretty amused by the variety of food offered within Atlantis. "Hai! I've probably been a bit spoiled by this. But... if there are others like Tsu-chan. I bet it will be really easy to find more samples of home!~" she chimed optimistically. The blonde haired lass was in a surprisingly good mood. One that was obvious on her face as they entered the palace and headed towards the Throne Room because of its placement. Upon entering they would see, Queen Seriri sitting upon her throne. 'Hm? Tsu-chan has a new friend? It's beginning to look like she has a type,' Miki thought to herself though she didn't immediately say anything. Instead the Queen would greet them both. "Okaerinasai," she said to both of them waiting to see how this next bit of interaction would play out.

[Bloodedge]

Every other step, Kou was biting into his wafer, using his lips alone to pull the next segment between his teeth. "Yeah, I guess you're right about that. I'd really like to find a place with a good burger. Might create AoE McDonald's; who knows?" Kou said in jest. He was becoming infinitely curious how many ways their world had influenced this one, but in reaching such a curious state, he also began to wonder what parts of this world influenced their own. Surely, it couldn't be a one-way street. That wasn't a thing of importance now, though. Kou had convinced himself that there was no going back at this point.

As they entered the throne room, there was an unfamiliar identity in the queen's company. Kou looked onward with mild curiosity. Nothing in his vision gave him an immediate answer as to who this person may have been; perhaps it was a glitch that clouded his sight? "Ohayou..." he said nonchalantly, seeming interested in this meeting taking place. Arjuna turned to the pair, wasting no time in approaching them. "Ah, there you are. Now that you're here, I'd like to see if either of you would be interested in taking this," he said, offering yet another Holy Magic Mystic Code. Kou took pause immediately, looking at the raw code whilst blinking again and again. Moments later, he shifted his gaze toward Miki, ever more curious. "Uh..."

[Apollymi]

"Burgers... I've never really had any before. If you open that spot though, I'll be the first customer~" she mentioned seeming to be both serious and amused. Upon getting to the right spot they were standing before Seriri. "Ohayougouzaimasu..." she mentioned to the woman sitting on the throne. The other man seemed to be new and Miki had a look at him though her Nexus vision but found him clouded for some strange reason. This man came forward with an air of familiarity and showing very strangely a raw mystic code of the Holy Magic variety. Miki also took great pause blinking before she found Kou's gaze and almost immediately spoke to him and him alone in this moment. 'I'm not the only one confused, right? It has to be too good to be true, random Holy Magic Mystic Code for free,' she asked of Kou. All the while Seriri looked on at the pair finding their reactions to this both amusing and kind of weird. "Hm, so I am not the only one sketched out by something like that. Good good, I didn't know if I was being cautious enough or not..." she said aloud wondering what exactly would happen between these three. It had become obvious that this pair also didn't recognize the lad in her company.

[Bloodedge]

Did he hear her properly? Did Miki say she'd never had a good burger before? That was undoubtedly the statement she gave, but Kou's interpretation was much better than the actual truth. "Really, you've been settling for mediocre burgers your whole life? That's a shame. We're gonna have to set you up," he said. Of course, he assumed her statement was to be taken as literally as possible. Little did he know.

This new individual was... questionable. Who was he, to so brazenly offer a rare type of magic in the form of pure, unfiltered Mystic Code? How did he even develop such an ability? He looked to be a member of the Church, but they weren't necessarily trustworthy individuals in the way they should have been. Miki agreed, even making her thoughts known in their shared mental space. 'Well, it's not completely ridiculous. The Church in this game was always really sketchy, though. I had to deal with them a bit when doing Holy Knight stuff, and I was glad to be rid of them. I'd assume that Holy Magic was laced with some sort of brain control, but... it's too pure,' he replied. Realizing he was now making the same mistake twice, Arjuna scratched his head and sighed. "Sumimasen. I'm still not used to it yet. I am... Arata. Arjuna, in this Avatar. I finally managed to subdue Karna, for now. This is my apology for taking so long."

Kou was left absolutely dumbfounded. He knew how stark a difference there was between Karna and the human behind the Avatar, but this was unprecedented. He wondered what even produced a need for an Avatar like Karna to be overwhelmed, but that was of little consequence. "Oh, well... yeah. Obviously. It was easy to notice, no doubt..."

[Apollymi]

Miki had indeed mentioned never eating a good burger before. But that wasn't really what she meant at all. She'd never eaten a burger before period. Strange though that was, she was definitely the kind of person who had her diet controlled and arranged for her most of the time. Even her snacks were made by chefs at her house at her request and based on the dietary guidelines enforced by her mother. "Yeah, never had a burger before. I don't think my mom would have allowed it. Actually, she found out I went to a carnival and ate fair food and ... well yeah," Miki's eyes shifted a bit when she thought about her lack of food diversity as a young person. In fact, she'd make it a habit to have a good few new food experiences while she was in this world. A giggle escaped Seriri when Miki mentioned her controlling nature of her mother but she stifled it immediately turning her head away.

Miki heard out what Kou had to say and could do nothing but agree. 'Yeah, I was always really sketched out by them. But I definitely wanted to get my hands on one of those Grails... It would complete my collection,' she said with a bit of deviousness in her eyes moving right along. This lad apparently was someone they knew, the name Arata was one she had seen before on the Nexus information of Rook who'd become Karna. "Did you just apologize?" there was pure confusion in Miki's voice. Miki couldn't help but have her eyes widen quite a bit, this lad was so vastly different from Karna as an Avatar without confirmation of his username she'd scarcely believe the information. "Uh-huh, that's pretty cool. I guess..." Miki said also trying to be as nonchalant as possible. But she gave up really quickly. "No, just no. Why the hell do you have a pure Mystic Code and why are you trying to give it to one of us?"

[Bloodedge]

It made no sense at all. How could she be saying she'd never had a burger at all? Was this what it meant to be wealthy in their world? Kou knew how rich humans tended to behave, but he never imagined they'd go without even experiencing a hamburger. Stunned though he was, this couldn't be dwelled on; there was something even more stunning afoot. This man, this Arjuna, was the user called Arata. Kou hadn't heard something so mind-boggling since coming to Atlantis, though there was also something refreshing about knowing Karna was 'asleep' as it were. First though, there was another interesting claim made by Miki. 'The Grails? You think the Church would actually have any of them? I seriously doubt it,' he offered in response. With that, he was able to begin expressing his... opinion of Rook's new Avatar. "I have literally no idea how I'm supposed to take this all in, but sure. Nothing against Karna, but he's a little extreme from time to time."

Arjuna nodded. He knew how problematic Karna was, even more so how he would have been if entirely unrestrained by the person within. As for the Mystic Code he had on offer, he had but a simple answer. "I have it because I need to have it. I offer it to both of you, if you are interested in taking it. I should tell you though, there is every sign of the Doom Ending occurring in this world. Holy Magic would be a boon if it were, no?"

[Apollymi]

If Kou was surprised about Miki's former dietary restrictions he didn't seem to express anything about it immediately. Instead he seemed to be a bit caught up on her mention of a treasure known as the Holy Grail. A bit of a chuckle came from the lass within their mind space, and she'd share what she knew just in case it was pertient. 'I received a tip during my game play that the Magisterium had discovered one of them. I may or may not have planned on finding a way to relieve them of their burden,' she said with just a hint of deviousness in her eyes. She wasn't a bad person, but she did express a strange bit of greed, particularly when it came to things she could get for herself. This seemed to be an innate part of this character and maybe of Kimiko herself, and it would be a very obvious thing as it spread about. As they moved along, it seemed that Kou only had to say that Arata's other Avatar was extreme and he wasn't sure how to take this rather drastic transformation which resulted in Arjuna. "Yeah, I'll borrow that one too. That's the nice way to say it..." Miki affirmed.

Soon enough, Arjuna as he was called was explaining himself in light of Miki's outburst. He claimed he had it because he needed it, and that the Doom Ending which was rumored as an event was likely to occur in this world. As such having Holy Magic would be a bit of an advantage. What was more, was that he was offering it to both of them, taking care of the only real issue that Miki would have had with accepting it in the first place. "Well, I was already preparing this Avatar to deal with that sort of thing, that being said... I can't simply let something so potentially good pass by me. Though I don't think I want to cast it. I think I have a decent idea for it," she mentioned, giving a gentle shrug to Kou. She intended to take this offering of Arjuna's, and given Kou had already looked it over and knew it to be purely what it was, she had less of her normal misgivings about it. She eased herself forward atop her pillow and aimed to take it whenever Kou did. "Oh? So, you do intend to take it. I took one too, and mixed it with my existing magics. I can protect the whole Kingdom with it that way..." Seriri mentioned. "Nice Job, Tsu-chan!~" Miki encouraged realizing the lass' choice to handle the situation in such a way was pretty good.

[Bloodedge]

'The Magisterium? If they have a Holy Grail, I guarantee you'll be able to tell when you run into them. They'll most likely be parading the streets and flexing at any opportunity they get.' Kou's interactions with the Holy Church and Magisterium of this world didn't give him much faith in the organization as a whole. They bordered on the excessive most times, and were the bane of his existence during his training to become a Holy Knight. All he could think of for some time was the moment he'd officially be a Holy Knight, just to escape direct contact with those annoying groups.

Arjuna wondered what this pair would do with the Mystic Code he offered. Miki seemed interested though, and judging by the curious expression he wore after a brief exchange, it could be assumed Kou had interest as well. Alas, there was a matter he had yet to address with these two. Considering both of them could have a desire to own the code, Arjuna chose to share this information without further ado. "You both want it, then?" he asked, looking primarily to the unconfirmed Kou, who hesitated briefly before showing a certain nod. "In that case, I should tell you. This is the only additional source of Holy Magic I have, so I cannot offer it to two of you in its full form."

Though he believed Arjuna should have mentioned a bit earlier, Kou hardly expected different. Still, he didn't seem too bothered at all by the notion, as he stepped forward and interacted with the Mystic Code regardless. "That doesn't matter. I don't have the space for a code anyway, so I know what I'll do with it. An Overlay sounds pretty good..."

[Apollymi]

A chuckle came from Miki as she heard what Kou had to say about the Magisterium. She could only agree of course, as a person who wasn't a knight, nor connected to the Magisterium or its services in any way, she only knew what she was told about it. But large organizations like that were rarely without their faults and corruptions. 'To be fair, I was kinda just hoping it wouldn't turn into some ridiculous quest. Though given how things have been turning out in this world, I have no reason to assume it won't be exactly that...' she thought at the lad with a minor bit of discontent. It would be nice, if she could just steal the item, but she didn't expect to receive that much grace in this new life.

Beyond this it was soon mentioned by Kou that he'd also like this Mystic Code in a not so direct way. This lead to Arjuna mentioning that he only had this one left, and as such he couldn't provide the full code to either of the individuals currently present. Miki shrugged that information off, it wasn't as if she needed the full thing to get what she wanted out of such a thing. It was mentioned by Kou that he intended to use it for an overlay and thus was fine with a potential split. "I have a different idea entirely... I also don't need a full code," she said stepping forward and interacting with the Mystic Code as well. "Ara? You can split it up like that?" Seriri wondered aloud, she was learning something new and wondered if she couldn't have shared her own much easier than she had. "Hai, you don't have to use every line of Mystic Code to get a particular skill. Some are made with multiple skills involved anyway," Miki mentioned for the sake of clarity and to help her friend out in the future. Whatever the case, Miki intended to claim five lines of this code, to add to her own. And after receiving it, she intended to write it into a different kind of skill. After she claimed it, she'd leave the others for Kou assuming he'd do the same, leaving him the other half of the code to claim as his own. Then with no further prompting she busied herself the mark on her forehead glowing as she used the Skill Creator in her Nexus Vision to combine the partial Holy Magic Mystic Code she had, with a copy of five existing lines of Mystic Code she already possessed. And what code did Miki add to this Holy Magic one might wonder? Well, it was... Necromancy.

[Bloodedge]

Two hands met the raw Mystic Code, and two bodies took it into themselves for different purposes. Unfiltered Holy Magic fragmented itself into two segments, both containing all the information to produce Holy Magic, but without substance due to being incomplete. As a glow overtook his own eyes, Kou also spoke to Queen Seriri. "She's right. It's best if you don't even think about it as a certain number of lines, unless it's to fill space. Think of it like computer coding. Lines of coding each have an individual purpose, but they only make a program when they come together. To do this..." Kou paused as his absorption of the code reached its final stage, in which he copied the source code of his current Avatar and applied an overlay of the Holy Magic to it. In one additional tweak, he scrambled the codes within himself until they came together to create a new existence entirely.

"Code Synthesis. Strip the code from multiple sources, combine them, and make something entirely new. That's where the endgame builds come in," he explained further. An ethereal glow had encompassed his body, and was beginning to reshape the lad. His hair remained mostly the same, though his bangs grew out on either side of his face, extending most of the length down his body. The most drastic change involved his clothes, which took the shape of form-fitting white robes with exceptionally long sleeves, and an odd three-layered adornment over his shoulders which curved around his head. A rather alien visage was created as a result of these things coming together, and was completed by the fact that the ethereal glow became a mere fact of this Avatar's existence. When glowing emerald eyes opened, he spoke again, in a voice that seemed to resonate a second time in the mind of the listener as a magical aura radiated from this new presence. "There. All sorts of things are possible when combined the right way. Even..." Once more, he took pause. This time around, he did so for the sake of glancing in Miki's direction. His Mana was strange in this form, yet stable in a very different way. It existed while not existing at all, but his sense for energy was acute enough that he knew the extent of what she'd done. As such, he looked to her with a quirked brow. "... Divine Rebirth?"

[Apollymi]

Both Miki and Kou were explaining the finer tuned uses of Mystic Codes to the Queen of Atlantis. Such a lesson was one she hadn't quite gotten to yet, as such she took in the information attentively. "Sou ka, so it's like basic programming functions..." she said seeming to understand but getting a full view of the kind of things that are possible. Strangely Kou had chosen to use his new coding to make himself something entirely different. But before he did this, he explained the importance of this action. "Code Synthesis, huh?" she said thinking about it. She thought she'd been accomplishing something amazing when she combined Holy Magic with her own ability to manipulate water, but what she was now witnessing. A new Avatar which was entirely different from the lad he'd been before. "Sugoi! Sugoi! That's really amazing. I have a lot to learn," she said. Still there was whatever Miki was working on which was bound to be interesting as well if her friend maintained her usual amount of creativity.

Miki for what it was worth, was finishing up her own creation when Kou became an entirely different being. He had a strange glow about him and she was a bit captivated for a second or two longer than she needed to be. "That is... pretty cu... impressive. Yeah," she agreed with Seriri in a way that could be considered awkward, but she didn't really have any idea how to respond to the new look, aside from knowing that she liked it, just as much as she seemed to like his other forms. Moving right along as her own new Mystic Code settled it seemed that the new version of Kou was indeed super magical. He was also very attentive and knew what she'd done before she got a chance to mention it. "Yeah, Divine Rebirth is a good way to think about it," she said with a bit of a chuckle. There was obvious confusion on the face of Seriri so she began to explain. "Instead of using what I took to make a new Avatar, I used the lines I had, and combined them with Necromancy. So, I can summon a certain Divine Beast, while it retains its sentience, Divinity and so it can use its original powers," she said which made Seriri chuckle. "Alright that is pretty normal for you... I guess, which summon did you get?" she asked curious about what kind of creature the girl had summoned. "Gugalanna." Miki's final word was that alone, which made Seriri's eyes go wide as she tried to find the right words to question her friend and couldn't do so immediately.

[Bloodedge]

This new Avatar of Geno Killer's boasted a far sterner expression than Kou, though he held no clear animosity toward anyone in the vicinity. "That's the cut-and-dry of it. I would recommend always making an attempt to use Code Synthesis, even just to create your spells and abilities. If you do, then no matter what path you take, there will always be a touch of you in your choices." This was the very same advice he could offer anyone, in his long-standing war against 'the meta' as it were. Hundreds, thousands, millions of individuals playing games in vastly different ways. That was the dream. That was the goal.

His eyes were still set on Miki. They had narrowed slightly, curiosity becoming something even deeper yet. Divine Rebirth was a mighty power; enough to fell entire lesser guilds in the right hands within a PvP environment. This one seemed to possess such power, though even he could not tell precisely what it was just yet. Beyond all this, Miki herself had something to say regarding the male's Avatar shift. She seemed to shuffle through a couple of descriptors, one remaining as an incomplete clause while she showed an unnecessary amount of attentiveness. His head tilted, and he spoke once more. "Hm-... Arigatou. This one's name is... Licht," he said for the sake of future reference. While information regarding their alterations were being discussed, Miki openly shared the identity of her reborn divine creature. Licht fell silent, appearing shocked for a matter of seconds before his head leaned back in a burst of laughter. "Gugalanna!? Of course you'd build a Necromancer capable of summoning the Bull of Heaven! Subarashi!"

[Apollymi]

Did Miki note the sterner expression upon the face of the new Avatar? Yes. Did she care or feel threatened by it? Not really. As one who bore the burden of a normally sour expression she'd make no assumptions about what was going on in the mind of the lad. Actually, if she were being perfectly honest, she actually found the slight hint of a more brooding expression a bit attractive in its own right. After all one couldn't be too much of the same thing all the time. Still he had words to share with Seriri who nodded her understanding in a manner quite similar to his younger sister. "Hai hai!" she mentioned well on her way to further defining the character she'd already created.

As this conversation progressed, the lad thanked the lass for her initial observation of him. His speech at the time seemed very much like that of his original Avatar and beyond that point he even took the opportunity to give his name which happened to be Licht. "Hai hai, Licht it is then," said Miki as she committed this man's Avatar's name to her memory. This whole interaction seemed to be very normal even with two people's Avatars shifting about. The thing that cemented this idea was Licht's response to the lass' new summon. He laughed and seemed well beyond amused even pleased. Miki smiled at this and managed to look just a bit sheepish. She was quite used to doing out of the ordinary things with her builds, but not necessarily used to getting praised for them in such a way. "Well, that name line I left to luck, but I think it turned out alright," she said with a bit of a chuckle. She wanted balance out of her character and as such she'd done a lot to ensure she'd get the Divine Beast she had, but there was still the possibility of the coding not providing her with the summon she intended and choosing instead to give her something more suited to her alignment. "Thanks for the code lines, Arjuna..." she mentioned to the lad who'd provided her with the basis she'd needed to gain the newest trump card in her arsenal. "Yare yare, you can say its luck but I don't really believe you Kimi. Traveling with you has to be too exciting for normal people. Both of you even..." she said of the pair. Not only was their weird relationship something worth stalking, but their style and how the interacted with this world was something completely extraordinary, even for someone who was somewhat familiar with them she could be nothing but amazed at what the two had managed with half a Mystic Code to split between them.

[Bloodedge]

"Hai. Arigatou," was Licht's only additional statement, offered to Arjuna in the wake of Miki's gratitude. The tanned male held up his hand, shaking his head with closed eyes. "There's no need. I'm just pulling my weight as a member of this Party. I have something different for Hikari, so I should be off to find her now." With an immaculate bow, Arjuna excused himself of the others. He had a general idea of where he could find Hikari to offer his present to her; all he had to do was locate her.

Licht glanced into the palm of his own hand, which quickly became surrounded by white Mana 'birds' that fluttered their way as far as his elbow. This outcome was ideal on all fronts, and he now wondered what one such as Hikari would be granted. "I guess we'll be ready for whatever's coming. I have an itching suspicion that it's Akuma," he said, clearly sarcastic when he spoke. Seriri verbalized an opinion which, frankly, Licht shared when discussing the lass. "She's got a point. It's hardly luck, but more... choosing an omission well enough to leave little to no choice when the equation is complete. Almost like multiplying by zero, right?" he asked rhetorically. Either way, they both had what they needed. The lad had been giving consideration to a 'pure Caster' for quite some time, and Holy Magic's Mystic Code had given him what he needed. Of course, this also temporarily solved his problem of not having magical ability for the time being. He certainly wasn't going to resort to using Akashi. "You solved that puzzle. It's going to be hard to say you didn't do this as well."

[Apollymi]

"As you like..." was all that Miki had to say to Arjuna. After all, the lad claimed he'd only been doing his part, as if he didn't want to be thanked for his efforts given this she wouldn't argue this point. He claimed to be going to find Hikari and give her a gift as well which was a grand idea. Having the whole party caught up a bit was probably for the best, especially given their current levels and their need to finish off gear, builds and the like. Where was Hikari at a time like this, well she could be found in another room within the palace. Here she was currently sitting off to the side fiddling with something between her fingers. She seemed to be working on a small charm of sorts while other business took place within this workshop. Of course, she also looked a bit different now. She'd aged up a couple of years, her face slightly more mature. Though her eyes were still that same glittering color of magenta that they always were. She seemed to be in deep concentration, her tail and ears twitching ever so slightly. 'This shouldn't be so fucking hard...' she mumbled to herself as she kept trying to do work on whatever she was doing.

In the meantime, Miki watched as Licht stared at his palm, eventually producing small Mana birds. Beyond this it seemed his magic was fully stabilized once more, so she figured it was a good thing. He claimed that they were now ready for the next big thing they'd face, which he thought might be an Akuma. "Hmm, it wouldn't be surprising. Still, I'd rather get a couple other things done before dealing with something like that..." she mentioned. Soon after this, something strange occurred and Licht seemed to be agreeing with Seriri's point about Miki's 'lucky' break. Even to the point of explaining in a roundabout way how the lass had accomplished it. Miki's eyes widened and a blush came to her face. She turned away slightly embarrassed she'd been caught so quickly. "Of course you understand how I managed it. Just giving away trade secrets all over the place..." Miki said. Making Seriri do something funny climbing down from her throne she wrapped her arms around the lass' neck and playfully whined about the situation. "Oh? Kimi are you keeping trade secrets from me now? So mean... I thought you were my best friend..." she emphasized a few of those words which made Miki respond the other way she could. "Urusai!" she said which only made Seriri laugh. "Yay! You are still my best friend!~" the Queen announced triumphantly.

[Bloodedge]

Soon after his departure, Arjuna entered the room in which Hikari's presence seemed strongest. There she was, just as he'd figured. She seemed to be furiously working toward some goal of craft, her growing frustration showing in her beast-like extremities. Arjuna didn't want to interrupt, but in the end, he figured it was probably best for her to take a moment away from this project of hers. Clearing his throat, he stepped into the room. "Apologies. Could I pull you away from that for a moment? I've brought something for you," he said, hesitating for a moment thereafter. Twice now, he'd encountered a problem, and he didn't want that issue repeated now that he was of a mind to prevent it. "Ah. We've traveled together. I am Arjuna, the latest incarnation of Arata."

"Likewise. If we're going to have to deal with it, we may as well have general preparations out of the way before preparing for something we don't know in great detail. Variety would serve us better in the long-run anyway," Licht commented. He had several ideas about these 'Akuma' and how they may function, but most of them were based on an understanding he had about his current self, brought about partially by accident. This understanding would undoubtedly prove useful in some capacity, but not useful enough to rely on fully. As for him giving away Miki's trade secrets, as it were, the otherwise naturally stoic visage of Licht showed something of a smirk. "For what it's worth, even if I did give something away, that doesn't make it an easily-replicated scenario. Doing something like that requires perfect execution, and more skill than the great majority of players can manage."

[Apollymi]

The clearing of a throat made the demi-human lass look up from her spot. Beyond this someone called for her attention and though she expected her brother what she found was a strange lad standing before her. "Well, I was probably about to break it..." she said with a pout in her face. "Now then what's this about a present?" she asked seeming to find it amusing that she was about to get something for practically nothing. Strangely, unlike the others she didn't seem to have any problem with receiving a gift, even before the lad tried to explain who he was. Once he did she looked at him with her brows raised slightly. "Yeah, yeah. I know, Dick-sensei when I see Dick-sensei... what's the gift?" she repeated her earlier question, waiting none too patiently for whatever this gift would be.

In the meantime Miki was having a conversation with Licht who seemed to be in favor of both preparing for what was to come and the variety of that preparation. "Yeah exactly," Miki said also favoring variety and preparedness. As the conversation progressed, Miki was left trying to pry Seriri from around her neck. But while she was in the middle of this she caught sight of Licht's smirk and heard out his commentary on her creation of Divine Rebirth. He claimed it was a feat that even if known couldn't be repeated by any random individual, acknowledging her skills as a gamer and strategist. "Uh...well..." the girl tried to form a sentence but ended up red in the face from embarrassment. Rare indeed was it for Ashikaga Kimiko to be red in the face, rarer still was it for her to be speechless. But Seriri understood this as her friend often went without praise for things she put effort into. This was especially true of her in her video game life, given this she realized the lass didn't know what to say to Licht's assertion. "Sugoi! Sugoi! Kimi... speechless!?" she managed letting go of the lass continuing to tease. "Urusai!" Miki said once more this time turning away with her nose up in the air. "I'm not speechless... I'm just thinking..." she said content to move right along.

[Bloodedge]

Interestingly, Hikari was the one individual this day to not show immediate suspicion when offered a gift by Arjuna. Of course, the fault of this seemed at least partially related to the fact that she recognized him even through this new Avatar. If anyone was going to recognize him outside of those he'd spent a gratuitous amount of time around in the Marshlands, one could expect Hikari to be the one. "Ah, yes. Of course," he said, finally arriving to the conclusion that she understood him more easily than the other two in the Party. With that exchange out of the way, he could more easily give his offering. Once more this day, the tanned male extended his hand to produce raw Mystic Code. This offering wasn't Holy Magic like he'd given the others, but instead an accumulation of separate codes. "You may find some of these useful. I can say, among this set is the ability Appraisal, which should help you with your... crafting attempt."

Meanwhile, Miki was falling victim to a very peculiar illness: the likes of embarrassment, it seemed. Licht was capable of beholding this event with a quirked brow. Could she have really gone without hearing such praises, with the life she led? He had it on good authority that the one called Kimiko ranked among the most successful teenagers in Japan's history; perhaps even the world. How very strange, but then again... it wasn't as if she didn't show these signs before the current moment. Speechlessness, though, was an interesting thing to be present for indeed. Licht even seemed to be affected by the event when offering his retort. "Eto. Should I have not said that?"

[Apollymi]

"Yep yep," the girl said having sat down her small crafting project. It seemed that the lad before her, now known as Arjuna had at least had contact with the others and maybe had a harder go of being recognized. At least, this was the assumption made by Hikari given his introduction. He even went on to claim he had several pieces of Mystic Code to offer her including 'Appraisal' which she would find useful given her current attempt at crafting. "That's pretty cool. I'll take it all and sort through it later... Arigatou!~" she exclaimed reaching out to integrate the whole of the set of codes and immediately starting to build a new skill. "So, you enjoying your calmer face?" she asked of the lad in her usual manner, wondering what exactly brought about this change in Avatar.

Miki's embarrassment was a source of great joy to Seriri, if only because she enjoyed her friends more honest emotions. Having been told to shut up, she laughed instead and when Licht spoke about whether or not he should have said anything Seriri only looked at the lad and smiled. Waiting to see how Miki would respond. Strangely, interacting with Seriri seemed to bring out of Miki the part of her that was more exclusively, her original self and as such her response was likely very different than one would have expected. "I... ah... I didn't say that..." she stumbled through those words only to before more confident over time. "Say what you want," the blonde lass said still turning her head slightly to the side and fighting with the physical form of her embarrassment. Seriri chuckled knowing exactly what this meant, and finding it funny that her friend managed to be this way even as a softer version of herself. Still getting this out of the lass was important, if only so that she was sure that the blossoming romance between these two individuals came with a certain amount of transparency.

[Bloodedge]

And so, Arjuna was finally able to complete an exchange that remained simple and direct from beginning to end. He may have even been relieved that he waited to see her last, though he didn't appear particularly bothered by any of his dealings this day. He did what he felt he needed to, and none seemed at all worse for wear as a result. Hikari became the only one to question his Avatar change directly, shifting his attention to a different topic. Arjuna's right arm met his hip, his back arched slightly, and his head rose in contemplation. "I suppose... yes, it's quite pleasant. It is still not completely Arata, but it is opposite to Karna enough. I would like to keep myself this way, but I'm afraid Karna will eventually force his way out again."

Miki's reactions became stranger by the moment, with her most recent development being rather unexpected. Taken aback, Licht found his own turn to be rendered entirely speechless. "Uh-... well..." he stammered. There were a few ways he could accept this rebuttal, but from what he'd seen of this lass, he was able to settle on the likeliest of scenarios. 'Right. Tsun traits,' he thought, sighing within his own mind. Aloud, he corrected his demeanor and cleared his throat. "Hai. I'll keep that in mind," he claimed.

[Apollymi]

Having taken the time to combine 'Appraisal' with her crafting skill, she came up with a Mystic Code called, 'Tinkerer' which allowed her to create small charms which contained specific parts of lines of Mystic Codes she could see and copy. Doing so would create an item which would bolster the effects of existing lines of Mystic Codes in weapons and Artifacts, but make it so that the amplified trait could be switched or shifted at will. Knowing how this now worked, she went back to her crafting and listened to Arjuna as he explained how he now felt. "Sou ka, I suppose that the abrasiveness of Karna is hard on you too," she said as she finally got what she needed to piece together the craft she was working on. "Don't worry about it too much. Enjoy the downtime and when you go back to being Karna don't stress too much..." these were the words the lass had to share and though she wasn't quite sure what problem he had with his other Avatar, she could at least accept the kinds of difficulties that could sprout from being too different from one's normal personality. "YOSH! I finally did it! Nice save!~" the lass managed holding up a small charm which was shaped like several squares flattened out, which when equipped bolstered ability channeling through weapons lightening the load on ones personal Mana reserves. The item itself looked rather similar to one she'd possessed in real-life in the form of a barrette. But this one seemed more like a cellphone charm, or in this case a weapon charm which could be attached to the end of the weapon. Having done this she immediately went to work on another one, finding it much easier to construct this time around. She made it with the same shape and coloration, as if she meant for it to be a pair, which she did as she had the intention of gifting it to two individuals.

In the meantime, Licht was rendered speechless apparently by Miki's reactions. Even so, he seemed to recover at a much faster rate than the lass. A chuckle came from Seriri, who raised her hands in mock surrender after doing all of this seeming to still be utterly amused. "Wari, wari, I couldn't help it. I didn't know if Kimi-lite would manage to be so much Kimi," she said laughing the whole of the situation off. "And one to you as well, Licht, I got a bit carried away," she managed still making it seem like she wasn't sorry at all for what she'd been amusing herself doing in the last few moments. "As you like..." said Kimi in a manner so open it applied both to the apology and to what Licht had managed to say in response to her. Moving right along she thought about something important. "Shouldn't we talk to everyone else, since we're planning on doing some separate stuff. And I'm sure Hikari-chan was worried about you while you were passed out..." she mentioned. They'd gone through a lot in the past few days but Miki still considered their working group composition to be important and there were a few more things they needed to do. And the sooner they did it, the sooner they could come back together, which was her primary concern.

[Bloodedge]

"Not so much me, as this... I suppose I should call it account, shouldn't I? Even when I was born, I had to use Appraisal to unlock the Holy attribute of a weapon Karna held, all so I could come to the surface by weakening him." Arjuna's explanation was about as accurate as he could possibly manage. He didn't intend to dwell much on that matter either way though, so it was fine as far as he was concerned. And lo, Hikari had managed to produce a new topic worth addressing by completing her craft, even though she rather quickly moved on to another of such objects. "What is it you've done there? It looks almost like an Artifact, but compressed? What is its purpose?" he wondered aloud.

While Licht recovered from the surprising retaliation of Miki, Seriri appeared to be having the time of her life. Of course, there had to be one of those individuals in the group. Never could a day pass without someone to play the instigator, and in being without Karna for so long, someone had to make up for lost time. He had assumed it would be Hikari to do such a thing. Ah, but speaking of Hikari, he had nearly forgotten! Until recently, the Avatar named Kou had been unconscious for days, and he'd yet to see his core persona's sibling since before that unfortunate occurrence. "Right. I let it slip my mind with all the planning. Actually, I would like to bring her along with me while I progress my other Avatar, if she's willing. There's every chance she'll be able to unlock her abilities by then, assuming she hasn't reached that point already." As he spoke, Licht shifted his right arm until his hand protruded from its overly-long sleeve, gesturing openly to conjure what appeared to be a wormhole linked directly to Hikari's Mana signature. He didn't intend to travel through it, but rather to call her to him by speaking through the portal. "Hikari! Interested in an adventure?"

[Apollymi]

Hikari did her part as a good friend and heard out what the lad known as Arjuna had to say about his current condition. He claimed that he'd used Appraisal to be able to become the version of himself he was currently. This made her chuckle, she could imagine Karna not taking too kindly to being displaced in such a way. "Sou ka, sounds like a hell of a ride," she said with no judgement implied. As a person she was simply trying to get to level 30 so that she could make her next Avatar, whatever she decided that needed to be. But whatever the case, it seemed that Arjuna was keen to know what it was she was producing exactly. A chuckle ensued but she went on to explain. "Well, it's more like an amplifier. It's also totally cute, like Cellphone charms, only they apply a bit of extra code or slightly alter existing ones," she explained obviously they were meant to be aides to those who possessed them but she had something specific in mind for these two. "These two are meant to help a certain pair of oblivious teens avoid exhausting themselves too much. Mostly by making the transition for channeling mana through their weapons or tools easier," she said softly. "I don't think they need them, but I know my brother and given how he ended up last week, I am pretty sure he should use something to help his channeling out a bit. Miki-nee, could also get some benefit while her build is short on spare Mana," she mentioned about her crafts as she worked rather easily towards completing the second one.

"I'm sure she'll love the idea," this was chimed in by Seriri who as the younger sister in a similar kind of relationship with her big brother did nothing but enjoy the time they spent together. She saw a few similarities between herself and the younger demi-human, and they'd made fast friends because of it. "Hai, I'm sure a bit of sibling bonding will always work out for you types... I take that to mean you enjoyed showing off your developments for Kaiba too," Miki commented acknowledging the similarities between them, such wording made Seriri nod happily. While working on her craft, a wormhole was soon opened before the lass. She immediately pocketed the items only to hear her brother's tone and cadence coming from a very different face. Her left brow rose as he asked her if she'd like to join him on an adventure. She looked up at the vision of him she could seen from where she was and burst into laughter. "Wait wait, I'm coming through," she exclaimed jumping into this portal and aiming to land upon her brother in the manner she always had. Her laughter would continue for quite a few seconds. "What the hell did you do to your hair? You look like some anime protag's brooding big brother!~" she laughed hysterically at the lad's new Avatar. And in so few words, made it rather obvious why Miki found this particular Avatar attractive, the blonde lass was soon sitting atop her pillow looking off into the distance to avoid giving away too many of her personal thoughts.

[Bloodedge]

Arjuna took a fair bit of interest in Hikari's explanation of her craft. What she spoke of was not something which ever belonged in this world, though it wasn't the first time he'd seen some amount of innovation brought from their home world. This one in particular had potentially infinite uses, perhaps even game-breaking if used properly. "Sou ka. You realize, this sort of creation is what empires in this world hunt Adventurers down over? I would suggest keeping it under wraps, or maybe speaking to Miki about incorporating it into her company and its sales. She seems to be building toward making a proper organization out of her trade eventually," he said, only to be interrupted by the appearance of a strange wormhole.

"I would hope so," was all Licht had to say in response to Seriri. He didn't have much to add when Miki spoke, considering she had no known sibling bond that could be considered relatable. Silence was the better option, he thought. With his portal open, Licht was soon enough met directly by Hikari with her usual tackle, though... was that laughter he heard through the portal beforehand? Yes, in fact, it was. She didn't even bother stopping her fit of laughter when reaching him, but nevertheless, Licht met her with a firm embrace. Just then, Hikari made it known why she had begun laughing. Seeming both shocked and appalled, Licht took a step back before picking up one of those incredibly long hair tufts, as if he intended to inspect it. He hadn't taken a proper look at himself yet, and didn't even realize how accurate her mention of his brooding expression was. Even so, he was going to defend against her clause. "Can you really talk? You look like the type of character people buy body pillows of!" he exclaimed, knowing full well he himself had... perhaps ordered such a thing in the past.

[Apollymi]

After explaining what it was she had made, Hikari received an interesting amount of advice from Arjuna. He aimed to remind her that the advancements of their own time, were highly sought after commodities and the type that could get her hunted down by Empires of this world. A bit of a chuckle would come from her as the lad even suggested the idea that she go into business with Miki as a way of avoiding a potential negative outcome. Before she could respond in any way though, she found herself jumping through a portal and ending up in the arms of her brother the same but different. After she pointed out what was wrong with his look it seemed that he felt the need to defend himself, mostly by claiming that she had the look of a character worshiped in such games as an idol. This only brought about a devious smile from the lass. "Of course I can talk. I'm absolutely adorable. I'd cuddle up to me if I could~" she stated firmly seeming to have no problem with the idea of body pillows of herself floating around. Even so, her brother's commentary was not something to be let go at all. "But Nii-san I bet you know all about the vast market on character body pillows~" she teased. Only to look back towards the portal. "Oh, and I heard ya'. I'll see what she says!~ Arigatou!~" she said to the advice proffered her by Arjuna. Obviously she was never truly annoyed by him, but maybe she was still a bit shy about the idea of approaching business with Miki. Knowing the lass was known for making and breaking businesses in their own world, she was a tiny bit wary of her approach to the situation, but with her brother at her side she felt more at ease. Besides, she had the lass pegged as being much nicer than she seemed in general so she didn't have to worry too much about ending up with hurt feelings. As all of this took place, Miki watched on admiring the sight. She enjoyed something about good sibling relationships. Perhaps she liked them in a strange way because she never had any of her own, but something about the close bond of two kids brought warmth to her heart. This was especially true of the groups of people she was currently prone to hanging out with.

"Oh, and I have something to say and a gift for you two. And maybe a need to talk to you..." that last you she turned and pointed to Miki which made her eyes widen. She was fine with talking to the lass but she couldn't know what it was about. "I dunno it depends on how you see it. But what is this about an adventure?" said Hikari finding it easy to move right along in conversation.

[Bloodedge]

Licht could only imagine that Hikari had missed the point, or at least the part of it he considered major. Even so, it wasn't as if he would openly mention why he brought up the appearance of her Avatar. Knowing it was his sister, and having met her in this world while she was in the form of a child, he could ignore her visage easily... but in seeing the lass now, he knew exactly the type of attention she would have garnered in their world. "Alright, fine. Whatever you sa-" His clause came to an abrupt end the moment he heard Hikari point out the chance of him understanding the body pillow market, as she put it. "Oh, so we're just tarnishing my good name now? Wonderful. Is there anything else you want to try exposing me for while we're here?" the lad asked as Arjuna stepped through the portal, which subsequently closed behind him. The taller male had nothing to offer besides a curt nod toward Hikari, but there was much more yet to be said by Licht. "Your level now is about where I figured it would be. Since we're looking toward the sky soon, as I'm guessing you've heard, it's time we broke the cap. We also have a few things to do for personal development during the meantime, so we're off in different directions. I'll take you with me, if you're interested. Either way, what's this gift you're talking about?"

[Apollymi]

It seemed that Licht was going to give up on the whole of the conversation, until Hikari pointed out his apparent love of body pillows. This led to a bit of a tirade in which the lad accused her of tarnishing his good name. A laugh came from the Demi-human as she waved off these apparent hysterics. "I don't know. Probably not a good idea to tempt me though~" she mercilessly teased. She went on to acknowledge the head nod from Arjuna and then go on with the rest of their conversation. It seemed her brother had major plans for the next aspect of their adventure. Both he and Miki planned on getting themselves together to break the level cap, something they apparently needed to do separately. And then beyond that, it seemed her brother had been filled in on plans of the sky since his waking. "Sou ka, yeah. I know all about the Sky stuff, Diva is helping Kaiba-san and Bulma-san with the boat/ship/thing... " she mentioned easily. "And of course I am up for an adventure, that was kind of always the point of this whole thing for me anyways," she said happily more than willing to join her brother on his journey. "It's a shame we have to split up to do this stuff, especially since..." she paused then giving it some thought. "Never mind, I think Diva wants to talk to the two of you, definitely before we go anywhere..." she finished up making a note mentally to make sure all went smoothly from there. On the matter of their present. "As for the presents I have them, but it might also be what I need to talk to Miki-nee about," she moved herself a little close and motioned towards Miki who approached atop her pillow with a quirked brow. It was still very strange for her to receive presents but perhaps this is simply what groups of friends did.

"I have been working on a little project and I figured you could both benefit from one. It's been kinda slow going though, until Arjuna showed up and gave me the Mystic Codes I needed to finish it off," she said softly. She reached into her pockets and retrieved the small trinkets. Which were made out of a ceramic like material she got from the sea. Beyond this they were bound in a strange way to Mystic Codes. They looked like little blocks black and white in color two sets slightly connected like her favorite barrettes. Both looked like cellphone charms but they were for weapons. "Anyways, these two will help you two out. They are kinda like cellphone charms but for weapons. These one's help with channeling Mana, but I can make them out of any Mystic Codes to amplify things. Arjuna thought I might want to talk to you about maybe running them through you so I don't like get myself kidnapped or something... if you're interested in that sort of thing. I don't want to impose..." she mentioned as she placed the item in Miki's outstretched hand out of her right and would aim to hand her brother a matching one out of her left. Miki upon getting the item into her hand had her eyes widen. There were many things going on in her head, not the least of which was concerned with the novelty of such an item and the ability to market it. Arjuna had been very correct this was a potentially dangerous thing for her to make but also very potentially profitable. Miki's expression would be unreadable for a few seconds, as she considered the best way to approach it, but when she lifted her face, there was a wide almost lecherous grin there. "Of course, you aren't imposing. If you are interested we can talk it out..." there was an opening here, but Miki or rather Kimiko, valued transparency in her business deals.

[Bloodedge]

"Of course it isn't," he replied without a moment of hesitation. Once upon a time, he found this to be an annoying trait of the lass. Now, he couldn't avoid feeling pleased by her antics even as they worked against him. Hearing from the girl that Diva, the child of old Atlantis, wished to speak with the pair of Adventurers who began this journey together, he became puzzled. What could the lad want? Time would tell the tale. "You're right at least; dividing the group is going to be weird. It'll be fine, though. We'll meet up again soon after we're done, and we'll be right back to business," was his assertion. With that said, he stepped aside to clear space for Hikari and Miki's discussion. It seemed to be a potential business transaction related to the new items crafted by the Demi-human, which bore a striking resemblance to something he was very familiar with. "... Sou ka," he muttered under his breath, eyes locked on the charm held in his direction. Hands raised, he refrained from accepting right away. It was clearly an item best suited to weapons, and as Licht, he bore none.

"Arigatou. Could you hold onto it? I don't have need or use for it now, but Kou probably could. I'll take it when I switch back." Indeed, he fully intended to make use of this trinket as Kou, but there was no point in accepting it while bearing the form of Licht. For now, he would pass and let this transaction between lasses progress. The grin Miki bore when considering the exchange was... somewhat unsettling, to say the least. Even so, Licht looked onward with mild curiosity as to how matters would settle.

[Apollymi]

Miki also agreed that the group would be strange. In fact, though she'd played the game AoE to play it solo and enjoy it as such, she hadn't been properly alone since they first entered the world. Being alone again wasn't necessarily something she looked forward to at all. Even so, she couldn't let the idea that she didn't want to be alone again, block her from her progress and from being a good contributor to the group. But strangely though she'd given the gift she wanted to to Miki and watched as the lass had a very strange reaction to it, Licht didn't want it. He made the claim that it was more suited to himself as Kou and that she should hang on to it until he was himself again to accept it. "Hai hai, I made it for that you anyways. Since I got a feel for your Mana a while ago," she said then as if she'd forgotten she turned to him. "BAKA-NII, ending up unconscious all over the place. I told you not to push too much," she chastised the lad for falling ill, knowing he'd not heeded her advice a few days prior when they'd been hanging out. But that didn't really matter now, she was happy he was alright. And she didn't worry too much knowing that Miki had been taking care of him.

Speaking of Miki, the resting look on her face just now wasn't really what Hikari expected of the young business mogul. "If I didn't already know you, that face would make me wonder what exactly it was you are thinking about over there..." Hikari opened which made Miki's face soften instantly. "Gomen, gomen... " she followed up, normally there were others as a buffer between her and her strange business lust. "Iie, it's fine... not like you're the first person I've dealt with to get weird boners about things. But I am sure you know that already too..." said Hikari, unable to avoid taking another jab at her brother. "Anyways, would you be interested in running these through you, if I wanted to sell them to make some extra cash?" she asked. "Anything you could tell me about how this works or would best work out from your perspective would be helpful," she said softly. "Also what you want out of the deal would be good to know before I agreed to anything." Hikari's words let Miki know all she needed to about the lass, it was an interesting proposition. But Miki or rather Kimiko was absolutely the most business oriented person she could be, and given this information she'd handle this transaction as professionally as she could.

"Sou ka, well the first thing to note is, this isn't an extra cash type of business. All on its own, it could make and break the market. The demand for these items will sky rocket once they are made known as they have varied affects that can be applied to anyone and likely anything. In a world where Mystic Codes make or break the skills of everyone any item that can change or amplify them will without a doubt find itself within a booming market," Miki explained, sounding more and more like her old self, but strangely she managed to be somewhat charismatic in this explanation. "The danger of such a thing would be the fact that the person who possesses marketing rights over such an item would be made rich simply by having it and an entire population oppressed simply for lack of access," Miki explained the Market ramifications as well as the immediate social impact of such an item, as it related to business. "An entire empire could fund itself off of an idea like this and knowing that means that if these creations are allowed to float about without being tied to someone or something then their creator will become the target of both intellectual theft or the physical sort," she explained the dangers of the situation rather easily and now Hikari fully understood why Arjuna had suggested talking to Miki about them. "Regardless, I know a good idea when I see one. And the answer to your initial query is yes, I'd be interested in having sole marketing rights to these items at least temporarily," Miki mentioned in the midst of talking she'd begun to twirl her Merchant's Plate around her finger, in the same way she'd been doing when she'd twirled her hair. "Only temporarily?" asked Hikari which made Miki chuckle. "Yes, only temporarily but don't take that the wrong way. My own personal business philosophy is that contracts have to be negotiated from a point of fairness to both ends of the spectrum. While you should make as much money as possible, whenever possible. I don't believe that should be done strictly speaking on the backs of another especially not in a way that breaks individual integrity." Miki explained of herself, while Hikari began to understand exactly how a lass like this became what she had been in their previous world. She didn't know a lot about business but she knew that people were usually more cutthroat than the sound advice she was currently getting. "A temporary contract would allow me Sole Distribution Rights of your products and give you the freedom to create them under my name without having to worry about the business end. In such a situation, you'd could learn to run the business yourself and by the contract simply being temporary you could eventually take it over when the contract runs out. Or renegotiate the terms instead of being stuck in a deal you no longer find fair, or that doesn't suit your needs anymore." Miki's advice in this way was friendly and took both sides of their potential transaction. "And since you asked, my going rate on such a contract is 15 percent of the overall sales profits, with conditions that require you to properly pay any of your staff. But in exchange in this world, you get to use my business to make sales and get my magical protections, you determine the prices of your wares, and make any adjustments necessary. I also become a material supplier to you in any capacity that works for you, be it raw material or simply capital funding if it is necessary," she explained, such ideals were easily seen in her business dealings since coming to Atlantis, but she still wanted the lass to know everything possible before she settled on anything. "In the interest of transparency I will also tell you that it isn't as if I am the only business that exists and you could shop around for better offers or use the information I've given you to get a better handle on the market in general before negotiations go any further. Gomennasai was that too much for one go?" Miki apologized for bombarding the lass with information, but she'd gotten a bit carried away in her explanation.

A chuckle ensued from Hikari but she managed to shake her head. "No, it's fine... I'm used to this sort of thing. I just need a second to make sure I got everything... Nii-san, anything you think I should know before stepping into this sort of thing?"

[Bloodedge]

Hikari's chastising was going to come eventually, whenever she got around to remembering that she'd yet to do so. Licht knew this, but it was all a matter of when she'd catch up. Now was the time, apparently. "Oi oi, relax!" he said defensively. "I didn't have much choice. This form could have gotten the task done without much problem, but Kou had to follow certain... restrictions," he said, knowing the fault was in his Kou Avatar's human body and Celestial heritage. His current existence was a proper Celestial, and could have gone to such extents without wearing out his physical shell. Sadly, his current form didn't have the same crafting abilities as Kou, so he had to work with what he came equipped with during the previous week. "It's fine. I don't think there'll ever be a need to make something else like that."

And so, Miki went about explaining her business practices to the younger female. Licht continued watching and listening, taking a clear interest in all things said by Miki, as well as how she phrased everything. His visage showed a natural quantity of skepticism, but also that same curiosity. He couldn't prevent himself staring at the blonde, finding there to be a certain amount of fairness within the transaction, though there was also something quite dark about the whole thing. Upon being asked by Hikari if there was something else worth knowing, he took several moments in silence to reconsider the deal he'd heard. "I do agree with Arjuna; items that have never existed in this world before, if they have such amazing uses, would be sought after by some very powerful people. Someone would be willing to murder you, just so they can find out how you make them within your Mystic Codes. That's where the negative side of the PvP community comes in, as well." Taking another pause, he sighed. In truth, there was something else he considered pertinent information, but it wasn't at all for the sake of a business deal. No, he instead had a singular concern relating to why business would be of assistance as a defensive measure. "I wonder what the point of it all is, though. Having this craft for sale isn't exactly going to stop anyone from doing harm. With only two being in existence at the moment, this business plan makes them public, first and foremost. Sure, it's an easy way to make a ton of money. What's to stop the people who can see how much it's worth, and who want to capitalize on that? They'll be aiming for the source in a heartbeat, and I don't think those types are looking to settle a buyout in a world like this."

[Apollymi]

"Restrictions my ass... I know you," she exclaimed still not going so far as to throw her brother under the bus, but just far enough. She knew what he'd done, not all the details of it, or even what the item in question did, but she knew the lad had gone the extra mile to present the lass on the pillow with a present for White Day. If she'd known her idiot brother would do something so outrageous she probably would have chewed him out preemptively. But since he was alright and he and Miki seemed to be on good terms she was willing to let this go. "Jeez, you said you'd try not to make me worry is all..." she finished up. Mostly done with the chastising there were all the things Miki had to say which required heavy consideration.

The lass' words were directly but there was something going on underneath the surface. When she directed inquiries to her brother he seemed to be perfectly capable of articulating the kinds of thoughts going through the demi-human's mind. He claimed to agree with Arjuna about the potential dangers of such technology, and claimed that the aim would be to murder her and take the information needed from her Mystic Codes. Licht went on to summarize his own thoughts making one question the forefront. Miki heard these things out and strangely the smile that settled on her face was a happy one. "Hai hai, those things are all things to be concerned about, but the world offers its protections in an interesting way," she said, knowing that Kou hadn't been himself during her business venture in Atlantis and knowing that Hikari had been out retrieving their cure to the Devouring, Miki began to explain the actual protections brought about by being in contact with a legitimate merchant. "Merchants are connected in this world to the Merchants Guild through these plaques," she mentioned which was more than obvious by the fact that she'd asked for this specifically pretty early on in their adventure. "But the Merchants Guild is more than just a group of people who buy and sell the works of others, they should be more or less considered the protectors of Craftsmen. Unique crafting abilities aren't new to the world or anything like that, everything was new or unique at one point in time. Because unique crafting qualities are enabled by a magical world, the Merchants Guild was established as a go-between. Locking yourself into a contract with a Merchant connected to the Merchants Guild, makes the crafting process, the Codes which make it possible, something that can't be transferred without purpose. Basically account binding those codes in such a way that the skill could be taught or given, but it can't simply be stolen from its creator. It mediates the idea of murdering or torturing craftsmen for their skills this applies even in the PvP type scenarios, in the same way that being part of a Guild provides a certain amount of base protection for those involved," Miki explained but this was all part of the learning process and she'd spent quite a bit of time learning the ins and outs of business in this game and she'd been using it to her own advantage for quite some time.

"As an aside directly contracting with a Merchant also protects the merchandise magically in this world, which in my personal opinion makes it a bit better than our own world was because, you can't end up with knock offs of your own materials floating around if you negotiate it properly. It also keeps your contract from being renegotiated without your express consent," Miki stated. "Such a thing was why the Market in this place was so bad when we got here, there wasn't a single person here contracted with the Merchant's Guild, so all of their business was running through someone who couldn't and wouldn't offer the magical protections of the world to the craftsman here. This allowed unjust business practices to take place and made everyone's crafts practically worthless," she said softly. "Merchants themselves assume a lot of the risks in such a situation so contract negotiations entail everything from production to sales prices or the Merchants themselves can't make much off the deal," she explained. "Though Merchants are protecting craftsman's livelihood, the livelihoods of merchants are dependent upon the output of craftsmen. Individual standing in the Merchants Guild and thus how many people who can have under your protections are determined by how much money you make. And you can't really make money if people aren't producing nor if your contractors have already had their ideas or skills stolen and being used on a massive scale. Management of resources, both material and immaterial end up being the most important thing. And that potentially causes friction especially when contracts demand that a Merchant be taught the skill, which could end a contract with materials being produced by not their creator," Miki explained the pros and cons of the system as they were presented. She didn't want the young lass before her entering into a contract, be it with her or anyone else without understanding fully how it would work out for her in the process. "Sou ka, so contracting with a Merchant keeps production of this product with me. And I don't have to worry about it ending up funding some random empire nor harming anyone. But it comes with the responsibility of knowing that how I choose to Market the item will effect how it is viewed in the world and it could help or hurt," she summarized looking to her brother to make sure she understood all of what had been said. "But at the very least contracting early would keep someone from being able kill me and steal the idea."

[Bloodedge]

Licht kept an open ear for information. He was certain Miki had something in mind, or at least some knowledge that otherwise eluded him. Lo and behold, she had exactly that. The lass went on to explain exactly how the Merchants' Guild functioned beneath the surface, making a special note of the protections it granted to those who dealt with it. It was an interesting dump of information, albeit one with a few loose ends, or even an omission that may or may not have been on purpose. "... Sou," he said, pressing his knuckle against his chin while pacing around the pair of girls. "That does sound like a nice balancing system. Connect your craft to the Guild, keep shady business practices from being able to overthrow you and make the gold for themselves. Something's missing though, isn't it?"

Once more, he paused. He didn't expect anything malicious of Miki. Rather, he considered the exact opposite, while thinking it to be a necessary mention, if the assumption he came to was correct. "I'll give the benefit of the doubt, and assume the Guild has a checks and balances system to keep those in charge of it from doing exactly what outsiders could do otherwise. As for the rest..." He sighed. "There's something missing, isn't there? You mentioned these benefits of being a member of the Merchants' Guild, but if this protection is applied to those who form a contract with you, this code protection has to be going somewhere. If I had to guess, I'd say it fits itself into that pass you have. If I'm right, that thing has a Mystic Code of its own that ties itself to you, right? So... if the code for creating something is routed to the Guild through you, aren't you putting yourself at risk? I'm guessing there's no clear way to determine where someone's connection is without finding out through them or a witness, but if they do, what's keeping them from going through the merchant themselves to get themselves the selling rights by stealing their Mystic Codes?"

[Apollymi]

The pair she was speaking to on matters of business, heard out what Miki had to say. Even she had no problem admitting it was quite a large bit of information to digest, but still she'd rather have it all out upfront than deal with the consequences of anything essential coming up later. It was soon made clear by Licht that he'd found fault with something, maybe a bit of logic or information he thought was missing. The lad began pacing, explaining his thoughts and managing to come to some vague conclusions about the missing information. "Hai, definitely one of those. It doesn't really need explaining unless you find such details imperative. The short version is, you are only allowed to be part of the Merchants Guild upper echelons if you were both a Craftsman and a Merchant, so that you have a balanced approach to both aspects. And so the future of protections can be discussed fairly. You also have to agree by contract to not do business with the Vault of Heaven, banning you from their minimum wealth threshold," she gave the most concise version of that speech she could. The the lad took an approach in his speech she didn't expect. It seemed he understood a great deal what the actual risk to being a merchant was in the way that Miki presented it. Though she as a merchant and those who carried themselves similarly had no qualms with it, she knew it to be one of the things she hadn't directly mentioned. This omission wasn't purposeful, and instead was simply a thing she hadn't thought needed explaining.

"Well, that is why Merchants are paid. We are assuming a certain level of risk for the promotion of ideas and products we believe in. A merchant who is worth anything wouldn't put their name behind something they weren't willing to back with their lives," Miki said such was the system of checks and balances. In this world it wasn't simply a name and company image which would suffer if a contract went awry. Here the Merchants themselves were shouldering most of the physical risk and danger and were forced to either hire people to keep them safe as part of the cost of doing business or learn to fend for themselves in such a way as to avoid the potential of theft and trickery. There was one other way to avoid the physical dangers as a merchant, but it was an extreme route most weren't willing to take. "As an aside you can't simply take the Mystic Codes out of a Merchant Plaque. The guild lets you put a price on yours when you access it the first time, and it functions like insurance, without the price being paid the information is inaccessible, even to the person who owns it." And that was all that needed to be said. The way Miki phrased this, made it sound as if she was at least currently incapable of accessing the information of her own accord so binding oneself into a contract with her, had to be more like dealing with a trust than a simple transient business transaction. But in the end dealing this way kept everyone safe as well as ensuring a certain amount of safety for herself. And the amount she'd made her own plaque worth was so ridiculous that anyone who entered into a business contract with her could feel safe that she wasn't simply out to take their ideas from them.

Hikari had been quiet while Miki and her brother spoke. She recognized her elder brother's concern for the lass' safety and felt this was a good thing, even if what they were discussing was her own potential business deal. "Wait wait wait...." Hikari said. "Are you saying you locked yourself out from being able to access the information too? So you literally get nothing out of it, but the 15 percent you ask for, even while potentially supplying the raw materials for the business?" she asked of Miki and the lass simply nodded her head. "Business has to be conducted from a point of fairness, so we undertake it together. I won't take advantage of people trusting me with their livelihoods."

[Bloodedge]

"So you took an impossible price, applied it to your Merchant Pass, and keep yourself from being able to access your business partners' properties? Sou ka. That's fair and all, but even if someone can't access the codes in that pass, that won't stop them from being able to fully incorporate the Mystic Codes that make you, in this Avatar. They could overlay your entire existence and reap the benefits of your earlier transactions, whether they became able to use the goods or not," Licht countered. There was no arguing against the fair grounds Miki established between herself and those she did business with, but a single instance of imbalance was all it took for Licht - or even the human behind the Avatar - to interject. He had no intentions of stopping this transaction, or even shutting down an idea, though he absolutely had to make the dangers known for both ends. "I'm not saying it's a bad idea, or anything of the sort. What I am saying, is that you'll be taking on something that's a few cuts above everything else you could be dealing with. In a world like this, you'll have wealth pouring in from entire countries; human ones especially. Having access to something like this would be the like having lesser Artifacts in the marketplace, and I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't want to benefit from that in some way. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how hard you're sticking your neck out there by doing this, but... it's interesting. I don't know a lot of people willing to claim they're sharing a burden, when they're actually taking the entire thing on by themselves..."

Interesting was one way of putting it. At its most basic level, he could see this ordeal as a minor gamble. With what Miki would be undertaking by going through with a transaction like this one though, was more like agreeing to conflict at the world's discretion, to come at any random point for the duration of the deal. This wasn't how he had seen business practiced normally in any experience he'd had with those who understood wealth, though it was somehow a model of business which appealed to him. "If you're both committing to this, then you just be sure to turn my way for a helping hand if things go sour, yeah? Put me on as a confidant or whatever, and I'll help keep things safe, just in case."

[Apollymi]

Licht seemed to have a good understanding of what the lass had done. Even so, he seemed unusually cautious about the entire thing, as if he thought her life was in more danger than she thought it was. Given the nature of his younger sister's creation, it would be pretty easy to assume that he worried for both of their well-beings because of the existence of the things in question. There was something somewhat comforting about that to Miki. She'd dealt in business her entire life, but never had anyone been worried about the outcome of a transaction she brokered. Least of all, was the worry about her personal safety even when she was dealing with elements that could have been considered dangerous. "I feel like a few leaps are being taken here. Leaps which require a series of events to spiral pretty far out of control and for us to encounter someone who could beat me in a fight and use this Avatar with the same proficiency that I do. It's pretty unlikely," she said aloud, but she understood his point. Given what they were planning to be doing making herself a target in such a way was a bit outlandish but this wasn't really anything new to the blonde lass, and she was willing to face the consequences of her convictions. Beyond this he claimed to know how hard she was in fact sticking her neck out and claimed that something about this was somehow likeable. Miki's eyes widened and she managed to turn her head to the side before an intense blush settled in. "It's not as if I plan to take on the whole of the situation by myself. She's still going to be the one doing the hands on part. I'm just here to be a name and a moving target, which I already am anyways..." Miki knew full well the implications of taking on entire nations. But given the state of most of the places they'd visited thus far, she was betting on them having to fix and thus having a hand in most of the business and governmental dealings.

"Sou ka, she's really taking the brunt of this sort of thing huh. But still she's being pretty open about it, without your extra questions I wouldn't have realized for a while how much of an extra risk someone would take on to back such a project..." Hikari said. But the more she thought about it, the more solid it was in her mind that taking up Miki's offer was the best possible outcome to her potential. Anyone who would willingly lock themselves out of the ability to take over for someone else, and who claimed that being the target of bandits and the rest of the business world was fine had nerves of steel and wouldn't sell out anyone. Beyond that she respected the older girl's ability to articulate her business model. Her brother's interjection claimed that he'd be part of it to help out and further mediate any risks to both parties as he saw them. "Can you add him in like he wants so he can use his brooding big brother face?" she asked of Miki the thought of which made the lass laugh. "Haha...ahem. Yes, of course I can, and I will if you'd give me just one second," she said rewriting a very particular temporary contract for the distribution rights on the creation which belonged to Hikari. The way it was written she would have the exclusive rights to sell this and have it under her name for a year at a time. After this the contract could be renegotiated on all sides. There were also clauses put in for the untimely demise of the Avatars so that the information and ideas couldn't be abused directly from salvaged code. It went on to name Licht, Kou and specifically Avatars of the Geno Killer account as confidant in the contract just in case. "There. Check it over add what you need to then review it and sign it if you are cool with the terms," Miki mentioned holding out the gold stake for the pair to use in their Nexus Vision to review the fine details of this supposed contract. After which they could sign and the business of it would be taken care of.

[Bloodedge]

Licht sighed. He could only assume Miki was going the distance to make the situation just a bit less worrisome than it was in actuality, but he couldn't keep himself from considering the negatives. "Yes, you may already be a moving target, but this is like taking a moving target and putting strobe lights on it. Like I said, I'm not against it. I just can't stop thinking ahead to the fact that if we're going to the sky, that has to be post-game content with a level 50 minimum. Kaiba's level is something past 50, and that shouldn't be possible in the eyes of anyone who didn't meet some super secret condition after a full story run. There have to be challenges ahead of us that we have no idea what to do with yet. A lot of streamers and YouTubers who play this game stopped recording, and a lot of professionals disappeared from the leaderboards before I came here. Those are the people to be concerned about... potentially," he claimed, ending his tirade there. He didn't believe there was much trouble to be met at all just yet, but he wanted to make his thoughts known regardless. There was, after all, always a risk. So long as the dangers were being given necessary consideration, he had no qualms whatsoever.

Of course, Hikari had to chime in with yet another jab at the lad. As if to prove her right without hesitation, Licht scoffed at her assertion. Even so, he was content to step forward when Miki offered the deal that included him as a confidant. In spite of what may have seemed like protesting from him earlier, he didn't even bother looking at the specifics of the deal. If both Miki and Hikari were in agreement, he could be satisfied simply giving his signature without another word spoken.

[Apollymi]

It seemed that Licht's worries extended to the idea of professional gamers within this world and all of the people they'd likely encounter post reaching the sky. Miki had to admit that the Sky was an open option and one which she had only minute bits of extra knowledge about. Even so, she was less concerned about running into their world's more famous gamers here. "Hai hai, I'll keep that in mind. I am less worried about the Youtubers and public faces than I am about the day to day gamers. The famous ones at least should be set up well enough that people like us won't hit their radar for a while at least, and even when we do, it likely won't matter too much," she said knowing how the rich and famous tended to consider those on the rise. It would be quite a while until she garnered any attention. At this point given her unknown username she was less likely to gain any kind of following or hunting than someone like Geno Killer or Kaiba Seto.

Still, as they moved along, it seemed that despite the potential negatives the lad presented, he seemed not to care too much about the details as long as both Miki and Hikari agreed upon them. Hikari gave the contract a thorough look over and then filled in everything necessary and signed. Licht did the same without even looking at it. Miki gave it a read as well and then placed the stake with all the information on it back within her cloak where it belonged. "Alright done deal. I look forward to working with you," she mentioned in a speech that fell out of her face because of her former life, the extended hand was met by Hikari's own and she managed to laugh. "You really sound like a business tycoon," she said laughing as she received a rather massive bit of experience, meanwhile Miki managed to look confused about this. "Why did that get me XP? I gained like half a level..." she said still looking at her Nexus Vision. "Gold Experience is a passive skill I have, we are still in the same party so it probably passed along a bit to everyone for a the sealing of a business transaction," was the blonde lass' response. "Sou ka... you guys do too much. Anyways, enjoy your gift... Diva before the break?" she said remembering one of the more important points that they needed to get to before they split up.

[Bloodedge]

"Are you sure about that? Again, this is the sort of thing that'll bring you attention that you otherwise wouldn't have," Licht said in passing as the deal came to its long-awaited conclusion. The experience gained by Hikari was then brought to the attention of the group at large. Licht shifted his eyes toward Miki, who went on to explain why such a thing happened due to a business transaction. Knowing his sister to be less versed in games such as Age of Eternity than the rest of their group, he decided to chime in. "AoE was called the ultimate immersive experience produced by Industrial Illusions. No matter what type of player you are, there's a way to reach the endgame for you. They made it possible to craft, hunt, or even entertain your way up to max level without even trying combat beforehand."

Explanations out of the way, Licht stepped away from the others. There was an interaction meant to be had with Diva, for whatever reason the lad desired. Since it seemed they were about done here, Licht took the initiative to construct another portal for the group's travel. At the other end, they would find Diva in the company of others, taking charge of Atlantis' Guardians to have them piece together a grand boat-like vessel using materials taken and augmented after the Leviathan battle of days prior.

[Apollymi]

"I'm pretty sure. People aren't looking for a relative unknown. At the very least I should be fully set up before it will be a problem..." Miki said seeming fairly certain of this even though only time would tell. If she was being honest, there were at least a couple of people she'd enjoy having at her disposal during the sort of campaign she was currently planning. In the end Hikari received a bit of extra information on the way this game had functioned in their own world. It was claimed that one could reach the end game any way they liked, and skills like Miki's 'Gold Experience' were proof of this. "Sou ka, well I mean there are more than a single way to reach the top in regular life. It makes sense if everything you could do contributes to your growth, it's just a little bit crazy sounding when you consider this was a game to us..." she said with a curt nod. Moving right along, the contract was signed and everything that needed to be done had been done, and as such Licht opened up a portal to Diva and those he was helping with their vessel project.

Hikari was the first to bound through this portal, "I am not even gonna lie, brooding bro-face aside, the portal thing is pretty sweet!~" she said happily as she arrived in the same space occupied by Diva. Miki also went through knowing the lad wanted to speak with them but not knowing why was a bit of growing curiosity in the lass. She had no problem with the Atlantean Male but unlike the others his motivations were a bit unknown. Bulma was in this room as well, standing over a strangely crafted Alchemist circle with a great number of ingredients within. She had in her hand a strangely amorphous black stone which she was using to convert random items using her own Mana. She paused after doing this and lit a cigarette. "Ugh, even with his help this conversion is going to take way more time than I'd like... still, I think it's coming together nicely," she said looking up at a boat which was complete as far as its outside was concerned but was missing anything resembling sails. "Diva, he finally woke up!" these were the first words out of Hikari's mouth as she approached the teal haired lad. "Oh and I brought Miki-nee too~" she said happily.

[Bloodedge]

The business end of this meeting had come to an end, and the group made their way to Diva's location with an immediate and happy outburst from Hikari. Licht was still full of wonder as to why Diva sought an audience with them, but the lad would soon be turning to Hikari and mentally preparing himself to make this information known. "A-... Ari... gatou..." the lad spoke, wasting little to no time before leaving his Guardians to their devices with the ship.

While Diva steeled himself, Licht had his eyes drawn toward Bulma. More specifically, his gaze fixed upon the object she wielded. "An Alchemist now, are you? You've made yourself a Philosopher's Stone in this short amount of time?" he asked rhetorically. He kept himself open for whatever it was Diva wanted, though he certainly couldn't ignore such a thing happening right in front of him. Interestingly enough, Licht didn't need to be present for Diva's desire. The Atlantean wished to have words with Miki in particular, if only because he knew he'd have an easier time of it after seeing her interaction with Vasyl. Naturally then, he approached the blonde directly. His right hand extended in an effort to connect with the Druid, the same way his sibling had done days earlier. "Tha... epitrépste mou na engrafó stin omáda sas?" He spoke with an upward inflection, voicing - in words that came more easily to him - his desire to join their group. Licht spared a glance in the direction of this interaction, having no earthly idea what the lad said. Even so, he was certain everything would be fine soon enough, whether he learned the other male's intentions or not.

[Apollymi]

"Oh I don't need thanks for that..." said Hikari. She would have dragged these two along regardless, but making sure other people got as much access to her brother and Miki as needed was something she'd do any time. Beyond this Bulma during her apparently smoke break caught the attention of the Geno Killer's new Avatar. "Oh? You changed your face... what's this one called then?" she asked with a chuckle. "It only took about a day. I was done before Ashikaga finished gathering the other supplies for me. Science isn't really hard, even in a magical world like this one... Still the ship is coming along nicely. It really might be my best work," she said with a general amount of confidence.

In the meantime Miki was approached rather directly by Diva, who extended his right arm to her. She realized what he wished and moved a bit closer allowing contact with her forehead and thus opening a bridge of understanding between them. His own native tongue was similar to the one connected to her Druid heritage. As such when he spoke while touching her in such a way she could understand the most of his meaning. His question was an astounding one and brought a bit of confusion to the lass' face. "I ndáiríre?" with contact currently happening she was quite certain he could understand her as well. She shot a mental message to Licht to explain the situation. "He, wants to join our group. I don't don't really have a problem with it but it's probably a bit strange considering we're about to split up for a bit..." she gave the lad per their usual form of hidden conversation. All the while Hikari wondered how Miki understood this language the lad spoke in... though she'd also missed the interaction with Vasyl.

[Bloodedge]

"I did," the white-haired male responded. "Did my face change? I haven't looked yet; I don't even know what I look like, aside from the hair Hikari won't leave me alone about. This Avatar is called Licht. Enough about that, though. A Philosopher's Stone made in a single day is a way bigger deal than a simple character swap. I wouldn't be surprised now if you told me you had somehow made one before coming to this world."

The connection Diva sought with Miki was a success; she understood him at least well enough to begin a dialogue. Deep within himself, Diva felt a great deal of satisfaction from this. As much as he wanted to speak the common language, he felt as if having to listen to him was more trouble for others than his words were worth. Adding that to general the fear of interactions that was bred into him, he hardly felt comfortable approaching others at all. "Naí," he said to the lass, voicing his confirmation. Miki sent a summary of Diva's speech to Licht, who could not have been more surprised by the occurrence. 'Seriously? Well, I don't see why not? He's been with Hikari more than even Seriri lately, as far as I know. Besides, here he is talking to you in a language you understand, and it doesn't seem like he's struggling at all. I think it would be fine to have him along if he wants.'

[Apollymi]

It seemed that the lad previously known as Kou was now known as Licht. Beyond this point he hadn't seen this new form of his and only had a vague idea of what he looked like due to the teasing of his sister. "Sou ka. It changed, but not too much. I can tell they have the same base... if that makes you feel better," Bulma said as she enjoyed her cigarette. Still this lad seemed to be quite taken with the idea that she'd created such an item in so short a time period. Beyond that he claimed he wouldn't have been surprised if she'd managed it before. "I didn't really think about doing it before... but it was a fun side project. And it opens up my crafting quite a bit," she said seemingly pleased with her own decision.

Miki on the other hand was gaining confirmation from Diva that he was indeed interested in traveling with this group. When she shared his desires with Licht the other lad was alright with the idea as well. A smile came to Miki's face as she thought to explain this situation. "is féidir leat a bheith linn más mian leat," she shared with Diva they'd be fine with him joinin them, but she thought it necessary to explain the current plan to him so he wasn't bombarded by it in a little while. "Just to let you know, we'll be splitting up for a bit after we leave here. Licht and Hikari are going off because Kou wants to become a Witcher. And I am off to the Migrating Vale to finish my training with the Druids. I'm sure they'd be fine if you wanted to join them... you could also come with me if you wanted, I don't mind..." she said in the Druid language she'd been using, offering the lad a place within their group and explaining the choices he had to make.

[Bloodedge]

"Ah, that's a relief. I was worried about how this form would look at first, but if it's still human enough to be almost the same, I guess there was no reason for concern at all." Having seen a few Celestial Avatars in the video game, he decided there was a small list of variants he believed was visually pleasing. Some were monstrous, but he'd been fortunate enough to craft the right breed, it seemed.

Diva waited with bated breath for Miki's answer. He knew he could continue to support Atlantis in various ways without being nearby, especially given the existence of another Old Atlantean. Upon having it explained to him that the group would soon be separating temporarily, the teal-haired male found himself glancing in Hikari's direction for just a moment. Hikari had a close bond with the white-haired male of the group, so he assumed their division would involve her tagging along with him. Besides that, the Migrating Vale of the Druids was a point of special interest for one such as Diva. A clear preference to the demi-human aside, he chose to address Miki with a nod toward her final clause. "Tha... páo mazí sou," he said, agreeing to accompany Miki over the others. "Onegai... shima-su."

And so it seemed, two pairs were fated to embark on this two-part journey. Just as Hikari would accompany Licht, Diva would accompany Miki.

Continue the Adventure with Miki and Diva Here (http://www.roleplayuniverse.net/forums/showthread.php?949-Migrating-Vale).
Continue the Adventure with Licht and Hikari Here (http://www.roleplayuniverse.net/forums/showthread.php?951-Kaer-Morhen).