"What was that all about?" Sandy asked.
"A loophole." Satrox told her.
"Which is?" Sandy questioned.
"There's no time limit." Satrox said. "There's also no ranking limit."
"Which means if I can't win the Yellow Badge ranking, I can just move up to Green and try {that} competition." Colin realized. "Or move on to Blue and try that one."
Satrox nodded. "Also, Abby left out one key detail."
"Which is?" Sandy pressed.
"It's not a priority mission." Satrox said. "Which means…"
Sandy jumped. "Colin can put it off as long as he likes?!"
"Exactly." Satrox grinned. "He can do whatever he wants in between competitions. Including clearing out the Frenzieds."
"Then…" Sandy spluttered. "What's the POINT?!"
Satrox laughed out loud.
Sandy gave Colin a very dark look and started muttering to herself.
"Don't worry. I don't want to die or let my Comrades die either. I'll stay back where it's safe when I can." Colin told her. "I know you guys are looking out for me, and I know how bad it will be if any of my Comrades go Frenzied. I don't want that to happen."
{Besides, I'm going to go soon. The most important thing is to get away from the Green Men.}
Sandy was giving Colin a suspicious look.
"You didn't think I'd recruit him to the J-Knights if he wasn't the type, did you?" Abby pointed out. "Colin's not like that. Just letting him know it'll cause us trouble might be enough for him to take the slow and safe growth track."
"All the same…" Sandy said. "I want to make sure he stays away from the danger zones. Also, if Satrox is taking him through the Ancient Ways, I want him licensed for armaments."
"I see!" Satrox raised his head. "You're right! Since he's already… well…"
"Satrox." Abby said in a warning tone.
"Let's have him licensed." Sandy said.
"I'll put in a priority application." Abby assured her, already working at here desk. "Done! Goodness, that was fast. Geoffrey must have seen it coming."
"I'll get him outfitted." Sandy said. "Come along, Colin."
***
"What does it mean?" Colin questioned as he followed Sandy out of the Coordinators' Tent.
"What, license for armament? It means this." Sandy drew her sword without stopping and thumbed the trigger. Red light surrounded the edges. "License for Knights to use weapons in Nakama World."
"We can do that?" Colin stared.
"Normally, no." Sandy said. "Nakama World is all about the Comrades and Traveling with them, after all. But several key quests involving the Ancient Ways, as well as more reckless Dreamers in our ranks brought up the idea in debate. The heads of several Orders of Knights, including our own Order of Justice, applied to Dreamworlds Admin for an Import Link from another Dreamworld that uses such weaponry. The applications for guns and heavy cannons was rejected, but we did get permits for modern vehicles and melee weapons. Thus, we have airports without guns. The longest ranged weapon any Knight can use under license is the throwing knife. We can't even use bows."
"But that light…"
"It's a powered sword. Laser emission along the edges makes it capable of cutting through Clay Golems without any trouble. Rock's a bit tough, but it can be done too." Sandy mentioned. "But I'm not letting you use a sword like this. You might stab yourself in the foot."
"Then?" Colin blinked. "What am I going to use?"
"Something you can use without too much training." Sandy led him into a smaller tent filled with lockers and cabinets.
There was nobody here, but Sandy touched two cabinets and said, "Authenticate Authorization, user Sandy Mills. Open locks."
The doors opened. Sandy pulled out a small baton of about six inches. She tossed it to him. "Identify yourself as an authorized user and then claim ownership. I'll approve it in the registry."
"Uh…" Colin looked at that metal baton and said. "Hi? I'm Colin Rivers. They said I'm licensed. Oh, and I'm also supposed to be your owner."
"Not like that…!" Sandy groaned, when the baton beeped, red light flashed, and a notice popped up in the air in front of her. She stared at it. "Goodness! It actually worked?!"
She tapped it, and the red light flashing over the baton turned green. "Now, just…"
Colin stretched out his hand, and twisted it from the side. The baton stretched out to three feet. He stepped forward, taking another grip by the left hand and pulling his right hand back, holding it two-handed to one side, facing forward.
Sandy blinked. "That stance… you already know how to use that?"
"Uh… I guess." Colin said, not giving any explanations. He took another step forward, releasing the left hand and holding it like a club, giving it a loose swing and then a tight swing in circles over his right shoulder, stopping firmly as it pointed to the tent's ceiling. He stretched it out underhanded, eyeing it along its length.
All of it looked like he was totally familiar with the thing.
"That's… a sword pose." Sandy shook her head. "I'm still not letting you use a sword, though. I'm just giving you heavier armor."
"I have the armor Abby gave me as a J-Knight." Colin began, then trailed off. "Oh, but that was destroyed."
"That was Standard issue Light Armor." Sandy said, pulling out another suit that looked incredibly similar but now that Colin was paying attention, wasn't quite the same. "{This} is Hunters Issue Wilderness Armor."
It was also steel-gray and blue with white plating that looked almost plastic on the shoulders, but this one was thicker at certain places, and had more steel-gray than blue.
It had one major difference though; it came with a helmet.
"Your watch will integrate through the padding on the right wrist." Sandy went on. "It has automatic temperature control, but it's limited. Use your watch to control it. The whole thing is watertight unless you get it badly damaged."
"Would it be able to save me from a three foot-long fur-spike?" Colin asked.
"Um… no."Sandy admitted. "But it'll stop most low-level attacks. It would take Heavy Battle Armor to handle those spikes, and trust me, that armor is too heavy to Travel in."
"What's the use?" Colin sighed. "I mean…"
"You won't get pinned down again, that's what." Sandy said. "Look, if you're licensed, once you put on weapons and armor, you follow the rules of the Import Link from Adventura Dreamworld. That means you've got HP and MP too. If a spike hits you again, you lose HP or die, but it'll disappear once it hits you."
"That," Colin said, "Would be worth all the trouble."
Sandy nodded. "You even have techniques, though you'll have to learn and train them yourself. What we have here is a limited form of what they have in Adventura, but it suits our needs and allows us a change in experiences if we want to Dream around in Adventura sometimes. I can go there and use every technique I've trained here, any time I want."
"Really?" Colin perked up. "That sounds interesting."
"Don't bother to try, I've already checked." Sandy told him before he could ask. "The age limit is 13 and above."
"Great." Colin groaned. "I've got a way to go yet."
Sandy smiled. "But I guess it's worth training up some techniques in case you ever do want to go there, eh?"
She helped him put on the Wilderness armor and let him try it out a bit.
"It's heavy." Colin groaned.
"Train up your Strength. The armor won't feel so heavy when you do." Sandy suggested.
"Is there something lighter I can use first?" Colin asked. "I'm a Traveler, not an Adventurer. I'm supposed to rely on Comrades. The only thing I need armor for is to use that Import Link thing so that any fur-spikes that hit me in the future will disappear or kill me at once."
"True." Sandy agreed. She seemed a lot nicer now than she was before, for some reason. "Let's see. Ah! I know…"
The armor she brought Colin was little more than a vest, leg-guards and bracers. Everything was colored black and fit quite easily over his clothes.
"What is this?" Colin said, pulling on the bracers. His watch integrated through the material and it all sealed together in place once they were fitted.
"Special Ops Stealth Armor." Sandy said. "We use it for scout or stake-out missions. Hunters don't normally have a use for it, but my unit is Special Ops."
The leg guards, too, sort of melded together with his pants, causing his shorts to extend all the way to long slacks, the stripes vanishing so that he was left with plain gray. For all appearances, his trousers could have been designed with those rubber-like guards in place along the outer sides of his legs. There was even padding over his knees and elbows.
"Oh, and one more thing." Sandy held up a black item that looked incredibly familiar.
"A Lina Visor?" Colin blinked.
"You know what this is?" Sandy was surprised.
"I used to have one, but I lost it." Colin said, remembering. "It was silver, though."
"Sorry, we only have black here." Sandy said, tossing it to him. "Put in your claim and I'll approve it, then let's get moving."
"You're coming with me?" Colin blinked.
"For now." Sandy said. "You're not done with me yet."
***
Colin started feeling a sense of anticipation when he and Sandy got out of that tent and found Satrox, Henry and Rita all waiting for them.
"Uh… what's this?" Colin asked.
Satrox smiled. "We're going to have a short training exercise that you'll probably find familiar. Has Sandy shown you how to use your staff?"
"No need." Sandy said. "He seems to know already."
"Good." Satrox said. "Here's the scenario. All of us, except for Sandy, are on the same team. Sandy is our opponent. I'm team leader. The battlezone is around the pond."
"You're right." Colin stared. "This {does} sound familiar."
"It should." Satrox agreed. "There will be three rounds. The first round involves building a fort. There are no more trees, so you'll have to use your Comrades abilities and use burnt soil and water. This round ends the moment either I or Sandy call out that we've finished our fort."
{This definitely sounds familiar.}
"The second round involves attacking each other's forts. The winner is the one with the last fort standing." Satrox said.
{Yep. This is it. It's definitely It. No doubt now. It's the same as when he introduced it to Edward, Katrin and I.}
"The last round takes to the open field. The forts won't matter any more. Just wipe out the enemy. Winning team is the last one standing."
Satrox paused. "We all understand that this is a training exercise, or a game. Defeat will not be counted as deaths. Have fun, you guys.
"Let the Farm Wars begin!"