After seeing the Portal Gate in action and asking the guards and the attendant in charge, they found out how much it would cost to activate the gate. It turned out that the two thousand gold coins were for each individual who wanted to cross the portal.
'How many gold coins do we have?' Yuriko asked Gwendith through their mental connection.
'A bit less than ten thousand now.' Gwendith muttered. 'We'll need that much and more. With Fluffington, it's fourteen thousand gold coins.'
"That's…how much is that in Sovies?" Yuriko muttered.
"Five hundred Sovies to a Bresian gold coin," Gwendith said, with more than a hint of amusement. "Seven million Sovies."
"Oh."
"Indeed." Gwendith sighed while Heron, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation, including the mental connection, shuddered.
"Why are things so expensive here?" Yuriko muttered.
"Hey, it would save us a year's travel, wouldn't it?" Gwendith laughed.
"Urk," Yuriko muttered. "Any ideas?"
"Hunt down more Elemental cores? Beast cores or Chaos cores?" Gwendith asked. "There's a Conflux in the middle of the desert, right? We can go there to hunt. Or just you, if you wish to be discreet. Heh."
"Don't make fun of me," Yuriko growled. But she shook her head. "So much for laying low."
"Well, an Elemental core goes for ten gold, if it's from a strong enough beast," Gwendith mused. "You know we traded nearly two thousand of those things for the token right? That's twenty thousand gold coins right there. And it only took us half a Season." The other girl grinned, "I don't think it'll take you that long."
"Ryoko and Saki, please find us somewhere to stay, for a while," Yuriko muttered. "Inns would be too expensive in the long run."
"Yes, young mistress," Ryoko answered. "Where in the city?"
"The one next to this district should be fine," Yuriko decided, "but really, that's up to you."
Yuriko looked at Gwendith and Heron, and at Devotee. The Chaos Lord looked bored, and he fiddled with restriction cuffs. Ah, those need to be drained soon and refilled with Pure Animus. She'd take care of it once they have a base. "What about you two? Fancy coming with me?"
"For a bit, perhaps, or after a while." Gwendith admitted, "I'm sorta tired of hunting Elemental Beasts."
Heron shook his head. "So am I, honestly. Fighting those things has worn down my edge." He looked back towards the large arena. "I'm interested in that place. Perhaps there's an opportunity there. They call it the Arena of Challenges, right?"
"Hmm, why don't you find out?" Yuriko said. "But I think let's go to another inn for now, so we can leave our luggage for the day." She looked up to the skies. It was a cloudless day, and the sun's rays were fierce. She could fly up and be hidden by the light.
"Ah, the Adventurers' Guild branch is in the Green Light District, so let's go there for now, and get an inn."
Heron shook his head, "I'll go check the arena. Gwen, perhaps you should find an inn, then relay it to us?"
"I don't mind," Gwendith replied. "Come on, Devotee, Fluffy! Yuri, we're headed the same way."
"Ah, yeah."
Heron spun around to head to the arena and her handmaidens had already split off a while ago. Yuriko cast a message to Ryoko to update her, and while she was at it, she took Desire's thread and felt for her other Chaos Lord's status. The connection told her that the girl was several dozen Waypoints into the Chaos Sea, and the interference didn't allow her to find out more. Desire didn't give out any signs of dismay, so she could only assume that the other was in the process of ascending to the next Chaos rank.
Neither of the two Chaos Lords could say how long the process would take. She had the impulse to go after Desire to help and protect her. But the girl said that it could take much longer than normal—maybe even years—to complete her evolution since she was changing herself to suit her bonds.
After they crossed back into the Green Light District, Yuriko carefully spread her Anima perception and ascertained where the Adventurers' Guild branch was, then she headed out towards the desert.
"Good luck!" Gwendith yelled.
Yuriko waved goodbye. Walking briskly, Yuriko reached the edge of the city in half an hour then ventured out into the sands. She was by no means the only one out here. She could see many groups headed towards the desert conflux, except those groups that consisted of five or more warriors and Magi, on camels and carrying several weeks' worth of supplies. Most of them were probably not full Magi, come to think of it. Ah, and some groups consisted of dark-robed war slaves.
Grunting sourly, Yuriko walked over a dune, and once she was out of direct sight, she spread her Anima and flew farther away from the city. A few minutes later, she could no longer see Herrera and she shot straight up into the sky.
From there, it didn't take more than an hour to reach the Sandsea Conflux. The Elemental Mists obscured most of the terrain from her Chaos Sight, and plain Enhanced Sight only gave her a vague idea of the dangers inside. She needed to enter the conflux from a lower altitude and once she was fifty paces from the desert dunes, she pushed through its borders.
The wall of Elemental mists hampered vision but once she was inside the conflux, she was able to see a bit farther away though no more than a league or so from this height. The ambient Elemental energies within the Conflux degraded long-range sight after all.
She floated near the border while she tasted the ambient Elemental energies to determine what it consisted of. The majority was a mix of Earth, Wind, and a bit of Fire, and there was the addition to a tiny mix of other esoteric Elements that she couldn't identify. Without an Affinity, one was blind to the ambient Elements, and it was only when they were Woven into a spell would they be visible to all.
Metal Elemental energies were starting to distinguish itself from Earth Elemental energies in her vision.
Shaking her head, Yuriko pushed herself deeper into the Conflux and wondered what kind of beasts she would find, and how much it would give her.
Well, there was really no reason to play around, and no reason to hold back. She spread her Anima as far as it would go and she knew that there were seven Elementals within her reach. Each one had been hidden in the dunes, dormant. But her brute force method tiled all seven of the beasts up, and a moment later, the sand dunes rumbled and shifted. A gigantic figure, roughly ten paces tall, rose from the sands, and its malice-filled eyes zeroed in on Yuriko.
She couldn't help but smile at the thing. Her Anima had permeated through its body, and it was only when it gathered the sands around its core did its Anima struggle to push hers out. So she wrapped tendrils of her aura around the core and pulled it out, then she smothered its nascent consciousness with her own and snuffed it.
One Elemental Core, perfectly preserved, down.
And maybe a thousand more to go.
___________
Heron sauntered into the Arena's vicinity, keeping a wary eye on his surroundings. The Xotha Matriarchy's cultural use of enslaved people was disconcerting, especially considering most of the enslaved were of his own gender. It also didn't help that he was head and shoulders taller than most people here. Xothans seemed to be a petite people, at least the humans and Sha'ledras. Durandirs were, of course, much shorter than most other humanoids, but were as broad as they were tall. It was the beastkin who varied in height, though most of them were also of the shorter variety, and consisted mostly of reptilian kin.
He tugged the hood of his robes over his eyes. His features were a close match to the locals, with his bronzed skin and dark hair. It was his blue eyes that distinguished him from the others, and it was what drew attention to him. He didn't quite appreciate the obviously predatory looks he's gotten ever since a while back, when he left the others to explore on his own. No one approached him and he imagined it was his confident stance and stride that made them wary—and probably because he was using his Anima to enhance his bodily strength.
Hmm, was this how Yuriko normally felt? His beloved, though she covered herself up now, still drew the eye. Even if all of her curves, her face, and her attention-grabbing hair, were concealed, the way she moved, the way she stood, the way the very air around her felt, those drew attention.
Well, there were fewer here who would stare at her. Most of the freepeople were women, and most of the men were rather subdued.
Ah, just thinking about her had him reminiscing about their first time. It wasn't quite what he imagined, especially since Gwendith shared a bit of how nights with Yuriko went. A pleasant surprise anyway, and he could never forget how her thighs around his waist felt, how soft she was, and how warm…
Shaking his head and calling himself all kinds of fool, Heron snorted and focused on his surroundings. While he wasn't in battle, the place was rather hostile, after all. He'd fought Xothans in the Braxxon Ruins, and the war slaves were rather persistent.
He examined the Arena from where he stood some fifty paces away. He started to circumnavigate it and confirmed his suspicion while they had been in the Portal Gate Plaza. The Arena was huge. It might occupy more than half of the district! Nevertheless, he confirmed his guess and walked for nearly an hour. There was a road around the Arena, and as the day continued, that road was soon filled with stalls, street hawkers, and customers. He saw that there were more war slaves lingering in the vicinity, too, with or without their handlers.
After he circled around, he headed to the closest gate. There were thirty-six gates by his count, and each was divided into two paths, warrior or observer. While Heron was tempted to pick the first, he went for the second path, only to realise both led to the same lobby.
There was a crystal screen above the reception area akin to ones from back home. On each one, there was a list of services, and an entrance fee to spectate the varied arenas and battlegrounds.
"Five silver coins to enter the arena as a fighter," Heron murmured. "Gauntlet, consecutive fights, and duels, huh?"
He walked over to get a better look at the terms and conditions. "Ah, I can earn coins from here."
He couldn't quite decipher how it all worked though, and he could stare at it later. For now, he headed towards the spectator area 12, dropped five copper pence into the collection funnel of the barrier that blocked access, and went through as soon as it opened up. He climbed two flights of stairs and wound up inside the stadium after moving through a couple of hallways.
Once he was inside, his eyes immediately focused on the action. He was near one of the outer arenas surrounding the main one in the centre. The one he was close to was probably only twenty paces to a side, and there were two layers of minor arenas before the middle one, which was more than a longstride wide, probably. There was a fight going on in all of the arenas nearby, including the big one where several groups of war slaves fighting off more than a dozen Elemental Beasts.
The ones nearby had two warriors duelling with swords and shields. Heron found a seat and noted with amusement that the same information that had been present in the lobby was also printed at the back of the seat in front of him.
Grinning ruefully, and trying to fight off memories of Yuriko's passion-filled eyes as she rode him to paradise, he settled down to watch, and study.