Jamie stood next to the end carriage of the four carriage red and grey road train, bathed in the yellow light of the suns, with a black bag was slung across his back, and a plain black travel bag by his side. He turned around, hearing thuds behind him, seeing Emily approach wearing a plain grey, long sleeved shirt, and black pants, with a pink bag on her back and a pink travel bag at her side, Scott following behind her. She smiled widely as she approached, waving, projecting a thought in his head.
"Morning."
"Morning."
Jamie waved after sending his thought to her, and turned his gaze towards towards the three Battlepet Masters, who had been arguing non stop constantly while looking at a map between the three of them since he had arrived.
"NO! Not that area. The only decent beasts are the Green Tipped Serpent, and they don't have any offspring this year." Lennox pointed at a location on the map. "We should head here next, where there are Black Mane Buffalo located. They should have children a couple of weeks old at this time."
Ivan sighed, rubbing his head. "Lennox, the Black Mane Buffalo's are too far out of the way. We would delay our trip to Ragas by at least three days."
"It's worth it."
"I agree. They typically have two elemental affinities, and can had an impressive bite attack and can alter the nearby terrain. If we can get a breeding pair and a couple of offspring, the shop could earn a lot of money from them."
"Not you too Taylor."
Emily walked up to Jamie, turning to look at the three Battlepet Masters arguing. "What are they arguing about?"
"Where to stop on the way to Ragas to grab more beasts. Yesterday, Lennox and Taylor approached Ivan, showing him the list of the creatures around Ragas, and their Energy types they typically have. Most of the creatures still around Ragas have only one Elemental Energy type. They used it as an argument to try to convince Ivan to grab the eggs Lennox spotted guarded by Breatopus. Ivan refused to grab the eggs, but made a concession that they could make a couple of stops on the way to Ragas to grab a few beasts."
"ABSOLUTLY NOT!! That's a five day detour."
Emily smiled wryly. "It looks like they could take awhile. I'm going to put Scott on the carriage."
"I'll come with you."
They walked their way to the first carriage of the road train, their feet kicking up dust on the dirt parkway as they walked towards first trailer.
"Did you decide what beast you were going to try grab?"
Jamie glanced at Emily. "The Two Winged Lunar Snake. It typically has two Energy Affinities, Lunar and Air, and occasionally one can be spotted that has a third, Water. Did you decide on what you were going to get?"
"The Pink Fur, Red Eye Rabbit."
Jamie eyes briefly widened. "Why?"
"It looks cute, and....."
Jamie burst out in laughter. Emily shot Jamie a glare, and he held up his hands defensively as he tried to get his laughter under control. After a couple of seconds had passed, he managed to control himself enough to wheeze out "Why? There are plenty of better lifeforms with more Energy Affinities that you can find elsewhere that look cute."
"IF you had let me finish, you would have gotten your answer."
"Sorry."
Emily started opened the door of the front carriage, opening it and letting Scott hop inside to join Eve and Blackwing. As she closed it, she answered Jamie.
"Have you checked on the Battlenet about some stage 6 and above Battlepet's Masters experiences manipulating Astral Energy?"
"No. It's mainly just used for sensing right? Our power ultimately comes from our beasts we bond."
Emily shook her head, and they started walking to the end of the carriage. "Some of them can use it for so much more then that. I saw a video of a person called Oliver using it to put up a barrier and defend against a White Swirled Crow. After thirty minutes of attacking, the White Swirled Crow couldn't penetrate it."
"That sounds impressive....but what stage was his Astral Body size and Purity at?"
"7 Size, 6 purity."
"He could instead bond a powerful stage 7 beast, and get the beast to thrash the crow."
"It's not just the barrier. He could do stuff like using the energy to allow his body to pass through solid objects, and use the energy to move stuff in his surroundings."
"What's this got to do with the The Pink Fur, Red Eye Rabbit.?"
"Because it has only one Energy Affinity. Apparently, people have a much easier time manipulating Astral Energy if the beasts they have bonded beasts with two or less Element Affinity."
"Why do people think that the beasts elements have got to do with that?"
"Because of the inside of the Astral Bodies. People have been curious about what it looks like inside the Astral Bodies, as they can only store inanimate objects in there except their pets, and they can't enter themselves. Some people sent a camera that's recording into their space, and put it up on the Battlenet. By cross examining the videos, and some of the information on the Battlepet Masters, people have noticed that the inside of the Astral Bodies can differ at the same stages. Their can be big differences in the space available in the Astral Bodies, and the composition of the spaces, such as the different types of energies that saturate the inside of the space. People have started noticing that the spaces of people with less Bonded Beasts, or are bonded with beasts with one Energy Affinity, are usually much bigger then ones with a greater number of beasts or have beasts with a lot of Energy Affinities."
"And people assume that it's the same with the Astral Energy Manipulation?"
"Yea. There are some exceptions though. Alexander has two Quad Element Beasts, and he posted a video of himself doing doing the same things as Oliver, and he was at stage 6 for Astral Body Size, Stage 6 for Astral Body Purity. He also posted a video of the inside of his Astral Body, which was massive. He's one of the few exceptions though, usually the more Beasts you bond, and the more Energy Affinities they have, the smaller the space inside the Astral Body and the less they can use it for."
They reached the end of the carriage, looking at the three Battlepet Masters were still arguing.
"So you just want a bigger Astral Body space?"
"Kinda. It would be kinda cool to phase through walls, and being able to place a barrier around yourself would be handy. I also suspect that's not the only thing Astral Energy can be used for."
Jamie shook his head. "While that sounds interesting, I think it would be better to have more powerful beasts. Just have them demolish the opposition, walls, or put up a barrier to protect you."
Emily snorted. "If I could get a Quad Element Beast, I would take it, but they aren't that easy to find, much less tame. That being the case, I would rather grab a single Element Affinity creature. Not much worse then a lifeform with two, in any case."
A voice rang from inside the carriage. "You two may as well get in here. I suspect they will be done arguing shortly."
The two looked at each other, then shrugged and got inside the last carriage, and placed their bags in one of the open cages to the side, near the entrance of the carriage. Jamie moved to take a seat sit along the left wall, next to the cage containing the bags. Emily hesitated, then sat next to Jamie.
Nicholas shot Emily and Jamie a smile. "So, are you two looking forward to seeing the Ancient Gredidine Fortress of Ragas?"
Jamie shook his head while Emily smiled back. "Yes. I wanted to check out the Gredidine Warhall, and see the arenas they set up for the tests of the Warprince Applicants. The ancient Temple they set up for the Sherot High Priestess would be fun to look at too."
Nicholas chuckled. "You won't have much luck visiting the Temple. The Sherot are still around and have claimed the temple, and don't allow anyone but other Sherot to enter."
"That sucks. I was looking forward to taking a couple of pictures of what was inside."
The sounds of footsteps sounded, as the Battlepet Masters started making their way to the carriage, entering the door. Once they all entered, Ivan closed the door, and they separated, spread out a in the seats of the carriage. Ivan eyes glazed, and a moment later the truck roared to life, and started moving.