The twins who had officially joined the party gave alastair a perk that made him reconsider having them along. the perk was called twin soul bond and gave him a boost of fifteen points to magic but that wasn't the thing that bothered him. no what bothered him was the description of the perk. {twin soul bond: the soul of erdwin and serenica are tied together by their strong love and will always seek out the other. +15 to magic} this description made alastair uncomfortable due to the implications in it being rather flag raising for him.
Alastair figured that since he was a completely different person than this erdwin so he was almost guaranteed to not follow the exact same path. ignoring the description of the perk alastair was quite content with the benefit the perk gave him since it effectively doubled his magic skill. thankfully unlike the athletics skill the magic skill didn't cause any physical changes from the sudden boost. the sudden increase in magical knowledge though was extremely disorientating though causing him to develop a huge headache. after leaving the town about two hours before noon the party followed the road while killing any monster that they could see.
The twins were confused about the eagerness at which alastair slaughtered monsters and voiced their concern. erik was actually the one who defended this action oddly enough saying how he could feel himself improving ever since he teamed up with alastair. he also explained his theory that killing the monsters seems to make alastair stronger for some reason and that his companions get something similar. "is this true?" veronica asked curiously. "my own idea is that the strengthening is actually secondary." alastair said calmly. "then what is the main purpose of this strange power then?" serena asked.
"From what i can tell it perfection." he said seriously. "perfection?" veronica said confused. "like metal that gets refined , the more its refined the strong it becomes because it is getting more perfect. my theory is that this power works the same only that i am the metal and killing the monsters is the refining hammer." alastair explained seriously. "that would explain that last change of yours since you grew taller as well as got that frightening set of back muscles." erik said after a bit of thought. "what will happen to you when you reach perfection?" serena asked concerned.
"No idea though i suspect that is far in the future since the process only one facet of myself at a time with this one being my body itself being perfected." alastair said calmly. "doesn't this power concern you?" veronica asked seriously. "why would it? the power comes from Yggdrasil so i doubt anything bad with happen with it." he said with a shrug. the twins had to agree that this made sense and decided to just follow alastairs lead with killing monsters. the party soon noticed the terrain changing was the stone ground started to be replaced with sand.
The monsters started to change as well as they came across lump mages and robber rabbits that patrolled the road. the scenery changed entirely after another hour of traveling as the party was now on the edges of a vast desert. throughout the desert there was monsters of various kinds as well as a few oasis's that occasionally could be seen in the distance. alastair was glad that he prepared for all types of places since he had a white umbrella that he used to protect himself from the harsh desert sun. funnily the twins crowded under the umbrellas shade as well.
Erisa was completely fine with the heat and erik had his own umbrella that he had offered to share with the twins but was rejected. the twins insisted that they needed to stick close to alastair incase he was ambushed from below. " have you seen how the monsters die to him? i would be more worried about whatever thought ambushing him was a good idea." erik said half joking half serious as he remembered when the bloody mess perk activated. the city of gallopolis came into view at around six when the sun started to fall and night approached.
Night fell and the pale moon light guided the group for a couple of hours before they reached the city gates which seemed to be made of some kind of white stone. the gates were inscribed with horses rearing up and ivy surrounding them. there were two guards dressed in baggy tan clothes that looked like they were made similar to gambesons with small plates of metal riveted to the chest. the two guards looked over the group and after confirming that they weren't criminals let them in the gates opens rather smoothly swinging open to reveal the city beyond.
Gallopolis city was a grand sight as the first thing you noticed was the huge race track that was placed directly in the center of the city. the race track had a smooth dirt floor and high walls to prevent horses from breaching into the crowds in the bleachers above the walls. the rest of the city was covered in square clay buildings with cone shaped rooves. the city was lit up with torches in various spot highlighting the abundance of red banners that adorn most building as well as let the group find an inn.