Once Guotin calms down, he sends out a report to assure everyone in the building. Her uncle and aunt send Tara home for the evening, but Guotin asks her to stop by both tomorrow and Sunday morning for some actual training. When Tanisha asks him about what happened he merely smirks and says to wait for tomorrow.
Tara returns home to find Kristen, Renee, and Qisma all waiting at her home for her. She immediately soothes their worries by saying it was a prank by her uncle and that nobody was hurt or in trouble. Once they know she is okay, the four of them eat and do their nightly routines for their weekend sleepover before heading to the chatroom.
"And you're sure you want to give this Ring of Minor Levitation for the Mariner's Cap?" Pakeeja is closest to them as they enter, in the middle of facilitating a swap of Equipment between a Western and Eastern player. In fact all the other Novelists are overlooking many such trades of their friends.
Minus the Artisans and the Crossover group, those present along with the newly recruited members from a while back had focused squarely on the Party Event. A total of about 18 or so teams had been formed to take on the random Instance Dungeons! With the discovery of no time limit after the first few Runs, Sassy Daisy on the second day had instructed that the Instance Dungeons should be farmed for materials and items if possible. This a similar tactic the larger organizations used that Sassy Daisy was taught.
In doing so, this small Workshop of about 200 or so in total was able to amass many materials and equipment! The materials found on both Continents were split among the Artisans for both research and utilization purposes, especially with the Uniform Sets to be made. As for the Equipment, many exchanges are taking place. Cloth armor from the West is being swapped with plate mail from the East, while weapons and truncheons (the collective word for Summoners' Staves and Witches' Rods) switch sides based on elemental affinity and item statistics. Just a simple trade now would later make all the difference for Lapis Tome and Ruby Blade.
Even the Artisan's benefit from the exchange, both sides having found a variety of Iron tiered tools! They would no longer have to rely on Porcelain Tools!
Tara and her trio also begin engaging with the trade between sides! With each trade done, each internal member of their Workshop is also given an item from the Crossover Event.
Each member receives a Prowess book to use, a Morale Book to have on hand, and an Enhancement stone for their Minor Artifact. Even without the Twin Sphere and Soul Realm techniques nor the hidden titles of their Natures, their individual Equipment is honestly more than enough to fight against at least first rate guilds. The chance to add an additional 10 percent to these beloved items has everyone excited!
It's as these trades are happening that those who participated in Crossover receive a notification:
[Rewards Calculated! Delivering treasures! Distributing Titles!]
[Multiple similar Titles found! Combining...]
[Please continue playing Renovel while you wait!]
While the Crossover group can only wait for their Titles to be given, their treasure for completing the final Dungeon is already in their personal storage space! Inside are 5 Enhancement Stones, 1 Tier Crystal, 1 Upgrade Crystal, and 100 Gold. The Explorers' all receive two levels worth of Experience while the Novelists' get a Level Primer. This can be used to level up one Skill of their choice!
Tara, Izel, and Aelix give 150 of their total Gold to Sassy Daisy and Amethyst Crane. Two of them are students in a Story where money didn't currently matter while Aelix was a princess. Crane is especially thankful as several new Scribes have come to join Dawn Blossom thanks to Jumping Sash leaving a signature on her works. While it would be some time before even Dawn Blossom and Dusk Spark to purchase premier Land within a City, adding additional wings to their current spaces is doable and less costly.
"There's one more thing we'd like for each of you to do and one more thing to give out. They'll come in handy I think when you try for your Advancement tests." Pakeeja announces, holding up the History of the Banished Country Scrolls and a Tier Crystal. Curiosity gets the better of the teens as even within this demi space, they can feel the powerful energy come off the scrolls. Izel and Pakeeja offer to stay with them as they read as they don't have to rush, plus they are curious if anything interesting happened once it was read.
Thankfully, an Explorer only needs to read one piece of the Scrolls to gain the option. Otherwise it would take forever! With this underway, eventually Lapis Tome and Ruby Blade go their separate ways to start their sessions anew. The other Novelists restart their Story with their new experiences and knowledge guiding them. Tara is especially nervous yet eager as she stretches her arms into the air, awakening from her bed in the Dark Saber hall.
Of all the rewards she had received Tara immediately pulls out the Tier Crystal, which had been shuffled into her spatial ring. Simply holding the small crystal it gave of an overbearing presence. If Tara were to gauge it, she would have to say it has three times more energy than the Basic pill she had used after the Fire Trial!
Normally she would ask Wolyung and Oorun their thoughts, but they are in a deep hibernation after the fight with the Aberrant. When Hanit used her Blessing, it had given Tara enough of a boost to access another memory hall. Placing the Tier Crystal back within her ring, she focuses on the door to low stage Vien Plating.
Upon entering she finds not a wide technique practice space, but instead a small study. On the left and right walls are two bookshelves, a small desk with a vase filled with Devil's Trumpets, and a window that looks out into a starry skyscape.
Tara peruses the books on the left side, all memories she's made thus far in her Story. The other bookshelf contains all she's learned from the starry lady. Picking up the book titled "Vien Forging, Low Tier Edition", most of its pages are blank due to her not being on the level. However, on the last page are the words that popped into her mind during the recent fight: The Ninth Body Altering Phase, known as the Lung Tempering stage!
Tara pulls back from her memory hall. Although only that one phrase is available from the ancient spirit's memories, her heart is racing and her mind is spinning with excitement. Just a little while longer and she'll have more knowledge about the hidden three stages.
Tara exits the Dark Saber hall with the thoughts of quickly reaching mid stage Billow Muscles. Those thoughts are curbed at the sight of Niven practicing her forms outside the hall. Each class's resting halls were inaccessible to other classes to avoid bullying and have a sense of personal space. Unlike her normal swift and decisive strikes, Tara who had known Niven since she was singular could see her friend is distressed.
"Niven, what's wrong?" Tara asks worriedly, quickening her approach. Niven stops and gives a short bow at the sight of Tara.
"I was wondering if you could help me with a problem?" Without hesitation or anxiousness, Niven is clear in what asking for assistance. Affection swells in her that she can be trusted as such.
"If it's within my power, sure." She replies. Niven leads her away somewhere more private to tell her story. Tara listens carefully before her face morphs from annoyance to rage. Niven can't stop her from storming after the perpetrators.
"Nukura Xialian and Nukura Shidon, I am Raji Frae's second! Or are you cowards?" Tara announces as she steps into the Lightning Spear training room. The two nobles from the Tower of Death trials look up at her in surprise.
While the five hundred students who joined at the same time are considered a part of the same class, there is still a hierarchy among them. Tara knew of it vaguely but being in Dark Saber, the Headmaster's student, and strong enough to fight Neijin and Yaoyang made everyone back off. Her family had also cemented themselves with their own ability so they also weren't subjected to the annoyance of the hierarchy.
This is not the case for wanderer's who had no family backing. The bullying and harassment is even worse if you happened to be an animus. Raji Frae was different from a normal wanderer, having the family name Raji.
Her family had been a minor animus nobility in a neighboring country 10 years ago but they died under a mysterious attack and she was the only survivor. Now she was a wanderer. The Nukura twins had heckled and belittled her especially from being from a fallen family.
The look of surprise morphs into identical dastardly smiles.
"Oh good you came to us." Xialian laughs as she and her twin brother walk towards Tara.
"We were going to find you and your beast of a cousin sooner or later. To see if the stories are true." Shidon confesses but then his eyes flash with a dangerous light. "And of course take your spots in Dark Saber. Now when shall we and dear Neijin--"
"No." Tara glares at them.
"No?" They both intone with confusion.
Tara crosses her arms. "You challenged Frae with the conditions that the loser must leave the Academy. She accepted and I merely came here to tell you I am her second. You two gave her this week and the next to grow stronger, correct?"
The twins look at each other. "Yes, yes we did."
"Then that's more than enough time to get her stronger than you." Tara snorts before walking off. The twins' faces twist in anger and are about to go after her in protest but Tara releases some of her full power pressure. The twins are high stage Bone Crystallization, but only the more common diamond structure.
Tara had already reached Bone Crystallization high stage before she started Muscles Billowing. With this, combined with her variant structure and Soul Realm, her aura is akin to a Vein Plating low stage. This is more than enough to halt their tracks.
Tara hastily walks to the Wind Saber practice hall since there isn't a lot of time.
"I'm looking for Raji Frae?" Tara asks as she enters the Wind Saber training hall. A tall teenager steps forward towards her confused. Upon standing in front of her, Tara can see her animus heritage in her eyes. "I'll be your second when you fight the Nukura twins. I'd like to spend some time getting to know you and helping you get stronger. C'mon!"
Like a whirlwind, Tara has already grabbed Frae's hand and pulls her away to a more private area. They settle underneath a tree in a nearby courtyard.
"Niven told you." Frae states, finally connecting the dots. Tara nods in confirmation.
Frae sighs, closing her eyes before opening them with a strong gaze. "I don't mind being in your debt if I can put those two in their place."
Tara smiles at her determination, taking Frae's hand. "Then let's get started."
Tara starts first by inspecting Frae's aural ports like she had done with Viyen. Thanks to her better understanding, she's able to determine Frae's elemental affinity as well. Though only a quarter fox animus, her family had been known for their Fire manipulation abilities! Her spiritual energy is higher than her mind or body energies, about a level higher than her current status as a Blood Directing mid stage.