116 Phase 100: Fourteenth Night

Colin tried to call May, but she wasn't Dreaming yet. Maybe she just went to bed later than he did.

In the meantime…

What?

{At the very least, I should Warp in one of my Comrades. Going around without a Comrade would normally be suicide in Nakama World.}

Colin could manage without one, because he had a Knight's Import Link from Adventura Dreamworld. It allowed him to fight here using Adventura gear and rules.

But doing that would make him stand out (which he really didn't want), so he tapped his badge and said "Raiki."

Raiki Warped in, Colin's second oldest Comrade among those he currently had. She was Katrin's First Comrade, given to Colin to save him from the Green Men the first time he encountered them. A lot of what Colin did for Katrin from then on was out of a feeling that he owed her more than he could ever repay.

Raiki was a Stormcat juvenile who use lightning and sonic techniques, a long-range specialist and a Command-type. She might not be able to coordinate the entire battle like Shiro could, but she was able to lead a squad.

Maybe. Colin just realized that he'd never tested Raiki's abilities, since all this time, she'd been recovering from being Transferred, and anyway, Shiro took care of everything. If he wasn't relying on Shiro, there was Kyubia and the other Lords of the Wilds.

This was the first time Colin was without Shiro and without any of the Lords of the Wilds. Maybe it was time to see what Raiki could really do…

Provided she had recovered by now.

He scanned her.

A ray of green light swept out of his watch and ran over Raiki, then a screen of light popped up in mid air over his watch, showing him a window with five tabs.

The first tab was 'Image' which was open and showing Raiki's picture. The other four were 'Abilities', 'Techniques', 'Skills' and 'Records'.

Colin tapped the tab marked 'Abilities'.

.

https://imgur.com/MfF0PSE

.

Colin had to whistle.

When was the last time he scanned her directly? He couldn't remember. He'd been using Comrade Summaries for a while now.

Raiki had definitely changed since then. Her physical stats hadn't improved all that much, but then, she was sitting on Kirin most of the time. Her Intelligence was always her best stat, but her Wisdom had climbed like mad since being Transferred, and most recently, her Wit had started to increase more than usual too.

"Must be Foxie's influence. She tells you guys too many jokes." Colin figured.

Raiki had also recovered her 'Efficient' trait, which let her spend less MP in her techniques. That had been one of the two things that made her so powerful as a long-range attacker.

The other thing had been the 'Focused' trait, which let her use intelligence as well as wit to determine how fast she performed techniques. Both 'Focused' and 'Efficient' had been lost when Katrin transferred Raiki, but it seemed Raiki had recovered one of them, at least.

She had also learnt new traits which Colin didn't know. 'Ambitecher', 'Oversurge', and 'Observant' all sounded good, but he wasn't really sure what they meant.

Not to mention that she now had an insane amount of MP and the 'Efficient' trait.

He checked her Techniques. Raiki had been doing combination electric attacks with Kirin ever since Kirin joined them; her electric techniques had grown explosively, all the way to Volt Beam and Volt Orb while her sonic techniques were still at Sonic Barrage and Hypersonic Bolt.

Out of sheer impulse and curiosity, Colin tapped the 'Skills' tab for the first time.

There were only three things listed; 'Review Analysis', 'Sense of Potential', and 'Team Command'.

"Well… I guess this means you can pick out good Comrades and command squads." Colin frowned. "But what does 'Review Analysis' mean?"

"Mew." Raiki told him.

"You think back on how well you did during battle and learn from that?" Colin translated the idea she sent to him.

"Meow." Raiki agreed. "Miao."

"And Shiro's got a skill that can do it for the entire battle?" Colin's eyes widened. "Are you saying that if he's around in a fight, everybody gets an experience bonus afterwards?!"

"Mew." Raiki nodded.

"Blast it… where's Shiro when you need him?" Colin scratched his head.

But then, it seemed that he always needed Shiro. Shiro was usually around. This was just a rare time when he wasn't.

"I {thought} all you guys were gaining levels unusually fast." Colin mused. "I had no idea it was a skill of Shiro's."

Well, they needed it. Most of the Comrades he had left (except Foxie) were class 10 or higher. They had potential for growth that most Dreamers in Nakama World didn't even know existed.

This also meant that they grew slower, painfully so.Where other peoples' Comrades would be Adults or Elders by level 50, Shiro and Raiki were past level 60 and still third stage Juveniles, as if barely teenagers.

Colin thought of warping in his other Comrades to check on them, especially Shiro, but decided not to.

He really didn't want to disturb his First Comrade, especially if that white wolfcat had finally found others of his kind. Shiro had been so happy when Sonia joined them, because she looked more like him than any of the rest. He even tried to teach her to bark like him, at first.

But even Sonia was not a wolfcat. She was only a wolf, lacking the feline abilities, the claws and the tails that he had. That white wolfcat he'd run off with yesterday had been exactly like him, as far as the eye could see; wolf head and body, wildcat claws and feet, and two tails, one short like a wolf's and one long like a cat's.

Or at least, that was how it looked if he didn't change sizes… which he did. A lot. Shiro had been dog-sized when that other white wolfcat came in, but he could just as easily have been bigger or even cub-sized.

Anyway, Shiro had found other wolfcats now; other white wolfcats. Until he came here, Colin wasn't even sure they existed. Nobody else seemed to know where to find them. The gray mountain ones, yes. The yellow desert ones, sure. Even the blue water types. But…{white…}?

Colin left Shiro undisturbed. "Let's go take a look around while we wait for May."

***

The name of the town was Soft Snows. It was built in a stubby T-shape flat against a sheer cliff, with entrances on the east, west, and south. Colin had come from the south side, where the inn, Comrade Home, Gym, and the local Pepper Tourism posts were found.

Last night, Scarlet and May had brought him to the center of the 'T', a town square marketplace with shops on every side. The east side held some light industries, plenty to do with heavy clothes, food processing, and a whole lot of a local drink called Bruth, which seemed to be a mix of ginger beer, energy drink, hot cocoa and coffee.

"This town guards one of the greatest treasures of the far south." The guy taking a break outside the biggest Bruth factory said in a fierce whisper. "It's this drink right here!"

Colin bought a bottle and tried one sip.

"Guh!" He gagged. His throat burned, and his stomach and the taste was really… wild…

But one sip was enough to warm him up. Colin held on to the bottle, thinking it could be useful.

It was only then that he realized that most people around were doing the exact same thing. Everywhere he looked, he saw people carrying a bottle or two of Bruth. Suddenly, he found himself blending in perfectly; in heavy furs, carrying a bottle of Bruth as he was, almost nobody gave him the suspicious looks they gave him when he arrived last night.

{This really is one of the greatest treasures of the far south}. Colin took another sip of Bruth, grateful more for its ability to make him blend in than for the burning it gave his throat.

The west side of town looked to be cleaner; rows of houses, a playground with what looked like hundreds of snowmen who never melted, a frozen pond with lots of skate-marks all over it, a bank, two orchards and a beautiful ice carving of a phoenix rising up in flight.

Colin read the plague set at the feet of the carving.

"The Blue Phoenix." A scruffy guy holding a spade came up to Colin. "You know, in ancient Terran legends, there was a culture that called the south the domain of the Phoenix. Some of it came over to Nakama World; the designers made the Phoenix very prominent in the southern parts, especially the Forest of Myth, what we now call the Uber Marshes. They gave the west to the white tiger, the east to the dragon, and the north to the serpent turtle. But we…"

Colin waited while the man paused to consider.

"We are even farther south." The guy said then. "We are south of the southern lands. We're at the very tail of the world, a place where the fiery Phoenix would hate to dwell in. We are in the land of Eternal Winter, not flame."

"So this carving… is of something we want but cannot have?" Colin guessed.

"Almost." The man with the spade nodded. "Except for that last bit."

Colin blinked. "You mean you can bring a Phoenix over here? But won't it suffer terribly?"

"If you bring a normal Phoenix here, you have to take extra care, of course." The man nodded. "While it's active, its' own fire will be enough, but when it's asleep, the fire dims and you need to keep it comfortable, or it won't rest well."

"You said that was for a 'normal' Phoenix. Are you saying there's a Phoenix here that's not 'normal'?" Colin asked.

The man nodded to the statue. "A bird just like that have been spotted from time to time in the coldest reaches of the far south. The Blue Phoenix itself."

"Telling that old story again, George?"

Colin and George turned around to see Scarlet approach.

"Now, don't get jealous just because I'm not talking about your kind of Phoenix." George protested. Then, his eyes narrowed at her hands. "Is that an extra bottle of Bruth you've got there?"

"It's yours." Scarlet laughed, tossing it to him. George opened it and took a huge gulp in a single smooth motion. Colin stared at him in amazement. One sip was enough to burn his throat; a gulp like that…

"Ah!" George smacked his lips. "Thanks, Scarlet! I'll pay you back tomorrow!"

"Don't mention it." Scarlet grinned. "I see you've already met Colin."

"Aye, he's the only one around here who'd sip his Bruth." George chuckled. "Though a lot of the others have taken a liking to him just for trying it on his own."

Colin gulped. So much for blending in.

"Have you tended your treasure yet?" Scarlet gestured to the statue.

"I was about to." George said, stepping forward.

Colin stepped away, wondering what George was about to do to the statue, but George didn't touch the bird; instead, he stroked a small plant that grew between the feet of the carving.

"Legend says that the Blue Phoenix is weeping for something precious that was lost." George told Colin. "Or else that it was lonely because it could never be among its own kind. The story goes that where its tears fall, a special kind of flower blooms."

"I think George made that one up himself." Scarlet snorted. "He's dead set on growing that Silver Starburst under the feet of that carving, even though that flower will never turn silver. It's so cold, it'll always bloom white."

It also appeared to be slightly wilting, but George took out another bottle, with a clear water that sparkled, and dripped it slowly onto the plant. Then, he touched it and said, "There now. Cheer up."

Maybe it was the water, or maybe the plant really did respond to his words, but the flower perked up and seemed to bloom just a little wider.

It wasn't until George wrapped up his left hand in a thermal bandage that Colin realized he'd just touched the flower with his bare hands, even in the winter cold. Colin himself wore those fur-lined leather gloves Scarlet got for him last night and had no intention of ever taking them off if he could help it. But George clearly treasured that flower enough that he wanted to touch it with his own hand.

Scarlet turned to him then. "So, Colin…

"What do you think of the Gardener?"