81 || The Unity Crown And The Youths League

The three Node projections disappear and rejoin with her body. Tara feels as if her aural points are now encased within a two colored protective covering. This, she now knows instinctively, will further protect them from eye techniques or energy strikes from others. While the quantity of energy within her aural ports hasn't grown, Tara can feel the quality is different.

If before she had initial Vein Plating strength, then now she had crossed the threshold into low stage! Now she is whole stage ahead strength wise. Luckily, in furthering Billowing Muscles, she'd get a hang of her new power easily.

Tara flexes her hand before it flashes white with Light energy! The training they went under all got transferred to her main body! Tara gives a delighted laugh as she fires off a bird made of pure Light. Before she can further examine anything more, she receives a notification.

[Secret Quest: Node Training 1 Complete!]

Rewards:

Cluster Soma Node (Level 1) |Mindful Dark Node (Level 1) | Ordained Soul Node (Level 1)

Bonus Reward:

Particle of Gravity

Node Creation Technique

This catches her off guard. A Hidden Quest is unlocked by meeting certain requirements. For instance, Aster Fang and her team unlocked a Hidden Quest called The Lost Engineer. The Boss they had fought had not only been an exiled genius of their Kingdom, but also a former star graduate from their Academy.

These two things had triggered the Hidden Quest, which had yielded them more rewards when moving through and clearing the Trial Dungeon! Another example would be the Chain Quest Tara did previously. A Chain Quest is a specific type of Hidden Quest!

A Secret Quest, however, activates without any notification and only reveals itself once the player succeeded! These were often harder than Legendary Quests because one wouldn't know the guidelines until they won a reward!

"We'll continue the training at a later date. Till then practice with your new abilities, especially that blade technique. I'm sorry we didn't get to touch on it since I'm curious about it, but for now I'm tired. I'll see you later."

Msiretsa taps Tara on her forehead and she's forcefully ejected out of her Story. Startled by another ejection that bypasses the Starting space, Tara's eyes open to find herself in a blue and gold gel like substance. It oddly doesn't feel uncomfortable as her body and mind feel very refreshed and alert.

It's only once Tara is being assisted out of the pod that she notices the differences. While not sore, her muscles feel tense. Not only that but Tara can see farther and clearer while her thoughts seem to be moving faster through her mind. A spell of dizziness wafts over Tara.

"Here, dear, drink some water." Grandma Ahana's voice centers Tara as the feeling fades a little. Grateful, Tara downs the glass as her grandmother and mom lead her to a waiting room. Painted a comforting blue, the three generations of Prakash women sit on a large couch. The lights in the room dim enough so that Tara doesn't stress her eyes. Even with them closed, Tara is aware of the space around her

"Mom? Grandma? What's going on? Why does my body feel so weird? And don't make a joke about puberty just because you went through it twice Mom." Tara huffs as she tries to calm down. Ahana can't help but laugh at this as Karuna rolls her eyes at having been caught.

Ahana then taps the glass coffee table before them, pulling up multiple holographic screens. Her grandmother and mom watch as Tara rapidly takes in all the content concerning natural Expertise and technical Mastery. It's all the studies, videos, and theories they've accumulated since Starshine's partnership with Blueriver. Tara doesn't even notice that usually she'd be overwhelmed by so much information at once, instead intently absorbing what she can.

Ahana speaks once Tara blinks a few times and bows her head to process all she's seen. "This is the other side of the world we live in. Experts have always existed since ancient times but it is only since the start of virtual reality it is more attainable than mythological. Speed and Strength experts are more common all things considered while Sensory is more rare. There's said to be a fourth category as well."

"I saw that! They call it Support? They're people who can process a lot of information and make predictions from it. I think it's so unheard of because it doesn't have any obvious tells like the other three. Wait, I'm a Support Expert?! Then why does my body hurt?" Tara whines.

"That's because you've done something only the old man achieved," Tara looks over her shoulder to see her Uncle Guotin and Aunt Tanisha enter the room together.

"Oh ho arriving together. Have you two finally stopped playing around and decided to give me more beautiful grandbabies?" Ahana chuckles as the duo look a little rougher despite their neat dress. Tara's eyebrows go sky high as she looks over to see the two blush.

"W-we were merely doing some light training before we got word about Tara, mother!" Tanisha snaps as they walk around to the other couch set. Ahana continues to laugh behind her hand as Karuna gives her baby sister a knowing look.

"What did you mean, uncle?" Tara asks.

"When an Expert manages to acquire another Expertise even on a minor scale, we call them an Apex. Besides the old man, you're the only person to have achieved a dual breakthrough at the very start. For that matter, do you feel more tension in your body or more flexibility with your limbs?"

"I feel tension?" Tara answers, still focusing on how she's like her Grandpa Boying. Guotin cheers while Tanisha groans.

"You two made a bet on my child." Karuna narrows her eyes at them. Though Guotin is older than Karuna by a few years and they are both Apex, they shiver under her glare. Guotin coughs.

"I will handle your Strength Expert training from now on, while your aunt will instruct you on a Basic Retention Technique she's mastered. Also bring your little classmates, we'll pair them up with a frontliner for some daytime practice, even the Artisans." He announces with genuine seriousness. Becoming an Expert was a matter to be dealt with the utmost care.

Tara's eyes brighten. To be trained by either her aunt or uncle is a dream of many people! She was lucky enough to get guidance from both! And her friends will get some tips from the strongest Guild!

When she asked if there was any way to train her Support Expertise, everyone shook their heads. Support Experts were rarer than a dragon scale, phoenix feather, or abada horn in virtuality. The only way to grow is to simply use it.

With that, the two left to go plan her training regime, leaving Tara with her grandma and mom.

"There was something else I wanted to tell you," Tara explains that her internal guardians remember when she's in the start space, during her fight with Whitmount, as well as the chatroom. Both of their sets of eyes glint with curiosity and already have pulled up their own tablets. They're checking if any higher level Summoners have experienced this in the past, as at a certain level their Summons have some intelligence!

"This hasn't happened before?" Ahana sighs in wonder.

"Do you think the holofield could handle sentient beings? We've only used it for combat practice. And Tara couldn't use her true strength at a lower magnetic frequency, I can't imagine what it would take to give them holoforms." Karuna points out but the gears start turning in both their heads.

"If we can figure it out then couldn't we revolutionize the Raid category?" Ahana realizes. Tara's surprised at this. Tournaments were divided into three sections:

Matchups, which had teams of 5 compete in single, duo, trio, and full team fights.

Labyrinth, which had teams of 5 to 10 explore a maze like Dungeon from different entrances to reach a crystal core.

Raid, the tiebreaker, where the teams would fight against a Boss monster. Whoever dealt the most damage within the time limit would win first place.

The upcoming Youth Leagues tournament was arriving soon, now that Tara remembered. She wondered how far friends would get. Ranging from 15 to 25, the Youth League is an international coalition made by the younger generations a decade ago. It started as a network for newbies to trade items, insights, and moves with their older peers. They ended up being the main organizer for their age groups' tournaments once even upper Organizations youths joined.

High schoolers were welcome to join the Youth League in order to win a spot at State and then National level events. This was hardly achieved however as the average teen had poor combat standards and Equipment. Unless they had certain circumstances like being a reserve member for a Workshop or Guild, one could be the best in their school district but not be strong enough to reach State.

In North America, should they reach National level, they could find themselves at the Unity Crown. This was a gathering of the best teams on the East and West Coast, as well as the Midwest and Deep South. Whoever won would own the Unity Crown for a year. National competitions like Unity Crown Tournament were so important for the last 30 years, that Dragon's Cross was the first to make their trophies into a special Ornamental Equipment.

They all had the same effect but were extremely vied for: placed in a Guild Residence then all members would have a 10% increase to Experience, physical strength, and magical performance. When used during a group combat such as Raid, Guild War, or Dungeon Run, those that owned a Competition Trophy would have a boosted Health or lower Skill cooldown depending on a player's individual stats.

Luckily it was rare that the upper powers sent their youths to such competitions, otherwise they would dominate! Instead Super Guilds and Elite Workshops, even Ultra Guilds, pay attention to recruit outstanding talents. And those that weren't up to those high standards were still recruited to first-rate powers!

With dawn arriving soon and her mom and grandma spurred into research mode after the night's events, Tara decides to head home. She'll have to explain what happened to Qisma, Renee, and Kristen before telling the rest of their classmates about her uncle's proposal. In that travel time she checked new rewards on the screen on the divider:

Particle of Gravity (1/3): The first law of the universe states there is balance in all things

Cluster Soma Node (Level 1)

Mindful Dark Node (Level 1) |

Ordained Soul Node (Level 1)

Node Creation Technique

Just as Tara is going to read a further description, however, there is a sudden flash of light. Her mind spurs into action as another larger vehicle rams into the car she's in. In the next split second, as the car is spinning on the dawn broken road, she's already analyzing various factors before planning her next move: what's in the car that can be used as a weapon, how fast they were driving, and her own combat capabilities at this moment.