Chapter 17

The wind, which had been getting aggressive and faster, could only die out in disappointment. Raising her eyebrow at the sudden and random wind, Rain looked around her but found no one that could've done such. She also noticed the light that was only shining on her and looked up to look at the moons. She found that the sky was obnoxiously overcast except for the one spot right above her. A small opening in the clouds allowed for the light to pass through. Rain, concerned, stood up and took a step outside of the light shining down. The light did not follow her movements, and Rain could only let out a sigh of relief.

When Rain gained her wits about her, she saw that she had received a notification, but she never remembered her getting one. She opened it up and looked at it, and raised her eyebrows in surprise at what she saw.

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After having spent considerable time in a meditative state, you have unlocked a skill

-Meditation-

Would you like to spend a Potential Point to unlock?

-Yes/No

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'This would be my second skill," Rain thought to herself giddily. 'If I bought this skill, I would have one Potential Point left, but I am rather close to leveling up. I don't know how rare the skills and abilities are to get or how rare the potential points are, even though I still want to get the skill. I am here for fun anyways, so what's the harm.' Making the decision, Rain bought the -Meditation- skill and decided to look at her character menu.

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--Character Menu--

Name: Rain [ Soundless Rain ] {Hidden}

Race: Human

Evolutionary Path: {Esper} White Mist; Rank: F

Level: 4

Experience: 98%

Health: 100%

Power: F

-Only as strong as regular people

Classes:

- None

Abilities/Skills

- Shortsword Mastery; Rank: E

-Increases skill with shortswords (Or other similar weapons)

- Meditation; Rank: F

-Removes the need to rest, so long as it is replaced by mediation (2 Hours)

Potential Points: 1

-Can be used to unlock Classes and Abilities

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'Well, that looks like a rather lackluster skill. Who knows, maybe it gets stronger the more you use it or something like that,' Rain thought to herself. However, Rain was notified that she had accomplished her eight hours of sleep, yet Rain was absolutely certain that she hadn't been out for eight hours. 'Guess -Meditation- already affected me,' Rain thought to herself. 'But now what? It's just me, and I've got nothing to do. Maybe I can go find someplace that's open and see what's around.

Rain stood up and made her way back to her boots before putting them on. She went to the large doors and was about to open them, but she heard someone coming into the courtyard behind her. Unable to resist her curiosity, she turned her head to see who it was, and much to her surprise, it was John. John, who was walking out of the door fully geared up with his spear and armor, seemed to be lost in his thoughts. Yet that still wasn't enough for him to stop in his tracks when he saw Rain.

"Uh... hi," Rain couldn't help but say nervously. John was stuck staring at Rain. Obvious confusion was plastered on his face.

"Why are you up," he asked, slow and confused.

"I couldn't sleep, so I came out here to meditate. Why are you up?"

"I couldn't sleep, so I wanted to do something."

"And the uniform?"

"Same reason you wear yours, Rain. It's comfortable and makes things easier."

"I guess that's fair," she said slowly, "so... what are you going to do?"

"I don't know yet, might just walk around town, maybe do some rounds."

"Could I..." Rain lead on.

"So long as you don't annoy me," John lamented. Rain could only help in reply to his mannerisms. John began to make his way to the door and pushed open the large wooden doors before making his way outside without stopping. Rain quickly ran to catch up to him before he got too far away. The two of them walked around the town aimlessly. They were walking up and down streets and going to places that Rain had never seen before. It was quite an experience for her to just be able to see the town without the fear of getting lost. Occasionally, Rain would look up at John. He hadn't noticed his short and unkempt brown hair that looked uneven. His stubby face and beard looked like he shaved it with a knife. Finally, she could see his vibrant blue eyes that constantly looked around, a contrast to the surprisingly lazy look on his face. Although Rain hadn't really met and knew John, it seemed like his nightly walks showed a slightly different side of him.

"Hey John," Rain suddenly interjected into the silence that had surrounded them.

"Mm." John seemed to have made a sort of grunting sound in response. Rain wasn't sure what sound he had made was, or even how he had made it.

"Do you really think that there is someone behind 'Ravenging Hog' from a few days ago?"

"I do," John replied instantly, without even taking a moment to think about it.

"How are you so sure? 'The Wanderers' went through the forest the entirety of yesterday, and we didn't find anything. Not even one other monster with marks on it. Wouldn't it be obvious if there was someone in the forest corraling the monsters?" In response, John could only give a self-deprecating chuckle to himself.

"Just consider it a good hunch. Someone is out there corraling them. I know it."

"But why would they corral the monsters? What could they possibly gain from it?"

"Power," John replied again, instantly.

"You seem quite sure of this. Is this why it happened last time?" After Rain spoke, John looked down harshly at her. The look in his eyes was murderous and had an extreme level of malicious intent. However, it only lasted a second before he released a sigh and looked back out in front of him.

"This has everything to do with what happened ten years ago," John said, his voice lazy and slow. Yet Rain could hear a great amount of grievance in it. However, Rain couldn't dwell on why his voice contained the grievance. She was much too occupied with why John gave her such a menacing glare. She didn't do anything wrong, right? She was just asking some basic questions. While Rain was distracted by the reasoning behind John's actions, they ended up passing in front of the AGB.

"I'm going to go on my own now. I'll leave you off here," John spoke out. At the suddenness of his statement, Rain could only make a soft 'mm' sound. John began to walk off; however, after a few steps, he stopped. "You should look deep into the forest today. Very deep into the forest." Without speaking or looking back again, John walked off into the night. His retreating figure seemed to walk into the darkness as if the moons didn't dare to lighten his path. Rain was left stumped, her figure standing in the few spots of light the moon shone.

"Why is he like that," Rain couldn't help but ask. "What did I do for him to treat me like that?" She couldn't help but snort to herself and think of John as a brat. She opened the doors to the AGB and walked into the open courtyard, where she saw some of the same people from the previous night in the courtyard. However, what she wasn't expecting was to see Kalic.

Kalic was currently sparring against another member. They weren't using weapons; instead were using some form of martial arts and were trying to pin the other. It wasn't wrestling as they were standing, but it seemed like they were trying to throw the other and then pin them. Kalic's opponent was smaller than him and was likely struggling against such a stronger and larger opponent. Yet it didn't look like he let it get to him. The two of them circled each other, each throwing out a grab, and the other would dodge. It looked like this stalemate would go on forever. However, Kalic's opponent threw out a grab, and Kalic dodged it, but it was faint. Kalic's opponent stepped in closer and quickly grabbed onto Kalics arm, which was not the usual spot he was trying to grab and tried to drag Kalic to the ground. However, Kalic responded quickly and quickly maneuvered himself into a position where he couldn't be thrown but could throw his opponent. He quickly used his superior strength to leverage the opponent off the ground and then proceeded to throw him onto the ground. Quickly following him down, Kalic pinned his opponent down.

The two of them stood back up and shook after their spar, and they conversed for a few moments before they separated. Kalic turned around and saw Rain watching him. He smiled and waved her over.

"What are you doing up," Kalic asked Rain nonchalantly.

"Couldn't sleep," Rain said while shrugging her shoulders. Kalic sighed in response.

"Far too many people have been having that problem. If they don't sleep, they'll get restless during the day, and they will start making mistakes. I hope this ends soon."

"It hopefully shouldn't," Rain said, trying to comfort Kalic, who could only smile in response.

"Come, let's spar," Kalic said while motioning her onto the courtyard. Rain could only take off her boots and step onto the all too familiar ground of the courtyard. Kalic grabbed a wooden training sword that was lying on the ground. He dropped down into his all too familiar guard. Rain went to grab her sword, but then she realized she didn't have a training sword. Kalic seeing the sudden confusion and distress from Rain, spoke.

"You're good enough to use a real blade against me, plus you still won't be able to beat me. Unless you suddenly got stronger again," Kalic said, motioning for Rain to come at him. Rain could only draw her blade and drop into her stance. Moving closer towards Kalic, but slowly this time. Right before she got into Kalic's range, she jumped at him, slashing at him. Kalic raised his blade and blocked the strike. His big and sturdy arms could take the force of Rain's strikes. Kalic then struck down with his blade. Rain quickly took her blade and deflected the strike to her side. With her weapon in good positioning, she jabbed. Kalic stepped to his side, but Rain followed him with her blade, transforming the jab into a slash. Kalic swung his blade and deflected the strike down. Yet, Rain wasn't done with her offensive. She swung her blade upwards, forcing Kalic to take a step back to avoid the blade. Seeing Rain's open guard, Kalic slashed at Rain. Rain stepped away from the blade, buying her enough time to get her blade down to her. She crouched down and deflected the blade over her. She quickly took a few steps back to get out of Kalic's range. She took a deep breath and quickly stretched her arms out. Kalic only watched her coldly. Rain rushed back into Kalic's range; however, this time, he slashed upwards at her in preparation for her entering his range. Rain stopped just short of his blade, the wind from it sweeping past her brushed her hair to the side. Rain then continued into Kalic's range to battle him again.

Rain and Kalic sparred each other for some time, with no clear winner ever in sight. Yet Rain knew Kalic was holding back. If he was using his full strength, he would be able to finish the fight in just a couple of swings. Yet he was holding back this time, and Rain wasn't sure why. Was it to allow her to show off her skills, or was he maybe just allowing her to get some good practice in? Rain didn't know, but she didn't really care either. She was just happy that she was finally able to go all out for an extended period of time. She didn't know how long they had been sparring. However, what she did know was that the moons were out when she began the spar, and when it finally ended, the suns was rising. Their spar ended with no clear winner. However, Rain knew that Kalic still could've won easily.

"Why didn't you resist with your full strength," Rain asked Kalic while breathing heavily.

"I just felt like it," Kalic said, a melancholic and self-deprecating smile forming on his face. "I just wanted to allow you to go full out." Rain was rather confused by his words but didn't take it that much to heart.

"I'll always see you, and we can always practice," Rain stated, rather confused. Kalic didn't respond but made an almost inaudible 'mm' sound. At the same time, Rain was taking some deep breaths after her spar when the rest of 'The Wanderers' came into the courtyard. They all looked well-rested and ready for the adventure, except Benji. He just looked like he wanted to die and just wanted to get away from Sunny, who was currently staring daggers at him. However, she turned back to Rain and smiled.

"Ready to go," Sunny asked.

"Certainly, let's go," Rain beamed. She said her goodbyes to Kalic before she grabbed her boots, put them on, and met the rest of the group at the door, and they began to make their way into the forest.