Descending Thunder Mountain

'Damn it!' The little kitten cursed as her closed eyes shot open, an aggrieved look in them. 'I feel like I'm so close to breaking through... But so far away at the same time...'

The little kitten could only sigh as she returned to her cultivation. By her side, the head of the Wilderwolf Soldier's had finished his inspection of his new spear and was now also cultivating as he waited for his master's to return from the Thunder Mountain Trials.

Silence pervaded throughout the peak of Thunder Mountain as people stood or sat patiently, either cultivating or making small conversation as the awaited the passing of time. Every now and then, a distortion in space in front of the Thunder Mountain Ruins would appear, bringing forth a person or Magical Beast, wearing either a smile or a frown considering their results.

Eventually, a familiar loud laughter resounded upon the arrival of a new distortion in space, summoning the presence of the equally familiar features of a middle-aged bald man with a boisterous grin. It was Uncle Kil!

"Has that stupid nephew of mine still not come out yet?" Uncle Kil grumbled upon noticing that only the kitten and the head of the Wilderwolf Soldier's were the only one's out of the Thunder Mountain Trials. "Oh well, let's forget about that brat, for this Thunder Mountain Hunt has been quite fortuitous for me!"

Uncle Kil smashed his right fist into his left hands palm, bringing the little kitten and the Wilderwolf Soldier's attention to a new set of gloves that the man was now donning. These gloves were pitch black, with ice blue runes skirting the edges.

"Oh, a set of Magical gloves?" The head of the Wilderwolf Soldier's said with an 'o' face. "How timely, didn't you just break your last pair of Magical gloves a while ago?"

'Uncle Kil's fists have actually destroyed Magical items?!' The side of the little kitten's mouth twitched. Magical Items were made of the strongest and most treasured materials, that was some fist strength!

"Hahaha. It was indeed so!" Uncle Kil laughed heartily. "And these gloves are even better than any of my old ones. Its actually a Purple Rarity Vibrant Rank pair of gloves called the Frigid Flash Gloves."

"Try not to break these ones, then!" The Wilderwolf soldier teased.

"Haha, no promises, no promises!" Uncle Kil grinned boastfully as he deeply admired the black gloves on his hands, looking them all over.

'Shameless, really shameless.' The little kitten shook her head and returned her attention to cultivating.

While previously, the hundred or so of them had depleted the external aura atop Thunder Mountain after four days of successive cultivating, there was actually still quite a bit of external aura left over. The little kitten was hoping to use this aura rich area to aid in her hopeful breakthrough, pulling the external aura into her soul to attempt to start the evolving process.

Yet, it would seem she was not fated to succeed so soon.

'This must be due to my lack of experience and knowledge. Looks like I'll have to be a little more patient and maybe ask Jonathan for some pointers.' The little kitten came to this decision and chose to stop cultivating. As she was not making any progress anyway, she chose to instead spend the rest of her time sleeping as she awaited the arrival of Jonathan and the rest of the Magician's and Magical Beast's inside the Thunder Mountain ruins.

The little kitten curled into a soft pile beside Uncle Kil and the Wilderwolf Soldier as they exchanged stories of their personal trials. With a silent yawn, the little kitten's eyes closed hazily and soon, unconsciousness took hold of her and she entered a peaceful slumber...

★★★

"...He-... Little la-... -ake up..." A familiar, masculine voice awoke the little kitten from her sleep. Immediately, she let out a long, wide mouthed yawn before her eyes opened hazily.

As her blurry vision cleared and her brain seemed to awake from its slumber, the little kitten noticed that it was the sound of Jonathan's voice that had awoken her. She could now see Jonathan kneeling down next to her, prodding her sides with his finger, trying to wake her up.

Upon noticing her yawning awake, Jonathan's mouth curled into a smile and he held back his prodding finger as he waited for her to properly wake up.

"Meow!" The little kitten greeted with a purr as she lazily sat up from her sleeping posture and yawned once more before her feline mouth seemed to form into a wry expression. 'I'm still so tired... Loos like that trial tired me out a lot more than I ever imagined... I guess I did require the aid of the Vitality Potion three times... Ah, so tired!...'

The little kitten's eyes were barely open and it felt as if her sleep seemed to only make her more tired than anything else...

"That trial must have put you through the wringer." Jonathan chuckled as he patted the little kitten's furry head.

"Meow!!" The little kitten nodded furiously as she grumbled in thought. 'That damned freak put me through hell! All that teleporting... I bet it didn't need to teleport half as much as it did!'

Jonathan simply chuckled at the kitten's enthusiasm and stood up from his kneeling position and faced a little ways off from the kitten's position. Turning her head to align with him, the kitten noticed that the number of people outside of the Thunder Mountain ruins had to be nearing the hundred or so people that made up their large group. The little kitten also noticed that the four other Wilderwolf soldier's who were still partaking in their trials were also here, meaning that all members of their party had completed their trials now.

"We're just wa-" As Jonathan was speaking, a distortion in space appeared before a female Magician appeared, a deep smile on her face. "Scratch that, I believe that was the final entree. The two Sky Magician's should be preparing themselves to take us down Thunder Mountain now."

"There we go." Uncle Kil pointed his jaw in a certain direction, pointing Jonathan and the little kitten's view to find the two Sky Magician's, Mist Step and Hidden Blade walking leisurely up a hill where they came to a stop at its highest point. This gave them a good overview of the rest of the Magician's and Magical Beast's and allowed most everyone to see them as well. Any chattering was quelled when they noticed the presence of these two as the knew they were about to talk.

"I want everyone prepared to set off down Thunder Mountain in thirty minutes. If I see anyone coveting anyone else's rewards and any fighting, me and Mist Step will be forced to step in according to the laws of the Thunder Mountain Hunt." Hidden Blade's stoic voice resounded in everyone's ears, a serious and dark glint could be seen in his eyes as he spoke the second sentence.

"Meow?" The little kitten tilted her head at Jonathan who was stood at her side, who laughed at her cute actions before picking her up in his hands.

"These kind of laws are quite commonplace with events sponsored by the Kingdoms. Its a law to help foster young Magician's and protect them from falling before their prime. The Kingdoms would really be kicking themselves in the foot if they allowed too much inner fighting." Jonathan casually explained as he stroked her fur.

It was at this point that the little kitten remembered about the rewards from the Thunder Mountain Trials and noticed that she had not noticed Jonathan's reward or inquired about it due to her tired state. Thinking of this, the little kitten began to look around Jonathan's body as much as she could, only to find nothing, eventually turning to look back at Jonathan's face as she mewed. "Meow?"

"Hmm?... Are you wondering what I won?" Jonathan rose his eyebrows tauntingly with a chuckle. "Its a secret, I'll show you later!"

The little kitten could only frown and turn her attention elsewhere.

Meanwhile, around the two, people were busy at work as they stored away any of their miscellaneous items and in thirty minutes everyone was ready to descend Thunder Mountain...