Short Tour

After the conversation of the heavenly bed, it was early afternoon. Loki had Riveria and Finn show me around the Twilight Manor. They introduced me to several older members we passed and took me to some of the more useful areas, like the kitchen and the familia bathing house. After a bit of wandering, we made our way to the training area where six figures currently were sparring with each other.

We all stood watching them for a few minutes in silence. They all moved quickly and efficiently, anticipating and blocking the other person's advances. Sometimes, one would get in a quick slice on the other, but it was always quickly returned by the other person.

After a bit, Riveria spoke softly, loud enough to be heard over the clangs, but not loud enough to disturb them.

Riveria: These people, Aelita, are part of the familia's strongest team. Finn and I make up the other part.

She gestured to the two people fighting back to back, them both facing three opponents. Another fought beside them, but it was clear that two of them were related.

Riveria: Those two are the twins. Tiona has the double bladed sword, while Tione holds the smaller throwing knives.

I watched the two fight and were impressed by the fluidity of their teamwork. Tiona had short hair and a bandeau top, dropping low in her long wrap skirts as she attempted to sweep the legs out from her opponent. Her sister, Tione, moved swiftly as her longer brown hair swished through the air. Her short skirt swayed she caught her opponent's weapon in her blade, and her other blade pushed off from her bralette top. Some unspoken agreement must have happened between the twins because next thing I knew, they had switched opponents. Their arm guards clanked against each other as they moved around in a fluid circle.

Riveria: The one fighting with them is Ais.

I shifted my attention to the one next to the twins, fighting just as hard but with more force and less grace. Her upper half was armored, her long blonde hair held back with a similar armored headband. Tall blue boots came up to her thighs, adorned with silver armor as well. She fought hard and fast, but she seemed to be pulling her blows. I winced at the sight of how hard she was hitting, and her sword seemed like it almost couldn't handle her strength.

Riveria continued her semi-introductions.

Riveria: The two fighting melee with them are Bete and Garith.

Garith smashed his axe against the giant double sided sword of Tiona. He let out a yell, but I couldn't really see his mouth moving due to a giant bushy beard. Green robes and a tattered red cape were a blur as he moved backwards, readying another swing. I nodded, impressed at the dwarf's stamina. The sword was bigger than he was, and that was including the horned helmet he wore.

A flash from the other side of the fight caught my attention and I looked toward the one Riveria called Bete. I was a bit shocked to see silver hair leading to ears, and a twitching tail behind him. A werewolf then? He only had white armor on his forearms and below the knees, and I watched as he jumped back from the swing of Tione's throwing knives.

She narrowly missed his bare chest, his shoulders jerking back and his silver half jacket opening more. He jumped back at her, snarling as his two curved blades swung towards her head. She dodged and laughed at him before continuing her assault. One of his swords caught the downswing of Ais's sword and the hilt of his other sword blocked the thrown dagger by Tione.

A sudden burst of magic drew my eye to the girl I had barely noticed before. The staff in her hands deemed her a mage, and I watched as magic missiles shot towards everyone in the middle. I couldn't figure out who she was aiming at, and as magic rained down on everyone in the middle I quickly realized that they were all dodging her attacks. Ah, so neither side. Or both sides?

Riveria: The magic user is Lefiya. It's always a bit difficult to include her in group training since she's not a close combatant, but we like to keep everyone on their toes, so they never know when she will attack them.

I could hear both pride and amusement in her voice as she watched her team train.

Finn clapped his hands loudly, catching everyone's attention and bringing the training to a halt.

Finn: Sorry to interrupt the daily sparring match, but I wanted to introduce our newest member. She's never been in a familia before, but she has a lot of potential so Loki-sama asked if we would bring her in as a trainee. Take it easy on her.

He turned to appraise me before looking back at the team.

Finn: Actually, don't take it too easy. She seems like she could handle it.

He winked at me before walking away towards the group, striking up a conversation with his teammates. Riveria smiled at me before walking away as well, approaching Lefiya, who stood away from the group.

I stood there awkwardly, not sure if I should walk towards them or not. Deciding to try and take the cool approach, I leaned against the wall and tried not to look like I wanted to be anywhere but here.

I heard someone call out to me to get my attention. I turned towards the sound and found Ais looking my direction. She tilted her head a bit to the side.

Ais: Are you strong?

I blinked. A bit blunt, but a good question for someone you're meant to train. I weighed the question, debating how to answer it. I wasn't really in the mood to spar, and the way she shifted back and forth on her feet seemed like she was still itching for a fight.

I shrugged at her question before responding.

Me: I think that I'm strong for someone at my level, but I'm pretty sure anyone here right now could destroy me in a fight.

She looked me up and down as if gauging me before nodding and turning back to her teammates. Nudging the dwarf with the end of her sword, he laughed and brought his axe back up. They moved away from the talking group and the sound of metal against metal started back up once more.

I decided to take this moment to myself and talk to System about future possibilities.

Me: 'Hey System, tell me about bloodlines.'

I watched as everyone either chatted or fought, forcing myself to relax. Today had been very eventful.

System: {Each bloodline increases certain parameters instantly while giving future growth for said parameters an increase. White Tiger affects agility, Black Turtle increases endurance, Vermillion Bird is effective for magic, and Azure Dragon is the most balanced giving an increase to power, endurance, and magic, but at a lesser scale. You gain the skill Transform once you add any bloodline.}

Me: 'Interesting... what if I stack the bloodlines?'

There was a moment as System seemed to be thinking.

System: {In theory, that could work only for you. The bloodlines would be hidden behind your progenitor bloodline, but I would highly caution you to only choose one bloodline to keep public and use the Transformation skill with. In this world, species cannot mix without demerits except in very rare circumstances, and I would suggest you keep to that rule to avoid suspicion.}

I hummed to myself and nodded. I wouldn't add the bloodlines just yet then.