Approaching sixteen

Gradually the sword and palm arts that belonged to Ki were slowly being integrated into her movements so they came more natural and the drunken movements that were a primary part of them did not require her to drink alcohol to achieve that state.

As the time had passed, Ki had grown to the age of fifteen and was approaching the age of sixteen as the time for her coming of age was quickly approaching.

There were many advancements on the weapon and tool building along with the mystical runes and markings so there were more that were introduced to some of the techniques after they had been tested.

Snow, water and ice runes were the first to be introduced and used on the many Divine Ice Sect disciples that were in hiding but the basic animal runes were used to help more people gain a suitable contract if they had shown their loyalty or talents within the village.

Just like the White Wolf group, different other groups were formed one after another but due to the difficulty of finding some specific animals or the difficulty to catch them alive, some of the teams did not have many members.

Those practicing snake forms were paired up with a snake companion to help increase their physical capabilities and to help them adapt to the forms better but learning from directly interacting with and watching a snake was the best way for them to truly learn the essence of the snake forms.

Those practicing the eagle forms who were lucky enough were able to obtain a contract with an eagle but due to them not being entirely from the central lands, the others had to settle for other birds to used for scouting in the air.

Tigers, panthers and leopards were tougher to catch but they would occasionally appear for a high price so while a small amount of people had a contract with one, the others had to settle for other more common feline predators or ordinary cats so those that had them acted as companions, scouts or mounts depending on what they had.

A crane was a rarity so it had not been obtained while the mantis did not provide much assistance to their contractor but boars were a lot easier to get so those that used that form were able to obtain a contract.

The overall security and power of the Bombyx village had grown a lot over the years and it was slowly becoming a little less dependant on Ki and Rashida's group who usually helped out behind the scenes.

Ki had actually spent a long time away from bloodshed and had not killed anyone herself since the events involving the Blood Sect.

Her short wavy brown hair had grown out to become medium length but she started wearing hair accessories to keep it from getting in the way of her daily activities.

Her mother always insisted that she grow her hair out and that she would act more ladylike but Ki could only follow her mothers wishes to a certain limit since she had her own likes and preferences.

While she still kept up her usual hobby of making different teas, wines, gu, poisons and medicines, her wines and teas were the main parts of her business which had been in a higher demand over the time that had passed.

After the flood season was over with, the dire need for medicine and food was gradually reduced so the business in the medicine halls was slightly lower but it was still profitable.

The wines and other alcoholic beverages Ki had made and put up for sale were very popular among the nobles as they made her gain many profits for just the ordinary ones so she occasionally placed some of her aged and better quality wines in special auctions within Wolfden City which had been stabilised after a lot of the main troublemakers were removed.

The work of Nox and the Reapers was very efficient and it resulted in many battles between different gangs and mercenary groups as they believed the other to be behind the deaths of their comrades or the sabotage of their operations.

Many were broken apart and they were either removed from the city, they died in battle, they were assassinated or they were swallowed up by Nox.

If there was one thing that had changed greatly then it was that a new person had been put in charge of the Bombyx families northern business operations as they had shown excellent results.

Among the candidates that Ki had been tracking down due to their later developing talents and fame without the support of others, a woman was among them and like many others, later in her life she suddenly disappeared and her businesses were swallowed up.

She had been among the many people which had been recruited and she worked for the family steadily making her way up so Ki had Isaac keep an eye on her.

As she kept making contributions to the family business and was honest, Ki gave her a chance a year ago which resulted in her taking up the position of handling the business in the northern lands.

With someone to actively control the business there and build relations in the north for the families sake, there were less difficulties in gaining further connections with those from the capital of the northern lands which was gradually laying the groundwork for her coming of age.

While there had not been anything major happening around the continent, there had been a couple of reports about occasional attacks on the merchant carriages and the farms but they were quickly handled by one of her groups or those allied with her.

None of the major powers had made their move yet but there had been reported news related to the southern lands which was out of Ki's expectations as she had no memory of such events taking places.

Pirate ships had been attacking fishing and merchant ships which resulted in them either being made subordinates of the pirates or they were looted and killed.

Gradually the influence of the pirates was spreading to the docks of the southern lands as those in power had lost many of their forces to them.

Ki believed that something strange was behind such events and that their power was growing too quickly or they had been in hiding for a long time but she did not know what triggered such a change.

She did not know that the young lady of the Estrella family was behind it all and she had subdued many pirates, fishermen, merchants and many people on the small islands but she was still not satisfied with what she had so her eyes turned back towards the southern lands.

With the assistance of her families banned techniques, she was able to build her influence and power quickly and live like a queen of the seas.