Ondun woke up the next morning to find the bird he'd rescued the previous day sitting on his chest and staring down at him curiously. "Galebul!" came the cry.

  "Good morning to you too, little one." Ondun rubbed the sleep from his eyes and slowly rose as the Galebul flapped off onto Strudel's head, where the tiny bird landed. The canine Mon tracked the tiny bird with his eyes, so Ondun was treated to a cross-eyed Strudel as well. A laugh escaped, only for both Mons to immediately stare at him.

  "Sorry. I'll put on the morning tea." With a flash of light, Ondun drew upon the knowledge, powers, and gear of the Shinobi and quickly began to light the fires. When Ondun returned with a very small amount of wood, he found Sylvie already up and waiting for him.

  "G'morning," she greeted. "So. You know what Galebul evolves into. Are you sure you want her on your team?"

  Ondun set the wood onto the fire, made the signs for a Fire jutsu again, then set some water that Strudel had filled the kettle with into it. "I do."

  "You know her higher form is...difficult...to deal with, right?"

  Ondun nodded. "We...well, you...looked it up yesterday. Besides, I'm fairly sure some people in this world say the same about me." Like Alice, for instance, Ondun added mentally. While her concern was genuine, he could empathize with a head of state when a powerful individual landed in their midst. As much as Ondun didn't like to own his title of "The Greatest Hero" under normal circumstances, even he wasn't oblivious to the fact he'd at least earned it.

  Ondun diverted his gaze from the young monster coach and down to Galebul. "Little one. I'm on a journey. I'm not from this world. I don't know how long I'll be here. I'm an adventurer and a fighter. I don't know where my road will take me."

  "Galebul." Okay. Ondun interpreted the bird Mon's reply as an acknowledgment more than anything else. So, he continued. "To cut straight to the point: I would like you to join my team, if you want to. I know you're small now, and you've just had a very close call. I'd like to show you some things I know and work alongside Strudel..." He gestured to his friend, who was sitting proudly at his side, "...and myself. We're testing ourselves in a trial across this land called the 'Circuit.' I'm specifically looking for knowledge about how to get home, and if possible, help my friends."

  The tiny bird looked unsure and a little wary. "You don't have to join if you don't want to. I was able to heal your wounds, so if you want to fly free, I understand. You're welcome to stay or go as you see fit. I mean...as a wanderer myself, it'd be pretty rich to say 'travels for me, but not for thee,' wouldn't it?"

  Galebul tilted her head. "Galebul..." The bird was still unsure.

  Ondun nodded. "Well, in any event, I've tried. If you want to follow along, or fly off, you're welcome to." He returned his attention to Sylvie. "I think I've said all I can. By the way, the water's almost done; would you like some"?

  "But, it's not..." Then the kettle started its loud, shrill whistle. "...I stand corrected." She held out a traveling cup of some kind that already had a bag of tea leaves in it, so he filled it, then his own cup.

  He grinned. "Do you want to know how I know?" The younger traveler just nodded.

  "Fire is an element worthy of respect. It tends to burn at certain specific temperatures, based on a number of conditions. Today is a clear day, and this wood appears to be some kind of ash. While I'm no blacksmith, my prior experience tells me that with the amount of anima I used, I can boil water in about two to three minutes if I have the kettle directly in the fire as I do. Were I to use a more indirect method, it might take anywhere from seven to ten minutes." She had raised an eyebrow at this point, so Ondun merely chuckled. "I've been experimenting while I was on the road."

  The woman tapped her lip. "So...another question, can I learn how to do..." she moved her fingers in a vague approximation of the hand seals Ondun had used, "...that?"

  Ondun shrugged. "It depends on if you're able to sense and shape anima. You don't have to be a Shinobi to do it; the Shinobi way is...well..." Ondun put a hand to the necklace. It was times like this he wished he were better at explaining things the way Aenora could. However, Ondun wasn't Aenora, so he'd just have to do what he could. He let himself fall into the knowledge contained in the Knowledge Gem that Suzumi had gifted him shortly after his arrival in Wa-xia.

  The girl was still looking at him curiously.

  "Anima is a power that's all around and within us. You can say it ties living things to one another, but also to non-living things, like the air, and if you believe some cultures, the plants. Plants are definitely alive, though." Ondun added, seriously. He'd had to kill too many plant-based monsters to ever believe otherwise, whatever linguistic conventions existed in Wa-xia.

  Sylvie looked thoughtful. "So, it's kind of like something from this movie I saw about a farm boy and a smuggler who wound up taking down an evil space empire..."

  Ondun shrugged. "Magic—which is when someone draws upon the ambient anima with their will to shape an effect on reality—is something personal. I tend towards more kinetic forms of understanding, so for me, shaping hand signs or infusing anima into leaps as a Dragon Knight tends to be easier to achieve. The results speak for themselves."

  Sylvie straightened up. "Now, hold on a minute, you can also heal, like you healed Galebul here. That looked more like the magic I'm used to seeing in movies and games and stuff. That didn't look 'kinetic' or whatever at all!"

  Ondun grinned. This girl has an open mind. I'm not sure many young people back home would accept an explanation like this. "That's because it's not. It's actually really hard. The arts of the Medicus are precise and have a lot of moving parts. I only recently got the Memory Gem for this discipline. It came with a lot of knowledge already inscribed into it." Ondun reached into the neck of his shirt and showed the necklace. It was a simple brass chain, but the three gems shone brightly in the morning sun. The first was a deep blue gem, shaped a little like the head of a dragon; two nodules in about the place where eyes would be shone brightly with their own light. The second was nearly black and shaped like a heart, but in the core of this gem was a soft, purplish glow that pulsed like a heartbeat.

  The last gem was a light pale blue and was shaped a little like an open book. Within the book-like gem, lights danced to and fro, almost as if the words on a page were glimmering with their own inner power and struggling to leap from the metaphorical pages.

  "Wow...those are so pretty...how do you get one?" Sylvie asked.

  Ondun hid the necklace. "Well...this might be boring...but I'm actually working on one. Aenora—my friend from back home—taught me how to condense anima into a crystal form. It takes some effort but is apparently really good for improving one's control of magic. Want to see"?

  The girl nodded, so Ondun sat a ways from the fire and pulled out a tiny, sparkling, colorless crystal. "This is what I was able to make before. Tell you what, why don't you pull down camp while I start with this? Strudel, help Sylvie out, please."

  With a bark of "Aquepup!" the two started breaking camp down, and the tiny canine extinguished the fire. Ondun took a sip of his still hot tea, then put it down and began weaving the local anima into the crystal seed he'd created. As he meditated, he lost track of the outside world, just focusing on breathing and weaving layer after layer of anima atop the seed, slowly growing it, slowly expanding it, and slowly empowering it.

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  When Ondun opened his eyes, he found Strudel, the Galebul, and Sylvie staring at his hands. "Wow. Are you done? Even I could feel that. It felt like the Auric arts...like what Father does."

  Ondun inspected his handiwork. The colorless seed had grown larger, about half again as big as it had been before. He put the seed back. "What are Auric arts?"

  Sylvie tapped her lip. "I don't know how to explain it...but if you're doing the Circuit like me, well, we'll run into Dad. He'll show you. Somehow...somehow I think it's related to what you do, though. When you were condensing that crystal, it felt like what happens when Dad meditates, a little."

  Ondun stood and dusted himself off. "Well, then I look forward to meeting your dad. He raised a strong, skillful woman. However, to get him, we've got to hit the road."

  The young coach blushed a little but stood. She released Maggie. "Hey there, my pretty bestie! Go get a look above us, then let's set off."

  "Fledgelev!" was the acknowledgment as the tiny bird flapped off and flew high. Ondun broke down and packed his gear, then set off for the remainder of Route 41, Sylvie at his side.

  The next few hours were spent walking. Ondun was enjoying the bright, clear day, of course, but he also felt somehow restless. He started thinking about this, ignoring the travelers who were staring at him, and eventually came to a conclusion: I haven't had to fight nearly as much the last few days.

  Back home on Arcanis, for an adventurer like him, there was always a new battle hanging in the wings. Sometimes it would be a bandit, other times monsters, yet other times corrupt minor soldiers, or if you were particularly unlucky, undead or daemons. Yet here, the battles had been at best infrequent.

  Ondun thought about that. I really do fight a lot, don't I?

  With that happy thought in mind, Ondun's mind turned to the daemon that had attacked Galebul yesterday—with a look, he found Galebul riding on Strudel's back, like a general atop her war-steed, and Strudel barking at it, seemingly trying to talk to the tiny bird Mon. He smiled, but as soon as he turned his gaze ahead, his face fell into a more thoughtful mien.

  The Daemon was evidence that the odd Mon who'd appeared to Ondun at Lake Yongqi was at least a little bit correct. At this point, Ondun was very certain there was some link between this world, Monastria, and his home of Arcanis. If he had to guess, even though the Allemandian Tower, where he'd been displaced from, was basically on the opposite side of the world from Xin-xia, something like that odd gate must exist on Arcanis and was likely responsible for his displacement. Kongming looked too much like Xin-xia to be mere coincidence, and there was too much in common between the two lands. Over the years, something must have happened to introduce ideas from his world to this one.

  If Aenora were here, he could ask her for folk tales and legends. She, with her normal scholastic flair, would probably talk about the most likely ones, impressing on him that folk tales themselves weren't reliable but always carried a grain of truth nestled within them. Just thinking of her previous explanations made Ondun smile. I really do miss her. He found himself wondering what she was up to yet again.

  Still, Ondun thought, refocusing himself. Perhaps that's the best place to start. I do recall a legend of some 'Hero.' When I reach Xinling, I should start there.

  However, there was another problem. The Daemon from the previous day was still at large. While it would mean litigating his promise with Alice, the simple fact was that Ondun was probably the best-situated person in this world to take down a Daemon. Sure, Alice herself was powerful enough to handle it—if that odd Mon he'd fought, let alone that purple, gem-encrusted dragon Mon, were any indication—but Ondun had a nagging feeling that hunting that Daemon down would help him, somehow. It wasn't the Wayfarer's Brand giving him a glimpse of the future—it was just plain, simple intuition.

  "Why is a Daemon here?" Ondun said aloud. Sylvie and Galebul just looked at the adventurer, then shared one themselves. The small but growing party of humans and Mons kept walking all the while.

  Xinling City grew on the horizon with each step. From far away, the tall skyscrapers and high-rises cut an impressive figure. As Ondun got closer, he came to realize just how big the massive buildings were, their gleaming edifices of steel and glass reflecting the clear blue of the Kongming sky, the mesas and some of the larger distant waterfalls, and the flying Mons who were about—some of whom had human riders on their backs, or in a few other cases, a large carriage under claw and wing.

  The gate to this city had a number of Rangers manning it, and the travelers along Route 41 were lined up both to enter and exit the gleaming metropolis. Ondun studied the lines, noting the flow—people showed their Coach ID to the guards, said some words, and then were admitted. Ondun also studied the immediate area, as Suzumi had instructed him.

  The boundary to the city wasn't well-walled, but there were devices that Ondun assumed were some kind of surveillance device—they had a lens in them like what was installed in the camera on his smartphone. More to the point, there were periodic patrols of Rangers both on the ground and, with a glance up, in the immediate airspace. Sure, they don't seem to operate with clear healer support, but they have air superiority like the Imperials.

  As a result, Ondun gave the city a score of 6.5 out of 10 in terms of defenses. As a Shinobi, he could infiltrate the city if he had to, but between aerial surveillance, the existence of psychic Mons, and this land's advanced technology, he gave it a matter of hours before he'd have to get himself out. Entering the city conventionally was safer, easier, and possible.

  Eventually, Ondun's party found himself in the line and in front of the Rangers. They stared up at the Draconian with shock as he nodded and presented his ID. "I'm Ondun, in the employ of Dr. Eugene Wusiji. I'm not from around here, as you may guess. I've come to settle in in preparation for the Circuit."

  The Rangers, shocked as they were at the clearly not-entirely-human in front of them, scanned the ID and nodded. "So it seems. I only see one Mon registered to you. What's with the Galebul?"

  Ondun gestured to the tiny bird. "This Galebul was attacked by something along the route; that's not a Mon. In fact, I recognize it. You've got a Daemon on the loose in your woods. I would hunt it myself, but I made a promise to someone that I would stay my hand and abide by the rules of this land." The bird flapped its wings and dashed onto Ondun's shoulder. "Galebul hasn't made up her mind on joining my team or flying off yet."

  The Rangers nodded. "Oh, good. You're not one of these idiot kids who tries to beat up Mons and then forcibly recruit them. That's already a positive mark for you, at least in our book. Yeah, I see your record here. Stay clean, no violence, and you've got ten days until the Circuit properly starts, though the registration lines are already pretty long. Call that doctor of yours and get some gainful work. No lollygagging."

  Ondun nodded. He'd endured the standard city guard routine many times in his life, and he didn't foresee that abating anytime soon. "Clear like the All-Mother's crystal." He gave a bow. "I swear I will cause no trouble for you or your city."

  The guards raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar expression but took it. "Alright, go on in. Next!"

  Ondun walked a few steps ahead, and Sylvie had her ID checked and gave a much shorter accounting of herself. They glanced at Ondun, who was waiting with Strudel and Galebul, and she added, "I battled him on the road. He beat me. Yeah, the thing that attacked that Galebul is not a normal Mon. You all should really find that thing and deal with it. It tore up the Galebul pretty bad before Ondun healed it."

  The guards did a double take and cleared her. "Wait, he's a healer? That's something that only exists in fairy tales!" one said.

  "Bah, I've met an Auric Artist. Some of them can do it too," another said.

  As the Guards argued, Sylvie and Maggie skipped to Ondun. "Well, we made it in.

  I thought the guards would give us more grief than that, given..." She just gestured to Ondun, "My money was on them thinking you were some new humanoid Mon and that I'd have to pretend to be your coach."

  Ondun raised an eyebrow. "I'm not wearing a collar. Also, can humans even be stored in capture capsules?"

  The girl gave him a very serious look. "No, and do not try. It's a crime for a reason."

  Ondun nodded seriously. Their capsule technology must only work on Mons for some reason. He turned. "Well, we need to find some lodgings and settle in...excuse me, sir...can I help you?"

  There was a serious-looking man in glasses who was wearing a onesie that looked a bit like a Xin-xian species of bear called a 'Panda' who was calmly standing in front of the two coaches. "You can, but I can start by helping you. I'm a local who has some free time. Would you like to start by having a brief introduction to Xinling City? Welcome, by the way."

  Ondun and Sylvie gave each other a look and shrugged. "I don't see the harm," Sylvie said. So Ondun turned back and gave his patented stoic nod. "We accept. How may we address you?"

  "People around here call me Lowe. Anyways, the tour begins now, and there's no need to pay. Welcome to Xinling City." He gestured and started walking. Sylvie followed, and Ondun did after a moment.

  While Ondun didn't sense anything off or any ill intent, people didn't just give tours for no pay—as the Talden liked to say, "Time is money." While Ondun was confident he could handle any potential problems, he found himself wondering what the true purpose of this alleged tour really was.