Dragon Lagoon Beach

[Apollymi]

Did Hikari know exactly what her brother was referencing? Yes. Had she seen these things at home? No. Did she intend to let him off the hook for bringing it up in so casual a manner? Absolutely not. Her stare continued even as her brother made up some half-hearted excuse about their father perhaps leaving such things around, and being irresponsible. "Well, Tou-san never left anything around I saw in a way that would make me consider something irresponsible," she said sticking her tongue out at the lad as he backed away, strangely making his way towards Miki. This would occur as Miki began processing the necessary information of the Dragon Pond. She looked over to Kou with all new excitement in her eyes. "Everything is pretty cool, there might be a lead on something new or exciting..." she said ready to share the information she was so recently given. "According to the seamstress, there is something at the top of the falls called the 'Dragon Pond' and it only fills at night. She says if you bathe in it, it will reward you with good fortune and vigor!~" she exclaimed only to lower her voice just a bit. "I never got this conversation in game so I don't know what it leads to, but it sounds like it might be one of those EXP or Luck Pools that are randomly generated sometimes. It might be worth looking into to help hatch the egg with better stats or even get some bonus EXP for Hikari-chan!~" she whispered excitedly more than willing to help grow the team as a whole. And figuring a hike up the falls and a night swim in warmer waters might be worth while. Besides that a warm water pond might be a great place to hatch the egg considering where it was created.

[Bloodedge]

Hikari had a few more words to share, but even with that, it seemed Kou was free of the discussion. His opening to Miki was met by an explanation of the seamstress' news. It seemed there was something else to this area, which even Miki previously knew nothing about. Whatever the case, many things about this secret location sounded appealing. They could certainly benefit from a boost to luck, and Hikari could use quite a bit more experience. Most importantly, the Filolial egg would benefit without a doubt. Even aside from the area sharing traits with the egg's place of conception, extra Luck could only help the chances of it being a rarer version of the creature. "Oh? That sounds pretty legit. Whether it's Luck or EXP, or whatever else... it's a new place to go, at the very least. Let's do it."

[Apollymi]

It seemed that Kou was also a bit excited about the secret location. Miki honestly thought it was a good idea, as well, but there was more information to share just in case there were some misgivings to have. "She did say the path was treacherous, but she told me where it starts so we can check it out a bit first if you want," she said calmly about the whole of the situation. "I mean, for the most part it can only be so bad, and it could be very good for training and what we're doing to keep this trip legitimate in nature," she said she didn't want to mislead him in his decision and she had no idea what the seamstress thought classified as treacherous but she supposed they'd be finding out soon enough. "Thank you very much, " she managed to the seamstress with no problem heading out with the egg still clutched in front of her person. Hikari noting they were leaving kept the bag of goods thrown over her shoulder and headed out as well. "Bai bai. Thanks for all your hard work!" she mentioned as she was content to walk beside Miki beaming with pride and seeing many an opening for this blossoming relationship and wondering how her brother managed to miss it.

[Bloodedge]

"Treacherous, huh? I wonder if that means MOBs, traps, or environmental hazards," Kou said, expressing his curiosities aloud. He still shrugged. No matter what sort of dangers lay ahead, there was hardly anything to worry too much about, at least as far as Kou was concerned. "I think we may as well just go for it. If it's somehow too much to deal with, we can always turn around and let the egg hatch at the beach. Best not waste too much time otherwise, yeah?" he inquired. With that, Kou was off behind the others to exit the shop, apparently going toward the eventual destination of this Dragon Pond.

[Apollymi]

"Any... all three, I suppose long term it doesn't really matter much," Miki mentioned. Kou was on the same page, stating that if anything went too wrong, they could always just turn back. Knowing this, it wasn't much of a task for Miki to lead them up towards the top of the falls. At this space, before one could start on the proper upturn of the hills, the trees began to burn away revealing an open space bubbling with magma and a narrow path. The heat of this area was down right oppressive and it did brim with natural magics all around. Such a place could be considered excellent for training as it gave one a magical presence to try and resist, Miki because of this place shrank her own magical influence down around herself. "Oooh, that kind of treacherous... huh. This is like the exact opposite of the beach itself," she casually mentioned still carrying the egg as if it was nothing much to her.

Hikari looked at this place and her eyes went wide. "Whoa. It's like hell out here... why?" she said seemingly not as okay with this rather sudden change in climate. Still, she'd look to her brother for guidance or his reasoning for coming here, while she tried to get over the oppressive heat.

[Bloodedge]

Some time later, the group reached the start to their destined path. Treacherous was undoubtedly one way to view the path ahead, and mysterious would be another. The air was dense and filled with both steam and energy, and the heat was higher than any Kou could have expected from anything other than a volcano. On the positive side, Kou was able to use his magical ability to force Mana from his body to stave off the magic-spawned heat. Miki seemed to be doing alright as well, but Hikari had an issue that forced her to look to Kou. "It's not natural heat, that's for sure. It's magical... and I think it's from an actual Dragon, whether that Dragon still exists or not. That spot in the Marsh Kingdom would probably be like this if Sharrkan's body had been left behind. Actually... other stuff is probably going to take it down the same path. Anyway, you're good at using your Mage trait by now, right? Separate your magical sense from what your body feels, and use your Mana. You should be able to negate or reduce the heat you're feeling, the same way you would resist magical attacks against you by being a Mage."

[Apollymi]

Hikari was staring at her brother as he explained that she should be using her magical senses to balance out the heat of this place. He claimed that she should be pretty decent at using such a sense by now and that it would be a pretty simple task for her to use her mana to balance out the temperature for the area. "Sou ka... you always make things sound so easy. Just... give me a minute," she mentioned, the pack on her back as she tried to calm herself down and concentrate. First she used her magical senses and in getting a direct feel for them separated them from her normal senses. Doing this allowed her to build a barrier of magical energy within herself negating the extra oppressive sensation the heat gave her. But doing so required an extreme amount of concentration from the girl. It was like she was constantly expelling a massive amount of mana to keep her temperature right. "Ano, I think I can do it, but I also think... this is gonna wear me out," she said with a frown even so, she seemed ready to continue and aimed to take the first step towards Miki in a rather exaggerated manner, but this was simply to allow her to keep concentrating on using her mana all around her body. 'Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot.' Each step she took was painful but she'd managed it a bit. She also wouldn't be complaining, though she wondered how Miki managed it while not being a mage in the traditional sense. Normally she only tried for magical defense in a split second and it didn't require constant concentration, here she was working on her stamina for this sort of thing. Miki smiled noting the girl taking her lesson and casually talking to the lad. She found their relationship interesting since they'd joined up.

[Bloodedge]

"Its definitely not as easy as it sounds. Well... it is, but only after you've gotten used to it. We've had a lot of training in a short amount of time," he explained to the girl. She made use of her Mana after a short time attempting to do so, even if she admitted that it would probably wear her out. Kou could easily understand how draining such a thing would be so early in a Mage's training, but he was sure it would be imperative to her quick development in the near future. "Just stick with it, yeah? Let me know if it ends up being too much," Just in case something were to go wrong, Kou took his place in line just behind Hikari, assuming Miki would be leading the charge to the top. He spared a simple glance and nod to Miki, only to confirm his readiness.

[Apollymi]

Kou after explaining to Hikari how to use her magical abilities moved to the back of their little procession. In the meantime, Miki was left at the front carrying their egg, which jumped just a little bit as they entered the area. 'Sugoi! This must be a great idea!~' she mused about the Filolial's response to its current surroundings. Hikari on the other hand, was taking slow and measured steps and after Miki confirmed that all was in line, she began walking again. She used her own magical abilities to properly navigate this path, with the desire to get to the stop of the winding path at the top of her priorities.

Hikari in the mean time was taking those same slow and measured steps. Her brother was a mage, he was likely doing the same kind of thing she was right now to keep up his own magical resistances. But Miki seemed to be not doing much of anything. Her own magical senses let her know that the lass wasn't really expending any extra magical energy to keep herself up. "How come..." she started as she took a step. "Miki-nee..." she said as briefly. "Isn't expelling..." the words left her mouth. "So much," she paused again. "Extra energy?!" she questioned finally. Mostly she didn't want to move along quietly but she was curious about the difference between their skills that allowed the lass not to have to waste any extra energy.

[Bloodedge]

Whilst keeping his own Mana skill active, Kou was focused primarily on the incredible density of the magical energy in this area. He'd yet to feel a legitimate Dragon in person, though if Miki's other Avatar was anything close to a good example, he could almost be convinced there was a living Dragon nearby. Of course, there was realistically no chance of this. Whatever Dragon was the cause of this area had to be something incredible in its time, whenever that was. As Hikari pressed onward with what appeared to be some difficulty, she brought attention to the lack of energy being expelled by Miki. Kou raised a brow as he looked at the blonde, remembering a skill she'd made use of a couple of times before. "Mana Zone. It's a Support Skill used to manipulate the Mana in the atmosphere, instead of wasting your own. It's something that a late-game Caster wouldn't be caught dead without having equipped, but most people who play other Classes never think of how useful it could be. It's probably the best utility skill for anyone who uses any kind of spells, and it's especially true for anyone with less Mana than others."

[Apollymi]

"Mana Zone..." Hikari repeated. She also took note even as she struggled to move forward that her brother seemed to appreciate Miki's build choices. Whatever else was or wasn't going on between them, she recognized the amount of respect the lad was showing to her by stating such information about her skills usage. "Sou ka..." she muttered. If it was an important skill for Casters she'd likely consider it. She hadn't gotten far enough in her build to even need to choose such a skill yet, so it was nice to know of a couple of the options. Beyond that, Miki wasn't a Caster by nature, so it was good to see that it was possible to choose skills that didn't necessarily align to the type and class previously chosen. 'That's a lot of respect about her build choice. Damn near a nerd winning endorsement. Chikuso! This is almost a jackpot style situation.' she thought absently. The more she walked the more normal her steps were becoming. Her breathing was labored and it still felt like a lot of strain, but over time she was learning to control her output a bit, tapering it down to the bare minimum required to combat the magical heat of the place. "So, ah, Miki-nee, why did you choose Mana Zone, wouldn't a Rogue type choose something stealthier for early game ease?" she asked of the lass. Miki was surprised she was mentioned so directly. She'd been content simply to lead the group up and let the pair of people who obviously knew each other continue their conversation uninterrupted. "Ah, well a couple of things actually. I wanted to be able to control my magical weapon from a distance. Mana Zone added that ability passively. I use a Rogue type of Support Magic and it has better range if I have Mana Zone. And... when I ran this character in-game, I played with a Pets Build and I wanted to share the passive effects of my Mana with my pets..." she said with careful shrug. "Sugoi! Those are great reasons. All skills are like that yeah, they can layer and stuff... so I shouldn't just choose something just to do it?" she asked of her brother, gaining build advice in a manner different than most tended to. Miki heard this follow up question but since it wasn't addressed to her, she went back to leading the group at large, at the very least, she respected this lass for trying to figure out what skills would be good for her, instead of ending up with a completely crappy build.

A decent ways up the path though there was something stirring beneath the surface of the lava. Or rather rising from it. "Uh, minor problem ahead..." she mentioned knowing they were just out of range for discovery but didn't want to lead them into a potential ambush. Up ahead, free magic creatures formed of the residual magical energy stirred below the surface of the lava. They acted like Golems and seemed to be about level 10 to 15. They had humanoid shapes and glowing rocks for eyes, but as their heads rose from the lava they seemed to harden quite a bit, leading Miki to pause and think about whether or not they'd actually be aggressive creatures or not.

[Bloodedge]

Hikari's curiosity led to her questioning why, exactly, Miki had chosen such a Support Skill over others more naturally suited to her character type. Miki's answer was innovative, to such an extent that Kou believed, in another scenario, he would have given the same type of explanation. The difference was that in their original world, he was the gamer known as Geno Killer. The title he bore signified his very existence as a gamer who took unthinkable approaches to overthrow the general perception of video games... A genocide of meta players far and wide. If Kou himself wasn't the Geno Killer of video games, he would likely be assuming Miki bore the title. This train of thought left Kou distracted and staring at the blonde he followed behind, resulting in a bit of a late response to Hikari's query. "... Yeah. You should always put thought into your builds. If you put yourself into every decision you make... then every game can be fun, and you'll never lose to anyone else."

Soon enough, an obstacle was ahead. It was Miki who discovered this, and when she brought attention to it, Kou stopped in his tracks. "Not much choice, huh? There's no way a Mana-dense place like this won't have something spawning in. What do you think? Is it the Talk no Jutsu type, or is this the start of the training montage?"

[Apollymi]

Hikari was walking and waiting for a reply from her brother, and when she looked at him she found the lad distracted staring at Miki. 'Ugh, you couldn't be more obvious... but oh, 'people having stuff in common doesn't mean they should be forced together'. Planetary understatement,' she thought to herself. Her brother's lack of acknowledgement for how much he obviously liked the blonde lass bordered upon annoying to Hikari, she was beginning to understand a bit more why Karna held the sort of disposition he did with this pair in normal conversation. Still there was some insight in his words which made her smile when he finally spoke again. "Ah, alright. Though I'd lost you for a second there. I will!~" she chimed, a knowing and devious light in her eyes.

At the current junction there was apparently some sort of a problem. According to her brother, these dense magical zones were bound to spawn some sort of creature, when he asked Miki if this would be the kind of situation they could talk their way out of, she shrugged for a just a moment deciding to test the waters first. "Let's check..." she said. A moment thereafter she used her 'Snatch' ability to draw towards her a small pebble in the middle of the walkway. Doing so caused a magical disturbance which she used to test the reaction of the creatures within the lava. Almost immediately one rose up from lava and aimed a still cooling molten fist down upon the rock to stop its motion. Miki let go of the rock in this moment which she'd moved using just her index finger. "It's gonna be a montage!!~" she chimed, knowing that if creatures responded that way to rocks, they would definitely attack them. The tone of her voice and how she spoke that sentence was a reference to a certain cult movie she enjoyed a bit.

[Bloodedge]

"Good," Kou said when Hikari agreed to grow as an Avatar in her own way. There were then important things to address, namely the free magic creatures having their aggression tested by Miki at the time. Her little pebble test confirmed that they were, indeed, very aggressive toward anything nearby. Such a thing brought a grin to Kou's face, and that was only widened by Miki's reference. "Oooh, it takes a montage~!" he sang to continue the reference, all while pointing toward their enemies in a very overly-exaggerated way. "Fuck 'em up, Hikari!"

[Apollymi]

"Montage~" Miki continued. Her little test and use of a pretty obscure reference was met in a way so obvious that she knew Kou got it. Though if she was being honest at this point she'd be more surprised if he didn't know something she was talking about. In the meantime, Hikari stood there dumbfounded, how could such a thing even be possible. Her cheeks puffed up and she chewed on the inside of her left cheek. 'Dumb Nii-san. This girl was nerd crafted for you and she's hot! What else do you fucking want?! And you... Missy. What the hell happened to make you afraid of taking a bit of charge in this? Relationships don't build themselves!' she thought becoming more and more aggravated by this pairs lack of coupling as she spent more time with them. At the call to arms so to speak, Hikari went into action, but not simply because she was asked to now she needed a proper outlet for her frustrations. "Aye Sir!~" she chimed in her own reference. "Kawaii!~" Miki mentioned after such a thing happened. She loved that series too and admittedly it was one of a few which wasn't directly as bad as the others created by her favorites.

Hikari dashed forward drawing her sword, and as she made her way past Miki and into the opening, the lava creatures all rose up. She turned her body quickly making use of her Alpha Skill and preparing to respond given it was one of the ones which would require an immediate follow-up. "Illusion Sword!" a quick forward thrust of the blade would cause a duplicate magical one to hit the creature and its mana began to jumble, and then it moved to swing but instead of aiming for Hikari as she backed away from it, it swung at another lava creature behind her. "Huh?!" she was confused by this, not realizing her own stats had increased. "That's confusion. I never get confusion," she said as one lava creature pummeled another causing yet another to rise. Miki watched the entirety of this and spoke to Kou analyzing the situation rather casually as she watched the fight progress. "Eh, she got a passive stats boost by becoming your apprentice. That's nice."