The report had four pages.

Aldric had left it on the guild table and retreated to the counter with his coffee — the specific distance of someone who knows what they’ve just brought requires space.

Kai read the first page.

Serah read the second.

Lira, from her chair, extended her hand without looking. Kai passed her the third.

The three in silence for several minutes.

---

The report from the Mount Heiguers hunters had the tone of people who had seen something they couldn’t classify and had tried to classify it anyway because it was their job and the job required terms.

The terms fell short.

"Physical impact of unregistered magnitude in the northern sector — the trees on the eastern perimeter of the mount show damage consistent with lateral crushing force, not vertical, which rules out rockfall or landslide."

"The combat aura detected by the highest-ranking hunters present does not correspond to any standard classification in the rank system. A-rank hunter Severin describes the sensation as ’the air before a storm, but the storm is you’re the problem’."

"The ground on the northern perimeter of the mount vibrates at intervals of approximately forty seconds. The vibration lasts between two and three seconds per episode. The hunters present interpret this as footsteps."

Kai set down his page.

Looked at Serah.

"Do you know anything like this?"

---

Serah considered.

Not the kind of consideration that searches for the answer — the kind that already has it and is assessing how much context to include.

"There’s a race," she said. "But I understood their main territory is in the east." She looked at the report. "When they reach SSS rank they can be felt from kilometers away before arriving. The ground, the aura, the lateral impact on the trees — everything matches."

"Which one?"

"Ogres."

Lira, without lifting her eyes from the sunglasses she was cleaning with the kind of attention given to things that don’t require it:

"Warlord?"

"Probably."

---

[DraconicLegacy: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ SSS OGRE WARLORD ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Chris_Murray: Went to eat. What did I miss? Why is there a four-page report?]

[Warwolf: @Chris_Murray something SSS on Mount Heiguers. ground that shakes every forty seconds. A-rank hunters who can’t classify it. Welcome.]

[Per_Sundin: Lira said "warlord?" without lifting her eyes. Eight hundred years can recognize a signature.]

[Kalgarth: "the air before a storm, but the storm is you’re the problem" — hunter Severin has a talent for descriptions.]

[Drakeking: the trees with lateral crushing damage. That’s someone walking and brushing against the trees as they pass. Someone very big.]

[TheDeadDragón: the ground shakes every forty seconds. Those are footsteps. Footsteps of something heavy enough for the ground to feel it.]

---

Kai looked at the report.

"And will they want to fight?"

"Always," Serah said.

"Who with?"

Serah lifted her eyes from the report.

Lira lifted her eyes from the sunglasses.

Both looked at Kai.

Kai looked at the report again.

"Alright."

---

He smiled.

The smile he wore showed he was ecstatic to fight against a new threat ahead.

Serah’s markings pulsed warm — the specific pulse of seeing something she recognized and liked to see.

Lira looked at the sunglasses.

She held them a moment without cleaning them.

She went back to cleaning them.

---

[DraconicLegacy: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ THE SMILE ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ IT’S BACK ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Chris_Murray: Why is that specific smile important?]

[Warwolf: @Chris_Murray because he stopped smiling like that when the administrator attacked Serah and Lira. That smile means something Kai’s been waiting for is coming.]

[Per_Sundin: Serah’s markings pulsed warm. Lira stopped cleaning her glasses for a second. Both noticed.]

[Kalgarth: Serah and Lira at the same time looking at Kai. Without coordinating it. Both know what’s coming.]

[Drakeking: "alright" and smiled. Two words. The smile said it all.]

[TheDeadDragón: Kai vs an SSS ogre warlord. Kai’s been without this for weeks. You can tell.]

---

[System — alert]

[Not from A_D_M]

[Skill Shop — threshold reached]

[Accumulated points: completed quests + active training + Qi progression]

[Ability available for unlock: External Qi — Level 3]

[Description: the level where passive resonance Qi begins to be fully controllable]

[Cost: current accumulated points]

[The system notes that this is the level Lira described as the real goal of the resonance training]

[The system awaits confirmation]

Kai read the notification.

Read it again.

Closed it.

"What was that?" Lira said, who had seen the system’s glow in Kai’s eyes.

"The skill shop."

"What’s it offering?"

"Qi level three."

Lira lowered her sunglasses.

"Did you buy it?"

"No."

"Why?"

Kai looked at the Mount Heiguers report.

Looked at the smile he still wore.

"Because if I buy it now I arrive at Mount Heiguers with an ability I haven’t used in real combat." He folded it and put it in his pocket. "I’d rather arrive with what I know and unlock it when I need it."

Lira looked at him a moment.

"That’s smarter than it looks."

"Thanks."

"It wasn’t a compliment."

Kai looked at her.

"I know."

---

[DraconicLegacy: QI LEVEL 3 AVAILABLE AND KAI SAVED IT FOR LATER]

[Chris_Murray: He waited. Didn’t buy it. Saved it for when he needs it in real combat. That’s strategy.]

[Warwolf: "that’s smarter than it looks" / "it wasn’t a compliment" / "I know" — Kai and Lira being Kai and Lira]

[Per_Sundin: Qi level 3 is the one that makes resonance Qi fully controllable. Lira knows that. That’s why she lowered her glasses.]

[Kalgarth: Kai saved the most powerful ability available for the exact moment he needs it. That’s the whole character.]

[Drakeking: "I’d rather arrive with what I know" — Kai trusts what he has. Not what he could have.]

[TheDeadDragón: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ Kai saving level 3 for the exact moment ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

---

Aldric approached from the counter.

He looked at the three around the table with the Mount Heiguers report.

Looked at Kai’s smile.

Looked at Serah’s markings.

Looked at Lira’s sunglasses in her hand.

Drank.

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow," Kai said.

Aldric nodded.

He went back to the counter.

Halfway there he stopped.

"If you don’t come back," he said, without turning around, "the statue is going to be life-sized."

"Of whom?" Lira said.

"Haven’t decided yet."

Lira looked at her glasses.

"We’ll come back."

"I know." Aldric reached the counter. "That’s why I haven’t commissioned it yet."

---

[DraconicLegacy: ALDRIC WITH THE STATUE AGAIN 😂]

[Chris_Murray: Is the statue a running joke? I’m new.]

[Warwolf: @Chris_Murray Aldric has mentioned a statue several times. No one knows of whom. Neither does Aldric.]

[Per_Sundin: "we’ll come back" / "I know. That’s why I haven’t commissioned it yet" — Aldric has faith in them. This is how he expresses it.]

[Kalgarth: Lira said "we’ll come back." Not "I’ll come back." We’ll come back. The three of them.]

[Drakeking: Lira said we’ll come back. Kalgarth noticed it. We all noticed.]

[TheDeadDragón: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ Tomorrow the new girl’s arc starts, I can feel it ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[System — notification]

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