Krystal was startled when Shambala told them to get ready to go to the library. ‘This little village has a library?’, he thought, and he could not help but ask out loud. His first opinion of the place was that it was a small, sleepy village without anything serious going on.“Sure it does.” Shambala asked, while he felt like rolling his eyes at Krystal. Of course, it would only have dramatic effects on what he was saying.“Just because it is a small village does not mean it cannot hold great treasure. Besides, I would think that by now, you would have learned not to judge people and circumstances by their appearance.” He said this to correct an attitude he had noticed the guild was very quick to exhibit, which was making premature judgments based on facts that had not yet been determined.The young chap felt embarrassed at this rebuke and rubbed the back of his neck in response. To make things worse, Grover and Vladimir were teasing him over it.“Now you know how it feels," Grover en
Back at the village, the atmosphere was really tense. Since Krystal, Grover, and Vladimir had followed Shambala, things could no longer go back to the way they were before Shambala. There was a deeper sense of purpose that his presence had brought, and up until now, the idea persisted in the minds of those left behind.This is the town where Krystal and the others came from before beginning their journey and training with Shambala, and their peers who had been left behind were all busy on the training ground with the manual Shambala gave them. This manual was so detailed that they could already sense a difference in their training sessions. They were much better than they previously were. And of course, it was tough.There were a few busted lips and sore muscles. but they persisted as they thought of the three who accompanied Shambala. In addition, the training was not just about their bodies but about their minds and souls as well. Of course, they all would have preferred to go wit
Krystal and the others had been in the magnificent library in the village when Shambala had barged in in a very uncharacteristic manner. They had been so engrossed in reading their assigned materials that they had not even noticed that he had gone out. Krystal had seen enough to make a man’s mind burst with an overload of information, but still he persisted in reading. They had been here for hours, but he did not feel like leaving. If anything, he felt they needed several more weeks in this library. Grover, who had been reading on a chair when they first started reading, had gradually slid to the floor on a mat in the general area. It was amazing to see a library of this magnitude; how much more in a village like this? Vladimir felt like he could live here forever, just consuming this information, seeing the stories of legends unfold before him, and gaining insight and understanding into deep. Baam!!! The door to the library sounded like a bomb of sorts as it was bashed in. Who
It had been two days since Shambala had abruptly pulled them from the library. They had been reading and absorbing the materials he had assigned them earlier. They read about various artifacts, artifact beasts, beasts of artifacts, and even warriors who wielded those artifacts.Seeing him in the doorway, all three of them had varying theories about why he showed up the way he did. For starters, he had slipped out of the library in a way that did not even catch the attention of the group. They were so engrossed in reading that they did not notice his earlier departure.Grover, for one, was surprised that he was this invested in reading a book, as reading had never been his thing. Now he realizes that he simply did not have access to the right books. What he was seeing in these books was phenomenal! Their moment was, however, cut short by Shambala’s outburst, and they were left in confusion.After they left the library, their journey was hasty and arduous, as they were not even sure in
They finally arrived at the town after two days of steady trudge work. They began to see familiar sights and scenes, and though they were not particularly excited about returning home, the overall feeling was that they were glad they were back home. As they approached the city gates, the guards, who had been alerted of their presence by the sole sentry on duty in the watchtower, drew the wide metal gates open to let them in, and that was where their greetings began.Immediately after they arrived, the atmosphere of the village changed. By word of mouth, practically everyone was made aware that the three nominees who had followed Shambala on a mission to be trained by him had returned. As they entered the village, they were hailed on every side. Theirs was the welcome of great warriors and good friends who had returned home. Grover wanted to be happy that they were back, and he really did. The problem was that he could not help feeling a little despondent. Maybe more than a little de
As Vladimir, Grover, and Krystal stepped into the hall, the hall erupted with cheers and huzzahs from the guild members. The night was just beginning, and their arrival was the herald of the celebration since they were the guests of honor. Despite the loud noises that filled the hall, the trio made their way to the head of the table, where three conspicuous chairs had been laid out for them. Vladimir took the seat to the right, Grover took the seat to the left, and Krystal took the middle seat.The hall had been cleaned and decorated for this celebration. Every surface that could possibly gleam was gleaming after having been properly polished. It was obvious that a lot of effort and resources had gone into planning this event. It warmed the group's hearts to see that their guild sought to celebrate them so greatly.Krystal pressed down a chuckle that wanted to escape from his mouth as he thought of the state the hall would be in at the end of the night. This group knew how to party!H
The next day, Grover woke up with a slight headache, but it was nothing he could not handle. He knew it had a lot to do with the celebration of the previous night, but he had made sure not to overindulge in the wine, as it had been a while since he had tasted wine. Also, he determined to dilute his cup after each refill because wine as potent as this could make a fool out of him as it did with some of the others.He thought of how much more chaotic the celebration hall got as the night wore on. Before long, the voices of some men were raised higher while the speech of others began to slur. Of course, this was not obvious at first but began to show with time.For most people who were very self-conscious, they simply got up to leave when they noticed that the wine was beginning to affect them. These were those who were more seasoned and did not simply lose their heads to the gourds.As for the trio, they wasted no time in leaving as well, using the excuse that they were tied after a lon
The members of the guild listened to the numerous stories with keen attention, enjoying every bit of it as though they were there to experience it by themselves. They had to suffer the sweet pain of experiencing it vicariously through Grover, Shambala, and Krystal."Grover, how did you begin to make use of your second artifact?" one of the comrades asked suddenly. These were the kinds of questions that Grover had been asked all day.“Hmnnn.” Grover said it meditatively. “At first, There was no need for me to do much because it seemed quite easy to me. In fact, I did not have the dissonance that a lot of people face in trying to merge two artifacts because my first artifact spirit seemed to have accepted the Raven's Spirit. Though summoning the Raven at first was a problem, as the Raven is a proud creature, I would say it went fairly smoothly for me.”When Grover told them the details of how the Raven dealt with them while he struggled to summon it to defeat the last artifact beast b