The representatives of the High Sanctuary went back to their residence. Throughout the way Mira had been concerned about Bella; the girl had been acting completely normal after the event which was very unusual.

Seeing Mira obvious worry Bella finally explained “I know I should be suffering because of staying close to the dehumanized person and I was but that was only because I was always subconsciously focusing on his pain and suffering. I realized there are many options when it comes to sensing people’s emotions; I’ve just been focusing on the most prevalent emotion people feel. For the man I focused the subconscious happiness he felt for being alive, once I made that my only focus I didn’t feel his pain again”

Mira felt relieved that she hadn’t gone mad… only if she knew the deeper story. Bella didn’t focus on the man’s happiness for being alive; the man would have loved to die. She focused on the delusions the man had of what he would do to Jimoh if he ever had the upper hand.

The group reached their residence and Anita gave a quick summary of their trades “We made a deal with Terrania that we would make weapons for them in exchange for en-code. They didn’t have any skills to offer only en-code and since we want to have a relationship with them, it’s better than nothing. They will give us monster parts, Life essence water and DO (Diamond Obsidian) and we will make weapons, armor and clothing for them in exchange for them.

They also want to learn Magic from us so they offered their aerial services to us for 1 year in exchange for learning the basics that we know. I’m sure that is acceptable to everyone”

Funmi, Mistura and Samad nodded. Deji gave the report of his deal “The Nomads didn’t have much en-code to offer but they still want to buy some of our ready made goods. I think they plan to be wholesalers. They do make up for their lack of en-code with their skills.

They have discovered aura but not Karma is a Bitch, High Mind and Magic; probably because those have very specific requirements to unlock. The skills they have that we don’t have are called Martial arts. They have various uses and there are a lot of them so they will show us the Martial arts when send over the first batch of weapons and armor. When I told him about Karma is a Bitch and High Mind he said it he was sure that they were all Martial art skills.

I think Magic could do the same as Martial arts given time, but he had gotten it 8 months ago so it has more research done to it than Magic. So I offered that we would teach his settlement Magic and he would teach us his Energy Martial arts.

The reason why I exchanged it for Magic was because he said those who couldn’t use aura could use Energy Martial arts which we’ve already confirmed so it is best if we get more Martial arts from them to increase our strength quickly while slowly and properly researching Magic”

Anita frowned and said “Isn’t Magic too high a price? We could have discovered it ourselves couldn’t we?” Many people agreed with Anita and Deji said “If we discovered Magic when Mira came to the sanctuary then I wouldn’t have sold it but we are giving our 4 month old Magic to get his 8 month old Martial Art, I think it’s a win. Our Magic can barely do anything and is only useful for research and a few spells. Spells his Martial Art can’t replicate, so it has value to him and his Martial Art is easy to learn even without research dedicated Rankers, it has worth to us”

Mira added “We can discover the Martial arts on our own. From what I’ve experienced, if people are put in dangerous situations, it will accelerate not only the en-code consumption rate but also the rate at which skills are discovered. The fact that they have so many Martial arts and such a little population must mean that they’re always in dangerous situations”.

Jola said “Yeah, from what I’ve seen from you that’s about right. But I don’t wish to put the lives of the people of the sanctuary in danger just to get a more powerful population. Paying with Magic is sufficient”. Mira nodded.

Anita said “Onto the next matter; the competition. Who do you all plan on picking?” There was silence. Mistura said “We don’t know their capabilities. We can only choose to fight against someone that isn’t from the Nomad settlement or the Terrania settlement”

Anita said “I guess you have a point. One of us should challenge Lara, who should it be?” The others looked confused and Anita explained “It would be terrible if she fought and no one challenged her, it’s basically a courtesy”. Everyone looked unconvinced; they didn’t want to get their asses handed to them in public for a stupid challenge that was bound to fail.

Jola said “Then you challenge her” and everyone supported his opinion saying things along the line of “it was her idea, she should carry it out”. Anita was surprised at the coup and said “Fine! Then no one challenges her then”.

The meeting ended and they passed the day leisurely and the day for the competition came.

They were escorted to an open area shaped like a football field and 5 times as large, with bleachers for the crowd occupied by the citizens of Terrania. They were given papers with their names on them to fill out who they wanted to challenge along with a list of those in the competition arranged by their settlement.

Mira didn’t know who to pick so she picked randomly among the candidates from Terrania. Most of the contestants were Rank 6; so there wasn’t much to decide from.

The host for the competition was a little girl that looked to be 10 years old. She came to the microphone on the left side of the open field, in front of the bleachers and said “W-welcome e-everyone t-to the F-first Lagos C-competition” in a shy and stuttering voice.

The crowd cheered, the contestants knew they were cheering to bring the hosts spirits up. She continued after their cheers died down “F-for the first match we will have our mother – I-I mean leader, fighting a-against her chosen opponent”

A young boy came down and whispered into her ear and she said “S-sorry! I forgot to explain. T-that today, we w-will be having 5 rounds that means everyone gets to challenge 5 people, the fights can only last a maximum of 5 minutes before it is judged as a draw. F-for the first match mommy – L-Lara has c-challenged M-Mira from High Sanctuary as her f-first opponent” she bowed and ran away from the microphone.

Lara and Mira came to the open field. They went some distance away from each other and by the time they were in place, the little girl had been brought back to where the microphone was and she said “Start” and ran back to the bleachers in shame.

Mira sent a flying aura slash as a greeting to Lara. The slash hit an invisible wall in front of her. Mira thought ‘Well, this is messed up’. She sent another aura slash.

The slash was blocked by the wall again and Mira lounged at Lara. Lara’s muscles swelled and she charged at Mira. Lara sent a punch so quick Mira couldn’t even react with her High Mind activated, hitting her in the stomach.

Lara had picked Mira because of her fancy looking armor; she was using her to test what the armor she would be purchasing would be like.

Lara had held back so Mira’s armor wasn’t broken. Mira drew an arc as she flew through the air and activated her boots’ skill before she hit the ground. She zipped through the air and approached Lara while thinking ‘I need better armor’.

She sent flying slash after flying slash but they were all stopped by an invisible wall. Lara suddenly started levitating and she ascended until she was at Mira’s altitude. Lara split into 30 clones and her each clones split into 30 clones.

The 900 Lara’s surrounded Mira in a loose sphere made of clones. Mira prepared her best attack; she crouched and charged her boots and axe. Lara waited for Mira to finish charging her attack and when Mira was done, she sent a giant blue and orange flying aura slash at a group of Lara’s in front of her.

The flying aura slash stopped midair, turned around to face Mira and resumed flying with its path altered. Mira ducked away from the attack as it split the ground she was just standing on.

Mira said “I give up” and the clones of Lara dispersed leaving one Lara remaining. Lara shook Mira hand in good sport and they both left the field.

The audience applauded the contestants but there were a lot of boos that were accompanied by statements like “Couldn’t you have held back a little?” “You should have given her a chance to show her stuff”. Lara shrugged off their rebuke and went back to her team.