Kaden had originally wanted to see, if there was anything worth buying. Yet, after realizing the problem with his appearance, he decided not to. There was nothing he absolutely needed to get and it was just a town anyway. A town filled with Lower Cari, but still a town. Kaden wanted to see a city. He wanted to see what was the peak of Cari civilization.

There was a lack of roads. Humans had them everywhere, but Cari didn't. One might say this would hamper growth of any population, but considering the population, as with the town he had just left, were too mostly Lower Cari, it wasn't required.

There had been Cari merchants, so Kaden expected there to be some form of greater transportation method for goods. Whatever it was, it probably didn't require roads. For example a flying Cari with a spatial bag would solve quite a few problems or even a land beast that was good at moving through the jungle. Perhaps a higher level arrangement could even have teleportation formations.

Kaden eventually stopped thinking of such matters. It wasn't relevant for him and he would learn all of it eventually, if he continued living on Frika. There were some thoughts of robbing some of the merchants in the jungle, but he concluded that such methods were to be left as a last resort. Those merchants likely worked for someone and, whoever that was, was likely far stronger than them and would be angry about it.

No one seemed to care about Kaden's passing. Perhaps only a few passing birds that seemed to have a bit of armor on suggested that someone did indeed keep watch and would interfere, if something unusual was to happen. These Cari probably served territory owners.

"I wonder, if there is some neutral territory somewhere", Kaden wondered. "If I want to have freedom to act, I don't want to piss off some True Cari or Higher Cari in doing so."

There were resources to be gained, if Kaden was to work for them. He wasn't completely opposed to it. He had, after all, worked for the saint military which had ended up being very beneficial. Yet, he didn't wish to tie himself down to anyone completely. It was a good option when he was weak, but he was taking his first steps among those who could be considered strong. He had just recently managed to arrange himself convenient freedom from the saint military.

Kaden felt he wouldn't want to go by anyone's orders anymore, if it wasn't absolutely neccessary or involve enough benefits.

That meant he would have to arrange something else, if he wanted power. Perhaps being a mercenary would work? That would mean taking orders, but he would be well paid for it and it would only be a temporary arrangement.

Some work could be acceptable, if he didn't tie himself to anyone for long term. He wondered about the phoenixes. That would be one option, but their reaction was a big question. Anuu had given him so much that Kaden felt he kind of owed something in a way that he would even honor it.

Other options existed such as finding high enough level remnants, but such places were not readily available. Ones that were more stable and continued existing had likely been looted. Some could be hidden and finding them was up to luck. Ones that simply popped into existence would be more rare and would require even more luck.

"I have to work with what I find", Kaden though to himself.

Much deeper inside the jungle Kaden had to actually land a few times. It seemed Cari didn't completely trust in the defenses of the land such as the jungle. They had arranged actual formations deeper inside their core territories. Kaden found it was impossible to pass through certain areas by flight and he had to instead walk on the ground past some checkpoints.

He was able to get a good look at the formations being used. The style was quite a bit different when comparing to human style, but they were still perfectly functional. The ones being used were apparently some kind of sensory formation which then concentrated mana at the sensor detections, if certain conditions were triggered, such as flight. It was like flying to a soft wall. Most likely functions exceeded that too and perhaps could even detect spatial disruptions that, say, a True Magus could cause or equivalent True Cari.

No one really cared when Kaden passed, trough, but likely a record of his passing was taken. Kaden assumed, if someone with power wanted to find him, he would have to find a way around these checkpoints.

In fact, this was more surveilance and security than was usually found in human territories. The same level security one might start to find only in military bases.

Kaden wondered why this was the case. It could have something to do with the relatively lower number of population. Less people to arrange around to defend the land. A possible solution was to arrange something such as the sensory system and have fewer people monitor them.

Reason for higher security was also understandable. Only few days later Kaden saw it. Right in the middle of thick jungle, there was suddenly area cleared of trees. This area was instead filled with buildings. It was enormous. Larger than Corand.

"This should be Caricoun", Kaden muttered to himself. "That is unless humans have mistaken the name and information over time. Originally it wasn't even a city. Its name was merely shortened from 'Cari council'. A place where Cari would put down their differences to deal with mutual problems. One of such problems being humans."

The size was obvious due to its residents being larger than humans. It was probably the only large city. Everthing important was stuffed in there. Kaden wasn't sure, if its center was built on a mountain or if the enormous almost pyramid shaped structure in its middle was building the size of one.

Kaden assumed the most powerful Cari, Higher Cari, likely resided inside and decided on important matters. It might even serve as a temple to the beast gods. It seemed most powerful beings always lived in the most grand locations. Corand had large towers for Archmagi. Caricoun had that pyramid. Kaden wasn't certain of Grandea, Sacronan's capital, but he expected it to have something similar.

By the time Kaden actually reached the city itself, he realized it was even larger than he had previously thought from distance. There were paths going underground. There was no telling how deep those tunnels went.

"One could truly get lost in here", Kaden thought to himself as he entered Caricoun.

He landed on some platforms designed clearly for flying Cari. There were also obviously entrances at the ground level too, but Kaden wanted to avoid them due to them being more crowded. There also seemed to be no security at any of the entrances.

No guards at all. After all the security outside? Kaden eventually guessed Cari merely cared about keeping track of who enters the general area or leaves it. Once in the city, everyone was expected to deal with their own problems. No guards or any of such needed.

"How has this not devolved into anarchy yet?" Kaden wondered once again.

Perhaps it was anarchy which was kept in control with strength. Everyone could do whatever they wanted and however they wanted. That is if you could deal with the consequences of others retaliating doing whatever they wanted. On the top level, the strongest likely ensured nothing spiraled out of control.

Kaden actually prefered this over the human system. Then he recalled that he looked weak.

"I have to solve that problem somehow", Kaden wondered as he wandered deeper in Caricoun.

There were problems almost immediately. As Kaden was just wandering and looking around the Cari that passed by basically ignored his presence and bumped him aside. Kaden almost exploded in rage.

"Are they children?!" Kaden thought angrily.

Again... he simply looked weak due to being slightly smaller. Pushing aside a phoenix probably made the Cari feel strong.

The next time someone tried to brush him aside, Kaden released a small Flame Burst. The foolish snake hissed angrily, but Kaden pretended not to even see it. He half expected there would be a fight, but nothing happened. Perhaps it wasn't big enough matter.

Still, this didn't mean that everyone stopped picking on him. The burnt patches of fur, scales or whatever they had, were merely a punishment. Eventually another came. Kaden was getting truly angry, but there was nothing he could do about it. There was no way he could just magically grow larger. That would require some more esoteric mana related to size, but it was rare for anyone to use it. It was pretty deep concept. He was even pretty sure it wasn't so simple to use. Not that he knew much of it.

He wandered around more. He was slightly surprised to see human type construction at one place. He quickly learned the reason. It was a temple to Stefinos. Kaden looked around more and noted the area had to be clearly reserved for major trading purposes. The temple was small and when Kaden went to see he saw no priests inside, but only some caretakers. While Stefinos was a human god, he was supposedly neutral and merely cared only about trading. Cari were willing to have that slight influence due to its usefulness. It was clearly kept only for that only that. It was only a temple in name and used only for the trading.

"Stefinos is yet another god", Kaden thougt to himself. "Likely he also leeches off something."

Kaden walked away wondering if it was truly connected to rest of the temples of Stefinos. Surely humans would limit trade with Cari? Yet, Cari had easy access to things that humans would have difficulties getting otherwise and Cari would not accept the temple, if it didn't offer them the same or more.

Bzzzz.

Kaden stopped immediately. The fragments he had were buzzing again!

"Now I must stay here", Kaden realized. "I must find whatever fragments there exists here."

He had so many fragments that he could tell the direction very well. Distance was harder to say, but with his previous experiences, each time he picked more fragments, it became easier to find the others. Distance was greater too. Nosran had given him two, so the jump in efficiency was likely much larger and he could not say for sure how much.

He spent basically rest of the day moving towards the direction. At a point he noted the direction had moved a bit to side, but he wasn't still sure of the distance. Eventually he had been moving circles for a quite a while and could tell roughly where all the directions intersected.

While he had been going in circles, Kaden had found himself near the pyramid at the middle. He had discovered its purpose. Indeed, the highest leveled Cari lived in there, but different parts of it belonged to some species. It seemed the higher your species was located, the more prestigious it was. He had even noted that phoenixes were up near the top, but he decided not to attract their attention. It wasn't quite the time yet.

Its purpose was to show the strongest species and then make them have the most power when matters were decided. You wanted your species to have more power? Work to grow your species or technically a clan might be a better word. Then get enough power to displace the previous owners of the desired section you wanted.

Strength was always what mattered, be it inviduals or your species.

The black fragment seemed to point to basically the lowest levels. Some kind of fox type Cari were clearly keeping that section of the pyramid.

"Firefoxes?" Kaden was able to determine. "Despite the name suggesting destructive power, I have heard they are good spies and handling information. They should be pretty powerful type of Cari. Why are they at the bottom?"

Kaden realized that none of the species occupying a portion of the pyramid were weak. No, these were the strongest Cari species. That the firefoxes were sitting near the bottom didn't mean they were weak. They were merely weak compared to the ones at the higher levels.

Kaden also doubted he could just sneak inside and take the black fragment. He had to find a way to get it in a more 'proper' manner.

After observing for a while what was the purpose of those sections, Kaden realized they were basically partially for official matters between different Cari species, yet also a show of power and living place for some chosen of the race. It was entirely possible there was a treasury in there. Some clearly showed their wealth openly.

"I'll have to see if the fragment moves around", Kaden though to himself. "If the black fragment belongs to someone and carries it around, it will be troublesome to get it. In fact, I don't know if that fragment would start to buzz and alert someone of my presence. Whoever has it there will be powerful."

Kaden was pretty sure, if such a thing would happen, it would have already happened. He had wandered nearby a lot. After realizing that, he sighed in relief. It was far more likely the black fragment was merely stored inside.

*bump*

Kaden released casually some fire once again and ignored the Cari that had bumped into him.

"How dare you!" The Cari shouted.

Kaden turned to actually look. It was some wolf type Cari, a very large one. Kaden hated wolves.

"Fuck off, mutt", Kaden told the wolf.

"How does a tiny phoenix runt like yourself dare mouth off at your betters!" The wolf continued. "Even in such pathetic manner as intent??"

Kaden noted the wolf wasn't actually angry. This was all an act. It was clearly looking for trouble intentionally.

"What are you howling about you mangy mutt", Kaden said in mocking tone. He wasn't going to back down. This was the first Cari that actually did anything other than pathetic attempts at bullying the weak. Kaden was actually a bit interested.

"You have offended me", the wolf told Kaden. "I challenge you to fight me on the Arena of Dispute."

"Huh?" Kaden was surprised. Some arena with such a name? "And why should I bother entertaining your demand?"

"Would you rather we take this to the Cirle of Judgement?" The wolf questioned.

To Kaden the wolf seemed to be happy should things go that way. Was this some kind of justice system Cari had?

"Could it be that you were tossed out of your nest for being weakling and you don't even know what I'm talking about?" The wolf sneered and said everything loudly, attracting attention. "Haha."

The wolf was annoying Kaden. He already decided to kill him.

"I'll only say that I haven't been in Caricoun before", Kaden decided to agree. He wanted to understand this matter and since he decided the wolf would die, he didn't care whatever insults were hurled at him.

"I'll educate you then", The wolf said condescendingly. "Minor arguments can be solved at the arena. We will simply fight who is stronger. Then once other one is beaten, the winner can do anything except kill. That is if no 'accidents' happen during combat." The wolf sneered at that part.

"So thats what this is about", Kaden thought as he realized immediately what was going on and almost had to roll his eyes. "This wolf thinks I'm weak and wants to rob me... legally." Then Kaden questioned the wolf a bit more. "Then I shall assume this Circle of Judgement is for matters that can't or won't be solved in the arena."

"Obviously", the wolf replied. "No matter who you are the judges of circle always decide who is more deserving."

"Oh, how lovely justice system", Kaden though. "Since I'm small and look weak to everyone, these so called judges will simply say I'm in the wrong and this idiotic wolf is right. Why do they even bother having such system?"

Kaden looked around at the now growing crowd of sneering Cari. Perhaps this situation could be turned into an advantage... and kill the wolf too.

"Sure", Kaden told the wolf. "I'll agree to the fight on the arena."