"Stop! You need to decline it!" V loudly spoke over Eika's rambling. "Ehhhhh? But why?" Eika's spirit looked crushed. "I thought it was my present!" V patted her on the head and re-assured her "You can have the... upgrade... but not yet. Tracker is a basic class, right? And a non-combat focused class at that. It also primarily deals with monsters, rather than humanoids. To my knowledge, all or at-least most of the other champions are humanoid." L nodded, realizing where V was going, "He has a point. If possible, it would be better to try and get you a better class to transform into the Divine version." Eika shrugged "I guess that makes sense, but Eika has only ever been a Tracker." She declined the notification, returning the "E" back to V's inventory. "I'm not certain, but I think Tracker has a better version..." Eika squished her face in concentration, searching her memories. "I heard one of the other slaves talking about it, many of us had the tracker class, on account of living so close to the forest..." she trailed off for a few moments. "I think I need level ten of tracker? Eika thinks that is what she overheard." L gestured for V to step out of the room for a moment. "We will be right back; we need to take care of something." Eika, half-listing, nodded as they walked out.

L took V outside of the inn, into the alleyway they often used for practice. "Why are we out here? Planning to finally kill me?" V half joked. Ignoring him, she spoke quietly "Eika has really good hearing. I wanted to be far enough away to be sure she did not overhear us." This was interesting, V was unsure where L was headed with this, but he gestured for her to continue. "Something is wrong with that girl. Before I met you, I had a few dealings with animalkin, a few catkin to be specific. I learned of the animalkin's tendencies to have dual personalities. I did not think much of it at the time, but it has to do something with being half animal. The catkin are prone to sudden bouts of boredom and distraction. Some of their kind are half "big cats" and sometimes have predatory natures. However, Eika is even worse. Her personality suddenly changes to include excessive excitement or energy. Sometimes she shows extreme fear. Those traits make sense in a small short lived prey animal, such as a rabbit. However, over the month I spent with her, I sometimes saw her get angry, very angry. Once, I thought for sure she was going to try and attack one of E's birds with her bare hands, despite having her sling with her. Anger and the instinct to fight hand to hand is notably not the traits of a prey animal, nor does it seem like her normal personality."

He listened intently, and took his time responding. "She is normally a gentle soul; she cares for others and loves those forest fairies. I have seen her get serious while helping me in the forest, but I think we can attribute that to her wanting to be a "professional tracker." However, when I think back, she was acting positively murderous when she arrived with the gorillas. At the time, I was a little uh... preoccupied, but now that I think about it, she sounded almost like she had gone berserk." L nodded and shrugged "I asked her about the gorillas and she simply told me that the forest fairies had helped her." V looked toward the door of the inn "While I am willing to agree that Eika might have some type of personality disorder, is there a point to this?" V half expected her to say something weird and drastic, like leaving Eika behind. "Not currently, I just believed it would be wise to inform you of my observations, and advise you to keep an eye on her." V nodded, and headed back inside.

The next morning, once again V was the last to awake. He headed down and joined the others for breakfast. Eika waved happily, "We asked the innkeeper if he knew anyone who could tell us about the tracker class." V waited for her to continue, but she only mumbled something unhelpful as she stuffed food into her mouth. L picked up the conversation "He doubted that anyone in town would be able to give us concrete information on it, unless they themselves were a tracker, or some related class. However, it seems that its common knowledge that most capital cities have a sort of... class library that helps adventurers, soldiers, and sometimes artisans plan out their progression." On reflection, that seemed sensible to V. In his old world there were many institutions that aided people in figuring out what they wanted to be when they "grew up." In a world where your class was your job, he figured it tracked that there would be some sort of organization that helped with classes. "Ya but don’t go expecting them to know the requirements for sword saint or nothing." The innkeep had walked over and interjected, "They only have common knowledge. You see, a-lot of classes and organizations want to keep their secrets to themselves. I’m sure they have the information you are looking for, but I doubt they could tell you the requirements to become a Druid or the requirements to become a Magus. V thanked the innkeeper for the information. "It looks like the reasons to leave this town are increasing by the minute. I suppose we should spend the day gathering supplies for the journey. " V spent breakfast asking the innkeep various questions about the trip to the capital. Luckily it was only about a week’s travel by leisurely pace, although there was no place to restock on the way there.

V had considered buying some horses to make the journey faster, however he did not want to spend the entirety of his money, there was also the fact that he and Eika had no idea how to ride a horse. As he traveled around the town, buying the various items needed for the journey, he did come across some interesting, or perhaps concerning rumors.  First off, the Champion of Light had, according to a few merchants who recently visited, declared himself openly, and had gained the support of one of the southern kingdoms. Around this time, V also managed to glimpse a map of the northern kingdoms. As it turned out, the town and forest were almost entirely surrounded by a mountain range, they were part of a small kingdom called "Kolzar." After a few inquiries into the name, it appeared as if the kingdom was named after some great hero of a past age, although no one he asked seemed to know the details. The second rumor of note, was that the guard who had helped defeat O had disappeared either last night, or the night before. The most commonly heard explanation was that he had likely taken his own life. Despite surviving O, the loss of his family, and then his face, had been too much for him to bear. V did not know the man that well, but he had thought he felt a sort of... grim resolve from the man the last time he saw him. V thought that it was a resolve to keep going, but perhaps it was the type of resolve one settles into once one has lost all hope... Thirdly, V heard that, according to various housewives in the town, there was a Champion in the capitol who was selling pottery of all things. According to one of the women, their goods were slowly making it all over the kingdom, due to their amazing quality. Most people seemed to think this was more of a marketing stunt, that some guild was simply pretending to have a Champion crafting their goods.

After food, travel gear, a set of leather armor, equipment such as rope and camping supplies, and everything else they needed to travel, V had been reduced down to two gold. He had heavily considered trying to get the pickpocket class, if there was one, but he doubted L would simply accept the fact if he came back to the inn carrying other people’s coin. He met up with L and Eika, who had been in the forest, attempting to raise Eika's level, back at their room. "whaaaa Eika is exhausted!" Eika had thrown herself onto a bed, by the look of things, she had not even bothered to remove her leather gear. "Exhausting perhaps, but you gained basically no experience, almost an entire waste of time. We will have to wait till we leave, if any of us hope to advance any further." L turned as V opened the door, "I was half expecting you to be captured by some champion or monster again. It’s nice to see you can manage on your own for a day." V ignored the... joke? It was not clear by L's tone of voice if she was kidding or just being condescending. He reported the rumors he had heard over the day, and displayed the supplies for L's inspection. In theory, she had the most experience of any of them in the subject of travailing large distances on foot. L sorted the items as she spoke "I was worried that the specter would assault the town, or continue living inside of the forest, driving it mad. However, it is not what I would call a subtle creature, so if we have not heard rumors of it, then it must have either died or moved on." V nodded, that had been a slight concern of his as well, but since he had never woken up to a town filled with people screaming and killing each other, he had assumed the problem somehow solved itself.

V had wanted to stay another day or two, to experiment with his new ability in the (now) relative safety of the forest. However, the rumor of the Champion of Light made it quite clear they could no longer mill about in this simple town. After saying their goodbyes to the innkeeper and his daughter, who cried at their departure, V, L, and Eika set out toward the east. For a while they walked in relative silence, only Eika pointing out some bird, or pretty plant. V was considering what their next move should be. After trying to sort out Eika's class situation, should he try to gather some form of public support? Apparently, the Champion of Light was successful in that rout. Perhaps they should simply train to their limit in ever more challenging locals, hoping to avoid the conflict until the last few Champions. Although, killing or forcing a champion to surrender was much more of a benefit than fighting monsters. Even if he was able to level up, if the final champion had an army of Divine Champion slaves following him, levels would really not matter at that point. Did that mean then, that their only option was try and hunt down champions that were still weak enough for him, L, and Eika to kill?

As for L, she stoically scanned the surroundings as they walked, her past weighing heavily upon her thoughts. As they traveled, the mountain range did start to list toward them, it was likely the only way out of the region was a valley of some sort. In other circumstances, V might have thought that the scenery was strange, like it was specifically crafted to look like this. However, considering the situation he was in, the terrain probably was crafted to look like this. An enclosed region for new champions. Both L and V were drawn out of their thoughts by Eika's questioning "Hay, hello? Eika asked you guys when you want to make camp. It’s getting a little bit late!" The sun had not set yet, but it was starting to go down, V was tired, and Eika clearly was as well. One look at L was enough to know if the decision was hers, they would have walked for a few more hours before considering camp. Luckily for V, it was not L's decision. As L and V set up camp, Eika ran off among the hills, searching for... anything that caught her attention.

In the morning, they continued much in the way they had the previous day. However, halfway through the day they came to the what was certainly the valley exiting the "starting zone." As they traveled through the harsh terrain of the rocky valley, they all gradually started to hear something off at the other end. "Eika thinks that is the sound of metal on metal. The valley echoes make it hard to tell." Her ears pivoted, as she tried to make out the sounds. "I can’t hear as well as the girl, but I have heard the sounds of combat enough that I’m inclined to agree." L placed her hand on the sword she had been using ever since the fight with O. V shrugged "It would not surprise me if at the end of this valley there was some form of battle. For all we know, the kingdom erupted into war or something. Either way, we have to continue." They traveled onward, as this was the only option they had if they wished to leave. "Sounds like a lot of clashing!" Eika said as they moved closer to the source of the noise. L shook her head, "No, it’s the valley causing echoes. I can tell now, there are only two or three combatants."

Eika crept low to the ground and scouted ahead. By the sound of things, whatever was going on was happening only a few yards in front of them, around a bend inside of the valley. Eika was the best at staying out of sight, so they had sent her to scout the situation. She slowly crept forward, before suddenly stopping, whatever she saw surprised her, V had seen that expression enough times by now. As Eika stood there, V decided to creep up to her, as nothing had attacked or lashed out at her and she had mostly given up on hiding. As he rounded the bend, he also stood there in surprise. In front of them, right in front of the exit of the valley, two men were fighting. One was wearing what V would imagine a noble would wear, a nice tunic and pants. Mostly white and blue, with gold embroidery. The man was of slim, but fit, build, and had grey eyes and silver hair. Every so often, he would appear and disappear as he fought the other combatant, striking out of thin air, wielding two swords. He also seemed to perfectly dodge nearly every strike against him. V tried to check his status, but it was hidden. On the other hand, the second combatant was like a fortress. He held a large war axe in one hand, and a massive shield in the other, additionally his armor was heavy plate, even just the pauldrons would probably be too heavy for Eika to carry effectively. For his part however, the armor seemed to only slow the man down slightly. His blows from the axe were strong enough that if the grey-haired man was hit even once, V was sure it would cut him in half. His status was also hidden.

"Oh! I knew there must have been a few stragglers left back here!" The Grey-haired man pointed at L, who was the only one who did not have her status entirely hidden. V wanted her to hide it, but she started complaining about honor or some such, so V simply let the matter drop. She did have her skills and occupation hidden at-least. "Honor? That's fun, probably not very strong though." As he was pointing at them, he bent backwards, avoiding a blow from the axe. "Oh, come on! I just wanted to greet our fellow champion!" The man in armor made a "tch" noise and planted his shield in the ground, grabbing his axe with both hands. "I knew someone would come looking for easy kills. I just did not know it would be you." The grey-haired man jumped back a little. "Well, what can I say? I like to be wherever there is some fun to be had."  He looked between L and the armored man. "Well look, I’ll let you and your little group go for now. I don’t want this one following me around the rest of the game trying to kill me, to avenge you or some such. It would be sooo boring." Without warning, the man was standing in front of L, who responded instantly with a slash designed to kill. Fast enough that V was certain if she ever aimed her first slash at him, he would be dead before he even knew she drew her weapon. The grey-haired man however, dodged her attack as naturally as one would breathe, never losing his relaxed, if a bit amused, expression. "Ah the fire of a women with something to protect! Or perhaps, because of her failure to protect?" L looked like she had been slapped across the face as the man danced away from her. "I’ll see you all at a later date. Do be careful. I would very much like to see you again!" Just like that, the grey-haired man just sort of... waltzed into the distance.

V stood ready, he was not sure what they could do if the armored man decided to attack them, but he couldn’t be worse than the specter. Right? "You have nothing to fear from me. I have no desire or need to slay any of you." He walked toward L, who was recovering her composure, "Do not let whatever he said perturb you. He likes to dredge up the past. He thinks it’s funny." L nodded slowly, keeping her weapon at the ready. "What do you want? If it's not our lives?" The man sighed "I want a great many things. But in this meeting, I want nothing more than to assure the safety of those who arrived to the Game late. Honor and War are not great strangers." He removed one of his gloves, and held out his hand to L. After a moment's hesitation, she shook his hand. "You may call me whatever you like. Although the name the Gods gave me was B. I fight for the God of War. I desire for the most deserving of our number to win this game. Those who can prove themselves in both war and in peace. That... miserable existence was the Champion of Time. He is incredibly bored with the whole thing and mostly seeks to entertain himself." L nodded and withdrew her hand "L, Champion of Honor, and these are my companions, we are heading to the capital." He nodded “As I have said before, you need not fear me. I desire all of us to have the time to hone our skills, only when one is ready will I bring my power to bear against them. There is no victory in fighting a child, only shame." L nodded, she could understand and in fact, relate to the idea. The man continued, "I suppose that is not totally true. There are two God's who's champions I would not suffer to live, even if they were babes. The Champion of the Mad God, who is beyond my abilities to fell, and the Champion of Slaughter who I have yet to find."

A flicker of surprise traveled across L's face "We actually have met her. The Slaughter Champion I mean." B grunted in surprise "If the Slaughter champion was here, they must have been sent in the last group. I hope you managed to slay them. The God of Slaughter takes every part of war, every part of combat, and strips everything noble away. Leaving only the darkest side of the noble art of warfare!" The man’s voice had taken on quite a bit of passion as he spoke. L quickly glanced at V, unsure if she should tell him O's fate. He nodded toward her, if someone else was hunting O, it could not hurt to tell them she was still alive. L recounted O's fate to the man, who sighed in aggravation. "I do not know who took O. I have suspicions of course, I have been here since the start of the game, I have met most of our number at-least once. For the time being, I will keep my thoughts to myself. He looked out toward the horizon. When you are ready, we will clash. For now, the call of war comes from the south." As B abruptly started to head off, he looked back once more. "As you are a Champion of Honor, I know my words will not fall on def ears. If you should ever find yourself near the Champion of the Mad God, kill yourself. Kill yourself before he sees you, and kill your companions as well. Trust me when I tell you, it is the honorable course of action. I shall not speak of them any longer, lest I invoke their Blessing."