Rhia’s trip to Ariminum was an exciting experience. Many of the beastkin that participated in the Raid were chock-full of Contribution Points, and had purchased a Refuge to aid them in their travels. 

Thanks to this, Rhia had joined a party from Rookard’s tribe as they made their way to Ariminum, to reinforce the Battlegroup heading that way. The magical spaceships left in a synchronized manner, to arrive at the destination around the same time.

Many Highlands beastkin were headed all over the Sector, their goals rather similar. To face enemies in PvP, and to push conquest in the Alliance’s favor to rescue worlds from Tartarus’s clutches.

Ariminum was a prime target for two reasons. Clan Hart had already gained a significant amount of contribution on this world, and they had potential allies. The Sons of Rome had agreed that if Hearthtribe won their initial clash with their enemies, they would join their first Tier Alliance.

She spent time getting to know her new friends and current party, and practicing with riding her new mount.

In all, she enjoyed the fighting method of surrounding a beastkin in her protection, and feeding off of their life energy to empower her body’s mana. However, it was becoming a little weird to use as a strategy. First, Rhia practiced using spells with her mana and fighting in melee with her ninja swords. 

But if she mounted a warrior, how could they still use their weapon of choice? Sure, she was still powerful protective armor then, but it was like she could hardly help at all. It was a very passive way to participate in the fight aside from her spells.

Really, Mindy was the perfect mount that could barely fight on her own. Somehow, her odd heal on strike ability worked even with Rhia swinging the blades, and since she was actually kind of bad at fighting, it was hardly a loss for Rhia to be the one driving their actions. But now, Mindy actually earned a priestess class and had improved significantly besides, and it wasn’t really required for her to fight that way. Not only that, but Rhia was getting bigger.  

For now, she found a bear parentage woman that was quite large, and she was a Paladin of Brigid. Her auril sent waves of healing vitality to allies near her, and this particular effect worked great even within Rhia’s protection. She was a strong warrior on her own that used a heavy maul, and the two had practiced separation and surprise double-teaming enemies.

When her party arrived at the destination world, they were placed in a queue. Hearthtribe was at war with another guild, which allowed the enemies on world to trigger an event when enough enemies arrived at once.

Fighting in the streets of the city was common, but the arrival of significant forces when at war would cause this to be especially chaotic. Normally, despite the guild’s arrival all at once, they would ultimately split off across the entire world to move against Monster Dens, Rifts, and any other special events in smaller groups. Traveling as a large Battlegroup of a hundred was often a waste of their efforts. 

Thus, the guild already present on the world would be given a warning of the enemy’s arrival, allowing them to prepare for the event.

Of course, this was part of the reason why the cost of enabling the war was high in the first place. Then, PvP was only allowed on an individual world when conquest was above 30%. In this case, Ariminum was above 70%, making it more than safe enough for such activities in the short term.   

A countdown timer appeared for them to enter the event, giving several hours of leeway for the last of Hearthtribe to arrive. In total, Hearthtribe had a hundred today, and many more arriving here in the next few days, and it was the same on a dozen of other worlds. 

As Rhia understood it, these PvP events were common at three separate times. Arrival on world, forced events by paying CP, and on CP turn in. In order for CP to be earned while at war, it must be turned in at a special fixture within the Alliance HQ. Not only that, but it had to be done within a certain period from when they were earned, or the CP would be lost.

The area provided within the HQ was a common ground for PvP, and if allies were killed before turning in their points, the enemy guild would earn it for themselves instead.

The respawn timers from death was normalized to a shorter amount despite conquest percentage, and they could exit the city during a grace period where they couldn’t be stopped to fight the true enemy. 

There were even safe areas where they could not be targeted within the city, so this all combined to allow for the PvP activities to have the least impact on their ability to face Tartarus.

The countdown finished, and Rhia was transferred with her teammates to a large waiting area. Around a hundred of Hearthtribe were waiting, and she spotted Rookard, Takoda, and Brock’s clans. Many treants and Elysians, dinosaurs and auril beasts were present, the many pets of the beast tamers.

The many auril hearts beat, sending the vitality of Highlands into the room. Her arcane energy surged as her flame consumed the life energy. The Battlegroup was formed, the many parties able to monitor their allies.

[PvP Event: Hearthtribe versus Swiftblade Syndicate] 

[To reduce fighting in the streets of Ariminum, an event has been created upon your guild’s arrival. Parties of five will face off in a separated space in a tournament format, loosely matched by battle power in single elimination. The Guild with the most teams active after three battles wins.
Reward to Winner: 250,000 CP from Loser.] 

Within minutes, Rhia’s party was transported into a medium-sized stone tiled arena. There were large pillars interspersed throughout in a three by three pattern, including one in the direct center. Their enemies were situated off at an angle, allowing her party to identify their enemies.

There did appear to be a priest among them, the five dressed in Grecian styled equipment. Their chain armor was covered by an odd toga, and the priest had some kind of crown of leaves. Three warriors were human, but the priest was a satyr. There was also an orc archer, and Rhia decided to make him her target for some arcane punishment. 

On her side, it was Rhia, then a paladin and priest of Brigid, and two Pack Warriors–a class many wolf beastkin had that focused on fighting as a pack. They each wielded a spear and shield, and of course, the javelins that took their auril.    

The battle began with Rhia surrounding her bear beastkin paladin friend, each team charging at the other. Javelins were thrown by her team filled with auril, but the javelins were blocked by the enemy’s shield users. A second set were thrown on the approach, and this time, they activated their manifestations, and one was shot toward the priest.

Meanwhile, Rhia had built up her arcane mana, and prepared an assortment of runes before they coalesced into a blast of empowered lightning. Her lightning slammed into the orc archer, sending him flying with a groan, as the manifestations of claws and wolves slashed and snapped at the warriors. 

The priest managed a magical shield over himself, but one of the warrior’s legs got slashed deeply into by the javelin, his armor not putting up much protection against the magically enhanced attack.

Rhia laughed as her mount leapt forward suddenly with a roar, Rhia boosting their movement. Thanks to her carrying her own heavy weight, the bear beastkin was able to move much faster than she had any business to. 

Their efforts combined, swinging the giant maul and smashing into one of the warrior’s shields, caving it in and sending the man flying into the one behind him before he could even activate a skill.

The other shield warrior managed to activate a skill and brace with his shield filled with a magical aura, but it was already too late. The two Hearthtribe pack warriors were filled with dense auril, surging forward with enhanced speed. The formation destroyed, the two auril heroes activated powerful skills of their own, slashing with large edges on their spears and cleaving into the other shield user’s legs as they charged past him.

From there, it was a complete stomp of the enemy team to the point that Rhia was quite disappointed. While the priest managed to heal the shield warrior who lost both his feet beneath the ankles, the priest was quickly taken out while Rhia and her mount pummeled those knocked down with ease.

The message had said that teams would be matched up loosely based on battle power, but it wasn’t even close.

Rookard and Takoda both led elite parties, those that had already fought either in the Prime Instance of the Dungeon Raid or some of the best instances. Rhia’s party was probably around what she considered the middle of the road of what to expect within Hearthtribe. She was not yet level 20, and had been in one of the lowest average raid instances. 

Her father mentioned that beastkin performed well above average compared to their battle power, but this appeared to be something else entirely. Could it be that among their twenty teams, this Swiftblade Syndicate didn’t have ones good enough beyond their elites to face Hearthtribe’s weaker teams? Rhia would find out the next battle.

Upon their victory, they were transferred back to the waiting area. 

[First Round: Hearthtribe: 17 Swiftblade Syndicate: 3]

[Victory: Hearthtribe]

Rhia’s fiery eyes went wide. They had won already? A battle report followed, and it was clear their top teams had won all their battles. The three that had lost were actually some of their weakest teams, facing off against the enemy’s weakest teams. 

She supposed their Guild won already, as the rules only enabled each team to fight a maximum of three times. It appeared to be an anti-sweep mechanism, but it also kept from wasting time when the other team couldn’t win in truth.

Takoda patted his large Brachiosaurus Missy, sending calm healing energy into her. The man smiled and cheered along with the beastkin roaring at their victory. Brock’s mate Bria looked especially disappointed, but Mindy cheered along with Serena. Brock walked over to Rookard, and seemed to be talking about his battle.

Rhia separated from her mount and moved a bit closer, wanting to greet Brock’s family.   

Rookard’s look was feral, with a few wounds on his body. He laughed in response to Brock. “That’s it? I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised. If these guys had any strength and talent, they wouldn’t need to extort for small gains.”

Takoda chuckled as he looked on at Missy with pride. “They didn’t seem to know what to do with Missy. Can you imagine? They said I was cheating. She properly takes a party slot!”

Rhia could tell they were hardly winded or wounded. At one of Hearthtribe’s destinations for battle, they had gotten stonewalled for a week. The younger generation previously headed to the nearest known enemy location, and they suffered heavy losses–until Timone and Dahlia’s party took a quick trip, and reinforced them. That elite party quickly evened the score before they were reinforced further, and already went on to find even more challenges. Traveling as a single elite party, they could easily scout and crush any opposition. 

Supposedly, the man was hunting and playing around for a bit before entering the next Tier, mostly to satisfy Dahlia and her desire to go on the hunt. Also, Aisling was still a bit behind and not quite ready.

The victory called, a portal allowed them to exit the waiting area, letting them out within the Alliance HQ. A separate entrance meant for PvP purposes, it was a special area to reduce the impact of people fighting all over the place. It could still happen within the HQ, but by making the turn-in and other events within a separate area, it minimized the impact.

As they entered the main HQ, Rhia felt the losing team running away in the distance. Her sense of her Battlegroup or Guild members nearby was enhanced by a feeling of warning, able to detect that the enemy was near. 

Several bows twanged as they shot and took down the enemies in the distance, but their force did not follow. After all, Antonius and a few parties of allies were waiting there, the Sons of Rome looking a little more organized and better equipped than the Swiftblade Syndicate.

Antonius looked like a strong roman warrior, a centurion with a spear and shield. Rhia’s magical senses were surprised, as she sensed the power of Valor within the man, the same path as Warrior Brotherhood. Antonius laughed at seeing Rookard and Takoda firing their bows at the fleeing Swiftblade Syndicate.

“Looks like you guys crushed them! I should have known you’d give those troublemakers a run for their money. Jake’s party broke convention, so it makes sense that his guild would too. It’s nice to finally meet you, Rookard, Takoda, and Brock.”

Rookard laughed. “Those men will need to spend more time training than they do at the brothels and bars if they want to stand up to our warriors. This Guild of Hermes was weak.”

Rookard and Takoda stored their bows, and each including Brock clasped Antonius’s wrists one by one, and met with the other leaders of Sons of Rome. Rhia was excited to learn more about this world, the first she would be visiting as a warrior of Hearthtribe.

Forming the alliance with the Sons of Rome went smoothly, and soon they would march out and go on a Rift closing frenzy, trying to push the world toward the Raid. Between Hearthtribe’s mobility and the Sons of Rome’s planning and aid, they should be able to hit the ground running. 

Together, they would earn Conquest Points for the guild, and hopefully, ownership of Ariminum. With a good result, they may even push the world close to the second Tier. Rhia was excited to battle and become stronger with the living.            

***

“How do I look?”

Jake somewhat knew what to expect as he went to pick up Blood for her date, wearing a black tux, but he was still stricken by her appearance. She stood at the edge of the living room, dressed in a black dress with a deep v-neck cut. It had a large slit on one side of the dress, her human leg exposed.

She had changed her hair to the old white but kept her new horns, and her hearth was unable to be seen–without his Umbral Gaze. He could also feel it, her Presence still washing over him.

They had both used a special appearance altering item, similar to when they spoke with Baron Cassius. Jake had mostly suggested a size altering item for where they were going, along with hiding their Hearthian status.

Bloodberri was simply too large now, her coiled snake body taking up too much space for a restaurant. Even Jake had normalized his size somewhat back to his non evolved two meters in height, so he was shocked when she walked out of the room wearing high heels.

With her horns and her golden gaze to go along with her elfin beauty, she had a otherworldly beauty that was difficult for Jake to put into words.

“You look fantastic, my beautiful queen. I’m most surprised you went with legs, though. Berri… is not a fan of legs for herself.”

Of course, that was putting it lightly. Blood’s smile beamed. “Well, she’s asleep now, or else I’d be the one whining over all the buzzing. I figured with her out of the picture for our date, I could try something else? While I love my body I share with my sister, I’d like to set myself apart at least a little.”

Jake walked over, and found that her height brought them precisely eye to eye with her heels. He placed his hands on her waist, and brought her in for a quick, chaste kiss before his eyes met hers.

“You girls couldn’t be more different. I love you both just the way you were, and are. I do think I like the white hair better than the gold, though.”

Blood smiled. “I think Ophelia has already been considering at least shifting to platinum blonde. In the end, it’s just a hair color. We went with how our bodies shifted for our wedding, but plenty of women change their hair color and style, right? The Framework will let us shift our vessel’s hair color easily. Now, are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

Jake sent her a message in their Menu, containing the information so she could easily peruse it before offering his arm.

She smiled as she wrapped her hand around it, then her eyes went off into the distance, reading over it. They began to walk toward the door, Jake surprised by her graceful steps.

Blood hummed. “A primer on the Kingdom of Kaemun’s Pharaohs, and the Concordia Republic’s Regents?”

“It’s who we’re having dinner with. We’ll go for a ride in a carriage, and then we’ll meet the leaders of our new kingdoms.”

Blood brightened even further, taking another look at Jake’s outfit, and he could sense her approval of his choices. “How wonderful! I can’t wait to meet them. You really thought of what I might enjoy.”

He smiled back at her, as they arrived at the portal. “Of course. How could I forget you’d like to see me act more king-ly? And I’ll get to do that with my beloved queen by my side.”

She now tugged him, hastening their steps. “I can’t wait to see it! Let’s go.”

Jake chuckled as they went through the portal. He was excited to indulge Blood for once.