ã€ŠSmall Town Enigmaã€‹


 Back Home - 1.1

    Walking along a long gravel path with nothing but a large backpack hoisted on her back was a beautiful young woman. She walked with her head held high, taking in the beautiful sight of the natural spring landscape around her.

    To her left were giant redwood trees that dwarfed any other tree around as they were one of the largest types of trees on the continent. The name was a little misleading as the trunks of the redwood trees were more a dark brown color, it was only when you split the trunk open that the name would reveal itself as the inner wood had a nice red hue. What was really red were the crimson leaves hanging off its branches that encompassed the entire forest in a beautiful color.

    To her right was a large open field of purplish-red grass that extended into the redwood forest itself, and continued further past it. If you looked at a colored map, you could see a tiny splotch of purple called the purple plains. It wasn''t the most unique name but it was where the small town of Redwood stood in the center of.

    Accompanying the gorgeous redwood forest was a large winding river that weaved in between the trees and headed towards the town faintly in the distance. Even from afar you could spot the shiny scales of multicolored fishes swimming along the river and If you waited for a minute, you would see them dance through the air as they leaped out the river looking for food.

    The woman¡¯s long black hair was kept loose and it gracefully fluttered behind her from the gentle breeze brushing past her, falling onto her azure blue short-sleeved shirt. Her shirt was plain, but it tightly fit around her body making her muscular frame stand out a little more than normal.

    Below her shirt she wore similarly tight black jeans and thick black boots that blocked any mud splashes from staining her pants. The most notable part of her appearance beside her gorgeous looks were a pair of golden bracelets shining in the evening sunlight that tightly fit around both of her wrists.

    With a deep inhale, Jane Bluegold took in the smells of the familiar land around her. It had been four years since she left her hometown Redwood to go to the capital city of the Trinium kingdom.

    In that time not only was her choice of clothing different but her body itself changed a lot.  Besides no longer being a teenager, her slightly chubby appearance became toned and sleek, she was taller, her frame was muscular and well¡ª she was all grown up.

    There were some things she wished grew a little more¡ª somewhere right around the chest area, but nonetheless she was happy the way she looked. Her face looked a little more mature and was accompanied by a sharp jawline and a cute nose that had a few freckles sprinkled here and there. She had thick thighs, wide shoulders and a larger and more defined ass built from her years of training at the academy that radiated strength. The last bit was something she was quite happy about.

    It wasn''t exactly her choice to leave Redwood, more so a requirement from the kingdom, but that didn''t mean she hated it¡ª in fact, she absolutely loved her time at the academy.

    But now she was back home, definitely different, but very much the same person that had left. It sucked that she wasnt allowed to visit at all for the entire time she was at the academy, but she would make up for the missed time.

    She missed her parents, her home, and her old friends, but while four years seemed like a small amount of time, her life had changed drastically after leaving. No longer was she a small town 16 year old who didn''t know about the wider world, but instead a full fledged adult who had graduated from the Academy of Classholders.

    Not only was she a graduate, but she did so with one of the highest grades in her entire year and she was ready to live her life the way she wanted¡ª and that involved coming back home.

    The first thing she was always going to do after graduating was to come back home, but she had debated with herself if she should go back to live in the big city after visiting home for a few years. In the end, while the big city was nice, it didn''t beat the feeling of being near her family.

    It was also a little cozier to not live in a jam packed city with a few million people always out and about. Now with her newfound skills and unique power that no one else had, she was ready to truly start her own life that she could be proud of.

    She rubbed the bridge of freckled nose and felt her eyes start to water ever so slightly as the entrance to Redwood was inching closer and closer; she could even faintly see people in the distance that looked like little ants crawling about.

    ¡®Can''t get emotional so soon.¡¯ She sucked in the tears that were on the edge of spilling out of her eyes and composed herself. As a classholder and an enigma at that, she needed to be strong and unwavering in the face of challenge.

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    Closing her eyes for a second, she opened them with newfound confidence. The distance shrank and shrank until, finally, she had made it to the entrance to her hometown.

    The town of Redwood itself was neither small nor big. The capital had millions of citizens while Redwood might have a few ten thousand at best. It didn''t even have a stone wall surrounding it to protect against beasts or a gate to enter to get inside, it was a completely open town.

    Not that there were many dangerous beasts around here, but even if there were, the people of  Redwood grew up with the freedom of being able to run from their homes right into the woods. It would take a whole heaping of work to get everyone on board with building a wall around their home.

    As Jane took her first steps back into her hometown, she noticed it looked a little different than before she left. A shop she used to frequent, The Little Goose, had a new signboard, the roads through town were better paved than before and even the amount of folks around were a little more than before¡ª unless there was some sort of festival happening, but according to her memory that was not the case.

    Lots of small changes had made the grand picture a lot different.

    She surveyed the town while walking down a familiar route, heading directly for her home at the top of the only hill located in town. Her home was a simple two story place, spacious enough for her family of  three, with plenty of extra space for visitors.

    Her parents were livestock farmers so beside the house, there was also a large barn where tons of farm animals lived. They would sell the milk, eggs and meat from the animals which made them a lot of money, but working with animals was never easy. You would have to feed the animals, care for them, treat them if they got sick or injured, clean up after them. The list could keep going on and on.

    The property encompassed most of the hill which is why they could own so many animals since there was a lot of space for the animals to graze. The hill was an expensive property and along with the job, they were one of the few well off families in town, but it was no easy shindig. It was tough and honest work, something Jane was proud to have helped with while growing up.

    It was a little rough when she was younger but looking back on it she could only see mostly happy times. A few mishaps like slipping on cow shit was unavoidable but even then, she got a little chuckle thinking about it now. Growing up around farm animals made her very comfortable being around large animals and she had no problem getting a little dirty from working with them.

    She sighed as her mind played back through her old memories. She wished she could have told her parents all the good and bad that occurred during her time at the academy and get similar news back from them. Unfortunately during her entire four years, academy policy dictated that there would be no communication going to or from the academy.

    That meant besides not even being allowed the visit back home, she hadn''t even had the chance to send letters to her parents. She had no idea what had happened during their four years and they had no idea about hers.

    She crossed her fingers and wished nothing bad happened.

    She knew she spent her years well, she did many things, met many people, and studied hard to end up with one of the highest grades in the Academy.

    Thinking about all the stories and things she could talk about with her parents, she found herself standing a few feet away from the door to her home. The familiar smell of farm animals and all its stink and glory came sailing into her nose once again, bringing her back to her senses.

    ¡®Oh boy, here goes nothing!¡¯ She siked herself up and knocked on the door.

    She took a step back and placed her backpack on the ground. She was too anxious to notice the difference her home had over the years and nervously waited while fidgeting her hands together.

    ¡°Coming!¡± Her mothers sweet voice came from behind the door and just hearing it gave Jane chills. She hadn''t heard her mothers voice in so long.

    The door opened with a creak and her mother¡¯s smiling face appeared looking outside to see who it was but the second she saw Jane standing there, she froze in place.

    ¡°H-hey mom..¡± Jane awkwardly grinned and then looked down to see something she didn''t expect resting in her mothers arms¡ª A little girl. She was maybe two or three years old and had the same dark hair and midnight purple eyes that Jane had.

    Her mother Rosalie, put the little girl down gently and ran straight at Jane. She didn''t know why, but Jane panicked and closed her eyes but suddenly felt a powerful and soothing embrace wrap her body up tightly.

    ¡°My baby girl!¡± Rosalie cried out with tears dripping down her face.

    Jane couldn''t hold back anymore and her own tears rushed out her eyes and onto her mothers shirt. She hugged her mother back and felt warmth and relaxation she hadn¡¯t felt since leaving home four years ago¡ª a mothers embrace.

    ¡°...It''s been a while. Sorry it took so long¡± Jane''s voice came out muffled as her face was stained with tears.

    ¡°Shh, it wasn''t your choice to leave for four years, but you''re here now.¡± Rosalie reassured her by wiping a tear from her face. ¡°Look how tall you¡¯ve become!¡±

    The two spent another minute hugging in silence before another voice interrupted them. ¡°Who''s here Rosalie? It''s almost dinner time¡ª ¡± Her father, Jeffrey¡ª or Jeff Bluegold paused mid sentence.

    He ran up to Jane who had stopped hugging Rosalie, and scooped her up in a big embrace. He quickly put her down and stepped back to get a good look at her.

    ¡°You''re all grown up huh.¡± Jeff patted Jane on her shoulder and gave her muscles a squeeze with a big smile. ¡°My lord, look at those muscles! You shoulda told us you were coming, we would have cooked you a feast!¡±

    Jane wiped the last remaining tears out of her reddened eyes and said, ¡°Well¡­ I wanted it to be a surprise.¡±

    ¡°It sure was a surprise, ye almost gave me a heart attack!¡± Jeff boisterously chuckled and scooped up Jane''s backpack off the ground, ¡°Come on in, dinner''s almost ready and there''s probably a lot to talk about.¡±

    Her mother grabbed her shoulder from behind and nudged her through the entrance before picking up the little girl she put down.

    The house¡ª her home was familiar of course but like the town, it had its little differences from before. Furniture had been replaced and shuffled around, certain decorations were new and she noticed the old creaky floorboards had been replaced.

    Following her memory, she weaved through her home and into the kitchen where an aromatic smell was drifting out of. Her father shoved her backpack in the living room and rushed over to the kitchen to finish dinner.

    Rosalie, a little more hands on than ever before, guided her to a seat at the dinner table and not to the one that used to be hers. She then placed the little girl in her old seat which was raised using a puffy cushion.

    Sitting in the chair next to Jane, Rosalie seemed to want to say something but it was stuck on her tongue. It took a moment before she composed herself and explained to Jane something quite life changing.

    ¡°This is¡­ your little sister, Abigail.¡±

 Back Home - 1.2

    Jane¡¯s eyes opened wide. She might have suspected this was the case in the back of her mind after first seeing the little girl in Rosalie¡¯s arms, but actually hearing it come from her mouth was still shocking.

    ¡°I''m a sister?¡± It was truly a dream come true for her.

    She had always wished for a sibling when she was younger, but it seemed like her parents were too busy to raise more than one child as they were just starting up their farm back then. Things must be running smoother now giving them more time and energy to be able to raise another kid.

    Her parents were not old, but they were neither too young. She herself was born when her parents were 18 and 19 and now that she was 20, her parents would be in their late thirties.

    ¡°That''s amazing¡­ I don''t even know what to say.¡± Jane excitedly looked at Abigail, thinking of all the things they could do as sisters.

    ¡°We were lucky, you know. Me and your father are older, which was a tiny concern at first but when a priest visited and offered his services to the people of Redwood¡ª It was a pretty penny but we bought a pregnancy amulet that guaranteed a healthy pregnancy.¡± Rosalie explained while looking at Abigail with adoration. ¡°We probably didn''t need it but might as well play it safe.¡±

    ¡°I''m so happy right now, congratulations! I can''t wait to be a sister!¡± Jane hugged Rosalie again and then took a closer look at Abigail and couldn''t help but see herself in her.

    ¡°Good, cause you have three years to make it up for her and four years to make up for us.¡± Rosalie stared at Jane who composed herself and nodded.

    ¡°I''m here for the long haul, I don''t think I want to leave anytime soon.¡± Jane said.

    ¡°If you thought I''d let you leave again anytime soon, you better be ready to fight me.¡± Her mother wasn''t joking and stared at Jane waiting for an answer. There was no hesitation from Jane, she once again nodded her head multiple times to get the point across, she was here to stay¡ª at least for a while, who knows about further down the line.

    ¡°Abigail, this is your older sister Jane, that me and Papa have told you about. Say hi.¡±

    ¡°Jane?¡± A cute voice came from Abigail''s mouth.

    ¡°Yes, your sister Jane.¡± Her mother said.

    Jane waved at Abigail and said, ¡°Hello¡± but Abigail only stared at her for a brief moment before looking away and ignoring her.

    ¡°It''s gonna take a bit of time for her to get used to you, don''t mind her now.¡± Rosalie reassured Jane.

    She understood that''s how kids were and didn¡¯t take it to heart, she was more excited to think about the future of getting to live with her newfound sister. It was a sudden discovery to find out you were a sibling for sure, but in all her life, it wasn''t even the most shocking thing.

    She would be the best sister she could be¡ª but before that she was starving. Her stomach groaned, getting a chuckle from her parents.

    Her hunger was almost alleviated from the smell of delicious stew, bread and cooked eggs arriving at the dinner table in the hands of Jeff. He passed a bowl and plate over to everyone and it became a free-for-all just like old times.

    Even though she was hungry, Jane waited for everyone else to get their food first before she helped herself. Not wanting to miss out on the nostalgic taste of home, she made sure to grab lots, filling her plate all the way to the edge. The second her spoon filled with hot stew touched the tip of her tongue, she knew she was back home.

    ¡°So Jane, I know you have a lot to talk about and we definitely want to hear every detail, but there''s no rush. We have however long to catch up¡ª we ourselves have plenty of things we want to tell you about as well.¡± Jeff put down his spoon and asked. ¡°I''ll start off simple, did you at least have a good time at the Academy?¡±

    Jane put her spoon down and answered. ¡°At first it was nerve wracking, being away from home and being all by yourself, but after the first month, it felt just like another home.¡± She explained. ¡°It was stressful of course, but overall it was an amazing time.¡±

    ¡°That''s great to hear.¡± Jeff said, then bluntly asked. ¡°So¡­ What class did you end up having?¡±

    ¡°Asking about the juicy bits already?¡± Jane jokingly smiled which made Jeff go red in the face.

    ¡°I''m only curious, it''s not any day your daughter¡ª or anyone really¡ª comes home a graduated classholder.¡± Jeff defended himself but he realized he didn''t need to after seeing the smirk on his daughter''s face.

    ¡°Of course I''m gonna tell you, that''s the coolest part about going to the Academy, finding out which class you have.¡± Jane cleared her throat. ¡°I found out that I am¡­ An enigma.¡±

    ¡°Enigma? Which one is that again?¡± Rosalie asked.

    Information about classes was common knowledge but it was so outside the norm for most people that they didn''t have it memorized by heart. There were a few more well known classes everyone knew about like elementalists or priests but the other classes were more obscure and did not appear in most smaller towns often.

    A person awakening to a class was a roughly 1 in 100,000 chance, meaning in a small town like Redwood, the chance for someone to be a classholder was extremely slim. In her life she was the only one she knew of from Redwood that was a classholder, others had been, but they were before her time. Maybe in the capital city where you''d be around more classholders, more people would know about them, but here it felt more like folklore than actual facts.

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    That''s why Jeff got a little embarrassed asking about her class, he thought it might''ve been considered rude to ask a classholder what their class was even if they were family, but in actuality they¡¯d rather tell you all about it then not.

    Her parents did their research on the specific classes before she was sent off to the academy, but it had been four years since¡ª they had probably forgotten.

    ¡°An enigma is a class where their power is completely random. The only thing we all have in common is we can sense if another person is a classholder, that''s actually how they test us when we turn sixteen.¡±

    ¡°Does that mean it''s a good class?¡± Jeff questioned.

    ¡°There really aren''t any bad classes since each class has their own unique power sets and way of life. As for enigma¡¯s, it''s a little weird. Some Enigma¡¯s get more lucky with their special power than others, but every power has its uses.¡± Jane went on to explain. ¡°Enigma''s are also the odd ducks in school because our powers are the only ones that can''t really be taught by an established teacher like the other classes.¡±

    ¡°Oh, did everything work out then?¡± Rosalie worried.

    ¡°Of course, whose daughter do you think I am? I excelled and graduated with the third highest grades out of my entire year.¡± Jane sarcastically crossed her arms and puffed her chests. ¡°Even if I got a little lucky with my Enigma power.¡±

    Seeing their daughter act the same as before made Jeff and Rosalie more relaxed. At first they acted a little restrained due to them not having seen her for four years¡ª they didn''t know how much changed about her¡ª but now, it was like she had never left.

    ¡°You don''t get that from your Pa. I''ll tell you that.¡± Rosalie giggled and slapped Jeff on the shoulder.

    ¡°Hey! Where do you think she got those new muscles from, differently not you!¡± They all giggled together as they bantered back and forth with each other.

    After a while, as Jane was getting more comfortable being back home, she asked with a cheeky grin.¡° Do you wanna see my power?¡±

    Their eyes opened wide and they nodded like little children. To see the magical powers of a classholder up close was a dream for many in small towns like Redwood, and now their daughter was able to just casually do so.

    ¡°I wont get into the details but here''s one thing I can do.¡± From Jane¡¯s hand, two golden phantom hands flew out and hovered in the air.

    Abigail¡¯s attention snapped towards the flying hands and was enamored at the sight of them¡ª as were the two adults.

    Jane made the hands dance through the air, getting one to swoop down and pick up a slice of bread while the other buttered it using a knife. Then the hand with the bread flew right next to her which she promptly used to feed herself with.

    ¡°This is some good bread.¡± She said with a mouthful of buttered bread.

    ¡°Wow!¡± Rosalie applauded and Jeff nodded in agreement, causing Jane to blush a tiny bit.

    ¡°That looks so useful, how many chores on the farm could be completed if those hands got to work¡ª oh, I didn''t mean to insist that, darling.¡± Rosalie caught herself. ¡°Can''t keep your potential locked away in a small farm like this can you.¡±

    ¡°Ma¡­ Of course I¡¯ll gladly help out with the farm but as far as the future goes¡­ I''m thinking of doing my own thing.¡±

    ¡°Of course of course, I want you to do what''s best for you.¡± Rosalie said. ¡°And if you need any help, we''re here for you, right Jeffrey?¡±

    ¡°Ehum, yes of course.¡± Jeff sternly nodded.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Jane smiled and resumed eating. The dinner table went silent as everyone focused on actually eating instead of talking. It wasn''t until everyone was done eating that conversation picked back up.

    ¡°How was the living situation, was it good?¡± Rosalie asked.

    ¡°It was amazing, there was a cafeteria that served amazing food¡ª not as good as yours obviously¡ª and tons of stores to buy whatever we needed. As for where we stayed, everyone was put into large luxurious dormitories with a few roommates we shared a room with¡ª I myself had two roommates who I got along really well with.¡±

    ¡°Ohhh so you made friends, are they gonna come visit?¡± Her mother excitedly asked.

    ¡°I did make a few friends there. As for if they¡¯ll come visit, there''s actually plans in the works for them to visit.¡± As Jane said that she could see her mothers eyes sparkle.

    ¡°You gotta tell me when so I can prepare and make sure they have a great time here.¡±

    ¡°There''s no need to go that far, you just gotta be yourself.¡± Jane waved her mothers enthusiasm away.

    ¡°Hm, let a mother get excited about meeting her daughter''s friends.¡± Rosalie crossed her arms and huffed in a joking way.

    ¡°I¡¯ve had friends over before.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve had a friend over, the same friend you¡¯ve had since you were a baby.¡± Jane couldn¡¯t refute that. In her entire life before leaving Redwood, she had only ever made one friend and that was because their parents were friends at first.

    ¡°How are they all doing anyway?¡± She asked.

    ¡°The Frier¡¯s? They¡¯re doing fine, they had their seventh child the same time as we had Abigail. As for little old Eric Frier, he found a job working at the Little Goose as a chef and I''ll tell you, his food is damn good! Right now he¡¯s trying to save up enough money to move out.¡±

    ¡°Really, he wants to move out?¡± Jane asked. If you didn''t know, Eric was her childhood friend.

    ¡°Oh ya. He was sad after you left and wanted to save up enough money to visit the capitol, maybe sneak into the academy to visit you, but after the years, his goals changed.¡±

    ¡°Hm I see. I should probably visit him soon, see how he''s doing.¡±

    ¡°I bet he¡¯d be glad if you did, well sooner or later you¡¯d meet up, but if you wanna find him tomorrow then you can find him at the Little Goose during its opening hours.¡± Her mother then gave her a toothy smile. ¡°You might be surprised to know something.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Rosalie leaned in closer and said, ¡°He has a girlfriend.¡±

    ¡°Really? That doofus got a girlfriend? Who?¡± Jane was surprised that her nerdy bookworm of a childhood friend got a girlfriend, but she wanted to know the details.

    ¡°You''ll have to find out for yourself.¡± Her mother giggled and got up to clean the dinner table.

    ¡°What?! Don''t leave me hanging like that.¡± All she got was a chuckle from her mother in return no matter how hard she pestered.

    Looks like she would have to ask him herself. She decided that would be her plan for tomorrow: go visit the Little Goose, get a nice meal, and then talk to Eric.

 Back Home - 1.3

    Her train of thoughts was interrupted by her father yelling at her from the kitchen. ¡°Let''s get your stuff unpacked, you must be tired from your trip back!¡±

    ¡°Okay! I assume my room hasn''t been taken over?¡± Jane jokingly shouted back.

    ¡°Not yet!¡± He chuckled in response.

    She lugged her heavy backpack out of the living room and up the wooden stairs which hadn''t been changed like the floorboards¡ª meaning they were still creaky. She managed to remember where the non-creaky spots were and like a panther, she stealthily climbed up the stairs. It was a skill she had practiced a lot when she was younger for various purposes that others didn''t need to know about.

    She opened the door to her room and found it exactly the same as she had left it¡ª much to her content.

    ¡®Looks like Ma continued to clean the place.¡¯ She looked around and noticed it was sparkly clean and was glad nothing had been moved around too much. Throwing her backpack onto the wooden floor of her room, she dove onto her bed and closed her eyes, letting the familiar sink of her old mattress sooth her soul.

    It smelled like home, and it felt like home. No longer was her bed going to be a fluffy paradise of softness that all the beds at the academy had, but instead it was a springy, barely soft mattress. To some that might be a bad thing, but to Jane, it felt just right.

    Jeff strode into her room before stopping awkwardly. ¡°I should probably start knocking, you''re a grown up now.¡±

    ¡°That would be great, thanks!¡± Jane seriously nodded to that. She really wanted her privacy.

    He rubbed his hands, cleared his throat, then got to work. They didn''t spend that long unpacking her stuff as most of it was clothes and a few trinkets she brought along, but there were a few books and other smaller items she had to find a new home for.

    Some of it was originally stuff from home that she took to the academy, but most of it was new stuff she brought along with her from the academy. The academy had given every student an allowance to which they could use to purchase items from the academy stores¡ª which she visited often.

    Unpacking shouldn''t have taken long considering how little she had brought back, but Jane was a different person now and she began to rearrange her room to what felt more right. Time seemed to fly as they modified her room and by the end, it looked completely different then how it used to be.

    Her bed was rotated and moved closer to the window in her room to allow it to soak in the natural light of the sun better. Her desk was similarly moved and the rest of her things were rearranged to fit better.

    ¡°What to do with this?¡± Jane said to herself, stuck on what to do with her academy uniform. She wasn''t going to throw it away but was she ever going to wear it again?

    Once she graduated, she no longer had to wear the uniform, and she was both happy and sad about that. Happy that she could wear things she wanted for a change and sad thinking about all the memories she had while in her uniform. Not a depressing sadness, but more of a joyful sadness.

    ¡®I''ll decide later.¡¯ For now she would store it with the rest of clothes.

    ¡°That''s about everything, thanks for the help Pa.¡± Jane patted her hands together and looked around, satisfied with how her room looked.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Jeff lumbered out of the room and left saying, ¡°I gotta check on the animals and your Ma¡¯s playing with Abigail in the living room.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Jane answered and took another deep breath in. She reached into her pockets and pulled out a very special golden badge with the symbol of a backwards ¡®E¡¯ on it.

    This badge represented two things; First she was a graduate of the Academy of Classholders, a very respected and quite special thing to have accomplished, while the ¡®E¡¯ told others her class was an enigma.

    She took the badge down the stairs and into the living room where she found Rosalie done playing with Abigail because the little girl''s eyes were starting to droop. Rosalie picked her up and went to put her to sleep in her own room which used to be an empty storage room before.

    Jane walked past the living room and exited the house onto the porch where she took a seat on her fathers old wooden chair. The darn thing had been around longer then she had and would probably last for a couple more decades with how resilient it was.

    The sun was off to her left and began to sneak under the land below, lighting the sky with a palette of warm colors. This was something the big city couldn''t hope to replicate; the beauty of seeing the bare landscape and all its glory.

    Reaching into her pocket she pulled out something else she brought down along with her badge, a gift from one of friends at the academy. It looked like a long blue crystal but its use was definitely not for visual pleasure. She pressed the gift to her lips and took a breath in before blowing out a cloud of blue smoke.

    A soothing feeling spread throughout her body making the sight of the orangey gold sky even more impressive than before. Calmness was all she felt in this moment.

    The door opened behind her, and Rosalie came out and sat down beside Jane in her own chair she had out on the porch. Surprised by her mother, Jane hid the crystal on reflex but only got a chuckle in response from Rosalie.

    ¡°Don''t mind me, you''re an adult now, remember.¡± Rosalie lit up her own cigarette and took some puffs in.

    ¡°I guess that''s true¡­ I''m freaking old now.¡±

    ¡°What does that make me then?¡± They laughed together.

    Smelling the foul scent of Rosalie¡¯s cigarette, Jane spoke up. ¡°Oh no no you can''t smoke that, here try this.¡± Jane passed her mom the blue crystal. ¡°This is something my alchemist friend Liam made me, not only does it make you feel good, it¡¯s actually good for you.¡±

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    ¡°Really?¡± Rosalie curiously inspected the blue crystal, not sure what to do.

    ¡°Yep, alchemist approved!  Its main use is to clear up the gunk in the lungs but it also makes you feel great.¡± Jane explained. ¡°Just put it to your lips and take a breath in. Easy as that.¡±

    Rosalie tossed her cigarette in an ashtray nearby and followed Jane¡¯s instructions. She ended up blowing out a huge puff of blue smoke. ¡°Wow! This is some good stuff.¡±

    ¡°I know right, it''s useful having an alchemist friend.¡± A corner of Jane''s lip curled into a smile as she watched her mother take another hit.

    The two sat in silence enjoying each other''s company and the view before them while passing the blue crystal between themselves. Eventually the sun faded beyond the horizon and the remaining light it gave off was fading quickly.

    ¡°So Ma¡­¡± Jane had something she wanted to tell her parents sooner than later and thought now was a better time than ever. Her mother was ¡°high¡± and the day was almost over, it felt like an opportune time.

    Rosalie turned to look at Jane and waited for what she had to say.

    ¡°You were excited by the prospect of having friends come to Redwood right?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I can''t wait to meet your friends.¡± Rosalie beamed. ¡°You said before you guys were coming up with plans right?¡±

    ¡°Yep, actually the plans are already done.¡± Jane took another hit. ¡°Redwood is in the middle of Trinium so everyone decided Redwood would be the easiest place to meet up¡ª lucky for me. it was decided that they¡¯ll come in roughly a month and half from now.¡±

    ¡°So soon? Won¡¯t it take them days if not weeks to travel here?¡± Rosalie asked. ¡°What about their families, I wouldn''t want my daughter going away again so soon.¡±

    ¡°One of my friends is a Porter, and one of her assignments was to travel to all the kingdom''s major cities and towns so she can go there whenever she wants.¡±

    ¡°A Porter? Is that the one that can teleport?¡±

    ¡°Yep, so with her picking everyone up, there won''t be any travel time involved. It might take a few days though since she¡¯s still a newbie and doesn''t have as much stamina to continuously teleport back and forth¡ª especially considering the distance between towns.¡±

    Jane continued, ¡°She¡¯ll probably arrive first then pick people up one by one throughout the week.¡±

    ¡°Where are they planning to stay? Because we¡¯ll be happy to host them. We have a few spare rooms in the basement if we move some things around.¡± Rosalie questioned.

    ¡°Wait wait sorry that was beside the point, I wanted to talk to you about something else.¡± Jane composed herself.

    ¡°What is it honey?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ someone will be visiting at the same time that''s¡­ a little more than a friend.¡± Jane¡¯s face started to go red, a little embarrassed. She wasn''t sure why she was embarrassed about telling her parents she was in a relationship, she was an adult, it was a normal thing. Maybe it was that fact she had never done it before, so it was a new experience.

    Whatever the case, she was gonna say it.

    ¡°My¡ª¡±

    ¡°Oh, did you get a boyfriend at the academy?! When did you guys meet? How old is he? How long have you been together?¡± Rosalie¡¯s eyes sparkled and she hit Jane with a barrage of questions.

    ¡°Um, well¡­ I actually got a girlfriend.¡± Jane waited to see what Rosalie¡¯s response would be but only got a hit by the same questions.

    ¡°When did you guys meet? How old is she? How long have you been together?¡±

    ¡°We met on the first day of classes since everyone the same age is in one class together¡ª wait, you don''t care that she''s a girl?¡±

    ¡°What? Of course not!¡± Rosalie patted her on the head. ¡°Your father might have wanted you to bring home a man, because as a man himself he can relate to them, but that''s his problem to deal with. As for me, I can''t wait to meet her myself.¡±

    ¡°Soooo, what''s her name and how long have you been dating?¡±

    Jane smiled and one of her last worries disappeared hearing her mothers words. ¡°Her name is Mira, and we''ve dated for close to three years.¡± Jane responded.

    ¡°Three whole years! That''s amazing!¡± Rosalie turned towards her and was excited like a puppy meeting its owner for the first time.

    ¡°So Mira¡¯s coming along with all your friends, oh we need to start cleaning the house now¡­ and start making some plans on how to get along with all of them¡­¡±

    ¡°Ma not again! Everyone and everything is fine the way it is, just play nice and don''t be so aggressive when you meet them.¡±

    ¡°Did you just call me aggressive?¡±

    Jane stood up while saying, ¡°You''re imagining things. It''s getting late. I better head to bed, goodnight Ma!¡± She ran back into the house, all the way up to her room.

    Rosalie chuckled and leaned back into her chair, thrilled her daughter had returned a new woman. She could see the old Jane in her, but she really wanted to get to know the new Jane better. Thoughts and plans brewed in her mind as she came up with ways to get to know her friends and girlfriend better¡ª the first one was to find a way to host them while they were all here.

    They had one spare bedroom that could host two people but she didn''t know how many friends were coming over, she needed to get the details from Jane. With a little work they could turn the basement which was mostly a storage place into a temporary room, they just needed some extra bedding.

    ¡°It''s almost bedtime, what are you still doing outside? Come on in, it''s gonna get cold soon since it''s still spring.¡± Jeff came outside and asked Rosalie.

    ¡°I''m thinking dear¡­ Did you know that your daughter got herself a girlfriend, and they¡¯ve been dating for almost three years.¡±

    Jeff plopped himself down next to his wife and cleared his throat. ¡°Tell me more, I''m listening.¡±

    ***

    Jane changed into her pajamas which weren¡¯t that different from her normal clothes, they consisted of a pair of soft white short shorts, a comfortable shirt and an oversized black sweater overtop to fend off the chilly night air.

    Holding her classholder badge above her as she lay in her bed, thoughts of her days at the academy rushed through her mind. The hard classes which she hated¡ª being any of the general classes not related to classholders themselves¡ª the friends she made goofing around outside of class time¡­ her first time meeting Mira.

    The good and bad and everything in between, all were precious memories to her¡ª even the time she fell asleep on the edge of a fountain and rolled into it, soaking herself from head to toe. That had happened right in front of Mira when she had a crush on her before they even started dating.

    Taking one last look, she placed the badge down on her desk next to her and closed her eyes, happy to be back home. One of her greatest skills (skills would be a strong word here) was her ability to fall asleep whenever and wherever. It didn''t always help, like what she had just remembered about falling into the fountain, but most of the time it was amazing.

    It only took her a solid minute before her mind was no longer awake and instead was living in the world of dreams. Her last thought before she fell asleep was, ''I can''t wait.'' She didn''t have any specific idea of what she couldn''t wait for; it was more of a feeling that she couldn''t wait for her life to continue unfolding.

 Best Friend - 2.1

    Jane¡¯s body freely floated along a calm meandering river, its warm waters felt soothing as it wrapped around her gorgeous naked figure. Her well defined abs and perky breasts had a thin layer of water overtop them making them gleam as the sun''s lights encompassed the entirety of the river. Besides her limbs, her black hair also spread out and gently floated on the surface of the water.

    She stared straight up at the sun that hung overhead, its yellow rays bounced off the still-as-ice river while little purple flower petals were scattered throughout the river, creating a picturesque scene.

    Life was amazing!

    She lazily wiggled her limbs in the water, feeling the gentle tickle of the water brush against her outstretched nude body. Nothing could feel better than this, she thought.

    Her peace was disturbed as a sudden feeling of weight pressed against her abdomen, she raised her head slightly out of the water to see what was pressing on her and saw a log resting atop her stomach.

    ¡®Where did this come from?¡¯ She tried to raise her arms so she could move the log but they were stuck to the water like they were magnetized. Using all her might, she tried again to move her arms out of the water but the feeling of impossibility struck her mind and she gave up.

    ¡®Guess it''ll be there forever.¡¯ She closed her eyes and ignored the log, returning to her peace, but then she felt the log start to bounce up and down.

    She finally awoke from her dream finding herself in her room, but the feeling of the log on her stomach was still present. Lifting the covers, she found a little girl straddling her body while bouncing up and down excitedly.

    Abigail giggled and crawled further up Jane''s body until her smiley face was only inches away from Jane¡¯s. A little surprised at first, Jane grabbed Abigail¡¯s armpits and lifted her up while she leaned forward, then she gently put Abigail down onto the ground to give her enough room to get out of bed.

    Her bare feet planted on the cold wooden floorboards sending shivers up her body. She rubbed her cold feet and used one of her enigma powers to send a soothing pulse of warmth into them.

    ¡®That feels better.¡¯ She stood up, stretched her arms high above her head, before looking back down at Abigail. She was dressed in a white onesie with a purple flower pattern and she energetically ran around the room before stopping next to Jane.

    ¡°Upsie!¡± Abigail raised her arms up wanting to be picked up¡ª and as a good sister, Jane had to comply.

    Lifting a three year old was an easy feat for her well built body, she leaned down and hoisted Abigail up into her arms with a big grin. Was it this easy to be a big sister? She hadn''t even done anything yet, but it seemed like Abigail was already warmed up to her.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Ma and Pa?¡± Jane asked Abigail and she pointed beyond her window at their barn outside. The light of the morning sun was already high in the sky and spilled into her room through her large circular window, indicating that it was already closer to lunch than it was to breakfast.

    ¡°Oh shit¡ª crap I slept in!¡± Jane caught herself from swearing, she couldn''t be leaving a bad example so soon. Carrying Abigail out of her room, she headed down to the main floor, slipped on a pair of her moms outdoor slippers, and walked out the door.

    The afternoon air wasn''t too chilly but neither was it that warm, thankfully the sun helped deal with the slight breeze tingling her bare legs and feet. Looking around she could already spot some of their farm animals grazing the fenced in hill behind the house.

    The crunch of gravel sung into Jane¡¯s ears as she approached the barn, but as she got closer the sounds of animals overpowered any other sound. Chickens were clucking, cattle were mooing and the horses were neighing in a chaotic harmony that left no room for other sounds¡ª except for her parents arguing at each other.

    ¡°Why are you in such a rush Rosalie? You''re either gonna break something or hurt yourself if you''re not careful.¡± Jeff¡¯s stern, but caring voice blared out from the barn.

    ¡°Don¡¯t coddle me, I know what I''m doing!¡± Rosalie barked back. ¡°Jane could be up any minute and as a good mother, I should make her a nice breakfast to wake up to.¡±

    ¡°She''s a grown woman now, if she''s hungry she can make her own breakfast if there isn''t any¡ª plus you''re already a good mother!¡± Jeff countered.

    She was now doing a double take if she should interrupt her parents but decided she might as well break up the endearing argument that was occurring between them.

    ¡°Ma! Pa! You guys in there?!¡± She pretended she hadn¡¯t known they were in there and called out.

    ¡°See, she''s already awake! I should have made her breakfast before coming out here!¡± Her mother whisper-yelled at Jeff but it was still loud enough that Jane could hear it from outside. ¡°Yes sweetie we¡¯re in the barn finishing up some morning chores!¡±

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    Jane turned the corner of the gravel path and headed into the open doors of the barn with Abigail still tightly holding her while in her arms. Compared to the house the barn was bigger, since it had to house a boat load of animals. The first floor is where the cattle and the horses ate, slept for the night or used as shelter when it rained, while the second floor is where the chicken coop was kept.

    They didn''t have many horses, only two that had been around since Jane was a baby and one new one that she hadn''t seen before. They had roughly thirty cows and one bastard of a bull named Hugo¡ª she didn''t like Hugo very much. As for chickens, there were lots of them as their main source of income was their egg sales.

    She saw a few chickens walk up and down a large ramp that spanned from the first to the second floor. It was also fenced off from the other animals to allow the chickens to easily make their way outside without getting accidentally trampled.

    As she walked in she saw her Pa sitting on a wooden stool and milking the cows while her mother was up on the second floor collecting eggs, cleaning the coop and refilling the chickens'' food.

    ¡°How¡¯s your morning Jane!¡± Rosalie yelled from above, still hard at work. ¡°Have you had breakfast yet? I''m almost done so I can cook you something real nice in a few minutes.¡±

    ¡°I''m great Ma! I was a little surprised to be awoken by a little gremlin crawling on me in bed.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Gremlin?¡± Her mother peaked over the ledge of the second story and saw Abigail chilling in Jane''s arms. ¡°Did your sister wake you up?¡±

    ¡°Yep, Seems she has already taken a liking to me¡ª not sure why though.¡±

    ¡°Guess that''s just how kids are! I''d try to keep your door closed if you don''t want to be woken up again!¡± Rosalie smiled seeing the sight of her daughters getting closer.

    ¡°Nah that''s fine, I seemed to have slept in anyways. It''s a good way to wake up on time I guess.¡± Jane laughed and booped Abigail on the nose eliciting a giggle from her.

    ¡°What about breakfast?¡±

    ¡°I just woke up and came here¡ª haven''t had anything to eat yet.¡± Jane replied.

    ¡°Okay, you hang out with your sister for another few minutes, I''ll come make you breakfast¡ª or brunch soon.¡± Rosalie waved at Jane and got back to work.

    She couldn''t argue against having her mothers cooking, so she carried Abigail back home before plopping her onto the couch in their living room. Jane spent the next half an hour or so playing with Abigail. It was a little chaotic, as kids tended to be. They played with dolls, played house, and even played a little game of catch just outside the front yard with one of Jane¡¯s old balls¡ª all in less than an hour.

    By the time her mother came back inside, Jane was already mentally tuckered out. How did her mother deal with this all the time? Being a mother was harder than she thought.

    After a filling brunch that Rosalie made for everyone¡ª delicious as always¡ª Jane decided her plans for the rest of the day. She would head over to the Little Goose and try to catch Eric while he was on break to show him that she was back in town. They could catch up after his work was over since that gave them the rest of the evening to talk. Hopefully he didn''t have any plans but even if he did, she was back in town for years to come so waiting a few days to catch up wasn''t a big deal.

    Before his work was over she could take the rest of the day to explore the town, see what was new and what stayed the same. It excited her in a strange way¡ª she couldn''t explain it¡ª she had walked the streets of Redwood thousands of times so it wouldn''t ever be that different than before she left. Still the thoughts of casually strolling through Redwood made her giddy to no end.

    She changed out of her pajamas and into more casual wear before saying goodbye to her parents and little sister, then proceeded to head down the hill towards the town below. From the hill she had a beautiful view of the town, it was tall enough that she could see almost the entirety of the town but it wasn''t too tall that it was a pain to climb everyday.

    Plus if she was too tired to climb, she had a new way to get up the hill, but she would show that later¡ª to surprise people of course.

    Once she was down the hill, there were plenty of paths heading every which way leading to the various different areas of town. She could head left or right and wrap around the hill, going towards the school and residential area of town where most of the residents lived, but her goal was to go to the town square where most of the shops were located.

    The town square was down the straight path that went all the way to the main entrance of the town where she entered yesterday. When she first arrived she had already passed the town square while heading towards her home, but she wanted a more in-depth exploration.

    The town square was a decent size for a small town like there''s and was where most things happened in Redwood. There were a small select number of restaurants that were constantly filled because they were the only place in town where you''d get a nice meal that you didn''t have to cook yourself. Occupational shops and stalls were the main buildings that took up the town square; there were clothing shops, blacksmithing shops, bakeries¡ª the list kept going.

    If you need to find something or get something done, the town square is the place to go. There were shops outside of the town square but they were usually smaller shops and stalls found in the residential area.

    It seemed business was booming as usual as Jane strolled through the bustling town square, watching as the residents of the city went about their day. She saw children with greasy grins as they devoured food their parents bought them from a stall, couples walking hand-in-hand on dates and families eating out together in the outdoor sections of restaurants.

    ¡®I can''t wait till Mira gets here!¡¯ Jane thought to herself seeing the plentiful amount of couples and parents enjoying their time together. Once Mira got here, she would make sure she showed her all Redwood had to offer while she took her on various dates.

    Besides Mira, Jane was also excited for her three other friends she made at the academy to come and visit. It felt a lot quieter at home compared to the academy since they weren''t here, but she wasn''t against a little bit of noise.

 Best Friend - 2.2

    As her mind was busy thinking about all the things she could do when her friends got here, she had arrived in front of the largest restaurant in town, The Little Goose. It was a two story restaurant that catered to everybody; they had high dining up top and casual dining down on the main floor¡ª The best of both worlds.

    The owner, Redrick Greasefinger had built the Little Goose from the ground up and had turned it into what it was today, a delicious restaurant that everybody could enjoy. Jane didn''t know how the old man let Eric work as a chef at his restaurant considering he was known for his strictness, that must just mean Eric was pretty talented at cooking.

    She stared up at the brand new signboard that was hung overhead using chains. It read ¡°The Little Goose.¡± and on both ends of the sign were images of little plump baby gooses. She walked through the large wooden doors¡ª hoping they didn''t actually cook baby gooses.

    Smells of all sorts rushed straight at her and an immediate smile plastered her face, they were familiar smells that almost made her start drooling as she looked back at her old memories of coming here. Dozens of tables were splayed out but as the lunch rush was already over, it was generally empty compared to most other times.

    With a long stride, Jane walked over to the counter and found herself a seat which looked right into the open kitchen that Redrick had designed. It was a nice way of demonstrating to their customers that they weren''t afraid of showing how they cooked things, everything was out in the open for others to see. Cleanliness was a worry for some but if you were able to see how the chefs prepared and cooked all the foods yourself, you wouldn''t worry as much.

    She looked into the kitchen trying to find Eric but none of the figures looked familiar to her, it also didn''t help that most of the workers had their backs or sides to her. Spending another minute or so trying to piece together any clue as to which one was Eric, she eventually gave up.

    ¡°What can I get you today?¡± A young waitress working the counter section who looked like she was still in school, approached her.

    ¡°Hmm, I just ate¡ª Maybe a drink then? Got any cider?¡± Jane asked.

    ¡°Of course, we got plenty¡ª Here''s a drink menu.¡± The waitress handed her a simple drink menu filled mostly with beers, wines and ciders.

    Jane flipped it open and browsed the various drinks, she had never been able to do this before because she wasn''t old enough to purchase alcohol before. At the academy she had tried her fair share of alcohol but this would be her first time doing so back home.

    Maybe she should go for a drink with her parents or Eric, now that everybody was allowed to drink.

    ¡°Can I get a grello cider?¡± She played it safe and got a nice simple drink. Grello were similar to apples but they were twice the size, always a vibrant green, and had a nice natural sweetness that outclassed apples. It was a popular fruit and drink because of its sweetness and size, and in the Redwood valley there were farmers who grew them which meant any grello¡¯s found here were always fresh.

    ¡°Sure thing. That would be three bronze please.¡± Jane handed over three bronzes from her wallet she brought along from home to the waitress. The waitress took the coins and quickly poured out a grello cider for her from behind the counter..

    Before she left to another customer, Jane asked her, ¡°Hey, is there an Eric here? Eric Frier.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Oh ya, he''s right at the back there. He''s almost on break if you want to talk to him.¡± Jane thanked the waitress with a smile and sipped on her cider in the meantime.

    She stared at the back of her old childhood friend wondering when he had become so tall and muscular. When she left Redwood, Eric was skinny, shorter than most his age and without a lick of muscle¡ª but now he looked like a grown man.

    Even from the counter Jane could see his vascular arms tightly holding a knife as he chopped ingredients while his large frame overshadowed the other chefs in the kitchen.

    ¡®Looks like we both had a glow up.¡¯ Jane thought. Back then she was also pretty short for her age and was only a little more muscular than Eric, but now she was over six feet tall and had a good amount of muscle mass.

    After a few minutes passed, Eric seemed to be done with his current work. He wiped a bead of sweat off his brow and walked out of the kitchen into the main room through a side door. Short golden brown hair rested atop his head and worked its way down onto his face where a neatly trimmed beard lay. He had colorful orange eyes that scanned the counter looking for a chair to sit at, and after plopping down onto one of the chairs, he took a deep breath in and reached over the counter to pour himself a glass of water.

    ¡°Hey pretty boy, anybody sitting next to you?¡± A woman''s voice sounded in his ear, sounding somewhat familiar to him.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Turning to his side, his jaw opened with a gasp. Without any delay he stood up and embraced the woman, his height slightly overshadowing her own.

    ¡°Jane!¡± His voice almost cracked as his emotions that had been in dormant rest for years rushed through him.

    ¡°Oof! Boy did your muscles grow.¡± Jane said, feeling the tight embrace of her childhood friend wrap around her.

    Jane closed her eyes and the two stayed there for a minute, letting each other take in the warmth and emotions of the other in silence. It wasn''t until Jane heard sniffling that she pulled back, still with one arm hooked around his shoulders.

    ¡°Tears? For me?¡± Jane smiled, eliciting a slight chuckle from Eric.

    ¡°You must be imagining things.¡± He wiped a tear running down his cheeks. ¡°Did your time at the academy make you dumber?¡±

    ¡°Hoho, okay I see how it is. Just cause you got a little more handsome you think you can start making fun of me.¡± A pause, then the two laughed together.

    ¡°...I missed you too.¡± Jane also had to wipe tears away from her face.

    The two sat down and stared at each other, they looked so different compared to four years ago but after a while they laughed once again.

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    ¡°How the hell did you get so tall¡ª and muscular¡ª and a little more handsome than I''d like to admit.¡± Jane slapped his back.

    ¡°I could say the same, you''re almost as tall as me and looking at your muscles, I can see you''ve been hard at work.¡± Eric complimented. ¡°Maybe a little more pretty than I''d like to admit as well.¡±

    ¡°Calling me pretty for the first time since we''ve known each other, you''re a changed man.¡± Jane said then reached up and touched his freshly trimmed beard. ¡°I mean look, there''s this weird hairy part on your face that I''ve never seen before.¡±

    ¡°Woah woah, watch the beard, I can''t have you messing it up so soon.¡± Eric jokingly swatted away her hand. ¡°But Indeed, I am a changed man who can admit when someone else is good looking.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, I might like the new Eric better¡ª quick question, Is the beard meant to impress your girlfriend? Does she like it?¡±

    ¡°How do you know¡ª ah your mom¡­ Well yes, she does like my beard for the most part, and so do I.¡± Eric explained. ¡°It''s refined and makes me look manlier.¡±

    ¡°Okay big man, I can also admit that¡­ it doesn''t look too bad.¡± Jane took another swig of her cider and smiled. It was so freeing to be able around Eric once again, like a scratch she could never itch had disappeared. ¡°Ma told me you had a girlfriend but for some reason she wouldn''t tell me who it was, care to share?¡±

    ¡°You wouldn''t believe me if I told you.¡± Eric smirked, a signal Jane knew that meant Eric actually had something good to say. When they were younger, it was easy to tell if something good or bad had happened to him depending on his facial expressions¡ª he was very much an open book. She might have used this against him when they played poker against each other, but don''t tell him that.

    ¡°Try me.¡± Jane chugged her cider in one last gulp and stared him straight in the eyes.

    Eric purposely waited for a couple more seconds to increase the hype and spat out a name that Jane truly would have never guessed. ¡°Danielle¡­ Petal.¡±

    ¡°As in¡­¡± Jane''s eyes were already long past surprised.

    ¡°Yep, the one and only Danielle Petal¡ª daughter of Redwood''s mayor, Peter Petal.¡± Eric crossed his arms and nodded, feeling good about himself.

    Jane was left gobsmacked, her mouth couldn''t close as she was too surprised to hear that name. Beside being the daughter of the mayor, Danielle Petal was the closest you could get to a celebrity in Redwood. Not only was she the nicest person Jane had ever met, she was a bubble of warmth and energy that seemed to energize folks around her.

    Back in their school days, Danielle was the prettiest girl in school and was friendly to everyone and anything; bugs, squirrels, snotty nosed children¡ª you name it. Jane did say that Eric was her only friend from Redwood but that would technically be a lie because Danielle was friends with everyone. It was hard not to be friends with someone who went out of their way to be so kind and warm to everyone around them.

    That was why Jane couldn¡¯t even reply. Her nerdy, bookworm of a childhood friend, who ignored everyone but Jane when they were in school, had managed to hit the jackpot and snagged the idol of Redwood.

    Speak of the devil¡ª or in this case the angel, things got even crazier for Jane as Danielle Petal herself walked into the Little Goose. She scanned the restaurant before her eyes rested on Eric and she briskly walked over to him.

    She wore a low-key yellow dress that matched with her vibrant blonde hair and complimented her gorgeous emerald green eyes. She wore a matching green amulet around her neck and had a pair of twin silver bracelets resting around her wrists.

    Sitting down next to the slightly surprised Eric, Danielle smiled at him before she looked past him and saw Jane. Her eyes shot open and she rushed to give Jane a massive embrace¡ª or as massive as her tiny frame could give.

    ¡°Jane! I knew I''d find both of you here.¡± She said and let go of Jane with a beaming smile.

    ¡°There¡¯s so much to talk about¡ª oopsie that''s not why I''m here though!¡± She turned to Eric. ¡°I''m sorry, I won''t be able to make date night tonight!¡±

    ¡°Oh, what''s up? Did something happen?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Yep, Jane came back home.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Why does that matter?¡± Jane looked bewildered.

    ¡°Good news¡ª well maybe bad news if you don''t like it. It''s tradition in Redwood that we hold a town wide celebration when a classholder from Redwood graduates and comes back home. You might''ve not known about it since it only ever happens every few decades, but since my father knows your back, the planning has begun and I''m supposed to help him out.¡± Danielle explained.

    ¡°Wait wait wait, A town wide celebration? For me!?¡± Jane pointed to herself, starting to freak out just a little. ¡°Like a celebration similar to the one they held when I left Redwood?¡±

    ¡°Mhm, but even bigger this time!¡± Danielle gestured with her hands to try and showcase how much bigger it was. ¡°The one before was small and quickly planned, but now that you''re back and a certified classholder¡ª I can¡¯t even imagine what my father has planned for this event.¡±

    ¡°Oh boy¡­¡±

    ¡°Yep! It''s gonna be so fun now that you''re back!¡± She smiled.

    ¡°This sucks¡­¡± Jane burrowed her face in her hands but when she heard Eric start laughing loudly, she raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Oh? What are you laughing at exactly?¡± She grabbed his arm tightly while questioning him.

    ¡°Nothing nothing¡ª just the fact that the wild tomboy of Redwood, who used to show up to class covered in mud, is about to be celebrated by the whole town¡ª ouch don''t pinch me!¡±

    Jane let go of his bicep which she had pinched and replied, ¡°I''ll have you know that I''m¡ª firstly, a different person, and that I graduated with the third highest grades at the academy.¡±

    ¡°I doubt the first half¡ª okay I''m sorry!¡± Eric grinned while apologizing seeing Jane threatened to pinch him again. Danielle smiled seeing them ¡°argue¡± with each other, it reminded her of her parents bickering at one another.

    ¡°So, when''s the celebration?¡± Jane asked, if it was gonna to happen regardless then she might as well embrace it and prepare herself.

    ¡°Not sure yet. I was gonna come visit you and explain the whole ordeal after we had planned everything, and catch up with you at the same time, but I thought I might run into you earlier here. Now that I''m thinking about it, my father would also rather explain it himself than have me do it¡ª but regardless we need to hang out sometime!¡±

    ¡°Ya im pretty much free whenever so just come visit me¡ª Oh, do you know where I live?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I know where all my friends live!¡± Danielle then kissed Eric on the cheek and said, ¡°I gotta get back soon or fathers gonna get impatient, you guys should take the evening to properly catch up since we don''t have a date night tonight.¡±

    ¡°Okay, thanks for everything Danielle!¡± Jane sincerely thanked her as she jogged out of the restaurant. Once she was gone, Jane eyed Eric with a smirk.

    ¡°What''s that look for?¡±

    ¡°Nothing¡ª just thinking about how you hit the gold mine.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure it wasn''t her hitting the gold mine instead?¡±

    The two talked briefly for the next few minutes before Eric said he had to get back to work lest Redrick got angry with him. He said he would meet her at her place in three hours from now when he was done with work.

    That worked for Jane. She could spend the next three hours reminiscing as she explored the town, maybe buy a thing or two with her leftover allowance money she got from the academy. She waved one last time to Eric who began to cook in the kitchen and headed into town.

    ¡®Where to first? Maybe Greta¡¯s bakery?¡¯ Jane didn''t want to think about too much and headed out, going wherever she ended up.

 Best Friend - 2.3

    A few hours went by and Jane was already walking back up the quaint hill to her home without anything in hand. She had visited most of town square but she hadn¡¯t had the urge to purchase anything because she already had everything she needed. The one thing she did buy¡ª maybe a little too much of¡ª was food.

    Baked goods, skewers of meat, fresh bread; there was so much nostalgia she had to eat to see if it tasted as good as she remembered¡ª and it did. Beside food she spent most of her time in one of the town''s gaming lounges, which she wasn''t able to enter before as it was meant for adults.

    There were many table games played, most of them involving cards and some form of gambling, but there were also more relaxed games played all around. Gambling with strangers wasn''t her thing so she didn''t join in but she did play a round of pool or two against some old folk and got her ass whooped.

    ¡®I¡¯ll be back for a rematch!¡¯ Was what she thought as she left the game lounge.

    She was pleasantly surprised that no one had really recognized her yet, maybe they didn''t care or maybe not many people remembered what she looked like, but nonetheless she was happy to be treated like a normal person.

    At the back of her mind it did sting a little that no one recognized her, I mean they had sent her off four years ago with a celebration. She wasn''t trying to be recognized, if she was she would have worn her class badge, but nonetheless, she felt a tiny-incy bit salty. Back at the academy no one was special because they were all classholders, she thought maybe she would have a little bit of fame coming back.

    ¡®Can''t get too egotistical.¡¯ She pulled herself out of the negative and arrogant thoughts swirling in her head. It was more of a childish dream she had envisioned when she first arrived at the academy, imagining that everyone in town would look at her like she was an idol when she got back, but now that she was a grown woman she wanted the opposite in fact.

    It was just the last remnants of her childish dreams infecting her mind but now that she had cleared them away, she was back to her normal self.

    For better or worse, that would all change when the mayor held the celebration for her, she assumed she would have to address the town and that there was no doubt she would be seen by everyone there. She knew people would start treating her differently even if they tried not to, that''s just how special classholders were seen.

    They were powerful beings and wielded abilities normal folk could only dream of while their services were valued beneath nothing. It''s only folk that have known her since childhood that wouldnt change much like Eric or Danielle.

    She could only wait and see how things played out considering she was here for a while and had plans to start her own business in town. Using her powers, she would do her best to help her community and hopefully make Redwood prosper like never before.

    Most classholders that were raised in small towns like Redwood would move away pretty soon after having seen the magnificence of any major city, especially the capitol. In major cities classholder were seen more often, and lots of their services and shops were based around classholders'' powers.

    Redwood had no classholders in town¨C except for Jane of course. Bigger cities didn''t just have classholders staying there, they were living there. That meant they would contribute their abilities to the people of the city for money.

    Alchemists and heartsmiths would sell their goods. Porters, diviners, soothsayers, priests, elementalists, and shifters would sell their services. While classes like beastmasters, plantmasters and brawlers either become mercenaries or also would sell their services. Lastly there were enigma¡¯s who would do whatever best fit their powers and hopefully it turned out well.

    Enigmas did have a fall back in case their power wasn''t useful in a monetary way, but that would be for a later time to talk about.

    Even a small town like Redwood needed the services of classholders but since none lived here, they either had to commission one from the kingdom or wait until traveling classholders visited town. The Priest that came to town was a traveler and his service was quickly used like how her mother bought a pregnancy amulet from him.

    They were just that useful and important for all of civilization to function.

    It was never cheap to hire or purchase something from one. but it was almost always worth it. The kingdom had its own rules in place to prevent classholders from exploiting others by overcharging and if they were caught they would be punished and imprisoned. That didn''t stop them all from scamming others but it worked as well as possible.

    All in all, having any one classholder live in your city would bring some sort of major benefit, that''s why Peter Petal was almost certainly going to try and convince her to stay here during the celebration. Thankfully she wouldn''t have to deal with it because her mother had convinced her enough already.

    Patting her full below, Jane trekked up the hill almost home by now, the evening sun''s glow covered the landscape as it was beginning to close the distance to the horizon.

    She walked into her home and saw her parents cooking dinner¡ª she had forgotten it was close to dinner time. Rubbing her abs that jutted out just a little more than normal from the amount of food she stuffed herself with, she made an executive decision then and there.

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    She would also eat her parents dinner. There was no room to say no, if she couldn''t do it she would have to force it down one way or another.

    ¡°I''m home!¡± She shouted into the house and her parents muffled voices greeted her back. Tiny pitter pattering footsteps sounded off the wooden floor, getting closer to Jane until Abigail turned the corner of the living room and ran at her.

    Her leg was grappled by a smiling Abigail who didn''t want to let go until Jane compromised and picked her up instead. What bliss! To have a cute little sister to come home to was the best!

    Jane grinned with glee and sauntered into the kitchen where she plopped Abigail down onto her chair then sat in her own chair.

    ¡°Hands hands!¡± Abigail raised her hands while looking at Jane.

    ¡°You want to see the flying hands?¡± Jane asked and Abigail nodded fiercely. Activating her power, two golden hands came out of her own hands and floated in the air getting an immediate reaction of excitement out of Abigail.

    The hands swirled through the air, dancing above Abigail''s face causing her to giggle even more before they swooped down and grabbed her armpits. They lifted her up slowly at first before they calmly floated across the room in circles, Jane carefully watching the whole time.

    She had complete control over her phantom hands but she couldn''t afford to be reckless around her sister. Her parents had stopped cooking as they watched their youngest daughter fly around the room laughing with pure joy, and couldn''t help but feel happiness as well.

    It was nice to watch siblings get along so well, even if it involved strange powers they didn''t quite understand. Rosalie didn''t know why Abigail was so close to Jane all of sudden but why would she complain? There could be no better outcome than that.

    Eventually dinner was about to be served so Jane put Abigail down, much to her disappointment, but her focus was then redirected towards the delicious smell coming closer to her face.

    Knock Knock Knock.

    ¡®Ah, that must be Eric.¡¯ Jane stood up while saying, ¡°I''ll get the door.¡± She walked up to the door and opened it revealing Eric Frier.

    His big toothy smile greeted her first before he looked around and said, ¡°Hey, it''s been awhile since i''ve visited, it looks a little different here.¡±

    ¡°You''re telling me, I haven''t seen this place in four years.¡± Jane stepped aside as Eric came in and took off his shoes at the doormat. She led him down to the kitchen where dinner was already splayed out on the table.

    ¡°Oh Eric! It''s so nice to see the two of you together again.¡± Rosalie got up and gave Eric a big ol hug before she pulled up an extra chair and sat him down. ¡°Come now join us for dinner!¡±

    ¡°I couldn''t ever argue against that¡ª Thank you.¡± He shook Jeff¡¯s hand, the both giving each other stern manly nods, then he proceeded to fill his plate with food.

    ¡°You haven''t visited in quite a while Eric, how''s the food, still as good as you remember?¡± Rosalie said.

    ¡°Sorry about that, it''s been a busy couple of years with work, the farm, and having a girlfriend.¡± Eric explained. ¡°And of course, your food is just as great as I remember.¡±

    ¡°It''s good to be busy, just come by to visit more often, it''s great having you around.¡±

    ¡°I''ll try my best!¡± He flashed her a smile.

    ¡°It might work on your girlfriend but that smile won¡¯t work on me.¡± Rosalie said, getting a chuckle from the rest of the table. ¡°Speaking of, how''s Danielle doing?

    Eric finished chewing a mouthful of food before responding. ¡°She¡¯s doing great as always¡ª right now she''s a little busy because of the celebration they''re holding for Jane sometime from now.¡±

    ¡°Ohhh that''s right, I remember going to one when I was child! I almost forgot about it!¡± Rosalie''s eyes gleamed. ¡°My darling girl is gonna be the star of the town.¡±

    ¡°Okay no need to get too excited¡ª please?¡± Jane pleaded. ¡°The celebration will be¡­ fine. I''m more excited about being back home.¡±

    ¡°I''ll try not to get too riled up for you¡ª but no promises I can''t help it!¡± Rosalie passed some more food to Abigail who was in a world of her own. ¡°Speaking of girlfriends, have you told him Jane?¡±

    ¡°Ah, not yet. We''re gonna take the rest of the evening to catch up.¡± Jane replied.

    ¡°Wait wait did I hear that right? Jane has a girlfriend?¡± Eric perked up and wide eyed Jane waiting for answers.

    ¡°I guess I''ll tell him now then. Her name is Mira Frosthorn, she''s our age and we''ve been together for three years.¡± Jane explained. ¡°She¡ª alongside my friends¡ª are coming to visit Redwood in a little over a month from now.¡±

    ¡°Ohhh, I can''t wait to meet her!¡­ Three whole years, that''s a long time though.¡± Eric said, ¡°I''ve only been with Danielle for a year but it feels like we¡¯ve been together forever at this point, can''t imagine three years.¡±

    ¡°Can you imagine being married for over 20 years?¡± Rosalie said, getting another laugh from everyone.

    Eric finished laughing and asked Jane sarcastically, ¡°Is that why you never fell for me before?¡±

    Jane snorted, almost spewing out her drink. ¡°If that''s what you wanna think.¡±

    ¡°What''s that supposed to mean?¡± Eric crossed his arms and stared her down.

    Dinner continued as banter flew left and right in a friendly atmosphere. Eventually everyone finished their food and Rosalie and Jeff started to clear off the table. Now with some time to themselves, Jane took Eric outside to talk and catch up with each other.

    They walked along the gravel path towards the barn, heading towards a location they used to spend hours on. On the side of the barn was a ladder going to the roof which Jane grabbed hold of and started climbing, followed by Eric right behind her.

    Once they were on the roof, Jane and Eric sat down side by side on the edge letting their feet dangle in the air. The evening sun was lessening and the cold of night was approaching but that wouldn''t stop them spending time up here.

    Jane leaned her head on Eric¡¯s shoulder and closed her eyes, not from tiredness, but from calmness. She thought it might have been awkward seeing her childhood friend after having not seen each other in four years, but luckily they were both happy to continue their delayed relationship right where they left off.

 Best Friend - 2.4

    There was a lot to talk about¡ª too much actually¡ª but they would slowly get through it all, for now she was happy to sit in silence as they basked in each other''s presence. With a deep yawn, Jane lay down on the tilted rooftop staring at the purple and orange sky above.

    Eric joined her and lay down beside her. ¡°Don''t fall asleep on me so soon, If I know anything about you it''s your ability to sleep whenever and wherever you want.¡±

    ¡°Sorry sorry I can''t help it, it''s been a long day¡ª and an even longer week.¡± Jane sprawled her arms above her and took a deep breath out.

    ¡°Must be, I can''t even imagine finding out you had a sister so suddenly either.¡± Eric said.

    ¡°Me neither. It was a huge surprise at first but now it feels¡­ normal. Abigail seems to like me already so that''s a win in my book.¡±

    ¡°That''s good. Having siblings is great¡ª for the most part. Six siblings can be a lot at times but the good times always outway the negatives.¡±

    ¡°That''s right you got another sibling! I don''t even know anything about them.¡± Jane perked up and she turned her body to face Eric.

    ¡°Well it''s a girl like Abigail, and they''re actually the same age so they¡¯ll be in the same year at school together, which is great. Her name is Emily and she might just be the damn cutest thing in this world.¡±

    ¡°Now I gotta meet her, maybe catch up with your parents at the same time as well.¡± Jane said and the two once again stared at each other and then giggled.

    ¡°What are we laughing at?¡± Jane asked with a big grin.

    ¡°No clue!¡± Eric replied and rolled back onto his back.

    ¡°... It''s great that you''re back.¡± He said in a serious tone and Jane could only nod.

    After another minute of silence, Jane suddenly stood up and stretched her arms high into the sky, then she reached down and pulled Eric up as well.

    ¡°What''s up? Done so soon?¡± Eric questioned her.

    ¡°Hm, not even close.¡± Jane cracked her knuckles and smirked. ¡°It''s time to show you the cool stuff since you still haven''t asked about it yet.¡±

    ¡°Well I didn¡¯t wanna¡­ you know¡­ seem like that kinda person.¡± Eric explained and only got a light slap to the back of the head. ¡°What was that for?¡±

    ¡°My parents acted the same way, you''re my best friend, I know what type of person you are¡ª I know, you want to ask all about it.¡± Jane said then gave him a small hug. ¡°It''s understandable though, so that''s why I brought it up so you didn''t have to.¡±

    ¡°So forgive me for the head slap handsome¡± She waited to see how he would respond and saw his face warp into a wide devilish grin.

    ¡°You''re forgiven¡ª that doesn''t matter now¡ª I want to know everything about your class!¡± His nerdy personality resurfaced as soon as the topic of classholders was brought up. Since a young age he has been obsessed with reading stories about classholders and their powers and histories, he would even go on to make his own personal journal where he put all his notes about the topic.

    He spent years studying books about classes to find out all there is about them, not for a second did Jane think this trait of his had disappeared. She was surprised he hadn''t broken character and asked her all about her class when they first met at the Little Goose. But now seeing his childish grin and the way his eyes shimmered wanting to know more, she knew the old nerdy bookworm Eric was still in there.

    ¡°So what class did you get? A beast or plant master might suit you¡ª or maybe even brawler¡ª or an elementalist!¡± Eric stammered out in excitement, wanting to know the answer.

    Jane¡¯s response was to laugh, lean back, and then fall off the roof.

    ¡°Jane?!¡± Eric shouted and shimmied to the edge of the roof to see what had happened to Jane but to his surprise she saw her float up while laying on a giant golden hand. The hand was easily large enough to fit herself and a few others in its palm alone.

    ¡°Haha, did I surprise you?¡± Jane smirked and stood up, still on the semi translucent hand. She reached her arm out and guided the shocked Eric beside her.

    ¡°What is this? I don''t understand.¡± Eric looked through his memories of all the classes but couldn''t fit where her power fell yet.

    ¡°You still don''t know? I¡¯m an¡ª¡±

    ¡°-Enigma!¡± Eric finished her sentence and looked at her in amazement. ¡°So you can create a giant floating hand that I assume you can control?¡±

    ¡°Actually I can create two hands that I can control but they also function separately from myself¡­ it''s hard to describe, I''ll show you another time. I can also change their size from a normal hand up to¡ª well I actually haven''t tested recently how large I can make them.¡± Jane pondered, she would have to test that out later.

    ¡°Wow, that''s amazing!¡± Eric said and looked at the grassy land below as Jane slowly moved the hands further away from the roof.

    ¡°That''s not all, my actual hands are much more special.¡± Jane raised her hands up, still wearing the golden bracelets. ¡°My hands are not only indestructible, meaning nothing can damage them, but nothing can even move them if I don¡¯t allow it. I''ve tried it all; fireballs, swords, explosives, charging beasts¡ª nothing can do anything to my hands.¡±

    ¡°What!!! That''s so powerful!¡± Eric bellowed in excitement while his mind reeled thinking of ways her powers could be used.

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    ¡°Yep I know.¡± Jane put her hands on her hips and took a look at the sunset in the distance. ¡°I can also do a few other small things, but they aren''t as cool.¡±

    ¡°More!? Not only can you create floating hands¡ª who knows how big¡ª you have indestructible hands and more!?¡± Eric grabbed his head and stared at her in curiosity.

    ¡°I''m pretty cool right?¡± She teasingly touched her nose. ¡°That''s just how us Enigma¡¯s work though. We get a set of strange abilities and make do with them, hoping they are of some use. Here''s an ability that''s pretty useless in most scenarios, except it might help right now.¡±

    She put her hand on his chest and used another one of her abilities, sending a pulse of warmth into Eric who felt the chill of the early night disappear in an instant. His tense body loosened and his excited face relaxed, he felt like he had just gotten out of a warm bath after a long day''s work.

    ¡°Amazing.¡± He calmed down and refocused his mind that had gone haywire a minute ago. His best friend had come home a classholder, and a powerful one at that. She was a person he could only dream of meeting when he was child, but now she was right here, standing in front of him.

    ¡°I couldn''t be a luckier man. My best friend is a classholder, my girlfriend is the town idol and my family is amazing of course. What God did this, cause I want to thank them personally.¡± Eric sat down cross legged on the hand and took a breath of fresh air.

    ¡°You got a cheeky mouth, Is that how you picked up Danielle?¡± Jane sat beside him, her arms leaning back behind her while her knees were raised in front of her.

    ¡°I think it must have been my looks.¡± Eric said with a smirk getting a giggle out of Jane.

    Suddenly Jane grinned, it was time to show off her brand new form of transportation only those at the academy had seen. It wasn''t as good as a porter¡¯s abilities of course, but it was better than anything else.

    ¡°You ready? Hold on to something!¡± Jane said.

    ¡°Ready for what¡ª Ahh!¡± Eric covered his mouth from screaming and reflexively grabbed ahold of Jane as he felt his body rise at a fast rate. He shakily peered over the edge of the hand and saw the ground beneath him getting further and further away.

    ¡°We''re gonna go on a little ride! I''ll drop you off at your house so you don''t have to walk back!¡± Jane maniacally laughed and sped the hand up.

    It rose hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye before Jane stopped at a height not too high up since the air would be a lot colder and much harder to breathe in. That''s when things got wild as she made the hand fly across the sky instead, zooming past the landscape at an astonishing speed. Buildings, trees and beautiful landscapes illuminated by the evening light whizzed by them as they sped across the sky.

    Eric couldn''t say anything. Part of it was fear, he had never been this high up or ever thought he would fly in his life, but a good chunk of it was a childlike joy. After a minute of flying through the night sky of Redwood he got more comfortable and let go of Jane then raised his hands in the air.

    ¡°Woohoo!¡± he laughed as he looked around him at the night market of the town square. People were still out and about as night had only just begun, less than during the day, but still enough that he could see their faint figures beneath him move around. Looking down at all the buildings with their lights on was like looking at a world class painting, it was simply mesmerizing.

    Jane couldn''t help but feel happy seeing her best friend so excited. She watched him with glee as she looped around town allowing him to see the entire town from above. The warmth aura she had sent him had faded but Eric didn''t even notice the cold nipping at his ears until they were bright red.

    She sent him another pulse of warmth as she headed back towards Eric¡¯s house which was only a couple of minutes away from her house. The Frier¡¯s place was slightly larger than her house and their property was also larger¡ª but that was because they had the largest property in Redwood.

    They were farmers and farmed pretty much everything you could grow in Redwood, and to farm you needed lots of space. This was the reason their property was the largest, because most of their land was just farmland.

    Their house itself was a little different than most, at first it wasn''t anything bigger than a normal house but as they had more children, the parents, Dean and Amelia Frier decided they needed more space. They built extensions off the original house with a little help from neighbors but most of the heavy lifting was done by Dean and Amelia themselves, turning it into what it was today. It looked a little funky as the extended rooms looked like cubes jutting out of the house, but it did its job and gave their family of nine a comfortable living space.

    Even Jane could see that another section had been built into it while she was away at the academy, most likely meant for their newest child Emily. Tonight she would pass on catching up to them, it was already late and she was tired, but she would swing by tomorrow or the next day to say her greetings.

    But she had one last thing she wanted to do today, it was one of her and all her friends'' favorite activities. Hopefully Eric didn''t get mad at her.

    ¡°Do you trust me?¡± Jane hovered a few hundred meters over Eric¡¯s place.

    ¡°Ya¡ª wait wait, don''t tell you''re gonna do something crazy!¡± He saw her face warp into an evil grin and she laughed.

    ¡°You should know me by now!¡± The hand underneath them disappeared and they began to free fall towards the ground.

    ¡°Ahhh!¡± There was no stopping this scream that came out of Eric.

    ¡°Haha look at me!¡± Jane yelled while doing somersaults in the air¡ª no response came from Eric. She might have taken it too far this time, considering this was their first day they had met since four years ago.

    Once they were a relatively close distance to the ground, the hand reappeared and gently caught them while descending onto the grass below. With a puff, the hand disappeared leaving Jane and Eric standing on the grass of his front yard¡ª or at least one of them was standing.

    Eric lay on the grass, his chest moving up and down as he took deep breaths in recovering from the surge of adrenaline that plagued his body seconds ago.

    ¡°At least warn me!¡± He yelled and stood up, pointing an angry hand at her.

    ¡°Sorry, I couldn''t help myself.¡± Jane looked a little guilty but then ruined it by saying, ¡°But it was fun no?¡±

    Eric stared at her with a deadpan look before saying, ¡°Sigh¡­ maybe a little.¡± Then a faint smile tugged his lips.

    ¡°Ah, you''re smiling! You liked it!¡± The hand appeared underneath Jane once again and she started to float up.

    ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going, I haven''t yelled at you enough!¡± Eric shouted at her.

    ¡°Huh? I can''t hear you from all the way up here!¡± She laughed and waved. ¡°Have a goodnight, Ill take you sky diving again once your up for it.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I''ll ever be up for it¡ª goodnight!¡± He shouted back at Jane who had begun to speed up and eventually she became a blur in the night.

    ¡°Redwoods wild child is back so soon¡­ looks like things are gonna start to become more interesting again.¡± He stared at the direction Jane left in for a minute before heading inside.

    The adrenaline and fear had disappeared and only joy was left¡ª joy his best friend was back, slightly different than before, but still the same reckless and wild Jane he grew to care for. He couldn''t wait to hear more stories about her time at the academy, especially all the ones about her friends and girlfriend. But they were neither in a rush to catch up too soon¡ª might as well take their time and slowly go about it, giving them more chances to hang out with each other.

    ¡°Hey Ma, Pa! Jane''s back in town!¡± He shouted as he entered his house.

 Upcoming Celebration - 3.1

    It was the next day, and quite a fine one at that. A few clouds were scattered throughout the bright blue sky allowing the sun to freely rain down on the quint town of Redwood. The cool spring breeze kept the town from becoming too hot that it wasn''t fun to be outside, instead it was a perfect day to go for a leisurely walk.

    An older man with slicked back blonde hair and a clean shaven face sauntered up the hill towards the Bluegold residence, carrying a large basket filled with an assortment of foods. By the smell alone you''d do that whatever''s in that basket was scrumptious.

    While the man was older, only a few wrinkles and a hint of white in his hair gave away his age, for the most part he appeared young and healthy with an air of confidence around himself. He had tiny beads of sweat dripping down his temple since he had spent his entire morning rushing around the town square purchasing food items from specific shops in order to fill the basket.

    Even though he made sure to keep fit for his age, running in the early morning still tired him plenty.

    Stopping at the front door, he wiped the beads of sweat off his face and took a look over his black suit, making sure there wasn''t any dirt or mud that found its way on to it. He tightened his tie, checked his hair using a pocket mirror he carried with him, and then cleared his throat.

    ¡®I''m ready!¡¯ he told himself.

    It was a big day for Peter, and he needed to showcase his best self to the young classholder who had arrived back in town just the other day. His father had tried to convince the classholder of his generation to stay, but alas, the wider world was much more tempting for people of their caliber. Now it was his shot at securing a better fate for Redwood by getting Jane Bluegold to live here¡ª she didn''t even need to do anything, just living here made Redwood that much more.

    He was a little lucky in the fact his daughter and Jane seemed to be friends¡ª well Danielle was friends with everybody so it wasn''t too much of a surprise¡ª but it definitely helped. He discussed with Danielle the past few days trying his best to gather information on Jane; what was she like? What were her hobbies? What were her favorite foods?

    Even small things like knowing someone''s favorite food can help when trying to get on someone''s good side¡ª he would know best, he''s mastered this art form over his twenty year time as Redwood¡¯s mayor. That''s why he filled the basket with food Jane liked, it wouldn''t convince her with just that alone, but any amount helped in the grand scheme.

    The one thing he needed to remember though is to not be pushy, take things one step at time and slowly by surely convince her to stay in Redwood. Listening to his daughter talk about her, she seemed the type to hate pushy people and he would hate it if he scared her off so soon.

    Jane seemed like a pretty interesting woman after hearing more about her from Danielle. He knew of her beforehand, even before she was discovered as a classholder, and putting together his old memories with more detailed information from Danielle, he could tell she was a fascinating person indeed.

    They met briefly when the town held a celebration for her before she left for the academy, but in all honesty, he didn''t really know her that well¡ª but hopefully that would all change starting from today.

    Knock Knock Knock.

    Putting on his best smile, he checked his pocket watch one last time and waited at the Bluegold¡¯s front porch. He heard a muffled shout from inside the house and then footsteps began to approach the door. With a creak the door opened revealing the face of the person he was here for.

    Jane¡¯s tired eyes opened a little wider, surprised to see the mayor of town show up, but then she remembered Danielle telling her that he was gonna show up sooner or later.

    ¡°Morning mayor.¡± She greeted him from the doorway, a little uncomfortable seeing him wearing a fancy suit while she stood there barefoot in her ¡®pajamas¡¯.

    ¡°Good morning Jane, how has your last few days been? Getting used to being back home?¡± He energetically asked, trying his best to break the air of awkwardness.

    ¡°Feels like I never left.¡± She monotonously replied and stepped back, ¡°Come on in, mayor.¡±

    ¡°You can just call me Peter!¡± He gave her a toothy grin and stepped into the Bluegold residence whilst handing Jane the large basket. ¡°Here''s a basket of some sweets and other delicious snacks for you to have, take it as a welcome home gift from the town of Redwood.¡±

    Jane peered into the basket and saw all sorts of food she loved; there were some chocolates from Harry¡¯s, fresh bread from Greta¡¯s, and even a batch of exclusive meat buns from Amy¡¯s that sold out almost immediately everyday.

    ¡®He¡¯s really trying his best to appease me huh.¡¯ Jane thought to herself but after smelling the aroma coming from the basket, she knew it was working.

    ¡°Did you come to tell me about the celebration you''re holding for me?¡± Jane put the basket down and asked him.

    He shrugged with a raised hand, ¡°You caught me red handed.¡±

    Jane nodded, ¡°Well Danielle told me you''d swing by soon enough and here you are¡ª Want anything to drink?¡±

    ¡°Just water would be great, thanks!¡±

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    She led the mayor further into the house and sat him down in one the comfy chairs in the living room, then slid him a glass of water over the table. Sitting opposite to him with one leg crossed over the other, she took a sip out of her own water and waited to see what he had to say.

    ¡°Lovely place, haven''t been in here for quite a while.¡± Peter commented but seeing the blank look Jane was giving him he thought it was best if he got right to it.

    ¡°So you know about the celebration from Danielle right? I''m thinking of holding it roughly a week from now. I''ll announce it to the town later this afternoon and give people some time to prepare themselves.¡± Peter explained and paused giving Jane time to ask anything if she wanted to, but she just nodded.

    ¡°Of course the celebration is going to be in the town square, we¡¯ll have decorations, shops can sell their food and we''ll run a host of activities for the town. The big thing that needs to be there is you!¡± He gestured towards her.

    She paused for a second then asked, ¡°What does that mean for me? What do I gotta do¡ª Also, do I have to be there in the first place?¡±

    Peter cleared his throat, ¡°Of course it''s your choice whether you want to show up at all, unfortunately the celebration is meaningless if you don''t want to. That''s another question I''ve come here to ask you¡ª will you participate?¡±

    Jane leaned back in the chair in thought.

    Should she go? I mean there wasn''t any reason not to, unless she didn''t want people to know who she was and keep people from knowing about her. Except if she wanted to start her own business here using her powers, then people would find out regardless.

    Really the only thing she didn''t want to do is to be showcased around like some zoo animal or be made to make some sort of speech¡ª she hated speeches.

    But she had already decided she was going to participate already for many reasons; one was to not disappoint her parents, they for sure wanted to see their daughter celebrated, and another was because missing out on the fun in life was something she didn''t want to do. There were a few other reasons but they didn''t matter because she was already going to go.

    Celebrations were a way to bring everyone in town together, get a chance to meet new people, and give young couples a chance to have a great time together. It was something great, and as a graduate of the academy, she wouldn''t let speeches scare her away from having a good time.

    ¡°Sorry, that question was pointless, I already decided I was gonna come. Just don''t make me do anything too embarrassing.¡± Saying that brought the biggest smile onto the mayor''s face.

    ¡°That''s great! I''m so glad you¡¯re choosing to come!¡± The mayor leaned back as well, now relaxed that one his main worries was out of the way. ¡°As for your other questions, really the only thing that I''d love to have you do is show yourself to the town, maybe give a speech or showcase your powers.¡±

    ¡°A speech¡­ maybe, but I''ll definitely showcase my powers¡ª that''s fun anytime.¡± Jane replied.

    ¡°Great great, okay I''m thinking we start the celebration with you on the stage, then you showcase your powers and whatever else you want to do, then the celebration can begin. Does that sound good to you?¡±

    ¡°Ya works for me.¡±

    ¡°Okay amazing! I''ll swing by here a few days before the celebration to give you some more details.¡± Peter said before he heard the door to the house open and saw Jane¡¯s parents walk in from their morning chores.

    ¡°Mr and Mrs Bluegold! How are you two doing!¡± He got out of the seat and gave Rosalie a friendly hug even though she was covered in dirt, and Jeff a firm handshake.

    ¡°Mayor! What are you doing here?¡± Rosalie asked, and looked behind him to Jane sitting on a chair.

    ¡°Just talking to your daughter, mainly about the celebration coming.¡± Peter smiled. ¡°I''ll release an announcement later today about it.¡±

    ¡°Oh yes, the celebration! Fantastic! I can''t wait to see my darling girl become the star of the show!¡± Rosalie energetically stated, much to Jane¡¯s slight annoyance.

    ¡°Your daughter will be amazing, I''m sure of it! She is going to bring about a world of change for Redwood if she decides to stay here.¡± Peter subtly brought up the topic.

    ¡°Well I sure hope she stays, but she''s a grown woman now, she can choose where she wants to go with her life.¡± Rosalie replied.

    ¡°Of course of course, wherever she goes I bet will become a fair bit better than before.¡± Peter complimented her and then looked out the window seeing it was almost afternoon. ¡°Sorry folks, I wish I could stay longer but work is calling¡ª Oh yes Jane, I forgot there was something else I had to talk to you about but I''ll leave that for the next time we meet. I''ll come talk to you soon with more details about the celebration as well.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± She replied and watched the mayor give them one last goodbye as he left back down the hill disappearing as suddenly as he came¡ª That''s just how the mayor was.

    Jane took the basket the mayor had given her to the dinner table and shared some of it with her family for lunch, saving them the effort of having to make lunch and giving them an extra delicious treat.

    After she filled her belly with happiness¡ª something she couldn''t thank the mayor enough for¡ª she left home towards a place she had not visited ever before. She lied to her parents about where she was going, she didn''t want them to know just yet what she had plans of doing. The place wasn''t in the town square but it was right nearby, sandwiched in between the town square and the residential district of Redwood.

    The place wasn''t a store¡ª at least not in the conventional ways¡ª but instead was partially a kingdom run building as well as a house. The place was called Evergreen¡¯s and it was where anyone in town that wanted to purchase property went.

    Property and land in any Trinium city or town was owned by the kingdom and they would hire someone to become a towns realtor who would be put in charge of managing and selling properties in their stead. Villages and small towns with less than a thousand people didn''t have a realtor because their population was so small that it wasn''t worth sending a realtor, but everywhere else had one.

    Redwood¡¯s realtor was a younger woman named Angeline Evergreen who had just taken over the business from her mother. Like most shops in Redwood, Angeline ran the ¡®business¡¯ on the first floor while she lived on the top floor, saving her time from commuting and tax from having multiple properties.

    Being a town realtor was a blessed job. You would get a salary from the government, meaning even if no properties were sold, you would still make money, and it was a secure job since only the kingdom itself could replace you. While for the most part it was a simple job that made a lot of money, being a kingdom run job was serious and if they screwed up big time, it could mean disastrous consequences for them.

    Today Jane was visiting because she wanted her own place to live in¡ª and hopefully get Mira to live alongside her when she came to Redwood. Their plan they discussed before leaving was to hopefully find a place to live together, but there were some complications.

 Upcoming Celebration - 3.2

    Jane sighed thinking about one of the later conversations she had with Mira before they departed from the academy to their own homes, the discussion was about their future together. Mira¡¯s family was pretty unique, she was part of a tribe of nomads that had started as one tribe long ago and had branched out into tens of tribes.

    There was a tough decision to make if her family disapproved of her leaving the tribe and moving away to live with Jane. If they were okay with it, then everything was okay, but if they weren''t, Mira would have to choose between Jane or her family.

    According to what Mira told her, if she didn''t have the approval of her family and she left anyway, then she was banished from her tribe¡ª which wasn''t a great outcome. But Mira had also told her that the odds her parents actually disapproved of her leaving was slim to none, but the chance was still there and stressed Jane out.

    Mira was always going to come visit Redwood, but Jane was hoping it wasn¡¯t going to be her last visit. If her parents didn''t want her to leave her tribe and live with Jane, then she would fight them herself¡ª fight was a metaphor for ¡®convince¡¯ in this specific case.

    In Jane¡¯s head, if Mira¡¯s family disapproved then there was a 70% chance she left her tribe and stayed with Jane considering how much she knew about Mira. She crossed her fingers and prayed everyday that her family said yes, she didn''t want that horrible decision to befall her loved one.

    ¡®Mira wouldn''t want me to get worked up over this, whatever happens, we will deal with it together.¡¯ Jane thought and left it to rest in her brain.

    In front of her stood a three story building made mostly of redwood with a vibrant white stone as its foundation. The building had lots of circular windows covering all its sides; some were large, some were small, but there had to be a few dozen after taking a brief glance up at it.

    Above the double doors at the front entrance was a massive wooden signboard with a little symbol for a house and a title that read, ¡°Redwood¡¯s Realtor, the Evergreen¡¯s.¡±

    On both sides of the signboard were massive blue banners with a white flower emblem that had a feathery circle surrounding it. Jane could recognize the flower, it was called a trinium flower and it was the most famous flower in all of Trinium as it was named after the royal family. As one could guess, the banners held the royal crest of the Trinium royal family, cementing the fact this place was a kingdom run building.

    And this was the place she was looking for.

    ¡®Hopefully they have a nice place to purchase.¡¯ Jane tapped her hips, feeling the pouch of coins hanging by her waist jingling as she walked into the building.

    Something she hadn''t told anyone yet¡ª well there were a few things, but one of them was the money she got after graduating.

    Besides getting an allowance every month for their own use, the academy gave every graduate fifteen gold coins to use for whatever they wanted. It could be used as an investment to start their own business like Jane was planning, to purchase items they needed, or they could spend it all on useful junk¡ª it was up to the person.

    The academy told them it was the kingdom''s investment for the future. Hopefully by granting classholders a load of money, they could kick start some potential future businesses or ventures. Whatever the case, it was very generous of the academy to hand out free money and Jane wasn''t complaining. To her it was a godsend that she had enough money to purchase a decent property so easily.

    Without delay Jane walked into the Evergreen¡¯s building and surveyed the sights of the interior, not too surprised at what she saw. Everything was clean, everything looked expensive and everything looked professional. Jane wondered if this was the aesthetic of the Evergreen¡¯s or if all kingdom run buildings had some sort of code to follow so as to not diminish the reputation of the kingdom itself.

    The floor was made of a dark wood not found in Redwood and it was perfectly polished as it gleamed with reflections from the elementalist installed lights overhead. The walls were a mix of white stone like the outside, and another type of wood also not found in Redwood¡ª the woods were most likely expensive kinds imported from other towns.

    Decorations plastered the walls but not in over access, only a few paintings or sculptures were around here and there. Jane wouldn''t call them decorations per say but there were a lot of drawings of houses alongside gorgeous landscapes hung up on the walls. A clear advertisement for themselves. Lastly a long red rug that looked to be the only thing slightly crinkled and used was laid out on the floor, leading from the entrance to the front desk further in.

    To Jane the whole place wasn''t that impressive, at least compared to the academy, but she could tell that most normal folk who walked in here would feel a little uncomfortable at how lavish it looked.

    She walked along the rug towards the front desk while scanning through the drawings of the houses hung up on the wall, looking at each one seeing if she could spot one that stood out to her. There were a few interesting ones she spotted like a tall magical looking tower probably catered towards an alchemist or a luxurious looking underground bungalow, but she doubted these places were in Redwood.

    Then she arrived next to the front desk where a gorgeous young woman stood behind and greeted her. ¡°Good afternoon, how can I help you?¡± Angeline Evergreen said with a fake sounding cheerful voice.

    Jane looked at Angeline who tried her best to look and sound professional but she could see the boredom present in her eyes¡ª it was something she knew all too well after looking at a mirror during some classes back in the academy.

    Angeline had grassy green hair that hung past her kingdom assigned uniform that Jane could tell was a little uncomfortable for a young woman such as Angeline to wear. It was a bland gray and blue suit that had an excess amount of buttons, cuffs and other annoying flaps here and there.

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    She couldn''t imagine wearing such a thing during summer¡ª you''d be roasting your ass off if you stood outside for a second. Luckily for Angeline, she wouldn''t burn inside since Jane could feel cold air gently circulating in the building, meaning there were cooling runes installed in the building by an elementalist.

    Beside her obviously ugly uniform¡ª which you shouldn''t say out loud in case the kingdom overheard you¡ª Angeline was a nice looking, but slightly intimidating woman. She had yellow eyes that looked at Jane silently telling her to take as much time as possible so she doesn''t have to go back to being bored, and thin sharp eyebrows that complemented her sleek look.

    Jane had heard rumors of Angeline''s mother before, she had looked like she wanted to beat you up for simply existing, and it seemed that trait had passed along to Angeline.

    How did Jane know this? Her parents and the Frier¡¯s parents had talked about it before. They said once you got to know the lady she was as kind as could be, but if you didn''t know that, you''d think she hated you.

    Hopefully her daughter was the same.

    ¡°Hello, I''m looking to purchase a property.¡± Jane replied and almost slapped herself after saying it, of course she was here to purchase property, what else would she be here for?

    Angeline didn''t seem to care. ¡°Alright. What''s your budget and what are you looking for?¡±

    Jane plopped the pouch of coins on the desk. ¡°Roughly fifteen gold. As for what I''m looking for¡­ I don''t really know yet, is there any way to look around?¡±

    Angeline raised an eyebrow seeing the pouch of gold, a little surprised that someone so young looking had so much money on them, but it wasn''t her place to question it.

    ¡°You can look over these.¡± After a minute, she handed Jane a stack of documents displaying pictures of houses and listed everything you needed to know about them. ¡°Pick a few properties that you like and then if you want, I can take you over to them and show you around.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯d be great, thanks!¡± Jane flashed her a smile and took a seat at a comfy brown chair off to the side in a little lounge the place had. She splayed out the document across a table in front of her and carefully went through each one.

    ¡®There¡¯s not too many to choose from, maybe fifteen gold isn''t that much?.¡¯ There were only eight documents that Angeline had given her. It looks like Redwood didn''t have many properties in her price range being sold.

    ¡°Apologies, I forgot to show you this right here.¡± Angeline came over to the table and instead of handing her another document, she laid down a map of Redwood.

    She used a pencil to draw a border around part of the outskirts of town and explained. ¡°There''s also the option of purchasing land without anything built onto it, but in this case you¡¯d have to build your own place. Not everywhere around town is able to be purchased either, the redwood forest is an example since it''s a protected area under the kingdom and you aren''t able to purchase most areas of it.¡±

    ¡°Interesting. Thank you once again.¡± Jane thanked her and Angeline faked a smile in return saying if she needed anything to go find her, before walking back to the front desk.

    She didn''t know if she wanted to buy just land, it seemed like a little too much work to build a place from scratch. All she wanted was a place not too far from her parents, big enough that it wasn''t cramped, and the one thing she really wanted was a larger back yard.

    A large backyard gave her some flex room with what she could build out there; maybe a shed or a patio for campfires, she was even thinking it would be a nice place to work out. While Redwood did get cold in the winter, it wasn''t like the more northern parts of Trinium that got covered in snow, they''d be lucky if they got even a centimeter of snow here. This allowed her to be more flexible in what she could build or do outside since she didn''t need to worry too much about snow.

    So for now she would ignore the map Angeline had given her and instead start to seriously look through the documents of the properties.

    ¡®Nice house, everything looks great but it''s a little far away from anything.¡¯ She started a pile of rejected properties and already placed two in it. One was too far away while the other was a little too small.

    Another one was rejected because it was slightly over her budget but then she found one that looked promising for the most part. It was quite large, bigger than the other houses on the list, it was also quite close to her parents, the only issue was that it was abandoned and needed some heavy renovations to become livable.

    ¡®Wait isn''t this perfect then?¡¯ She looked at the price and saw it was seventeen gold, two over her budget but she still had leftover allowance from the academy she could burn¡ª except that would leave her without any money. She put that document aside in a separate pile from the rejected ones.

    It had to be known that gold was very rarely used in small towns like Redwood, even in major cities gold was uncommon. Most things you could buy, you could buy with bronze coins. Anything needing silver coins, which was worth 100 bronze coins each, was either a luxury item or you had bought a lot of items at once. Then each gold coin was worth 100 silver coins, the only real items sold in gold were properties, expensive art pieces, or certain items or services from classholders.

    Without money for a while would be fine, she could work some odd jobs for people or even find a normal job, but she wasn''t worried about money. There was one part of graduating that Jane hadn''t told her parents¡ª not because it was secret or special, but just because she hadn''t brought it up yet. As an enigma, she was required to do five years of work with the kingdom as one of their class testers. She would spend a week visiting a set number of towns, testing the sixteen year old''s to see if they were classholders themselves.

    She was paid for this work, and quite a lot considering how much work was actually involved¡ª which was very little. She made seven gold and all she had to do was sit there and scan every sixteen year old in a town one by one. If she detected they were a classholder using her enigma sense, she would notify the person in charge of handling it and voila, easy money.

    For reference, an average citizen who worked everyday made roughly one gold coin worth of money a year. She would make seven gold in a week, then she was free for the rest of the year. While she knew it was a little unfair considering being born a classholder was all luck, she wasn''t going to complain about making money.

    If Jane wanted, she could continue past the five years of required work for as long as she wanted, making a solid amount of money for herself. Jane''s plan was to work longer and make the extra money since there wasn''t really any downside of doing so.

    The kingdom would send her a letter sometime this year when she was required to work, but for now she was going to focus on her own thing. Since money wasn''t an issue for her, her goal beside buying a house to live in was to start a business that was primarily intended to help the people of Redwood. She wasn''t sure what she wanted to do right now, but hopefully in time she would find an answer.

 Upcoming Celebration - 3.3

    She looked through the rest of the documents and saw that none of the places stood out like the one she put aside. With the rejected documents in one hand, and the good one in the other, she took them back to the front desk.

    ¡°Do you think we could take a look at this one?¡± Jane put the rejected document down and asked Angeline while pointing to the one still left in her hand.

    ¡°Ah the old creek house? Sure, I''ll show you around, follow me.¡± Angeline led Jane out of the building and started walking down the path towards the old creek house.

    The way there was in the same direction to her house, but it went past her hill and a little further down the road, all the way to the edge of town. According to the document, the property was right next to the redwood forest as well, something Jane would love to have nearby access to.

    ¡°May I ask you a question?¡± Angeline couldn''t stay quiet any longer and wanted to talk to Jane¡ª mostly to appease her boring day.

    ¡°Sure, ask away.¡± Jane tucked her hands into her shorts pockets and walked side by side with Angeline.

    Angeline nodded, then said, ¡°Are you trying to buy a place to move into?¡±

    ¡°Yep, not in any sort of rush but thought I might as well start now. I was also thinking of starting my own business¡ª and buying a place helps.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, you look so young but you already know what you want to do.¡± Angeline bluntly stated, her professionalism began to waver. ¡°Besides that, you''re also loaded with coins.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re quite blunt.¡± Jane said, not offended but more so stating a fact.

    ¡°Ya I get that a lot.¡± Angeline shrugged, unbuttoned the top bit of her uniform and pulled the sides aside to let part of breasts breathe since they were steaming inside the thick uniform.

    ¡°It''s a curse and blessing I got from my Ma. Does it bother you?¡± She asked Jane.

    ¡°Not at all, just putting it out there. Also I have to say, you look just as young as me and you''re already working a steady job.¡± Jane replied. .

    ¡°Well¡­ I more so took over from my parents, I''m not starting my own thing like you.¡±

    ¡°Do you hate your job?¡± Jane asked.

    ¡°...No. It''s quite boring but I got a nice place to live and I make a great salary. I shouldn''t be complaining.¡± Angeline had fully lost her stoic behavior and was talking with Jane casually like they had been friends for a few years.

    ¡°Then that''s fine right?¡± Jane smiled at her, ¡°If you start hating your job then maybe you can think of doing something else.¡±

    ¡°Hm.¡± Angeline nodded, taking Jane¡¯s advice to her own thoughts.

    Jane thought Angeline was a little weird¡ª not like she herself wasn''t weird¡ª but maybe it was just nice for her to be able to rant to someone her age and break up the boring day she was having. The rest of the walk was silent as they were both in their heads thinking of various things and before they knew it, they had reached the old creek house.

    It was a three story building like the Evergreen¡¯s, and was entirely made of a mixture of redwood and a darker toned wood Jane couldn''t recognize. A dirt path weaved up a tiny hump of a hill that the house rested on, with a few wooden stairs placed on the steeper parts of the path. A rotted wood fence surrounded the house leaving a ten feet gap between itself where gardens used to be, but now that area was full of overgrown weeds.

    Walking through the fence entrance, Jane could see the path wrap around the house, continue past the back exit of the fence, and down towards a little creek. The creek wasn''t as small as Jane thought the document stated, it was a good ten to twenty feet wide and had a little rocky beach on either shore.

    Similar to the path up to the house, wooden stairs were sporadically placed along the path leading down the hill to prevent anyone from tripping. If you made it to the end of the path there was a rickety old bridge leading across to the other side. If you walked over the bridge and onto the other side of the creek, you''d find yourself at the edge of the redwood forest that Jane had first passed coming back to Redwood.

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    Most of the property was filled with overgrown weeds and some gnarly looking trees that seemed straight out of a nightmare. The fence, the bridge, and the stairs looked rotted and not the safest but the actual house itself looked to be in decent shape. A few touch ups here and there and it would be fine¡ª at least looking at it from the outside.

    And that fact was confirmed by Angeline. ¡°While most things are rotted and unusable around the house, the actual house itself is perfectly fine¡ª if not just a tiny bit old. It would take some effort but renovating the outside should be simple enough. The interior shouldn''t be as bad.¡±

    She reached into her suit pocket and pulled out a key for the house which she used to swiftly open the door to, and led Jane inside. Like Angeline had said, the inside looked fine beside the dust and cobwebs covering the place¡ª until they took a closer look.

    ¡°We had elementalists swing by the place a few years ago to help sustain the runes in place for the lights, stove, refrigerator and such, but physical properties might have been affected.¡± Angeline explained.

    ¡°Honestly looking at it again, I suggest you replace everything except the lights since they''re still fine.¡± Angeline said and held her nose. ¡°It smells awful in here.¡±

    The furniture was probably the worst off and definitely needed to be replaced simply from the god awful stench they gave off alone, while utilities like the stove and refrigerator weren''t horrendous, but they were still cracked and rusted all over.

    ¡°What happened to this place? And why does it smell so bad, it can''t just be the furniture!¡± Jane followed suit and pinched her nose.

    ¡°My best guess, probably dead animals.¡± Angeline said with a nasally voice. ¡°This place is a little worse off than I remember¡­ I should probably give you a discount.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Jane''s eyes lit up. Even though she was rich, a discount was a discount.

    ¡°It would be a scam if I sold this to you for seventeen gold so here''s what I''ll do, I''ll lower the cost to fifteen¡ª no thirteen gold.¡± Angeline looked around the place and firmly agreed with her discount¡ª it wasn''t great here.

    ¡°Sweet, I was probably gonna replace everything anyways, but saving some extra money to buy replacements is great.¡± Jane replied happily.

    She decided right now that this was the place.

    While it was a shit-hole right now, she would make it into a cozy home no matter how long it took. Thinking about it, this actually worked out better for her since she didn''t want to move out so soon since she had just got home. With this project she could spend a few weeks, maybe even months to fix the place up while she lived at home with her family.

    This gave her more time to spend with her family and a future project she can busy herself with and look forward to completing.

    They spent another few minutes going from room to room and honestly, this entire place needed a deep, deep cleaning. The actual wood supporting the house wasn''t bad, but Jane had her own idea of what she wanted to do to help¡ª and that involved another part of her powers she hadn''t shown anyone yet.

    ¡°I''ll take it!¡± Jane yelled after doing a loop through the house.

    ¡°There are other places you can look at, you know? Are you sure you want this place?¡± Angeline asked, making sure she wasn''t making a rushed decision.

    ¡°Aren''t you the realtor? Don''t you want to sell places?¡± Jane responded with a question of her own.

    ¡°I don''t make extra money if places are sold or not sold.¡± Angeline stated with a shrug, ¡°If this is the place you want, then okay let''s do this. The property deed is back at my place so let''s head back and get it signed for you.¡±

    The walk back felt quicker, maybe it was because Jane was excited and was walking faster, or maybe she was so lost in thoughts she lost track of time. Whatever the case, they made it back after a short and silent walk. Angeline went into a locked door behind the front desk and came back with a stack of papers in hand.

    ¡°Sign here, here and here.¡± Jane followed Angeline instructions using a pen she gave her, then passed the papers back to Angeline who also had to sign a few times. After signing, Angeline asked for the money and Jane promptly handed it over.

    Lastly, Angeline took the papers and gold back into the locked room before coming back empty handed.

    ¡°Everything''s in order¡ª paper signed and money given. The property deed will stay here for safety in accordance with the laws of Trinium.¡± Angeline handed the key she used to open the old creek house over to Jane. ¡°Congratulations, the property is yours from now on.¡±

    Jane¡¯s face radiated happiness. She had bought her first property! She was now an adult¡ª like a real-real adult that had their own place.

    Forgetting to thank Angeline for her help, Jane rushed out of the Evergreen¡¯s and headed towards the town square wanting to meet up with Eric to see if she could come over for the evening. She would leave the property as a surprise for now.

    It might''ve been a little bit of an impulsive purchase, she hadn''t even told her parents or Eric that she was thinking of purchasing a place yet. They knew she was planning to move out but that was different than knowing she was in the market already looking¡ª well she wasn''t looking any longer.

    But it was already done and she wasn''t gonna take it back. Tomorrow she would show the place to them all and hopefully convince them to help her renovate whenever they were able to. She didn''t exactly know the best way to go about fixing up her new place but hopefully her parents who had experience with this sort of thing could help her out.

    Briskly sauntering towards the town square, Jane clutched the bronze key to her new place tightly in her hands, not wanting to lose them as soon as she got them. It was later in the afternoon, almost the evening which meant Eric¡¯s shift should be over soon. He liked to work early in the morning till right before dinner so he could make it home for the evening and spend it with his family or girlfriend.

    She hadn''t asked yet but hopefully he didn''t have any big plans, plus she also hadn¡¯t visited the Frier¡¯s yet and she knew they¡¯d get mad if she delayed any longer. It didn¡¯t long for her to arrive at the Little Goose. She found a seat at the counter and looked into the kitchen spotting Eric at the back.

    ¡°Yo Eric!¡± Jane yelled into the kitchen, drawing everyone in the kitchen attention as well as some of the customers, before they ignored her and either continued cooking or going back to eating.

    Eric looked back at her and replied, ¡°Shifts over in ten minutes!¡± Then he turned back around and zoned her out of his mind to focus on the food in front of him.

    ¡®Not too long of a wait. Let''s get something to drink then.¡¯ She asked the waitress at the counter for a beer and sipped on it as she waited for Eric¡¯s shift to end. The sounds of foods being cut, cooked and prepared to be served, played throughout the kitchen while the noise of customers talking and eating sounded everywhere else. The second floor would be much more quiet as it was higher dining and a common etiquette was to be met, but the rowdiness of the bottom floor was much more her style.

    After roughly fifteen minutes, Eric walked out of the kitchen already changed out of his chef wear and into his casual clothes¡ª which wasn¡¯t more than a white t-shirt and pair of dark shorts.

    ¡°Ready to go?¡± He asked and got a nod in return from Jane.

 Upcoming Celebration - 3.4

    Side by side they slowly strolled through the evening light of the town square, the Frier house wasn''t too far away and would only take them a couple of minutes to get there. Meanwhile Eric asked Jane, ¡°So what''s up?¡±

    ¡°Can''t I just visit a friend at work?¡± Jane joked but then answered, ¡°Wanted to know if I can stop by for dinner, catch up with your family before Amelia or Hannah barges over to my place wondering why I haven''t visited yet.¡±

    ¡°I think this is the first time you''ve ever asked if you could come over, before you used to just show up and walk in.¡± Eric teased her. ¡°Not that I''m saying you can''t do that still, you''re always welcome.¡±

    ¡°I''m a grown woman now, I can''t be doing that¡­ well I was thinking of barging in if I didn''t catch you at work today.¡± Jane revealed and they laughed together.

    Jane¡¯s nose picked up some remaining scent of food off of Eric and realized something. ¡°You now know that I''m thinking of it, you''re working as a chef and I haven''t even tried your food yet.¡±

    ¡°Curious?¡± Eric asked. ¡°Actually if you want to try it, you can tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Are you working tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°Nope! Tomorrow is a special day for me and my friends. Once a month we hold a little get together, each of us brings our own part, and after cooking for them once, I''m eternally stuck as their chef once a month.¡±

    ¡°Okay wait¡­ are you saying I''m invited?¡± Jane questioned.

    ¡°Yep! Danielle invited you since she said she had wanted to hang out together but I guess she''s been quite busy lately. She''s the one who started it a few years back and then it just stuck and we''ve continued to do it. There''s five of us; Me, Danielle, two guys who were in the same class as us and one other older girl. Don''t know if you remember them because¡ª well you know us, we did our own thing for the most part back then.¡±

    ¡°Danielle hosts, I cook, and the other three bring the food, drinks and anything else we might want.¡± Eric continued explaining. ¡°I double checked with her as well because I didn''t know if it was going to be canceled because of the whole celebration planning, but she said it was still on.¡±

    ¡®An invitation from Danielle huh?¡¯ Jane wasn''t entirely against the idea of going, she didn''t have any actual plans tomorrow night anyways. She just didn''t know most of them and really didn''t want to deal with people that might treat her differently because she was a classholder but after taking another look at Eric, she knew he probably wouldn''t make friends like that.

    ¡°Are they gonna act weird around me? Do they even know I''m coming?¡± Jane double checked with Eric just in case.

    ¡°Nah they''re all chill. I''ve talked about you with them a lot and they''ve never acted weird yet¡ª as for the other question, I don''t think they know you''re coming.¡±

    ¡°Alright it will be a surprise then.¡± Jane said, her feeling of worry had already disappeared. ¡°it feels like I''m your Ma ready to meet her sons new friends for the first time¡ª wait do you say you talked about me a lot?¡±

    The two continued walking during their slow trek towards Eric¡¯s house until their conversation was interrupted by a sudden loud voice that boomed out of what seemed like thin air. ¡°Helllllo everyone of Redwood, it''s your mayor Peter Petal here with a special announcement!¡±

    Every light post and a few other locations in town had special air runes engraved onto it that could project voices, allowing for town wide announcements whenever needed. Whatever the mayor was about to say, everyone would be able to hear it.

    ¡°Ah shit.¡± Jane knew what was coming and even though she accepted going, it was still embarrassing having the mayor announce a celebration dedicated to you¡ª especially right next to your best friend.

    ¡°Nine days from now we will be holding an important celebration! One that many folks might remember was also held four years ago, a celebration for Redwood''s very own classholder¡ª Jane Bluegold! ¡±

    ¡°She has returned to town, and with her has come great possibilities for our friendly town to prosper like never before! I encourage everyone to show up, have a great time, meet some new people, and eat some delicious food our town is known for!¡±

    ¡°I myself will be putting together a host of activities for everyone to participate in, and of course, our main event, Jane Bluegold herself will start off our celebration with a bang! Nine days folk, nine days to prepare for a blast of a time!¡±

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    ¡°If you want to know more then come visit me at the mayor''s house! And with that, I hope to see you all there, farewell, and have a great rest of your day!¡± The mayor''s voice disappeared and Jane was left standing there with her face covered by her hands.

    ¡°What''s up, embarrassed?¡± Eric teased her and got a gentle slap in return.

    ¡°Embarrassed¡ª a little, more nervous than anything. I''m gonna have to stand in front of the entire town, which I know basically everyone will show up to because festivals and celebrations rarely happen, but when they do, everyone here goes crazy.¡±

    ¡°Are you nervous? When have you ever cared about what other people think?¡± Eric asked.

    Jane took that in for a moment. When did she care what others thought of her? She had done her own thing since she was child and that continued throughout her time at the academy. Still, thinking about it and doing it were two separate things. She knew she didn''t care what people thought of her, but then why was she still nervous deep down?

    That''s when it struck her. She wasn''t nervous of embarrassing herself or screwing up, she was fearful of people treating her differently than normal. If they started to treat her like she was special, she would hate that.

    At the academy everyone was classholder, so if she did her own thing she wasn''t gonna get treated differently because they were all in the same boat. Everyone there was practically the same.

    In Redwood, she was no longer a normal wild-child that people only looked at funnily, she was now a powerful classholder that could probably dictate this town''s future on her own. Her actions were now under scrutiny of folk and she was nervous that her actions could lead to people hating, or even fearing her.

    ¡°You okay?¡± Eric saw that she hadn''t responded.

    Jane cleared her mind and sighed loudly. ¡°I guess I cared more than I thought it did. My actions mean something now, I can''t just go around acting recklessly like I did before¡ª I could hurt someone if I do something stupid. If people started to hate or fear me¡­¡±

    Eric was silent for a bit before responding, ¡°You know, there''s two things I can say to that. One, I think you''re underestimating the kindness of people here. Most folk know of you, know what you''re like, and they¡¯ll treat you just like normal¡ª maybe a little differently, but for the most part the same as before.¡±

    ¡°Lastly, I know you''re a nice person who likes to help others¡ª even if your methods are strange¡ª  Hey don''t slap me again.¡± Eric rubbed his shoulder as Jane looked at him with a raised brow.

    ¡°Just let me finish.¡± Eric cleared his throat. ¡±There are always going to be people that are ass hats and are only gonna see the negative aspects of what you do, and that''s just something you''re gonna have to accept. Most people will see you doing your best and appreciate it, those that are needlessly hateful aren''t gonna change their minds easily. You''re just gonna have to do your best to change their thoughts over time.¡±

    ¡°Ya¡­ you''re right. That makes sense.¡± Jane leaned against Eric and smiled blissfully. ¡±Thanks. It helps¡ª just a little though, can''t just snap the nerves away.¡±

    ¡°Time will change that. Hopefully after not too long you get used to it¡ª you know, becoming the town''s celebrity classholder.¡± Seeing the stare he got in return he doubled down and joked with a grin, ¡°Oh great classholder, I apologize for speaking out of turn, please be lenient with me for my actions!¡±

    He saw Jane raise her hand to slap him again and sprinted down the road trying to get away from her wrath. His house was in sight not too far away but an angry Jane chased after him yelling, ¡°Get your ass back here! This great classholder will show you the power of her hands!¡±

    A smile blossomed on her face and her worries faded into the back of her mind. She knew Eric had said that and ran away on purpose, he always seemed to know how to make her feel better¡ª most of the time all he needed to do was distract her.

    Whatever the case, her wild energy surged and her mind became playful like a child once again, she sped up and easily caught Eric by playfully tackling him to the ground. The both of them rolled around on the grass trying to pin each other down gently, neither of them actually trying to win, more so both enjoying their childlike brawl.

    Hands flew, arms were locked, and bodies were grappled, but eventually Jane managed to secure herself on top of Eric by straddling his waist and then used her thick thighs to hold him down.

    Before she could brag to him about her victory, a youthful boy''s voice screamed forth, ¡°Dogpile!¡± and then she felt someone jump onto her, followed by laughter and screaming as three more bodies flopped on top of them. It was a messy affair but eventually Jane managed to crawl out of the dogpile and stand up to see three of Eric¡¯s younger siblings still rolling around on the ground wrestling each other in the grass.

    Eric was at the center of this particular war and the three others seemed hell bent on keeping him down on the ground for as long as possible, they would go as far as to team up and tackle him if he tried to stand up.

    It wasn''t until the intimidating and loud voice of a mom boomed across the yard, ¡°Alex, Bobby and Emily! Stop messing with your brother already, he''s covered in grass!¡± Amelia Frier warned them.

    ¡°Escape!¡± ¡°Run!¡± ¡°Hahaha!¡± The three rascals scampered off the ground and headed into the confines of their house nearby. Should their mother chase after them with the threat of scolding or a good spanking, they already had hiding spots prepared to escape to.

    ¡°Apologize to your brother!¡± Amelia yelled before they ran into the house.

    ¡°Sorry!¡± ¡°Sowwy!¡± ¡°¡±Sorry!¡± The three quickly screamed with their backs turned, already halfway through the door to their house.

    ¡°Whew.¡± Amelia put her arms on her hips, tired from her long day of working the fields. She had long blonde hair tied up in a bun to prevent it from interfering with her work on the field, while a large straw hat rested on her head to block the sun. Her reddish brown eyes looked at where her kids were running from and saw Jane Bluegold standing next to her son while patting her clothes to get rid of the dirt and grass covering them.

    ¡°Jane!¡± Amelia''s energy was revitalized and she jogged over to Jane and gave her a warm hug, her dirty overalls rubbing all over Jane¡¯s clothes. It took her a moment before she let go and took a good look at her.

    ¡°Eric told me you looked different but oh my, you''re a brand new woman ain''t cha!¡± Amelia pinched her cheeks before backing off as her husband came up behind her. He looked like a carbon copy of Eric as he had the same golden brown hair and orange eyes, the only difference was their age and the clothes they wore. Dean was dressed in a matching outfit with Amelia which consisted of a plaid shirt, jean overalls and thick black heavy boots.

    Dean looked at Jane who was giving him a snarky grin and smiled in return. She was a similar height to himself but seeing her muscles and frame, Dean could only smile wider and reach his hand out towards her.

    The two clasped their hands together like bro¡¯s and squeezed. The challenge was on!

    As Dean squeezed, Jane made sure to activate her hands to full power making them feel like diamonds to Dean¡¯s weak fleshy hands, he couldn''t even press his fingers into her skin. A vein bulged in his forehead as he squeezed his hardest, but eventually seeing no signs of victory in sight, he gave her the signal of defeat and then they let go of each other''s hands.

    ¡°Eric told us about your powers, guess I ain''t gonna be able to win anymore.¡± Dean chuckled and patted her on the head. ¡°Welcome back you rascal.¡±

 Upcoming Celebration - 3.5

    Jane had grown up either at her house or at the Frier¡¯s house, to her the Frier¡¯s were just as close to her as her own family. Dean and Amelia were like second parents and the Frier kids she had grown up with were like siblings to her. Unfortunately the younger kids probably won''t remember her as much as the older ones, but that was fine for now. She was here and was looking forward to hanging around with the chaos of the Frier household once again.

    The same could be said for how Dean and Amelia felt towards Jane. While they already had seven children, Jane was practically their unofficial eighth child with how much time they had spent together.

    That was why tears began to form in Jane, Dean, and Amelia¡¯s eyes before they once again hugged each other in a group hug.

    ¡°It''s good to have you back.¡± Amelia sweetly said in a motherly tone.

    ¡°Mhm.¡± Jane could only nod and stand there, taking in the embrace with all she had. Eric was on the side and could only watch with a large smile seeing them reunite with each other.

    It was only after the door to their house opened and a younger voice yelled out that they stopped hugging. ¡°Ma when''s dinner!¡± The voice said.

    ¡°Give me a minute!¡± Amelia yelled back before she asked Jane, ¡°Would you like to join us for dinner?¡±

    ¡°That was the plan; come here and see how everyone''s doing, eat some delicious food, make sure you''re not angry that I haven''t visited yet.¡± Jane replied as she followed everyone while they made their way into the house.

    From the outside the house looked like a weirdly put together puzzle piece as rooms stuck out from all sides, but the inside looked quite spacious and comfy. There was a lot of room to run around as it had many wide open halls that connected to the five, maybe six bedrooms on the main floor.

    ¡°If you didn''t come by tomorrow I would have stormed over to yer place!¡± Amelia said as she made her way into their large kitchen right next to their dining room. ¡°I''m glad you came today, Eric caught us up with some stuff but I wanna hear more from yer own mouth.¡±

    ¡°Sure, I have plenty of stories.¡± Jane sat down at the dinner table, which was a long redwood table made by conjoining two similar tables together since that was the only way to fit all nine¡ª ten including Jane¡ª together.

    The table was already getting fuller by the second as more siblings streamed into the dining room as the smell of food was already spreading throughout the house. Jane hadn''t seen them in a while and boy did most of them look completely different. They were all so big now.

    The most familiar sibling she knew and had played with a lot when she was younger, came down the stairs carrying the newest Frier in her arms. Hannah Frier was only fourteen when she left and now, just like Jane, she was an adult.

    Like most Frier''s, she had golden brown hair and some hue of orange eyes but instead of farm clothes like her parents, she wore an apron full of paint splotches¡ª It seemed like her hobby of painting hadn¡¯t disappeared.

    ¡®Is she trying to become an artist?¡¯ Jane thought and was about to ask but saw Hannah gently put down the three year old Emily and then walk over to her seat.

    ¡°Your back.¡± Hannah tried to look mad by crossing her arms but Jane could tell she still hadn''t quite mastered acting¡ª none of the Frier¡¯s were any good at acting really.

    ¡°Yep!¡± Jane got up and hugged the ¡®mad¡¯ Hannah who seemed to accept it by not stepping away but she knew she had to apologize. ¡°Sorry. I probably should''ve swung by yesterday when I dropped Eric off. My bad¡±

    Hannah finally hugged her back and said, ¡°Good, as long as you know what you did wrong¡­ I was scared you didn''t care about me.¡±

    ¡°Of course not, you guys are family.¡± With those words, a smile came to Hannah¡¯s face and she sat down in the empty chair next to Jane.

    Now the dinner table was full except for the parents who were busy cooking the food and the oldest sibling who appeared not to be here. Jane sat in the middle, to her right was Hannah and Emily and to her left was Eric and Alex. The other side of the table was for the parents and Bobby and Andrea who were the middle children¡ª the former was nine and the latter was fourteen.

    Noise was the main thing that could be found at the table as they all talked, fought or argued amongst each other. She noticed some of them looking at her either trying to figure out who she was because they were too young to fully remember or they remembered her but as it had been a long time and they weren¡¯t comfortable initiating a conversation.

    Jane was only really close to Hannah, Eric and Reina who was the oldest sibling, the others that remembered her, and those that didn''t, hopefully would break the ice that had been built up over the years and get back to how they used to act around each other.

    A few minutes passed as Jane talked with Hannah and Eric, they asked some basic questions like how they were doing but they also told each other a few shorter stories getting a laugh or two from one another.

    Then a silence descended upon the table as the children heard the sound of food being carried into the dining room. Plates upon plates of food were brought in waves, the second they hit the table was the go ahead for everyone to help themselves. Most of the food was vegetables as that''s what the Frier¡¯s mainly grew, but there were also plates of bread and meats for the taking.

    It was almost like a war occurred between everyone as they wielded their utensils in battle for supremacy over the food. Jane couldn''t help herself and promptly dominated everyone with her newfound strength¡ª and the fact that no other adult participated in this childish endeavor.

    ¡°Hey no fair!¡± ¡°She''s good¡­¡± ¡°I won''t let you!¡± The three youngest yelled their frustrations but they couldn''t do anything but complain as the rules of dinner warfare stated.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Alright everyone, calm down already!¡± Amelia yelled, seeing as some of her children, including the three year old Emily, about to start another war of words against Jane. ¡°Do you remember Jane? She was the one who came over almost everyday a few years back.¡±

    Emily and Alex shook their heads, they were either not born yet or were a toddler, while Bobby the third youngest asked, ¡°Is she the crazy girl who would come over covered in mud all the time?¡±

    Everyone old enough to remember Jane¡¯s younger self had a good laugh after hearing Bobby say that. Amelia looked at Jane, shrugged and said. ¡°That''s the one!¡±

    She then turned and asked Andrea who had her head down and was silently eating away. ¡°Do you remember her honey?¡±

    Andrea nodded her head and looked up to Jane who was smiling at her, causing her to flinch and look back down.

    ¡°Are you shy honey? Don''t ye remember how you two used to wrestle each other in the mud when you were younger?¡± Amelia asked and Andrea¡¯s face went red with embarrassment.

    ¡°Ma¡­¡±

    ¡°Haha don''t worry, we were both a little wild back then weren''t we Andrea?¡± Jane wanted to close the gap that formed between them and ever so slightly accomplished that as Andrea had a faint smile after hearing her.

    ¡°Oh boy do I remember those days, there''s probably still mud stains on the floor that haven''t been cleaned up yet after all this time.¡± Dean commented with a mouthful of potatoes.

    ¡°Sorry bout all that.¡± Jane apologized¡ª better now then never.

    The meal continued as the plethora of different mouths made their own unique sounds as they went about eating the piping hot delicious food in front of them. Jane couldn''t help but think that if this food was good, how amazing would Eric¡¯s food be? He was a hired chef after all.

    Most conversation halted during the meal as everyone was more focused on the food then talking amongst each other. Only after everyone was full and most of the younger siblings had already disappeared off to who knows where, did conversation pick back up.

    Jane was obviously interrogated about her years at the academy for a couple of minutes and she made sure to catch them up on the main things. She told them about her girlfriend which got excited reactions from everyone who hasn''t heard yet, she told them she graduated with high grades which they were proud of¡ª a little shocked though.

    As the conversation teetered towards classholders once they asked what she did at school, Amelia couldn''t help but ask Jane while cleaning off the table, ¡°So Jane, we heard the announcement, there''s gonna be a big celebration then?¡±

    ¡°Yep, a huge town wide celebration!¡± Jane replied trying to sound enthusiastic but she was still a little nervous on the inside.

    ¡°Oh I can''t wait! The mayor said you''d start the celebration off with a bang, what are you thinking of doing? Showing off your powers?¡± Dean said, obviously similarity interested in the fascinating powers of classholders like Eric.

    ¡°I haven''t exactly decided what I''m gonna do yet but showcasing my powers is a must.¡± Jane answered. ¡°Why? Curious to see my powers?¡±

    ¡°Hell ya!¡± Dean nodded. ¡°Eric told us about part of it, but seeing something and hearing about it are two different things.¡±

    ¡°Mmm, well maybe now''s a good time.¡± Jane stood up. ¡°I wish I could stay longer, but I''m gonna head home since I haven''t told Ma and Pa where I am¡ª lest they get worried their daughter who had just arrived disappeared for the night. I can demonstrate my powers as I leave, like a warm up for the celebration.¡±

    ¡°Give it a week before your parents stop worrying¡ª Anyways, let''s see this!¡± Dean excitedly stood up and followed Jane out the door into the front yard, joined by Eric and Hannah. Amelia finished cleaning the rest up quickly, made sure Emily was alright by herself, before she ran out of the door to not miss what Jane was about to do.

    The moon was already high in the sky and its bright white light created shadows of Jane as she stood in the middle of the yard ready. A cold breeze caressed her long hair and tickled her nose but she confidently grinned and raised her hands above her dramatically. One golden phantom hand she had shown off twice already, materialized underneath her and lifted her into the night sky.

    She didn''t fly that high, she was low enough that those on the ground could still see her and talk to her since she still had a few more things she wanted to say before she left. Little heads peeked from behind the windows of the house, curious as to what was happening outside.

    ¡°So what do you think, pretty cool ya?¡± Jane smiled and got a fatherly nod from Dean. ¡°Before I go though, are you guys free tomorrow in the afternoon?¡±

    ¡°What''s up? We can make some free time for you if you need.¡± Amelia said, whilst hugging onto Dean¡¯s arm to avoid the ever approaching cold of the night.

    ¡°It''s a surprise but if you have time come meet me at my place tomorrow at noon! Anyone is welcome! Eric and Hannah, you two better show up!¡± Jane yelled down as she raised the hand higher. ¡°Goodnight and thanks for the food! See you later!¡±

    They waved at her and watched as the hand flew in the sky away from their place and towards the Bluegold''s hill. They stayed outside for a couple of minutes, just relaxing in the moon lit front yard before they headed inside for the night.

    ¡°Those phantom hands are pretty cool, I''ll give her that!¡± Dean whispered to himself while he closed the door to the house.

    Jane, who was high in the sky, quickly arrived back at her home and quietly walked inside, trying not to wake Abigail up if she was already asleep. She was surprised to see her entire family chilling on the living room couch whilst solving a puzzle, even the little gremlin was participating.

    ¡°I''m home!¡± Jane announced her arrival and the first to react was Abigail who ran up to her for a hug, which Jane would never reject. She could get used to this real quick.

    ¡°Aren''t you a ball of warmth and joy!¡± Jane complimented Abigail and tickled her while she was in her arms, getting an immediate reaction of giggling out of her.

    ¡°Welcome back! Where were you? The Frier¡¯s?¡± Rosalie asked while still sitting at the couch.

    ¡°Yep, had dinner there, caught up a little with them. I''ll probably head over there every other day since there''s a lot to talk about.¡± Jane replied and plopped herself down on the couch next to her parents. Abigail wrestled herself out of her arms and splayed herself across Rosalie¡¯s and Jane''s laps.

    Jane and Rosalie simply looked at each and smiled. What an adorable creature!

    ¡°Are you guys busy tomorrow at noon?¡± Jane asked them while picking up a puzzle piece and contributing her talents to the puzzle.

    ¡°There are always chores to be done but we can make some time for you. Why what''s up?¡± Amelia asked, and Jeff answered with a similar reply as well.

    ¡°It''s a surprise you''ll see tomorrow!¡± Jane got up and yawned. ¡°I''m heading to bed, goodnight!¡±

    They wished her a goodnight as Jane headed up the creaky stairs into her bedroom where she quickly stripped, threw on her pajamas then dove under the sheets. She closed her eyes and let the darkness of sleep take over.

    Another great and fulfilling day over.

 Mira Frosthorn - Interlude 1.1

    Trudging up a hill along a steep and winding path, was a young woman with nothing else but an oversized backpack on her back. Her intense icy blue eyes gazed at the top of the hill where a stream of smoke was coming from, while a faint breeze pushed back her shoulder length platinum hair.

    She wore a fancy white and blue uniform that tightly fit around her lean body, accompanied by a pair of thick brown boots. Beside her clothes she also had a platinum silver ring on her right index finger with a tiny inscription on it, too small to see from afar.

    Lastly, resting on the upper right side of her uniform, was a golden badge with a snowflake symbol inside of a circle that had a triangle at the top, bottom and on both sides. This symbol represented her status as an ice elementalist classholder.

    If some saw her walking, they might be intimidated by her facial appearance as her eyes were cold, her face was sharp, and she seemed to always look like she was thinking of the best way to kill you.

    But she couldn''t help how she looked¡ª that was just her natural resting face.

    Then for those that interacted with her, It didn''t help that her personality was stricter than most since she cared a lot about rules and respect¡ª and being strict was a package deal for someone like her. She also didn''t like beating around the bush, if she had something she needed to say, she would say it¡ª even if it wasn''t always the nicest.

    But beside those things, she was just your average twenty year old woman¡­ that was also a classholder. There were a few initial things you could fear from her, like her appearance, her status as a classholder, or her tribe status, but she only wanted the best for everyone.

    It was hard at first, but she was glad she had accomplished her goals of making friends at the academy. She even achieved a goal she thought would never happen so soon¡ª finding a lover. There was a lot to unpack during her days at the academy, but right now she was focused on getting home, other important things could be left for a later time.

    Today was her third day traveling back home after having left the academy as one of its graduates. The first day she was able to ride on a beastmasters beast, which saved her an extra day of traveling, but the last two days she''s had to walk the entire time, either camping outside or finding a town to stay for the night.

    Her home was a little harder to find than most considering she lived in a tribe of nomads who didn¡¯t stay anywhere longer than a week. Thankfully her small tribe of just under a hundred, knew the time frame in which she would graduate and had planned to wait in the same area she had left four years back.

    Seeing the smoke up on the hill, Mira knew she was close. Only a couple more minutes before she would be back and reunited with her family and her tribe.

    ¡®Let''s hope everything goes well¡¯ Mira thought to herself, knowing that there''d be a tough discussion to have with her family later.

    As she got closer to the apex of the hill, her heart began to drum faster, her nerves, excitement, and bottled up emotions from not having seen her family for so long was about to burst out of her.

    Three more steps, two more, one more.

    Stepping over the lip of the hill, she saw the familiar sight of massive leather tents pitched around the flat surface of the hill, all surrounding one large communal campfire in the center. The evening sun, almost already under the horizon, was to her back and casted her distorted shadow onto the campsite.

    Looking around she could spot the figures of people further into the camp, sitting at the edge of the fire with bowls of food in hand. A faint whiff of aroma from whatever they were cooking, drifted towards Mira¡¯s nose and calmed her nerves.

    She adjusted her backpack and then walked towards the campfire, ready to see her family and tribe once again. It didn''t take long for others to spot her, and when they did, they hollered and cheered louder than she¡¯d ever heard.

    Unlike her current attire, the clothes of the tribe were simple and made from their own two hands using beast hide, leather, or whatever else they could get their hands on during their journey. They didn¡¯t go into towns much to purchase items, but they still occasionally did, allowing some families to purchase more refined, tailor made clothes.

    A little surprised by the cheering, then even more stunned when a whole collection of her tribe rushed at her and surrounded her with a big hug. Two of the larger male members even lifted her off the ground and carried her on their shoulders while another took off her backpack and carried it along with her,

    Mira was flustered, not sure what to do or how to respond, so she could only sit still and wait for more to happen. They brought her over to the large campfire and placed her down on a wooden throne-like chair before they found their own seats, her backpack was also neatly placed down beside her.

    ¡°Mira¡¯s back!¡± Her mind filtered out the sounds, but tens of folk started calling out to the rest of the tribe still in their tents. Then like ants to the colony, everyone began to leave their tents and converge on the campfire while also starting two smaller campfires nearby to fit everyone around.

    The rhythmic beats of drums began to play, creating an invigorating atmosphere that the tribe could dance to. Another man came over and handed her a bowl of stew and a plate of bread and meat for her to eat.

    While a lot was happening, she could recognize the man. There were 94 members of her tribe, maybe more had been born, but for those 94 alive before she left, she could remember each and everyone one of their names. Why? It was because they were like family to her.

    Then she saw a massive man jogging towards her, his each and every step causing thumps as he got closer to her. The man had long white hair tied up in a ponytail and an equally long beard separated in two braids. Even bigger than his hair was his frame, he was a hulking man that could stand toe to toe with a bear, and that didn''t even take into account his extensive, tattoo covered muscles all over his body.

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Like most of the tribe, he wore a simple fur coat, leather shorts and one large strap across his chest which he used to carry his greatsword. His icy blue eyes locked on to Mira and once he was within arm range of her, without hesitation he picked her up and covered her body in an embrace. The food in her arms was thrown to the ground, a little bit of waste but she couldn''t chide her father, he must be ecstatic seeing her.

    No words needed to be said, they let the physical contact communicate for them.

    Then from behind her father, she saw her mother and younger sister come flying at her and join in on the hug. Tears streamed down their faces and they cried in joy seeing Mira again¡ª they had been apart for so long.

    ¡°Mira! Let me look at you.¡± her mother, Myral Frosthorn, said after her father put her down on the ground. Her gentle hands caressed Mira¡¯s tearful face, while her eyes scanned every little detail trying to compare this new Mira to the old Mira.

    Her mother had light blue hair matched with similar colored eyes, and her body was similar to her fathers in the way of muscles. She was a warrior through and through and you could tell by the countless battle scars covering her body. But those few scars didn''t take away from her mothers beauty, it was no wonder a man like her father would fall in love with her.

    ¡°Mira sis!¡± A young woman who looked almost identical to Mira but had a few differences like her hair length, her slightly chubbier facial appearance and a few small freckles on her cheek, dove at Mira. This was Mira¡¯s younger sister Yura, who was turning 16 this year.

    Yura''s small body, even smaller than the already petite Mira, was wrapped up tightly by Mira as streams of tears came down her face. They stayed embraced together before a horn sounded and echoed throughout the hilltop. The drums stopped and a silence took over the hill, except for the sound of the burning campfires nearby.

    The chief of the tribe, Yuroth¡ª who was also her father¡ª put down his horn and looked at his daughter one again with a big mighty grin. ¡°My daughter, Mira Frosthorn, is back!!¡±

    Cheers resounded through the camp and the drumming started back up even faster and more dramatic than before. Everyone beside her mother and sister began to dance and eat to their heart''s content, their long awaited time atop this hill was over and they could now move on.

    Their family was once again reunited at last!

    Mira couldn''t but yawn, it was getting late and she had a long few days of traveling. Even the sound of drums and excited cheering only rejuvenated her slightly, all she wanted was to take a nice full day of sleep.

    ¡°You must be tired from your long journey, here eat some food before you head in for the night.¡± Myral handed her another bowl of food to replace the one thrown to the ground and then sat down on a chair next to her.

    Yura could barely contain her excitement and sat down next to Mira while fidgeting, trying her best not to just explode into a barrage of questions. Seeing the exhausted face of her sister, she knew it wasn''t the right time, but even then, she had to ask at least a few questions to appease her curiosity.

    ¡°What was it like at the academy?¡± Was Yura¡¯s first question¡ª better to start simple, she thought.

    Mira smiled thinking of the academy and the people she met there and said, ¡°The academy¡­ is a truly special place. It was the greatest experience of my life afterall.¡±

    ¡°Really that amazing?!¡± Yura gasped and remembered all the fun things they¡¯ve done together. ¡°It beats all your birthday parties?¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡± Mira nodded. ¡°Beside the academy itself which is like a paradise, the real amazing thing was the people.¡±

    ¡°Ohhhh, did you make any friends?¡±

    ¡°Three in fact.¡± That was a half truth if you take into account Jane was her girlfriend, not a friend-friend.

    ¡°Awesome! Am I gonna be able to meet them?¡±

    ¡°I hope so.¡± Mira smiled and left it at that. She wasn''t ready to have the ¡®big¡¯ conversations with her family today, but she didn''t want to delay it more, so tomorrow would be the day.

    The easiest conversation would be her telling them she was going to visit her friends in Redwood, then came the conversation of her having a girlfriend¡­ then the hardest topic about her leaving the tribe. That last one would be tough.

    She had lied when she told Jane that her parents would most likely approve of her leaving the tribe so as to not worry Jane. In reality, she was the daughter of the chief and was in line to succeed after her father but in all honesty¡­ she didn''t want to.

    Living with Jane in Redwood was her plan and it was what she wanted to do, if her parents disapproved of this¡­ she really didn''t know what to do. Being banished by the tribe would be horrible, she wouldn''t be able to see her family¡­ but Jane was also important to her.

    It was so hard to decide what to do that it was eating away at her mind, she even missed another question Yura had asked her. It took Yura shaking her shoulder for her to realize she was absent minded.

    ¡°You okay?¡±

    ¡°Sorry, just a little exhausted from the trip. I think I''ll head in for the night.¡± Mira replied and got up from her chair. ¡°You can ask me all your questions tomorrow after I''ve had some sleep, goodnight for now.¡±

    Yura said goodnight, a little disappointed she was leaving so soon. Myral was also next to her and grabbed her hand. ¡°Rest up well.¡±

    She smiled and said, ¡°Thank you.¡± Before leaving to find their family''s tent, which was pretty obvious because it was the largest one.

    Her father was busy partying with the fellow tribesmen since his job as chief demanded him to not just sit around. He saw Mira walk away from the campfire and locked eyes with Myral who mouthed to him, ¡®She''s tired.¡¯ He nodded in understanding, she deserved rest after all. In her stead he would keep the tribe occupied, if they wanted to ask questions, that could wait till tomorrow.

    Mira didn''t waste any time lollygagging and walked into the Frosthorn tent, the partying still going strong outside. Each of the tents was large enough to fit an entire family in it, it was easily the size of her dorm room back at the academy¡ª except it didn''t have extra rooms like a bathroom.

    She¡¯d have to get used to using the outhouses here. They weren¡¯t bad considering they had elementalist runes to clean up, but it was still just a wooden box instead of an actual bathroom like at the academy. She didn''t even want to think about the showers here.

    Finding her old blankets resting in one corner of the tent, she plopped herself down onto them before closing the curtain stitched into the tent to cover her corner. She covered herself with the blankets and closed her eyes, but the thoughts were too loud in her head.

    ¡®This is going to be a long night.¡¯ She thought to herself and tried her best to fall asleep.

 New Place, New Friends - 4.1

    Seven people stood on the purple grass front yard of the Bluegold residence, chatting amongst each other as the afternoon sun beamed down on them. It was another gorgeous spring day for Redwood and Jane would take advantage of this great weather to show off her surprise she had for the other seven people here.

    Besides Jane, the other six people were Dean, Amelia, and Eric Frier¡ª Hannah unfortunately was put in charge of watching over the younger ones while they were here. Then there was the rest of the Bluegold¡¯s which included Jeff, Rosalie and Abigail.

    The seven of them talked amongst each other while Jane stood nearby getting more and more impatient. She thought they all said they were busy but here they were casually chatting for minutes on end.

    It was only when Jane was fed up with standing around in the heat for over fifteen minutes while everyone talked non stop, that she decided to take charge. ¡°Okay is everyone ready!?¡± She shouted louder than normal, a little annoyed.

    ¡°Ready for what again?¡± Jeff asked, rubbing his bald head. He wasn''t exactly sure what they were doing today.

    Jane sighed and recomposed herself. Why was she getting annoyed? She was the one taking their time away from them. It was properly the excited nerves getting to her, so before she answered Jeff, she took a deep breath and put on a cheerful smile.

    ¡°It''s a surprise! I told you that last night, did you forget about it already, old man?¡± Jane teased him with a grin.

    Jeff crossed his arms and looked her dead in the eyes. ¡°Ho ho, This better be good then.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯ll be thoroughly surprised. Come on, follow me!¡± Jane motioned for everyone to follow her as she took the lead in leading them down the hill towards the old creek house. The old creek house¡ª or her place now¡ª wasn''t that far from the Bluegold¡¯s home, it was just a little ways past the Bluegold hill, resting at the edge of town near the redwood forest.

    During the walk, Jane kept to herself but could hear everyone else whispering, wondering what the surprise Jane had for them. After roughly an eight minute walk through the heat of a mid-spring day, they arrived at the old creek house property.

    Jane stopped when they got to the bottom of the path leading up into the house and turned to face everyone else with a confident look. She put her hands on her hips and said, ¡°Alright everyone, we''re here!¡±

    They all looked up at the dilapidated building that was the old creek house and looked confused as to why they were here. Amelia was the first to speak up about this situation, ¡°What''s this supposed to be Jane?¡±

    ¡°This¡­ is my new house. I just bought it yesterday.¡± Jane replied and got silence in return. It took a few seconds before everyone processed what she said. They looked at the old creek house, then back to Jane, then back at the house, and then their eyes widened.

    ¡°Wait wait, you bought a place!¡± Everyone said something similar to this at the same time.

    ¡°Yep! I bought this place for a cheap deal considering how large the house and land is.¡± Jane was grabbed in the shoulder by her mother who looked at funnily.

    ¡°Why¡¯d you buy such a run down place though?¡± Rosalie asked Jane, wondering why.

    ¡°It''s perfect for everything I wanna do¡ª beside it being run down¡ª but then I realized it being run down was actually even better!¡± Jane replied.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Everyone said.

    ¡°It gives me a project I can work on in my free time, hopefully together with you all. If we don''t rush, it might take a few weeks, maybe a month or two, which gives me lots of time to live at home and spend time with you guys.¡± She directed the last part to her family. ¡°But I do want to move out into my own place and this place will be perfect once it¡¯s fixed up¡ª I think I hit three birds with one stone here.¡±

    Everyone took in what she said and then smiled, especially Rosalie and Jeff. They knew their daughter wanted to move out and if she had the money to buy this, she could''ve bought a place anywhere and moved out already, but it seemed she wanted to spend more time with them.

    ¡°Maybe I hit four birds with one stone considering this place is also close to home which means visiting each other is pretty simple.¡± Jane finished saying and was surprised to get hugged by her mother.

    ¡°Oh, what''s up?¡± Jane hugged her mother back anyways.

    ¡°I''m so, so proud of you.¡± Rosalie wiped a tear dripping down her cheek and looked warmly at Jane. ¡°My baby girl is all grown up¡ª she''s a powerful classholder but she still cares about spending time with her family. I couldn''t be happier right now!¡±

    Jane''s eyes began to water up hearing her mother spout such remarks, and this time she took the lead and gave her mother another hug. She then felt tiny arms wrap around her leg and looked down to see Abigail looking up at her with a giggling smile as she joined in on the hug.

    Then she felt more arms, this time much bigger and hairier, wrap around her as Jeff couldn''t not join in on the family hug.

    ¡°Congrats kiddo, you''ve entered the big leagues.¡± Jeff said. ¡°And¡­ it was pretty damn surprising, so you got me there.¡±

    ¡°Heh, that''s good.¡± Jane rubbed her eyes trying to get herself back to normal, before she led everyone up the bump of a hill towards her place. ¡°I''m gonna need your guys expert advice and experience on how to handle this place. I have no idea where to even start.¡±

    ¡°That''s what us old men are here for, right Jeff?¡± Dean patted Jeff on the back and got a nod in return.

    They all walked through the fence gate and took a good look at the mess that was this entire place; there were overgrown weeds everywhere, basically anything wooden was rotted beside the house itself, and even the trees were oddly creepy looking.

    ¡°Us guys will take a look at the outside while you four inspect the inside since there''s probably a lot more to look at. We''ll meet you at the front yard once we''re all done.¡± Jeff said and saw Jane pull out a small notebook from her pockets, ¡°Ah that''s perfect, use that to record everything you see and then we can put together a list of things to do.¡±

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    Jane nodded before she saw the men get to work. Dean took one side while Jeff and Eric took the other side of the house, they went around looking at everything making sure to take their time so they didn''t miss anything important.

    Jane, Rosalie, Amelia and Abigail followed their advice and went into the house, but Abigail immediately cringed at the smell. ¡°Yucky! It smells bad!¡± She then ran out of the house not able to take the smell, which in turn made Rosalie run after her.

    ¡°Guess it''s just me and you on this one.¡± Jane said to Amelia who smirked in response.

    There was a lot to go through on the inside purely because the size of the house was quite large compared to most houses. On the main floor there was a kitchen, a large dining room, an even larger living room, an office room, and another room that was filled with random items.

    Jane had seen it all yesterday but only briefly, now that she was doing a deep dive into all of it, she could see just how bad the place really was. There was shit everywhere, everything was either broken, incredibly old, or just rotted and nasty.

    They started in the kitchen and there wasn''t much to see. The kitchen equipment was all rusted and nasty looking and even if they worked, she wouldn''t want it. The cupboards were mostly empty, only cobwebs and bugs filled those places, while the refrigerator and freezer were also bare with items.

    The dining room wasn''t too bad, there were a few cabinets to the sides that held extra utensils or plates, but they were also home to bugs, cobwebs and a few dead animals. After seeing a dead mouse in the cabinet, Jane took a step back and made a grossed out face.

    The dining table itself looked pretty okay, it was probably the best off item she had seen so far, but the same couldn''t be said for the shit on top of it. Whoever last owned this place really liked to make a mess since boxes of random garbage rested on top of the table, alongside left out utensils and plates still filled with moldy food on them.

    It was just straight up nasty.

    A few paintings hung on the walls but they all had a layer of dust covering them and looked a little worn out. There was also a fancy chandelier that lit up the room using light runes, which still functioned properly and also didn''t look too bad¡ª she might keep it.

    Moving on to the living room was where things got really bad. Beside the smell of dead animals, the smell of the musty furniture was the worst. There were two large couches and a few comfy looking chairs but they were wet, ripped up by some small critters, and looked to be covered in a layer of moss somehow.

    Jane pressed on the light switch rune and a pattern of runes on the ceiling turned on and lit up the god awful mess of the living room. If there was one word Jane could use to describe the house it would be messy¡ª not nasty.

    While things were gross here, it was more messy than anything. The old owner must have been a hoarder looking at the piles of random items splayed out across the living room just like the dining room.

    Jane made sure  to use her notebook to write down notes of things she needed to do to make this place livable¡ª and boy did the notebook fill up fast. She continued jotting down words as she and Amelia made their rounds around the last two rooms in the main floor. The office and storage room were mostly the same; dirty and messy rooms that needed to be cleaned dearly.

    After the main floor they decided to look through the two floors above first, before they went down into the basement since Jane said the basement was the easiest to go through.

    The second floor had four large bedrooms, a small library room, and another office room it seemed. It was much the same as the rest of the rest and they quickly went through it all before they worked their way up to the third floor.

    The third floor was a little smaller than the others as it tapered off from the first two floors which  left it with only three small bedrooms and another smaller storage room filled with junk. The cool thing about this floor though, something Jane liked a lot when Angeline showed it to her, was the balcony.

    At the end of the hallway on the third floor, there was a door that led onto a flattened roof turned into a balcony that had a few couches alongside some other pieces of furniture left. The furniture out here was more damaged and ruined then the ones inside since they¡¯ve been affected by the weather and such.

    The balcony floor was solid wood like most of the house, but it wasn''t damaged at all and seemed to be in perfect condition¡ª Jane thought there might be priest wards to help prevent the floor from getting damaged.

    Jane approached and leaned against a fence that went around the large balcony, alongside Amelia as the two stood there taking in the beautiful sight of the redwood forest that lay in front of the balcony.

    ¡°You really got yer own place to call home.¡± Amelia hung one arm over Jane''s shoulder as they stared into the forest.

    ¡°Not yet, once it''s all fixed up then I can call it my own home.¡± Jane leaned into Amelia. ¡°It''s exciting to think about.¡±

    ¡°Oh it is. I remember when me and Dean first moved into our own place, it was a whole new step of our life.¡± Amelia commented. ¡°Now once this place is finished, we can hold a housewarming celebration here.¡±

    ¡°I don''t know if I wanna think about another celebration just yet, there''s already one occupying my mind more than I''d like.¡±

    ¡°Heh you¡¯ll be fine¡ª great as a matter of fact. I''m personally looking forward to it, and so are the rest of us. I can''t imagine how excited yer parents are about this.¡±

    ¡°They''re trying their best not to show it but I can see the sparkle in their eyes as they count down the days until their baby girl is celebrated by the whole town.¡± Jane said with a sigh.

    ¡°I can understand why as a parent.¡± Amelia replied and then said. ¡°It''s gonna be different once everyone knows what you look like. I just hope you continue to spend your life the way you want to, don''t let anybody make you change that.¡±

    ¡°Where''d all these inspirational words come from?¡± Jane looked at her with a questioning gaze.

    ¡°Eric might¡¯ve slipped how you were feeling last night.¡± Amelia saw Jane raise an eyebrow. ¡°Now don''t get mad at him, okay? I was the one who pushed him for all the details since you left so earlier last night.¡±

    ¡°Eric¡­ Ah well, I know I might be overthinking the whole thing but I''ll have to see what the future holds. I''m just hoping everything turns out okay.¡± Jane then stretched her arms and shook off the stiffness she got from leaning on the fence. ¡±Sorry for leaving early last night, there''s just so much to talk about and I''m not trying to rush it since I''m gonna be here for years to come.¡±

    ¡°Ah don''t worry about my ramblings, I''m just a curious woman who wants to know how your time was at the academy. I''ve already interrogated Eric about everything you told him so don''t bother with me, just take things at your own pace.¡± Amelia patted her on the shoulder. ¡°But I really do want to know more about Mira.¡±

    Jane started to walk back into the house while replying to Amelia with a cheeky smile, ¡°You¡¯ll just have to meet her yourself when she comes to Redwood.¡±

    ¡°Ah come on, I can''t wait that long!¡± Amelia followed after Jane and the two got back to work.

    They finished up their inspection of the house by finishing with the basement, which was currently just one large empty room filled with worthless junk and held together by a few pillars for support. Did she even have to say what the current state of the basement was? It was just like the rest of the house¡ª a mess!

    After looking at her notebook full of her own tiny notes, she and Amelia stepped out of the house to find everyone else plopped down on a blanket laying on the grass. The adults were thoroughly enjoying themselves after having grabbed a beer from a cooler filled with refreshing drinks that was placed off to the side. Abigail herself had her own bottle of juice she sipped on while also munching on a handful of snacks laid around the blanket.

    ¡®Where''d all this come from?¡¯ Jane wondered.

 New Place, New Friends - 4.2

    ¡°You guys having a picnic? When¡¯d you bring all this stuff over?¡± Amelia asked and grabbed herself a beer from the cooler before finding a seat next to Dean.

    ¡°Since Abigail didn''t want to go inside, I thought it''d be fun if I ran home and brought back a bunch of drinks and snacks for everyone.¡± Rosalie replied while she grabbed a beer and handed it to Jane, who gladly accepted it.

    Jane cracked open the cap of the bottle and took a deep swig, letting the refreshing ice cold feeling of beer sooth her sweaty body. This was the stuff! She took another sip before exhaling loudly after releasing the beer from her mouth, and then she joined everyone on the blanket.

    ¡°So what do you think? It''s pretty good, just needs a few touch ups right?¡± Jane asked a little jokingly to rest of them.

    ¡°Ha! Wait till you hear what we have to say about the outside of your place.¡± Dean chimed in and then asked Jane, ¡°Here pass me your notebook and I''ll add everything we found out here and add to your own notes.¡±

    Jane nodded and passed Dean her notebook and pencil, then waited on the picnic blanket as Dean and Jeff looked through her notebook together and started writing things down. She enjoyed a few snacks Rosalie had brought along and told Rosalie and Eric what they had found, earning her a disgusted face from Rosalie.

    ¡°So you got your own place now and you''re planning to live here with Mira right?¡± Eric asked her.

    ¡°That''s the plan besides also starting my own business here as well.¡± Jane sighed. ¡°Mira¡¯s family situation is a little complicated though, so I''m hoping everything works out.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡±

    ¡°Have I not told you yet?¡±

    Eric shook his head.

    ¡°Well, she''s part of a nomadic tribe so if she chooses to come live with me, that means leaving her own family for the most part¡ª and that''s only if her tribe approves of her leaving. if they disapprove and she still leaves, then she would get banished for good.¡± Jane explained. ¡°At least that''s what she told me.¡±

    Eric puffed out a sigh, ¡°I also really want to meet her so lets pray for the best then.¡±

    They sat in silence for a moment before Eric said, ¡°On a more happy note, you better invite me over once it''s all done.¡± Eric took a swig of beer and then stared at Jane who stared back with a raised eyebrow.

    ¡°Of course¡­ why are you looking at me like that?¡± She had to inquire as to why he was staring at her.

    ¡°Just taking in the fact you''re actually back.¡± Eric replied. ¡°I was a little lonely when you left at first, but eventually I managed to find another group of friends¡ª even a girlfriend. I''m hoping you can get along with them all and hopefully I can do the same with your friends.¡±

    Jane leaned her back against his side, closed her eyes and said, ¡°I''m glad you managed to find other friends¡ª but if they think they can take my place as your number one friend¡­ oh they better watch out!¡±

    Eric chuckled hearing her joke around, ¡°Well they might be getting close.¡±

    ¡°Hoho will see about that.¡± They laughed together and spent the next few minutes relaxing until she saw Dean and Jeff nod to each other, then proceeded to hand the notebook back over to Jane.

    ¡®This better not be too bad.¡¯ She slowly opened up her notebook to discover a compiled list of all the tasks she would have to do to make sure this place was completely fixed up. The list was separated into two main sections; the inside and the outside.

    Outdoor

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Replace or get rid of all the fences. Rotted. </li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Get rid of all the weeds. </li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Replace or get rid of the wooden steps along the path. Rotted or unstable</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Touch up the bridge by the creek. Little unstable and partially rotted. </li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Seal up the holes or openings in the house. Prevent pests. </li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Replace the eavestroughs. Cracked. </li>

    </ul>

    Indoor

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Clean the place of dust and cobwebs. </li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Clean the windows and reseal them.</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Clean the floor. </li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Check for mold. </li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Remove any dead animals, bugs or other pests. </li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Replace furniture and other similar accessories (curtains, desks, lamps). </li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Replace kitchen appliances.</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Get rid of all the junk. </li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">If possible, get a group of elementalists to make sure the runes are all working properly.</li>

    </ul>

    There were a few more items on the list, but these were the main tasks at hand. It wasn''t as bad as Jane thought it would be, but it was still a long list she¡¯d have to go through eventually. How long would all this take? She had no clue.

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    Replacing stuff was easy, but getting rid of the junk, resealing the holes, and doing a deep, deep clean was going to be a pain in the ass. Beside all of this, she needed to figure out what she herself wanted when the house was in a livable state. The house was huge and there was a lot she could do or not do with it.

    Did she need a library room? The books in there looked fine but she wasn''t much of a reader. What did she want to have in the basement since it''s empty? There were a lot of questions she¡¯d have to ask herself, about what she wanted in her house. Those questions were for a later date but she might as well try and brainstorm some ideas sooner than later.

    ¡°This is gonna take some time¡­¡± Jane mumbled to herself looking through the list again.

    ¡°Well¡­¡±Jeff looked at Rosalie who nodded at him. ¡°We¡¯d be happy to help you with some of it, but we do have our own chores to get through¡ª and then there''s also Abigail we need to watch over. Hopefully when we have some free time we can help you.¡±

    ¡°Oh if you ever need Abigail off yer hands we¡¯d be happy to take her whenever you want. I''m sure Abigail would like to spend time with Emily and Alex instead of being stuck at home all the time.¡± Amelia said then turned to Jane. ¡°We¡¯d also be able to pitch in some hours as well, but it''s quite busy at the farm since we were in the middle of replanting everything.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d love to have you all help, just make sure you aren''t putting off any of your own tasks. I''m in no rush to finish this place up.¡± Jane replied, happy to hear everyone''s support for her.

    ¡°It''s a parent''s job to help their children¡ª but if you pitch in with some chores around the house as well we¡¯d have more time to help you.¡± Jeff said, getting a nod in return from Jane.

    ¡°Ya I¡¯d be happy to, I guess I haven''t really helped out around the house yet.¡± Jane rubbed the back of head a little embarrassed. It was the fourth day since she first arrived in Redwood and she had been doing her own thing, she had forgotten all about her family duties.

    ¡°No no, don''t worry about any of that! You¡¯re your own woman now so you can do whatever you want¡­ But some help around the farm would help out a lot.¡± Rosalie chimed in and stood up. ¡°Speaking of chores though¡ª we gotta get back to finish the day''s tasks, we''re a little behind after all.¡±

    After saying that, everyone else followed suit and stood up.

    ¡°That''s right, we gotta get back on the farm.¡± Amelia chugged the last bit of her beer and placed the empty back in the cooler. ¡°Let me take Abigail off your hands and give you one less thing to worry about today.¡±

    ¡°You sure?¡± Rosalie handed Abigail over to Amelia¡¯s arms, who snuggly held her tightly.

    ¡°She and Emily haven''t hung out recently and I bet they¡¯d love to see each other¡ª plus I got older kids able to watch over them while we go about our own chores. Win-win.¡± Amelia replied and bopped Abigail on the nose, getting a giggle in return.

    ¡°That sounds like a plan¡ª thanks!¡± Rosalie started to pack up alongside Jeff, while Amelia, Dean and Abigail said their goodbyes and headed back to the Frier¡¯s place.

    ¡°What are you two gonna do? It''s almost evening already.¡± Jeff asked, the picnic items already packed up.

    ¡°Well we''re supposed to go to Danielle''s house later this evening, not sure what we can do in the meantime though, maybe start putting a dent in the list of tasks.¡± Jane replied with a scowl at the end of that sentence.

    ¡°Actually we can head over now if you want. I usually arrive early and chill there before the others arrive.¡± Eric said. ¡°Plus everyone normally arrives early anyways so it''s probably fine to head over now.¡±

    Jane thought about it for a second before asking, ¡±I don''t wanna intrude on you two¡¯s time together though, I can arrive at the normal time.¡±

    ¡°We have plenty of time together so don''t worry about that. I don''t think Danielle would mind either¡ª actually she¡¯d probably be more happy to have us both there.¡± Eric replied. ¡°Unless you don''t want to, then feel free to come by later.¡±

    ¡°Nah, actually I''d love to come now, I really don''t wanna start fixing this house today. I''ve already seen enough of it in one day.¡± Jane took one last look at her new home before she grabbed Eric''s shoulder and said, ¡°Let''s go then!¡±

    ¡°Don''t stay out too late¡ª ah who am I kidding, do whatever you want!¡± Jeff yelled at Jane who had started scampering off with Eric. She looked back at him and grinned while giving him a thumbs up.

    Jeff watched as his daughter got further away, walking side by side with her best friend while basking in the late afternoon sun. He felt complete now. The last four years were great, they even had another child, but now it felt like the last missing puzzle piece in his life was finally found. A slight breeze brushed past his bald head and poufy facial hair, while a smile blossomed on his fuzzy lips.

    ¡°Alright that''s enough, let''s get back already.¡± Rosalie interrupted his ¡®dad stare¡¯, and with a blanket tucked under her arm, she grabbed Jeff¡¯s own arm and dragged him towards the Bluegold hill.

    ¡°You just don''t get it, I was having a moment.¡± Jeff begrudgingly said to his wife.

    ¡°Ya, a middle aged moment.¡± Rosalie replied snarkily, and instead of an annoyed expression from Jeff, he looked at her with a grin. ¡°Stop giving me that face, I know what you''re thinking.¡± Rosalie snorted.

    ¡°I really love that sharp tongue of yours.¡± Jeff commented and saw Rosalie huff in embarrassment. He reached his arm around Rosalie''s waist and pulled her in close.

    ¡°Don''t you think you should soothe your husband after saying such harsh words to him, who knows he might just be angry.¡± Jeff smirked and lowered his hand towards Rosalie¡¯s bottom.

    ¡°Soothe my ass!¡± Rosalie chided but realized what she had said too late. Jeff could only nod and do exactly as she instructed.

    ¡°Jeffrey¡­ What am I gonna do with you? At least save it for when we''re back home.¡± Rosalie whispered, blushing like a schoolgirl.

    ¡°You''re adorable.¡± Seeing the angry stare he got in return after saying that, he raised his hand off her bottom and back onto her waist. ¡°Save it till we''re back home¡ª that''s exactly what I''m gonna do then.¡± Jeff chuckled.

    The childish married couple half flirted and half argued during their walk back to their house, their love still going strong as ever. What happened later that night was not for others to know about.

 New Place, New Friends - 4.3

    ***

    The mayor¡¯s house¡ª or mansion¡ª was located in the center of the residential district, one of the four districts in Redwood. The other three districts were the farming district, the town square, and the sports district.

    The residential district was where the majority of Redwood¡¯s residents lived, but that didn''t mean it was exclusively made of houses as there were also shops, stalls and parks around. It was just the primary place for people to live.

    The same could also be said for the farming district and the town square. The farming district was home to six families including the Bluegold¡¯s and the Frier''s¡ª Jane¡¯s new place was also in the farming district. While in the town square, any business owner with their own building, lived in their own shop since it just made things easier and cheaper for them.

    The town square was easy to understand, it was just where the majority of commercial business occurred. It was the second smallest district but also the busiest and was chalk full of things to do.

    The farmer district was¡­ where the farms were of course. It was the largest district but mostly consisted of farmland or grassy fields for animals to graze and walk around. There were three families that grew fruits and vegetables and four families that dealt in livestock. Out of all the plant farmers, the Frier¡¯s were the largest out of the bunch, while all the livestock farmers were of similar size to one another.

    All of the families here made sure not to step on each other''s toes by selling the same thing as another family. Jane wasn''t exactly sure of the full situation with the plant farmer, but as for the livestock farmers, the Bluegold¡¯s sold cattle and chickens, another dealt with sheep''s, goats and pigs, while the third family was a supplier of horses and donkeys.

    She knew the Frier¡¯s grew a bunch of varying plants, but she didn''t know what the other plant farmers grew. Maybe they did grow the same things as one another.

    The last district was the sports district. It was the smallest district and it sat partially sandwiched between the residential district and the farmer district. Unlike the name suggested, this district wasn''t just meant for sports, but also included other forms of exercising or outdoor enjoyment like paths for walking.

    Most of the district was a large natural park made of large trimmed fields, lots of walking paths, colorful gardens made of flowers, and man made structures where children could play.

    You could walk or run along the winding paths and see the beauty of the natural landscape while getting some exercise in, or spend some time leisurely smelling the flowers of the garden. There was a lot of fun to be found in the sports district.

    One of the most popular spots in the sports district was a large river that ran from outside of the town and cut through most of the district. Families would spend days swimming in the slow and gentle river to cool off¡ª and don''t worry there were two bridges at both ends of the area where you could swim, to prevent children from being swept away.

    The park structures were another place children loved to play with each other if they didn''t want to get wet for whatever reason. There were a few of these structures in close proximity to one another, all with their own design, allowing for kids to have a lot of variety in where they wanted to play.

    Obviously it wouldn''t be called the sports district if there weren''t any sports buildings whatsoever. Around the district were different types of fields meant for lots of different sports that anyone could use. The most popular sport in Redwood¡ª and all of the Purple Plains¡ª was a sport called pillar ball, which had the most areas designated for it.

    In all of the district there were five pillar ball fields while there was one special field off limits for recreational use since it was the official pillar ball field of Redwood. What does that mean? Well every town in the purple plains had their own pillar ball team and they would meet twice a year for a tournament. The location of the tournaments rotated between towns each time to give every team an equal chance at having a home advantage¡ª and give the town in question a lively event to attend and make some money during.

    Those four districts made up the entirety of Redwood.

    Right now, only one district mattered to Jane as she and Eric approached the mayor''s mansion walking side by side. The mansion was sitting in a giant circular grass property that had roads curling around all sides of it, while on the other side of the road were other more normal sized houses and a few smaller shops.

    The mayor''s mansion was by far the most luxurious place in all of Redwood, calling it a house was an insult to the size of this place. Now there was a reason the mayor lived in such a mansion and it wasn''t because he was a greedy man who cared more about money than his own people¡ª in fact the mayor probably loved this town more than most folk.

    If we want to understand why, we have to understand how he got such a role and what his job as mayor entails.

    The mayor is not a position chosen by the people¡ª not entirely at least¡ª it was a role given to someone by the kingdom itself. The person chosen would become mayor, and their family would inherit their position. Danielle, as the oldest child of Peter Petal, and to Jane¡¯s knowledge the only child, would replace her father whenever he retired.

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Now that Jane was thinking about this, she realized that if Eric continued his relationship with her, he¡¯d eventually become the future mayor''s husband.

    Of course the kingdom wasn¡¯t unfair, if enough people complained that the mayor was abusing his power or actively harming the town directly or indirectly, the kingdom would interfere. The mayor would be at best fired and at worst sentenced to death. Then a new mayor would be chosen by an election, but the kingdom always had the final say if someone actually got the position or not.

    Having the mansion itself was a way to show others not working for the kingdom that by doing so, gives them luxuries they wouldn''t normally ever have. It was the same for Angeline Evergreen¡¯s place, she wasn''t as important as mayor and her place reflected that, but it was still the second best place in all of Redwood.

    It was a demonstration of their power over others and a form of making sure their reputation was upheld by people working for them. They gave them major benefits and expected quality work in return.

    Then the mayor''s actual job was important as well, he was the bridge between Redwood and the kingdom and dealt with any paperwork needed. This could include taxes, contracts with businesses, etc.

    Lastly, a big reason why a mayor would have a mansion was because they would host any nobles that visited Redwood. Nobles expected a certain quality of living for having such an important role, and staying in a mansion was to be expected. Now don''t go thinking nobles were snobs for this, it was more so for reputation and representation of how the nobles of the kingdom were treated.

    Jane had met a few noble children at the academy, while some were in fact snobs, some were just like herself. There was a certain level of respect needed for the nobles and hosting them in a mansion was par for the course.

    Jane and Eric finally arrived at the front gates of the Petal¡¯s property. A rock-tiled path led from the edge of their property all the way to the front door, which Eric guided Jane along¡ª he had walked this path many times.

    The mayor''s front yard was pretty dull for someone with a large property, only a few trees were scattered around and a tiny garden wrapped around the edge of the mansion. The rest of the front yard was just more purplish grass. Jane could see a fence wrap around their backyard but she wasn''t sure what was behind the fence, maybe she¡¯d get to see it later today though.

    Off to the side there were a few people out and about through the street, some were driving carriages full of cargo along the road while others were walking to some destination. Jane could spot a few married couples tending to their lawns or sitting on their porches enjoying something to drink. It was a very lively community.

    The mansion itself wasn''t as fancy as Jane would have thought, it had more of a rustic vibe as it was mainly made of wood with a bit of stone here and there. It also wasn¡¯t three stories tall like Jane¡¯s or the Evergreen¡¯s place, but instead most of its size came from its width. The mansion was L shaped and had many rectangular windows with little gardens hanging from the outside of them.

    Arriving at the front door, Eric casually rang the doorbell and waited with his arms crossed for someone to answer. It didn''t take long before a familiar face opened the door for them, her smile was the first thing they saw.

    ¡°Eric! Jane!¡± Danielle hugged and pecked Eric on the mouth, then hugged Jane as well before she ushered them inside.

    The inside was a little more lavish looking then the outside, with fancy decorations hanging on the walls or weird sculptures resting on pillars, even the furniture looked less comfy and more stylish looking. Jane could even spot a giant fancy glass chandelier hanging down from what appeared to be the dining room.

    ¡°I''m so glad you came, Jane! I was thinking of visiting you to hang out but I''ve been so busy lately and I thought it would be great if you joined our monthly friend get-together!¡± Danielle explained happily to Jane. ¡°Once the celebration is over I¡¯ll have more free time if you wanna do something with just you and me. I know we hadn''t really hung out in school before, but I really want to get to know you better¡ª and it''s not because you''re now a classholder or anything¡ª except that¡¯s also pretty cool¡­ but it''s more because you''re Eric¡¯s best friend!¡± She rambled on to Jane.

    ¡°That sounds like a plan to me.¡± Jane nodded casually and then said, ¡°I gotta apologize for my younger self, I really didn''t care to meet anyone else beside Eric back then.¡±

    ¡°No, don''t apologize, there''s no need!¡± Danielle waved her hands trying to get the point across. ¡°I think what you and Eric had was amazing¡­ I wish I had a close friend like that back then. I was friends with everyone, but not really close friends with anyone¡ª except now I do have close friends, I even have a boyfriend!¡± Danielle beamed saying the last part.

    ¡°And I''m hoping¡­¡± Danielle fidgeted her fingers, ¡°That me and you can become close friends eventually. Everything I''ve heard about you from Eric is so fascinating!¡±

    ¡°Oh, now I''m curious. What exactly has Eric been telling you about me?¡± Jane grinned and wrapped her arm around Danielle''s shoulder, turning her away from Eric so he couldn''t hear.

    She whispered to Danielle, ¡°I¡¯d love to become close friends¡­ but first, you gotta tell me what Eric¡¯s said¡ª and since Eric¡¯s told you about me, you gotta tell me about him.¡±

    Danielle put on a fake evil smirk¡ª that looked adorable¡ª and replied with, ¡°Where do we start?¡±

    ¡°Hey now!¡± Eric yelled jokingly and tried to break up their whispered huddle.

    The girls looked at him before Danielle yelled to Jane, ¡°Follow me!¡± Then she ran off with Jane in tow. They took the first door to their right and worked their way down a set of wooden stairs down into the basement below.

    Jane found herself running through a large basement filled with a comfortable atmosphere unlike the main floor. They ran until they reached the basement''s living room where Danielle flopped onto one of the couches while laughing, Jane promptly joined her and plopped down next to her.

    Eric scampered after them and caught up to them just as they found their seats on the couch, he then slowed down and joined them by sitting across from them on another couch.

    ¡°Welcome to my domain!¡± Danielle proclaimed with her arms raised to the side. ¡°The basement is all mine, and my parents aren''t home, so don''t worry about making a mess or causing a ruckus tonight!¡±

 New Place, New Friends - 4.4

    Jane looked around at Danielle¡¯s ¡®domain¡¯ and was surprised by the fact that the basement was a house in its own right. Sitting on the couch that appeared to be in the living room, Jane could spot a full kitchen, a dining room, and an open area full of games next to the living room. That was on one side of the basement, the other side consisted of a long hallway filled with closed doors that were most likely bedrooms or storage rooms.

    As for how the basement looked, it felt more like the exterior of the mansion in the way that it was simple and cozy. There were no expensive decorations or tacky designed items, only a few fuzzy carpets or little knick-knacks decorated the basement.

    Jane really studied the gaming area that was behind Eric and could already spot a pool table, a poker table and a dart board. There were also a few cabinets off to the side that were filled with what appeared to be board games, cards or other trinkets.

    ¡®This¡­ is pretty awesome.¡¯ Jane thought to herself seeing everything here. She hoped to create something similar in her own place since this was the type of thing she enjoyed¡ª besides sports.

    ¡°How¡¯d you claim the basement for yourself?¡± Jane asked. It seemed to her that Peter Petal wouldn''t just give away an entire section of his house to Danielle for no reason.

    ¡°Normally when nobles come to Redwood, they stay here. The nobles will live up stairs and all the servants will stay in the basement, which is why it has everything you need down here.¡± Danielle began to explain. ¡°Since nobles don''t visit often, and even if they do come, servants don''t really care about trivial decorations and such.¡±

    ¡°So when nobles come, will you just stay down here as well?¡± Jane questioned.

    ¡°Yep!¡± Danielle nodded with a smile. ¡°Nobles have come once after I started living down here and it was the funniest time ever. All the maids and butlers were so fun to play with!¡±

    ¡°That''s great!¡± Jane replied then turned to Eric with another question. ¡°Now Ma told me you were planning to move out, is that still the goal?¡±

    ¡°Mhm, I have a few gold coins saved up after a few years of working and should be able to afford a small house pretty soon.¡± Eric explained. ¡°I could probably get a loan but I''d rather just buy it outright.¡±

    ¡°Once you do get a place¡­ will you two move in together?¡± Jane grinned seeing the blushed faces of Eric and Danielle. Danielle fidgeted while looking at the red faced Eric.

    ¡°I don''t wanna rush it, but whenever Danielle is okay with it, she¡¯d be welcome to move in.¡± He said and looked down. A smile blossomed on Danielle''s face and the room went silent as two thirds of the people here were stuck in their heads picturing the future.

    ¡°Aw this is cute!¡± Jane commented and made Danielle shake her in protest.

    ¡°Stop teasing us!¡± She said and got a chuckle back from Jane.

    ¡°It''s just cute to see! Mira and I were also like this at the start of our relationship.¡± Jane felt the shaking stop and saw Danielle looking at her with gleaming eyes.

    ¡°Mira! That''s your girlfriend right!?¡±

    ¡°Oh ya, I guess I haven''t told you about her yet.¡± Jane said, ¡°She''s coming to Redwood in a month so you''ll be able to meet her and some of my other friends.¡±

    ¡°Ohhhhhhh we can do like a huge friend get-together when they get here!¡± Danielle¡¯s mind began to go in overdrive as she thought of ways to accomplish this.

    ¡°We can go on double dates together as well.¡± Jane brought up and got an excited yelp of agreement from Danielle.

    They continued talking amongst each other for what felt like hours upon hours, but only a single hour had gone by. Jane told Danielle all about her girlfriend Mira and how they got together¡ª which included some embarrassing memories. Like the time she fell in a fountain, or the time she had been changing and Mira had accidentally walked in on her while she was naked. That last one got a massive chuckle from Eric.

    Eventually the conversations shifted away from Jane''s relationship after she asked them how they themselves had gotten together, and she listened with keenness as they told their story.

    Surprisingly, it wasn''t Eric who had confessed but instead Danielle with her extroverted personality, confronted the shy Eric. After they graduated and Jane had left for the academy, Eric found himself getting closer to another group of friends which were Danielle¡¯s group at the time. After hanging out more, they all became close friends¡ª this was roughly three to four years ago.

    Then after having known each other for roughly three years, Danielle and Eric had fallen for each other, but only one of them wasn''t afraid to confess. Once she confessed, Eric of course said yes and the two started to date. It has been just over a year since that day, and they were still happily together¡ª which was great to hear.

    There was one big challenge in their relationship, and that was the mayor. It wasn''t that he didn''t approve of their relationship but he had to have some level of skepticism concerning his daughter since she was to be the future mayor and those she got together with would become her consort.

    The mayor didn''t do anything to stop them from dating, but he was actively making sure Eric wasn''t trying to just use his daughter, which might have involved a few one on one conversations and some snoopy behavior¡ªIt all was a bit stressful for Eric. Thankfully it all had worked as he gave up and let them do as they wished after he got a little stern talking from Danielle.

    Ding Dong!

    The doorbell to the mansion rang and broke up their conversation as they realized the time of the get together had already come¡ª or everyone was just here early. Danielle ran up the stairs to get the door, leaving Jane and Eric downstairs by themselves.

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    ¡°What are you planning on cooking for us?¡± Jane asked, her stomach beginning to growl.

    Eric heard her stomach and chuckled, ¡°Not sure yet, the others bring the food so we¡¯ll have to see what they¡¯ve brought. It''s probably gonna be simple though, maybe burgers or sausages.¡±

    ¡°What, are burgers and sausages too easy for ya?¡± Jane teased, ¡°I for one, would prefer the simple foods over higher dining any day.¡±

    ¡°That''s perfect then for the most part.¡± Eric replied. ¡°If you do want something more exquisite though, I''d be down to cook something more refined for you one day.¡±

    ¡°I can''t refuse the offer of food!¡± Jane grinned and patted her belly. ¡°I''ll take your word so don''t take it back!¡±

    Eric nodded with a smile. This was his chance to show off his skills to Jane, maybe even get her hooked on his food.

    They heard footsteps coming down the stairs and looked back to see Danielle with three others walking down the stairs . There were two guys Jane didn''t know, but they did look a little familiar so they might have been in school together, but the other woman was someone Jane had seen the other day, it was Angeline Evergreen.

    The two locked eyes with each other and stared. Angeline just pieced together the fact that the person she had talked to yesterday was the same person her friend had been talking about for years¡ª and a classholder. Jane herself was also surprised to see Angeline here since she was a little older than herself and Eric.

    Each of them was wearing a backpack presumably full of food or games, while one of the guys carried a heavy cooler down with him. Before introducing each other, they sauntered over to the kitchen and placed all their stuff down before Danielle pushed them into the living room and sat them down on the couch across from Jane.

    ¡°Everyone, this is Jane Bluegold, the one Eric¡¯s always talking about, as well as the classholder that my father announced yesterday.¡± Danielle dramatically pointed to Jane who smiled and gave them a small wave¡ª it was a little awkward.

    ¡°Jane this is Robby Ruddins, a real menace on the pillar ball field¡± She introduced the first guy who had brought down the cooler.

    Just looking at him Jane could tell he was an athlete, he wasn''t overly muscular but instead had a lean fit body meant for endurance. Alongside his body, he was also quite handsome with short black hair and light pink eyes that stared at Jane in return.

    ¡°Call me Rob¡ª or Robby, whatever floats your boat.¡± He reached across the table that was in between the couches, and shook hands with Jane. ¡°Nice to finally meet you after all this time.¡±

    Jane felt his strong grip but saw his face change when he felt her diamond like hands. She smirked and replied, ¡±Nice to you as well¡ª I didn''t think Eric would ever make other friends, but here you guys are.¡±

    Eric sighed hearing her say that, but it elicited a slight chuckle from some of the others around.

    ¡°This is Jared Junglesmith, he works as an apprentice at Travis¡¯s smithy in the town square.¡± Danielle introduced the other guy. He was quite tall¡ª taller than anyone else in the basement in fact¡ª and had short dark green hair resting atop his head and little on his face.

    He also shook hands with Jane but only nodded to her instead of saying anything, then his brown eyes shifted away from Jane to look somewhere else. He seemed a little shy according to Jane¡¯s initial observations.

    ¡°This is¡ª¡±

    ¡°We''ve met before. I didn¡¯t think you''d be the one.¡± Angeline interrupted Danielle and shook hands with Jane. ¡°So what''s the plan for your new place?¡±

    ¡°Glad you asked. I worked out a list today with my family and Eric¡¯s, and it looks like it will take quite a bit of work to get it up to par.¡± Jane explained, a little happy and surprised there was a ¡®familiar¡¯ person down here.

    ¡°You have your own place!?¡± Danielle leaned forward asking Jane with wide eyes.

    ¡°Yep, it''s a shithole right now but hopefully in a few weeks it should start looking like a real home.¡±

    ¡°Wow, you gotta invite me over when it''s finished!¡±

    ¡°I''d be happy to!¡± Jane smiled seeing Danielle enthusiasm.

    She then turned to Angeline once again. ¡°I gotta ask though, why is the place so run down in the first place?¡±

    ¡°There''s a few reasons. I ended up looking into it yesterday and found out that your new place was Redwood''s last classholders house as well. That was roughly a century ago.¡± Angeline said, more talkative when it came to real estate. ¡°By the time the classholder died and my great grandparents at the time went to reclaim the place, it was already a shithole.¡±

    Angeline sighed. ¡°They decided it would be too much effort to fix the place, and it probably wouldn''t even get sold since it would be so expensive after it''s all renovated. So they left it as is and forgot to ever look back.¡±

    ¡°Lucky for me then, since I got a deal on the place.¡± Jane chuckled before her stomach grumbled loudly again, causing a silence to descend over the basement.

    Eric burst into laughter seeing Jane''s slightly embarrassed face. ¡°Guess that''s my cue to start cooking, what did you bring this time?¡±

    Eric, Robby and Jared got up and went to the kitchen to sort out dinner, leaving only the women in the living room. Jane was a little embarrassed her stomach did that in front of everyone but it seemed no one really minded it¡ª except Eric of course.

    She took another look at Angeline who was outside of her realtor uniform and instead wore a loose black tank top and tight black leggings. Her exposed arms were covered in tattoos of all sorts, from flowers to symbols, Jane could even spot a few words tattooed on her skin.

    Jane thought Angeline was quite hot after seeing her outside of her uniform, her black leggings extenuated the natural curves of her body while her tank top was loose and exposed her cleavage underneath. That paired with her contrasting grassy green hair and eyes, made for a beautiful look. Jane was of course speaking factually, she already had a girlfriend, she wasn¡¯t looking for another.

    ¡°You look a lot different outside your uniform, it¡¯s a good look.¡± Jane bluntly stated, trying to mimic how Angeline herself might act.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Angeline put a bottle of beer in front of her and asked, ¡°You want one?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d love one.¡± Jane grabbed the bottle out of Angeline¡¯s hand and gladly started to sip on it.

    ¡°Can I ask about your tattoos? I''m pretty interested in them myself.¡± Jane asked Angeline.

    ¡°Mm, do you have any?¡±

    ¡°I have one on my back.¡± Jane explained. ¡°It''s pretty big for my first tattoo but I got it together with my girlfriend so it''s quite special.¡±

    ¡°You gotta show me one day then.¡± Angeline said. ¡°It''s in a pretty exposed spot so maybe when we learn a little more about each other.¡±

    Jane smiled and said. ¡°I''ll cheers to that.¡± She clinked beers with Angeline.

    ¡°Look, you two are already friends, this is great!¡± Danielle squealed and got herself her own beer before chugging the entire thing in one shot. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s the good stuff!¡±

    Jane¡¯s eyes widened seeing Danielle already finish an entire beer before she reached for another one.

    Seeing the way Jane was staring at her, Danielle got a little flustered and explained, ¡°it¡¯s been a long week helping my father prepare for the celebration, I need a day to let loose!¡±

    ¡°No judgment here, I was just surprised.¡± Jane leaned back and copied Danielle by finishing her beer in one take. After finishing it she slammed the empty bottle on the table and let out a burp.

    ¡°Ah, sorry about that, old habit.¡± Jane apologized for her burp but only got a look of admiration from Danielle.

    ¡°Hehe, like you said, no judgment.¡± Danielle playfully giggled and then got up and dragged Jane over to the couch, sandwiching her between herself and Angeline.

    ¡°You''re the new girl of the group! it¡¯s finally an even split, it¡¯s just been me and Angeline for years¡ª not that that¡¯s a bad thing!¡± Danielle rambled. ¡°I¡¯m just excited to have another girl to talk to.¡±

    Jane smiled, she herself would love to have more friends to talk to, especially those that lived in Redwood. She didn''t know what her friends wanted to do, but she doubted they would ever stay here¡ª except for Mira of course but that was different.

    The three talked amongst themselves, it was simple and a little awkward at the start but after having a few drinks, all the girls were happily chatting together. There was a dynamic of course, Danielle talked the most and was excited about every little subject, Angeline was quieter and light with words but got straight to the point while Jane was somewhere in between the two of them.

 New Place, New Friends - 4.5

    It was only after ten to fifteen minutes that Jared and Robby came back to the living room and sat on the opposite couch from the girls, with their own drinks in hand.

    ¡°Okay so let me get this straight, your friends and girlfriend are coming to Redwood a month from now?¡± Danielle double checked with Jane.

    ¡°Roughly a month from now, but ya.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s gonna be so fun! I know I said this already, but we gotta have a big get-together with everyone here and your friends; Do you think they¡¯d be okay with that?¡± Danielle inquired.

    ¡°For sure, they''re a very lively group.¡± Jane replied and put down her third empty bottle.

    Now Jane wasn''t an alcoholic or anything, but she did love drinking with others and found the best way to get comfortable around new people was to quickly get drunk. Danielle herself was already quite tipsy since her small frame wasn''t the greatest at handling vast amounts of beer, unlike Jane¡¯s own muscular body.

    ¡°Did you hear that guys, Jane¡¯s friends are coming to Redwood!¡± Danielle shouted with a giggle before slumping back on the couch.

    ¡°Friends from the academy? Like other classholders?¡± Robby asked Jane with interest.

    ¡°Yep. There''s a porter, an alchemist, an elementalist¡ª which is my girlfriend¡ª and a beastmaster.¡± Jane explained. ¡°Redwood is gonna get lively when they get here, I bet the mayor will be happy to have so many classholder in Redwood at the same time.¡±

    ¡°Yep, that''s my father for ya! He¡¯s been ecstatic since you¡¯ve gotten here.¡± Danielle agreed and leaned next to Jane. ¡°Supposedly you said you were gonna stay in Redwood, which is why he¡¯s really trying to go all out for this celebration and advertise to the other towns in the purple plains that we have a classholder. He¡¯s gotta brag to his other mayor friends after all.¡±

    ¡°Feel like he''s treating me as some sort of specialty. I''d rather he not go around bragging about me.¡±

    ¡°That''s what I''ve been telling him! But he can''t help it.¡± Danielle explained and then leaned back away from Jane. ¡°I mean you are special but that doesn''t mean he needs to go around spewing all about it.¡±

    ¡°I''m just lucky I was born this way.¡± Jane got herself a fourth beer and started drinking it. She saw Jared¡¯s eyes narrow as she said this but didn''t pry any further.

    ¡°Sorry if this might be rude, but what''s your class?¡± Robby curiously chimed in. ¡°Me and Eric initially bonded over our talks about classes and I''m desperately wanting to know what your own is.¡±

    ¡°I''ll be glad to tell you!¡± Jane cleared her throat and said, ¡°I''m an Enigma.¡±

    Robby¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°That''s amazing! Eric must''ve gone crazy after you told him.¡±

    ¡°A little bit, but I think he¡¯s still holding back on interrogating me about everything I can do¡ª he¡¯s a little shy like that.¡± Jane explained.

    ¡°I second that!¡± Danielle chimed in. ¡°It took three dates before I got angry and kissed him myself! I couldn''t wait any longer!¡±

    Jane chuckled before hearing Eric yell from the kitchen, ¡°Are you guys making fun of me back there!?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Jane and Danielle yelled at the same time and then laughed together.

    ¡°Sorry, I got a little distracted. Here if you''re curious I can show you some of my powers.¡± Jane wiggled her hands waiting for a response and got a smiley nod in return from Robby.

    Like before, she summoned her phantom hands and made one of them hold her beer bottle while she put her hands under her head, letting the phantom hand pour the beer into her mouth. Seeing the amazed look Robby was giving her, she unsummoned her hands and caught the beer bottle before finishing it.

    ¡°Ohh, being able to summon hands. That''s incredibly useful.¡± Robby muttered and curiously watched Jane.

    Then for the next few minutes, everyone went about their own conversations. Jane was enjoying a lovely chat with Robby about her own class and other classes in general, while Danielle had moved over top of her and sat beside Angeline to talk to her. Jared was the only one who sat in relative silence, drinking his beer and occasionally given an odd look in Jane¡¯s direction.

    She didn''t know what it was about, maybe the fact he felt uncomfortable around a classholder, but she wasn''t going to mind it¡ª at least not right away since they''ve just met.

    Eventually they heard Eric¡¯s voice blare from the kitchen, ¡°Foods ready! Come to the kitchen if you''re hungry!¡±

    All conversations halted and everyone got up and headed towards the kitchen in a drove after smelling the delicious aroma of food wafting out the kitchen. Laid out on the kitchen counter were six plates of ribs, while some other food was left on separate plates for others to shovel onto their own as much as they wanted from.

    It was a little chaotic as everyone was already drunk and wanted to get to the food first¡ª Jane included. With the help of the still sober Eric, the chaos was subdued and after a few minutes, Jane found herself sitting at the dining table with a plate full of vegetables and saucy ribs.

    Eric came into the kitchen wearing a white apron and placed down a few extra bowls of bread or plates of leftover food if anyone was still hungry and wanted more. Then he quickly took off the apron, grabbed a beer, and joined them at the table.

    Then dinner commenced.

    Jane eyed the ribs staring back at her, she could swear she saw them gleam in the light overhead¡ª maybe she was just drunk though. There was no stopping herself, she picked up the rib with her bare hand and took a massive bite. The tender meat easily slid off the bone and fell into her mouth before a burst of flavor exploded throughout her taste buds, causing an immediate moan to escape from Jane''s mouth.

    Her face went red in embarrassment but everyone giggled at her. ¡°Don''t worry I did the same when I first tried his cooking!¡± Danielle reassured her and took her own bit of ribs before her eyes melted in glee.

    ¡®How is it so good!¡¯ Jane''s mind was trying to process how Eric could make something so heavenly¡­ but he did. This might explain how he landed a job at the Little Goose.

    ¡°So how is it? Pretty good ya?¡± Eric smirked seeing Jane lost in her plate.

    ¡°How the fuck did you make it so tasty!?¡± Jane questioned him. ¡°I mean I''ve tried lots of delicious things at the academy but this¡­ tastes special. I don''t know how to describe it.¡±

    Eric smirk turned into a genuine smile and thanked Jane, ¡°I''ll take that compliment. Thanks!¡±

    With that, the night started to go by faster.

    Jane wasn''t sure if it was all the alcohol in her system diluting her sense of time, but hours passed and it only felt like a few minutes. They finished their lovely dinner and moved back to the living room where everyone began to talk amongst each other again, but this time Eric was with them.

    Jane asked more about Eric and Danielle¡¯s relationship, like what kind of dates they¡¯ve been on, and they asked her similar questions in return but about her and Mira.

    Robby, Eric and Jane had another talk about classes which they were all interested in, while she also had a few brief chats with Angeline about life in general. All around Jane had a blast talking with almost everyone, unfortunately she tried her best to get along with Jared but it seemed he liked to keep to himself.

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    Beside talking, they also found themselves playing with the vast amount of games down in Danielle¡¯s basement like cards, pool, and a few board games others brought along. Jane found out today that Danielle was a highly competitive person and even though she was blasted drunk, she won almost every game they played.

    Now after long hours of partying and drinking, it was almost midnight and everyone¡¯s energy levels had gone back to normal. Jane found herself standing away from the main party area with Eric, while everyone else was relaxing on the couches.

    ¡°So, they''re a fun bunch right? Robby and me are similar, Angeline is kinda in her own boat of interest, while Danielle is Danielle.¡± Eric leaned against the wall and stared at his friends.

    ¡°What about Jared? He seems¡­ like he doesn''t like me? I''m not sure.¡± Jane said and looked at Jared who was engaged in the conversation at the couch, something he didn¡¯t do when Jane was around.

    Eric sighed, ¡°Jared is normally a shy guy but¡­ he has a bad experience with classholders so I think he¡¯s a little unsure of how to act around you.¡±

    ¡°What kind of experience?¡± Jane wondered, she didn''t want one of Eric¡¯s friends to be uncomfortable around her.

    ¡°Well¡­ it''s hard to say but¡­ he lost his entire family to a villainous classholder and ended up growing up as an orphan.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­ Ya I can see why he might not like me.¡±

    ¡°No no no, he doesn''t hate you!¡± Eric shook his head. ¡°I''ve talked to him about this, he doesn''t hate you, or classholders in general because they¡¯re classholders¡­ It''s just that thinking about classholders brings back some harsh memories. That''s why he told me he¡¯d have to work through it himself and hopefully come to get comfortable when he¡¯s around you.¡±

    Jane could only nod. This wasn''t her battle to fight, she wouldn''t attempt to be pushy in hopes to bridge the gap faster, she would let him work at his own pace. She had only just met the man as well, but hopefully over time as they hung out more, they¡¯d come to be friends like Eric and him were.

    The two continued talking as they watched everyone else play more card games, even more blasted from alcohol. Danielle looked the most drunk and definitely was since she had drunk the most booze and was the smallest here¡ª it was quite a sight to see.

    Eric told Jane that Danielle was a competitive person, but that seemed to magnify when she was drunk. She would even try her hardest during the simplest card games. Robby was a normal drunk, he slurred his words and had a jolly time laughing, while Jared was quite normal that Jane didn''t even know if he was drunk or not.

    Angeline was the one who piqued her curiosity the most. She didn''t seem drunk if you didn''t know her¡ª which Jane didn''t know that much, but she knew enough to tell that Angeline was acting differently. Her normal blunt and straightforward self was still there, but she seemed a little more friendly and talkative than normal. Especially to Robby.

    Jane watched them interact and could tell the two had some sort of chemistry together but it seemed a little awkward. She had to ask Eric, ¡°Are Angeline and Robby a thing?¡±

    Eric sighed and shook his head. ¡°Not yet, but if you can see it, then they really need to get together already. We can all tell they like each other, but they both don''t see it¡ª It''s kinda frustrating.¡±

    ¡°You''ve never tried to like, push them together? Discreetly of course.¡±

    ¡°That''s not my thing, or Jared¡¯s. We''re both shy guys." Eric replied. ¡±Danielle would try that but as you can tell, she''s always the most drunk person.¡±

    Jane chuckled and thought that she might be able to give it a try but was stopped when she saw Eric giving her ¡®the look¡¯.

    ¡°I know what you''re thinking, so don''t do it. Just let it naturally occur, they''ve only started looking at each other like that recently.¡±

    ¡°Ah fine. You''re right, It''s not my place.¡± Jane said.

    The party continued until everyone''s energy levels took a dive and they sat around the couch, half of them with their eyes closed ready to sleep. Danielle was the most awake and seemed to notice the mood in her drunken state. She jumped off the couch and grabbed Angeline before pulling her off the couch and dragging her towards Jane.

    ¡°Janeee, are you¡­ s-staying the night with us?¡± Danielle asked her with slurred speech.

    ¡°Um, like a sleep over?¡± Jane asked back.

    ¡°Yep! I-it sounds fun, no?¡±

    Jane thought about it, but she didn''t see any reason why she wouldn''t, maybe not to worry her parents, but they said do whatever you wanted. It also sounded fun, having a sleepover.

    While they didn''t know each other that well, Jane knew she was gonna hang around with them more since they were Eric¡¯s friends and this opportunity looked like it could jumpstart her friendship with the ladies at least.

    It was also a lot easier to do things you normally wouldn''t do when you were drunk.

    ¡°I''m in.¡± As soon as she replied, Danielle grabbed her arm and started to drag her and Angeline towards her bedroom.

    ¡°W-we¡¯re having a sleepover, so you three boys do whatever you want, f-feel free find a bed if you wanna stay over.¡± Danielle yelled out to the three boys and then proceeded to make her way drunkenly towards her own room down the hall.

    Quickly they got to Danielle''s room and she shut the door behind them. She flopped onto the bed, followed by Angeline and Jane herself who sat down beside them.

    ¡°So g-girls, let''s talk!¡± Danielle giggled, making Jane and Angeline smile in return. They were all wildly drunk¡ª making it easier for Jane to just casually join them like this¡ª and ready to talk girl-talk.

    ***

    Jane woke up feeling groggy, a heavy pressure weighing down on her head¡ª namely all the alcohol from last night. Sitting up in a bed she was sleeping on, Jane looked around her to find herself alone on Danielle¡¯s bed.

    She hadn''t the faintest clue where the other girls were right now, her memories of last night were a little foggy. She remembered lots of what they talked about and what they did, but the later parts were a little blurry.

    ¡®I think Danielle went to sleep with Eric, where did Angeline go again?¡¯ Jane tried to remember but the further down the night she tried to remember, the harder it became.

    Whatever the case, her stomach grumbled loudly and her mouth was parched, she needed food and water pronto. She left Danielle¡¯s room and found her way through the hallway towards the main living space where the kitchen was.

    Chilling in the dining room with a cup of coffee was Angeline still in her clothes from yesterday. Unlike Jane who had scowl from the headache, Angeline wore a faint smile and her skin looked like it was glowing. Whatever happened to Angeline last night must have been quite a lot better than the hangover she was probably having right now.

    ¡°Good morning.¡± Jane waved to her, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

    ¡°Morning.¡± Angeline responded back in her normal neutral tone.

    ¡°It should be fine if I grab something to eat from her fridge right?¡± Jane asked, not wanting to intrude too much¡ª even though last night they partied all night together.

    ¡°Mm help yourself, she doesn¡¯t care too much. I can show you where everything is if you want?¡± Angeline asked her, friendlier than normal.

    ¡°That would be great thanks.¡± Angeline got up and showed Jane where the plates, cups and food were kept. After a few minutes, Jane prepared herself a simple breakfast made of eggs, toast and some leftover food from last night.

    Soon after the smell of food permeated through the basement did the rest wake up and slowly make their way to the kitchen. Jane was too sleepy to notice Robby and Angeline lock eyes with each other and give each other an awkward smile.

    Eventually everyone found their way to the dining table except for Jared, and when Jane asked where he was, Eric told her that he had work in the early morning and had already left.

    Eric, Danielle and Angeline all had today off from work one way or another, while Robby was the only one who had work at his parents general shop later today. Jane didn''t have work-work but she still had things she wanted to get down today¨C whatever the case, no one was in a rush to get out of here yet.

    Danielle slumped down in the chair beside Jane and leaned face down on the table while groaning, she was the most hungover out of everyone here. Eric swooped in and rubbed her shoulders, ¡°Do you want some breakfast?¡± He asked Danielle but also looked at everyone else, who all nodded in return.

    ¡°Alright give me fifteen.¡±

    ¡°Ah shit I missed out on Eric¡¯s cooking. Does he always make breakfast for you all?¡± Jane asked the table.

    ¡°Whenever we stay over, ya.¡± Angeline answered.

    ¡°You should have told me!¡± Jane grumbled but kept eating her own breakfast while Angeline shrugged and continued drinking her coffee after seeing Jane''s reaction.

    After thirty minutes, everyone had eaten up and were a little more energetic as their bodies began to wake, getting ready for the rest of the day ahead of them. After another hour passed of idle chat, everyone was ready to head out for the day and found their way upstairs to the front door.

    The first to leave was Angeline and Robby, who Jane swore seemed a little closer than they did last night, ¡®Did something happen that I forgot about?¡¯ Jane wondered after seeing them act like that, but nothing came to mind¡ª she had only just met them as well so it was more of a guess anyways.

    Then as Jane was getting ready to leave, she saw Eric not putting on his shoes and asked, ¡°You staying here?¡±

    ¡°Yep. We¡¯re gonna spend the morning together, maybe go on a little date since we both got the day off today.¡±

    ¡°Ah you told me that last night, I forgot. Okay then, imma head off and maybe start working on the house.¡± Jane said her farewells and got a big hug from the still groggy Danielle and another from Eric, before she headed out towards to her own place.

    She had a lot of work to get done.

 The Night of the Party - Interlude 2 (SC)

    It had been an hour since Danielle dragged Jane and Angeline into her room and during this time they talked while continuing to drink even more booze. At this point they were all so incredibly drunk that they could barely stand without wobbling around.

    No holds were barred as they talked to each other like they had known each other for years, they talked about whatever came to mind but eventually the conversation came around to Angeline and Robby.

    ¡°Angelineee, I saw you looking at Robby like that¡­ you know, in looove.¡± Jane¡¯s body wobbled to the side as she revealed her observations to Angeline.

    ¡°Yes yes I s-saw that too!¡± Danielle chimed in, her arms tightly koala gripped around Angeline¡¯s tattooed body. ¡°L-listen, Robby and Eric are the same, y-you gotta be the one who confesses or it will take fucking forever girl!¡±

    Angeline¡¯s cheeks were bright red, her cold demeanor and straight face she usually wore had broken down after enough drinks. That paired with her blunt personality, and all that was left for show was her real feeling.

    ¡°I-I do like Robby, but he doesn¡¯t seem into me.¡± Angeline leaned back into Danielle''s hug. ¡°I mean, wh-who would be into someone like me?¡±

    ¡°W-what are you saying, ¡®someone like you?¡¯¡± Jane spoke up. ¡°Not only are you hot¡ª and I¡¯m lesbian so you know it¡¯s true¡ª you''re also like, really cool and n-not afraid to speak your mind.¡±

    ¡°But not e-everyone likes it when you¡ªhiccup¡ª speak your mind all the time. I can say some pretty mean things you know.¡±

    ¡°Oh pish posh, I-I see the way he looks at you, I know he likes you back!¡± Danielle said. ¡°And he''s known you for years so he already knows what you act like.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know that for sure!¡± Angeline barked back.

    ¡°Well there¡¯s no way to truly find out but to ask him!¡± Danielle yelled trying to get the point across. Luckily, every room in the basement had air elementalist runes installed to block any noise coming from the inside, so wherever the boys were, they couldn¡¯t hear a thing.

    ¡°I guess that''s t-true¡­¡± Angeline gave in.

    ¡°Good, now you''re getting it!¡± Danielle said. ¡°Now the night is still young, why don¡¯t we go see if Robby is still awake.¡±

    ¡°You want to do this now!?¡± Angeline cried out. ¡°T-there¡¯s now way¡ª I¡¯m not ready!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s never a good time when you''re ready, you just gotta go for it. Come on, We¡¯ll help you!¡± Danielle locked eyes with Jane and the two nodded to each other.

    They pulled the partially reluctant Angeline out of the room and out into the hallway where three of the other five bedrooms were closed. Taking a look into the living room, Jane couldn¡¯t see any of the boys which meant they all either left or had found a room to sleep in.

    They wanted to find Robby and the only way was to knock on every door until they eventually found him. Knocking on the first closed door, a tired looking Jared towered over them as he opened the door.

    ¡°Sorry J-Jared, were you asleep?¡± Danielle asked.

    ¡°Not yet.¡± He shook his head.

    ¡°Okay sorry for disturbing you, but do you know which room Robby is in?¡± Jane could feel Angeline''s hand, which was holding her own, start to get sweaty in anticipation as she heard Danielle say that.

    Jared pointed to the door across from him, said his good nights, and then closed the door.

    ¡°Alright now just go in there and tell him how you feel.¡± Jane explained for the fifth time. They were all standing outside of Robby¡¯s room trying their best to convince Angeline but she was still hesitating.

    ¡°Angeline, if you''re not gonna tell him, why don¡¯t I tell him how you feel?¡± Danielle didn¡¯t even wait to hear a response and knocked on Robby¡¯s door.

    ¡°No no no¡­ I-I want to tell him.¡± Angeline whisper-yelled at Danielle, getting a drunken smirk in response.

    The door opened revealing Robby¡¯s tired face, he rubbed his eyes and looked at the three girls standing in front of him. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± He said and wobbled back to his bed, also drunk.

    ¡°Angeline has something she wants to tell you.¡± Danielle gently pushed Angeline into Robby¡¯s room and then slammed the door. They waited outside but after not seeing Angeline walk back out after a couple of seconds, Jane and Danielle knew the plan might have succeeded.

    ¡°That was a little pushy, no?¡± Jane did a double take of the situation. Even though this was what they were attempting, they kinda pushed her in the deep end of the pool and hoped she was able to swim.

    ¡°Ah they both like each other, and even if Robby doesn¡¯t¡ª yawn¡ª he¡¯s not gonna do anything stupid.¡± Danielle explained. ¡°Whether it¡¯s a g-good or bad thing, somethings gonna happen between them tonight, so let¡¯s leave them be.¡±

    Danielle yawned again feeling tired and leaned into Jane¡¯s arms. ¡°Where¡¯s Eric¡¯s room?¡±

    ¡°Probably here,¡± Jane pointed to the only other closed door they hadn¡¯t tried.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯m super super tired so imma go sleep with Eric. Do you wanna join us¡ª nvm that¡¯s kinda weird¡­ Okay goodnight!¡± Danielle hopped out of her arms and walked into Eric¡¯s room leaving Jane alone in the hall.

    Jane herself yawned, smacked her lips together then went back into Danielle¡¯s room where she flopped onto the bed and immediately fell asleep.

    ***

    Back in Robby¡¯s room.

    Angeline nervously stared at the door that closed behind her, but before she freaked out and left, she bit her lips to clear her mind a little. This was an opportunity her friends have given her, and no matter how much she wanted to leave, she knew she wanted Robby more than that.

    If what Danielle said was true that Robby would take a while before he confessed, then she''d rather do it herself. Even if she got rejected, it was better now than never. She thought to herself trying to hype herself up.

    With liquid courage coursing through her veins she turned around and faced Robby.

    ¡°Did they say you had something you wanted to tell me?¡± Robby said, as he sat up while sitting on the edge of the bed. Angeline shyly nodded with a blush, her cold demeanor was non-existent at this point.

    ¡°Alright I¡¯m all ears.¡± Robby patted the bed next to him and Angeline slowly walked over and sat beside him.

    She took a second to compose herself, her fingers were twirling around one another with nerves, before she went ahead and said it. ¡°I¡­ I ummm¡­ well¡­ I-I like you.¡±

    Robby¡¯s tired eyes shot open and he stared at Angeline.

    ¡°Well? S-say something!¡± Angeline barked at him after he stared at her for almost a minute.

    He slapped his face with both hands, surprising Angeline, before he turned his body to fully face her. ¡°Can you please repeat what you said?¡±

    ¡°Uh, that¡¯s¡­¡±

    ¡°I need to be sure I heard what you said correctly!¡± His lovely pink eyes stared at Angeline, who looked down in a child-like embarrassment.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Please!¡± Seeing the serious stare she was getting, Angeline took a deep breath in, there was no going back anymore.

    ¡°I-i like you¡­ And we¡¯re both adults so I¡¯d like to go out with you¡­ as a couple.¡± Angeline built up her courage, the adrenaline pumping through her sobered her up a little.

    Robby''s mouth dropped and he quickly replied, ¡°That should¡¯ve been my job!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Confessing! I was gonna confess to you sometime soon but you beat me to it! What are the odds!¡± Robby flopped down onto the bed and laughed.

    He had said yes¡ª in a way¡ª but nonetheless that was basically a yes!

    Angeline felt her body calm down and she joined Robby by flopping onto the bed, laying side by side with Robby.

    It was a strange feeling. The two had known each other for years at this point, so becoming a couple was really not that awkward, even right now when they had both just confessed. They had already been friends and had hung out lots of times before this, but now their relationship had evolved one step further.

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    ¡°Is this where we¡¯re supposed to kiss?¡± Angeline said, getting a huge laugh in return from Robby. ¡°Don¡¯t laugh at me!¡± She playfully slapped him on the shoulder but he only kept laughing.

    Seeing Angeline¡¯s pouting face was a first for Robby, and however much he wanted to keep seeing this brand new side of her, he didn¡¯t want her to pout.

    ¡°Sorry I didn¡¯t mean to laugh. It¡¯s just¡ª have you been in a relationship before?¡± He suddenly asked.

    Angeline shyly shook her head, ¡°You better not make fun of me anymore.¡±

    ¡°Sorry sorry sorry¡­ it¡¯s just¡­ that¡¯s never been asked before.¡± Robby answered.

    ¡°What? Is t-that not what couples do? They k-kiss right?¡±

    ¡°Well yes, but not normally right away¡­. Though, that doesn¡¯t mean I''d say no.¡± His voice trailed off as he said this, but Angeline heard every word.

    She turned her body toward Robby and he did the same to hers. The two were now lying down on their sides while facing each other, their faces only a few inches apart.

    ¡°Does that mean you want to¡ª¡° before she could finish, she felt Robby¡¯s moist lips envelope her own.

    Her eyes opened in surprise at first, but feeling the oddly sensational feeling of kissing, she closed her eyes and reciprocated the act. It was awkward at first, she didn¡¯t know how to kiss after all, but Robby took the lead and made it less embarrassing for the inexperienced Angeline.

    She released a quiet moan as she felt his tongue insert inside her mouth, but she wasn¡¯t gonna pull back, that wasn¡¯t her style. She instead copied his actions and curled her tongue around his own tongue in a battle between their mouths.

    Robby rested her head on one hand while the other grabbed her waist and pulled her closer to him. Their limbs were overlapping with one another and that only accelerated the intensity of their kissing. Hot air blew between them as their nostrils had to keep taking in deep breaths as their mouths were occupied with another activity.

    Angeline could feel her loose tank top straps start to slide off her shoulders from the movement of their bodies alone. Eventually the straps made it all the way down to her elbows, exposing her green bra underneath alongside the rest of her chest.

    Like her arms, she had tattoos curled around her shoulders that went all down the sides of her chest and abdomen. There were no tattoos around her breasts because she didn¡¯t want them there¡ª for now at least.

    Robby broke away from their kiss after a couple minutes of passionate intimacy and saw Angeline¡¯s exposed chest. He reflexively covered his eyes with his hands. ¡°I didn¡¯t see anything!¡± He announced while shaking his head.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care if you see it.¡± She gently whispered and peeled his hands off his eyes before sitting up in front of him. She grabbed her tank top and took it off, exposing her upper body to Robby, still with her bra on¡ª for now at least.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t we going a little fast?¡± Robby spoke up, feeling his body starting to heat up seeing his crush¡¯s partially exposed body..

    ¡°I¡¯m okay with where things are heading¡­ but if you aren¡¯t, then we can stop right here.¡± Angeline explained.

    ¡°I just don¡¯t want¡­ you to regret something.¡± Robby replied. ¡°We''ve only just confessed after all.¡±

    ¡°While I am drunk, I know I like you and I want this to happen.¡± Angeline said with a blush and then stammered out. ¡°I''m twenty three and a-a¡­ virgin. You''re the one I want my f-first time to be with¡­ there¡¯s no better time than now right¡­ So, do you want to continue?¡±

    Robby nodded with a smile hearing Angeline casually reveal her secrets to him, for someone like Angeline who keeps to herself most of the time, that means a lot.

    ¡°I-I also like you a lot, I have for a while now and I¡¯ve been building up courage to confess to you.¡± Robby made sure she wasn''t the only one talking about their secrets. ¡°But quite frankly, you¡¯re like, way out of my league and incredibly intimidating so I didn''t think I¡¯d have a chance with you.¡±

    ¡°Me out of your league?¡± Angeline pointed to herself. ¡°You''re the hottest guy in town and will be joining Redwood¡¯s pillar ball team next year. How am I out of your league? Also why are you intimidated by me?¡±

    ¡°What? If we''re talking hottest then you have to be the hottest girl I¡¯ve ever seen, plus the coolest person I''ve ever met.¡± Robby complimented her. ¡°You''re also Redwood¡¯s realtor, the second highest position in town, that''s quite an intimidating position.¡±

    The two were silent for a moment before they both chuckled together after hearing each other praise each other like children.

    ¡°Good, I like being intimidating.¡± Angeline finally said, ¡°It will help keep other girls away from you.¡±

    ¡°Already getting jealous, are we?¡± Robby joked which made Angeline smile. She liked when they barked back at her, it was more fun this way. She was no longer able to hide her blazing emotions, they were now on full display ¡ª and soon the rest of her was going to be.

    Angeline took the lead this time and leaned over Robby while attacking his mouth, starting a second round of passionate kissing, but with her on top and him on the bottom this time. Robby wrapped his arms around her waist, which had a faint amount of chub, and pulled her so their bodies were pressed against one another.

    Where Danielle was the skinny model body type and Jane was the muscular mommy, Angeline wasn''t as fit as the two of them and had a tiny amount of fat around her body. Did this take away from her beauty? Not at all¡ª honestly to Robby, she was insanely sexy. Especially her tats.

    Angeline felt her body get twisted over like a wrestler by Robby, and found herself on the bottom instead. Robby used his arms to hold himself over her to take in the beautiful view right in front of him. Angeline got wildly embarrassed having him just stare at her which caused her face to go red. She then looked away, not able to hold eye contact with him.

    Angeline finally shook away any feelings of embarrassment and locked eyes with Robby, deciding to kick things up a notch. ¡°Take it off,¡± She said while laying her arms to the side.

    Robby gulped and with a little guidance from Angeline, he managed to take off her bra revealing her bare breasts underneath. They were like little cantaloupes, not too large but neither small, and they had a little bit of sag to them. Like the rest of her body, her breasts were pale-pale white while wide pink nipples that stood slightly erect rested in the center of them.

    She giggled seeing his eyes locked on to her two white mounds and couldn''t help but become playful as she grabbed his hands and placed them on her breasts. His eyes widened further but she could feel his fingers flex and grip her breasts in a massaging rhythm, feeling them with all he had.

    After playing with her breasts for a bit, Robby joined the bare chest club by throwing his shirt off his body, revealing his toned body underneath. Angeline used her own hands to feel Robby¡¯s abs and chest before she found her hands gripping the edge of his shorts.

    ¡°Let''s l-let this fella breathe, why don''t we?¡± Angeline teased and took Robby¡¯s shorts off leaving him in only his boxers. A massive bulge rested in the middle of his boxers waiting to be released from its cage, and Angeline would gladly do so.

    This time Angeline was the one who twisted the surprised Robby onto his back and then quickly used her hands to take off his last article of clothing, revealing his throbbing cock. This was the first time she had seen a cock and stared at it just as intensely as Robby stared at her breasts, leaving an opening for Robby to once again return the favor and flip her onto her back.

    ¡°Oh I see, you wanna wrestle¡± Angeline smirked.

    ¡°Well it''s easier to strip you if you''re on your back.¡± Robby said and proceeded to take off Angeline tight black leggings. Similar to Robby there was something in the middle of her green panties, it wasn''t a bulge but instead a wet stain.

    Robby couldn''t help himself from excitedly going ahead and taking off her panties as well, leaving both of them there together the way they came into the world. Angeline¡¯s pussy leaked fluids as she was the horniest she¡¯s ever been, while Robby¡¯s cock couldn''t stop twitching with enthusiasm.

    ¡°Wait wait we don''t even have protection!¡± Robby freaked out but only felt another round of kissing from Angeline in return.

    ¡°D-don''t worry, I can afford alchemist contraceptives that work days after s-s-sex!¡± Angeline was not stopping now, she almost couldn''t contain herself anymore. Even if she had to purchase expensive alchemy made products, she was going to fuck Robby right now.

    Hearing Angeline give the green light lit a spark in Robby and his dick found its way to the entrance of her pussy. He put the tip in and seeing Angeline nod at him, he no longer held back and slowly inserted his dick into her.

    ¡°Ahh!¡± Angeline moaned loudly, she had no inhibitions to hold her back anymore. Before Robby could push his cock all the way into her, he felt Angeline herself push herself further into his cock until it was fully inside her.

    ¡°This feels¡­ amazing.¡± Angeline''s face was made of pure elation. She wrapped her arms around Robby and told him¡ª no, demanded him, ¡°Keep going!¡±

    Robby complied and began to fuck her, not going to fast at the beginning. They broke into another passionate kissing frenzy while Robby pumped his dick continuously into her vagina, causing more liquid to flow down her pussy in pure pleasure.

    His hands kept busy playing with her boobs, while Angeline¡¯s hand found their way onto Robby¡¯s ass and squeezed them. Once Angeline broke off from the kiss, she had to get back at Robby and tried to flip him over again but she only half succeeded. They found themselves laying sideways next to each other with Robby¡¯s dick still inside her.

    ¡°Nice try, but not this time!¡± Robby smirked and lifted Angeline¡¯s leg that was closest to the ceiling up, before he got back to work fucking her. Her hands wrapped around Robby and she moaned continuously, not holding her voice back because there was no worry of waking anyone from in here.

    ¡°Mmm!¡± ¡°Ahhh!¡± ¡°Fuck me fuck me¡± Angeline felt Robby pick up the pace and slam her pussy harder and faster than before.

    Then like a dam had broken, Robby removed his dick from Angeline and a fountain of liquid squirted out of her onto the bed sheets. They were lucky this place was kitted out with convenient runes that were able to clean the beds automatically, because it would be hard to clean it themselves.

    ¡°I came before you¡­¡± Angeline said after still seeing Robby rock hard.

    Robby smirked and playfully whispered, ¡°That means I get to decide how we do this next.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Angeline felt her body turn around so that her stomach was laying on the bed and her ass was exposed to the air. Robby pushed her legs to the side, opening up her crotch for the world to see, and then he mounted on top of her.

    He didn''t hesitate to reinsert his dick inside her, his slightly downward curving dick penetrating deeper inside of her from the position alone. Moving his hips back and forth with an intense force caused the bed to shake and Angeline to bury her face in the pillow from the intense pleasure.

    Her pale ass cheeks, which were larger than most others, jiggled with every stroke and created a clapping sound as they went about their business. She couldn''t stop her pussy from continuously dripping more liquid onto the bed below since her body overflowed with the feeling of ecstasy.

    It didn''t take much longer until Robby himself orgasmed, he kept his dick inside of her pussy for a few seconds as he released a massive load. Once he was done, he pulled it out and watched as Angeline turned herself over and spread her legs to watch as white semen dripped out of her crotch.

    They locked eyes and smiled. The night was still young and had only just begun for them.

    Their sense of time seemed to disappear from both intense pleasure and drunkenness. While they were both drunk and their relationship had accelerated quite quickly, tonight didn''t feel forced or awkward at all. They had known each other for years, but tonight felt they could finally let their pent up emotions they might have had for a few months, out and into one another.

    Not sure how much time had passed but after what seemed like an entire journey of pleasure, they eventually ended up laying side by side facing each other, still naked as they could ever be. Their limbs were entwined together as they warmly cuddled, but their eyes were closed and they were breathing slowly and deeply.

    The exhaustion of their long day paired with their recent nightly activity and the alcohol flowing through them, they were ready to sleep. Angeline snuggled as deeply as she could into Robby¡¯s warm chest, using his heartbeat to help herself fall asleep. Very soon after, the sound of sleeping breaths could be heard if you were standing in the room with them.

    Tonight was quite a night for the two of them, hopefully their future together looked just as promising.

 An Exciting Morning - 5.1

    Five days had passed since Jane woke up at Danielle¡¯s. The town celebration was only two days away, and Jane was both dreading and looking forward to it. The mayor still hadn¡¯t come by to visit and explain more to her, but hopefully he would swing by soon or Jane might have to revisit the mayor''s mansion herself.

    She had spent these last few days quite busy without much time for rest, but she made sure not to overdo it and still spend some time with others.

    In her free time she would go to her parents to see them, help them with some chores, and eat some lovely food. She especially made sure to put in a lot of time hanging out with Abigail since she felt she needed to make up for the three years she had missed.

    Then every other day she would head over to Frier¡¯s to hang out and see how they were doing, and occasionally pitch in for some chores as well.

    It was an exhausting few days, but it was very productive in both finishing tasks she wanted to get done and spending time with close ones.

    Besides herself, her new friends were also all busy with their own things.

    There was Danielle, who was still helping her father prepare for her welcome home celebration. Jane wasn''t sure what they were preparing but it should be quite spectacular¡ª hopefully.

    Angeline was back to work during the week, and since neither of them were close or extraverted enough to invite each other to do anything together, they haven''t hung out yet. Give it some time and Jane thought she and Angeline would hit it off since she remembered how well they bonded at Danielle¡¯s.

    As for the boys, It was a similar case with Robby and Jared. They were both busy with work and since they were more like acquaintances with Jane, it was even more unlikely for them to invite her to hang out.

    The only one she had hung out with was Eric, when she went to his parents place for a few evenings, but outside of that they were both quite busy and hadn''t had any extra time to spend together.

    With the celebration looming only two days away, almost every business in Redwood was getting prepped¡ª and that included the Little Goose.

    According to Eric they were going to set up a stall close to the stage of the town square while also running business as usual. Let alone the stall, the restaurant itself would be extremely busy during the celebration, and things needed to happen to make things run smoothly. Food had to be ordered and prepped ahead of time, while the chefs themselves spent extra time after work making sure they were ready for the big day.

    After Jane¡¯s showcase at the celebration, she was hoping to maybe find Angeline or Danielle and see if they wanted to walk around together, but she didn''t know if they already had plans for the day. Eric was unfortunately stuck at the Little Goose all day so he wasn''t an option, maybe Jane could find Robby or Jared. but that was a little more awkward¡ª especially Jared.

    Hopefully in time they all became great friends.

    While Jane¡¯s own week was quite jam packed, it was also uneventful. That didn''t mean it wasn''t productive, she had managed to get a lot done in this short time frame. She had checked off a few items off her list, namely; get rid of the fences, clear the overgrown weeds, get rid of the wooden steps, and seal the holes outside.

    The first three were quite simple, all she had to do was use her phantom hands to rip everything out of the ground and throw them away in a pile by the side of her house. Sealing the holes of the house wasn''t too hard, but it was tedious work that she needed the help of Jeff and Dean.

    They came over one day and spent a few hours finding every possible hole. The holes on the roof were a little harder to find, but she used her phantom hands to fly the men up there to find them¡ª which delighted the fully grown man like they were children. After finding all the holes, they sealed them off with wood planks and would come back another time to seal them with a more permanent solution.

    Now for the fences and steps, she wasn''t sure if she wanted to replace them with new ones or just leave the place as is. Was there really any need for a fence? If anything it would be for privacy but she was already in the farming district and was away from most others, she didn''t need that much privacy outdoors yet.

    Now that she was thinking of it, she crossed ¡®replace fences¡¯ off the list. If the need for fences ever arose in the future, she could get some then. She would leave her front yard without any for now.

    As for the path leading up to the house, it was quite rocky and uneven, and no longer had the wooden steps for help. She knew she had to do something since anyone with mobility issues would have trouble getting up to her place, and considering she was planning to start a business here, that would be necessary.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    The path down to the creek didn¡¯t matter as much since no one else should be using it, but she was still planning to fix it up somehow, just for it to be safer if anyone came over.

    Lastly she had started replacing the eavestrough with a new one but that would take another day of work before it was done. Only about half of it was done and that was already enough tedious work Jane wanted to do today.

    Taking another look at her list of tasks, she smiled to herself seeing that some had been crossed off already.

    Outdoor

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Replace or get rid of all the fences. Rotted. </li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Get rid of all the weeds.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Replace or get rid of the wooden steps along the path. Rotted or unstable</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Touch up the bridge by the creek. Little unstable and partially rotted.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Seal up the holes or openings in the house. Prevent pests.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Replace the eavestroughs. Cracked.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Fix paths up to the house.</li>

    </ul>

    Indoor

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Clean the place of dust and cobwebs.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Clean the windows and reseal them.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Clean the floor.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Check for mold.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Remove any dead animals, bugs or other pests.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Replace furniture and other similar accessories (curtains, desks, lamps).</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Replace kitchen appliances.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Get rid of all the junk.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">If possible, get a group of elementalists to make sure the runes are all working properly.</li>

    </ul>

    The indoor tasks were left for last since she wanted the easier outside ones to be done first before she had to brace herself through the nightmare of the inside. Just thinking about how much nasty things she would have to sort through and clean up, gave her chills.

    Other than the tasks this week, Jane was also¡­ practicing. She had a routine she had created for the celebration and was practicing it to make sure she didn''t goof it up. She made sure to do it away from her family and friends, keeping it a secret for multiple reasons.

    There were two main criteria she wanted to have for her showcase. The first was to showcase all her powers as a way to show everyone what she was capable of doing, and the other was to make sure it was entertaining.

    It sounded simple but some of her powers weren¡¯t really entertaining to see happen, they were rather simple and mundane to watch, even if what they did was quite amazing. She already had a few ideas she had rehearsed with herself, but it needed a little work and some more practice before she was confident in herself.

    ¡®No more thinking.¡¯ Jane thought to herself as her body was drenched from sweat.

    Currently Jane sat under one of the creepy trees resting in her front yard while sipping on a bottle of water she brought along with her. It was one of those rare blazing hot spring days where the sun continuously beat down upon the land with its intense heat, leaving Jane a sweaty mess.

    At least in summer she would be used to the heat already, but right now since it was only spring, her body was just not prepared for this amount of heat. It didn''t help that she worked on the roof all morning, up there the sun was even meaner to her than if she worked on the ground.

    She was a fit young woman with a powerful constitution and even after working for a few hours in the morning, she wasn¡¯t physically tired. Even saying all that, her body was sticky with sweat that she couldn''t help produce and her mind felt like it was sunburnt.

    ¡®I think that''s all for today.¡¯ Jane leaned her head back on the rough bark behind her, closing her eyes and taking in the refreshing breeze she felt under the shade of the tree. She didn''t want to think of anything else, she just wanted to cool off.

    It was just past noon, which meant it was close to lunch time for Jane. She begrudgingly sighed knowing she would have to stand up to get her lunch. She lazily picked her body up off the newly cleared ground, before she started to walk towards her backpack which she left near the front door.

    As she was walking, she squinted and looked behind her to see a person that appeared to be running up the path towards her place, not sure who they were yet.

    ¡®They must be in a hurry to get somewhere.¡¯ She thought but then realized her house was at the end of this path, there was nowhere else to go but to her place or into the redwood forest itself.

    As the person got closer, she saw that it was in fact her mother Rosalie, jogging towards her with Abigail bouncing around in her arms. Jane¡¯s tiredness vanished and she sped up down the hill where she met her exhausted mother.

    Her mother panted through her mouth, both tired and extremely hot. Wiping sweat off her entire face, Rosalie took the water bottle Jane passed to her and gulped it down for a few seconds before taking some more deep breaths.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Jane asked, a little worried seeing her mother rush all the way to her house.

    ¡°Don''t worry, it''s nothing too serious.¡± Rosalie was fit, but with the heat of the day and having to carry a three year old out this far while running¡ª it all really tired her out.

    She took a breath between sentences but explained to Jane. ¡°Your fathers friends swung by in a panic, supposedly a large amount of their livestock has gone missing¡ª probably killed by something.¡±

    ¡°Oh shit¡ª crap.¡± Jane caught herself but her mother didn''t seem to care.

    ¡°Oh shit is right, that''s why I''m here to ask a favor.¡± Rosalie replied.

    ¡°What''s up?¡±

    ¡°Can you watch over Abigail for the day? Your fathers away from home which means I gotta do all the daily chores myself and I''d rather not have to supervise Abigail at the same time.¡± Rosalie explained. ¡°I could¡¯ve brought her to the Frier¡¯s but I thought you¡¯d like to spend some more time with your sister.¡±

    Jane¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Sure thing¡ª I''d love that actually!¡± She picked up Abigail out of Rosalie¡¯s arms and tightly held her. ¡°What about Pa¡¯s friends?¡±

    ¡°Not sure yet, why don''t you come back for dinner and hopefully by then we¡¯ll know what''s happening.¡±

    ¡°Alright that works. Abigail and I can spend the rest of the day together!¡± A corner of Jane¡¯s lips tugged upwards as she saw Abigail wrap her arms around her neck.

    Rosalie asked one last thing. ¡°Are you okay for food and water?¡±

    ¡°I got enough food for both me and Abigail, and while the inside is a mess, the sink¡¯s still produce elemental rune water.¡± Jane explained. ¡°So we should be good on those accounts.¡±

    ¡°Good good. Okay you two enjoy yourselves!¡± Rosalie rubbed Abigail¡¯s head then gave both of her daughters a peck on the cheek before waving goodbye.

    Jane watched her mother walk back down the path for a bit before she placed Abigail on the ground with a smile.

    ¡°So Abigail, what do you wanna do today?¡± Jane asked, looking down at her sister.

 An Exciting Morning - 5.2

    Abigail placed a hand on her chin trying to think of something she wanted to do, but nothing came to mind for the young lass. Jane watched Abigail think seriously about her question with a giddy smile¡ª her sister was too adorable!

    Seeing Abigail''s purple eyes look up at her without any ideas after a few seconds of deliberating, Jane quickly formulated something fun they could do.

    ¡°Why don''t we go down to the creek and play in the water. It''s a nice way to cool off and kill some time.¡± Jane leaned down and asked Abigail what she thought of the idea.

    ¡°Creek?¡± Abigail voiced a question, not too sure what the word creek meant.

    ¡°Mm, a creek. The little river behind my house.¡± Jane replied and saw Abigail''s eyes widen.

    ¡°Oh, River! Okay!¡±

    Jane grabbed hold of Abigail¡¯s tiny hand and carefully walked her up the path to her house while Abigail bopped up and down, skipping along as they made their way around the house towards the backyard.

    Jane made sure to grab her backpack on the way towards the creek since that was where all the food was located, and she still wanted to eat lunch. She shoved the water bottle resting in her free hand into the backpack, slung it over her shoulder, and then adjusted her grip on Abigail''s sweaty hand before continuing.

    Abigail''s chest-level black hair swayed in the wind while her tiny head kept turning as she curiously looked at everything around her. Eventually they passed Jane¡¯s house and started slowly trudging down the path towards the creek, and the second Abigail spotted the water ahead, her eyes sparkled with excitement and her walking speed increased.

    Once they reached the creek shore, Jane let go of Abigail''s hand and the girl shot forward heading towards the water. ¡°Be careful!¡± Jane warned her and then found herself a large rock to sit on before she pulled out her lunch out of her backpack.

    ¡°I''m gonna have something to eat first. If you want anything to eat yourself I have extra so don''t be afraid to ask for some. Or if you wanna go play in the water then go ahead.¡± Jane said to Abigail who turned and gave her thumbs up while grinning.

    ¡°Make sure to keep your shoes on, the rocks could be sharp!¡± She cautioned her sister who had already turned away from her, but she still saw her head bob up and down in understanding.

    The creek was a little larger than a normal creek, it looked to be roughly fifteen feet wide but its depth luckily wasn''t too deep since Jane could see the rocky floor underneath its clear surface. The shores on either side were mostly made of rocks with a few weeds or cottontails sprouting between them here and there. It wasn''t perfect, but it was quite an amazing little place to hang out to kill some time.

    Watching Abigail slowly walk into the calm flowing creek while giggling as her feet felt the cold water brush past them, Jane couldn''t contain her grin. She wanted to join in on the fun, so she quickly scarfed down one of the three sandwiches she packed¡ª not enough to fully fill her, but it would do for now¡ª and walked down into the creek to join her sister.

    She threw off her shoes and socks, and took out a pair of sandals she packed for when she was done with work and didn''t want her feet to be sweltering in her tight shoes. Quickly slapping on her sandals, she stepped into the creek and similarly felt the cool water flowing along her ankles.

    Wading further into the creek to catch up with Abigail, the water rose up to her knees when she reached the lowest point of the creek. As for Abigail, the water was past her legs and stopped around her lower waist area¡ª and yes, that meant her shorts and a part of her shirt were fully soaked.

    Once Abigail turned around and saw Jane joining her in the creek, her happiness seemed to multiply and she giggled like crazy while trudging through the creek to the other side. Curious about what Abigail wanted to do, Jane sped up until she was right behind her, but was surprised when her sister turned around and splashed her with water.

    ¡®My clothes! Ah what does that matter.¡¯ Jane freaked out in her head at first not wanting her clothes to be soaked, but honestly it didn''t matter. Now she just wanted to have fun.

    ¡°Oh, you''re starting a dangerous battle.¡± Jane made a fake evil grin accompanied by a similar laugh, and then splashed her sister back soaking the rest of her dry body.

    Laughing wildly, the two sisters splashed water on one another with no other goal than to have a fun time. Water dripped down Jane¡¯s face, making her constantly have to blink so she could see, but that didn''t stop her from using her obvious size advantage to send a tidal wave over to Abigail.

    Stumbling backwards, Abigail caught herself from falling while her face and hair were dripping wet, but her devious smile indicated that she wasn¡¯t done with this fight just yet. Jane paused after seeing her almost knock down Abigail, which made it easier for Abigail to switch up her tactics.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    While Jane was frozen in place, Abigail jumped at her trying to tackle her into the water, but she didn''t have much success. What ended up happening was she leapt into Jane¡¯s outreached arms and was lifted up out of the water. Then in an act of counter attacking, Jane spun around while swirling her sister through the air, causing Abigail to kick her legs in glee the entire time.

    The ¡®fight¡¯ ended shortly after Jane put Abigail back down and one last attempt was made to crawl on her back, but sadly Abigail had with no success this time as well.

    With their clothes soaked in cold water, the two found themselves sitting on a small stump on the other side of the shore from Jane¡¯s place. They were drenched from head to toe in cold water but they both wore happy expressions. The cold water made the heat of the sun actually feel good, it was quite refreshing after all.

    Jane looked down at her dark gray shirt and sighed, it was basically see through at this point and exposed her bra underneath. When working on the house her shirt was a little wet from sweat, but not so much that it made her shirt translucent.

    ¡®Whatever, no ones around anyways.¡¯ She thought, not wanting to worry about something so trivial.

    Suddenly she felt a cold arm press against her own and looked to her side to see Abigail next to her shivering, the heat of the sun hadn''t heated her up yet. Not wanting to see her sister shivering, she lifted Abigail from the stump and placed her on her lap.

    Abigail was a little confused at first, but when Jane wrapped her arms around her, she felt pulses of warmth enter her body and a blissful smile rested on her face. Her shivering stopped and she closed her eyes feeling relaxed before she leaned her head back onto Jane¡¯s soft bosom.

    The two stayed like that for what felt like hours, but only a few minutes had passed. The only sounds around them were the gentle flow of the creek, the occasional call of a bird, and the gentle breathing of the two sisters cuddling together.

    The calm of the forest was stirred by a single little girl''s stomach which rumbled. Abigail opened her eyes and turned her head to Jane looking at with a hungry gaze. ¡°Food?¡± She tilted her head to the side.

    ¡°As you wish, princess.¡± Jane teased her and used her phantom hand to bring her backpack over to this side of the creek. Taking her last two sandwiches out, she handed one to Abigail and another she herself began to eat.

    Abigail''s eyes and mouth widened seeing the sandwich, she whispered a ¡°thank you!¡± before she bit down on the sandwich with her tiny mouth. It was adorable to watch her sister eat, she tried her best to take the biggest bites but her mouth was only so big. Chewing was also a problem for her, those petite chubby cheeks of hers were only able to hold so much and would always be bulging like a chipmunk storing nuts.

    Lunch didn''t take too long. After they finished, their depleted energy was restored and they felt like doing something again. Not quite sure what they wanted to do just yet, Jane hoisted Abigail onto her shoulders and grabbed her thighs so she wouldn''t fall. Abigail laughed being so high up and would occasionally kick her legs that freely hung down Jane¡¯s shoulders.

    Without a destination in mind, Jane searched for a trail they could walk along and quickly found one not too far away from the creek¡ª this was nice to have near her place, she thought. For the next half an hour or so, the two casually strolled along the forest path that weaved through the edge of the redwood forest, stopping anytime Abigail spotted something that interested her.

    She spotted a few squirrels, a dozen or so pretty flowers, and a lot of colorful birds that soared through the treetops above. The crimson leaves of the redwood trees turned the ambient light of the sun a faint hue of red, creating an immersive environment around them.

    The two stopped again when they found themselves in a large circular glade in the forest where a few large rocks lay surrounded by a natural garden of flowers. Jane strolled through the glade looking around and thinking to herself the possibilities she could do in this place. It wasn''t too far from her house, only a ten minute walk at a normal pace, and if she could clear this place of a few long weeds. then she could have a nice spot to work out in.

    Picnic with her girlfriend as well? Or even a fun outdoor gathering with all her new and old friends? There was a lot she could think of.

    ¡°Look, look!¡± Abigail excitedly pointed to the rock sitting in the middle of the glade, and there resting on the top of that very rock, was a large golden bird.

    It was taller than Abigail and looking at its long feathery wings, they probably spanned over ten feet easily. Its feathers were mostly gold but it had a few black colored spots scattered across its body. Beside its body, its legs and beak were on the shorter end but that didn''t stop this bird from looking elegant and radiating an aura of magnificence.

    Turning to look at the two sisters, the bird stared at them before it spread its wings showing the underside of feathers which were stained black. After which, the bird took off into the air leaving them alone in the glade.

    ¡®Wow¡­¡¯ That was all Jane could say after seeing how beautiful that bird was. Watching the bird fly further and further away, Jane had an idea of what they could do.

    ¡°Abigail, you know the hands I can summon?¡± Jane asked.

    ¡°Mm, Handsy¡¯s!¡± Guess they were called Handsy¡¯s now.

    ¡°How would you like to fly in one of them?¡±

    ¡°FLY!?¡± Abigail squealed in excitement, her legs kicking even faster on Jane¡¯s shoulders.

    ¡°Yep, fly!¡± After Jane responded, Abigail excitedly started rubbing and patting her face with her chubby little hands while she screamed the word ¡°fly!¡± over and over.

    Jane didn''t want to keep her waiting any longer and summoned her phantom hand and increased its size so that it would comfortably fit the two of them.

    ¡°Climb aboard!¡± Jane stepped onto her hand and took Abigail off her shoulder then placed her in her lap¡ª she would take no chances with Abigail falling out of the hand.

    ¡°Now don''t leave my lap okay?¡± Jane saw Abigail nod in her lap and excitedly watched as the hand slowly ascended into the air.

 An Exciting Morning - 5.3

    Normally going higher up where the wind was faster and the air was colder wasn''t too great, but using the same power she used to send warm pulses into Abigail before, would come in handy again. Instead of using it herself, she activated her power through her phantom hand, sending a stream of warmth into both of them to defend against the cold air in the sky.

    Feeling the warmth, Abigail relaxed by leaning back into Jane¡¯s arms with  the view of the redwood forest directly in front of them in all its beauty. There were sprawling giant trees with dark trunks and crimson red leaves that blanketed the entire forest in a vibrant color. If you could spot gaps in the trees you would see the famed purple-red grass of the purple plains covering the forest floor making it feel more lively.

    The grass in all of the purple plains was a purplish-red, which means almost everyday of their life they would have seen it, but it was different seeing it from the sky. It was like seeing clouds from up above instead of down below, it would look totally different.

    From up high you wouldn''t be able to see the abundant creatures that lived in the forest, but as one of the protected areas under the kingdom, it was sprawling with life. A few purple feathered birds only a foot big, and not as majestic as the golden bird, flew past them before diving into the forest searching for its nest.

    ¡°Wow!¡± Abigail couldn''t contain her excitement after seeing anything new and continuously spouted Interjection of amazement.

    Jane wanted to do a little more exploring so she made her hand head along the edge of the forest, not intending to go too much deeper than they already were, but neither did she want to stay too close. Considering Jane¡¯s own capabilities, heading deep wouldn''t be a problem, especially since they were in the air and the purple plain wasn''t known for having any powerful flying beasts.

    As they moved, Abigail leaned forward wanting to see more, and Jane had to make sure her own arms stayed tightly wrapped around Abigail''s waist so there would be no accidents. They were just a few dozen feet higher than the tree tops and soared through the air at a nice easy pace, slowly taking in the sights around them.

    Jane wanted Abigail to enjoy herself today while they spent time bonding together as sisters.

    This was a great day for Jane, she was glad her mother dropped Abigail off to her since it gave her an excuse to spend all day with her sister. She hadn¡¯t had too much time to spend with Abigail yet, only a few hours here and there since she''s been busy working on her house.

    That''s why she was thankful she could enjoy a fun day with Abigail and bond together as sisters.

    They spent the next thirty minutes flying through the air while Abigail''s joy seemed to be endless during the entire time. Jane pulled out a couple of snacks she brought along and the two delightfully munched on them during their flight.

    After blissfully finishing the snacks together, Jane thought they should start heading back since they were a little ways away from her house.

    ¡°Papa!¡± Jane heard Abigail yell and turned to look where she was pointing to and saw a group of people trekking through the redwood forest together. There, walking in the middle of the group, she could spot the shiny bald head of her father just like her sister had pointed out.

    ¡®What are they doing out here?¡¯ Jane wondered and couldn''t help but slowly swoop down next to them.

    The others aside from her father freaked out seeing the giant hand come at them soaring from above, a few of them held weapons that they pointed at her in shock. Seeing that there was a young woman and little girl sitting on the hand, they lowered their weapons slightly but still looked at them suspiciously.

    ¡°Jane!¡± Jeff yelled out and waved off the guards. ¡°She''s my daughter so please put away your weapons!¡± Hearing Jeff say that, a look of understanding came to the guards minds and they followed his instructions.

    Jeff jogged over to Jane and hugged her. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± He asked Jane, wondering why she was in the middle of the forest.

    ¡°I could ask you the same.¡± She hugged him back, then answered, ¡°Ma passed Abigail over to me for the day since she said you were off somewhere. After a while I thought I might as well take her for a little fly around, didn''t think I''d run into you here.¡±

    Jane looked at the dozens of armed guards wearing leather armor, ¡°So what''s this all about?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re investigating a potential dangerous threat that might have made its way nearby Redwood.¡± Jeff sighed. ¡°This morning, old man Gordo found a dozen of his sheep missing and a whole lot of blood and wool laying on the grass.¡±

    ¡®That¡¯s not good.¡¯ Was the first thought that came to Jane¡¯s mind. ¡°Why are you out here though? You''re not a guard.¡±

    ¡°Good questions.¡± Jeff cleared his throat and stepped over to a brawny dark skinned man with a bushy black beard taking up most of his face. ¡°This is Jax Jones, captain of Redwood¡¯s guardsmen.¡±

    The man had a stern face with a scar running across the center and a body that looked like he worked out heavily. Jane was muscular but there was only so big she could get, Jax on the other hand didn''t look like he had a limit¡ª that''s how hulking he was.

    Once Jeff introduced Jax he thumped over to Jane with heavy steps in his thick black boots. He stopped in front of her and stared her dead in the eyes for a few seconds before he reached a hand out.

    ¡°Jax Jones.¡± He spoke in a deep voice. ¡°You must be Jane? I''ve heard quite a bit of stories from your father over the last few years.¡±

    Jane shook his hand with a firm grip and smiled. ¡°Yep, Jane Bluegold, nice to meet ya! I gotta ask, when did you and Pa¡ª Jeff become friends, this must be recent?¡±

    ¡°Nice to meet you as well.¡± He stepped back and felt Jeff pat him on the shoulder.

    ¡°I met Jax a few days after you left for the academy at the pub. I don''t know why but we hit it off and have become friends ever since.¡± Jeff explained. ¡°Ain''t that right Jax.¡±

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    Jax nodded but continued to stare at Jane.

    She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, ¡°What''s up? Something on me.¡±

    Jax shook his head. ¡°Just seeing what the classholder of the town looks like. Jeff has told me you''re quite a wild one, you''re not gonna cause too much trouble anymore I presume?¡±

    Jane snorted in laughter and patted him on the other shoulder from her dad, ¡°No promises but I''ll try my best!¡±

    His expression didn¡¯t change much but Jane could see his eyes narrow before he took a few steps back and joined back with the rest of the guards.

    Jeff on the other hand ran up to Abigail and scooped her up in a big hug before giving her a big kiss on the cheek.

    ¡°So why are you here Pa?¡± Jane asked again.

    ¡°Oh yes, well we were all at Gordo¡¯s place and I thought that maybe the insight of someone who works with animals might help in this case¡ª that was my excuse, I really just wanted to tag along and see what happens.¡±

    ¡°Curiosity killed the demon cat.¡± Jane warned him.

    ¡°I know I know, but I can''t help it.¡± Jeff placed Abigail down. ¡°You know me, I''m a curious guy by heart¡ª and who doesn''t wanna take a lovely stroll through the redwood forest with some friends.¡±

    ¡°Lovely is going a little far, there is work to be done.¡± Jax''s voice came behind them. ¡°Miss Bluegold may I ask you for a favor?¡±

    ¡°Just call me Jane, but sure what''s up?¡±

    ¡°Since this is unofficial, I''ll call you Jane.¡± Jax nodded. ¡°I was wondering if you would be able to use those¡­ hands you flew with to enable us to scout faster.¡±

    ¡°Ya I''d love to help you guys out.¡± Jane replied and summoned her two phantom hands next to her, a little larger than when she rode with Abigail.

    Jax gave her an odd face seeing the hands floating in the air beside her, but she didn''t know what that face meant. Maybe he just was a little wary of her as a classholder since he was the captain of the town''s guard¡ª but who knows.

    ¡°So it''s quite easy, all you gotta do is hop on and direct the hands like you''re talking to me.¡± Jane explained. ¡°It''s kinda hard to explain fully, but think of my hands as part of me¡ª but also separate at the same time.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Jax raised an eyebrow and asked her wanting more details. ¡°What does this mean, your floating hands can hear us?¡±

    Jane sighed and rubbed her hands together trying to think of the best way to put it and eventually decided on her default explanation. ¡°My hands can see, hear, feel, and even think like I do. You can think of my hands as clones of myself but¡­ their hands instead.¡±

    ¡°So you''re saying we can take them without you and they''d function just fine?¡± Jax wanted to make sure he was getting this correct. It helped to know what the future classholders powers were in case¡­ she went rogue. While that was an unlikely event, it was still something Jax as captain had to be prepared for¡ª he also wanted to make sure this scouting trip went smoothly.

    ¡°Yep, they have their own separate consciousness that I can access at any time alongside my own, it''s impossible to understand if you''re not the one with the hands. It''s like controlling three different bodies at the same time, they hear and see three different views, but I don¡¯t have trouble taking in that information.¡± Jane tried her best to explain but it''s hard for others to wrap their heads around.

    ¡°So yes, two or three people can take a hand and then all you gotta do is direct them where to go and what to do.¡± Jane took a deep breath after all that talking. ¡°Sounds good?¡±

    Jax nodded and began to organize who would take the hands and who would stay on ground level. Eventually the four were picked, two for each hand, while the rest would stay here on the ground with them.

    ¡°You guys should head out.¡± He directed that to Jeff and Abigail. ¡°We''re gonna head deeper into the forest where stronger beasts live. I''d rather not have a civilian casualty, especially one I call a friend.¡±

    ¡°Hehe, what a softy.¡± Jeff chuckled but only got a deadly stare in return. ¡°¡±Alright alright, we¡¯ll head back.¡±

    ¡°Mm, I''ll send two guards to escort you back home.¡± Jax said but was interrupted by Jane.

    ¡°It would probably be faster if I fly them back since I could just re-summom my hands here¡ª we save time and manpower this way.¡±

    Finally a smile dawned on Jax¡¯s face. ¡°That works.¡± He watched Jeff and Abigail wave as they flew away from the forest before he turned to ask Jane. ¡°And what will you be doing?¡±

    ¡°Joining you of course!¡± Jane beamed a smile. ¡°I''m a classholder, I can handle myself in case things get dicey so that should be fine right?¡±

    Jax thought about it for a moment before nodding. He turned to his fellow guards and sternly ordered, ¡°Alright let''s begin!¡±

    Everyone nodded, readied their weapons, and began their march further into the redwood forest to see if they could find the reason for the sheep''s disappearance. Two people got on Jane¡¯s free phantom hand and took off into the sky above. Then shortly afterwards, once Jane had dropped Jeff and Abigail off at their place, another two took her other hand into the air.

    The rest continued on the ground following one man who took the lead and would occasionally squat down and check for something on the ground. After almost twenty minutes of walking, the group stopped walking.

    Jane couldn''t see the finer details that this tracker was probably seeing, but she was at least able to see a lot of footprints along the dirt where they were standing. She casually jogged ahead and caught up to Jax who was talking with the tracker at the front.

    ¡°Are these wolf footprints?¡± She barged into the conversation by asking Jax.

    Jax and the rest of guards had their heads swiveling as they checked their every angle in case of a beast attack, while Jane stood there like she was taking in the sights of a park¡ª she even took a sniff of the lovely scent of flowers.

    Seeing her nonchalant attitude slightly irritated Jax but he didn''t reveal that and instead answered Jane in a neutral tone, ¡°Yes, a pack of midnight wolves.¡±

    ¡°Midnight wolves, aren''t those only found in the north of the Purple Plains?¡± Jane furrowed her brows.

    The Purple Plains was located in central Trinium, while Redwood itself was the most southern town in the Purple Plains. For midnight wolves that had only ever been found in northern parts of the purple plains¡ª and some other locations across the continent¡ª it was odd for them to be this far south.

    Midnight wolves were not very dangerous compared to some other beasts on the continent, but for an average person, they were quite, quite deadly. On average midnight wolves hunted in packs of fifty, and if you ever ran into them by yourself, you would get swarmed right away.

    That was the reason the guards were so tense, normally the southern part of purple plains was very safe since there were no natural predators dangerous enough to harm humans, but If midnight wolves were nearby, then they had all the rights to be on edge.

    ¡°Is that why we stopped?¡± It would make sense, there were only a dozen measly town guards. If they went against a full healthy pack of midnight wolves it would be a slaughter. The more northern towns had larger populations and better equipment which is why they were able to effectively deal with threats, but Redwood didn''t even have town walls.

    ¡°Mm, since we know there are midnight wolves in the forest,  it''s no longer safe to be out here. We need to head back to town and warn the people of the potential danger.¡± Jax addressed the problem. ¡°We might even need to call for support from the capital.¡±

    The group left where they were and started journeying back to town when Jane suddenly stopped in her tracks and announced to the group. ¡±We found the wolves!¡±

 An Exciting Morning - 5.4

    Everyone paused in their tracks and looked at Jane who wore a confused face. ¡°There''s only¡­ what is that like, twenty something wolves?¡± She said, seeing the situation from her hand.

    ¡°Twenty? That''s all?¡± Jax asked. ¡°Do you see any sheep?¡±

    ¡°Ya, they¡¯re carrying a few of them in their mouths.¡± It must be known midnight wolves were roughly four feet tall and quite massive for wolves. Carrying a sheep in their mouth was pretty easy to do unlike more normal wolves.

    ¡°They also¡­ look like they''re limping. Hold one, we''re gonna follow them for a bit to see where they''re headed to.¡± Jane said, seeing the pack of wolves heading in a singular direction.

    ¡°Are you able to lead us to the wolf pack?¡± Jax asked as plans started brewing in his head.

    Jane nodded. ¡°I always know where my hands are.¡±

    ¡°Alright then, change of plans.¡± Jax got the attention of everyone. ¡°We head towards the wolf pack, since they are injured and low on numbers we can deal with them. Jane, can I have you fly the hand not following the wolves to us so I can explain to them that we need to issue a warning to the town just in case.¡±

    ¡°Alright I''m on it.¡± Jane controlled her phantom hand to change course and head back towards them. it wouldn''t take long to get here with its speed.

    ¡°If we get into a fight, will you be able to handle yourself?¡± Jax turned to Jane. ¡°I know you''re a classholder but that doesn''t mean you can¡ª or want to fight.¡±

    Jane smirked, ¡°I wouldn''t say I''m combat oriented but I have been trained to fight and can definitely help you guys out a lot.¡±

    ¡°Good. Let''s put those muscles to work then.¡± Jax said, then yelled to everyone. ¡°Let''s go!¡±

    Everyone, including Jane at the front, began to jog through the forest heading towards the wolf pack that was roughly three or four kilometers from them. It was a silent trek through the forest, everyone was focused on their surroundings or preparing themselves for combat.

    Guards in Redwood didn''t see much real combat, so today was a little nerve wracking for some, but they were trained guards and this was their job. If their captain said to fight, then they fight¡ª simple as that.

    After Jane¡¯s hand found its way back to them, Jax quickly explained the situation to the two guards on the hand. After hearing him, they promptly headed to town to issue the warning and make sure the remaining guards still in town were ready for anything.

    After the hand left, everyone picked back up the pace and began to continue jogging through the dense forest around them.

    ¡°Oh they stopped!¡± Jane, who was running alongside Jax, announced to him. In response he raised a fist and slowed down into a walk.

    ¡°Why¡¯d they stop?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ they made it back to the rest of their pack.¡± Jane saw Jax¡¯s face warp into a frown. ¡°But it seems all the wolves they came back to are also injured.¡±

    ¡°How many more wolves are there then?¡± Jax wanted numbers.

    ¡°Another fifteen or so. But they look exhausted and injured.¡± Jane answered and waited for Jax¡¯s next orders.

    ¡®Why are they all injured?¡¯ Was the big question running through Jax¡¯s head. Something had to have hurt them all¡ª or they all collectively tripped and hurt themselves, but that was unlikely.

    In Jane¡¯s phantom hands vision, she spotted a faint flicker of movement in the far distance and focused her attention in that direction. Ever so faint as it was, Jane could hear rhythmic thumping slowly getting louder.

    The two guards atop her hand seemed to notice it as well and tried to see what was all the way out there, but had no luck.

    ¡°This makes it easier. We surround the wolves and finish them off while they''re still injured and grouped together.¡± Jax voiced his command but saw Jane¡¯s face slowly put on a frown of her own.

    ¡°Is there something else?¡±

    ¡°Hold on, I''m moving my hand to get a closer look.¡± Jane flew towards the rumbling in the distance and the closer she got the worse her expression became.

    Then she spotted it.

    ¡°Fuck¡­¡± Jane swore in an honest reaction to seeing what was charging at the wolf pack.

    Animals, beasts, monsters, and demons; The creatures of this world had these four names they could be categorized in.

    Animals were easy to understand, they were creatures without any special racial abilities. Every other type of creature had some sort of innate racial power that functioned somewhat like classes did¡ª in that they were magical in nature.

    The other categorizations were less specific but it went like this; beasts looked like animals, monsters didn''t look like animals and were usually bloodthirsty, and demons were where oddities ended up¡ª it was a little messy to be honest.

    The problem with this method was people didn''t know which ones were dangerous, you''d assume all monsters would be dangerous and while that was mostly true, that didn''t mean animals were any less dangerous.

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    Midnight wolves were just animals but even fighting them one on one, a person might not be able to beat them because of their size, intelligence, and sharp fangs and claws. While some monsters, even with their racial powers, might not be dangerous to a normal person.

    This is why roughly a few centuries ago a beastmaster made it his life''s work to study the vast amounts of creatures in the world and categorize them by how dangerous they were to an average person. He picked to record them based on how dangerous they were because that would be the most informative thing for most people.

    Was this gigantic scaled creature dangerous? Well no it''s actually a herbivore and won¡¯t do anything to you if you leave it alone. Was this tiny cute furball harmless? Well no because it''s highly venomous and isn''t afraid to bite you.

    This rating system had been implemented, adjusted, and expanded upon by the rest of the world since its creation. Nowadays the ranking system used the common alphabet that was found throughout the continent to make it more universally understood by others.

    The ranks went;

    E = The weakest creatures. Generally left for the most common animals like sheep, cows, birds etc.

    D = An experienced warrior could handle. It''s made of mostly animals but the more dangerous ones like lions, wolves or tigers.

    C = A real danger for a group of trained warriors. Could be weaker beasts, monsters or demons.

    B = Only combat oriented classholders could deal with.

    A = A trained combat oriented classholder would struggle against.

    S = A real danger for a team of combat oriented classholders.

    Z = Death is the most likely outcome for all.

    Even though this system had been modified many times, it still wasn¡¯t always perfect since there were cases where weaker ranked creatures ended up being more dangerous in certain scenarios. They tried their best to make it as useful and informative as possible, but it''s always just their best estimate.

    They were also ranks for groups of creatures since lots of creatures did travel in packs like the midnight wolves. By themselves, midnight wolves were a ¡®D¡¯ class creature, but as a pack of fifty, they were on the higher end of ¡®C¡¯ class.

    Jax was willing to take a chance to get rid of them before they caused more damage to Redwood because they were lesser in number and injured, meaning they should have a decent chance against them according to the ranking system.

    As for what made Jane swear after seeing it, was a creature she could recognize from her time in beast studies at the academy.

    It was a buffalo type beast that was the size of a small house and had two long ivory horns with a slight downward curve resting on its forehead. White fur rested on its entire hulking body that was relentlessly charging through the forest towards the pack of wolves.

    It was called a frost buffalo and it was a lower ¡®A¡¯ class beast.

    Nothing could stop its charge. Large redwood trees were shattered into shards of wood pieces if it so much as grazed the massive body of the frost buffalo while it¡¯s each and every step left a crater of a footprint in its wake.

    ¡°What do you see?¡± Jax shook her shoulder after she didn''t respond to him a few times.

    ¡°A frost buffalo.¡±

    Jax¡¯s mouth widened in shock before he snapped around to the rest of the guards. ¡°We''re leaving immediately!¡±

    He then faced Jane and commanded her. ¡°I need you to somehow tell the guards you sent to town to issue a call for reinforcements from the capital. It''s an A class emergency. Can you do that?¡±

    Jane nodded seriously¡ª she could make the hands write it down on paper.

    ¡°It''s almost made it to the wolves by now.¡± Jane warned him.

    ¡°Shit. Everyone run back to town!¡± Jax grabbed Jane¡¯s arm and started running.

    They ran through the forest, dodging trees, bushes or whatever else got in their way while being careful not to hurt themselves. Seconds felt like minutes, but time continued to tick and eventually Jane saw the frost buffalo arrive at the wolf pack from her hand.

    A battle ensued¡ª or more so a slaughter. The injured midnight wolves didn''t stand a chance against the powers of a frost buffalo. It used its massive body to bash, its thick legs to crush and its horns to gore any and all wolves in its way.

    The buffalo halted its charge and used its energy to instead turn back around and face the wolves¡ª there must be some kind of grudge at play here.

    It didn''t take much for the frost buffalo to decimate most of the wolves since they were injured, while the few healthy wolves used the opportunity to escape by running away. The only problem was that the wolves were heading straight for Redwood¡ª and the buffalo followed after it killed all the injured wolves.

    Jane tracked the wolves and buffalo on her hand and could see that with the speed and direction of the two groups, they would definitely end up running through Redwood and causing immense chaos.

    ¡°Jax! They''re heading right for Redwood now!¡± Jane yelled to him, the situation getting exponentially worse.

    Jax turned to face her but he didn''t have anything to say, his mind was still at work figuring out what the best solution for this crisis was. They couldn''t let Redwood become the battle grounds for these dangerous creatures, they needed to either shift them off route or delay them long enough for the classholders from the capital to get here.

    ¡°I have an idea Jax, it''s a little dangerous on my part but I think I can do it!¡± Jane said while the two slowed down into a walk.

    ¡°What''s your idea?¡±

    ¡°I can slow down the frost buffalo¡ª maybe even stop it in its tracks.¡± Jane started to explain. ¡°All you''d have to do is stop the wolves, and then we just wait for reinforcements to come and clean up.¡±

    ¡°I can''t have my friend''s daughter risk her life like that.¡± Jax crossed his arms and shook his head.

    ¡°You got a better plan then?¡±

    Jax furrowed his brows but he couldn''t delay any longer, the more time they wasted the closer the beasts got to Redwood.

    His face warped with indecision but eventually he gave in. ¡°Fine! You¡¯re a classholder, you know what you''re doing.¡± Jax grabbed her shoulder. ¡°Stay alive.¡±

    ¡°That''s the plan!¡± Jane smirked. ¡°The hand at town is already done with its work so I''ll be off, see ya later!¡± She unsummoned her hand in town and re-summoned it next to her before she took off towards the frost buffalo.

    Soaring into the sky, she locked onto the position of her other hand and sped up as fast she could towards it. Not taking too long since there were no trees getting in her way, she arrived overtop the buffalo then sent her other hand away to go help Jax.

    Gliding over the frost buffalo, she looked down at its massive size decimating everything that got in its way and took a deep breath in. This would be quite dangerous, but she was confident in her abilities.

    She was going to show this buffalo that the immovable was better than the unstoppable.

 An Exciting Morning - 5.5

    The first step was always going to be the hardest, but Jane couldn''t afford to take her time any longer and promptly flew a distance in front of the frost buffalo. She lowered her phantom hand so that it was head level with the buffalo and stuck her hand out, waiting for the beast to run into it.

    The buffalo saw Jane in front of it but only huffed and continued charging forward. Whatever got in its way would be pulverized. It lowered its head and ran right at her.

    BOOM!

    A massive sound thundered out from the force of the collision, echoing throughout the redwood forest for kilometers. The buffalo had run straight into her unmovable hand and was stopped dead in its tracks before the rebounding energy from its own body shot back into it.

    The buffalo bellowed in pain as its body was flung upwards and overtop of Jane. Its massive body flew through the air and eventually landed on the forest floor with a loud thump, sending clouds of debris into the air from its extreme weight and size.

    A smile rested on Jane¡¯s lips, happy with herself.

    She looked In front of her where the buffalo had come from and saw a line of destroyed trees and trampled ground that continued all the way to the edge of her vision. The frost buffalo had already caused some immense damage to the ecosystem, and now it was her turn to face said beast.

    Turning around, she stared at the buffalo as it slowly got up from the ground with dirt staining its beautiful white fur coat. It shook its head, obviously disoriented from the collision, but it soon found what had caused this whole mess¡ª Jane.

    It blew out an icy cold mist from its nostrils and used one of its front legs to scrape the ground in anger while preparing itself to bash the pest getting in its way. Letting out a battle roar, the buffalo used its massive legs to run at Jane again, this time it wasnt gonna fail. Once it got in range of Jane, it flexed all of its legs to dive at her head first¡ª and like the first time, it was stopped dead in its tracks.

    It stumbled backwards again, its head in slight pain. Now it was furious.

    As for Jane, she had successfully gotten its attention so now it was time to get out of the danger zone and distract it until help arrived. Her plan was to fly up in the sky in one phantom hand while she used the other hand to constantly pester the beast below.

    Ascending at a quick rate trying to get into a safe distance as fast as possible, Jane didn''t expect a large stream of icy mist to rocket forth from the buffalo¡¯s mouth towards Jane in the sky.

    She threw her free phantom hand in front of it but the sheer pressure from the icy mist pushed the hand back while the ice that started to cover it added more weight to it.

    Jane¡¯s phantom hands didn''t have the same unmovable and indestructible properties her normal hands had, they did take some of its powers in the fact they were quite durable, but there was only so much damage they could take. As for how much they carried, Jane herself couldn''t carry that much even though her hands were unmovable¡ª if a heavy thing fell on her hands then she could keep it up¡ª and the phantom hands were the same.

    The larger the phantom hands, the more weight they could carry and damage they could take, but it was a lot more taxing on Jane¡¯s stamina.

    Feeling the weight build up on her phantom hand, it had already begun to fall out of the sky. Trying to save energy, she unsummoned her hand but that then allowed the stream of icy mist to find its way next to her.

    The same thing was happening to the hand she was flying in as an icy coat started building up on it, but if this one disappeared, she would fall out of the sky. Thinking on her feet, Jane let the hand preemptively drop with only a little icy on it so that she could stop its fall.

    As Jane got closer to the ground, she made her hand slow down until it gently landed on the ground, but she was immediately met by another stream of icy mist. Hiding behind her hand, she could see more ice build up on her hand until there was an entire block of ice on the other side.

    Thump Thump Thump!

    Hearing thundering footsteps running at her behind the ice, she had no choice to unsummon her stuck phantom hand and run out of the way. The buffalo smashed into the ice block, shattering it into hundreds of pieces that shot out into the area in all directions.

    Jane felt a few pieces of ice scrape against her leg and cut her while some others she managed to block with her hands. She looked back at the buffalo and saw white misty balls form in the air around it, trying her best to remember learning about the frost buffalo in class, her eyes widened because she recognized the attack coming her way.

    ¡°Shit!¡± Spikes of ice shot out from the white balls and rapidly pieced through air at Jane.

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    She leapt out of the way of a few and had to smack a few others out of the air with her hands before she tried to summon her phantom hands, grow them large enough to carry her, and then fly her out of here.

    The buffalo was smart though, it wouldnt let her do that.

    The second her phantom hands came out of her own hands, a barrage of ice spikes came raining her way. If she managed to grow her hand to any decent size that she could ride, a mouthful of icy mist would hit it and prevent it from flying.

    By now the landscape around her was an icy hell. The trees were frozen solid, the dirt floor was now mostly ice and even the air around the locations felt colder. Then there were the icy spikes sticking out of the ground creating more obstacles for Jane to traverse as she tried her best to avoid whatever attacks the buffalo sent her way.

    There was one thing she noticed; the buffalo wasn''t getting close to her. It seems that it''s two failures had caused it to smarten up and take a distanced approach¡ª and this thing was right on the money. Jane could do nothing to counter attack from afar and could only dodge more and more.

    Her stamina was waning as it felt like she had been in this battle forever. The exhaustion of losing her hands, running around, and being on the edge of life and death, caused her to make her first slip up. It was a literal slip up since she stepped on a patch of ice and slipped right on her ass, giving the buffalo a free shot at her unmoving body.

    Jane watched in horror as one of the frost buffalo¡¯s icy streams blasted directly at her face, she felt like time moved in slow motion as the white mist inched closer to her. Closing her eyes and accepting the inevitable fate befallen to her, she waited for her body to get hit.

    Suddenly a chime played out next to her which made her open her eyes to witness a golden ball hovering directly in front of her. The second the icy mist got close to the golden ball, it transformed into a translucent shield made of energy which blocked the mist and saved Jane from becoming a popsicle.

    ¡®Huh? Was I saved?¡¯ Jane looked behind her and saw three people run out of the forest edge behind her, while one man came gliding from above the trees down onto the patch of dirt next to her.

    Each and every one of the four people that had arrived wore expensive looking tunics with a golden chest sized symbol in the center. Two of them wore green tunics, one wore red, and the one who came from the sky wore a purple one.

    Jane could immediately recognize the tunics since they were the official uniform for classholders working for the kingdom. Red was for novices, green was for experts, purple was for masters, while the one color that wasn''t here was black, and that was meant for lords.

    Depending on their rank, they gained several benefits from the kingdom. The most well known benefit was for lord classholders, they would officially acquire a noble title once they reached this rank.

    It wasn''t easy to go up in the ranks through, it took years of training and dedication to the kingdom to keep climbing. There were strict requirements if you wanted to rank up which meant that even the distance between one rank was monumental. Classholder could be stuck in the novice rank forever if they didn''t actively try to better themselves.

    Beside the color of the tunics, Jane could also recognize the symbols that rested on each of their chests.

    The young man wearing the red tunic wore a similar symbol that her girlfriend did. It was a compass looking shape indicating they were an elementalist, but instead of a snowflake like Mira, the man''s symbol was a mountain. He was an earth elementalist.

    One of the two in green had a symbol of a sword and the other had the symbol of a shield. The former was a male brawler while the latter was a female priest.

    Lastly the man in purple had the symbol for an air elementalist, the normal elementalist compass shape but with three horizontal lines that curled at the ends in the middle.

    The man in the purple walked past her and stood in front of her, looking the buffalo dead in the face. The novice and the brawler stepped up beside him and readied themselves for the inevitable battle.

    ¡°In formation! Kylie, you help the misses here.¡± The master classholder commanded and the men got to work by each taking one side while the master stayed in the center.

    Jane felt her exhausted body lifted off the ground by the lady priest while a healing energy started to slither its way into her body. She looked up to find a pretty face staring at her with worry and a calming smile.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± The priest Kylie asked in a soothing voice.

    ¡°Could be better honestly.¡± Jane replied while looking down at her scrapped legs.

    Kylie lightly chuckled at her reply. ¡°It''s good that you''re fine. I''m also happy that you successfully held the buffalo at bay for us to get here. You did good.¡±

    While Jane normally didn''t like people treating her like the priest did¡ª like a lost child¡ª she couldn''t help but feel good after hearing her words.

    ¡®Is she secretly a soothsayer?¡¯ Jane thought to herself but was pulled back into the real world as the sounds of intense battle played out behind her.

    ¡°Will you be fine if I join the battle? I won''t be too far if you need any more assistance.¡± Kylie asked.

    ¡°I''ll be fine here, I could even help out if¡ª¡±

    ¡°Please don''t.¡± Kylie cut her off. ¡°It''s not that we don''t want your help, but it''s easier when unknown variables¡ª¡± She gestured at Jane. ¡°- don''t interfere in the fight. Sorry if that sounded a bit mean, but I gotta go help my team!¡±

    Kylie gave her one last smile before she turned around and threw golden balls at her teammates, the sounds of chimes ringing out each time she did so.

    Jane didn''t take what Kylie said as an insult. She learned about combat at the academy and it was a lot easier to fight when you were most comfortable. If Jane jumped in there, maybe she could help, but maybe she might screw them up. It was better to be safe than sorry.

    That being said, she wasn''t leaving just yet. If it did look like they needed more manpower, she wouldn''t hesitate to jump into the fray, but for now they looked like they got this.

    The master classholder could push away the buffalo¡¯s icy breath with a wave of his hand while any attempts at charging were simply avoided. Whenever the buffalo had its attention turned on someone else, the brawler would leap over to it and kick it with such force that the massive thing would actually stumble. The earth elementalist, while being a rookie, would use his powers to warp the ground to try and trip or hinder the buffalo.

    The ice spikes seemed to give them the most trouble but either the master redirected them with his wind, they would be dodged, or if any slipped through and hit someone, the priest''s shield would block it for them.

    They had a good team composition and seemed to be dealing with the frost buffalo quite easily. That being said it was still a tough battle, but eventually, after another few minutes of battle, the brawler landed one last kick and the buffalo fell to the ground.

    Seeing the opportunity to finish the beast, the master classholder swirled his hands, condensing the air around him into a blade which he then threw at the buffalo. The wind blade cut into the buffalo neck but its thick muscles prevented it from going all the way through. It cried out in agony as its neck was profusely bleeding out and the rest of its body was bruised and beaten.

    Thankfully, the master didn¡¯t let the buffalo suffer longer as he condensed another blade, which this time cut all the way through and decapitated the beast.

    The fight was over.

 Mira Frosthorn - Interlude 1.2

    Mira woke up feeling warm and revitalized, her last three exhausting days of travel were over and she could now relax at home. She had managed to fall asleep in a decent amount of time last night, even while thoughts of the dreaded conversation she was going to have today continued to pester her mind. Eventually the exhaustion from traveling overwhelmed her thoughts and she had passed out.

    She sat up inside her little closed off corner of the tent, before opening the curtains and getting out of bed. She brushed her white hair out of her face, yawned while stretching her arms, and rubbed her crusty eyes.

    The tent was large enough to fit her standing up, it was even big enough to fit her dad standing, so that said something. She looked around the tent and spotted her mother sitting crossed legged on the floor while sharpening her sword''s blade.

    Myral spotted her and patted the floor next to herself with a smile, waiting for Mira to come join her. Mira plopped down beside her mother and watched as she continued sharpening her beautiful thin blade.

    Its handle was wrapped in a white leather while the blade itself was a gray-blue color that radiated sharpness. The blade was slightly curled backwards but both of its sides were deadly sharp which is why her mother made sure to take her time with the process, lest she cut herself.

    ¡°Good morning sweety, how was your rest?¡± Myral said after she put away her blade into its sheath, done with its daily checkup and repair.

    ¡°I feel refreshed now. How long was I asleep for?¡± Mira asked, not able to see the light of the outside from where she was sitting.

    ¡°Well it''s just past afternoon, so quite a while.¡± Myral answered. ¡°Are you gonna be rested for the feast tonight, or do you need another night of good sleep?

    ¡°Feast?¡± Mira wasn''t sure what her mother meant.

    ¡°Yes, the feast for your return. There will be food and drinks like always, but as the star of the feast it will be your job to answer everyone''s questions they have for you.¡±

    ¡°Everyone''s questions? All night?¡± Mira''s natural blank face began to take a faint frown.

    ¡°You answer whatever questions you want, but you must be there for the feast to happen.¡± Myral explained. ¡°And at the very least stay for a few hours, you can leave before the feast ends if you¡¯d like.¡±

    Mira nodded and then sat still, not sure what to do. Before she left the academy she would spend her days at the ¡®school¡¯ learning from their elders and at night she would spend it with her family..

    Then they''d have the traveling days which were the most boring since everyone had to walk or ride one of the carriages as they went to new locations. She wasn''t like the other kids who enjoyed running around and playing games¡ª now she might be more open to this idea¡ª back then she kept to herself a lot.

    Either reading, eating, training with her blade, or occasionally talking to her family¡ª of course this wasn''t always the case because her sister loved to drag her into doing stuff.

    But right now, it was mid day and she had no idea what to do until her father got home. Talk with her mother? Get back into training? Hearing her stomach grumble she decided she would eat first before deciding what to do in the meantime.

    After a quick breakfast that Myral helped her make, she heard heavy footsteps and saw Yuroth walk into the tent with a mighty grin on his face. ¡°I''m home!¡± He shouted and thumped through the tent but got stopped by Myral.

    ¡°Make sure you take off your boots before walking inside, we don''t wanna dirty the floor anymore than it already is!¡± She yelled while looking down at the tents floor sheet covered in mud that Yuroth had dragged in. ¡°How many times do I gotta remind you, now take off your boots and clean this up!¡±

    Yuroth couldn''t argue against his angry wife and simply did as she said. Mira thought she had more time before her parents were home and she started to get nervous. The time of the big conversation was approaching since she wanted to get it out of the way before anything else happened.

    She would first start by loosening them up with some small talk. ¡°Where were you Papa? Hunting?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Mm, we hunted a few more beasts to fuel the feast.¡± Yuroth gave her a toothy grin. ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to eating and drinking till I¡¯m full tonight!¡±

    ¡°Alright calm down big fella, here have some leftover breakfast for a snack.¡± Myral sat her husband down and gave him some of their leftovers to eat.

    Mira sighed and then moved herself to the opposite side of the table from her parents before asking them, ¡°is Yura in school?¡±

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Yes she¡¯s with the elders learning with the other kids like normal, why?¡± Myral asked her a question in return.

    ¡°I guess I¡¯ll have to tell her later.¡±

    ¡°Tell her what?¡±

    Mira composed herself by taking a deep breath. This was an important conversation she needed to have with her parents. Yura also needed to know this but she¡¯d rather not wait until evening when Yura got back home¡ª by then the feast would almost be ready to start.

    ¡°There¡¯s something important I must tell you.¡± Mira gulped and waited for her parents to respond but they just sat there silently waiting for her to continue speaking.

    ¡°I¡­I will be leaving the tribe and stepping down as heir.¡±

    An immediate response came from her father, ¡°For what reason would you abandon this important role given to you. And why would you ever leave the tribe?¡±

    ¡°Because there are other things I want to do in life that I won¡¯t be able to do if I¡¯m still a part of the tribe.¡± Mira explained.

    ¡°Like what?¡± Her father''s tone had a faint hint of anger and impatience.

    ¡°Well after seeing the capital, I want to visit more cities, meet more people, or confer with elementalists like myself. There¡¯s so much more to life outside of the tribe.¡±

    ¡°Elementalist? Is that your class?¡± He asked not exactly sure what she meant.

    ¡°Yes, do you not remember all the 12 classes?¡± Mira said and partially regretted saying that because her fathers face darkened.

    ¡°What does it matter if I know them or not? Classes don¡¯t matter here!¡± Her father started raising his voice. ¡°You better give me a better reason to abandon your tribe, abandon your role as heir¡ª a blessed role you should be thankful to have¡ª then to travel to other cities and talk to other elemental folk, we¡¯re bloody nomads, traveling is what we do!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not it, it¡¯s part of the reason but there¡¯s more!¡± Mira raised her voice back.

    ¡°Like what!? Explain so your unknowledgeable father can understand properly, cause if not, there¡¯s no way I¡¯m letting you leave!¡±

    ¡°Because I have a girlfriend I want to live with!¡­¡± Her fathers face immediately turned back to neutral and Mira couldn¡¯t contain herself anymore ¡°And friends I want to hang out with whenever I want too, and¡­ and I can¡¯t do any of that if I¡¯m part of the tribe.¡±

    Silence. No one said a word and only the deep breathing of Mira was heard in the tent as she had just yelled.

    Finally her father spoke up in a soft tone. ¡°A girlfriend you want to live with?¡±

    Mira recomposed herself and nodded. ¡°Her name is Jane and we¡¯ve been together for over three years, and I''m not gonna leave her.¡±

    ¡°Three years¡­¡± her father whispered, before he sighed and leaned back, his massive body thumped against the floor.

    ¡°So much of your life we missed.¡± Yuroth said with a forlorn expression. ¡°You''re a different woman now aren¡¯t you.¡±

    ¡°I am.¡± Mira nodded, not sure where he was going with the conversation.

    ¡°Sigh, okay¡­ I accept your decision.¡±

    ¡°Huh, really? Just like that?¡± Mira was a little surprised that it went easier than she thought.

    ¡°Mm, there¡¯s no way as a father that I can keep you away from your loved one.¡° Yuroth tenderly grabbed Myral¡¯s hand. ¡°I couldn¡¯t imagine what I would do if Myral wasn¡¯t originally a part of the tribe in the first place.¡±

    ¡°What about an heir to the tribe?¡±

    ¡°Yura can take your place.¡± Her father answered.

    ¡°She won¡¯t like that.¡±

    ¡°She won¡¯t have a choice.¡± She and her father paused, before laughing together¡ª one more boisterous and loud than the other.

    Mira then looked at her mom wondering what she thought about this whole ordeal. ¡°Mama you''re okay with this?¡± Mira questioned.

    ¡°Mm, of course, but¡­ I want to meet her first, make sure she¡¯s good enough for my baby.¡± Myral said, both serious and joking at the same time.

    ¡°Oh me too, I want to meet her and her family, where does she live?¡± Yuroth chimed in, his angry expression gone and had become one of excitement

    ¡°Redwood.¡± Mira said then explained. ¡°I forgot to tell you that my friends and I are planning to visit Redwood in a month from now, but I''m getting there by teleportation so¡­¡±

    ¡°Redwood huh? Hmmm.¡± Her father caressed his mighty white beard before his eyes lit up, ¡°Ah i remember where that is! it should only be¡­ roughly a month of travel from where we are now.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Mira didn''t know what her father was talking about.

    ¡°That''s perfect then!¡± He announced. ¡°We¡¯ll all travel to Redwood to see this Jane of yours and meet her family. Then we can stay and meet your other friend as well before we leave!¡±

    ¡°We will all¡ª as in¡­ the entire tribe?¡± Mira¡¯s eyebrows were raised waiting for a response and got a heavy nod from Yuroth.

    ¡°Yep, it''s a perfect plan, no?¡±

    Mira didn''t know what to say, she guessed she was happy that everyone was going to come with her along to Redwood. She couldn''t imagine what kind of face Jane would wear seeing her family and her entire tribe visit her at the same time. It would be a sight to see.

    Mira chuckled in her head, picturing Jane¡¯s flabbergasted face before she looked her parents in the eyes and said. ¡°I guess that can work.¡± If her parents approved of her leaving, the lest she good do was approve of their visit,

    ¡°Good! During the feast we will announce everything important that has been discussed, then we can start packing up to leave for Redwood!¡± Yuroth said, but then his happy face turned serious and he looked Mira dead in the eyes. ¡°But I need you to remember something-.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Mira asked.

    ¡°You said you wanted to leave the tribe so you could be with your girlfriend BUT, no matter what happens, or where you are in the world, you are always a part of the tribe. We are family, and even if we''re not together in body, we''re together in heart and soul.¡±

    Her father reached over the table and gently grabbed her head and brought it towards his own forehead until they touched. ¡°Live life the way you want, but if you ever want to come back to us for whatever reason, you''re always welcome too.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡± Mira held back a tear. She touched heads with her mother as well, both of them smiling at each other once they separated.

    She was so happy this conversation went so smoothly. It was a little worrisome when her father began to get angry with her, but they had come to an understanding once Mira explained her actual reason for wanting to leave.

    It went so well that her parents wanted to take the entire tribe to Redwood with her to meet Jane and her family. She hoped Jane was ready for the big surprise but even if she wasn''t, Mira knew she would be able to handle it, that''s just how Jane was.

    ¡°Hey, I''m back early since Mrs.Redhorn said it''s a special day today and we could leave earlier¡ª what''s with the atmosphere here?¡± Yura came into the tent and saw the red eyed Mira and smiley looking parents.

    ¡°Yur, I have great news for you!¡± Yuroth stood up, walked over to Yura and grabbed her shoulders. ¡±Starting from today you are the new heir to the horn tribe!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Yura''s face went blank.

 Mira Frosthorn - Interlude 1.3

    The feast was only an hour away and Mira was preparing herself for every question she thought a tribesmen would ask her. After hearing about her decision to leave, she bet her tribe would have even more questions than she could think of.

    She wasn''t necessarily stressed about the feast itself, it was more so the reaction that everybody might have that made her a little nervous. Taking a deep breath in, she peeked outside her tent to see the sun was almost below the horizon. Once the sun disappeared was when the feast would start.

    There was no dress code or special attire that needed to be worn, everyone would just show up in whatever they wanted and have a fun time together. So for Mira, while her parents might¡¯ve wanted her to wear more traditional tribal clothes, she was going to go in her academy uniform. It was the most comfortable clothes she had and something she was used to wearing¡ª plus she thought she looked good in it.

    Her uniform was one piece with the upper part being a gray suit, while just past the abdomen it became a dark blue skirt that ended around her mid thigh. A few golden buttons here and there brought out the respective colors of the uniform, but the real golden piece that would draw eyes would be the elementalist badge on her chest.

    As for the rest of her family, her parents wore their normal clothes which was just a mix of beast leather and linen tunics and straps, while her sister wore a new blue dress she had purchased at a town recently. It was an odd mish mash of clothing they all wore but since it didn''t really matter, there was no point in changing to match each other.

    Speaking of her family, her parents weren¡¯t home as they were in charge of arranging everything for the feast. They had to make sure there was enough meat and drinks prepared, keep track of how much firewood they used, and delegate certain tasks to others.

    Her sister was at home with Mira with a mixed look on her face. She was excited for the feast, she loved its atmosphere after all but¡ª and that''s a big but¡ª she didn''t know how to feel about being the new heir to the tribe.

    To distract herself from thinking too much about that, Yura peppered Mira with a barrage of questions about everything she had just discovered about Mira after getting filled in on all the details.

    While it was a little annoying for Mira, it was a good way to reignite the relationship each other had before she left¡ª as well as a good warmup for tonight¡¯s feast. Most questions were either directed at her relationship with Jane and her other friends, or they were about what the academy was like. A few questions were about other topics but it always swang back around to the main topics Yura was interested in.

    The hour flew by thanks to Yura¡¯s questions, and Mira could already hear the sounds of people getting louder as more tribesmen joined the feast. The entrance to their tent was flung open and her mother stepped in.

    ¡°It¡¯s time for the feast!¡± Myral announced to the two girls. ¡±Are you ready Mira?¡±

    Mira nodded with determination and followed after her mother as she guided her to the seat of honor. People all around the camp watched at her as she made her way through the crowd, some more familiar faces waved at her, but most others just stared.

    A dark wooden seat, much too large for her own size, lay near the largest bond fire. The seat had intricate engravings carved into the armrests while a curling vine-like piece snaked up the edges of the backrest and ended as a pair of horns at the top.

    This was the seat of honor, only something ever used in rare occasions like if an heir became the chief of the tribe, but today it was used to celebrate a great achievement; Mira¡¯s successful return from the academy.

    While her father told her early in the day in his mild anger that ¡°classes don''t matter here,¡± that was only half true. Like everywhere else in the world, classholders were special individuals, and in Trinium, they were required to attend an academy so they were properly trained in their gifts.

    It was a grand occasion when a classholder graduated and even a small tribe such as theirs knew the importance of such a milestone. Besides celebrating her success with the feast, everyone wanted to ask her questions¡ª about everything.

    Mira sat in the seat of honor, a little uncomfortable at how large and overly intricate it was, but nonetheless she waited for her father to announce the beginning of the feast. The heat of the flames warmed her body while its bright encompassing light illuminated her face in the dark of night for all of the tribe to see.

    Luckily she didn''t have to wait long for something to happen because her father¡¯s loud horn rang through the dimly lit camp indicating to all to listen. Yuroth¡¯s big body found itself way through the crowd until he stopped beside Mira, he looked down at her with a smile before clearing his throat. ¡°Tonight we celebrate the return of Mira Frosthorn, a graduate of the Academy of Classholder, but more importantly, my daughter!¡±

    Everyone cheered loudly before Yuroth continued. ¡°There is a lot to talk about, I''m sure you have many questions you want to ask her, which is why I won''t speak for too long.¡±

    ¡°There are a few very important things I must announce before we begin the feast so listen very carefully.¡± He paused to give people a chance to get out of their head and focus on him. ¡°Mira Frosthorn will be stepping down as heir to the tribe, and in her place, my youngest daughter Yura Frosthorn will become the next chief.¡±

    A surprised gasp echoed through the camp and people began to whisper to one another hearing this sudden shocking news. Yura, who was on the other side of the camp already stuffing her mouth full of food, looked around and saw a lot of eyes staring her way.

    ¡°I know it''s shocking but just let me finish before you start gossiping to each other.¡± His loud voice overshadowed everyone else''s, quieting them down. ¡°Mira has spent four years of her life away from us and in that time she has discovered the beauty of the world. She has become a full fledged classholder, and has grown up into an adult.¡±

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    ¡°There''s a lot of things she wants to do with her life. She wants to be around her friends she made at the academy, she even wants to live with her lover away from the tribe.¡±

    That last part got an immediate reaction but Yuroth bulldozed through the buzzing of voices, ¡°And while I thought she wanted to leave for stupid reasons, that was not the case at all. She''s a new woman and wants to live her own life, even if that sadly means leaving the tribe.¡±

    ¡°In response to her leaving the tribe to go live with her girlfriend Jane, Myral and I have decided our next destination will be Redwood, so we can meet Jane and her family¡ª together as a tribe.¡±

    ¡°With all that out of the way, the feast may begin!¡± He roared and raised his arms to the sky but everyone was still processing what he had just said.

    Mira was no longer heir but instead it was now Yura. That was a lot in itself, but that wasn''t what most people''s minds were stuck on. It was the fact that Mira was leaving them, had a girlfriend named Jane she was going to live with, and that the tribe''s next destination was Redwood to meet this Jane and her family.

    It took a few awkward seconds before everyone erupted into cheers and chatter, a crowd of people swarmed Mira and started asking her endless questions.

    ¡°When did you meet Jane?¡± ¡°When are we leaving?¡± ¡°What''s Jane like?¡± Most questions centered around her girlfriend or them leaving to visit Redwood. Some asked other questions she¡¯d be more willing to answer like what her class was, but there was simply so much chaos that she had no chance to speak.

    ¡°Okay now everyone back up!¡± Only after her father yelled did everyone calm down and take a step back. ¡°I know you''re all excited, but one at a time please!¡±

    Yuroth took a step forward and grabbed the shoulders of a young man before he lifted the man off the ground and placed him in front of Mira. ¡°Line up one by one¡ª behind Ryal.¡±

    Now a little more orderly than before, people lined up behind the young man named Ryal. For those who didn''t manage to get close to the line, they slinked off and helped themselves to the food and drink that had already been prepared while still listening.

    There were massive beast carcasses that had been spit roasted, while a blade sat nearby for anyone to use to cut pieces off for themselves. A long table had been placed out with other foods such as bread or vegetables but compared to how much meat there was, it was an abysmal amount.

    The smell of meat tempted many to leave the line, but those already close to the front couldn''t afford to leave now, they had burning questions they wanted to ask Mira.

    ¡°Okay, ask away Ryal.¡± Yuroth gestured to the young man and stepped back.

    Mira sat there waiting to hear his question with a blank face, preparing herself for anything that may come her way. What she didn''t realize was that she was quite intimidating to most others for various reasons. They hadn''t seen her in a few years and were a little unsure of how to act around her since she was quite different then when she had left. She still had her cold face, but now she looked more mature, she wore a prestigious outfit that very few could claim, and she was also a powerful classholder.

    All those things separately were intimidating, but she had them all. That''s why when Ryal was asked to go first, he gulped and stepped forward nervously.

    ¡°...H-h-how long have you and your g-girlfriend Jane been together?¡±

    ¡°Just over three years.¡± An immediate response came from Mira.

    Ryal stood still and nodded with a forlorn expression before he felt himself guided away by the heavy hand of Yuroth. ¡°Next!¡±

    With that, the line continued to move forward as more people asked her questions. It was almost nonstop question after question with no chance for a break. It took Mira¡¯s hungry stomach grumbling for her to give herself a food break¡ª much to the disappointment of those in line.

    Mira saw that those in line didn''t move since they still wanted to keep their place, which made her sigh and sit back down with a plate of food in hand. She would entertain everyone while eating.

    If one were to document all the questions and answers given tonight, there would be too many in all honesty. That''s why when Mira felt that the questions she was getting started to repeat themselves a lot, and feeling her still tired eyes beginning to droop, she called it for the day.

    Seeing the looks on everyone''s faces, she left after saying, ¡°We have a month to spend together traveling to Redwood, feel free to ask me anything during that time.¡±

    Hearing her say that brought smiles to the faces of the tribe and they all broke out of the line and joined the rest of the tribe in their celebrations of food, drink, dance and music.

    Mira slowly walked back to her tent ready for bed, while watching the other ¡®line¡¯ that had formed tonight. Across the camp at another bonfire was where Yura had disappeared off to at the beginning of the feast. Once the announcement about her becoming the new heir was said, people flocked to her like they did with Mira.

    Mira had more of the younger folk line up for her while Yura was surrounded more so by the older generation since the heir of the tribe mattered more to them.

    Mira locked eyes with Yura and could read her silent expression screaming, ¡®help me escape!¡¯ and redirected her course towards her sister in need. She gently squeezed past the older folk and managed to break past the barrier and find her way next to her sister.

    She didn''t even say anything and just grabbed Yura¡¯s hand and dragged her through the crowd back towards their tent. People yelled at them but she ignored them and continued forward until they both made their way inside their home.

    Flopping down onto Mira¡¯s corner ¡®bed¡¯ together, they both sighed from the exhaustion of the few hours they had spent at the feast.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Yura said after catching her breath. ¡°I owe you one.¡±

    ¡°You''re welcome.¡± Mira threw her blankets over the two of them but was met with resistance from Yura.

    ¡°I''m burning hot!¡± Yura tried to kick the blankets off, but stopped when Mira grabbed her arm and she felt a cool sensation wrap around her scalding body.

    ¡°Oh that''s nice.¡± Yura face melted and she relaxed.

    They stayed in bed for a while in silence, before Mira asked a little shyly, ¡°Would you like to¡­ sleep together like old times?¡±

    Yura snuggled closer to Mira to get more cold¡ª that really only worked with an ice elementalist¡ª and replied with a humming yes. Like when they were younger, Mira wrapped her arms around the tiny body of Yura and closed her eyes ready to sleep.

    While Mira was dearly looking forward to living with Jane and living a brand new life, she was also dreading leaving her family. She had just reunited with them after four years and now she would leave them again so soon.

    Obviously she would try and visit them or they would come to Redwood to visit her, but it still kind of sucked to not be able to see them everyday. In the end, this was just something she would have to come to terms with if she wanted to live with Jane.

    ¡®It''s all gonna work out.¡¯ She kept telling herself in a half conscious state until eventually she fell asleep while embracing her little sister.

 An Unexpected Reunion - 6

    Seeing a stream of red blood endlessly gush out of the decapitated body of the frost buffalo, Jane turned away feeling a little queasy. One of her weaknesses was gory scenes, she absolutely hated seeing anything like it. In the event she had to look at something gory, she could do it¡ª she did have classes that included dissecting beasts before¡ª but if she didn''t need to look, she wasn''t ever going to.

    The late afternoon sun shone down on the ice filled glade they were standing in, something almost fully created by the rampaging buffalo. Looking at all the spiky blocks of ice it made when its icy breath hit something, or the ice spikes that stuck out a few feet from the ground, Jane was thankful she was still intact.

    Taking a breath in and fighting through the exhaustion that slowly began to work its way through her body, she walked towards the group of four other classholders. They were standing around the frost buffalo discussing what they should do with it.

    Leading the conversation was the master classholder. He had short white hair that seemed to naturally spike upwards, and golden eyes that constantly scanned his surroundings for anything out of the ordinary. This man stood over a foot taller than Jane herself, probably one of the tallest men Jane had ever seen before.

    ¡°We can''t leave it here since it might attract other powerful beasts. Its body itself is incredibly valuable as well.¡± The master classholder said with a deep voice, his sharp eyebrows furrowed in thought.

    ¡°How are we gonna move it then?¡± The brawler asked Klein, the master classholder. ¡°Our porter is new and wouldn''t even have enough space to store this entire thing.¡±

    ¡°We could cut it into chunks and take it back slowly but that would mean someone would have to stay here and keep a watch over it.¡± Kylie raised a suggestion.

    ¡°That would be too inefficient.¡± Klein shot her down. ¡°The best option is to call for another more experienced porter to store this entire thing in one shot.¡±

    Everyone else nodded after hearing his idea. That would be the easiest and fastest way.

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± Jane¡¯s voice came behind them. ¡°Were the wolves also dealt with?¡±

    Klein turned to her and nodded. ¡°Your town''s guards are handling them with the help of our team''s porter. With the size and condition of the pack, it should be finished already, but if you''re worried we can head back right now to check.¡±

    Jane nodded. She wanted to make sure everything was alright with her fellow Redwood residents.

    ¡°Which one of you two wants to keep watch?¡± Klein looked at Kylie and the brawler.

    ¡°I got it.¡± The brawler said and plopped down next to the frost buffalo''s dead body. ¡°Don''t take too long.¡± He leaned back, hands behind his head, and rested his muscular body against the buffalo.

    Klein rolled his eyes at the brawler before he came next to Jane and patted her shoulder, his tall frame easily overshadowed her body. ¡°You must be Jane then.¡± He looked down at her and smiled.

    Nodding, she asked curiously, ¡°That''s me, how did you get my name?¡±

    ¡°One of the town guards told me¡­ I think his name was Jax.¡± Klein replied. ¡°He told me a new enigma was out here delaying a frost buffalo all by herself. Quite a successful feat for a new classholder to handle an ¡®A¡¯ class beast all by herself.¡±

    Jane shrugged awkwardly. ¡°I had to do something and I was pretty confident I could at least escape¡­ well I almost didn''t, but thankfully you guys swooped down and rescued my ass.¡±

    ¡°You did a good job considering your experience.¡± Klein chuckled. ¡°It''s fine to be confident, just be a little more careful next time.¡±

    ¡°I''ll try my best.¡± Jane replied seriously.

    ¡°Good good.¡± Klein smiled and said, ¡°If we wanna get back fast I could either carry you, or If you can keep up with us, I can use my unique skill to boost your speed.¡±

    Smirking a little, Jane summoned her phantom hands once again. She felt the strain of having used it so much already, but having them out for a little longer should be okay. ¡°I got my own way back.¡±

    Looking at her floating hand, he nodded with an interested gaze. Then with a wave of his hand, Kylie and the earth elementalist took on a faint green hue and sped off into the forest at inhuman speeds, while he followed behind them by bounding and gliding across the forest with large steps.

    Not wanting to be left behind, Jane hopped onto her phantom hand and flew just over the crimson tree tops and quickly caught up to the rest of them. In record time they sailed through the forest and breached the edge of town, making it back into Redwoods farming district.

    They came out a little ways away from her place in some random field nearby that was swarming with all of Redwood''s hundred or so guards. On the sidelines a little away from the field were a few curious farmers wanting to see what was happening¨C including Jane''s parents.

    Jane flew over the dead bodies of just under a dozen midnight wolves that were splayed out all over the grassy field, heading towards her parents. She jumped off her phantom hand and landed in front of her parents with a shy grin.

    Jeff held Abigail in his arms while Rosalie was pacing back and forth worried but the second she saw Jane land in front of her, she dove at her with an embrace;

    ¡°I''m so glad you''re safe!¡± Rosalie wiped a tear from eyes, something Jane hadn''t expected to see.

    After Rosalie let her go, she looked at her mother and said, ¡°I''m not that easy to take down.¡±

    ¡°I know, you''re a strong woman.¡± Rosalie replied. ¡°But that doesn''t mean I wont worry about you, especially when I heard you were taking on a frost buffalo! Even I know they''re dangerous¡±

    ¡°I''m sorry¡ª¡±

    ¡°Don''t apologize.¡± Rosalie cut her off. ¡°You saved Redwood, I don''t wanna imagine what would''ve happened if you didn''t step in to stop the beast. I''m proud of you¡ª even if I was worried beyond belief.¡±

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    Jane smiled and hummed an affirmative response.

    ¡°That''s my daughter!¡± Jeff came up behind them and patted Jane on the shoulder. Seeing the happy face of her dad and her older sister, Abigail also cheered by raising her fists in the air.

    That got a laugh from the rest of the family.

    ¡°Jane!?¡± A woman''s voice sounded to her left, a very familiar energetic voice she had heard countless times. Looking to her left, Isabel Longbox, her old roommate and close friend came jogging over to her.

    ¡°Isabel!¡± Jane raised her arms up and hugged Isabel who came running at her.

    After a quick hug, Jane let go and looked at her friend she hadn''t expected to run into so soon after graduating together. ¡°What are you doing here¡ª oh yes you''re working for the reinforcement corps, I almost forgot!

    Isabel wore one of the kingdom''s red tunics, indicating she was also a novice classholder like the earth elementalist. The golden symbol on her chest was that of a double door, representing that her class was a porter. Below her tunic she wore tight black leggings and thick combat boots.

    Aside from her attire, Isabel herself had long curly orange hair that she let flow freely down to her chest. She had light freckles covering the mid section of her face, encompassing her smaller cute nose.

    Her golden eyes stared at Jane for a few moments before she let her mouth loose. ¡°I also didn''t expect to run into someone so soon. Ah it''s so good to see you!¡± She went in for another quick hug then looked to see the three others next to her.

    ¡°Oh you must be Jane¡¯s parents!¡± Isabel walked over to Rosalie and hugged her¡ª much to Rosalie''s surprise, but she didn''t mind it. ¡°I''m Isabel Longbox, one of Jane¡¯s friends!¡±

    ¡°It''s nice to meet you Isabel, you can call me Ma, or Rosalie, whatever works for you.¡± Rosalie introduced herself. ¡°You must be¡­ the porter right? Jane has told us some things about her friends but I think she¡¯s saving the good stories until you all visit later.¡±

    ¡°I''ll call you Ma then, that sounds fun!¡± Isabel chuckled and then came over to Jeff to hug him but stopped when she saw the cute gremlin resting in his arms. Her eyes expanded and she snapped around back to Jane. ¡°Who¡¯s this adorable creature?!¡±

    ¡°That''s my sister.

    ¡°You never told me you had a sister, and one so adorable at that!¡±

    ¡°I didn''t know I had a sister until I got home either.¡± Jane shrugged, getting a surprised gasp from Isabel.

    ¡°Ah that must''ve been a real surprise! But you have a sister now and she looks just like you!¡± Isabel leaned down towards Abigail and gave her a friendly smile. ¡°What''s your name? I''m Isabel!¡±

    ¡°Abigail!¡±

    ¡°Abigail huh, what an awesome name!¡± Abigail giggled after hearing Isabel praise her and raised her arms toward her wanting to be carried.

    ¡°Looks like she wants you to carry her.¡± Rosalie said smiling, while she came up next to Isabel.

    ¡°Can I carry her?!¡±

    Rosalie nodded and Isabel excitedly, but carefully, picked up Abigail and held her in her arms feeling the sweet warmth of an adorable child. She rubbed her cheeks against Abigail''s getting a collection of more giggles from her.

    Before Isabel could enjoy holding Abigail for longer, Klein walked over to them. ¡°Isabel, I need you to head back to the capital and call for an expert porter to come here.¡±

    ¡°Hm? What''s up? I''m a little busy.¡±

    Klein sighed and rubbed his brows in frustration. ¡°Why are there a bunch of weirdos on my team¡ª ah whatever, I just need you to head back to the capital.¡±

    ¡°Aww I was just reuniting with my friend and meeting her family! Look at this adorable creature, isn''t she cute?¡± Isabel slightly raised up Abigail in her arms to show off to Klein who could only sigh even deeper.

    ¡°You have five minutes, then head back and get an expert porter, please.¡± Klein made sure to keep his calm. ¡°Don''t forget okay?¡±

    ¡°Sure sure, don''t worry I got it.¡± Isabel waved him off.

    Klein could only walk away and go back to helping the guards clean up the mess of wolves, feeling all the more so regretful he picked up another strange member on his team.

    ¡°So where were we, ah yes you must be Jane¡¯s dad.¡± Isabel shook hands with Jeff who similarly introduced himself.

    ¡°How''s work going by the way?¡± Jane asked Isabel. ¡°It must be a little stressful being part of the reinforcement corps.¡±

    ¡°It''s actually a pretty simple job, all I gotta do is teleport to where the leader tells me to.¡± Isabel handed Abigail back over to Jeff. ¡°This is only my second time actually doing anything, most of the time we just hangout while waiting for a call for help.¡±

    ¡°How long do you have to work there again, three years?¡±

    ¡°Yep! After that though, I''m not sure what I want to do. Maybe do my own thing using my unique skill, maybe continue working for the kingdom¡ª not sure yet.¡± Isabel shrugged.

    The conversation continued between the two, occasionally Jane¡¯s parents would chime in but for the most part it was just Jane and Isabel talking. Five minutes was a decent amount of time but also extremely short at the same time.

    Before she knew it, Jane felt a gust of wind blow by her and looking to her side she saw Klein staring at Isabel and gesturing for her to leave already.

    ¡°Ugh, okay ya, I should probably get back to work.¡± Isabel gave in. ¡°I''ll get to see you in a few weeks from now so that''s fine. It''s still happening right?¡±

    Jane nodded. ¡°Now that I''m thinking about it, how are you getting out of work when you visit?¡±

    ¡°Oh, we get two weeks vacation per year so I''m taking my two already.¡± Isabel explained while she started to walk away. ¡°And if anyone else wants to stay longer than I can take them back on my off days.¡±

    ¡°I''ll see in a few weeks, bye!¡± Waving goodbye, Isabel found a nice empty spot of grass before she closed her eyes and concentrated. After a few seconds, motes of light swirled around her and she vanished from the grassy field, having teleported back to the capital.

    Just as quickly as they had reunited, they had dispersed once again.

    As for Jane, once Isabel was gone she had no reason to stay here any longer, she was exhausted and wanted to sleep. It was still the same blazing hot day that she spent the morning working on the house during, and feeling the sweat finally fade from her skin, the heat was beginning to annoy her once again.

    ¡°I''m going home to sleep, I''m too tired to do anything else today.¡± Jane said to her parents.

    ¡°Alright let''s all go home together, I can even make you something to eat before you go to bed.¡± Rosalie rubbed her back gently. ¡°How does that sound?¡±

    ¡°I can''t say no to food.¡± Jane chuckled and slowly trudged back home with her family next to her.

    They made it home quite quickly since they weren''t too far away, only a few minutes of leisurely walking and they arrived. The second they walked through the front door, Jane made her way to the couch and lazily fell onto it while waiting for her parents to make an early dinner. She knew it was a little lazy of her to not help, but once her buttocks felt the softness of the couch, only food could get her up now.

    Jane had no energy left to think. The rest of the day seemed to go by quicker as her sense of time was warped due to her exhaustion. Before she knew it, she had already finished dinner and was laying in her bedroom upstairs.

    She didn''t even hop into the shower to clean herself from all the grime she picked up after her long day, that required effort and she had none to spare. The comfort of her bed paired with her exhaustion made her fall asleep almost immediately even though the sun was still up.

    Today was a long, long day for Jane.

 The Day Before - 7.1

    ¡°Ugh, thirty.¡± Jane grunted as she finished her third set of pullups. The veins in her arms slightly popped out as felt the blood pumping through them from the intense workout she had been doing for the past hour.

    It had been a while since she had last worked out, today was the first time she had come back to Redwood. She had been a little busy or just forgot about it, but today she wanted to get back on schedule with her exercise.

    It always felt nice to finish a workout and today was no different. After doing a back and bicep workout, those muscles screamed at her after having been worked to their limit, a sign she had a good session.

    She let go of the tree branch in her backyard after finishing her set of pullups and landed on the rough dirt ground below. Her protruding biceps were glistening with sweat and were already sore thanks to the workout Jane put them through today.

    The afternoon sun splashed across her slightly flushed face that was red from both the heat and exercise, while her chiseled abs were continuously being pushed back and forth as she breathed deeply. Tied back in a ponytail was her straight black hair, slightly frizzled from the heat and sweat.

    Using a hand towel she brought along, she wiped the sweat off her face and sat down under one of the trees next to her place, letting the shade cool her down. It wasn''t as hot as it was yesterday but if you did any form of exercise outside, you wouldn''t be able to tell the difference.

    There was nowhere else close by where she could workout so she chose her yard by the side of her house as a temporary spot for her workouts. The area had some nice spots for body weight exercises, while one of the trees had a nice branch for pull ups she just used. It wasn¡¯t the greatest, but it would do for now.

    Hopefully after her place was done she could purchase some actual equipment and set up a home workout room inside. Her basement might work well for that but for now body weight exercises in the outdoors would do just fine.

    She took a deep breath and took in the peaceful sounds around her; the chirping of birds, the swaying of branches and the clam meandering creek nearby.

    Last night she slept like a log and she only woke up when it was the afternoon of the next day, roughly sixteen hours of much needed sleep. Today, she was back to full energy like yesterday¡¯s craziness had never happened.

    There was an actual reason for this, as well as a reason why she was able to do three sets of thirty pullups like it wasn''t that hard. Her body was built differently than others¡ª or all classholders'' bodies were.

    Classholders were unfair. Not only did they have miraculous abilities that were magical in nature, their bodies were also totally different then a normal persons. Their bodies were always coursing full of energy, granting them higher endurance, stamina, and even a healthier body.

    The abundance of energy inside her body let her train harder and longer while her body was able to easily handle the amount of stress put onto it. This was how Jane had become what some might coin as, a ¡®muscle mommy¡¯.

    Though this allows classholder to train their bodies to insane degrees compared to a normal person, It still requires a ton of work and dedicated training to achieve such insane physiques¡ª not exceptions.

    Jane worked out as a hobby, but any dedicated combat oriented classholders were required to train their bodies if they wanted to get the best use out of their abilities. They trained a little differently, Jane focuses more on her physique rather than training her body to fight.

    Whatever the case, If you didn''t work hard, then it didn''t matter how good your biology was.

    Besides physiques, classholders didn''t even have to worry about diseases or illnesses because their bodies would immediately purge any sign of abnormality it detected. Some more magical illnesses born through monsters or demons might affect them, but those cases were far in few between. Their special bodies were so healthy in fact that they could live roughly fifty extra years than what a normal person could live.

    So not only did they have magical powers, they had perfectly healthy bodies and could live longer¡ª All of It was very unfair in actuality.

    As for Jane, she would take advantage of her situation and make the best out of it by training her body¡ª Mira also seemed to like her muscles so that was a big positive.

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    Currently she had her workout clothes on; a black sports bra, small looser gray shorts that just covered her butt, and a pair of dirtied brown running shoes. Beside her clothes she still wore her golden bracelets  around her wrists¡ª in fact she never took them off¡­ ever.

    Taking a swig of water from her jug, she stood back up and began her stretches. She made sure to always warm up and stretch before workouts because spending the extra few minutes helped out a lot. Not only was she strong, she was incredibly flexible, something most combat classholders didn''t have over her.

    After her ten minutes of stretching was over, she grabbed her backpack and made an impromptu decision to saunter down the hill towards the creek to take a quick splash in the cold water to cool down. She didn''t have spare clothes or a large towel to dry off with so she¡¯d have to figure that out as she went.

    When she reached the shore, she summoned her phantom hands and enlarged both of them to their max size. Her hands then encased her body in a shell to block anyone''s view of her. While her phantom hands were translucent, you would only be able to see blotches of color and movement¡ª you couldn''t actually see anything through them.

    Not wanting to soak her only clothes, she stripped herself until she was naked and stuffed her sweaty clothes into her bag to store them for now. If one was able to see her, they would find a large black tattoo taking up the majority of her back.

    This was the tattoo she talked to Angeline about. It kind of looked like a rune but It was in fact the class circle, a special symbol that represents all twelve of classes in one. The symbol was made of one large circle with twelve smaller circles inside and around the edges, each with one of the symbols of one of the classes.

    She had gotten this tattoo alongside Mira when they both turned eighteen as a fun activity to do together. Mira herself got a different tattoo on her back, more related to her own class than Jane¡¯s which represented all classes.

    Why did she get this specific tattoo? It looked cool.

    It took weeks of trying to find the perfect tattoo, but since she could never find one with meaning or purpose, she just got the one that looked the best to her. Whatever the case, she liked her tattoo.

    Before going into the creek, Jane put on sandals to protect her feet, then proceeded to dip her toes into the water. It didn''t take that long to work the rest of her way into the water.

    As Jane got to the deepest parts of the creek, the water still only went up to her lower thigh. To cool off her entire body and get refreshed, she sat on an outstretched pinky from one of her phantom hands and lowered herself into the water slowly.

    She bathed in the creek for a couple of minutes until she began to feel cold. That was her que to dry off with the only thing she could think of¡ª her hand towel she used for her sweat. It was going to get washed after this so it didn''t matter.

    Once she was dry, she realized she really didn''t plan this all that well considering she neither had a body towel or any spare clothes to put on. With a sigh, Jane squeezed into her old sweaty clothes and made her back up the hill to her house.

    She was still gonna shower and change when she got home anyways, but it felt a little gross to put on already sweaty clothes¡ª especially the ones down below. Her own house didn''t have a shower¡ª or a shower that she wanted to use, so her current destination was her parents house.

    Back onto the road, she slowly sauntered towards the bluegold hill, not in too much of a rush but there were a few things she needed to get done today. Working on her house could wait for a few days.

    Tomorrow was the celebration, the big thing that''s been in the works for the last week or so. She didn''t know what the mayor had planned or how everything would play out yet; that was one of the things she needed to find out today. If the mayor didn¡¯t visit her soon, she would storm over to his place and find him herself, she wasn''t going to go into the celebration blind.

    Then the other major thing she needed to do was continue practicing the presentation that she was going to be performing for everyone. She already had something planned that she had practiced a bit, but she still wanted to run it through a few more times to sort out the kinks and make sure it was smooth.

    It was still a little nerve wracking to know that tomorrow everyone would know her, she was no longer gonna be the unknown classholder. Her practically anomalous identity would be revealed and she could only imagine what that would do for her future.

    She was lucky that no one really knew what she looked like and hadn''t been bothered by a stranger yet, but she could imagine that would change starting tomorrow. There were no responsibilities she had to the town¡ª besides her job for the kingdom, but besides that she didn''t have to do anything.

    Whatever she did was up to her own volition meaning no one could make her help them or what not, that wasn''t her job and she hoped others realized that. Honestly that was the least of her concerns but who knows what some people might think of her.

    Would people start to bother her for help? Would people not care about her? How is everyone going to start treating her? How would her life change?

    Classholders were treated widely and differently depending on where you lived. In big cities where there were a lot of classholders, they were treated mostly normal, but in smaller towns like Janes, who knows.

    There were too many questions running in her head so she shut off her mind and kept walking until she made it back to her parents place.

    ¡°I''m back!¡± Jane yelled into the house, her voice echoing throughout the rooms. A muffled greeting came back her way from Rosalie and Jeff all the way upstairs.

    Jane made her way upstairs, working her way to her parents'' voices and found them in their bedroom standing around their bed. Abigail was off to the side relaxing in a chair, seemingly a little tired from the chaotic day she had yesterday.

    ¡°Hey, why are you all here?¡± Jane walked in the bedroom and looked at what they were all staring at. One of the legs of their bed frame had broken and caused their bed to be tilted in a diagonal angle.

    ¡°Your father might have sat down a little too forcefully, and broke one of the bed legs.¡± Jeff crossed his arms, happy with his explanation.

    ¡°What he means to say is that his fat ass flopped onto the bed recklessly.¡± Rosalie corrected her husband which earned her a betrayed look in return. ¡°Oh you, what does it matter if you flopped down or sat down, either way you broke the bed.¡±

    A fake expression of sadness crossed Jeff¡¯s face promoting Rosalie to sign and wrap her arms around his waist. ¡°There there, just because you''re a little fat doesn''t mean I should make fun of you.¡±

    Rosalie ran out of the bedroom with a smirk while an angry Jeff chased after her. Jane heard their stomping feet make it all the way downstairs before it stopped in a fit of giggles.

    ¡®What the fuck did I just watch?¡¯ Jane was confused seeing her parents flirt in front of her but after a few seconds, she also walked out of the room with a sigh.

    ¡°I''m going to shower!¡± Jane yelled out to anyone in the house who wanted to know and stepped into the bathroom.

 The Day Before - 7.2 (SC)

    Using the toilet first, Jane then stripped off her tight black sports bra that was sticky with sweat, followed by her shorts and her similarly sweat drenched underwear. She threw her clothes to the corner of the bathroom, leaving herself standing there buck naked and ready to shower.

    Due to the slight change in temperature going from clothed to nude, chills crawled along her skin going all the way from her feet to her neck. She stretched her arms above her head¡ª the room just able to fit her outstretched form¡ª before shaking the chills off causing her perky pale white breasts to jiggle slightly.

    Speaking of her breasts, they were round¡ª like all breasts¡ª but had no form of sag and instead protruded straight out like perfectly round fruits. She cupped them while looking at them with a mixed expression.

    They weren''t exactly large but they weren''t small either, her larger muscular frame made them look a little smaller than they were as well. According to Mira though, they were a perfect size for everything; running, working out, daily activities¡ª and sex. Jane wished they were a little larger like Mira¡¯s, but she couldn''t complain since they were indeed useful during exercises, especially running.

    She remembered how many times Mira would complain about her shoulders being sore from having to carry her own two breasts around after a long day. She couldn''t imagine herself having huge breasts weighing her shoulders down or shaking intensity if she was sprinting¡ª matter of fact thinking about it now, she was happy that she didn''t have larger breasts.

    Suddenly with the thought of breasts, Mira, and a hint of sex flowing through her head, Jane couldn''t help but get slightly aroused. As a young woman, and a classholder at that, she was full of pent up energy she couldn''t hold in for a month until Mira got here. It had been over a week since they had seen each other and she was dearly looking forward to when she arrived in Redwood.

    There was also the added stress of the upcoming celebration which she knew only one way to appease both feelings of arousal and stress at once.  She pinched her smaller shaped nipples that were hardened from both the temperature and her arousal, and then reached down towards her privates but a sudden knocking at the door made her pause.

    ¡°Jane, is there still soap left? I think I might have used it all!¡± Rosalie''s voice came from behind the bathroom door.

    Flinging open the curtains to the shower, she saw an almost used up bar of soap still laying on a small protruding holder, and yelled back at her mother. ¡°Ya! There''s still plenty left.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Her mothers footsteps disappeared heading away from the bathroom door. Jane had a rush of adrenaline when her mother''s voice first sounded, it was like she was getting caught mid act, but of course she was beyond close doors so no one would see anything.

    Still, she waited for the kick of adrenaline to wear off before she reached into the shower and activated the water rune. Once the rune was activated, its paired rune on the ceiling began to shoot streams of hot water out. Stepping over the lip that blocked water from rushing out onto the wooden bathroom floor, she stood on the tiled shower floor and let the hot water cover her body.

    The water first touched her head before it cascaded down her body, she closed her eyes letting the hot water relax her mind. The chills disappeared and only warmth remained. She stayed like that for a while, just letting the water drip along her nude body, down her boobs, across her stomach, and off her toned butt.

    Only a singular light rune next to the shower rune illuminated her wet body which began to have a resurge of hormones. The feeling wouldn¡¯t suddenly disappear just like that, so as the warmth relaxed her more, the feeling of arousal came back stronger than before.

    No longer able to hold it in, she slid a finger down her glistening abs and down towards her lightly trimmed crotch. Once her hand was down there, there was no going back. She slid a finger inside her vagina and immediately felt pleasure rock her mind. To acquire maximum pleasure with the limited resources here, she began to use the fingers still outside to rub her clit back and forth methodically.

    Biting her lip as the pleasure built up, she moaned softly trying not to let those outside the bathroom hear her cries of joy. ¡°Mmm. MMm.¡± She closed her eyes and let the euphoric pleasure take over her mind, faint moans echoed forth every so often.

    Oh how she wished Mira could be here with her, showering together and doing indecent deeds with one another. Her mind began to use her memories to create a picture in her head of Mira¡¯s naked body and in reaction, she inserted a few more fingers inside and increased the tempo in which she fingered herself.

    Beside the sound of water droplets splashing on the tile or the faint hum of the light rune above, there was the ever so quiet sound of Jane¡¯s vagina being stirred up by her own fingers. Liquid began to seep out of her as she was getting more and more turned on, it was oddly simulating to masturbate in one''s childhood bathroom.

    Before she left to the academy, any form of romance or sexual actions weren¡¯t a concern of hers, she just wanted to have fun running around all day. It was only when she arrived at the academy that she matured and began to discover herself more, and masturbation was one thing she loved discovering.

    It was a great way to destress, self pleasure and spend some quality time with herself. It also helped when she was horny thinking about Mira, but as her girlfriend wasn''t here, there wasn''t anything she could do but masturbate to relieve herself.

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    Now that she was back in her childhood shower, she didn''t know but it felt oddly satisfying, maybe it was the fact it felt wrong to do. It was like doing it in public since you knew you probably shouldn''t do it there, or maybe having sex in her childhood classroom as it held memories of a different time. It was the duality of nostalgia and indecency she presumed.

    Her mind wandered and she pictured Mira¡¯s large naked bosoms that outclassed her own¡ª they looked even more scandalous for a woman with such a short frame. Her pale and lean body that Jane could only describe as picturesque, paired with her cherry nipples made for a delicious treat in bed.

    Then came the lower half which was Jane¡¯s personal favorite half¡ª only in bed of course. She could swear her hands remembered the feel of Mira¡¯s cute and perky ass which she habitually liked to grip and massage even when they weren¡¯t having sex.

    Around the corner from her ass was what Jane swore was the opposite of Mira¡¯s cold and dangerous face she usually wore¡ª cute and dainty were the words she used when she first saw Mira¡¯s pussy. It was bare without a fleck of hair and had a beautiful petite shape like her body.

    She had found out her love of¡­ vagina¡¯s during the first day of school, during a communal shower after their training class. There were so many types that it was incredible; some were small and compact like Mira¡¯s, while others were larger and fleshier.

    She wasn''t intending to be creepy by staring back then, she just didn''t even know she was lesbian during that time. Over time she realized her fascination with female genitals was an attraction towards females, not some weird hobby of hers¡ª she hoped.

    Going back to the task at hand, Jane had one hand fingering herself while using her thumb to rub her clit, while she placed the other hand onto her boob and began to massage herself.

    She was almost there, she just needed a little more stimulation.

    Knowing she shouldn¡¯t take too much time in the shower since she had things to do today, she upped the amount of tools available to herself by summoning her phantom hands to help her out. One began to massage her other breast whilst pinching her nipple, and the other made its way down towards her ass and began to knead it roughly.

    She made all her hands use her enigma power to send pulses of soothing warmth aura into her which only increased the feeling of pleasurability¡ª another small but useful thing her powers were able to do. She had discovered that it could be used this way when she used it on Mira, and now she made sure to use it on herself since it was truly amazing.

    Before she knew it, she bit her lip and orgasmed, causing her legs to wobble before she squatted down due to the pleasure overload coursing through her. With her legs spread open, a liquid beside water leaked out of her and splashed onto the tiled floor below.

    She wasn¡¯t done yet, she wanted just a little more. Taking her fingers out of herself, she began to rub her clit quickly trying to snowball her own pleasure. Liquid squirted out of her like a mini waterfall as she continually rubbed it back and forth.

    Eventually she stopped squirting as her hand slowed down, her mind was overwhelmed with pleasure and her legs were shaky after having achieved a state of bliss. With her face flushed red, she stayed squatting and unsummoned her hands, finished with her self pleasure.

    While she would love to keep going¡ª her excess energy as a classholder would allow her to go for much, much longer¡ª she couldn¡¯t afford to take forever in the shower since she wanted to put more time into rehearsing her act for the celebration. After ten minutes of washing her body and hair, she turned off the rune that controls the shower''s water and dried off quickly.

    She wrapped a towel around herself and stepped out of the bathroom and went into her own room to grab some clean clothes. Seeing she didn''t have much clean clothes left as most still hadn''t been washed yet, she shrugged and put on the only clothes she could find; Black booty shorts she normally wore as pajamas and a maroon sports bra. It was a little exposing and casual, but she didn''t mind even if she had to go out like this.

    Not wanting to really deal with her wet hair, she just let it freely hang while it was still damp and would let it dry over time.

    Her next step for the day was to get in some practice for her performance so she headed downstairs with the goal of heading to an empty field nearby. Skipping down the wooden stairs she heard multiple voices talking in the living room, more than just her two parents.

    Curious and already heading in that direction, she swung around the stair post and strolled into the living room to find her parents, the mayor Peter Petal, and also his daughter and her friend, Danielle Petal.

    ¡°Jane!¡± Danielle happily shouted her name while bolting off the couch and giving Jane a welcoming hug. ¡°I heard about yesterday, are you okay!?¡±

    ¡°I''m perfectly fine, thanks for worrying.¡± Jane hugged her small frame back while patting her back.

    Danielle stepped back and let out a relieved smile. ¡°Thank god you''re fine¡ª oh also It''s been so long since we''ve hung out, sorry I haven''t reached out yet. It''s been a busy last five days.¡±

    ¡°Don''t apologize, we can hang out whenever we want so don¡¯t worry.¡± Jane told her. ¡°Have you talked to anyone recently, do you know what they''re doing for tomorrow?¡±

    Danielle shook her head. ¡±I''ve been running around all week without a chance to talk to anyone, not even my boyfriend!¡± She looked back with pout at her father.

    ¡°This is what being mayor entails sometimes.¡± Peter shrugged. ¡°You might have long breaks of being free, but you will also have lots of busy weeks.¡±

    Danielle sighed. ¡°I know¡­ I just wanna see my friends.¡±

    ¡°After the celebration you''ll be free for a while so take advantage of that.¡± Peter said.

    ¡°Well you heard him, I''m at least busy tomorrow. Danielle said with a forlorn expression. ¡°No clue what anyone else is doing though.¡±

    Peter cleared his throat getting their attention. ¡°I know you two would love to keep talking, but we''re here to talk about what''s happening tomorrow. It''s a bit last minute, I do apologize for that, but like Danielle has said, we''ve been quite busy this week.¡±

    He took a sip of tea and waited until Jane and Danielle joined the rest by sitting down around the living room.

 The Day Before - 7.3

    The two sat next to each other on separate chairs, across from the mayor and her parents who sat on the couch together. They looked a little snug together, but Peter didn''t seem to mind the company right next to him.

    Once Jane was here though, everyone else besides Jane herself and Peter kept quiet, not wanting to interrupt their conversation. He put down his cup of tea and looked up at Jane with a smile. ¡°So Jane, tomorrow is a big day for you, are you ready?¡±

    Jane shrugged. ¡°As ready as I could be.¡±

    ¡°Good good.¡± Peter said while rubbing his hands together. ¡°I know you don''t like to beat around the bush, so why don''t I get straight into the details.¡±

    He didn''t wait for an answer and went straight ahead into explaining. ¡°We''re going to start the day tomorrow at eleven o''clock on the dot, I''ll make sure to announce this to the whole town later today so everyone knows. I''ll start off the day with a speech atop the stage in the town square, which will then be followed with whatever you have planned. Sound good so far?¡±

    Jane nodded. ¡°Should I show up early?¡±

    ¡°Arriving half an hour to the stage before it starts would be great.¡± Peter replied. ¡°Now I don''t know what you have planned, but I''m also not going to ask. I trust you to do whatever it is you want up there.¡±

    ¡°Besides that, I don''t need you to do anything else, you''re a free woman for the rest of the day and can roam around the town as much as you like. I only needed to know if you were ready to present, which it seems you are.¡± Peter said with a toothy grin. ¡°I''ll still explain to you what''s going to happen for the rest of the day, but if you want you could just leave.¡±

    ¡°Really? Just one little presentation then I''m good? You don''t want me to do anything else?¡± Jane curiously stared at him. ¡°I thought you would give me some free time but not the entire day.¡±

    Peter chuckled. ¡°I can see where you''re coming from, but as mayor, I''d like for you to enjoy your time tomorrow instead of being busy all day. Also it''s not my place to force you to do a bunch of things you might not want.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Jane replied with a nod. She was glad the mayor seemed like an understanding guy, and she was actually starting to look forward to tomorrow even more. She really hoped she could find her new friends and see if they wanted to spend the day together.

    ¡°There is one thing I''d hope for you to do, it''s more of a favor than anything.¡± Peter saw Jane waiting for him to continue and said. ¡°However tedious it might be, could you answer anyone¡¯s questions they might have for you?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean exactly?¡±

    ¡°As a classholder, I can expect a lot of people will keep their distance from you, approach you with questions, or act strangely around you.¡± Peter explained. ¡°That''s probably how it''s going to be for a while until people get used to your presence in Redwood.¡±

    Jane nodded. ¡°Sounds easy enough, I just gotta answer people¡¯s questions if they come up to me.¡±

    ¡°Yes, let''s hope it''s easy.¡± Peter said then changed topics. ¡°Let''s get into the nitty gritty of what''s happening tomorrow.¡±

    The mayor talked for roughly fifteen minutes explaining all the things happening tomorrow¡ª and boy was it quite a lot. Beside the businesses in Redwood participating in some way or another, the mayor had gone around to towns close by and had advertised the celebration to their folk.

    Jane hadn''t noticed since she was in the farming district all the time, but streams of people have been coming into town for the last few days, all for tomorrow. All the inns in Redwood were packed full, there were even some people who chose to camp outside since they couldn''t get a spot in an inn.

    These people could be tourists just here for the fun times, or other businesses that wanted to try and make a profit. Jane could only imagine how packed the town square will be tomorrow, more than it''s ever been probably.

    Luckily the mayor and Danielle had planned for this, and their solution to try and keep the town square a little less busy was to ask certain businesses to set up stalls around the empty fields in the farming district and in the sports district.

    The mayor needed some permissions to use some of the fields owned by the farmers, but no one disagreed. which meant the farming district would also have its fair share of people visit. The sports district as the hub of outdoor activities would be filled with families for the day like lawyers, which would make any stalls there very busy.

    Besides just businesses, the mayor also had a plethora of festival games that he had also planned to be set up in the farming district, further spreading out the large population that would appear tomorrow.

    The stalls and festival games could keep people busy for a while but there needed to be something big to keep them from leaving. That''s where the stage in the town square, one large field in the farming district, and almost the entirety of the sports district came in place.

    The stage had been booked from start to finish. The mayor and Jane would start it off, but after them there would be a couple of bands of bards participating and there was even a traveling circus act at one point.

    Then one field in the farming district was reserved for competitions that the mayor and Danielle had come up with. Eating contests, physical contests, and many more that would happen throughout the day. Winning would net a reward which would incentivize more people to participate.

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    Lastly the sports district would be busy throughout the day, but to keep things interesting, there would be actual pillar ball games run by the city, played between Redwoods own teams as a form of entertainment for the residents.

    There was a lot, but it was worth it for tomorrow. ¡®No wonder Danielle has been busy.¡¯ Jane thought to herself. They had to set up and take charge of basically everything, that would take a ton of work to accomplish.

    ¡°One thing I really wanted was to make sure the festival games were worth playing. Cause who wouldn''t?¡± Danielle was explaining this part. ¡°Playing games gets you tickets, then you can put those tickets into a lottery. At the end of the night, ten winners are chosen and get prizes.¡±

    ¡°What are the prizes?¡± Jane curiously asked.

    ¡°I can''t tell you that, it''s a surprise!¡± Danielle replied. ¡°But I can tell you the top three prizes are amazing! I''d love to win one of them.¡±

    Danielle then asked. ¡°Actually, I was wondering if you could help me with another prize I was thinking of adding.¡±

    ¡°What prize?¡±

    ¡°Well, you know how you told me you could fly in those hands of yours, and would take us flying one day? Wouldn¡¯t it be great if someone could win that as a prize!¡±

    ¡°Danielle, that''s asking a little much.¡± Peter chimed in. ¡°You don''t have to say yes just because she¡¯s asking you.¡±

    Danielle crossed arms. ¡°Of course she doesn¡¯t have to if she doesn''t want to, I was just asking,¡±

    The two turned to look at Jane and waited to hear her answer. ¡°Sure, that kinda sounds fun.¡±

    ¡°Great!¡± Danielle shouted with excitement. ¡°Now that''s the prize I wanna win!¡±

    ¡°I could just fly you whenever, you don''t need to win the prize.¡±

    Danielle''s eyes lit up and she gave Jane the warmest smile before she jumped out of her chair and gave Jane who was still sitting in her chair a hug. ¡°That''s a promise!¡±

    ¡°Of course of course.¡± Jane patted Danelle on the back with a smile.

    Rosalie and Jeff grinned seeing their daughter and Danielle acting like friends, something they had only seen with Eric before.

    Then another few minutes passed as Peter explained the last few details like when the celebration officially ended or when certain events would occur. After going through all of this and answering a few questions from either Jane or her parents, the Petal¡¯s had business to get to and promptly left.

    Peter Petal said his goodbyes to everyone, while Danielle gave Jane another hug before she left and waved goodbye once she was out of the house.

    Coming back inside, Jane wanted to grab a quick lunch before she began practicing her little performance tomorrow. She walked into the kitchen and started to make herself a sandwich¡ª the best and easiest kind of lunch she could think of.

    ¡°What are you guys gonna do tomorrow?¡± Jane sat down in the dining room next to her parents who were also enjoying a late afternoon snack together.

    ¡°We''re gonna spend most of the day at the sports district with the Frier¡¯s.¡± Rosalie answered with a mouthful of nuts. ¡±We planned to have a picnic there for lunch before heading into the town square.¡±

    ¡°Sounds fun.¡± Jane replied. ¡°You gonna be there to see what I have planned?¡±

    ¡°Of course sweetie, all of us are gonna be there.¡± Rosalie smiled. ¡°We''re going early as well, we wanna get the best spots after all.¡±

    ¡°Mm, Maybe I''ll join you guys tomorrow since I have no clue what anyone else is doing.¡± Jane said.

    ¡°We¡¯d love that.¡± Rosalie patted her hand before she stood up. ¡°Me and Pa gotta do some extra work today so we don''t have to do much tomorrow. Dinner is gonna be a ¡®help yourself¡¯ kinda deal, okay?¡±

    Jane hummed a response and watched her parents walk out the front door, but before they fully left, she heard her mother yell back at her. ¡°If you''re wondering, Abigail''s at the Frier¡¯s. ¡±

    ¡°Okay! I''ll be outside for most of today.¡± She yelled back.

    The front door closed and with that, Jane was by herself. Finishing her sandwich with a few quick bites, she cleaned up the table then headed outside to a nearby field that was close to the edge of town¡ª away from prying eyes.

    There was actually a little field tucked away in the corner of the farming district surrounded by patches of redwood trees that extend into town. It was a little secret place Jane and Eric would come to when they wanted to hide away for a period of time.

    The field had enough room to run around recklessly but also had just the right amount of trees and bushes to cover it up. The perfect spot for practicing.

    She went to the middle of the field, took a deep breath, and then proceeded to practice her ¡®performance¡¯ for tomorrow. It wasn''t anything fancy or special like the word ¡°performance¡± was usually tied to. All she wanted was to be upfront and showcase to the town all her powers and how she could help others using them¡ª a cheeky way to advertise her future business as well.

    Now she couldn''t just walk up there, use her power and then dip, she also needed to speak to the crowd. It was a little nerve wrecking thinking about the outcome after, but she had to fight through it and do her best.

    ***

    ¡°And that''s all folks, I''ll catch you around town!¡± Jane raised her arms speaking to no one but the grass around her.

    ¡®That''s a little¡­ eh.¡¯ Jane thought to herself hearing that closing bit. ¡®What could I say then¡­ maybe keep it more serious.¡¯

    ¡°Thanks for coming, enjoy the rest of the day!¡± She spoke aloud once again. It sounded a little better than the previous iteration she thought.

    ¡®Hmmm, this is hard.¡¯ Jane sat down on a large flat rock resting on the field with her hands on her face in contemplation.

    She had run through her performance and everything looked okay, it just didn''t sound great because she wasn''t the greatest speaker. Her scripted dialogue sounded awkward, her jokes she tried to throw in were a little forced¡ª it was so hard to just say something that sounded normal.

    ¡®Maybe I can ask Danielle, no she''s busy.¡¯ Without any answers to her questions, she continued sitting there silently. A gentle breeze made it past the tree barrier around her and brushed past her, cooling her down after having worked up a sweat from practicing.

 The Day Before - 7.4

    ¡°Jane!¡± A voice right beside her woke her from her apparent stupor. She turned around to find Eric standing over her. ¡°Did you not hear me calling your name?¡±

    ¡°Nah sorry, I''m busy thinking. ¡°Jane motioned for Eric to sit down beside her while she continued to stay in thought.

    ¡°Thinking about what exactly?¡± Eric sat down on the rock and leaned his head onto her thighs while closing his eyes.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Jane wondered and stared down at him.

    ¡°I''m tired from running around trying to find you.¡± Eric yawned. ¡°I checked your parents house, your house, even the edge of the forest. Eventually I worked my way here.¡±

    ¡°Since I''m tired and you''re stuck thinking about something, I''ll just use you as a pillow.¡± Eric rolled onto his side.

    ¡°Well if you want to know, I''m thinking about¡­ how to talk.¡±

    ¡°How to talk?¡± Eric side eyed her with a confused expression.

    ¡°I''m struggling with figuring out what to say and how to say it for my big performance tomorrow.¡± Jane explained using air quotes.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Eric hummed. ¡°Honestly, knowing you, you shouldn''t think about it and instead just wing it.¡±

    ¡°Just wing it?¡± Jane huffed a reply. ¡°A little easier said than done. I feel like I''m gonna be even worse if I don''t have some sort of speech planned.¡±

    ¡°Listen, I''m just saying, when have you ever prepared ahead of time? Remember all the presentations we had to do in school which you never had anything prepared for?¡±

    Jane sighed. ¡°Fine there''s some truth to that, but it''s a little different now. I''m not presenting to a bunch of children anymore.¡±

    ¡°It''s a suggestion, you don''t have to listen to me.¡± Eric said. ¡°If you wanna practice I can tell you what I think.¡±

    ¡°Nooo thank you.¡± Jane shook her head. ¡°If I wanna embarrass myself, I''ll do it once tomorrow, so If you wanna see that, then you''re gonna have to be there.¡±

    ¡°Ohhh that reminds me!¡± Eric shot off Jane''s legs. ¡°There was a reason I came to find you, I managed to get some time off tomorrow and was wondering if you wanted to walk around?¡±

    ¡°I''ve been wondering if you guys were doing anything, is anyone else coming?¡± Jane asked, happy that at least one person was free tomorrow. .

    ¡°Everyone''s coming but Danielle since she''s busy with work.¡± Eric replied. ¡°We''re meeting up at one o''clock, at the Little Goose.¡±

    ¡°I''ll be there then.¡± Jane lay down on the rock and mumbled. ¡°Tomorrow''s gonna be fun, right?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Eric lay next to her. ¡°You still worried about what everyone''s gonna act like after they finally put a face to your name?¡±

    Jane hummed a response.

    ¡°Well, no matter what, just know you got people here that care about you¨C and people not here that also care.¡± Eric replied and grabbed Jane¡¯s hand.

    Smiling, Jane and Eric lay next to each other in silence while taking in the various sensations around them. The smell of redwood sap lingering in the air, the tickle of wind brushing against them, and the sight of the bright blue sky above.

    That was all ruined in an instance. ¡°Motherfucker this is uncomfortable!¡± Jane crudely swore and leaned up while rubbing her sore back.

    ¡°Language missy!¡± Eric jokingly teased her and stood up alongside the chuckling Jane.

    ¡°Are you free today?¡± Jane asked. ¡°Wanna go somewhere more comfortable?¡±

    Eric nodded in response and the two left the quaint field they hid away in, back towards the Bluegold house. Once they were back at their place, they quickly made their way upstairs into Jane¡¯s room, a place they used to spend lots of their time in.

    With a yawn, Jane closed the curtains in her room before she dove under her bedsheets and sprawled her limbs across the mattress. She rolled onto one side and closed her eyes while saying. ¡°I''m taking a nap.¡±

    ¡°You asked me if I was free all day just to take a nap?¡± Eric sighed and suddenly Jane felt a weight press down on the opposite side of the bed.

    Jane turned to see Eric laying beside her and asked. ¡°Are you also trying to nap?¡±

    ¡°It might be¡­ a little inappropriate for two people with partners to sleep together.¡± Eric answered. ¡°I''ll just chill here for a bit.¡±

    ¡°Ah who cares, we''ve done it plenty of times¡ª I know Danielle or Mira won¡¯t mind, they know enough about us already.¡±

    ¡°Still, we were kids back then.¡±

    ¡°Whatever, suit yourself. I''m napping.¡± Jane yawned and closed her eyes.

    No one said anything else after that, only the quiet sounds of their breathing could be heard in their room. Who knows how long passed but eventually, Jane fell asleep and the adamant Eric couldn''t help but closely follow behind her into the land of dreams

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    ***

    ¡°They look kinda cute, no?¡± Jane swore she could hear someone speaking. The voice sounded familiar but she couldn''t pinpoint it just yet.

    ¡°Mm. You''re not jealous?¡± Another voice asked.

    ¡°Not at all! I know Eric wouldn¡¯t cheat on me!¡± The first voice answered. ¡°Their best friends, it''s kinda adorable seeing this actually.¡±

    Okay they were definitely talking about her and Eric, Jane thought. With a groan, Jane opened her eyes to a bright room around her. Standing over the bed were some new friends of hers, Danielle Petal and Angeline Evergreen.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Jane mumbled, not sure why they were here, especially in her room.

    ¡°You''re awake!¡± Danielle said. ¡°Your mother says it''s dinner time so come down and eat.¡±

    Jane sat up and looked at the two with a confused face. ¡°Dinner already? How long have I been asleep?¡±

    ¡°Not sure, did you hear the announcement my father made?¡± Danielle asked and Jane shook her head.

    ¡°Then a good few hours at least¡ª¡± Danelle was interrupted from Jane¡¯s sudden realization.

    ¡°Wait, what are you guys doing here?¡± Jane questioned them. ¡°Aren''t you busy Danielle?¡±

    ¡°My mother thankfully took over for me which left me free, so I ran and grabbed Angeline then came here to see if you wanted to hang out with us tonight.¡± Danielle explained. ¡°Then when we showed up here, your mother answered the door and told us you were upstairs with Eric¡­ I didn''t expect to see this though.¡±

    Jane rubbed her messy head and stood up. ¡°Ah, sorry¡­ well¡­¡±

    ¡°Don''t worry about it, I understand enough about you two¡¯s relationship, this is completely fine with me!¡± Danielle flashed a smile and shook the still sleeping Eric awake.

    ¡®She''s actually the best.¡¯ Jane couldn''t help but think that after seeing Danielle''s reaction.

    Eric shot out of bed and looked a little guilty but was quickly appeased when his girlfriend said she didn''t mind.

    Weirdly enough, it was Danielle who led everyone downstairs where a large dinner was prepared at the table.

    ¡°Ah everyone''s here now, come sit down and join us for dinner!¡± Rosalie beamed with excitement and ushered everyone to a seat at the table.

    Everyone squeezed into a spot around the table, it was a little tight as they had an extra three bodies more than normal, but they made it work. Elbows to elbows, they all began to help themselves to the food around the table while chatting together.

    Firstly Angeline introduced herself to Rosalie and Jeff, who warmly greeted her in return. They know who she was in fact, it was easy to spot an Evergreen, but they hadn''t met her before¡ª well maybe as a child. Then there was a person they had already met early in the day and that would be Danielle. But now that she and Eric were here together, many questions about their relationship came firing out of Jane¡¯s parents'' mouths.

    They hadn''t had many chances to ask Eric about his relationship before because he¡¯s been doing his own thing for a while now, but now that they had a chance, they weren¡¯t gonna miss it.

    ¡°Who made the first move? It had to be Danielle right?¡± Rosalie curiously stared at the couple sitting next to each other.

    ¡°Mhm, that''s right!¡± Danielle proudly said. ¡°He was too shy to confess so I took it into my own hands.¡±

    ¡°Ah good for you!¡± Rosalie chuckled and watched Eric get somewhat embarrassed¡ª which only made her laugh more.

    Thirty minutes later, the dinner was already over and cleaned up, Abigail was tired and was getting put in bed, while the group of friends found themselves in the living room.

    ¡°So you said you wanted to hang out tonight right?¡± Jane asked Danielle. ¡°What''s the plan?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have one, just wanted to see you guys and do something together.¡± Danielle replied. ¡°I would love to have people over again, but the basement is kind of a mess cause we''re using it to store things right now.¡±

    ¡°You guys can come to my place.¡± Angeline spoke up.

    ¡°Really?¡± Danielle''s eyes lit up. ¡°I haven''t been to your place in so long!¡±

    ¡°A month is that long?¡±

    ¡°Hehe, yep!¡± Danielle giggled.

    With a destination now, everyone filtered out of the house. Jane made sure to tell her parents where she was going just in case they worried then left towards Angeline¡¯s house.

    The evening sun overhead lit up the land in a dim orange and was about to disappear beyond the treetops in the horizon. The heat of the day was lessened since it was late, creating a perfect temperature for the four of them to casually walk in as they headed towards Angeline¡¯s place.

    Except that four turned into three after Eric suddenly spoke up. ¡°I gotta head home instead, you three girls have fun together.¡±

    ¡°What why?¡± Jane asked.

    Eric sighed, ¡°The only reason I get part of tomorrow off is because I took the earliest shift and I¡¯m in charge of doing all the prep work. I gotta wake up at like four in the morning.¡±

    ¡°Alright then, have fun.¡± Jane said before she joked. ¡°Good thing you already got some sleep today though¡±.

    Waving goodbye, Eric split off from the girls and went home to get an early night''s rest while they continued to Angeline¡¯s house. It wasn''t too far from the Bluegold¡¯s and they arrived at the familiar realtor building Jane had visited recently.

    They passed through the main work floor, and after unlocking a door, they went upstairs to the second floor which was the living area. Unlike the lavish main floor, the second floor was just your normal living space but a little more spacious than most others.

    ¡°So what do you guys want to do?¡± Angeline asked.

    ¡°Hmmm, maybe have a few beers? Chill out and talk?¡± Danielle suggested and got two nods in return. Angeline grabbed them all a couple of beers and the three sat down around her soft green couch and started drinking.

    It didn''t take long for many bottles to find themselves empty around the table, the three girls already drunk.

    ¡°You know I haven''t had a chance to ask yet, but I seem to faintly remember something happening at Danielle¡¯s.¡± Jane asked. Angeline wasn''t drunk enough for her barriers to break down completely, but an ever so slight blush crawled up her cheeks.

    ¡°Lets just say¡­ I''m dating Robby now.¡± Angeline casually dropped a bomb.

    ¡°WHATT!?¡± Danielle shouted. ¡°When did this happen!!?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­¡±

    Hours passed as the three drank and talked to each other, Jane felt her relationship with Angeline was already exponentially increasing each time they hung out like this. Since it was late and they were drunk, a plan was implemented¡ª they would stay the night.

    Unlike last time, they didn''t stay up that late because two of three had something to do tomorrow. After lots of drunken talks, they all squeezed into Angeline¡¯s king sized bed and dozed off with happy expressions.

    Tomorrow was the big celebration!

 The Big Celebration - 8.1

    After a long week of various activities, the big day had finally arrived.

    It was a beautiful Saturday with flowers coming into bloom as the year got further into spring, while a calming warmth cascaded down onto the town of Redwood. The sky was mostly a clear blue, but the occasional cloud or two flew by, granting some form of extra shade for those in need below.

    A perfect day for a celebration to be held.

    While the celebration hadn''t officially started yet, even in the early morning light Jane could spot hundreds of people already walking around. Families were touring around checking out various places while businesses were either getting ready or already ready for customers who were getting an early start to their day.

    When Jane made her way from Angeline''s house, through the farming district, and into the town square, the smell of countless different foods wafted into Jane¡¯s nose causing her to almost lose herself.

    Besides food, Jane had also seen countless festival game stalls of all sorts being set up all around. There was one where you threw a ball at a target, one where you put a coin into a chamber of pins and it bounced around, and a myriad of others. Some game stalls seemed open and others of all ages were playing them and earning simple prizes¡ª which included tickets to put into the lottery at the end of the day.

    Jane didn''t get a good chance to see everything, but after she was done with her presentation, she would make sure she witnessed all the celebration had to offer. The celebration was happening because of her and she would make sure she appreciated every aspect of it¡ª that was her sworn duty.

    Already in the town square, Jane found herself under a tent just off to the side of the stage which sat in the center of the town square. The stage was a giant wooden circle platform raised a few feet off the ground without any walls or curtains blocking it, allowing people from all angles to see what was happening on it.

    Under this large tent, besides Jane, was the mayor and a few of his workers who he had put in charge of the stage for the day. Drinking from a pouch of water, Jane unconsciously fidgeted her fingers together since she was slightly nervous for her upcoming presentation.

    ¡°Five minutes ladies and gentlemen, five minutes until we begin!¡± Peter Petal announced to those in the tent and received a quaint cheer from the workers in response.

    Peter slipped his way past everyone and sat down next to Jane who wore a furrowed expression. ¡°Jane! How are you feeling? You seem a little nervous.¡±

    With a sigh, Jane replied. ¡°Can''t help but feel a little nervous. It must be easy for you, you got a lot of experience.¡±

    ¡°I won''t deny that claim.¡± Peter chuckled. ¡°But¡ª like everyone¡ª I used to be just like you, nervous, afraid of what others might think of me, and constantly worried that I''d mess up.¡±

    ¡°And do you still feel that way?¡±

    ¡°Hmmm, I''m less nervous than before, but even to this day there''s still this twinge of electricity that courses through me every time I do something like this.¡± Peter explained. ¡°It becomes easier, but never disappears entirely.¡±

    ¡°That''s at least somewhat reassuring to hear.¡± Jane said, breaking her worried face with a smile.

    ¡°I''m glad I might have helped a little.¡± Peter said, ¡°Now, there isn''t much time left until I go up there and kick start this entire thing. Are you ready?¡±

    Jane nodded a few times trying to convince herself she was in fact ready.

    ¡°Alright good, I wish you the best of luck then.¡± Peter stood up and walked away but before he got too far away, he turned back to Jane. ¡°Also, no matter what anyone thinks, if they bother you then you come find me to deal with them okay?¡±

    Jane smiled and hummed a response. Danielle must have spilled some of her worries to Peter.

    ¡°Perfect, now when it''s your turn, make sure you show them how spectacular you are.¡± Peter chuckled and then left the tent.

    Only a couple minutes until the celebration officially began and Jane was anxiously waiting as time ticked down. Suddenly she felt someone grab her shoulder from behind causing her to flinch and snap around to see who it was.

    A goofy grin resting on the oh-so familiar face of her best friend Eric was what she turned towards and couldn''t help but give him an angry smile in return. He was still in his tightly fitted white chef uniform with his floppy hat resting on his head.

    ¡°Sneaking out are we?¡± Jane asked Eric with a raised brow.

    Eric sat down next to Jane where the mayor just was, and his grin widened. ¡°I''d be dead if I snuck out of work, that old man Redrick would skin me alive if he found out.¡±

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    ¡°I asked him earlier if I could support my best friend on stage when the time came and he gave me the okay¡ª but I gotta work an extra thirty minutes later.¡± Eric finished.

    ¡°Well you''re just in time, seems like the mayor is ready to get things started.¡± Jane pointed to the mayor who made his way up the stage¡¯s steps.

    Peter Petal walked to the center of the stage where a podium sat, resting on top of the podium was a white crystal ball that faintly glowed. The crowds surrounding the stage that were waiting for things to happen, had their attention taken away by the mayor once he appeared behind the podium. They knew he was about to begin.

    With a tap, Peter turned on the sound rune engraved on the crystal ball that connected to separate sound runes all around the stage.

    ¡°Ahem, testing testing. 1.2.3.¡± Peter tested the rune and hearing the satisfactory response of his words echoing all around the town square, he was ready to start.

    ¡°Good afternoon fellow residents of Redwood and those from afar, how has your morning been?¡± Peter announced receiving a cheer in response.

    ¡°Amazing!¡± Peter adjusted the tie on his suit and put on his most charismatic smile. ¡°Just in case you didn''t hear yesterday, or are just arriving in Redwood, we have tons of events and areas for you to check out and explore. I won''t explain everything since that might take up too much of your time, but if you''re wanting to know more, then look no further than the giant signboard in front of me.¡± Peter pointed to a giant wooden signboard where a map of Redwood was drawn on.

    ¡°That signboard has every location you might want to visit and every main event labeled down for you to check out. Don''t worry there¡¯s a signboard in every district so you won''t get lost¡ª or at least, not too lost.¡± Peter chuckled.

    ¡°If you have any questions, feel free to ask any of the workers under the tent over there.¡± He pointed to the tent Jane and Eric were under. ¡°Okay that''s enough of the basics, let''s get into the real thing.¡±

    ¡°There''s only one reason we are celebrating today. One of Redwood''s very own has successfully graduated from the Academy of Classholders and has come back home. As citizens of Trinium, it''s our tradition to celebrate the massive milestone that this accomplishment represents.¡±

    ¡°Our classholders name is Jane Bluegold, and after having personally met her and having my daughter as one of her friends, I''m privy to know that Jane is gonna bring our town to new heights never seen before.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s so much I could explain about her, but I feel that I should let her do the talking herself.¡± Peter turned to look at Jane from the stage. ¡±After over a century, Redwood has its very own classholder! Please welcome to the stage, Jane Bluegold!¡±

    A surprising loud roar of voices came from the crowds, something Jane wasn''t expecting.

    Were people not as wary about classholders as she thought? Was everyone this accepting?

    Feeling a hand pat her back, Jane thanked Eric with a nod and walked out of the tent and up onto the stage where the eyes of hundreds of people reached her.

    This was it, no going back.

    Peter stepped back from the podium and gestured to Jane to take his spot. Standing behind the podium, she stared out into the sea of people out there and felt her heartbeat start to accelerate a little faster.

    Taking one more deep breath, Jane did her best to purge any anxious thoughts still swirling around her head, and was ready to present.

    ¡°Hey everyone, my name is Jane Bluegold. Some of you might recognize me from before I left to the academy, but most of you probably don''t remember me.¡± Jane started on script. Those in the crowd quieted down as she began to speak.

    ¡°I grew up in Redwood my entire life until that one fateful day four years ago.¡± Jane said. ¡°I was suddenly thrusted into a new environment with new powers I didn''t understand. I thought at first the academy would suck, but during that time I learned about myself; my powers, my feelings, and my general tendency to get in trouble quite easily.¡±

    Some in the crowd chuckled at her half joke, half true statement. That was a success in her books, which in turn made her just a little more confident.

    ¡°I know most of you won''t care about the boring details, but don''t worry, I''ll get to the interesting bits soon enough.¡± Jane started to use her hands to gesture, not as anxious as she thought she would be. ¡°Before I can do that though, I have to thank a handful of people.¡±

    ¡°Obviously I have to thank my parents who raised me, taught me, and treated me no differently even when they found out I was a classholder. Thanks Ma. Thanks Pa.¡± Jane didn''t have to look hard to find her family as they had managed to secure front row seats. ¡°They must¡¯ve missed me so much that they made another one of me.¡±

    Hearing Jane, they raised Abigail into the air and a hearty laugh resounded through the town square seeing the little girl. Jane didn''t even realize this, but that wasn''t part of her script.

    ¡°Imagine coming home and finding out you were a big sister for the first time, man that was a mix of emotions.¡± Jane saw less of a reaction out of that one and knew it was time to move on.

    ¡°I also gotta thank the Frier¡¯s. They are like my¡ª no, they are my second family, each and every one of them.¡± Jane corrected herself. ¡°They kept a spot open for me at the dinner table if I wanted to visit, they let me sleep there if I was too tired to go home, they did so much for me and I couldn''t be more happy to have them.¡±

    ¡°Lastly¡ª so everyone doesn''t get bored too soon¡ª I must thank my best friend Eric Frier.¡± She name dropped him and saw his surprised expression in the tent. ¡°I left him four years ago and after coming back, I feel like we''re just as close, or even closer than we were before.¡±

    ¡°I''m so, so glad that our relationship has continued after coming back.¡± Jane genuinely smiled at Eric and felt a tear try to squeeze its way out of her eye but she held it back. ¡°Not only is he the best, but he introduced me to his friends he made in my time away, and they¡¯ve accepted me like one of their own already. Thanks Danielle, Angeline, Robby and Jared.¡±

    She didn''t know if they heard her, but she hoped they did.

    ¡°Now that the necessities are out of the way, who wants to see something cool? ¡±Jane rubbed her hands, it was time for the fun stuff.

 The Big Celebration - 8.2 + Update

    Another cheer came from the crowd, indicating to Jane it was time for her to show off¡ª something she did quite well.

    ¡°For those that might not know, there are twelve classes that you can be born with. I myself was born an enigma.¡± Jane began to explain. ¡°The other eleven classes have some sort of system they follow for what their powers are or what they could be. Enigmas on the other hand have absolutely random power sets, which makes it a little harder to train.¡±

    ¡°Some get lucky and have spectacular powers, some are a little unlucky and get more mundane powers. I myself was quite lucky.¡± Jane put her arms out in front of her with her palms to the sky.

    Summoning her phantom hands, she grew them as large as they could and had them hover around the stage. Some in the crowd were less shocked, like her parents in the front row or Eric in the tent, but everyone else was enamored at the sight¡ª even the mayor.

    ¡°The most useful and versatile ability I have is the power to summon a pair of phantom hands that can function on their own.¡± Jane crossed her arms over her chest and had the hands fly over the crowd in a little aerial dance.

    ¡°They''re incredibly useful for many tasks you might need done.¡± Jane explained. ¡°My favorite is this.¡± Jane jumped up and had one of her phantom hands swoop down underneath her feet to carry her into the sky.

    With the speaker crystal in hand, she looked down at the crowd from a little higher than normal and spoke. ¡°I can fly with these!¡±

    Jane did a few speedy laps around the stage to get everyone excited. She then flew down back onto the stage and unsummoned her hands. Her face was a little flushed from adrenaline but she made sure to put on a calm expression.

    ¡°That was only the start, I have a few more things I wanna show everyone.¡± Jane said. ¡°The next part I''m gonna need a volunteer, one who deems themselves quite strong.¡±

    A few pairs of arms rose into the air immediately which Jane scanned to see if she could spot anyone strong that she recognized. The face of the town''s lumber jack and his massive frame that dwarfed anyone else in the crowd, was the first thing her eyes were drawn to.

    ¡°Mister Jack, why don''t you come up here!¡± She called upon the lumberjack that she remembered was named Lando Jack. He seemed like the best choice.

    The burly man tidied through the sea of people and made his way up the stage and next to Jane who gave him a big toothy smile in return.

    ¡°Alright Lando, just follow my instructions.¡± Jane handed Lando a spare lumber ax she had brought up to stage just for this demonstration. She was handed a block of wood from the crew working at the tent and held it in her hands.

    She then stuck out her arms straight out beside her and said, ¡°All you gotta do is chop this block of wood as hard as you can. Don''t worry about my hands.¡±

    One of her phantom hands came over and covered the front of her face to block any wood chips that came flying at her face.

    Lando raised an eyebrow at first but seeing the confident look on Jane¡¯s face, he nodded. He was a silent man for the most part. Raising the ax as high as he could, Lando then brought it down with intense force.

    This was a delicate process for Jane because she knew the ax wouldn''t hurt her, but it was possible for it to shatter into pieces and cut someone if it slammed into her hand. So when the ax easily pierced through the block of wood and hit her hands, she carefully blanketed the momentum and let it naturally come to a stop.

    To the audience, this all happened in a split second that it just looked like the ax¡¯s force pushed down her arm but that wasn''t the case. They all gasped seeing the ax swing down and split the wood in half but were pleasantly surprised when it reached her hands and they ended up perfectly fine after being hit by the town''s lumberjack.

    ¡°My hands and a little bit of my wrists are indestructible, and my phantom hands hold a part of this property.¡± She took the ax from Lando and thanked him with a smile. ¡°Can you stay up here for a bit, I got a few more things to demonstrate.¡±

    He nodded with a satisfied grin. It seemed he liked what just happened.

    ¡°Besides my phantom hands and indestructible hands, I also have three smaller powers that I must say are quite random. That''s just how us Enigma¡¯s are though.¡± Jane shrugged and grabbed two more blocks of wood.

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    ¡°This is a normal block of wood.¡± Jane said and nodded to Lando who once again chopped it without much effort.

    ¡°This is a block of wood I''ve enhanced with my power.¡± Jane sent a pulse of aura into the wood block for a few seconds then nodded to Lando again. This time when Lando¡¯s ax hit the wood block, his ax only made it a tenth of the way through.

    ¡°My power allows me to reinforce an object with my aura to make it stronger, more durable and overall last longer.¡± Jane explained and a murmur spread around the crowd. To a town like Redwood¡ª or really any town, this power was incredibly useful.

    Not only could tools be reinforced, but so could buildings or just everyday items like shoes or clothes. While her other powers were cool, this small power she had showed off was the most interesting for the townsfolk.

    Much to Jane¡¯s surprise so far, the people of town seemed to be enjoying what she was doing. They didn''t look afraid or disturbed by her powers, but more interested and curious than anything.

    ¡°Thank you Lando, you can head back down.¡± Lando looked stunned at the wood block he couldn''t cut through, but after hearing Jane he grunted and walked back down.

    ¡°Alright I need three more volunteers who are feeling a little stiff.¡± Jane announced. A little confusion sparked through the crowd at first, but then some folk raised their hands. She wanted specific people and selected three older folk that eventually hobbled onto the stage.

    ¡°My next power is one of my personal favorites.¡± Jane approached one of the volunteers, an older woman with a cane. ¡°I can send a pulse of warmth and comfort into someone''s body which can help warm you up, help your body relax and recover, and can even help you sleep.¡±

    Jane asked the older lady if she could touch her and got the go ahead. She grabbed the old woman''s shoulders and sent her pulses of aura into her body. A blissful smile immediately spread on the woman''s face and she closed her eyes in relaxation.

    After ten seconds, Jane let go and the old woman opened her eyes.

    ¡°Thank you, that felt amazing!¡± The old woman stammered out with more energy than she looked like she could give off. ¡°I feel like I can walk better now.¡±

    ¡°Happy to help.¡± Jane smiled and watched the old woman happily walk down the stage with less effort than she¡¯d normally need. Then Jane did the same thing to the other two volunteers who left the stage with similar happy faces.

    ¡°Finally my last power is something some of you might really be interested in.¡± Jane was handed a pot from off stage that held a single dull pink withered flower. She had brought this from home to show off this last power.

    ¡°It''s quite simple, like the other two powers I have shown, I can send an aura into plant life to make it grow faster and healthier.¡± She touched the pot and sent in her energy. The once withered looking flower quickly re-energized and rose from its once droopy form to a beautiful and tall standing pink flower.

    Immediately the crowd started talking. To any of the plant farmers in Redwood, if they could get ahold of her power their crops would be better than anyone else''s. This was a godsend for them.

    ¡°Now don''t get too excited just yet, the reason this flower came to life quickly was because it was only a single flower. To use this power on a large scale is a lot harder and less effective, but it still does work.¡± She explained.

    ¡°Those are all my powers! Now while I''d like to help out the community, I can''t just give away my time and power for free.¡± This was her plan, to advertise her future business. ¡°That''s why in the near future, I will be opening up my own business where I''ll be up for hire if you''re in need of my powers.¡± The crowd shut up and was listening, they wanted to know all the details.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it''s not going to be an exorbitant price since I do want everybody to be able to get my help if they need it.¡± Jane announced. ¡°My place is still being built, but once it''s completed I''ll let everyone know so they can reach out to me if they need to.¡±

    Now was the hard part. How did she end this whole thing? ¡®Thank you and have a good day?¡¯ Or maybe, ¡®That all folks, I''ll see you around!¡¯

    Should she be flashy and fly away on her phantom hands? She didn''t have time to contemplate so she did the first thing that came to her head.

    ¡°So with that out of the way, I wish everybody a good rest of their day!¡± She ran and jumped into the crowd but before she got close to the heads of the people below, one of her phantom hands caught her and flew her into the air.

    Yes she chose to be flashy.

    ¡®That was a pretty simple way to end it, but it looks like it worked.¡¯ She heard the crowd cheering below her and looked down to see people waving at her.

    She couldn''t help a smile from tugging at her lips seeing the crowd''s reaction. They didn''t seem to hate her, in fact they looked like they were excited she was here. That was the best case scenario she could think of.

    She waved back and continued flying away from the stage. ¡®Wait, where am I going?¡¯ Now that she was already flying away, she couldn''t just fly back, that would be awkward. Once she got past the town square, she directed herself to the little glade she had been practicing in earlier this week.

    Once she got there, she landed on the grassy floor and put her hands on her hips in thought.

    ¡°Well.¡± Her plan to fly away worked but now she had to walk back. It wasn''t 1 o''clock yet so she had to burn some time before she met up with her friends at the Little Goose.

    ¡®What should I do for an hour and half?¡¯ Jane thought and started walking out of the glade.