The Crimson Crane had split up, some of them heading off to areas on their own, while others had gone to try and explore the more habitable areas in search of something good.
It was quite good news for some; Elvlin had managed to find her glaive, so she was no longer weaponless, although a thought did cross her mind on whether or not she should just throw it away.
Since she wanted a new weapon courtesy of the Dark Magus. He was a busier person than they imagined, so the amount of times they would meet with him and he could create a weapon for them they believed to be limited.
So at the moment, everyone was fighting to get in line for him to create a weapon for them, and not having one was a good excuse, but she decided to keep it because she honestly didn't know how long it would take.
The rest of the group didn't find much. They assumed it was because the academy had been in charge of the dimension for a long time.
Whatever was of use in the area must have already been taken away, but while Alba and Reno were walking together, she had spotted something in the sand.
Lifting it up, she gave the round object a rub a couple of times, clearly showing what looked like a large thick coin.
"This was what that mage used to stop our attacks," Alba commented. "This might come in handy for us."
"Yeah, although we haven't much in the dimension itself, some of the mages had dropped some handy things. It's not like Pagna warriors; they hardly have anything like this," Reno replied.
Although Clans did find items from different dimensions quite frequently, the use of them was relatively rare.
This was because either the clans didn't know how to use the items or it just didn't fit their taste and style. The special weapons they did find that could be used were more so swords, rare armors, and ornaments.
Things that could enhance their strength hand in hand with their Pagna abilities. The other thing with these items as well was they tended to belong to the clan rather than any individual.
Such precious items would be kept at the clan's bases and would only be used if they were directly attacked or in extreme circumstances.
Rather frequently a new head would be selected, betrayal, or the death of a head would occur, which was why things were decided this way. So not all would be lost with the death of a leader.
As they continued to search the dimension, there was something that had been playing on Reno's mind for a while.
"I kept quiet about it while we were around because I thought you would have mentioned something, but since you didn't I didn't mention it either," Reno said suddenly.
It had almost come out of the blue for Alba, but she had a pretty good idea what he was referring to.
"I wasn't sure if we should tell him or not, and it's because I'm not even sure if he knows about it," Alba stated.
"Right, just what was that protecting him? It's clear that it isn't something the mages had, and when I was struck by that thing… the power coming from it, it felt more like it was a type of Qi," Reno rubbed the center of his chest.
Out of every attack that had occurred, out of everything they had faced. The thing that was most fearful for him was still the invisible force that had taken him out.
The power, although wasn't strong that was used, when touched it felt extremely powerful.
"If it's not something he is aware of, isn't there more reason to tell him?" Reno repeated. "You talked about being family, isn't it something that you would mention to us if it happened to us?"
"You're right," Alba replied. "I guess I was just a little frustrated. I thought we had reached somewhere in this world, you know."
"Climbed to the top, or at least close to it, and then I learn there's so many things that we don't know, and it feels like we're passing one of those things onto the Dark Magus."
After searching the area for a while, they had eventually all returned to where the Dark Magus was. When they showed him what they had found, Raze actually told them all what the items do and how to activate them.
That's when Raze looked at the item that Alba had given him.
"This is probably the best of the lot. It's a fifty-fifty chance on whether or not it will block an attack; it's a mythical level item," Raze explained and handed it back.
"All you need to do is flip it, even if you try to force an outcome it will flip itself, and depending on if it lands on heads it will block the attack.
"Be careful though, the timing of flipping the coin needs to be carefully adjusted. Mages would still be able to attack you while the coin is being flipped."
Raze said, giving it back, as he was moving to the magic circle on the floor.
"Wait, you're just giving it to me, don't you want to keep it?" Alba asked.
"You found it, and you helped me. You deserve the rewards here, and besides, there are better items than that in the world."
"I have to focus on increasing my strength and use items as a last resort. If I rely on items now it will only make me weaker. If I get as strong as I possibly can and then enhance myself with items, then I'm sure there will be no one that can stop me," Raze explained.
The hunger they were used to, it was back, and it was then that Alba had decided to speak up.
"There is one more thing I wanted to speak to you about," Alba said. "It was something that happened while we were attacked."
Alba and the rest of the Crimson Crane went on to explain what they had seen. Detailing what had happened to the mages, and Reno had even gone to talk about his own experience as well.
They thought Raze might have been surprised, and although he was initially, it was almost as if he had an idea of what it was.
"Did any of you see what this figure looked like, this ghost?" Raze asked.
The members shook their heads.
"No one could see it, not even the other mages, but there was one thing, I guess," Reno explained. "The voice I heard, it was soft-spoken, almost whispery."
"Every time I think about it, I get this strange cold feeling in my body, but it was definitely a female's voice."
Although there weren't a lot of details to go by Raze was sure of it, it could only be the bloody women he had seen a few times and Safa was able to see herself.
'I guess it's still around then.'
"Don't worry about it for now, it's something I have to deal with," Raze thought, letting out a big sigh.
The Pagna warriors, the Bonum Society, Alter, Alterian, The Pagna Academy, and the Dark Faction founder himself, there were so many things that he had to deal with.
Including the mysterious person that was attached to him along with the death of his current family and why they were being targeted.
There looked to be a lot he needed to go through just for him to get to the Grand Magus that he was trying to deal with.
"I have to tackle them one at a time," Raze said as he activated his dark magic, opening up the portal in front of them. "For now though, I need to deal with Alter, and getting to them."
"I wonder what the Grand Magus's reaction will be, once they find out Eston's dead, and if they decide to make a move themselves."
Pagna, the center of multiple worlds colliding. There wasn't just Alterian and Pagna to worry about, but more people were soon getting involved and stepping into the world of Alter fully, Raze would get closer to knowing the truth.
