"Pack your things, we've a long road ahead." Youmu said, bringing back her white curls before she then strapped a giant leather bag behind her back. The scabbard by her side complemented her attire with the sleeveless garb she had on, the perfect look of mercenary branded to her silhouette.

Mat stared at the bags. The girls did say they were bags, but to him, they looked more or less like heavy cabinets. It was extremely surprising how Youmu could lift such a thing.

"What's wrong?" Nian grinned, packing a giant bag to her back with a bow and quiver. "Just be honest and tell us if you can't handle it, your body might just break in half."

Mat hated to admit it, but it really was true. He wasn't really into working out and physical fitness back on Earth. That, and coupled with his Latino skin, he looked like a stick waiting to be bent and broken. Mat tried to lift a bag, but he couldn't even move the damn thing.

But the catch here was, he didn't need to. He whistled for Amigo.

After a short order, the wolf grabbed the bag and brought it to his back. Mat then followed, riding the wolf's back like a packhorse. "As they say back in my place: work smarter, not harder."

"That's not smart, that's just plain lazy."

The group started on their journey. Passing through the forest underbrush, they now found themselves on open grasslands with oceans of grass swaying with the breeze.

Mat turned back, feeling himself nostalgic. It was just for a few days, but leaving the forest and prairie behind was a sad feeling, almost like leaving his hometown. That said, he wasn't about to stay behind all alone again.

The girls lead the way on foot, while Mat was sitting comfortably atop Amigo. He did invite them atop the giant wolf, but the girls denied his offer. They said it was for strength and endurance training.

It was still a long road ahead, with no city nor town by hundreds of miles around, having only the sun, clouds, and grassland around to keep them company.

The only reason why the girls were out here in the first place was that they needed to take care of a dungeon break nearby, a mission sent to them by the Alliance.

According to Nian, a dungeon break naturally occurs when a dungeon isn't cleared of its monsters after a set amount of time, with the monsters inside pouring out into the world. This would cause massive ecological damages to wildlife nearby, and after some time they might even wander into populated towns and cities.

Dungeons spawn randomly around the world- portals to an unknown place. These dungeons are constructs structured like mazes, containing monsters of all shapes and sizes and colors. Although the terms monsters and beasts are used interchangeably by the masses, there is a significant difference between them.

Amigo is a beast. He isn't a monster simply because he is an animal born from natural phenomena. Monsters are monsters because they are born from mana. Another difference between beasts and monsters was that the former lived in the natural world, while the latter only lived inside dungeons.

Monsters are also significantly more aggressive.

Now, dungeons aren't all bad. Aside from the monsters, inside each dungeon is another portal that leads to another world. All you have to do is find the portal, and you'd find yourself in another world completely different from Suna. In a way, dungeons are the bridges that connect the thousand worlds together, a fundamental of cross-world travel.

"It's hot." Nian said in front, her face steamy with sweat.

Mat woke up from his mind-wandering, feeling the burn of the sun sizzling his skin. It was hot with the sun high at its zenith. Suna's climate was very strange compared to Earth. Just a few days ago rain was falling nonstop, cold as ice. Now the place was more or less an arid desert.

Mat burned through his water pouch, relishing every single drop. There was only little left inside which left him worrying, though once a patch of clouds covered the sun he sighed a deep relief. He didn't know how long he could last anymore under the scorching heat.

Nian then jumped to Mat from below, unstrapping the bag behind her before sitting beside him above the giant wolf.

"I thought you guys were training."

Nian nudged a fist to Mat's side. "It's fine to rest once in a while. Besides, I finally get to ride Amigo."

They made small talk as they continued on through the arid grasslands, all the while the two down below trudged onwards on their own two feet. They didn't look like they minded it though, acting like this was an everyday thing for them- especially Ruan, the lady looked like she was strolling in the park.

"Hey Mat."

"Yeah?"

"Can you show me your magic?" Nian pointed to the light floating beside him.

"Sure." Mat turned his gaze left and right as if he was looking for something. "But I need a body or something to work with."

Nian then turned her head up as if she was scouring the sky. Her rabbit ears were turning like sonars, swiveling left and right and up and down which was pretty funny. She then turned to a distance, unstrapping her bow and taking an arrow from her quiver. She knocked it to the bow, and before Mat knew it an arrow whizzed through the air.

Nian beamed a smile before standing up. She then jumped down to the ground before dashing like the wind towards the direction of the arrow. She was fast- faster than a horse, a cheetah- even faster than a bike. She returned shortly after, bringing with her a dead black hawk by her side.

Kite Eagle (F) [Beast]

An eagle with a wingspan thrice the size of other eagles. These birds can stay airborne for long periods and have really great eyesight.

"Would this do?" Nian jumped back atop.

"Uhm, yeah." Mat was awestruck. What she did just now wasn't human. Of course, she wasn't human in the first place, but his logic still applied here. This was a fantasy world though, and the world was under no obligation to surrender to his own expectations of what is and isn't possible.

Mat took from Nian the bird. He laid it in front of him, seeing the green orb coalescing above the body. He then absorbed the green light from the orb into his hand. Afterwards, he transferred the light from it to his other hand, making a bridge of some sort. Once all the light settled into his other hand, he then willed the light to coalesce into a ghostly green form in front, taking the shape of the Kite Eagle.

The ghost eagle opened its eyes before flapping its giant wings once before twice, the gust of wind almost sending Mat toppling over himself.

"Wow." Nian caressed the bird's head with her index, her face drawn with a sense of wonder. "Eclipse mana really is something else."

"What does that mean?" Mat said, holding out his arm for the bird to latch onto.

"Eclipse mana is very rare, but it's the most versatile out of all mana types." Nian flashed a grin. "Gosh Mat, you have this very rare mana but you don't even know elementary fundamentals."

"As far as I'm aware, they didn't teach this back in elementary school."

"What world were you in that schools didn't teach you basic magic?"

"I wonder about that too sometimes."