Since arriving in this world and learning about Twin Energy cultivation, Kira had come to enjoy reading and had developed a deep respect for authors who took the time to share the knowledge they'd gained with the world.

After her duel against the nobles with Nanase and Akane, Kira realised that they’d won mainly due to a few simple tactics and focusing most of the attention onto herself, leaving the other two in one-versus-one situations where possible. Realising that her knowledge of group battles was lacking, she'd gone to the library to learn what she could. There, she found that there was a lot more depth to battles involving multiple cultivators than she’d expected.

Simply to determine the formation of a group of weapon cultivators, you first had to understand what the scrolls referred to as battle types. They listed classifications based on a person's strengths and specialities in a fight:

"Power Types specialise in overwhelming enemies with raw strength, whether through hard-hitting Skills or physical strength.

Speed Types rely on quick movements to avoid attacks and strike the enemy’s weak points.

Tech, or Technique, Types aren’t particularly inclined to speed or power but use technical skill and varied attack patterns overcome enemies. They are known to be flexible and able to adapt to many different situations.

Control Types use weapon techniques and Skills to control the battlefield, assisting allies and hindering enemies.

Lastly, Defence Types use their defensive Skills and their tough bodies to protect their allies."

There were more types detailed in the library’s scrolls that were either sub-types of the five Core Types or very rare types that only appeared every thousand years.

This information forced Kira to think critically about her own abilities as well as that of her friends. She tried to be honest with herself. Between her mixture of long-ranged and close-ranged Skills, as well as her Takanashi Style sword techniques and extremely rare ability to create Skills, she was certain that she would be classified as a Tech Type.

Nanase and Akane she had personally fought alongside and thought that Nanase, with her sash that could restrict enemies’ movements, was likely a Control Type while Akane, with her ability to quickly approach unsuspecting enemies and burst power, should be a Speed Type. Senji, with his acrobatics and inability to remain still, would surprise her if he wasn't a Speed Type.

As for Usagi, Kira wasn’t sure. She’d never seen the lively girl fight nor seen her weapon. This second point wasn’t much of a surprise as most, if not all, nobles kept their weapons in their personal Storage Crystals. The fact that Usagi chose Blacksmithing as her Discipline made Kira inclined to categorise her as a Power Type, for now anyway.

That meant that their group consisted of one Power Type, two Speed Types, one Control Type and one Tech type. With this composition, Kira arranged the group around Nanase so that Nanase could assist no matter which side they were attacked from. Having Usagi, as the Power Type, in front was to block frontal attacks while Kira was at the rear both to guard it and better assess the overall situation should they be attacked again.

As they were still near the edge of the forest and in a group, most of the Soul Beasts ignored them while most of the hostile ones weren't strong enough to take on the entire group and left them alone. At one point they heard a crashing through the underbrush and took up defensive positions. However, whatever it was, was in too much of a hurry to notice them. After a few hours, they heard a rumbling sound.

“Is that…”

“Let’s pick up the pace.”

“Captain! Code Violet!”

“Details.”

“Sir, it’s a Scarlet Valkyrie Eagle…*huff huff*…from the Middle Ring.”

“At ease. I’ll personally lead defence and scouting squads to evacuate anyone still inside.”

The soldier looked relieved while the Captain still had a dark look on his face.

‘If those kids die on my watch, the Academy will make sure I never work again...or worse.’

After winding between a few more trees, Kira's group walked out into a wide open space. Right in front of them, a large lake shone like a giant mirror laid flat on the ground. The ripples from a light breeze reflected the sunlight and drew thin strings of silver on the surface of the mirror. At the far end of the lake was the source of the rumbling. A majestic waterfall crashed down onto the otherwise perfect surface of the lake, it’s raw power a stark contrast to the peacefulness of the lake.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah, no denying that.”

“Mm…”

KREEEEEA!

The group was snapped out of their reverie by a screeching caw. They quickly took up their positions, weapons at the ready. In the sky, a black shape was circling the area.

“What is that?”

“I don’t know, but isn’t something weird?”

“What is it?”

Senji gestured towards the lake and everyone looked,

“I mean, this is probably the only drinkable water in the area. So where are all the Soul Beasts?”

Kira shivered. They’d been careful enough that they wouldn’t have startled any Soul Beasts when they’d arrived. But the lake was completely deserted. That could only mean one thing:

‘The Soul Beast up there is far stronger than anything else in this area!’

“Everyone, run!”

KREEEEA!

But it was a little too late. As the shape dove from the sky towards them, its shape became clearer. It was a large bird with bright red plumage and two pairs of powerful wings. Around the edge of its face were golden feathers that, along with its golden crest, resembled a majestic helmet. It would’ve been a sight to behold had it not been screeching angrily, its wings glowing brightly with a red aura.

Despite Kira’s earlier shout, when they saw the beauty of the Soul Beast, they were all temporarily mesmerised. Kira was the first to recover and feel the gravity of the situation.

“Usagi!”

Her second shout was enough to snap everyone back to reality. They took up their battle positions, Usagi punching her fists together as a pinkish-red light glowed on her chest. More of the light coated her arms before solidifying into a pair of smooth metal gauntlets.

“Back off, birdie.”

Usagi growled, raising her arms up in an x-shape as her pupils flashed gold.

‘Cross-guard.’

The scarlet bird dove towards Usagi with great speed. Up close, it was much larger than they expected, with a four metre wingspan. As its razor-sharp talons hit Usagi's gauntlets, the metal screeched loudly. Usagi gritted her teeth and bent her knees as she withstood the impact using her Skill, a tiny rivulet of blood running down the corner of her mouth. However, the entire group was still assaulted by a burning heat that emanated from the bird’s glowing wings.

If it was possible for a Soul Beast to look surprised, the scarlet bird did when its attack was blocked. With a cry, the bird retreated two metres before flapping its wings vigorously. Kira’s group shrank back as they were buffeted by wave after wave of intense heat that blew over them.

“I recognise this Soul Beast now. It’s a Scarlet Valkyrie Eagle. They’re born with strength already at the Core Rank and from its golden feathers, it should already be at the Soul Spirit rank.”

Kira realised and informed the others.

“So, what should we do?”

“We can try our combined strength against it first. Together, we may be able to defeat it. Usagi, can you cover us? Senji, Akane, let’s go.”

“Alright. C’mon birdie, let’s see if ya can handle this.”

Usagi pushed against the heatwaves, which felt almost physical, and raised her left palm while her right hand curled into a fist at her hip.

“Yah!”

Her pupils flashed gold as she punched forwards, releasing her Skill. Pinkish-red light exploded out from her fist towards the eagle but faded quickly, scattering the current barrage of heatwaves and giving everyone a temporary reprieve from the pressure. In that time, Akane vanished off to the side while Senji started spinning his chakrams. Meanwhile, Kira’s Skill was already prepared.

‘Wind Rending: Storm.’

Before the heatwaves could affect her attack, Kira slashed out and split the energy blade, its shards hovering in a sphere around the eagle. As the energy blades settled into position, two blurs of silver-grey, Senji’s chakrams, sliced through the air straight towards the eagle. When the chakrams were about to hit, Kira converged her energy blades on their target. Behind the eagle, a black figure appeared, the dagger in her hand trailing blood-red light.

Sensing danger, the Scarlet Valkyrie Eagle screeched and covered itself with its wings, forming a scarlet sphere that hovered mysteriously in the air. When Kira’s energy blades came into contact with the red energy emitted from the eagle’s wings, they dissipated, melted away by the intense red energy. Meanwhile, the two physical attacks made metallic clanging sounds as they ricocheted off the eagle’s sturdy wings.

‘A Valkyrie Eagle’s wings are really formidable.’

Kira thought before almost getting knocked off her feet by the sudden shockwave as the eagle stretched out its wings again. It was then that Kira realised that they should prioritisesurviving.

“Everyone, to the waterfall!”

Kira shouted while positioning herself to intercept the eagle. The eagle sized her up and, considering Kira to be an easier target than Usagi, rose up a dozen metres in the air and dove at her, beak-first. However, Kira was already prepared, her pupils flashing gold as she leapt up into the air to meet the eagle’s attack.

‘Rejection.’

Angling her body and blade forward, she released her Skill in such a way that she avoided the direct line of the eagle’s attack while simultaneously pushing it towards the ground. The resulting force of her Skill also pushed her closer to the lake. Flipping through the air, Kira landed on her feet and ran towards the lake.

Not expecting Kira to respond with such a fearless move, the eagle flapped its wings to stabilise itself to avoid crashing into the ground. After righting itself, it turned its attention back towards Kira, who had by now dived into the lake after her friends.

Screeching in anger at these humans who were clearly weaker than it was, but who’d managed to give it such trouble, the eagle took off at full speed towards the lake, singeing the plants in its path with the heat coming off its wings. As a fire-attributed Soul Beast, the Scarlet Valkyrie Eagle wasn’t too fond of water but it wouldn’t let a mere lake stand between it and the prey that had infuriated it so.

When Kira breached the surface of the water for air, she used the time to check on the eagle’s position. At first, she didn’t see it and hoped it had left, but a shadow above her caused her to dive down instinctively. As she did so, several arrows of flame pierced into the lake around her, causing the water around them to froth as it was instantly brought to a boil. The flame arrows weren’t washed away immediately, but instead writhed in the water for a few seconds before fizzling out.

Kira considered herself lucky that she wasn’t hit by any of the arrows but, as she looked around her, countless arrows were raining down into the lake causing its temperature to steadily rise.

‘So this is the strength and intelligence of a Soul Spirit-ranked Soul Beast. It’s trying to force us out of the lake rather than fighting somewhere disadvantageous to it.’

Kira thought with admiration and a touch of fear. The sheer quantity of flame arrows was already a clear sign of the difference in Soul Energy rank. Not only that, but the power of each individual arrow, especially in terms of elemental purity, shown by its ability to boil the water around it immediately, was astonishing. On a scale of one to ten, if Kira’s Wind Rending could be said to have an elemental purity of two, then the flame arrows were at least a seven.

With her Life Energy cultivation at the Muscle Tempering rank, Kira had just crossed the middle of the lake by the time the temperature of the lake started becoming uncomfortable. Kira could see her friends ahead of her in the water. They were nearing the waterfall.

With its keen eyesight, the Scarlet Valkyrie Eagle also noticed this and focused its attack towards the distant half of the lake. Even though it was a Soul Spirit-ranked Soul Beast, it couldn’t maintain that kind of powerful, large-scale attack for too long. So even though it narrowed its attack area, the density of arrows remained the same as it conserved its energy.

Kira was now beginning to feel the pain of the burning heat of the water against her skin, so much so that she had to close her eyes and continue swimming blindly. Her lungs were also burning up for lack of air as she didn’t dare breach with the risk of taking a flame arrow head-on.

Eventually, the water cooled slightly while at the same time a heavy force from above knocked her down a few metres deeper into the lake, forcing out what meagre breath she had left and almost knocking her out.

‘That must be the waterfall. Now where are the others? And the shore?’

Kira kept going, her limbs moving more on instinct even as her consciousness wavered. As she was about to give in to the comforting void, she felt something soft between her fingers and grabbed at it with as much strength as she could muster.

Splash!

“*cough cough*”

“Kira! Are you okay?”

Kira coughed up the water she’d swallowed before spending the next minute taking deep breaths of clean air. She finally opened her eyes and saw her friends around her with looks of concern on their faces.

“I’m…alright. Where are we?”

As Kira’s mind became clearer, she became more aware of her surroundings, including the sound of the waterfall.

“It is a cavern behind the waterfall. The Scarlet Valkyrie Eagle attempted to attack us but its attacks couldn’t get through the rushing water. More importantly, Classmate Kira, you were too reckless. That’s a Soul Spirit-ranked Soul Beast! We couldn’t injure it together yet you attempted to hold it off alone. You could have died!”

Nanase’s voice was choked with emotion, her earlier relief at Kira being unharmed giving way to the anxiety she must’ve felt when she realised that Kira wasn’t right behind them.

“I’m sorry caused you to worry. I was giving you all an opportunity to escape.”

“And imagine how that’d make us feel if ya messed up, dummy.”

Kira was bewildered. In her old life, dying to protect one’s family and clan was considered a great honour, a noble way to die. What did Usagi mean by considering their feelings? At that moment, Akane tugged at her sleeve.

“If Big Sis Kira…died…I’d be very sad.”

“Not just that, we’d feel responsible for it happening. It’s something we’d have to live with. Dead people can’t come back to life, y’know?”

Akane and Senji gave their sentiments and Kira began to understand. There was something more about what it meant to be friends with someone, that her life wasn’t exclusively her own anymore, but not in a bad way. There were others that willingly valued her life perhaps even more than she did. She sat up only to place her forehead on the ground in front of them.

“I sincerely apologise to all of you. I didn’t consider all the effects my actions would have on those around me, nor that you all value me so highly.”

“It’s not that we ‘value’ you, exactly. More like, we’re your friends and we want you with us for as long as possible. It sounds kinda selfish when I say it like that but it’s the truth.”

Senji said in a serious tone that none of them would usually associate with him. Kira felt her heart thaw a bit more, her regret at not being able to save her Takanashi Clan melting a bit further, but before she could say anything else…

Kroooo.

Kira rose up, turned and reached for her katana instinctively, but it wasn’t there and she remembered that she’d returned it to her Storage Crystal before diving into the lake. The others didn’t miss this movement, however, and Nanase, who was regaining her composure, placed a hand on Kira’s chest and shook her head.

“Don’t be alarmed. They appear to be friendly.”

‘Appear to be’ ordinarily wouldn’t be enough for Kira but she trusted Nanase and didn’t take action although she kept her Twin Energies circulating and was ready to retrieve her katana at any time. Nanase moved and Kira got a clear view of the source of the sound.

At first, she thought that she was looking at a rock formation, until it blinked at her. Yes, blinked. It was then that she started to make out a head, a stocky body, four stubby legs and a short tail. Once she figured this out, she realised that there wasn’t just one, but many of them, from the size of small animals to ones that almost reached the roof of the cavern which, while not the highest, was still several metres high.

On the backs of the rock creatures, however, was what really drew your eye. Sparkling crystals, some of them over a metre in length, had a deep lustre that refracted the light around the cavern in a kaleidoscope of colours. There could be no mistake. These were the Gem-Studded Armourdillos they had been looking for.

However, Kira noticed that they were all huddled towards the back of the cavern and every time the Scarlet Valkyrie Eagle outside cried, they trembled a bit.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to get the crystal from them like this. They’ll just gang up on us.”

Senji observed. Nanase was quiet for a moment before speaking.

“I may be mistaken, but Soul Beasts with higher cultivation can understand human speech, correct?”

Nanase asked tentatively. Kira nodded in agreement.

“I’ve read the same. It’s risky though. If they see us as a threat, we’ll be caught between them and the eagle outside. Perhaps I should go alone-”

“No! That is, we are a team now. We shall attempt this endeavour together.”

Nanase replied firmly, clenching her fist, before looking towards the others. Usagi gave a big smile and two thumbs up. Senji, who was doing a handstand, nodded with difficulty before righting himself. Akane responded by leaning against Kira’s back with hers and resting her head between Kira's shoulderblades. Kira shook her head in exasperation, letting a smile creep through.

‘So this is friendship. It’s…warm.’