Kryse Shadowclaw bid farewell to his master Struk'tohr Nhin before he went to meet with the famous Iop, Djaycy Awooare. He walked a few miles north until he arrived at the Pastures - the part of Incarnam that always had lush green grasslands. This place was a treasure trove for herbivore monsters. In the distance, a lone building stood proud even though the passing of time had not done it justice. The building was a weapon shop with a table full of weapons and shields displayed out for the public view. Next to the worn out building was an Iop of average height with orange spiky hair and a brown pointed hat. He wore the standard Iop warrior uniform but instead of red and white, the uniform was of red and beige color. Standing next to him was a short and mysterious looking person. The person wore a blue hooded cloak that covered most of his face with white fur around the neck. Two white antenna-like feathers stuck at the top of the hood. The only visible features were the person's long nose and piercing eyes. As Djaycy conversed with this mysterious figure, he noticed Kryse approaching in the distance. He nodded towards the young Masqueraider and asked him if he needed something.

"Master Struk'tohr sent me to meet with you for some advice for my training." Kryse replied.

"That old man finally took on a disciple?" The mysterious figure questioned.

Kryse turned to look at the short hooded person curiously. He was just about to ask who the mysterious figure was when Djaycy introduced the person to him. "This here is the famous Joris Jurgen - Guardian of the Ivory and Ebony Dofus. We were just discussing some important business...not something a rookie adventurer like you would need to know. And you are...say what was your name again?"

"My name is Kryse Shadowclaw."

"Shadowclaw eh? Last I recall, that was a small family of Masqueraiders who worship Sadida."

"Yes we follow his Lordship, Sadida."

"I thought so. Anyways, you said that old Enutrof sent you? Hmm, so that means you have passed his first test of his tough training. Great! You seem to be on the right track. Well, for your next part of the training...I would need a symbol...made out of cloth that is. Got it?"

"Uh...what exactly do you need? I don't understand."

"You know! A symbol! For a flag. Now a symbol can't be a flag and a flag can't be a flag without a symbol. Do you get what I'm trying to say? No? What I mean is, you need something to sew this symbol onto the flag...you need something to sew the symbol onto...now do you understand?"

"Uh...."

"You must pardon Djaycy here. He may be a great warrior, but he's not much of a talker. What Djaycy meant to say is that he wants you to go get some materials to make the flag...preferably wool." Joris explained.

"Thanks Joris. Now do you understand?" Djaycy thanked Joris gratefully before directing his question to Kryse.

"Oh...yes I do."

"Good, then go get some. The beasts you should attack are those Gobballs grazing around in the Pastures. They're stronger than the low-leveled monsters you've been dealing with so far so be careful not to be ganged up on."

After Kryse accepted the next part of his training, he bid the two farewell and searched the vicinity for some Gobballs. Why Gobballs? Well, they're basically ball-like creatures with horns and a big clump of wool. Kryse searched around Djaycy's building for a while until he found a Little Gobball. Kryse charged towards the monster and attacked. Not giving the creature any time to realize what was going on, Kryse switched on the Martelo mask and heel-kicked the Little Gobball, knocking him down. The Little Gobball was fairly tough as it stood back up as quickly as it fell and managed to launch a counterattack. The little bastard rammed its horns into Kryse stomach, knocking the air out of him. He would have had a severe injury to the stomach had it not been for his quick reflexes in bringing the shield in his left hand up and protecting his stomach. Even so, Kryse gasped for a while and tried to regain his breath. He was amazed at how much strength the Little Gobball could deal and he silently vowed not to be hit by the attack again. After a few unsuccessful attempts, he finally regained his composure. He rolled to his left to dodge another incoming tackle and switched his Martelo mask with his Reinforcement mask. With a swipe, he knocked the Little Gobball back a couple of feet, stunning it. Kryse switched to his Bling mask and immediately teleported towards the stunned Little Gobball. With a swing of his sword, Kryse killed the monster. He, then, shaved the wool off of the monster's body.

"Is this enough? Hmm...just to be safe, let me take the wool from at least three more Gobballs." Kryse muttered as he pocketed the wool into his bag.

Kryse searched around the area for a few more minutes before moving farther away from the weapon shop. As he searched for more Gobballs to kill and take their wool, Djaycy and Joris were busy conversing with each other. There seemed to be some really important and terrible news Joris was telling Djaycy as the Iop furrowed his brows and a dark and unsightly expression appeared on his face.

Joris slipped a peek at Kryse while he was battling the Little Gobball and commented, "That young Masqueraider...Kryse Shadowclaw was it? He seemed to be a pretty skilled fighter."

"Huh? Yea, he's not bad for a Masqueraider. Too sane though in my opinion."

"Haha, insane Masqueraiders are the best allies...but sometimes a little sanity would be nice as well."

"True. So, why bring him up? Don't tell me you want to recruit him? He's just a rookie. He won't survive against the demon forces."

"I'm interested in this adventurer. He may prove to be useful. Maybe not now, but in the future, he will be a valuable asset in our expedition."

"Hmm...if you say so. Fine, I and my friends will try to train him as much as possible and prepare him for the expedition. Well, that is if he's interested in going."

"Why don't we ask him now? Look here he comes. My, that was quick for a mission given by the great Djaycy."

"Hmph! That was just a training exercise...child's play."

Kryse, having defeated three more Little Gobballs and acquired three more pieces of wool, returned to turn in the items to Djaycy. Kryse handed over the wool and replied, "Here's the wool you needed."

"You had successfully brought some wool back to me and doesn't it seem like you've brought back victory. That is because this wool is victory, get it? But even though I get the wool, the victory is yours to keep. Wool, well, the wool can be seen as victory but it doesn't contain victory, know what I mean? It's different. It's you that keeps the victory, you know? Even if I get to keep the wool. See?" Djaycy tried to explain.

"Um...."

"What the Iop is trying to say is that by defeating the Gobballs and obtaining the wool, you've essentially obtained victory. Victory is a sensation...a feeling and not something materialistic like the wool. The wool was an item acquired through victory and may be considered as part of victory, but it is not victory itself. So, even if you lose the items or sold it, you still get to keep that sensation of victory." Joris interjected as he provided a better explanation to the young Masqueraider.

"Oh, I see. Thank you for your explanation. Thank you Djaycy for your advice."

"No problem. It's good that you understand. Now, there's something I want to ask you."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Joris here is putting on an expedition sometime in the future and he wants you to be a part of it. The journey will be hard and it may even involve traveling to another dimension. Do you think you will be able to do it?"

"What's the expedition for?"

"That...." Djaycy looked at Joris who nodded his head as if to give permission for Djaycy to continue speaking, "Joris had found news that a true Dofus - the Zircon Dofus had been sent through space and time to another dimension far away from the Krosmoz. We need to go and retrieve the lost Dofus as soon as possible or the Demon God Rushu will get his hands on it. Both Rushu and I do not know where exactly the Dofus is located at but in a couple of months...maybe a year or so, we'll get the results. At that time, I need to gather a group of talented individuals from each race and send them to find and bring back the Zircon Dofus. You can bet that Rushu will send his own team of demons after it as well so this task will be dangeous. Are you interested?"

"Definitely. I'll train as much as possible and gain as much experience and knowledge from the masters of Incarnam."

"That's what I liked to hear. Well, time is of the essence, I'll be going. I need to send these news to the others. Farewell and I hope we meet again." Joris replied as he waved farewell.

As he left, Kryse looked the Iop and asked, "Who was that guy? How does he have so much influence for such an young age?"

"Do you want to know?"

"Yes please."

"Well, it all started when...."