The sun had began dipping below the horizon by the time Juruno had returned to Merval. Night was approaching and the third moon had began to make its appearance in the sky. Juruno sat at the lower end of a mountain not far above its base. It was one of several mountains that surrounded a valley below. Within this valley was a danger zone the Vaeverons normally used for training and at the moment there were several fledgling voyagers occupying the danger zones, training under the supervision of an instructor.

Juruno had come out to this area to sort everything that was going through his mind since he'd received orders from Quilofer. He'd also come here to look through the list of candidates that he'd received. The background noise from the voyagers training below served as a distraction from his anxiety filled thoughts and ironically allowed him concentrate on his assessment. He looked through each and every profile checking their known battle capabilities, history, observed personality, current status and last known location. There were about twenty profiles and as he went through them he made a mental list of profiles in order of potential to be recruited based on criteria he had in mind. He didn't have it in mind to make a large team, four additional members to join himself and the other two would be ideal.

As he got to the end of the profiles he came across a familiar name and his eyes widened in surprise. He didn't expect to see this name among Stygian's candidates. He paid a special attention to this profile and laughed to himself while reading through.

The sound of his laughter attracted the attention of the instructor below and she looked up and called out to him "Juruno!"

Juruno shifted his gaze from his gauntlet to the valley below to see who had called for him. The training instructor was waving at him and he jumped down to see what for.

"Do you need anything, Li?" asked Juruno as he approached the edge of the danger zone. Li was a woman of average height, she had long wavy hair coloured brown, dark eyes and looked no more than twenty.

"Nothing really, just wondering if our prospect clan head would like to show these ones a thing or two. They wouldn't stop mumbling among themselves since they noticed you up there."

He looked past Li at her students standing behind her. They were all young, no one above sixteen and the lower end of their age range went as low as ten. They all had their eyes on him, expectation and awe written on their faces like they had just met a celebrity.

"I'd be glad to." replied Juruno to the excitement of the students. They were all very exhausted and he'd just saved them a lot of work.

Juruno walked past the children and stepped into the danger zone. He immediately felt that familiar malicious energy most danger zones had but his experience left him unfazed by it. Not only that but it wasn't a danger zone tiered high enough to bother him, it was only a tier six zone and he was quite familiar with this one.

This zone had a dampening effect that dropped the speed of whoever stepped into it. The valley floor was rent and cracked in many places from the previous battle and was also riddled with large holes. Scattered through out the zone were the corpses of very large, worm-like creatures. They averaged around forty meters in length and about three and a half meters in diameter. The entire length of them was covered in very hard, dry scales and their heads featured large pincers. These were the beasts of the zone known as Feridas.

The air was still, not even the slightest sound could be heard within the danger zone. It seemed as though no other living thing but Juruno was inside of the zone but he knew better. Beneath the valley ground were those worm-like beasts burrowing through the earth, masking their presence all the while. They wouldn't resurface till they got right below their target and attacked them unawares. If your sensory abilities weren't good enough to detect the Feridas the best course of action was to keep moving. But Juruno was far beyond the level of these beasts and could easily end the battle in the blink of an eye. However he decided to take it slow for the sake of the students watching him from behind.

He paused for a moment and in an instant he was able to tell the precise location of every Ferida in the zone. One of them was already nearby heading straight for him. Juruno didn't give it a chance and attacked first. He stomped his foot hard on the earth and the ground exploded revealing the creature below. It uttered a piercing shriek before raising the upper half of its body to attack. It swooped down at blinding speed with its pincers aimed directly at Juruno but he was much faster, easily dodging the attack end returned a punch of his own. The blow effortlessly sent the creatures head flying leaving its dying body to flail about aimlessly. After Juruno killed the first one, the rest of the creatures emerged from the ground.

In a short few seconds Juruno had breezed through every Ferida granting each of them a swift death. He turned around to face his audience and all of them were cheering now which got a little smile from him. This little battle had given him a bit of relief.

Not wasting any more time he left the danger zone and the valley entirely.

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"One more game!"

"Haha, that's why I like ya Ren, never back down from a game but things ain't looking good for ya."

"I'm winning this round for sure, just you watch."

"He's got the spirit."

There were five of them including Ren himself sitting around a poker table waiting for the dealer to deal another round of cards. They'd been playing through the night and things weren't looking so good for Ren so far, he'd been on a losing streak. But he he oddly didn't feel bothered yet and he couldn't tell if he just felt lucky enough that things would go his way eventually or it was due to the fact he was drunk. The dealer dealt another round of five cards each.

After the cards were dealt Ren picked up his and looked through it. Once again he'd been given a bad hand. He looked up to observe the other players, trying to read their expressions. The man opposite him picked up his card checked to see who was watching and began fiddling with his sleeve. No one but Ren seemed to notice.

"That guy's hiding cards." said Ren

"What?" the man asked

"Yeah, I saw you."

"I didn't-"

Before he could complete his sentence Ren leapt onto the table and landed right in front of him, scattering all the chips on the table.

"Damn you, Ren, you ruined the game." said one of them, but Ren wasn't listening and looked the other man menacingly in the eye. The man cowers in fear but a voice comes from behind which makes Ren turn.

"Hey, you!"

"Huh?" said Ren.

"You're out of here!"

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"Let me iiiiiinnnnn." pleaded Ren. He'd been kicked out for ruining a game which he felt was just too much punishment. He didn't even get the chance to get back the money he lost. After an hour of fruitless begging he gave up and sat on the floor in front of casino's entrance. He was too drunk to find his way out of here, if the casino owners wanted him out then they'd better be ready to hurl him.

Ren sensed someone approaching and looked in that direction. It was a bit dark beyond the casino but he could make out the person's figure. A person with dark hair and blue eyes. He wasn't sure if it was real or he was seeing things so he called out.

"Juruno is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me." replied Juruno.

"Are you sure? My imagination would probably tell me the same thing." said Ren.

"Are you drunk?" asked Juruno.

"Heh, maybe."

"That's a crime." said Juruno.

"You can't arrest me, you're not even real." replied Ren.

Juruno walks over to him, puts one of Ren's arms over his neck and lifts him off the ground.

"Oh, it's really you, Juruno. Tell these guys to let me in, they took all my money."

"No, we're leaving here." said Juruno.

"Alright." Ren agrees and they leave the casino and the city area entirely.

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Juruno dragged Ren all the way out to the edge of a cliff and set him on the ground. Ren spent the next few hours going from tame to laughing hysterically and occasionally whining about the money he’d lost.

Ren was a long time friend of Juruno's, he'd met him on Merval about a decade ago when he was sent down to make arrests on rowdy voyagers in a public areas. Ren had begged Juruno to cut him some slack and he eventually agreed to it. Since then they met many times to hangout, one of the very few people Juruno could do that with.

After a while Ren eventually went silent, the effects had begun to fade.

"I'm better now, thanks." said Ren. He gets off the the ground, looks around and picks up a sizeable rock and drops it opposite Juruno then sits down.

"So what'd you come find me for, Juruno? Miss my face?" Ren joked.

"I wish it was that trivial." Juruno replied.

Ren observed his friend's expression, his eyebrows were furrowed and worry that he tried to hide was written on it. Juruno was usually bothered but this was more than the usual.

"Let's hear it." said Ren.

Juruno elaborates most things surrounding his orders to Ren but leaves out the details of the mission and any sensitive information. Ren listens and when Juruno was done he reclined his back and breathed a sigh.

"You're telling me, Quilofer himself asked for you to head a team in Stygian."

"Yes." replied Juruno.

"That explains your face." said Ren.

"Will you join my team?" asked Juruno finally.

Ren thought about Juruno's request before giving an answer "I'll pass, anything Stygian sounds dangerous."

Juruno was a bit disappointed but it was ok. He would've have loved having someone he was familiar with but he'd have to make a new pick.

After giving his reply, Ren began making taps on his gauntlet then his face suddenly went pale. He stared wide-eyed at the device's screen in utter disbelief.

"Juruno..... How much does it pay?" asked Ren in a low voice.

"It's Centros, what do you think?"

"Then I'd be glad to join you, boss." said Ren with renewed enthusiasm and Juruno began laughing at his sudden change in reply.

"Why are you laughing? I'm not broke, I just like money." claimed Ren.

"I agree." said Juruno.

"Alright, as long as you know I'm well off." said Ren. "So what next?"

"To the next recruit." replied Juruno.