Kyrion looked at the sky noting how dark it was that night as an overcast hid the stars. His hair and eyes once again shifted to match the hue of Rion. His shirt vanished as fire orbited around his body in rings.

Ander watched the scene with curiosity as he had never seen the red-haired man do this in person. It was something he tended to either prepare beforehand or in secret.

That was when Rion figured out the answer to his dilemma. Withdrawing a black seed with double helix patterns covering it he placed it into the ground with a small amount of mana containing only his water and wind affinities. After feeding the seed for a few minutes he pulls a somewhat familiar bald head from the ground.

“What is that!?” Ander jumped back panicked as the head looked at him with blue eyes but held no life.

“I’m growing a doppleganger body one that is more adaptable than usual and will last a bit longer. I’m growing it here so that Karl doesn’t memorize the form and set it as the default.” Kyrion said as he ran his hands around the creature's head creating a short tuff of black hair. Placing a hand on the clone's face he erased the mole and began to adjust the bones and jawline until they no longer resembled his own. From there he pulled the noticeably shorter body from the ground. Finally, he placed his hand on the creature's spine and caused it to increase in size from 3 feet to 5 and a half.

Ander began to growl for some odd reason.

"Did you just manipulate it’s height? Is that something you can do to people?" Ander asked calmly.

Kyrion was instantly on edge as he sensed that he may need to choose his words carefully.

"Not quite. This is a humanoid replica of a body that doesn’t follow the usual rules. Long story short, I can make this replica up to the complexity of my knowledge of human anatomy. I am very knowledgeable of that subject, so my dopplegangers are indiscernable for most scruteny down to their cores. Modifing limb length is simple for them but hurts alot when done to a human and may prove detrimental. There isn't a soul in these bodies until I put one in." Kyrion explained.

"I'm not scared of pain," Ander grumbled.

"You also need to gather enough mana into your body to reinforce the new growth." Kyrion added.

"Fine then. If I increase my mana you will give me my height back." Ander stated.

"I could attempt such an act." Kyrinon placed a hand on the body's forehead and put Kyrie into it.

Kyrie shot up did some stretching, and scowled. "This form is weak, If we run into trouble I won't be able to fight at my full potential."

"Are you sure you want to send someone weaker than you with Lin?"

"I mean. I'm pretty sure she killed me. She seems pretty strong on her own." Kyrion held the back of his neck as it still ached from the memory of the quick death-causing stunt, albeit that had to do with space mixing with time, magic as he suspected.

"Wait what? How are you here if she killed you?" Ander scowled.

"I got better clearly. Let's just say, her magic interacted with whatever keeps sending us back in time." Kyrion popped his neck and let out a deep breath.

"Ah. Time and space magic is said to create chaos when mixed." Ander squinted. "So I could kill you with no consequences."

"I mean. I'll be highly disappointed and may come back vindictive. I can be petty if I need to."

"Petty when it comes to your own life. That's lenient."

"I get the feeling that it won't be the last time I die before it sticks and I doubt it was the first." Kyrion nodded to Kyrie.

Kyrie shot up and looked about. "So you want me to keep and eye on Lin."

"Yes. Now get moving." Kyrion shooed the warrior away.

Kyrie left the dungeon and made his way to the inn. It was way too early to meet up with Lin, and in his current form, doing so would be dangerous.

"So now we just need to find that white haired kid. Who did he kill?" Ander asked.

"Umm.." Kyrion didn't know the answer to that question.

"You didn't ask?" Ander seemed mortified.

"Well, he had wild white hair and kept his eyes shut. Seemed to be around Bastion's height and age, whatever that is. Nine or less at least."

Ander scowled before drawing his spear. "We are in the land of elves, light hair colors are common here. Quite a few white-haired kids live here. Along with silver, blond, and other shades of light colors.

The duo's quarry sat atop an elven tree house and cleaned leaves from gutters which seemed to be a lesson of insanity. His eyes shut as he meticulously examined each leaf, deciding if they were to be kept or tossed away.

The duo arrived at the scene a bit later as the leaves seemingly hadn't changed, despite the collected piles the young boy had amassed. His fingers, covered in worn bandages, hadn't slowed him down. The boy even began whistling while he worked as though that would make things easier.

"What are we seeing?" Ander asked as he began to fly towards their target.

"I don't know. But I do have concerns, so let's go help him." Kyrion also began flying toward the boy.

The boy looked up at the two arriving practitioners and smirked so briefly one could have mistaken it as a facial tick as it turned into a full-blown smile.

Kyrion recognized that expression, but he couldn't recall where he had seen it.

Ander had seemingly unconsciously summoned his spear. Realizing he had done so, then sent it back to his core.

"H-hello there." The boy waved before looking at the leaves and sighing as Ander's flying blew them away while Rion's incinerated them.

"Whats wrong?" Ander asked.

"This is a training exercise to help expel my excess mana." The boy picked up a leaf, and Kyrion watched as mana infused it briefly before getting tossed at Ander.

Ander dodged the leaf as it landed in the area he had stood.

"What is the point of training like that?" Ander asked a question Kyrion had known the answer to.

"By letting your mana become one with the world around me, it expands my mana pool slightly and allows me to pull mana from the world easier. Haven't you learned about territory?" The boy looked at Ander before shaking his head. "Of course, you didn't."

"It is something usually taught to those with earth or nature-based affinities. Anyone can do so with effort, you'd just need a bit more for anything that tends to be flightly. Not like that would stop you."

"I see. Is that why you get stronger with prep time?" Ander asked.

"It's why I'm the captain. Don't you know? These muscles are a distraction. While in the top 10% of strength for a practitioner, I am a master of misdirection."

"Ok kid, we'll help you with your training chores for a bit. Kids shouldn't be out so late. Even if it's for training. Good rest will also make you stronger." Ander told the boy.

"Practice what you preach." Kyrion looked away briefly

"Thanks, new friend. Just need to finish a rep." The boy said to Ander before continuing to work just a little bit longer before he had seemingly vanished.

As it turned out, Ander was just as bad at staying on task as Kyrion, as they finished that house and found themselves doing odd jobs around the city.

Ander was currently blowing the dirt off of porches with wind mana. “I get the feeling we forgot something.”

“Must have not been important. I’m done weeding the garden. You?” K

“Just finished clearing the porches. Oh right, my training! How could you get distracted?” Ander seemed to remember suddenly.

“I got you distracted? No, you… wait. No, it was me. How can you not help someone in need? You're selfish.”

“I am in need! Of hardcore training.” Ander was exasperated.

"Wait... We had another reason to come here." Kyrion stated.

"Ah right, that kid from earlier. Well, he's probably asleep. We can track him down in the morning. Now let's train in that grove of yours.”

“So instead of coming here himself, he sent you in his place. Does he think me not as important?” Lin sat in the arena watching as Volain rammed his opponent through three walls before the wards saw it as enough force to end the fight.

“I didn’t consider that in the slightest. He just believes you’re really strong and needs no more protection given your bodyguards. I am here to be a witness to the tournament. I also have a better understanding of direct combat.”

“Right.” Lin sighed.

“Please don’t sigh. It hurts my fragile heart.” Kyrie hunched over before soundly going limp.

“Mr? Have you seen Mr.Rion anywhere?” A small boy with black hair and green eyes asked. His hand landed on Kyrie’s arm.

“Mr. Rion is busy at the moment,” Lin answered.

“Why is he always busy.” Bastion pouted before looking up. “Tell him he should be teaching us things, not running around and causing trouble. Those are the headmaster’s words.” Bastion then turned and began to walk away.

“I’m sure he’d be here next time.” Lin stated as she looked down at the twitching Kyrie.

“I don’t have any defense against mana drain. Which means he’s a dangerous foe in this body.” Kyrie sighed.d

“Is that so? He sure doesn’t look dangerous.”

Bastion had tripped over a loose floor tile and fell head-first onto the wood. The crash started a vendor and caused them to drop a tray of peanuts in panic as they rushed to help him.

A stay peanut flew down the throat of a cheering patron. The man began you cough repeatedly before panicking as his face began to swell and rashes formed on his body.

Bastion got back to his feet and seemingly sped up towards the booth arriving at the location ten minutes later a slight trail of mayhem followed as though bad luck seemed to trail behind him.

Kyrie looked between Bastion and Lin before scowling. “Huh, he’s an odd one.”

“Why does he seem familiar?” Lin muttered.

A black cat seemed to walk across Kyrie’s leg before looking at him for a long moment.

“Do you need something cat?” Kyrie asked.

The cat seeing enough turned and walked away disappearing from sight.

Kyrie and Lin continued to watch the next few matches as they gathered some information on today’s fights.

The four stood in a patch of forest that seemed to be a thicket as Kyrion looked about concerned. “Someone has been snooping around here.”

“Why do you say that?” Lin asked.

“Someone ended up close enough to my grove for my defensive measures to activate. As there is no blood I can assume they left soon after.” Kyrion muttered as he waved his hands and watched as trees moved away from the entrance forming a magic circle from their position.

Kyrion stepped into his grove and moved the layer of dirt and grass off of his entrance before opening up the doorway into his dungeon.

“I hate this part.” Ander muttered as he followed Kyrion into the windless realm of the underground. He’d have to mostly rely on his mana.

“So how’d your mission go?” Lin asked.

“Well for one, no one died. He managed to lay low after encountering us.” Kyrion stated.

“Maybe your encounter complicated things, and he decided to put off killing anyone.”

“That could be it. It also could have been an indirect murder and the boy is just really good at sneaking around. He had some of these on him.” Kyrion pulled out a sack of black pellets. “Don’t touch your eyes or mouth after handling these by the way. They are covered in a mixture that is meant to give people the runs when ingested and cause itchy eyes if they come in contact with eyes. This boy knows whats up, quite a few thieves out there.”

“When could you steal something from him?” Ander asked.

“I gots doctor hands my dead Ander.” Kyrion put his hand on Ander’s shoulder.

The green-haired boy knocked the hand away and Kyrion took a few steps back before he began to wave a green coin pouch back and forth the sound of jingling rampant. He then tossed the pouch back to Ander.

“Oh. Thats a talent I didn’t know you had. Is there anything you can’t do?”

“Carry a tune, dance with more than two people, I’m a horrible tactician, and even worse leader.”

“So Cecil’s running the show?”

“Pretty much. I was planning on just being the team medic.” Kyrion stopped at a doorway which he activated with his mana causing a pink doorway to form.

With a hop, he jumped through the doorway.

“How good of a healer is he?” Lin asked.

Kyrie was also interested as he had only experienced it through secondhand memories with limited access.

“He heals twice as well as he fights. Or is it better to say he fights in a way that will let him heal his opponent injuries or let them fully recover.”

“So he holds back.”

“It’s weird… He isn’t holding back it’s just the style he mastered is meant for subdueing rather than killing. Most of his techniques are nonlethal in nature I believe he expected less wards in this tournament.” Kyrie added.

“Partly.” Kyrion poked his head out of the doorway as he was tired of waiting. “I mainly use it for subdueing. My style is one that can be used for breaking if I used a little more strength. I just don’t have to kill often, outside of food. Now hurry up...” Kyrion felt a sharp pain in his neck the world went white.

“Why! Am I back here!” Kyrion grumbled as he found himself back in the pool. This time however he was able to climb out with his own power. Deciding to stretch his legs he ran towards the large serpent.

“Lost or fateless?” The serpent asked.

“I’m not dead right now. What are my options. Why do I keep ending up here when I’m not the one dying?”

“Oh its you again.” The serpent sighed. “Your mana is within the victim and their soul seems to be getting intercepted. I cannot say names but I do see the issue. With that person unable to die you are draged along with them when in a state of near death. I.e your head stuck between spatial magic leading to the world thinking your dead. As this is false you will get another free return. Don’t go dying on purpose.”

“I will no longer poke my head through portals for a free decapitation.”

“If I were to actually die before getting sent back in time would I be stuck here?”

“Your trip back won’t be free.”

“Ah well see you soon.” Kyrion said as the doorway appeared.

“I’d rather not. You are courting death.”

“Well hopefully she doesn’t get too tired of my advances.” Kyrion fell through the portal.