Arc 1: The 1st Adventure (Part 2)

 For the next few days, Kaoru underwent training that involved expeditions into a place called Everforest, a vast jungle dotted with the ruins of an ancient civilization. The area was like a labyrinth, but Kaoru always found a way out, no matter how much she explored. One day, while gathering resources, she encountered a group of Velocipray ready to attack her. She noticed that one of them was larger, a Velocidrome, but this posed no challenge, and besides, it provided her with even more resources.

Back in Val Habar, Kaoru thanks the Caravaneer for all the help he offered during their time there. However, he tells Kaoru that the group will be going to a place where they can build a huge ship, as their plan is to search for something important: the origin of an artifact. Kaoru asks him about it, and the Caravaneer pulls the golden fragment from his hat. It had all started with that fragment... ever since he became fascinated by its color and shine, he embarked on a journey with the Blacksmith to find out more. They went through many incredible adventures and experiences, but they had no success in discovering its origins.

After hearing this, Kaoru considered the fragment more mysterious than it seemed and wanted to see more of it. It was then that the group began preparations to continue their journey, but they had something to take care of first.

Although everything was ready, a problem arose that worried the Caravaneer. Before starting the journey, he realized he was missing one more thing: he needed someone who could trade items and be in charge of acquiring valuables if necessary. Luckily, he found someone named "Whycoon" who offered to help with that. The Caravaneer was interested, but he also mentioned a problem: the route any merchant could use to trade had been blocked by a monster called Kecha Wacha, which had caused supply problems in Val Habar. So, they both asked Kao for help. she accepted with curiosity, as she had never heard of that monster. With everything in place, she began his first urgent quest.

After arriving in the area, Kao notices a strange creature climbing various branches around him. It was as agile as a monkey, and when it was in front of Kao, she realized that it was wearing a strange mask and looking for a fight, which Kao did not hesitate to do. That beast was already very troublesome, constantly attacking with water and blows that made Kao aggressive. After 20 minutes of fighting, Kecha felt tired and weak. Kao seized the opportunity to defeat it, but the beast just kept fleeing. She eventually found Kecha sleeping, resting peacefully. Kao didn't hesitate to attack, as the intense battle had frustrated her. Finally, a simple lapse in her vigilance allowed Kao to strike the beast, knocking it to the ground defeated. She felt satisfied with her hunt.

Back in Val Habar, the Whycoon thanked her profusely for resolving the issue and readily agreed to join the party. Kao realized the merchant was offering a good quantity of items, which could be useful for future quests. With the problem solved, the caravaneer told her that now that the merchant was in the party, they could begin their journey to Harth.

When the group arrived at the site, they noticed something was wrong. Every blacksmith there seemed to be in a bad mood. Apparently, a more serious problem had arisen than before, so they all went to talk to those present. It turned out that a monster called Tetsucabra was interrupting every excavation they were doing, and this beast was particularly aggressive. The blacksmiths didn't know what to do, as they didn't have much combat experience. Interestingly, amidst all this, there was a little girl named "Little Miss" who wanted to cheer things up but didn't know what to do, knowing that the Tetsucabra was being so troublesome. So she asked Kao to help her solve the problem. Kao hadn't been to this place before and didn't really know what to do, since she had never faced that monster. But given that the situation needed to be resolved as soon as possible, she had no choice but to accept and go defeat the beast.

Kao had arrived at the volcano area. It looked very active, although the only way to enter the area was by jumping into a huge hole in front of the volcano. It was a very deep hole, so she got ready and jumped in. For a moment she thought she was going to hurt herself or worse, but when she got to the bottom, she just tried to be strong when she hit the ground. Luckily, she didn't get hurt and was able to continue exploring the new place. She noticed there were several large spiderwebs and it didn't feel as warm as she had expected, knowing that she was very close to a volcano. But unexpectedly, two Jaggi ambushed her, and just as they were about to attack, a huge, horned, frog-like beast appeared. Kao realized it was the source of the problem, but the beast didn't hesitate to start the battle. Kao noticed that it was much more aggressive than Kecha, as it used many giant rocks, which meant she had to be very strategic. Although she received every attack that Tetsu made with those rocks, for several minutes Kao had to endure each attack. Each attack hurt, but she didn't give up. She knew she just had to withstand each attack to see where to strike, and luckily she began to memorize Tetsu's attack patterns, which made the battle somewhat easier.

The battle raged for over half an hour. Kao was already exhausted from it all, but Tetsu was also feeling drained. It wasn't until Tetsu was momentarily distracted by a Jaggi that Kao seized the opportunity to deliver a final attack, and Tetsu fell, completely defeated. Kao was astonished by the incredible stamina she had displayed throughout the brutal fight. She didn't hesitate to sit down on the ground and rest for a long time, until she caught his breath and returned to Harth to report what had happened.

Back in Harth, the atmosphere was already lively. Several people thanked Kao for defeating Tetsucabra, which would allow him to resume all his previous activities. The Caravaneer mentioned the ship he needed to trace the origin of the article, but someone called Chief was surprised to see what it was. He mentioned that his grandfather had the same object the Caravaneer was carrying. It wasn't until an artisan who visited Harth recognized the object and mentioned that it came from a very distant area called...

        Cathar..