After spending the day in New York, Shiro gathered everyone near the exit of New York. Raoul, Jonas and even Liam had come to send them off since it may take a while for them to meet again.
"Once again Raoul, good luck in your training. Jonas, stay healthy and you too Liam." Shiro gave them a wave before hopping onto Yinās back. Naturally, this was when she is in phoenix form or else someone would have had some problems in regards to the scene.
Waiting for everyone else to say their goodbyes, Shiro checked the map and made sure she knew which route to take for them to make it back to Vericia.
Giving the trio one last wave, the party set off to Vericia.
###
While they were making their way back to Vericia, Shiro spotted quite a few natural monsters roaming around in the forests. While their levels werenāt too high, she knew that they were much more powerful than dungeon generated monsters since they werenāt limited.
"Hmm... girls. You know what I just realised?" Shiro called out.
"What?"
"Weāve never actually done a out of dungeon or rather, a natural hunt now have we? The only thing weāve done is dungeons, raids or emergency battles should the situation arise. For as long as weāve been together, we havenāt tried natural hunts of monsters in the wild."
". . . Holy sh*t youāre right." Madison looked at Shiro in realisation.
For parties, natural hunts were just as, if not more rewarding than dungeon hunts. They gain the experience of hunting strong monsters in the wild that use the surroundings to their advantage.
Normally, they would have done this earlier but due to the situations they were in, going for natural hunts were problematic. In New York, they had the faction recruitment which took their priority. In Cairosa, the slums and the underwater ruins stopped them from doing the natural hunt. In Vericia, they were focused on guild tasks while Shiro had obtained Lisandra.
Last but not least, they had Miriel where they had to be careful since conflict between the princes could have broken out at any moment so leaving on a natural hunt would be counterproductive.
"Well... are we going to hunt now?" Lyrica asked.
"Hmm... not really. Iām just mentioning it so that we can keep it in our minds. After all, a natural hunt is quite productive in terms of your battle experience." Shiro shook her head. There was a time and place for everything and right now is not the time. If she could help it, sheād rather not delay the process of finding out more about herself. Plus, Yukiās probably got more information on Duan Han Ying, who is Kuromiās killer.
"I see. Do you want me to keep an eye out for any decent natural hunts while weāre in Vericia?" Lyrica asked since she knew that Shiro was only going back to Vericia so that she could find out more about āherselfā.
"That would be helpful. Preferably something thatās on the way to Japan since weāll be going there right after this." Shiro nodded.
"Got it." Noting it down mentally, Lyrica nodded her head.
The rest of the trip to Vericia was relatively relaxed with some small talk along the way. For those that were a bit tired, they had the other party members look out for them in case they fall off.
###
"Urggg!!! Damn, I canāt feel my ass anymore." Madison stretched as they had finally arrived in Vericia.
"Tell me about it." Aarim nodded while rubbing her back tiredly.
"Not much we can do about it. Anyways, you lot can do whatever you want for the next few hours. Iām going to quickly sort out what I need then we can make our way to Japan." Shiro smiled.
Saying goodbye, Shiro made her way to the elderās tower.
"Is anyone home?" Shiro called out with a smile.
"Yeah yeah, Iām her-? Shiro? What in the bloody hell happened to your body!?" Natash widened her eyes in shock at her new appearance.
"Oh this? You havenāt seen me after I went through a few upgrades have you? Like the new look?" Shiro grinned while giving her a small pose.
"Damn girl, what caused you to change like this? Got someone ya like? Maybe the blossoming of love made your body change to adapt so that your partner doesnāt look like a damn lolicon or something." Natash chuckled.
"Not exactly. Anyways, do you have a way that you can help me contact the faction master? I got some important information I need to ask her about." Shiro asked.
"Ah I see. She told me that you may need it soon but are you sure you want it now? Yuki did say that there is only one chance you get at contacting her." Natash frowned.
āHmm... it will take a long time to reach B class considering the items that I need. HOWEVER, since Iām at 38% recovered, I should be more or less ready for anything that she throws at me.ā
"Yeah, itās rather urgent after all." Shiro nodded.
"Got it. She mentioned that you want to be in a secure location where you are alone when you use this item." Natash replied while gesturing for her to enter her office.
Sitting behind her desk, she pressed her palms against the corner of the table as a magic circle expanded out.
Opening up a secret compartment, she took out a small box and handed it over to Shiro.
"Much like how you would have opened the letter, the faction master stated that the way to open this box is the same."
"Thank you. Taking the box, Shiro talked to Natash about her adventures in Miriel before leaving back to her room.
Securing it with formations and some traps, Shiro set the box down on the table and made a small dagger. Piercing her finger, she dripped some blood on the surface.
Watching the seal break off, the box unravelled itself to reveal an item.
[Spiritual Connection ā Purple]
A one time use item that will connect you with the designated target and allow communication between the two of you, regardless of distance or space.
Designated Target: Yuki
Raising an eyebrow, Shiro contemplated about the item. Since itās a one time use item, does she really want to use it now?
A part of her says yes since it may take quite a while for her to get to B class while part of her says no and be patient.
"Tch, Iāll just use it anyways. Plus, since my memory is good, I can just ask her to tell me about the prison and Iāll break her out when Iām in B class." Shiro muttered.
{Say, didnāt you forget that you had to be VIP to get the item last time?} Nimue raised an eyebrow.
ā. . .Look, my memory doesnāt exactly work like that. Itās like a database or rather a book. Sure Iāll ārememberā the thing but I still have to look for it myself. If I donāt look for it, itās just information thatās stored away for later use. So if I āforgetā what to search for, Iāll have to rummage through everything just to find it again.ā Shiro replied with a shake of her head.
{So youāre like a computer then? As long as you know what to search for, the information can be found easily but if you donāt know, then youāll have to look through each file to eventually bump into what you needed to search for? Is that correct?}
āYes thatās correct.ā
{Hmm, I suppose thatās only natural. Your mind would be quite overloaded if you doc.u.ment everything in detail and think about it all the time.} Nimue nodded.
Shaking her head, Shiro decided to go ahead and activate the item.
*BOOM!!!!!!!!
Light shot out of the item as it enveloped everything in the room.
Feeling her conscious fade, Shiro closed her eyes and sat down in lotus position and focused her mind.
Elsewhere....
Feeling a connection try to reach out to her end of the Spiritual Connection item, Yuki opened her eyes and smiled lightly.
"Seems like Kuro-chan should have reached B class for her to use that item." Yuki muttered with a smile.
Flicking her wrist, she set up an illusion around herself and activated her own item.
Once she was in the spiritual plane, she opened her eyes and saw a confused Shiro.
While her hair colour and eye colour differed a little, that appearance and aura was definitely the same one that she recognised to have belonged to her best friend. Tearing up a little, she couldnāt help but to immediately rush forward and hug her.