Anya POV:
Once we proceeded through the Lot Wilderness, I saw that the majority of monsters we came across were pathetically weak compared to my Shadow's strength. Given that most monsters in my area were extremely tough, that was to be expected. But Shu and the others were quite impressed with Mystic Mermaid's power and how it paled to theirs. They had to take a couple hits to defeat a common Poo Snake, whereas my power would completely wipe them out with one strike.
"Your Shadow is leagues above our shadows, Anya! We can't possibly compete," Shu smiled at me.
"Well, when you live in the harsh, frozen wastes of the northeast, you tend to gain tougher skills to face the tougher beasts. I've used my Shadow to defend my village from tons of incoming threats, including Bloodsuckers, purple dinosaurs with swords, giant mammoths, and even hermit crabs that have rocks for their shells. To put it bluntly, I've had to learn to defend my village from any kind of threat... then Nene got me and started to convert me into... well... this," I sighed as I then took off my left arm, the group astonished at that as I then moved the arm without it being in its socket. And I then showed them that, while I was still alive, my body was almost completely cybernetic on the inside, the only things remaining untouched being my bones.
"My god... Nene's a monster to have done this to you!" Kluke gawked at me.
"The only plus about becoming part robot is that I never need to eat or drink... that and I no longer need to use the bathroom. But those are the only good things. Everything else about this situation... it makes me feel like I've been turned into a monster myself," I admitted to them as I put my arm back in place and produced a few tears, my eyes also being a part of me Nene hadn't transformed into robotic parts. In fact, my head area was still intact for the most part with my brain still pumping with thoughts and my eyes still being able to produce water. But other than that, everything else about me was completely artificial.
"You aren't a monster, Anya. You've just been the victim of one," Jiro said, me smiling at him saying that as we continued forward, me stopping in place when we happened upon something strange.
"You see this too, right? These giant footprints?" I asked, everyone looking at them with shock.
"T-They're as big as my entire waist!" Shu gawked.
"Whatever made these was huge. Very huge. We need to stay on alert for the owner of these tracks and, if possible, steer clear of him at all costs," I said as we moved forward some more and I noticed that the Sheep Tribe Camp was only a short walk away. And the tracks disappeared at the base of a nearby cliff. "There's the Sheep Tribe Camp. Let's go in there and see if they can help us at all," I said as we proceeded into the camp and Shu then noticed something about the bag I carried.
Shu POV:
"Are those books in your bag? What are they?" I asked Anya when we got into the camp.
"These? They are very important not only for me, but for you as well. They are spell books, which can be used by those with magical shadows. I have mainly Guardian spell books on me, but I also have spell books for each of the other classes of magic. Shu, your Blue Dragon is currently a Sword Master, Jiro's Guardian Minotaur is of the White Mage, and Kluke's Fiery Phoenix is of the Black Mage class. Each time you get your shadow powered up, you gain the ability to use another type of class for your shadow. I have actually mastered Guardian and am quite high in all other classes, but you guys are gonna have to grind heavily in order to get to my league, no offence," Anya smiled at us.
"Spell books? And they can be used to make our attacks more powerful, right?" Kluke asked with a smile.
"That is correct. But for the more advanced spells, you'll need to have more powerful magic. For that, you will need your Shadow to reach a certain level of experience, as noted by the color of the aura you produce. The lowest level gives off a blue aura while the highest will net you a dark red aura," Anya explained.
"Very cool! So what level are our shadows right now?" I asked.
"Currently, Shu's shadow level is 2 for Sword Master, but Jiro and Kluke are still at level 1 for their respective classes. Once you reach level 2, you will be able to use a new skill. I recommend going after Generalist extremely early, as it will give you the capability of using more abilities to your other classes with 8 as the maximum. It will also give minor accessories such as bow ties and even footwear magical properties depending on what they are," Anya said.
"You sure know a lot about magical shadows, Anya. How long did you happen to have your mermaid shadow?" Jiro asked.
"I've had it with me since I witnessed my mother get hurt badly by a Rock Hermit Crab. I exploded with anger and, with it, my shadow emerged from my will to protect her. In order to gain perfect control over your powers, you'll need to find something that truly affects you personally and inwardly. Find some inner desire to get stronger, locked deep within you. Then you will gain true control over your shadows' magic, as it was for me," Anya smiled. And when she finished talking, we had finally made it to the Sheep Tribe Camp.
"Let's ask around to see if anything is up," I said as we then started to ask the tribesmen and women if they had any ideas on anything strange happening.
"You want to know if anything strange has happened as of late?" one of them asked. "Well, we have noticed that there is an area to the north of us that has a giant machine of some sorts. It's digging up holes everywhere trying to search for something, but we can't imagine as to what it could be," she said.
"Have you noticed anything in terms of giant footprints? Because we've been encountering those," Anya asked.
"You must be speaking of the Flamboyant Dragon, then. It's incredibly dangerous if it gets hungry, but it doesn't like the taste of wool, so it leaves us sheep people well enough alone... your group, however, may have a difficult time with it, as the monsters are becoming quite ravenous as of late," the tribeswoman said.
"Understood. We will exercise caution," Anya said, me wondering if she was like Jiro and incredibly smart about the world. After all, she had quite the vast vocabulary. "If we proceed now, we can probably get to that drilling machine and see what the deal is with it. Maybe we could use it to drill past the mountains," Anya smiled after that.
"Good idea," I admitted to her as Kluke just kept on blushing every time we looked at each other. If only Anya hadn't blabbed my secret attraction to Kluke, then maybe I could've been able to tell her myself when I got the chance! But now it was just all kinds of awkward whenever I looked at her and she looked at me.