I woke in an awesome mood. I got up, showered, threw on a clean pair of clothes, grabbed about 2500 gil from my savings and added it to my current 5000 gil, grabbed my Gladius and Kotetsu and was out the door. I grabbed breakfast at the Muthru Bazaar, a hub a traveling merchant shops and some small family establishments. I was eating at Gastly's Gob, a high class diner affordable by the lower and middle class, owned by the man I helped last week, Gastly. We chatted briefly at first, seeing as I was eating, but the conversation got interesting just as I finished my Nerba Succulent Sandwich.

"Ever heard of chaining?" Interest. Piqued.

"Yeah. What of it?" I asked, placing my fingertips together and trying to look like a business man as much as possible.

"Ever heard of Monographs?" Gastly asked with a sly grin.

"Afraid not. You should fill me in." I said with a plain expression.

"Monographs are ultra rare items that cost a fortune to buy, but it helps make money in the future if you're willing to make an investment in attaining these items." Gastly's grin was gone and replaced with a 'serious time' face."'But what do they do?' I'm sure you're about to ask and I will tell you. Monsters out in the world are classified into several different categories, Beasts, Avians, Constructs, etc, etc... Each enemy has a drop rate of certain items and depending on what Monograph you have, it will increase the chance of rare or uncommon drops. It also increases the chance of getting a chain level."

"Chain level?" I asked cluelessly.

"If you kill enemies of the same classification, you will possibly receive a chain level up, which increases the chance of getting rare loot even more AND sometimes when you coll-"

"Okay man, you're SERIOUSLY going to have to dumb this down for me. You lost me at drop rates." I said in a slight daze of fuck-culated knowledge. Gastly sighed and took a breath.

"Sorry... got little into it there..." He chuckled. "Alright. You have a certain Monograph, you get better chances of awesome loot. Chain levels increase that by even more and even give you buffs if the chain is high enough."

"THERE WE GO!" I exclaimed in relief. That was much easier to understand. "So do you know where I can find these...ultra rare items?" I asked, thinking of how it could help out Drew and possibly me as well.

"Four of them are in my possession. The other three belong to some kid about your age. Drew I think his name was." Coincidence? I THINK NOT! There was sorcery afoot... There had to be.

"And how much are each of these...Monographs?" I questioned suspicious to Gastly slow-growing grin.

"They vary."

"How?"

"Terms of usefulness."

"And those are?"

"One increases the chance of drops from Amorphs and Undead enemies."

"And it's how much?"

"20,000 gil." I shot out of my seat in pure shock and awe. 20 grand?! Had Drew LOST IT?! Had Gastly?!

"I can see your mildly offended. Understandable. Drew had the same reaction, but he bought three and hasn't come to kill me so..." Gastly merely shook his head. I thought for a few minutes, standing there. If Drew bought three of them at that price...

"I won't buy them now. But I might." I said carefully.

"Fair enough. Come back when you have the sufficient funds or whatever. Remember though, Drew wants them as well." Gastly said, standing up and walking away. I left the establishment and headed to the Sandsea to check for any new hunts. The board was loaded with new Marks and I was ready for some action. A few other hunter's from the Clan were here as well, grouped in their own little pack of fighters and magicians. It was always good to be in a team, instead having to switch between offensive and defensive when you could go all-out full offensive with buffs while being healed. White mages were particularly my favorite mage, mostly because of how many buffs they could cast on a single warrior or even a full party of seven without effort, while it exhausts me to use even four Thunder spells.

"You." I heard someone say behind me.

"Yes?" I asked answered without turning around. I reached out to the board and withdrew a bill with a strange looking, sphere-like enemy with blue feathers, an orange beak and tiny, beady eyes.

Petitioner: Migelo

Description: A nasty little bird has begun thwarting my trade caravans in the Mosphoran Highwaste, so I have to raise my prices and that takes away customers. Please kill this beast so I can resume business.

Location: Migelo's Sundries

I found it kind of funny that Migelo posted a bill, usually he'd go straight to the Clan if he needed something killed.

"You." I decided to turn around and...there was the woman again, with those terrifying eyes.

"Y-yes?" I replied, almost nervous.

"You are of the rank Vanguard, are you not?" The woman asked.

"What of it?" I asked in return, now a little more on guard. The fact the she was a woman didn't scare me, what DID scare me was the fact her eyes made it feel like she made ice grow in my chest.

"We are of the same rank. I propose we work together." THIS I didn't expect.

"What are your specialties?" I asked, now beginning a mindful analysis.

"Ranged weapons, bows, projectiles, guns, grenades, that type of thing." The woman had lost her intimidating features and was now smiling lightly. "I'm also an adept White mage." Range AND White magic?

"That's quite well-rounded." I commented politely. The woman tilted her head slightly.

"And what about you? What do you specialize in?"

"Two-handed weapons, Katana's, Greatswords, Ninja Blades and also Daggers. All-out offense to keep the enemy off balance." I explained my skill set to her, secretly hoping she'd be impressed. "I also have a rudimentary understanding of magic, so don't expect me to break out the ra's and ga's at any point." I said somewhat sheepishly.

"Ra's and ga's and difficult to master. I wouldn't expect just anyone to wield them." The woman said, her facial expression dead as ever.

"Uhh..." There was an awkward silence...

"I'm Natalia." The woman introduced while walking past me and examining the board. She took the bill I was reading and glanced at a couple others before taking another. She passed me the newer one which had an accurate picture of a behemoth, but its arms were blue, its fur was completely white and its eyes were blood red. Like the Crow.

Petitioner: The Moogles Guild

Description: We're trying to fix a water shrine, but this literal behemoth of an enemy doesn't like that! Please, kill it so we can get back to work and get paid...

Location: Mosphoran Highwaste

"Hmm." I hummed. "Ideally, I think we should go after this runt first, then we'll take on this behemoth." I said, putting the bill in my pocket.

"Sounds unreasonable. Let's not do that." I stared at the back of the brunette's head in disbelief.

"What?"

"I said, let's not do that. We attack the behemoth first then the bird." I was about to question why, when it dawned on me that it'd be best to fight the behemoth in our best condition, rather than healing up after the smaller mark and still be somewhat tired during the behemoth fight.

"Fair enough, let's go." I said, quite ready for action.

"Nu-uh. Not with that weapon." Natalia gestured towards my Katana. I almost glared at her in frustration.

"And why not?" I asked as politely as I could.

"You use all-out offense, yes?"

"Yeah..."

"And you don't use much magick, yes?"

"Yeah..." I didn't see what she was getting at.

"Then you should be using a Greatsword, rather than a Katana. Katana's gain strength from the wielder who is mentally strong or has a lot of magician capabilities. Greatswords gain strength from the sheer amount of raw strength the wielder has. Seeing as you do not use magick, it'd be best for you to rely on raw power." I'll be honest... I got fucking school'd by a girl... Goddamn...

"Geez..." My head was spinning from the amount of knowledge I had to listen to, but she was being helpful. "I guess I gotta go get a new sword." I shrugged. I turned to leave, but she cut me off.

"I'm going too."

"What?"

"God, are you slow? I'm. Going. Too." Natalia's faced scrunched up in a way that I couldn't help but laugh. "I swear people always try and make me mad..." I heard her mumble on the way out of the Sandsea. This girl is very odd. I thought at the time as she stayed ahead of me during the quest for a new sword. Natalia nearly threw the damn door off its hinges when we entered the Weapon Shop. Amal was behind the counter and it was obvious he could already tell that I had gotten myself into a stupid situation. "This tard needs a Greatsword."

"And she has such a way with words!" I said with a dramatic tone. Both Amal and Natalia ignored me as they talked in whispering voices. "If I'm getting a new weapon, shouldn't I be part of the decision making?"

"NO!" The both of them barked rather viciously.

"Okay! Chill..." I shook my head at the mess I was in, and wasn't even noon! I looked over at various weapons in the shop. One-handed swords have a nice appeal, I realized. Quick, but devastating in the right hands. Strong, but a flash of lightning in the right hands. A devastating flash of lightning. I like that.

"Heads up." I looked back to Natalia and Amal and was hit in the face with a Greatsword in a sheath, now let me tell you, that shit FUCKING HURTS! The weapon in its sheath hit the ground with a loud CLANG!

"Ow...My face..." I massaged my cheek as I picked up the Greatsword and unsheathed it. It was light, but when I swung it, it became heavy and was hard to stop midway through a slash. It unsettled me a little bit.

"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it soon enough." Amal said, seeing my discomfort with a new weapon. I had wielded Greatswords before, but it had been awhile since then and I was too used to a Katana, which had a much quicker recovery time from slashing.

"Alright, let's go." Natalia said, walking past me. I waved to Amal and followed her out of the store and headed to Migelo's. We entered the curative items shop and stepped up to the counter.

"Welcome to Migelo's, what do you need?" Penelo asked, doing one of her many jobs around Rabanastre. She was one of the six people who saved the country by defeating a tyrant named Vayne Solidor of Arcadia and was knighted by Queen Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca, our queen obviously. Many people around Rabanastre didn't make a big deal of it. After all, it'd be strange to refer to someone as 'Saviour of Rabanastre' every time you saw them, right?

"We need to talk to Migelo. Is he around?" I asked.

"Yeah, hang on a second." Penelo went to the back fro a moment. "MIGELO! SHAYLUM AND SOME OTHER GIRL ARE HERE TO SEE YOU!" A moment of silence...

"BE RIGHT DOWN!" The old Bangaa called back. Penelo came back to her station soon afterwards.

"Anything else?" She asked politely.

"Ten Hi-Potions, four Antidotes, four Eye Drops, four gold needles and two remedies." I stated.

"6250 gil." The price stated made me feel like my wallet just got kicked in the nuts.

"I knew Migelo had to jack his prices, but damn..." I said, astonished while I withdrew my gil and placed it on the counter. Come to think of it, I don't remember paying for that sword either. Meh, no harm, no foul.

Sorry. I lied. No fighting this chapter. At least I posted on Christmas so Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!