"I've found something!" Evanora's sudden revelation caught the attention of both Aron and Lady Rose.
They immediately moved to her location which was only a few meters away from where they had stood and found her pointing towards a large circular stone slab in the middle of the jungle with numerous items around it such as flowers, dead beasts and crafted objects.
"Oh this..." Lady Rose muttered and the excitement that had once built up in her eyes immediately vanished. Aron noticed this change and turned to her for answers. "You know what it is?" He asked as he placed his hand on Evanora's head to praise her for finding this, though she only blankly stared at him and gave no reaction to this gesture.
"Isn't it obvious from first glance? This is a burial mound. It is known that Komi revere their forefathers and see them almost like gods. These items here are probably offerings they give every now and then, though I'm not completely sure either." Lady Rose explained causing Aron to glance at the stone slab with narrowed eyes.
Even if this was simply a grave, if it really did belong to a top tier beast of olden Pesia then it could provide him some insight perhaps.
"Let's see how deeply it's buried then, the bones of a beast that great would take eras to decompose naturally." Aron explained before crouching down to the ground and placing his hand there.
[ Horned Basilisk Aspect: Vision ]
He closed his eyes for a moment and when they opened once more they resembled those of a horned Basilisk. It was a creature that excelled with earth element control and thus he chose to manifest this aspect.
Aspect manifestation was an ability unique to beast mongers and like the name suggests it allowed the user to manifest one or multiple characteristics of the creature whose mana they had absorbed.
However this ability wasn't as powerful as it sounded and like all things in life it had negatives. The most major being that the mana that had been absorbed from the beast could be used up and thus lead to the loss of the ability to manifest that creatures abilities.
This was another great factor that separated beasts from beast mongers. A beast not only had the capacity to store large amounts of mana but it also had the capability of absorbing mana from the environment and making it into its own. An ability unique to beasts and beasts alone by nature.
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What beast mongers did was absorb all that mana that a creature had stored within itself, however they lacked the capability of absorbing mana from the environment and molding it to suit the element they wished like beasts.
Prior to now Aron had only manifested the aspect of the horned Basilisk less than ten times and so he still had plenty of its mana stored within him.
As Aron's palm came into contact with the ground, he felt his finger tips and his tongue grow cold. In that moment a mental image in black and white appeared in his mind showing what laid around and beneath him within a five kilometer radius.
He could see numerous things but it was difficult to discern what was what given that everything appeared in black in white, black being the earth and white being other objects such as minerals, creatures and bones.
Soon he closed his eyes once again and when he opened them, they had reverted to their normal grey color. "There's no top tier beast remains underneath this mound, unless Jagu's forefather is a island mole." Aron revealed with some disappointment in his voice.
"Evanora will find more." Evanora who was standing close to Aron provided what she thought was a boost of confidence and patted his head as he had done hers.
"How disappointing, though I doubt the olden people would simply just build this in the middle of the jungle with no purpose in mind. Besides it's lasted the test of time and still looks to be in good shape so it can't be useless." Lady Rose provided her own boost of confidence from a logical perspective and Aron couldn't argue as her words held some truth.
"Well I suppose it wouldn't be so easy if they just left it out in the open with answers. Let's investigate the area more." Aron stood up from his crouching position and glanced at the slab once more before noticing a small depression at it's center.
He took note of this for now as he had no leads to go on and the trio soon left that area completely to investigate another.
As soon as they left however a green bird that looked like a raven was seated atop one of the many trees in the area. It had observed them for a while now and took flight after they left.
It's destination was the eerie black airship that had been following the Sovereign from the distance. It was currently hidden several kilometers away from the Komi Islands just like the Sovereign.
On its deck a tall cloaked figure stood waiting patiently and as soon as the raven came around the figure extended a hand for it to land on.
"Oh my dear, please tell me you have good news for me." The groggy feminine voice asked and the bird chirped several times in response.
"Wonderful, I've waited so long for this opportunity." The figure muttered just as another cloaked figure with a masculine outline appeared behind her and bowed.
"My Lady... no, my Queen. I saw your companion and rushed over immediately. Is it finally time?" This robed man was anxious to hear what news she heard that had lifted her spirits.
"Patience Arlor, this is but a piece of the puzzle. Once it's complete however, we will have the power to get the justice we are owed..." The tall groggy voiced woman declared with visible hatred in her voice.
"Your words are my law, I will await patiently for that day my Queen." The one called Arlor humbly replied while still keeping his head lowered.
"Good, very good. Prepare a small boat, we shall make landfall as well...."
....
Meanwhile back at the port city of Hazenloft, rumors had spread about the former presence of Aron and Lady Rose within the city. It was now known to many that they had ventured in the direction of the Komi Islands using the dreaded Opal Ocean route.
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Although a great deal of them were greedy and sought to follow, their common sense surpassed their ambition and so they didn't dare take their chances traveling directly through the Opal Ocean.
They could only send back information to their respective organizations and ask that another expedition be launched to the Komi Islands using a safer route.
As for Juliet who commanded the La Belle, one of the few airships with a high chance of success using the direct route, she remained in city despite receiving several letters from her family.
Her attention at the moment was focused elsewhere. 'The newly established outpost not too far from here was destroyed by a sudden lighting storm?' Juliet was currently in her quarters reading a report of recent activities concerning the Newman Highlands.
She had wanted to gain a better grasp on what happened and was also determined to see just what laid beyond the iron gates within the ruin. Following Aron and Lady Rose blindly was pointless if she was completely clueless.
She had delayed venturing to the ruin because of a warning issued by Lady Uva herself about going too deep into the Newman highlands.
'I'm getting nowhere like this.' Juliet stared at the report in her hand for a moment before crumpling it and tossing it aside.
Since the reports weren't leading her closer to understanding what Aron and Lady Rose may have been after, she chose to venture in herself.
After leaving her quarters clad in armor, the other members of the faction who saw her began to think they'd be deploying soon.
"Tell Lucas to handle things while I'm away." Juliet commanded and left without so much as an explanation.
She left the city using a common mount as well and didn't bother hiding the fact she was venturing out. It was natural for someone of her status to have numerous eyes watching her movements in the shadows to see what her plans were.
So even as she began venturing towards the Newman highlands, many greedy individuals followed. Some hidden and some not.
However once she entered Newman highland territory, the number of people able to keep up had vastly reduced.
Every time a beast was encountered, she would purposefully avoid battle and had even abandoned her mount, continuing on foot which made keeping up with her a great challenge.
Be it her speed or agility, everything was top tier and so only a few could keep up with her until she suddenly came to a stop near what looked to be a destroyed settlement.
'The report said a thunderstorm, yet it hasn't rained here in a long time from the looks of it.' Juliet concluded after looking around her surroundings.
Soon however her gaze turned to the dark clouds where thunder roared and streaks of blue lightning could be seen. Each time this happened a gigantic shadow could be seen moving within the clouds.
