บท 45: This is Spart-Raslan!

The next few days consist of Reima navigating the overgrown path towards Raslan, as he travels he practises using Windfall at random to gain a better understanding of the timing needed. Eventually early in the morning Reima slides down a broken wooden bridge and looks over at the cavern containing a waterfall and river. Walking around the path he spots the main hub in the game, Guidance bridge. The bridge is a place that connects the main areas, it looks to be made from the same materials as the shimmering gate that was in the previous village.

Reima walks through the entrance and climbs up the stairs before stopping in the doorway, inside he spots a single middle aged man in robes, an altar that hasn't been activated and a map that has glowing marks on it to indicate important enemies.

The Guide quickly spots him and looks shocked at his appearance, "Stop, these are sacred grounds wanderer... Return to where you came from!"

Reima "I don't give a shit about your religion, you don't own this city and I will do what I want."

The Guides mask-less face contorts into a fury filled expression, he runs at Reima and tries to grab him, Reima seeing this as an opportunity to try out Windfall, dodges to the side causing the Guide to move like hes in slow motion. Reima slaps him in the face for even trying to touch him before inspecting the map.

Guide "YOU WILL LEAVE!" He shouts as he draws a dagger from his hip and charges again at Reima. Having enough of this farce, he uses Windfall again before picking the Guide up and throwing him off the bridge through the massive triangle shaped balcony. The Guide gives a final shout as he descends and hits the bottom.

Reima "That felt more cathartic than it should have..." He mutters to himself as he touches the altar, trying to activate it... Nothing happens. After a couple attempts Reima tries channelling magical energy to mimic Fold energy and touches the Altar once again... It shines and sinks into the ground while what could only be described as a fountain of Fold energy is expelled and fades away as it head skywards...

By using Observation Haki to observe the altar, Reima manages to spy a yellow ore of some sort being used to power it... He remembers that a big plot point that was constantly mentioned was a substance known as Essence.

After Reima searches around and familiarises himself with his surroundings he heads towards the hunters grounds through one of the exits on the bridge... From what he can remember, the Hunting grounds were the easy and starting zone.... Reima's current goal is the defeat all the Marked ones in combat and also to beat the two "boss" fights. While he does this he will try and learn as much as possible from the Prospects he comes across.

Reima starts walking towards the hunting path while experimenting with Fold energy to create shapes and try to distort objects. While walking the path there is an ledge that overlooks a large area. He spots the large forgotten temple that lies in the swamp below and grimaces as he remembers the instant death puddles, they are perhaps more annoying than pits in Darksouls due to the high impact and movement base combat system.. Once mistake means you get your ass kicked into a puddle.

As he reaches his destination he glances over the large rocks, trees and foliage scattered around. He also spots various bear traps hidden in the grass and questions whether or not they're meant for humans. He continues walking and comes across a Prospect, the masked woman seems to be banging her head on a tree. Insanity. Reima mutters as he watches her slam her face into the wood.

Reima "Yo! Stop what you're doing and fight me!"

The Prospect takes notice of him and almost by instinct drops into a combat stance. She approaches Reima as he gets ready to fight and tries to sweep his legs out from under him, he swiftly jumps over it while utilising Windfall causing the masked woman to slow down. Using this opportunity Reima punches at her face before following with a spinning elbow strike, the Woman is knocked off balance and tries to use Forsaken's martial parry technique but fails the timing which results in her face being exploded by one of Reima's kicks. As they fade away they leave another yellow orb, picking it up to see what it is Reima finds himself holding two metal bracelets. Even now after they materialised they cause his medallion to vibrate slightly, he stores them in his travel pack and continues forward while keeping an eye out for those glowing stone things that contain items in the game.

After fighting a couple more Prospects he finds what looks to be a glowing pile of rubble? Maybe when the city collapsed some items where buried so deeply that they weren't stolen by the subsequent looters.. After digging through the pile he finds a pair of sandals... Thinking that all the things that have either been dropped by Prospects or found in rubble have made his Medallion react he closely observes the sandals with Haki, he finds that they seem to be connected to the Fold somehow.. Feeling curious he makes a small scratch on the wooden Sandal sole which, after a moment begins to repair itself.

Reima "Cool... This is probably why your clothes aren't damaged even after sword fights, though I'm unsure how to access the essence shard store in the altars? Whatever, I'll find out eventually."