Treasure Chase!

Sailing on her boat towards the Divide Island, Leila sighed as she stretched. All of this still felt so strange to her, like it was some kind of dream. Her hand trailed over her thigh, covering the new guild mark for a moment. The light blue phoenix was going with the sea all around her quite well too. And she got this mark when she tried to visit an island last time. That made her feel a tad bit uncomfortable, as she slowly neared towards the beach. At least she knew that no life-changing surprise like that would happen this time, since she was actually going there as part of her initiation. Since Golden Phoenix was a treasure hunting guild, she had to prove that she indeed was capable of obtaining said treasures without fail. And so, Elyx had prepared a special assignment for her. She was to go to this island and find a special item that was apparently capable of duplicating jewels that she would receive upon completing your everyday contracts. Honestly, something like that sounded way too good to be truth. Maybe it was just some fort of motivation for Leila, so she would want to complete the contract at all cost. After all, he did show her his guild's vault and saw that one side of her that absolutely loved the sight of money everywhere. Now it was nothing more than an embarrassing memory, but he still had that information and he clearly was capable of using it against her, hence this job. But on the other hand, if the item was real, then Leila could become rather rich in no time at all. Of course, he also informed her that the item could only duplicate so many jewels before it would run out of this magical power.

Still, it was definitely worth a shot. And finally, she was close enough to the shore to stop the boat. The wind of the seas was strong on that day, making her silver hair fly high, not exactly making it easy for her. Perhaps having hair that was so long it reached below her thighs wasn't exactly the best idea to begin with. But she loved long hair and it grew to that length mighty quick too. Even if she was to cut it, it probably wouldn't take too long before it was in the original state once more. Thinking about nonsense like that, she hopped out of the boat, landing in the water that was reaching barely towards her knees where she stood. Grabbing the edge of her wooden water vehicle, she forcefully moved it towards her and partially beached it so it wouldn't float away when she was exploring the island alone. It was kinda strange to be doing this contract all alone, especially since she had a lot of company lately. More than even in her life before in fact. If that was a good or bad thing, she didn't dare to say yet. The only thing she knew was that contracts were way easier to complete with company, especially when there were three more people around, one of them being a dragon slayer. In those situations, she didn't have to think about what to do or say really, everything she would do could be in response to them. But now she didn't have that luxury, it was one woman show and she had to run it like the good old times. Placing her hands on her hips, she looked over the boat one more time to make sure it was firmly planted in the sandy beach. And it sure was, definitely not in a state where it could decide to leave her with no means of transportation over the sea.

With that, she could finally move around on the island. Divide Island, it was always a strange place. The center was rather rocky with mountains reaching high, yet the beaches were a good mix of sand and stone. If it wasn't for the wild life that occupied this place and the odd legend about the island being split in half, it would probably be a great place for vacation or some sort of recreation resort. But instead it was a place where people were hunting for treasures, be it legendary swimsuit or a magical item that can turn one coin into three. Certainly not a place for ordinary civilians, not at all. Starting to walk along the beach, she would watch the waves form and then dissipate as they went along, seagulls screaming in the distance as they circled the whole island. Somehow, she felt that this contract was more of a test than actual job, and thoughts like that were exactly what demotivated her the most. She had to even slap her cheeks few times to let her body know that it was all a reality. Her choice to join a guild that she made rather hastily was in fact real and there was nothing she could do to turn back time and refuse. Not that she had a reason to do so, it just felt odd. She never was part of any organization and it was supposed to stay that way too. Death of her father clearly changed her life on fundamental level, as she would never join Golden Phoenix if he was still alive. She would much rather continue traveling with him, even if it would be boring rather than being part of a guild. But he was no more and she had to lead her own life. She had to make hard decisions that would change her forever. And she did, joining a guild was perhaps but the first step. Deciding to approach this contract with confidence and determination, she smiled, clenched her fists and started running more into the center of the island.

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Status
HP: 200
MP: 100%

Word count: 974

The member 'VindStot' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

The sand would eventually transform into round and slick stones and even further into the island, they would turn into rock and grass. The vegetation was not the greatest on this island, but there was still quite a bit of it as well. And while Leila moved through some bushes, she would spot three figures in the distance. That was... a bit odd. Elyx didn't mention any other treasure hunters or other guild members. Which probably meant that these were bandits or pirates, as there were no locals. At least as far as she knew, there weren't. Hopefully she wasn't mistaken about that, as she had the upper hand in surprise element. And if she attacked innocent villagers just like that, it would probably not be the best thing for the guild's reputation and her own. But there was also that one saying, no risk means no reward. Or at least something along those lines if Leila's wasn't completely making that up in her head as she tried to think through this peculiar situation. In the end, the wasn't much of a choice, she had to sneak a bit closer. At least they were all going away from her position, meaning they had their backs turned towards her while the seagulls and other wild creatures made enough noise to mask the girl's already light footsteps. And once she was close enough, she got mildly terrified from what she saw. They were all most definitely fire mages, at least to some extend. And yet, they weren't exactly equipped with anything that would be dangerous on the first look. Still, fire was indeed still Leila¨s greatest enemy and every time she had to face someone who wielded it, she got goosebumps all over her body, as if she was looking at a ghost or something.

With that knowledge, she decided it would be best to take them out as quickly as possible. A small plan formulated in her head, even though she was never really all that good at following them. But in this case, it was probably much better than just blindly attacking those bandits, even though it will probably end up looking like she was attacking at random anyway, that was just the nature of her powers. Sighing internally, she got ready, her hands resting on the ground just few meters behind the group of three. And when ready, the grassy earth beneath their feet would break apart, multitude of strong looking roots flying above and restraining them, crushing their limbs and whole bodies in the process. Surprised by the sudden combat, they were in too much panic to be able to get out of the bind in time. Leila already summoned a bomb fruit that she had in her hand. If they fought with fire magic, why not test a bomb on them, it would be perfect. And so she threw it right at them, letting in explode the moment it touched the ground right in the middle of the small group. The explosion easily lifted dust off the ground, creating a cloud that blocked everyone's vision for a while. But once that disappeared, Leila was once again first to attack. Her own bomb unfortunately destroyed most of the roots, so the bandits were free to move again. But before they were able to shake off the bomb's explosion, she was already in the middle, her hands transformed into big wooden claws. And just like that, she would start 'dancing' around, slashing at all of them as their bodies got close.

They were tougher than they looked, that for certain. Even with several good hits, they weren't going to the ground just yet. One of the bandits summoned a flaming sword and attempted to slash at the girl that was flexibly moving all around. At least they weren't all that fast either, allowing Leila to get lower and below his hand. One of her claws would catch the wrist of hand that was holding the weapon while the other hand would land on his chest. With a little force, she was able to pick him into the air, move his body above her own and then throw him into the other two bandits who so diligently tried to catch him with their own bodies. And now that they were all standing so nicely in one place, she would stomp the ground, summoning a giant rotating roots that formed shape of a pike. The attack was usually completely vertical, but this time she made it leave the ground in a certain angle so it would hit the three that were standing right in front of her. The drill buried into them and carried them quite a bit before it would stop, letting their bodies fly few more meters before they rolled on the ground. Now that was enough to keep them down for good. Naturally they weren't dead, that would be horrible, but they were most certainly unconscious. That way, they would not get in the way anymore. Not that she knew if they would get in the way in the first place, but she was more sure this way. With a sigh of relief, she would nod few times to herself and turn around, starting to march the other way without uttering a single word or even inspecting their bodies. That was just her and how she did things. But surely, there would be more obstacles in her way soon.

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Status
HP: 200
MP: 60%

Word count: 911

The member 'VindStot' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Monster Dice' :

After that whole ordeal, Leila was hoping to have some more peace while exploring the island. But instead, she would see even more figures ahead. Or more precisely, down a small hill that she just got on top of. Thinking that getting to a higher point would help her discover suspicious looking locations, she was now overlooking the whole beach she was at just few minutes ago. But that was about it, there was still many more mountains that were much higher, preventing her from seeing all that well. The only thing that she was seeing was a group of four people not too far from her, really. And it seemed that it was probably just more of those fire bandits from before, their gang was probably all over the island right now. And given how much trouble the previous batch was, there was no way Leila would willingly engage in combat with these ones. Not to mention that there was one more than before, that would increase the needed work on her part even further. Something she definitely didn't want. The problem was, as she looked over the edge at the party, the stones beneath her feet would come loose. And along with them, she would start tumbling down the hill, getting few scratches and bumps in the process. Thankfully it wasn't too bad, as she landed in the leaves of a tree. And after few seconds of moaning and checking that she was still whole, even the branches that were holding her up snapped and she ended up falling onto her bum, hitting the ground with all her weight. Not exactly the best situation she could find herself in. Especially since those guys she would spy on before were right next to her now. And of course, they heard the noise and were soon looking at the poor girl.

"W..what the..." Would one of the mutter. He looked a bit different from those other three. Almost as if he wasn't part of their little party. But he still clearly was on their side, as they weren't fighting. "Boss? Did that girl just fell from the sky?" One of the bandits would ask the man, looking up above to from where Leila slid down. "Of course not! People don't just fall from the sky..." He would talk back, looking over her as she got up. Her hands were going all over her body, checking for possible wounds and such after that long fall. It actually didn't seem that those four were overly hostile. At least until she was fully standing and the 'boss', as they called him, spotted her Guild Phoenix guild mark. In that very moment, he would point at her with his index finger with rather angry expression. "G..Golden Phoenix?! You're a member of Golden Phoenix?! What are you doing here? Answer, now!" His voice was loud and sharp, yet his posture and the way he was pointing at her seemed rather childish. Kinda like a little kid that was trying to act mature, like an adult he wasn't. Still, his sudden demands surprised her and made her back away from him by few meters. Though she didn't see any harm in actually answering him, in fact, it would probably be rather problematic if she didn't. "Yeah, I am... is that a problem or something? I'm just here to find something, some kind of treasu- "The jewel multiplying treasure!" He would scream out before she actually had a chance to finish her sentence.

For some reason he knew exactly what she was here for. That was... odd to say the least. It also made him even more angry than before. "Grr, damn you...! You will not get my treasure before me! Never! Do you understand?" Of course she understood. What she did not understood was what was this all about. But few seconds of intense thinking fixed that right up. "Oh! You want that item too?" She clapped her hands and asked him. As he clearly tried to control his anger, he would retract his hand and finally stop pointing at her, as if she was some kind of object. "Even last time... when I tried to get it... someone else got in the way. But this time will be different! Go get her boys!" Now it was all way more clear. He probably hired these thugs so that no one would get in his way while he searched for the item. But that could mean only one thing. In shock, Leila extended her hands forward, showing a stop sign with them. "Hold on, hold on!" Surprisingly it worked. The three fire mages stopped in their tracks and stared at her with surprised expressions, unsure of what to do. And so did the other mage. "W..what? Do you want to utter your final words before they get you or something?" He clearly was new to this whole thing about stopping and robbing other people. But that only played into her cards, so it was no problem. You said that you want the item too... does that mean it actually exists? She asked him, the reason why she tried to stop them in the first place.

With an expression of disbelief, the mage would look over her one more time. "Of course it exists! Wait... does that mean you're searching for something that you do not know exists?" It was clearly hard for him to comprehend this and Leila simply shrugged on that. "I mean... I thought it was just some kind of test for newbies or something. But the fact that it actually exist, ahh~" She would almost start melting. Her determination was quickly rekindled, as well as her hope! Now that she knew it was real, she needed that item and she needed it bad! With a smirk, she would take few more steps back and place one of her hands where her heart would be. In that very moment, a briliant, purple light would shine from the ground, as a magical circle appeared. The baddies only stared at it, afraid that it was some kind of trap. Not that that thought was too far from the truth. "Hold it together, birds of a feather, Nothing but lies and crooked wings. Oh. Fly over me evil angel. Open your wings evil angel." As Leila chanted, the rival mage would quickly push his lackeys towards her, clearly displeased that they weren't stopping her. "What are you idiots doing? She's using magic, stop her! Quickly!" At his words, one of the mages reacted and quickly created a flaming spear in his hands and charged at the female mage. But he was too late, as the angel emerged from the light and grabbed him by his collar, effortlessly throwing him at his comrades. It was always nice when Leila managed to even out the playing field, even if just a little.

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Status
HP: 180
MP: 60%

Word count: 1152

"Only one can take the treasure, huh... what a shame, I really want them jewels!" She informed the rivaling mage, placing her hand on the ground as several roots shot out of the ground beneath them all. Even while scattered around a bit, they were all still in the range of her spell, making them easy target. Problem was that most of her spells were yet not ready to be used so she had to work around that with her own strength, Xiolan and the fact that all four of them were now trapped in her magic, at least for a while. Though the fire mages had a clear advantage, as they quickly figured out that wood can indeed burn. Before they managed to free themselves, both Leila and Xiolan went ahead, punching two of the mages both at the same time. With the force of their fists, the two crashed back into the final fire mage, all of them falling to the ground.  Still wasn't enough to defeat them however. "Xiolan, please!" Simple two words and a gesture with hand was enough for the angel to get behind her, her black wings extended to their full length and majesty. Since they were conjuring flame weapons, going out of their reach was the best solution to her problems. Grabbing her firmly, the angel lifted herself along with Leila from the ground and with several flaps, they were both high above the ground. And from that position, she could watch with a smile as her opponents stumbled on the ground, unsure of what to do. But it didn't take too long before they figured out that they were able to use flames in other ways than just creating weapons, now that was a problem.

Fireball quickly started soaring through the air, Xiolan doing her best to dodge them all without loosing her master along the way. Leila on the other hand was doing her best not to give in into the sudden movements, her head was already spinning as it was. Even though she wasn't afraid of heights at all, having an angel carry her like this while flying around at high speed really wasn't the best. "X..Xiolan! Enough! Back to attacking...!" She tried to stop her summon, enticing her to destroy those fools. Letting go of Leila, she entered into sudden free fall that she certainly didn't expect. Somehow, she even felt a malicious intend from her angel, or something similar to that? At least the fall wasn't big enough to actually injure her, and while she was falling with the weight of her body and the gravity, she might have as well used it for something good. By that was meant her boot leaving a mark on one of the fire mage's face as she landed directly at him, sending his body into the ground and burying his head into the dirt. Surprisingly, that was enough to actually render him unconscious. His friend watched that with clear shock in his eyes while the other one had his problems with the angel. He was still trying to burn her down with his fireballs and as she swooped down, he actually managed to hit her. But only once and she grabbed him by his clothes, lifting him into the air in a bit more rough manner than she did Leila few moments ago. Nothing good could have came out of that for the poor sod, as she threw him back into the ground once they were high enough. That alone wasn't enough to finish him. However, once he landed on the grassy field, Xiolan would flew back down at incredible speed, doing pretty much the same thing as Leila, only with her fist.

Punch from her into the stomach at that speed was probably very painful. And clearly enough to incapacitate the second thug. Only one remained, along with the rival mage. "Ugh... you're all useless, darn it! Guess I'll have to fight too..." He would then proclaim, extending his hands forward and concentrating. In a moment's notice, a barrier made out of water would appear around them. Or perhaps, rather than barrier, it was a torrent that was rotating around them at fairly high speed. Quite fancy, for a low-level water spell. And it shielded both the rival mage and the remaining fire guy. The only question was, why did he use a defensive spell when she wasn't attacking him yet? "Hahaha! Behold, my majestic water defense bubble! What will you do now, hm?" He would try to mock the girl and her angel. But his little show was interrupted by his comrade who looked at him rather confounded. "Uh, boss? Ya know, I can't really attack them like this either... my fire magic would clash with your water and cancel it. Ya know, since water and fire are like... mortal enemies and stuff?" He would start explaining, making the whole situation look quite comical for some reason. There was absolutely no harmony between the two, that was for sure. And the rival mage sighed. "W..well, I can't cancel it now. It's really hard to maintain this, even when their not attacking." He probably wanted to whisper that or something. Revealing your weaknesses to your enemy was the gravest mistake you could possibly do.

"Oho? Is it really that hard to maintain? Fufufu~" Leila would comment on what he just said and laugh evilly. If it really was that bad, all they had to do is hit it and it would eventually break apart, right? And so they did. Her claws and Xiolan's fists, they both slashed and smashed into the rotating water. And with each hit, the rival mage would start to sweat just a bit more. And then, when the two girls smashed into the barrier at the same time, it would burst. Just like any other bubble would! In that very moment, a flaming spear flew from the scattered water, impaling the angel like it was nothing. The sly fire mage waited behind the defenses with his attack ready. And since Xiolan seemed more deadly to him, he targeted her. Good thing too, as she could regenerate much faster in her spirit world, or wherever she was getting summoned from. As a response, she simply looked at the spear that was sticking out of her, grabbed it and crushed the flames with her bare fist as if it was nothing. She was badass alright. And now it was time to return the favor. He would hurt Leila's summon, they would hurt him back. As he didn't have any other attack ready, the two would quickly jump to him and both of their fists would slam into his noggin in full force. The heavy blows actually managed to send him flying past the rival mage as he crashed into a palm behind them, making few coconuts fall on his head as a small bonus. Now it was two against one, as the three lackeys were out of the game. "You need to get a better henchman buddy." Leila would taunt him with a smirk on her face. Time to end this was drawing near.

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Status
HP: 180
MP: 50%

Xiolan's HP: 20/100

Word count: 1196

"Damn you! I deserve to win... I deserve to find the treasure! I deserve to have triple rewards from the jobs I do!" He would scream and stomp the ground after he watched his last shield of a man fall to the ground. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that he was very displeased with the way this fight was going. And who would blame him? After all, he was probably on this island before her. He even hired several men to help him look for the treasure and protect him when someone like Leila shows up. But when she did show up, she defeated them all, and now she was about to defeat him as well. Truly unlucky day for him. The girl would cease her fighting stance and close her eyes for a moment. Her breathing loud and regular, as if she was trying to calm down. "I'm sorry. If this was a test, I would totally let you win on purpose. But if that magical item is for real... well, I do need it. There is much I want to accomplish. But for that all, I need some finances, you know? I'm sure you know it as well... nothing in this world is for free. And it only lead to people like us fighting. How... stupidly ridiculous." Her words sounded sincere and soft. With only that much, the other mage would get out of his combat ready stance as well, his finger finding it's way towards his eyes as small tears appeared. He was moved by what she just said. It might have been for the first time his opponent would talk to him like this. It would be the first time a beautiful girl said that fighting him was simply ridiculous. With his voice shaking, he would try to speak as well. "I... if that's how you feel, then I... I'll let you wi-" However, he did not finish.

"So sorry about this, buddy! But I'll be taking any clues to where the treasure is from you, since Elyx was a meanie and didn't tell me anything! With that scream, the poor boy would jump back in shock. Leila's eyes gleamed with a crimson tide, her body quickly transforming and becoming more tree like. He might have been fascinated by the transformation, but Xiolan made sure he would not watch long. She was quickly next to the poor man, her fist just about to make a contact with his chin. And so it did, sending him flying straight up with Leila creating a bomb fruit next to her. It was quickly done and she threw it randomly into the air where her angel carefully caught the bomb, making sure it didn't blow up in her arms. And as the rival lost his momentum and stopped in the air, she would feed him the fruit, letting the explosion envelop him completely at point-blank range. Unfortunately that also depleted last of the summon's energy, making her disappear completely as well. With his clothes tattered and burned, he would start falling towards the ground. But it wasn't enough! Flaming roots would shoot out of the ground, forming a giant pike that ram into him as the gravity dragged him right onto it. Obviously Leila made it so that he wouldn't actually get impaled... but it still hurt him a whole lot. Being sent flying again, he eventually crashed onto a rock and slide down, his mind in ether completely. But at least he was still alive, though his spirit might have been a bit broken after that terrific betrayal from Leila.

Quickly making her body normal again, she would sigh and sweep the sweat from her forehead. Perhaps she was a bit too brutal with the man... but the job was now done, and that was what mattered most. With a smile of satisfaction, she would kneel down to him and start going through his pockets, one by one. And surely enough, she would eventually find a map that depicted the location of said treasure. That was exactly what she hoped for. It really seemed that he was close to finding it before she interrupted them and kicked their asses. It almost seemed sad how unlucky the sod was. But that's how life just is, nothing she could do about it. So instead of wasting time and waiting for his awakening, she stood back up and started exploring the map. As an experienced traveler, it didn't take her too long to find her way. And eventually, she would come to a hollowed out truck that had a small chest inside of it. It was beautifully ornamented and strongly locked. Several rollers were in the front, each holding several letters. And of course, a beautiful painting of a phoenix on the top. Taking that as a hint, she spelled 'Golden Phoenix' with the rollers and the box opened. Receiving the treasure she was seeking, the mission was successfully completed! And with that, she fully entered her new guild, the treasure hunting guild! Golden Phoenix!

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Status
HP: 160
MP: 20%

Word count: 846

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