Parker Forest

The next morning they checked out of the inn after eating breakfast. There were no disturbances that morning so they were able to enjoy their food and leave afterwards. It took another three hours before they reached Parker Forest. Jewels, Roku and Ichi were dropped off at the edge of the forest. Sunny and the Driver would head back into town and check in another inn and wait for them there. Should there be any trouble, Ichi or Roku would be able to send word to Sunny to get help or vice versa.

Knowing that Jewels came to the forest to train, Roku and Ichi were under strict orders not to interfere unless it was life threatening. For two weeks, Jewels spared with Roku or Ichi in the morning. They would break camp and make their way further into the forest. On the way if Jewels saw any medicinal herbs, she would stop to pick them and stash them away in her bag. If they ran into a wild ferocious animal that was a level 6 or lower, Jewels would fight it, kill it and take its soul stone.

Each animal had a soul stone that could be used to help with energy cultivation. Each soul stone held the energy that the animal had cultivated over the years. The higher the level of the animal, the purer and more potent energy it possess. Within the past two weeks, they only ran into three level 4 animals and Jewels was able to kill them by herself. Jewels did not use the soul stone immediately like Ichi or Roku thought. Instead she held on to them and horded them away. They would make camp when the sunset and prepare for dinner and turn in early for bed. Each taking turns to keep watch for the night.

Each day Jewels learned more and more about Roku and Ichi. Ichi's family had served the Osamu family all their lives. They have always been faithful and loyal to them and the Osamu family have rewarded them greatly over the many generations. Even with wealth, land and titles, the Osamu family still kept the tradition of protecting and guiding the Kings of Redbane.

Roku and Fudo were abandoned by the side of the road. Picked up by a General of Redbane on his way home, he raised Roku and Fudo as his adopted sons.  General Tekeshi already had a wife and family at home. The wife was not happy with the orphans he picked up, but swallowed her anger and took them into her home. She did not care for them and treated them unkindly every chance she got. She would pit her son against them in everything. When they trained, spared, or tested. She put so much pressure on her son to be better than Roku and Fudo that he slowly started to hate them himself. When Roku was 16 and Fudo 14, Roku decided to join the army and fight along side his adopted father, who have been tasked for protecting the boarder from raiders. While Fudo, who excelled in literary works, planned to stay behind and finish his education. Although it was hard for them to part, they consistently kept in touch, however Fudo did not tell Roku the truth about what he was going through. The madam, would only feed him once a day and he was made to do hard labor. His education and training were taken away from him and he struggled for three years wile the General and Roku were at war. During those three years, although he struggled, the only bright light for him was the General's daughter who saw the injustice and helped him any way she could. She made sure to save some food when she was able to set some aside for him. When she could steal some medicine from the doctor she would take them and give it to him when he was feeling sick. Slowly in those three years, they fell in love and kept it a secret. When the madam of the house found out, she threw Fudo out and locked her daughter in her room. Fudo stayed close to the manor and waited until the General and Roku came home. It took two years for The general and Roku to come back and by then Fudo had become the leader of a gang. Unable to find shelter, food or a job, Fudo had to turn to the criminal underworld to survive.

When the General and Roku came back, they found out what happened and both of them were infuriated for different reasons. The General was mad that the madam treated Fudo wrongly over the years, however he did not like the idea of Fudo and his daughter in love. He thought his daughter could do much better then Fudo and did not disagree on his wife kicking Fudo out. Roku on the other hand felt his brothers injustice and argued with the General. In the end Roku was also kicked out of the General's household. When Roku finally found Fudo, their lives were completely different, however they were still brothers. Although Roku did not agree with Fudo's livelihood, he knew his brother was his own person and was now able to take care of himself. When Roku was protecting the boarders, he had become one of the best soldiers there, quickly moving up the ranks. By the end of his service, he's actions and leadership had been noted by the King and was given the opportunity to become the Crown Prince's bodyguard. Roku accepted the job have been Prince Radian's bodyguard for 8 years. Roku did not know how Fudo became Doku's disciple and Fudo was not willing to share the story either. All Roku knew was that the General contracted a marriage with another General's son and his daughter. Fudo did his best to try to persuade the General to let him marry his daughter, but to no avail, the marriage between the two General's children happened. Fudo soon disappeared afterwards and Roku did not hear from Fudo until 4 years ago.

"What happened to the General's daughter? Does she have children now?" Jewels asked.

"Last time I heard, she has two children, both boys and pregnant with a third. The baby should have been born by now." Roku told her.

Jewels became quiet after that. Fudo had always been someone who had a smile on his face. He has a nice temperament and never got angry fast. His patience with others was what Jewels thought was his leading quality. When she asked him about this past, Fudo would only tell her about his past as the leader of a gang and called it his "mischievous years of youth". They would laugh over his past antics over tea or wine and he would tell her more stories because she would ask for them. He never told her about his family and she never questioned him, but when he suddenly sent word that his brother have been asking questions about her and that because it was his blood brother, he told Roku everything that Roku wanted to know. Otherwise, he would have gone to the grave without saying a word. Fudo asked for forgiveness and told him the only way she would forgive him is if he gave her his Boisen Wine that he made. The Boisen Wine could cure colds and fevers with a drop into a cup of tea. Fudo was the only person she knew that was able to create the Boisen Wine. Although he hesitated at first, he gave her the wine and they called it even.

By the end of the third week in Parker forest they have traveled deep into the forest. While Jewels fought the wild animals, Roku and Ichi would gut and skin them. They did not waste the kill and ate part of the meat for dinner and dried the rest for their next meal. The fur coat of the animal could be sold at a high price.

When they found a stream, they would stop to clean themselves as much as possible. Ichi suggested that they follow the stream. Jewels and Roku followed him as he lead the way. For three nights and three days they stayed near the stream that soon became a river. They caught fish on their way and swam to get all the dirt off their bodies. After a day of leisure, they made camp and cooked the fish they caught. By then, Jewels accumulated six soul stones and took them out to look at. The last soul stone that she held in her hand was twice as big as the others. The animal that she took it from was a level 6 blue eagle. It took the better part of the day to capture and kill the blue eagle. The wind its wings created kept knocking her down. Roku and Ichi sat and watched her struggle and laughed at her every time she fell down.

During the fourth week they came upon a cave smelling of fresh blood.  They slowly approached the cave, listening and looking at their surroundings.  As they came closer and closer to the opening of the cave, they could hear a whimper. Ichi and Roku didn't want Jewels to enter the cave, however she was determined to see what was inside. 

"Look guys, let's just go look.  If the injured animal is hurt beyond repair, I'll put it out if it's misery.  However if I can save its life for another day, then I'll try my best to save it."

"Why don't you just kill it since your going inside anyway?"

"Killing an injured animal is no fun.  How is it going to help me become stronger if I can't fight it fairly?" 

Pulling up her sleeve, she used the bracer to catch the sunlight, the golden vines lit up then glowed with light.  

Ichi and Roku gasped in surprise.  They saw Jewels bracer before, but thought it was a regular bracer.  They have seen her trace the lines on it when she was deep in thought, but did not know that the bracer was enchanted.

"Lady Jewels," Roku asked her.  "How did you come upon your enchanted bracer?" 

Jewels smiled at them and said. "Shhh... its a secret. Now are you coming or not?" 

Ichi and Roku looked at each other and and followed her without questioning her further.  When they entered the cave,  the whimpers they heard became low growls.  The light illuminated the cave as they made their way to the back of the cave walking slowly.  Behind a bolder there was a shadow on the ground and the loud growl became stronger warning them off.  However Jewels slowly walked towards the injured animal and when she pointed the light at the shadow, all three of them stopped in their tracks.  In front of them was the golden lion that killed the mayor's son.  The lion was three times as big as the lions Julianna remembers from her past life.

It was clear that the lion had been in a fight recently.  Its mane was bloody and its coat was drenched in red.  The level 10 golden lion watched them with fierce eyes.  Roku and Ichi both prepared themselves for a fight.  Even though the lion have been injured, it was still very dangerous.  Putting up her arm, she stopped them.

"Remember I told you guys that we were going to come in here to help and not kill?" 

"But that's a level 10 golden lion!  Do you know how rare it is to find a pure golden lion? Just think how strong his soul stone is." Ichi said.

"No," Jewels said. "No killing." 

The lion looked at them, moving his eyes from one person to the next as if he understood what they were saying.  Jewels took two bottles out from her bag  and a shirt as she slowly walked towards the lion talking to it. 

"I'm not going to hurt you.  I want to help you." Jewels said. 

The lion's growling became quieter as she approached.  Jewels opened the canteen of water and pour it on the shirt. 

"Please don't eat me."  Jewels said as she reached out slowly to wipe the blood off his face. 

"I'm going to wipe the blood off first and see where you're bleeding.  Afterwards I'll put medicine on the open wounds. The medicine will help close and heal it faster.  I made it myself, so it's the best medicine out there."

Jewels talked to the lion, but mostly she talked to calm her nerves.  Her hand shook when she worked on the lion.  Cleaning his face, there were gashes on the  his face.  Pulling out the bottle of medicine she poured the thick paste on her fingers and gently spread the paste over the open cuts. 

"They got you pretty bad, huh?"  Jewels said.

The lion growled at her comment.

"I'm sure you got them back, seeing how you're a live and they're not." 

The lion growled again.

"I'm sure you taught them a good lesson to not mess with you." 

The lion growled agreeing with her. 

"Lady Jewels, please be careful.  Should anything happen to you, Prince Raiden will surely kill us. "

"I'll try," Jewels said, then turned to the lion. "You're not going to eat me are you?" 

The lion closed his eyes and laid its head on his paws as if he was ignoring her. 

"I'm now going to check your body."  She said.  Gently wiping the blood off the lions coat she continued the process of putting medicine on the cuts.  When she encountered the biggest wound that kept bleeding, she told the lion exactly what she was going to do. 

"I have to sew this cut up, its too deep for just the medicine to stop the bleeding and heal it."  Jewels said as she brought out a needle and thread.  "I will have to sew it up. And it's going to hurt, I didn't bring any numbing medicine with me, so please don't kill me.  Please bare with it."

She took her time sewing the wound, when she finished she, she wiped the wound with a layer of the healing paste.  Checking over her work, she was satisfied and as she got up to leave, the lion stood up.  Jewels knew the lion was big, however when he stood up, the lion towed over her.  Slowly backing away, Roku and Ichi grabbed her shoulder and moved her behind them. 

"Let's go." Roku said as the three of them back away slowly not wanting to startle the lion.  The lion watched them the whole time not following them, but studying them.  

When they reached outside again, she Ichi  hooked Jewels around the waist and flew away from the cave.  Roku brought up the rare to make sure the lion didn't come after them.  When they were a good distance away, Ichi started lecturing Jewels.

"Next time we run into a wounded animal in a cave, we walk away!  You are crazy and we must be crazy along with you to follow you into the cave! If Prince Raiden found out about this, he will have our necks!"

"Considering that I don't plan on telling him and if you guys don't tell him, he wouldn't know." 

"We have to report everything."  Roku reminded her.

"I know. But just think about it.  It'll be our little secret and we came out of there alive and well."  Jewels said trying to convince them. 

When they stared at her with arms crossed she knew there was nothing she could do to change their minds.  Resigning to her fate,  they made camp and turned in for the night. 

Their days in Parker Forest became a routine afterwards. Wake up, spar. Breakfast, spar.  Break down camp, hike.  Wild animal, fight, kill, take soul stone, skin, gut, cook meat eat and dry meat. Hike some more.  Set up camp, spar, dinner, cultivate, sleep. 

Everyday that they were out in Parker Forest she could feel herself getting stronger.  Her muscles grew and became more defined.  Her training in Parker Forest has raised her energy cultivation from midlevel 5 to high level 5.  Her accumulated soul stones that she collected so far came up to 10.

Their last two days in Parker Forest, Ichi and Roku took Jewels and flew closer to the meeting point with Sunny and the driver.  While staying within the forest, they kept up with their routine. On the last night in the forest, they ran into trouble. 

30 men in green and black showed up before them.  There were three men that were midlevel 9 while the rest of them were level 8.

Instead of confronting Jewels, Ichi and Roku, they ambushed them and attacked.  Roku unleashed two paper cranes, calling for help.

Ichi, Roku and Jewels stood back to back, readying themselves for a long fight.  Ichi and Roku kept up with the onslaught of men, but Jewels struggled keeping up with the attacks.  The poisoned throwing darts helped her paralyzed the attackers within minutes, however in those minutes she had to fight them until the poison activated.  In those minutes, she put all her training into use, however the difference in power was still evident.  Ichi and Roku tried the best they can to cover her back while taking injury themselves. Although there were bodies littered on the ground, it became evident that they were out numbered.  Ichi, Roku and Jewels were all injured.  Ichi was bleeding from the shoulder and leg while Roku held his hand over his bleeding stomach, trying to stop the bleeding. The side of Jewels waist bleed profusely as well as her thigh. 
When Roku became weak and fell to his knees, Jewels ran to help him and she felt a sword cut through her back.  She stumbled but kept running to his side to aid him.

When Jewels reached his side, she raised her sword and blocked the on coming hit that would have taken Roku's life. Deflecting the sword, she quickly thrust her sword into the man's chest and pulled out and slashed his throat.  Suddenly five men attacked her the same time and she knew  that in that moment, she was going to die for the second time in her life.