Things have been pretty hectic after the trial. As soon as the meeting was over we were out of the building and within the hour we set off for black tower. Cloak ran away from the hexmountain like a deer running from a tiger.

  I can kind of guess the reason for that. A legioner in such a heavily populated tribal area. Things would not have gone well. The people were already giving me such a stinkeye without knowing who I was. Once they knew, let's just say things would have gotten very hectic.

  We have already returned to the black tower for a day now. The man disappeared after dropping me off in my room. The man did tell me what he was doing. I just can't make head or tail of what it is supposed to be. He is presenting a sledder to my master (don't ask me what that is.) and then he went on a ramble about how he was supposed to have more time to get everything ready.

  As for what I have been doing. I have been studying the black tower. Not that there is a lot to look at in the place. It is a barebones place if I am honest. I am surprised that my mana sense is even working in this place. Even my master doesn't trust me so much to allow me such free access.

  Another interesting thing that can be noted is his power level. I think that he is not as strong as the commander. At the very least he has not been at the man's power level for very long. The commander had a perfect grasp over his presence. With cloak, it is a more rough kind of control.

  It is hard for me to describe it, but the man has the presence of somebody in charge. This presence is not like the presence of Jacob Starfall. That was equivalent to the man flexing his presence to show off to me. With cloak, it is like the man doesn't even need to put any effort to show that he has a strong presence.

  "I can see why the people outside tend to be so nervous around your kind. Your people's curiosity is very creepy.", he speaks from behind me causing my heart to beat harder. "Well, I would need you to follow me, kid."

  Thus we begin to go down the tower. all I can see right now is a spiral staircase going down, though I can see quite a bit more in my mana sense. The only room open throughout the entire thing is the one at the top.

  "So what is the verdict, is it good news or bad news.", I ask the man.

  "Well, it is a mixture of both. The bastards of the council managed to fuck it up quite spectacularly. Well, at least the blood tribe managed to salvage the situation.", he spoke. "That young lady has managed to offend all the tribes. The tattoo tribe is going to suffer quite a bit from this meeting."

  "How would that be?", I ask again.

  "Well, the interests of the five tribes are more mixed than any of them like to admit.", he speaks. "If we are willing to suffer a bit, we still can cause the tattoo tribe to suffer quite a bit. Any representative to the council who doesn't realize that fact has always failed. Being a representative, you need to learn when to give and when to take. It is a fine art, without which the council would not exist. Anyway, all of that doesn't matter to you. Let's return to the matter at hand shall we."

  "Certainly.", is my reply. "What exactly even happened during the council? I only have a vague idea that I managed to cause some kind of an argument between the spear tribe and tattoo tribe."

  "Well, the politics of the tribe is more complicated than it seems. I will try to simplify it for you. Right now the tattoo tribe can be considered to be the most powerful among the five tribes. This is only by the thread of a hair, but it still is there.", he speaks. "Due to this, the spear tribe and the beast tribe tend to support them. This alliance is pretty weak though. There are still many matters on which they don't tend to agree on."

  "Like the sages, I guess.", I reply.

  "Yeah, the spear tribe has a clear reason to hate the sages. Let's just say the spear tribe has suffered a lot due to the sages.", he speaks.

  "The incident at the Spear Valley?", I tried to guess. I wish I could get more information on that event. I have heard of it a few times now.

  "Yeah, that isn't the only event though. Anyway, where was I, the tattoo tribe tends to be quite supportive of the sages.", he speaks, taking a lot of care not to elaborate on what happened at the Spear Valley. "This makes the spear tribe wonder whether the tattoo tribe is in league with the sages."

  "And how true are they.", I ask.

  "Well, it is more than likely that it is the truth. After all, the magic of the tattoo tribe is too similar to the sage's formations for us not to have doubts. There must be some collaboration. The spear tribe believes that the sages have given quite a few gifts for the tattoo tribe to be so supportive of them.", he speaks. "Anyway, all of this does not matter to you. The main thing is that you and the blood tribe have managed to split the spear tribe and the tattoo tribe. That leaves us with room to prepare and negotiate."

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  "Negotiate?", I reply.

  "Well, the spear tribe will not vote a no for duel, kid", he speaks. "They still would not like to offend the tattoo tribe that much. Instead, their focus and my focus is to let you duel in such a way that you will be able to win the duel. That you will be able to survive it at least."

  "So how exactly am I supposed to be dueling a second circle being?", I ask.

  "Well, you are not the first hot-headed kid that dueled well above their level of strength.", he replies. "We thankfully have a contingency for that. After all, we can't have a duel to death every time a kid thinks himself stronger than his commanding officer. The only problem is that it is not meant for outsiders like you. Let's just say you are going to have a busy week, my friend."

  "Well, what is it?", I ask the man.

  "It is going to be the winter loop for you, kid.", he speaks. "And before you ask what it is, let me show you a sledder first. That is why I have been so busy too, you see. After all, arranging a sledder on such short notice is very hard. Especially if the tattoo tribe does not want you to have them. I managed to get a training sledder for you."

  (After about a couple of minutes)

  It takes us a while to reach the ground. The tower is longer than it looks. Anyway, we finally reached the bottom of the tower and let's just say, I got the shock of my life.

  Moored at the edge of the tower is a ship. (Moored would be the correct here since the ground here is equivalent to the sea at its roughest.)

  It is not an airship, that much I can tell immediately. After all, I can't detect any of the formations that would have propelled the ship. The two massive slabs of wood at the bottom of the ship made it more than obvious that this was not something meant to fly. Also, the way that it is almost floating in the white void is not something any airship will be able to do.

  "I am sure that you do not know what this is. This is known as a sledder and this is about the only way that you can travel in the truelands.", he speaks. "And within a week you are supposed to be able to run this thing. It is the only way for you to be able to survive a winter's loop. Let's just hope that your master was not boasting when he told me of your skill with airships."

  "What is a winter's loop?", I ask him again.

  "Well, how do I describe it? It is a sport for our people, where we race our sledders through a winter storm.", he speaks. "The first sledder to leave the storm can be considered to be the victor. It is also one of the few types of duels where you will be able to live even if you were to lose. As I told you it is meant as a slap on the wrist for headstrong kids."

  As we are speaking, the man has been taking me into the ship. On the deck, I can see that the ship is pretty similar to an airship. Whatever this sledder is supposed to do it is derived from the design of an airship.

  As we go deeper into the place, I can see the differences. The difference is mainly that I can't understand any of the squiggles that are running this ship.

  If I am supposed to be piloting this thing then there is little that I can do if I am supposed to be using these squiggles to do so. I have to assume that these are kind of like the runes that were used in the council. I have to think that the tattoos of the tattoo tribe are also something similar to this.

  That I can't say for certain. After all, the bastards are certainly hiding these runes in their tattoos. It is actually kind of ingenious. Most of their tattoos are images of various kinds of beasts and plants, which can be used to hide their magical runes too.

  Anyway, it is time for me to return to the topic at hand. We have finally reached somewhere. Right now, cloak is fiddling with some kind of key which does not seem to be opening this lock.

  After a few embarrassing moments, he finally manages to get it open. As we step into the room, I can see a set of runes that are more than familiar to me. This room is full of formations.

  "Well, welcome to the steering room. It is the only place in the truelands where you shall find formations, as you people call it.", spoke cloak behind me, explaining. "Formations are banned in the truelands, except in places like the steering rooms. I have to warn you, that you cannot take any formations out of this room. It took me quite a bit of my influence to get this room made for you. It should make the process of sledding quite easy for you."

  As he speaks, strings of mana emanate from my hand, connecting me to the formation. As soon as I connect to it, the first thing that I feel is the strangeness of the ship. I don't know how exactly am I supposed to explain it. I think the best way of describing it is that there is a lag to everything. Like I am a moment behind the world.

  As I flex my connection to the controls, I will it to go forward, I can feel the ship moving to the left.

  Fuck, how the hell am I supposed to stop this fucking thing. Fuck, fuck, there it is.

  I can feel the ship slow down as I finally bring it under my control. Well, that was intense. How the hell is it so reactive? I had just nudged the formation a little bit and the damn thing flew. I do not know of any formation that would be able to achieve something like this.

  I break my connection to the formations of this ship as Cloak looks at me. The man has a look of judging curiosity. He is wondering if I will be able to handle this particular challenge. I have seen that look too many times for it not to be something very familiar to me. The legion is not gentle.

  "So what do you say, young wolf? Will you be able to master this within a week.", he speaks. "If not, things are going to be much harder."

  "I shall be able to master this sledder. The control of the ships is quite similar to that of an airship. The only thing is that the controls are not the same as the ones that I am used to. It will just take me a while to get used to the controls of the device.", I speak, more to myself than to the man opposite me. "I should be no magician with it but I will be able to steer it pretty well. Not enough to beat a person that must have practiced it from childhood."

  "Well, the goal is to survive, young man. Not to win. Make sure you can do that and it will be fine.", he replies.