Limits

They agreed to put Formations on weapons and whatnot, but they didn't really have any weapons. No Grey Lizard was a blacksmith, although a lot of them could tailor. They still required materials for that, and I needed to provide them. Either that, or get weapons, armours and whatnot for them, which they could improve. With that established, I said "I have a personal favour though. The armour you see on me, it's already tattered and most of the Formations are broken". One of the Lizards replied, "We can repair it no problem". I shook my head, "Not repair it. I want you to make the best armour you can. The best Formations you can use, I might need them… Unfortunately, I don't have any materials. I can pay you for that with something else though".

The leader replied, "We don't need money, but we are willing to give you some materials for your armour. After all, you shared the knowledge of Elements with us. That alone is a good enough payment". I nodded and started taking off my armour. I changed into the old set of clothes, and asked them to have a look at the ruined set. They each took something and examined it, before passing the pieces between themselves. One of the Lizards asked, "Was this made by us?". I nodded, "Yes, but you might not know her… I mean if Alicia didn't tell you about her". He asked confused, "Her? Oh you mean that child from Olrad? Alicia took her in? That's new, who would've thought".

I smiled, "Yes, Suly is really talented. She placed all those Formations by herself". He nodded, "Yes, not bad at all. Although they are a bit weak, the potential is there". I continued, "The Formation on the cloak, I want the same one or rather better one. Other Formations… You can improve upon them or add something you think is necessary". He nodded, and told me they would take care of that.

I had a few more things to take care of, before I left. "Can you contact Alicia?" I asked. The leader replied, "We can try, but we can't really tell her to come here if she doesn't want to". I was a bit confused, "What do you mean by that?". He replied, "Well, Alicia is one of us, as in us here in this room. More precisely, she has the same position as me. I can't really order her around, and it was her choice to live outside. We usually sent some less prominent members, but Alicia decided she wanted to go". I was surprised for sure. 'To think she held such a high position here' I thought.

Either way, I told them to try. After all, I wanted my sword back or whatever Alicia decided to do with it. I then asked about the last thing. "You are aware what Land of Mirages is, right?". They nodded in reply, while I continued. "I need a way to disperse that mist, or the ability to go inside without being affected". They stayed silent for a while, then murmured something underneath their breaths. Finally, one of the Lizards broke the silence. "That's too difficult". Another Lizard chimed in, "It's not impossible of course, but we would have to be there and that is not something we are willing to do". The leader added, "The Formation required to achieve such thing, would not be that simple and take a lot of time. Not only would we need to leave this place with a considerable amount of us, we would have to stay near the Land of Mirages for an extended amount of time".

The others nodded their heads, except one guy who was still lost in his thoughts. It was the Lizard who told me about Hydra. He suddenly exclaimed, "Wait! There might be a way. Don't forget the Elements. We are still new to this type of knowledge, but we already established some things, right?". The others looked at him, and nodded slightly. He continued, "In that case, what we need is the knowledge about that mist". I asked confused "What do you mean by that?". He replied, "It's simple, we need to know what Elements this mist consist of". Another Lizard added, "We might be able to succeed, and we don't have to go there. If we can massively collect that Element or Elements that the mist consists of, we should be able to disperse it".

I replied, "That is under one condition, that mist must be a Formation. If it's not, collecting a certain type of Element might do nothing to it". He nodded, "We believe that the mist is a Formation, whether that's true or not… You will have to find that out for us". I agreed, this was much better than trying nothing at all. The leader said, "In that case, we all know what to do. We will try to contact Alicia, and improve your armour. It should be ready by the time you return". I nodded, and left the room. I had to take the leg and arm guards with me, as Grey Lizards wouldn't be able to repair them. Besides, I wanted to improve that armour too.

Although I left the room, I wasn't sure how to leave that place. I went back inside, and asked them about it. One of them told me to follow him. The Lizard showed me how to activate the Formations, allowing me to leave their base. Before I left though, he told me to hide myself. He also mentioned that when I returned, I should take extra care not to be followed. I nodded while melding into the shadow, then disappeared from their base.

Shortly after, I appeared outside. 'This Formation is really useful, I wonder if they could make one for longer distances' I thought, and made my way towards Sedon. I could visit Obsidian Mountains on my way, but I decided against that. I didn't want to waste time on detours, as I had no clue what was really going on. My pace wasn't slow compared to before. I no longer trained on my way, there was no time for that.

Time passed quickly. I made it back to Sedon, which changed a lot during the time I was absent. The new walls were taller, more beefy and had a few towers. "Wow, Ama really did a great job" I said to myself. Although the city walls looked a bit. Two sides were taller and more robust, while the old walls looked weak and puny in comparison. The atmosphere inside the city was rather lively, morale high. 'I'm still uneasy about this whole peaceful situation. This is like the quiet before the storm, I just hope nothing major will occur before I get those Formations' I thought.

I also noticed that some people worked on Scorpions. 'My guess is, more people worked on the walls this time. This would explain why the Scorpions are still not finished' I thought, and headed towards the Lizards' area. Harlin was training his soldiers, and helping out Atols as well. 'Seems like Atols and Lizards make good allies. This is good, once they are familiar with each other, fighting alongside will be easier for them' I thought.

"Harlin, it's been a while" I called out. He turned around and smiled. "You look like shit man. What sort of trouble did you cause this time?". I laughed "It's nothing much, I will tell you later. For now, gather your people. I have something to say". He rolled his eyes but assembled his soldiers, while Atols gathered next to me. "Hey guys, you are doing very well. I can see that Olip, Atal and Mani reached their Inner Limits. Good job guys. Olan and Eram, you are not far away from it either. Keep at it, and you will reach it soon. I see improvements in the rest of you too. Work hard, and you can achieve the same height".

The Atols replied "Yes!", in unison. With all the soldiers and warriors gathered, I said. "I need to borrow your weapons, armours and whatnot for a while. We will improve your equipment, to a much, much better standard. Make sure the stuff you give me is the best you have. That way, you will receive the most from it when I return it to you". The soldiers began murmuring among themselves, but Atols didn't really have any issues. All of them dumped their weapons in front of me. "You were the one who provided equipment for us. We have no need to suspect you. We believe in you".

Harlin scolded his soldiers, and handed me his things. I said, "Guys, make sure you label this stuff. I have no way of distinguishing your equipment… Especially that kind of amount". They did as I asked, and handed me whatever they thought was best. I got two full bags of stuff, and I would have to carry all that back to the Grey Lizards. 'Yea... ' I thought. I left the bags there, as I didn't want to carry them on me all the time. Besides, I had to collect more. Shades also needed an upgrade.

I added before leaving, "You guys still have weapons and other things, so you shouldn't be that worried. I will be back as soon as those get improved". I wanted to meet with Crow next, and then a few other people. I also had to repair my own armour, Grey Lizards didn't have access to a furnace, but Sedon had. Using that would be much quicker compared to me building one from scratch. Before I left, I told Harlin to meet me at Crow's place later.