A few days later, in the shroom farms hidden beneath the inner city.
An old man and a middle age looking woman made their way leisurely through the tunnels.
Around them dozens of farmers moved around, casting their skills on the thousands of dark mushrooms that covered just this part of the farms.
On normal days they'd greet and butter up the woman without a hitch.
After all, as one of the only three high councilors in the city and the one in control of all farms, getting on her good side was essential for farmers like them.
But today no one dared to step closer, both for the warning she sent down the command chain this morning and the presence of the most powerful combatant in Unbreon.
A man known as the main pillar against the beast waves and that no one would dare to disrespect in Unbreon.
Even as Arbo kept tight hold on his sword intent, just his prestige and a profound glance was enough to make these farmers shiver in their boots.
"Old thing… I knew you wouldn't go out without a bang." The woman said with a smile as her dirt brown eyes glanced at him with hope. "Took you long enough to change your mind."
Arbo scoffed at her.
"I didn't change my mind girl, if this were a decade ago maybe, but by now I'm just too old for another bloodbath."
"Tsk." She clicks her tongue. "Then what are you gonna do about it? I might not be a mummy like you but I lived enough to know the Viscount will cover for that imbecile to the very end."
Arbo audibly sighs.
"This is the least horrible path, at least then my grandson will have a little more time to develop."
The woman shakes her head.
"You've grown soft, the Arbo I knew would bury those two in a moment for this clown show they are putting on."
The old man's face remains unmoved by her jabs.
"You're right, but the Arbo you knew had enough time left to make sure things would work out in the end."
The woman's face grows heavy, a worry tensing her muscles.
"But… Last time it only took half a decade for Unbreon to stabilize and Seraphina is more prepared than her grandfather was back then."
Looking at the ceiling Arbo debates in his mind whether to answer the question hidden in the girl's statement.
"Jenah, as my end approaches I can feel it clearly, the beast waves that will come a year from now will be my last and I won't live to see the year turn after them."
The woman stops mid stride.
When she was a kid centuries ago Arbo was already old as dust.
And though he didn't hide his situation from the council to hear he would die in less than a year and half, filled her with disbelief.
"Since when did you know?"
Arbo looks away, his eyes refusing to budge from the dim mushrooms that sprout from the walls.
"From the very day I decided to slow down five years back… Don't tell anyone else about this."
Arbo feels a series of small impacts on his side, to which he doesn't need to look to know it's Jenah's fists.
They felt weak and soft though she just reached Tier 5 recently, he could feel she wasn't punching full force.
Though even if she was that would barely make a difference, since he was a combatant and she wasn't.
"You bastard! If it wasn't this shit show you would have left me in the dark wouldn't you!"
She holds the scruff of his clothes trying to look into his eyes.
Arbo goes along with her antics and lets hier shake him.
However his eyes travel everywhere in the cave running from hers.
"If it serves for anything you're the only one I intend to tell this to girl."
She pauses for a second as a confused look covers her face.
"What about your grandson?"
Arbo finally locks eyes with her, sharp and decisive.
"Zatu doesn't need to worry about this right now."
Jenah frowns at the old thing's attitude.
"The boy is really attached to you, you villain, if you don't warn him he'll be crushed to pieces when you're gone."
She tried to convince the stubborn old man, but Arbo didn't budge.
"And from the pieces he will grow stronger, as he always does."
He answered firmly and unwavering, before gently pulling her hands away from his clothes.
"Now can I count on you for the meeting this Saturday Jenah?"
She nods and sighs.
"Alright I'll talk to others too." She agrees before giving him a warning. "but I'm sure a meeting won't be enough to solve this father and son duo."
***
At the same time on the top floor of Blue Dream Inn, Zatu and Schalt were chatting on the balcony.
"Been some days Zatu, you look happy."
"Hell yeah I am brother, even Grandpa was shocked when I told him my level. Wanna guess?" Zatu smiled, almost shaking not to spill his level immediately.
Schalt closes his eyes in thinking.
'Someone who doesn't bother to level normally takes a few months, someone who focuses on it may take 3 months and in theory combatants can accelerate this process with risk.'
'Well Zatu is for sure taking risks and he says it shocked high councilor Greensword so let's halve that time.'
'So 100 levels in a month and two weeks, it's been a week since he awakened so 1 sixth of that, so he should be around…'
"Level 17?" Schalt says.
And instantly knows he missed the mark just by seeing the smug smile on his friend's face.
"Higher." Zatu puffs his chest unconsciously.
"18 ? 19?" Schalt raises an eyebrow.
"Higher." Motions upwards with his hands excitedly.
"21?" Schalt raises both eyebrows.
"HIgher!" Zatu motions even more excitedly.
'What the? How?' Schalt questioned himself, deciding to guess an absurd number.
"Level 25, last guess."
Zatu shakes head slowly, clicking his tongue happily.
"Too low buddy, I'm level 31!"
"Bullshit." Schalt's jaw falls open.
"As real as it gets." Zatu replies proudly. "Thanks for the guide recommendation by the way, with her by my side I can fight things way above my level."
Schalt was still astonished, he had heard combat classes leveled fast and knew that Zatu was both trained and didn't slack off.
Even then 31 was just too crazy, in his years hiring combatants for his small caravans he had met many new awakeners.
But never had he heard of someone reaching level 31 in a single week.
"How? Are you fighting tier 2s or something."
This time Zatu scoffs.
"Sadly nah, my sword can't pierce their hide yet." Zatu states matter of factly. "Some high level tier ones can be cut though."
Schalt's eyes go wide, before he chuckles and shakes his head.
'Why am I even surprised, just like me in commerce he's been at it since he was a kid.'
"Damn Zatu, that is crazy and impressive as fuck, I'm happy for you." Schalt says as he taps on his shoulder.
Zatu nods happily, but a little embarrassed on how to respond.
"Talking about crazy I almost forgot, that meditation you got for me, worth every penny."
Schalt scoffs just remembering teleporting two bars of platinum away to the family's main branch.
"It better be crazy, how good are we talking about?"
"48 max mana and I have only used mana three times this week."
'What the fuck?' Schalt paused, he himself was already low tier 2 being awakened for a bit more than a year and had only crossed the 600's mark of mana last week.
Granted, combatant stats are commonly inflated compared with most normal classes.
And his meditation was not focused on increasing mana pool.
Still with some quick math Zatu's mana was increasing upwards of four times faster than his… Without him using it?
"Bro, if memory wasn't so useful for my class I'd consider trading meditations."
Zatu nods before shaking his head and advising against it anyway, since he remembered the quite long list of possible side effects of mixing this 'cutting edge meditation'.
For a while Zatu and Schalt talked a bit more about stats and growth, before the conversation slowly drifted into the bad omens each of them had found during the week.
First with Zatu telling how he and Night Fang had found half a dozen beasts that shouldn't be in the outer south.
all bruised at first glance.
And showing signs of starvation once Zatu opened them up at the tower.
For Schalt though his omens did not relate to anything outside the city walls.
"...when I was preparing my guys for that mega caravan high councilor Greensword mentioned, I started to hear some strange rumors in the outer city." Schalt leans conspirationaly. "Apparently a group of officials is causing havoc on many stores, from stealing from stores while cursing the owner to fighting with customers and locking people up, I heard a lot of tales that couldn't verify anything, but my gut tells me something bad is gonna happen."
Hearing this Zatu frowns a little, remembering the reaction Arbo got to the book Maira got.
"When you say your gut, is it just your gut or that skill of yours too?"
Schalt gives a confused chuckle.
"That's the weird part, my gut tells me it will be a problem, but when I read the trends on it my skill returns overwhelmingly positive feedback."
Zatu looks into the night sky and sighs a little.
"I have a suspicion I know what this is about and if I'm right Grandpa is already moving to deal with it."