True Body Court

He comes to me, and not wanting to be disrespectful I give him a slight bow as I greet him. "Karenatha Zimear."

"You don't need to worry about such formalities with me. Come on, we're going to the Lands." He notices the slightly confused expression on my face and explains. "While the Courts have buildings here, in the Metorium, most of them have branches in the Lands so that people with little time in the real world can at least have enough time to accomplish their goals."

"Oh. That makes sense."

"Of course. Since I don't have much free time I figured you would gain the most if we were in there. If you ever want to get there on your own, use this noer, or visit the Court here. There is a teleportation gate that will take you straight there."

He shows me a noer similar to the one I normally use to get to the Lands, with the only difference being an alphabet added at the corner. I quickly memorize it.

He throws the noer into the Arch I just came through and it vanishes. We walk back through the Arch and are teleported to the Lands, but instead of appearing in my usual position we instead appear in the middle of a forest. I have no chance to appreciate the beauty of my surroundings however as my eyes are drawn to the creature in front of me.

It is a hulking nightmare, over thirteen feet in height, though most of that height comes from its arm-like appendages. It is a humanoid monster, minus a head, neck, and arms, without even a stump to indicate those had ever been there, just smooth brown skin. Its muscular legs seem to be of little use to it due to the presence of four long appendages sprouting from its back. The appendages are covered in skin and each ends with eight finger-looking structures. The appendages are also what it uses to stand, instead of its legs.

By my side Justin seems less than impressed with this creature, smiling even at the sight of it. "Arass, how are you? This here is Ian, he will be joining our Court today."

Even without a head or eyes, I can tell when the creature turns its attention toward me. It moves slowly towards me, using those appendages to walk. When it stops in front of me, it slowly lowers its body until I am level with it, then it raises one of its appendages, using one of its fingers to touch my forehead. I feel a jolt as something shoots into my forehead.

Satisfied with whatever it has done, the creature rises once again. Balancing delicately on two of its appendages, it raises the other two before slamming them back on the ground. A noer appears on the ground beneath Justin and me, and before I can even react we are teleported away to what seems to be another part of the same forest.

"What was that?" I ask Justin. We are in the center of a small cobblestone path leading… somewhere. There are a few small branches of the path leading to who knows where, but the main path leads directly forward.

"It's one of the Watchers. But it's been tasked with guarding the entrance to our Court here. It can intercept teleports to the Court if it senses someone that isn't a part of the Court. It's kind of like a gatekeeper."

"So no one that isn't a part of our Court is allowed in?"

"Oh no, they are. They just have to go through Arass first. The only reason he stopped us was that you weren't marked then. Now that you are, you'll probably rarely see him."

I touched my forehead. So that's what it was doing, marking me. First the Laen mark, now this, if this keeps up who knows how many marks I'll have in like ten years.

"So is that what the Watchers do? Watch over the Courts?"

"No. Only a select few do so. The majority of them keep things balanced. For example, have you ever noticed how there are no animals here, yet the plant life isn't going bonkers? That's because of the Watchers. The majority of their time here is spent keeping things balanced, a few of the strong Watchers are assigned to watch over the courts, and the strongest do… something."

At this point, I finally see the end of the path as a large compound appears in front of us. There are four buildings I can see as I move forward, The first is the largest, a two-story square building with lots of windows and little to no color. The second and third buildings have similar shapes, and what they lack in height, they make up for in width. Also, something about their shapes makes me absolutely sure that both buildings have a very large quadrangle. As for the last building, I cannot describe it, not because I don't want to, but because even as I look at it its shape changes.

"Don't stare at it too hard," says Justin, "It doesn't have a completely definite shape. Okay, quick tour, that is the Cirillian Bathhouse, those two are training centers, for you to practice your skills in, and that is the main building, where we are going." He points at the constantly changing building, the two similar buildings, and the largest building concurrently.

We enter the main building and Justin leads me to a room on the first floor. The room has two large windows on one of the walls, letting in plenty of sunlight and giving a great view of the outside. In terms of furniture and decorations, the room is almost completely barren, having only a table with two chairs on opposite sides of it.

Justin sits on one of the chairs, and following his actions, I sit on the other.

He begins to speak. "At this particular point in time, your greatest focus should be to increase your combat strength. You joined this Court to do that, but unlike the other Courts we True Body Masters have no scaling. You either have a True Body or you don't, and developing a good True Body isn't exactly easy so you're going to be without one for quite some time."

"So how can I improve my strength?" That is a question whose answer I desperately need. Like Justin said, raising my combat strength is a priority at the moment. Judging by Kane's words a few days ago, I am probably going to spend the majority of my time as a Pre-protector and Protector on missions, and if my strength isn't up to par… well, I don't think things will end up well for me.

"That problem was considered during the early days of the Court, and thankfully we have two solutions. First, during the creation of the True Body, there are some noers that need to be inscribed on the skin, only a few of them are required and many other optional noers can be added to further boost your strength. For instance, most people choose to add foundational noers, but ultimates can also be added."