Just like that, the time had come again. The time to throw off the shackles of what one was, and the time to embrace what could be new. It wasn't often that things had presented themselves so clearly, so indistinguishably obvious that there was only one possible outcome. It was time for metamorphosis. Finn couldn't continue down the same slow path he was going, proceeding at a leisurely walk towards improvement. He had to throw caution to the wayside and make a sprint for the finish line. He knew the truth, of course. The finish line wasn't so much the end, but rather the beginning of the next race. Once each hurdle was bounded, the next track lay before him. Further, more difficult to traverse than the last. Always before him without an end in sight. There was an end, of course. There had to be. The idea of limitless and endless growth wasn't something that he had ever considered a possibility. Eventually, no matter how tall the mountain, there was a peak. He didn't know when he'd reach it, nor even how. At the moment he was still trying to set up a base camp on the mountain, so the idea of thinking he'd reach the top any time soon was a joke. He would reach it though. A climber would always reach the top so long as they kept climbing. That's what he had to do. Continue climbing, until death forced him to stop.

Even death though was an adversary to overcome. Transcending boundaries and limits was what an adventurer did. It was what he had to do if he was going to continue growing. He didn't need to see the end, so long as he kept on the path. The checkpoints along the way would be how he tracked his progress. The next place where he would spring into his growth was this very place. Where he had met Xandra just recently, and Seira not so long ago. It was somewhere that he had a couple of times to map out now, and that was why he was certain that this was the place in which he would decide was best to train. There was a location within the forest that he was heading to, a specific location that he had found shortly after his run in with Xandra and had gone back a couple of times to make sure of. While the East Forest was no where near as dangerous as Worth Woodsea, it was still a location in which there were dangers. Beasts and creatures who defied normal logic, powerful enough to threaten him and many others. The ones he had found were secluded, but not stupid. They would be a threat to the town and those lost if not dealt with, and besides, it was hunt and be hunted. Finn was the predator, and he had marked his prey. Not it was time to begin the hunt for growth.

WC: 505

It was last second training really. Finn was trying to force himself past that next step, into the next arena. One could not hope to push further without first making at least a certain level of progress on their own. That was what he was currently doing. To make it to the base of the steps so that he could ascend them. He knew what it was he wanted to do. He had finally figured it out, after having been so confused for so long. He knew what it was that would break him from this rut he had fallen into without even realizing it. It had been so simple, and yet it had evaded him.

He was going to challenged the guild master of Blue Pegasus to a rematch in the hopes of winning this time. There would be no gamble, as that was only something of the previous guild masters creation. He wished to make Finn gamble on the fight so that he would get the desired result, because he knew that he had a high chance of winning. Now that Finn was older and could look back on the occasion with more experience, it was really quite obvious. The young man who had only recently made his way from Worth Woodsea had never stood a chance. How could he have known that though? There was no way that he could have understood the distance between him and the ones who stood at the peak. It wasn't something that could be so easily conceived.

Now was different though. He had closed the gap so much, and now it was time to test it again. Now things would be different. Finn better understood himself, and his strengths. He was not alone. That had been an error of judgment, a folly of man. He had not necessarily overestimated himself, but he had handicapped himself without even realizing it. It seemed so obvious now that it finally clicked in his head, but at the time he would never have wrapped his mind around it. Finn was not just by himself. He never had been, and hopefully never would be. He had Jake at his side. His brother, his best friend, and the one who would aid him in a rematch if he ever got it.

It was not cheating. Not in an actual fight, where one used every advantage they had to come out victorious. Finn had armor. Finn had a sword. Finn had Jake. Those three things would be his weapon against the mages that he would otherwise be overwhelmed by, and that would be his way to win. Him and his brother had been together since Finn could remember, and even before. The two of them could communicate without communication. Jake knew how Finn would act, and Finn knew how Jake would react. There were misunderstandings here and there maybe, but they were so close that they could react and change in a moments notice. That would be the main difference in the next fight, and the fights to come.

-EXIT-

WC: 1018