Stiltzkin excitedly jumped in place, calling out last minute advice as I waved to him and started my journey to River Belle Path.

Mog flew beside me, murmuring some reassuring words as we made our way back to the main road to join up with my papaopamus.

I gave the large beast a pat as it shifted to try and rub it's head against me. I laughed a bit and dodged past it, not too fond of getting hurt before even entering my first dungeon.

Clambering up onto the caravan, I took the reins and waited for Mog to settle down beside me.

Mog was nice enough to give me a quick rundown of what to expect: mus, goblins and hedgehog pies.

Yeah... I don't really know what any of those are, but I expect that I won't like them very much.

Mog reassured me that it would be easy pickings; that every town and city had an "easy" dungeon located close by to help new caravanners get acclimated.

We reached the dungeon and I slid off the caravan, mouth agape.

Suffice to say, it was beautiful. It was hard to believe that it was a dungeon if not for the sign we passed a few miles back with a warning: "Do Not Pass. Dungeon Ahead. Property of Tipa Province."

Now, a new sign was a ahead of me. I tugged gently on the reins and led my papaopamus closer and eventually gave the command to have him wait here for me. All papaopamus were trained to wait a 5 days before starting their return to the village; symbolizing the caravans failure.

I moved closer to the sign and read the little poem inscribed on it. I raised an eyebrow at the message:

"They say that wicked creatures prowl the road along this beautiful riverbank, but nobody has ever seen one. I once asked a man why. He simply replied, "Because anyone who happens upon one is promptly eaten!"But it is long since anyone has met such a fate. For nowadays, people take another route, far away from the spooky old road. Only we walk the old way now... travelers in crystal caravans."

It didn't exactly instill me with confidence. People got EATEN by these monsters? It did feel kinda cool that I was one of the only people who would be coming this way; that I was walking the old road. But still... I could meet that horrid fate. My papaopamus could be making another sad return to Tipa village: riderless and myrrhless, with only my few pathetic journal pages to mark my journey.

I quickly added a mark to the bottom of the sign, adding to the calender of myrrh cycles that the Tipa caravan had visited the dungeon and made my way to the entrance proper, the chalice raised above my head as I passed through the narrow path.

Entering the dungeon, I stood there in awe, chalice still above my head with my racket as I took in the view.

I dropped the chalice to the ground with a "thud" and got into the ready position that Stiltzkin showed me the other day.

Mog flew over and grabbed the chalice before moving to hover beside me.

"Don't worry, kupo! You see that ahead? That's a goblin, they use fire. Don't be afraid, kupo! Run up and attack him like you practiced with Stiltzkin!"

I nodded, taking my hand off my racket to quickly flip my silvery hair back from my face before running forward.

The goblin made a noise of surprise and geared up, raising an arm and throwing a badly aimed stone at me.

Yelping I swerved in the opposite direction despite the fact that it didn't come close to hitting me.

I got close and smacked the goblin once with my racket and tried desperately to perform the combo that Stiltzkin showed me. I couldn't. My hand slipped on my second strike and I ended up missing the goblin completely. The goblin swung it's sword, nicking my shoulder.

I cried out and swung once more with my racket, this time my hit connected and the goblin went down. I hit him once more for good measure before rummaging through his pockets for any goodies, just as Sol Racht had told me to do.

I pulled out a few fire magicites and some gil. I tossed the gil into my pack and tossed away all the magicite but one. I only needed one of each type anyways, Stiltzkin had told me not to try combining the same type until I was more experienced due to my slower casting speed.

Taking a breath, I lifted my racket and moved on, rapidly finding and defeating a hedgehog pie and collecting more gil before finding myself in front of a wooden wall.

"Let's find a way around, kupo!"

I looked back a Mog and nodded my agreement.

I battled a few more goblins and found a chest along the riverside. I opened it to discover a bronze belt coupled with a moogle pocket, which I promptly threw into my back to attach latter. I was excited at my finds. I finally had some armor, not much, but it would help with my defense. And the moogle pocket? I couldn't wait to sit down tonight and sew it to my current pack in order to enlarge it so I could carry more items.

Shaking my head, I gestured to Mog and moved back up the hill and continued my battle against the monsters in the River Belle Path.

I found a hotspot and had Mog drop the chalice, changing the element to water. I took the time to sit in the shade nearby and chat with Mog as we both rested briefly.

"You are doing fine, kupo! Just make sure you save enough strength to fight the dungeon boss once we near the Myrrh tree!"

"A... dungeon boss?"

Mog hopped a bit before replying. "Yeah, kupo! There's a dungeon boss at the end of every dungeon guarding the Myrrh tree from the monsters in the area but therefore, also from the caravanners that come to collect the Myrrh."

I sighed and nodded, flipping my hair back once more.

"I suppose we should get moving again if we want to make any headway before nightfall."

"Don't worry, I have some friends who live nearby, kupo! We can always stay with them if need be! And thinking about it, I think some of my other friends just moved in nearby too, kupo!"

Smiling, I nodded again and stood up.

"Which way to your friend's house then?"

"Follow the river, kupo! And then up the hill!"

I raised the chalice from the hotspot before handing it off to Mog with a smile.

Then removing my racket from my back once more, I turned back to the river and began to make my way along the river.

I easily took out the hedgehog pie I found further downstream with a focus attack. I'd swiftly learned that I was very good at using long distance focus attacks. It was so empowering to take aim from a distance on an unaware monster before leaping over to them and killing them in one brisk blow.

I might not be very good at casting spells as I found out from my training with Stiltzkin, but I had a knack for my focus attacks so that had quickly become my main form of attack.

I battled goblins on my way up the hill to the Moogle home and then had some trouble at the peak with a mus that appeared. It was too fast for me to focus my attacks on so I ended up taking quite a bit of damage.

Mog easily opened the door to his friends home and I was ushered in by a fat white moogle.

The little guy gave me a sticker sheet and helped me bandage up my newly acquired cuts.

We stayed for awhile, talking and resting. I gratefully accepted some water and food from them before heading back out into the dungeon. I was planning on reaching the next moogle house before sundown and we had to hurry since I wasn't exactly moving at an optimal pace due to my inexperience.

I found a few more chests, pocketing a phoenix down and fruit seeds along with a design for a Novice's Weapon. I blinked at the weapon design and pocketed it, planning on commissioning it at the next town or city I came across on my travels.

I crossed a small bridge and spied the new moogle home Mog mentioned. We stopped by to chat, but the two moogles were so frazzled with moving in that they couldn't offer us the respite we'd hoped for.

We waved goodbye and moved onto the path leading to the dungeon boss.

"Don't forget to equip that cure spell you found earlier, kupo! You should probably get used to casting that one spell often, kupo!"

I nodded and placed the small magicite somewhere I could access it quickly when under duress.

Taking a deep breath I entered the arena to be met with a Giant Crab. I dodged and jumped, swinging my racket so hard I was afraid a few times that I had snapped it in half. I cast so many focus attacks I didn't know what to do in order to take down this beast. I cursed myself repeatedly since I wished I'd practiced more with the cure spell before going up against this hideous thing.

Finally, with one last blow to it's head, the crab crumpled and didn't rise up again.

I was sweating and out of breath. I took a few steps forward and waded into the pool at the base of the waterfall. Letting the cool water flow around my legs and watching as my skirt floated around my ethereally.

I dove under the water and twisted so I could look up through the liquid into the blue of the sky, catching a glimpse of the rainbows even through the water blurring my vision.

Surfacing, I gasped and moved to shore, grasping my racket and pack before wading over to the other side, to the Myrrh tree.

Mog dropped the chalice and allowed me to heft it above my head as I walked over to the tree. I stared at it for a moment before reverently placing the chalice on the pedestal and pushing it forward a bit.

I took a step back and watched at the crystal began to shine brightly, causing the Myrrh tree to glow in response. Myrrh started to gather on the tip of the two foremost branches.

I gaped at the spectacle and watched in amazement as a single drop fell from the branches, falling into the chalice with a whisper.

Grinning to Mog, I took a few steps back and sat down; exhausted at my trials of the day.

"Moogle Mail, kupo!"

I sighed. More moogles. They were cute and all, but I was tired.

The fat, painted moogle waddled over to me and handled me a letter from Roland.

I blanched.

I read through the letter quickly and wrote back a generic, but polite reply.

Handing it back to the moogle, I laid back and relaxed, looking over my previous journal entries about meeting Sol Racht and Stiltzkin. I turned the page and started a new entry.

"I wound my way through the vivid green hills and followed the path to reach the River Belle. All my tension seemed to flow away with the River Belle's serene currents. I visited a moogle nest for the first time. The moogle there cheerfully welcomed me into his home. When it was time to go, I thought he looked a bit sad. I batted the bonbon on his head and bade him farewell.

I wonder if all moogles live so comfortably.

As I pressed onward, I slew many goblins. I soon saw a rainbow over a great waterfall. Who would have known that I would fight the giant crab surrounded by such beauty!"


A/N: Been awhile since I updated. I know. I even got a review about it. I am such a sucker for making sure that everything is accurate. This chapter actually took me 2ish hours to write since I had to continually look up information to ensure that I was staying true to the game. I've been super busy this year. I've applied to college, been accepted to college, and now I'm attending college! Whoot! I'm moving into WPI in Worcester, MA, in just 24 days (more like 23 right now since it's almost 10 PM).

I've been working my ASS off the past year trying to make money for college. Starting shortly after I posted the last chapter, I became a cashier and started working 30 hours a week on TOP of my school and on top of being VP of my school's robotics club. I've made just shy of $8k USD in the past 10ish months which is hopefully gonna last me through until Junior year.