Padding his metallic fingers on his desk, he struggled with the potential of him having lost his magic. It had only been a few days and already he could feel the disconnect from his holy and fiery nature, only being replaced by a constantly growing cold. Another addition from this transformation was a suspiciously soothing voice with crisp, sharp tones at the end of its sentences that spoke to him in his head. Its messages were few and far between while being vague, even unhelpful at times, commenting on things as though it were a child. It was unlike the other entity's tempting sway on Kon’s psyche, always pressuring him to conceal his left hand lest people try to steal his golden gauntlet. In fact since the introduction of the crystalline being, that pressure had diminished but still nibbled at him whenever people drew too close to him.

He still hadn’t debriefed the members who were assigned to the mine having struggled with this traumatic change. Knowing he had already pushed the deadline for the brief so far, Kon rose from his chair, turning to a mirror noting his snow white hair and even paler complexion. The being had truly done a number on the man, even the members within the guild had not recognised him and some tried to stop him from time to time when he walked the more restricted sections of the island. Resenting his new appearance, Kon drew up his formal guild attire dressing for the occasion, ready to assign his orders to the men awaiting his command.

The contrast from his clothes and general appearance was stark with his bleached hair and skin being highlighted from the dark tones that were featured on his suit. Suit buttoned up and shoes tied, Kon left his room traditionally through the door, no longer capable of teleporting at will. This was perhaps the most annoying aspect, the restrictions that he had now felt after the freedom of instant travel was stripped from him. He could, of course, fly down but that would be nothing more than a spectacle and Kon was not one for deliberate flair despite grandiose displays of weather manipulation.

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With each step he could feel the weight of his prosthetics and an increased weight of his chest as though someone had put a slab of lead into it. Another side-effect of the frost entity, while not painful it was distracting. Something odd had occurred however as a result of the frost, his skin no longer reacted to the cold metal that cling to it. His body's comfortable temperatures had changed significantly, something that was first noticed when the first responders tried to warm up Kon resulting in worsening conditions of the otherwise stable man. He had truly become a man of the snow, how that would impact him in the summers on the mainland would be hard to tell. He had a few months to figure out the ramifications of the ongoing changes to his body, for now as he drew closer to the briefing room, he shifted his thoughts to the mine.

The meeting in the room was short and straight to the point, cleaners were needed, bodies needed to be buried, nothing more was to be said. Hoping to eat having missed breakfast, Kon moved to the halls where he was instead jumped by a tribal man, shirtless, littered with honorific tattoos. He was an emissary from Worth Woodsea, talking of multiple villages hearing about the syndicate seeking their aid even at a cost. The dense forest was the next goal of his goals and being able to meet these villagers would undoubtedly prove beneficial to the guild. As long as he was civil of course.

Lacking critical knowledge such as the location of the village, Kon requested the emissary to take him to the various villages. Obvious signs of hesitation became apparent on the villager, sweating, darting of the eyes before finally agreeing to his request. Rather than offering a map, Kon led the man to his airship which lazily hovered near the edge of the island, tethered by some ropes.

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The humble airship was always ready for him, fully stocked with supplies to travel the entirety of Fiore should he please. Perhaps he would in the future, however today he, the villager and a few of his men would be going to Worth Woodsea. He had been there quite a few times however never had the chance to visit the villages that were dotted in the woods, far too scattered for him to visit, even with his teleportation. Having the luxury of a tour guide was one of the main reasons he was even willing to go there in the first place. Kon boarded the floating ship with the villager in toe while his men removed the ropes and broaded themselves.

Traces of Kon’s inexperience with Vessels was shiftly apparent with sections of the ship being gilded with gold from after countless slips and flips. But he saw this just as he saw his scars as reminders of trials and accomplishments in his endeavours. He had read of cultures even respecting damages by using gold leaf glue to highlight the marks and blemishes. This was a tradition that he had adopted but on a grander scale. The Villager was gobsmacked about the complenancy of the men around him to the wealth available to them. Kon knew however that these members were loyal and they knew not to cross him having maimed and outright murdered others in the past.

Loyalty to fear and a shared dream was what kept them together, kinship was still fostering as a fledgling guild whose members' pasts were questionable at the best of time. Even Kon’s past was filled with betrayal, pain and suffering, Some of which he did in good conscience, others were merely done to hasten the task at hand. It was definitely something he wasn’t proud of but slowly he had come to ignore the opinions of lesser men and even his equals, growing callous to the emotions of humanity.

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Drawing the villagers attention to the forest that was drawing close to them below, Kon got him to point out the various villages. Scared of either the heights or what Kon’s intentions were, once more the man grew hesitant. Handing the man a wineskin, he reassured the safety of him and the villages. Sure enough with a bit of alcohol warming up the man, he pointed to two of them, referring to them as the Mun and Suk-Suk Villages. Smiling at the innocent names, Kon called for his men to land at the Mun village, he would speak directly to the chief, Mun Shan. It seemed they used the name of the village as the chief’s, or perhaps it changed with each chief.

Unfortunately however a language barrier ruined any chances for direct interactions. Instead they would rely on the emissary who was fluent in both traditional Fiorian and more guttural T’wol languages. The conversation was awkward with frequent misinterpretations as though the emissary was influencing the true intent of Kon’s words. Wanting to reaffirm Kon’s goal to take over the location, he spoke directly to the man instead explicitly telling him. “I want you to tell him that the Worth Woodsea will be a part of the syndicate and the village can be either integrated willingly or be quelled, squished, burned to ashes.”

Outrage plumed from the chief’s face at the comment first at the emissary then at the nephilim. There was an obvious imbalance of power between them, so resignation fell upon his face. Recognising his place, the chief did make one request, the village Kon was heading to were discussing a trade deal. He proposed that he go in the chief’s stead to avoid violence between the villages. Accepting his offer, Kon had his men take the supplies for the trade deal into his airship and headed for Suk-Suk Village.

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Suk-Suk Village was far more secluded with them needing to land several miles away from it in a clearing. From there with his men carrying the supplies, Kon met with the villagers who greeted them all with smiles, the emissary meanwhile was shaken up by the response of the Nephilim. Clearly he had not expected to be dictating to his fellow villagers that this foreigner was seizing their homes. The guild wouldn’t be able to take the forests just yet instead still having problems taking the various pockets in Sieghart Mountain. Even with that though, Kon wanted to reassure their expanding presence particularly in the North. Admittedly he had still felt sore about his loss against Kazimir during the Guild Tournament as well as his guild’s general display at the event. He felt as though he had let them down and he had.

He never did meet up with Kazimir following the fight, choosing to leave their reunion for a later date, which had been pushed even further with the loss of his magic. Attention drawing to the villagers as the Suk-Suk Tribe’s Chief came into sight, he reached out a hand as if to shake his. A confusion of greeting traditions led to the chief grabbing the man’s prosthetic hand rather than shaking it, before talking in tongues to the emissary. Noticeable levels of concern became obvious with the chief barking orders at the various villagers who picked up simple spears and other basic sharp instruments.

It was clear that they would not be going down without a fight, Hoping to stop a clash of opinions before it could begin, Kon pulled up his steel arm previously extended as a gesture of peace to bring forth a powerful storm. The skies darkened, thick rain pelted down around them, the ground turned to mud, kicking up onto his clothes as he drew closer to the chief. Shattering the wooden spear pointed at him, Kon reached out and grabbed the man’s throat now with his golden hand, recognizing the failures from his fight with Kazimir.

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Recognizing the danger that the chief was in various women of the village, he wailed and pleaded to the Nephilim, who looked at them all apathetically. The men meanwhile rushed to the chief’s aid only stopping with the tight squeeze from Kon’s golden grasp and a blast of the tongue from the chief. Releasing his grasp, a golden band was revealed around the chief’s neck illustrating the permanent change to the man’s body. If it were done in any other fashion it could have been seen as a decorative piece of jewelry but this was a unique display of servitude. All while this was happening Kon’s members were at work dropping supplies and seizing others without regard to the complaints of the Suk-Suk Villagers. Accepting their position, the villagers followed suit with their chief, just as the other village had done, with them even aiding Kon’s members taking the heavier supplies to the ship for them.

Kon was somewhat taken aback by the seemingly smooth process of proclaiming his control of the villages if it was only in words. Holding the area would be a lot harder, there would undoubtedly be unrest by these savages. Even now he suspected something was off, His instinct was sound with a spear flying at his back only to shatter as it struck a chunk of ice. “Huh.” He thought to himself as the attacker fled into the woods. While he knew leaving them alive would cause potential issues in the future, he didn’t want to crawl through an unfamiliar land with chances of finding them is slim to none.

Instead, the airship was readied for take-off, where they would briefly return to the Mun village before going back to Sieghart Mountain and ultimately Buntai Island. He had already spent too long in the uncivilized parts of Fiore and he needed to reassess what was changing in his body. It was clear that something very peculiar, dare he say it unique was happening to him.

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Though the albino Nephilim had no intentions of chasing after the attacker, that didn’t mean he’d be forgiving to their associate, those being the other villagers. They received harsh words that would be lost on them and harsh beatings from Kon and his men, all while the children of the village looked in horror with tears running down their faces. Their living standards, clothes, and general appearance almost warranted Kon to take them with him, but he wouldn’t be taking any of their children back to Buntai Island, at least not yet. This was strictly a business affair and emotions were already strained, taking away family, something precious to any culture, would be crushing to them. Few luxuries were relevant to the uncivilized tribes perhaps the odd smoke leaf or wild cocoa bean but they only really had themselves for entertainment and children were always the greatest source of it, whether it’s interacting with them, or watching them learn and develop as a person. No, the airship was already at full capacity with all the native foods and various animals that were also collected on their tour of the area.

Boarding the modest-sized airship, Kon could hear the moaning and groaning of the magically enhanced wooden structure with each step. The emissary would be returning back to Buntai Island with them, aware of the threatening stares from the villagers. Had he not joined Kon, there was a high chance that he’d be strung up and skinned for bringing the Nephilim into their homes. The original assumption was that he’d be meeting with the chiefs under more friendly means, hoping to use the presence of Kon to form an alliance between the two groups. Perhaps they would in the hopes to fight off Kon and his ever-increasing growth. An eerie cold giggle kon be heard from behind causing him to turn and look at the villagers for a final time before the airship struggled to go over the treetops. Even moving on the ship was risky with the bottom of the boat being raked by the peaks of the trees.

Looking out onto the Woods, Kon saw blips of mana, nothing too prominent, before numerous wooden spears owned by the Suk-Suk Tribe came from the canopy towards him and his ship. Several hit their target turning the ship into a porcupine, while those focused at Kon were blocked by a thin but durable sheet of ice, barely chipping the barrier as they struck the frozen water. Shaken by the ordeal but humored by the outcome, Kon motioned for them to return to the mountains rather than prolong their stay. Instead, he would leave the villagers in their own misery knowing they had failed to even hurt the man while dealing with the unforgiving weather that he had brought them all.

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