“And you’re sure the numbers are actually going up, right?” Zerori grumbled through the communicator that was settled within her visor. For the past hour she’d been in contact with Janet while on a personal mission. With the next session of training with the Crane master on the horizon (along with all the awkwardness that was going to involve) Zerori had kept herself busy with business, the testing of her new radar and what she lovingly called ‘field work’. At the moment, said field work involved traversing through what was known as the Penguin Village on the Eastern Continent. After finishing work on the radar, the concept made much easier by some words of wisdom she was given by her mother in regards to magical artifacts, the moment she’d gotten a signal that wasn’t white noise or trash radiation the need to test it had nearly overtaken her business needs.

Thank the Gods she was blessed with the ability to multitask.

In full gear, keeping her signature as masked as possible for detection, Zerori walked among the village inhabitants with a rather edgy looking radar in one hand and her other hand up on the side of her visor. The voice on the other end had her sigh with relief as they confirmed that the reception to Interstellar Inc had been mostly positive. “Alright, just keep an eye on them and if anything changes in the next HOUR, call me back.” After a bit more back and forth, Zerori pressed the call off and stopped where she stood.

In the middle of the roads that ran through the small town, Zerori could see that, given what few villagers and townspeople that existed, were curious of her but not to the point of being violent. That worked out just fine for her, given the absolute shit week she’d had prior to this. Logistical nightmares aside, however, Zerori was finally able to use her time to try and find these dragon balls she’d learned about. She’d had a sneaking suspicion that this knowledge had come from the man she’d written that letter to. Athren, she recalled. Well, if all went according to plan she’d know just exactly WHO this Athren guy was.

Briefly, she looked to the ring on her finger, just slightly visible above her fingerless gauntlets. From annoyed to longing, Zerori could feel the familiar stab of pain every time she looked at the jewelry and after a moment released a sigh before she continued her walk.

Occasionally, she’d glance at the radar in her hand as she approached and - after a few clicks - would change direction with a groan and this would gradually rinse and repeat. This went on for about an hour before Zerori FINALLY had an idea where it could be. Unfortunately…

That meant breaking and entering.

Not typically an issue Zerori ever had any qualms against, except the difference was that she preferred when no one was home and certainly not when there were about five kids (likely siblings) all playing with their elderly grandmother watching. For a long moment, Zerori just looked over at the family from her place along the road while sitting on a stump. She had a few options here but most (if not all of them) relied on her taking something from the family and causing problems. There was at least a silver lining to all of this and it was that she was THIS close to almost getting the first ball.

“Well…” Zerori muttered to herself as she stared at the blooping icon of a circle, “-can’t hurt to ask for it… not that I even know what they look like beyond ‘orb with a star’.” Standing from the stump, Zerori sauntered over toward the house and immediately felt her blood run cold when all the kids stopped playing when it became clear she was approaching them. She hated it when people she didn’t want to fear her did so. Biting back the guilt, Zerori finished her approach to the elderly woman in the chair upon the porch.

“Uh… good afternoon,” She cleared her throat, “-M’am. I’m looking for an artifact that was important to a collective of natives in this land.”

“Yes, dear?”

Zerori swallowed thickly, “I’m looking for an orb that has a star in it. I mean, it could have multiple stars, but I’m not sure which you might have.”

“And what makes you think we’ve got your artifact, sweetie?”

God, this was getting difficult, “Call it a hunch?”

With a knowing chuckle, the elderly lady would stand and go inside. “Wait right here, my dear.”