Keres: Combat References, Stories & Token

Following a calamity that destroyed her village, the young girl began a life of solitary wandering.

She made the earth and sky her home, drinking from clear rivers when thirsty, foraging wild fruit by instinct when hungry, and curling up in towering treetops when tired. Like a wary young beast, she surveyed the world with sharp, unclouded eyes, struggling to survive. Then one day, a food unlike any she'd known left a deep impression on her memory.

"What... is this?" she asked, carefully cradling a small, crumbly baked thing, handling it gently for fear it might crumble.

"Oh, that's called a cookie. Pretty tasty, huh?" A passing dual-blades adventurer gently ruffled Keres's tangled hair. "It's all yours, enjoy." With that, he sheathed his blades and rose to leave.

Keres didn't know how to ask the one who'd shown her kindness to stay. She simply sat high in the branches, legs swinging in midair, savoring that rare taste in her wandering life—something called "sweetness."

A sudden downpour once forced Keres into a hidden crevice in the mountains.

But the moment she touched ground, her preternatural instincts screamed in alarm—a sickening, fetid stench, an unnatural heat, and a dark crimson form crouched in the shadows, radiating savage menace. It was an Odogaron, the undisputed ruler of this territory.

Keres wanted to scramble out of the rock crevice as quickly as possible, but the monster blocked the only exit. She had no choice but to grip her worn blade tightly and carefully read its movements.

Years of surviving in the wild granted her frighteningly sharp reflexes and an almost impossibly supple body. In that cramped cave lit only by a sliver of moonlight, the girl and the ferocious beast engaged in a deadly dance on the razor's edge between life and death. Again and again, she dodged its lethal claws by the barest margin, slipping through its blind spots like a ghost.

An entire night of circling and confrontation passed. When the first light of dawn pierced the darkness, the massive creature, its strength spent first, finally collapsed at the girl's feet.

She had survived—a mortal girl who had crossed the abyss.

Having finally crawled out of the cave, Keres dragged her exhausted body into a human town.

Just as she was curling up in a street corner as usual, ready to sleep, a splash of vivid red stopped before her. It was a woman clad in crimson armor, and resting quietly in her palm was a cookie.

Keres looked up.

"My name is Freya, leader of the Crimson Crest Guild." The woman studied the seemingly frail girl, eyes full of admiration. "That Odogaron outside the town—you actually survived its claws?"

Keres nodded silently.

"Join us." Freya pressed the cookie into Keres's hand. "Become an adventurer, and put your talent to use. You won't have to wander anymore."

Keres looked down at the familiar, sweetly fragrant cookie in her hand and asked softly, "So... do I get to eat cookies every day?"

Freya blinked in surprise, then broke into a confident smile and nodded firmly.

From then on, the "Crimson Crest" gained an adventurer with unrivaled instincts.

In every hunt, Keres moved like the wind, reaching the upwind position before anyone else. From the faintest shift in airflow, the subtlest indentation in the soil, she could precisely pinpoint a monster's movements, recording this vital intel in her own unique way on that treasured "cookie tin."

Fortunately, her teammates trusted her completely, allowing Keres to scout freely. They rarely interfered with her during hunts, instead supporting one another while quietly competing to see who could seize the opportunity first.

And whenever the massive prey fell, while her teammates were still animatedly discussing the next thrilling quest, Keres's thoughts had already drifted back to camp—what flavor would today's cookie from Freya be?